Modern society and causes of social change

Modern society and causes of social change If the human balance of nature is essentially a matter of matching persons with activities, anything that disturbs that balance leads to social change- (Bryant Peck, 2007; 449) In a continuously developing world particularly with reference to the current global ideal of what we now call a modernised society, the concept of social change may be identified as the influence perpetuating the pandemic. Social change in this instance is described as the adjustment in the basic structures of a social group or society (Giddens, 2006). According to Giddens (2006) social change is an ever-present phenomenon in social life, but has become especially intense in the modern era due to efforts to restore social balance. Hence, the outcomes of these efforts of social change may be reflected in a positive or negative light. In essence if social change is the perpetuating factor of a developing society, then the trigger of its influence must come from some sort of threatening social event. These events may vary in form. Natural disasters are thus recognised as not only an environmental, yet a societal event as well that poses a threat for social change, arising from the soci al consequences that they bring about. This essay will therefore aim to discuss the impact of social change on the environment and describe the social consequences of natural disasters, with reference to case studies to provide evidence. The onset of social change as mentioned above is triggered by social events. Subsequently those socially threatening events are triggered by the victims themselves. In this case human beings are not only the victims yet also the perpetrators of critical social events which predispose social change. There are many elements and dimensions that need to be considered when addressing the intricate concept of social change. The first is that social change has consistent characteristics (Macionis, 1996). In this sense according to Macionis (1996) the first characteristic is that social change happens everywhere, though differs from place to place. For example the United States would experience faster change due to its advanced technology in comparison to a third world country that does not have these advances. Another characteristic is that social change is sometimes intentional but often unplanned (Macionis, 1996). In this context one would draw attention to technological developments and the levels of advantages and disadvantages. For example in the transportation industry, the invention of the airplane was developed in order to increase trade and speed travel. Though, when it was developed it was probably not realised how this invention would affect societies and families in the future. Accordingly, we now suffer with the devastating consequences of global warming of which the advances in transportation have contributed. In addition social change also generates controversy (Macionis, 1996). In this case the conflict theory is reflected whereby social change emerges due to conflict amongst race, class, religion etc. Karl Marx in particular believed that class conflict sparked change and the conflict theory draws on the works of his communism approach reflected in his perspective of the class system. Lastly, some social changes matter more than others do (Macionis, 1996). For example the invention of computers was more important than the invention of cabbage patch dolls (Macionis, 1996). The causes of social change arise in cultural, conflict, political, economic, environmental and ideational contexts. Yet, combined the causes form the globalisation pandemic. Globalisation may be describe as the process of increasing the connectivity and interdependence of the worlds markets and businesses (DFAIT, 2002). The ever-increasing interdependencies among nations in resource exploitation, production (including out-sourcing) and marketing and the need to remove obstructions to this interdependency are driving forces behind the rush for globalisation (Rahman, 2002). These interdependencies cause a need to develop and, in marketing terms, this need becomes a demand thus as the demand increases so does the production. Consequently as the production increases the advances in the particular products increase to ensure better quality and so the process continues. This has continued to the point where we now have genetically modified foods to feed a growing population and the process of cloning. It is these particular advances that are now the reasons for many of the environmental problems that have occurred recently. Hence, the point made on the notion that social change forms part of a cycle. According to (Rahman, 2002) these global forces have produced rapid social change which is often marked by more inter and intra-regional disparity, environmental and ecological crisis, social disintegration, conflict and violence. Local population growth and natural disasters further aggravate the magnitude of human hardship (Rahman, 2002). This hardship occurs due to the use and limited availability of the resources which is usually used to generate the products that globalization exploits. These hardships arise because humans, like all organisms on Earth, interact with both the biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living) factors in their environment (Richmond, 2002). This interaction has devastating effects on the environment. As Richmond (2002) explains, environmental degradation happens when a potentially renewable resource (one of the biotic or abiotic factors humans need and use such as soil, grassland, forest, wildlife or fuel) is extracted at a rate faster than the resource can be replaced, and thus becomes depleted. According to Richmond (2002) if the rate of use of the resource remains high, the resource can become non-renewable