Xoxo Occupying The Nation's Attention, If Not Its Cities Scott Neuman NPR February 1, 2012 http://www.npr.org/2012/02/01/146205425/occupying-the-nations-attention-if-not-its-cities
Despite the Occupy Movement reaching a physical decline it has impacted citizens all around the nation and has become the praxis of Marxist theory. The Movement has brought people closer to attaining class consciousness where the conflicts among the wealthy and the poor have been noted by a greater number of Americans. The Movement to a large extent symbolizes the proletariats’ dissatisfaction with the capitalists and by bringing the issues into the political realm the demonstrators have incited a revolution demanding change. With this revolution people are able to link their consciousness with action and will hopefully be closer to living to their full human potential as species being. While capitalists continue to use surplus value for their own ends the Movement demands higher taxation on the rich in hopes of alleviating this injustice brought forth by false consciousness. It has been a movement that has shed light on the possibility that capitalism has exceeded its usefulness and change is necessary.
Durkheim stresses collective rituals as a source for society to bond with each other’s. Perhaps that is why so many people are morning over the death of Whitney Houston. Whitney Houston was without a doubt very talented. In her day she brought about a sense of empowerment for a number of people, especially women of the African American decent. She was a well-known celebrity for many, many years. The article goes on to describe on how she was found underwater in the bathtub, just hours before she was to go on stage for a Grammy. It has not been released yet, but one could only speculate that it was from a drug overdose, since she was seen parting for the few days prior.
Celebrities tend to hold this empirical or ideologist value for some people. The idea of what the “ordinary” person strives to be or wish he or she could be like. Followers of Whitney Houston define her music and life as sacred. Durkheim explains rituals as generating intense emotions. Whitney Houston’s death has defiantly stirred up a number of people’s emotions. However, in my point of view, I feel that her death is more of that to be considered a suicide. Her suicide that could be explains as Anomic; result of deregulation of individual’s desires and passions. Houston’s death while it is tragic, one could only conclude that it was some form of a drug over dose. Should society really be celebrating, looking up to, or idealizing a person who did drugs and took their own life. She was such an influenal person that, she really could have done magnificent things with her limelight, instead, she chose the path of drugs. The fact that she had no regulations regarding her desires makes a person wonder why do we hold such empirical values for celebrities.
While alienation can take on various forms, one way in which it is most commonly occurs is in the estrangement of man. In our natural state, humans will frequently see the inherent benefit in working together for the benefit of all. In the relationship of estranged labor, man’s species nature becomes foreign to him and consequently man becomes estranged to his fellow man. In this article, the woman is perplexed that her good friend and fellow co-worker would verbally slander a former co-worker’s character when she was applying for a new job. Although this may be morally troublesome, in the context of estrangement between our fellow man and a capitalistic environment which breeds stepping upon each other for personal gain, it makes perfect sense.
The actions of Joanne, the woman who falsified her identity and gave personally slandering information to the company that Melanie was seeking a position in, speaks volumes of how far our estrangement towards each other can go. Even though Joanne worked with Melanie, her ability to tarnish Melanie’s reputation while simultaneously claiming to be someone else and justifying it later as simply being “frazzled” is an keen example of a worker no longer seeing solidarity between those similar to them. Since Joanne was competing for the same position as Melanie, her ethics took a backseat when considering the potential personal benefits of a new position.
This estrangement of man leads humans to see each other in a most perverse way. No longer seeing other’s as one in the same, we are led to self motives with the hope of leveraging the capitalist system in our favor. We no longer see in others solidarity but instead a means to an end- our own selfish end. Instead of arising to a consciousness that see’s our fellow worker as our equal and our capitalist owner as the root cause of our alienation, we turn on one another and see them as standing in our way. This in fact is exactly what the owners of production want; as long as the workers squabble amongst themselves, they will be too pre-occupied to see their true position in society.
