Brief Critique Topics
Select a topic from the list of Brief Critique Topics.
Conduct research into your chosen topic and prepare a final paper (4-5 pages in length or 5 pages maximum length), typed, double-spaced, 12 font, margins around each page not to exceed 1 inch, appropriate use of citations as footnotes, include a bibliography, and indicate the section# of the class in which you are enrolled.
Brief Critique Topics
1. The relationship between corporate downsizing and the rise of income and wealth inequality in the U.S.
2. U.S. Welfare Reform Movement in the states. What does it mean? How are these latest rounds of changes in the social welfare system likely to impact the poor?
3. The tobacco industry and social/public accountability: What, if anything, should be done by whom?
4. The Oklahoma City bombing and the rise of militant anti-federal government sentiments. What appeared to have caused or prompted this act of domestic terrorism?
5. Should reparations be paid by the U.S. federal government to Native American Indians and African Americans for past injustices involving genocide and slavery? Please explain your position.
6. The Prison Industrial Complex: Race, ethnicity, equity issues regarding the U.S. prison population and the exploitation of its labor. Highlight and reflect on the the noteworthy issues of concern.
7. Is U.S. tax revenue raised and spent equitably in terms of its impact on all socio-economic groups of Americans? Do the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share of taxes? Please explain your position with data back-up.
8. The Affirmative Action debate and dilemma: Are federal Affirmative Action laws and policy necessary to facilitate equal opportunity and political equality in the U.S.? Why or why not?
9. Gay and lesbian rights and issues in the United States: personal rights versus personal obligations in civil society. Highlight and reflect on the issue of concern.
10. The Global World Order, imperialism, and underdevelopment: What role has the United States played and what role does the United States currently play and why?
11. The pattern of U.S. military spending and its impact on the spread or decline of democratic institutions domestically and around the world.
12. Vietnam: "Making the World Safe for Democracy" or "Making the World Comply with the Dictates of World Capitalist Investment?" Please explain.
13. Health Care and the Public Interest: Private Market Allocation versus Comprehensive National Health Care reform. Explain what the contending perspectives, positions, and policy preferences are about in relation the distribution of benefits and costs. Why is there so much opposition on the part of certain stakeholders to including a viable public option in any kind of health care reform?
14. Assess the performance of the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in relation to protecting the public interest. How does federalism impact the performance of the FDA?