Module 6 Chapter 7 and 11 summary
War has been part of human life for many years. It has been used to define people for many centuries. For example, war has helped people learn about themselves and other people in the world. War is a major issue in the world because of the negative effects it has on resources and human beings. The forms of war and its motivation have changed greatly for the last ten decades. Countries have developed weapons to use in war. For example, countries have adopted biological war fare. War in the modern society is defined by war between countries and other groups in the countries. The groups are aimed at destroying the collective in the society. The world has survived on collective security for many centuries. There are two processes that are taking place in the modern society. That is integration and disintegration. For example, history develops humanity regularly so as to take it to a higher level of unity, but structures and sentiments oppose the efforts using violence and hate(Simpson, 2007).
The 20th century has contributed a lot to the development of humanity in the society. It has led to unification and understanding in the society. The league of nations was the first procedure to create security and good will in the society. People have different views on the League of Nations. Some think it was not effective as no actions were taken when Germany went against the international law and also attacked Poland during the second world War. Others think the League of nations has led to development of the United nations. The United Nations has carried different roles in the world, though many people criticize it for being ineffective(Simpson, 2007).
There are different sociological perspectives used to explain war and conflicts. That is structural functionalist perspective, conflict perspective and symbolic interactions perspective. Structural functionalist perspective is aimed ay explaining the functions of war. People argue that war has positive impact on the society. For example, it helps consolidate independent groups in the society into a single political stated. In addition, war helps bring social cohesion and unity in the society. This is because it gives people in the society common enemy and cause, thus enabling them live in unity. Moreover, war bring economic and political corporation in a society. War helps increase the rate of employment in the country and hence enhance economic growth. For instance, the United States benefited from the second world war as the war helped the country overcome the great depression.
The increased production of weapons and other supplies need to fight in the second world war stimulated economic growth in the country. Also, war has contributed a lot to scientific and technological development in the world. For example, the development of defense department led to development of airline industry. Lastly, war encourages social reforms in the country. Conflict perspective explains the causes of war in the society. War results when countries and people struggle to control resources in the country. Also, the difference in opinion among different people in the country results to war (Simpson, 2007).
Symbolic integrationists perspective emphasizes that meanings and definitions influence attitudes and behaviors people have about conflict and war. For example, children in United States develop attitudes and behaviors that support war at a tender age. There are various things that have contributed to the attitude and behavior held by young children about war. For example, computer games, video and movies that emphasize war activities have led to war. War has led to deaths and disability. It has also led to rape and prostitutions in the country. Lastly, war has led to environmental destruction (Simpson, 2007).
Crime is a major issue in the society. There is a great difference between crime and deviance. Crime is any behavior that violates the legal laws. Deviance consists of behaviors that are not inline with the societal norms or group norms. Crime is common in the society because the society has established laws to govern people’s behavior and actions. People who violate the laws established are referred as criminals. The laws established help bring order in the society. There is difference between conduct and character. Conduct is the behavior people portray in public while character is what in does when no one is looking. Ones family and experience help develop the character he has. Hence, the reason people have divergent characters (Simpson, 2007).
War and militarism differ a lot. War is a conflict that is carried on by forces of arms like the war can be between nations or parties. Militarism is a believe that the military is the basis of security in the society. Most governments try to maintain a strong military force so as to be able to defend the society. War and materialism are socially constructed by the human beings. For example, human beings believe that war and militarism are important to the country as they bring cohesion and peace. Thus, the society tries to glorify the two concepts (Simpson, 2007).
War and militarism are socially constructed. The society should adopt a positive culture to eliminate war and materialism and encourage peaceful methods of resolving conflicts. The society should not educate children on the importance of war and militarism at a tender age as it promotes violence in the society. The society should change that attitudes and behaviors held by children in the society. For instance, the parents should encourage dialogue as a measure of resolving conflicts, but not war. This will help change the perception of young children on war and militarism. Childhood socialization is important as it determines the kind of behavior and attitude the child will have in future.
Children who socialize with bad groups are more likely to be involved in violent activities than children who do not socialize with bad groups. The children learn criminal’s behaviors from the social groups. The children become irresponsible in future. The parents should encourage positive childhood socialization so as to help the children acquired good behaviors and become responsible in future. Eliminating war toys will help change the attitude and behaviors of young children on war. It will help promote positive culture in the society. The toy cars equip young children with bad thoughts and skills and this makes it easy for the to be involved in war activities in future. Fear of crime in United States is considered to be a kind of social control over women which leads to gender inequality. Gender inequality is a major issue in the country as women do not get their rights. This has led to discrimination of women in the society (Simpson, 2007).
The US war on drugs has not been effective. This is because the drug policy established by the government are not effective. The policy focuses on reducing the supply of illegal drugs in the country so as to lower the demand. Recent reports have shown that the number of people using drugs has increased greatly. Most people continue to traffic illegal drugs, in spite of the laws put. This is because the government has not developed other methods to help eliminate hard drugs in the country by helping drug users and traffickers. The government does not encourage rehabilitation of drug users and sellers, but the suspects are convicted. The drug traffickers benefit a lot from this prices as they get huge amounts of money. The government looses billions of Dollars as the drug traffickers do not pay tax. Also, farmers who depend on hard crops as a source of income do not benefit from drug control programs. This is because the government destructs the farmers from growing hard crops, hence affecting their livelihoods (Caulkins &RAND, 2005).
Children become soldiers through different ways. For example, children become soldiers through kidnapping. The children are kidnapped and converted to soldiers. Also, children become soldiers voluntary. The children decide to enter war voluntary as they believe the action is inline with the society’s ideology. After becoming soldiers, the children are turned into killers. This instill fear among the children and makes it difficulty for the rescued children to live a norm all life. The government should put strong measures to curb training of child soldiers. This will help eliminate unethical methods used to train the children like kidnapping and influence from the societal ideology. The government should define formal procedures to be followed to train child soldiers. Also, the government should build community projects to help teach children on how to promote peace. This will prevent the children from being trained as child soldiers (Simpson, 2007).
Reflection
The toys that promote violence are made for young children aged 6 years and above. The toys are mostly made for boys as boys tend to be more violent than girls. The toys made for violence consists 50% of the cars in the store. The American culture encourages children to learn the importance and effects of war at a tender age. Most children learn about war at their childhood as stated above. Thus, the American culture does not educate children how to prevent war, but it educates the children how to promote violence. Most people in the country believe that male are more likely to be involved in violence than women. Also, men in the society value militarism than women (Simpson, 2007).
The United states has high incarnation rates because it does not consider other methods to help criminals. The government does not encourage rehabilitation. This has led to increase in number of criminals in the country as the criminals continue committing criminals when they return to the society. This has led to increase in rate of crime in the country. Also, other crimes like rape, murder have become common (Simpson, 2007).
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