PROBLEM I IDENTIFICATION ESSAY—CAPITALISM/DEMOCRACY The Problem Identification essay, 2 pages, single spaced, establishes your ability to invent a scholarly research question from the larger and more complex problems of business ethics. This essay is, essentially, the 1st section of any longer piece of writing, and should exhibit your ability to: 1) Describe the overall context of the problem at hand2) Describe the problem as it emerges from the context 3) Invent a research question or specific problem that you want to interrogate Typically, the 1st Section (the Problem Identification Essay) of your writing includes A Set-up for your Research Question, a brief lay-of the land narrative that provides a broad description of the problem at hand. This general comment shows what brings you to the issue, often by way of setting down the current scholarly debate, or by describing a scene from a film, book, or news event. Set-up Sample: “The themes of citizenship and community are being discussed in many quarters of the left today. This is no doubt a consequence of the crisis of class politics and indicates the growing awareness of the need for a new form of identification around which to organize the forces struggling for a radicalization of democracy.”The Problem as you see it, which hints at the Research Question itself. This brief narrative frames the issue at hand so that you can then ask a specific question for your research.Problem Sample: “I believe that the question of political identity is crucial and that the attempt to construct citizens’ identities is one of the more important tasks of democratic politics. But there are many different versions of citizenship and vital issues are at stake in their contest. The way we define citizenship is intimately linked to the kind of society and political community we want.”The Research Question (#1 above) which can take the form of a stated problem (“In this essay I want to interrogate the ways ideology informs our identity-constructs”), or an actual question (“In what ways does ideology determine our identity?) This is the single most important component of your writing.Research Question Sample: “How should we understand citizenship when our goal is both a radical and plural democracy? Such a project requires the creation of a chain of equivalence among democratic struggles, and therefore the creation of a common political identity among democratic subjects. For the term citizens to actually mean this and function in this way, what conditions must it meet?”The Research Method and a glimpse of your Researched Argument. This optional narrative shows how you plan to address the question through research, and how your argument will emerge from your findings. Research Method Sample: “These are the problems that I will address, and I will argue that the key task is how to conceive of the nature of the political community under modern democratic conditions. I consider that we need to go beyond the conceptions of citizenship of both the liberal and civic republican tradition while building on their respective strengths.”
