| Papers [1-14] of 100 :: [Page 1 of 8] | | Go to page : 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 —> | Search results on "ACADEMIC KNOWLEDGE POWER SOCIAL SCIENCES": |
|
|
Academic Knowledge, Power, and the Social Sciences, 2005.
Analysis of discourses on knowledge and power in the social sciences.
1,528 words (approx. 6.1 pages), 7 sources, APA, £ 34.95
»
Click here to show/hide summary
Abstract
This paper looks at the implications, for social anthropology, of discourses on knowledge and power by focusing on Foucault's ideas and by analyzing several ethnographic studies.
From the Paper
"Social science knowledge informs the way in which people interpret their experiences, and can be empowering, as in the case of political and feminist discourses. However, knowledge, employed as discourse, can also be employed in ways that disempower, and this is the focus of much of Foucault's work. The implication for academic work is that social science knowledge can serve to either empower or disempower its subjects, sometimes both, and in all cases it has influence over its subjects and its audience, by virtue of being itself a discourse, albeit a scientific one."
| |
|
Ann Laura Stoler's "Carnal Knowledge and Imperial Power", 2005.
This paper reviews the history book "Carnal Knowledge and Imperial Power" by Ann Laura Stoler.
1,125 words (approx. 4.5 pages), 1 source, £ 30.95
»
Click here to show/hide summary
Abstract
This paper explains that the argument of Ann Laura Stoler's "Carnal Knowledge and Imperial Power" is that the relationships between colonizers and the colonizer were actually very complicated. The author points out that the relationship between colonizers and the colonized has traditionally been seen as a relatively straightforward relationship; however, recent investigations into the relationships between colonizers and the colonized indicate that these relationships were far more complicated then ever imagined. The paper relates that these boundaries between the groups were often blurred due to sexual relationships.
From the Paper
"Colonialism has always been a topic of interest to historians, anthropologists and sociologists. The relationship between colonizers and the colonized has traditionally been seen as a relatively straightforward relationship. However, recent investigations into the relationships between colonizers and the colonized indicate that these relationships were far more complicated then ever imagined. Carnal Knowledge and Imperial Power by Ann Laura Stoler explores the relationships that developed between colonizes and the colonized. Stoler suggests that the relationships between colonizers and the colonized were actually far more complicated then were originally thought."
| |
|
Food Knowledge and Power, 2007.
An examination of the sociological, technological, environmental and safety issues related to a lasagna-based meal preparation.
2,263 words (approx. 9.1 pages), 8 sources, APA, £ 48.95
»
Click here to show/hide summary
Abstract
This paper discusses the sociological, technological, environmental and safety issues related to food. It details one meal, lasagna, and then discusses several issues related to the production of the meal and the ingredients used. The paper analyzes the environmental factors involved in the ingredient preparation and growth, the risk and safety associated with some of the ingredients and the skills and knowledge involved in creating the meal.
Table of Contents:
Meal Chosen: Lasagna And Chips, Bread, Wine, Tea, Tap Water
Environmental Impacts Of Your Meal
The Social And Economic Relationships That Created Your Food
The Technology, Skills And Knowledge Involved In Creating Your Meal
Your Meal And Risk
From the Paper
"This leads to another major issue - the safety requirements for exports and safe import standards. In order to support the economic requirements of global agriculture, Mitullah (2000) tells us that sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures, as required for compliance with the World Trade Association (WTO) are often difficult for third-world countries to comply with. The costs associate with such an effort make competing in the agricultural market, based on the technology requirements, prohibitive. These restrictions are seen in the same light as tariffs or quantitative restrictions on trade (Mitullah, 2000) even though they are entirely technology driven and based. Mitullah (2000) estimates the cost of a hazard analysis and critical control point program to be $82.7 million for a five-year period."
| |
|
"Common Science? Women, Science and Knowledge" by Jean Barr and Lynda Birke, 2000.
A review of the work on the nature of scientific study, objective truth and the alienation of women from scientific fields.
