...between the social production and capitalist appropriation. In the chapter titled Theoretical, Engels lays out the basic conflict between what we know as socialism and capitalism, doing so by first examining what he calls the “Materialist conception of history” (Engels 1939, p. 292). In his materialistic history he claims that the exchange and bartering of products, and their production is the “basis of every social order” (Engels 1939, p. 292). He states that in every society that has ever appeared in history, the distribution and production of goods and the division of society into estates and classes is “determined by what [and how it] is produced… and the exchange of [said] product.” (Engels 1939, p.292) Thus, according to Engels, the basis of our society revolves around production, and consumption, which can clearly be seen even today. Historical Materialism can then be defined as the forces of production, the exchanges of products, and the division of labor according to one’s ability to produce. However in society, often people live from the work of others often called the Bourgeoisie by Engels (p. 292), and it is because of the capitalist mode of production that such a ruling class could be created, and benefit from the work of others. It is here then that we find the fundamental contradiction in capitalism. To find this contradiction, we must look back onto a time when feudalism was the center of the economy, where small-scale production was common, and where the “instruments...
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...Ans1: Table using own results: Four measures of error Preferred hand Algebric/ constant error CE 1.63 NonPreferred hand 3.25 (Mean) Variable errorVE (SD) 2.49 3.52 Total VariabilityE 2.98 4.79 Absolute ErrorAE 0.16 0.33 Ans2: CE is the mean of the scores including positives and negatives. The positive value is obtained when the Curling ball goes over the target and a negative score is the distance before reaching the target. The total positive or negative value will tell you if in overall you overshot Curling ball or under shot. In my case CE value of 1.63 means that average distance of scores from the target was 1.63 cms before reaching the target point when curling. Likewise 3.25 for the nonpreferred hand would mean 3.25 cms distance on average the scores would be before reaching the target, and therefore under shot. VE is the standard deviation of the scores. This will tell us the variability of scores in relation to the mean. If I had a lower VE score it would mean that I did not deviate much from my mean, which shows a consistency like always throwing the curling ball to around the same spot. In my case VE score of 2.49 means that 68% of the scores fall within +/ 2.49 cms for the preferred hand and +/ 3.52 of the nonpreferred hand of the mean or CE of 1.63 or 3...
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...Self Culture and Society - Dorothy Lee "Individual Autonomy and Social Structure" Essay 1 October 2015 Many societies have adopted the notion of following a social structure where there is a type of hierarchy in an organisation based on the relationship between individuals. In the Western culture, a social structure is defined as a system that is based on the establishment of social interactions between diverse relationships such as those between parents and children. In contrast, non-western societies have been living a lifestyle where individual autonomy prevails within different families. Hence, in those societies, the concept of child-rearing is a process of self-governance. This idea is well depicted in Dorothy Lee’s article titled Individual Autonomy and Social Structure in which she illustrates the key social problem as the conflict between individual autonomy and social structure. In this paper, I will be exploring how the concept of child-rearing within the Navaho Indians, the Wintu Indians and Sikh cultures is used to resolve the key social problem by analysing how individual autonomy is shaped by cultural framework and by examining the idea of individual integrity as well as self-governance. To begin with, through the use of different societies and cultures such as Aboriginal societies, Upper Burma and the Burmese society, Lee presents the reader with materials from each society in order to show how the idea of individual autonomy is reinforced by...
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...Chapter 3: Cultural dynamics2- interactions, mindsets and behaviors Concept of the self and other: * it is largely about people within a society responding positively and unconsciously to membership. * The concept of the self is a modal view of what people are in society and therefore what they are allowed to do. Assumptions are related to the main sociodemographic categories (age, sex, social class) idealized conduct in particular role(the perfect partner, businessman, child). * The concept of the self has major implications in the area of consumer behavior. Briefly, our possessions are a major reflector of our identities, as we ascribe meaning to what we buy and consume, we strive to assert, complete, or attain our “ideal” self through out possessions. * Most studied of self-concept across cultures is the tendency toward an independent or interdependent self-construal. The two relatively stable self-construals which emphasize the degree to which people see themselves as separate from or connected to others. They described the western or individualist self as independent Is human nature good or bad? * How should we treat unknown people? Unknown people are considered favourably or treated with suspicion when met the first time. * Appraising others, emphasis placed on: age, sex, social class * Assume human nature is good, friendly and open-minded to people we don’t know. Australians have a strong positive belief about new people, who are assumed...
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...Culture and Socialization Learning to be Human Understanding Cause & Effect • Correlation - the existence of a regular relationship between two sets of occurrences or variables. • Causation - a relationship in which one event or situation brings about the other. • Correlation does not imply causation. But a causal relationship must mean that two variables are correlated. Sociological Imagination • The more we understand what is happening in the world, the more frustrated we often become, for our knowledge leads to feelings of powerlessness. We feel that we are living in a world in which the citizen has become a mere spectator or a forced actor, and that our personal experience is politically useless and our political will a minor illusion (Mills 1959) Macro argument. Chapter 3 Culture & Society The Concepts of Culture Culture - The values the members of a given group hold, the norms they follow, and the material goods they create. Values - abstract ideals. For example, monogamy is a prominent value in most Western societies. Norms - definite principles or rules people are expected to observe Society - a system of relationships that connects individuals who share the same culture. The Concepts of Culture Culture and society are closely related. Cultural variations among humans are linked to different types of society. No culture could exist without a society; equally, no society could exist without culture. The Concepts of Culture Ethnocentrism – judging...
