Monday, January 27, 2020
Mertons theory
Mertons theory Compare and contrast Mertons theory and the labelling theory of deviance. I. Introduction Your Essay Outline Write about Compare and contrast Mertons theory and the labelling theory of deviance in the first sentence. Summarize Mertons Theory in the second sentence. Summarize Labelling Theory of Deviance in the second sentence. Summarize Comparions contrast in the third sentence. Briefly summarize So in short, both theories try to explain crime from a social perspective but one explains why crime begins while the other one explains why crime continues. in the final sentence of the first paragraph. In second paragraph you need to expand on Mertons Theory. Write one sentence summarizing Mertons Theory. Then write two sentences expounding on Mertons Theory. Be sure to back up your argument for Mertons Theory. In the final sentence transition from Mertons Theory to Labelling Theory of Deviance In third paragraph you need to expand on Labelling Theory of Deviance. Write one sentence summarizing Labelling Theory of Deviance. Then write two sentences expounding on Labelling Theory of Deviance. Be sure to back up your argument for Labelling Theory of Deviance. In the final sentence transition from Labelling Theory of Deviance to Comparions contrast. In fourth paragraph you need to expand on Comparions contrast. Write one sentence summarizing Comparions contrast. Then write two sentences expounding on Comparions contrast. Be sure to back up your argument for Comparions contrast. In the final sentence transition from Comparions contrast to your So in short, both theories try to explain crime from a social perspective but one explains why crime begins while the other one explains why crime continues.. In the fifth and final paragraph, summarize Mertons Theory again. Summarize Labelling Theory of Deviance again. Summarize Comparions contrast again. Then write two sentences stating your So in short, both theories try to explain crime from a social perspective but one explains why crime begins while the other one explains why crime continues.. Outline and assess the structionalist themes of crime and deviance Structural theories of deviance are similar to Mertons theory. They explain the origins of deviance in terms of the position of individuals or groups in the social structure. In the 1930s Robert k Merton wrote an article entitled Social Structure and Anomie. It became one of the most influential explanations of crime and deviance. He offered a social rather than psychological or biological explanation. In particular, it was a structionalist theory as it saw the structure of society shaping peoples behaviour. According to Merton, American culture attaches great importance to success and success is measured in terms of money and material possessions. There are norms which define legitimate means for achieving success. These legitimate means include gaining skills and qualifications and career advancement. The American dream states that anybody can make it to the top if they try hard enough. So much emphasis is placed on material success that many people experience pressure to deviate from accepted norms and values. Deviance occurs when they reject the goals of success and/or the legitimate means of reaching that goal. For example, some people are tempted to use nay means of getting to the top-even if that involves criminal behaviour. Merton refers to this pressure as a strain to anomie. Anomie means normlessness it refers to a situation where norms no longer guide behaviour, where anything goes. Despite what the American dream says, not everybody has an equal chance at success. The social structure prevents equal opportunity. In particular, the strain to anomie is most strongly felt by those at the bottom of the class structure. They are less likely to acquire skills and qualifications needed to reach the top. As a result, they are more likely to seek alternative routes to success. Merton identifies five possible adaptations or responses to the strain to anomie in American society, conformity, innovation, ritualism, retreatism, rebellion. Conformity according to Merton, most people conform despite the strain to anomie. Even if they dont make it, they continue to strive for success and follow the normative means of getting there. Innovation, people who adopt the deviant adaptation accept the goals of success but, in Mertons words, they have little access to conventional and legitimate means to becoming successful. As a result, some innovate-they turn to legitimate means, to crime. The pressure to select this adaptation is greatest for those in the lower levels of the class system. Ritualism, people who follow this deviant route abandon the goal of success, but stick rigidly to the rules- for example, people in dead end, white collar occupations that follow their job descriptions to the letter. Retreatism, this deviant adaptation involves a rejection of both the goal of success and the normative means of achieving it. It applies to people who drop out- tramps, drug addicts and habitual drunkards. Rebellion, this involves a rejection of conventional goals and means and their replacement with alternatives. The revolutionary who seeks to change society illustrates this type of deviant adaptation. Mertons strain theory was an early attempt to explain crime and deviance in terms of culture and structure of society. It provided a sociological alternative to biological and psychological theories. In particular, it offered an explanation for working class crime. Whatever its weaknesses, Mertons work provided a spur for the development of further theories of crime and deviance. Mertons theory does raise a number of unanswered questions. First, why do people but not others adopt deviant adaptations? For example, why do some people in the lower levels of the class system turn to crime but others do not? Secondly, Mertons theory focuses on individuals rather than groups. Crime and deviance are often collective activities. How can this be explained in terms of strain theory? Thirdly, crime and deviance are