Durkheims definition of Religion Application to Political Movements Essay

Durkheims definition of Religion Application to Political Movements - Essay Example This book received great accolade because Durkheim utilized a case study of the Australian aborigines, stating that they represented the most elementary form of religion within a society or culture. According to Durkheim, religious representations such as sacred rituals come into existence when groups of people come together and such rites or rituals are aimed at bringing people into a certain state of mentality while keeping them excited. Thus, in essence, religion gave people within a society a form of identification and mark of togetherness (Allen et al, 2012, p.2). His theory on religion was founded on the fact that sociology can be explained using natural sciences as it is a scientific study and in turn it can be proven using an experiment, in this case the case study. However, science is proven using scientific facts; the same cannot be said for religion, as it would be difficult to establish any religious facts. This was the main challenge facing Durkheim as he embarked on exp laining religion (Orru and Wang 1999, p.47). Criticism of his work stemmed from the fact that his case study featured ‘primitive peoples’, whose mode of thinking cannot be equivalent to western or rational thinkers of modern times. This was overlooked, nonetheless, because of the imaginative and insightful ideas that he was able to bring to light. It has been demonstrated that there is difficulty or it is of no significance to attempt to prove that religion can indeed be studied as a science; more so, that sacred rituals are a universal concept (Allen et al, 2012, p.6). Political Movements Commonly referred to as political sociology, the study of politics suggests that political parties function in the same way as religious sects. Followers in both cases exhibit the same kind of loyalty where leaders and/or fellow followers are justified or excused for any villainous crimes committed. Another theory explored suggests that even though political parties employ rituals and symbols as modes of self-representation, they are not similar to religious phenomenon. However, they need to be explained as demagogic means needed to preserve and reaffirm the authenticity of power among masses of people. This is referred to as the crowd manipulation interpretation, where the irrational aspects of belief and faith are used in an attempt to determine the impact of politics on the masses. For this reason, politics is termed as secular religion as a system of rituals and symbols are employed and this create an atmosphere of sacredness that, in turn, brings out politics as an object of worship and devotion (Jones, n.d). Following Durkheim’s argument, in order to understand fully religion we must go back in time and analyse religious phenomena historically. This explains why he selected the Australian aborigines as his case study; that however primitive they might have been, it would be significant to discover their constituent and how they gave rise to the mode rn religions. This is done by comparing constituent elements from both cases. Durkheim insists, nevertheless, that this analysis involving both historical and ethnographic observations is not a conceptual possibility but rather a concrete reality. Notably also, he explained his choice of the Australian aborigines, a pre-modern group stating that it was scientific because there needs to be a foundation for every concept to be rightly explained. This was in contradiction to scholars who use history as a means of bringing into disrepute their modern counterparts (Rosati 2009, p.13). This implies that religion or any

The Amazing Spiderman 2 Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Amazing Spiderman 2 - Movie Review Example The script has an overstuffed plot that has too many antiheroes. The movie could have been better if it had a cleaner script and fewer anti-heroes, coupled with thoughtful editing. For a teenager, this overstuffed plot and storyline work, but an acute audience consider it as a sensory burden. In the end, the middle of sub plots obscures the main character since he does not have sufficient screen time. The ludicrous humor does not work well with the performance. The villains, an inane anti-hero christened Electro, the Green Goblin and the machine like Rhino, present below par. Harry fights Spiderman without a manual or any directions on the operation of the machine he finds himself driving. Both characters fail to create the necessary dramatic tension that is a characteristic of superpower movies.Some of the special and visual effects are too complex, while some are considerably cartoony and ingenious. Deplorably, this makes the film wearisome and overlong. The movie is far from amazi ng considering it's exhausting experience and insufficiency in storytelling etiquette. The director damages the action fundamentals through the superpowers of the several villains. Considering it is a series, The Amazing Spiderman 2 provides an unsatisfactory backward step. It appears as if the movie is building on a future movie, rather than concentrating on the present edition. The last 10 minutes are perceptible a trailer for The Amazing Spiderman 3. It repeats mistakes loathed in the previous sequels involving the Spiderman.