1,800 words (approx. 7.2 pages), 1 source, £ 43.95
»
Click here to show/hide summary
From the Paper
"Science is a pervasive influence on human life today, though most people have only a vague image of what science means and may have complete misperceptions about certain scientific concepts. Many people simply have not been exposed to the information they need to judge science. Women, however, have been actively excluded, or at least discouraged, from science for some time, a factor much noted in analyses of academic statistics and in analyses of the job market in science. This is noted in the book Common Science? Women, Science, and Knowledge by Jean Barr and Lynda Birke as part of their primary emphasis on the fact that the scientific community remains largely unaccountable to the public. Part of their approach to this issue is to talk to non-academics to see what they think about science and about the issues surrounding the field."
| |
|
Twain on Power and Knowledge, 2002.
Discusses how Mark Twain showed that knowledge is power in "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court".
2,400 words (approx. 9.6 pages), 1 source, £ 61.95
»
Click here to show/hide summary
Abstract
Everyone loves a fantasy, from the story of Cinderella to political satires, such as "Gulliver's Travels". Mark Twain created a remarkable novel, "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court", in which he combined fantasy with political satire and gave the reader not only an entertaining story, but also food for thought regarding power and knowledge, technology and personal ambition.
| |
|
Power and Knowledge, 2002.
This paper analyzes three philosophers' theories on the power of knowledge.
2,030 words (approx. 8.1 pages), 3 sources, APA, £ 44.95
»
Click here to show/hide summary
Abstract
This paper examines the philosophies of Plato, Nietzsche and Marx, with respect to the relationship between power and knowledge. It discusses the question of who should control knowledge and disseminate it in society, the faculty of reason and justifications for certain concepts of power.
From the Paper
"The relation between 'Power' and 'Knowledge' is indispensable, it is very often that Knowledge is had by some and others do action. Knowledge without action makes things static, it becomes of no use and action without knowledge leads to nowhere. Action is the way, in which knowledge progresses, to the good or to the detriment of people, societies and the future. These actions have always given way to some sort of power structure. What is in our power to do, is to analyze the social practices' in operation within our society. The more we gain knowledge of things the more powerful we become. As the human beings gained knowledge of things in the course of history, about the world and about themselves, they gradually gained control of things. But generally knowledge of certain things has always resulted in using that knowledge to gain power and control our others. This can be seen in religion, the knowledge about god, and other doctrines of religion has been used by people who claim to have knowledge of the absolute to oppress and gain control over the masses in the history of human civilization. Where ever there is knowledge there has to have power.
In this paper I will examine the issues which arise as a result of the relationship between knowledge and power and specifically to the aspect as to who should control knowledge and disseminate it in society. Of course power has always been exercised in different political and social practices, to analyze the operations of social practices in our society, the relationship between the faculty of reason and the justification of certain concepts that work within our society. The fact that the faculty of reason is also a social practices and has been used to justify many power relationships. In our society the thirst for abstract knowledge first began with the ancient Greeks, the first philosophers who were the lovers of wisdom or knowledge and knowledge for them was the search for truth."
| |
|
Power and Knowledge, 2002.
A study of philosopher Michel Foucault's "Discipline and Punish" and Sandre Lee Bartky's "Femininity and Domination" and their views on power struggle.
1,550 words (approx. 6.2 pages), 2 sources, MLA, £ 34.95
»
Click here to show/hide summary
Abstract
This paper looks at two different views of society as seen by Michel Foucault in "Discipline and Punish" and Sandra Lee Bartky in her book "Femininity and Domination". The paper investigates how each observes a power struggle in our society. Foucault argues that it is through our society?s power structure that our current society has evolved alongside the prison, whereas Bartky argues that the current power structure of society creates a male dominated society.
From the Paper
"The town fought the plague by implementing strict discipline on the whole society. It was one of the first times the disciplinary society emerged as a power structure. With the three steps to docility, methods through which discipline spread, and panopticism our society, as Foucault argues, has turned into a prison society."
| |
|
Race Science, Revisionism and Academic Freedom, 2002.
An exploration of the regulations of free speech with comparisons to George Orwell's "1984".
