...Gun control in the American society 40 percent of American households own guns making America one of the most heavily armed countries in the developed world. A national survey done in 2009 indicates that the firearms available to civilians were estimated at 310 million of which 110 million were riffles, 114 were hand guns and 86 million are shotguns. This is an increase in the number of firearms as per a survey done in 1994 where the firearms available for civilians were 192 million. The correlation between owning a gun and the number of homicides has been a source of controversy between pro and anti-gun advocates. Laws on guns vary widely from state to state. Laws and policies have been put in place by states and the federal government to control guns. Federal law on firearms concentrates on mainly sale by licensed gun dealers: the second amendment (in the constitution) which allows individuals the rights to keep and bear arms, the Bradley law which requires background checks done on the buyer and the assault weapon ban. Initiatives to broaden and bolter up federal legislation on firearms have failed at the committee level or the floor of the senate or house representatives. This is believed to have contribute to the differences from state to state law on guns as the emotional, social and economic impact on gun related violence is felt in the state level as it is closer to the community Anti gun advocates policy changes on specific firearms that they believe are for criminal...
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...far society should allow religion to control scientific and technological developments. The development of science and technology, comes hand in hand with the debate whether society should allow and use religion to control the research and development that is happening. Many see the involvement of religion in the development of science and technology as a positive thing, believing that it helps us to reach the most moral and safest outcome, however others would disagree with this and argue that allowing religion to control the development of both scientific and technology, will not allow people to think rationally and look at each situation independently and could lead to people making the wrong decision in life, but the right decision in the eyes of religion, which may not always be best. Those who would be in favour of society allowing religion to control scientific and technological developments, would argue that in history, religion has always had a great involvement in the development of science and technology and society used to turn to religion to help them make moral decisions. When considering embryo research, Doctor Jarmulowitz – 1999 said “it has always been accepted in British law that the earliest human embryo should be treated with respect and accorded a special status.” Although there is no law against embryonic research in the UK, each experimentation has to follow certain ethical guidelines, some say that this in a way is allowing religion to control scientific...
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...and Contrast between the Disciplined and Controlled Societies Sociology Theorizing Introduction According to Deleuze disciplinary societies existed in the 18th and the 19th centuries. He explains that these societies were located by Foucault. Deleuze explained that the disciplinary societies were much evidenced in the 20th century which according to him was the time when the practice reached its peak. According to him in this system the individuals were operating enclosed environments. Such environments were having the laws to be followed closely by the people. These enclosed environments included the family, the school, the barracks, and the factory and the hospital that people would visit from time to time. Still another enclosed environment was the prison which was seen as an analogical model of laborers who were treated as prisoners. He uses the exclamations of the heroine of Rossellini’s Europa ’51 whom at the sight of some laborers was reported to have thought that she was seeing convicts. Analyzing such environments enclosure in the context of a factory Foucault explained that the major goals of a factory is to concentrate, distribute in space, order in time, compose a force of production within the dimensions of both space and time to ensure grater effect than that of the sum of its component forces. Comparison and Contrast of the Disciplined Society with Controlled Society In discipline societies an individual passes through different enclosures which...
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...in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through corporate, bureaucratic, technological, moral, or totalitarian control. Dystopias, through an exaggerated worst-case scenario, make a criticism about a current trend, societal norm, or political system. Characteristics of a Dystopian Society • • • • • • • • • Propaganda is used to control the citizens of society. Information, independent thought, and freedom are restricted. A figurehead or concept is worshipped by the citizens of the society. Citizens are perceived to be under constant surveillance. Citizens have a fear of the outside world. Citizens live in a dehumanized state. The natural world is banished and distrusted. Citizens conform to uniform expectations. Individuality and dissent are bad. The society is an illusion of a perfect utopian world. Types of Dystopian Controls Most dystopian works present a world in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through one or more of the following types of controls: • Corporate control: One or more large corporations control society through products, advertising, and/or the media. Examples include Minority Report and Running Man. Bureaucratic control: Society is controlled by a mindless bureaucracy through a tangle of red tape, relentless regulations, and incompetent government officials. Examples in film include Brazil. Technological control: Society is controlled by technology—through...
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...We give emphasis on the maintenance of order and continuity of society. When we say order, we are referring to the way of norms, role expectations and people who are organized smoothly and harmoniously into the system. Goals are clearly defined and the legitimate means are available to members to achieve the said goals. Stability may refer to the ways the society has maintained its equilibrium in spite of difficulties and problems confronting its members. The maintenance of order and stability is made possible through the use of effective means of social control, that is the way the members are made to behave according to the standards set by society. The ways of social control vary from society to society but the purpose, is basically the same, to maintain order and ensure society's continuity. Although conformity is stressed, still there are individuals who do not follow the norms nor fill the roles that they are expected to play. They are called deviants; those who violate the standards set by the society....
