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.
Digital divide is a metaphor for the cleft between people with access to technology and those without. Although the term originated in the mid-1990s to describe differences in technological infrastructure of U.S. schools, it has grown to describe various forms of alienation predicated on class, race, and national …
The Dillingham Flaw is a relatively new concept to describe a centuries-old phenomenon of faulty logic when nativists misinterpret and react to the presence of immigrants in their midst. It ignores diversity and assumes homogeneity, thereby setting a framework for negativity about newcomers. The term draws its name …
Approximately 54 million people, one in five Americans, have a disability, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The size of this population group would rank people with disabilities among the largest minority groups in the United States. Disability knows no limitation by race, ethnicity, religion, or gender. It …
A disaster is an event generating exceptional social and structural disruption characterized by four main elements. First, humans play a significant role in effects of disaster impact. Whether technological (e.g., a nuclear reactor leak) or natural (e.g., a hurricane), humans modify their environment in a manner that may …
Discrimination is one of the most studied social phenomena within the social sciences because of its serious social, political, economic, psychological, and physical consequences and implications. It is the action of distinguishing and categorizing individuals in a society based on perceived cultural, social, or physical characteristics and subsequently …
The term institutional discrimination broadly refers to the systematic and unequal treatment of people within the ongoing operations of society’s institutions. Entrenched in customs, laws, and practices, these discriminatory patterns can exist in virtually any private or public entity, including schools, corporations, hospitals, financial institutions, and the government. …
Disengagement theory defines the aging process as a period of mutual separation between the old and the young. The theory predicts that the social order requires a transformation among those advancing into old age, from a state of active involvement in society to one of steady withdrawal. It …
Divorce is the legal dissolution of a marriage, as initiated by one or both partners. The social acceptability of divorce has varied widely across historical periods, religious faiths, and cultures. Whereas the United States has allowed divorce, under certain conditions, since the establishment of the nation, Chile legalized …
Domestic partnership ordinances are a form of licensed cohabitation in the United States, typically available to both same-sex and opposite-sex couples. Currently, couples may register their unions in approximately 60 cities, 9 counties, and 6 states. Hawaii in 1997, California in 1999, Vermont in 2000, Maine and New …
Domestic violence—usually defined as intentional physical, sexual, or emotional harm by an intimate partner or family member—likely has always been part of human history. The construction and reconstruction of this social problem in the United States occurred in several ways, beginning as the problem of wife abuse. Claims …
Downsizing refers to the reduction of employees in a business enterprise for economic or business reasons. In contrast to being fired, to be downsized is usually not strictly related to personal performance but rather to economic cycles or a company’s need to restructure itself. Eliminating a downsized employee’s …
What is a drug? For social science purposes, a drug must be defined in context. In the medical context, a drug is a chemical substance used to heal the body and mind, one that is physician approved in medical therapy. In this sense, Lipitor, a cholesterol-fighting agent, Zoloft, …
Drugs and crime are undeniably linked. Not only are manufacturing, distributing, and purchasing drugs illegal, but the misuse of drugs often increases the need and likelihood of committing additional criminal acts. Overwhelming evidence indicates a connection between drug misuse, criminal activity, and arrest. However, the nature of the …
Prescription drugs include a number of opiates, including morphine, codeine, hydrocodone (Vicodin), and oxycodone (OxyContin). OxyContin and Vicodin— Schedule II and III painkillers, respectively— represent the most widely abused prescription narcotics in the United States. Both have significant abuse potential. Recreational users take them orally in pill form, …
Drug use and abuse, including alcohol abuse, are considerable public health problems. One societal domain where this problem has received particular attention is in the realm of sports. This attention is due, in part, to numerous alcohol- and drug-related incidents involving well-known sports figures, and the problem encompasses …
Culture refers to the commonly held beliefs, shared language, history, and systems of meanings that link large groups of people together. The concept of a subculture refers to a definable, recognizable group within a larger culture that can be distinguished by its own beliefs, customs, and values. Members …
Traffic crashes are the cause of more fatal and debilitating traumatic injuries than any other modern activity in the United States, and today few are blind to the fact that alcohol-impaired drivers pose a significant risk to themselves and others. The deaths and injuries that drunk driving causes …
Dramatic changes in the workforce participation of women and men and, to a lesser extent, in the division of labor in the home have occurred in recent decades. The traditional family of the male breadwinner and female homemaker, the norm among middle-class married couples in the 1950s and …
Eating disorders include anorexia nervosa (self-starvation) and bulimia nervosa (binge-purge syndrome). Although anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa represent different types of disordered eating, both entail a distorted body image and fear of fatness. Specifically, anorexia nervosa involves self-starvation alone or in combination with excessive exercising, occasional binge eating, …
Encompassing the nexus between political, economic, cultural, and social trends, the study of economic development has been one of the most contentious in sociology. The intellectual course of this field resembles Karl Mannheim’s institutionalization of ideas. Academics and public intellectuals from both industrial and less-developed societies have quarreled …