on a human time scale or even become non-existent. Evidence occurring throughout the twentieth century shows that agriculturally productive land has been extensively modified to make it even more productive (Richmond, 2002). This includes the widespread use during the twentieth century of chemical fertilizers (often produced from oil) pesticides, and extensive irrigation (Richmond, 2002). As Richmond (2002) emphasises to supply the needs of extensive irrigation, surface water has been diverted and many wells have been drilled seeking more subsurface water. At the same time that industrial agriculture was growing, agriculturally productive land was being lost to urban development and industry (Richmond, 2002). In the twenty first century, competition for remaining land and water resources is expected to continue to increase (Richmond, 2002). These particular problems are contributory causes of globalisation and can lead to natural hazards. Natural hazards, which is defined as a threat of a dangerous magnitude of a natural process, have the potential to cause a number of primary and secondary phenomena (Chen, 2005). According to Chen (2005) primary phenomena are the natural hazards themselves this includes tropical cyclones, floods, storms, droughts and earthquakes. The secondary phenomena comprises of the vulnerabilities of the elements at risk such as populations, infrastructure, economic, political and social activities, which make them more susceptible to being harmed or damaged by a hazard event (Chen, 2005). The secondary cause results from the dependency of the primary. For example the devastating and seemingly arbitrary nature of disasters such as Hurricane Katrina can reinforce the popular notion that such events are random in their social dimensions. There are many aspects of social dimensions that get affected and these occur abruptly due to the unpremeditated impact of natural disasters. In the case study based on Hurricane Katrina, among New Orleanians who were employed at the time of the storm, only a quarter reported having the same job one month later, compared with over two-thirds of respondents from outside the city (Elliot Pais, 2006). This shows that the natural disaster brought about unemployment which is considered a social issue. Based on the same study by Elliot Pais (2006) it was concluded that when such disasters do occur, individuals understandably become stressed. The results of the Hurricane Katrina Case study also show that for all three indicators of stress (current, short-term, and long-term) proved to be remarkably consistent (Elliot Pais, 2006). They show that race, not class, had a strong influence on post-disaster stress associated with Hurricane Katrina, with blacks generally reporting higher stress levels than whites, all else being equal (Elliot Pais, 2006). Moreover, this racial difference increased further into the future when respondents are asked to look five years ahead (Elliot Pais, 2006). For example, the average black-white differential in stress was greater when respondents are asked to look five years ahead than when they were asked to look only a few months ahead (Elliot Pais, 2006). This provides evidence that natural disasters have social impacts yet is not the driving force behind political change. Instead the politics and ethical issues arise from the mind-sets of the victims themselves arising from the current social systems implemented prior to the disaster. The very same study proved that when these disasters occur, individuals are intensely personally affected and prior research suggests that this stress tends to be higher in technological disasters than in natural disasters (Erikson, 1994; Freudenberg, 1997; Norris et al., 2001). This pattern is pertinent to Hurricane Katrina because many observers now view events within the City of New Orleans as primarily a technological disaster (levee failure) and events outside the city as primarily a natural disaster (wind, rain, and storm-surge destruction) (Elliot Pais, 2006). This proves the correlation between man made global advances and natural disasters. In another study conducted in Ethiopia on the effect of the severe prolonged Ethiopian drought of 1998-2000 presents a second kind of disaster experiment (Carter, Little, Mogues, Negatu, 2007). Direct destruction of assets was modest, but the income losses of repeated crop failures in some locations forced households to choose between preserving assets, or selling them to maintain current consumption and health v(Carter et al, 2007). This particular example suggests that natural disasters puts its victims into a life threatening position of decision yet that decision is forced upon by a global economy. Hence, in order for survival individuals are forced to resort to modern consumptions and become part of the modern economic system. This occurs due to the premise that most land is owned by those who have the most wealth and power. Individuals who are in poverty are therefore unable to build their villages on these lands, though those who have some kind of wealth have an advantage to rebuilding a living. In the case of the recent earthquake in Haiti crisis, political instability and violence seem to have intensified over the last two decades (Daumerie, 2010). While the influence of population on political stability and security is certainly not a simple cause-and-effect relationship, a very youthful age structure can potentially exacerbate the development challenges faced by a nation and, in turn, accentuate political instability (Daumerie, 2010). In Haiti, 15 to 29 year-olds comprise 50 percent of the population, and entering the labour market proves very challenging for them (Daumerie, 2010). As Daumerie (2010) suggests between 45 and 55 percent of youth in their twenties are either unemployed or inactive. Girls perform hard, unpaid work in the