Expound Durkheim's theory of anomie, bringing out the acute and chronic types. Evaluate Durkheim's view that the main source of the malaise of modern society lies in this phenomenon. How could it be minimised?

Sociological Thinking SLSP1020 Student I.D. - 200194793 Essay 6. - Expound Durkheim's theory of anomie, bringing out the acute and chronic types. Evaluate Durkheim's view that the main source of the malaise of modern society lies in this phenomenon. How could it be minimised? Along with Marx and Weber, Durkheim outlined the characteristics of the transition of society to modernity and what was problematic with this shift. This essay will explain Durkheim's ideas on this transition, concentrating on the division of labour and social cohesion. I will explain how this path to modernity may lead to a state of anomie and outline the difference between acute and chronic forms of anomie. Finally, I will look at whether or not the general sense of depression (or 'malaise') of modern society is due to anomie and discuss how anomie could be minimised. In understanding the transition to modernity, Durkheim, like Marx, took a holistic approach and argued that society cannot be reduced to individuals...'society' was, Durkheim argued, a phenomenon in its own right. It did not depend upon the intentions and motivations of individuals for it's continued existence. In his aim to establish sociological autonomy, to establish Sociology as a discipline sui generis, Durkheim sees society as more than just the individuals who constitute that society, believing in the ability to explain

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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outline the various aspects of vandalism including what is vandalism, types of vandalism, where can vandalism be found, what is the cost of vandalism, and recommendations for future management against vandalism.

Contents . Rational Pg 2 2. Introduction Pg 3 3. Background material 3.1 What is Vandalism Pg 4 3.2 When and where does it occur Pg 4 3.3 Types of Vandalism Pg 4, 5 3.4 Who and Why Pg 5 3.5 The cost Pg 5 4. Methodology 4.1 Background reading Pg 6 ` 4.2 Limitations Pg 6 5. Presentation and analysis of evidence. 5.1 Case studies Pg 7 5.2 Statistics Pg 7 6. Findings Pg 8 7. Conclusion Pg 9 8. Appendices Pg 10 9. Acknowledgements Pg 11 0. Bibliography Pg 12 Rationale Vandalism is a serious issue in today's society; it is a criminal act against property. Like other crimes against property and people, the first step to preventing vandalism is to understand the crime. Introduction This essay will outline the various aspects of vandalism including what is

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  • Subject: Social studies
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Rousseau's Lawgiver

MODULE TITLE: LAW AND SOCIETY STUDENT NUMBER: 0226841 Rousseau's Lawgiver Introduction Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed that only the general will, the will of all people together granted sovereignty. In his Book, 'The Social Contract', Rousseau highlights the need for a lawgiver. He considers the possibility that that the General will err, if it errs, it would simply not be the General will of the people. "The general will is always right and is always tends towards the public utility. However, it does not follow that the deliberations of the people always have the same rectitude". Popular sovereignty is supposed to solve (il) legitimacy and arbitrariness. But once the people have the power, that "solution" suddenly looks like a problem, for the people, too can be a source of arbitrariness. This essay will touch upon lawgiver interpretations, but also demonstrates the continued relevance of Rousseau through the specific, and often overlooked, tasks the lawgiver must perform in the text. His acts, taken as explicit prerequisites of democratic will formation, are also our burdens of founding and re-founding democracy in the midst of our mutual opacity and the weight of structural inequalities. At the same time, Rousseau's account of the psychic threats which hinder our attempts to secure freedom and equality points toward an ongoing struggle to preserve democratic life.