1,900 words (approx. 7.6 pages), 4 sources, £ 49.95
»
Click here to show/hide summary
Abstract
This essay examines the ways certain kinds of information are suppressed and censored in academic contexts as a way to advocate a politically correct relation to intellectual activity. By suppressing and censoring activities such as race science and historical revisionism, the possibility of teaching intellectuals how to interact with contradictory and contentious information is eclipsed. In this paper, regulations of free speech are explored with regards to contentious kinds of information in academic communities, and compared to the ideas of Orwell's novel 1984.
| |
|
The Sociology of Knowledge and Science, 2005.
A look at how post-modern sociology attempts to explore the relationship between society and science within organizational structures and between experts and the social constructions of reality.
1,456 words (approx. 5.8 pages), 17 sources, APA, £ 33.95
»
Click here to show/hide summary
Abstract
This paper examines the post-modern phase of sociology and explains how this phase is one of assertive questioning and an investigative tone regarding the issue of science and the problematics of expertise.
From the Paper
"A work that relates to this tradition of sociological analysis and deconstruction is a paper by Paul Forman entitled Weimar Culture, Causality and Quantum Theory, 1918-1927: Adaptation by German Physicists and Mathematicians to a Hostile Intellectual Environment. (Forman, P. 1971. vol. 3,) This paper "shows just how deeply the sociology of knowledge can penetrate into the cultural evocation of scientific concepts and (in this case) whole approaches to natural phenomena. The issues raised by the sociology of knowledge are always in danger of undermining the foundations of the claims of science to value-free objective knowledge, and there is a large and fraught literature concerned with shoring up those foundations - something that is much easier to do in the physical than in the biological and social sciences. (Young, R. 1979)"
| |
|
A Taxonomy of Power and Power-Compliance Gaining Strategies, 2001.
A discussion of the classification system defined by researchers French and Raven in 1959.
2,730 words (approx. 10.9 pages), 9 sources, MLA, £ 56.95
»
Click here to show/hide summary
Abstract
The paper discusses French and Raven's taxonomy of five power sources available for gaining compliance: Coercive power, reward-based power, legitimate power, expert power and referent power. The paper defines each kind of power, giving examples from laboratory studies, advertising, corporate theory and gender-based linguistic studies. The paper includes a discussion not only on the ways of obtaining power, but also on the forms of resistance to that power.
From the Paper
"Perhaps the most obvious definitionally and the crudest method in Raven?s taxonomy would be that of coercive power. Simply put, coercive power is the capacity to dispense punishments to those who do not comply with requests or demands. Consider, for instance, one of the most famous experiments ever conducted dealing with the exercise of power. In the study conducted by Stanley Milgram, subjects were recruited from ?a broad spectrum of socioeconomic and educational levels? to participate in a study of ?memory.? The subjects were then put into pairs, a teacher and a learner. The learner had to administer punishment through the use of electroshocks whenever the subject answered incorrectly. Of course, the learner was really a plant, a psychology student provided by Milgram. But the individual administering the punishment did not know that. So far as he or she knew, he or she had the ability to administer coercive power. Much to the shock and horror of the public when Milgram made his findings known, the ?teachers? did so to the point where the ?learners? protested that the shocks were becoming painful. This transpired as the level of electricity rose to 120 volts, then to 180 volts, to 300 where the subject demanded release, then to 330, when the learner became silent. (The actor playing the role of the experimenter told the subjects they had to go on, that there was no permanent tissue damage being done to the learners, and that he took ?full responsibility.?) Sixty-five percent of Milgram?s subjects conducted the experiment to the bitter end."
| |
|
The Significance of Relative Power Over Absolute Power, 2006.
An explanation as to why an emphasis on relative power in international relations is more important than absolute power.
1,313 words (approx. 5.3 pages), 7 sources, MLA, £ 30.95
»
Click here to show/hide summary
Abstract
This paper takes a look at relative power versus absolute power, from both realist and liberal perspectives. The paper uses Canada and China as examples. The paper concludes that it is better for the state to emphasize a realist perspective rather than a liberalist one.
