Counterculture Essays (Examples)

The values of middle class society were seen to be the related to and unavoidably supportive of the status quo. This led to the trends and fashions that characterized this movement; such as long hair and the use of rock music as a form of rebellion and assertion of 'liberal ideals'. Similarly, the use of drugs was also seen as part of this expression and a way of rebelling against the established norms of the time. hile many of the hippie activities are seen in retrospect as being somewhat naive and even harmful, these actions and trends were important as indications and symbols of a serious issue; namely the rejection of norms and value that were seen to be conducive of hate an evil in all its manifestations. Therefore the spirit of the hippie counterculture was an element that was shared among all the groups and movements in differing degrees.…

Sociology Discussion
There is a restaurant in New York City that is famous for its outlandish behavior. The servers are rude and obnoxious, they ridicule patrons, make them wait long periods to order and to get their checks, and spill drinks and food all over them. However, people wait in droves to get in to this restaurant; the line to enter is around the block. How does this restaurant (which clearly violates concepts of social control and norms) attract customers? Why are people drawn to those individuals that defy social norms? Why are people attracted to musicians, artists, writers, or those in countercultures that deviate from mainstream society? In your response, include the definitions of deviance, social control, and social norms, and include which social institutions are responsible for teaching social conformity to members of a culture.

The attraction of this restaurant is clearly that it defies and roils directly…

1960s and 1970s Counterculture Movement
In the United States of America, freedom of speech and the ability to challenge accepted truths and to criticize the status quo have been a part of the identity of citizens since the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Since then, the country has undergone many changes, particularly in the ways that the social norm views the nation and the population who inhabit it. One of the most important components of the national identity has to do with the concept of the American Dream, the intangible quality that Americans have which allows anyone who is willing to work hard to transcend the social class in which they were born and climb the ladder to success. Anyone, from those born to the lowliest of families to the wealthiest person in the country could become anything their heart desired as long as they were…

'All you need is love,' sang The Beatles. But they sang against a backdrop of militant demonstrations, the hazing of soldiers, environmental 'monkey-wrenching,' self-destructive drug trips, and a knifing death at the Altamont Rock Festival in 1969. Apart from the eatherman faction of Students for a Democratic Society, which took Charles Manson as its hero, most people who identified with the 1960s counterculture deplored violence as much as they deplored the war in Viet Nam. Yet they were able to adapt the Boone myth to their own purposes by playing down its violence and emphasizing the first half of the regenerative cycle, the Indianizing of white pioneers. For those on the political left, as well as those on the right, the wilderness and the Indian were ideologically charged symbols (Herr 1991) (Bates 29)."
hile Herr's assessment was tainted with the experience of a returning Viet Nam era war veteran, he…

S.
A withdrawal from that conflict and the demise of the Johnson administration.

Several events in particular galvanized the Hippie generation against governmental authority in the 1960s, including the response of various Southern state governments to the growing Civil ights movement, especially after the disappearance and murder of Civil ights activists from the Northeast and the use of state troops to resist Supreme Court decisions on the matter of school desegregation. However, perhaps no political goal was more important to the Hippie generation than the opposition to the war in Vietnam and the compulsory draft system of all males of military age.

The Hippie movement embraced the anti-war and anti-draft cause, rallying in mass draft card burning demonstrations in Washington and in protest marches on college campuses throughout much of the country. Tragic events like the death of four college students shot by National Guard troops on the campus of…

This counterculture movement was greeted with enormous publicity and popular interest, and contributed to changes in American culture (Law pp). Legacies of this era include "a willingness to challenge authority, greater social tolerance, the sense that politics is personal, environmental awareness, and changes in attitudes about gender roles, marriage, and child rearing" (Law pp). Moreover, during the 1960's, health foods and organic foods became popular among the children of the Sixties, and today are booming businesses, as most grocery stores now carry health and organic foods (Law pp).

A few of the things that characterize or gained popularity during the Sixties era include Beatlemania, the Apollo Man on the Moon mission, the drug Valium, Mickey Mouse watches, aluminum cans and pop-top cans for soft-drinks and beer, Tab and Diet Pepsi were introduced, felt tip pens, surfing, Foster Grant sunglasses, freeze-dried foods, home video recorders, The Duncan yo-yo, soft contact lenses,…

It opposed traditional art that had been an elitist, intellectual, classy entertainment. Now it became something popular, accessible to the common people, centered on simple everyday objects that had as main target the entertainment of the viewer, rather than deep mythical, religious, philosophic concepts.

Art reflected the same counterculture attitude. It rebelled against the rules of the past, contradicted them, denied them, erased them, and established a new order, contrary to the traditional ways.

This turn in the mentality of people affected the vision of the future generations on a long-term. In the social point-of-view a new gate had been opened towards a very different kind of life. The traditions that had been denied during this stage would never return again: it had been a definite twist and not a mere phase. The battles fought for human rights, equal positions for black men and the feminist movement conquered even more…

Since the supply is being specifically restricted, only a price increase could occur. Thus, creating exclusivity creates value to the seller.
The third reason why exclusivity is valuable is that it creates differentiation (Finkelstein, 2009). Differentiation is a key driver of value for many products and services. Exclusivity does not equate to differentiation, but it does increase the perception of differentiation, simply by virtue of the fact that the product is not mass market. The perception of differentiation is sufficient to drive value, regardless of whether or not there is actual differentiation. Thus, exclusivity drives value by being a means to achieve the perception of differentiation.

