Midterm Sociology Essay

Midterm Sociology Essay

#Essay 3

Human nature attracts different definitions from famous sociologists. Indeed, the likes of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Thomas Jefferson did a commendable job of ensuring a multifaceted understanding of human nature. While Hobbes and Locke thought about civilization as a state that is above nature, Jean-Jacques believed that it was the civilization that resulted in depravity and not human nature (Doughty, 2021). The perception of these scholars has been playing significant work in discussion social, political, and economical in the present world. In as much as human beings tend to be in a constant struggle to make their environment safe for their survival, they remain vulnerable and needy in the process of fitting in a perfect community. This paper will focus on the perception of human nature as the accounts of encounters with aboriginal peoples presented by Melville and Mowat. Again, it will describe whether aspects of their cultures could realistically be adopted and adapted to the benefit of contemporary society.

Mowat summarizes the first great law of the land and how it is used to bind the community. The community relied on the precepts that the business of humans was sacred to himself, and the neighbors’ duties were not to affect their businesses. However, an issue that would endanger the wellbeing of the community would be calling for the attention of each member of the society to the unity in making the community safe (Doughty, 2021). The first and second great laws of the lands resulted in the communization of material things within the community. The people of the deer enjoyed a perfect community described by no conflicts over material things. The perfection in their community was also defined by the respect that each person had towards each other, where each person would align with the standard laws governing the land.

The life that the deer people lived is hard to achieve in contemporary society because of the advancement that has been taking place with human nature. For instance, the community used to have one or two laws that used to govern the community, while in the recent community, countries have constitutions that define all activities in a particular country (Doughty, 2021). Despite the disparity that exists between the people of the deer and the present society, there are various things that the current community could learn from the people of deer. The love and sense of belonging that the people of Deer community had was a human nature that can aid the current community thrive in unity.

Mowat further outlines the compassionate nature that the community showed to the members and their visitors. For instance, the community was dwelling on a rule that any visitor did not have to ask for food in the community. They believed that to asked food out rightly was a breach of good manners. They offered food automatically to the visitors on their arrival. In the contemporary world, the features of the deer community are hard to find because of the increased civilization (Doughty, 2021). Humans have developed their surroundings to fit their survival to the extent that they develop a negative attitude about strangers as they believe in the wickedness of human nature.

The modern society relies on perceiving that human could behave well because of the fear of punishment. However, they are all wicked. These are some of the measures that differentiate the deer community from contemporary society. The compassionate nature is one of the good fruits that can positively impact contemporary society. Instead of fighting to gain power and materialistic things at the expense of human life, triggering the human nature of compassion aids in correcting bad vices of human nature (Doughty, 2021). This would further hasten the process of making a community a safer place defined by peaceful coexistence.

On the other hand, Melvin gives his experience about the encounter with the Typee people. The community appeared to be lawless with no law courts or equity. The was no police administration that would maintain law and order in the community by apprehending disorderly characters. Indeed, the community did not have legal provisions for community wellbeing and conservation (Doughty, 2021). Despite the absence of laws and legal provisions in the community, it was perfectly harmonious. The community thrived in the inherent principle of honesty and charity towards each other. In the comparison of this community with the civilized society, various differences are evident. For instance, civilized society is defined by the set of laws and developed systems that define people’s behaviors within the community.

The current community needs to understand the principle of honesty and charity towards each other in the community. The Typee people represent a community having a perfect sense of belonging to the extent that they do not value the meaning of the law. Each person in the community is moved with honesty and humanity that inculcates the features of good deeds in their culture (Doughty, 2021). The grand principle of virtue and honor is a feature of human nature. However, these features could be distorted by the arbitrary code, which is the same across the world. Undeniably, the current civilization cannot thrive without legal provisions. However, there is a need to incorporate the principle of virtue and honor in modern society to allow people to learn and develop a culture of love and compassion towards each other.

