[[Answered] Sociology and Relationship of Food and Food Waste in Our Culture

Description

Food Waste

 

Goal: To examine the Sociology and relationship of food and food waste in our culture.  IE:  How do we form our relationship with food/food waste?  What elements contribute to our waste, or to our prevention of waste?  What food systems contribute to waste, what practices do we have that help save or waste food.  What is being done to draw attention to this topic, what solutions are being proposed, what resistance is there to mitigating food waste, why do we waste food.   Use terms and concepts we have covered in class including social justice, life-cycle analysis, social variables, momentum, and waste.  Answer the question: why does food waste matter and what is being done about this social issue? 

 

 

 

Points:  150 points     Date Due:  April 12th       Submit on Canvas ONLY

 

All papers must be single-spaced.  Font no larger than 11, Calibri or New Times Roman ONLY!   You must have at least 7 total citations/sources; books, journals, articles, websites, etc.  All sources must be included in the works cited, and all sources must be considered scholarly.  If you have questions, please contact your GTA. 

 

Assignment Expectations and instructions:  To attain full points for this project you will have to accomplish the following:

 

Conduct research on food waste, cultural food practices, food production, efforts to waste/reduce waste, etc.  DO NOT simply search the first page of Google (dig deep, use many different search engines, and use the library).  Compile your research, and type a2 page single spaced essaythat addresses these issues and topics.  EVERYONE will have 4 sources that are required for this assignment, in addition to at LEAST 3 other scholarly sources.  (Required links will be posted on Canvas (75 points)

 Using detailed research, a Sociological foundation, and your own insight, propose pragmatic solutions to our food waste issues in detail, including what is being done, why, and how reducing food waste can impact our global population in meaningful ways. Write a2-page single spaced response paperdiscussing these ideas.  Use Soc. terms, make observations, and use your own opinion and research.  (75 points)

 

Sociological Relevance
The Food Waste essay assignment in this course incorporates all four-course objectives that are outlined in the syllabus. The assignment in general is designed for you to gain a new perspective on the way we look at the food waste and solutions to this issue, because what we choose to eat and waste is a social phenomenon and one that we cannot escape because we depend on eating to live. The first course objective (1) is ‘to help you to understand your society – society as it is and as it might be.’ This assignment accomplishes this objective because food is generally not focused on as an integral part of society so by analyzing how we eat/waste and how those choices effect us.

The second course objective (2) is ‘to help you understand the social world on our planet – the world as it is and as it might be.’ Through the research that you will complete in this assignment, you will come across data and analyses that demonstrate the impact that current food relationships/practices have on our planet – both good and bad. You will then be able to develop an analysis of your own choices to understand food/food waste and the certain ways will impact our society, our world and the future of both. 

The third course objective (3) is ‘to help you understand yourself better – you are member of society and should understand how and why you behave and believe as you do.’ Because you eat just as every other member of society, through this assignment you will learn things about the food you eat that you may never have realized before and what you learn may or may not change your eating habits but it will definitely change the way you look at your food habits and the impact that those have on society and earth.

The fourth course objective (4) is ‘to prepare you for other courses in sociology.’ This assignment requires multiple components including research, critical thinking and comparative analyses; these are all components that you will see in nearly all sociology classes (among other disciplines) and by doing them in an introductory sociology class, you are gaining skills that will help you as you continue to pursue your college degree. Overall, this assignment, if completed thoughtfully and correctly, should represent the purpose of this class as a whole and give you a new perspective to look at food as well as many other topics that will be covered throughout this course.

 

Breathe.  Consider many views.  Look at the micro and the macro of our society. 

 

IMPORTANT TIPS ON SUCCEEDING WITH THIS PROJECT

 

READ and FOLLOW the guidelines.

 

I cannot stress this enough. I do not want this assignment – and my expectations – to be a mystery to you. I spend a great deal of time preparing guidelines for you so you can *know* what I am looking for. Please read the guidelines carefully and follow them.

 

Start early and have a concrete PLAN.

 

Start by making a list of the most tangible, concrete actions that you must take to write the paper. This will help you in this class, and throughout college. This will also help you to get started. All jobs are easier when we break them into their smallest component parts.  I have purposely constructed this assignment into separate parts to facilitate a better understanding of what I require from each section. 

 

Include your complete name and a title at the top of the first page.

 

You do not need to include a title page – save paper! However, you must include your name on the first page, and you should include a title for the paper. You can just title your paper “Socialization Essay” or you can get creative.  Do NOT take up a lot of space with this, maker it simple and in the upper left hand corner if you do not have a title page. 

 

SUBMIT the project in ONE document.  DO NOT submit this project in many separate files. 

Use subheadings.

 

I ask that you use subheadings because it helps organize you, and it helps organize the paper. It also ensures that you have covered all of the topics that I have asked you to cover.  Do NOT separate or give extra space for your headings, this can be a waste of space needed to be dedicated to writing and research.  

 

Write with paragraphs.

