Analysis Of Aint Any Makin It Sociology Essay

Analysis Of Aint Any Makin It Sociology Essay The essay is a critical analysis from a sociological point of view of the book ain’t No Making it, third edition by Jay McLeod and published in 2008. The author divided the book into three distinct parts; part one The Hallway Hangers and the Brothers as Teenagers, part two Eight Years Later; Low income, Low income and the last part Ain’t No makin’ It. Through the eyes of the two groups used by McLeod, the brothers (black minority boys) and the Hallways (white boys) we are able to clearly see what transpires in an American societal setting. The two groups lived and studied in the same conditions but each has varied expectations and aspiration, this is on the basis of their race. The Brothers viewed an open society as the way life should be lived and held the opinion that the difficulties they are going through is due to racism their ancestors underwent. For this reason, they try as much as possible to engage in socially acceptable manners. This group does have hi gh expectation as well as aspiration. On the other hand, the Hallways do not accept the same achievement ideology held by the Brothers. The individuals in this group have lost hope, do drugs, drop from school plus engaging in a myriad of other activities deemed illegal. From the author, the two groups did not get themselves out of poverty. The reason I bet is that there are numerous barriers in the society that blocked their quest of getting themselves out of poverty. It is worth noting that a number of other concepts from sociological point of view clearly emerge. These include social conflict, poverty, gender and racial inequality, males as role model, political power, defeatism, education and society/elites and generational mobility (McLeod 17). Social conflict From social conflict theory which argues that human beings as well as groups in a given society do at any given time have varied amount of both material and non material resources. For this reason, those deemed wealthy or rich and more powerful exploit the less privileged. Another theory that will be analyzed along the social conflict one is Bourdieu social reproductive theory which asserts that those kids born by working class parents will automatically end up finding better jobs. It is evident that the Brothers did acknowledge that the difficulties in life they are facing at present are nothing but as a result of the serious racial discrimination their fore fathers went through. A typical example of social conflict is in the field of education in the book. Those kids from lower class families are treated in a manner by the teachers that suggest they (students) are less competent. Thus they are placed in a lower track as they lack opportunities to develop their language. In this category, these students are only trained to later in life take blue color jobs while those from affluent families are trained to take white color jobs. Additionally, the two kinds of school, public and private provide us wi th a clear distinction between where kids from wealthy and poor background attend school (McLeod 287). On the same note, students from less privileged families are disadvantaged by their manners, the way they talk, dress and deemed not to be fit and valued in the education systems

Non-Verbal Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Non-Verbal Communication - Essay Example It is a fact that the nonverbal communication presents the truth in entirety and nothing else. Nonverbal communication is pertinent since it is now being studied by people more than the verbal form of communication and it has more meaning and implication than the latter. Thus it is a wholly different field altogether and one that requires strict attention, more so by the speakers and those personalities who have a definitive say within the society’s different undertakings and decisions. Nonverbal communication started to come to the notice of people when they understood that it aids in making the clarity of the verbal communication possible. Thus nonverbal communication is cohesive alongside the verbal form of communication. It gives the people something to ponder upon since the facilitation process of nonverbal communication is strong in line with the verbal communication forms. ... Nonverbal communication could be studied in entirely an opposite manner since the usual manner in which a person might exhibit his verbal form of communication ends up being starkly against what he demonstrates in his nonverbal form. What this means is that a person might experience a bit of problem at the hands of expressing his mind and his tongue would say one thing while his hands and eyes transmit a completely different message. The element of understanding how a person makes use of his nonverbal communication regimes is essential for the audience since it presents to him the amount of truth which comes to the fore as well as deceit and lie that is hidden deep beneath the very same. Also nonverbal communication was deemed as important from the studying and understanding perspective when it started to have an impact within the lives of the people in a very direct way. What this means was the fact that nonverbal communication makes a presenter look different and stand out in his o wn right within the people to whom he is presenting his message. It could also mar his confidence and make him look illogical and irrational at the same time. This happens if he is not prepared to face the battle that comes his way in the form of the communication process. The tension that one goes through whilst delivering a public speech summarizes the fears that a commoner might have on a consistent basis. Nonverbal Communication Elements and Metaphors Moving further ahead with the discussion, the different elements of nonverbal communication include the gestures, emotions, actions, body language, posture, facial expressions, eye contact and so on.

