Sum Blog #7

Socialization of Inequality

 

I should apologize in advance because what I am going to blog about is in essence a rant on the deplorable degradation that is apparent concerning the intelligence of the younger and some older members of the U.S. population in regards of history and common sense. It is our inequality of education and intelligence. 

Anna Julia Cooper has presented an interesting viewpoint or observation, that inequality is the product of the social education that the people are given. What I see by this is that in a capitalistic society, where consumption is held as a virtue, the values of an individual can me marginalized to reflect such a value scale.

Much can be said for the state of the United States in regards to that example of socialized inequality. With our social focus of the next best thing, in conjunction to our focus on the future, not much attention is spent on the present or even the past. I see some consequence of this “In a Rush” mentality appear whenever I encounter these, “YOLO” or “SWAG” quoting individuals, some of which are older than me, and I’m 26.

What should not stand out or be focused on are these “Beliebers” acting in the moment, the illogical ramblings I see in interviews such as the one given by Rebeca Black, or an Ex-governor of Alaska who now has a reality show. What happened to the “History” on the History Channel? There has been a great disconnect from the important phrase, “Those who don’t remember their history, are doomed to repeat it!” 

 

Do Not Play with Young Children Presesnt

 

With that rant out of the way, in terms of social equality, we in the United States are generally socialized to accept others as valued individuals if not perfectly equal. I’m referring to unfortunate pocket s of holdout bigotry such as the westborough baptist church (intentionally not capitalized). We also still have that disparity of male and female pay wages which need addressing but we are doing relatively ok. The big difference is the comparison of our socialized inequality or equality when compared to those nations is obviously far worse than we are. Places like radical Middle East nations or North Korea, compared to them, we may have some lingering items on our “To Do” list, but I think we have got most of that stuff checked off.

Summ Blog #5

Rationalization

From what I can understand from what is proposed by Max Weber, rationalization is somewhat like turning the people of a society into an assembly line. for me this appears to much of a hindrance for the health of the society as a whole. I know it might sound like the top one percent's argument at first, but let me explain.

The saying, "let everyone have the opportunity to fail" may seen a bit harsh, but it is what leads to the advancement of a society, in my opinion. Case and point, out of all great achievements and inventions, none of them were perfect on the first attempt. the process of trial and error is how any intelligent being refines an idea to make it stronger or better. By this process, the failures are the reason to try again.

How does this apply to rationalization you might ask? That's because from what I can tell of the ideology of rationalization, is that it limits the possibilities of invention are creative alternatives. It does this because that is the result when you completely regulate and organize a society into a perfectly neat and organized system.

Now, on the opposite side of the scale from rationalization, is as I see it, is anarchy. Now for obvious reasons, anarchy also hinders the processes that allow for invention and advancement. So logic should infer, that the best is a combination of both so that a central position on the scale can be established. to maintain this position some form of government is needed.

Unfortunately a part of the identification of Rationalization, is that the longer a governing body exists, the harder it is to change. Meaning that after a while, the government that was set up will have a difficult time adjusting to maintain its purpose. With out an answer to "How do we make a government that wont degrade?" is answered, I see any and all societies either in a stalemate or in decline. That isn't to say that no advancement is possible, it's just that not as much as could is occurring.

 Feeding School Children

Government Failure at a Basic Level.

 

 

SumBlog#4

 

The 3 kinds of Authority

Webber

 

The three kinds of authority proposed by Webber, although defined differently and separate, don't seem to be able to exist on their own when expanded onto the macro scale. What I mean by this is that from all that I can recall there is a balance of over lap. Lets start in the beginning and continue chronologically. Before an individual becomes a figure of authority, they start off with no Rational or Traditional power. They are unknown at this point and have no real experience. This leaves the Charismatic authority, and this is most likely gained through direct experience. From this charisma, the individual may now convince a group of people to allow that person to represent and lead, thus adding Rational authority to that gained by charisma.

 

During the individual's time spent as a leader, problems and tests should occur that would threaten the status as a leader. If a failure occurs, it is the time to re-use the Charismatic authority developed from the beginning. If the person did not maintain the Charismatic authority, then they would be replaced. After a while if successful, the people that are led would become complacent and habituated creating the Traditional authority. After this point the original leading individual's children and other family, benefiting from the success of the former, could begin to pursue or inherit their own leadership roles.

 

However, these new leaders who get their start from another, are not immune to the maintenances required to keep their authority. Failure in this would lead to a over throw by newcomers who have the Charismatic and Rational authorities. This is easily demonstrated by the many usurpations and rebellions that occurred through out the history of any areas that hosted empires. So in the end, it appears that on a large scale, and especially in the political histories of this world, the three types of authority: Rational, Traditional, and Charismatic, exists in a varying array of combinations, to allow for lasting periods of authority.

 

Just the basics to start becoming a leader!