Daniel Elazar, Bogus or Brilliant: A Study of Political Culture Across the American States :: Politics Political Science Essays

Daniel Elazar, Bogus or Brilliant: A Study of Political Culture Across the American States American states each have individual political cultures which are important to our understanding of their political environments, behavior, and responses to particular issues. While voters probably do not consciously think about political culture and conform to that culture on election day, they seem to form cohesive clusters in different areas of the state, creating similar group political ideologies. Because of these similarities, it is possible to measure the dominant political culture within states or areas of a state, gaining insight into the mind-set of state residents. Whatever the state culture, whether liberal or conservative, participatory or exclusive, political culture identifies dominant, state-wide trends. The question remains whether there is an accurate way to measure this political culture phenomenon in the United States. Many studies try to measure political culture within states, but some political scientists are wary of assigning state political cultures because such measurements may be of dubious empirical grounding. While the process may not be entirely empirically sound, different state political cultures seem to exist and demand further analysis. In 1966, Daniel Elazar published his now famous assessment of United States’ political cultures. His evaluation of state cultures has been the focus of much study and criticism over the past three decades. Elazar proposes that the political culture in the United States developed in different regions due to east to west migratory patterns moving across the continent. Patterns of political culture were established during the Western frontier migration, as individuals followed â€Å"lines of least resistance which generally led them due west from the immediately previous area of settlement† (Elazar, 1966: 99). As a result, like-minded indivi duals migrated together and stayed together, causing similar political ideology to transform into a dominant political culture (Elazar, 1994). Political cultures are dominant in certain areas of the country due to westward expansion. Moralism characterizes communitarian-agrarian New England and the far northern states, while the agrarianism of the middle states is individualistic. Traditionalism dominates the South and its plantation agrarianism structure. Typically, moralistic political cultures focus on agrarianism, individualism on commerce, and traditionalism on aristocratic legitimacy. These differing foci help to categorize Elazar’s political cultures in the United States (Elazar 1984: 119, 122). Elazar’s political culture typology divides state political culture into three dominant categories: moralist, individualist, and traditionalist. Moralists measure government by its commitment to the public good and concern for public welfare.

Désirée’s Baby by Kate Chopin in 1892 Essay

The text Dà ©sirà ©e’s Baby is written by Kate Chopin in 1892. The story takes place in Louisiana before the American Civil War, on two plantations, one called Valmond and another called L’Abri. The story is told in omniscient third-persons point of view, meaning that the narrator not only describes what happens, but also reveals the thoughts of the characters from time to time. You can see an example here: â€Å"When the baby was about three months old, Dà ©sirà ©e awoke one day to the conviction that there was something in the air menacing her peace.† The language is of an old kind, but that just contributes in giving the story meaning, because it puts you into the time, in which the story takes place. The story starts with Madame Valmond, who is going to visit her daughter, Dà ©sirà ©e, because she has given birth to a baby boy. On her way over, Valmond thinks about the time she found Dà ©sirà ©e all alone, when she was just a little baby. Valmonde arrives at her daughters house called L’Abri, which is owned by Dà ©sirà ©e’s husband Arband Aubigny. When she sees her grandchild, she notices something different with him. Valmond leaves again and 3 month later, Dà ©sirà ©e is still at L’Abri with her child. Armand, who had been so loving towards her, has become really cold and do not want to speak to his wife: â€Å"†Armand,† she called to him, in a voice which must have stabbed him, if he was human. But he did not notice. â€Å"Armand,† she said again. (s. 4)† She knows something has changed. One day her baby is lying on the bed, and one of the slaves on the farm is fanning the child with a fan, here she finds out what is wrong; â€Å"She looked from her child to the boy who stood beside him, and back again; over and over. â€Å"Ah!† It was a cry that she could not help; which she was not conscious of having uttered. The blood turned like ice in her veins, and a clammy moisture gathered upon her face. (s. 4)† This is the climax of the story. She now realizes that Armand thinks she is black, which was something he saw as a bad race, and did not tolerate it. She gets really sad, Dà ©sirà ©e confronts her husband, and he confirms what she thought. She writes to her mother about her concerns. Madame Valmond writes back, that she and the baby should come home to them. When she shows the letter to Armand, he just makes her leave. He does this because he is mad at her, for putting him in such a situation; â€Å"Moreover he no longer loved her, because of the unconscious injury she had brought upon his home and his name.† He is too proud of his old family tree and their values, so he could never be with someone who descended from slaves. He chooses tradition over love right there. Dà ©sirà ©e begs him, but ends up leaving L’Abri and going to her parents farm Vermond, with her baby. At the end Armand finds a letter his mother has written to her father, in which it says; â€Å"She was thanking God for the blessing of her husband’s love;- â€Å"But, above all,† she wrote, â€Å"night and day, I thank the good God for having so arranged our lives that our dear Armand will never know this his mother, who adores him, belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery.† This is when the unexpected element occurs. Armand, who as most rich people at that time, bases his worth of a person primarily on his or hers race. He has stopped loving his wife, just based on genetics, because he believes it did not suit his family’s heritage. It is now clear, that the ones Armand felt he ashamed by having Dà ©sirà ©e as a wife, his own parents, actually knew Armand was black, but they still loved him just as much. Armand has just thrown his wife away just based on something, which actually was his fault. The themes in this story are Racism, which was a really big problem at that time. It is also judging by appearances, which Armand does. When he met Desiree, he loved her outer beauty and her good family name. When he comes to think she is black, he just rejects his wife and his child, only judged by their skin. Another theme could be that love is colorblind, which is something both Armand’s and Dà ©sirà ©e’s parents know, because even though they know that their children could be colored, they do not care. Dà ©sirà ©e do not abandon her son, so she has the same opinion.

