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.
Ageism is a form of prejudice directed toward older members of a society. Like other forms of negative group stereotyping, ageism can vary in both its intensity and its effect on the targeted group. People who possess unflattering dispositions toward the elderly may not cause them direct harm …
From 1935 to 1996, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) was the major government-funded means-tested public assistance program for low-income children and their caretakers. Its antecedents were states’ mothers pension programs, which reflected the child-centered, “maternalist” philosophy of the Progressive Era. Originally a relatively minor component of …
Alcoholism is a type of substance addiction characterized by a preoccupation with alcohol and impaired control over alcohol consumption. Alcoholism is similar to illicit drug addiction in its association with physical and psychological dependence. However, as alcohol consumption is legal and socially accepted, problematic use often goes unrecognized …
Alienation is related to social problems both in substance and in terms of how we look at social problems. In the context of modern everyday language and “commonsense” perspectives and views, the term alienation frequently is employed to express a feeling of separation—ranging from one’s experiences with others, …
For an immigrant, the American Dream is to achieve economic well-being and a good quality of life through hard work, entrepreneurship, and perseverance. It is the driving force behind most immigration, and its realization is the achievement dimension of the incorporation process. A main topic addressed in immigration …
The term Americanization generally refers to the assimilation of immigrants into U.S. society, a meaning now endowed with negative connotations. The unpopular interpretation rests on its association with the Americanization movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This movement, particularly during and after World War I, …
Anomie refers to the improper operation or relative absence of normative regulation in an aggregate entity or environment, ranging from groups and communities to entire societies and the globe. Most conceptualizations of anomie stress normative breakdown, making this aspect critical to understanding any form of anomie. Its importance …
The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 enacted mandatory minimum prison sentences designed to provide severe penalties for violations involving the possession or distribution of crack cocaine. Inspired by the hysteria surrounding the national crack and AIDS epidemics in the early 1980s, the Reagan administration reintroduced mandatory minimum sentencing …
The anti-globalization movement is a broad-based popular struggle involving workers, environmentalists, youths, peasants, the urban poor, indigenous people, and other actors across the developing and industrialized worlds striving for social and economic justice and greater democratic control over their daily lives. Activists come from diverse spheres, including nongovernmental …
Anti-Semitism is the active or passive, individual or collective, hatred of either empirically existing or purely mythological Jews, such that the signifier “Jew” functions as a representational substitute for social conduct or institutions deemed by the anti-Semite to be abnormal and pathological. Especially important is the manner in …
Apartheid (literally “apartness” in Afrikaans and Dutch) refers to a system of racial segregation enforced in South Africa by the white National Party from its election in 1948 until the first election open to all races in 1994. A high degree of de facto racial separation existed before …
Arms control is a means of addressing a major and enduring global social problem: arms proliferation. This entails the production and spread of weapons, ranging from small arms and light weapons, through missiles and military aircraft, up to weapons of mass destruction. Arms control involves a variety of …
Arson is the willful or malicious burning of property, and arson fires also entail the risk of intentional or inadvertent personal injury, including risk to firefighters. In the United States, at least 20 percent (and as much as 50 percent) of fire-related property damage is due to arson. …
Assault is a type of violent crime against a person, its degree classification based on the use of a weapon, the seriousness of the injury sustained, and/or the intent to cause serious injury. Whereas battery is the application of physical force, assault is the attempt or threat to …
Assimilation is making a comeback as a major concept in the study of immigrant groups’ processes of adjustment to a receiving society. This development is most evident in the United States, but it is to some extent occurring in Western Europe as well, where multiculturalism is declining sharply …
Asylum refers to a form of sanctuary in which an asylum seeker is granted protection to remain in a host nation after fleeing persecution in his or her homeland. More commonly the term used is political asylum, whereby the applicant must complete two major phases within a much …
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a behavior problem that is characterized by hyperactivity, inattention, restlessness, and impulsivity and, until recently, was diagnosed primarily in children. It was first defined as Hyperkinetic Disorder of Childhood in 1957 and was commonly known as hyperactivity or hyperactive syndrome until it …
Automation is the substitution of self-operating machinery or electronics for manual or animal effort to support or control a broad spectrum of processes. Examples range from automatic teller machines, to robotic farm tractors, to securities transactions, and beyond. Henry Ford’s use of the conveyor belt to produce Model …
Baby boomers are Americans born between 1946 and 1964. Birth rates fell in the United States during the Great Depression of the 1930s (when uncertain economic prospects discouraged many people from having children) and World War II (when millions of men were away from home serving in the …
Backlash is a term used to describe action taken by individuals and groups to counter an existing social or political development. Although the term may be used to describe efforts seeking progressive effects, such as the move to reform health care in the United States, it is more …