Melvin also recounts the perception of what is just and noble. The integrity of the Marquesans in their relationship with others was something to note in the culture. The people in the community would stay and sleep with their doors open and their properties lying outside without worrying about their safety. The idea of disquieting ideas of stealing and assassination did not disturb their peace (Doughty, 2021). The perception of this community is an example of what any human being would want in the current world. Human nature likes to inhabit peace and harmonious coexistence. However, this state has been difficult to attain in the current society because of the great division created by human beings in search of control. The life of the Typees is a direction that each human in society would need. The developed countries could be likened to the increased perception of just and noble where the government operates in high levels of integrity in governing the subjects. Such a government would ensure effective use of the country’s resources to develop and raise the standards of living of the people in the community. Besides, such would be peaceful with an effective solution to little community conflicts that might arise. Therefore, the current community can learn ways of heightened integrity within the community.

Conclusion

Human nature defines the state of the community. A perfect community would require community members are driven by increased integrity, justness, and a noble state. The encounter given by Melvin and Mowat is a portrayal of a perfect society. These communities are not affected by laws because they understand the role of living with harmony in the community. Despite these good features from Typees and people of deer, the current community can incorporate some of these better features that can affect the nature of humanity.

References

Doughty (2021). Soft Science & Social Change: Sociology. Kendall Hunt Publishing.             https://online.vitalsource.com/books/9781792461613

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Essay 6#

A perfect society has various components that allow it to grow in terms of population. In a setup, the fundamental unit of growth is the family, where reproduction and sex allow the addition of people in the family. Indeed, the traditional family has been one of the effective means through which society remains distinct in terms of sexual morals (Doughty, 2021). This paper will support an argument that traditional families were necessary limitations on humans long as economic scarcity required that people attend to winning the necessities of life to survive and bend to what Freud called the “reality principle.”

The traditional family culture relied on the perception that the family comes from two people of the opposite sex. These people decided to stay together and give birth to children according to the marital laws of the land. The connection that a family has comes from the man and woman who initiated the entire process of love and marriage. The love process would always result in siring of children who will be identified to the man and the woman forever. However, in a marriage setup, the children are the real families of the man and the woman (Doughty, 2021). The parents are strangers who are connected in love and marriage. The common marriage laws in various countries set it as an effective means of starting a family. This tradition has effectively limited immoral sexual behavior in society and created respect among people. A married man or woman would bond and stay together to join in undertaking the responsibility of raising the kids. Indeed, traditional families shaped sexual behavior in the community.

The differences between a man and a woman in the family would sometimes cause severe conflicts resulting in divorce. The increase in divorce cases in the recent past has been sending an alarm on the value of marriages. Courts are solving divorce cases daily while parents are also reaching a point to separate children. People’s value for marriage in the past has been lost because of the limited time that people have on negotiating on behalf of their marriages. The changes in the social norms have been immensely leading to a larger effect on the power and respect that people had to the traditional families. The women have been advocating for the principles of choice (Doughty, 2021). Besides, LGBTQ rights have also been on the rise. These are major factors that have been affecting traditional marriage resulting in a loss of value, thus increasing divorce and raising the number of single parents. The decline of the traditional family raises human sexual activity, which led to the rise of another gender like same-sex marriages.

The recent nature of marriages is keen on reducing male supremacy but adopting equality even on gender roles. Families thriving on the male power when both genders have equal opportunities to work and earn would also have fights and arguments that would permanently increase the differences between couples. For instance, some families have developed therapies to refresh their marriages and improve the bonds between them and their children. The aspect of communication is one of the most vigorous therapies used by these families to stay together (Doughty, 2021). Effective communication in a family would always result in an adequate flow of information that limits arguments in a family. Besides, a family in constant contact tends to understand themselves better, which plays an imperative role in bonding couples. These features of traditional families are used to shape the community. However, in the recent past, an increase in economic activities and technology has heightened equality among both genders. Females and males can work and earn money in order to survive. This way of life has reduced the dependence that females used to have on males and thus affecting human sexuality as well. In essence, traditional families played an important role in reducing irregularities in the social norm.

