The Unaverage Teenager

written by: Michael Pate The Unaverage Teenager I may think a little different than the average teenager, but it seems to me thatlife, isn't really life at all. With the conatant having to ignore people that irritate you, money problems, tranportation, reputation, trying to actually have a hobby or two, and still trying to go to school and dealing with problems of having to pay for college. I mean I don't see how people have the time to enjoy theirselves. Some of the worries I have are the following: how I am going to get money to pay for college and other needs I have such as a car, how I am supposed to fit the hobbies I like to do into my busy work schedule - with school and all, and I am also trying to work a job or two to support myself and fit time in to study school work. I would also like to hang out with friends once in a while, time to pay the bills, and there are also like 20 different insurances that haveto be paid so when something bad happens I won't have to pay a lot more; which may only happen once or twice in a life time. You basically have to do nothing but work unless you inherited a bunch of money, which will eventually run out unless you spend it wisely - which no one does. Then there is the case of mariiage. If you want to get married you might as well forget hobbies. Because not only will you have to pay your bills and insurance,

  • Word count: 576
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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Can active citizenship keep the excessive aspects of state power at bay?

Active Citizenship Can active citizenship keep the excessive aspects of state power at bay? The form of government in which we live is a democracy. A democracy is described as a government of the people, for the people, by the people. Therefore active citizenship is a key component of the government in which we live. Active Citizenship is defined as... "The active role of people, Communities and voluntary organisations in decision making which directly affects them. This extends the concept of formal citizenship and democratic society from one of basic civil, political, social and economic rights to one of direct democratic participation and responsibility." (Department of social welfare, 1997) Active citizenship means that everybody knows how their society works and how they fit into it. The people who fall into this category are people who: * Want to play a full and active role in their communities and in wider society * Want to learn by talking and listening to people from different communities * Want to know they are being listened to * Want to feel that they can influence decisions that affect their lives * Want to try new and innovative things within their communities (www.offaly.ie) Excessive Aspects: The media & Politics One of the main problems that exist currently within the state is the new form of media democracy politics, which exist in Countries

  • Word count: 1096
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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Elvis Presley's impact on US society in the 1950's

Elvis Presley's impact on US society in the 1950's ) Study Source A What can you learn from Source A about Elvis Presley's impact on popular music in the USA in 1955? (6) Source A is an article from a magazine called 'Billboard', a US magazine on 3rd March 1956. It is a positive article for Elvis Presley as it promotes his success that he has achieved. The source states that he has six hit singles on the RCA Victor label's hit lit of top 25 best sellers. It also goes on to state that the two singles 'heartbreak hotel' and 'I was the one' is the label's number two best seller, behind Perry Como's 'juke box baby'. From this information we can draw that Elvis Presley made a huge impact on popular music in the USA in 1955. To have six hit singles in the company's top 25 best sellers is a large percentage to the extent that he dominates the hit list and proves that he must have taken the US by storm and made his presence felt. Yet with all of the critics that he had during that time Elvis was still able to please his fans with the music they adored. The tone of the article is that of someone who has been entertained and is only full of positive praise when writing about him. The word 'hottest' is used to describe Elvis, which means that he must have been the topic of a lot of people's discussions, as he appeared a controversial character also. Even though the headline says

  • Word count: 7802
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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Age of Innocence - Explore Wharton's Presentation of Women In The Novel.

English Coursework Steven Poole Age of Innocence Explore Wharton's Presentation of Women In The Novel "...An upper floor was dedicated to Newland, and the two women squeezed themselves into narrow quarters below..." Edith Jones was born into a wealthy New York family in 1862. Her family was part of a closely-knit social circle that included all the oldest and wealthiest families in New York. Edith Jones married Edward Wharton in 1885, she had been engaged before, but that relationship had come to grief, and her mother, responsive to the social view that said girls should be married young or risk the fate of the old maid, was eager to see her daughter settled. The marriage, though not really a love match, was in many ways liberating for Wharton, as from that point on she was free, much freer that the other women of her era because of her independent wealth. It was not until however, the early years of the twentieth century that the marriage came to seem more of a mental and physical incarceration than a bearable misalignment of interests, and, again, a thematic strain that is carried through the body of Wharton's work concerns relationships in which one partner feels entrapped and restricted by the limitations of the other (Newland Archer and May Welland) Wharton wrote "The Age of Innocence" just after the First World War, but the novel depicts a society that is

  • Word count: 2538
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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Is Rawl's difference principle fair to the talented and productive members of society? What was Rawl's trying to do?

Is Rawl's difference principle fair to the talented and productive members of society? What was Rawl's trying to do? Essentially he attempted to formulate a general set of principles that we could all mutually agree to. Rawl's assumed that the well being of society depended upon co-operation. His theory is based on traditional theories of the social contract. His idea was of a number of people coming together in an 'original position' to agree upon principles of social co-operation, behind a veil of ignorance - where none of them are aware of their particular abilities, commitments, status or moral and religious conceptions of good. This position would be fair and the choices made just, as there is no unfounded discrimination between the members involved. Therefore it is justice as fairness. Although unconscious of their moral, religious and political commitments, each individual would know they had some, which they would be unlikely to willingly abandon if required to by the state. Similarly, such people could not honour a promise to accept poverty if it happened to be that lower life chances for the few were required to guarantee better chances for the many. The only set of principles capable of acceptance in this original position would be to safeguard the interests of the worst off in society - so inequalities in wealth and power can only exist when the worst off

  • Word count: 664
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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Pathway to Purity - Nathaniel Hawthorn's The Scarlet Letter