Title of the article: Greener (Brown) Toilet Paper and the Elusive Green Consumer
Author of the article: Marc Gunther
Source of the article: GREENBIZ.com
Date of the article: February 13, 2012
Link to the article: http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2012/02/13/greener-brown-toilet-paper-and-elusive-green-consumer?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Greenbuzz+%28GreenBiz+Feed%29
From the point of view of Marx
Marx studied change and the different ways and contexts in which change could take place. The company Cascades is trying to make a change in the toilet paper industry. They are making toilet paper out of 100% recycled paper in an effort to lower our carbon footprint. While this is a very good step towards accomplishing that goal, just making the paper isn’t enough. If all of the consumers do not want this change to come about they will not support it and by the paper, and in the end it would have been a waste.
This toilet paper, known as Moka, has so many good qualities and advantages to it, but this doesn’t mean that it will be successful in the consumer world. Just because the product could be beneficial does not meant that it will be successful in changing society and its carbon footprint. In order for change to occur multiple people have to work together to accomplish the common goal. The mere idea that “Green” toilet paper would reduce our carbon footprint is not enough to cause change. People have to be social interested in the project and the cause at hand. Social interests determine which ideas we adopt, so the producers have to appeal to the social interests of the consumers which would therefore influence their ideas.
So far only companies, offices, schools, hospitals, and other bigger institutions such as these have purchased this “Green” paper. This could have something to do with the fact that social position has an impact on the ideas that are appealing to us. So maybe right now the toilet paper really only appeals to people of higher status and that are providing for other consumers. It is possible that this product is just not of interests to individual families and smaller institutions.
1. Baker 2. The M.R.S. and the Ph.D. 3. Stephanie Coontz 4. The New York Times 5. February 11, 2012 6. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/opinion/sunday/marriage-suits-educated-women.html?_r=1
From the perspective of Engels.
Prior to now, I have developed understandings for transitional family patterns, in the scope of primitive to civilized societies. The progression from matrilineal to patriarchal has caused not only change of families, but also the economy. With regards to capitalism, it has always been in my opinion that economic necessity forces women into subservience to husbands who retain the income to support them. Patriarchal societies lead to men gaining control over politics and claiming women as property, I suggested that the only solution to gender inequality would be the ending of private property. For this reason, I am glad to see we are beginning to have more of a balance between men and women, moving our society towards being more civilized. Women are gaining further education and receiving higher incomes compared to men, which is causing a change in the traditional roles of husband and wife. The affects educated women are experiencing from the way men perceive them is natural because primitive ways will still be considerable while transitioning to a more developed society. Over time, women will no longer feel obligated to perform household labor, and enter the public economic sphere with equal opportunity in the most cultural and refined society.
LION Blake Ellis CNNMONEY.COM February 6, 2012 http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/06/pf/romney_kids_trust/index.htm?iid=HP_LN Reflection point of Marx
Mitt Romney who is running for President in the upcoming elections is trying to find ways to keep his $100 million in trust funds for his children. Romney is the definition of a capitalist as he owns the means of production plus he has the money to hire and exploit ways to find laws to keep his money, by paying less taxes or none at all. Capitalist are motivated not by a need for commodities but by a desire to accumulate money. This just comes down to greed or excessive comfortability and is just the beginning of something that could become a greater issue if Romney becomes President. The proletariats are going to become poorer and poorer and will eventually lead to the overthrowing of the capitalists by the proletariats.
Faith Title: Parents struggling to feed children as prices rise Author: Unknown Source: BBC News Date of article: 14 February 2012 Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-17034134
From Marx’s View Point
It is rather evident that the people located in India, Bangladesh, Peru, Pakistan, and Nigeria is suffering from being paid subsistence wage vs. living wage. The people are not making enough money that as food prices are on the rise, they are not able to provide for their families. These people are obviously being exploited by those in power, and their need of more assistance is being overlooked. Had these people been paid living wage as food prices rise, they would simply have to watch what they purchase vs. what they can no longer afford. The individuals within these countries are evidently suffering from a capitalist system. The rich are constantly getting rich while the poor grows poorer.