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...Society I think people control society because, people have the power to control society, I honestly think in my opinion this is a bad thing. People take advantage of controlling society these days, and its not a good thing. People are also losing respect for themselves, but people do have a lot of power to control society. People control society, for example Hitler controlled society. Hitler had the power to make laws and implement them the same day. The only reason why society was controlled by Hitler because the people agreed with Hitler. Hitler controlled society in a very bad way killing millions of Jews. So this why I don’t think society controls people, people have the power to control society. The government is the people, and the people make the laws. So I think we control society. We have the power to do a lot of things. People also take advantage of society and rules for example, people break the laws, they go against them there are a lot of killings and unnecessary things, that people do and some people get away with it. It doesn’t make it right at all but people get away with a lot now a days. Our generation is getting worse, and people are not caring in the world anymore. There’s not a lot of people who care about religion and have no morals. Teenagers now a days don’t respect their parents, they don’t follow their rules. They have a lot of disrespect for other people, because if you don’t respect for your parents how do you respect others. Teenagers...
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...Self-Control Theory of Crime Evaluation Jonathan Fowler AJS542 February 5, 2014 Chris Kowalski Self-Control Theory of Crime Evaluation The social control theory and the conflict theory have differences and various similarities. Both theories have been used to talk about the occurrence of from in contemporary American society, and it is important to discuss them both. The effects of both positive and negative reinforcement on crime must be considered in these theories and their structure. Criminality is a large part of any society within the United States, that the way we handle the criminals, and why they develop their criminal behavior are important considerations in an effort to reduce the amount of criminal activity in our society. There are many different theories that try and figure out how criminal behavior is learned and grown and creates itself inside a person. Some people believe that there are some people that are just born to be bad, but most theories have an idea that they are taught the behavior in which they act. When a person is born into a neighborhood and are raised in a community that promotes criminal behavior as a way to live, it becomes a part of them. An individual can choose a different path to live by, if they set their minds to doing something else, on something better, the individual can avoid criminal behavior Conflict Theory Conflict theories focus on the political nature of the crime and examine the creation and application of criminal...
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...argument that stricter gun control laws will make society safer. That a decrease in crime, injury and death will make society safer. Now let us assume that hostile individuals seeking to commit crimes or harm others often use a gun to carry out their destructive objectives. One could argue that gun control laws would prevent hostile individuals from acquiring guns, and if we assume that these individuals would be less of a threat if they did not have a gun, then stricter gun control laws would make society safer. Now, let us assume that less strict gun control laws would result in more people carrying guns. It would then result in more criminals carrying guns because they feel that this is a necessary measure in order to adequately defend themselves from vigilante justice. If we say that more people and criminals carrying guns would result in more frequent gun-related deaths and injuries, then stricter gun control laws would again result in a safer society. Guns can be mishandled by their owners, which may result in the injury or death of the gun :owner or an unsuspecting, innocent individual. Statistics show that there is a correlation between the laxity of a country's gun laws and its suicide rate. Let’s say that individuals would be less successful in committing suicide if they did not have access to a gun, and that stricter gun control laws will make guns more difficult for individuals to obtain, and then stricter gun control laws would make society safer. So, by the previous...
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...3/13/2013 Critiques of Society Through Technology in THX 1138 and Blade Runner The threat of overdeveloping technology has been portrayed in film throughout time as a negative influence on society. As shown in THX 1138 and Blade Runner, made by George Lucas and Ridley Scott respectively, society is overturned by the use of technology and these films can therefore be seen as a warning against the cultural changes to come. The dystopic societies shown in THX 1138 and Blade Runner are the direct result of the technological development of society, therefore each film proves to be a critique of what is to come if these technologies become overdeveloped. In both THX 1138 and Blade Runner, the cities created by Lucas and Scott respectively appear as central characters that further the plot. The city created in Blade Runner helps to display the hierarchies within the society and who controls whom. In the year 2019, Los Angeles is an acid-rain drizzling space crowded with punk gangs, physically disabled and many Hispanic and Asian people (Galagher 170). The streets are populated yet deserted, those who live there are those left behind and unable, physically and financially, to escape to the new colonies in space (Tiltsman 32). Therefore, these people that remain in the city are either of poorer-class or of upper class that have established themselves through their residences or commercial corporations. This is shown by those in the upper class of this society who live in massive high-rise...
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...To Marxism, the biggest critique of community development is that it is a mechanism for control to keep the working class in their place and in reserve for when their labour is needed. I will discuss the Marxist theories of alienation and struggles over mode of production and resource allocation, as well as how Western Marxism has shaped community development. In this essay I will also discuss how Marxist theory has identified that the working class are to be exploited by the bourgeoisie and the only way to improve society is to dismantle the capitalist society and install a socialist society. Marxist theory is based on Karl Marx’s theory of the struggle of the working class people selling their labour to the bourgeoisie – the capitalists – and their oppression by the welfare system. Marx believed that the rich bourgeoisie exploited the working class and the only way to stop this exploitation was to overthrow the capitalist system with socialism. The only real difference between capitalism and socialism is that private property rights and voluntary exchange define capitalism, whereas socialism is based around collective ownership of the means of production, which is owned by the state (Butgereit and Carden 2011, p41). Marx took this theory further, with the hope that once the capitalist system was overthrown, the socialist society would be based on a classless, stateless, moneyless society heading into low-level communism. Community development is the development and utilisation...
