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CAPITALISM IN THE U. S. The gift economy functions to form culture and bind people impersonally consistent with the nature of material economy that dominates the large-scale economic systems of the world. While the result of the latter is the accumulation of material wealth, the result of the former is the accumulation of social capital, the fostering of personal, face-to-face human relationships that is the real stuff of culture. The gift economy, as the article describes it, is a soulful way to conduct commerce, where every gift, as the author poetically points out, is a bearer of being that fosters a sense of belonging ness among those who participate in it.
This is in contrast to the material economy, characterized by mass production, mass distribution of commodities the exchanges of which elicit no sense of human obligation after the transaction (Harvey). ONeill lucidly explains the difference between these two forms of distribution and exchange, by stating that while both economic and social motives operate in non-market economies, in market economies the social component is often missing except when the exchange is between friends and family. With strangers in a material economy, social gain is usually sacrificed for efficiency and speed. He notes that the crucial difference between gifts and sales is that gift exchanges create and strengthen social relationships. He further explains that the gift economy is in fact a means of commerce for the non-market economies of isolated, self-sufficient foraging, pastoralist, and horticultural societies, where exchanges are rarely impersonal, and the basis of political power and influence is not the accumulation of wealth and the control of the means of production, but from social status acquired from generosity and personal skills.
He observes that gift economies only work in isolation, and are easily corrupted by prolonged contact with societies with market economies (ONeill). More on commerce between small-scale societies, it is noted that such commerce involved more balanced reciprocity and more social gain even between ethnic groups, as in the case of inter-societal commerce among small-scale societies making up the Kula Ring in the Southwest Pacific Ocean, where senior members of different societies offer gifts to one another prior to a more formal trading undertaken by younger members that usually resulted in balanced reciprocity. In the commercial transactions around the Kula Ring, the emphasis is on social rather than economic gain (ONeill). Oneill's anthropological analysis of the gift and material economies seem to suggest that cultural values that place a higher priority on social gain and personal and community bonds dominate gift economies.
Harveys ideal, with its emphasis on the establishment of soul, connectedness, and community bonds, can be said to spring from the same deeply-ingrained human impulse, as well as the same set of motivations and cultural biases, that have historically prompted small, closed communities to conduct commerce in the same way. In the United States, wealth and income play an especially strong role in stratification. This emphasis on economic differences is reflected in the term social class. A social class is a group of people who occupy similar positions in the system of stratification because they occupy similar positions in the economy. Thus, when Americans speak of the middle class, they mean people who are neither extremely rich nor extremely poor. Class position influences virtually every aspect of our lives, from the kind of food we eat to the quality of our housing, from our education, occupation and income to our choice of marriage partners, our tastes in art, and even the number of years we live.
When modern stratification analysis started in the mid-nineteenth century, the biggest issue was the way in which early capitalism was producing a new division between rich and poor. Marx argued that this division was new in two senses. First, capitalism produced new sources of wealth including large-scale trade and, especially, industrial production. Merchants and factory owners grew spectacularly rich, seemingly overnight. Their wealth helped them gradually to replace the aristocrats of the old feudal era as the most influential class in society. Marx's theory is the foundation of modern stratification analysis, especially class analysis.
He did more than any other thinker to show that structural inequality is central to social organization, and especially to capitalism. A number of modern researchers follow his emphases on the economic foundations of class structure and the conflict and problems produced by this inequality. But other sociologists have challenged Marx on each of these points, emphasizing the importance of other key concepts besides social structure. A high level of attainment at high-quality schools is the gateway to economic and professional opportunity.
A high level of educational attainment also means credentials, a kind of educational seal of approval, which is increasingly important in American society. Yet in the United States high educational achievement is far more readily available to some kinds of people than to others. Rothstein's book Using Social, Economic and Educational Reform to Close the Black-White Achievement Gap expounds on how social class differences affect the academic performance of children. This is because the social classes affect the way child rearing is done by parents. Even if this is not seen all the time, they still influence the average tendencies of families from different social classes (Black-White Achievement Gap). In no uncertain terms, Rothstein pens in his book, Children who are raised by parents who are professionals will, on average, have more inquisitive attitudes toward the material presented by their teachers than will children who are raised by working-class parents.
