Racism as a construct for demographic and socio-political analysis is increasingly being contested. Today, urbanization has become the norm due to process of industrialization, and cities are getting very cosmopolitan. This makes it necessary that people from so called ‘different races’ cohabit and cooperate to achieve their shared objectives. Most advanced industrial societies today exhibit…
Category: Society
Reading Response: “Whose Culture Is It, Anyway?” by Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Henry Louis Gates Jr. makes a cogent case for pluralism in the American cultural context. In the American academia of today the formation of curricula is largely dependent on the ethnic composition of the enrolled students. This implies that courses that come under the purview of liberal arts are seldom offered in colleges with a…
The Origins of Negro Slavery by Eric Williams
1. In sum, what is the Williams thesis? What is his main point and central argument? Eric Williams is an important black intellectual who witnessed, documented and analyzed African slavery in America firsthand. His main argument is that multiple factors were behind the origins of Negro slavery. The powerful papacy of the Roman Catholic Church,…
How might a theological anthropology enable Christians to resist ideologies of racial oppression in church and society?
Introduction Despite Christian doctrine’s claims of all men being created in the image of God, the Church has historically been guilty of racial discrimination. The very notion of slavery goes against Christian theology. Western Christianity has especially failed to adequately interfere with this social malice in the centuries past. In contrast, among cultures of the…
Community Policing in the USA and Britain
Develop a typical “community policing” model utilized by local/American policing tactics. How would you deploy road patrol personnel to best promote the model of community policing? How would you instruct your officers to interact with the community? The community policing model had found success in the United States because of its balancing of authority with…
‘Two Cheers for Materialism’ by James Twitchell & ‘Profiles in Splurging’ by Randall Patterson : A combined overview
In “Two Cheers for Materialism,” James Twitchell posits that “We live through things, we create ourselves through things and we change ourselves by changing our things.” When we look at this claim by the author, it sounds like a veiled criticism of a materialist culture. But through numerous apt examples and nuanced explanations, Twitchell comes…
The decline of Community Oriented Policing since September 11, 2001.
Prior to September 11, 2001 many police agencies nationwide practiced Community Oriented Policing. The aftermath of 9/11 saw many police agencies revert back to traditional policing. Describe why you believe this is or is not beneficial for a police organization. The September 11, 2001 terror attack on American soil, carried out by Al-Qaeda, is a…
An outline of Immanuel Kant and Friedrich Nietzsche’s key ideas and their contribution to the development of social thought.
Immanuel Kant and Friedrich Nietzsche are two important intellectuals whose thoughts are integral to the development of social thought in Europe and North America. Immanuel Kant’s thoughts have enriched a wide variety of disciplines within humanities, including theology, political science and sociology. But Kant’s work does not fit easily into any particular disciplinary paradigm. Of…
Media Analysis: Just a Minute (BBC Radio 4)
Introduction: The media item chosen for this essay is Just a Minute – a flagship radio comedy show broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It is based on a 4-member panel format, where contestants have to speak on any given topic for a full minute without ‘hesitation’, ‘repetition’ or ‘deviation’. Having premiered at 1967 as a…
Water as a commercial commodity
How do you evaluate the growing expectations and the changing role of companies in the arena of water management? Discuss the potential and the limits of what corporations can ultimately achieve in the business of water. Given the abysmal record of private companies in managing water resources and their equitable distribution, the public has a…