4. Senk argues that shopping in largely entertainment, a point to which I agree. Entertainment is simply something that amuses, diverts attention or pleases. In that respect, shopping is very much entertainment. As with any form of entertainment, shopping meets other purposes as well;…

Exclusivity for these groups signals uniqueness. In a creative and individualistic society such as America's, uniqueness has cachet and value to the consumer, so any fashion item that can convey this uniqueness will also have value.
Exclusivity also has value because of its scarcity. This is a simple supply and demand equation. The price of a good (its value) is related to the demand for it and the supply of it. When demand is higher than supply, the price increases. Thus, by managing the scarcity of items in the stores, any popular or high quality items will be subject to supply constraints. The consumers of Urban Outfitters know this, and respond by assuming scarcity. They purchase the product quickly, knowing that they may otherwise lose out on the opportunity to do so.

The third reason why exclusivity is valuable is because of the thrill of the hunt. This psychological characteristic…

Movement
The Cold War of the communist and the capitalist countries gay way to spying worldwide, together with the political and military meddling in the inside matters of the poor countries. Some of these developments led to a negative consequence which called for much of the distrust and uncertainty towards the government that came after the cold war. Examples of these outcomes are the serious reaction of the Soviet Union towards the famous uprising against communism, which included the Hungarian evolution of 1965, also the invasion in 1961 of the Cuban Bay of Pigs by the U.S. And the Czechoslovakia's Prague Spring in 1968. The lie of Dwight D. Eisenhower, president of the U.S. In 1960, about the extent of the U2 episode led to an even greater distrust amongst the public against the government (Eisenstadt, 1956).

The establishment in the U.S. was disintegrated into political and military framework after…

Drug use patterns changed from soft and psychedelic drugs like cannabis and mushrooms to harder drugs like barbiturate pills and heroin. The focus on the hippie movement also dissolved. hat started as a relatively cohesive challenge to commercialism and corruption ended up being a fragmented array of debauch. The death of celebrity musicians like Jimi Hendrix and Janice Joplin triggered the end of the hippie heyday. In spite of its excesses, though, the hippie movement transformed American social values especially among youth culture.
orks Cited

Binkley, Sam. "Hippies." St. James Encyclopedia. 2002. Retrieved Nov 14, 207 at http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g1epc/is_tov/ai_2419100587

CBC. "Hippie Society: The Youth Rebellion." 2006. Retrieved Nov 14, 2007 at http://archives.cbc.ca/IDD-1-69-580/life_society/hippies/

Erowid. "Hippies." 1996. Retrieved Nov 14, 2007 at http://www.erowid.org/culture/hippies/

Sayre, James K. "Late 60s and Early 70s anti-Vietnam war protests, social and political background notes and a short discussion of some of the best rock 'n roll music of…

Urban Outfitters Case Study
Urban Outfitters has defined a highly differentiated and unique shopping experience, supported by the eclectic and highly varied store layouts and merchandise strategy. This approach to retailing appeals to the individuality and uniqueness every consumer also sees in themselves, allowing the consumers to define themselves by what they like. INA actuality, Urban Outfitters is more aligned to key marketing concepts and strategies than its much larger and less differentiated competitors including Sears and Wal-Mart. Appearing non-conformist and counter-culture within its image, Urban Outfitters is actually providing an escape for consumers to use their purchases to define who they really are and what they actually care out. etailing that appeals to the values and individuality of a consumers are highly effective in creating loyalty and continued repurchase (Puccinelli, Goodstein, Grewal, Price, aghubir, Stewart, 2009). The intent of this analysis is to explain why Urban Outfitters continues to…

Urban Outfitters Continuing Case Study
Explain why Sears or Wal-Mart cannot effectively create a trendy counterculture image

The reasons for stores like Urban Outfitters to be able to create such a culture are their ability to operate with low and medium volume. Hence it is possible to change the output based on changes in demand. For example, the 'Urban Outfitters' followed the policy of locating stores that have the concentration of targeted customers, and this also effectively made use of the existing structures to provide customer targeted fashion and label apparel and home furnishings. These could be promoted by the use of strategies like visual merchandising, displays, and customer related merchandise which naturally had higher prices and low volume. (Funding Universe, n. d.)

The advantage was that the company markets to a known demand at a set price. In the case of Wal-Mart or Sears, the problem is compound because…

The change was not all positive, however. Bailey notes that the social and psychological transformation that followed women working outside the home "mounted to tidal-wave proportions" (1020). hile women working outside the home in the urban age were not too terribly different from women working outside the home in the agricultural age, the movement raised questions about women's roles, family, and the workplace. The feminist movement was born from a mentality that women did not need to sty at home. Once they were in the workplace, however, they complained that they were expected to bring home the bacon and cook it as well. Feminists protested against sexism and even went up against historic giants like Yale and est Point. It was not long before women were seen flying airplanes and traveling in space. Feminists also railed against tradition organizations that judged women for their looks such as beauty pageants. They…

" (Cresswell, p. 249)
In a manner, this also points us toward a more direct consideration of the friendship around which this novel revolves. In the relationship between Sal and Dean, we are given not just an autobiographical window into the lives of Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassidy respectively, but also into the core values to which the counterculture movement was essentially committed. Again, this denotes the inherently relatable nature of Kerouac's otherwise bold content, with the friendship between Sal and Dean serving as a reflection of the community and family values that round out the parallels with 'establishment' culture. These parallels make the text a particularly valuable meditation on America as it struggled between its cherished traditional values and the creeping threat of modernization.

