Friday, 16 August 2019
SOCIAL: THE MEANING OF, 'SLUT'
A “slut,” is a term connotated with negative meanings. It was a word used to denote an unkept women, traditionally. This word was used to degrade women and it can sometimes even refer to men. I digress however, as Amber Rose’s “slut walk,” has for me caused a certain empowerment for those being labeled this. This term has been essentially transformed from its negative roots to something a bit more positive. I really believe it is Amber Rose’s point of view that people should consider. This word for me stands for courage and strength. Those labelled with this word have gone through the tribulations of complicated interpersonal relations and they should wear this label as a badge of recognition. This is the true meaning of this word in this day an age. Funny how something which was previously negative has now been considered a sign of pride and strength. We should therefore encourage people’s passion to express themselves. This word to me means confidence and the ability to not care about what others think. This sort of personal power is priceless and I thus commend those with the fortitude to face their fears.
Monday, 12 August 2019
SOCIAL: MODERN OPS SOCIOLOGY
In sociology we have the concept of social structure. A social structure can be defined as a hierarchy in which through consensus people subscribe. A social structure is enacted via the beliefs and values of society. I feel that sociology is not looking at social hierarchy more critically. It accepts the distant view of categorizing people based on wealth. I believe sociology should change to include hierarchy for not only wealth but, skill/ intelligence, and beauty/ charisma. Looking at social structures from these three prongs will allow the sociologist to analyze the modern conflicts we have. Yes wealth is a social structure but from my analysis the current view of social structures are out dated. We need to look and emphasize skill/ intelligence and beauty/ charisma.
Skill/ intelligence can be looked at from a hierarchy of smart to dumb. I know its quite frank but really, we need to talk about this. Those that are on top or the smartest gain scholarships, bursaries and other validation from the society. They are looked at with such respect and dignity. However as we go down the hierarchy we start to see that societies problem. The negligence and the disdain for the dumb. These people are unable to fight for what is equity. They live in ignorance and are dismissed by society. Someone needs to fight and represent these people. This is where those higher in the hierarchy take it upon themselves to defend these people because they have realized that they are unable to defend themselves. This social structure is thus supportive of the members on the bottom. The intelligent people ensure that these dumb people are being represented equally. However, not all intelligent people are advocates of equity. There is a likelihood that the opposite can happen as well, just be aware.
The oldest and most known way of division was and is beauty/ charisma. Yet, we don’t really talk about this social structure as much as we value it. Society adores these people and through their adoration they blindly submit. This is the thorn of this social hierarchy. People become confused and dumb when affection hits them. They are unable to think properly because of their feelings or emotions. This hierarchy is the oldest and is the one of the most potent yet it is overlooked and forgotten. Clearly those who are considered, “hot,” and, “popular,” have the ability to influence people while those that are considered, “ugly,” are left to find other channels in which they can exercise their regression.
Sunday, 11 August 2019
SCHOLAR: ELECTIONS AND POLITICAL CLEAVAGES
The structure of political parties is described in its constitution and or manifest. It also describes the parties decision making and its mission. Its mission gives people an idea of what the party intends, it is an extension of their objectives. Parties are commonly structured as follows the convention is at the top followed by the executive committee, than the party officers, branches and lastly the members. The convention identifies and pushes the parties objectives. The executive committee allocates resources and makes decisions about the parties direction. The party officers communicate with the branches who campaigns locally. They also find local donors whom are willing to donate to the party’s cause. The members are the last part of this structure, they usually are required to be above the age of 19 and also they must pay a membership fee.
There are several classifications of elections and they are as follows, maintaining elections, critical elections, deviating elections and reinstating elections. Maintaining elections occur when the party who regularly wins, wins. Critical elections are those that change the party in power. Deviating elections on the other hand are election that are temporary shifts. Lastly, reinstating elections are those that bring back the party that regularly wins. It is important to analyze these because we can get an idea of how elections in the future are going to turn out. It gives us an idea of voting behaviors which would then allow parties to identify what the people want. These also allow party researchers to segment, target and position their parties in favor of public opinion.