International Relations Theories Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

International Relations Theories - Essay Example In fact, for realists the desire to maximize state interest within a situation of global anarchy is the most crucial component required in the understanding of political actors and state behavior. First and foremost it is important to remember that state interest operates within an anarchic environment.The international system is inherently unstable and is aptly characterized by widespread anarchy. Due to the absence of a suprastate or overarching Leviathan authority, states are placed in inevitable and perpetual competition, described as the security dilemma. Because of the anarchic nature of international affairs, states are perpetually concerned with their survival. For realists, the international system is a â€Å"dog-eat-dog world† and ensuring survival is paramount for any and all states. According to Hans Morgenthau, pioneering German political scientist and an early proponent of realist thought, due to the inherent instability of the international system, the fundament al national interest of all states is to â€Å"protect [its] physical, political, and cultural identity against encroachments by other nations† (Morgenthau, 1952, 67). Specifically, threats to states are determined by their relative power vis-à  -vis one others in the international system. The structure of the system – the distribution of power and capabilities state wide - is important because threats or challenges facing a state which affront the national interest should be â€Å"calculated according to the situation in which the state finds itself† (Waltz, 1979, 77).

Market analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Market analysis - Essay Example The only company that did not take any of the money was Ford. Ford is the only company that is stable economically even though it has suffered a decline in the demand for its products due to the global economic recession. The most profitable company in the auto industry is Honda. Its gross margin in 2009 was 25.88% (Hoovers). The American auto industry has been giving ground to the top Japanese automakers, Toyota and Honda, for years. The American auto industry dates back over 100 years. Despite their experience the Japanese since the 1980’s have been dominating the four-cylinder economy car marketplace. They utilized lean manufacturing processes and superb quality standards which increased their productivity. The American auto industry due to its longevity and slow reaction to market changes had many structural cost problems. The cost of labor and labor cost are much higher than other foreign marketplaces. The American auto unions are very powerful and influence which forces the auto makers to pay premium labor prices for direct labor. Outsourcing is a market tendency in the domestic market. There is an opportunity in the domestic auto market for new entrants that want to participate in the supply chain of automakers because American automakers are looking for ways to reduce cost by streamlining their operations. Traditionally American automakers produced the majority of their parts in-house. The business environment has changed and the automaker no longer desire to participate in the market for used car parts. A new entrant in the marketplace for used auto parts can penetrate and achieve market share growth faster than normal. The auto industry is going through some harsh times. To stimulate the demand for new cars the US government in created the â€Å"Cash for Clunkers Program† which took off the streets nearly 690,000 gas wasting vehicles. In the auto industry companies are consolidating their auto models to create

Research philosophies and principles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Research philosophies and principles - Essay Example The postmodern moment (1990-1995) 6. The postexperimental inquiry moment (1995-2000) 7. The methodologically contested present (2000-2010) 8. The future moment (2010-). In each of the eight moments, different things are included in the definition of qualitative research (Jessor, Colby and Shweder, 1996, p. 129). However, it is customary to offer a generic definition of the qualitative research here: Qualitative research is a kind of research that is â€Å"based on a relativistic, constructivist ontology that posits that there is no objective reality. Rather, there are multiple realities constructed by human beings who experience a phenomenon of interest† (Krauss, 2005, p. 760). Researchers commonly adopt the qualitative methodology when they want to alter things for the better or want to bring a change. Therefore, advocacy and empathy are two of the most essential elements of the researcher’s lifestyle (Stake, 2010, p. 14). This paper evaluates and compares the research philosophies and principles of four research papers related to tourism. All of the research papers are based on qualitative research but have different research paradigms. 1. Visiting death and life: dark tourism and slave castles by Rasul A. Mowatt and Charles H. Chancellor Mowatt and Chancellor (2011) selected Ghana for their research since this country has most number of West African Slave Castles i.e. 36 out of the total 52 that have remained. Mowatt and Chancellor (2011) used interviews, photo elicitation and analysis of the tourists’ narratives in their methodology. The study involved 14 African descents eight of whom were females and six were males. All of them were from the US. The researchers agreed upon the non-generalizability of the research results. â€Å"As such the results from this study are not generalizable. A second sample could have yielded a confirmation or divergence in responses and behaviors with this sample† (Mowatt and Chancellor, 2011, p. 14 28). Research carried out by Mowatt and Chancellor (2011) is an exploratory research wherein the researchers don’t come with preconceived notions about the tourists’ motivations. This research was a mix of the modernist, critical representation and blurred genres moments of research. In course of their research, Mowatt and Chancellor (2011) found that although there is a lot of disparity in the ethnic identities of the aboriginal Africans and the African Americans that have been away from their indigenous place for centuries, yet they still relate to one another and shed away all their time-bound differences when they make a visit to the Ghanaian Slave Castles. The researchers found a special bond between the tourists and the Castles, which had remained unaffected despite their distance from their native land or change in their social identities that has occurred over the time. The factor of symbolic interactionism reflects in the tourists’ discomfort with the W hite people in the post-visit stage. It suggests that the tourists consider the slavery a racial matter in which the Black race has always been oppressed by the White. The fact that the researchers made use of photographs as a means to achieve the research objectives in addition to conducting the in-depth interviews with them and studying their ethnography makes this research relate to the blurred genres moment of research. Also, the researchers’ personal or intellectual biographies don’t show up in the research which further promotes the blurred genre