Types of social assistance policies

Types of social assistance policies Social policy incorporates the provision of basic services – healthcare, education, water and sanitation and other and social protection. Social security includes three principle parts: social insurance, social assistances, labour market intervention and community based or informal social protection. Social protection covers contributory projects covering life course and work-related contingencies. Social assistance contains tax financed programmes managed by government agencies and addressing deprivation and poverty. In the labour market it provide active and passive labour market policies securing basic rights while enhancing the employability. 1. Social assistance There are various diversity in designs of social assistance in developing and developed countries. In developed countries social assistance depends on an income maintenance design, and providing income transfers that aimed at filling in the poverty gap. In developing countries, it includes a variety of programme design, including pure income transfers as in non-contributory pensions or child grants and allowances; income transfers combined with asset accumulation and protection as in human development conditional transfer programmes or guaranteed employment schemes; and integrated anti-poverty programmes covering a range of poverty dimensions and addressing social exclusion There is also diversity in scale, scope and institutionalisation in social assistance across countries, and across programmes within countries. (Pellissery, Barrientos, 2013) Various social assistance whether cash transfer or employment or kind etc. is being implemented around the globe. The efficacy of the policy and programme depends upon the implementation and the impact that it create on the society, I this view the later part describe about the various form of social protection either promotive, protective, preventive or transformative. 1.1 Cash transfers â€Å"Although cash transfers are not a panacea, they have been demonstrably effective and are seen as a viable mechanism in both developmental and humanitarian contexts. Conditional Cash Transfer (CCTs), implemented in Latin America with great success, are seen to be a way of mitigating the risk of cash transfers being misused. CCTs yield rapid, positive impacts (poverty alleviation, improved health and education outcomes) and break the ‘vicious cycle’ of intergenerational poverty in the long-term. However, CCTs are criticised for having high administrative, monitoring and enforcement costs, being too reliant on targeting, having a disempowering effect on recipients and negatively affecting overall levels of consumption amongst both beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries.† (Scott, 2012) 1.2 Cash transfers in emergencies Cash transfer can be effective during emergency or crisis while offering a protective mechanism which has immediate effect on the person through various means either innovative like mobile banking etc or tradition by cash in hand or in bank. It support when the formal institution of protection is failed and there is no other alternative for social protection. 1.3 Social Pensions It is a non-contributory pension which include a targeted cash transfer by age or widow or people with disability. Various study shows that the cash transfer in the context of social pension gave confidence and support to the targeted person or household. In general the literature suggests that social pensions have been employed particularly successfully in southern African context. 1.4 Public works programmes It is a type of conditional transfer where cash or food is given in exchange for work on public infrastructure projects, such as road building. During recent times these social protection measure is widely applied around the globe due to consequence of food and financial crisis. This measure create assets, produce jobs and somehow targeted as it be unattractive to the non-poor due to low wages or ration are paid. Though the sustainability of this measure is till when the state is willing to provide because it creates a dependency on state. Available study indicate that while short term public works create and promote consumption and demand during the market failure but the long-term social protection function is likely to be limited unless guaranteed employment is introduced. 1.5 In-kind transfers â€Å"In-kind transfer’s non-cash assets went to vulnerable or deprived individuals and households, often with the aim of modifying or influencing the behaviour of recipients. There is considerable debate over whether in-kind transfers should be favoured over cash transfers, despite the latter being popular for providing beneficiaries with choice in accordance with needs, as well as providing an opportunity for investment†. (Zoe Scott, 2012) 1.6 Food There has been numerous debate on food vs cash transfer around the globe since and prior to 1970s, on whether food transfer can be used as an alternative to cash or both are complementary to each other, whether food transfers are a nutritional or economic intervention, whether they aim to only ‘feed people’ or aim to support livelihoods. It has been thought that when there will be food crisis either by market failure or shortage due to lack of supply, or there be a crisis when food are needed, food transfer are preferable, beside other protective measure. 1.7 Utility subsidies Protection in the form of utility such as housing, electricity and water are provided to lessen the burden of expenditure on these items by people, though despite having the provision of Indira awas yojana along with various scheme, it has been widely accepted that the benefits of utility subsidy doesn’t reach the target people or communities living in an area withought electricity and water. It has been seen as more costly to implement than other form of social assistance. Despite being costly housing subsidy runs with less risks of excluding the most vulnerable. 