Positivism: Strict Scientific Method

Positivism is a philosophy that stated that the only authentic knowledge is scientific knowledge, and that such knowledge can only come from positive affirmation of theories through strict scientific method. The main thrust of the positivist research tends to follow certain scientific and measurable methods to conduct a research. A positivist approach is one that is considered objective, detached and if I may put that way, structured by the researcher's views who test a hypothesis.It is usually associated with quantitative data collection methods and statistical analysis. The positivist researcher try to be at a value free, unbiased and neutral in all respect while conducting the researcher under the assumptions positivism. â€Å"Using scientific method and language to investigate and write about human experience is supposed to keep the research free of the values, passions, politics and ideology of the researcher. This approach to research is called positivist, or positivist-empiri cist and it is the dominant one among the general public. (Anne B Ryan) Positivism sees social science as an organized method for combining deductive logic with precise empirical observations of individual behavior in order to discover and confirm a set of probabilistic causal laws that can be used to predict general patterns of human activity.On the same time positivism approach found to be inefficient when we include social structure of society, life complexity and other problem which can’t be covered when we try to use the quantitative methods to conduct the research. This scientific approach which positivism espouses is rightly thought to be inadequate when it comes to learning about how people live, how they view the world, how they cope with it, how they change it, and so on. †(Anne B Ryan) In the positivism only those topics has been selected those having a public sphere and with the blend of mathematical and technical advantage because research characterized by these norms considered to be efficient and reliable in the positivism playground. Marxism, relies on experiments and verification, objective experience, history, scientific logic and reasoning for acquiring knowledge.Marxism is wholly science oriented because truth based on experiments and verification is its basis — its entire structure rests on scientific experiments, and scientific truth. Marxism holds that on the question of knowing truth science is far more powerful than the power of an individual. Under Marxian approach it is only rational to depend upon science rather than on the belief Orientalism is a form of cultural studies in which the concept of orientalism or the difference between east and west is base of the theory.With the start of European colonization the Europeans came in contact with the lesser developed countries of the east. They found their civilization and culture very exotic, and established the science of orientalism, which was the study of the orie ntals or the people from these exotic civilization. In this process Europeans divided the world into two parts; the east and the west or the occident and the orient or the civilized and the uncivilized. This was totally an artificial boundary; and it was laid on the basis of the concept of them and us or theirs and ours. The Europeans used orientalism to define themselves.Some particular attributes were associated with the orientals, and whatever the orientals weren’t the occidents were. The Europeans defined themselves as the superior race compared to the orientals; and they justified their colonization by this concept. They said that it was their duty towards the world to civilize the uncivilized world. The main problem, however, arose when the Europeans started generalizing the attributes they associated with orientals, and started portraying these artificial characteristics associated with orientals in their western world through their scientific reports, literary work, a nd other media sources.What happened was that it created a certain image about the orientals in the European mind and in doing that infused a bias in the European attitude towards the orientals. This prejudice was also found in the orientalists and all their scientific research and reports were under the influence of this. The generalized attributes associated with the orientals can be seen even today, for example, the Arabs are defined as uncivilized people; and Islam is seen as religion of the terrorist. Another feature of orientalism was that the culture of the orientals was explained to the European audience by linking them to the western culture.