A paper about Cosmology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

A paper about Cosmology - Essay Example These were the sought markers that put the Bang in the inflation theory in an anti-gravitational swelling that began trillionths of a second after the cosmic clock started kicking (Overbye n.d.). Kovac, the lead astrologer while speaking to the New York Times reaffirmed them that the results indicated by the bicep telescope were accurate with a one in ten million chance of being a fluke (Overbye n.d.). Systematic contamination was much smaller as indicated by Jackknife tests and simulations than the observed excess. Available models of polarized dust emission were also examined, indicating that they predict power ∠¼ (5−10) Ãâ€" which is lesser than the excess signal. However, not all possibilities relating to dust emission are analyzed by these models sufficiently (Ade et al., â€Å"bicep 1† 5). This was meant to reassure people who had doubts related to the data and calling for confirmation of the results. This came as a result of exceeding expectations based on earlier estimates on temperature maps of the cosmic background by the European Space. The experiment not only provided first clues of forces that facilitated space and time, but also confirmed that the universe inflated dramatically (Whitney n.d.). The South Pole based research presented the first images of gravitational waves or ripples in space-time. First images of gravitational waves are exciting news said Cao-Lin Kuo while speaking to Stanford News. Stanford news further explains that gravitational waves squeeze space as they travel producing distinct patterns in the cosmic microwave background (n.d.). To acquire these images, the team examined spatial scales on the sky spanning about 1 to 5 degrees (Whitney n.d.). Through this, the researchers were able to gather more evidence that had seemed impossible. According to jet propulsion laboratory the gravitational waves produced a characteristic

