Unit Three: Paradigm Shift Paper
In this 5-page paper, your job is to identify, discuss, and analyze a “paradigm shift” you recognize in our cultural past or contemporary moment. In addition to recognizing a certain kind of change and analyzing its potential meaning(s), you might trace the significant “moments” of this shift as well as discuss possible ramifications in terms of where our culture is “heading” and how we have come to view or value certain things. The change you recognize might be as simple as the popularization of a word or new usage of a term in relation to consumerism, civic life, or popular accounts of science and technology. For example, what’s up with all the i-products: iPhone, iPods, iPads, etc.? The “I” and “Me” and “My” craze isn’t limited to Apple products. You might explore the arrival of nonundelows (Glassner’s snarky term) in our grocery stores or the explosion of coffee culture. You might consider the terminological shifts from environmentalism to sustainable living. You might see the rise, fall, or emergence of a particular standard of beauty, product, convenience, consumer attitude, category of service, fashion trend, or celebrity as important in relation to consumer culture. Maybe you see changes in the representation of different groups of people (in terms of ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, etc) in film, television, art, and literature as particularly significant.
The point is that you will want to identify something new(er), tell us how it evolved out of and/or is different from something older, and explain how this portends a new set of ideas and values that are brought to bear on our culture. While you can certainly support your arguments with your own observations and examples, you should bolster your arguments with at least four cited sources.
This paper should have a distinct thesis and should be rich in evidence that “proves” the shift, as it were. Be sure that you are not arbitrary with your “before” and “after” timeline.
The goals of this assignment are as follows:
1. To identify (through research, perceptiveness, and discussion) a subtle but significant shift in cultural values, practices, attitudes.
- To conduct library and internet research thoughtfully and critically, demonstrating an awareness of sources with more and less credibility.
- To integrate research in a sophisticated, engaged way throughout the essay.
- To conduct research across an established time period and to consider chronology and history in your argument.