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.
Magnet schools are public schools of choice that offer specialized curricula or instructional themes in a racially integrated setting. During the 1970s, magnet schools emerged as a voluntary desegregation tool in an era of enforced busing. Magnet schools are intended to provide a school choice option that minimizes …
Managed care and managed care plans typically refer to the way health care plans both provide care and pay for services provided within a network. Networks consist of providers, such as physicians and hospitals, that serve an enrolled population of individuals, also called “enrollees,” who receive such services. …
Manifest functions refer to the intended and recognized consequences of a deliberately executed social behavior or action. Upward social mobility, for example, is a manifest function of international labor migration undertaken by populations seeking to improve their economic conditions. Robert K. Merton gave the original explication of manifest …
From an intercultural perspective, the term marginal generally refers to an individual identity outcome of being caught between two worlds, with a sense of not quite belonging in either one, following a move into another culture, such as a migrant or study-abroad student. By moving into a new …
Marijuana is a mild hallucinogen grown naturally as the cannabis plant. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency classifies it as a Schedule I substance, with high abuse potential and no accepted medical utility. Marijuana can be smoked (in joints, pipes, or bongs) or eaten, often mixed with other foods. …
The pervasiveness of the media in our everyday lives cannot be overstated. Media (short for mediation and the plural of medium) can refer to any number of categorizations that are collectively and most frequently understood to involve the dissemination of select information (often from a singular or fixed …
Mass murder is the killing of four or more individuals at one given time or in a fairly short period of time, and in one place (in a single incident). Although often confused with serial murder—the killing of three or more people over a period of time, with …
Mass transit, sometimes referred to as public transit or public transport, describes public and private systems that carry groups of people in a variety of vehicular configurations, called modes. Typical modes include the bus, rail rapid or heavy rail, commuter rail, light rail, and automated guideway systems. The …
Means-tested programs provide cash and services to people whose income and other financial assets fall below a certain level. Individuals in need must meet certain requirements to receive benefits. Along with monetary restrictions, means-tested programs may also include nonfinancial categories of eligibility such as pregnant women, children, parents …
Among the chief concerns of this volume are how social conditions get defined as social problems and the ways different social actors and organizations view and try to solve them. Media, by any measure, are central to these processes. When we speak about media, what exactly are we …
Mediation is a process designed to manage and resolve conflicts between two or more parties. As a facilitated negotiation, mediation provides the parties with the opportunity to identify their interests and needs, present their ideas for possible solutions, explore those options and alternatives, and come to collaborative solutions. …
Medicaid is a joint federal and state health insurance program for low-income eligible children, adults, the elderly, and people with disabilities. This federal entitlement program was established in 1965 as Title XIX of the Social Security Act. The nation’s largest publicly financed health care program of its kind, …
As editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine, Arnold S. Relman first defined the new medical-industrial complex of the late 20th century as the rise of the for-profit sector in health care, a dramatic market change that challenges physicians’ abilities to best represent their patients’ interests. Throughout …
Medicalization is the process by which nonmedical problems become defined and treated as medical problems, usually as illnesses or disorders. This process can occur on multiple levels: a conceptual level, with the development of a medical definition of a problem; an interactional level, where the physician applies a …
Medical malpractice is any deviation by a health care provider from accepted standards of practice, whether or not it causes injury to the patient. Medical errors can occur in diagnoses, surgery, and prescriptions. In medical malpractice trials, defendants have the burden of proof, and expert witnesses testify against …
The Medicare program is a national health insurance system that currently serves more than 40 million beneficiaries and provides more than $330 million in health care benefits. Participation in the Medicare program is dependent on whether individuals are age 65 or older, have selected disabilities, or have end …
Megacities are giant cities. The term has been in common use since the 1980s to characterize metropolitan areas with very large total populations. Most commonly, specialists and UN demographers use the term in comparative urban studies, referring to metropolitan areas with more than 8 or 10 million inhabitants. …
Megalopolis was an ancient mainland Greek city, founded in 369 BCE, whose name quite literally means “large city.” In the 20th century, various authors, most notably Lewis Mumford, used the term with the same general meaning as metropolis, a large city and its surrounding suburbs. In the 1950s …
A merger is a combination of two corporations in which only one corporation survives and the other firm goes out of existence. A consolidation is the combination of two or more companies to form an entirely new company, to the point that the original companies cease to exist. …
The earliest articulation of the melting pot concept came in 1782, from J. Hector St. John Crevecoeur, a French officer turned New York settler, who envisioned assimilated Europeans as ingredients in a vast melting pot of cultures. The concept of the melting pot later expanded to include people …
