Commentary on 2 cultural texts.

Commentary on 2 cultural texts The sixteenth century was a time of great scientific, historical, religious and artistic upheaval. Without the benefit of computers, Television, Radio or Nosy Neighbours, much dissemination of social codes and conventions, stories, fables and legends, came from ballads of sonnets. Literacy ballads and the like were a basic format of song, with an emphasis on action rather than character, that told a story, usually concerning some social phenomena, such as romantic relationships, cheating wives or husbands, and sometimes work trades, such as ploughmen, Carpenters, etc... Traditionally most sonnets dealt with the theme of romantic love and in general, referred to a mistress, friend, or a familial relation. The two ballads discussed here show to highly contrasting themes of 16th Century rural life: Romance and Love, and Justice and social interaction. The second focusing on how conflict between individuals might have been dealt with, or resolved. "Astrophil and Stella" One of the most famous, and important artistic creations 16th Century English culture gave birth to was Sidney's sonnet sequence called "Astrophil and Stella". The sequence is about a man, Astrophil who is attracted to and in pursuit of a married woman, called Stella. On stealing a first kiss from Stella whilst she is asleep Astrophil worries about her reaction if she should find

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Building quality survey

Conclusion and Evaluation I am now going to refer back to each of my guiding questions to enable me to answer my investigative question. . What should the social-economic & environmental characteristics of Worcester outer-wards be like in theory? To answer this question I will split it up into to sections; social-economic characteristics and then environmental characteristics. First I will speak about the social-economic characteristics. Social-Economic Characteristics These include four variables, for each I shall say what they are and what in theory they should show. I. Building quality survey; in theory the higher the average scores for the buildings in that ward, the better the social-economic characteristics. II. Economic activity; in theory within the population of a ward, the higher the percentage there is of economically active people, the better the social-economic characteristics of a ward and vice versa. III. Household type; in theory the higher the percentage of households that are classified owner occupied the better the social-economic characteristics of the ward. IV. No central heating; in theory the higher the percentage of households that have central heating the better the social-economic characteristics of the ward. V. House prices; in theory the higher the house prices the better the social-economic characteristics of the ward. A way of deciding

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  • Subject: Social studies
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How useful is Marx's theory of historical materialism to the understanding of the development of capitalism?

How useful is Marx's theory of historical materialism to the understanding of the development of capitalism. The Marxist movement begins by considering the formerly accepted idealistic perception of history and world development. Hegelianism, which follows from its principal the belief in the rule of concepts, dominance of religion and of a universal principle within the existing world, achieves only, as Marx would say, thoroughly one-sided 'elucidations of Christianity from the point of view of religious history'1 and entirely fails to explain the actual empirical reality of history and human development. Rather history itself can only be understood when examining, analogously, the historical development of material production and reciprocally that the development of society can only be understood within the context of history. This follows from the very basic conception that the writings of history begin with the existence of man, the pre-conditions for mans existence depend upon his material activities in relation to his natural surroundings. In order for human survival, man must first produce his own physical means of subsistence, it follows therefore that human history originates from mans material production. Mans means of subsistence is dependant upon the natural conditions of his environment, of which he must interact with and reproduce. This definite and essential

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Compare and contrast the pluralist and elitist accounts of political power.

Compare and contrast the pluralist and elitist accounts of political power. Introduction Whilst there are not infinite interpretations of political systems, there are differing accounts of systems theory. Each separate account of a theory can have varying threads such as classical, reformed, neo or radical interpretations. Within these definitions there may be variance over the role of the government or the prominence of power, yet there is confluence on one basic concept. In this essay I shall try to attempt to explain the theories, major ideas and pre-eminent writers in both pluralist and elitist political power. Following on from this I shall attempt to find any similarities and any differences in both pluralism and elitism. In my conclusion I shall attempt to draw on which theory is most relevant in the contemporary political world. Exposition of Pluralism H.S. Kariel is cited in Schwarzmantel's work referring to pluralism as: 'specific institutional arrangements for distributing and sharing governmental power.'1 Therefore pluralism is the dispersion of power to prevent tyranny. If power is concentrated to one group, there will be autocratic rule. By diffusing power, a state will be open to the demands of the population and this is essential to the supposition. This does assume social pluralism; that is a wide variety of interest groups. Social variety, such as

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This extract is about different approaches to feminism and how they have been affected by modernism.

Culture and Society: Portfolio of Assignments 100% 7. Feminist Critique of Modernism 50% Lewis Stanley Cohen's critique of Hebdige's reading of the symbolism of the swastika By: Elisha Morrison This extract is about different approaches to feminism and how they have been affected by modernism. Feminism is the belief in social, political and economic equality of the sexes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminism (2007). Feminists emerged with the feeling that they were oppressed by men because they were women and were ready to speak out about it. In 1790 the first piece of writing recognised as feminist was A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft. Capitalism was identified to be the catalyst of the inequalities towards women whereby women were seen as inadequate, weak and inept to contribute within the workforce and therefore incompetent to vote. The only feasible role for them was a domestic one - looking after the house and children. The first group of feminists described are the Suffragettes. They were middle-class and well-educated and were understandably frustrated by the inequalities they faced against men when they were intellectual and more than able to have a role within the workforce. Texts by "Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters and George Eliot" (Lewis 2002) were of importance to the Suffragettes seeing that those texts also identified

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Stress. The total stress score from the social readjustment scale does not adequately reflect what the author believes to be his personal level of stress associated with social readjustment. The scale covers most issues that deal with social readjustment.