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...Would people be able to achieve a perfect society or should government be the one who controls everyone’s happiness? In Brave New World, Huxley proposes that a perfect society can be achieved through control, however, readers come to the understanding that the characters in the book have no individuality and cannot obtain a perfect society through the government’s control. The use of soma, a government supplied drug, is a factor that adds to creating virtual peace and happiness for the characters in the book. The government trying to control everyone to think the same through the use of eugenic science and soma, is what creates a utopian society and adds to no one being individual in the book Brave New World. Discrimination on Individuality...
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...dystopian society? Gilead is a dystopian society by the definition of types of dystopian control; Gilead is philosophical/religious control. Philosophical/religious control is “a society is controlled by philosophical or religious ideology often enforced through a dictatorship or theocratic government” (class notes). Gilead have this type of control because women are been seen object and not human beings. When Offred was at the doctor’s office to get tested for pregnancy and disease, the doctor tries to talk her into having sex and getting her pregnant. When she says know he tries to blackmail her, Offred says, “He could fake the tests, report me for cancer, for infertility, have me shipped off to the colonies, with the unwomen” (The Handmaid’s Tale 61). The doctor was not treating her like a women, he was treating her as an object. Offred was afraid of what was going to happen to her, she was thinking about all the possibilities. Once she thought about it she rethinks the whole situation and told him that she will think about it. This was also showing dictatorship because societies like this man have all of the power and women have no power. Gilead is also a dystopian society by how the women have no control over their money. In a society like this woman was not allowed to vote nor owned ownership of their job. For example when Offred was reminiscing about how she was fired from her job and her money was to her husband’s account. This shows that the woman in this society does...
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...LABELLING OF ACTIVITIES AS ‘DEVIANT’ SERVE AS A FORM OF SOCIAL CONTROL? Deviancy is considered any behaviour to violate cultural norms and it is essentially split between two formations; formal deviancy (crime) and informal deviancy (social). Social control is a product of social learning via labeling strategies, it is composed of both informal and formal mechanisms and maintains that the exploitation of socialization and social learning contributes to the individual building of self-control, and in the reduction divergent behaviour. Both controls enforce labeling as a sanction to shame the supposedly deviant character; it infers that the individual has earned disapproval from society due to failed expectations of behaviour. Labeling theorists propose that criminality comes from the response to behaviour as an alternative to actual violation of the law (Wellford, 1975), this is evident in society’s acceptance of illegal downloading despite the sanctions and group in powers values. Durkheim views this defiance as a necessity to an ever changing society where deviance is of use to maintaining functionality, social constancy and collective consciousness, when this is absent anomie is said to arise. Labelling theory holds much of the same stance as conflict theory in emphasising the power of social groups and social control in expectations and stigmatisation. Where the delegation of labels creates sub-groups within society each group is anticipated to fulfil certain normative behaviours...
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...(2009) note that sociology appreciates the fact that social norms vary in description across societies. This implies that an action that is deviant to one community may be morally acceptable to another. Moreover, sociology recognizes that while societies play a more important role than individuals do in creating and imposing norms and rules. This means that views on deviant acts existing in individuals more likely relate to their society’s responses to the behavior (Kubrin, Stucky, & Krohn, 2009). Norms are rules and expectations by which members of society are conventionally guided. Deviance is a failure to conform to these norms. Social norms differ from culture to culture. For example, a deviant act can be committed in one society that breaks a social norm there, but may be normal for another society. Over the years, sociologists have come up with numerous theories and concepts that help explain the causes, effects, and solutions to deviance. For instance, originally studied at the Chicago School, the social disorganization theory owes its application to deviance as a social issue to Roger Miller and Larry Gainer. The theory identifies social environments as the determinants of social deviance. Therefore, unlike their organized counterparts, societies with disorganized social structures are more than likely experience high rates of deviance. This theory assumes that such societies have poor social institutions, high levels of unemployment, and abandoned or...
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...Summary Social control theory examines the relationship build in society between those who are criminals and non-criminals. Within the social control theory, conflicts are developed between men and woman based on the specific labels and behavior that are placed on them and expected by society. There has been a constant swift change in power within society. Usually men are known for being the providers of the family, while woman are know for being caregivers. Woman are now taking control and are being more dominant in society than ever before. More conflict has recently risen due to the changes in society regarding the rights and privileges that women have and now share with men. Gender and association are two common and major sources that...
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