1.8 Health fee waivers There is large debate going on Universal health care and targeted health care. One provide a system through which everyone are eligible for health care while contributing up to the fiscal budget whereas targeted has its own flaw of selection and implementation and reach to the targeted people. Though it has been inferred that health service waivers or health fee waiver or exemptions will only be effective if there would be a nationwide policy which effectively monitored and enforced at local and national levels 1.9 In India context In India the introduction of social assistance were introduced since the British period but it was only for the employee in formal sector and a large portion of population, those who were employed in informal sector were excluded from this. And again after independence until the 1990s the main focus of central government were rural development and social protection didn’t get much attention. There were many rural development program such as integrated rural development program or anti-poverty program, which aimed to provide food and nutrition, basic services like education, healthcare, and housing and employment generation came. In meantime many state introduced various program such as +pension for agricultural landless labourer, maternity benefits, disability benefit etc. depending upon the need but very often these program were introduced as electoral instruments to gain votes. It is important to notice the welfare regime in India could be classified as clientelist or populi st. In the last two decades, there has been a reversal of the story.† The central government has enacted a number of social assistance measures by enacting court enforceable right-based promises to the erstwhile directive principles (such as right to education, right to employment and others) enshrined in the Constitution of India. From the point view of social assistance, three developments are important. First, in 1995 the central government introduced the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) under which five different benefits were provided. They complemented existing provision by federal states. These benefits were the Old-Age Pension Scheme (reaching 8.3% of elderly households), Widow Pension Scheme (6.2% of widow households), Disability Pension Scheme (reaching 14.1% of disabled households), Family Benefit Scheme (onetime relief for the families where main breadwinner accidently died) and Annapurna (food for the elderly households† (Pellissery, Barrientos, 2013) The second and third development took place when the Congress Party-headed United Progressive Alliance government assumed power in 2004. A clamour for food security were supported by civil society movement along with right to employment boost the fillip of decade in the context of social protection. Later the UPA government put forth the social security program for unorganised sector workers, Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana, designed particularly for the workforce in the unorganised sector. That has already provided insurance against hospitalisation to 40 million households. Along with other social protection scheme or program there come various rights which insures social security but the reality seems different. One of the most interesting and effective social assisistance in the developing world is the Brazil’s Bolsa Familia. The Brazilian constitution enshrined a right to social protection and that led to consideration on the role and scope of social security and on the rol e of government to providing it is based on the citizenship principle and for all Brazzilians. 2. Social insurance .â€Å"Social insurance schemes are contributory programmes in which beneficiaries make regular financial contributions in order to join a scheme that will reduce risk in the event of a shock. Because health costs can be very high, health insurance schemes are a popular way of mitigating risk from illness. However, some people argue that they are too expensive for the Poor and should be complemented with social assistance. Other types of social insurance schemes include contributory pensions, unemployment insurance, funeral assistance and disaster insurance. Social insurance is strongly linked to the formalised labour market, meaning that coverage is determined by number of formal workers in a country. The informal labour market therefore presents a strong challenge to the success of social insurance programmes†. (Scott, 2012) 3. Labour market interventions Labour market interventions give protection to poor people who are able to work. Interventions are both active and passive. The active programmes or policy in the context of social protection include training and skills development and employment counselling, whereas passive interventions include, income support, unemployment insurance and changes to labour legislation, for example in Establishing a safe working conditions or minimum wage. Labour market social protection provide various social assistance and cash transfer programmes and can be integrated into longer-term development strategies 4. Community-based social protection Formal social protection framework do not offer complete coverage and exclude a section of society. â€Å"A variety of conventional or ‘informal’ ways of providing social protection to households, groups and networks fill some of the gaps left by formal social protection interventions and distribute risk within a community. There is also considerable interest in the potential for community-based mechanisms to be scaled up in order to undertake wider development activities, and in how to create links between social security schemes and community-based approaches with the aim of extending coverage to meet the challenge of providing adequate health services to the developing world.