...Dustin Jones There were many social theorists from the period of the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This period of time is regarded as the period of the Enlightenment. A few of the major figures of this particular “movement” were Rene Descartes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Immanuel Kant. They altered the way in which the social world was viewed and helped pave the way for other classical social theorists to explain the individual’s role in society. Karl Marx, Alexis de Tocqueville, Henri De Saint-Simon, and Emile Durkheim are only the names of a few classical social theorists who set out to explore the role of an individual within society. These men believed that Reason, along with the application of a scientific approach, would be able to positively change the world and break through to a new form of power and authority. Although the ideas and theories of these men give rise to far greater advancement in sociological theory, there is a failure in intuition, and thus, a failure of the classical sociological element. The first section of this paper includes an explanation of classical sociology along with an overview of the theories associated with some of the greatest sociologists of this time. The next section of this paper explores reasons and explanations for the failure of classical social theory and interpretations to why before-mentioned theories were compromised. The final section of this paper summarizes some of the conclusions drawn about the...
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...Market Cours 1 Le 16/09/2014 Introduction Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville (29 July 1805 – 16 April 1859) was a French political thinker and historian best known for his works Democracy in America (appearing in two volumes: 1835 and 1840) and The Old Regime and the Revolution (1856). In both of these, he analyzed the improved living standards and social conditions of individuals, as well as their relationship to the market and state in Western societies. Democracy in America was published after Tocqueville's travels in the United States, and is today considered an early work of sociology and political science. Tocqueville was active in French politics, first under the July Monarchy (1830–1848) and then during the Second Republic (1849–1851) which succeeded the February 1848 Revolution. He retired from political life after Louis Napoléon Bonaparte's 2 December 1851 coup, and thereafter began work on The Old Regime and the Revolution. He argued that the importance of the French Revolution was to continue the process of modernizing and centralizing the French state which had begun under King Louis XIV. The failure of the Revolution came from the inexperience of the deputies who were too wedded to abstract Enlightenment ideals. Tocqueville was a classical liberal who advocated parliamentary government, but was skeptical of the extremes of democracy The work of Alexis de Tocqueville permit to understand how the financial market works Bastiat...
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...CHAPTER 10 Responsible Business Debate: Is Technology Healthy for Society? Issue: What are the benefits and drawbacks of technology to social interaction? While technology has brought advancements, conveniences, and efficiencies to our lives, some critics wonder if the benefits outweigh the costs, especially those that are transforming the ways we communicate, connect with other people, solve problems, and generally interact as human beings. In other words, are we losing the relationships that have made the United States a great place to live and work? In 1831, Alexis de Tocqueville visited the United States on behalf of the French government. He set out to study the prison system, but ended up writing a grand treatise, Democracy in America. In his book, de Tocqueville noted how Americans were dedicated to social cohesion, equality, common purpose, and concern for both individuals and the community. Years later, writers on the topic of social capital, mentioned in Chapter 2, drew from de Tocqueville’s work to describe the American approach to community service, active neighborhood associations, and other types of civic engagement. Recent studies, however, indicate civic engagement is declining. Is technology part of the problem? Consider these daily occurrences: Students do not talk to classmate after class, as they are quick to begin texting people they already know. People on the subway rarely acknowledge the riders they see every day, because they are busy checking...
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...provide for that freedom, governments must be in one accord with corporations to that end. Adam Smith’s writings tell us in the course of history that countries may finally become a “Nation of Commerce” as part of a natural progression. He further suggests an individual’s economy is inevitably woven into the fabric of society and that fabric should be allowed to grow without the interference of politics, which we can fairly judge as governments of all kinds (Smith, 1776). To this point, both Smith and Novak concur that, “sources of private capital and private wealth, independent of the state, are crucial to the survival of liberty”. (Novak, 1997, p. 32) The American corporation faces the responsibility of creating a social good beyond the four reasons given by Michael Novak. First, it creates jobs. Second, it provides desirable goods and services. Third, through its profits it creates wealth that did not exist before. Fourth, it is a private social instrument, independent of the state, for the moral and material support of other activities of society. (1997, p. 32) An emphasis on the fourth reason is essential as it is a significant role of the corporation. It is a critical part of the trustworthiness placed upon it by the affected society. One must take issue with Novak’s statement, “Absent the financial resources of major corporations, civil society would be a poor thing indeed” (1997, p. 32). He presents this...
