'Project : Classroom Makeover And' An Elephant Crackup?

1. According to the author, our explanations of social problems, for the most part, are based on all the following except:

Throughout The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell explains to his reader his ideas about drastic changes in society, and how they seem to occur so rapidly. In this particular selection, Gladwell emphasizes the purpose of “connectors”, saying that they have a “special gift for bringing the world together (page 38)”. Gladwell states that part of the reason information or trends spread like wildfire is the presence of a specific group of people. They are called “connecters”, and they are people who know, or are connected to, people of “different worlds (page 51)”, and bring them together. In his book, The Tipping Point, Gladwell uses different forms of persuasion, rhetorical questions, and organization to

In the short story “The Glass Roses” by Alden Nowlan. Nowlan portrays the idea that adversity is part of our lives, and this adversity shapes us as individuals. But in the face of adversity an individual must either strive to fulfill their individual self-interests and ideas or abandon them to conform to authority. Nowlan suggests this idea through the character, Stephen and his struggle to conform to authority or pursue his ideas which suggests that humans often bring about changes to themselves in order to adapt to the environment they live in.

Hugh Prather, an American writer, once said “Just when I think I have learned the way to live, life changes.” Change is an inevitable part of being human. As we grow we meet and discover new ideas and people, that change our thinking. For the most part, change happens in very small amounts in life, but there are times at which one single event can lead to great personal development or downfall. In the novels Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, change of physical and social interactions and environments leads to change in personal beliefs. However, while Purple Hibiscus portrays change as a beneficial transformation, Things Fall Apart argues that change is undesirable. In Purple Hibiscus,

In the story, it is clear that the Strain sociological theory clearly presents itself. This theory argues that depending on person’s situation in the society, one reacts differently to the difficulties that face them in the achievement of their objectives. The theory categorizes people in the society to tow broad categories. These are the poor and the rich, with the poor being the ones who strain the most in an attempt to accomplish their

From an anthropological point of view, people would strongly suggest that surroundings heavily influence how a person acts and feels. Culture and environment help define who people are as human beings. The knowledge, rules, and values a person obtains adds to how they evolve. What is most important is whether a person grows to be a functional valued member of society or not. In the book, The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline, the main protagonist, Frenchie, a sixteen year old goes through many situations that influence how he acts and feels.

This analysis have shown me how important is to be faithful to your own principles, even when the world takes you to unknown. The knowledge of the society in which each one has to life is what shows that opposed positions that seem irreconcilable are part of a whole and as Collin’s suggests, each individual has to decide what is right or what is wrong in the society and then take a position and try to change what is wrong. (Hentrhone,

The promise of change is empty; he cares only about change itself…The so-called realities of the social world around him matter little, for he dances to an internal rhythm, answering a call for self-authentication that springs from a cultural, even cosmological, dimension.” (Pereira 38)

People often only realize this after the worst occurs. One person’s actions can stop something from going downhill. In class, when we analyzed 60 Minute’s “Bad Samaritan,” through David Cash’s story, we came to realize that indeed, just one person’s actions could make a difference. If David Cash had stopped the violence, Sherrice Iverson would still be alive today. If Hitler chose not to exterminate Jews, the Holocaust would not have happened. The takeaway is that if we expand our universe of obligation, we will feel responsible for more people. In turn, we will help more people, and furthermore, we might prevent something terrible; we might prevent a genocide. Through analyses in class, we realize that more often than not, people have a very limited universe of obligation. In the video which we watched in class of a Gay Teen being bullied, many people in the surroundings of the video ignored the incident. It is clear, that they do not feel obligated to the teenager. Similarly, in Night, Franek simply takes out Eliezer’s crown without any guilt. Franek does not feel obligated to Eliezer. This feeling leads to the division of society. An analysis of Night allows teens to understand the need for an expansion, to create unity and change the world for the

P. L said: “there is a debunking motif inherent in sociological consciousness” (1963), sociology has an inborn intention to unmask the social reality and discover the very truth of society, which is logically and methodically decided. Mastering such a methodology, we are capable of figuring out that society is not as superficial and simple as we directly perceive. A social incident may seemingly be explain by a simple common sense, but actually, there are certain value, norm or meaning systems that support or justify the incident’s happening. Furthermore, behind the value or meaning system, there are likely to be group interest that generate them and the group interest are also decided by social positions or roles. Ultimately, it is the social structure that distributes the social positions or roles and constrain our interaction and correlation. Therefore, with different layers hidden behind the incident unmasked, we can probably reveal the essence of

How big is the world? Some might ponder and the answer is, not as big as it seems. The world isn’t a scary, huge and untouchable place, as it is perceived to be. In reality, the universe is just a blank canvas filled with unique and mesmerizing people. That shapes our world into what it has become. The world would never be what it is without the people living on it. In the Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell explains the theory of the world and how it seems to be and control everything. Although, it’s the people in the world that make a difference. However people don’t believe they can change and make a difference in the world, but they can. Everyone has the power to change the world and shape their lives and others. Therefore it's up to them to decide if it will be for good or evil. In The Tipping point, Malcolm Gladwell uses the motif of how little things can make a big difference, for example, hush puppies. This motif signifies how the slightest movement in just the right place can change the world completely. We all have the power, but it can just take one to change the world.

The overall message of the novel is that, in order to create a difference in our lives we must create the right path for transformation. The authors create an analogy to illustrate this very point. He states that our emotional side is an Elephant and our sensible side is the rider on top of the elephant essentially. The rider directs the elephant and seems to be the leader, however, the rider only has so much jurisdiction when in the end the elephant fundamentally controls the direction he chooses to go. Thus the rider’s control is miniscule in comparison to the large elephant. Therefore, no matter what, the elephant will just about

When we limit our focus to everyday experiences we sometimes forget to ask the most basic types of questions. For example, why is this street important for me? Or why did I choose this street? A typical person would say, “This street is the fastest way to work. And ” When you ask them another question; “what do you like most about this street?” They would probably just repeat their answer that the street is the fastest way to work..This shows that human beings only focus on a small aspect of their ordinary experiences, rather than focusing on where they are in the world. In his essay, de Botton argues that people can be oblivious to their surroundings and unwilling to look around them. To have a beneficial social structure we have to look at our surroundings with a broader detail because people will forget why they call home; home.

Our personal values have a large impact in our everyday lives and the conflicts we face, these values affect our decisions and how we live our lives by playing a big part in the difficult times in our lives. In class we explored two stories that were about the main character facing a conflict and how their values affected the decision they make and the outcome of it all. Reading about the values in “Shooting an Elephant”, “The Guest”, and exploring our own values is a good exercise that we can and did learn a lot from. In “Shooting an Elephant”, George Orwell struggles with the choice of either killing the elephant or sparing its life. During Orwell’s struggle, his values in conflict include him caring about taking a life, or fitting in and

In society, there are generally two levels of sociological analysis or theories which are also referred to as branches of sociology namely, macro and micro theories. A Macro Theory is one that analyses and focuses on major structural phenomena of society and gives us a wide understanding of how societies survive and change. On the other hand, a Micro Theory is one that studies the nature of everyday face-to-face human social interactions between individuals and how these individuals interpret the social world. Similarly, Macro Theory is interested in the broad social features of society whereas Micro Theory is interested in how human beings in the society function, interpret, change and respond accordingly to these broad social phenomena. There are