ith respect to this struggle, it can be said that the characters of Sal and Dean battled endlessly with a sense of disillusionment and disenfranchisement.…

Diversity -- with the exception of homophobia -- was beginning to be commonly accepted and praised. Technology -- such as the use of DNA in criminology and the introduction of the PC -- was becoming more prominent in the lives of everyday Americans. In the Cold War, President Gorbachev asked for openness and economic freedom, while President eagan asked him to tear down the Berlin Wall, which he did. However, the discovery of AIDS had a far more profound impact on the American people than any of these events. In 1981, the first case of AIDS was reported in the United Kingdom, and this eventually caused quite a crisis in the U.S., as it was first noticed among gay men, and then in women and children as well. People became scared because they were not sure what was causing the disease. esearch continued throughout the 1980s, but the fear caused…

To that end, throughout the course of his life "he remained convinced that the drug had the potential to counter the psychological problems induced by 'materialism, alienation from nature through industrialisation and increasing urbanisation, lack of satisfaction in professional employment in a mechanised, lifeless working world, ennui and purposelessness in wealthy, saturated society, and lack of a religious, nurturing, and meaningful philosophical foundation of life'." (Telegraph, 1) To Hofmann's view, many of the psychological problems associated with the detachment imposed by modernity could be addressed by guided use of a substance that caused reflection, insight and self-awareness otherwise largely inaccessible.
It was through what was for Hofmann an unwanted combination of premature commercialization and the proliferation which this allowed into the underground market that would cause LSD to earn its dubious reputation and its relationship to recreational rather than psychiatric users. Accordingly, Sandoz would immediately jump on the opportunity to…

His own work was also published in a wide variety of literary magazines several of which were prestigious and nationally respected. His publication and involvement in publishing impressive accomplishments for an African-American man in the United States in the 1960's (Woodward, 1999).
In 1957 he moved to Greenwich Village in New York and became interested in both in jazz and the Beat Movement. he following year he began the otem Press (I have seen this referenced as Yugen).

he Beat Generation -- later just "he Beats" or the beatniks -- were a collection of writers centered first in New York and later in San Francisco. While there was a great deal of variation among the artists, they were joined to each other by a common rejection of mainstream American culture and some dabbling in Eastern religious ideas. hough counter culture and alternative religion was their focus, they became at least…

Yet, the result of their failure to achieve innovation in the wake of their purchase of Kinko's resulted in significant losses, writedowns and a loss of both prestige and market share. FedEx experienced this failure on several levels. They failed to adapt their culture to accommodate the differences between the two organizations, a move that stifled innovation. Moreover, they failed to place emphasis at the organizational level on the importance of innovation to the success of the merger. As a result, employees and managers in both companies were rudderless - they understood neither the need for innovation to the merger nor the importance of it.
orks Cited

Sniegowski, Don. (2007). FedEx Kinko's rolls out small stores to outmaneuver UPS. Associated Press. Retrieved November 2, 2008 at http://www.bluemaumau.org/FedEx_kinkos_rolls_out_small_stores_outmaneuver_ups

Gross, Daniel. (2004). Ground ar. Slate. Retrieved November 2, 2008 at http://www.slate.com/id/2094149/

Deutsch, Claudia H. (2007). Paper Jam at FedEx Kinko's. New York…

The outcome of all of this was a rock concert which -- aside from the actual happenstance of performances -- was heavily controlled by the interest of the filmmaker. Though various aspects of the concert-attendance experience indicate that great care was paid to the appeal of the event itself, there is an explicit self-consciousness on the part of the subject as to the grander intention of the captured film to eulogize the touring band.
And with that purposeful modus operandi in mind, we may take note that the apparent distance between Direct Cinema and Cinema Verite really only serves academic purposes. From the perspective of the filmmaker or the documentarian, there is room both for a realistic portrayal of its subject and for the selection of an angle or impression. Given that the subject is a single concert event, wherein which the musical performances are the purpose of the document,…

Apple Computer is one of the great corporate success stories of the past decade. On the back of a successive string of hit products, the company has experience rapid growth over the past several years. In its last fiscal year, ended 9/25/2010, Apple earned $14 billion on revenues of $65.2 billion (Apple Inc. Fiscal 2010 Form 10-K). These figures increased 70% and 52% respectively in fiscal 2010. Apple has a stellar balance sheet and its stock price is now at a lofty $315 per share (MSN Moneycentral, 2010).
Apple's primary business is in consumer electronics. The company's core businesses are in personal computers, mp3 players, smartphones and electronic media. Apple's leading products include the Mac line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad tablet computer. The company's media properties include the iTunes music store and the iPhone App Store. Apple operates a number of proprietary retail outlets and…

standard joke about America in the 1960s claims that, if you can remember the decade, you did not live through it. Although perhaps intended as a joke about drug usage, the joke also points in a serious way to social change in the decade, which was so rapid and far-reaching that it did seem like the world changed almost daily. This is the paradox of Todd Gitlin's "years of hope" and "days of rage" -- that with so much social and cultural upheaval, the overall mood at any given moment in the 1960s must surely have seemed contradictory. How then can we assess the three most important themes in this broad social change? I would like to make the case that the three longest-lasting social changes came with America's forced adjustment to new realities on the international scene, with Vietnam; on the domestic scene, with the Civil ights movement; and…