The aspect of dialogue and agreement in the traditional family setup was perfect. Women could respect their husbands and allow them to lead the families. The submissive nature of women allows many families to thrive. However, this has been lost in the modern world where women do not feel the need to submit to a man because of women’s increased quality and economic status. In the traditional family, the solution to the family issues started with the parents, and it would end with the parents (Doughty, 2021). The ability of the couple to sit down and talk is one of the first signs that the negotiation process would be a success. However, in a situation where the man or the woman would not want to share a table, the process of negotiation would hit a dead end. A negotiation process was a powerful tool among couples that emanated from the original things that connected these people in the past. However, the decline in traditional families has resulted in immorality, where adultery has become a norm. The value that people used to attach to families is lost, thus increasing the natural social immorality.

Traditional social norms expected the children (especially females) to remain virgins until marriage. The marriage was a long-life commitment that required where the male was the breadwinner, and the female was the home manager. Cases of infidelity were punishable by law, and people used to live in perfect harmony. However, the rise in the social classes heightened the issue of gender inequality, making a major debate across the globe. Women fighting for their rights to be included in the economic development activities became the order of the day. The immense pressure to solve gender inequality is one of the main issues that changed the narrative on human sexuality. The rising cases of separating parents resulted from breaking the social norms that used to define roles for both males and females in society (Doughty, 2021). Parents’ separation affects children adversely as they will be thinking about what led to their parents divorcing. The mental development of these children would be affected negatively, forcing them into a life they do not deserve. The parents are a pillar at home, and they need to understand how their connection impacts the children. Increased attention to gender inequality has affected social norms, families, and children. However, these are issues that could not happen in the traditional society because of the definite roles of people in the society.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the reality principle and primacy of repression have affected the traditional structure that allows people to adhere to social norms. The need to thrive and remain significant in society has been compelling people to live a freestyle life. These issues have been affecting the family tree as it allows both males and females to adhere to their choice of life without thinking about the effect that their choices would have on the culture, sexual immorality, and families. The result has been evident in the recent society where the mutual attraction that people from the opposite sex used to have been diminishing and sexual attraction towards the same gender taking the lead in societies.

 

Reference

Doughty (2021). Soft Science & Social Change: Sociology. Kendall Hunt Publishing.             https://online.vitalsource.com/books/9781792461613

Midterm instructions

Below you will find eight questions. They constitute your mid-term evaluation. You are being asked to complete two short 1000-1250-word essays – you may choose any two of the eight questions.

The essays assume that you have read the pertinent chapters the “free textbook” (notably 1-4 and 7-11). The specific questions, however, are taken from the ebook, Soft Science, which you should have acquired by now. The “textbooks” contain background information that may assist you to formulate your answers. Most of what you put into them, however, will depend on how well you think about the issues raised in the questions themselves.

Each question is intended to encourage you to think seriously about a topic and to present an answer which reflects your own thoughtful and informed view on the matter. Each question can be answered in what is known as a standard “five paragraph essay” format if that is your preference (though it certainly isn’t mine. That kind of stricture is not a requirement and you are at liberty to experiment as you see fit.

Anyway, you should present your opinion in a logical, concise, coherent fashion, but more than that—I would like you to offer an opinion that expresses your own perspective because it matters to you—as a person, as an aspirant contributor to society, and as a responsible human being in the world as it is.

Please take care to write competently—spelling and grammar will not result in automatic deductions from your grade, but they will detract from the overall impression you make. It would be a good idea to start by reading or re-reading any relevant parts of the textbook(s), but to focus on the identified portions of the ebook, to write a brief outline of what you intend to say, and then to complete a draft for your own use rather quickly. Then, set your work aside for a few days, re-read it and decide whether to submit it as is, or to make changes—even if you decide it needs a complete revision.

the assigned readings, to rephrase them, and to put them in some sort of order. I want you to think for yourselves and to express yourselves as convincingly as possible. Remember also that there are no right or wrong answers—but there are more or less persuasive arguments to be made for or against the ideas presented.