not always motivated by a desire for monetary gain. How can activities such as vandalism and fighting between rival gangs be explained in terms of Mertons theory? In search for these answers subculural theory was formed. Subcultural theories explain deviance in terms of the subculture of a social group. They argue that certain groups develop norms and values which to some extent different from those held by other members of society. For example, some groups of criminals or delinquents might develop norms that encourage and reward criminal activity. Other members of society may regard such activities as immoral, and strongly disapprove of them. Subcultual theories claim that deviance is the result of individuals conforming to the norms and values of the social group to which they belong. Members of subcultures are not completely different from other members of society: they may speak the same language, wear similar clothes, and attach the same value to family life. However, their subculture is sufficiently different from the culture of society as a whole to lead to them committing acts that are generally regarded as deviant. Often, structural and sub cultural theories are combined, as in Albert Cohens analysis of delinquency. The development of subcultures is explained in terms of the position of groups and individuals in the social structure. Cohen was the first sociologist to develop a subcultual theory of working class crime and deviance. He examined delinquent gangs in low-income, inner city areas. Delinquency refers to the criminal and anti social acts of young people. Cohen agreed with Merton that the mainstream value of success creates problems for young working class males. Many do badly at school and fail to acquire the skills and qualifications needed for success. Employing Durkheims concept of anomie, Robert K Merton, an American sociologist, developed his theory of deviance by analysing the American reward system. Mertons argument is that in a well-regulated society, goals and the means of achieving these goals are integrated in that they are available to all in society. In some societies the accepted means of achieving these goals are not available to all, hence those who wish to achieve the goals, but are not able to do so through legitimate means, must adapt to the situation. Merton presented a typology describing the modes of adaptation. The important aspect of the typology is the relationship between the cultural goals and the institutionalised means of achieving them. I will describe the typology in the following paragraphs. Howard S. Beckers labelling theory of deviance asserts that deviance and conformity result, not so much from what people do, but from how others respond to those actions. It analyses how definitions for deviant behaviour are created by social groups. Merton then sets out a typology of modes of adaptation in terms of conformity, or non-conformity, to cultural goals and institutionalised means: 1. Innovation accepting cultural goals but employing illegitimate means, for example, property theft, cheats. 2. Ritualism adherence to means whilst ignoring the goals, for example, bureaucratic adherence to routine going through the motions. 3. Retreatism withdrawal, opting out of socially defined desirable behaviour, for example, alcoholics, addicts. 4. Rebellion not only rejection of goals and means, but a positive attempt to replace them with alternative values, for example, political revolutionaries, religious prophets. Mertons analysis suggests that deviant behaviour is functional. First, for the individuals involved, since it enables them to adapt to the circumstances in which they find themselves. And second, for society as a whole since modes of individual adaptation help to maintain the boundaries between acceptable and non-acceptable forms of behaviour. Criticisms 1. Non conformity, such as ritualism, is not really the same as deviance (indeed with ritualism you do the actions, but have the wrong thoughts its nearer blasphemy). It does not convey the same stigmatising quality as in the label deviant. 2. The assumption of cultural consensus is implicit in the idea of cultural goals, and ignores the possibility of sub-cultures and a pluralistic culture, where cultural goals might differ considerably. 3. It does not really provide a causal theory as to why some groups might adapt via rebellion and others by retreatism. Obviously some form of socialised commitment and differential associations becomes crucial for influencing perceptions of the alternatives to conformity. It does not explain movement into deviant careers. 4. It does not take into account that just as legitimate means to success are limited, that so too are the illegitimate opportunities. Not everyone has equal access to criminal sub-cultures. An analysis of the opportunities for deviant activity is required. However, Merton never claimed that his typology was a total theory of deviance and many of the criticisms of his work were picked up on and improvements attempted by sub-cultural theorists. Conclusion Mertons strain theory is basically an explanation of why people commit crime. His approach involves looking at how people accept reject or redefine our cultural goals according to the means available to them in accepting those goals. So for example, success is the goal, the appropriately accepted way to achieve success in America is through the belief that hard work will get us success. But many people work hard and are not successful. So one adjustment would be to reject the idea that hard work is how to become successful and replace that means of achieving success with an alternative method such as selling drugs. You achieve monetary success without hard work. Labeling theory is also an effort to explain crime from a sociological position. However labeling theory explains why a person continues committing a crime but does not explain why they committed a crime in the first place. So in short, both theories try to explain crime from a social perspective but one explains why crime begins while the other one explains why crime continues.
