How are social change and changes in knowledge linked?

It will then proceed by discussing aspects of social change in history, in particular how changes after the 2nd world war challenged old and traditional systems of knowledge. In this discussion this essay will focus on two dominant systems of knowledge, medicine and religion, and in what way the changing role of women in society has challenged these knowledge systems. With regard to religion this essay will also discuss the development of new age beliefs in today's society with relevance to the question is religion in decline? This essay will aim to use relevant examples in this discussion in order to reach a conclusion of the link between social change and changes in knowledge in our society. So lets begin by answering the question what is knowledge? ‘All knowledge is produced, collected, collated and disseminated by human beings living in societies.' (Goldblatt 2000). It is inherited through the language we learn in our daily lives. We use many different sources of knowledge in order to understand where we Come from, who we are and the society within we live it shapes what we know and what we don't know. It is the social structures and institutions within society, which shape the content of knowledge systems, be it in medicine, religion, the political ideologies and so on. They decide who holds the power in within these knowledge systems.' They determine, for example, who has access to specialized knowledge languages (like medical training) and who has socially sanctioned and legal authority to make pronouncements on a given subject.'(Goldblatt 2000). Aside from specialized or expert knowledge there is also a different type of knowledge known as common sense knowledge. This is knowledge, which we all inherit or learn from family and friends, or acquire through outside influences accessible to us such as media or the Internet. It helps us understand or gain alternative knowledge on issues such as our health for example. It often comes in the shape of old wives tales, which have been passed down through generations. The dominant knowledge systems such as medicine religion and so on are not fixed however and when social change occurs, they are forced to respond to these changes, and in consequence it is also knowledge that can then influence change in society and determine how we live our lives. Throughout history society has seen many radical changes within its dominant knowledge systems. We have witnessesed major advances in scientific research, medicine, changes in ‘traditional' religious beliefs and challenges to the dominant political ideologies, particularly following the Second World War. One of the foremost debates today is whether or not there has been a decline in the trust of expert knowledge within all aspects of society. There have always been experts with specialized knowledge even in ancient times. However years ago experts in their field be it science, medicine or religion were always trusted their knowledge was respected and believed as true, scientists, doctors, priests and the like. Although they were never completely unchallenged the authority of their knowledge was secure. However it could be argued that at this time people had no way of acquiring the knowledge to know any different and had no reason to challenge the experts. In time however new discoveries in science, medicine, and with new communication technology evolving all the time in all aspects of society, allowed people much more access to alternative knowledge and information. With this new knowledge people began to ask questions and have their say regarding issues of importance to them. Also new experts were emerging all the time to challenge old knowledge systems. ‘Debates that were once confined to a small circle of influential figures and institutions within each of these traditions are now amplified through the enormously expanded means of communication that now exists' (Goldblatt 2000) It could be fair to argue then that it is not so much that there has been a decline in the trust of experts but that the old and traditional and trusted knowledge systems have become more diverse due to the emerge of alternate forms of knowledge within society, for example, alternative medicine, new political ideologies and so on. Following the 2nd world war feminism had a huge impact for women in all spheres of society. Science, medicine and religion, had largely been dominated by men throughout history. Women had been pretty much excluded from all these dominant knowledge systems. It was men who held superior patriarchy power within all aspects of society. This allows us then to not only question and discuss gendered knowledge but to also look at the interrelation between knowledge and power within these knowledge systems. Lets look at the at a feminist approach adopted by Fox Keller, with relevance to women's place within medical science. She argues that knowledge production is gendered and shaped by patriarchy within social structures in society. ‘Modern science †¦ is based on a division of emotional and intellectual labour in which objectivity, reason and mind are cast as male and subjectivity, feeling and nature are cast as female. Science involves a radical separation of subject and object