Just Breathe…

1. Just Breathe…

2. Progress Report 1 • A brief overview of the nature of the social issue (Maximum – 4 pages). • Each GROUP will write a brief, concise paper providing: • A Brief Overview Of The Community: • Demographic characteristics • Location • Major characteristics • Essential sociocultural/sociopolitical issues faced by the community • Eg: CDC, NIH, US Census, County Health Authorities and Agencies, City Data, MTA, Traffic, Crime Data, etc • A Brief Overview Of The Nature Of The Social Issue; • The Issue: What is the social issue? Provide definition(s) with outside sources. • Population Affected: What are the demographic characteristics - Ethnic Breakdown, Age, SES, and other relevant characteristics of the population affected by the social issue? • Current Efforts: What are the current efforts directed toward addressing the social issue? (direct/indirect services, advocacy)? • Each group will submit approximately 5-7 slides summarizing (as a group) the information above

3. Progress Report 2 • Each GROUP will write a brief, concise paper (4-5 pages maximum) providing: • An ecological analysis of the social issue: (http://www.appliedsoc.org/society/) • Overview of the issue using the specific language of the levels of analysis – micro, meso, and macro. • MICRO: As the name suggests this is the smallest of the levels of society. Micro level groupings are more intimate societies that many humans will automatically identify with first. Micro level societies are families, church groups, schools and the like. However, the complexity of this small group is that within the larger levels of society there are still smaller micro levels that make them up. • The micro level deals with the daily actions and interactions of people in society. It examines the social roles that we take on within society as well as how we react to society and understand it. At this more intimate level the focus is on how people think within society opposed to their behavior. • Micro level study of society hones in on the smallest elements that create the idea of what a society is, the norms and behaviors that make it recognizable as a its own society. Ritual, socialization, segregation of activities and sanctions are all indicators as to how one should interact within a society. They are the guidelines that mentally tip us off as to the type of micro level society we are in.

4. Progress Report 2 Cont… • An ecological analysis of the social issue: • Overview of the issue using the specific language of the levels of analysis – micro, meso, and macro. • Meso level is the lesser known of the society groupings as they aren’t dealing with huge societies of the macro level that affect many or the intriguing smaller, micro levels that deals with day to day human interaction. The Meso level is the middle ground the organizations that are on a mid scale, like communities or neighborhoods compared the macro structure of an entire city. • The meso level also deals with the divisions within societies, how they are broken apart by income, ethnicity and the like. It’s the marriage between the micro and macro level studies, analyzing how these medium-sized groups form within the larger ones. These meso societies include institutions such as jail as well, smaller systems of people with a different set of guidelines for societal organization. This are also referred to as total institutions.

5. Progress Report 2 Cont… • An ecological analysis of the social issue: • Overview of the issue using the specific language of the levels of analysis – micro, meso, and macro. • The Macro level is the largest of the society groupings. Macrosociology is a term describing the study of our largest societies and populations. In actuality the macro level doesn’t just study the largest of societies but also society as a whole. Globalization has aided in expanding the extent of study at the macro level to encompass more and more of the world. • The macro level looks at how the institutions within a large population affect the masses. Things like the economy, government structure, religion and more are all their own smaller groupings but together they form the boundaries of the macro level society. These institutions are interrelated and tend to be closely linked in their values giving off an overall feel of the culture that the society sprang from. • Many sociologist believe that it’s at the macro level of a society in these larger institutions that the root of a societies problems begin and therefore make them of great interest. Problems at this larger level tend to have a trickle down affect into the smaller scaled level of societies making it that much more important to address the problems here as soon as they’re found. From the macro level the internal structure of a society can begin to be rearranged to meet the needs of the growing, changing population.

6. Progress Report 2 Cont… • The FOUR PRINCIPLES OF ECOLOGY should be addressed separately, starting with a definition of the principle in your own words followed by a fact-based illustration of the principle as it relates to the issue. • ForInterdependence and Cycling of Resources, your application of each principle should cross all three levels of analysis (i.e., micro, meso, & macro).   • For Adaptation, you should address at least 2 of the 3 ecological levels of analysis independently. Focus on • (1) how people affected by the issue adapt to survive and grow (micro- level adaptation), • (2) how organizations adapt to the needs of the population affected by the issue, or, the constraints and opportunities in the local community (meso) or macro level (meso-level adaptation),or, • (3) how institutions at the macro level (state & federal) adapt to the demands from the micro or meso levels (macro-level adaptation). • For Succession, you should focus on a significant historical event which shaped the social issue. Provide a description of the event and the effect it had on the issue. Specify at which level (micro, meso, or macro) the event originated as well as the level (micro, meso, or macro) which you believe was most impacted and why. Each member of your group should focus on a different historical event.

7. Progress Report 2 Cont… • Each group will submit approximately 5-6 slides summarizing (as a group) the information above: • Slide 1: Overview of the issue using the levels of analysis – micro, meso, and macro. • Slides 2-5: The four principles of ecology should be addressed one-by-one, including an application of the ecological principle to the social issue, incorporating research/facts to support your analysis (providing definition of the principle is not necessary).

8. Progress Report 3 • Each GROUP will write a brief, concise paper (4-5 pages) providing: • How either prevention or empowerment could be used as a conceptual tool in developing an intervention Discuss how eitherempowerment or prevention could be used as a conceptual tool in developing interventions to address the issue. This should include the three elements below: • Define either empowerment or prevention and discuss their approach, citing the appropriate author(s). • Describe how the social issue could be further addressed holistically through using prevention or empowerment. • Provide an example of three interventions: • (1) A small group intervention intended to impact the (1) micro-level, • (2) an organizational intervention targeted to directly impact the meso-level, and • (3) a social intervention which targets the macro-level. • Each group will submit approximately 3-5 slides summarizing (as a group) the information above.

9. Community Analysis Project • This PowerPoint presentation should include a title slide, all prior slides (incorporating instructor feedback) and reference slide(s) in APA format (with the exception of spacing – references should be single spaced, not double-spaced). • All members of each group must participate in the delivery of the PowerPoint presentation. Each group will have approximately 25 minutes to present (including time for questions, comments, discussion).