The only real downside environmentally is a relatively higher crime rate. hile violent crime is not necessarily higher than for the U.S. As a whole, it is still higher than that found in Tokyo due to the well-studied differences in American and Japanese cultural proclivities toward crime. More importantly, crimes against property, and specifically auto theft, are much higher in San Diego than they are elsewhere in the U.S., partly due to the city's close proximity to Mexico.
Tokyo has greater climate fluctuations than San Diego, with more humidity that causes less desirable weather in both winter and summer. However, because of the city has a commitment to mass transit its air quality is as good as or better than San Diego's. The city has many options for nightlife and entertainment, but the Japanese culture and economy push many of these options toward the nighttime. Also, there is less opportunity…...
mlaWorks Cited
Coleman, S. (2009). International Cost of Living Rankings, April 2009. Ezine articles. 5 December 2009. .
Greenburg, Z. "America's Most Livable Cities." Forbes (April 1). Forbes.com. 5 December 2009. .
Kotkin, J. (2009) "Why The 'Livable Cities' Rankings Are Wrong." Forbes (August 11). Forbes.com. 5 December 2009. .
Money, (2009). Best Places to Live: San Diego. CNN/Money.com. 5 December 2009. .
Urban Anthropology
Our urban metropolises are no longer the vibrant or essential centers they used to be. The mass migration of the wealthy into the suburbs has left our cities with reduced tax bases and less stability and in turn the cities have rapidly begun decaying. Our cities today are decadent and dangerous. Cites are the remnants of the industrial age and that time is gone. Breaking down or getting a flat tire in the wrong block will get an unfortunate traveler an introduction into the horrors of street crime and the illegal narcotics industry. Our cities are just not nice places any more. "Residents air their complaints in community meetings (of block dubs, police beats, the Local School Council, church groups, the Chamber of Commerce). Gangs and gang bangers top the list of their concerns." (Pattillo) This report will attempt to present an anthropological answer to the culture of poverty…...
mlaWorks Cited
Pattillo, Mary E. "Sweet Mothers And Gang Bangers: Managing Crime In A Black Middle-Class Neighborhood" Social Forces 01 Mar. 1998.
Ryan, James E. "Schools, Race, And Money" Yale Law Journal November (1999):.
Zenner, Walter P., and George Gmelch. Urban Life: Readings in the Anthropology of the City. 4th ed. n.p. Waveland P, 2001.
Urban Life
Many of the busts in the ghetto are drug-related, and Hilfiker notes that our society punishes petty drug offences far more severely than crimes committed by people who are wealthy. Meantime, the mandatory minimum sentence takes away the possibility of any plea bargaining; it takes away the judge's previous alternative of giving probation for a petty crime and hands the power to the prosecutor, who runs for office on a "law and order" theme.
"Deserving" poor vs. "Undeserving" poor:
It has been customary in America for society to attempt to separate the "undeserving" poor from the "deserving" poor. The deserving poor are those who have supposedly found themselves down on their luck through no fault of their own; while the undeserving are reportedly "lazy" and likely on some government assistance program (Hilfiker, pp. 69-71). As a token offer of help to the very poor the government makes "TANF" benefits available albeit…...
mlaWorks Cited
Hilfiker, David. (2002). Urban Injustice: How Ghettos Happen. New York: Seven Stories Press.
Sociology of California
Department of Finance reported that California had 532,000 more people at the end of 2003 (Fulton 2004) than at the start of the said year. Nothing was new about population increase in the state since the Great Depression and World War II, during which the population added half a million people every year, growing from 6 to 40 million today. There are no indications that the increase would be halted or altered.
ut the noticeable changes have been in the locations and the way California's people live. Some go back to the old suburban style, while the rest of the trend shows California as continuing to grow into an urban society (Fulton). The ay area's nine counties account for less than half (3.3%) of the entire state's average growth at 6.7% and places like Contra Costa and Sonoma counties have chosen the suburban style of growth. In the meantime,…...
mlaBibliography
Fulton, William, ed. 2004. Housing, Population Statistics Reveal Ongoing Division in State. California Planning and Development Report. http://www.cp-dr.com
Gordon, Peter and Harry W. Richardson. 1997. Why Sprawl is Good. Cascade Political Institute. http://www.hevanet.com/oti/sprawlreb.htm
Vorderbrueggen, Lisa. 2004. California Smart Growth. Building Energy: Smart Growth News. http://www.smartgrowth.org/org/news/bystate.asp?state=ca&res=640
Instead, the welfare system encouraged perpetual social dependency and provided a reason for poor people not to work at all when the most reliable method of achieving financial independence (besides continuing education) is precisely, to begin working at minimum wage jobs while gradually learning skills and establishing contacts and a record of regular employment that are essential in the long- term goal of qualifying for better work in time (Healey, 2003 p56).