False consciousness is unfortunately taking place. The individuals who are less able to provide for their families are looking towards the next child in line to help out, and not being able to fulfill class consciousness. Had these workers within families realized their full human potential, they could be maintaining food coming in vs. what has to be sacrificed. Until the poor realize that they are valued for their labor in whatever area of work they commit to, they will not be able to stop the growing inequality and therefore has to let children stop school to work for food as well. The education is of equal value to food, however, without food these children cannot focus to learn. If the poor cannot reach class consciousness, then generation after generation, lives will be jeopardized.
There is a collective ritual to be loved, pair off, mate and have those people live as a new unit. These events although at a personal, intimate individual level also contribute to a collective consciousness of love. It is expected that one will be born, grow up, find a mate and exchange vows of love. Love is something that brings the human race together in unity. Love for another person, love for the environment, love for politics to make the word a better place etc. When an experience is perceived to be the last it will be valued more because it signifies the end. As collective individuals we come together to value that moment and properly appreciate it. Picking the last chocolate, viewing the last dating profile, counting down the clock towards the end of a game, cheering for an encore are all collective rituals that bring humans together in society. It is a personal contribution to a larger event that everyone values more because it is ending; and celebrating ending events are collective and universal no matter how small or large the connection is.
Pickles Zakaria: Mitt, you need to worry about the very poor Fareed Zakaria www.CNN.com http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/12/zakaria-mitt-you-need-to-worry-about-the-very-poor/?iref=allsearch
Marx Perspective
This article speaks about a Mitt Romney's "poor" choice of words when discussing a economical issue. To sum it up, he states that he is not concerned wit the "very poor". "I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I'll fix it." The author has a big problem with this statement. Romney should be concerned with the very poor because they are the people that need the most help, according to the author. Romney's calculations of the amount of Americans in middle class and lower class were very off which showed that he was not well educated on the matter. In relation to Marx the article exhibited ideology through Romney only being concerned with the class he felt deserved the most attention. He felt that middle class should be our only concern therefore every plan and ideas he had were only for this particular class. He also exhibited alienation of the lower class. Although every class is a part of the economy he made it seem as if it was not important to the "majority" of the nation although it is just as important if not more. I also feel that commodity fetish was exhibited because in society if you are not contributed to society either through consumption or production then you are not seen as part of society, in this case, "very poor class".
AdayBoog Did Early Christians Practice Birth Control By: Will Oremus Slate Posted Friday, Feb. 10, 2012 http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2012/02/obama_birth_control_battle_when_did_catholics_ban_contraception_.html
After reading this immediately the social theorist Durkheim and his beliefs about religion came to mind. Durkheim defines religion “as the basic source of moral rules and social integration” (class lecture). From the article it is clear the religion or the church still is a very powerful social force because the Roman Catholics got Obama to “soften his stance” on the issue of contraception being apart of health insurance plans. The point is not whether or not Christians have ever practiced birth control because according to the article there is evidence that it was used. The point is that the Roman Catholics/Christians/Religion is a social force that is the creating moral rules or discontinuing them. So then they impose their beliefs, morals, social acceptations, and then integrate society so that this can be a mutual or universal belief and bond each other by it.
So if Christians were once murderers like during the Crusades era and now they are Saviors or Saints then it will be socially integrated and accepted. Now contraception is viewed as profane because a life is sacred or the preservation of life is sacred. We should respect the womb because God created it for babies to be conceived and sex should only be committed when the intention is to be “fruitful” and multiply. These beliefs/morals have made there way to the President of the United States and have swayed his stance on contraception. Would you not agree that Religion/Christianity is powerful in some sense? I would very much so.
