Karl Heinrich Ulrichs

Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There, by David Brooks, is an insightful exploration of societal roles throughout the 20th and 21st century in North America. I believe this book provides a framework to understand how and why standards and class have developed in the way they have and, in my case, allows the reader to draw conclusions regarding their own goals and desires in their private and professional endeavours. The term Bobo is derived from combining the terms…

The process of globalization is so uniquely displayed as Timothy Brooks uses Johannes Vermeer’s painting to illustrate the important events in the seventieth and eighteenth centuries, as well as shed light on the world, causing readers to think in a different manner. He shows that globalization was not simply because of one person, or one group of people, but many different cultures, thoughts, and ideas. Through the use of Vermeer’s paintings, Timothy Brooks discusses the rise of the global…

The argument between whether socialism or capitalism is better has been a long-standing debate within the economic community for years. In the article, Capitalism or Socialism? Another Two-Pole Solutions from the “Journal of Global Economics”, Paul Cusack suggests that the best option is somewhere in the middle. He uses the two-pole technique to understand what the best amount of government spending is within an economy. The two-pole technique is a mathematical way of comparing two contrasting…

Many sociologists use different theories to help them understand the diverse behaviors in society. Sociologist often use the most three important theoretical approaches, structural-functional approach, the social-conflict approach, and the symbolic-interaction approach. These three approaches majorly contribute to the understanding of how our society works. Sociologist also apply these three theoretical approaches to how families function and their operations. Structural-functional approach and…

Thornstein Veblen and the Theory of the Leisure Class Thorstein Bunde Veblen was a 19th century Norwegian-American economist and sociologist who attained a degree of reputation thanks to his critique of Capitalism, especially after the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the ensuing period of Great Depression. Veblen published his most prominent work, “The Theory of the Leisure Class” in 1899, in which he married Darwinism to Sociology to present a concept of evolutionary development of human…

Albert Einstein covers several topics in his essay, Why Socialism, including: the duality of a person, the shortcomings of capitalism, and how some aspects of socialism could help solve the socio-economic crises we face today. Rather than promoting a private economy blinded by selfish interests, Einstein advocates for a planned economy that “adjusts production to the needs of the community” (Einstein). Moreover, he emphasis the role of the common people in making a successful transition toward a…

The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, is a fictional literary work that illustrates the labor conditions in the Chicago stockyards, describing the harsh realities immigrants faced and exposing the callous side of human nature. The Jungle is a depressing realization of how unregulated capitalistic corporation and monopolies treated human beings as less than human, with complete disregard for the workers' well-being. Throughout the book, Sinclair displays the struggles of an immigrant family in order…

Charlottesville: A Durkheimian Perspective Introduction Emile Durkheim plays a pivotal role in the field of sociology. His innovative research paved the way to new theories that help us explain and understand the way society works. Durkheim is responsible for numerous contributions to the field of sociology, but is often known for his theories on collective conscience, solidarity, and anomie. Collective Conscience Collective conscience denotes the interest of the collective level of…

For this summary essay assignment, I’ve chosen One World, Rival Theories by Jack Snyder and Liberalism and World Politics by Michael W. Doyle. One World, Rival Theories states the basics of all three major theories and gives a general idea of liberalism’s main points. Liberalism and World Politics on the other hand gives a detailed explanation of liberalism alone and continues to break down the theory into three separate categories. This helps to fill in some of the gaps in the first article as…

In the book Freakonomics the authors, Stephen Levitt and Stephen Dubner, takes a novel approach to studying economics, sharing its most interesting research. First they begin with the topic of correlation and causation. According to them correlation means, “A relationship exists between two factors—let’s call them X and Y—but it tells you nothing about the direction of that relationship. It’s possible that X causes Y; it’s also possible that Y causes X; and it may be that X and Y are both being…