For the last several weeks, we have been studying the impact of professional presence. What are you learning about your own professional presence? What aspects of your own professional presence do you consider strengths? What aspects of your professional presence are developing through your course of study? What are your desired outcomes for further development…
Category: Society
Conflicts between the communities of Maycomb in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’
To Kill a Mockingbird, first published in 1960, is an enduring masterpiece of American literature. Written by Harper Lee (for whom this was the first and last novel), the story speaks of a young girl’s (Scout Finch) love and support for her father and brother in the backdrop of the Great Depression. This was a…
The Case Against Perfection’ by Michael J. Sandel
The article in question offers an in-depth analysis of the emerging preference for genetic engineering (GE). The author identifies various reasons why instances of genetic engineering are on a rise and shows the fallacies and superficialities of those arguments convincingly. For this essay, the tendency to utilize genetic engineering for ‘enhancing’ an individual’s life is…
Critical Analysis: The Political Economy of Culture by Sut Jhally
The article’s objective is to discuss how ‘culture’ has become a commercial and indoctrinating industry under the capitalist economic system. The author identifies two or three key mechanisms through which culture is manufactured and distributed towards achieving its goals. Author Sut Jhally is not in doubt as to the propagandistic or profit-oriented motives of mass…
What is Social Capital?
The journal article by James Coleman titled Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital talks in detail about the concept of Social Capital. The author identifies three predominant forms in which social capital manifests: “obligations and expectations, information channels, and social norms”. Social structural conditions under which social capital is created are explained in…
How and why does ethnic identity affect the idea of ‘beauty’ cross-culturally?
Beauty, especially physical beauty, is often dictated by universal standards. But the particular culture, history and social sensibilities of a community do also play a role in defining beauty. In the modern social context, the public relations industry plays an influential role in setting and imposing standards of beauty weather people agree with it or…
In-depth analysis of the Occupy Wall Street movement
The Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement witnessed in recent months is one of the most significant socio-political events to have taken place in the history of the United States of America. Measuring merely by the weight of popular support and enthusiastic participation evinced by the movement, it could be equated with the Civil Rights movement…
The Occupy Wall Street movement – its significance and effectiveness
The Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement witnessed in recent months is one of the most significant socio-political events to have taken place in the history of the United States of America. Measuring merely by the weight of popular support and enthusiastic participation evinced by the movement, it could be equated with the Civil Rights movement…
The celebration of the virtues of the social underclass in Bret Harte’s stories
Bret Harte is a writer whose works are full of human empathy and insight. He is also exceptional in terms of attention to detail and gifted in coming up with beautiful turns of phrase. In the three short stories of the author chosen for this essay, we see ample examples of remarkable literary and humane…
A response to Jenni Russell’s ‘The Selfish Generation’
Jenni Russell’s article for the Guardian newspaper that appeared on 6th December 2003 raises contemporary problems in social interactions. She laments the fact that as individual, isolated consumers of a capitalist society, people are gradually losing their humanity. In its place, they are acquiring rather unsavory social tendencies, the most blatant of which is lack…