Film and Literature Essay Example for Free

Film and Literature Essay Literature and film feed at the same breast, considering the affinities between them. Since its very beginning, Hollywood has used works of fiction as source material for films. One of the most discussed adaptations is Francis Ford Coppola’s Film Apocalypse Now (1979) based on Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness (1902). This paper compares and contrasts these works of art, arguing that while there are obvious differences, the film generally general remains true to the core meaning of the novel. One can say that Coppola’s film is a thematic and structural analogue to Conrads novel. Differences On the surface it seems that Apocalypse Now deviates largely Heart of Darkness. The differences can be seen in settings, events, characters, and other snippets of information such as quoted lines and strange actions of the major characters. The settings of the two stories are different and written in different periods of time. The setting of Conrads late nineteenth century novel is the Belgian Congo in the 1890s. By contrast, Coppolas 1979 film takes place in Southeast Asia in the 1960s during the Vietnam War. In addition, the novel centers on Charles Marlow, a British sailor employed by a European trading company as captain of one of their steamboats, whereas the film focuses on an American army officer, Benjamin Willard. Another major difference is that the ivory traders are in the Congo of their own greed and free will, whereas the American soldiers are drafted into Vietnam and engage in the war against their will. At the first glance, there seem to be character differences in the novel and film – Copollas Willard is nothing like Conrads Marlow. In the novel, Marlow is very eager to meet Kurtz and perhaps gain knowledge about the secrets of the ivory trade in the former Zaire. On the other hand, Willard seems to have a death wish. Copolla portrays Willard as a depressed human, having a soldiers killer instinct, throughout the entire film. The effectiveness of point of view also differentiates the novel and the film. While it is true that Willard remains on the screen more than anyone else in Apocalypse Now, and his comments are often heard on the films sound track, viewers still do not see others completely from his perspective as readers do in Heart of Darkness. Hence, the film is robbed of some of the emotional intensity that one feels when one reads the novel. This is simply because the narrator in the novel communicates his subjective reaction to the episodes from the past. In the film, the audience does not grasp the extent to which the narrator is profoundly affected by Kurtzs tragedy. Many of Marlows sage reflections about Kurtzs life and death are absent in the film. Moreover, while Coppola successfully creates a staggering experience of the wars madness, he seems to confuse the moral issues. This is perhaps because of his view of personalizing the novel. The director identifies so strongly with Kurtz that he modifies the issue of power and disturbs the delicate balance between Conrads story and the subject of Vietnam. Apocalypse Now succeeds in making its viewers experience the horror of the war and to realize their own complicity in it, but it fails to highlight the nature of Kurtzs horror illuminated in Heart of Darkness. Coppolas failure to combine Conrads story and the Vietnam War in this respect points largely to The films adaptation of Kurtz. In the novel, Kurtz is corrupted by his isolation in the wilderness, resulting in an obsession with power and unfolding frightening truths about himself: I think it had whispered to him things about himself which he did not know, things of which he had no conception till he took counsel with his great solitude-and the whisper had proved irresistibly fascinating. It echoed loudly within him because he was hollow at the core. (133) in the film, Coppola tries to resonate Kurtz’s â€Å"hollowness† by having the character recite The Hollow Men by T. S. Eliot. But this can be seen as more of an emblematic solution that does not somewhat applies in the Vietnam War context. Parallels While the settings, backgrounds, characters, and approaches of the novel and film are somehow different, the narration, structure, and that theme are similar. The following paragraphs summarize some of the essential parallels between Conrads Heart of Darkness and Coppola’s Apocalypse Now. In the novel, Marlow introduces his narrative with a passage about â€Å"devotion to efficiency†, the idea behind how the ivory trade makes profit, justifying cruel exploitation (Kinder 16). This statement is also applicable to the Vietnam War context as they are both in the stages of Western imperialism: The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much. What redeems it is the idea only. An idea at the back of it; not a sentimental pretence but an idea: and an unselfish belief in the idea-something you can set up and bow down before, and offer a sacrifice to. (70) Coppola does not retain this speech in the film, but it becomes the groundwork for the dramatic events that unite Kurtz and Williard: the former’s recounting of the inoculation story and the latters murder of a wounded Vietnamese woman. The two are driven into a situation in which â€Å"military efficiency is totally undermined, yet they have been trained to worship it and to internalize it as the source of their own personal pride† (Kinder 16). In the novel, although Kurtz embodies all of Europe, he can be viewed as a â€Å"universal genius† who shows what lies ahead for those who take the challenge to look into the abyss. Despite the shortcomings in the handling of Kurtz, Copollas conception of film remains a masterful work that complements the power of Conrads vision. The novel and the film embody the theme of insanity and madness and insanity caused by the evil of imperialism. Madness in the novel is the result of being removed from ones normal environment and how people cope with their new environment. The same theme is explored in the film. Many soldiers who are drafted into Vietnam are barely 18 or 19-year-olds. Their mental stability is shaken when they are thrown into a harsh environment, where their lives hang on by the minute. Soldiers such as Lance and Chef are ready to snap at any moment due to the shock and realization of what kind of situation they are in or what is the purpose of fighting fellow men. They also fear the fact that they do not know where they are headed. Copolla and Conrad literally and metaphorically confront the madness and insanity brought about by Western imperialism and colonialism. Through Kurtz and the American soldiers, Copolla is able to portray what war is like for them, and why so many of them suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. The film suggests that wars are an imperialist tool that drives the weak into their destruction. On the other hand, Conrad exposes how the imperialist agenda leads to the exploitation of foreign lands