Jennie Livingston's Paris is Burning still remains as one of my favorite documentaries. As my interest in subcultures and documentaries grew simultaneously and exponentially over the past few years, I frequently had to consider and analyze the ethics of representing others. However, before my research on the perception of Livingston's documentary, which shines a light on one of the most influential subcultures, I had never felt guilty for being a fan. It was after reading feminist activist Bell Hooks' critique of Paris is Burning that I realized the issue of representing the Other, starts with the act of 'Othering'. It is not uncommon for a documentary filmmaker to assume the role of someone penetrating a community; looking from the outside in. But is there no possibility of a non-voyeuristic approach when representing others? How can the filmmaker prevent cultural appropriation?
Bell Hooks argues that, "Within the world of the black…

The mounting preoccupation of America's youth with surfing would, for the new generations coming of age at this time, become less a counterculture and more mainstream as a recreational activity. As Eglington (2004) would remark, "the sport exploded in popularity in the 1950s and 1960s, when cheaper, more maneuverable, and lighter boards made of fiberglass and foam became available and the teenaged baby boomers headed to the beach in droves to enjoy the maneuverability and stunts made possible by the new boards." (Eglington, 1)
The result was what could be regarded as a momentary fixation on surfing and all of its cultural conceits. During the earliest part of the 1960s, surfing could even be thought of as a fad for those in the mainstream who were inspired by its fashion and its rebellious attitude. Among the features of the culture that would be embraced were new styles of bathing suit,…

S. were not "hostile" to evangelicalism (Bebbington, p. 367). After II, the Church of Scotland and British Methodism launched "sustained evangelistic thrusts" and in Britain the "National Young Life Campaign" got involved in evangelical activities, Bebbington continued.
The American Presbyterian denominations announced in 1946 that they were to become "a crusading organ for evangelical religion" (Bebbington, p. 367). And when Billy Graham began preaching and healing in the post-II era he did "almost as much" to bring the evangelical movement strength in Britain as he did in the United States, Bebbington asserts. Even in the staid, conservative Church of England there was a "new evangelical revival" by 1959; further promoting the movement was the fact that the British and American evangelical movements linked their talents and strengths across the Atlantic Ocean.

Bebbington notes that the charismatic movement in Britain during the 1960s was in part inspired by the writings of…

Under eno's direction, on April 22, 2000, under the scrutiny of national and international media and news cameras:
"Armed INS officers entered the home (where the child had been living with close relatives) before dawn and within three minutes carried Elian out to a waiting government van. Hours later, the boy was reunited with his father at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, D.C., and eventually they returned to Cuba (Emert 2005 p. 144)."

eno's role in handling the case of Gonzalez was highly controversial and politically provocative. eno withstood with the assault of the Hispanic and Cuban communities around the country, but held firm in her position on handling the matter. It was not, however the first time that eno came under attack for handling a controversial matter. She likewise was responsible for the attack on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, where David Koresh was the spiritual…

Furthermore, the Supreme Court (and the Texas district court also) relied on a judicial invention introduced in the earlier Griswold and Eisenstadt decisions: namely, the penumbra of privacy that was said to "emanate" from the Fourteenth Amendment to give rise in a fundamental right of privacy despite the fact that the notion of personal privacy is not mentioned at all in the Constitution. Certainly, the Roe decision was justified on general principles of justice, equality, fairness, and ordinary definitions of private affairs; but from a technical legal argument perspective, many commentators have suggested that it was a case of the Court fitting the Constitution to the law rather than conforming the latter to the former.

Conclusion:

Regardless of the any technical criticism in the legal analysis of the basis for the Supreme Court's decision in Roe, it remains the right and moral decision on the issue.

Certainly, room exists for…

The empathy which comes through here is not fabricated either. Thompson's very approach in "Fear and Loathing," and another cornerstone to the gonzo movement, is the concept of full immersion into his own stories. The long-suffering tone that shrouds all of his work is the repercussion of Thompson's journalism-by-personal-experience, an ongoing quest to find America in himself and those around him. For better and worse, his writing illustrates that he succeeded in doing so.

The rebellion of the 1960's, guided as it was by an optimistic emphasis on peace, love and cultural freedom, would take on a far more militant imperative as the decade wound to a close. Thompson takes this transition head on, highlighting the violence which had invaded an insular world of counter-cultural ideology. The hostility of the mainstream, which the activist culture had rallied so hard to reject, had infected its thinking and its approach to action.…

The book speaks to a kind of estern application of generalized Buddhist principles and maxims: the quest for enlightenment, the lack of satisfaction to be had from a life of material pleasures, and the importance of the individual in achieving wisdom divorced from the teachings of others. Though the film lacks much of the artistic style of the novel, it nevertheless manages to provide audiences with a loose sense of the same meaning that Hesse outlined originally in the novel. Perhaps if the film had managed to present that message and the overall narrative with more than a "plodding piety," the overall impact of the film might have achieved a similar weight as the novel still manages (Canby).
As for following the life of the Buddha, neither the book nor the film manages this save but in the most cursory fashion. Like the novel's Siddhartha, the Buddha did leave his…

Thus science and discussions of scientific phenomena with his brother also formed the backdrop to his early life, another reason why technology featured so prominently in his literary works.
Vonnegut is credited with helping to elevate the genre of science fiction, once considered a staple of pulp magazine racks, to that of high art. Cat's Cradle tells the tale of scientists trying to create 'ice-nine,' a crystal that could turn all water solid and thus destroy all life on the earth. In 1963, Cat's Cradle slowly developed a readership as Cold ar Americans were increasingly receptive to a book that showed the dangerous potential of science and technology to develop faster than ethics and morality ("Novelist Kurt Vonnegut dies at 84," CNN.com, 2007) the novel, takes its title from an Eskimo game in which children try to snare the sun with string (Smith, 2007). Although its first printing sold only…