household and in some cases engage in paid sexual activity (Daumerie, 2010). As noted by Steve Laguerre of Catholic Relief Services, We have a lot of cross-generational sex between young girls and older men who can provide for them. (Daumerie, 2010;2). According to Daumerie (2010) young boys substitute this by engaging in illegal activities, which in the data are reported as inactivity. Eighty percent of violent crimes in the Caribbean are committed by men, the majority of whom are under age 35 (Daumerie, 2010). The case of Haiti reveals political, economical and social issues that have arisen from the natural disaster. The victims in poverty are forced to resort to desperate measures and the youth is devastatingly affected by this. According to Daumerie (2010) in the capital Port-au Prince, dozens of gangs wander the slums and kill, steal or beat with freedom, while controlling different parts of the city. For a population of less than ten million (half of them children), surveys report 209,000 small arms and light weapons distributed among a horde of armed groups, including criminal and youth gangs, resistance fronts, death squads, prison escapees, political groups, self-defence militias, private security companies and children (Daumerie, 2010). With a succession of military officials rising to power in recent years, international aid was largely suspended and the Haitian army was left with little capital to reimburse its soldiers, who began to use their weapons against citizens for their own gains (Daumerie, 2010). Later, the drug trafficking trade also contributed to the proliferation of violence as Haiti was used by the Colombian cartel as a trans-shipment point for cocaine (Daumerie, 2010). Armed criminal group violence has intensified radically since the last military overthrow in 1994 and have become more brutal since 2000 (Daumerie, 2010). One can elicit that the use of weaponry and violence poses disastrous effects on the physical environment. According to Enzler (2006) the use of weapons, the destruction of structures and oil fields, fires, military transport movements and chemical spraying are all examples of the destroying impact war may have on the environment. Air, water and soil are polluted, man and animal are killed, and numerous health affects occur among those still living (Enzler, 2009). The use of warfare thus contributes to the damaging effects of global warming experienced all over the world today. Hence the notion that the victims impose harm on the environment. In conclusion humans are continuously faced with social change due to the fact that they are continuously changing their way of life. By continuously changing the way of life by modernized means we are changing the life of the living environment itself. The globalisation pandemic is evidence of this. As we continuously develop these advances in production and ways of living we are destroying the balance of nature. When this balance is disrupted natural disasters occur and hence social change emerges. This brings about a cycle where human action and nature are dependent upon one another. Social change in its current state needs to be directed in a positive light where balance is restored. Perhaps this balance will only be renowned when human action is directed toward positive outcomes.

Free College Essays - Response Essay to Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter :: Scarlet Letter essays

Response to The Scarlet Letter "Confess thy truth and thou shall have eternal rest." I belive that is the moral to be taught in this novel of inspirational love, yet a novel of much sorrow. The impossible became possible in The Scarlet Letter, a story set back in the Puritan Times. In this response, I will give my reactions in writing to different aspects of the novel;the characchters, my likes and dislikes, my questions, and my opinion of the harsh Puritain lifestyle. Hester Prynne, the Reverend Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth each suffered guilt in their own way in the novel The Scarlet Letter. In the beginning of the novel, Hester Prynne should have not suffered the way she did on the scaffold alone. She was forced to be intergated by the high-officials of the town, while holding her little Pearl in arms. Making matters worse, the father of the child was in that very group of officals. She was then sentenced to wear the scarlet letter "A", showing her guilt "externally". Unable to take it off, she was forced to show her guilt to the entire settlement. However, the Reverend Dimmesdale suffered "internally", with a scarlet letter of his own engraved in his mind, and on his chest as well. He felt like he betrayed God, and beat himself in a frenzy to prove his wrongdoing. He often questioned wheather his authority was true or not. Roger Chillingworth suffered the least, because he only failed to reveal the secret that he knew, the father of the child who Hester Prynne was forced to live with. This small restriction to his life forced him to suffer "internally". I had different likes and dislikes in the novel The Scarlet Letter. There were many things that needed to be judged to fit into the given catagories, including; character attitudes, and character decisions. For example, the attitude displayed from the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale was rather unnapealing to me. There are different ways of settling ones guilt rather than whipping oneself in a closet. The one character whose attitude was appealing to me was that of Pearl's. She showed that mistakes in a relationship often lead to bad situations. Her mischeif and connection to the devil are examples of just those situations. Character decisions played an euqally important role. For example, I thought the descision for Hester not to tell who was the father of Pearl on the scaffold to be very brave, but was wrong.

