...and class prosperity comes income inequality. Income inequality or economic inequality can be described as the imbalance between income of individuals or household within a country or class. When income inequality is brought up or mentioned, most people think about it in regards to the impoverished class and the ultra rich 1% but this is not the case. In a world that is becoming more and more integrated, economic inequality between the middle class and the top 1% is becoming much more relevant and much more of a problem that needs to be addressed. We live in a...
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...first-class section of a train on June 7, 1892 was asked to be seated in the Jim Crow Cars although he had already bought a first-class ticket. After refusing peacefully, Plessy was arrested and trial was set for five months later. The case ultimately moved up to the United States Supreme Court. Plessy Vs. Ferguson hearing would “challenge the definition of race itself” and eventually the case was overturned in 1954. The United States Supreme Court’s ruling was an unjustified verdict based on relativism and deontological ethics. Homer Plessy boarded a train that was on it’s way to Covington, Louisiana. He bought a first-class train ticket and was well dressed, but he was not accepted into first class because he was an African American. The train conductor, John J. Dowling asked Plessy if he was in the proper coach not because of his train ticket but because of his race which wasn’t easily seen. Plessy was so...
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...Both the readings of Black Reconstruction and the Racial Wage and A People’s History of the United States assert that oppression is rooted in one group of people persecuting or unjustly controlling another group of people in order to exploit wealth. The oppression of a group of people for a prolonged period of time is manifested in two methods, the first being the degrading or dehumanizing of those being oppressed and the second being that the oppressors restrict as well as infringes rigid laws on the oppressed. Both readings also reveal that those being oppressed, in some cases, are unaware of the unjust treatment that they are enduring, and they are thus unable to acknowledge that their experience is not merely a condition, but rather an...
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...A very important case in the history of the United States is the case of Tinker vs. Des Moines. The case decides the issues of symbolic speech and its limits. It displays the right of individuals, including children wherever they are, even school. In this case we see the limits of the first amendment and how far this right extends. What happened in this case? One day in 1969 brother and sister John and Mary Beth Tinker wore black armbands to school in protest over the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War. The school issued a new policy stating that those who wore armbands would be asked to remove it right away. If that student failed to remove his armband, he would be suspended until agreeing to return to school without the armband. The Tinker children and their friend wore the armbands to school and were suspended because they did not remove their armbands. On January 1, 1966, their scheduled day for the end of their protest, the children returned to school. Their fathers filed suit to United States District Court. The U.S. District Court recognized their right to free speech but did not issue an injunction because the school’s actions were reasonable because of possible disruptions from the students’ protests. The fathers appealed to the Court of Appeals which ended with a...
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...believe that the ruling class use instruments in society to control the working class – for example religion and education. They argue that religion is created and promoted by the Ruling Class in order to pass on their dominant ideology to the working class, using it as an “instrument”. Althusser argues that the ruling class do this through physical control such as the police and the justice system (Repressive State Apparatus), they also control the working class through the Ideological state Apparatus, which via religion, prevents the working class from becoming deviant and rebelling. A clear demonstration of this is in Christian teaching. They’re taught that Jesus himself had a day job as a carpenter – which is a manual labour, working class job. This idea of Jesus being like us civilians appeals to the working class as their attitude would be that if someone of such major influence can have that job, I can too because I will be repaid in the afterlife. Another supporting piece of evidence to the Marxist theory of religion is in the Jewish Torah (Old Testament – 34:12) God says “Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest, in eanring time and in harvesting, thou shalt rest”. This also influences the working class not to question why we have to work for 6 days, because when we make our earnings we can rest on the seventh day, whilst the ruling class impose this religious idea to the working class. Karl Marx would call this False Class Consciousness. ...
