The Consequences of Expectations In today’s society, men and women are constantly doing what others find acceptable yet ignoring what they truly desire. This is evident in Frank Pearce’s chapter, “Fatalism” in The Radical Durkheim and C. W. Mills’ chapter, “The Promise” in The Sociological Imagination as both men place great emphasis on the fact that our awareness of our everyday lives whether we are succeeding or failing affect how we behave and react to daily stressors (Mills 1959:1). However, Pearce’s Durkheimianism exceeds what Mills’ calls the “sociological imagination” by demonstrating that all walks of life suffer no matter their employment or social ranking, but in very different ways. Additionally, Pearce’s explanation on fatalism …show more content…
Unfortunately, this can result in suicide as individuals may feel that this is their only option if they want to break free from what modern society considers the “norm.” For example, I am regularly told by members of society that I need to get a good education, so that I can secure a well paying job, get married, and eventually have children. This is incredibly stressful, so I can see why men and women may feel that if they are unique and want a different lifestyle, suicide might be a valid choice even though I do not recommend it. FATALISM AND SLAVERY Pearce’s theory of fatalism effectively explains slavery by pointing out that slaves were usually born into a family of lower status, so they very quickly came to terms that their fate in the world and their personal experiences were bound to happen because of their misfortune. As a result, slaves continued to allow their masters to treat them as property with souls in order to survive in society (Pearce 2013:123). Sadly, their masters thought that their actions were acceptable, so they persisted to use …show more content…
For example, Pearce’s theory of fatalism allows us to understand these concepts and what we as human beings do to ensure we meet these goals. As we get older we begin to recognize that we are expected to find a mate, so that we can continue on our legacy through children. If we do not follow this plan we are disrupting what our future has in store for us (Mills 1959:2). Hence, if a married woman cannot have children she is viewed as failure in our modern society as “she cannot satisfy her desires or fulfil her natural function (or social role)” as a mother (Pearce 2013:127). Therefore, if she cannot be what society wants her to become then her husband cannot either as his sexuality cannot be fully completed through fatherhood (Pearce 2013:127). This is the dilemma of fatalism as men and women are forced into thinking that if they do not comply to their set gender roles then they are not truly a man or a woman. Consequently, both childless husbands and wives suffer in the process as they cannot adapt to what our culture requires of them (Pearce 2013:127). This immense amount of hardship can lead to a lot of tension in these marriages; thus, a greater likelihood of divorce (Mills 1959:5). Regrettably, this also means that infertile men and women may contemplate suicide as a way to end their suffering of having to be seen as an outsider
Society is formed into a hierarchical format demonstrated by the relationship between slaves and slave owners. Douglass refers to this concept of racial formation in the following statement, “my faculties and powers of body and soul, are not my own. But property of a fellow mortal” (199). This statement refers to the master who has power to compel his slaves in any format that he or she may desire to a point of controlling every single movement the slave makes. Douglass utilizes his knowledge of language to expose the psychology of the slave masters and the complex mechanisms that are created in order to systematically enslave African-Americans. Douglas refers to this idea as being “a slave for life” which underlies the issue that society is being organized hierarchically (157). Take for instance, when Douglass’ master Thomas chose not to protect him as a man or as property from the brutal treatment of Covey (171). This relationship demonstrates how masters willingly objectify their slaves as replaceable commodities. Many slave owners took advantage of the power they had over their property without any regards to the repercussions. Instead, African-Americans were belittled and coerced into being oppressed to a point where they accepted being a puppet in a master’s
I found that, to make a contented slave it is necessary to make a thoughtless one. It is necessary to darken his moral and mental vision,and, as far as possible, to annihilate the power of reason. He must be able to detect no inconsistencies in slavery; he must be made to feel that slavery is right, and he can be brought to that only when he ceases to be a man.* (315)
To begin, throughout slavery slaves were forced to endure tremendous amounts of psychological/emotional trauma. Psychological/emotional trauma can be defined as the heavy amounts of stress that the slaves were forced to experience due to the harsh reality of the slave lifestyle. The psychological/emotional trauma caused slaves to negatively change their perspective on life and their overall way of thinking. This is illustrated in the film Sankofa, when the film excellently portrays the differences between the two save classes: field slaves and house slaves. In the movie Sankofa the field slaves have a strong dislike for the house slaves, because the house slaves received many luxuries that the field slaves didn’t. These luxuries included having
Section I: One of Laurie Abraham goals was to present an accurate reflection of what poor and chronically ill African Americans encounter when they do not have access to the best health care our society has to offer. She wanted to report the most accurate story of the impact that social policy had once it hit the street level operations. She also wanted to provide a qualitative description of the problems linked to the lack of access to care by deeply illustrating a deeper understanding of what it really meant to the poor when they lacked adequate access to care. Abraham wanted to provide criticism of our social policies such as Medicaid and Medicare and how they affect individuals such as the Barnes family. She also wanted to translate the
The first element of slavery that Frederick attacks is that slavery puts constraints on a slave’s individuality. In his narrative, he states that slaves were compared to animals by the way the slave owner treated them because slaves were considered as property and not as human beings. When slaves came into the new world, they were sold and given new names and over time were supposed to assimilate to the American culture. Since slave masters did not think slaves could assimilate to the American culture, slave masters kept them as workers; therefore, slaves were not given an education, leaving them illiterate, and thereby leaving them without any knowledge on how the American political system works. Slave owners thought that if slaves would become literate, that slaves would start to question the rights they have. Frederick argues that slaves l...