Mister Pip Relationship Essay

In the novel Mister Pip, the characters are stripped of all luxuries, which expose their innermost beliefs and their conflicting personality, causing disruption between the different characters. This essay will examine intense personal relationships between Matilda, Dolores and Mr Watts that lie at the heart of this novel and will argue that the relationships lying at the heart of Mister Pip are both intense and intricately wound into the story with a purpose of either driving the plot forward or getting an important idea across to the reader. Matilda has a common mother-daughter relationship with Dolores and often doesn’t agree with how her mother does things. As Mister Pip is written from Matilda’s point of view in first person, the readers gain an interesting perspective on her relationships with others. Matilda states things without being emotionally charged, which Jones has done so that the readers are positioned to empathise with Matilda. Mothers and daughters do not always have the best relationship, and so we as readers are caught up in their arguments, the plot is driven forwards. Matilda understands that Dolores is jealous of how interested she is in this new book Great Expectations rather than her heritage but she is too stricken by the book to stop reading it. Jones shows this when Matilda says, ‘What made her mother’s blood run hot was this white boy Pip and his place in my life’. This shows the reader that Dolores clings on to Matilda because she sees Matila as all she has left in the world. Dolores shows her hatred and fear of anything â€Å"white† as she doesn’t understand white people and doesn’t want Matilda to get hurt. Dolores has a fear of her daughter entering a different world, often a fear for mothers as their children grow up and no longer do they have the control over their lives that they used to. Although we are lead to dislike Dolores, we see how much Matilda really used to look up to her when she finds out that Dolores stole Great Expectations. When she finds the book, she is so angry and confused, showing it was the worst time ever in their relationship. It is hard to put into words my feelings of betrayal at that moment’ shows that although Matilda is frustrated by her mothers religion, she trusted Dolores to do the right thing and although she understands why her mum took the book, she loses this trust in her mother to be morally responsible. She also realises how desperately Dolores wants to keep Matilda close and protect her, but she is so betrayed by her behaviour that this pushes her away from her mother even more. Dolores and Mr Watts have the most controversial relationship in this novel. Mr Watts stands for everything that Dolores didn’t believe in, as she was extremely religious yet he was an atheist. They are two completely different people that are forced together when Mr Watts becomes Matilda’s teacher. While Dolores is adamant that Matilda should live a life alongside ‘The Good Book’, Mr Watts focuses more on what it means to be a gentleman, an idea completely idyllic to Matilda. Although this is a significant aspect of his teaching, his teachings were more about change. Conflict stems from Mr Watts being a white man; Dolores hates white men because of their effect on Bougainville through the mines and blames them for the loss of her husband. This idea is used to drive the plot forwards, as the reader learns alongside Matilda about a whole new world and way of being. Mr Watts teaches the young Bougainvilleans that ‘A gentleman is a man who never forgets his manners, no matter the situation’, and ‘a gentleman always does the right thing’. This is an interesting concept, as although both Dolores and Mr Watts have a high regard in doing the morally right thing, Dolores despises Mr Watts for teaching Matilda values that she sees to be immoral. The author shows that this may be because it gets across the idea that Dolores doesn’t understand the world outside of Bougainville, the ‘white’ world. This shows the intensity of the relationship between Dolores and Mr Watts, as eventually Dolores shows she is the paramount ‘gentleman’ when she sacrifices her life for Matilda’s virginity and essentially gets raped for defending Mr Watts. The idea of conflict from being ‘white’ and ‘racism’ between Dolores and Mr Watts is mentioned many times throughout the text. Dolores is hostile towards all white people, as she sees them responsible for the civil war â€Å"there were white people crawling over Panguna like ants over a corpse†. The children say ‘We had grown up believing white to be the color of all