Role of Universalism and Neoliberalism in the New Social Movements

During the late 1960s, the environmental movement focused mostly on public health and industrial themes. During this time of initial modern development, it received little attention from the champions of the social movements of the times such as civil rights and women’s equality. Most of the emphasis on environmental matters in these early years came from environmentally driven sociologists such as Paul Goodman, Murray Boochkin, and Herbert Marcuse. Many were exhilarated to become the heads of ecologically based institutions that would fight against government and corporation ecological mistreatments. Often times they would research and issue articles that pointed out abuses that directly affected the common household such as Boochkin’s “The Problems of Chemicals in Foods.” This type of research pointed out new types of environmental issues that either did not exist or did not matter before World War II and just now became identified. These types of papers had a message that reached everybody not just select individuals like many of the previous issues such as water management, and land

Social movements are one of the primary means through which the public is able to collectively express their concerns about the rights and wellbeing of themselves and others. Under the proper conditions, social movements not only shed light on issues and open large scale public discourse, but they can also serve as a means of eliciting expedited societal change and progress. Due to their potential impact, studying the characteristics of both failed and successful social movements is important in order to ensure that issues between the public and the government are resolved to limit injustices and maintain societal progress.

Whilst many disagreements have arisen in feminist discourse over the years, none has been quite as prevalent or divisive as the issue of the commodification of sexuality. There are two central groups in feminist ideology that are divided on this issue, liberal feminism and radical feminism. Liberal feminism is influenced by the ideas and values of liberalism. Thus, these feminists share a contractarian view which places an emphasis on a woman’s ability to make choices for herself and that the selling of one’s sexuality is merely an expression of that choice. Paradoxically, radical feminists believe that because women live in a patriarchal society, the commodification of sexuality can never be a choice or a form of expression. Rather, forms of sexual commodification such as pornography and prostitution just enforce male oppression. This essay will explore these two ideological positions in regard to their divergent definitions of human nature and freedom which has created a division within feminism about the commodification of sexuality.

MacKinnon’s categorization of gender fails to take into account the difference in sexual desires. Within the socio-legal context, the regulation of sexual activities generalizes patterns of norms and marginalizes those who do not fit within this binary. This results in the suppression of natural masochistic desire and identity. As suggested by Rubin, feminist critiques of gender hierarchy “must be incorporated into a radical theory of sex, and the critique of sexual oppression should enrich feminism’ (Rubin 180). Rubin argues that the feminist critique of protecting women due to their status as subordinates effectively displace their sexual liberation (Rubin

In 1960, American women had limited rights in life such as in the workplace and in marriages. They were only allowed to "marry" young, start a family and devote her life to "homemaking" (Par. 1). Women had no rights to their husband's property or earnings. However, the women's husband would control their marriage, their property and earnings. Also, it was complicated for women to divorce their husband because women had to show evidence of their husband's injustice. Furthermore, as time progressed women became more independent, powerful and aggressive; supplying their own income and waiting to get married and have children. In “After the Death of the Father”, Mary Daly demonstrates women's freedom is challenging Christian views. I will discuss what Daly’s thesis is in the article, how she defends her thesis, what she is arguing and my evaluation of her argument.

“We live in a predatory capitalist society in which everything is for sale. Everybody is for sale, so there is ubiquitous commodification.” This quotation by Cornel West, an American philosopher and political activist, conveys the widespread objectification of human beings in our society. The narrow, traditional image of prostitution has experienced a dramatic shift in the post-industrial American society. Sex workers are not automatically considered to be from low-income, marginalized groups, and instead, they have come to also include individuals from the educated, middle-class category. This demographic transition reveals the gradual

Throughout his book, Green Is The New Red, Will Potter explores environmental activism and its reception from American politicians, corporations, and administrations. Potter begins by sharing his experience leafleting when the FBI unexpectedly threatened to put him on a domestic terrorist list if he did not cooperate. His encounter with the FBI is frightening although by no means is it uncommon if we consider the post 9/11 era that we live in. In this day and age, the elite will irrationally label non-violent activists like Will Potter ‘eco-terrorists’ in order to establish their political agenda.

The idea and purpose of social movements in politics can be essentially derived from two basic political theories, V.O. Key’s Three Part Political Party Model and Albert Hirschman’s theory on Exit, Voice, and Loyalty. In V.O. Key’s model the citizens of the country are the party in electorate, they make up the base of the party and who office holders should answer to in a responsible party. In a political arena these people who form the party in electorate have three options at all times, remain loyal to the party/system, exit the party/system, or use their voice to convey their opinions and grievances. That last party is where social movements come into play. People join social movements and band together when they feel they are not being

Social movements shed light to social issues present in communities and harvest social change in political, religious, educational, health, government, and other institutional matters. Social movements give individuals a clear outlet to concerns about the rights and well-being of themselves and others, mostly through public protest and conversation, in order to promote social justice and democracy. Throughout history, humans naturally ended up starting movements to simply improve their way of life and movements have continually aided in a remarkable change in communities. In the essay “From Civil Rights to Megachurches,” Charles Duhigg explains the three critical steps that initiative successful social movements. Social movements must

Feminists are concerned whether or not a prostitute controls her own sexual identity. Others believe prostitution is degrading, and sexual slavery towards woman while someone like Martha Nussbaum, believe its not threatening a woman anymore more than any other paid job. Where do you stand when it comes to prostitution? Personally I’m concerned with the moral factors and the harm it brings to women both physically and mentally. Throughout this paper I will examine the issues and questions which arise from Nussbaum’s paper, “Whether From Reason or Prejudice: Taking Money for Bodily Service” in order to help come to a conclusion on whether or not prostitution is something society should control through the use of the criminal law.

The sex industry is highly divided between those who call themselves “sex workers”, and former prostitutes who call themselves “survivors” (Glazer 340). Women should have the right to choose what they do for a living, including prostitution. The criminalization of prostitution does more harm than good when often women are left unprotected, both socially and legally, and therefore, the United States should make efforts to decriminalize and regulate prostitution instead.

This documentary contains multiple components which spill over into other movements. One of which is the labor movement. The labor movement connects to the environmental movement because the labor movement sees particular aspects capitalism, particularly the relationship between the working class

In this paper, I will argue that Canadian author Margaret Atwood uses fiscal and socially conservative dystopias to show how sex work and prostitution are choices that women would never have to make in a world with true gender equality. In these radically different worlds, women have no agency beyond their sexuality and no ability to express themselves as equals within either society. And while the structures of both societies, the society of The Handmaid’s Tale. They both stem from modern conservative philosophies: for example, the country of Gilead in The Handmaid’s Tale holds Christian conservative beliefs on the role of religion in the state and the culturally designated roles of women. The topic I want to talk is human trafficking, and how women don’t have the freedom they deserve.

Social movements have a tremendous impact on our society and it is important that we understand how those movements are shaped. As individuals we are all part of a greater society and could be called upon to stand up for human rights. Understanding how to shape social movements so they have better chances of succeeding could mean the difference between a society that guides improved human rights and one that loses sight. There is a great deal of literature on social movements and it has become increasing popular since the Vietnam Era of social protest. The literature typically

“ Cultures and climates differs all over the world, but people are the same. They will gather in public if u give them a good place to do it.” Jan Gehl.