Saturday, May 23, 2020

The White Savior Industrial Complex By Shawn Humphry

The â€Å"challenge† of living in simulated poverty is only half of what the Two Dollar Challenge is really about. The other side is doing the fourteen readings, short stories, and blog posts and five films. These readings focused on topics surrounding the â€Å"white-savior industrial complex† and how local people are working to solve their communities’ problems. The conversations that took place surrounding these readings and films were also helpful when analyzing some of the more controversial articles. Shawn Humphry’s The Do-Gooder Industrial Complex describes the current way that many people â€Å"do good† in relation to global poverty. Humphry argues that we should move from â€Å"Be a voice for the voiceless† to â€Å"Why not try listening?† and â€Å"Barefoot†¦show more content†¦Meg went on to say that they realized that her group’s main purpose was to just learn about the people and culture. Barefoot in Church by Gary Adams, et al describes a situation where the white-savior complex is alive and well. A couple essentially uses a boy who does goes to school barefoot for personal gain. They bring him to church where he is humiliated, while the couple most likely receives praise for helping the boy. By the end of the story it can be inferred that the entire process did more harm than good for the boy. Stories like this are frustration because the couple benefited at the expensive boy who they were trying to help. Even if they had good intentions, it is hard to be â€Å"okay† with what they did. In To Hell with Good Intentions by Ivan Illich This reading was hard to deal with and we had a long discussion about volunteering and intervening in other countries. The idea that we should not participate is valid in many circumstances. However, the extent that Ivan pushed his point of non-intervention is too far. A total hands-off approach does not seem to be that beneficial. His perspective is necessary in that it causes those who plan to go work abroad or even in just a different environment/culture to think critically about what they will be doing. The paper emphasis that it is about learning before doing (or not doing depending on the situation), which is an

Monday, May 11, 2020

Essay on Biography of Karl Marx - 787 Words

Karl Marx is the revolutionary founding father of communism and Marxism, while Niccolo Machiavelli expounded upon the concept of realism through his work The Prince. These two concepts have been the foundations that various countries and governments have tried to utilize in hopes of constructing a utopian society. Karl Marx was born in 1818 in Trier Germany, studying history, philosophy, and law at the universities of Berlin, Jena, and Bonn. Karl Marx did not like the production portion of Capitalism; he found it to be a signal of great trouble. Marx believed that the production stage of capitalism worked in a way that the rich owners of these companies benefited whereas the poor workers did not. So the rich will get richer and the poor†¦show more content†¦Therefore, states will act as rationally as possible to protect themselves, utilizing whatever necessary means and power to secure them. Countries would stock pile and hoard all elements of national power like political s tability, abundance of raw material, cultural hegemony, economic capabilities, etc. but never really engage in conflict. A good correlation to this theory is the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. Both countries never directly engaged in conflict with one another, but they knew of each other’s capabilities and in return created stock piles of nuclear weapons, creating an arms race (Taylor 2011, pg 138). At the same time realists believe that international institutions are not as significant as understanding what the capabilities are of their country and where it ranks within the international system. The biggest concept behind realism is expounded upon in Machiavelli’s work The Prince, where he elaborates on the significance that power is the answer to end all political conflict and one should strive to maximize their individual power (Political Realism). Marxism and realism are by far two political theories that are in the opposite direction of t he spectrum. Marxism has the main focus of teamwork and equality for one another, and that is what will create a utopian society; whereas realism fosters internal competition to strive for power in hopes of creating a strong and powerful countryShow MoreRelatedEssay Biography of Karl Marx1084 Words   |  5 PagesBiography of Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, social scientist, and revolutionist whose writings formed the beginning of the basic ideas known as Marxism. Although he was largely disregarded by scholars in his own lifetime, his social, economic and political ideas gained rapid acceptance in the socialist movement after his death. With the help of Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx created much of the theory of socialism and communism that we know today. Karl Marx was bornRead MoreEssay on Biography of Karl Marx1220 Words   |  5 PagesBiography of Karl Marx Only in the course of the world’s history can a person born over a hundred years ago be as famous today as they were back then. Karl Marx is one person that fits this category. He paved the way for people of the same political background as his own. Marx’s ideas were unique and started uproar all over Europe. Marx helped write the Communist Manifesto one of the most important pieces of literature on Communism ever written. At one time people feared Communism asRead More Biography of Karl Marx Essay1451 Words   |  6 PagesBiography of Karl Marx Karl Marx was a professional intellectual and philosopher. Throughout Marxs life, chance meetings with other professional intellectuals and philosophers helped guide Marx to his final destination. Although Marx died in March of 1883, some 122 years ago, his theories are still being studied, and in some cases, used in some governments. 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The overall approach characterized in Marxs theoretical writings and his analysis of capitalism can be defined as historical materialism, or the materialist perception of history. Actually, that view may well be deemed the foundation of Marxism. Marx contested that the superstructure of society was predicated precisely by the productive roots of society, so that the main system must always be seen in relation toRead MoreBiography Of Karl Marx s Writing On Class Conflict1335 Words   |  6 Pagesociety is told that through hard work and dedication anyone can become successful. Success in the United States is looked at as being a part of the elite. Though it may seem like the status may easily be reached, this is not, in fact the case. Karl Marx’s writing on class conflict suggest otherwise. Class conflict is still very relevant in present day’s society and can be seen throughout the levels of class. 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Throughout Karl’s schooling years, he was considered to be an ordinary student and did not take school seriously. In 1835, Marx began his college career at the University of Bonn, a college known for their rebellious students and wild parties. All too quickly, Marx was swept

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Levittown Experiment Free Essays

