Functionalism in Family Essay Example for Free

Functionalism in Family Essay It wasn’t until I was eight years old that I was finally adopted. My adopted family, who I consider to be my real family, taught me a lot. They help shape and mold me into the person that I am today. According to our class textbook, â€Å"the family, in its many varying forms, is present in all human cultures† (Schaefer, pg. 306). The family is impacted by all three sociological theories. In my paper I will discuss the impact that all three of the theories. Functionalism, Conflict and Interactionism, have on the social institution of family. I believe that the social institution of family is what makes us who we are. It helps to form our personality and our lives when we become adults. My family taught me how to make moral decisions in my life, how to become an independent individual in society and how to manage a family of my own. I pretty much do not follow one exact theory. I agree with many of the different aspects of all three theories. The first theory I will discuss will be the Functionalist theory. As outlined by William F. Ogburn, the family is meant to perform six paramount functions as follows: * Reproduction Protection * Socialization * Regulation of sexual behavior * Affection and Companionship * Provision of Social Status I agree with Ogburn on many of these functions. I think that the family teaches you companionship and how to form an affectionate relationship with someone. I also agree tone of the main functions of a family is Reproduction. God says in the Bible that we are to be fruitful. It is our duty to reproduce to make more beings on earth. My family also serves as a security blanket for me. I know when all else fails my family will always be there for me and take me back with no questions asked. The functionalist theory affects the views of an individual in a family in many ways. To me it makes them a more stable person, with more traditional views. Functionalism does not leave too much room for social change within a family. Usually units of a family have a set of beliefs that they were raised on and consider the norm for them. TO stray from this would be abnormal and not right. Functionalism was a strong belief years ago when things were more traditional. This was just the way of life. This theory to me would be one of the main reasons why many people are against things such as gay marriage, unmarried couples having babies and shacking up and unwed mothers. On the other side of the spectrum we have the Conflict theorists. â€Å"Conflict theorists view the family not as a contributor to social stability, but as a reflection of the inequality in wealth and power that is found within the larger society† (Schaefer, pg. 292). Although I do agree with many of the aspects of the Functionalist theory, I agree with some of the points that the Conflict theory makes as well. I know for a fact when I was a child, my brother got away with murder. There were things that I couldn’t do that my brother could do because he was a boy. I had a friend who parents wouldn’t allow her to go anywhere, she had to go to High School down the block from her home, she couldn’t go to the mall until she was 18, and she was forced to go to college near home. Going away to college was a no- no for her as far as her parents were concerned. However, her younger brother went to a High School way across town from their house, he was hanging out at the age of 13, and he went away to college hours from their house. Many families in many cultures tend to be male chauvinistic, and bring out about inequality between the sexes. This was the way of life in the United States at a time. The man was the one who went out and worked and brought home the bacon. There were things that a man could do that woman couldn’t. The man was the sole provider and the authoritarian. Nowadays, women have just as much say so as men do. I have much power and authority in my family. My kids consider me and their stepdad to be equals. We make decisions and compromises on many things such as the bills, household needs and the children. Although there has been great change in this shift of power from man to woman in a family, there are still some situations where things have not change as much. Studies have shown that â€Å"for every stay-at-home dad there are 38 stay at home moms† (Schaefer, pg. 292). The conflict theory affects the views of individuals in a family because the man a sense of power and authority. It makes the women out to be subservient to her husband or to man period. It lends to situations such as Domestic Violence. I came across an article by Kathryn Yount and LiLi, it discusses Egyptian women’s justification of Domestic Violence. In a study done, â€Å"5,450 women in Egypt, they found that one half justified wife hitting or beating for some reason† (Yount, 2009). It is the conflict theory that leads many women to believe and justify Domestic Violence. There is little change for social change with the conflict theory. As described in our textbook, â€Å"conflict theorists al so view the family as an economic unit that contributes to social injustice† (Schaefer, pg. 292). Society view women as subservient and believe their role to be that of a woman in the kitchen cooking, barefoot and pregnant. Last but not least we have the Interactionalist theory. Unlike the conflict and the functional theory, this theory observes the relationship between individuals in the family and how they interact with one another. â€Å"In a study of both black and white two=parent households, researchers found that when fathers are more involved with their children (reading to them, helping them with their homework, or restricting their television viewing), the children have fewer behavior problems, get along better with others and are more responsible (Schaefer, pg. 293) The relationship between family members can determine the outcome of one’s behavior. This theory provides a lot of knowledge on fixing problems in a family. My son was acting up in school and I could not figure what his problem was. When my fiancee and I became more involved with him and his work, having join Boy Scouts, and talking to him one on one, his behavior changed. I received less and less calls from his teacher about him acting up in school. In family matters: the importance of mattering to a family in adolescence, Gregory Elliott, â€Å"demonstrated that the lack of mattering in one’s family contributes to the degree of connectedness one feels to the social order (Churchill, 2010). Relationships between family members matter a lot. I have a friend who had a horrible relationship with her mother. In turns she had a bad relationship with her daughter, and her daughter has a bad relationship with her daughter. Tough love was a major problem in their situation. The Interactionist has the greatest affect on family member’s views. It makes one more open-minded and understanding. It leaves plenty of room for social change within a family. By studying the relationships between family members we will be able to substantiate behaviors and why certain things happen. Society will in turn change their views on family life and accept change and different forms of families. Many people find it strange that it doesn’t matter to me that my kids biological farther refuses to pay child support and I still want him to see his kids as much as possible. I came across a study done by Yoshi Sano, Leslie Richards and Anisa Z’vonkovis in the Journal of Family Issues. I found that â€Å"Contrary to some father’s claims that mothers gate keep their access to children, the majority of mothers in the study just wanted increased father involvement. The mother’s desire for active father child interaction was not dampened by their frustration at the lack or irregularity of child support payment, which mothers tended to accept given the lack of economic opportunities in rural communities† (Sano, Richards, et. al, 2008). I believe that out of all three theories interactionism teaches one the most and has the greatest impact on family. We can learn from our interactions with one another and others as well. Functionalism is different from all three because it just basically believes that the family has basic functions. It doesn’t go on any evidence or studies. The Conflict theory believes that family brings about conflict. Its sole purpose is to cause inequality between the sexes. The social institution of family is affected by all three of the theories. I feel that and truly believe that it would benefit best form the interactionist theory. This can be backed up by studies and research. It will help to make society more understanding. References Churchill, C. (2010, February). Family matters: the importance to family in adolescence. Choice, 47(6), 1168.

