For this assignment, I shall explore some factors that influence the development of culture, and sub-culture, reflecting on consumer products, and how they help to develop identity. In particular, my study will focus on music, media, and fashion, in relation to young people. As Williams, Hall, and Jefferson (1977) suggest, in this context culture refers to “distinct patterns of life, and the ways in which social groups give expression to their social and material life experiences”. (Cited in Wyn, J. White, R. 1997:pg72) Subculture highlights diversity, such as individual group cultures, “sub-cultures give young people the chance to express their difference from the rest of society, yet coexist within it”. (Brake,1980 cited in Roche,J.Tucker,S.1997:pg149) Continue Reading »

Abortion is the practice of terminating a pregnancy resulting in, or closely followed by, the death of the human fetus. In 1973 the famous court case of Roe versus Wade legalized abortion in the United States. Since that time, despite the occurrence of over thirty-five million abortions, abortion has become a prevalent social issue, extremely debatable and controversial. For the most part people can be divided into two basic categories: those in favor of abortion and those opposed to it. Both groups feel strongly concerning the issue and regularly debate its morality. These opinions on abortion are so powerful that the issue is frequently referred to in politics and is often a deciding factor when votes are being cast for public office. Obviously, these fierce opinions are influenced by far more than whimsical convictions, which raises the question: why do people feel so strongly about abortion? Continue Reading »

For example, Robert Park, one of the first American Sociologists to define the term stated, “The essential characteristics of a community, so conceived are those of: (1) a population territorially organized, (2) more or less completely rooted in the soil it occupies, (3) its individual units living in a relationship of mutual interdependence”(Lyons, p. 5). In contrast to this, Minar and Greer defined a community so that it may include a large corporation, Kuhn said that a community may be an informal professional group such as the “scientific community”, and Nisbet stated that a even a philosophical and psychological commitment to communal lifestyles could be considered community (Lyons 1999). While all of these may be acceptable definitions of community to one person, some or all may be completely unacceptable to someone else. Continue Reading »

Censor means to examine in order to suppress or delete any object that may seem objectionable. I believe censorship is wrong because certain materials may not be objectionable to some people. Censorship is used in radio and television to prevent the corruption of people’s minds. Censorship is wrong because individuals should have the freedom to listen or watch what they want, whether or not it offends some, without interference.

The television is one place where censorship is strongly used in many different ways. One of the oldest and most common ways used to censor inappropriate words is to use a “bleep.” I disagree with this method because whatever these people are saying is just words. Remember the saying “sticks and stone may break my bones but words will never hurt me?” These words will not harm anyone and if people are offended they don’t have to listen. Another popular method of censoring television is to cit out scenes. Continue Reading »

With all the means of technology people use recently, they are informed of most of the accidents and incidents, which occur in this world if not all of all of them. It is noticeable that the number of sexual harassment cases taking place is increasing rapidly, which gives a clear idea of the existence of many reasons, one of which is how people in authority are not taking this huge problem into account and are not trying to prevent it. Such actions have serious consequences and, which results in that the world should make fast moves towards preventing these actions from happening and saving many young teens in the best years of their lives from being mentally or even literally destructed.

It is most likely for people, who hear the term “sexual harassment” to think that the victim is from the opposite sex, and is mostly a woman. In this matter it was cleared out that the harasser and the victim can be from the same sex no matter who harasses whom. Continue Reading »

“If we are to have free will, that free will should include not only how we live our lives, but how long we live them” (Taylor 2003, 30). Euthanasia, the specific term for assisted suicide, has been a century old controversy (Clarfield 2003, 38). Its leader in the controversy is Dr. Jack Kevorkian, who has assisted in over 30 deaths since 1990. Dr. Kevorkian claims that the medical, religious, journalistic and legal communities won’t stop him. Psychologist Joseph Richman says that, “All suicides, including the “rational,” can be an avoidance of or substitute for dealing with basic life-and-death issues.” So which is right, helping dying people to achieve their last wish, or waiting for God to do his part while the ill sit there and die slowly and painfully? Euthanasia should be legalized in the United States. Continue Reading »

Terrorism, an issue that plagues our world every minute of everyday. You never know when or where a terrorist organization is going to strike. All groups reasons are different, some for political or religious reasons, others for hatred.

The roots of terrorism are believed to have started in 1007 A.D. Hassan ben Sabbah born in Qom, Iran was an Ishmaili Muslim and opposed all other Muslim groups except for the Ishmaili’s. He is believed to be the father of terrorism. Ben Sabbah’s actions had started a whole new trend, people began to follow his actions and started to form terrorist organizations. Terrorism started back then and its motives and tactics have continued to evolve through the reign of Stalin and Lenin in the Soviet Union and Mao Tse-tung in China. Many people consider what Hitler did in Germany to be terrorism, and when you actually think about it, it makes sense. When you define terrorism most definitions say it is the act of violence and/or intimidation to achieve certain political or religious goals. Continue Reading »

A child being hit in the face with a shovel, “I Kill Children,” and 194 acts of violence. Do you envision these as at the most violent end of the spectrum, things that occur in the worst examples of violent media productions? Think again. These three examples are taken directly from a popular prime time TV sitcom shown on a family channel, the title of a popular song sung by a popular band, and a recent children’s movie with a PG rating.

While parents will argue that kids are busier now than they have ever been in the past with school and extracurricular activities, the reality is that our children watch approximately 2 1/2 hours a day of television. By the time they are 18, they will have seen 250,000 acts of violence and 40,000 attempted murders on television alone. Children’s cartoons average 20-25 acts of violence per hour. This eventually results in children becoming desensitized to violence, leading to a feeling that it is a socially acceptable and credible way to respond to a frustration or as a way to retaliate. These same children who are lead to believe that violence is condoned through violence in television learn to: Solve arguments through violence, pretend people don’t suffer or die, make boys seem more important than girls. Continue Reading »

Social stratification is the structured form of social inequality within a ranked group of people that bring about unequal financial rewards, such as a person’s income, and power or property, which is brought upon by wealth in a society. The social stratification systems come in many different ways and forms. For example, slavery, castes, social class, race, and gender are just some of the issues that are affected by stratification. This essay will particularly focus on the issue of stratification by gender, or in other words, gender inequality. Continue Reading »

I started writing this essay originally with a different view in mind. But when I went back to read it, it simply wasn’t what I wanted to say. My mother suggested I wait a few days and come back to it but I was itching too much to get this off my chest. I became restless and started surfing the web and went to my favorite authors website. Her name is SilverRaven Wolf (www.silverravenwolf.com) and read her article about when she was in Jr. High. That’s when I realized the difference, hers had emotion while mine was simply fact. So here’s my new version, and I hope you can all understand and realate… Continue Reading »