A Child Called It
A Child Called It -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The book is an autobiography of David Pelzer. He writes about his struggle to stay alive in a home where he is treated like a slave and an animal. The book begins with the people at Dave's school finally report Dave and his condition to the authorities. The whole book is a flashback, except for the very beginning, when a policeman is taking the boy away from his mother, to freedom. His mother was the "perfect" mother, when he was younger than four. She taught them something new every day and took them on many fun family vacations. Then, singled out one of her children to be the family slave, but it didn't stop there. She also played cruel games, with the boy. Some of her favorites were the gas chamber, and the starvation tease. She played "games" with David; these games were sick and twisted. Although David had to learn how to cope and "play" these games in order to survive. There were three main characters, Dave, (the boy,) his mom, and his dad. The writer makes me believe that these people are real by describing them in very fine detail. I like Dave, because he seems really kind to everybody that he knows how to be kind to. Also, he tries to be honest, and is almost always hopeful and wishful. He is innocent, and smart. Here is a quote about him thinking about his
Arranged Marriages
Arranged Marriages An arranged marriage also known as endogamy is the tradition in some cultures that parents select whom their child will marry. Arranged Marriages are popular in many countries in Asia and Africa such as Japan, China, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh and India. Thousands of years ago, love marriages (marriages based on love) were common in East Indian culture. This type of marriage was called swamber and it became a problem because many people chose a partner for their appearance and/or wealth. Marriages started to fail and social leaders became concerned with swamber. Arranged marriages were introduced and they became very popular.1 Anthropology is probably the most important discipline when researching arranged marriages. Reason being is because anthropology is the study of the culture and customs of human beings, and arranged marriages occur because of the beliefs and customs of some cultures. Different cultures believe in different types of marriage and it is important to study a culture in order to find out why they believe in certain customs. This research report focuses on how arranged marriages take place, why they occur, and the benefits and drawbacks of the process. There are many different ways in which an arranged marriage can take place. The most extreme form is called a forced marriage where the bride and groom have no choice but to marry each
Knowledge Management.
Janine Caslin BUSIM2013- KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT "Technology addresses neither the incentives, nor the attitudes that promote a 'knowledge organisation'. Success lies in creating the culture for sharing, and then enabling with technology". Dave Snowden, IBM Discuss with reference to creating an organisational culture for sharing and then giving practical examples of enabling technologies. 'Knowledge Management is a business philosophy. It is an emerging set of principles, processes, organisational structures, and technology applications that help people share and leverage their knowledge to meet their business objectives.' This definition of knowledge management puts the responsibility and the focus on the individual i.e. the knowledge worker- and on the holistic nature of knowledge management. Also critically it is about meeting business objectives. Knowledge management is also about sharing knowledge and putting this knowledge to use. It is also about the success of an organisation, linking business strategy to the way that the organisation works. With the development of information and communication (ICT), the knowledge economy has changed the basis of trading and doing business. Success and wealth of nations no longer depends on the wealth of organisations but on the abilities and skills of its citizens/employees and the skills with which the organisation harnesses
Discuss the role of media studies in making sense of the political, economic and cultural meaning of everyday life
'it is because the media are central to our everyday lives that we must study them ... as social and cultural as well as political and economic dimensions of the modern world' Despite the differences between people from state, to state, country to country and continent to continent, it is unquestionable that most the people of the world have been changed and influenced by the media. Whether it be conscious or sub-conscious change, the media has the ability to change and in some cases control the way people are in today's modern world. Media influence and change can range from the style of clothes you wear, the political thought you support and even the way you live your life. It is in this light that we study media. Media studies in a sense gives us an out let to understand why people are so easily and often free willingly changed by the influence of the media. Why is there "popular culture" and "what culture do you belong to"? These questions plus many more are what media studies allows many people to understand about the media as it attempts to capture its many different consumers. The following essay will attempt to discuss the role of media studies in making sense of specific aspects of life. These will include the political, economic and cultural aspects of the media, their relationship and meaning within the dimensions of the modern world. From local to
Critically consider the extent to which relationships have been shown to be different in Western and non-Western cultures
Critically consider the extent to which relationships have been shown to be different in Western and non-Western cultures Relationships can differ hugely from one person to the next, this can be due to numerous factors; one of these being culture. In a Western culture, ideals are inflicted on individuals which lead to a certain type of relationship present for the majority, as is the case in non-Western cultures. Obvious differences between cultures may include religion, which in turn could lead to arranged marriage, hence affecting the formation of a relationship. During the formation of a relationship, proximity appears to be a influential factor, as suggested by Festinger et al. Western cultures tend to exist with relatively easy social mobility, meaning interaction occurs between individuals more frequently. This is not so much the case in non-Western cultures therefore allowing proximity to affect relationships differently. This allows people in Western cultures to interact and form relationships far quicker than those formed in non-Western relationships. This also suggests that individuals in a Western society have a far greater choice of people with whom a relationship could be formed. This leads to a critical difference; Western relationships are voluntary whereas non-Western relationships are involuntary. This creates different ideas surrounding the formation of
Despite 'Girl Power' Women Remain Marginal To The Product Of Youth Culture. Discuss.
