Sociology

A social group is an organization of people orderly kept for the sake of either a particular purpose or many other purposes. Its objectives are dependent on the activity they do. And with a passage of time they became a family. People in the same groups must be seen to be relevant to each other and thus exhibit some resemblance. Members of a particular group find themselves understanding each other and therefore carrying out their activities collectively.

We do have several types of groups and one individual may find himself or herself in as many groups as possible, in regards to what the person is or does in his or her daily life. From a broad point of view, we do have primary groups and secondary groups. Primary groups are small with kinship-based relationships, that is families and they commonly last for years.  Such groups display face to face interaction since members meet so often. Secondary groups consist of formal and institutional relationships. They may either last for years or disband after a short while considering the will of the members (Daniel, 2002). Generally, we have other types of social groups and these groups include peer groups, mob group, club group, squad group, team group, clique group, posse group, community group, household group, franchise group, gang group among others.

In consideration to an individual, I for instance, I belong to five groups in the above list peer, club, household, community and clique groups.

A peer group is a group with members of approximately the same age, same social status and interests. What bonds the members of this group is the premise of sameness. However some peer groups are very diverse, that is some members of some peer groups have many differences among themselves crossing social divides such as wealth, race, creed, culture or even religion. The number of members in this group is large as you will get several peers in a given allocation. But statistics reveal that despite these differences, peer group members have still managed to move wee along with each other (Daniel, 2002).

Another group that I belong to is the clique. This is an informal group, often in high school or colleges setting. It exhibits an established yet shifting power structure. Members shares interests, patterns of behavior or ethnicity, views and purposes.  Qualification for membership may be the social nature of the clique. A clique as a group can either be normative or comparative. Normative clique is often the primary source of social interaction for the members of the clique, which can affect the values and beliefs of an individual. The comparative clique is a standard comparison in which a clique can exist in a work place, community, in the classroom, in a business or any other area of interaction. You will notice that cliques are often associated with children and teenagers in a school setting.

Thirdly we have the Club. It is an association of two or more people with the same interest. This is a group where one is required to apply so that he or she can be a member. The number of members must exceed one, but the limit will depend on the type of club or the memorandum of the club.  Clubs are dedicated to particular activities, and there are several types of clubs in consideration to what their activity is (Daniel, 2002). They include service clubs, professional societies, sports clubs, religious clubs, school clubs, universal clubs, social clubs, hobby clubs, personal clubs and many others.

The forth group to which I belong is the household group, this includes all individuals living in the same household, in spite of any other relative differences among themselves. Household is the basic unit of analysis in many social and even government models. The number of people in this group is small, and may not exceed 50. This is due to the fact that a household refers to people living in the same dwelling unit and its rare to find more than 50 people living in the same dwelling unit. People not living in households are classified to be living in group quarters (Daniel, 2002).

Lastly we have the community as a group. Community is a group of people with a commonality, be it location, cultural or organizational, in proximity with one another with some degree of continuity. The members of such group can be between approximately 100 to less or more than 10000.
In conclusion, what best represents members of each group is the motive, interests and goal boundaries. The target or each group or rather the aspiration separates and differentiates one group from another.

A few generations ago if your doctor told you that you could not have children, usually you would have to face the fact that either you were going to adopt or decide to continue life without the possibility of giving birth to your own child. However, the year 1978 proved to be a year that would change the fate of all women. The first Petri dish baby had been created. However, no scientific idea is perfect and this one would prove to be no different. In the article posted on the guardian.co.uk IVF may raise risk of diabetes, hypertension and cancer in later life we are forced to look at the darker side of IVF and unnatural forms of creating babies. A side effect of the IVF procedure is the likelihood of a low birth weight baby which is the beginning of health problems for the future. The low birth weight can cause obesity which eventually causes diabetes and certain types of cancers. Another reason mentioned in the article for the health problems that may occur later in life are due to the fact that IVF babies spend anywhere from a day to a week outside of mothers womb and in a Petri dish where they are exposed to more oxygen than they would be exposed to inside the mother. The article also goes on to talk about the potential overuse of a procedure called ICSI where the sperm is manually injected into the egg. Although this procedure was created for individuals who had trouble conceiving with the regular IVF procedure, today it is used on patients that simply do no want to continue trying conventional IVF if it has failed. Through the use of ICSI the chances of conception are higher, so are the risks. Although IVF does have its own set of risks, ICSI increases those risks with additional ones such as birth defects. The article is not trying to discourage individuals from IVF it is merely trying to inform us that we need to be on the lookout for potential health hazards.

