Overview: In this 3-4 double-spaced page analytical synthesis (1500-1800 words), you will analyze inequality through the lens of Bourdieu’s capital using the texts we have read and discussed this semester. Rather than explain each author’s individual argument, you will find common themes in the texts that help you explain how economic, cultural, and social capital, and social class reproduction contribute to inequality. You will group the authors accordingly, make claims about how their ideas about inequality relate to Bourdieu’s capital, make connections, highlight similarities, and support your claims by synthesizing the authors’ arguments. Rationale: The ability to synthesize information is important in academic writing; rarely is there one perspective, one voice, or one answer to an issue. Synthesis skills are necessary for producing a literature review. Literature reviews have different purposes. Often the purpose is to discuss the significance of the topic and broad areas of agreement or controversy (e.g., the status quo) to carve out a gap that an author will fill in that same text. But other times, the purpose is for an expert to synthesize scholarship on a big topic (like inequality) so others can see connections outside of their specialized field. And these often point to remaining questions or avenues of inquiry. In your analytical synthesis, you will develop both your synthesizing and analytical skills. As we have seen with our discussion of the Onion Model in class, analyzing means breaking up something into its parts and seeing them through the lens of disciplinary knowledge. Throughout the first weeks of the semester, we have used the disciplinary knowledge/framework of Bourdieu’s capital to tease out the various authors’ arguments about inequality. Your job now is to use the concept of capital as the organizing principle of your analytical synthesis. The ability to analyze using a disciplinary framework is an important skill to have. The analytical synthesis and the problem analysis assignments in this course will prepare you for the kinds of tasks you will be expected to do in many of your course. Process: You may start by re-reading the texts and reviewing your notes about how the arguments made by the authors we read connect to Bourdieu’s capital. You should also review the discussion questions on canvas and your own and your classmates’ answers, the power point slides, and the google docs we have used in our class discussions. You will then group the authors’ ideas in terms of how they relate to economic, cultural, social capital, and social class reproduction. Using the authors’ ideas, you will make a claim about how capital and social class reproduction help to explain inequality. Throughout each paragraph, you will support your claims with evidence from the authors. To get you started early with your writing, you will write your analytical synthesis in three stages: Synthesis in-progress draft 1: Here you will synthesize the arguments of the authors we have read thus far during the semester. We won’t be done with all our readings on inequality by then, but it is important to start identifying which authors��� ideas relate to the different kinds of capital and social class reproduction, and to get started early with your writing. Synthesis in-progress draft 2: By this time, we will be done with all the readings on inequality, and you will be able to add the new authors to your on-going draft and continue to work on revisions of your synthesis in-progress draft 1. You will submit this as a draft and get feedback from your professor. Synthesis final draft: After you have received feedback on your full draft, you will work on revisions and submit your final draft. Audience: You should imagine that you are writing your analytical synthesis for an audience that is interested in inequality but that has NOT read the texts from our course. This means that you must make clear claims, precisely define and effectively use the terminology used by the authors, and provide relevant from the authors to support your claims. The Parts: In your introduction, begin by introducing the significance of the topic of inequality using shared context with your audience. Shared context refers to something the audience knows and can relate to before you delve into inequality and capital. Be sure to convince your readers from the outset of the significance of the issue you are exploring—in other words, why should they care about inequality? Then preview your main argument and your supporting claims about how economic, cultural, and social capital, and social class reproduction contribute to inequality. Your claims in your body paragraphs will relate to how the different forms of capital contribute to inequality. But note that you don’t necessarily have to have a separate paragraph to discuss social class reproduction. You may discuss social class reproduction in connection to the different forms of capital. Use PEEL to organize your paragraphs: Point, elaboration, evidence, and link. Start each major body paragraph with a topic sentence in which you make a claim (your point) about inequality using one form of capital or social class reproduction. Remember that a claim is a statement that needs to be defended and supported. Then explain the big picture idea of the claim (your elaboration) and provide evidence from the authors that have something to say about your claim. Use evidence in the form of paraphrases or relevant quotes from the authors. When you present evidence, you need to show how the evidence helps to support the claim you are making in this paragraph (this is your link). You will need to demonstrate how the different authors add something to your understanding of the claim so that it becomes stronger than the perspective of any single author. Although there will be some differences among individual authors’ perspectives, emphasize what they have in common. Stay focused! Make sure that your paragraph is only about one topic and not multiple topics! In your conclusion, you will need to re-iterate the major points made in your synthesis and discuss wider implications by considering how, for example, the ideas presented may help you understand a specific case of inequality, or how you see inequality impacting your immediate context, or how you think inequality will play out in the future.
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