† (Zoe Scott, 2012) 2. Residual and institutional social welfare Residual idea of social welfare says in the distribution of social welfare, government should have a limited role. The underlying assumption is that the individual is free to do anything unless it doesn’t harm other and majority of population will find their sustenance and assistance by their own, either by market mechanism, family or social network. So the state only intervene when they fail to support themselves and unable to find any support system. Whereas the institution school of thought describe state as protecting individuals from the social cost of capitalist economy. does Social protection a residual social welfare The â€Å"Directive Principles† of the Constitution give obligation to the government and its policy to lay down goals and direction for the realisation of the rights. Article 41, 45 and 47 gave a sense of social protection but for the nuanced understanding of the rights and its realisation we have to look at the reality of its content and implementation. Article 41. which directs the state to â€Å"within the limits of its economic capacity and development, make effective provision for securing the right to work, to education and to public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement, and in other cases of undeserved want†; Article 45. by which â€Å"the State shall endeavour to provide, within a period of ten years from the commencement of this Constitution, for free and compulsory education for all children.† Article 47. by which â€Å"the State shall regard the raising of the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people and the improvement of public health as among its primary duties. (Constitution of India, ministry of law and justice) Society exist because it is in everyone interest to have peace and peace can only prevail if there is sovereign authority to punish those who breach it. There are various indication and updates about the failure of government machinery in india.in the context of social protection the policies and programme that are intended to reach the beneficiary doesn’t reach to them and in the lack of proper institution mechanism the policy itself became a residual in approach. Be it old age pension scheme or MGNREGA. The dominant logic is that the poor are the ward of the state and the state have the responsibility of taking care of its citizen especially poor. But the other school of thought says that the bigger the size of government the larger the burden on the populace. The more government subsidies the resources for the poor the more likely to vulnerability during the failure of support system by the state because of their dependency on the state. A key challenge faced at the time of introduction of all social assistance programme is from the right-wing that social assistance expenditure is both ineffective and wasteful. What been effective to counter such a position has been the discourse on inequality? The growth story of India has widened inequality rather than bridge the gap. Therefore, introduction of social assistance was seen as helping to act as an inclusive instrument for the poorer sections. Pellissery, Barrientos, 2013). The presence of institutional mechanism but the delivery of services create an atmosphere where the social protection turn up as just a residual kind of thing to the people. There are around 300 different type of anti-poverty scheme in India that is spread over 13 different ministries. But the integration among them is hardly seen visible. In the name of financial inclusion the still â€Å"Krishna get the credit but nobody think about Sudama†. The millennium development goal vow for eradicating poverty but still some part of the globe still suffering from hunger and malnutrition and chronic poverty

The Alien And Sedition Acts :: essays research papers

The debate over the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 revealed bitter controversies on a number of issues that had been developing since the penning of the Constitution. The writers of the document knew that over time the needs of the nation and its people would change, and therefore provided for its amendment. But by not expressly delegating powers to specific organizations, whether the federal government, state governments, or the people themselves, they inadvertently created a major problem in the years to follow: Constitutional interpretation.Shortly after the Constitution's ratification, two distinct camps formed, each believing in opposite manners of interpretation. One group, the Federalists, led by the newly appointed Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, thought that the Constitution should be interpreted very loosely. He claimed that the Constitution contained powers other than those delegated or enumerated. These unspecified powers were implied powers. To explain these powers, Hamilton said it would be natural - or implied - that the federal government would gain control over any territory gained through conquest of purchase, although the Constitution made no mention of territorial control. In essence, Hamilton wished to use the implied powers to build a strong and authoritative central government.In 1789, the Minister to France Thomas Jefferson, to Francis Hopkinson of Pennsylvania, protesting that "I am not of the party of the federalists. But I am much farther from that of the anitfederalists." However, the situation was so sensitive that he could not help but chose a side. In 1795, Jefferson wrote to a congressman from Virginia, William Giles, that he "held "t honorable to take a firm and decided part." The group he sided with, the Democratic-Republicans, favored a strict interpretation. As their leader, Jefferson argued that all powers not enumerated by the Constitution belonged to the States. The basi s for his argument was the old English "compact" theory. This theory stated that various individuals, in this case the states, joined together in a formal agreement of government. Since the states had drawn up the contract and given power to the federal government, it should be up to them to decide who received the power, not the body they created.This debate over interpretation thus sparked one of the first and major issues that eventually led to the Alien and Sedition Acts: should a strong central government be formed (federalist desire), or should the individual states have control. And wild attacks of the ensuing debate also ignited the second issue, public defamation, which led to the Sedition Act.