Computer Crime :: essays research papers

Computer Crime I Ever since I got my first computer. I have enjoyed working on them. I have learned a tremendous amount of trouble shooting. With my recent computer I have come across computer crime. I got interested in hacking, prhreaking, and salami slicing. But before I go to far, I need to learn more about it like the consequences? One question in mind is what crimes are their and what kind of things you can do with them? I would like to find out why people do thesis things? I would also like to learn the laws against all computer crime? II Today's computer society has brought a new form of crime. There are those "hackers" who break their way into computers to learn the system or get information. I found out in the book Computer Crime written by Judson, Karen: That "Salami Slicers" steal small amounts of money from many bank customers this adding up to a great deal of money. I also read about phone phreaks more known as "Phreakers." They steal long distance phone services. Phreakers commit many other crimes against phone companies. In the book Computer Crime it states, most people commit thesis crimes, because they where carious and wanted to explore the system. All they want to do is exploit systems not destroy it. It is purely intellectual. I know one reason is that is can be very rewarding. Hackers are drawn to computers for the aninymity they allow. They feel powerful and can do anything. Hackers can be there own person out side the real world. I found out Arizona was the first state to pass a law against computer crime, in 1979. In 1980 the U.S. copyright act was amended to include soft ware. I found out that in 1986 a computer farad abuse act was passed. This act was made to cover over any crime or computer scheme that was missed with any former laws. Violations to any of thesis laws are a maxim of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. III With my computer I can do lots of these things but choose not to. Because I know that if you know computers you can do much more like carious wise.