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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Assess Adorno's and Horkheimer's account of the nature of collective hatred

Assess Adorno's and Horkheimer's account of the nature of collective hatred. "...the fully enlightened earth radiates disaster triumphant."1 This is the second sentence of Dialectic of Enlightenment; an extremely depressing view of modernity. "Instrumental rationality, modern science, bureaucracy and capitalist economic behaviour, the elements of Weber's modern nightmare, appear in a new light."2 Unlike Weber, who considered the twentieth century to be one of both formal and substantive rationality, Adorno and Horkheimer argued it is substantively irrational. The latter part of the Dialectic of Enlightenment, Elements of Anti-Semitism concentrates on the reasons behind the atrocities perpetrated by the Germans towards the Jews. This essay intends to: look at the theory of the charismatic leader; to describe very briefly their seven elements of anti-Semitism; and together with some of their other publications, to examine in a little more detail some of their psychological reasons put forward for the rise of fascism. It will also consider some of the criticisms against Adorno and Horkheimer's theses of collective hatred. Adorno and Horkheimer as Jewish members of the Frankfurt School left Germany during the rise of Nazism and moved to the United States. As Marxists, they linked capitalism to anti-Semitism. `"The long term tendency towards

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Are everyday causal judgements based on perceptions of empirical regularities or beliefs about causal powers?

Are everyday causal judgements based on perceptions of empirical regularities or beliefs about causal powers? Our everyday judgements of the cause of events or happenings are intrinsically vital to every aspect of the theoretical and practical social sciences. Our question at hand is whether or not we can principally understand our judgements on the basis of the outcomes of previous similar experiences, or on our beliefs about the potentials of objects to be causal. Responsibility for our actions, and explaining the actions of unknown entities could be argued to be the very essence of human distinction from animals. The oldest of the enquiring disciplines of philosophy have wrangled with the notion of cause. For instance, White (1991) discusses how Aristotle's understanding of the word 'cause' was discretely different to our modern use of the term - where the 'cause' is a larger concept than an immediate 'reason' for an event, but more towards a wider implication of a 'purpose' leading to a goal of development, or 'telos'. To sum up perhaps too simply, the enlightenment thinkers brought about a triumph of efficient causation and the abolition of final cause from scientific explanation (White, 1990). The conflicts of causal judgement concepts were played out between the figures of Mill and Hume. Mill, as Descartes and the classic philosophers before him, understood that: "A

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Hollister II - This article deals with the controversy concerning the debate of feudal tenure.

Preparatory Essay Justin Palett Hollister II (from "1066") A28686812 This article deals with the controversy concerning the debate of feudal tenure. There are two contrasting theories on the subject, these are: Round's theory of feudal revolution and Freeman's theory of continuity across the Thin Red Line of 1066. By 1066 all land was owned by the king and possessed by the upper class through the act of enfeoffments. Around this time feudal tenure became complicated due to subinfeudation and the circulation of money. Subinfeudation was the process of creating a fief from a fief. Following the Norman Conquest, most land held by laymen in 1066 was redistributed by the Conqueror. He granted large numbers of estates; These were known as his "tenants-in-chiefs." In return they were expected to provide military service. The tenants-in-chief would grant their own followers some of the manors they had received from the Crown, in return for service which was probably often of a military nature. This process was known as subinfeudation. The tenant of a subinfeudated manor might subinfeudate land to a subtenant. This would create a further

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  • Subject: Social studies
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The Major Contributions of Psychological Theories to Our Understanding of the Causes of Crime.

The Development of Criminological Theory The Major Contributions of Psychological Theories to Our Understanding of the Causes of Crime. In the eighteenth and early nineteenth century criminological thought was centred around the work of the classical school and the work of Beccaria and Bentham. Their work mainly focused on the idea of crime being the result of free will and the effectiveness of punishment in reducing crime. In the late nineteenth century the positivist school was founded by Lombroso, and criminology was established as a new science. Lombroso believed that you could distinguish a criminal by their physical features. His work led to the emergence of psychological theories. (Garland, 1997). The first significant psychological theory that helps us understand the causes of crime is Freud's psychoanalytic model. Freud (1856-1939) states that the human personality has three sets of interacting forces: the id, the superego and the ego. (Hopkins Burke, 2001). The id contains the basic biological urges. The superego or the conscience is the part of our personality which produces feelings of guilt to punish us when we have done something wrong. (Gross, 1987). And the ego controls the individual by making decisions. (Lilly, Cullen and Ball, 1989). Freud's model was criticised as it was untestable. (Haralambos and Holborn, 2000). Both Freud and

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Kohlberg's (1976) theory of morality argues that moral development is guided by cognitive needs and a wish to understand the reality of the world, in which there is a strong compulsion to conform.