and ultimately the domination of mind over nature. The result is a popular conception of science – one that is more suited to men than women'. (Fox Keller). An example of this is the Royal Society founded by Charles II in1662. It was argued that the knowledge produced within this society was because of its ‘gentlemanly origins. They saw the importance of objective knowledge over subjective knowledge within the field of science and medicine. Women's knowledge at this time was ‘devalued and relegated to folk medicine' (Thompson and woodward 2000). It was due to the fact that women were excluded from higher education and therefore unable to attend medical universities, hence were unable to enter the medical field without training. ‘Power over Knowledge was used to maintain a structure in which women were systematically excluded from a male medical monopoly' (Thompson and Woodward) Today however, due largely to the emerge of feminism, women now have equality with men in the medical profession, and other dominant knowledge systems such as religion. As with medicine religion too was dominated by the patriarchy power within society. In fact it wasn't until 1992 that women were finally accepted into the priesthood. In contemporary society women have challenged the patriarchy of old and traditional religious beliefs in favour of new understanding of religion and what it means for them. Many women now focus on a more spiritual beliefs, one movement dedicated to this is that of eco-feminism. ‘Eco-feminism is a new term for an ancient wisdom. As women in various movements – ecology, peace, feminist and especially health – rediscovered the independence and connectedness of everything, they also discovered what was called spiritual dimension of life – the realization of this interconnectedness was itself sometime called spirituality†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.The desire to recover, to regenerate [this] wisdom as a means to liberate women and nature from patriarchal destruction also motivated this turning towards spirituality.'(Mies and Shiva, 1997, p,500). So it is fair to argue that due to social change brought about by the emerge of feminism women have challenged both gendered knowledge and the power of knowledge in medicine and religion. The rise of Eco-feminism however is just one of the many alternative or new age beliefs within religion today. Which begs the question of religion in contemporary society and whether it is in decline. Or could it be that as with the knowledge system of medicine or expert knowledge in general, religion has become so diverse due to social change and the emerge of alternative religious beliefs brought about because of these changes. Religion has changed significantly throughout history. Following the emerge of the Royal Society and the intellectual movement throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, known as ‘The Age of Reason', (Enlightenment), it was argued that ‘Science replaced religion as the dominant source of knowledge'(Woodward and Watt 2000) However religion has always played an important role for people within society due to the fact that unlike scientific knowledge it is religion, which helps us make sense of the moral issues that, can affect us in our daily lives. Social scientists debate into the question is religion in decline is known as the secularization thesis. Some argue that it is modernization, which is a threat to traditional religious thinking by citing new age beliefs as being responsible for this. Some argue that people now fill their time with other leisure activities instead. It is also argued that other forms of thought have taken over religion such as science for example. The fact also that the UK is now a multicultural society means there are many diverse forms of religion apart from the church of England. There are two main approaches in this debate positivist, whose approach is based on observing peoples behaviour toward religion. They use quantitative evidence such as questionnaires and surveys, which is argued may be limiting. The interpretative approach however would argue humans cannot be observed in the same way as objects. There aim is understand what religion or people's beliefs mean to them and aim to explore those meanings from different perspectives. It can be argued that religion in contemporary society has become a significantly diverse knowledge system. Ethnic beliefs, women's challenge to patriarchal religion and the emerge of new age beliefs, be it alternative medicine or green issues have meant that the traditional Church of England the dominant form of religion any more. So in conclusion then this essay began by defining what is knowledge. It then proceeded by questioning expert knowledge with regard to social change. It then focused on two dominant knowledge systems medicine and religion and discussed how the emerge of feminism challenged the knowledge systems. Lastly it discussed briefly the role of religion in contemporary society and questioned whether it is in decline and the relevance of women's, ethnic and new age beliefs. It is fair to argue that the discussion in this essay does conclude that there is a significant link, not only between social change and knowledge but knowledge and social change.

