Tutorial: Myth of the Middle Class
Fall 2001

As I told you, you have several options for this paper.

1. Make your own question: write a paper that compares Wahrman's work to one of the other things we have read on some specific point. You just need to make sure that your thesis is not just a description of difference or similarity but really responds to serious intellectual problem. That means you need to be able to write a common ground and disruption.

2. Wahrman says that after 1832 the middle class became a myth, a "self-evidently visible part of social reality." Weber, Marx, and Ehrenreich also ascribe a certain subjective element to class relations but its not clear that they would agree with Wahrman about how the "middle class" became a self-evident part of social reality. Choose either Weber, Marx or Ehrenreich and analyze their work to determine how they would explain how the middle class became a myth.

3. Throughout his book Wahrman constantly emphasizes "agency and contingency." That is, he emphasizes that image of an ever-rising middle class was not ever foreordained but had to be created by people as part of a historical process. Choose either Weber, Marx, Aristotle, or Ehrenreich and compare their view of history to that of Wahrman.

This paper should be two to three pages in length. It should make a point and be clear and coherent. The paper is due either October 15 or October 17 at 7 pm.

GENERAL REQUIREMENTS OF PAPER ASSIGNMENTS
The introduction of your paper should include a Common Ground, Disruption, Summary of your Logic, and a Thesis. Make sure your paper provides adequate development and support for your argument -- that is, sufficient evidence to convince the reader that you are presenting a valid interpretation of the facts. The paragraph structure of the body of the paper should relate directly to the logic of the argument laid out in your introduction.

Your paper should express your own ideas. You must footnote not only paraphrases from the texts, but also ideas borrowed; not to do so is plagiarism. Please proofread your paper for style and grammar, punctuation, page numbers, etc., as well as content. Better yet, have some one else proofread it for you.

Be sure to keep a print copy for yourself to insure against the possibility of a lost paper. No extensions are given for papers except for documented health reasons (documented through a physician) or a legitimate personal reason (documented through the Office of Student Affairs).

The paper should be accompanied by a title page which should include the paper's title, your name, mailbox number, and the date. The title should reflect your overall point, be centered on the title page one third of the way down and should not be underlined or within quotation marks unless it is in fact a quote. The rest of the information on the title page should be at the lower right of the page. The paper should be typed, double-spaced, indented at the beginning of a paragraph, and with 1 inch margins on all four sides. Title pages are not numbered; the subsequent pages should be, starting with "1." If you do not know how to do this, go to helpdesk documentation. (http://www.grinnell.edu/helpdesk/doc/WordPg.pdf)

Do not use the passive voice unless you have a good reason for it. Do not use "this" as a pronoun.
If you have any questions at all about this assignment, contact me as soon as possible.

Back to the syllabus
Last Modified: 12 October 2001