From the Paper
"States have always been interacting with one another on a systemic level. According to realists, because states are self-interested, they worry about power of which there are two different kinds. Realists value relative power more than absolute power. Absolute power refers to a state's strive towards flourishing economically, and militarily. On the other hand, relative power refers to a state's emphasis on its relationship with other states around it, watching surrounding states and planning accordingly. However, unlike realists, liberals do not value power as highly and look to gains as being more important. Absolute gains follow a non-zero-sum mentality, which means that a state's gains are infinite. One state's gain does not have to be another state's loss as it could be in the case of relative gains. As a result, what is more important for a state to emphasize: a realist's view of power or the liberal view of gains?"
| |
|
From Imperialist Power to Super Power, 2002.
An examination of the history of the United States as an imperial power and consideration of the implications of its position now that America is the only country in the world able to lay claim to the term superpower.
1,536 words (approx. 6.1 pages), 5 sources, MLA, £ 34.95
»
Click here to show/hide summary
Abstract
This paper discusses the expansion of the American empire from its early days as a nation of farmers through being an imperial power with expanding territories to being the world's only superpower since the collapse of the Former Soviet Union. It evaluates whether it is a good thing for a state to be so powerful and looks at how long America can actually stay in this position in light of today's political world.
Outline
Introduction
Manifest Destiny
Land Acquisition through Conquest and Purchases
Implications of American Imperialism
America's History as an Imperialist Power
America as an Agricultural Country
The Need for Markets
Foreign Markets and American Imperialism
American Hegemony vs. other Imperial Powers
Comparison with the Soviet Union
Comparison with Britain
Negative Implications
America as the World's Only Superpower
America after the Collapse of the USSR
America as a Benign Hegemony
Collapse of Empire
Conclusion
From the Paper
"America began as a small cluster of colonies clinging to the eastern shore of the great continent of North America. As the country expanded westward, and also northward and southward, a spirit of "manifest destiny" gripped the land as pioneers, patriots and politicians sought to bring under American domination ever greater amounts of territory. Through land purchases such as the Louisiana Purchase, and through conquest, as in the case of the lands acquired as a result of the Mexican War and the Spanish American War, the country grew until it stretched from sea to sea, and from the Rio Grande River in the south, far north to the cold stretches of the Canadian wilderness."
| |
|
"State Power Is Male Power": Women And The Welfare State, 2002.
Argues that the welfare state, from a feminist perspective, is a feature of a patriarchal power structure.
1,650 words (approx. 6.6 pages), 5 sources, £ 42.95
»
Click here to show/hide summary
Abstract
Canada and the United States are in the midst of a period of economic expansion almost unprecedented in history. Integral to this expansion has been the tax and spending cuts of ideologically conservative governments. These governments have removed a great many lazy women and children from the welfare rolls and, through policies such as workfare, made them productive workers in our society. This paper will demonstrate, however, that this process may be seen as very logical when viewed from a feminist perspective. Underlying the conservative arguments about finances and budget is a subtextual debate about power in general and patriarchal power in particular. It will be argued that the welfare state is an integral feature of this patriarchal power structure. As such, the welfare state's focus on the weakest and the most disadvantaged in our society - whether in cutting benefits or controlling behaviour - reflects a continuing interest of patriarchal power structures in dominating the lives of women who are disproportionately represented in those dependent upon the welfare state.
| |
|
True Science and Pseudo-Science, 2003.
Discusses the notion of scientific discovery.
1,800 words (approx. 7.2 pages), 3 sources, £ 43.95
»
Click here to show/hide summary
Abstract
Looks at testing to ascertain whether a hypothesis is true or false. The paper examines the views of Thomas Kuhn and the "paradigm" and Karl Popper's contention that deductive testing is true science, and induction is false science.
From the Paper
"True Science vs. Pseudo-Science
Introduction and Purpose
True science and pseudo-science, it has been argued, can be distinguished from one another by an examination of the nature of scientific discovery, with particular attention to the use of a ..."
|
|
|