Adults with Learning Difficulties Essay

â€Å"People with Learning Difficulties are unique individuals with their own likes and dislikes, history and opinions. They have the same rights as everybody else† To begin my assignment I will be discussing the history of social exclusion in relation to people with l’earning difficulties/disabilities . I will then outline process of Social work and in particular I will be focusing on intervention and how intervention has been used in relation to my chosen case study. In addition to this I will pay attention to a number of key issues in relation to society’s views on people with Learning Difficulties. I will also be discussing what Laws, Policies and Practices have been implemented to protect people with learning difficulties from oppression and discrimination and how effective these Laws have actually been in assisting people with Learning Difficulties to live the life they choose to live. During the late 19th century in particular, socially excluding people with learning disabilities was particularly inherent. At the time, those with ‘mental deficiencies’ were regarded as degenerates, and would often be blamed for social problems such as crime and poverty. This in turn led to the removal and institutionalisation of people thought to be ‘feeble minded’ and those referred to as ‘idiots’. Wolf Wolfensberger first published his thoughts about normalisation in 1972, through his works ‘The principle of Normalization in human service’. Wolfensberger argued that many of the problems with the institutions arose from the way in which they were designed and run. The residents of these institutions were treated like numbers rather than individuals, losing their identity and also their dignity. They were often regarded as primitive, uncontrollable and unable to be educated. The basic ideas and aims of the principles of normalisation have aimed to advocate community-based support for people with learning disabilities, whilst moving away from institutionalisation. But one of the most apparent obstacles in achieving this has been the attitude of those in the ‘community’ towards people with learning disabilities. Up to this point Social workers were still using the â€Å"tick box format† when conducting assessments and the medical model of practice was used which resulted in oppression of the service user. It was not until the NHS and community care Act and the community care (Direct Payments) Act was implemented in 1990’s that the attitudes towards people with Learning Difficulties began to improve along with the balance in power between Social Workers and Service Users. Further implementations of legal frameworks, policies and practices such as Valuing People 2001 and the Mental Capacity Act have helped to improve Social Work practice and in turn protect the rights of vulnerable people whilst promoting Anti-Discriminator practice, Social role valorisation and normalisation. Today’s process of Social Work consists of five key stages. These are Assessment, Deciding on outcomes, Planning, Intervention and Evaluation. Inter professional working should be placed centrally throughout all stages of the social work process in order to achieve the best possible outcome for the service user. Once the service users initial assessment has been carried out, decisions can then be made regarding the individuals overall needs and also their eligibility to receive funding for care packages and/or direct payments. Intervention can differ according to setting, but when looking at the intervention process for people with learning difficulties working in partnership and respecting the service user’s expertise is vital when putting agreed plans into action. This aspect of the intervention process can be linked to the exchange model as this approach promotes Anti Discriminatory Practice by empowering the service user to help make decisions about their future wellbeing. It also meets the expectations of the service user that social workers are respecting their expertise. Milner and Obrien 2002) During the intervention process it is the duty of the care manager/social worker to ensure that services provided are meeting the required standards and that the care is co-ordinated successfully to prevent deterioration due to gaps or lapses in care. It is also the responsibility of the care manager to ensure that services users are not excluded from services or receiving care that is of poor quality by constantly checking for discrimination stereotypes and assumptions made during the social work process. It is at this point that the intervention process can be linked with the objectives of Social role Valorisation; the objectives being to prevent people from attaining negative social roles and to promote positive valued roles in the first place. Work to reverse, or at least reduce the impact of existing negative roles and promote positive valued roles. The two key processes od social role valorisation are to enhance the social image of vulnerable people and to enhance their competencies. Social workers are expected to monitor and review intervention lans on a regular basis. Because of this it is vital that these plans can be changed at any time to suit the