SOC 213: Final Project Guidelines and Rubric Overview The final project for this course is the creation of a sociological imagination PowerPoint presentation. The presentation is designed to encourage students to think about social problems—past or present, local or global—using their sociological imagination, which involves looking beyond the traditional expectations or veneer associated with social problems. This sociological skill set is imperative in order for student’s to truly begin to grasp the relationship and distinction between individual biography and social structures. Social problems are aspects of society that communities of people are concerned about and want to change or improve. Because social problems are social creations, students will uncover structural and cultural variables that help explain how a current social problem has emerged and persisted, and students will ultimately develop a “sociological imagination”“—the ability to see behaviors socially and understand how they interact and influence each other. The objective is to submit, in a creative PowerPoint presentation, a compelling case for why a student’s chosen social problem is indeed a social and cultural problem and not simply the result of individual choices. Sociologists do not discount the role of personal responsibility within a certain context, but rather seek to understand the power of an environment in shaping personal choices and patterns. For example, consider the social problem of youth unemployment. It is well-documented that in the last several years of America’s economy, young people have experienced unemployment in greater numbers. A presentation in this course about youth unemployment might be framed initially about how, in an American culture that is so focused on individual responsibility and achievement, an issue such as youth unemployment can be treated as purely an individual problem. False information surrounding youth unemployment at large sounds like this: “Today's youth are self-centered and lazy, and they have a sense of entitlement.” “They are not willing to make the sacrifices that we did by working their way up the corporate ladder.” To more specifically understand this sociological problem, students would need to narrow its parameters by selecting a given time period and/or a specific geographic area for youth unemployment. If a student chose to understand unemployment as a result of the Great Recession, it would be easier to scope the range of factors that contribute to this ongoing issue. To better individualize this issue, a student might choose to share his or her own story or that of a family member or a friend who experienced losing a job. Or, a student could choose to share the narrative from a movie, such as The Pursuit of Happiness or another contemporary example. Following this, it would be important to highlight a particular sociological theory: conflict, functionalism, or symbolic interactionism. Because theories are simp ...