Your detailed and thorough post due by Wednesday@MIDNIGHT for full credit (A). Partial credit (C) can be earned by posting late, which is better than a ZERO.
Remember, weekly blogging is worth 1/3 of your entire semester grade.
Be sure to communicate with Dr. W as needed - rob.williams@madriver.com.
Read and blog THE NEW HUMAN RIGHTS MOVEMENT, Chapter 2-3.
2) EVIDENCE: Post and number THREE specific observations from EACH CHAPTER of our reading(s) that supports your thesis.
Use 2-3 sentences for each observation, and combine direct quotations from the text (AUTHOR's LAST NAME, 27), with IYOW analysis.
3) QUESTION: Include in your post a SINGLE SPECIFIC question you'd ask the class based on our readings.
Thesis:
ReplyDeleteChapter 2: Historical development and distribution of resources advanced certain groups while limiting other groups, which in turn produced labor specialization, trade, and economic disparity.
Chapter 3: Economic factors affect people in more ways than just financially, causing impacts on their confidence, empathy, level of philanthropy, and more.
Evidence
Chapter 2:
- America’s culture of nationalism and exceptionalism is rooted in centuries of wars, politics, and developing culture. Joseph investigates the limits that American’s respect troops, the unwavering belief in some outside threat like terrorism or communism, and how freewill and democracy are changing many social constructs in American culture (Joseph, 33-35). The US’s “assumed exceptionalism” as a world superpower both in military and culture illustrates how culture, politics, and language can control a society (Joseph, 39).
- Joseph analyzes dividing theories such as dominance theory and scarcity culture to illustrate the disparity in groups based on gender, race, and wealth. The author explores the idea of a “culture of conflict” based on fear” of economic loss or disparity, which has developed in our society (Joseph, 43).
- Our social constructs are rooted in thousands of years of history. Joseph explains how the natural abundance of resources in certain regions have resulted in higher wealth for those inhabitants, which continues to affect people in those regions even today. Joseph explains that “this unequal development set the stage for material inequality and disproportionate power” (p. 46). He also explores how much governments are invested in this distribution of power, and how much control they have (Joseph, 65).
Chapter 3:
- In this chapter, it’s interesting how Joseph continues the discussion of disparity by looking at the concept of privilege. As referenced in earlier chapters, the US experiences huge gaps in wealth, access to quality education, and empathy between the rich and the poor.
- Social and wealth classes are so ingrained in US culture that it is difficult for poor people to get out of their circumstance, and it is easy for wealthy people to ignore the plights of others (Joseph, 99-103). Joseph references a 2004 study which found that when people are identified as a lower social class, they perform worse on tests than their peers of higher social classes (101).
- Joseph explains how the rich tend to give more to “tasteful interests” like the arts, while the poor tend to give to social-service groups which help people struggling to survive (105). He then explores the topic of philanthropy, and complains about how organizations like the Gates Foundation, which actively seeks to end polio and bring sanitation standards to the third world, has too much power (108). His statements in this section seem contradictory to me, and too based in hatred of “the wealthy”.
Question: If the US was founded on laws making slavery illegal from the beginning, how would that change our social classes and wealth gaps today?
1) THESIS:
ReplyDeleteCh. 2:
There are numerous myths that protect traditional values and practices in societies around the world.
Ch. 3:
The economic system brings out the worst in human beings.
2) EVIDENCE:
Ch. 2:
State power uses propaganda and myths in order to control society socially. “The taboo against criticism is even extended to where questioning any aspect of the war apparatus is commended as showing disrespect for the sacrifice of the honored, noble soldiers” (Joseph 33). The “us” vs “them” and how “our” side is always correct and how dare you think otherwise.
Culture tradition has a huge role over the behaviors of humans and their social insitutions“we have generated a culture of conflict based on fear” (Joseph 43). For example, the large amounts of fear is created by economic surplus.
Some tribes lived off of a gift economy and believed it was rude and a sign of refusal of friendship is the other gave back. “British anthropologist Tim Ingold highlights the idea that the difference between “giving” and “exchange” has to do with social perception based around autonomous companionship vs. involuntary obligation” (Joseph 45).
Ch. 3:
“Over the past century, highly privatized, deregulated economic policies have spread globally, often by force. Many wars have resulted in the overthrow of old national regimes, giving way to this expansion, while the growth and power of international finance has increased” (Joseph 153). This strengthens the US economic power and creates huge issues for the “poor”.
The main reason for wars, “all wars are class wars” (Joseph 153). The lower income doesn’t have many choices let alone voices and the Western countries’ interests economically is not how the world globally works.
