The merger of ideas found in the article on Southernization by Shaffer and Clancy-Smith's article of localizing histories are indeed the most convincing, and offer a semi-satisfactory method of researching and teaching world history.

Approach to Studying World History In the course of reading the different approaches to world history, two particular arguments and models stand out. The merger of ideas found in the article on Southernization by Shaffer and Clancy-Smith's article of localizing histories are indeed the most convincing, and offer a semi-satisfactory method of researching and teaching world history. Shaffer's argument that the development of diverse variables1 in a given area would lead the researcher to find influences and dynamic interaction with other areas, provides two models in studying world history: (1) an organic and gradual social and economic developmental process, and (2) with what Voll calls "overlapping networks" that provide a connection between different peoples and civilizations. This model could be applied to practically any civilization in the world, as it sets its starting point in a given locality irrespective of a timeline. Thus you could start your exploration of world history in 2500 B.C.E or 1600 C.E. However I was uncomfortable with the notion of attributing a sort of "spreading" of Southernization (much like theories of Westernization). Oddly, I picture jam being spread over a world map. His concept seems sound in that it ties together various dynamics and effects across the globe in many cases, but by calling it Southernization it implies that a personalized

  • Word count: 448
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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How does Waugh exploit different settings to highlight his moral concerns in 'A Handful Of Dust'?

James Herman 6H2 How does Waugh exploit different settings to highlight his moral concerns in 'A Handful Of Dust'? Waugh's satirical novel, 'A Handful of Dust', 'depicting an ailing group of society' demonstrates his concerns that inter-war society is reverting to a more primitive and ultimately dangerous type. The novel, despite its comic appeal, serves as a warning to the hedonists of the 1920s and 1930s. Waugh deplores inappropriate hedonism, perhaps heavily influenced by his strong religious beliefs. Many key characters in 'A Handful of Dust' take pleasure seeking to the extreme. These characters seem contained in a bubble of complete ignorance regarding the outside world and live for themselves. Waugh demonstrates this effectively by simply failing to include significant historical events such as the market crashes of the 1930s and the frightening rise of fascism in Europe. This serves to 'cocoon' the characters and it depriving them of any context with the outside world, highlighting the readers sense of a gulf between the characters. This isolated self-indulgence, in Waugh's view, was leading to the 'decline and fall' of inter-war society. Waugh uses many rhetorical techniques to highlight this, but most significantly he poignantly utilizes various locations to show his unease about 'civilisation'. Waugh primarily uses London as a setting to demonstrate the

  • Word count: 2819
  • 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

  • Word count: 2825
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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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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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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Advanced interventions with individuals, groups and communities.

BA (Hons) Social work with Diploma in Social work Candidate Number: 841264 HHSWD / SWD2 ADVANCED INTERVENTIONS WITH INDIVIDUALS, GROUPS AND COMMUNITIES. Title Select two approaches/methods for working with clients/users, which have been discussed on the course. In a comparative discussion provide a justification for which approach would be more effective at empowering the client/user. In this essay I aim to contrast and then compare the methods of both person centred counselling and group work to provide a justification of which approach would be more empowering to a service user. The way I have decided to structure this essay is to describe each approach separately, starting off with an outline of their backgrounds followed by an account of their theories and how they are applied to service users and then justify which approach would be more effective at empowering. The person centred approach, is the approach developed by Carl Rogers, and is sometimes for that reason called Rogerian counselling or therapy. It is an approach that recognises the innate potential of each individual to resolve his or her difficulties. The intention is to support and enable the service user to formulate their own solutions and apply them of their own choice. Most of us are far more creative than we realise, and in the pressure and tension of daily life lose sight of our greatest asset

  • Word count: 3332
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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What is the most appropriate level of government from which to develop and apply regional polices? Consider this question from the point of view of regional policy in contemporary Europe.

What is the most appropriate level of government from which to develop and apply regional polices? Consider this question from the point of view of regional policy in contemporary Europe. Within each country there are areas that have differing levels of income per capita meaning that the inhabitants of the area may have a different standard of living. This is generally caused by the location of employment and the movement of labour force to those areas, leaving home areas with fewer resources to live with, thus cause disparities within regions (areas of statistical analysis). These regions will therefore be generally poorer resourced and will need to either help itself or be helped by richer areas in order to get to a level that is acceptable. It is generally wanted that all areas become equal and can compete with one another effectively in order to get economically efficient. In order to do these governments must develop policies, which help these regions (regional policy). These can either be developed at the level of the region's government, in Europe this would be the member state for example the UK i.e. Westminster, or at the higher level of government i.e. the European Union (EU) commission in Brussels. It is important for each region to get the right policies for itself as differing regions will need differing forms of help therefore the level at which these

  • Word count: 2048
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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Is the State the Primary Actor in Global Politics?