Comparison of Principal Article to other sources
During the IVF procedure multiple embryos are placed back into the womb because not all are expected to make it. However, lately there have been more and more reportings of multiple births due to IVF. Although this is usually something that the mother does not mind, the doctors however are alarmed. In the Los Angeles Times article Multiple births, multiple risks Shari Roan talks about how the multiple pregnanciesbirths are not only a high risk to the child, but to the mother as well. The mother can experience anything from a high risk of diabetes to dangerously high blood pressure. The babies will be born prematurely and have a high risk of developmental issues, defects or even death. This highly relates to the problems illustrated in the Guardian article the low birth weight proceeds to cause health problems as the child gets old and well into their adult years. In the book Understanding Human Sexuality the author talks about a woman named Rosanna Dalla Corte who gave birth at the age of 62 due to an ovum donation that she received. She is not the only woman to be giving birth at an age that is not recommended by physicians, and she will not be the last either. There are plenty of women that keep using various fertility treatments to have babies long after their time has passed. These women are aware of the risks yet they proceed anyway, therefore causing us to question where can we draw the line and who gets to make that decision. The book Infertility A Crossroad of Faith, Medicine, and Technology by Kevin Williams Wildes gives us insight on how some people tend to draw the line Religion. Technology and medicine for the most part work well off of each other because technology is the reason medicine has come all this way, however there has to be a moral voice when choosing right from wrong and many people look to religion for that.

What Sexuality Topic does this article reference
In Infertility Crossroad of Faith, Medicine, and Technology, Kevin Wildes delves into  the topic of issues in reproductive technology, and how it went from a procedure that helped couples procreate to becoming something a bit more controversial. As weve mentioned in class, some of the basic issues were cloning and gender selection, which is what the book tries to find a balance in. The idea of IVF has always been controversial to religious figures, however with the ability to choose genetics as well as the sex of the baby, then the baby is no longer created by two people (man and a woman) yet it is created by doctors. The experimentation with reproductive technology raises eyebrows when were able to pick and choose what our baby is going to look like. There are also many forms of reproductive technology IVF, GIFT, ZIFT, and ICSI are some of the most commons ones used today. In the article IVF Technique Overused, Says Its Inventor by Maren Urner he introduces ICSI as being an alternative form of IVF for couples that are having a harder time conceiving. The article falls under the new reproductive technologies as well as the issues in reproductive technology category. As we already know IVF is when the egg and the sperm are united in a test tube, and where ICSI differs is when the sperm is directly injected into the egg to create an embryo. When this was first created as an alternative, it was not meant to take place of the original IVF procedure, it was mainly created to help the couples that have tried IVF numerous times with no success, or when there was an issue with the mans sperm rather than the womans eggs. However, what has occurred is that couples dont want to keep trying IVF if ICSI has a higher success rate, even though with a high success rate ICSI also provides a higher risk. With the idea of technology such as IVF among other, doctors created an idea, found a solution and then continued to use it repeatedly on patients that may have not needed to go to the extent that they did to conceive. Another issue that contributes to the reproductive technology is the risk factor for the woman and the baby, as exemplified in Shari Roans Multiple Births, Multiple Risks.

As weve discussed earlier the process in which an embryo is created, it is placed in a Petri dish for a couple of days before it is placed into the mothers womb. Multiple embryos are placed into the womb for a greater success rate, yet this is also where the controversy rises as well. The ideal result is for one of the embryos to survive, however that is not always the case, there have been instances where all of the embryos have survived. Another issue that we should touch base on is the assisted reproduction topic which is discussed in Understanding Human Sexuality. Assisted reproduction is something that is used when the woman has entered premenopausalmenopausal stage and therefore cannot have children anymore. What happens during this procedure is that the woman who cannot have children would receive an egg donation fertilized with her partners (or a male donors) sperm, once the embryo is created it is then place into the womans (the one wishing to have the baby) womb as a typical IVF procedure would go. In the book Understanding Human Sexuality Rosanna Dalla Corte is introduced to us who is a woman that gave birth at the age of 62 due to a egg donation.

How does this article affect you personally
This procedure (IVF) and the outcomeprogress of it in the future is extremely important for me on many different levels. I understand that the longer I wait to have children the more difficult it may be. Once I hit my thirties and go midway to late thirties, I understand that my chances of conceiving are getting smaller. Therefore since I can not predict my future in terms of when I will be ready to have children, I would like to know that there is a solution if I were to have problems conceiving. Whether the problem is with my reproductive system or my partners sperm, I would like to feel confident in the fact that the idea of never being able to have children should never cross my mind. At the same time, maybe I will not go through all these maternal issues when having my first child, but maybe my child will.

