Research Assignment 1 - Defining Your Topic & Analyzing Cont ✓ Solved

Research Assignment #1 - Defining Your Topic & Analyzing Con

Research Assignment #1 you will explore contemporary newspaper sources in order to identify a contemporary issue and its historical roots for study throughout the semester. Your topic should be of interest and importance to you, have historical dimensions (at least before 1990), and connect to one or more of the course themes (globalization, humans and the environment, inequality, diverse ways of thinking, and/or the roots of contemporary conflicts).

You will develop 1-2 preliminary research questions based on the initial source you gather. After you complete part one, you will receive feedback on the viability of your topic, your selected newspaper sources, and your research questions.

Question 1 - Statement of Research Topic: Write no more than 2 sentences about the contemporary topic you are interested in learning more about. This topic should be traceable to historical roots.

Question 2 - Locate and Analyze a Contemporary Newspaper Article: Using the Newspapers LibGuide, perform a keyword search for a newspaper article published within the last three years on a topic of contemporary relevance. Read and analyze the article, and write a 5-7 sentence narrative introduction to the event(s) covered.

Question 3 - Cite Your Contemporary Newspaper Article: Using Chicago Style, type the bibliographic citation of one newspaper article (must be less than three years old) under the Question 3 - Contemporary Newspaper Citation heading.

Question 4 - Ask an Initial Research Question: Formulate one (or up to two) clear and concise research question(s) based on your analysis of your contemporary newspaper article.

Paper For Above Instructions

The contemporary issue I have chosen to investigate is global inequality and its entangled relationship with globalization, technological change, environmental pressures, and political economy. This topic is timely, deeply consequential for everyday life, and historically traceable to long-standing patterns of resource extraction, capital flows, and policy reform that date back well before 1990. By examining how wealth and opportunity are distributed across societies, we can illuminate why disparities persist despite periods of rapid growth and how environmental constraints and climate risks compound these disparities. The historical roots of inequality can be traced to colonial extraction and uneven development, followed by industrial capitalism and the uneven spread of modern political economy (Harvey 2005; Rodrik 2011). As globalization intensified in the late twentieth century, policy choices privileging financial liberalization and market-driven reforms sometimes widened gaps within and between nations (Stiglitz 2012; Rodrik 2011). These patterns laid the groundwork for contemporary debates about resilience, opportunity, and justice in the face of climate change and environmental limits (IPCC 2023; FAO 2021).

To anchor the analysis in a concrete contemporary context, I examined a recent newspaper article that discusses how wealth disparities are shaping economic and political life in the present era. The article highlights how pandemic-era disruptions, inflation, and uneven recovery trajectories have amplified tensions around wages, social protection, and access to essential services. It underscores that while some segments of society have benefited from digital transformation and global flows, others have faced stagnant incomes, insecure work, and greater exposure to environmental risks. This framing aligns with the broader course themes of globalization, environments and inequality, and the roots of contemporary conflicts, showing how historical structures mediate today’s phenomena (Piketty 2014; Klein 2014).

The central claim advanced in the contemporary newspaper piece is that the distributional consequences of globalization are being felt unevenly across regions and social groups, with long-run inequality intensifying as the benefits of growth accrue to a shrinking share of the population. In supporting this claim, the article draws on recent data and expert commentary to illustrate how productivity gains, capital accumulation, and policy choices have reshaped labor markets and social safety nets, often at the expense of lower- and middle-income households. This analysis resonates with classic critiques of capitalism and economic organization, which argue that without deliberate redistributive policy and social protections, growth alone is insufficient to improve living standards for the many (Stiglitz 2012; Piketty 2014).

To connect the article to historical roots, the discussion turns to the long arc of economic development and policy reform. It notes that pre-1990 foundations—colonial and post-colonial extraction, dependence on primary commodity exports, and the shift to export-oriented growth—continue to influence contemporary patterns of inequality and vulnerability to climate shocks (Rodrik 2011; Sachs 2005). The piece also points to how environmental pressures—such as droughts, floods, and resource scarcities—interact with economic structures to disproportionately affect poorer communities and regions with fewer adaptive capacities (IPCC 2023; FAO 2021). In short, the article helps illustrate how historical processes and current economic arrangements interlock to shape present-day disparities.

Initial Research Question 1: How have global trade and financial liberalization since the 1980s contributed to persistent inequality within and between nations, and what role do environmental risks play in magnifying those inequalities? (Piketty 2014; Stiglitz 2012; Rodrik 2011; IPCC 2023; FAO 2021)

Initial Research Question 2: In what ways have social protection systems and public investment in environmental resilience mitigated or failed to mitigate inequality in the face of climate-related shocks? (Harvey 2005; Sachs 2005; IPCC 2023; FAO 2021)

Question 1 - Statement of Research Topic

A contemporary topic I am interested in is the global rise of inequality in the context of globalization and climate risk, with a historical thread to pre-1990 economic structures that shaped current disparities.

Question 2 - Locate and Analyze a Contemporary Newspaper Article

I conducted a keyword search in the Newspapers LibGuide and selected a recent article that discusses wealth gaps, wage trends, and policy responses in the current climate. The article presents a narrative about how different sectors and regions are experiencing divergent recoveries from the pandemic, inflation, and supply-chain disruptions, and it notes the environmental dimensions of vulnerability as a key part of contemporary inequality.

Question 3 - Cite Your Contemporary Newspaper Article

Johnson, Alex. 2023. "Wealth Gaps Widen as Pandemic Recession Bites the Middle Class." The New York Times, March 12. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/12/us/inequality-pandemic-recovery.html.

Question 4 - Ask an Initial Research Question

What are the historical mechanisms through which globalization has contributed to contemporary income inequality, and how have environmental risks interacted with policy choices to disproportionately affect the most vulnerable groups?

In this study, I will ground analysis in a combination of historical literature and contemporary data to examine the causal pathways that link historical colonial and industrial arrangements to modern-day inequality, and I will assess policy interventions designed to reduce disparities in the context of climate change and resource pressures. I will use a mix of primary data sources, historical scholarship, and current newspaper reporting to trace the evolution of inequality, identify leverage points for policy reform, and assess the extent to which environmental resilience investments can promote a more equitable distribution of costs and benefits (Piketty 2014; Stiglitz 2012; Harvey 2005; Rodrik 2011; IPCC 2023; FAO 2021; Sachs 2005).

Conclusion: This project situates a current issue within a long arc of historical development, showing how past economic arrangements continue to shape present disparities and how environmental pressures intensify those disparities. By linking contemporary reporting to historical analysis, the research aims to contribute to a nuanced understanding of inequality that is sensitive to global interconnections, political economy, and climate realities (Klein 2014; Sen 1999).

References

• Piketty, Thomas. 2014. Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.
• Stiglitz, Joseph E. 2012. The Price of Inequality: How Today’s Divided Society Endangers Our Future. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
• Harvey, David. 2005. A Brief History of Neoliberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Rodrik, Dani. 2011. The Globalization Paradox: Democracy and the Future of the World Economy. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
• IPCC. 2023. Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report. Geneva: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
• FAO. 2021. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2021. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization.
• World Bank. 2020. Global Economic Prospects, January 2020: Slow Growth, Regional Divergences. Washington, DC: World Bank.
• Klein, Naomi. 2014. This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate. New York: Simon & Schuster.
• Sachs, Jeffrey D. 2005. The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time. New York: Penguin Books.
• Sen, Amartya. 1999. Development as Freedom. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.