This assignment is closely related to the final Research Paper in Week Five. Please review the instructions for that paper before beginning this assignment. For this Week 3 assignment, you will present demographic data on the city, town, or county where you currently live in preparation for the Research Paper, which is due in Week 5. To do this, you will perform secondary data analysis by visiting the US Census Bureaus American FactFinder (Links to an external site.). Identify the various social and economic characteristics (i.e., education, population, housing, race, gender, age, income, etc.) of this locale and report the statistics. You can also check government websites for your state, county or city for data. Then, using the statistics you report, identify your findings of social stratification or social inequality found in this locale as highlighted in the reading in the text, Sociology: Beyond Common Sense, for Week 3. In other words, what does the data tell you about the social stratification and social inequalities found in your locale? Be sure to choose a locale that you have access to, as you will be conducting in-person observations in this locale for the Research Paper due in Week 5. If you are currently living outside of the U.S. or will have difficulties physically accessing a location in the U.S., please contact your instructor for additional instructions.
Your demographic report should follow the following structure:
Introduction (including the locality chosen and general socio-economic info on your locality)
At least five body paragraphs presenting the social or economic characteristics and specific data for the locality (please state both numbers and percentages if available). In this section of your paper, be sure to present statistics related to education, population, race, gender, age, income (and poverty), housing, as well as any other factors you think relate to the stratification and/or inequality in your chosen locale.
Examples of how data can be presented:
A table of all the variables you found (if you select this option, please do not copy and paste tables from the American Factfinder website. Rather, create your own table with all of your variables).
[Insert/Table in MS Word; add as many columns and rows as you like]:
Location: [examples] San Diego, Kern County, etc
Percentage
Number (n=)
Population (male):
45%
45,000
Population (female)
55%
55,000
Median Income
$40,000
% of Population with College Degree
30%
30,000
Or a bullet point list of all the variables you found.
Location
Population
Male 45% (n=45,000)
Female 55% (n=55,000)etc.
At least two body paragraphs describing how the statistics you report relate to social stratification and social inequality (use your text, Sociology: Beyond Common Sense as reference). In other words, think about what picture the statistics paint about the type of social hierarchies and inequalities that exist in your locale. (Hint: Think about stratification and inequalities based on race, gender, age, social class, etc. Finding statistics about education, income, housing, etc. by race/gender/age can be useful places to make these observations).
Conclusion (summarize the socio-economic status of your locality based on your findings and related discussions on social stratification and social inequality )
Reference page.
The paper must be four to five pages in length and formatted according to APA style. You must use at least five resources from the Census website. You must use your text to support your work on social stratification and social inequality. Cite your resources in text and on the reference page. For information regarding APA samples and tutorials, visit the Writing Center (Links to an external site.).