Emmett Nicholas American Studies p1,2 Scarlet Letter Essay Pathway to Purity Human acts of purity and sin seem to continue the ages. This concept is easily shown through comparisons between recent events and Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne writes of a church official who has committed a sin. It is difficult for readers not to be reminded of recent cases involving Catholic priests, who also sinfully committed sexual crimes. Nathaniel Hawthorne boldly discusses fascinating issues, many of which society is afraid to explore today. Will these priests ever be forgiven for their sins? Is it not possible for them to ever live a pure life again? In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne compares the lives of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale to show that despite sin's devastating internal and external consequences, it eventually creates purity. Prior to regaining their lives of purity, Hester and Dimmesdale suffered from the demoralizing effects of sin in a puritan society. To illustrate their innermost emotions, Hawthorne begins the novel with a powerful description of a prison. He vividly describes its gloominess and sad colors, as well as its rundown condition. By doing this, Hawthorne sets the tone for the entire novel, where not only prisoners are held captive, but sinners are as well. Throughout the novel, Hester is locked in her own

  • Word count: 985
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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The England represented in John Osborne's Look Back in Anger (1956) is one that had undergone almost unprecedented changes since the beginning of the twentieth century.

The England represented in John Osborne's Look Back in Anger (1956) is one that had undergone almost unprecedented changes since the beginning of the twentieth century. The Edwardian era of the early 1900's was one of outward expansion and outlook, epitomized by rampant imperialism, a still burgeoning industrial revolution, and changes in class and social structure. However, as Britain began, one by one, to lose its colonies its focus became more internalized, with an emphasis on home rule and nationalism. And the England that immerged after World War II was rife for social, political, and moral change. The increase in steel and shipbuilding industries brought more money and opportunities. There was an influx of urban development as the cities swallowed up the countryside even more. There was upward movement among the classes, especially the lower classes, as more jobs poured in. The middle classes became more assertive, politically and economically. The middle and lower classes had made progress with social reforms with the Labour government. The people gained a more active role in legislation. The government established a National Healthcare Service (free health care), free higher education, Old Age Pension, Unemployment, Supplementary Benefits, and Child Benefits; the government took care of its citizens "from cradle to grave." All these social services were

  • Word count: 1934
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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Hunger for Community or Isolation through Performance and Writing?

Kasim, Mona 602-925-336 Scan Lit 50W, Seth March 22, 2004 Hunger for Community or Isolation through Performance and Writing Ingmar Bergman's "The Seventh Seal" and Knut Hamsun's Hunger, both illustrate a realistic view of society that is shown through the comparison of each of the artists, in each piece of work. In "The Seventh Seal" the artists, Joseph and Mia, are living in a time when they are faced with the reality of death, having to escape the black plague that is sweeping through Europe. In Hunger the anonymous artist, living through the industrial revolution, faces the reality of poverty and a life of uncertainty. Although the artists in their own respective stories are similar in that they represent the themes of struggle, determination, and faith, they each demonstrate two different types of relationships in which one has to cope with their surrounding environment. Joseph and Mia, as performers, have a communal relationship, which is represented by confining in each other and the people around them for support, in contrast to the anonymous artist, as a writer, who represents an internal private relationship and looks to himself for all his support. Joseph and Mia both show a difference response than the anonymous artist when it comes to receiving help from an outside party. Joseph and Mia are optimistic people who have the support each other. Joseph and Mia

  • Word count: 1855
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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Sociological explanation of poverty - the emerging British underclass

SOCIOLOGICAL EXPLANATION OF POVERTY "THE EMERGING BRITISH UNDERCLASS" By Charles Murray Introduction Understanding poverty - There is much agreement about the idea of poverty-numerous definitions are used by different researchers and policy makers. - Approaches used to measure poverty include benefit receipt, income levels and indicators of deprivation. - Explanations of poverty can be individual, familial, sub-cultural or structural. Currently I shall be dealing with the explanation of poverty by Charles Murray "The Underclass". Who are the underclass? A sort of synonym for people who are not just poor, but especially poor. In short the "underclass" does not refer to degree of poverty but, to a type of poverty. Main Ideas of Explanation - The poor in society are not characterised by the fact that they have low incomes or no money but also by their way of life, i.e.; lazy, dirty housing, juvenile delinquents, etc. - The poor are poor due to a class stratified society - The "underclass" in society becomes obvious when certain trends in their way of life keeps repeating and increasing. - These have been identified by Murray in Britain as: - Illegitimacy (the best predictor of an underclass in the making) - Crime - Work Inactivity Illegitimacy: - described as when an individual legally lacks both parents. - occurs among the lower class of society - Clear cut

  • Word count: 544
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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Admission to selective universities, a discusion.

J Barr Dr. Lockhart POSC 30203:035 20 November 2003 Throughout history, perpetual conflict has existed between what is fair and what is practiced in the distribution of societal goods. The modern arena has raved incessantly on how to fairly distribute admissions to selective universities. Fairness, the ever-debated word, may seem simple at a glance, however it is highly subjective, especially in a purported free society such as the United States. In a culture that understands humans to be generally self-serving, that organizes government to counter overly ambitious parties, and that believes in staunch individualism, it is certainly conceivable how such a conflict of interests could arise. The spectrum of potential solutions is diverse and wide reaching, but extensively stratified beliefs prevent an easy solution. Affirmative action represents the 21st century's embodiment of the fight for a more just distribution of societal goods. The fairness aspect of equality of opportunity puts into conflict, to a large extent, procedural fairness on one end of the spectrum, or equality of life chances on the other. A utopian society does not exist, thus as stated, procedural fairness and equality of life chances occupy hopelessly irreconcilable and contradictory positions. Both conceptions attempt to realize a single truism; that if people believe a system is fair from

  • Word count: 2106
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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