Weighting Schemes and Stress Jackson Akwaowo Psychology 351 Tara LaCasta-Revell March 24, 2009 The total stress score from the social readjustment scale does not adequately reflect what the author believes to be his personal level of stress associated with social readjustment. The scale covers most issues that deal with social readjustment. The positions of issues on the scale have no relevance to importance to individuals, as stated in a popular proverb, "one man's meat is another man's poison", so what is important for one individual, might be trivial for another. The reaction to the issues would still be the same regardless of what position it ends up on the scale. Theories are needed to explain and predict stress, as well as for the design and evaluation of interventions. Although there has been a history of developing, testing, applying, and refining psychological theories on stress, debates and limitations in evidence exist (Dombeck and Wells-Moran, 2006). The component of theories which, for example, predicts change should be better elaborated so that we can more easily understand what actually reduces stress. Theories need to be empirically testable in two ways. Theories need to specify a set of changeable predictors to describe, explain, and predict behavior change, and they should enable us to design an effective intervention that produces exactly those

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Evaluate Marx's account of historical materialism as an analysis of social change.

Sociology Essay Evaluate Marx's account of historical materialism as an analysis of social change. In this essay I will look at Marx's account of historical materialism, with an emphasis on the materiality of labour and production, the concept of class and the organisation of social structures into these classes (or orders); and social change as the history of the class struggle (e.g. the role played by the modes of production, ideology and contradiction.) Marx's theory will be criticised on the grounds that it is, arguably, economically reductional and teleological; and concluding that his theory, while not bearing out a 'truly' classless society, it is still a valuable sociological tool for analysing the history of social change. Introduction Historical materialism was a term applied by Karl Marx to his theory of society and history. 'Historical' entailed the analysis of how particular forms of society had come into existence, and the specific historical context within which apparently universal or eternal social forms - state, market and so forth - were located. 'Materialism' denoted the rejection of Hegealian idealism and the primacy of socio-economic processes and relations. Hence, it was a sustained attempt to account for the determining role in history played by productive forces. Historical Materialism As An Analysis Of Social Change Marx's view of history is

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Weber, capitalism, religion and social control

Weber, capitalism, religion and social control The analysis of the relationship between religion and social change can usually be seen as a debate between those who believe that religion can be change promoting, such as Weber, and those who believe religion to be change inhibiting, such as Marx and Durkheim. Marx's view fro example, would be that religion would inhibit social change at it legitimises and justifies the status quo, whereas this is usually contrasted with Weber, who suggests that religion can cause social change, in that it helped in the development of capitalism. 1905 saw the publication of The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, which was possibly the most influential of Weber's works, and also one of the most important theories on religion and its effect on the wider economic structure. Weber was interested in the rise of capitalism in Western Europe, and also the ideas and beliefs that were influential in bringing about this development in economic behaviour. Weber believed that the religious beliefs of Calvinism led to the development of capitalism, and thus Weber believes that there is a convergence of attitudes and beliefs between the religious behaviour of Calvinism, and the concepts of capitalism. He believed that this relationship could only be found in Western Europe, and although Weber thought it would be far too simplistic to claim that

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The Outsiders.

Meghan Van Alstyne September 19, 2003 Deviance 304 Philip Mabry Essay # 1 The Outsiders Art is a visual representation and reflection of society and its structures. It often raises controversy with in society and can cause great discontent. Art is controversial because it reflects such a variety of aspects of society and what is and is not socially acceptable. It is, in a sense, a social commentary. The controversial nature of art and its contents in relation to society often inflicts social indignation upon the creator. Many artists are chastised for threatening of the social norm. The threat that their art imposes labels them as deviants in their society, or those outside of what is socially acceptable. Deviance is conduct that a community perceives as so inherently baneful to society that action must be taken against the act and those who demonstrate it. People can be labeled as a "deviant" if they display characteristics that he society views as unacceptable or detrimental. In the Wayward Puritans by Kai Erickson, Erickson explains that, " The difference between someone who earns a deviant title in a society and those who go their way in peace is largely determined by the way in which the

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Distinguish between the ghetto and the urban village

Distinguish between the ghetto and the urban village The Œghetto¹ and the Œurban village¹ are two very distinct phenomena. They differ fundamentally both in their structure and in their function. In this essay I hope to outline the difficulties in distinguishing between them and then arrive at a functional definition of the two phenomena. Furthermore there have been a number of differing theoretical and methodological approaches to their analysis. Of these, I shall outline and contrast the humanist, marxist and quantitative approaches to the ghetto and the urban village. These are three radically different aprroaches to the problem and I hope to show that an amalgamation of all three might provide a firm basis from which to approach this major affliction of, in particular, North American cities. For many the ghetto is a term referring to a very poor, run down, inner city area with a host of social and economic problems. For some the inhabitants might simply be those on the bottom rung of the social ladder, for others the inhabitants may be predominantly black. Massey and Denton in their book American Apartheid, suggest that the ghetto refers only to racial make-up, irrespective of class, defining it as such. The ghetto ".. is a set of neighbourhoods that are exclusively inhabited by members of one group, within which virtually all members of that group live". This

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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