Tales of the City
Mary Ann in the City

Early on in Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City, Connie tells Mary Ann, "Relax hon… Give it time. This city loosens people up." (6) The message being that the setting of San Francisco in the 1970s and 80s was a place of loose social and cultural standards. An analysis of the city, even in retrospect supports the idea that many aspects of San Francisco are in fact associated with free thought and action, especially with regard to sexuality and homosexuality. Mary Ann as a character realizes in many ways the reality of this early statement, of a loosening of character, as her traditional cultural standards are stretched by countless happenings in Maupin's fabled City.

Maupin's Tales of the City, in many ways, was an opening to the broader world the context of the 1960s, 70s and 80s ideal San Francisco, where…

Manson Family
as the Manson family a religious cult? In this essay, the author will prove this by examining the Manson Family as a political cult and the leaders use of mind control love bombing, the role of Manson as a group leader and his role within the group, and teachings and/or beliefs of the group. hile the group did not in the opinion of this author exhibit all of the aspects of religious cultism, it is certainly very much in the genre.

Its ties to and emergence from the sixties counterculture blurs this a bit, it is a cult nonetheless. As we will see in the body of this essay, a number of salient facts stand out that define a cult. One is a dominating personality. Secondly, secret and esoteric beliefs and liturgies, usually at the extreme edge of human behaviors. Finally, mind control use and tactics are endemic.…

What is key about both of these quotations is the loss of identity that is endemic to both of them. The cadets who have survived the fourth-class system and who inflict ritualistic violence in the form of hazing on others have lost something of their true "selves," something that was stripped away to lead them to believe that they could rightfully engage in this sort of behavior to inflict pain upon others. Therefore, the cadets who are guilty of said violence are perpetuating it because they have lost their own identities through disassociation -- in much the same way that Seth lost most of the moments of his life to this same phenomenon.
In conclusion, several of Stout's ideas about disassociation both apply to and help explain the tradition of obedience in the violent, misogynistic rituals that take place at the Citadel. The similarities between the effects of disassociation and…

Code of the Street
Anderson in "Code of the Street" seeks to highlight many of the ills and problems that seem to plague inner-city African-American families and communities, and highlights aggression and interpersonal violence as the most prominent factors (p. 171). The propensity for violence, according to Anderson predisposes 'a cultural adaptation' that has hampered growth and development within this particular part of society. Following is an examination of The Code of the Street by Elijah Anderson. The examination seeks to determine the proposed hypothesis, dependent and independent variables, source of the data, methodology and analysis, and whether or not the author serves to effectively answer the hypothetical questions posited.

Review

Anderson takes an ethnographic approach in looking at the culture of what he determines as control, respect and violence in inner city streets. According to Philipsen in "Speaking Culturally: Explorations in Social Community" ethnography is a qualitative research design…

With him, this vital energy goes its own way, independent of the pessimism and the disillusionment so typical of the age.' Hemingway did not go to the awards ceremony due to illness, some time before that same year his plane crashed and he lived to read his own obituaries. y then he was already experiencing the results of his fast paced lifestyle and at the end of his life he dealt with sicknesses such as mental depression, and eventually a form of paranoia. This was written of his last days 'After Hemingway began talking of suicide his Ketchum doctor agreed with Mary that they should seek expert help. He registered under the name of his personal doctor George Saviers and they began a medical program to try and repair his mental state. The Mayo Clinic's treatment would ultimately lead to electro shock therapy. According to Jefferey Meyers Hemingway received "between…

Mass production and mass advertising "by the creation of new wants and new means of gratifying those wants" renders individuals complacent and dependent upon 'the system' of production and they are made to feel that their purchase of the next new prefabricated product is a radical act of individualism (34).
The "official, ceaseless searching for a new sensibility" that is at the heart of the restless spirit of modernism, commercials counsel us, can now be treated by buying the latest device (34). Bell envisions a future where inflation, bigger government, and a sense of entitlement produced by the capitalist emphasis on gratification, will only lead to more and more unhappiness and more and more consumption and more dependence upon faceless entities.

It is hard to read Bell's words and not wonder how modern, global capitalism relates to his thesis. The Internet has been a boon to marketers, and seems on…

Drug Policies the Legacy of Outdated Moral Values and Moral Panics
A disinterested alien observer who came down to the planet Earth and saw the difference in how legal drugs such as alcohol and cigarettes were treated under the law when compared to illegal drugs would be hard pressed to explain the differential treatment. After all, alcohol and cigarettes cause or contribute to far more deaths, injuries, health problems, and social problems than illegal drugs. In fact, some illegal drugs, such as cannabis, are relatively free of side-effects when compared to those two legal substances. Furthermore, even some of the highly villianized hard drugs, such as heroin, are considered less addictive than nicotine. Therefore, it is difficult to understand why some substances are illegal and others are not. The reasons are not scientific or social; therefore, one must look at the history of drug policy in the Western world and…

