Progress Report 1
• A brief overview of the nature of the social issue (Maximum – 4 pages).
• Each GROUP will write a brief, concise paper providing:
– A Brief Overview Of The Community:
•
•
•
•
•
Demographic characteristics
Location
Major characteristics
Essential sociocultural/sociopolitical issues faced by the community
Eg: CDC, NIH, US Census, County Health Authorities and Agencies, City Data, MTA, Traffic,
Crime Data, etc
– A Brief Overview Of The Nature Of The Social Issue;
• The Issue: What is the social issue? Provide definition(s) with outside sources.
• Population Affected: What are the demographic characteristics - Ethnic Breakdown, Age,
SES, and other relevant characteristics of the population affected by the social issue?
• Current Efforts: What are the current efforts directed toward addressing the social issue?
(direct/indirect services, advocacy)?
– Each group will submit approximately 5-7 slides summarizing (as a group) the
information above
Progress Report 2
•
Each GROUP will write a brief, concise paper (4-5 pages maximum) providing:
•
An ecological analysis of the social issue: (http://www.appliedsoc.org/society/)
– Overview of the issue using the specific language of the levels of analysis –
micro, meso, and macro.
– MICRO: As the name suggests this is the smallest of the levels of society.
Micro level groupings are more intimate societies that many humans will
automatically identify with first. Micro level societies are families, church
groups, schools and the like. However, the complexity of this small group is
that within the larger levels of society there are still smaller micro levels that
make them up.
– The micro level deals with the daily actions and interactions of people in
society. It examines the social roles that we take on within society as well as
how we react to society and understand it. At this more intimate level the
focus is on how people think within society opposed to their behavior.
– Micro level study of society hones in on the smallest elements that create the
idea of what a society is, the norms and behaviors that make it recognizable as
a its own society. Ritual, socialization, segregation of activities and sanctions
are all indicators as to how one should interact within a society. They are the
guidelines that mentally tip us off as to the type of micro level society we are
in.
Progress Report 2 Cont…
• An ecological analysis of the social issue:
– Overview of the issue using the specific language of the
levels of analysis – micro, meso, and macro.
– Meso level is the lesser known of the society groupings as they aren’t
dealing with huge societies of the macro level that affect many or the
intriguing smaller, micro levels that deals with day to day human
interaction. The Meso level is the middle ground the organizations
that are on a mid scale, like communities or neighborhoods compared
the macro structure of an entire city.
– The meso level also deals with the divisions within societies, how they
are broken apart by income, ethnicity and the like. It’s the marriage
between the micro and macro level studies, analyzing how these
medium-sized groups form within the larger ones. These meso
societies include institutions such as jail as well, smaller systems of
people with a different set of guidelines for societal organization. This
are also referred to as total institutions.
Progress Report 2 Cont…
• An ecological analysis of the social issue:
– Overview of the issue using the specific language of the levels of
analysis – micro, meso, and macro.
– The Macro level is the largest of the society groupings. Macrosociology is a
term describing the study of our largest societies and populations. In actuality
the macro level doesn’t just study the largest of societies but also society as a
whole. Globalization has aided in expanding the extent of study at the macro
level to encompass more and more of the world.
– The macro level looks at how the institutions within a large population affect
the masses. Things like the economy, government structure, religion and more
are all their own smaller groupings but together they form the boundaries of
the macro level society. These institutions are interrelated and tend to be
closely linked in their values giving off an overall feel of the culture that the
society sprang from.
– Many sociologist believe that it’s at the macro level of a society in these larger
institutions that the root of a societies problems begin and therefore make
them of great interest. Problems at this larger level tend to have a trickle
down affect into the smaller scaled level of societies making it that much more
important to address the problems here as soon as they’re found. From the
macro level the internal structure of a society can begin to be rearranged to
meet the needs of the growing, changing population.
Progress Report 2 Cont…
•
The FOUR PRINCIPLES OF ECOLOGY should be addressed separately, starting with a
definition of the principle in your own words followed by a fact-based illustration of the
principle as it relates to the issue.
– For Interdependence and Cycling of Resources, your application of each principle
should cross all three levels of analysis (i.e., micro, meso, & macro).
– For Adaptation, you should address at least 2 of the 3 ecological levels of analysis
independently. Focus on
• (1) how people affected by the issue adapt to survive and grow (micro- level adaptation),
• (2) how organizations adapt to the needs of the population affected by the issue, or, the
constraints and opportunities in the local community (meso) or macro level (meso-level
adaptation),or,
• (3) how institutions at the macro level (state & federal) adapt to the demands from the micro
or meso levels (macro-level adaptation).
– For Succession, you should focus on a significant historical event which shaped the
social issue. Provide a description of the event and the effect it had on the issue.
Specify at which level (micro, meso, or macro) the event originated as well as the level
(micro, meso, or macro) which you believe was most impacted and why. Each member
of your group should focus on a different historical event.
Progress Report 2 Cont…
• Each group will submit approximately 5-6 slides
summarizing (as a group) the information above:
– Slide 1: Overview of the issue using the levels of analysis –
micro, meso, and macro.
– Slides 2-5: The four principles of ecology should be addressed
one-by-one, including an application of the ecological principle
to the social issue, incorporating research/facts to support your
analysis (providing definition of the principle is not necessary).
Progress Report 3
• Each GROUP will write a brief, concise paper (4-5 pages)
providing:
– How either prevention or empowerment could be used as a
conceptual tool in developing an intervention Discuss how
either empowerment or prevention could be used as a
conceptual tool in developing interventions to address the
issue. This should include the three elements below:
• Define either empowerment or prevention and discuss their
approach, citing the appropriate author(s).
• Describe how the social issue could be further addressed holistically
through using prevention or empowerment.
• Provide an example of three interventions:
– (1) A small group intervention intended to impact the (1) micro-level,
– (2) an organizational intervention targeted to directly impact the meso-level,
and
– (3) a social intervention which targets the macro-level.
• Each group will submit approximately 3-5 slides summarizing (as a group)
the information above.
Community Analysis Project
• This PowerPoint presentation should include a title slide, all prior
slides (incorporating instructor feedback) and reference slide(s) in
APA format (with the exception of spacing – references should be
single spaced, not double-spaced).
• All members of each group must participate in the delivery of the
PowerPoint presentation. Each group will have approximately 25
minutes to present (including time for questions, comments,
discussion).