Is the State the Primary Actor in Global Politics? Traditionally it is states that are thought of as the primary actor in global politics, however, non-state actors are increasingly playing a more important role, and whilst we have seen an increasing number of non-governmental organisations such as Amnesty International and transnational corporations such as Shell, however, this journal shall focus on the most influential of non-state actors which is intergovernmental organizations such as the United Nations (The UN) or the European Union (The EU) etc. Globalization is one of the main reasons for intergovernmental organizations power increasing and is the driving force behind states having less power globally, from finance to human rights, there is a "widening, deepening and speeding up of global interconnectedness" (Held et al 2003 p67) and as a result states are increasingly becoming interdependent on one another which has lead to supranational organizations such as the EU being established. Supranational organisations inflict a number of limitations on a states independence to do as they please, proving that states are not the primary actor in global politics (Watson 1997 p2). Watson identifies three different types of restraints that supranational organizations impose on a state. Firstly, they are trapped in a system where they have no choice but to acknowledge all the

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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Are pressure groups good for Democracy?

Are pressure groups good for Democracy? Whether or not pressure groups are good for democracy depends if their activity is looked at in negative or positive terms. Most recently pressure groups have been subject to a lot of criticism in recent years for reasons such as the "iron triangle" and having too much power. However others contest that pressure groups are indeed good for democracy and help the process because they provide congressmen with specialist knowledge and enhance political participation for the members of the public in and between elections. Pressure groups could be argued to be good for democracy as they provide legislators with specialist knowledge. Some may think this is not necessary as Congressmen have their own 'staffers', however the interest groups can offer detailed or technical knowledge that they would otherwise lack. This could be in the form of feedback about reaction in the country to government polices and proposals for legislation. There have, however, been suggestions that the increase of pressure groups within recent years has led to a decline in their usefulness as sources of information. It has been argued that Congressmen are increasingly uncertain about which group has credibility and deserves attention and in turn means that they do not want to be associated with them. This means that pressure groups are not necessarily good for

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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critical reflection

Critical Reflection on Learning Throughout the 100 days of my Practice Learning Experience I have progressed in my learning by developing on my skills and knowledge. One of the areas where I needed to develop my knowledge and expertise was relationship building and communication skills. I worked on developing these skills through key-working and supporting service users. My case studies evidence this as I worked closely with both service users to support them, by assessing their needs, reviewing risks, policies and procedures that applies to them (National Occupational Standards 3.2.) The Social policy module helped me to understand how the laws and policies were applied to these cases such as the NHS and Community Care Act 1990. Case Study 1 was a unique case for me as although the service user did not have any mental health needs he required help with Alcohol Rehabilitation for which the trust holds the budget. I found this service user to be very difficult to engage with as he did see social workers as people who interfere and was very reserved with his information so gave me limited information regarding his background at the start of the process. He also was presenting challenging behaviour and had a habit of swearing and lacked respect for women. I found him to be challenging overall and I pursued a different method of working with him whereby I made conversation and

  • Word count: 1504
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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In the light of the global trends towards democratic development in the 1980's, account for the cont

In the light of the global trends towards democratic development in the 1980's, account for the cont In the 1980's, a remarkable trend towards the establishment of democratic institutions was apparent throughout many areas of the world. In Latin-America the generals and colonels were returning to their barracks, while the the end of the cold war witnessed the emergence of fledgling democracies in large parts of eastern Europe and the former USSR. However, this trend wasn't reproduced in certain Southeast Asian states, where the military still has a pivotal role in influencing and directing policy and actively suppressing the emergence of democratic institutions. This is no more noticeable than in Indonesia and Burma: the two states which will be discussed in this essay. In this respect the structure we have adopted is one of studying the events leading to the military takeover; examining the internal socioeconomic conditions which facilitated military intervention; and then bringing the reader up to date with the current difficulties facing the respective governments. In addition, the analytical framework will revolve around Huntington's claim that military intervention is a product of feeble and ineffective civilian associations. Thus: "The extent to which military institutions and individuals become politicized is a function of the weakness of civilian political

  • Word count: 3340
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Social studies
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