Graduate and the New Left
In the United States in the 1960s, the nation was going through a change both in the psychological and sociological makeup of the population. Everything about the country was changing quickly, right down to the very moral code which makes up the identity of a culture. The American Dream and the belief that everyone could become successful if they were willing to work hard and if they lived in America was proving to be a fallacy in the wake of oppression, disenfranchisement, and racially-biased or gender-based prejudices. A group emerged who not only wished to be entirely different from their parents, but they also desired to completely upset if not outright eradicate the status quo and change what it meant to be an American citizen with an American identity. One of the components of this movement was a decidedly liberal perspective and agenda. This group…

Youth Subcultures
Sociologists base their studies of youth subcultures on structured and unstructured interviews, participant observation and analysis of media, texts and music. Unlike similar studies in the 1950s and 1960s, such as Albert Cohen's Delinquent Boys (1955) that described post-World War II youth cultures as a relatively new and unknown phenomenon, more recent research over the past thirty years has been heavily based on feminist and postmodernist theories. These place special emphasis on the diversity and multiplicity within each subculture, while trying to avoid the stereotypes that commonly appear in the mass media. This new type of sociology also appears to me more journalistic than objective, scientific or value free, rejecting the principles and pretensions of Talcott Parsons and his generation of postwar sociologists. Of course, any type of sociology should still consider questions of ethnicity, social class, immigration, poverty, inequality and violence, although the funding to investigate these…

Apple Computers Influence on Popular Culture
Apple Computer, Inc. is recognized worldwide for creating powerful solutions that are based on user-friendly personal computers, servers, peripherals, software, personal digital assistants and Internet content (Apply Pp). Headquartered in Cupertino, California, Apple is an innovator in the information industry and a leader in multimedia technologies (Apple Pp). It develops, manufactures, licenses and markets solutions, products, technologies and services for business, education, consumer entertainment, scientific and engineering and government customers in roughly one hundred and fifty countries (Apple Pp). Apple has had a profound influence on popular culture. Macintosh users are not just users, they are devotees, who use the computer to express their beliefs on the relationship between technology and society, for they believe the Mac is not simply an object by which to think, it is a spiritual path to a future where technology and humans co-exist in harmony (Lam Pp).

As…

American Morality
The Rooseveltian Nation was initially envisioned by Theodore Roosevelt during the epoch in which the U.S. triumphed in the Spanish American war and heralded its largely Anglo-Saxon nation of limited diversity as the most dominant race of a particular nation on the face of the earth. This concept was further solidified by the efforts of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who strove to reinforce the notion of such a national consciousness, character, and racial makeup with his New Deal efforts. However, the Rooseveltian Nation ultimately crumbled due to a plethora of developments near the midway point of the 20th century. A close examination of those factors reveals that they were ultimately linked to the Cold War and to what many Americans believed was an inherent hypocrisy evinced by their country -- which left a number of new ideologies among them in their wake.

The Rooseveltian Nation was able to withstand…

Cold War dominated American culture, consciousness, politics and policy for most of the 20th century. Even after the fall of the Berlin Wall, which symbolized the fall of the Iron Curtain and therefore finale of the Cold War, Cold War rhetoric and politics continued especially in the War on Terror. Depictions of the Cold War in American literature and film parallel the changes that took place in American ways of thinking about its own domestic policies as well as American perceptions of the alien enemy or "Other." Tracing the evolution of American film and literature from the end of World War Two until the 1980s reveals trends in thought. Early depictions of the Cold War were modernist in their approach, with clear distinctions between good and evil and no moral ambiguity whatsoever. Clear delineations between right/wrong and good/evil prevailed, a form of political propaganda and even brainwashing that prepped the…

Society and Culture
The heirloom of the sixties era has been significant and decidedly pivotal for the advancement of culture and society in nations, an aspect that is referred to as civilization. These changes and modifications that the society went through made the 1960s decade to be one of the fundamental and vital periods of the twentieth century and a landmark that is forever etched. The 1960s era can be revered and given admiration as revolutionary. These changes had a major influence on not only nations in South America and Africa that were developing, but it also had a great influence in civilized nations and we choose to concentrate on Belgium (MacDonald, 2007).

The changes that the society experienced and went through at that time made the 1960s one of the fundamental transition periods of the twentieth century and significant to how culture had fashioned society to what we see…

Strategic Management
I definitely have the personality, skills and goals to be an entrepreneur. The entrepreneur requires both functional and managerial skills. Since the entrepreneur is responsible for all aspects of the operations, he/she must have a strong working knowledge of each different business function. In addition, the entrepreneur must have a distinctive competency in the business venture that is being launched.

The personality of an entrepreneur emphasizes hard work and determination. Entrepreneurs must be prepared to forgo sleep and comfort while they build their business. In many cases, owners are unable to withdraw money from their company for the first year or two. There are going to be numerous roadblocks as well, from government regulation to competitor response. I have the perseverance of an entrepreneur and the drive to push through the difficulties, the roadblocks and the naysayers.

B. The business idea I have selected is a third wave…

Smith provided the appropriate managerial direction which struck the right balance between creativity, performance and productivity. His farsightedness which encompassed a wide vision was long-term, ambitious and the same time entirely practical and feasible. (Section 7: Leadership and Management, p. 243)
Having earlier steered a floundering company towards a successful path, Smith's work was uphill. He had to drastically change the organizational culture and structure while reducing conflict within the very talented set of employees and provide them with a collective direction. He was also expected to reduce the atmosphere of uncertainty prevailing in the organization and use the "countercultures" of the earlier two companies to foster innovation and creativity and thus get a competitive advantage for the new organization. (Section 2: Organizations & Culture, p. 64)

d. Organizational goals, vision, mission, objectives and values

Organizational mission defines the very reason for its existence. It basically refers to a general…

" (Montessori, 9) There is a counter-intuitive disconnect between the priorities of the educational system and the real-life demands of individuals attempting to function ably therein.
Here, Montessori speaks to the incredible irony present even in higher education, where students are essentially intended to be prepared for the real world but are instead isolated in a false environment where priorities such as a streamlined means of graded evaluation, a disregard for the physical or emotional needs of students and an overall proclivity toward isolation from true conditions of worldly socialization tend to misappropriate crucial transitional learning years.