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...Question: Marxists, like William Chambliss, would argue that law is a weapon of social conflict used by the ruling classes for their own benefit. Drawing on Chambliss’ historical analysis of vagrancy laws in England, how might a Marxist scholar interpret the recent government action and court decision on Occupy Toronto? Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to argue that the law is influenced by elite classes and that the law rules in favour of these elites. The law isn’t as detached from society and its class structure as everyone would like to believe, and the paper will discuss how this is true from a Marxist perspective in regards to vagrancy. Drawing from Batty v. City of Toronto, a case that ruled against a group protesting against...
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...The Supreme Court cases of Meyers v. United States and Humphrey’s Executor v. United were both landmark cases dealing with presidential removal power. The Meyers case was a decision ruling that the president has the authority to remove executive branch officials, without the consent of the legislature. The Humphrey’s Executor case ruled the president does not have the power to remove officials who are not under the executive branches power. I believe that these rulings are consistent with presidential authority according to Article II in the Constitution. The President has free and exclusive powers to remove his representatives without the approval of Congress. This can include any high-ranking officers who act on his behalf, ex. Secretary of State, and other executive branch officers who are working in other duties. This absolute removal power was a necessary effect of the Constitution’s 2nd article, which grants to the President total administrative control of those who execute the law....
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...society as a structure in which the economic base determines the shape of the superstructure, which is made up of all the other social institutions, such as the law or the education system. Their function is to serve the interests of the bourgeoisies and maintain a capitalist society. For Marxists, crime is ultimately a result of capitalism. Crime is inevitable to capitalism because capitalism is criminogenic, meaning it causes crime. Capitalism is based on exploitation of the working class, using them to serve the ruling class. It is damaging to the working class and gives rise to crime. Traditional Marxists argue that crime is a result of class inequality and poverty. Individuals in a state of poverty commit crime in order to rebel against their exploitation by the ruling class. David Gordon (1971) argued that crime is a rational response to capitalism. He claimed that considering the nature of capitalism we should not ask why the working class commit crime, but rather why the working class do not commit more crime. Among poorer sections of society, capitalism encourages a ‘culture of envy’ that may encourage a criminal reaction. Material deprivation, a term Marxists use in order to understand deviance, is closely related to...
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...Over the course of United States history, only one institution ever influenced numerous presidential elections, created as much contention and dispute, divided the population, and nearly destroyed the country. That controversial institution which caused so much debate became known as the Bank of the United States. This bank and the question about its constitutionality not only influenced the people connected to the bank, but it also brought up uncertainty about how the national government should govern the country. In March of 1819, the United States Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice John Marshall, ruled that the United States Constitution supported the establishment of a national bank and that federal laws supersede state laws in every situation....
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...According to the e-study guide for Society in Focus: An Introduction to Sociology, cultural hegemony is “the domination of a culturally diverse society by the ruling class, who manipulate the culture of that society — the beliefs, explanations, perceptions, values, and mores — so that their ruling-class worldview becomes the worldview that is imposed and accepted as the cultural norm; as the universally valid dominant ideology that justifies the social, political, and economic status quo as natural, inevitable, perpetual and beneficial for everyone, rather than as artificial social constructs that benefit only the ruling class” (Cram101, 2014). In consideration of this understanding, it is clear how subjugation under such a system leads to severe and sometimes severely detrimental psychological impact. The prevalence of psychiatric disorders is greater for those under the subjugation compared to those ethnicities of the ruling class and in the United States of America, the ruling class are those who are classified as White Americans or Western European Americans. Research bears that out regarding those classified as Latino (Ortega, Rosenheck, Alegria, & Desai, 2000). In fact according to that US Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Mental Health Services,...