Weber’s idea of bureaucracy was divided into parts for people to better understand. His view on formal rationalism is easily applied to the article at hand. BP oil company had one of the largest oil spill in the history of United States two years ago. The effort to stop the leak and clean up the spill was admirable, however it went unsuccessful for a number of months. In view of the formal rationalization, from the aspect of calculability, it is easily quantifiable the amount of penalties being accessed to BP. The controversy at hand is how much they should be penalized. From the article it is stating that a federal crime has not been placed onto BP however, if it is they will be required to pay 4 times the amount for each barrel spilled. In my opinion, yes BP should be responsible to pay more money because of the magnitude of loss to the environment, people, business, and wild life. But, no amount of money is going to bring back what was ruined or lost. The next stage of formal rationalization is efficiency, which is putting the least amount of effort to get the maxim profit. BP clearly is seeking its own efficiency. Which I suppose is where bureaucracy is truly rooted, in the idea of profit for the large corporation. BP would like to put out the least amount of money for the penalties, not because they deny it is owed but, in fear that it will generate a larger cost in the end. A larger cost because it will mean more workers to deliver oil to more stores, more pumping, thus leading to more money charged to the consumer so the corporation can maintain profit. The third stage of Weber’s view is predictability. It is predictable that BP would try to get out paying out punitive damages to victims. It is a large corporation trying to get out paying what is owed to victims. Large corporations are profit driven, just as bureaucracy is profit driven. Again, money is not the end all be all answer, however it could lead to a new start for many people, small business and beaches. Control of uncertainties is large aspect that needs to be addressed. There needs to be a control so that this type of catastrophe does not happen again. I think that is where The Clean water act comes into play. The government is stepping in so that oil spills of this magnitude or any magnitude for that matter happen again. Perhaps with a little governmental control in our capitalistic market, it will lead to a cleaner environment and better sustainability.
Lion Are we finally starting to banish working-momguit? Dr. Robi Ludwing TODAYmoms 02/27/12 http://moms.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/27/10499447-are-we-finally-starting-to-banish-working-mom-guilt
Dr. Robi Ludwig is supporting the everyday stereotype of a working mother in that these women can "do it all". In addition to being a great mothers to their children, good wives to their husbands, great daughters to their mothers, they are also doing all the house hold chores as well as working full time jobs. This sense of guilt comes from them not cooking enough or even not having enough sex with their husbands. Mothers try to be a role model for their children by being a working mom. The extra hours of housework a mother has to do is the second shift. Man and women contribute to the wage but women contribute much more in the home environment. This second shift of labor of the women in the house enables men to work more and to be more wealthy making them more likely to be the breadwinner. Dr. Robin mentions that studies show that women are more susceptible to suffering from guilty feelings than men because women tend to be more interpersonally sensitive.
At the top of each post you must list the following information: 1. Your Codeword 2. Title of the news article you choose (see suggestions below) 3. Author of the news article 4. Source of the news article 5. Date of the news article 6. Link (url) to the news article
Those six lines should be followed by your reflection from the perspective of the social theorist you choose from the list of options for each due date. A reflection is not a summary. Instead, what you are expected to do is to thoroughly read the news article of your choice and reflect on it from the perspective of one of the assigned Social Theorists. Note that your reflection may include a bit of summary, but it must not consist entirely of summarizing the article. Good reflections will analyze the issue discussed in the article from the perspective of one of the assigned Social Theorists; outstanding posts will even take the voice (write in the tone and style of) the Social Theorist. Reflections should be a minimum of one paragraph. They must be posted no later than 4pm on the due date below and the article you choose must have been published within two weeks of the due date. There are 3 points possible of Extra Credit for each post.