Money separates the world on a global level. “Our sense of rank has a deep impact on our self- identity. In the world today, money is by far the most defining cultural modulator” (Joseph 100). Believing one is higher than another is not just or right. The concept of “poor” was not naturally created.
3) QUESTION:
Do you think the world could globally live off of a “gift” economy?
Thesis:
ReplyDeleteChapter 2: Through organizational activities, some groups have been able to make great strides throughout history.
Chapter 3: Money and social status have a major impact on what certain people do within society.
Evidence:
Chapter 2:
- People have tried to create a source of community through secular mythology. This "comes in the form of social, ideological or political narratives", unlike the other types of mythos we have come to known. The narratives through these myths look to increase the bonds between people(Joseph 31).
- SDT, or social dominance theories were used to explain the origins of social hierarchy's (Joseph 39). People state that "societies minimize group conflict by creating consensus on ideologies", meaning that society itself and the members of are the ones that determine social order. However, Social dominance orientation represents the drive that leads the hierarchies(43).
- The neolithic revolution set in motion the current economic practices that we still follow to this day. However, this can cause a lot of problems within society due to the disproportional "layout of earths resources". Because of this people became very protective of their land, which never existed before, which also lead to the need of increased organization (58).
Chapter 3:
- Philanthropy despite being "the desire to promote the welfare of others", is usually only associated with a task the wealthy does and is show as a "badge" of how much of a good deed they are doing. The most interesting part of this is that people view this is as one of the only practices of redistributing wealth that isn't met with disdain(105).
- Socioeconomic system produces "predictable outcomes" and gives us a better understanding of the upper class. Most importantly, it seems that the more people are rewarded by the market economy, the more they identify with the market. They are rewarded by the system and dont find an issue with said system, not wanting to get rid of it(111).
- Social status is not just about "material and social privilege", our sense of where we are in society is affects the impact of ones social identity. Money often times is the major symbol of status as well. (100)
Question: Do you think that there is anything else that can represent a symbol of social status within the US.
hapter 2: Secular mythology involves narratives that create normative societal traditions and protects the traditional values and practices of a community
ReplyDeleteWhen reading the intro to the chapter I immediately thought of the example he gave next in the first paragraph of the chapter. “If you’ve ever had that looming feeling of being brainwashed when singing your country’s national anthem or pledging allegiance as a child, you are familiar with such ceremonial reinforcement reminiscent of religion itself. ” (Joseph, 32) I remember the pledge bothering me early on in K-12 along with other similar traditions in school.
These traditions have been used to excuse numerous acts throughout history “The excuse to “civilize” a population with ostensibly more appropriate ethical or moral values has been common.” (Joseph, 37)
Here is another example of something that I guess at this point is just an accepted social circumstance/tradition “people have been divided into two groups: those who toil for little reward and have little social or political power and those who maintain vastly disproportionate wealth, social influence, and political power, generally at the expense of those toiling.” (Joseph, 49) This chapter had brought a lot of insight to the parts of my existence as a citizen of this particular country and I wonder how I’d view life and the quality of mine given I grew up in a completely different environment.
Chapter 3: The money along with the rights of businesses are basically more important than people and their rights
The people in the 1 percent make money off the people suffering and then use their suffering as excuses to hold events saying it is to help when really it’s just to boost their already overinflated ego. “there is something fundamentally wrong when people are eating extravagant meals, wearing $5,000 suits, and drinking $800 bottles of champagne while a guy on stage preaches about global starvation and poverty.” (Joseph, 99) If only all the money in the world could buy them basic humanity and a spare brain cell.
This quote correlates with my last bullet point for chapter two “Social status is not just about material access and social privilege. Our sense of rank has a deep impact on our self-identity.” (Joseph, 100) the tradition of social class within our society has become so ingrained and involved with us as a community that it has become hard to change, especially with how it is set up with the one percent.
“Upper-class people, in spite of all their advantages, suffer empathy deficits . . . and there are enormous consequences.” (Joseph, 102) Without proper ability to understand (and care) about the position others are in I can say it is near impossible to get these people to help, which is a huge issue considering they have all the power and are the ones that CAN help.
Q: When did you first notice “tribal politics” or I guess just traditions while growing up
Chapter 2
ReplyDeleteWorld history and the endless thread of unique myths about the origin of life.
“Since myths are culturally shared beliefs by definition, regardless of their truth, we can also understand the importance that they have had in creating social cohesion, group mobilization, trust, and deep spiritual and philosophical bonds between people.”(Joseph, 32)
“Loyalty to your country, its people and, its methods and shared opposition to its declared enemies, is facilitated by a catalog of symbols, stories, ceremonies, history, and other elements that serve the interests of social cohesion and status quo support.”(Joseph, 33)
“The Neolithic Revolution set in motion a chain reaction, moving Society Towards very different social structures and values. The central mechanism of this change was the increased dependence on those geographical features required for economic success in the new parody gum of agriculture and settlement.”(Joseph, 46)
Are these myths made up by regular people in society or known figures?