The Need for Welfare Reform:
While elements of government assistance programs are still subject to epidemic abuse (Schmalleger, 2007 p104), the reconfiguration mandated by Congress in 1996 are designed to rectify some of the most glaring problems plaguing the federally administrated programs previously. First and foremost, the new state-run welfare programs must, by federal law, establish caps limiting welfare eligibility to discourage perpetual (even permanent) reliance on public funds as a substitute for making the necessary effort and commitment…...
mlaBibliography
Healey, Joseph F. Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Class: The Sociology of Group Conflict and Change. London: Pine Forge (2003).
Henslin, James M. Essentials of Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach. Boston: Allyn & Bacon (2002).
Macionis, John J. Sociology 9th Edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall (2003).
Schaefer, Richard T. Racial and Ethnic Groups. New York: Harper-Collins (2001).
Interpretive sociology does not agree with the thought that behavior is related to society as effect is related to cause since this entire idea is dysfunctional with that which composes social life in reality. Interpretive sociology holds that understanding of our fellow man should be the pursuit of each day as sense is made of their individual societal existence. Seeking to understand is the concept held in interpretive sociology instead of the seeking of an explanation. Therefore it is understood that "structural" or that of Marxism and Functionalism (i.e. The interpretive/interactionist/social action sociologies) as well as Weber's interactionism, ethnomethodology and the Structural arguments in sociology that a "science of society" is likely. Therefore, there exists an agreement even among the interpretive sociologies. The natural science argument is based on "cause and effect" principles. That claim that the behavior of humans is the effect of some cause in society or…...
mlaBibliography
Townsend, Peter (1970) the Concept of Poverty. Heinemann Weber, Max (1958) the Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.
Gilbert (1999) Social Research Update No. 27 University of Surrey Department of Sociology
Marx, Karl (1970) first published 1870 capital Vol.1 Penguin.
Sanjeev Prakash is Director of the Environment, Technology and Institutional
Anthony Giddens defines prejudice as "the holding of preconceived ideas about an individual or group, ideas that are resistant to change even in the face of new information."
Examples of the worst form of prejudice include American slavery during the first two centuries of this country and the extermination of millions of Jewish people by the Nazis during World War II. In both of these cases, the blacks and Jews were seen as lower forms of humans or even non-human. Unfortunately, prejudice against the blacks and Jews continues to this day. They are often considered "scapegoats," or blamed for things they have not done.
In this same vein, stigmatize, according to Tony Bilton (1996) is "a process of experience in which some form of social behavior or attribute is subject to social disapproval and becomes discredited, resulting in a spoiled identity in the eyes of others and possible exclusion from normal…...
mlaReferences
Bilton, T. (1996) Introductory Sociology, London: Macmillan
Giddens, a. (1997) Sociology. London: Polity Press.
Pickering, AJS (1991). Emile Durkheim. Critical Assessments of Leading Sociologists. London: Routeledge.
Straus, R. (1994) Using Sociology. New York: Rowman and Littlefield.
The people cannot do it themselves, although they have been making a valiant effort in Detroit, New Orleans, and other areas. They need help, and help quickly, and that help is not forthcoming.
The federal government seems to operate in a mode that initially recognizes a crisis, throws some initial aid toward management of the crisis, and then moves on to the next crisis, leaving the citizens and local governments to cope on their own. This strategy should be overthrown, replaced by a strategy that recognizes long-term support and aid is necessary in the face of crisis. Without urgent rethinking of this policy, and urgent aid to these suffering cities, the urban crisis in America is only going to continue, grow, and multiply until it is unmanageable and unsolvable.
eferences
Dyson, M.E. Come hell or high water: Hurricane Katrina and the color of disaster.
