Examining the Impact of Roles and Social Pressures on My Life
I spent a recent evening watching a movie with my erstwhile girlfriend Jaimie, along with two of our mutually close friends, Jason and Michael. In the half hour before starting the video, we rearranged Jaimie's furniture to make room for the four of us. During the screening, we laughed together at a child's antics, made jokes about trite and improbable situations, and watched silently as the story drew to an emotional climax. As the credit scroll began, it was clear that I was both welcome and expected to stay in the room in a casual social gathering with the other three. However, my response was to mumble something about having to leave, and, retreating to my own room, to spend the remainder of the night playing video games and guitar. One may ask why I chose to leave, when my social role as friend to those individuals would have me stay. In fact, the forces contributing to my curt exit, though partially individual, are predominantly social, and include influences from the five major stages in my relationship with Jaimie, the sociological roles and expectations I played in each stage, and the counsel of my other friends.
The first phase of our relationship involved adjustment to our new roles as Boyfriend and Girlfriend, and the feelings that accompanied it. This occurred quickly; for my part, I had not been more than casually involved with a woman for seventeen months, and was feeling the pressure and judgment of a society that expects its members to engage in heterosexual courtship at my age. Jaimie was in the process of terminating a mutually destructive relationship and had experimented with several unsuccessful liaisons;...
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...must bear in mind, however, that in order for these theories to be fully validated, they must be applicable not only to generalized groups of people or representative individuals, but to every member of society, each following the same patterns as every other. Since it is historically impossible to accurately predict the behavior of human beings on any scale, variations between individuals must be explained by something unique about each person. Whether called a soul or some other name, this element of spontaneity exists in every person and can allow him to break free of his expectations.
Works Cited
Berger, Peter L. Invitation to Sociology: A Humanistic Perspective. Garden City: Anchor, 1963.
Fromm, Erich. Escape From Freedom. New York: Avon, 1969.
Sartre, Jean-Paul. "No Exit." No Exit and Three Other Plays. New York: Vintage, 1989.
Usama’s account is not a straight forward narrative; instead he narrates brief events in his life usually in order to extol a certain virtue or to prove a point (this type of Arabic literature is referred to as adab) (Cobb xxxi). It also must be said that this book was not intended by Usama to be read as history textbook or as an autobiography; in fact as Paul Cobb explains in his introduction to his translation of this work that Usama intends “God [as] the hero”, Usama is not the focus of the work, instead he acts just a witness to God’s work. This fact goes far to explain much of the language and structure of the “memoir”. It’s important to keep this fact in mind.
The significance of representing such a history is that it may open William Beckford’s narrative of the Arab Muslim woman to a new analysis and judgment. It may, as well, help in “allowing us to see them [Arab Muslim women] not as "culminations" of a natural truth, but "merely the current episodes in a series of subjugations" (Foucault 1977, 148)” (mohja), and to differentiate between them as represented in Western texts whose feet never touch earth, and the real –flesh and blood–ones whose “feet touch earth in Hamah or Rawalpindi or Rabat.”( MOHJA)
Maalouf’s main thesis in The Crusades Through Arab Eyes is that the crusades are a major part of history and have truly influenced every one of our lives. The second pa...
There are some human phenomena, which seem to be the result of individual actions and personal decisions. Yet, these phenomena are often - on closer inspection – as much a result of social factors as of psychological ones.
As long as there have been men and women on this planet there has been violence. This is an immutable fact. In all likelihood, there will always be violence within the human race. Robert Heinlein said, "Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Nations and peoples who forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and freedoms." Indeed this is plausible. The premise of these arguments is that giving a creature with a proven track record of violence a phenomenally powerful tool of destruction is less than wise. As an alternative, this paper proposes to limit access to such powerful devices (semi-automatic firearms) through the use of tracking methods, restricted sales, and heavier penalties for illegal possession of firearms. The firearms most specifically addressed are semi-automatic weapons including repeating rifles and handguns.
Genes are, basically, the blueprints of our body which are passed down from generation to generation. Through the exploration of these inherited materials, scientists have ventured into the recent, and rather controversial, field of genetic engineering. It is described as the "artificial modification of the genetic code of a living organism", and involves the "manipulation and alteration of inborn characteristics" by humans (Lanza). Like many other issues, genetic engineering has sparked a heated debate. Some people believe that it has the potential to become the new "miracle tool" of medicine. To others, this new technology borders on the realm of immorality, and is an omen of the danger to come, and are firmly convinced that this human intervention into nature is unethical, and will bring about the destruction of mankind (Lanza).
Gender is a socially constructed phenomenon, and how acceptable one’s relationship is determined by society’s view of gender roles. Because the majority of the population is characterized as heterosexual, those who deviate from that path are ...
There are two major religious beliefs on the soul, and though they may seem diametrically opposed, we must remember that our ideas on the soul exist only because of the conditioned acceptance of these religiou...
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When we are born, over time we grow up and develop a personality. For each person, our personalities differentiate between one another which presents a wide variety of individuals. According to psychology, there are different factors that make up who we are. Today, I will be talking about the four major theories of personality (Psychodynamic, five-factor model, humanistic, and social-cognitive).
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Scientists and the general population favor genetic engineering because of the effects it has for the future generation; the advanced technology has helped our society to freely perform any improvements. Genetic engineering is currently an effective yet dangerous way to make this statement tangible. Though it may sound easy and harmless to change one’s genetic code, the conflicts do not only involve the scientific possibilities but also the human morals and ethics. When the scientists first used mice to practice this experiment, they “improved learning and memory” but showed an “increased sensitivity to pain.” The experiment has proven that while the result are favorable, there is a low percentage of success rate. Therefore, scientists have concluded that the resources they currently own will not allow an approval from the society to continually code new genes. While coding a new set of genes for people may be a benefitting idea, some people oppose this idea.
In this book , Esposito provides a succinct, up-to-date survey of the Islamic experience, an introduction to the faith, belief, and practice of Islam from its origins to its contemporary resurgence. He traces the emergence and development of this dynamic faith and its impact on world history and politics. He discusses the formation of Islamic belief and practice (law, theology, philosophy, and mysticism), chronicling the struggle of Muslims to define and adhere to their Islamic way of life. Equally important is the essential information Esposito provides on the contemporary world of Islam, from Muslim responses to the challenges of colonialism and modernization to the reassertion of Islam in politics and society.
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