There are many factors that can affect what causes a society to change, and why it causes this change. The change can occur differently for each society. One of the most important components to social change was the emergence of the charismatic leader. These leaders would have different types of visions and styles that they believed would make the society perfect to their terms. I do not like the idea of this because what one leader wants may not be the best for the rest of the people. For example Hitler and his beliefs that the world could not have any Jewish people, and that people with blue eyes and brown hair were considered to be perfect. This however was not what the people needed. Instead of wasting time and money trying to make this so called ‘perfect’ community, there could have been a more important leader who was trying to provide food and shelter to those without homes, education for those who could not afford it, and jobs for everyone that was without one. This would have made a far more better, and advanced community that would probably have turned out very successful. With the termination of many people, there population greatly decreased, along with the respect to every human that should be equal.
Changes to the society are not only caused by the leader, but they can also be caused by the people of the society. If a culture has very little money, and is almost to the point of ‘powerless’, the population can slow the change of the society if they do not agree to their leaders’ views. This is good for the people of the society because it gives them a chance to resist against the leader if they feel he is not doing something right or a good enough of a job.
Another factor that affects a society is the ‘disenfranchised’ groups of people. These groups of people include people who do not adopt to change easily, also known as ‘alienation’. Also, the unemployed people are included in this ‘alienation’ group of people. They are considered in this group because they are not living up to their full potential as human beings, and are not making the change happen, as it should. I think that every person should try there hardest to work, and there should be no need for the homeless people. I believe that it is all choice, and for example in Canada right now there are many people in Toronto that are currently struggling to live. If they would just get a job, even working minimum wage then they could manage to survive much better than they are now.
Discrimination can play a huge part in the change of a society. There are many minorities, which do not seem to get the full privileges that everyone else does. However this is starting to occur less in modern times, as we now have a new president of African American descent. However it still must be improved because we still refer to him as an African American, although as Mike was saying in class, why not see him as the better of two people running for president. I believe that we still have some time to go before we start saying this and treat everyone as an equal.
Change will always continue to happen, and societies and leaders will always change, whether there views or their beliefs, and it will most likely never be a perfect society.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Anthropology
Anthropology is the broad study of human kind throughout the world and time, including biological aspects and cultural aspects of it. A culture is the range of learned human behaviour and patterns. Anthropologists’ jobs are to prove or disprove what we, the people, believe to be true.
I personally like the idea of different cultures and how they eat, survive, and have different customs. This makes every single culture on this planet unique in its own way. It also gives people the freedom to express things they believe in and show how much they really care for their cultures. For people of different cultures, it gives them a chance to experience what other cultures are like when they go to visit them, a chance to see how they practice their customs and go about life. It even allows for you to try new things such as foods, and the possibility of new sports. This is called linguistic anthropology when you experience the way culture works from first hand experience.
Something that makes a cultural so interesting is the fact that they can always be expanded and improved with new information. Cultures can also become multicultural where they make other cultures feel as if they are at home when they are in another culture. They do this by letting people practice their own customs and religion, and they serve the types of foods that they have in their own countries. It also gives the people that do not travel too much the chance to try things that other cultures have, without actually leaving their own culture.
The anthropologists learn how other cultures operate by taken observations of how cultures work, and they take collections of statistics from them. They also take interviews of people from different cultures, and by gathering a lot of information they find out of cultures work. All of this work is known as “ethnography”, where they gather scientific descriptions of individual societies. I believe that it is important for the anthropologists to study how these cultures and societies work because if a culture in order for it to succeed, they must know everything about the past and find any problems that could prevent expansion or anything that could diminish populations due to lack of belief in a culture. An example of this could be an item such as food, and it being used up too much, or the increase in the belief of same sex marriages where there will be a decline in newborns being created. This could eventually cause a culture to die of from society. So if anthropologists study this and the beliefs, they can alter the way that some things happen, causing a society to live up to its potential.
Since anthropologists do so much to help preserve our societies I believe that they are very important to our society, as they tend to make it a more ideal place to live. I also found it interesting that anthropologists do so much, and it was an interesting unit to learn.
