This reading was about the different ways of punishment that the law or culture would have for people broke laws and did crimes. It talked about some cruel punishments that the west would have like cutting off the hands of people that stole things, killing people that committed murders, and flogging the men or women for rape. These punishments would all be decided by the judge and how they chose their judge was that he has reached puberty, he is a believer, he knows that laws perfectly, he cannot be diagnose with amnesia and he cannot be a bastard or a female. This really shocked me because besides the small stuff like puberty, believing, not sick and not a…
Pluralism works in the way that groups and coalitions are constantly fighting for power within the government to fit their agendas and the people they are vying for. This can be seen with the bike rack debate that has been presented in Sierra Vista’s city council. The special interest group is offering an award of being a bike friendly city to Sierra Vista in hopes of making people healthier, however public opinion support of the bike racks has been dismal at best. This is a local example but the NRA is an example of a larger special interest group where a lot more wealth comes into play as in a biased pluralism only adding fuel to the ruling elite…
A pluralist government is much like the opposite of the elitist government. In a pluralist government the power of decision making and policy making are based more on the wants and needs of many rather than just a few. It is said to be a government of the people, by the people, for the people.Everyones views are valued regardless of ones position in society. This is similar to the type of government we have…
Stephen Chapman, born in 1954 in Brady, Texas, graduated from Harvard University with honors in 1976. His was raised in Midland and Austin and now lives in the suburbs of Chicago with his wife and six kids. Chapman has appeared on multiple television shows, such as The CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, The NewsHour, and the National Public Radio’s Fresh Air, Talk of the Nation, and On Point. Some of his recents articles include Wisconsin’s Voter ID Law Survives (2014), Americans Learn to Undo Government Errors (2014), The World Mess Obama Didn’t Make (2014), Immigrants and the Fear of Disease (2014), Those Trapped…
Group size has an unprecedented impact on the nature of social interaction. Studies have shown that as group size increase individuals typically reduce their efforts. Imagine something as gigantic as our government, between the House and the Senate there are five hundred and thirty five members in the United States Congress. Groups of that magnitude fall victim to groupthink, or decision making that ignores alternate solutions in order to keep group harmony. Although after reading this article I highly doubt there will be any harmony between the two political parties anytime soon. The article describes how members of Congress followed the example of their party instead of looking for alternative solutions.…
When we value reason as Schiller does, the entire paradigm of such a society’s political theory shifts. A game theoretic model of this alternative compared to Hobbes’ Leviathan could be shown as a prisoner’s dilemma for each player, where every player knows the setup of the game, and all are inclined to cooperate because of a mutual understanding through reason. This sort of rationality differs from Hobbes’ in two key ways: first, it recognizes that, although both players are always inclined to defect at the other’s expense, they are both ultimately made better off by not doing so; and second, (all else equal) it values aggregate utility of all players over individual utility. Thus, the universalist solves the prisoner’s dilemma not through some elaborate coercive apparatus, but instead merely by thinking about someone other than himself (and note, he need not sacrifice his own self-interest; he simply adds others to the equation). With this understanding, not only does morality play an essential role in such a theory of association, but also reciprocated cooperation helps ensure that no one ends up…
Behavioral Pluralism identifies a certain set of constituency attributes that contribute to the success of advocacy groups such as the Sierra Club. According to Grossmann’s theory these constituency attributes dictate advocacy groups like the Sierra Club’s…
While I agree that pluralism is an important subject that benefits from the kind of attention given to it in the book, I believe the length of the book and the comprehensive nature of the material presented can make it difficult to follow at times. Furthermore, on several occasions the author seemed to move to the wider margins of the topic. However, as the implications of pluralism are pertinent and its integration with postmodernism significant, the information was extremely beneficial.…
The article The Dangerous Effects of Toxic Masculinity written by Sarah Sheppard describes toxic masculinity as “a concept used to define unhealthy and often traditional characteristics or attributes associated with men. men should be protectors, breadwinners, or leaders, or associating men with anger, selfishness, and aggression can be problematic and damaging” (Sheppard). Sheppard describes toxic masculinity as what a portion of people believe men should traditionally be. This can mean that the man in a relationship should be the breadwinner or the leader of a household. If men believe this, they are exemplifying toxic masculinity.…
De Tocqueville and Mill both cite the possible oppression of minority groups as a significant drawback to democracy. While each author cites the 'tyranny of the majority' as a possible problem, their perceptions of the alleged problem differ in scope and definition. De Tocqueville regards the above mentioned problem largely as a hindrance to actual action on the part of minority groups and individuals; Mill discusses it relating primarily to the oppression of minority thought. De Tocqueville recognizes the ability of the government to regulate thought, but does not focus on it to the extent that Mill does.…
10. Pluralist Theory - An analysis of politics emphasizing the role of diverse and competing interest groups in preventing too much power being accumulated in the hands of political and economic elites.…
Democratic egalitarianism and individualism and how hypocritical society is in regards to the two are the subject matter of this essay. Various notable philosophers and authors have dissected these terms and their meanings relative to human life and society many times in the past. It is obvious to most how democratic egalitarianism and individualism can contradictory in many ways. The complexity of the two is not readily abundant due to examining the values of an American society. In society, these values do not hold up to the true meanings of democratic egalitarianism and individualism.…
The iron triangle bot hinders and aids the pluralist model. The ways in which the iron triangle detract from pluralism such as creating policy more in favor of constituents rather than consumer or the potential gridlocking, while adverse are still potentially counteracted by the facilitation of public involvement. The iron triangle provides a accessibility of policy decisions to the general public and the implementation of public opinion directly into enacted policies. This direct involvement of the consumer is an endowment that is not present within the legislative branch. The pluralist ideal is the involvement of diverse and contrasting voices and opinions to better embody the interest of the people within our legislation. In order to access…
The purpose of this paper is intended to summarize my views on what has influenced my understanding of politics and government prior to taking this class, and how my understanding is now since completing this course.…
According to Hauss, we as a global community, tend to view the political process in win-lose or zero-sum terms. It is because of this way of thinking that leads us to resort to violence as a way to solve disputes rather than talking them out in civil discourse. According to Einstein, we are drifting towards the unparalleled catastrophe of nuclear war. (Hauss, 2012) We continue to break ourselves down into groups normally based along nationality, religion, social status, and other categories instead of just being human. As we break ourselves up into these groupings, we tend to take upon ourselves a different identity instead of one common identity. With these different identities are different values and beliefs, which may not mesh with another group’s identity. This can and normally does lead to differences of opinions between groups, making it difficult, if not nearly impossible to find a common denominator.…