Social Thought and Social Change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Social Thought and Social Change - Essay Example 6). For Enlightened thinkers, the desirable direction and final destination they aim for is a place where everyone lives in â€Å"a perfectly happy existence,† free from religious control, aristocratic discrimination and monarchical oppression (Bury 1920, p. 6). This idea is oftentimes criticised by modern thinkers as a naive belief in man’s capability for achieving perfection (Israel 2001, p. 3). However, Israel (2001, pp. 3-4) argues that â€Å"Enlightenment progress breathed a vivid awareness of the great difficulty of spreading toleration, curbing religious fanaticism, and otherwise ameliorating human organization, orderliness, and the general state of health.† Concurrently, even though famous Enlightened thinkers have opposing ideas about how to go about achieving progress, it cannot be denied that they share the same principles and morals. For instance, while Voltaire did not believe in the notion of equality and moved to educate and enlighten aristocrats i nto bettering the world, Rousseau detested them and lobbied for equality through revolution. However, both detested the Church and absolute monarchy and sought to change the status quo (Brians 2000). It is unquestionable, then, that the Enlightenment—though ripe with strife and conflicting ideas—moved towards the same destination; and that is, the achievement of progress through positive societal changes. The Enlightenment symbolizes civilisation’s actual forward movement towards a desirable direction. It is progress personified. Both supporters and critics of the Enlightenment and even opposing Enlightened thinkers show that its end-all and be-all is achieving progress through reason—progress that aims to create a better society at a time when religious tyranny and absolute monarchy and aristocracy ruled the world. II. Stages of History and Revolution Karl Marx views human history as a series of stages wherein man struggles to deal with and control the e conomic benefits of the resources of the world in order to achieve power and position (Weiner 2008, p. 42; Cohen 2004, p. 23). â€Å"The growth of human power is the central process of history. The need for that growth explains why there is history† (p. 23). Hence, Marx evaluates history as the process of man’s struggle for control over the developing system of production (Shaw 1978, p. 152). Marx (1904, p. 28) states the first stage of history as primitive communism where goods and property are shared and the means of production include hunting and gathering; the second stage is slave society where a class society based on private ownership is established (pp. 285-286); third is feudalism (p. 216); fourth is capitalism (p. 19); fifth is socialism (p. 10); and the final stage is pure communism exhibited through a classless society and the abolition of private ownership (Marx and Engels 1858 qtd. in Schumaker 2010, p. 46). This is a history of class struggle, as â€Å" new forms of society arise appropriate to the new forms of production when the new classes win power† (McCarthy 1995). It can be seen here how each historical stage moves on to the next only with the destruction of a socio-economic system through the uprising of the lower classes. For instance, feudalism evolved into capitalism after the landed aristocrats was challenged by craftsmen and merchants (Bowen 2011).

The power of Media within Sports Industry Research Paper

The power of Media within Sports Industry - Research Paper Example â€Å"Every piece of fur is the result of horrific cruelty. Animals trapped for their fur can suffer for hours or days in body-gripping traps, chewing through their own feet in a desperate attempt to escape. More than four million wild animals are trapped and killed each year in the United States by commercial and recreational trappers alone.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"(The Cruelty of Fur Trim) The way human beings treat animals is certainly beyond the pale, animals are ruthlessly killed to please the taste buds of certain human beings who consume them on a regular basis, the slaughter that takes place is very painful for the helpless animals, the pain inflicted upon them is very hard to see but very little has been done to counter it. There are organizations fighting for animal rights but those organizations are not as active as they should be. This paper will throw light upon the views of Catharine A. Mackinnon and Elizabeth Anderson on how animals are being treated; both their views will be juxta posed to bring out the real essence of their respective arguments. â€Å"Each year, in China, millions of dogs and cats are cruelly killed by bludgeoning, hanging and slow strangulation with wire nooses and their fur turned into trim and trinkets. Chinese fur is often deliberately mislabeled so that it will be bought by unsuspecting customers around the globe.† (China’s Gold Medal for Cruelty). Catharine A. Mackinnon has a very feminist view on the exploitation of animals, she compares the state of animals to the state of women, she thinks that women and animals are both exploited and have more similarities than one. She claims that animals are treated like women and women like animals, this again goes to show the sheer exploitation of both women and animals. She goes on to say that women are as badly treated as animals, she is aghast when she makes this comparison and she is right in many ways, women are still being exploited in some areas of the world and so are anim als. â€Å"People dominate animals, men dominate women.† (Animal Rights, P277) The author sheds light upon how women and animals are being dominated in our society. She throws light upon the inequality that prevails in our society. The author brings out an excellent ideology; the suppression of both women and animals is because they are considered inferior, women are exploited because they are considered biologically weaker, animals are exploited because they are considered much inferior to the human race, the exploitation is purely based on the ideology of inferior and superior, a superior being starts believing that it is his right to suppress the inferior, the same has been highlighted by the author. The author is labeled to be a feminist because she talks about the male ideology and brings out the similarities in animals and women. â€Å"Qualities considered human and higher are denied to animals as qualities considered masculine and higher are denied to women.† (A nimal Rights, P278) The lesser humanity of women is conceded by men and they call women animal names like chick, bunny, bitch and so on, this again points to the inferior nature of women in the society, animals are lower than humans is also a presumption which with several human beings live with. The author also talks about the ridiculous ways in which both women and animals are exploited, rats are put in the vagina of women and it is thought that the rat would suffer