IMImportant Scholars of Education: The Work of Paulo Freire and William W. Brickman

This article discusses the contributions of the amazing scholars Paul Freire and William W. B. Brickman and how their theories on education impacted their philosophies on improving education in their time. Friere believed the, â€Å"Banking† concept of education was the best theory to improve education in the poverty and oppressed areas(Flanagan, 2005) versus Brickman argued that the â€Å"comparative† approach on education gives students more versatility of educational learning(Silova and Brehm, 2010). These scholars developed these ideologies from their own personal background and obstacles they endured in their own economic environment and communities. Even though, Friere and Brickman theories on education were different, they both had a passion for the love and knowledge of education and took the time to research different educational strategies to make learning more effective and liberating to all students. Important Scholars of Education: The Work of Paulo Freire and William W. Brickman. Throughout the years, many scholars, politicians, scientist, and psychologist have performed many studies and have researched how to improve education. Education is a tool that we need to survive in this world (Oak, 2011). Education is a tool that helps promote wholeness and integration in the individual by focusing on the child’s personal growth and development to develop creative, confident and competent members of society who are able to contribute effectively to the life of their co mmunity (Oak, 2011). The question is can economic and social factors play an intricate part to the education success of young lives. Paulo Freire and William W. Brickman were extraordinary scholars whose social and economic status affected how they viewed education. What they encountered led them to research and explores different ideologies of improving education for all people. Paul Freire and William W. Brickman Contributions Paulo Freire was an extraordinary Brazilian educator whose revolutionary pedagogical theory influenced educational and social movements throughout the world and his personal philosophy influenced academic disciplines that include theology, sociology, anthropology, applied linguistics, pedagogy, and cultural studies (Flanagan, 2005). Freire believed that teachers played an intricate role to the welfare of the students’ education that students were considered banks and the teachers are constantly making deposits in the brains. Paulo Freire called this the â€Å"Banking Education â€Å"and Freire felt that banking education model was designed to improve critical thinking about situations (Flanagan, 2005). Educators role of teaching were to expand the minds of students by teaching them how to problem solve and this strategy would help students understand the world /society is not fixed and it potentially opening to transformation (Flanagan, 2005). William W. Brickman was amazing scholar whose focus on education was for the development in its history and international expansion. William Brickman goal was to strive to understand and not undermine others in expanding educational development. Brickman strove to expand educational concepts through extensive traveling to understand first hand social and linguistics issues (Silova and Brehm, 2010). He encouraged extensive international cooperation and working with specialist of a multitude of disciplines to expand on educational history so as to better provide the tools necessary for the teacher to engage in study. Through this, Brickman was known for his â€Å"study tours† which added extensive knowledge to the comparative field (Silova and Brehm, 2010). Challenges. The challenges of Paulo Freire were that his educational theory was based on a political oppressed people. The problem with this educational method is that it would not be applicable consistently in comparison to more developed countries. His oppressed and oppressor political view in terms to education would not carry the same weight in more democratic societies where education is not as politically dominated (Flanagan, 2005). However, the challenge of William W. Bickman entails he felt that the new found theories of science and statistics was starting to jeopardize his philosophy of comparative education (Silova and Brehm, 2010). His main concerned that these current scholars would focus on more practical educational theories versus his ideology of methodological development on comparative education. Similarities. To become great educators, one must possess the love and passion for education and finding different strategies to improve the education for students. Friere and Brickman both shared the common passion and love for improving education in their time. Their passion to improve education came from world events that change how they viewed the elements of education. Freire