The Prompt:
The Social Contract Essay (Essay 3)
How is an individual also a member of a community? How does one person’s behavior affect others? What responsibility does one person have to their community?
The idea that one person has a responsibility to others around them is the idea of the Social Contract. This concept also impacts societal behaviors (like where it is appropriate to eat or what help or support is considered standard).
Ex 1. Without a social contract where the state pays for firefighters, a individual would have to pay for the firefighters to help if their house caught fire.
Ex 2. People expect the government to fund public education. This is a social contract where we expect children to be safe and educated for twelve years. Without the contract, parents would be 100% responsible for every aspect of their child’s education regardless of their financial abilities. (Also, programs like lunch assistance would not exist.)
Ex. 3 Rising costs of living often contribute to rates of homelessness, but does everyone has a right to basic housing (a safe space with a bed and a bathroom)? If you mentally answered yes, then you see everyone in a community as responsible for each other to some extent.
Ex. 4 During a pandemic, wearing a mask protects others as much as it protects oneself. By prioritizing the health of others, a person looks out for the health of the larger community.
Assignment Parameters
- Create a 4-6 page essay.
- Reference two primary sources: Ursula Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” and N. K. Jemisin’s “The Ones Who Stay and Fight.”
- Use at least 2-4 secondary sources to support an original claim-driven thesis. You may draw on the sources used in class during this unit or outside sources (once we learn about accessing library resources).
- The argument must include an element of counter argument.
- Support a series of claims that relate to a central thesis with direct quotations and paraphrases (both must appear in the final draft).
- Create a Works Cited page.
- Use third person. If first person is used, the writer’s purpose must be clear to all readers.
- Realize there is a huge difference between a paper with five paragraphs because that is the number the writer needs to complete the task and the old 5-paragraph format with 3 reasons that do not go together and can be presented in any order. Aim for roughly a claim per page, so Essay 3 will depend on your having 3-4 claims to support your argument.
Questions to Explore as You Begin
- What responsibility does an individual have to a society?
- How is everyone part of a larger social contract?
- How might an individual be part of many societies? How might the values of different groups conflict?
- How does language work to persuade readers about the merits of or to dehumanize a particular group?
- How might social change need to begin with sound rhetorical choices? How might words not be enough?
- How can literature act as a medium to create social change?
- How can words create or remove empathy in a reader?
- How is one person responsible or not responsible to children who are not theirs, to the elderly, to the suffering, to those lacking in social power, etc.
Example Topics Include but are NOT limited to
- Refugees: What obligation does one society have to help another? If one group has more than enough, does it have an obligation to welcome others and/or share what is has? Why/Why not?
- School Taxes: Why should a childless person have to pay for someone else’s children to go to school? How does society function (or not) when individuals refuse to be part of the system?
- The Elderly: What does a society owe to its elders? Are the elderly merely old and out of touch, or do they possess a wisdom that must be respected and honored?
- How Language is Used to Include/Exclude: What do the terms minimum-wage worker, member of the working class, or service worker have in common? How might language be used to create social divisions and hierarchies that become oppressive?
- How Can Language Create Change: How can authors model how society should (and should not) run? How can literature create empathy? How can fiction provide a path for others to imagine another future? How might authors inspire or shame others into creating the change they want to see?
An Important Topic Note
- No topic connected to the pandemic or to vaccines will be accepted.
- Also, stay away from stereotypical argumentative topics like gun control or abortion. These are too large for a 4-6 page paper.
Goals
- To produce a claim-based argument with each claim supporting a central thesis,
- To support each claim with evidence pulled from either primary or secondary sources,
- To analyze, select, and integrate the ideas of other writers with our own,
- To cite all sources in current MLA Style (direct quotations, paraphrases, and a Works Cited will be required),
- To use the entire writing process (reviewed in Units 1 and 2) to produce a well-crafted introduction, solid body paragraphs of varying lengths, and a clear conclusion while avoiding common writing pitfalls,
- To prepare a paper for a broader audience and to consider how a reader might respond to or reject a topic, position, or claim.
Audience
- First Draft: The writer
- Second Draft: The writer, the entire class, and the instructor
- Final Draft: The instructor, one reader who agrees with your views, and one reader who does not share your views
Caveats
- Use topics that logically fit with the sources in this unit. Do not try to shoehorn this paper into a basic position paper.
- Outside sources must be credible. When in doubt, check with Dr. Johnson. Random videos on YouTube will not be accepted.
- While this paper uses traditional essay components, such as an introduction and a conclusion, it is NOT a 5-paragraph essay.
- No AI resource may be used on this essay. By submitting the paper, you are saying that you wrote, revised, and edited the work within the guidelines listed in the course syllabus.
- The required primary sources must appear in all drafts to receive credit. Second drafts without both required primary sources will receive a zero. Final drafts without the both required primary sources will lose numerous points in multiple rubric categories.
Due Dates
- Tentative Topic: 11/15
- Confirmed Topic: 11/20
- Outline: Completed on Your Own
- First Draft: Completed on Your Own
- Second Draft: 12/4
- Final Draft: 12/6
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Restorative Justice Practices: How can restorative justice practices contribute to reducing crime and recidivism? Analyze the social contract in terms of community involvement in the justice process and the potential benefits for both victims and offenders.