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...Discuss the psychosocial & cultural significant of therapy culture today. Introduction In the today’s’ modern world, psychology education is a vital unit for the society. This is largely because; the foundation of today’s society is fundamentally based on cognitive related activities and emotions. Statistically, reference to psychology today is so deep rooted that some the job market for a psychologist is constantly on the rise as patients are everyone, and are everywhere. Psychological and cultural significance As a result, one of the common dispositions towards treatment and emotions that has arisen is that spoken about by Dr. Yates (2011), in his journal on reflexive self. This is basically the fact that the society though an emotionally driven sector, has an evidently open negative view towards emotions and their treatment. One would expect the situation to vary from how it was in the 19th and 20th century where emotions and any form of cognitive treatment was a cause of stigmatization and a sign of weakness, but like culture, some ideas are rather deep rooted. Today, the mere mention of treatment is a factor enough to subject especially media personalities or celebrities and renowned political figures to a world of criticism. Derek Draper who is a celebrity therapist confirms the trauma that celebrities found in need of therapy have to deal with and how these media persons try to avoid therapy and any other form of psychoanalytical form of treatment, for their sake...
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...increased issue in today’s society as it produces unproductive, unhappy members of society who, like the person in the image below displaying the effects of anxiety, are unable to...
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...congregation of African Americans only, and any other race was not allowed to worship with them. As a result, she grew up with no knowledge of any other culture but this. After getting employed, she was openly racist with no regard to the people she was meant to work with. She did not attend to clients from different races and never associated with her colleagues. Her culture propagated her racist ideologies. Hence, it is obvious that culture often goes hand in hand with racism. Racism is the clear discrimination against people who do not have the same skin colour as you. The lifestyles of the people around us should be celebrated and embraced. Therefore, culture should not be used as a way of propagating racism or any other kind of prejudice. It is evident that the racial prejudice is a mindset, which is subject to change. Racism should be criminalized because it denies the community from the full potential of a person and the loss of opportunities that could empower the whole society. (Dovidio & Gaertner, 2004). There is a stereotype that there is a wealthy race in the society. It is considered that this race is arrogant and did not necessarily gain their wealth rather they inherited it. Having wealth does not necessarily mean that you are bound to prejudice just because your ancestors were racists. Being privileged in the society brings a kind of responsibility to the people around you. The privileged have the responsibility to ensure that...
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...The classification of Goth as a subculture in society The subject matter of this essay will aim to show that the group known as Goth, is indeed a subculture in society. This essay will demonstrate that this group has its own individual values and norms, separate to that of mainstream society and how it has managed to reinvent itself inside and against mainstream society since it emerged during the 1980's. I have chosen to pick Goths for this essay as they have managed to last as a subculture in many countries worldwide and in my view have successfully distinguished themselves from the dominant culture in society. This essay will try to define what the group is, it will explain what a subculture is and how Goths are a part of that subculture, and it will outline and explain the concept of values with respect to the Goth group while differentiating those values between the gothic subculture and the dominant culture in society. Through norms, dress, language and artifacts it will also show why Goths should indeed be classed as a subculture, separate to that of mainstream society, as they have identified themselves as a subculture through symbols and nineteenth century gothic literature influences as well as contemporary imagery and style through horror films (Hodkinson 2002). The concept of subcultures can be traced back to Frederic Thrashers work on Chicago gangs, when he identified that the gang had its own distinct traditions, morals and their own structure as a group which...
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...these findings and claimed that it is a “growing epidemic”. The results also show that there are more cases of female obesity than male. Obesity is commonly associated with cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, hypertension, and mortality. (Corbin & Welk, 1970) For women, obesity implies more risk in developing complications due to maternity. Before, it was only a term for the condition of a person who suffered from exposure to unhealthy living that created excess weight. (Fahey, Insel & Roth, 2011) An article in the Journal of Obesity revealed that many obese people suffer from depression and low self-appreciation. In the study, it was observed that obese people tend to have a lower self-esteem compared to their thinner counterpart. In accordance to this, researchers have already conducted experiments to examine the relationship between obesity and psychological problems such as poor self-esteem. In all cases of obesity, people have larger body size. Therefore, obesity makes them more conscious about their body image to avoid social...