the important things, like aspirin, ice cream, ribbon, the moon’. This shows that Mr Watts does not only fascinate the locals, but racism really comes to be a part of this novel, as the older generations are influencing the thoughts of the younger children. Jones shows the intensity of this relationship when Dolores goes into the schoolhouse to preach to the children – she sees Mr Watts teachings as infiltrating their innocence, and believes that the bible is the only way to live by. This is another contradictory idea though, as although Dolores swears by the bible, she breaks one of the Ten Commandments when she steals the book. This shows that her urge to protect Matilda’s innocence and to do what she believes is morally right is greater even than her Christianity. Dolores has one redeeming feature, which is her love for Matilda. When the soldiers say they are going to rape her, Dolores says ‘She is my only girl. Please. I beg you. Not my darling Matilda’. This is when the reader really learns that Matilda is all she has left, and is willing to give her life to make Matilda’s a little easier and to preserve her innocence. The thoughts that Matilda had on Dolores as being ‘the bravest woman’ were at the end, so it is only after the death of her mother and when Matilda was older that she completely understood her mother. In Mister Pip, the relationships between Dolores, Mr Watts and Matilda were very intense. Jones showed these relationships had two purposes, which were either to drive forward the plot, or to get important ideas across such as being a gentleman, and the ‘white’ world. The reader would clearly see that these deep and personal relationships shaped the novel, and the path that Matilda’s life took.

Cause and Effect of Obesity Essay - 1057 Words

Article Source: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/obesity.html Overweight and obesity is the second leading cause of death, killing 300,000 people a year, ... There is not a miracle pill that will lead to weight loss ~ Richard Carmona Obesity is perhaps one of the most dangerous health problems increasing at an alarming rate due to various factors most of which are related to the changing lifestyles. Here is some basic information about obesity. What is obesity? Obesity is a condition where the fat layer accumulates in the body to a point where it becomes a health risk. The human body can afford to accumulate a little extra fat but when the fat accumulation exceeds the minimum extent, it interferes with the general health issues†¦show more content†¦Pregnant women also tend to gain excessive weight, which they may find difficult to shed after the delivery and can thus lead to obesity. Some medicines like corticosteroids, tricyclic antidepressants as well ascertain high blood pressure and ant psychotic medications can lead to weight gain. What are the factors that can increase the risk of obesity? There are several risk factors associated with obesity. First and foremost the genetic make up that plays a role in fat deposition and fat burning. Also if both the parents are obese, the risks of the child being obese are high. In addition to that age also plays an important factor that might hinder the calorie-burning process and aggravates the fat accumulation. It is also said that since women have less muscle mass, they manage to burn lesser calories than the men and hence have a higher risk of obesity. If I am obese, what are the treatment options available? The healthiest way to fight obesity is by switching to a healthier diet and a strict exercise regime and following it rigorously. There also exist several medications that help to facilitate weight loss however these are to be administered only if prescribed by your physician. Surgery is also an option in case the case is highly complicated and cannot be resolves by the other treatment options. How can obesity be prevented? Maintaining a healthy diet rich in essential vitamins,Show MoreRelatedCause and Effect Essay on Obesity962 Words   |  4 PagesTiffany Nali Period 3 May 20,2012 Cause and Effect Essay on Obesity Obesity is one of the main topics in America including one of the main reasons of death.-(begin with a subject) Detecting obesity is easy, but treating it can be very hard to do. Never have there have been so many teens and children not only overweight but obese. In some ways, it could be called the plague of the twenty- first century due to adolescents and teenagers indulgingRead MoreThe Causes and Effects of Obesity Essay1390 Words   |  6 Pagesresult of cause and effect. 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