A Book Report on Socrates Café by Christopher Phillips Essay

This seeks to write a book report for the book Socrates Cafe by Christopher Phillips. This paper discusses the author’s declared purpose in writing the book in relations to what Socrates may have left as legacy in latter’s works. The dilemma of believing what may not be the truth. We live as we believe as they say. If Socrates is alive today, he would have asked: â€Å"Do we voluntarily have convictions or could they be imposed upon us? How do we acquire the things the we ultimately believed? † Convictions lead us to action because we believe what we are doing. Without conviction it is really hard, to move into action. Seel Jr. , shared to us the same dilemma when he said, â€Å"There is a danger in both Christian families and Christian schools that indoctrination is taken for education. Nothing could be farther from the truth. One’s convictions cannot be coerced. Instead, they are ultimately based on what we love and best learned in an environment of trust. Too often family dinner tables, Sunday schools, and Christian school classrooms are only one-way conversations—telling at the expense of listening. See more:  First Poem for You Essay As such, many Christians have never learned the intellectual discipline of asking questions. † We are however not left without any option. We can ask questions. Seel, Jr. agreed, saying â€Å"Yet an educated mind begins with a questioning mind. One of the distinctive of the school where I teach is its commitment to allow students the freedom to express their uncertainty. The policy manual reads, â€Å"Students are treated as young adults and are encouraged to develop their own convictions. This will inevitably mean that at times students may challenge their parents’ beliefs and question their own. The school seeks to create an environment where students are able to respectfully raise honest questions and express doubts within a community of loving acceptance and intellectual inquiry. † The importance of book of Phillips on Socratic Cafe assumes a remarkable significance with our dilemma. The author aims to bring back questioning in the minds of many. Seel, Jr. confirmed this when he said, â€Å"His aim is to bring probing conversations about the important questions to common people. † Do we really need to seek the truth? How do we seek the truth? We should be searching the truth. In the inventions, that we make we discover the truth of many things. We adopt decisions in our courts because that is how we see the law at a certain point in time but we also change jurisprudence in the light of evolution of events. Without the desire for truth man would have remained ignorant that the earth is flat and not round or that the earth is the center of the universe. Our discoveries reveal our desire for truth. For greater purpose we seek the truth as in the way court cases are decided, thus truth is a requisite of justice. Indeed, Seel, Jr. aid, â€Å"Our community is committed to the pursuit of truth. Convictions are to be held and beliefs maintained on this basis alone. There are obviously many reasons why a person becomes a Christian. We all have our stories. But ultimately, Christianity is to be believed because it is true. It is True Truth, as Francis Schaeffer used to say. More than true for me; rather the truth of reality. But to recognize this, one must first learn to ask honest questions. † Seel, Jr. further said that â€Å"The Socratic Method is a powerful tool for sharpening our thinking and exposing what we don’t know. It is a powerful pedagogical tool but a disastrous epistemological one. † Phillips has the right to make use of the title of his book are he is believed to have hosted Socratic dialogues and has traveled the country holding various and numerous conversations in coffee houses, bookstores, senior centers, elementary schools and even prisons. † Seel, Jr. agreed saying, â€Å"The greatest danger of truth is not falsehood, but diversion and indifference. †¦.. Humility is beginning of wisdom. † Without searching for the truth we will always be mislead and continue to live in ignorance. The reason why we rarely ask why  Our not asking why seemed to have been conditioned with our environment. Thus, Seel, Jr. agreed saying, and â€Å"Our convictions are too often based on social conformity rather than personal reflection. We say we are concerned about truth. But we do not pay the dues truth demands. † Given the benefits, what are examples of questions asked by Phillip under Socratic Method? Christopher Phillips asks in the Socrates Cafes: What are the Big Questions and what makes them so? What is a question? What would life be like without questions? Why am I here? What is home? Where am I stuck? What is a friend? What is wonder? What is silence? What is old? Am I asking the right questions? What am I meant to do? What is love? What is what? Why ask why? Socrates claimed that an unexamined life was not worth living. If we live without consideration of its destination, and whether the road traveled will get us there, then we are fools and not wise. Or as Jesus asks, â€Å"What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? † It must be noted that the questions are interconnected with one another so that the answer to one question would lead to more truth in answering the following questions. Would not asking too much a sign of presumptive superiority of the person asking that could discourage relations with the person or persons asked? This is where Socrates have made the Socratic Method unique and worth memorable from the lessons he has to left his fellowmen. Seel, Jr. mentioned them as follows: First, Socrates always showed his opponents deference. By putting himself in the position of the learner rather than the teacher, he avoided raising in his opponent feelings of suspicion or defensiveness. The second lesson of Socratic argument is: Encourage your opponent to make the argument his or her own. The third lesson of Socrates is: Seek a shared higher standard. However, Seel, Jr. noted that on the third criterion, Phillips failed on this area. Arguing, Seel, Jr. said, â€Å"In the hands of Phillips, â€Å"The Socratic method is a way to seek truth by your own lights. † For Phillips the questions are the end not the means to an end. † The argument of Seel, Jr. claiming failure of Phillips could be contradicted and explained under which this paper qualifies Phillips work to have pass under the third criteria. Phillips, said, â€Å"The one thing Socrates know beyond a shadow of a doubt, he was fond of saying, was that he didn’t know anything beyond a shadow of a doubt. Yet Socrates, contrary to what many think, did not try to pose the ultimate sceptic. He was not trying to say all the knowledge was groundless, that we were doomed to know nothing. Rather, he was emphasizing that what he had come to know, the truths he had discovered by hard-won experience, were slippery, elusive, always tentative at best ,always subject to new developments, new information, new alternatives. Every last bit of knowledge, every assumption, Socrates felt, should always be questioned, analyzed, challenged. Nothing was ever resolved once and for all. The fact that question leads to further question does necessarily not mean â€Å"ending with the question† but rather the truth that is revealed by every question leads to further truth. The Author reemphasizing the impossibility of exhausting all the questions In trying to explain his work, â€Å"socratising† is almost obvious in many part of the book. Thus, Phillips said, â€Å"It is with this that I launched Socrates Cafe. And the one and only firm and lasting truth that has emerged from all the Socrates Cafe, discussion. I’ve taken part in is that it is not possible to examine, scrutinize, plumb, and mine a question too thoroughly and exhaustively. There is always more to discover. This is the essence of magic, of what I have come to call ‘Socratising’† He further said, â€Å"Socrates Cafe does not have to be held in cafe. It can take place anywhere a group of people- or a group of one –chooses to gather an inquire philosophically. It can take place around a dining table, in a church or a community centre, on a mountaintop, in a nursing home, a hospital, senior centre, a school, a prison. † As long as man lives, he will continue to ask question whether inside or outside his religion. He must be fortunate to have freedom to Socratic Method, anytime and in any where. This is clearly expressed by author saying, â€Å"Anywhere and anytime you desire to do more than regurgitate and nauseam what you read or think you have read, about philosophers of the past who are considered by academics to the undisputed exclusive members of the philosophical pantheon. It can take place anywhere people want to do philosophy, to inquire philosophically, themselves, whether with a group of people or alone. † Conclusion: Socratic Cafe is a powerful book in making Socrates alive in the heart and mind of people of believe in Socratic Method. In indeed seldom any kind of TV talk shows is made a success without the artful way of asking questions. Any good research must have a research questions. If many good inventions started with research and if research seeks to address to a research question it could categorically be said that questions will always be there. Questioning stops if the truth is found, but who could claim to have found the truth. Hence the message of Socrates Cafe will always leave something practical if not profound knowledge and realizations for people seeking the truth to subject their works to further questions, This would be good for such is also is the reality that a man travels in this travel to seek perfection in his ways or in trying to know his God from inside and outside on himself. One could not escape the relevance of the Socratic way of teaching or learning as it could be applied by group or individually, anywhere and anytime.