and its people, leaving the imperialist agents themselves deranged and empty (Papke 583). Both the novel and the film also give rise to a race discussion. Conrad and Coppola portray White men as the dominant. They not only rule over their respective crews; they also dominate the local peoples. Marlow and Willard look at the native people as if are the savage culture and White men are the civilized one. But it is interesting to note that each of the two main characters see a little of himself in Kurtz, a degenerated savage White man. Coppola’s take on Conrad’s Heart of Darkness has gained much attention from film scholars. In â€Å"The Power of Adaptation in Apocalypse Now†, Marsha Kinder states that â€Å"Coppola rarely hesitates to change Conrads story-setting, events, characters-whenever the revision is required by the Vietnam context. † (14) Moreover, the dialogues in the film, especially Willards voice-over narration, have been attacked by several film critics for sounding more like a parody of author Raymond Chandler than an adaptation of Conrads novel. But a deeper look suggests that Willards character and tone are not intended to be Marlows. To suit the Vietnam context, Willard has been totally transformed into a trained assassin, whose life has been drained of all meaning. Coppola retains Conrads focal image of the river. In the film, just as in the novel, each of the main characters embarks on a literal and metaphoric central journey. Marlows description of the Congo is an enormous snake uncoiled that fascinates him as a snake would a bird. The films structure is controlled by the image of the river â€Å"that snaked through the war like a main circuit cable,† carrying Willard to Cambodia. The novel and the film begin with the protagonists explanation of how they got the appointment which necessitated their excursion upriver. Marlow is dispatched to steam up the Congo in to find Mr. Kurtz, while Willard is mandated to journey up the Mekong River in a navy patrol boat to find Col. Kurtz. Moreover, while they travel up a primeval river to fulfill their respective assignments, they speculate about the character of the man they are seeking, with the help of the information they have pieced together about him. In both novel and film, the river eventually leads Marlow and Willard to Kurtz and his dying words of horror (Kinder 15). This final destination for both men is their soul-altering confrontation with Kurtz. Overall, it is an expedition of discovery into the dark heart of man. It is also a close encounter with mans capacity for evil. Coppola agrees with this observation and stated that he also saw Willards voyage upriver as a representation for the journey of life that people take within themselves and during which they decide which side to take: good or evil. The horror of the world dominated by hollow men is at the center of both Heart of Darkness and Apocalypse Now. Kurtz, in his god-like acousmatic voice and morally terrifying manifestation, is invested with much greatness: He fully understands existence in all its repugnance. Repelled and terrified Kurtz pushed himself to go into the very heart of darkness, to fully engage in the dualism (good and evil) of Being. To call Kurtz heroic or rapacious or good or evil, is to miss the point entirely. He is forever shaped by a dark satori, by an understanding of the omnipresent nature of darkness. Marlow and Willard are arguably Kurtzs spiritual sons, and they experience the same realization. Both of them look full face at the great condemnation, at the dark obscurity of Being. Each of them faces moral terror in the shape human conduct forced beyond decent limits; and each of them is profoundly transformed by this experience. In her book, Double Exposure: Fiction Into Film, Joy Could Boyum states that â€Å"in substituting Willard for Marlow, a madman for a sane one,† Coppola creates a character incapable of â€Å"any shock of recognition,† a man unable to â€Å"know evil when he sees it† (114). Boyum also argues that there is no discovery for Willard; he is a â€Å"murderer confronting a murder, a madman face to face with madness-it amounts only to a tautology. † Thus, Copollas Apocalypse Now can be argued as a movie that has no moral center. Unlike Willard, Marlow returns from the river experience with intact moral perspective and sanity, inviting the readers trust and identification. But one can also say that, like Apocalypse Now, Conrads Heart of Darkness, itself, is a novel that has no moral center. The book suggests that Marlows great realization is that existence itself has no moral heart. The character has not sustained the river journey with his intact moral perspective unchanged. Towards the end of the novel, Marlow is a transformed man, largely isolated and very different from those people aboard the Nellie. He is alienated forever in his wisdom. Willard, too, in the end, is vastly separated by his new knowledge. While many critics see Willard as immoral, insane, and unchanging, Kurtzs view of him is more fitting. In the film, Kurtz describes Willard when he sees him for the first time as â€Å"an errand boy sent by grocery clerks to collect a bill. † But in the end, Willard becomes wiser. He has been transformed, humbled by his face-to-face confrontation with the darkness natural in Kurtz, in himself, in existence. Therefore, the separate stories of Willards and Marlows river experiences follow a similar narrative pattern and arrive at a similar truth. Apocalypse Now is a thematic and structural analogue to Heart of Darkness. This is perhaps because, Copolla, in his authorial wisdom, fully understood that theme and technique, meaning, and structure are inseparable entities. To tell a story differently is to tell a different story. It seems that, ultimately, Copolla and Conrad tell the same story. Conclusion This paper looks at the differences and parallelisms between Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and Coppola’s Apocalypse Now. In comparing and contrasting the novel and the film, this paper suggests that the film has some significant deviation from the novel. Despite this, however, Apocalypse Now generally remains true to the core of Heart of Darkness. Both the novel and the film follow the same story line but Conrad and Copolla have different ways of presenting this story. This results in surface differences. But a deeper and closer reading of both the novel and the film reveals that they complement each other. This is one of the most important things in adapting a work of literature into a film. Works Cited Boyum, Joy Gould. Double Exposure: Fiction Into film. New York: Universe Books, 1985. Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. New York: New American Library, 1950. Kinder, Marsha. â€Å"The Power of Adaptation in ‘Apocalypse Now’†. Film Quarterly 33. 2 (1979-1980): 12-20. Papke, David Ray. â€Å"Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness: A Literary Critique of Imperialism. † Journal of Maritime Law and Commerce 31. 4 (2000): 583-592.