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 term culture shock was first introduced in the 1950s by anthropologist Kalvero Oberg, who defined it as an illness or disease. Later studies focused on cognitive, behavioral, phenomenological, and psychosociological explanations. In general, culture shock is a consequence of immersion in a culture that is distinctly different …
The phrase culture wars refers to the conflicts between individuals or groups who see themselves as either preserving or, in some measure, changing fundamental cultural understandings and practices. These conflicts play out in the political arena and in the battle for public opinion. The earliest use of the …
The current account deficit is broader than the generally well-known trade deficit because it includes the deficit (or surplus) on investments and both personal (think foreigners sending money home) and government (think foreign aid or military assistance) transfer payments. A current account is the difference between exports and …
Cyberspace is an invisible realm occupied by electronically mediated communication. Coined by science fiction writer William Gibson as a tool to describe a global computer network, the term cyberspace closely identifies with the age of the information revolution. Derived from the Greek verb Kubernao (to steer), the term …
In this essay, debt service is defined as the repayment of principal and interest on loans to sovereign entities such as cities and nation-states. This restriction of the definition facilitates a focus on social issues precipitated or aggravated by the repayment of such obligations. Most commonly, governments fund …
Decriminalization broadly refers to the removal or reduction of criminal penalties from particular substances or activities. Although the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, decriminalization and legalization are not the same thing. Legalization implies complete removal of governmental control, whereas acts or substances that are decriminalized are still …
Deforestation is the clearing and destruction of forests. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that deforestation accounts for the loss of 13 million hectares of forests annually. At this rate, nearly all of the world’s tropical rain forests will be depleted by the …
Deindustrialization is a term that describes the decline in manufacturing (or goods producing) employment occurring in the United States and other industrialized countries since the 1970s. Indeed, between the late 1970s and 2000s, the share of workers employed in goods-producing industries declined from approximately one third to one …
Deinstitutionalization—the movement of mentally disabled people from mental institutions into a community- or family-based environment—is a concept that transformed in a generation from a solution to a problem. Introduced in the early 1960s as a way to reduce societal reliance on state institutions, the policy itself became a …
Originating from the Latin word demens, meaning “without a mind,” the term dementia historically designated social and intellectual deterioration associated with old age. However, beginning in the late 19th century, the medical characterization of dementia increased in specificity with the rise of biological sciences and the advent of …
Demilitarization refers to the dismantling or deconstruction of militarism. Militarism is the influence of the military as an institution and of the preparations to use military force on the overall social organization of society. Demilitarization can be seen as taking place along several dimensions, which may or may …
Democracy is an ancient Greek word meaning the rule (kratos) of the people (demos). It refers primarily to a form of government in which political decisions are made by a majority of the citizens (direct democracy) or their elected representatives (representative democracy). Democracy also signifies a country, society, …
Prior to the 20th century, many social scientists believed that at some point the carrying capacity of the earth would be outstripped by the needs of the rapidly growing human population. However, during the 20th century, data became available that led social scientists to abandon the idea that …
The dependency ratio is the number of elderly people and children as a fraction of the number of working-age adults. For example, a dependency ratio of 30 percent would indicate that there are 30 children and elderly people for every 100 working-age adults. The definitions of the age …
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security deports more than 1 million nonresident aliens annually, including about 150,000 to 200,000 “formal removals.” A formal removal occurs when an alien is decreed deportable in an administrative proceeding within the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Deportability may be due to undocumented …
Deregulation is the easing or elimination of governmental restrictions on economic activity. In the past century, in advanced capitalist economies such as that of the United States, governments instituted many rules restricting business behavior. As these rules always seemed onerous to businesses, businesses have always been in opposition …
Of all the global environmental problems, desertification is, perhaps, the most threatening for poor rural people. The most accepted definition of desertification states that it is land degradation in arid, semiarid, and dry subhumid areas (hereafter called “drylands”) resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities. …
Deterrence programs rest on the belief that society can reduce crime by taking action that makes it more difficult for a criminal to commit a crime or by developing punishment that is so severe that an individual will not commit the crime so as to avoid the stated …
Generally speaking, deviance is behavior that a group or society considers inappropriate. Approaches to deviance are primarily biological, psychological, or sociological. Typically, biological and psychological approaches view deviance as a result of a defect or character flaw within the individual. Sociological explanations accept that individuals have free choice …
Edwin Sutherland’s theory of differential association, the first learning theory of crime, continues to stimulate research today. In 1947, Sutherland stated the theory as a set of nine propositions, which introduced three concepts—normative conflict, differential association, and differential group organization—that explain crime at the levels of the society, …