Levittown project was taken up in the U.S. after the end of Second World War, with the aim of providing mass housing facilities to people in the wake of increasing urbanization and problems of accommodating large population in limited urban area (Friedman. We will write a custom essay sample on Levittown Experiment or any similar topic only for you Order Now 1995). The first of Levittown apartments were constructed on Long Island, New York and they symbolized the modern trends of urbanization and housing developments (Clapson. 2003). This paper shall study the impact of Levittown project on trends of further urbanization and analyze the aesthetics of design and development involved in it. American urban housing system was not in a very good state at the end of Second World War. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers had started to return back to the mainland, filled with the dream of better and improved life (Baxandall and Ewen, 2000). Euphoric and buoyed by a hard fought and historic win, where U.S had established its military supremacy in the world, these people had great dreams and aspirations to continue in the legacy of that supremacy. This aspiration manifested itself most prominently in their demand for housing infrastructure, built with modern age planning, design, and latest infrastructure: houses that could symbolize U.S’s great power stature and their own triumph in being a part of this transition. Meanwhile the Congress announced special housing loans for returning war veterans where they could get loans on zero down-payment and little mortgage. Suddenly there was a great boom in the demand of urban housing, compared to which the available apartments fell drastically short (Baxandall and Ewen, 2000). Millions of war veterans and citizens were homeless or living in makeshift houses looking expectedly upon government to provide them with affordable houses (Jackson. 1985). However, the strong private construction lobby was pressuring Congress to get out of the housing business, but the past record of private housing industry was patchy and they were not expected to live up to demand of providing millions of houses on affordable prices in a quick time (Baxandall and Ewen, 2000; Clapson. 2003). Abraham Levitt, a prominent builder, understood the importance of providing housing to people of every income range and he responded to the situation by constructing rows of identical four room apartments at Long Island, New York,that were offered to veteran war soldiers for only $60 a month (Jackson. 1985; Clapson. 2003). Levittown, the mass housing facility designed and constructed by Levitts, was vehemently criticized by architects for producing homogenous and suffocating environment and being antithetical to lofted architectural principles (Jackson. 1985). But the critics ignored the fact that, Levitt could not incorporate the lofty and stylist architectural designs that were hallmark of most of Victorian style villas and bungalows and yet produce houses on mass scale, in quick time and provide them for sale at most affordable prices. His aim was to construct the best houses at least cost to provide most economical housing. The fact was that Levitt had successfully fulfilled the demands and dreams of many Americans of owning their own house. Debate, Design and Impact of Levittown To fully appreciate the significance of Levittown, it must be seen in context of the great housing demand of the period 1945-46, the intense effort of private construction giants to force the government to abandon its idea of affordable and mass housing which could seriously jeopardize the corporate game plan of selling expensive houses and flats (Baxandall and Ewen, 2000). There was intense public debate in U.S. around the issue and the corporate construction house tried to discredit mass scale housing by comparing it to slums and hotbed of communism and crime (Jackson. 1985). Despite the well organized and orchestrated campaign against mass housing, public opinion did not waver much, and the expectations for large scale affordable housing remained a public issue (Baxandall and Ewen, 2000). People required housing, and they expected it was their right to get a decent home. High architectural designs and lofted aesthetics meant nothing to them if they resulted in homes that they could look, admire, but could not own. Against this real challenge, Lewitt and Sons took upon themselves to meet the affordable housing demand by assuming equally pragmatic approach. Levitt used special techniques and architectural designs to keep the cost of production at lowest and speed of construction at maximum. He divided entire construction procedure of houses in 26 separate steps that required professional prefabricated components. This approach greatly reduced the construction time. Many of the building components such as nails, concrete blocks, lumber and electrical appliances were procured by Levitt and sons themselves, further minimizing the cost (Friedman. 1995). The method of Levitt was so successful that by 1949Â   the first 2000 planned houses by Levitt were ready to be sold and occupied .. The first of Levitt apartment constructed on Long Island came to be known as Levittown and although they were described as drab, unimaginative and common by critics, they served their purpose of providing millions of American with their own house (Friedman. 1995). Alfred Levitt recognized his own achievement in describing himself as Henry Ford of American housing industry, where he was producing houses at assembly line speed (Friedman. 1995). Levitt also successfully warded off the criticism of his uniform Cape-Cod style of housing by mixing his next colonies with Cape-Cods, Rancher and Colonial style houses, that ranged from $ 5500 to $ 14500 (Jackson. 1985; Clapson. 2003). Levittown were constructed in New Jersey and Pennsylvania as well, with equal success and revolutionizing effect on community living and development. Although attempts were made to associate them with low class life, and blandness of taste, as the houses took the character of their owners who modified and transformed them, each of them emerged as a singular entity that was precious to their owner. Conclusion The impact of Levit’s design had far reaching effect on construction and design of further mass scale housing projects not only in U.S but in other countries as well. Levitt’s designing innovation and successful efforts to construct affordable housing had given millions of not so well-to-do Americans their first opportunity of realizing a dream, secure their present, and lay the groundwork of building a strong future. Reference Avi Friedman. 1995. The Evolution of Design Characteristics During the Post-Second World War Housing Boom: The Us Experience. Journal of Design History. Volume: 8. Issue: 2. Rosalyn Baxandall and Ewen, Elizabeth. 2000. Picture Windows: How the Suburbs Happened. Basic Books. New York. Kenneth T. Jackson. 1985. Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States. Oxford University Press. New York. Mark Clapson. 2003. Suburban Century: Social Change and Urban Growth in England and the USA. Berg. New York. Â   Â   How to cite Levittown Experiment, Essay examples