I personally like the idea of different cultures and how they eat, survive, and have different customs. This makes every single culture on this planet unique in its own way. It also gives people the freedom to express things they believe in and show how much they really care for their cultures. For people of different cultures, it gives them a chance to experience what other cultures are like when they go to visit them, a chance to see how they practice their customs and go about life. It even allows for you to try new things such as foods, and the possibility of new sports. This is called linguistic anthropology when you experience the way culture works from first hand experience.
Something that makes a cultural so interesting is the fact that they can always be expanded and improved with new information. Cultures can also become multicultural where they make other cultures feel as if they are at home when they are in another culture. They do this by letting people practice their own customs and religion, and they serve the types of foods that they have in their own countries. It also gives the people that do not travel too much the chance to try things that other cultures have, without actually leaving their own culture.
The anthropologists learn how other cultures operate by taken observations of how cultures work, and they take collections of statistics from them. They also take interviews of people from different cultures, and by gathering a lot of information they find out of cultures work. All of this work is known as “ethnography”, where they gather scientific descriptions of individual societies. I believe that it is important for the anthropologists to study how these cultures and societies work because if a culture in order for it to succeed, they must know everything about the past and find any problems that could prevent expansion or anything that could diminish populations due to lack of belief in a culture. An example of this could be an item such as food, and it being used up too much, or the increase in the belief of same sex marriages where there will be a decline in newborns being created. This could eventually cause a culture to die of from society. So if anthropologists study this and the beliefs, they can alter the way that some things happen, causing a society to live up to its potential.
Since anthropologists do so much to help preserve our societies I believe that they are very important to our society, as they tend to make it a more ideal place to live. I also found it interesting that anthropologists do so much, and it was an interesting unit to learn.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Theorists and Theory Response
B.F. Skinner had many theories about how social situations work. He believed that the use on certain consequences could be used to modify and shape behaviour. There were three types of consequences, which are reinforcement, where consequences occurs more frequently, punishment that occurs less frequently, and extinction that was the lack of any consequence. Then there were positive and negative reinforcement, which would also act as a consequence, which would either increase or decrease the frequency of the behaviour. Skinners theories helped social trends in many ways. It allowed for teachers to teach better, by using positive reinforcement. It also explained obstacles that could occur, and how they could be overcome.
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov and Skinner had a similar theory. Pavlov spent much of his time studying what would cause the secretion of the salvia, and how the conditioned reflexes would affect the brain. He did he experiments by testing dogs with food, and when the dog seen the food it would begin to salivate, and after being fed so many times by the researches in white lab clothes the dogs would begin to salivate. Pavlov then struck a bell whenever the dogs where about to eat and eventually they would begin to drool after the sound of the bell without food. Pavlov then came up with the conclusions that the dogs response was not due to physiological process that were automatic, but their reflexes became automatic.
Skinner tested his theory with a rat or a pigeon inside of a cage. There would then be a light that would go on and the animal would have to press a lever. This would then give water, food, a shock, or nothing at all. The animal then learned after some time to press the levers for food and water, and not get shocked. Skinner believed that this animal behaviour could be studied and compared with human behaviour. Both Skinner and Pavlov performed their theories on animals and linked them to human characteristics. Also both of these theorists believed that the consequences of behaviour are linked together and can be learned through repletion, which their experiments ended up showing.
Pavlov’s theory to behaviourism involved ‘Classical Conditioning’ which he developed as “learning by association.” He developed the terms of unconditioned and conditioned stimulus and response to make better understanding of his theory. The unconditioned stimulus was something that would naturally trigger a response where as the conditioned stimulus would be neutral and become triggered with responses from repetition. The unconditioned response was something that was unlearned and would occur automatically with the response of the unconditioned stimulus, while the conditioned response was the new learned response. He preformed and proved these theories with his ‘drooling dogs.’
Skinner and Pavlov both developed different theories on behaviourism, but to me they came up with the same principle that animal behaviour could be studied and compared with human behaviour. They both managed to prove these theories and it helps explain some social trends in our society today.
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov and Skinner had a similar theory. Pavlov spent much of his time studying what would cause the secretion of the salvia, and how the conditioned reflexes would affect the brain. He did he experiments by testing dogs with food, and when the dog seen the food it would begin to salivate, and after being fed so many times by the researches in white lab clothes the dogs would begin to salivate. Pavlov then struck a bell whenever the dogs where about to eat and eventually they would begin to drool after the sound of the bell without food. Pavlov then came up with the conclusions that the dogs response was not due to physiological process that were automatic, but their reflexes became automatic.