needs of the individual. When changes are made it is important that other organisations involved are kept up to date with these changes to ensure that the plan remains co-ordinated and effective. Although this theory of intervention illustrates a person centred approach, there is evidence to suggest that people with learning difficulties are still being failed by society due to standardisation and computerisation which can also be known as the â€Å"tick box format†. There are also many instances where there is an incorrect assessment of finances during the initial assessment process, due to the focus on resources available rather than needs. This can lead to the service user being denied access to services that they are entitled to. When looking at my case study Gemma, she has successfully been integrated into society after a comprehensive process of assessment, planning and intervention has been completed to form a person centred care package that suits her needs as an individual with profound and multiple learning difficulties, but also as a young woman who is a human being. The implementation of policies such as Valuing People 2001 and Valuing People Now promotes personalisation within society and has given people with Learning Disabilities like Gemma the right to their own independence, choice and inclusion. Also to have the option of appointing an advocate. However, I cannot help but feel that her story of success was down to the sheer determination of her mother, who had to fight for her daughters individual needs to be met. Social Workers and other multi professionals who were involved in assessment of Gemma’s needs obviously felt that she would have benefited from institutionalisation, as it is stated that this was suggested as a future plan on numerous occasions. I cannot help but wonder whether this has been due to professionals focusing on Gemma’s disability rather than focusing on her as a person. Valuing people 2001 states that the role of services is to help people no matter how complexed their disability, to live full and equal lives in their local communities. Although the article states that ideas for Gemma to live as independently as possible were well received and finally implemented, It is also obvious that there have been constant struggles to obtain funding such as direct payments to accommodate Gemma’s visions to live a normal life within her community. Following Wolfensbergers development of Social Role Valorisation, Obrien developed the five service accomplishments, which provided a practical framework to work towards Social Role Valorisation. Obrien suggests â€Å"Each accomplishment supports a vital dimension of human experience which common practice limits for people with severe Learning Disabilities. They challenge and strengthen the relationship between people with disabilities and other community members. (Obrien 1989) Recent articles published on the community care website have suggested that social workers themselves are witnessing the target-driven culture of bureaucracy within councils (just like Gemmas mum experienced ),and are aware that this has created numerous barriers to people with mental health problems gaining access to direct payments. It has been reported that a Social Work Team Manager within Adults with Learning Disabilities actually left her role at Doncaster Council in 2010 because she had encountered these problems and felt that it hindered the intervention process. She has since started up her own Personalisation Forum Group to bring these service users together. The weekly meetings at a community centre now attract 30 regulars, providing support and regular socialising opportunities. I utilise my social work skills to help the group solve the problems that they face; this involves reducing dependency on professionals by highlighting people’s strengths, and encouraging them to think through solutions on their own and with other group members. People describe feeling part of something, like they have some power over their own future and many for the first time can see something positive,† Hicks says. Michelle Lefevre, senior lecturer in social work at the University of Sussex, says it is a â€Å"sad indictment† that Hicks felt she had to leave local authority social work to build such meaningful relationships with users. Not only is local government overly focused on administration rather than spending time with children and families, she says, but problems in social work degree programmes and supervision mean practitioners are not equipped to deal with the emotional dimensions of the job. Overall it is very refreshing to read success stories like Gemma’s as it seems that she is living her live as independently as possible, whilst being supported by a dedicated team of people who are constantly ensuring that she is receiving person centred care and that her wishes remain central. It is my only hope that in the future it will not require a loving parent to fight the rights of a service user and to overcome hurdle after hurdle to receive the funding and care package they are rightful entitled to, but that the service user will be granted access to the services and funding they are eligible for with ease.