Often slaves were traded like livestock and forced to relocate from their familiar to the unknown. Female slaves were often raped by their male owners. Any offspring from such encounters suffered additionally due to resentment from the owner’s wife and were also often forced to relocate. Food and clothing were meagerly provided. Slave labor was incessant. Abuse and brutality were rampant. Beatings and whippings were common place. Numerous slave killings were never brought to justice. Fear and hopelessness knew no bounds. In this environment of both physical and mental control, slaves were made to fear for their own safety too much to attempt to stop the brutality. Through this dehumanization, they became virtual participants in the
Slavery is a legally recognised system in which people are considered the property of another. A slave has few rights and could be bought or sold and made to work for the owner without any choice or pay. The owner controls the slave's life and labour. Slavery is closely associated with racial prejudice, the belief that one race is superior to another.
Slavery can devour the mind and lead to extreme action. We know of Nat Turner, whose mind was twisted to the point of believing that the murder of another race would lead to him receiving justice for the inactions against him. Slavery has a way of twisting the mind…Of corrupting the human spirit, or of damaging what might otherwise be a benefit – not a detriment – to society! The very idea of slavery is an impairment of free will. Enslaved people are given no choice over how they want to live. Attempting to escape is tantamount to one’s own destruction. The punishments are gruesome beyond measure, and trial by jury is practically irrelevant to enslaved people. Furthermore, slaves are often punished for crimes as miniscule as looking at their masters improperly. If a slave appears dissatisfied, he must surely have the devil within him…Such are the presumptions made to the expense of enslaved people. We find that the punishments extend far beyond what might normally come to mind with the idea of “cruel or unusual” punishments. We find that some enslaved people have been tied to smoke houses…Before being set back to work, newfound injuries and
Promise Zone in Broome County was inspired by the work being done by two federal initiatives: “The SHARE project, a Safe Schools, Healthy Students grant and the Keeping Youth Drug-free and Safe (KYDs) Coalition, a Drug Free Community grant” (Promise Zone, 2017). As federal funding for the SHARE and KYDs programs were cut, the Promise Zone leaders worked to secure funding for Promise Zone, because of its necessity in Broome County. New York State realized the positive effect that these former programs had on the community and granted Promise Zone the funding to continue and further the missions of the previous programs. Promise Zone furthers the grassroots work by integrating families and communities in the work with students in a school setting.
Desfor Edles, Laura and Scott Appelrouth. 2010. “Émile Durkheim (1858-1917).” Pp. 100 and 122-134 in Sociological Theory in the Classical Era. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.
Frederick Douglass, the author of the book “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”, said “I saw more clearly than ever the brutalizing effects of slavery upon both slave and slaveholder” (Douglass, p.71). Modern people can fairly and easily understand the negative effects of slavery upon slave. People have the idea of slaves that they are not allow to learn which makes them unable to read and write and also they don’t have enough time to take a rest and recover their injuries. However, the negative effects upon slaveholder are less obvious to modern people. People usually think about the positive effects of slavery upon slaveholder, such as getting inexpensive labor. In the book “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass”, Douglass also shows modern readers some brutalizing impact upon the owner of the slaves. He talks about Thomas Auld and Edward Covey who are his masters and also talks about Sophia Auld who is his mistress. We will talk about those three characters in the book which will help us to find out if there were the negative influences upon the owner of the slaves or not. Also, we will talk about the power that the slaveholders got from controlling their slaves and the fear that the slaveholders maybe had to understand how they were changed.
In the early 1900’s people were content with the simple pleasures in life. They spent their time with family and friends, instead of the engaged in electronics. It is during this time of family devotion and satisfaction with the things they had in life that Kafka wrote a story about a man who continued to work a job where he felt alienated and unappreciated. The story portrays a loathsome image of the internal struggles that the workforce is soon to face when Gregor states, “The work is so much more strenuous than it would be in head office, and then there’s the additional ordeal of traveling, worries about train connections, the irregular, bad meals, new people all the time, no continuity, no affection,” (Puchner, Kafka, 2012, p211). Then he continues his internal self-sabotage when saying “If I tried that out with my director some time: it would be the order of the boot just like that… once I’ve got the money together to pay back what my parents owe (my boss)… Then we will have the parting of the ways. But for the time being, I’d better look sharp,...
treated them harshly. The masters’ perception of blacks was that they lacked self-discipline and morality. They justified slavery by claiming that they were training the slaves to master self discipline through work and also train them in the precepts of God. Not all masters were harsh and cruel. Some treated their slaves with kindness and subsequently were well loved. However, it still emerges that a majority of even the kindest masters still did not attach much humane value to their slaves. This has been exemplified in that despite amicable relationships, the slaves were rarely freed but instead passed on to other masters after the demise of their master like any other property owned by the late master.
On reading the excerpts by Peter Berger and C. Wright Mills, it is obvious that these two sociologists have very different methods as to how the practice of sociology should be conducted. While these two authors may differ in their various methods, they both have an underlying point that they are trying to make which can be made applicable in any person’s daily life.
In conclusion Ralf Dahrendorf’s theory of society demonstrates how there is an inherent conflict within each society and that the power struggle may shift at anytime throughout history as dynamics such as economics and politics change. In the Pursuit of Happyness, we see the three Dahrendorf’s theory of society play out as conflict in Chris’s life as he continues to shift as life changes occur. We also see the social differentiation of positions and the social stratification based of the wealth of the Wall Street and the lowly job that Chris holds being a salesmen with only a high school diploma. We see that the Wall Street workers are more respected, whereas someone like Chris, who only sales medical machines is not necessarily looked upon highly in society. What we can derive from his theory is that power is always the central concept.