A) Kohlberg's (1976) theory of morality argues that moral development is guided by cognitive needs and a wish to understand the reality of the world, in which there is a strong compulsion to conform. This theory, which suggests that we learn and construct our moral beliefs through social interaction, was introduced by Piaget, and expanded by Kohlberg using empirical evidence. Piaget felt that children will initially accept adult rules, since they appear to be unalterable, but will eventually see that society's rules can be discussed and changed. Kohlberg used this theory, and proposed three levels of moral reasoning, each of which has two stages. He argues that everyone proceeds through these stages in the same order, and also that progression is reliant on suitable levels of cognitive development, and for this reason not everyone reaches level 3. The levels are briefly outlined below: * Level 1- Preconventional- acceptance of adult standards due to lack of personal moral code, although the consequences of rules-breaking is accepted. * Level 2- Conventional- Morality can be judged from the point of view of the group or society to which one belongs. * Level 3- Postconventional- Rules are understood in terms of higher moral principles and the need for democratically agreed rules. However, Kohlberg also suggests that at the very highest point of level 3, individuals may feel

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This paper will look at gender, class and ethnicity and show how these concepts relate to whether you are employed and given the chance to succeed within the work industry.

Introduction Gender, class and ethnicity may be significant factors that affect the decision elements in determining how individuals are treated and regulated in the workplace. Gender and class is a major determine in how individuals are employed and treated in the work place. Work is the carrying out of tasks, which enable people to make a living within the environment in which they find themselves. But in fact, it is very difficult to understand the nature of work and puts us in a poor position for better understanding the changing contemporary work. According to Tony J. Watson, "Work is basic to the ways in which human beings deal with the problems arising from the scarcity of resources available in the environment. The scarcity of resources in the world influences the patterns of conflict and competition, which arise between social groups. It follows from this that the social organization of work will reflect the basic power relationship of any particular society. But patterns of social relationships do not relate to power structure alone. They are also closely connected to patterns of meaning." (Watson 1995.113) Therefore, the ways in which people think and feel about work will closely relate to their wider political and religious doctrines and to their general cultural orientations. This paper will look at gender, class and ethnicity and show how these concepts

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Critically compare and contrast the 'Hypodermic Model' of media effects theory with the 'Uses and Gratifications' approach.

Sociology of the Media Critically compare and contrast the 'Hypodermic Model' of media effects theory with the 'Uses and Gratifications' approach. Before it is possible to start an analysis of these two models, it is first essential to define them. The Hypodermic needle model, or the media effects model, is the earliest explanation of the way in which the mass media affects audiences. The basic premise is that whatever message the media (TV, radio or print) is giving, the audience will absorb it entirely and without question. This model views the media as a drug that is injected directly into the consciousness of the media consumer. According to Mick Underwood (The Hypodermic Needle Model) "The folk belief in the Hypodermic Needle Model was fuelled initially by the rapid growth of advertising from the late nineteenth century on, coupled with the practice of political propaganda and psychological warfare during World War I." The Hypodermic Needle Model treats the audience as passive; the couch potato is a product of the Hypodermic Model. The audience are a mass and do not have the capability of free thought, rather the audience tunes into the media and is transfixed by whatever is represented. This model gives rise to the Neo-Marxist quote "TV is the new opiate of the masses". The Uses and Gratifications model is more sophisticated in that it credits the audience

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  • Subject: Social studies
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