Sugrue, T. Origins of the Urban Crisis....
mlaReferences
Dyson, M.E. Come hell or high water: Hurricane Katrina and the color of disaster.
Sugrue, T. Origins of the Urban Crisis.
They are therefore not determined or restricted by factors such as norms, morals or external principles. A concise definition of this view is as follows:
Constructivism views all of our knowledge as "constructed," because it does not reflect any external "transcendent" realities; it is contingent on convention, human perception, and social experience. It is believed by constructivists that representations of physical and biological reality, including race, sexuality, and gender are socially constructed
Constructivist epistemology)
Another theoretical and philosophical stance that is pertinent to the understanding of the status of the family in modern society is the post-structural or deconstructive view. This is allied to a certain extent with the constructivist viewpoint, which sees society as a social construction and denies the reality of transcendent factors. This view therefore sees the family as a structure which is not fixed or static but is relative in terms of the norms and values that determine…...
mlaReferences
Anderson, G.L. (Ed.).1997, the Family in Global Transition. St. Paul, MN: Professors World Peace Academy.
Baker, M. 2003, 'Reinventing the Family: In Search of New Lifestyles', Journal of Sociology, Vol. 39, no. 2, pp. 178+.
Constructivist epistemology. [Online] Available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_constructivism
Coulter, G. 2001, 'Cohabitation: An Alternative Form of Family Living', Canadian Journal of Sociology, Vol.26, no. 2. p. 245.
Sociology and Anthropology
After 1880, Africa underwent a major transformation with the European powers effectively dividing the continent among themselves. Over the next 100 years, nearly every major decision affecting the region would be made in a European capital. Then, each nation was able to gain their independence. To fully understand what took place requires: carefully examining the rationale for imperialism in Africa and studying the British vs. French colonizing missions. These factors will highlight the kinds of approaches that were used by the Europeans and the long-term impact of colonization. (Ciment, 2007, pp. 19 -- 24)
The ationale for Imperialism in Africa
The Europeans had different reasons for colonizing Africa. A few of the most notable include: to protect their own economic interests, maintain a balance of power and control key areas that are strategic importance. In the case of protecting their own economic interests, the Europeans believed that Africa could provide…...
mlaReferences
Ciment, J. (2007). Atlas of African -- American History. New York, NY: Facts on File.
Foster, D. (2002). The Global Etiquette Guide to Africa. New York, NY: Wiley.
Sociology
Summary and Critique of the Book Streets of Hope
In Streets of Hope, Peter Medoff and Holly Sklar write about an impoverished area near Boston, called Dudley. Starting in the 1950's, people began to pull out of Dudley. The crime rate went up, the employment rate went down, and things just kept getting worse. By the time the 1980's came around, a full one-third of the land in Dudley was vacant. People began to use it as a dumping ground for everything from old autos to rotting garbage. The dumping was actually illegal, but no one except the Dudley residents ever complained about it, and no one ever got into trouble over it. Like in so many other impoverished neighborhoods, lawmakers and politicians looked the other way.
The people who live in the Dudley area finally started the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI). The goal of this was to turn Dudley back…...
mlaWorks Cited
Kretzmann, John P. Book Review. 1997. Urban Leadership Institute. 1 December 2002. http://www.cst.edu/URBANWEB/bookrvw.htm .
Medoff, P. And H. Sklar. Streets of Hope: The Fall and Rise of an Urban Neighborhood.
Boston, MA: South End Press, 1994.
Some feminists argue that all pornography is bad for women because it is degrading to women (Peterson, 1998). The "victims" need protection, they claim, which, ironically, they say comes in the form of laws restricting what women legally can and cannot do with their own bodies.
While it can be argued that pornography reinforces negative male attitudes towards women in society and it increases the incidence of sex crimes, these are unfair claims (Peterson, 1998). While men may bring deep-rooted attitdevelop negative attitudes towards women. Even if pornography were banned, negative attitudes towards women would not disappear. In addition, there is little evidence to suggest that widespread distribution and use of soft-core pornography increases numbers of sex crimes.
In addition, it is important to note that many men who support feminism and women's rights enjoy pornography (Peterson, 1998). In addition, many successful heterosexual couples in committed relationships use soft-core pornography to improve…...
mlaReferences
Feigelman, Bill. Young, Jim. (2003). Sociology: Fourth Edition. Chapter 11: Race and Ethnicity.W.W. Norton.