Philosophy of Zhuangzi is a form of Skepticism Essay

Philosophy of Zhuangzi is a form of Skepticism - Essay Example Zhuangzi is a Chinese philosopher, though there is no much information about him apart from what is contained in books named after him and his way of thinking and analyzing situations. In his philosophies, he does not organize his ideas systematically and fails to define his terms too. Skepticism is a complicated epistemological position, which any philosopher or researcher can distinguish among its varieties through focusing on the strength and scope of themes. Skepticism entails doubtfulness of a specific individual in a given aspect of nature while relativism explains the point of views without validity or absolute truth. Zhuangzi’s philosophy is relativistic in the sense that, he tries to hide from the fact that man cannot do without relying on some given aspects, hence, nature is inevitable. Although the interpretation of Zhuangzi’s philosophy is but a scandal, his philosophy carries all the above aspects, that is, skepticism, relativism, radicalism, and therapy, in that, there are various views in which one can examine it through. His works are philosophical, and they have a grip of a strict Chinese philosophy of language. This Chinese Philosopher uses skeptic language in his writings, which are difficult to get the meaning from because of their unsystematic nature. It is viable to defend the philosophy as relative skepticism if one can highlight guiding wisdom from the text. Examining its skeptic nature, various componen ts can act as guiding principles in making this stand a reality. When analyzing Zhuangzi’s philosophy, we can see that he did not commit to what his passages entail. Refraining from commitments and/or judgments, we can treat his philosophies as a recommendation of how people should use their brain to create spiritual or personal transformation. Zhuangzi’s philosophies address many issues including politics and the way a human mind should think. He does play a political role, in his works, of skepticism that is relativistic, in a way that justifies Daoism as a system of the political liberalism of the Chinese. In my view, it is factual that his philosophies are skeptic and relativistic (Ivanhoe & Norden 55). He lacks conviction in his philosophies, though one can deduce the fact that knowledge and truth exist, from his philosophical works. Several writers draw Zhuangzi’s philosophy as non-epistemic because they feel like his apparent skepticism is not an out righ tly negative thesis about our achievements, but a recommendation about an approach we need to embrace. Most versions approve that the Zhuangzi’s philosophical- skeptical passages propose a relatively comprehensive scope. While the skepticism takes the shape of ethical skepticism in orbiting about the lapse of norms, it indirectly embraces all linguistic organization (Ivanhoe & Norden 254). For instance, in the northern darkness, he is talking about a fish called Minnow that change into a bird named Breeze. It is not easy to derive the exact meaning of the name of the bird, hence creating this philosophical nature that is not systematic, of Zhuangzi’s works. The second example is the Tales of Q3; he states that little wisdom cannot much knowledge, or fewer years measuring up to many years. There is no much knowledge about the writing, but its name can easily drive us to a conclusion that it is a work of fiction (Ivanhoe & Norden 208). Zhuangzi’s way of naming cha racters in his works leaves the reader with room to think and come up with their own understanding of what exactly he meant. Some, like heaven in the Tales of Q3, have more than one connotation; hence, the reader has an open ground to analyze, think and make a judgment. This idea addresses the therapeutic part of his philosophy because it is examining a radical issue, in an artistic manner. Zhuangzi’s highly metaphoric kind of criticism suggests that he did not accept the condition of the world in its form, and tries to come up with imaginary theories instead of simply

Evaluative argument Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Evaluative argument - Assignment Example Hence, the two sides agree on one thing that video games should be played sparingly to enable an individual balance with work or assigned duties because of its addictive nature. This paper will focus on the effects of video games. Most video games have negative implications for children or adults because they shape the way individuals thinks and modifies their behaviors. For instance, some video games such as â€Å"Mortal Combat† contain violence, which affects the behavior of the player (Mullan 5). This makes the player develop aggressive thoughts, feelings, and actions towards the third party (Mullan 5). Similarly, it makes the players develop decreased pro-social of helping making it have a harmful effect. The violent nature of video games is because of its interactive nature since the players are rewarded for being violent (Mullan 7). In addition, the players become in control of the violence experience through killing, stabbing, shooting, among others depending on the programming of the game (Greitemeyer 500). Hence, the active participation makes the players learn the violent behaviors, which they might exercise after the end of the game (Mullan 7). Secondly, video games make the players become socially isolated since they spend most of their time playing games than interacting with other peers (Kim, Byungjoon and Robert 22). Those who become addicted to video games spend little or no time to do their homework, read, sports and interact with family members, hence contributing to their isolation. In many cases, a child who is used to interacting with the game finds pleasure in games than bonding with family members. This makes others lock themselves as they play the game. In other instances, gamers stay away from others whom they feel interferes with their gaming ability. For this reason, many children will abscond their duties assigned to create