Sunday, January 19, 2020
Opium :: essays research papers
History of Opium Opium is a narcotic drug prepared from the juice of the opium poppy, Pa paver somniferum, a plant probably indigenous in the south of Europe and western Asia, but now so widely cultivated that its original habitat is uncertain. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â The medicinal properties of the juice have been recognized from a very early period. It was known to Theophrastus and appears in his time to have consisted of an extract of the whole plant, since Dioscorides, about A.D. 77, draws a distinction between it and an extract of the entire herb derived from the capsules alone. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â From the 1st to the 12th century the opium of Asia Minor appears to have been the only kind known in commerce. In the 13th century opium is mentioned by Simon Januensis, physician to Pope Nicholas IV., while meconium was still in use. In the 16th century opium is mentioned by Pyres (1516) as a production of the kingdom in Bengal, and of Malwai. Its introduction into India appears to have been connected with the spread of Islam. The opium monopoly was the property of the Great Mogul of Persia and was regularly sold. In the 17th century Kaempfer describes the various kinds of opium prepared in Persia, and states that the best sorts were flavoured with spices and called theriaka. These preparations were held in great estimation during the middle ages, and probably supplied to a large extent the place of the pure drug. Â Â Â Â Â Opium is said to have been introduced into China by the Arabs probably in the 13th century, and it was originally used there as a medicine. In a Chinese Herbal compiled before 1700 both the plant and its juice are described, together with the mode of collecting it, and in the General History of the Southern Provinces of Yunnan, revised and republished in 1736, opium is noticed as a common product. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â The first edict prohibiting opium smoking was issued by the emper or Yung Cheng in 1729. Up to that date the amount imported did not exceed 200 chests, and was usually brought from India by junks as a return cargo. In the year 1757 the monopoly of opium cultivation in India passed into the hands of the East India Company through the victory of Clive at Plassey. Up to 1773 the trade with China had been in the hands of the Portuguese, but in that year the East India Company took the trade under their own charge.