Chapter 3
Economic deregulation and privatization where justice is denied.
“As of 2015, American student loan debt was about $1.2 trillion, surpassing the GDP of Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland combined.”(Joseph, 98)
“ Education is simply another product to be bought and sold and little more. The US government allocates roughly 2% of its annual budget to education.”(Joseph, 99) The author also mentioned that this stark contrast to the 20% allocated to the military showing that war is more beneficial to the nation's leaders that an education population.
“Facts of Charity in America is that the people who can least afford to give are the ones who donate the greatest percentage of their income”(Joseph, 102) The author mentions that the top 20% of the wealthiest Americans only contributed on average 1.3% of their income to charity compared to Americans at the lowest income donated 3.2% of their income.
What can be done to have people with higher income give those in need, as mentioned in the chapter, those with lower income contributed 1.9% more.
Excellent reflections here, team HRR!
ReplyDeleteAll posts below this line = C/LATE.
Dr. Rob
Thesis
ReplyDeleteChapter 2: Secular Mythology is made up of social, ideological or political narratives, these narratives help condition individuals to follow and or go along with societal, structural method traditions.
Chapter 3: Economics greatly affect our society on an individual level.
Evidence
Chapter 2:
“Overall, political language by its very nature imposes an associative mental framework that, if reinforced properly, can narrow one’s thoughts about social issues” (Pg 34 Joseph). Political language is used to make you believe what others want you to believe. It's always to fabricate things and make them out to be something completely different. This conditions people to think a certain way and act a certain way.
“Whether we are dealing with international dominance between countries, or socioeconomic dominance between domestic classes, certain features and dynamics are consistent, leading to various theories attempting to explain why” (Pg 39 Joseph). We as societies have had to learn how to get along with other societies in order to create peace and help one another succeed.
“As a final historical example of this cloaked ideological justification for war, the same rationale for eventually justifying the enslavement and inferiority of Africans in the early United States also led a pseudo-scientific charge to justify a colonial war to annex the Philippines at the turn of the twentieth century” (Pg 38 Joseph). Many individuals make up excuses for the horrible things we did in the past. They will either change the story to make what they did seem acceptable or they will completely lie about what happened and act like it never happened.
Chapter 3:
“A similar study by the Chronicle of Philanthropy showed that households earning between $50,000 and $75,000 a year give an average of 7.6 percent of their discretionary income to charity, while those making more than $100,000 gave only 4.2 percent. In some of the wealthiest neighborhoods with the largest share of people making in excess of $200,000 a year, the average giving rate was only 2.8 percent” ( Pg 102 Joseph). Many people who don’t have much but have enough to have a little extra money will most likely donate money to charity. On the other hand, people who are swimming in money and have so much they don’t know what to do with it all, they don’t generally donate to charity. This is part of the reason our economic system does not equally distributed.
“High-level capital investment in the form of financial instruments such as stocks and other means are producing returns far exceeding anything the public can generate without such existing levels of wealth to invest” (Pg 106 Joseph). Stocks are supposed to be a great way to make money but the only way to get stock is if you invest in stock but many people do not have the extra money to invest there for they miss out on the opportunity to profit from stocks.
“This is something Dr. King knew well as he pushed his Poor People’s Campaign of 1968. He understood that if we could just remove general poverty, easing desperation and labor fear, many of the pressures and associations creating racial bias would dissipate” (Pg 144 Joseph). If people were less stressed about how they were going to pay their bills and if they were going to lose their jobs there would be less racial bias. When people feel like they are competing to survive things get violent and hateful if this problem was eliminated there would be less tension.
Question: Why don’t people care about others suffering? How can we come together as a society to create a way so that all people have basic living necessities, and also equalize the distribution of wealth?
Chapter 2
ReplyDeleteThesis: Traditional narratives of the history and ideology of social myths.
"Underlying these stories and symbols are attempts to make sense out of a chaotic, daunting world. The drama of the human condition certainly creates a need to believe something in an attempt to organize reality and better understand our own lives." (Joseph 31)
"Furthermore, while not directly stated in such terms by the researchers, there is effectively an environmental precaution that triggers the SDO personality trait, driving the creation of these group-based hierarchies. This has to do with the introduction of an "economic surplus," according to the authors of the theory." (Joseph 41)
"This unequal regional advancement in technology throughout history has strongly affected the state of the modern world. At the same time, these new environmental pressures and dynamics of the agricultural mode of production became the framework for a new culture." (Joseph 47)
Chapter 3
ReplyDeleteThesis: Financial situations of individuals provokes anyone from being able to live with the "freedom" lifestyle.