Social cleavages are divisions within society which allow for a diverse voting bloc. These cleavages allow for diversity. These cleavages align with parties who meet their interest. Cleavages have political, social, ideological, and institutional dimensional considerations. The literature, “Political Parties in Canada,” explains many cleavages. They are rural/ urban, worker/ owner, state/ religion, periphery, materialistic and globalization cleavages. Rural prioritizes farming incentives and tax breaks for their crops while urban cleavages preference police safety, parks & recreation maintenance. The worker cleavage looks at employment conditions and salaries while owners look for reduced taxes on their profits. The state cleavage looks to maintain its authority and its government programs. Religious cleavages look to support parties that have conservative reserved values. The periphery cleavage looks at language and ethnicity. Materialistic cleavages are concerned for the availability of goods and services. Lastly the globalization cleavages look for integration in business.
In order to parties to be successful they must be able to maintain their structure. They need to make compromises with their leaders, members and the public at large. The party must be able to look at the macroscopic environment and be able to segment them so they can meet their needs through their campaign and or platform. They need to target specific demographics so that they can position themselves as such to appeal to them. Members must be aware and conscious of the parties’ objectives and missions. Each member has a role to play and these roles should compliment rather than conflict. If there is harmony within the party it could function more efficiently however, if there is conflict, people would be less efficient and can lead to a party at peril. In todays society, membership in parties are declining. This is a result of political apathy. Perhaps people are not being mobilized or intrigued enough. Parties need to reorganize and market themselves in modern ways. This could be advertisements in radio, t.v., flyers, banners or in the paper. Further they can continue to canvas door to door. They can involve themselves in social media like twitter so that they may appeal to a larger demographic. Lowering the voting age can also benefit political participation. This would allow people to be more knowledgeable about politics. An implication to this however, is the fact that we would have ignorant voters who guess. Another tactic that political parties can implement is to collaborate with the government to provide education to students at all ages so when they grow up, thy are aware of the process.
There are several classifications of elections and they are as follows, maintaining elections, critical elections, deviating elections and reinstating elections. Maintaining elections occur when the party who regularly wins, wins. Critical elections are those that change the party in power. Deviating elections on the other hand are election that are temporary shifts. Lastly, reinstating elections are those that bring back the party that regularly wins. It is important to analyze these because we can get an idea of how elections in the future are going to turn out. It gives us an idea of voting behaviors which would then allow parties to identify what the people want. These also allow party researchers to segment, target and position their parties in favor of public opinion.
Social cleavages are divisions within society which allow for a diverse voting bloc. These cleavages allow for diversity. These cleavages align with parties who meet their interest. Cleavages have political, social, ideological, and institutional dimensional considerations. The literature, “Political Parties in Canada,” explains many cleavages. They are rural/ urban, worker/ owner, state/ religion, periphery, materialistic and globalization cleavages. Rural prioritizes farming incentives and tax breaks for their crops while urban cleavages preference police safety, parks & recreation maintenance. The worker cleavage looks at employment conditions and salaries while owners look for reduced taxes on their profits. The state cleavage looks to maintain its authority and its government programs. Religious cleavages look to support parties that have conservative reserved values. The periphery cleavage looks at language and ethnicity. Materialistic cleavages are concerned for the availability of goods and services. Lastly the globalization cleavages look for integration in business.
In order to parties to be successful they must be able to maintain their structure. They need to make compromises with their leaders, members and the public at large. The party must be able to look at the macroscopic environment and be able to segment them so they can meet their needs through their campaign and or platform. They need to target specific demographics so that they can position themselves as such to appeal to them. Members must be aware and conscious of the parties’ objectives and missions. Each member has a role to play and these roles should compliment rather than conflict. If there is harmony within the party it could function more efficiently however, if there is conflict, people would be less efficient and can lead to a party at peril. In todays society, membership in parties are declining. This is a result of political apathy. Perhaps people are not being mobilized or intrigued enough. Parties need to reorganize and market themselves in modern ways. This could be advertisements in radio, t.v., flyers, banners or in the paper. Further they can continue to canvas door to door. They can involve themselves in social media like twitter so that they may appeal to a larger demographic. Lowering the voting age can also benefit political participation. This would allow people to be more knowledgeable about politics. An implication to this however, is the fact that we would have ignorant voters who guess. Another tactic that political parties can implement is to collaborate with the government to provide education to students at all ages so when they grow up, thy are aware of the process.