Saturday, January 11, 2020
President of the Academy of Finland
Alvar Aalto is considered a modern architect, yet his work exhibits a carefully crafted balance of intricate and complex forms, spaces, and elements, and reveals traditionalism rooted in the cultural heritage and physical environment of Finland. He was born Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto in the Ostro-Bothnian village of Kourtane, Finland in 1898. He graduated with honors from Helsinki Polytechnic in 1921 after which he opened his own practice. He held the position of Professor of Architecture at MIT 1946 to 1948, and was President of the Academy of Finland 1963-68.Aalto was a religious man and a practicing Christian. Although his early work borrowed from the neoclassic movement, he eventually adapted the symbolism and functionalism of the Modern Movement to generate his plans and forms. It allowed him to create a series of functional and yet non-reductionist buildings. Even though he borrowed from the International style, his use of color, texture, and structure was creative and new in its own right. He refined the modern European architecture and molded it to develop and define a new Finnish architecture.His designs were always contextual as they were responsive to site, material and form unlike most of the other modernist architects who designed in isolation. Aalto produced a lot of work in countries like Germany, America and Sweden. A lot of his projects under construction at the same time have overlapping ideas and details. Moreover, Aalto was of the few architects who designed to the last detail and was aware and receptive to the needs of the people and the environment. Aalto was a master of form and planning.His buildings have provided renewed inspiration in the face of widespread disillusionment with high modernism on one hand, and post-modernism on the other. Aalto's mature work embodies a unique functionalist/expressionist and humane style, successfully applied to libraries, civic centers, churches, housing, etc. In their scale, mastery of light and distincti ve palettes, Aalto’s buildings were characterized with a robust humanism. During the mid-1930s Alvar Aalto's work began to embody a more tactile, romantic, and picturesque posture, becoming less machinelike in imagery.The presence of these characteristics in his work, coupled with a seemingly rekindled interest in Finnish vernacular building traditions and a concern for the alienated individual within modern mass society, signals a movement away from the functionalist tenets that formed his architecture in the early 1930s. In renouncing industrialized production as a compositional and formal ordering sensibility, Alvar Aalto moved toward a more personal style which solidified over the next decade, a direction achieving maturity in his work executed after World War II.Aalto’s Saynatsalo Town Hall, built between 1942- 1952, in Saynatsalo, Finland, was one of the civic projects he undertook. The building had a pioneering effort in using brick. Never before had red bricks been used in civic buildings in Finland as they common concept on them not being too formal existed. However, bricks were warm with reference to color and not as formidable looking as stone, so they fit right into context in the cold harsh climate of Finland. Aalto had strong political opinions and wanted to make the town governments strong enough to be able to stand up to central governments.He had individual freedom in mind while designing the Saynatsalo Town Hall. He changed the program brief to increase the footprint and the mass of the building. He introduced a courtyard in the centre with single loaded corridors to ensure well-lit offices and corridors. He utilized the principal idea of the Greek agora when designing the town hall. The building followed the contours of site and the courtyard level defined the spatial datum. The use of exposed timber trusses was there as well as a double height council chamber to give it that hierarchy.Similarly, the Baker House Dormitory, at t he MIT campus in USA was designed and built between 1946- 1949. In this building, Aalto comes up with a slightly different approach which he later carries on in his other projects such as the Church of the 3 crosses in Vuokesenniska. He uses the concept of duality and carries it out in detail throughout the project in the sinuous serpentine wall. It’s a large brick building with repetitive elements. The duality exists in the background vs. foreground relationship of the building, in the repetitive vs.the unique, the curvy vs. the rectilinear, the planar vs. the volumetric, the large vs. the small and the brick vs. the marble. The unique staircase projects out of the buildings and becomes the diagonal element. It gives a certain degree of dynamism to the project. Like the Baker House Dormitory, Aalto juxtaposes the rectilinear against the curvilinear in a lot of his other projects. He breaks away from the idea of symmetry and uses asymmetry to his advantage and for functional reasons.Aalto’s later work had a lot to do with acoustics as he attempted at making acoustically sound buildings such as the Finlandia hall or the Church of the 3 crosses. Before totally moving towards architecture ad designing buildings, Aalto designed products and furniture. So in 1935, with the assistance of Maire Gullichsen and with Nils Gustav Hahl as director, the firm of Artek was formed, which produced and marketed Alvar Aalto's furniture, fabric, and glassware designs. Amongst some of his most famous product designs is the Savoy vase which was an organic form.Aalto’s vases had a fluid sinuous shape in varying colors that let the users decide the use. They are being manufactured to this day. Aalto’s furniture was mainly bent wood light furniture which followed the principles of clean functional design. He made the