"As passionate as I was about music, the financial reality of my student loans quickly polluted the circumstances....-I ended my college career at the age of twenty after a mere two years." (Joseph 97)
"Sociological research also suggests that something happens to people's ethics as they move up the economic ladder. While there are always exceptions, a general loss of social concern appears common." (Joesph 103)
"As expressed, the socioeconomic system produces predictable outcomes in social psychology, and better understanding the characteristics of the upper class is specifically important. After all, is it this class that indisputably dominates social affairs. Again, this has nothing to do with deliberate conspiracy or the like. It is simply a systemic result inherent to the logic, values, and structure of capitalism." (Joseph 111)
Question: Will there ever be a form of measurement to calculate the true amount of money to deem an individual "set"? In terms of owning what he/she needs/wants for life.
Chapter #2:
ReplyDelete1) Traditional values and practices in communities are sometimes preserved through the use of secular mythology.
2) (a) Communities are built on shared history, beliefs and practices. “Loyalty to a country, its people, and its methods, and shared opposition to its decreed enemies, is facilitated by a catalog of symbols, stories, ceremonies, revisionist history, and other elements that serve the interests of social cohesion and status quo support” (Joseph 32).
(b) Social hierarchies are created by the people within the society. “Social dominance orientation (SDO)…generally omits the role culture plays in influencing behavior…environmental, social and cultural factors are profoundly downplayed” (Joseph 43).
(c) Social hierarchies and class inequality is a result of the Neolithic Revolution that still remains today. “Since that time, people have been divided into two groups: those who toil for little reward and have little social or political power and those who maintain vastly disproportionate wealth, social influence, and political power, generally at the expense of those toiling” (Joseph 49).
Chapter #3:
ReplyDelete1) Economics plays a greater role in a person’s life beyond that of “simple money” or a means to complete a transaction.
2)(a) Social status affects people’s self-identity and sense of self-worth “Social status is not just about material access and social privilege. Our sense of rank has a deep impact on our self-identity. It doesn’t have to be money that creates the difference, but in the world today this is by far the most defining cultural modulator” (Joseph 100).
(b) Exacerbated by the upper-income classes readiness to ignore the struggles of lower classes, our social classes are built so that it is very hard for the lower-income classes to advance their social class. “Unsurprisingly, the rich tend to give to elite schools, museums, symphonies, and other more ‘tasteful’ interests on average, bypassing social welfare programs such as homelessness or poverty” (Joseph 105).
(c) Economic inequality is a driving force behind racial bias. “racism, bigotry, and xenophobia, including resulting consequences such as minority targeted police brutality, are ultimately linked to mechanism of economic inequality and its consequences. Until economic inequality and its causes are reduced or stopped, bigotry and social injustice on many levels will continue as a systematic result” (Joseph 114).
3) What can be done to help the lower-class escape the poverty cycle so many are stuck in?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteChapter Two
ReplyDeleteThesis: Traditional values are protected through time by myths, proving useful to advancing some cultures specifically.
People are often brought together by these myths through different means such as political or social. This greater level of bonding creates a greater sense of cohesion among the groups and ultimately a greater amount of trust.
Among the many differences that span across every country or nation, we need to understand that these differences should be a way to start the conversation rather than dismissing cultures and traditions. This is especially true among countries where there are vast similarities and are at each other's throats.
Conflict is based off fear. Due to the aforementioned differences and lack of understanding, we often see people use these as a catalyst to start wars and other conflicts.
Chapter Three
Thesis: Money and other aspects of monetary value rules the world.
Issues in economic levels are often tied to many other aspects of that culture. When looking at the United States, we see that one’s social level is also greatly affected if their in poverty or other such financial troubles. This creates a sort of vortex where one can’t easily be fixed if the other is also an issue.
This idea of money ruling the world is an extremely Western philosophy for the most part, whereas we’ve created ripples within other countries making it seem that if you don’t have a sense of monetary value than you’re lesser. The idea of “third world countries” plays into this as we often describe countries and their success solely on economics rather than other factors.
I was extremely interested in the fact that Joseph exclaims that those who are often the least advantaged or can afford least are often those who end up being more charitable. I feel like this is extremely backwards, there are people who have more money than they know what to do with so its difficult to understand why they don’t allow that money back into circulation, especially for a good cause. I know it isn’t a black and white scenario, but I feel like there isn’t enough done.
Question: Do you believe we could ever live in a world in which this sense of importance on money is lessened? Instead of superficially seeing a country primarily in its economic state, can we see all countries through a lense of culture, etc.