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...Personality Why examine personality in light of culture? A cultural approach is like a device that will allow us to image the various social worlds-sets of culture specific meanings and practices-that continually afford and maintain individual behavior. A cultural approach can illuminate what has also been hidden, at least within an individualist culture; it makes visible the systems of meanings and practices- the language, the collective representations, the metaphors, the social scripts, the social structures, the policies; the institutions, the artifacts-within which people come to think and feel and act. For example, cross-cultural comparisons have show that Western theories of attribution processes do not apply well to non-Western populations, but distinctions between the sexes appear to be cultural universals. During the history of cross-cultural comparisons, the direction of “transport and test” process was one way: research based on Western theories was tested in non-Western cultures. Unfortunately, this approach yielded a distorted picture of human nature, particularly of the non-Western society. This research yielded inconsistent results and failed to shed much light on the psychological realities of the non-Western society. The articulation of a truly universally understanding of human nature and personality therefore also requires the development of theories of behavior originating in all non-Western societies. Cross-cultural research has shown that for many...
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...the character of modern culture and three keywords for postmodern culture, explain why you choose those words. i. Modern culture a. Scientific knowledge Scientific knowledge had become an important factor to determine modernist thought, decision and order. I agree with the sentence which mention that technology based on scientific knowledge could control most of nature’s negative effect of human life and improve human existence. Modernist start to have logically minded to find the way to discard the norm from the past, therefore human society could make a decision to put themselves either in proper or improper order, the decision was depending on scientific knowledge. b. Emancipation Emancipation was a significantly transformation of human society. People used to rely on his or her fate, but in modern culture they set to emancipated as is the transition of scientific knowledge. They discarded nature of human being, and try to have more logical perception and control their mind to improve their life. c. Order As mentioned on the book that modernity discarded the norm of earlier order and change from spiritual order into material order. The gap occurs in the order of society, where there are superiority and inferior. ii. Postmodern culture a. Self-image In postmodern culture there are many people who start to give attention to their own self-image. They tend to consume brand name to make them more sensational. Therefore consistency of self-image has faded away, they...
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...Culture, in my own opinion, is a unique system of values and norms that are believed by a group of people who live in the same society. Since culture is unique, Geert Hofstede tried to study the differences. After the study, he proposed five dimensions to measure the cultural difference between nations. The following parts will explain Hofstede Framework briefly. The first dimension is Power Distance. It is a tool to measure the power difference between levels in organization. In a group with high power distance, the majority of people would tend to respect in authority and establish hierarchy. When observing their behavior, they would have a great esteem on the class of social level. By contrary, a society with a low power distance would not fear authority and view themselves as equal with equal rights. Generally, the power distance in Oriental is higher than that in Occidental. The second dimension is Individualism vs. Collectivism. This index measures the preference of a group of people in considering self-benefit or group-benefit. In a society of collectivism, the society would have strong group cohesion and have higher responsibility on others well-being. Besides, the management level would tend to discuss with their subordinates before making a decision. By contrary, people will have loose ties and lack of interpersonal connection when a society prefers individualism. Generally, the Oriental prefer to focus on collectivism; the Occidental prefer to focus on the individualism...
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...“Brands have become a ubiquitous phenomenon in our contemporary world. They are indispensable for companies and consumers alike. Critically discuss this contention” “Branding is at once one of the most artificial and yet most real forces in our society” * Kornberger 2010 This paper assesses and discusses the importance of brands in todays world. Focusing on the positive and negative affects brands can have through the initial relationship of a product to a name, to then more importantly its attached meaning and perception. It will also discuss the foundations of branding and how brands have become such a critical requirement for companies to be successful in todays fast moving technological age. Furthermore, it will discuss the notion that individuals are an all consuming machine in pursuit of expression and development through acts of consumption (Kornberger, 2010), known as self and social symbolism. It will discuss the contention of the benefits or detriments this social belief has in modern culture throughout all demographics. Lastly it will discuss the advantages and disadvantages the unescapable influence brands have on consumers, companies and society at large. Brands & Companies Initially, branding of goods began in ancient civilizations in order to determine what the product was and who it was created by as a practical order of business. However, in todays world there are a vast amount of products that can all achieve the same result and differ only...
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...immense changes in society during the 19th century. As Karl Marx focused on the consequences of the Industrialization and the living conditions for the working class, Emile Durkheim was more focused on the dissolving ties between humans in society. Despite their different perspectives, these early thinkers had a common fundamental concern about the future, in means of the changes and the subsequent consequences for the individuals and society. These classics generated the basis for the typical sociological type of thinking; seeing the connections between major changes in society and the individual acts and living conditions. In short term - sociology is both the study of individuals and the society as a whole. As a newcomer to the special field of sociology, I find the term of sociological imagination as the most applicable and understandable term to understand the complex and broad field of sociology. Thereby i state my thesis: Is social imagination the best and simplest way to understand the field of sociology? Sociological imagination was coined by C. Wright Mills (1959) as the process of linking individual biographies to the larger social contexts. By this perspective one can say that the sociological imagination can help explain humans and society by seeing "the human in society and the society within humans". According to Peter Berger this connection can be portrayed by thinking that: "Every individual biography is an episode within the history of society" (Berger 1967;...
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