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...Media B.V. 2009 Abstract We focus on the role that community plays in the continuum of disaster preparedness, response and recovery, and we explore where community fits in conceptual frameworks concerning disaster decision-making. We offer an overview of models developed in the literature as well as insights drawn from research related to Hurricane Katrina. Each model illustrates some aspect of the spectrum of disaster preparedness and recovery, beginning with risk perception and vulnerability assessments, and proceeding to notions of resiliency and capacity building. Concepts like social resilience are related to theories of ‘‘social capital,’’ which stress the importance of social networks, reciprocity, and interpersonal trust. These allow individuals and groups to accomplish greater things than they could by their isolated efforts. We trace two contrasting notions of community to Tocqueville. On the one hand, community is simply an aggregation of individual persons, that is, a population. As individuals, they have only limited capacity to act effectively or make decisions for themselves, and they are strongly subject to administrative decisions that authorities impose on them. On the other hand, community is an autonomous actor, with its own interests, preferences, resources, and capabilities. This definition of community has also been embraced by community-based participatory researchers and has been thought to offer an approach that is more active and advocacy oriented....
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...A Study On “Social capital and relation with Good Governance (GG)”. Tanzina Ferdous Department of Public Administration University of Dhaka. Preamble One of the most striking developments in social science over the last decade is the rise of interest in social capital as a mechanism for understanding socioeconomic phenomena. “Social Capital”, it’s a sociological concept, which refers to connection within and between social networks. Ours is an age of modern democracy. And this democracy is much more related to the term Social Capital. Social Capital stands for network building with one another in the society and mutual trust and belief among the people in the society. And democracy runs smoothly in that society where the Norms, Values and Networks that mean the bondage among the general people is much more strong. The term good governance is an adjective of “governance”; governance can be defined as power which exercises for effective conduct of country’s economy and social resources. The governance is good when it is able to attain this theoretical objective. Good governance can play a vital role for a healthy and independent economy and culture. And Good Governance can be ensured only when the Social Capital is strong in any society. So it can be obviously said that there is a potential relationship among Social Capital and Good Governance in the modern world perspective. Concept of Social Capital Social Capital is a Buzzword in the recent phenomenon. A growing body of research...
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...1. Interest groups- organization of people who share political, social or other goals; and agree to try to influence public policy to achieve those goals. 2. Alexis de Tocqueville- French political writer noted for his analysis of American institutions 3. public goods - benefits that everyone gets whether or not they join the group, 4. private goods- benefits that ONLY come to those who are members 5. free rider problem- Why would anyone join a group that will provide benefits to everyone regardless of membership? 6. union shop- anyone working for the company has to join the union or at least pay a part of the dues to cover cost of negotiating contracts 7. right-to-work laws- outlaw union shop contracts 8. benefits for group membership: solidarity- make people feel good for joining a group and working with others to make the world a better place. 9. Material- include things like discounts on goods or services, or low cost life or auto insurance. 10. Information- provide members with information that they find interesting and useful. 11. “Federalist Number 10”- how the new government created by the Constitution would help deal with the problem of factions. 12. Faction- He lumps parties and interest groups togetheras including both large groups (majority factions)and small groups (minority factions) ofpassionate people who are united bysome interest. 13. democratic pluralism- checking and balancing 14. lobbying- those activities...
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...Aristocracy (Greek ἀριστοκρατία aristokratía, from ἄριστος aristos "excellent," and κράτος kratos "power") is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule.[1] The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best".[2] In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy. In later times, aristocracy was usually seen as rule by a privileged group (the aristocratic class), and contrasted withdemocracy.[1] ------------------------------------------------- Concept The concept evolved in Ancient Greece, whereby a council of famous citizens was commonly used and contrasted with direct democracy in which a council of male citizens was appointed as their "senate". The Greeks did not like the concept of monarchy, and as their democratic system fell, aristocracy was upheld.[1] In Rome, the Republic consisted of an aristocracy as well as consuls, a senate, and a tribal assembly. Later, aristocracies primarily consisted of an elitearistocratic class, privileged by birth and often by wealth. Since the French Revolution, aristocracy has generally been contrasted with democracy, in which all citizens hold some form of political power. However this distinction is often oversimplified. In Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes describes an aristocracy as a commonwealth in which the representative of the citizens is an assembly by part. Simply put, a government when only a certain part of the general public can...