Bioethics and Health Care

Introduction: The controversy over water fluoridation in the community arises from moral, ethical, political and security issues related to water fluoridation. As early as 1930 there was an inverse relationship between the fluoride concentration in drinking water and the presence of caries. The use of public water for transporting drugs such as fluorination violates medical ethics. Ethical issues related to water fluoridation include the balance of risks and benefits, the presence of other interventions with the same consequences, and the role of consent. For more than a decade, bioethics and health care professionals have struggled to determine the exact meaning of being medically ineffective. The word waste comes from the Latin futilis. In other words, it is easy to melt. It is a common usage developed from the Greek legend that the daughter of King Arnaus of Argos killed her husband and as a punishment they were forced to gather water permanently in a bucket that leaked water. To reach the empty bucket destination, when the goal is water, provide useless definitions as less or invalid. With the rapid development of medical technology, the work of medical staff is to investigate the resulting ethical dilemma. This is where bioethics works. By applying ethical principles to the medical field, bioethics aims to research and study ways to make decisions on health management. It is a core element to ensure that medical practices and procedures will benefit society as a whole. I explained that the term bioethics was originally introduced in 1971 to refer to a combination of biology, biological science and human knowledge. However, its uses such as clinical decisions, controversial new research, the impact of new technologies, global concerns, public policy, etc. are more widespread today. In fact, bioethics has played a central role in affecting policy changes and laws in recent years. Detailed discussion on current bioethical issues affecting the provision of med ical services. Exploring ethical theory and related principles as a basis for occupational decision making and public policy decision. The course focuses on ethics research process and modern health practices, the relationship between research and education. The historical and comparative analysis of the Western, non-Western, indigenous and indigenous American philosophy includes the essential, aesthetic and utility value of nature and land. We will study modern environmental ethics in detail, such as deep ecology, land ethics, eco feminism, animal rights theory.

English - The Moon Project Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

English - The Moon Project - Research Paper Example Further imposing the challenge, Kennedy implied that even a nation possess the talent and resource necessary for a goal to be achieved only putting initiatives to acting on goals can ensure a nations dream to fulfillment (Kennedy). Kennedy laid upon America the goals of making reality out of the vision of putting a man on the face of the moon bringing the American flag above and ahead of space discovery among any nation. First, is a challenge of commitment, asking the American nation to commit in achieving the goal of bringing an American to the moon and back safely. No single project in this period will be more impressive to mankind or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish†¦ it will not be man going to the moon†¦ it will be an entire nation. For all of us must work to put him there. (Kennedy) The succeeding goal challenges were set in providing additional budget and expenditures for additional proje cts in congruence with the moon project like the development of a Rover nuclear rocket, accelerating the use of space satellites for world-wide communications and a satellite system for the Weather Bureau’s world-wide weather observation (Kennedy). ... Ending with a call to every scientist, every engineer, every serviceman, every technician, contractor, and civil servant to give personal pledge so that American nation will move forward, with the full speed of freedom, in the exciting adventure of space (Kennedy). American-Russian race to space A number of political factors affected Kennedy's decision and the timing of it. In general, Kennedy felt great pressure to have the United States catch up to and overtake the Soviet Union in the space race (Garber). The United States and Russia competed with each other in developing space programs. During the 1960's and 1970's space race; both nations went under tremendous exploratory efforts in being the first nation to successfully conquer space (Smith).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Space travel began on October 4, 1957 when Russia launched Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite to circle the earth. Man-made satellites are referred to as "artificial" because they are not a natural occurrence lik e the moon. These satellites orbit the earth for varying lengths of time depending on their size and distance from the earth, and they collect and transmit information that is used for a variety of purposes (Smith).    The second artificial satellite, Sputnik II, was launched in November of the same year carrying a dog named Laika, the first animal sent into orbit. As scientists studied how animals responded physically to space travel, it helped to prepare humans for the challenges under the same conditions (Smith).    January 31 of 1958, United States first artificial satellite Explorer I, enters into orbit around the earth (â€Å"Race to the Moon†). The United States launched many other satellites after the success of Explorer 1, for the purpose

