The Overemphasis On Physical Appearance Sociology Essay

The Overemphasis On Physical Appearance Sociology Essay In what way can it be argued that an overemphasis on ones physical appearance alienates individuals from themselves? Is the body part of the self or separate from the self? To answer this question, first of all it is necessary to understand what physical appearance means for individuality, and how it influences on persons self-image and self-perception. Persons appearance is a meaning of his identity.  Appearance is a expression of self-appraisal of person in overall positive or a negative attitude.  When self-appraisal is independent and autonomous, it does not dependent on external evaluations.  But in most cases the person tries by the appearance to attract the attention of surrounding people, and show his inner world, the mood and character.   Through the appearance person reveals his identity to a particular social class, individual lifestyle with his characteristic values, and, last but not least, interacts with various aspects of the social environment and changes them.  A person can achieve his goals by manipulating the impression he makes on other people. That is, appearance is a continuation of humans inner world, so the body can not be separated from the spiritual and emotional side. 2. Several of the classical theorists believed that much of modern life has become objectified and rationalized. In addition to the areas of the body, celebrity, and medicine, in what other areas has modern life become objectified and rationalized? Comparing the situation in contemporary culture and society that was a hundred years ago, many critics and theorists say that it has become objectified and rationalized. First of all this process is connected with the globalization, that has brought certain standards in the world. Globalization has led to fundamental changes in the relationship between folk, elite and mass culture, it lowered the status of the culture as it was before.  At the same time it brought mass culture, turning it into a leading element of a cultural system of post-industrial society.  The mass culture is like a substitute designed to meet the lowbrow tastes of poorly educated population. 3. Is it possible to effectively untie the rational and irrational, mental and emotional dimensions of life to create a more humane society? Why or why not? Should social theorists even be concerned about such an issue? Rationality one of the most important concepts of philosophy, sociology and psychology. The characteristic of our time is a neglect of rationality, that is mainly due to the uncertainty in the use of this notion.  What is rational and what is irrational? Rationality, like morality, is essential characteristic of behavior.  It is important to distinguish between the rational and irrational behavior.  An important feature of the actions that is called irrational or rationally forbidden (rationally prohibited), is that virtually no one would support people to commit these acts, on the contrary, they would have tried to convince not to do so.  To call something rational or rationally acceptable does not mean to endorse all of this, in these words there is only one modal nuance of lack of conviction. Many people want to draw a clear line between facts and values, rational and irrational.  If you get rid of the irrational motives, it means the mental control of reason over the behavior, which requires adherence to specific actions, conditions, programs, limiting the freedom of thought.  However, the above indicates that such a clear distinction is impossible, because rationality is in some way a subjective judgment. 4. What are the long-term implications of the open sale of human organs for social unity and divisiveness in the United States? The problem of sale of human organs is a matter of division of society into two views for and against.  Also, this issue has two problems: A rapid withdrawal of transplantation at the level of mass practice; An equally rapid growth of the declarations and documents of ethics adopted by professional associations, regulations and new laws, which develops and offers modern law and adopt modern nations of Europe and America, Asia and Africa. Modern transplant did not create utopian concepts, but wants to reach the level of ethical rules and standards of sale of human organs.  They see a direct connection between the progressive development of transplantation and overcoming of social psychological barrier in the form of traditional religious culture, with its system of rituals and attitudes towards death.  They believe that the success of transplantation is possible only in conditions of developed and prepared public opinion, that shall have absolute humanistic values across the range of practices of organ transplantation. Changing spiritual situation in the society, the democratization of social consciousness, which centered on the idea of human rights, led to a change in measures of responsibility for human life.  The increase in moral pluralism, the need for ethical and legal controls on the experimental research, medicalization of life, the globalization of bioethical issues all this makes urgent the task of fu rther development of the social problems of bioethics, which includes the issue of trade of human organs. 5. What are the most insightful or useful measures of class position? Why? How does inequality on each of these measures affect the lives of individuals? The recent trend in democratic industrialized countries of the world is increasing social mobility, that improve the status to representatives of every individual groups in society combined with the persistence of their unequal socio-economic position.  Subordination of the major social groups, their division into superior and inferior position reflects the concept of social class. Social classes are usually distinguished from other on the basis of their economic situation, the stability of the social situation of their representatives, difficulty of social mobility, the transition from the lowest class in the highest, as well as the multiplicity of their representatives.  All this makes them significant and sometimes define the measures of class position. Most measures of class position are aimed at influencing the process of social inequality and convergence status positions of the general population of industrialized countries, because the formation of the middle class does not negate the existence of traditional class position and the stratification of differences. (Delaney, 2003) 6. What evidence is there to assess the adequacy and/or inadequacy of Marxs predications about the relationship between workers and larger employers? Many of the ideas on social inequalities derived from the Marxist theory of stratification and class.  The mode of production determines the economic organization of each formation.  Marx believed the economic organization of the main aspect of society.  It includes a technology division of labor and, most importantly, a relationship formed between people in the production system.  These relationships play a key role in the Marxist concept of class.   Marx argued that in any type of economic organization is the ruling class, which owns the means of production (factories, raw materials, etc.) and provides control over them.  Due to the economic power of the ruling class decides the fate of those who are working for him.  (Berberoglu, 2005) Marx thought that workers would see that they were exploited this would lead to a deep, inescapable conflict between workers and owners.  Marx predicted that with the development of capitalism, the bourgeoisie would become richer, and the proletariat poorer.  The conflict would intensify, and in the end the workers would make a revolution, the revolution would be worldwide, leading to the overthrow of capitalism and the transition to socialism.   Marxs prediction was wrong: capitalism has not led to results that he expected.  First of all, government and the capitalists themselves began to pay more attention to the needs and demands of the workers due to political pressure and through the system of collective bargaining: now workers in the U.S. have high salaries and bonuses, in addition, they receive unemployment benefits. 7. What parallels exists in the ideologies used to maintain different racial and gender categories as separate status groups? What is your position on Durkheims prediction that the use of race and gender for positioning individuals in occupations will be eliminated someday? One of the earliest explanations of inequality due to gender or race was proposed by Emile Durkheim.  In the paper On the division of social labor (1893) Durkheim concluded that in all societies, some activities are considered more important than others.  In a society highly valued the achievement of religious salvation, that was characteristic of Puritans in colonial times.  Another company may consider the social value of material wealth.  All the functions of society law, religion, family, work, etc.  can form a hierarchy according to how highly they are valued. This view is expressed by Durkheim in his famous remark:   When I realize my duty brother, husband or a citizen, then I perform the obligations prescribed by law and custom and which are external to me and my actionsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Similarly, a believer from birth detects in the ready-made form of beliefs and practices of religious life  and, if they existed before him. Therefore, they exist outside of it. The system of symbols that I use. aphid expression, monetary system, which I use for payment of debts, credit facilities, which I use in their commercial activities, procedures  which I follow because of their profession all these and similar things operate, regardless of my usage. In turn, if we turn to each member of society, then those comments are true for each of them. (Durkheim, 1964) I dont agree with his position, because society is a set of multiple identities?  If we study a certain group, we see not a collective entity, but only a group of individuals interacting with each other in different ways. 8. Discuss the common threads in the arguments on inequality found in each of the classical theorists. On what do they agree of disagree? In contemporary Western, especially American, sociology, social scientists hold several opposing views on inequality.  At the heart of the functionalist theories is the idea that some activities the society considers it more important than others.  Proponents of these theories, inequality is a means of ensuring public confidence in the fact that such activities, carried out the most qualified individuals.   Supporters of Conflictological theories suggest that inequality is due to more favorable position of those who control the social wealth.  Their views are based on the theory of classes and social stratification, designed by Karl Marx.  According to this theory, the economic system of any society creates two main classes, one of which operates or controls the other.  (Berberoglu, 2005) In the concept of stratification, Weber identifies three factors: wealth, prestige and power.  These factors are often but not always interact.  The theory of stratification based on the criteria Warner reputation of people within the community.  According to this theory, belong to a particular social class is determined by the members of the community.  (Berberoglu, 2005) In the functional approach we can point out the theory of middle class (or the new middle) class ( Aron, Daniel Bell and others).  Theories of the middle class were a reflection of the quantitative growth of the officials, intellectuals, managers, enhancing social protection and education of workers and several other groups, as well as the convergence of income, consumption and lifestyles of the general population.  According to followers of the theory of the middle class, this process led to the elimination of traditional class distinctions between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat and the social formation of a new social groups, encompassing and unifying value pain majority of the population of industrialized countries its the middle class is.  This includes individuals who possessing family income, education, prestige role in life, lifestyle and identify themselves with this group of society.     According to exit polls, in Western countries for more than half the population (70-80%) identify themselves as middle class.  Formation of the middle class society provides a high level of social homogeneity, smooths or even eliminate class conflicts, helps to reconcile the positions of parties, trade unions, etc.  (Berberoglu, 2005)