Skinner tested his theory with a rat or a pigeon inside of a cage. There would then be a light that would go on and the animal would have to press a lever. This would then give water, food, a shock, or nothing at all. The animal then learned after some time to press the levers for food and water, and not get shocked. Skinner believed that this animal behaviour could be studied and compared with human behaviour. Both Skinner and Pavlov performed their theories on animals and linked them to human characteristics. Also both of these theorists believed that the consequences of behaviour are linked together and can be learned through repletion, which their experiments ended up showing.
Pavlov’s theory to behaviourism involved ‘Classical Conditioning’ which he developed as “learning by association.” He developed the terms of unconditioned and conditioned stimulus and response to make better understanding of his theory. The unconditioned stimulus was something that would naturally trigger a response where as the conditioned stimulus would be neutral and become triggered with responses from repetition. The unconditioned response was something that was unlearned and would occur automatically with the response of the unconditioned stimulus, while the conditioned response was the new learned response. He preformed and proved these theories with his ‘drooling dogs.’
Skinner and Pavlov both developed different theories on behaviourism, but to me they came up with the same principle that animal behaviour could be studied and compared with human behaviour. They both managed to prove these theories and it helps explain some social trends in our society today.
How Technology Affects Society
To a society, we have learned that technology has more than one meaning. It can be with a reference to a tool or object, and also the ‘means of extending human abilities’. I believe that technology can greatly affect the way a society forms, and as we get into more modern and state of the art types of technology, the society can change more rapidly then we expect. Inventions have a great affect on a society, and depending how advanced it is, it could change cultures at exponential rates. Some examples of these inventions are things like the automobile, the computer, and the Internet.
The automobile has probably been one of the most biggest influences to change the way a society functions. It has given men and women a way a travelling, the ability to go wherever they want, like a new sense of freedom. It allowed for the population to start to spread away from cities and start creating new society in rural areas. This all allowed extensive growth, and in the beginning societies believed that cars were an efficient way of travelling as compared to horses. There would also be fewer roads clean up from the horses, and new transit pathways that could connect cities to other ones. This could also bring about another societies beliefs into someone else’s society and things could be learned that may have not been known to people before. I believe that if something can change a society as quickly as the automobile did, it can also end many societies in the same way. As there is an increase in the use of automobiles in modern civilization we are noticing a create increase in pollution, and as of now many companies are going bankrupt due to the inevitable increase in gas price. This is causing an enormous snowball effect that is affecting every society causing recessions. On top of all that, the pollution from the cars is increasing at exponential rates and within the next fifty years it will go off the charts of what we are used to seeing. This will probably cause another ice age which will affect the way that most societies function.
Another great invention that has affected many societies is the invention of the computer and the Internet. These two things combined have allowed us to communicate with virtually anyone and anywhere in the world. Computers are getting relatively cheap now as compared to what they used to be, so almost any and every family has at least one computer in their family. Computers can also be used to design many new concepts and designs that we use today, such as things from designing more efficient cars, calculation toxins in the atmosphere, or even creating new structures that could eventually become a new place for a society to begin. As with all the benefits of something there is always a negative side. With computers some people have to power to control things, and hack into equipment that should not be touched. An example of this could be satellite systems, and with the control of being able to spy on others, it could start massive wars that could end up going nuclear. This would greatly change the way our society functions.
With the world becoming more modernized and advanced, many characteristics of how societies function change. In modern societies, the changes that occur happen more rapidly than they did before. This affects more people than it did before too as the size of the populations have increased. Also we tend to live closer to cities now as opposed to rural places, and there is an increase for the need of education today. The way our society functions today as compared to traditional societies has greatly changed and probably will continue to keep on changing in the future. Technology can go so far, and societies will never be perfect.