How will this current news affect future generations
If we take a look at 20 years from now, there are quite a few predictions that I have in terms of where IVF will be at that time. I believe if the amount of babies per womb is not contained then there may be serious laws prohibiting certain individuals from having a certain amount of babies. Although I do not believe that IVF will ever be outlawed simply because of the fact that it brings in a lot of money therefore no one would look forward to cutting down on it. At the same time however I believe that in 20 years if doctors continue putting several embryos into the same womb there may be a law that will be implemented restricting an X amount of babies being born. For example, once it has been confirmed by ultrasound that there are 4 or 5 babies that are living in the womb, 1 or 2 of those babies would need to be aborted before they continue growing and jeopardizing the mother as well as the other babies in the womb. Although I do believe this great discovery such as IVF is something that will remain and strive throughout the years, I believe there should be certain limitations that need to take place. If limitations are not applied then government officials implement laws against it, which brings us to the conclusion that too much of a good thing good be destructive if placed in the wrong hands.

Diabetes is widely recognized as one of the most fatal and most expensive medical condition.  In medical terms, diabetes is the condition wherein the patient experience abnormality in the blood stream due to increased level of sugar or glucose.  Type 1Diabetes does not require the patient to take insulin, however, with Type 2, the absence or non-maintenance of insulin in the body of the patient may cause fatal consequences since diabetes is also a risk factor to develop diseases in the eyes, kidneys, and nerves.  Among the contributory factors for developing diabetes are heredity (the disease runs in the family blood), overweight, overage, and inactive lifestyle.  In related studies, individuals who have an African, Latino, or Asian origin are more likely to develop diabetes as compares to other races.  Thus, diabetes is not only viewed as a health-originated concern, but it is also regarded as a racial disease.

Diabetes is becoming a worldwide concern.  According to American Diabetes Association (National Diabetes Fact Sheet, 2007), there are 23.6 million people in the United States who are suffering from diabetes.  This constitutes a total of 7.8 percent of the total population.  The organization also reported findings of diabetes in racial context.  Based on their 2004-20006 survey, whose respondent were 20 years old and older, it was discovered that 6.6 percent of the total population having diabetes are non-Hispanic whites, 7.5 percent are Asian American, 11.8 percent are non-Hispanic blacks, and 10.4 percent are Hispanics.  In 2006, 72, 507 deaths were recorded to be caused by diabetes.  These incidents are only partial of the damage that diabetes render to the public.  The condition can also contribute to the development or complications of other fatal diseases such as heart diseases and stroke, high blood pressure (hypertension), blindness, kidney failures, amputation, and neuropathy. 

In 2007, the costs of treating diabetes rose to 174 billion this is according to National Diabetes Fact Sheet (2007).  Overall, diabetes is not just about a health concern, but more importantly, it affects the economic and emotional stability of the patient and their family.  There is a high prevalence that diabetes may be a lifetime disease if not given proper and immediate attention.  Organ transplants are very limited due to insufficient donations.  Thus, prevention programs would really create an impact on the battle against this disease.

Considering the fact that diabetes is also a racial disease, there are significant findings that related the Aboriginals in the fatality of this health condition.  Historical records showed that Aboriginal people were found to be healthy and did not suffer from any medical ailment until 1923.  Basedow (1932) reported that the first incident of diabetes among the Aboriginals was in Adelaide.  Since those findings, Type 2 diabetes or the one that requires insulin maintenance has been recognized as the most prevalent type of diabetes to occur among the Aboriginals.  In the 2004-2005 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey (NATSHIS), there were reports of increased blood sugar among the natives.  Although there was a rise in the percentage, it is not a significant high level of epidemic.

From the table above, cases of Type 2 diabetes are most prevalent in Aboriginal people coming from ages 45 to 54, which is the adulthood period.  The Department of Health and Ageing reported that among the factors contributing to the development of diabetes in the indigenous population are high levels of obesity and genetic factors.  According to the 2004-2005 NATSHIS study, 75 percent of the Aboriginals have low tolerance or tolerance, thus, further encourages tendencies for obesity.  Other reasons stated that a significant percentage of the Aboriginal people were found to be overweight.
Purpose and Objectives of the Program

Description of the Evaluation
Step 1 (a)  Identifying the purpose of the evaluation
Purpose Statement
CAT WorksheetComponentsActivitiesTarget Groups
SOLO WorksheetWhat is the direction of changeWhat is the program intending to changeIs it short term or long termWhich component contributes to this outcome
Stakeholder ChecklistInternalExternal

Evaluation Questions ChecklistWho Needs to Know
Hhigh priority  Llow priorityActivitiesOrganizer of the ProgramOther StakeholdersInternal (Staff and Volunteers)External (Donors, financial funders)Were activities implemented as plannedHow did the activities vary from one site to anotherWere required sources in place and sufficientDid the staff think they were all prepared to implement the activitiesDid the staff think they were able to implement the activities as planned  If not, what a factors limited their implementationDid staff and community partners think the partnership was positiveDid community partners think the activities were implemented as plannedWhat activities worked well  What activities did not worked so wellWhat was the cost of delivering the activitiesTarget GroupsHow many people were reachedDid the program reached the intended target groupTo what extent did activities reach people outside the target groupWhat proportions of people in need were reachedWere potential participants (non-participants) aware of the programWere participants satisfied with the programDoes the program have a good reputationHow did participants find out about the programHow many people participated in the programOutcomesHave the short-term outcomes been achieved (List the short-term outcomes of the program from the logic model.)Have the long-term outcomes been achieved (List the long-term outcomes of the program from the logic model.)