Examine an interaction or event from your clinical placement, which Essay - 1

Examine an interaction or event from your clinical placement, which has required you to demonstrate professional conduct (NMC 2008) - Essay Example The author employed a variation of the Thornwaite-type technique, as well as correlated AET and Deficit supported by tree species distribution. The data used is primary because it was collected and analyzed by the authors, and not mined from some other sources. Temporal analysis is used on a moderate scale, and the analytical method used is plots (Lutz, Wagtendonk, & Franklin, 2010). The author uses plots to analyze the data and to represent the data sets. The author plots the data sets as graphs depicting the correlation between multiple sets of data. The authors computed species climatic envelopes in wide ranges of climatic gradients. They also distinguished tree species using Deficit and AET. For all species, modeled Deficits grew by an average of 5% from past and present, while forecasted growth in Deficit from present and future were found to be 23% in all plots (Lutz, Wagtendonk & Franklin, 2010). The authors have answered the hypothesis by providing sound analyses and evidence to meet the aims (Lutz, Wagtendonk & Franklin, 2010). The authors also discuss further studies in the areas of topographic scale distributions of aquatic balance, potential impacts of climate change situations, the scale of vegetation change, sensitivity of plant and animal species, and the downscaling problem (Lutz, Wagtendonk & Franklin, 2010). What I find most interesting is the analyses conducted on AET and

Week 6 discussion and participation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Week 6 discussion and participation - Essay Example The auditor must accurately access whether the inventory counting process the company is using is adequate. The most important and valuable account in the balance sheets of companies is the cash account. A company can have millions of dollars in assets, but if the firm runs out of cash they run a high risk of going out of business. An important aspect of the cash in the bank and transaction cycles is to have clear separation of duties. Tests of controls and substantive tests of transactions are required to have an effective audit of the cash balance of a company. Cash is an account that is included in several cycles with the exception of inventory and warehousing. Cash is also one of the last cycles audited because the evidence accumulated of cash balances is dependent on the other cycles. Some of the cycles that are correlated to the activities of the cash cycle are: I agree with you that the most important phase for designing tests of inventory balances is the actual observation of the inventory count. A lot of theft and fraud often occurs in this cycle because companies have inventory balances worth millions of dollars. A simple way in which a company can cheat an audit is by including in its inventory goods that have become obsolete. This often occurs in technological industries such as the computer industry. As you mentioned in your response it is important for auditors to pay close attention to the internal controls that were established by the management of the company. If a company has weak internal controls the auditors have to pay closer attention to the inventory cycle to rule out the potential of fraudulent activity. In my response to this question I also argued that designing tests of inventory balance was the most crucial phase of the audit inventory cycle. I did not know about the existence of SAS 1. It makes a lot of sense to me that auditors should be present during the physical inventory

Accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 9

Accounting - Essay Example According to Bierman 24 besides building power plants, buying and selling of natural gas and electricity; the company also developed new markets like internet bandwidths, weather futures, pulp and paper business, water plants and oddball products which provided broadcast time for marketers which rocketed its financial incomes. Between the periods of 1995 to 2000, its revenues rose from $9 billion to an impressive $100 billion. The company won America’s most innovative company by Fortunes Most Admired Companies Survey for six years straight which added to its successful reputation. The accounting system required that the company’s future profits were to be estimated at present value based on the signing of its long term contracts. The system was introduced by the joining CEO Jeffery Skilling, who ordered the company’s reporting system to be changed from its actual sales and supply of its natural gas to the new system. The mark to market accounting estimations were in reference to the future net value of the cash flows which were often difficult to predict. This included estimated Enron’s projects’ incomes that were irrespective of whether they were received or not and if changes were made like additional losses or incomes, they would be incorporated in subsequent periods. Enron Incorporation was the first non financial company to be given approval by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) use the system. Due to the numerous discrepancies in matching their cash and profits; the shareholders were given false reports. Therefore, a strategy to appease the investors was created (Bierman 45). Based on Bierman 55 the company executed pressure on its traders in order to forecast low discount rates and high future cash-flows on long-term contracts with the company. In essence, the difference margin between the original paid value and the present calculated net value was the company’s profit. Contrarily, the estimated net