Identify and discuss two nutrition problems facing america and 2 Essay

Identify and discuss two nutrition problems facing america and 2 recommendations to lwer the risk and health coasts associated with these issues - Essay Example Eating a balanced diet is a nutritional value that the Americans have ignored or do not follow, thus the rising economic and individual costs on healthcare. Past researches portrays that restaurants have increased due to the increase in demand for food and drinks from the Americans who do not like cooking and not observing the need for balanced diet. These poor nutritional habits are the cause of many deadly diseases that are expensive to maintain thus the need for the essay to discuss some of them. Obesity and diabetes are the major illnesses caused by poor nutrition habits that affect most of the American citizens and they facilitate the emergence of other chronic diseases (Duggan, Watkins, & Walker, 2008). Obesity is a body mass index (BMI) that is greater than 30 kg/m2 and it is caused by overeating and consumption of food rich in fats. Obesity and over weight is increasing at an alarming rate in the U.S. and this disease has led to the government increasing its resources on this disease to $150 billion. In the past 30 years, obesity and overweight have increased and currently more than 60% of the adults are either obese or overweight. The individual expenses have increased due to the increase of people paying to reduce weight. The increment in obesity is identical to the increment of restaurants in the U.S. since most people have adopted the consumption of fast food and Trans fats. The rate of children obesity is also in the rise since in 1974 only 5.1% of children were obese. The reports released in 2008 reveal that more than 14.6% of children were obese (Pan American Health Organization. 2010). The issue of obesity has become a global crisis. The World Health Organization (WHO) has listed it in its top ten-health crisis, and it is undertaking measures to enlighten the world on the issue of healthy nutrition. The BMI used by the WHO has been changed and

Why The US Has Higher Crime Rates Than Other Nations Case Study

Why The US Has Higher Crime Rates Than Other Nations - Case Study Example As an aspect of an individual’s personality, self-control reflects the ability to control and set up boundaries on oneself internally in response to a certain stimulus in the environment. Myers (1995) believed that behavior and actions are affected by whether people perceive the control as internal or external in which the individual is at the mercy of the outside world. Studies have made evaluative comparisons between internal and external control which showed to a great extent that internal control subjects achieve better in a social structure and act more independently in Bennassi, et al (1998). Human behavior has shown control that is often perceived as an external force that triggers feelings of depression giving out an opportunity for avoidance. However, individuals who have learned and experience self-control can easily avoid the emergence of disruptive behavior. Self-control helps a person to resist the momentary temptations of socially unacceptable behavior. Basically, through social learning man learns to exercise personal restraints through positive and negative reinforcements through normal cognitive processing. A greater degree of self-control helps a person to resist the momentary temptations of antisocial behavior in Gottfredson and Hirschi(1990:97). Further, they showed in the General Theory of Crime, that the development of criminal behavior in individuals points out that both the elements of ‘prudent and criminal behavior’ can be predicted through the evaluation and assessment of the lack of self-control alone. They argued that self-control does not necessarily require the presence of a crime but the trait itself can be changed according to the opportunities afforded and constraints affected. Although a relatively new theory in relation to criminology their theory adapts to the idea that criminal activity is gratifying and the key to understanding crime is discovering what prevents people from the errant behavior. In effect, the authors grandstand on the idea that levels of self-control may predispose criminality.