In some regards, Montessori's work is relatively outdated, betraying its origins in the first half of the 20th century by criticizing an absence of services that are now present in many universities. Some of the better funded academic institutions do possess programs availing medical treatment and psychological counseling to students where needed at…

Even proponents of medical legalization concede marijuana cannot cure or even alleviate the symptoms of MS or glaucoma, merely act as a narcotic. True, other narcotics exist on the market today -- and like marijuana, they are also addictive. Whether they are more or less addictive than marijuana remains uncertain, but advocates say the chronically ill should be able to choose what works best for them while opponents say only tested, carefully titrated drugs should be used as palliatives.
Weighing the rights of the sick with marijuana's long and short-term side effects is a delicate balance. When marijuana is smoked, users often suffer similar short as well as long-term problems to those of regular smokers, including a smoker's cough and breathing problems. In fact, "marijuana smoke contains 50% to 70% more carcinogenic hydrocarbons than does tobacco smoke" (Legalization of marijuana, 2010, Legalization of marijuana). The active agent in marijuana, THC,…

He encourages people to come aboard a train being engineered in "weirdo abandon" by musicians who "dramatized a sense of what it is to be American" (1987, p. 10). Christgau, another writer who sees the correlation between this music and the greater society in which it occurred, adds: "rock criticism embraced a dream or metaphor of perpetual revolution. . . . Worthwhile bands were supposed to change people's lives, preferably for the better. If they failed to do so, that meant they didn't matter." (2003, p. 140)
ock and roll is recognized much more than by its musical and stylistic differences. It is also utilized in many different ways by its followers. Grossberg (1983) analyzes the way that rock and roll functions in societal transformations. He notices that although rock and roll has a variety of different local effects, it appears to also have a unified historical identity. He says…

American Pastoral -- Summary

The novel looks at American history after WWII through the eyes of Nathan Zuckerman, the narrator of the story. Nathan thinks this age of the baby-boomers is a golden era of this country's history up to the discordant sounds of the 1960s and early 1970s.

Focal point of the book is Swede Levov, a Jew, who happens to be the "all-American" success story -- very smart, athletic, thriving businessman, and, of course, loving husband and father. Swede desires only to live in peace -- a pastoral life -- in New Jersey.

However, his not so peaceful daughter, Merry, 16, a rebellious type who is deeply involved in the anti-Vietnam War chaos, places a bomb at the post office which explodes and kills one person. She will later set off more bombs and go underground to hide from incarceration.

Swede's peaceful existence is gone, permanently. For the…

Meditation centers became popular during this time, and so did extensive study into eastern religions, such as Buddhism.
There is another aspect of Buddhism that has had a remarkable effect on American society in just about every area, and that is yoga. While all Buddhists do not practice yoga (or meditation, for that matter), a large part of them do. Yoga has spread from being a relatively unknown practice to one of the most popular types of no-stress exercise in the country today. Millions of people attend yoga classes each week across the country, and it is touted as an excellent source of exercise for mind and body.

Buddhists are often thought to be non-materially oriented and interested more in spiritual enlightenment, but that is another area where the religion has altered in America. Author McCormick continues, "Instead, one's external, material circumstances are viewed as an effect of one's inner,…

This Never-Never Land does not seem recognizable as Vietnam anymore, given how much the nation has changed since the cessation of the conflict. Ironically, Herr's portrait of a world-upside down might seem to better reflect the current situation in Iraq, another nation which is torn apart by a confusing array of factions and bloody violence. Of course the terrain, nature of the fighting, and the ideological issues at stake are very different in Iraq, and the historical analogy is far from perfect. But Herr is not talking about history so much as emotions, and the failure of Americans to truly understand a situation and a worldview different than their own. As an American, he writes of Americans and writes of American confusion more than the world of Vietnam itself. Vietnamese soldiers appear as dismembered victims of violence more than they do as actual subjects and speakers. But for this Herr…

In Iran, the American-backed Shah had become increasingly unpopular throughout the 1970s. The Shah fled Iran in 1979, finding temporary refuge in the United States. Religious extremist Ayatollah Khomeni easily filled Iran's political and social need for a backlash against American interventionism.
Iran's 1979 Revolution had a major impact on its relationship with the United States and with the rest of the world. hereas the Shah had guaranteed a steady supply of oil to the United States in exchange for "economic and military aid," the Ayatollah Khomeni did not ("The Hostage Crisis in Iran"). The situation created a second oil crisis and subsequent inflation. Moreover, the Iranian Revolution soured American relations with the nation when on November of 1979, Iranian militants "stormed the United States Embassy in Tehran and took approximately seventy Americans captive," ("The Hostage Crisis in Iran"). The hostage scenario symbolized the rise of terrorism and specifically, anti-American…