Xoxo
ReplyDeleteOccupying The Nation's Attention, If Not Its Cities
Scott Neuman
NPR
February 1, 2012
http://www.npr.org/2012/02/01/146205425/occupying-the-nations-attention-if-not-its-cities
Despite the Occupy Movement reaching a physical decline it has impacted citizens all around the nation and has become the praxis of Marxist theory. The Movement has brought people closer to attaining class consciousness where the conflicts among the wealthy and the poor have been noted by a greater number of Americans. The Movement to a large extent symbolizes the proletariats’ dissatisfaction with the capitalists and by bringing the issues into the political realm the demonstrators have incited a revolution demanding change. With this revolution people are able to link their consciousness with action and will hopefully be closer to living to their full human potential as species being. While capitalists continue to use surplus value for their own ends the Movement demands higher taxation on the rich in hopes of alleviating this injustice brought forth by false consciousness. It has been a movement that has shed light on the possibility that capitalism has exceeded its usefulness and change is necessary.
Code Word: nemo1213
ReplyDeleteTitle: HOUSTON 'WAS UNDERWATER' IN BATH
Url link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17021183
Date of Article: 2/13/12
Author and source of Article: BBC
From the reflection point of Durkheim
Durkheim stresses collective rituals as a source for society to bond with each other’s. Perhaps that is why so many people are morning over the death of Whitney Houston. Whitney Houston was without a doubt very talented. In her day she brought about a sense of empowerment for a number of people, especially women of the African American decent. She was a well-known celebrity for many, many years. The article goes on to describe on how she was found underwater in the bathtub, just hours before she was to go on stage for a Grammy. It has not been released yet, but one could only speculate that it was from a drug overdose, since she was seen parting for the few days prior.
Celebrities tend to hold this empirical or ideologist value for some people. The idea of what the “ordinary” person strives to be or wish he or she could be like. Followers of Whitney Houston define her music and life as sacred. Durkheim explains rituals as generating intense emotions. Whitney Houston’s death has defiantly stirred up a number of people’s emotions. However, in my point of view, I feel that her death is more of that to be considered a suicide. Her suicide that could be explains as Anomic; result of deregulation of individual’s desires and passions. Houston’s death while it is tragic, one could only conclude that it was some form of a drug over dose. Should society really be celebrating, looking up to, or idealizing a person who did drugs and took their own life. She was such an influenal person that, she really could have done magnificent things with her limelight, instead, she chose the path of drugs. The fact that she had no regulations regarding her desires makes a person wonder why do we hold such empirical values for celebrities.
Code word: Watever
ReplyDeleteTitle: Workplace Rivalry
Author: Emily Yoffe
Source: Slate.com
February 6, 2012
Hyperlink: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/dear_prudence/2012/02/workplace_rivalry_a_co_worker_impersonated_me_to_sabotage_her_rival_.html
From the reflection point of Marx
While alienation can take on various forms, one way in which it is most commonly occurs is in the estrangement of man. In our natural state, humans will frequently see the inherent benefit in working together for the benefit of all. In the relationship of estranged labor, man’s species nature becomes foreign to him and consequently man becomes estranged to his fellow man. In this article, the woman is perplexed that her good friend and fellow co-worker would verbally slander a former co-worker’s character when she was applying for a new job. Although this may be morally troublesome, in the context of estrangement between our fellow man and a capitalistic environment which breeds stepping upon each other for personal gain, it makes perfect sense.
The actions of Joanne, the woman who falsified her identity and gave personally slandering information to the company that Melanie was seeking a position in, speaks volumes of how far our estrangement towards each other can go. Even though Joanne worked with Melanie, her ability to tarnish Melanie’s reputation while simultaneously claiming to be someone else and justifying it later as simply being “frazzled” is an keen example of a worker no longer seeing solidarity between those similar to them. Since Joanne was competing for the same position as Melanie, her ethics took a backseat when considering the potential personal benefits of a new position.
This estrangement of man leads humans to see each other in a most perverse way. No longer seeing other’s as one in the same, we are led to self motives with the hope of leveraging the capitalist system in our favor. We no longer see in others solidarity but instead a means to an end- our own selfish end. Instead of arising to a consciousness that see’s our fellow worker as our equal and our capitalist owner as the root cause of our alienation, we turn on one another and see them as standing in our way. This in fact is exactly what the owners of production want; as long as the workers squabble amongst themselves, they will be too pre-occupied to see their true position in society.
