He graduated from the University of Texas Austin in 1939 with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and a Master degree in Philosophy. In 1941 he gained a position as an associate professor at the University of Maryland teaching Sociology between 1941 and 1945. He married three times, Dorothy his first wife, Ruth the second, and Yaruslava his third wife. He is best known for his controversial critiques of both contemporary and sociological practice. Major focus of this work was on social inequality, the declining middle class, the relationship between individuals and society, and the importance of an historical perspective as a key part of sociological thinking.
How do Orwell and Attwood experiment with dystopian ingredients to reflect developing fears of modern societies? Both George Orwell’s 1984 and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale prove to be forewarnings of future societies run by totalitarian governments; where civilians are forced to live by their rules and for certain purposes to ensure the governments own goals and aspirations; however, both authors have differentiated dystopian features, or ingredients, to create governments for very different reasons. George Orwell, a middle-class scholar from England, lived in a society where class was almost everything, war had ripped apart the economy and social values were changing; he used the ideas of communism and other fascist regimes of the recent WW2 to implement a dystopia filled with control and suspicion, technological advances, censorship and war, much like the Nazi regime or Soviet Russia, thus reflecting his fear of totalitarianism and one party states who control their countries totally and absolutely. Atwood, of a later generation, grew up reading Orwell’s novels and inspired by them, wrote novels such as The Handmaid’s Tale in order to convey a feminist view of society through a dystopia, interweaving political ideas and sexuality, to forewarn of the effects of unjust governments and namely, the religious fundamentalists in America at the time. Even now these novels can be related to our own modern society, with political reforms in Libya for example.
While our government was fighting under the banner of “correcting” injustices, inequality was being experienced at home. How could the American government be intruding in foreign affairs for equality yet not offer it to its own citizens? The Civil Rights movement used this “hypocrisy” to its advantage. A country fighting for such cause should first apply it at home they would argue. As the Cold War continued, the American public grew discontent with the handling of the disputes .
This differs to the USA, who was Capitalist, which meant private individuals owned industry and kept the profits. The freedom and rights of each person were considered important and didn’t want the state interfering with their lives. The Americans were suffering greatly while being at war with Japan, and although Russia had agreed to help defeat Japan in return for getting land and resources in the east, they still had not done anything to help defeat them. President Truman decided he would use the atomic bomb to save more American lives. In August 1945, the war between the USA and Japan ended after the USA dropped 2 bombs, one on Hiroshima and one on Nagasaki.
Mass Media author, Jennifer Akins, states “…because the media are so prevalent in industrialized countries, they have a powerful impact on how those populations view the world.” This shows that people rely on the media for views on the world. Akin also states “…it is often in the media’s interest to not only report conflict, but to play it up, making it seem more intense than it really is.” For example, when there is a strike taking place at a company, the media crew and the reporter would make the protesters start chanting and hold up their placards once the camera would be on. Then there are situations where people would see the story and how extreme the situation is then immediately look at the race of the people involved to determine a stereotype. In the end, this would lead to racial profiling. One race that is used with many stereotypes based on the media and society are Hispanics.
Gandhi realized that simple nonviolent resistance enrages the authoritative figures of a country. Gandhi used the media and this behavior to expose the hatred of Indians. Since Gandhi, many groups of people have been influenced by his modern take on passive resistance. Occupy Wall Street is a protest movement that began September 17, 2011 in New York City. The protests are against social and economic inequality, corruption, greed of America and the influence of corporations on government policies.
That is why people avoid change. To encourage people to assist with the change, you must create a sense of urgency (Kotter, 1996, 1998) 2) You can try and battle the resistance to change that people have by yourself, or you can make your life much easier by enlisting the help of others. To counteract resistance, one option is to form a powerful coalition of managers to work with the most resistant people. 3) While it is not impossible to get things done without a definite plan of action, it is much simpler (and you get more cooperation) if there is a clear plan in place. Creating a vision and the strategies for achieving the vision will help expedite the change.
They affect our everyday lives from the television shows we watch to the political candidates on the ballot in November. The media’s role is to inform the public to the best of their ability so Americans can make informed decisions. A democracy is a government for and by the people, with power vested to the people, and carried out through our elected officials. The new media monopolies are censoring the public’s information to the point that our decisions become ill informed. Elected officials are influenced greatly by these monopolies as well, and it seems as though one has no chance in politics without some affiliation with these corporations.
A conservative knows that change is the rule of life among societies, but he insists that the past not be forgotten. He is the complete opposite of a liberal such as in he the fact that he can be pessismistic about the possibilities of reform, he chooses stability over change, continuity over experiment, and the past over the future. (Lesson 18) Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt both worked hard to bring the nation out of the great depression. They both instituted many programs and reforms to try and save that nation. Some historians even say that Hoover was the bridge to Roosevelt's new deal policy, however, these two men were very different in their ways of thinking and running the government.
This hence increased the influence the military had among the people for fascism. Not only that, the people lost even more faith in the government when their representatives, the diet, were unable to make any positive changes to their lives. Thus this made the people want a new form of government which could do so and gave fascism a chance to rise. Corruption of the government also played a part in the rise of