 

You should never have a paragraph that spans a page or more. Each page should have at least two paragraphs. If you have a paragraph that spans more than a page, you need to break it up.

 

How do you determine what should go in a paragraph? Each paragraph should begin with a strong topic sentence. Then everything follows that sentence should address that topic. Here is an example.

 

Paragraph 1: The high school I attended would be classified by Kozol (XXXX) as a middle-tier school. [Everything that follows in this paragraph should be about your school and sociological information regarding the importance of school.]

 

Paragraph 2: Like many youth who attend middle tier schools, the neighborhood I grew up in was a nice, safe, suburban neighborhood. [Everything that follows that topic sentence in this paragraph should be about your neighborhood and sociological information regarding the importance of neighborhoods.]

 

Include citations.

 

You must include a minimum of 7 citations. If you address all the topics I have on the guidelines, I believe you will be able to include a lot more than the minimum.

 

CHECK YOUR Canvas EMAIL. Beginning early in the semester, I will start sending out information to you – how to cite the films from class, various web addresses where you can get data, etc. I imagine some of the questions you might have (and then some) will be answered in these emails that I am sending out.

 

Check your citations.

 

Make sure that ALL of the citations that you include in the text are in the bibliography/works cited. And, vice versa, make sure that ALL of the citations in the bibliography are actually in the text. Said differently, if you cite 10 different sources in the text, you should have 10 distinct sources in the bibliography.

 

Make sure that citations are complete.

 

You can use ANY citation format, as long as you are thorough and consistent.

 

Moreover, your citations must be complete. In particular, you cannot just copy and paste a web address – you must include full citation info in the bibliography. 

 

Also, if you are citing multiple lecture notes, you need to distinguish which notes you are referring to. (Again, Check Canvas for emails on how to do this correctly.)

 

Be precise.

 

Do not use vague statements like “organic food costs more” or “conventional food is safe” in your paper. Instead, look up data and facts and be as precise as possible.

 

Connect your personal experience to larger social processes.

 

The key to this paper is to get you thinking *sociologically* about your experiences. You cannot just “talk about yourself” and tell me your story about your life. You *must* go deeper and connect your personal experiences to larger social processes.  You can do this by adding relevant sociological terms, data, textual information, etc.  The “key” is to start thinking, seeing, and writing as a Sociologist; something we work on developing all semester long.   

 

All semester in class, we have talked about general trends and patterns. Here is a general trend or pattern: 73% of Whites own their own homes, while only 49% of African Americans and 48% of Latinos own their own homes. This, in part, explains the racial wealth gap in the United States.

 

Your experience MAY or MAY NOT fit this exact trend or pattern. If it does, tie together your experience to the trend. If it doesn’t, then tell me why you think you fall outside the “statistical norm.”

 

Also, at every moment in the essay, ask yourself, how does this connect to a theme or idea or data that I have learned about in the class? So, for example, if you include a story in the essay about your parents eating habits and fast food, then connect that to larger social processes! That would be a perfect place for you to either a) cite a reading/film from class b) to cite the lecture notes from a corresponding class! Or both!

 

Leave time to proof read your paper.

 

You should spell check the entire paper. You should also proof your paper. The best way to do that is to READ THE PAPER OUT LOUD.  I know it is embarrassing (and as such, I don’t recommend doing it in a public place!). However, you can read it out loud in your room. You will be surprised at how different sentences sound when you say them out loud.

 

Please be honest with me.

 

Finally, PLEASE be honest with me. Do not email me just hours, or a day, before the essay is due and fabricate an excuse for why it isn’t done. I have far more respect when students just tell me the truth, say, “Hi Jason, Sorry, I couldn’t get it done; I’ll have it to you by 10 p.m. tonight.” It is very hard for me to assess what is, and is not true, when I get elaborate emails detailing why the paper is late. It is for that reason, and because I want to be fair to the students who turn in their papers on time, no late papers are accepted. The ONLY time I grant exceptions to that rule is when someone has a documented medical or personal emergency.

 

With that said, I know accidents happen and computers fail and jump drives get lost, etc. For that reason, I would strongly suggest that you save your paper multiple times and in multiple places (e.g., jump drive, USB drive, etc.). These explanations, by the way, do not count as a “documented emergency” and as such, even if they happen to you, you will still be penalized for the late paper. Remember, always better to be safe rather than sorry.

 

Breathe.  Relax.  Do Well.

 

 

Solution

Food wastes are a global concern since it directly impacts the environment, economy, and health of the population (Capponi 490). According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, approximately one-third of produced food for human ingestions gets lost or wasted in the whole world, thus translating to about 1.3 billion tons of food per year (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 1). Food waste and loss result from our daily activities that include production, transportation, and consumption. Cultural practices also play a significant role in determining food waste perception and thus differ from one culture to another irrespective of its development. The current paper explores the Sociology and relationship of food and food waste in our culture, with a focus on different elements such as why food wastes matter factors are contributing to food wastes, strategies used in prevention…………..Purchase the link to access the full answer @$16