SCHOLAR: POLITICAL PARTIES
According to Sartori factions are have a negative connotation. Factions are anti establishment. Parties are pro establishment. Parties according to this author are for accomplishing things in society. According to Downs. Parties form coalitions in order to gain support. They cooperate with their members and other parties. They also make compromises. As for Madison, she specifies that factions are parties. These are essentially different explanations of what political parties are. Parties are a group of individuals who seek to control the government through election and public office. Factions on the other hand, are really associated with political turmoil. They are a clique of people who have self serving interests.
Parties perform many tasks. They organize votes, prepare their platform, campaign, they aggregate interest, they elect leaders, implement policy and persuade the government to their interests. They are contrasted against interest groups in this way. Interest groups are a group of individuals who influence the political process. They are usually single issued whereas political parties deal with multiple issues. Ideology plays a major part in political parties.
Ideology can be defined as a set of ideas or beliefs which dictate how a society ought to be. Ideology are important to political parties because they provide frameworks I which the government can run. The ideologies are separated through the political spectrum, left or right. On the left is communism and on the right is fascism.
There are a variety of political systems. They are classified as single party system, the dominant party system, the two party system and the multi party system. We will first explain the single party system. This system is where there is only one legal party who controls the government. In the dominant party system a single party regularly wins elections and other parties play a minor role. In the two party system, two parties often vie for power and often exchange positions, other parties are also allowed to function in this system. The multi party system is a system where parties often form coalitions in order to be in power. According to Lapombara parties can be divided as competitive or non- competitive party systems. We will first explore the competitive systems. In this category we have the one party dominant system, two party system and the multi party system. Much like in the first classification the one party dominant system regularly wins elections and others are allowed to function. The two party system allows for two parties who exchange power frequently. Lastly in the multi party system we have multiple parties who share power. This can be further divided to multi party dominant wherein, one party receives more than 40% of the votes and multi party loose where not any of the parties achieve 40%. The non competitive systems according to Lapombra are regime based. They operate through a hegemonic basis. This means they use force in order to coerce rather than consent the government to their position. There are three types the one party authoritarian system, the one party pluralist system and the one party totalitarian system. The one party authoritarian system sees competitors as threats and they immediately attempt to dissolve these. The one party pluralist system operates with pragmatism and they value ideology as a basis for their cause. The one party totalitarian system seeks to enforce social and economic structures which they maintain.
Duverger further classifies political parties as elite based political parties or mass based parties. Elite bases parties seek influential, powerful and wealthy members. They are very flexible and lack structure. They receive funds from single wealthy supporters rather than many people. Mass based parties operate within a hierarchy. They have a strong structure. They use ideology in order to operate. Their funding comes from many people rather than the odd wealthy supporter.
The origin of political parties is very interesting. In the UK the popish plot enticed the development of these parties. The parliament was dissolved by King Charles II where they banned Catholics from being members of parliament because they supposedly had intentions to kill the king. In the USA the forefathers of America needed to control factions. This was done through political parties. There was a conflict between centralization and individualism. Lastly in Canada the conservatives and the liberals have roots in preconfederation. The liberals had massive Catholic support while the conservatives were supported by the Protestants.
Parties perform many tasks. They organize votes, prepare their platform, campaign, they aggregate interest, they elect leaders, implement policy and persuade the government to their interests. They are contrasted against interest groups in this way. Interest groups are a group of individuals who influence the political process. They are usually single issued whereas political parties deal with multiple issues. Ideology plays a major part in political parties.
Ideology can be defined as a set of ideas or beliefs which dictate how a society ought to be. Ideology are important to political parties because they provide frameworks I which the government can run. The ideologies are separated through the political spectrum, left or right. On the left is communism and on the right is fascism.