Above all, calm yourselves … this exercise should not terrorize you, but liberate you to think critically and independently—which is, after all, what a college education is meant to be about. Whether it is obvious to you now or not, both the questions that follow and, even more, the practice of thinking about them are important to your future insofar as you may hope to be a conscious and conscientious agent in making that future better for yourselves and others.

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I will leave it to you to decide how to answer the questions, but I will be happy to answer any questions about  the questions … but only after your have tried your best to work them out for yourselves.

OK!

Let’s start.

And remember also to choose only two (bit two different) from the following list and write one short essay on each of your choices.

1. Read the opening section on “the sociological imagination,” consult the pertinent parts of the “standard” textbook(s) you have been given, and explain how you would translate the personal experience of one of the following: poverty, racism, or misogyny into a social problem that could be solved to your benefit. What are the social determinants of the unhappiness people in that situation have and what practical measures could be taken to deal with them?
2. Read the section called “Education” in the ebook. Think about what it would mean to be a teacher in an Ontario college today. Then, with the examples provided in mind, explain whether the task of education is to train young people to be efficient consumers and compliant citizens in contemporary society and, if so, whether any of the teachers whose ideas are presented here in fact or in fiction would be able to fulfill those tasks to the satisfaction of either their students or the authorities whose responsibility it is to manage the schools.
3. When we listen to people discussing major social, economic, and political issues today, they are often expressing a particular view of “human nature.” Read the section on “Human Nature” and in particular the accounts of encounters with aboriginal peoples presented by Melville and Mowat. Then briefly describe and explain whether aspects of their cultures could realistically be adopted and adapted to the benefit of contemporary society.
4. Read the section “Comments” on capitalism and reflect on the importance of religion and technology in terms of the ways in which modern society organizes itself and the production and distribution of goods and services. Then, write discuss whether you think that Marx’s explanation of human unhappiness is more or less convincing than either Weber’s (which emphasizes “religion”) or Kroker’s (which emphasizes “technology.”
5. Setting aside your own religious beliefs (if any) consider the treatment of religion in either or both of the standard texts and then discuss whether or not you think that either Safire and Dershowitz (with regard to The Book of Job) or Thiering (with regard to the Christian “gospels”) present a credible account of the “stories” that are told. Both tie the content of the narratives to stages in human cultural development and make the case that religious belief is a reflection of cultural evolution. Are these narrative persuasive as explanations for why the stories have been so widely and so long believed?
6. Read Part 9 on reproduction, sex, and gender as well as its counterparts in the texts, and construct an argument for or against the proposition that sexual morality, the structure of the “traditional family,” etc. were necessary limitations on human sexual activity as long as economic scarcity required that people attend to winning the necessities of life in order to survive and bend to what Freud called the “reality principle,” but that modern technology has made it possible to live well with neither poverty nor sexual repression and overcome the “primacy of repression” (Marcuse).
7. Read the selections by Lawrence, Sartre, Fanon, and Le Carré in Section 11 and compare them to the proposition advanced by Goldschmidt concerning “affect hunger.” Then, construct an argument for or against the proposition that pessimism concerning the moral quality of “human nature” is more plausible than “optimism”—especially with regard to this question, you may wish to include some reference to other parts of the ebook.
8. At this very moment major league baseball players are negotiating a new contract with the owners of their teams. They want more money for their services. One of them is a 22-year-old  player named Fernando Tatis, Jr. He already has a contract with the San Diego Padres to play for that team in the National Baseball League. He will receive $340 million over the next 14 years. That means that he will be paid more than ten times as much in a single year as most “middle-class” people earn in their lifetimes. Now, think also of the fact that the owners of those baseball teams can afford to pay those salaries and still make a huge profit at the end of each year. With all of that in mind, explain how such lucrative deals can be made using the method of “cultural materialism” as outlined in the “Introduction” to the ebook.