The automobile has probably been one of the most biggest influences to change the way a society functions. It has given men and women a way a travelling, the ability to go wherever they want, like a new sense of freedom. It allowed for the population to start to spread away from cities and start creating new society in rural areas. This all allowed extensive growth, and in the beginning societies believed that cars were an efficient way of travelling as compared to horses. There would also be fewer roads clean up from the horses, and new transit pathways that could connect cities to other ones. This could also bring about another societies beliefs into someone else’s society and things could be learned that may have not been known to people before. I believe that if something can change a society as quickly as the automobile did, it can also end many societies in the same way. As there is an increase in the use of automobiles in modern civilization we are noticing a create increase in pollution, and as of now many companies are going bankrupt due to the inevitable increase in gas price. This is causing an enormous snowball effect that is affecting every society causing recessions. On top of all that, the pollution from the cars is increasing at exponential rates and within the next fifty years it will go off the charts of what we are used to seeing. This will probably cause another ice age which will affect the way that most societies function.
Another great invention that has affected many societies is the invention of the computer and the Internet. These two things combined have allowed us to communicate with virtually anyone and anywhere in the world. Computers are getting relatively cheap now as compared to what they used to be, so almost any and every family has at least one computer in their family. Computers can also be used to design many new concepts and designs that we use today, such as things from designing more efficient cars, calculation toxins in the atmosphere, or even creating new structures that could eventually become a new place for a society to begin. As with all the benefits of something there is always a negative side. With computers some people have to power to control things, and hack into equipment that should not be touched. An example of this could be satellite systems, and with the control of being able to spy on others, it could start massive wars that could end up going nuclear. This would greatly change the way our society functions.
With the world becoming more modernized and advanced, many characteristics of how societies function change. In modern societies, the changes that occur happen more rapidly than they did before. This affects more people than it did before too as the size of the populations have increased. Also we tend to live closer to cities now as opposed to rural places, and there is an increase for the need of education today. The way our society functions today as compared to traditional societies has greatly changed and probably will continue to keep on changing in the future. Technology can go so far, and societies will never be perfect.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Why Study how Society Functions?
Over the course of the year we have been studying societies and how they work. We have learned about different ways that societies work, what affects them and how changes are brought about. After reading the prologue titled “A Tale of Two Farms”, and watching Al Gores “The Inconvenient Truth” some of these theories to why we study how societies functions become clear to us.
When we study how a society function we learn about mistakes that we have made, are making now or will end up making in the future. There are many questions as to how a society functions. How can some of the biggest and most powerful cavitations that existed thousands of years ago fail? Could it be the fact that once a population reaches a certain size, where the technology is increased at exponential rates and food source starts to become depleted due to the fact that there are too many people? Once a food supply runs low then people start to starve, recessions could occur where money is not worth anything and people are just trying to make it though another day not even know what the next is going to bring them. Eventually just ruins could be left of the greatest civilizations, ruins have already been left by some of greatest, and this is perhaps what was trying to be described in the poem “Ozymandius” by Shelley. One theory as to why these great colonies seem to diminish over time could be the possibility of ‘global warming.’ When people have higher demands of everything, the world tries to produce more to satisfy the people’s needs. However this effect is starting to show more by the increase use of cars, increased manufacturing of goods, which causes more toxins to be released into the air, and the fact that people are not taking care of the world like they should be. Al Gores “The Inconvenient Truth” goes into great detail about how we are tearing the world apart. Over the past years we have been causing more destruction to the atmosphere and producing more carbon particles that are messing up the ozone layer. This affects everything on planet Earth. As sunrays come though the layer and bounce of the glacier they reflect back up to the ozone but can not escape and are then reflected down again. This causes the atmosphere to get warmer, which disturbs the jet streams, and airflow that results in different current flow in the ocean. This entire problem put together causes disturbances, such as bigger hurricanes, which is resulting in millions of dollars of damage to countries. Also as it gets warmer the ice bergs start to melt, and instead of sun being reflected of the ice it will be absorbed into the water cause the ice to melt at exponential rates. This will disturb the home for many animals and it is already greater affecting polar bears that cannot even find land and end up drowning in the water. Over the past few years we have been noticing a great increase in the heat of the years, and have been producing some of the hottest years recorded. In the end this will cause yet another ice age, which is how, many societies will fall, and new societies will be created. We must learn to change our society so that we do not affect the planet in the way that we do. There have been some things, which are resulting in better results, but if we do not act in the next 50 years then according to Al Gore the results will be catastrophic. Some of these things have been the increase of hybrids, using solar, sun, and hydro energy. If we try and everyone works together then we can bring down the amount of toxins in the air to a reasonable amount, but if we do not then what will happen to our kids, and there kids and so on?