and his family encountered a financial crisis and Brickman developed comparative education after World War II. Their love of knowledge and education freedom made them pioneers of their time to embark on education success for all learners. Differences. As educators we all have different ideologies/methodologies of how we believe educated students show be illustrated. Freire‘s educational strategies/theories were based from the oppressed/poor (Flanagan, 2005). He devoted his life to develop effective strategies to better educate the oppressed/poor and make them more competitive in society. Brickman’s philosophy on education portrays a more international way of learning. He believed more of hands on learning approach, meaning students will become more successful learners from traveling the world, sharing/exchanging ideas and learning through comparative education (Silova and Brehm, 2010). Impact on Success Society and world issues play and important part how we view religion, politics, education, etc. We as people can endure obstacles in our lives that can change our perception on how we interpret/perceive set ideas/knowledge that is bestowed upon us. We do live in a democracy which allows us to have our own ideas and act upon those ideas. Freire’s upbringing was in a middle class environment until, his family experienced â€Å"The Great Depression†, leaving him in a world of unbelievable struggles and poverty (Flanagan, 2005). He experienced education from a poverty outlook and was dismayed by the education of poverty kids. Paulo Freire devoted his life of improving the education of the oppressed people and encouraging freedom of justice.

Rate of Violence Essay

Describe the rates of violence (murder, aggravated assault, rape, robbery) in the United States, and compare them to at least 2 other industrialized countries. When it comes to †Homicides/murder† and †Rape† there still is a difference when you compare Sweden and Albania. â€Å"Homicides/murder† happened most infrequent in Finland and England, but about six times as often in Sweden compared with that. â€Å"Theft totally† was about twice as frequent in Sweden, when you compare to the other Nordic countries, and also more frequently than in England. Narco-criminality in Norway is about three times as frequent, when you compare with the other Nordic countries. The long coastline play an important role. Here is no available registrations for USA. Robberies during the period were down 10. 7%, motor vehicle thefts and arson declined 9. 7%, rapes were down 6. 2%, aggravated assaults were down 3. 9%, and burglaries dropped 1. 4%. The FBI report does not give reasons for the drop in crime, but criminologists have recently indicated an aging population, along with ramped-up law enforcement, have contributed to the decline in recent years. The trend has surprised experts who have historically seen crime increase during difficult economic periods Discuss some of the difficulties of comparing crime rates across countries. Different definitions for specific crime types in different countries: The category in which any incident of victimization is recorded relies on the legal definition of crime in any country. Should that definition be different, and indeed this is often the case, comparisons will not in fact be made of exactly the same crime type. This is particularly the case in crimes that require some discretion from a police officer or relevant authority when they are identified. For example, the definitional difference between serious or common assault in different legal jurisdictions may be different, and this will be reflected in the total number of incidents recorded. Different levels of reporting and traditions of policing: Different societies across the globe have been shown to have different levels of reporting of criminal incidents. This relates closely to levels of development in any society, most clearly reflected in accessibility to the police. Thus factors such as the number of police stations or telephones in any society impact upon reporting levels. The level of insurance coverage in any community is also a key indicator of the likelihood of citizens approaching the police as their claim for compensation may require such notification. In addition, in societies where the police are or have been mistrusted by the population, most specifically during periods of authoritarian rule, reporting levels are likely to be lower than in cases where the police are regarded as important members of the community. Different social, economic and political contexts: Comparing crime data from societies that are fundamentally different may ignore key issues present in the society that impact upon levels of reporting. For example, different social norms in some societies may make it almost impossible for women to report cases of rape or sexual abuse, while in others, women are encouraged to come forward.