Code word: Eljaly
ReplyDeleteTitle of the article: Greener (Brown) Toilet Paper and the Elusive Green Consumer
Author of the article: Marc Gunther
Source of the article: GREENBIZ.com
Date of the article: February 13, 2012
Link to the article: http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2012/02/13/greener-brown-toilet-paper-and-elusive-green-consumer?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Greenbuzz+%28GreenBiz+Feed%29
From the point of view of Marx
Marx studied change and the different ways and contexts in which change could take place. The company Cascades is trying to make a change in the toilet paper industry. They are making toilet paper out of 100% recycled paper in an effort to lower our carbon footprint. While this is a very good step towards accomplishing that goal, just making the paper isn’t enough. If all of the consumers do not want this change to come about they will not support it and by the paper, and in the end it would have been a waste.
This toilet paper, known as Moka, has so many good qualities and advantages to it, but this doesn’t mean that it will be successful in the consumer world. Just because the product could be beneficial does not meant that it will be successful in changing society and its carbon footprint. In order for change to occur multiple people have to work together to accomplish the common goal. The mere idea that “Green” toilet paper would reduce our carbon footprint is not enough to cause change. People have to be social interested in the project and the cause at hand. Social interests determine which ideas we adopt, so the producers have to appeal to the social interests of the consumers which would therefore influence their ideas.
So far only companies, offices, schools, hospitals, and other bigger institutions such as these have purchased this “Green” paper. This could have something to do with the fact that social position has an impact on the ideas that are appealing to us. So maybe right now the toilet paper really only appeals to people of higher status and that are providing for other consumers. It is possible that this product is just not of interests to individual families and smaller institutions.
1. Baker
ReplyDelete2. The M.R.S. and the Ph.D.
3. Stephanie Coontz
4. The New York Times
5. February 11, 2012
6. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/opinion/sunday/marriage-suits-educated-women.html?_r=1
From the perspective of Engels.
Prior to now, I have developed understandings for transitional family patterns, in the scope of primitive to civilized societies. The progression from matrilineal to patriarchal has caused not only change of families, but also the economy. With regards to capitalism, it has always been in my opinion that economic necessity forces women into subservience to husbands who retain the income to support them. Patriarchal societies lead to men gaining control over politics and claiming women as property, I suggested that the only solution to gender inequality would be the ending of private property. For this reason, I am glad to see we are beginning to have more of a balance between men and women, moving our society towards being more civilized. Women are gaining further education and receiving higher incomes compared to men, which is causing a change in the traditional roles of husband and wife. The affects educated women are experiencing from the way men perceive them is natural because primitive ways will still be considerable while transitioning to a more developed society. Over time, women will no longer feel obligated to perform household labor, and enter the public economic sphere with equal opportunity in the most cultural and refined society.
LION
ReplyDeleteBlake Ellis
CNNMONEY.COM
February 6, 2012
http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/06/pf/romney_kids_trust/index.htm?iid=HP_LN
Reflection point of Marx
Mitt Romney who is running for President in the upcoming elections is trying to find ways to keep his $100 million in trust funds for his children. Romney is the definition of a capitalist as he owns the means of production plus he has the money to hire and exploit ways to find laws to keep his money, by paying less taxes or none at all. Capitalist are motivated not by a need for commodities but by a desire to accumulate money. This just comes down to greed or excessive comfortability and is just the beginning of something that could become a greater issue if Romney becomes President. The proletariats are going to become poorer and poorer and will eventually lead to the overthrowing of the capitalists by the proletariats.