Anthropocentrism

Anthropocentrism is the position that human beings are the central or most significant species on the planet, or the assessment of reality through an exclusively human perspective. The term can be used interchangeably with humanocentrism, while the first concept can also be referred to as human supremacy. Anthropocentrism is a major concept in the field of environmental ethics and environmental philosophy, where it is often considered to be the root cause of problems created by human interaction with the environment; however, it is profoundly embedded in many modern human cultures and conscious acts.Anthropocentrism, also known as homocentricism, has been posited by some environmentalists, in such books as Confessions of an Eco-Warrior by Dave Foreman and Green Rage by Christopher Manes, as the underlying (if unstated) reason why humanity dominates and sees the need to â€Å"develop† most of the Earth. Anthropocentrism is believed by some to be the central problematic concept in environmental philosophy, where it is used to draw attention to a systematic bias in traditional Western attitudes to the non-human world. 3] Val Plumwood has argued[4][5] that anthropocentrism plays an analogous role in green theory to androcentrism in feminist theory and ethnocentrism in anti-racist theory. Plumwood calls human-centredness â€Å"anthrocentrism† to emphasise this parallel. One of the first extended philosophical essays addressing environmental ethics, John Passmore's Man's Responsibility for Nature has been criticised by defenders of deep ecology because of its anthropocentrism, often claimed to be constitutive of traditional Western moral thought.Defenders of anthropocentrist views point out that maintenance of a healthy, sustainable environment is necessary for human well-being as opposed for its own sake. The problem with a â€Å"shallow† viewpoint is not that it is human-centred but that according to William Grey: â€Å"What's wrong with shall ow views is not their concern about the well-being of humans, but that they do not really consider enough in what that well-being consists.According to this view, we need to develop an enriched, fortified anthropocentric notion of human interest to replace the dominant short-term, sectional and self-regarding conception. â€Å"In turn, Plumwood in Environmental Culture: The Ecological Crisis of Reason comprehensively debunked Grey's anthropocentrism as inadequate.

