Responsibility Frames Discussion Assignment Paper
Order Number |
636738393092 |
Type of Project |
ESSAY |
Writer Level |
PHD VERIFIED |
Format |
APA |
Academic Sources |
10 |
Page Count |
3-12 PAGES |
Responsibility Frames Discussion Assignment Paper
Description
When it comes to the people we know and love–or ourselves– it’s sometimes easy to give advice: Eat right, exercise, avoid dangerous situations, study hard, treat others with respect. We all have to do our best to take care of ourselves.
But when it comes to analyzing society, we can’t simply apply the same logic to responsibility. When something bad happens, we might be able to identify an individual who is to blame. But when bad things happen systematically–when they are part of the “normal” workings of society–then we need to think about responsibility systematically as well. We can think of these as two different frames–ways to draw the border around an issue that defines how we think about it: a personal responsibility frame and a social responsibility frame. The scenarios presented here are composites from the research that I read in preparing this chapter.
CHOOSE ONE OF THE BELOW SCENARIOS. For the one you choose, try to construct personal versus social responsibility frames using the following guidelines:
1) List both individual and social causes of the problem that occurs. There can be multiple causes–it’s okay to speculate.
2) Suggest alternative approaches or solutions implied by each frame. You might think of these as advice you would give to your friend personally versus a policy you want the government (or some other larger actor) to adopt socially.
3) Discuss the two frames: What are the advantages or disadvantages of adopting either frame to address the problem? Are they mutually exclusive?
Scenarios
Child neglect. A young boy has an inadequate diet and doesn’t sleep enough. As a result, he has a low energy level, has trouble paying attention in school, and sometimes doesn’t attend. Since he mostly sits quietly at school, the teacher in his crowded classroom usually ignores him, and he falls further and further behind. When no parent shows up for a parent-teacher conference, a counselor contacts his family and discovers that his mother works several jobs at irregular hours with long commutes. They live in a neighborhood considered dangerous, and the boy isn’t allowed outside unsupervised. He is mostly cared for by his older sister, but she often leaves him home alone or ignores him while she hangs out with her friends.
Child abuse. A single mother with two preteen sons lives in a small town with no other family around and struggles to raise her boys on her own. In the summer, she hears about a free program for “at-risk” boys, run by a local church, which promises to provide them with activities ranging from outdoor games to light volunteer work like brush clearing. Over the course of the summer, she sees her older son become withdrawn and start to look for ways to avoid the program. Eventually, he tells her that he has been sexually abused by the director of the program.
Incapacitation rape: A first-year female college student goes with some of her new friends to a fraternity party. The fraternity was suspended by the university a few years ago, and they hold their parties in a private house off-campus. At the party, she has a good time, but she drinks too much. Her friends are staying and she doesn’t have a ride home. Eventually, she passes out. She wakes up naked and alone in an upstairs bedroom, knowing she has been raped, but doesn’t remember what happened.
Responsibility Frames Discussion Assignment Paper