Despite 'Girl Power' Women Remain Marginal To The Product Of Youth Culture. Discuss. Throughout History many stories are told of great and powerful men. Men who were warriors, politicians and kings. History often leads us to believe that women were hardly an existence in the past as many history books write only of great men, most men believed that they were superior to all women. However, there were indeed women in the past that held great power in their own way, Queen Victoria, Joan Of Arc, Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir and Margaret Thatcher are only some examples, but why has there been so little recognition of women? A reason being that the majority of recorded history was recorded my men and so they often failed to represent the female's achievements and powers. Mayfield Sue. (1988) Page3, Timeline: Women and Power. London: Dryad, Describes power and its connection to all women, "Power is not just about government and control. Ordinary people possess power...in the past women had great influence on society's structures...many women who have no public power may nevertheless have great power within family units as wives and mothers. There are rarely records of this sort, and it is often difficult to pinpoint or to measure it" Women are often underestimated in society as being the weaker sex and this underestimation is usual being said by men, however has Mayfield (1988)
The Culture of Britishness What role does 'language' play in notions of cultural and national identity in Britain?
Ross Clark 02248816 FAO: Chris Waters The Culture of Britishness What role does 'language' play in notions of cultural and national identity in Britain? This essay will attempt to answer the above question by examining the importance of language in the formation, and then preservation, of nations, nationalisms, and the identities that exist within them. It will then go on to analyse the development of the dominant language of the United Kingdom, English, and how it has sought to position itself as central to notions of British identity. This will be followed by a brief discussion on the nature of other languages within the UK and how they have dealt with the cultural hegemony of English and the standardisation of this language. The processes of differentiation involved in the patterns of language of Britain will then be considered, with reference to the assignment of certain social 'locations' during interaction. The essay will then go on to examine one particular grouping, British-Caribbeans, in order to provide an example of the way in which language can be central to identities. First though it shall begin with a brief mention of some of the ways in which language can be defined. For Day (1998:151) languages, and other linguistically based practices of communication, represent vital tools in both our ability to organise social interaction, and in the processes by
How can culture contribute to social sustainability
How can culture contribute to social sustainability? Culture, for the human experience, is anything that is learned, read, thought about, written and known. The cultural experiences of traditional people provide a way for modern civilization to reconstruct the past. Generally speaking, this is achieved where the archaeologist locates an item which, under scientific scrutiny appears to be human made or adapted for human needs. Such an item may be a tool, implement or device and have mythological associations to a local story about life in the area. People connected things on the land to the manner in which their lives seemed to evolve. The theory of evolution is grounded in scientific truth and falseness. The problem is that scientists do not always agree among themselves as to what constitutes true and false. Social scientists tend to see the big picture about knowledge and culture. The most radical anthropologist might claim that nothing can be known with absolute certainty, that things around us are all interconnected. Nothing we can see exists in isolation from the surroundings, but rather that science and people are intrinsically related. People created scientific enquiry when scientific truth was able to be viewed by future generations. That is, when words written on paper were organised in such a way that they were not easily lost. Traditional people tend to
The Evolution of Us
Rachel Davis Miller- 35950 The Evolution of Us In a perspective both clear and informative, David Freeman Hawke not only brings us a detailed description of early life in America, but is also able to delineate the importance of these colonists lives to the growth of a new world. A task that, when truly grasped, is considered an eye-opening adventure at the very least. Even from the very beginning, I was captivated by the plush historical content of this book, and was pleasantly surprised to find many of my commonly held beliefs of early America challenged. Everyday life in Early America spreads over a fairly narrow time period from the early 17th to late 18th century and defines the struggles, joys and sorrows that the colonists faced. Hawke launches his account of early life through the eyes of Pilgrims, and proceeds to dispatch our own illusions that they chiefly created a land filled of farmers. Hawke was wise to open his book with probably one of the biggest illusions of early America. Farming was not in fact common knowledge at the time, and it is for this reason that many died within those first few critical years. For example, "They came from agrarian countries, true, but most were craftsmen- weavers, tailors, coopers, brewers, shoemakers, and the like. Out of three hundred heads of households whose trades are known only seventy-five were yeomen or
Languages and Social Reality
Languages and Social Reality "Diverse languages influence the thoughts of those who speak them." It is with these words that John Lucy defines linguistic relativity. That is to say that the language we are born into and grow up with is, at least, one of the factors that shape our thoughts. By shaping are thoughts, then, language helps determine our view of our selves, our surroundings, relationships and ideologies. Simply, it helps determine who we are. This is a daunting idea, one that can easily be, at first glance, shoved aside. After all, language is only a medium through which people communicate, in other words it communicates what we think, it doesn't determine it. Does it? The question above is one that has been debated for a very long time, there has however great difficulty in coming up with an answer. One of the explanations for this is that not enough research has been undertaken. The reasons for this, according to Lucy, are threefold. Firstly, the debate is over simplified and camps are quickly created because the answer to the question seems "obvious". Secondly, there is the problem that this question is not limited to one discipline of human study. To properly analyse all the evidence that makes up the argument it is necessary to analyse virtually every aspect of human cognition. A linguist alone would not be, a knowledge of psychology and of the