Risky Business: Consent, Safety, and Firefighter Culture

A child’s world is full of violence. It appears in video games, films, and TV programs and many parents in the hope of removing their children from some of this violence are encouraging and sometimes pushing their children into participating in sports. Some parents are losing sight of why these children are playing- and that to the children is what they are doing: â€Å"playing. † Many parents come to their child’s practice or game with their own agenda of win, win, win at all costs.These unreasonable expectations of winning, not messing up, being the star player, and making mom and dad proud are everything. †These parents expect perfection from their children. †(Sachs, 2000, p. 62) The major problem seems to be that these parents are not considering what the children want. According to a â€Å"Kid think† survey conducted by Jerry Kirshenbaum for sports, the kids want things like ‘unlimited free throws until they miss in basketball, every one having a turn to play, less violence in hockey, using their hands in soccer, and to have fun†(p. 2). Perhaps the parents should listen to the children on this issue. Originally, the purpose of organized sports for young children was to teach them the basics of the game and skills needed to play, to practice good sportsmanship, and to have fun. If we look back to the beginnings of organized sports over 100 years ago, the purpose then was to get the growing numbers of rowdy children off the streets and to teach them values.Children’s sports are supposed to teach them skills and values-such as fair play, working with others and dealing well with adversity-which kids can draw upon throughout their lives. What has gone wrong with that purpose? Where has this sense of sportsmanship, learning, and fun gone? The incidence of violent behavior among sports parents is increasing throughout the United States and Canada and it needs to be stop. The age range of the children obse rving these incident is 6 to 12 years old, and some as young as 4 and 5 ee these outbursts. Athletic associations and organizers of youth sports are attempting to educate parents on the needs of young athletes, but this effort needs to be expanded to all organized youth sports. (Nack & Muson, 2000; Gardner, 1999) Many organized athletic associations are now requiring parents to attend sportsmanship classes, adhere to parental conduct handbooks, sign codes of conduct, and observe silent Saturdays.Many groups are working to return youth sports to a time of teaching fundamental skills, developing fitness and promoting the development of positive attitudes, values, and self-esteem. Parents across the United States and into Canada need to let go of their own agendas, and athletic associations need to enforce parental codes of conduct through classes and training. As a result, the world of youth sports can be returned to the children where they can all learn to enjoy a sport, learn the sk ills of sport, play, and most of all have fun.

Twisting Islam to Justify Cruelty Essay - 1457 Words

Journal Article 1: Twisting Islam to justify cruelty Paul Sheehan in his piece titled ‘Twisting Islam to justify cruelty’ which appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald (27/05/2013) responds to the 2013 murder of Drummer Lee Rigby, a British soldier, and explores the Islamic stance on the killing of non-Muslims. Sheehan argues that Islam advocates the murder of non-Muslims, and validates this view using the opinions of a Muslim cleric, Omar Bakri Mohammed, selected verses from the Qur’an and statistics from thereligionofpeace.com. Sheehan’s perspective, while evidently substantiated, generalizes the Muslim population and fails to acknowledge the complexity of Islam and its followers. Firstly, the writer is over simplistic in his approach†¦show more content†¦It can be seen that the Qur’an permits fighting is strictly defined, limited circumstances, such as military scenarios and in times of self-defense. It does not, by any means, promote rampant killing, but rather dissuades Muslims from doing so, as suggested through the following: â€Å"Fight in the path of God [Allah] those who fight you, but do not transgress limits for God does not love transgressors.† (Qur’an, Sura 2:190) Sheehan also fails to consider the many factors which collectively contribute to create a radical or terrorist. While he does acknowledge that Michael Adebolajo was a thug long before he gravitated to ‘Muslim Fundamentalism’, he ignores or overlooks the other issues, such as psychological problems, soci-economic issues and political agendas, which can contribute towards fundamental leaning. Journal Article 2: As a Muslim, I struggle with the idea of homosexuality – but I oppose homophobia In his opinion piece titled ‘As a Muslim, I struggle with the idea of homosexuality – but I oppose homophobia’ which appeared in the Huffington Post