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...adjustments that occur between elderly people and others in society. There is the disengagement theory which primarily describes passing the roles smoothly from generation to generation, ensuring a continuous process. The activity theory describes elderly keeping busy when they are retired. This could be anything from picking up a new hobby like golf, to volunteering at a place they love to be. Continuity theory discusses how some retirees will tie strings to their past to assist in the adaption to older age. Chapter 11: Using the conflict perspective, explain how the ruling class controls the United States. The conflict perspective describes the "ruling class" as a group that have common interests and are generally wealthy. They have similarites such as attending high end institutions, supporting same political parties, ect. They can utelize their combined knowledge, money, and power to control the United States. Chapter 11: Compare and contrast the two major economic systems. Identify a shortcoming of each system. Capatilism allows freedom and the ability to financially make more. This is kind of similar to the american dream, if you work hard enough the payouts could be endless, but inequality is a downside to this economic system....
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...the class action suit, John A. Campbell, alleged that the school board’s policy exceeded the authority granted to them, and therefore was unconstitutional. The New Milford attendance policies in question were outlined in detail in the student handbook, which was distributed annually: • Students, who were absent, sans administrative waiver, for more than twenty-four class periods in a yearlong course, did not receive credit for the course. • After the first unapproved absence, each additional unapproved absence resulted in a five-point reduction in the course grade, with the reduction limited...
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...The Trend of Global Capitalism Qiudong Wang All sovereign societies on earth can be put roughly into two categories: developed and under-developed countries. The developed countries, including the United States, Canada, most of west Europe countries, Japan and Australia, are all free capitalist society with a well functioned democratic government and a free market economic system. The under-developed countries, including Russia and east Europe countries, India, China, Mexico, South America and Africa, are relative poor, where capitalism has not yet developed into a healthy form. In Middle East, Israel belongs to welldeveloped camp but the rest goes to under-developed category. In this essay I will discuss the history, the present and the future trend of politic and economic relationship between developed and under-developed countries. My purpose is to develop an intellectual framework, through which one could acquire a comprehensive understanding on basic characteristics of various human societies and their interaction in today’s world: where they were from; where they are now; and where they are likely heading to in future. I will illustrate that there are three different systems in under developed world: the under-developed capitalism, the totalitarian capitalism and the military imperialism of developed countries in Middle East. Developed countries, in dealing with under developed world, are in a very much favored position. They are with full strategic initiatives in the on-going...
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...Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. the Topeka Board of Education In the 1896 case of Plessy v. Ferguson the Supreme Court decided that having ”separate but equal” accommodations for Whites and Colored did not violate the 14th Amendment (Wolff, 1997). This allowed states to continue segregation as they saw fit. The Plessy v. Ferguson case was centered on the segregation of railroad cars but the final ruling supported that all “separate but equal” accommodations were allowed by the constitution and was therefore allowed in restaurants, busses, and even schools. In 1954 the Supreme Court decided that “separate but equal” was not acceptable in the case of Brown v. the Topeka Board of Education. They determined that segregation went against the 14th Amendment (Wolff, 1997). This class action suit was filed by 13 parents for their 20 children. The plaintiff named was Oliver L. Brown, the father of third grader Linda who had walk six blocks to get to her school bus stop for her segregated school one mile away even though there was a school only seven blocks away from her home ("Brown V. Board Of Education", ). Although there were several cases fighting for similar things at the time this case is the most well-known. This class action suit was originally filed in 1951 even though the final decision was not made until 1954. The Supreme Court heard the case several times in 1953, paying special attention to the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause and whether or not it prohibited...
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...But in 1849, the California’s state constitution made an official ruling that Mexicans could apply and get a citizenship just because they were categorized as “white” and Native American could not get it because they were not considered white. After this court ruling happened there was another one that happened in 1854. The name of this case was “People v. Hall” (Berglund 7) which in the ruling the California Supreme court ruled that immigrants that came from China were considered Indians and not white which meant that they could also not apply for citizenship. This was a significant event because it showed how the hierarchy of the social level class worked and how you were judged just based on the person’s ethnicity. Based on the previous rulings politicians and legislators started to divide the population into white people and not white people so in other words they started to segregate per a person’s ethnicities and the social hierarchy began. The social hierarchy was ruled by elite men trying to rule over everybody in San...
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