In the article “The Tale of Two Farms” the author studies how one society can effect another even if its thousands of miles away. It is important to know why this happens because it affects everyone. What if both societies died due to a lack or food or global warming? This could create a chain effect that could wipe out civilization. In Al Gores presentation he provided us with facts about the past thousands of years showing a natural occurrences in the temperate with ice ages occurring at certain times. However, over the past 50 years we have been going outside of this limit and at the rate we are going we will be extremely out of this limit in the next 50 years. So we must learn how to study and prevent obstacles like this from occurring.
In conclusion I think that it is extremely important to study how society functions, because how we have arrived to this time we have evolved from other societies and learned from our mistakes. In order to advance more into the future we will need to know how our society works, what we can do to make it better, and fix any mistakes before they cause chaos or problems. If we do not prevent the global warming and other effects that are occurring then there might not ever be any more societies to study, and the world will fade, population will cease to live or be created. We are in dangerous water right now.
When we study how a society function we learn about mistakes that we have made, are making now or will end up making in the future. There are many questions as to how a society functions. How can some of the biggest and most powerful cavitations that existed thousands of years ago fail? Could it be the fact that once a population reaches a certain size, where the technology is increased at exponential rates and food source starts to become depleted due to the fact that there are too many people? Once a food supply runs low then people start to starve, recessions could occur where money is not worth anything and people are just trying to make it though another day not even know what the next is going to bring them. Eventually just ruins could be left of the greatest civilizations, ruins have already been left by some of greatest, and this is perhaps what was trying to be described in the poem “Ozymandius” by Shelley. One theory as to why these great colonies seem to diminish over time could be the possibility of ‘global warming.’ When people have higher demands of everything, the world tries to produce more to satisfy the people’s needs. However this effect is starting to show more by the increase use of cars, increased manufacturing of goods, which causes more toxins to be released into the air, and the fact that people are not taking care of the world like they should be. Al Gores “The Inconvenient Truth” goes into great detail about how we are tearing the world apart. Over the past years we have been causing more destruction to the atmosphere and producing more carbon particles that are messing up the ozone layer. This affects everything on planet Earth. As sunrays come though the layer and bounce of the glacier they reflect back up to the ozone but can not escape and are then reflected down again. This causes the atmosphere to get warmer, which disturbs the jet streams, and airflow that results in different current flow in the ocean. This entire problem put together causes disturbances, such as bigger hurricanes, which is resulting in millions of dollars of damage to countries. Also as it gets warmer the ice bergs start to melt, and instead of sun being reflected of the ice it will be absorbed into the water cause the ice to melt at exponential rates. This will disturb the home for many animals and it is already greater affecting polar bears that cannot even find land and end up drowning in the water. Over the past few years we have been noticing a great increase in the heat of the years, and have been producing some of the hottest years recorded. In the end this will cause yet another ice age, which is how, many societies will fall, and new societies will be created. We must learn to change our society so that we do not affect the planet in the way that we do. There have been some things, which are resulting in better results, but if we do not act in the next 50 years then according to Al Gore the results will be catastrophic. Some of these things have been the increase of hybrids, using solar, sun, and hydro energy. If we try and everyone works together then we can bring down the amount of toxins in the air to a reasonable amount, but if we do not then what will happen to our kids, and there kids and so on?
In the article “The Tale of Two Farms” the author studies how one society can effect another even if its thousands of miles away. It is important to know why this happens because it affects everyone. What if both societies died due to a lack or food or global warming? This could create a chain effect that could wipe out civilization. In Al Gores presentation he provided us with facts about the past thousands of years showing a natural occurrences in the temperate with ice ages occurring at certain times. However, over the past 50 years we have been going outside of this limit and at the rate we are going we will be extremely out of this limit in the next 50 years. So we must learn how to study and prevent obstacles like this from occurring.
In conclusion I think that it is extremely important to study how society functions, because how we have arrived to this time we have evolved from other societies and learned from our mistakes. In order to advance more into the future we will need to know how our society works, what we can do to make it better, and fix any mistakes before they cause chaos or problems. If we do not prevent the global warming and other effects that are occurring then there might not ever be any more societies to study, and the world will fade, population will cease to live or be created. We are in dangerous water right now.
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