Faith
ReplyDeleteTitle: Parents struggling to feed children as prices rise
Author: Unknown
Source: BBC News
Date of article: 14 February 2012
Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-17034134
From Marx’s View Point
It is rather evident that the people located in India, Bangladesh, Peru, Pakistan, and Nigeria is suffering from being paid subsistence wage vs. living wage. The people are not making enough money that as food prices are on the rise, they are not able to provide for their families. These people are obviously being exploited by those in power, and their need of more assistance is being overlooked. Had these people been paid living wage as food prices rise, they would simply have to watch what they purchase vs. what they can no longer afford. The individuals within these countries are evidently suffering from a capitalist system. The rich are constantly getting rich while the poor grows poorer.
False consciousness is unfortunately taking place. The individuals who are less able to provide for their families are looking towards the next child in line to help out, and not being able to fulfill class consciousness. Had these workers within families realized their full human potential, they could be maintaining food coming in vs. what has to be sacrificed. Until the poor realize that they are valued for their labor in whatever area of work they commit to, they will not be able to stop the growing inequality and therefore has to let children stop school to work for food as well. The education is of equal value to food, however, without food these children cannot focus to learn. If the poor cannot reach class consciousness, then generation after generation, lives will be jeopardized.
Code word: StemSwag
ReplyDeleteTitle: Why the Best Chocolate Is the One You Eat Last
Author: Allison Aubrey
Source: NPR
Date: February 14, 2012 04:55 pm
URL: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/02/14/146874769/why-the-best-chocolate-is-the-one-you-eat-last?ft=1&f=1024
Perspective: Durkheim
There is a collective ritual to be loved, pair off, mate and have those people live as a new unit. These events although at a personal, intimate individual level also contribute to a collective consciousness of love. It is expected that one will be born, grow up, find a mate and exchange vows of love. Love is something that brings the human race together in unity. Love for another person, love for the environment, love for politics to make the word a better place etc. When an experience is perceived to be the last it will be valued more because it signifies the end. As collective individuals we come together to value that moment and properly appreciate it. Picking the last chocolate, viewing the last dating profile, counting down the clock towards the end of a game, cheering for an encore are all collective rituals that bring humans together in society. It is a personal contribution to a larger event that everyone values more because it is ending; and celebrating ending events are collective and universal no matter how small or large the connection is.
Pickles
ReplyDeleteZakaria: Mitt, you need to worry about the very poor
Fareed Zakaria
www.CNN.com
http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/12/zakaria-mitt-you-need-to-worry-about-the-very-poor/?iref=allsearch
Marx Perspective
This article speaks about a Mitt Romney's "poor" choice of words when discussing a economical issue. To sum it up, he states that he is not concerned wit the "very poor". "I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I'll fix it." The author has a big problem with this statement. Romney should be concerned with the very poor because they are the people that need the most help, according to the author. Romney's calculations of the amount of Americans in middle class and lower class were very off which showed that he was not well educated on the matter.
In relation to Marx the article exhibited ideology through Romney only being concerned with the class he felt deserved the most attention. He felt that middle class should be our only concern therefore every plan and ideas he had were only for this particular class. He also exhibited alienation of the lower class. Although every class is a part of the economy he made it seem as if it was not important to the "majority" of the nation although it is just as important if not more. I also feel that commodity fetish was exhibited because in society if you are not contributed to society either through consumption or production then you are not seen as part of society, in this case, "very poor class".
Pickles
ReplyDeleteArticle posted:February 12th,2012
AdayBoog
ReplyDeleteDid Early Christians Practice Birth Control
By: Will Oremus
Slate
Posted Friday, Feb. 10, 2012
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2012/02/obama_birth_control_battle_when_did_catholics_ban_contraception_.html
After reading this immediately the social theorist Durkheim and his beliefs about religion came to mind. Durkheim defines religion “as the basic source of moral rules and social integration” (class lecture). From the article it is clear the religion or the church still is a very powerful social force because the Roman Catholics got Obama to “soften his stance” on the issue of contraception being apart of health insurance plans. The point is not whether or not Christians have ever practiced birth control because according to the article there is evidence that it was used. The point is that the Roman Catholics/Christians/Religion is a social force that is the creating moral rules or discontinuing them. So then they impose their beliefs, morals, social acceptations, and then integrate society so that this can be a mutual or universal belief and bond each other by it.
