Karl Duncker

He begins the discussion by setting up a case by using his credentials in law. The first piece of evidence Pink begins with is “The Candle Problem”, an experiment by Karl Duncker. In the candle problem, an experimenter gives a person a candle, some thumbtacks, and matches. The experimenter then says to that person that it is their job to attach the candle to the wall so the wax doesn’t drip onto the table. Many people when faced with this problem try multiple failed approaches. After five to ten minutes they eventually figure out the solution. The key to the solution is to overcome functional fixedness. Functional fixedness is related to having blinders on and not seeing what the possibilities are with the objects that are right in front of you. After Pink explains functional fixedness he uses an experiment by Sam Luxemburg that uses two groups of people to establish norms in solving a problem. One group…

Imperialism in its most simplistic form can be defined by the dictionary of human geography as “the creation and or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural and territorial relationship, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination.” It is also declared by this work to be primarily a western phenomenon that utilizes “expansionist, mercantilist policies” which was demonstrated during the nineteenth and twentieth century. Japan in the earlier…

that they can look after the children. However, it is not without its criticisms. There are many criticisms that can be made about this approach but a few of these are… It makes general assumptions; it views society being in harmony with one another and does not explain conflict in societal areas. It also doesn’t explain the reason behind deviant behaviour. It also says that within the cultures, people share values, but this isn’t true. This is because research cannot prove there are common…

One can construe a linkage between social order and social control. For society to exist there must be order and predictability and to ensure this some measures are to be taken. As such social control is simply all the mechanisms a society would put in place to ensure conformity and compliance of its members. This is significant to the economy to guarantee that people live in peace and that crime rates decrease in order for society to move towards a developed status. The Caribbean of all…

Karl Marx, unlike Durkheim, was not a sociologist by profession . He was a journalist but first and foremost a political activist around the time of the Industrial Revolution (Scott & Marshall, 2009:443). His political ideas were often rejected, but his work often had real sociological insight as his writing was based in the economics within society its’ social institutions (Giddens, 2009:18). His work as a whole was focused on conflict, centered around class divisions and relations, and as…

Karl Marx saw himself as the, “Newton of social science” (Seidman, 34) and described his book, Capital, as being ”to the social sciences what Darwin’s On the Origin of Species was to the natural sciences” (Seidman, 34). Marx was correct about his work because even today, he is seen as one of the most influential social science writers. The readings discussed Germany during the life of Marx as well as his theories created through the observation of capitalism and class structure. Born in 1818…

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece, The Great Gatsby, can be read as a critique of capitalism. Fitzgerald created a world where class and money are the essence of everyone’s desire. The plot and the settings of unfolding events in The Great Gatsby are perfect examples of structures of capitalism, along class lines, which allows for a Marxist capitalist critique. Even though Fitzgerald wasn’t a socialist or Marxist himself, he shows in his book how capitalism creates and alienates different social…

Marx uses these points to explain how free market capitalism causes this estranged labor. He says that this type of economical and political system causes people to be alienated from “the product…from species-being…from other human beings…in productivity work” (Wolf 2003). He uses this theory to show us the effects that a capitalist society could have on all aspects of a human, his physical ability, his mental capacity, his social life and the obvious economic life. Marx adds to this bashes…

I was born in the city of Trier in Germany on May 5th 1818. I attended the University of Bonn at the age of 17 with the idea that I would study law, seeing as my father was a lawyer. I began to form relations with Jenny von Westphalen, who would later become my wife. Her father, whom I looked up to, heavily influenced me in the realms of politics as well as literature. My father moved me out of the University of Bonn to the University of Berlin, where I began to focus on Hegelianism. The…

The individualism of a person is defined within his/her social class. In the book Brave New World, Aldous Huxley creates a utopian society that is constructed within social classes that gives an individual all the power or none at all. Huxley then presents the theory of Marxism, where the class struggle is nothing less, but the backbone of an individual’s social status and where they stand in society. Huxley’s text clearly is based on the realism of social class structure and ideology where the…