Paimio Chair for the sanitorium in 1931-32. It was inspired by the tubular steel Marcel Breuer chairs in his own home and was devised to ease the breathing of tuberculosis patients in a combination of molded wood and plywood which, Aalto believed, would be warmer and more comfortable than metal.Alvar Aalto died in 1976 in Helsinki. Over the course of his 50-year career, Aalto, unlike a number of his contemporaries, did not rely on modernism's fondness for industrialized processes as a compositional technique, but forged an architecture influenced by a broad spectrum of concerns. Alvar Aalto's architecture manifests an understanding of the psychological needs of modern society, the particular qualities of the Finnish environment, and the historical, technical, and cultural traditions of Scandinavian architecture.Bibliography : †¢ Gardner’s Art through the Ages †¢ Alvar Aalto (Archipocket) by Alvar Aalto and Aurora Cuito †¢ Alvar Aalto by Richard Weston †¢ www. wikipedia. org/wiki/Alvar_Aalto †¢ www. scandinaviandesign. com/Alvar_Aalto †¢ www. designmuseum. org †¢ http://virtual. fi nland. fi/netcomm/news/showarticle. asp? intNWSAID=26966 †¢ http://architect. architecture. sk/alvar-aalto-architect/alvar-aalto-architect. php †¢ Finnish Architecture and the Modernist Tradition by Malco Quantrill †¢ www. artek. fi
Friday, January 3, 2020
A Synestia Is What Happens as a Planet Forms
A long time ago, in a nebula that no longer exists, our newborn planet was hit with a giant impact so energetic that it melted part of the planet and the impactor and created a spinning molten glob. That whirling disk of hot melted rock was turning so fast that from the outside it would have been difficult to tell the difference between the planet and the disk. This object is called a synestia and understanding how it formed may lead to new insights into the process of planetary formation. The synestia phase of a planets birth sounds like something out of weird science fiction movie, but it may be a natural step in the formation of worlds. It very likely happened several times during the birth process for most of the planets in our solar system, particularly the rocky worlds of Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. Its all part of a process called accretion, where smaller chunks of rock in a planetary birth crà ©che called a protoplanetary disk slammed together to make bigger objects called planetesimals. The planetesimals crashed together to make planets. The impacts release huge amounts of energy, which translates into enough heat to melt rocks. As the worlds got larger, their gravity helped hold them together and eventually played a role in rounding their shapes. Smaller worlds (such as moons) can also form the same way. Earth and its Synestia Phases The process of accretion in planetary formation is not a new idea, but the idea that our planets and their moons went through the spinning molten glob phase, probably more than once, is a new wrinkle. Planetary formation takes millions of years to accomplish, depending on many factors, including the size of the planet and how much material there is in the birth cloud. Earth probably took at least 10 million years to form. Its birth cloud process was, like most births, messy and busy. The birth cloud was filled with rocks and planesimals continually colliding with each other like a huge game of billiards played with rocky bodies. One collision would set off others, sending material careening through space. Large impacts were so violent that each of the bodies that collided would melt and vaporize. Since these globs were spinning, some of their material would create a spinning disk (like a ring) around each impactor. The result would look something like a donut with a filling in the middle instead of a hole. The central area would be the impactor, surrounded by molten material. That intermediate planetary object, the synestia, was a phase. Its very likely that infant Earth spent some time as one of these spinning, molten objects. It turns out that many planets could have gone through this process as they formed. How long they stay that way depends on their masses, but eventually, the planet and its molten glob of material cool and settle back into a single, rounded planet. Earth probably spent a hundred years in the synestia phase before cooling. The infant solar system didnt quiet down after the baby Earth formed. Its possible that Earth went through several synestias before the final form of our planet appeared. The entire solar system went through periods of bombardmenet that left craters on the rocky worlds and moons. If Earth were hit several times by large impactors, multiple synestias would happen. Lunar Implications The idea of a synestia comes from scientists working on modeling and understanding the formation of the planets. It may explain another step in planetary formation and could also solve some interesting questions about the Moon and how it formed. Early in solar system history, a Mars-sized object called Theia crashed into the infant Earth. The materials of the two worlds mingled, although the crash did not destroy Earth. The debris kicked up from the collision eventually coalesced to create the Moon. That explains why the Moon and Earth are closely related in their composition. However, its also possible that after the collision, a synestia formed and our planet and its satellite both coalesced separately as the materials in the synestia donut cooled. The synestia is really a new class of object. Although astronomers havent observed one yet, the computer models of this intermediate step in planet and moon formation will give them idea of what to look for as they study planetary systems currently forming in our galaxy. In the meantime, the search for newborn planets continues.
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