So if Christians were once murderers like during the Crusades era and now they are Saviors or Saints then it will be socially integrated and accepted. Now contraception is viewed as profane because a life is sacred or the preservation of life is sacred. We should respect the womb because God created it for babies to be conceived and sex should only be committed when the intention is to be “fruitful” and multiply. These beliefs/morals have made there way to the President of the United States and have swayed his stance on contraception. Would you not agree that Religion/Christianity is powerful in some sense? I would very much so.
Codeword: nemo1213
ReplyDelete02/22/12
WCBST #2
Article: Settlement Talks Pick Up Ahead of BP Oil Spill Trial
Author: JOHN SCHWARTZ
Published: 2/20/12
url: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/21/us/ahead-of-bp-oil-spill-trial-settlement-talks-pick-up.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Point of view from theorist: Weber
Weber’s idea of bureaucracy was divided into parts for people to better understand. His view on formal rationalism is easily applied to the article at hand. BP oil company had one of the largest oil spill in the history of United States two years ago. The effort to stop the leak and clean up the spill was admirable, however it went unsuccessful for a number of months.
In view of the formal rationalization, from the aspect of calculability, it is easily quantifiable the amount of penalties being accessed to BP. The controversy at hand is how much they should be penalized. From the article it is stating that a federal crime has not been placed onto BP however, if it is they will be required to pay 4 times the amount for each barrel spilled. In my opinion, yes BP should be responsible to pay more money because of the magnitude of loss to the environment, people, business, and wild life. But, no amount of money is going to bring back what was ruined or lost.
The next stage of formal rationalization is efficiency, which is putting the least amount of effort to get the maxim profit. BP clearly is seeking its own efficiency. Which I suppose is where bureaucracy is truly rooted, in the idea of profit for the large corporation. BP would like to put out the least amount of money for the penalties, not because they deny it is owed but, in fear that it will generate a larger cost in the end. A larger cost because it will mean more workers to deliver oil to more stores, more pumping, thus leading to more money charged to the consumer so the corporation can maintain profit.
The third stage of Weber’s view is predictability. It is predictable that BP would try to get out paying out punitive damages to victims. It is a large corporation trying to get out paying what is owed to victims. Large corporations are profit driven, just as bureaucracy is profit driven. Again, money is not the end all be all answer, however it could lead to a new start for many people, small business and beaches.
Control of uncertainties is large aspect that needs to be addressed. There needs to be a control so that this type of catastrophe does not happen again. I think that is where The Clean water act comes into play. The government is stepping in so that oil spills of this magnitude or any magnitude for that matter happen again. Perhaps with a little governmental control in our capitalistic market, it will lead to a cleaner environment and better sustainability.
Lion
ReplyDeleteAre we finally starting to banish working-momguit?
Dr. Robi Ludwing
TODAYmoms
02/27/12
http://moms.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/27/10499447-are-we-finally-starting-to-banish-working-mom-guilt
Dr. Robi Ludwig is supporting the everyday stereotype of a working mother in that these women can "do it all". In addition to being a great mothers to their children, good wives to their husbands, great daughters to their mothers, they are also doing all the house hold chores as well as working full time jobs. This sense of guilt comes from them not cooking enough or even not having enough sex with their husbands. Mothers try to be a role model for their children by being a working mom. The extra hours of housework a mother has to do is the second shift. Man and women contribute to the wage but women contribute much more in the home environment. This second shift of labor of the women in the house enables men to work more and to be more wealthy making them more likely to be the breadwinner. Dr. Robin mentions that studies show that women are more susceptible to suffering from guilty feelings than men because women tend to be more interpersonally sensitive.