Category: Essays on Controversial Topics
Browse our collection of essays on controversial topics. Each topic in this category represents a controversial issue and thus is a good choice if you are looking for argumentative or persuasive essay topics. When writing an argumentative essay or a persuasive essay you should focus on picking a topic that is current and relevant to society and can be argued logically.
While a strong interest in a topic is important, it’s not enough to be interested. You have to consider what position you can back up with reasoning and evidence. It’s one thing to have a strong belief, but when shaping an argument you’ll have to explain why your belief is reasonable and logical. As you explore the topics, make a mental list of points you could use as evidence for or against an issue.
The protection and nurturance of children is a universal goal shared by all human cultures. Children thrive best when they live in safe, stable, and nurturing families. However, many children in the United States lack this type of home environment. For these children whose families are not safe …
Foster care is one remedy for the social problem of child abuse, neglect, and dependency. Designed as a short-term solution to ensure the safety of children, critics have assailed foster care as creating additional social problems for children and families, including for young adults who transition out of …
Religious fundamentalism is the strict maintenance of ancient or fundamental doctrines of any religion. The term fundamentalism, though, was originally an Anglo-Saxon Protestant term applied to those who maintained that the Bible must be accepted and interpreted literally. In popular usage, the term fundamentalism connotes both religious conservatism …
This is a vice which is productive of every possible evil, equally injurious to the morals and health of its votaries. It is the child of avarice, the brother of inequity, and father of mischief. It has been the ruin of many worthy families; the loss of many …
Gangs composed of young persons, as distinct from organized criminal syndicates, arose in America by the mid-19th century and were a concern for city leaders from the time they first appeared. The first serious piece of research on the subject did not come until Frederic Thrasher’s book The …
Gangsta rap is a subgenre of hip-hop music which emerged in South Central Los Angeles and Compton during the 1980s. N.W.A., Ice-T, DJ Quik, and others rapped about urban poverty, police brutality, unemployment, gang violence, drugs, prostitution, and other social problems in the inner city. Today, gangsta rap …
The term gateway drugs suggests that low-classified drugs are precursors to use of addictive and dangerous “hard” drugs. This theory originated in 1975 as a response to concerns that cannabis use leads to the use of harder drugs, such as heroin and cocaine. Leading gateway theorists statistically substantiated …
Gender bias refers to the socially constructed preference for one sex/gender over the other. The practice of gender bias can be unconscious or conscious. For example, in a grade school classroom, a teacher (female or male) can be gender biased by calling on young boys more than young …
When social scientists write of a “gender gap,” they mean a systematic difference or disparity between women and men. Frequently discussed gender gaps are those in the labor market and paid employment as well as in family work and relationships. The gender gaps in these areas are not …
The term gender identity generally refers to an individual’s feelings of being a man or a woman; it is a self-identification of gender. Socialization is the process through which infants develop into mature adults by learning the norms and values of the society. Gender socialization represents the idea …
Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are produced by transferring genetic material from one species to another. Genetically altered or modified (GM) foods contain materials derived from such processes. Whereas traditional plant and animal breeding involves the crossing of individuals with desirable traits within a single species, genetic engineering allows …
Genetic engineering is the concept of taking genes and segments of DNA from one individual or species (e.g., a spider) and inserting them into another individual or species (e.g., a goat). The biotechnology of genetic engineering has created a broad spectrum of ethical issues, ranging from genetically modified …
Genetic theorists assert that we can explain human characteristics, health, and/or behavior, to a significant degree, by the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequence present in the genes of a person or of a group of people presumed to have meaningful genetic similarity. Since the beginning of the 20th century, …
Raphael Lemkin (1900-59), a Jewish lawyer from Poland who wrote extensively about international law and crimes against humanity, coined the term genocide in his most famous work, Axis Rule in Occupied Europe, published in 1944 by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. In his extensive analysis of German …
Gentrification refers to the process in which members of a highly educated, professional class move into formerly working- or lower-class city districts, populated largely by members of minority groups. The term gentrification derives from the European concept of “gentry” and the “gentry class” and suggests, historically, a class …
Gerrymandering is the practice of drawing political boundaries—especially the boundaries of legislative districts—in such a way as to obtain political advantage. The term derives from the claim of critics that a legislative district drawn by supporters of Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry in 1812 was shaped like a salamander, …
The Gini coefficient is a popular statistical measure of income inequality. It was developed by an Italian statistician, Corrado Gini, in 1912 as a measure of concentration applicable to the distribution of wealth, income, or any other continuous variable. Gini coefficients can range from a minimum of 0 …
The glass ceiling is a metaphorical reference to systemic obstacles created in the workplace that prevent the socioeconomic advancement of minority groups by blocking them from reaching the upper echelons of leadership and management. This concept suggests that individuals who are otherwise qualified for higher-level positions are unfairly …
The global economy refers to the increasing economic interdependence of the countries and regions of the world. The most recent form of the global economy emerged in the 1970s as a result of advancements in information technologies combined with expanding neoliberal, political-economic philosophies and policies. The extent of …
Today’s dominant account about economic globalization in media and policy circles, as well as in much economic analysis, emphasizes hypermobility, global communications, the neutralization of place and distance, and the growth of a new professional transnational class. But this emphasis on abstract capabilities of systems and on the …
