Beth Loffreda, Selections from Losing Matt Shepard: Life and Politics in the Aftermath of Anti-Gay Murder and:

• Malcolm Gladwell "The Power of Context: Bernie Goetz and the Rise and Fall of New York City Crime

Martha Nussbaum, "Women and Cultural Universals"

• Eric Schlosser, "Global Realization"
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For more assignment ideas involving this essay, please visit the Loffreda link-o-mat.

Loffreda and Gladwell: Applying Social Theory to an Individual Case

For your fourth assignment I would like you to make an argument about the way that Loffreda's account complicates Gladwell's thinking on the subject of social change. In other words, the question assumes that the events surrounding the death of Matt Shepherd can be explained using the terms that Gladwell employs–stickiness, the Law of the Few, the Broken Windows Theory–and so on. But I do not want you simply to use Gladwell's essay as a way of interpreting Loffreda's. I also want you to consider the larger implications. What does Loffreda's essay show that Gladwell has failed to consider or to think through completely? Gladwell could be correct in many respects, but he still may have overlooked certain features of social life. What might Gladwell learn from a reading of Loffreda?

A "C" paper will apply Gladwell's terms to Loffreda's text in a clear, competent, and accurate way. A "B" paper will develop the discussion of "complications" more extensively. An "A" paper will explore original and thought-provoking complications while doing everything that the "C" and "B" papers do as well.

At this point in the semester your paper should include the following:

1. An introductory paragraph that (a) presents the problem, question, or context that your essay responds to; (b) identifies the authors under discussion and their works; (c) gives your readers a statement of the argument you will make or the question you will pose

2. A coherent, well-developed argument that draws on textual evidence to support its claims. Textual evidence should be selected carefully and interpreted in order to guide the reader toward your conclusions.

3. Wherever appropriate, textual evidence that makes connections between the authors

4. Well-organized paragraphs that present a unifying main idea through explanation and illustration. Ideally, the first or second sentence of each paragraph should identify the main idea.

5. Clear, grammatically correct prose.

For the rest of this assignment sequence, see the Universal Human Rights, Globalization, and Social Change sequence.

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Loffreda and Nussbaum: Applying the Argument for Universal Human Rights to an Individual Case

Drawing on your reading of Beth Loffreda's "Losing Matt Shepard" and Martha Nussbaum's "Women and Cultural Universals," make an argument for Matt Shepard's rights. What rights does he have or should he have? You may decide to make an argument for Matt's special status as a gay male. In other words, you may decide that some people suffer from such extreme discrimination that a special class of rights–gay rights, women's rights, etc.--needs to be recognized and honored. On the other hand, you may decide that the best way to prevent incidents like the murder of Matt Shepard is to argue for certain universal human rights of the sort that Nussbaum discusses. Will Nussbaum's idea of "Central Human Functional Capabilities" really solve the social problems that Loffreda describes? Or do such problems require a different, more specific and pragmatic approach? When considering the Matt Shepard case, be sure to pay close attention to the many different attitudes and values that Loffreda encounters in Laramie.

Please give your paper a title that helps to convey your position.

For the rest of this assignment sequence, see the Universal Human Rights, Globalization, and Social Change sequence.

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Loffreda, Nussbaum, and Schlosser: Moving from Individual Cases to a Theory about Globalization

From one perspective, globalization seems benign, even positive. After all, no one forces people to eat at McDonalds, or to watch American movies, or to wear American running shoes. We might argue that when it exports hamburgers and Coke to other countries, the U.S. also exports democracy, the rule of law, free markets, technological progress and so on. From another perspective, however, globalization might be viewed as a form of cultural imperialism, and possibly also a precursor to economic and political imperialism. It is quite likely right now that 17-year-olds in Tokyo know more about the U.S. than they do about their own culture and history. By contrast, while many people in the U.S. know all about the latest "reality" shows, the majority are probably incapable of finding Japan on an unlabeled map.

Of course, these are not the only ways to view globalization. Some observers might argue that globalization will produce a richly diverse world society. These people might point out that just as American culture flows into places like India and China, so the values and outlooks of other societies flow into the U.S. as well. One good example of this cultural reciprocity is the "world music" scene.

For your final paper, I would like you to make an argument about globalization, using as your primary evidence the texts by Loffreda, Nussbaum, and Schlosser. You may also draw on other information at your disposal, including personal experience, but you should make detailed use of all three texts. You do not have to argue "for" or "against" globalization: you may also choose, instead, to explore the complexities.

For the rest of this assignment sequence, see the Universal Human Rights, Globalization, and Social Change sequence.

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