For this assignment, I want you to choose two readings from the semester and compare them in terms of this question: how do these works describe and/or explain the role of culture in social life? You should be able to complete this assignment in no more than 2-3 pages (double-spaced, Times New Roman font, one-inch margins).Β
Some details: this assignment builds on the previous writing assignment, in the sense that you will need to summarize both of the arguments concisely (~one paragraph each). Thus, you should think about how you will winnow down the argument into a few sentences. One way to do this is to look back at your notes and to the article in order to see not only what the author argued, but, if relevant, the kind of data they used and the role that meanings or interpretations played in their arguments (where did they find these interpretation
s, were they interpretations that people offered explicitly or were they also implicit, to what did these interpretations relate [in what contexts did they come up and what kinds of practices, processes, institutions, or organizations helped to maintain or support them]).
In your comparison, you may choose to focus on specific feature of the argument, like any single feature of the argument mentioned in the previous sentence, or you may choose to focus on a general response to the question in the first paragraph. In either case, you should look for evidence from the readings that you can use to justify this comparison in the paper. I want you to cite specific pages from the reading and, where relevant, quote directly. When you do so, donΒt just ask yourself whether/how it fits your argument, but also ask whether/how it fits with the authorΒs argument.