He turns some readers off with his vitriolic attacks. Further, his attacks are is blatant propaganda. hy? Because while Taibbi does mention that the Democrats already crafted legislation more than once - setting timetables for withdrawal and tying those timetables to funding, bills that Bush subsequently vetoed - he uses quotes from unnamed "congressional aides" to solidify his assertion that the Democrats just wanted to "score political points without ever being serious about bringing the troops home."
Taibbi does use evidence that there are anti-war leaders outside of ashington who are discouraged and bitter. But he fails to build a case for his most radical assertion, that the Democrats "hijacked the anti-war movement itself" in order to play to the voters, and that the Democrats filled the "ranks of peace groups with loyal party hacks." This is pure propaganda, and the evidence he provides is very thin. He doesn't name…

What is usually unconcealed is that much of the machinery and social prototypes which make up what is distinct as modernization were urbanized in the Western worlds. Whether these technical and social prototypes are essentially part of Western civilization is more complicated to respond. Many would dispute that the query cannot be responded by a reply from science and as an alternative is a worth question which should be answered from a respect scheme. However, much of anthropology these days has shown the close connection between the physical surroundings and daily actions and the configuration of a civilization such as the findings of society's ecology with others. In contrast to many other civilizations in the world, western civilizations lean to highlight the individuals. On the other hand, western societies have usually been more communally cooperative by giving a foremost significance to social preponderance civilization or propensities such as mores, procedures,…

"Imagine all the people / Living for today." The be-here-now tenet is at the core of Zen and other forms of Buddhism. Other Eastern religions like Taoism are devoid of the binary concepts of heaven and hell too. Lennon suggests that "living for today" releases the need for crippling religious dogma, which has been responsible for fomenting wars throughout human history.
Peace, suggests Lennon, is only possible when individuals are willing to let go of religious dogma ("And no religion too"), nationalism ("Imagine there's no countries"), and materialism ("Imagine no possessions"). When people are willing to surrender their demands there will be "Nothing to kill or die for."

Imagine" is therefore a profoundly sad song. Although filled with a sense of hope, "Imagine" is more about longing for a future that could not possibly exist on this earth. Until each person on the planet becomes willing to share in the…

" (Adams et al.)
hat the report went on to show was how a decades long deception was practiced on a race that was viewed primarily as a guinea pig for medical science.

The Tuskegee Institute had been established by Booker T. ashington. Claude McKay had passed through there in 1912 to study agriculture (under the patronage of alter Jekyll, a man who provided the basis for Robert Louis Stevenson's classic horror tale character). Around the same time that Eleanor Dwight Jones was striving to preserve the white race, the United States Public Health Service began the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. hat took place was a forty year analysis of the life of syphilis. The two hundred black men who had syphilis were "deliberately denied treatment" (Adams et al.) in what was just one more step in oppression and callous social engineering.

And at the same time the Tuskegee experiment was…

Girls play with dolls and boys play with trucks. Girls play hopscotch and boys play football. Girls cry and boys do not. These essential shaping experiences create divisions between the genders, and proscribe gendered behaviors. In order to conform, both men and women buy into the gendered and stratified society. This gendered society is hierarchically organized so that men enjoy positions of political power with far greater proportions than women. Men, who are referred to as "founding fathers," have set the rules. If women want a modicum of political, social, or economic status they must also play by the same rules. A woman becomes successful only by acting "like a man" and using male vocabulary and discourse including that of power over others and oppression. Alternatively a woman becomes successful by acting in the extreme feminized version of herself, by sexualizing herself. This is because men understand women as sexualized…

The Hippie community was rapidly expanding and its primary stimulator was music, as people were literally going through brain-affecting experiences as they listened to psychedelic music.
IV. Music is essential in some people's lives because they associate it with particular feelings. Patriotic music is a very important factor in most countries because it makes individuals identify with it and because it triggers sentiments related to belonging. Religious music is also important, considering that many religions accept that religious teachings can be expressed more efficiently by being sung. People often turn to music simply because they feel that it helps them as they try to relax or as they attempt to amplify their feelings.

hereas music can be beneficial when used in certain contexts, it can be particularly harmful when used inappropriately. Aggressive language alongside of a rapid beats-per-minute tempo can influence listeners in adopting hostile attitudes and in behaving unethically.…

hen raised separately, identical twins are never exactly alike. This would seem to indicate that nurture is at least as important as nature in human development and intelligence. However, if nurture were the only criteria fraternal twins that reared under identical conditions would be alike in spite of differences in genetic makeup. Studies do show that more closely resemble each other than non-twin brothers and sisters. However, such studies also demonstrate the same similarities when reared apart as with identical twins. (ibid.). Further studies such as these combined with genetic mapping and research will hopefully resolve the controversy.
However, what about more abstract concepts such as religion. Socialization is understandable because it a reaction to people we can see and talk to. However, the spirit world is a concept that is deeply abstract and few satisfactory approaches have been brought forward. One of the more exotic approaches is that of…

ERG and Herzberg's Motivational Theories:
The life of Steve Jobs

The response to the death of Steve Jobs can be described as nothing short of extraordinary. Mourners placed flowers at Apple stores all over the world. How can this be explained, given the fact that Apple was a commercial product that people bought, not a spiritual movement? The answer is that in his design philosophy Steve Jobs made use of ERG motivational theory, tapping into the potential for self-actualization in terms of how his machines were constructed. Instead of simply being functional, Apple products embodied a concept of sleekness, excellence in design, and belief in human potential. The ERG concept was likewise embodied in Jobs' own life -- Jobs was a businessman who strove to make a profit, yet he also sincerely loved his work and continued to work, long after he could have retired or delegated more of his…