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The impact of colonization on Indigenous people
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The video Guns, Germs and Steel was a fascinating look at the roots of inequality. I do like Jared Diamonds take on the different aspects that contributed to the situation which was further compounded by geographical location. His theory focuses on western colonials who plundered their way into other continents bringing with them Guns, Germs and Steel claiming a hierarchy over the native people while believing they were superior and entitled. Diamond takes us on a journey back in time to 13,000 years ago which he believes is when people after the last ice age started thriving in the Middle East. Gathering grasses that grew between the trees (wheat and barley). Diamond believes these simple grasses had a huge impact on modern civilization.
Jared Diamond, author of the Pulitzer Prize Winning, National Best Selling book Guns, Germs and Steel, summarizes his book by saying the following: "History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among peoples' environments, not because of biological differences among peoples themselves." Guns, Germs and Steel is historical literature that documents Jared Diamond's views on how the world as we know it developed. However, is his thesis that environmental factors contribute so greatly to the development of society and culture valid? Traditions & Encounters: A Brief Global History is the textbook used for this class and it poses several different accounts of how society and culture developed that differ from Diamond's claims. However, neither Diamond nor Traditions are incorrect. Each poses varying, yet true, accounts of the same historical events. Each text chose to analyze history in a different manner. Not without flaws, Jared Diamond makes many claims throughout his work, and provides numerous examples and evidence to support his theories. In this essay, I will summarize Jared Diamond's accounts of world history and evolution of culture, and compare and contrast it with what I have learned using the textbook for this class.
Guns, Germs, and Steel was published by Jared Diamond in 1977. Diamond is a UCLA professor and a scientist and his book has received remarkable response all around the world, in fact the book has won Pulitizer Prizer and was New York’s bestseller. Despite, of being highly regarded, the book is known as one of the most controversial book of its time. A lot critics has accused this book but the critic which stood out the most was William H. McNeill. McNeill is a historian and I agree with his criticism regarding the book and its conclusion.
Kozol, J. (1999). “Savage Inequalities.” In J. Henslin (Ed.) Down to Earth Sociology Introductory Readings. (10th ed., Pp. 343-351). New York: Free Press.
they are really unequal which isn’t what the U.S. was built upon. Social injustice is a big part
chapter 11 is the first in Part 3, which is entitled "From food to guns, germs, and steel". Earlier chapters traced how food production rose up is a few areas and spread, at different rates, to other places. This Part begins to show how this change in food production led to the Eurasians getting the guns, germs and steel, which, in turn, led to the answer to Yali's question about why they had all the 'stuff'.
64-66), author Jared Diamond claims that agriculture as opposed to popular belief, didn’t help civilization bloom, but instead proved detrimental to human lives ever since its introduction. He states that the progressives believe agriculture was adopted due to its efficiency and how it complimented our race. He contradicts this view with multiple studies and expert sources. According to his research, modern day humans are much worse off than their hunter gatherer counterparts due to a variety of lifestyle changes ranging from greatly deteriorated nutritional quality to increased sexual discrimination. He gathers the support from various archaeological research conducted on various remains found in Chile, Greece, Turkey, etc. Archaeologists can further point out the date at which this switch (from Gathering to agriculture) took place. He further establishes that Hunter gatherers may have chosen to change ways with the preconceived idea that the capability to feed more people and reducing the burden on mothers (hence allowing them to bear a child every 2 years instead of 4) would in turn drastically improve quality of life. He concludes the article by emphasizing on how it created disparities between the elite and the commoners and by defending his own kind for having discovered mankind’s biggest mistake and the motive behind
The other deficiency is the social structure and that states that the inequality is caused by the social structure of the group. The last deficiency theory is cultural and that says the cause of the inequality is in the cultural traits that the minority possess. The next big theory “focus[es] on prejudice and discrimination as the sources of minority inequality”. This theory puts the blame on the majority. One example of this is that white prejudice leads to blacks being discriminated against. The conditions black are left in lead them to make the white prejudice even stronger and this cycle is what keeps the inequality consistent. The other one of this is that “employees have a taste for discrimination”. The third major theory is the structural discrimination and with this inequality is caused by the disadvantage in the social structure. The author also puts forth his own theory and that is internal colonialism. It says that that the dominant group exploits the subordinate group for a gain. He also talks about Marxist theories dealing with inequality like labor markets segmentation and class segmentations. The central issues being discussed are the racial
“Present at least two different sociological approaches to social inequality and discuss these approaches with reference to a concrete problem area of contemporary relevance”
Income inequality is a big ongoing problem in the United States. It has a big effect on what America was all about, the American dream. The American dream that everyone is equal and has equal opportunities. Although a big part of what goes on in the Untied States that just doesn’t fit the American dream; women are unequal in the work place. They are put under what is known as the “Glass Ceiling”. Women do not get promoted in the work place and aren’t getting equal pay as men. This also leads to wag gap between the men and women. Both create income inequality for women and affect their American Dream. There is a long history of women having to deal with the “Glass Ceiling”. Over time woman have made progress but more progress is needed to make things equal. Women suffer from income inequality because of the “Glass Ceiling” and wag gap, thus going against the American Dream.
Citizens who make up the lower class are at a clear disadvantage when it comes to obtaining national resources. Social inequality plays an important part in the founding of the United States.This is a systemic issue that has been embedded in the development of this country. The power of corporations and the one percent has continued to grow. Lower class citizens have to face issues like income inequality, race inequality, and lack of government protection. These are just some of the issues that lower class citizens suffer from. While the one percent continues to benefit from national resources the lower class struggle to obtain basic nation resources.
There is a lot to learn about inequality. If you ask a sociologist about inequality they will tell you that the nature of society
As Tony Judt once wrote, “we need to start talking about inequality again; we need to start talking about the inequalities and unfairnesses and the injustices of an excessively divided society, divided by wealth, by opportunity, by outcome, by assets and so forth.” This generation cannot throw a bandage over this problem that is happening worldwide. It is a serious problem that is gradually getting worse, rather than better.
Without a doubt, social inequality creates an unnecessary divide within our communities, spawning an imbalance in education, wealth, and occupation. The gap between the rich and the poor has expanded since they generally do not interact with each other. In To Kill A Mockingbird, Aunt Alexandra does not allow Scout to invite Walter Cunningham over for dinner because she believes it is a disgrace to their family name; preventing her niece from being friends with someone for the sole reason of him being poor. Therefore, career, income, and schooling differences are a poison produced by our positions on the social scale.
Conflict perspective deals with macro and some micro levels. Causes of poverty, health disparities, distribution of life chances via, social class, and gender.
Social inequality can be easily defined as, “an unequal distribution of resources” (Symbaluk & Bereska, 2013, p. 93). Although it is easy to define, being aware of it in everyday life is a more difficult task. Social inequality can take many forms based on race, ethnicity, and gender and can be seen everywhere in society from school, the workplace, to government. It can be difficult to notice social inequality because stereotypes are ingrained into society and often affect the subconscious. Class stratification also enables people to scapegoat minorities by saying they have no merit to society rather than society has put up barriers to stop them from achieving merit. One easily observable effect of social inequality is the income gap between