There are a variety of political systems. They are classified as single party system, the dominant party system, the two party system and the multi party system. We will first explain the single party system. This system is where there is only one legal party who controls the government. In the dominant party system a single party regularly wins elections and other parties play a minor role. In the two party system, two parties often vie for power and often exchange positions, other parties are also allowed to function in this system. The multi party system is a system where parties often form coalitions in order to be in power. According to Lapombara parties can be divided as competitive or non- competitive party systems. We will first explore the competitive systems. In this category we have the one party dominant system, two party system and the multi party system. Much like in the first classification the one party dominant system regularly wins elections and others are allowed to function. The two party system allows for two parties who exchange power frequently. Lastly in the multi party system we have multiple parties who share power. This can be further divided to multi party dominant wherein, one party receives more than 40% of the votes and multi party loose where not any of the parties achieve 40%. The non competitive systems according to Lapombra are regime based. They operate through a hegemonic basis. This means they use force in order to coerce rather than consent the government to their position. There are three types the one party authoritarian system, the one party pluralist system and the one party totalitarian system. The one party authoritarian system sees competitors as threats and they immediately attempt to dissolve these. The one party pluralist system operates with pragmatism and they value ideology as a basis for their cause. The one party totalitarian system seeks to enforce social and economic structures which they maintain.
Duverger further classifies political parties as elite based political parties or mass based parties. Elite bases parties seek influential, powerful and wealthy members. They are very flexible and lack structure. They receive funds from single wealthy supporters rather than many people. Mass based parties operate within a hierarchy. They have a strong structure. They use ideology in order to operate. Their funding comes from many people rather than the odd wealthy supporter.
The origin of political parties is very interesting. In the UK the popish plot enticed the development of these parties. The parliament was dissolved by King Charles II where they banned Catholics from being members of parliament because they supposedly had intentions to kill the king. In the USA the forefathers of America needed to control factions. This was done through political parties. There was a conflict between centralization and individualism. Lastly in Canada the conservatives and the liberals have roots in preconfederation. The liberals had massive Catholic support while the conservatives were supported by the Protestants.
Thursday, 8 August 2019
SOCIAL: THINK TWICE
Have you ever had someone try to tell you who you are? This is a problem people have. Labels happen because people want to maintain authority over other people. It is really a reflection of how a person can be a social threat to that whomsoever is doing the labelling. When you label someone, it causes them to self reflect and they then negotiate with themselves. In their attempt to negotiate they either improve themselves or go to despair. The average person will experience resentment. But, there are those who take it constructively. That is rare in this day and age as we are being taught to shut down people who, “trigger,” us. This is what society is teaching the youth. They are censoring those who provide criticism. They are victims also but those with the most to loose are those that are being labelled against their will. These labels cause people to change their life course. Labelling someone can change their whole way that they perceive themselves. This can then cause a person to become depressed. This person may then go to despair which can affect his whole circumstance and interpersonal relationships. So, the next time you try to even tell someone who they are, think about the implications it may cause them, the amount of grief they may experience and the pain it will cause. Do the responsible thing and realize that they need to figure out on their own, who they are. Therefore, if it is not nice, keep it to yourself. Rise above those that say derogatory statements and make a difference in a life.
Wednesday, 7 August 2019
SOCIAL: A NEW CONFLICT? THE RISE OF THE INTELIGENT CLASS
As you may be aware, I am here in university at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. I am actually taking a political science degree. Through out my time her in the university, I have been observing interactions with students/ teachers and I couldn't help myself but wonder. Is there a hierarchal social construction of the social class, intelligence. Through my studies of Karl Marx, I have began to ponder these things and I think that if there is an existence of an intelligent class, they must know already how to conduct themselves and further they are experts about intelligence. I really have not observed any injustice that would be indicative of an intelligence class but in looking at some of the reviews on rate my professors, I can see a pattern developing. There seems to be a conflict with students and some professors. Is this the manifestation of the intelligence class or am I looking too much into this? Also I have asked some students about what they think about that site and some respond with, "those that complain are those that get bad grades." I believe if there is a conflict within the intelligence class they would be well fore armed to reason their actions. Regardless, it is necessary to even consider this as there can possibly be inequalities in our education system. Food for thought...
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