The history of minorities in the United States and more so in California has been one of many injustices. While some discernable improvements have been made in race relations in the state, the socio-economic and political order has not changed drastically. Thomas Almaguer is a credible Latin-American scholar, who had done some incisive analysis and…
Category: Society
Steinbeck’s depiction of the struggle of Agricultural workers during the Depression, his role as a social commentator, and its impact upon his work:
John Steinbeck is arguably the most prominent littérateur of his generation to have adopted the cause of working class America that was struggling to survive the harsh realities of the Great Depression. His most famous work The Grapes of Wrath depicts the everyday travails of a westward migrating white American family in search of better…
Martin Luther kings letter from Birmingham jail: An Analysis
Reverend Martin Luther King’s famous letter from Birmingham Jail captures some of the core elements of his public discourse. Although the letter had not been orated in public, it is similar in style to his more popular public speeches and brings out the inspirational and charismatic aspects of King’s personality. The letter was first published…
The Time Bind by Arlie Hochschild – Synopsis and Critique
In the book The Time Bind, the author tries to decipher a paradoxical phenomena of the modern times – while more working parents state that they would want more time for their household duties and responsibilities, ever growing number of them are spending greater lengths of time at the workplace. In spite of the fact…
Seoul as a Global City
Seoul, the capital of South Korea is a key metropolis in the Far East. The Korean peninsula is quite small, comparable to the United Kingdom or New York State in terms of geographical spread. Its geographic location had subjected Seoul to both American and Far Eastern influences. But when it comes to economic prosperity and…
1984 by George Orwell – An Analysis
Nineteen Eighty Four is widely considered to be the definitive novel about the concept of Dystopia. The novel is set in a totalitarian world comprising of three major superpowers namely Eastasia, Eurasia, and Oceania. The region in which the chief protagonist lives and narrates this story is Oceania that includes most of Western Europe. The…
Major Changes from 1945 until the late 1960’s in American Society
The aftermath of the Second World War saw the formation of a bi-polar world, with the United States and the Soviet Union dominating their respective hemispheres. Both the powers were equipped with nuclear arsenal and any direct confrontation could have led to the destruction of the species. In this atmosphere where the stakes are very…
The discourse of Class Inequality in The Discontented by Leila Abouzeid
In the short story by Leila Abouzeid, the author narrates an exchange of views between two cousins – one a high placed officer and the other a poor worker. The author uses the social backdrop of Morocco to present her story. The story captures the inequalities evident between the affluent and the deprived sections of…
Why does the U.S. not have universal health insurance, unlike almost all other rich democracies?
The fact that the United States does not have a universal health insurance system is undoubtedly bad for its citizens. Despite being the most advanced nation in the world economy-wise, the United States holds the notorious distinction of having a highly-under-functioning health-care system. This fact is proven by the high rates of negative outcomes for…
Civilization and its Discontents & Bury Me Standing
The central thesis of Sigmund Freud’s Civilization and its Discontents is the assertion that the conflict between sexual needs and the societies restrictions is a big factor to human “dissatisfaction, aggression, hostility and ultimately, violence”. Given that the book was published in 1930, people’s mindsets were largely conservative, which led to protests and outcry against…