The Influence of Media on American Culture

5) The influence of media on American culture:

* Does advertisements for and media depictions of alcohol influence young people to drink more?

6) Class, race and the creation of a social problem:

* Was the social fervor over the use of Crack in the 1980's more social paranoia rather than social reality and why or why not?

7) The changing family and its relationship to the society:

* How have the American family changed, what material and non-material cultural aspects may have influenced those changes and what accounts for belief that the American Family is in Crisis?

8) Immigration, stratification and the need for cheap labor:

* Is third world immigration a threat to the America's labor?

9) Consequences of immigration and assimilation and changing social perceptions of racial and ethnic groups:

* Were the immigrants of the "Great Immigration" more beneficial to the U.S. than "recent immigrants" and why/why not?

10) The social construction of gender in a patriarchal society:

* Do new gender role expectations cost women more than it cost men and why?

11) Preserving heterosexual and patriarchal social and economic privilege in American society:

* Will legalizing same sex marriages destroy the value of marriage in American society?

12) Culture of Poverty theory as support for capitalism in American society:

* Is the Underclass a major threat to American ideals, why or why not?

13) Addressing inequality and our belief in the self-made man/woman in American society:

* Has affirmative action outlived its usefulness?

14) The role of government in the personal lives of citizens:

* Does the threat of terrorism warrant curtailment of civil liberties such as the Patriot Act?