Kent, Raymond. (2004). What is Social Work? The Occupational Outlook Handbook. Retrieved from the Internet at http://stats.bls.gov/oco/ocos060.htm .
Peterson, Patricia. (August 14, 1998). Pornography's legitimate place in society. Courier Mail.
Wikipedia. (2004). Feminism. Retrieved from the Internet at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminism .
Sociology of Crime
It was argued by Greek historian, Herodotus, that there are no universal ethics and that all ethical systems were somehow relative to factors concerning the population (Ishay, 2008). The historian argued that different cultures had different perceptions about what is acceptable behavior and what constituted the moral norms in the societies. Herodotus illustrates this argument by comparing burial rituals that were used by two different cultures -- one culture used a cremation ritual while the other used a cannibalistic practice. The same argument could also be extended to the sociology of crime -- different societies place different values on behaviors in a criminal justice system.
Globalization is steadily working to change the environment in which crime can be committed. When Herodotus was alive up until the recent present, most crimes were limited to a geographic area. However, with the rapid development of technology and communications, people and organizations can…...
mlaReferences
Banisadr, A., 2014. Isis is a monster created by many countries. It requires an international solution. [Online]
Available at: [Accessed 31 May 2015].http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/27/isis-monster-international-solution
Hall, T., 2012. Geographies of the illicit: Globalizaiton and organized crime. Progress in Human Geography, 37(3), pp. 366-385.
Ishay, M., 2008. The History of Human Rights. 1st ed. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Urban Areas in South America
In the scholarly journal ETHOS, there is an article by Baran (2007) entitled “Girl, You are Not Morena. We are Negras! Questioning the Concept of ‘Race’ in Southern Bahia, Brazil” that examines the way in which race is perceived in urban areas on South America—particularly in Brazil where the city of Salvador is located. Race is a major issue for urban areas in the United States, but in a different way than it is an issue for people in this part of South America. It is almost the exact opposite, in fact. While in the U.S., people are taught to embrace their ethnicity and to be proud of the things that make them unique and different, in Brazil there appears to be a campaign in the cities for people to categorize everyone as the same in terms of being light-skinned or dark.
Baran (2007) notes a shift…...
Sociology- Social Work
Aboriginal Social Work
Why does Judge Murray Sinclair note that the legal concept of innocence/guilt is not granted by Aboriginal societies as it is in the Canadian Justice System?
In Aboriginal communities, guilt is typically secondary to the main issue: the main concern is that something is erroneous and it has to be corrected. Since the main purpose is the reinstatement of accord rather than the imposition of reprimand, the accused is more likely to confess bad behavior. Judge Sinclair proposes that possibly this explicates why so many Aboriginal people plead guilty when in court. The Canadian criminal justice system is founded on Euro-Canadian principles and, as a consequence, frequently clashes with Aboriginal values. High levels of imprisonment, augmented focus from law enforcement, language hurdles, conflicting values and theoretical frameworks concerning crime and punishment, as well as certain issues faced by youth, all add to the breakdown of the criminal…...
mlaReferences
Family Violence. (1996). Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, vol. 3,
Gathering Strength. Minister of Supply and Services, Canada.ISBN: 0-660-16415 -- 9.
Stolen Sisters: A Human Rights Response to Discrimination and Violence Against Indegenous
Women. (2004). Retrieved from http://www.amnesty.ca/stolensisters/amr2000304.pdf
Urban sociology refers to the sociological study of human life in metropolitan areas. It is an increasingly relevant areas of sociology, as world populations continue to shift more and more from rural environments to urban and suburban environments. Urban sociology includes studies of all aspects of city life. It includes urban studies, but urban studies are only part of urban sociology. While urban sociology looks at all aspects of city life, urban studies is specifically devoted to analyzing and attempting to solve urban problems.
Sociology is the study of human life, social causes,....
Urban sociology refers to the sociological study of human life in metropolitan areas. It is an increasingly relevant areas of sociology, as world populations continue to shift more and more from rural environments to urban and suburban environments. Urban sociology includes studies of all aspects of city life. It includes urban studies, but urban studies are only part of urban sociology. While urban sociology looks at all aspects of city life, urban studies is specifically devoted to analyzing and attempting to solve urban problems.
Sociology is the study of human life, social causes,....
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