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...Imperial America EDGE Fall Quarter 2003 Tim Chueh Ambert Ho 12/5/03 What Is Imperialism? “Imperialism is the highest stage of capitalism…characterized by monopoly corporations and the compulsion to export capital abroad for higher profits. Unlike capitalism in the earlier stages, in the imperialist stage, capitalism has no more progress to bring the world…the cause of contemporary militarism” – Lenin “The policy, practice, or advocacy of seeking, or acquiescing in, the extension of the control, dominion, or empire of a nation, as by the acquirement of new, esp. distant, territory or dependencies, or by the closer union of parts more or less independent of each other for operations of war, copyright, internal commerce, etc.” – Oxford dictionary The word imperialism derives from “empire.” As such, it is useful to spend a bit of time to define the word. In working towards a minimal definition, Stanford Professor of Archaeology J. Manning in his first lecture on Ancient Empires starts with: “An empire is a territorially extensive hierarchically political organization.” Unfortunately this definition is too vague. All states encountered in human history are by definition hierarchical, and many nations today are vast compared to the...
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...Dibuat oleh kelompok 4: Anthony Wijaya /0131141216 Kelas : Bisnis 2L Danita Adriani /0131141209 Materi : Middle Class in Indonesia Eldo Mahadika /0131141107 Nita Surlyanti /0131141165 Kelas Menengah di Indonesia I. Pandangan para ahli Analisa kelas modern pada dasarnya bersumber dari dua tradisi pemikiran, Karl Marx dan Max Weber. Berikut akan dikupas padangan tentang kelas modern menurut masing-masing tokoh. A. Karl Marx Karl Marx dengan konsepsi “Marxisme” membuat suatu pendapat sendiri mengenai konsep kelas sosial. Ia berpendapat bahawa konsep kelas hanyalah alat analisa untuk melihat mekanisme penghisapan dari satu golongan atas golongan lain. Kelas sosial diukur dari seberapa seseorang memiliki faktor produksi, dan digambarkan sebagai gambaran seperti “kasta”. Ada beberapa unsur dalam teori kelas Karl Marx yang perlu diperhatikan. Pertama, tampak betapa besarnya peran segi struktural dibandingkan segi kesadaran dan moralitas. Pertentangan antar buruh dengan majikan bersifat objektif karena berdasarkan kepentingan objektif yang didasarkan kedudukan mereka masing-masing dalam proses produksi. Kedua, karena kepentingan kelas pemilik dengan kelas buruh secara objektif bertentangan, mereka juga akan mengambil sikap dasar yang berbeda terhadap perubahan sosial. Kelas pemilik, dan kelas-kelas atas pada umumnya mesti bersikap konserfatif, sedangkan kelas buruh, dan kelas-kelas bawah pada umumnya, akan besikap progresif dan revolusioner. Ketiga, dengan demikian...
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...Stephen Mennell HISTORY, NATIONAL CHARACTER AND AMERICAN CIVILISATION America is a land of familiar paradoxes. An agreeable civility habitually prevails in most everyday relations among people in America – yet the United States is factually a socially highly unequal society. In most parts of America, the laws and social customs strongly restrain people from doing harm to themselves and others by smoking – yet the laws and social customs only weakly restrain people from doing harm to themselves and others by the use of guns, and the murder rate is about four times as high per capita as in Western Europe. The usa is the world’s remaining super-power – yet internally the American state is in some ways strikingly weak. The usa has ‘saved the world for democracy’ on more than one occasion – but has itself become an aggressive militaristic society. And there appears to be an increasing divergence between how a large proportion of Americans view themselves and their country and how they are perceived by a large proportion of the 95 per cent of the world’s population who are not Americans. Hunting down myths It has been said that sociologists must be ‘myth-hunters’, tracking down popular beliefs that are ill founded (Elias 1978: 50-70). Whether simply exposing such beliefs to contrary evidence deployed by academics is sufficient to kill off myths and bring them home for mounting on the walls of our university departments is highly debateable. Nevertheless, we have a duty to call...