As a result, no matter how competent the teacher, the academic achievement of lower-class children will, on average, almost inevitably be less than that of middle-class children. The probability of this reduced achievement increases as the characteristics of lower-social-class families accumulate. (Rothstein 2004). Rothstein states that the difference between the average performances of black and white children can be pointed back to the differences in their social class characteristics. There are also cultural characteristics such as when black students value education less than white students, which can still be further, traced to the discrimination of the labor market towards black workers (Rothstein 2004). Author John Ross states that social class exerts an influence on student attainment through the parent-student interactions. He gives an example of middle-class parents as more driven in terms of higher career aspirations for their children.
They are able to guide their children by helping them focus on the structure of problems. He distinguishes this with the working-class parents that tend to focus on solutions limited to specific problems. This tends to lessen the ability of children to make decisions for themselves since they receive knowledge passively (Ross, John. ). The class-related difference in parents involvement in their childrens school does not stem from working-class parents indifference to education. Most of them value it. However, a number of social forces conspire to keep them at arms length from the classroom.
One is a feeling of academic incompetence. Most working-class parents have only a high school education, and many are high school dropouts. They see themselves as unqualified to get involved in their childrens education. In a society such as the United States, some groups of people have over the long years been striving for equality in opportunities, access to social services and more importantly the right to self-determination. For example, the African Americans came to the country initially as slaves and with onset of the Civil War, their cause of emancipation has been evident as statesmen began lobbying for their cause, foremost to which is the freedom from servitude. There is now a need to include African Americans and incorporate them as stakeholders in political and social process.
We know for a fact that as the years progressed African Americans have enjoyed significant roles and contributions in shaping American society in general. Their participation in the dynamics of American society is largely based on the liberal and democratic setting operating in the country. However, there are still some instances where they still experience some degree of marginalization because they are still perceived as minorities in a predominantly white society. Certain groups of people were denied any access to aids and tools that would make them deserving of better positions.
They have lesser economic opportunities in life. Affirmative action may be necessary so that training and education can be given to these groups of people such that they are integrated into the productive workforce. Equality in the full extent would be difficult to achieve especially considering the highly diverse cultural groups that comprise American society, as conflicts would inevitably arise. Towards this end, there should be viable and sustainable channels in which the interests of each group are upheld based on what is good for society in general.
With this in place compromises are made leading to a more harmonious society (Blackstone, 1975). Recently, it was revealed that the Dearing Report of New Zealand's tertiary education review lacks more details on the role of new information technologies for the universities in the future. It seemed that the tertiary education was concerned more about the money and profits. More than the need for a change of understanding and interpreting of the environment, there is a need for individuals to renegotiate their working conditions, unemployment and lower wages.
In fact in an article on Political Writings, it was observed that: As for state control, the technologies of language touch its domain in regard to all aspects of its responsibility for the Idea of being-together: the multiplication of organizations for management and administration (ministers, agencies, missions); the constitution of memories (files, archives, etc. ); the relationship to the new media; and so forth. The important fact is this: in handling language, the new technologies directly handle the social bond, being-together. They make it more independent of traditional regulation by institutions, and more directly affected by knowledge, technology, and the marketplace (Leonard, 1993, p. 17 as q. in Roberts, Peter and Peters, Michael). Some sociologists have argued that schools are agencies by which those who hold power in capitalist societies perpetuate existing social structures and social-class power relations. This they do partly by saturating students wit the language, symbols, values and concepts of capitalism and by excluding those of any other ideology (Apple, 1979).
Indeed, there are complex social processes that connote effects on the National Economy, State, Society, Family and Individual. Inquiring into policies will help people recognize what happens and how to move forward. The need to innovate in...
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Research essay sample on Society In General Groups Of People