How am I a Romantic - 536 Words

â€Å" Go Back Into Time With AR (American Romantisicm† Dear 11th grade Students: Today im writing to you about some characteristics of American Romanticism that would be helpful to you in Mrs.Thorntons American Literature class. Some of the characteristics that you would need to know to be successful in this unit are â€Å"Dr.Heidegger’s Experiment† by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper’s, and â€Å"The First Snow Fall† by James Russell Lowell. In the movie The Last of the Mohicans there are a lot of American Romanticism thats very known to the viewers of the movie. Love of nature, Awareness of the past, Belief in Democracy and many more. Love of Nature would be when someone is constantly talking about nature and always having things to do with nature. For an Example in The Last of the Mohicans the camerons showed a big part of love of nature by staying out in the middle of the woods away from town with other people and being to their selves at all times and not wanting to be bothered with others and their problems. The Last of the Mohicans also shows Awareness of the past. Awareness of the past would be kinda exactly like it sounds, when someone has a update of things that has happened to their family and surroundings before their time. Things that has been passed down from generation to generation and so far. An Example of awareness of the past in The Last of the Mohicans will be when Nathaniel the main character of the movie was laying onShow MoreRelatedHow am I a Romantic?538 Words   |  2 Pagespeople that are getting attack from the hurons. One day him and his other two Mohican friends. They were hunting and Nathaniel â€Å"killed the deer and they blessed the deer for providing food for them†. 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