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...Most Americans nowadays like to think that they have the American Revolution pretty well figured out. Conventional wisdom starts the saga in 1763 when Britain, saddled with debt at the close of the Seven Years' War, levied new taxes that prompted her American colonists to resist, and then to reject, imperial rule. Having declared independence and defeated the British, American patriots then drafted the constitution that remains the law of the land to this day. With George Washington's inauguration as president in 1789, the story has a happy ending and the curtain comes down. This time-honored script renders the road from colonies to nation clear, smooth, and straight, with familiar landmarks along the way, from Boston's Massacre and Tea Party through Lexington and Concord, then on to Bunker Hill and Yorktown before reaching its destination: Philadelphia in 1787, where the Founders invented a government worthy of America's greatness. Those Founders are equally familiar. Washington and Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and James Madison, Sam and John Adams, Patrick Henry and Alexander Hamilton: in the popular mind this band of worthies, more marble monuments than mere mortals, guides America towards its grand destiny with a sure and steady hand. "[F]or the vast majority of contemporary Americans," writes historian Joseph Ellis, the birth of this nation is shrouded by "a golden haze or halo."(1) So easy, so tame, so much "a land of foregone conclusions" does America's Revolution...
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...AVI-YONAHFINAL.DOC FEBRUARY 26, 2002 2/26/02 5:38 PM Book Review Why Tax the Rich? Efficiency, Equity, and Progressive Taxation Reuven S. Avi-Yonah† Does Atlas Shrug? The Economic Consequences of Taxing the Rich. Edited by Joel B. Slemrod.∗ Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000. Pp. 524. $57.95. In Greek mythology, Atlas was a giant who carried the world on his shoulders. In Ayn Rand’s 1957 novel Atlas Shrugged, Atlas represents the “ prime movers” —the talented few who bear the weight of the world’s economy.1 In the novel, the prime movers go on strike against the oppressive burden of excessive regulation and taxation, leaving the world in disarray and demonstrating how indispensable they are to the rest of us (the “ second handers” ). Rand wrote in a world in which the top marginal federal income tax rate in the United States was 91% (beginning at taxable income of $400,000).2 This is an unimaginably high rate by today’s standards, when the dominant view in Washington is that a marginal rate of 39.6% (the top † Irwin I. Cohn Professor of Law, University of Michigan. I would like to thank Yossi Edrey, Allen Graubard, David Hasen, Judy Herman, Don Herzog, Jim Hines, Bob Kuttner, Doron Lamm, Jeff Lehman, Kyle Logue, Dan Shaviro, Joel Slemrod, Dennis Ventry, and Larry Zelenak for their extremely helpful suggestions. All errors are mine. * Paul W. McCracken Collegiate Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy, University of Michigan. 1. AYN RAND, ATLAS...
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...Upon completing this chapter, you will be able to… 1. Evaluate the role of interest groups in Texas. Chapter 7 discussed various forms of participation in the political process. Being an active member of an interest group is yet another form of political participation and a way to exert influence on the government. Chapter 7 also demonstrated that voter participation in Texas is relatively low. This lack of citizen involvement in elections leads to a corresponding increase in the importance and influence of interest groups in Texas politics. Indeed, it is frequently not the individual, or even the more broadly defined “public opinion,” that influences government, but rather these interest groups that have the ear of public officials. However, interest groups are not necessarily “others” but are often “us” as we act in concert with like-minded or similarly interested citizens. An interest group is an organization of individuals sharing common goals that tries to influence governmental decisions. This term is often used interchangeably with the term “lobby group,” although lobbying is a specific activity or technique (discussed later) whereby interest groups attempt to influence legislation. Sometimes the term political action committee (PAC) is also used to refer to interest groups. PACs are organizations that collect and distribute money to candidates and, as such, are a more specialized kind of interest group. Often, broad-based interest groups have PACs associated with...
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...An Essay on Fiscal Federalism Wallace E. Oates Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 37, No. 3. (Sep., 1999), pp. 1120-1149. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-0515%28199909%2937%3A3%3C1120%3AAEOFF%3E2.0.CO%3B2-A Journal of Economic Literature is currently published by American Economic Association. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/about/terms.html. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/journals/aea.html. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is an independent not-for-profit organization dedicated to and preserving a digital archive of scholarly journals. For more information regarding JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. http://www.jstor.org Tue Apr 24 17:00:09 2007 Journal of Economic Literature Vol. XXXVZZ (September 1999) pp. 1120-1 149 An Essay on Fiscal Federalism 1. Introduction ISCAL DECENTRALIZATION is in vogue. Both in the industrialized and in the...
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