Gay marriage has increasingly become an issue of discrimination despite an escalating number of gay couples in the United States. Despite the significant number of gay couples, they cannot legally marry in most states (White, 238) because of the negative perception of gay marriages in the American society. There is no problem with gay marriage and every person has the right to marry the person he or she is in love with.

The protection and benefits extended to opposite-sex couples need to be extended to the same-sex couples according to the Supreme Court ruling on the case of Baker v. Vermont (1999). In Vermont, the gay couples had been deprived of their benefits until the court gave a declaration on equal rights to gay couples in 1999 and in April 2000, a bill that allowed same-sex civil union was approved by the Vermont legislature. 

According to Martha C. Nussbaum, a supporter of gays and lesbians marriages, the gays have a homosexual orientation and have a characteristic and stable desire to have sex with members of similar sex just like a man may have a desire to have sex with a woman. However, the most basic discrimination against gay men and lesbians has been the denial of their rights to have consensual and adult sex relations (White, 239) which should stop in order for the society to perceive gay marriage as legal.

An example of opponents of gay marriages is Jeff Jordan. Jordan believes that the gay marriages may make the citizens to support practices which they find religiously or morally objectionable. However, Jordan to some extent supports gay marriages and provides that the states should tolerate private homosexual acts (White, 240) as the single tolerable way to give a solution to the existing public quandary concerning same-sex marriages.

Maggie Gallagher is a great opponent of same-sex marriage. She argues that marriage should only exist so that the society can motivate family organizations in ensuring that all children are raised up by their biological father and mother and recommends that same-sex marriage will hurt the current social institutions by disconnecting the link between marriages and babies(White, 241) and therefore advocates for the ban on same-sex marriages. Although Gallagher attacks the issue of same-sex marriage, her objections do not appeal to religious teachings about the immorality of homosexuality, (White, 241) and leaves out the key point of showing the problem of homosexuality.

Other opponents have argued that marriage should be for procreation and that gay couples will not afford to have children on their own. Rauch quickly attacks this statement and refers this reasoning as pure hypocrisy and provides that people should acknowledge there are other compelling reasons for marriage other than children (White, 262) and these reasons may or may not be relevant to gay marriages. He defends that Whether gay marriage makes sense-and, for that matter, whether straight marriage makes sense-depends on what marriage is actually for (White, 258) and as a homosexual, he demands for the actual marriage and not just the rights when his preferred man (marriage couple) comes along.

Significant support for gay marriages continues to be received from human rights activists. Jonathan Rauch greatly defends the rights of gay couples and claims that secular marriages must not give many deliberations to religious dogmas. He denies that the giving of the gay couples the rights to marry will have undesirable effects to the entire society.

Rauch advocates for respect of gay marriages by recognizing the high courts endorsement in Ontario, Canada which provides that marriage is, without dispute (White, 267) and that through marriage the gay couples can openly express their commitment and love to each other without discrimination and causing concerns or disputes. Rauch tries to show that the similar manner opposite-sex couples are respected should be the same way gay couple should be appreciated.

In general, gay marriage should be allowed in order to protect the rights of gay couples. The image that the society has already drawn about gay marriage need to be erased and a positive viewpoint should be established. The good image of gay marriages can only be reconstructed through constitutional amendments in the states that condemn gay marriages.

The term race is used to refer to the grouping of people into factions on the basis of a number of genetic traits. It is also defined as a category of people separated as a distinct community by hereditary physical traits. This is the categorization of people on the basis of their hereditary traits that are observable (Back and Solomos 2009). Dalal (2002) argues that Race describes the biological, physical difference between groups of people (Dalal 2002, p.21). The most eminent traits that are used in categorising are colour, facial characteristics and hair type. The understanding of race usually varies from society to society, and changes depending on cultures. The way the term is understood in one culture is completely different from the way it is understood by another. The term race is one that has been surrounded by profound ambiguity and controversial debates. For many sociologists, creating an understanding and analysis for this hotly contested term has been somewhat problematic (Dalal 2002).

The key concepts that surround race such as race relations and racism continues to be an area of disagreement. As a result, an attempt to find a prevalent sociological coherent definition and understanding of race has proven to be limited. As argued by Keita (2002),This unique term is very broad in meaning and due to the social understandings and underlying assumptions, defining race has become to an extent complex (Keita 2002, p. 25). The problematic nature of race is evident from a scientific perspective as it is from a social perspective. There have been studies and theories all striving to bring forth a clear understanding of race and all the other aspects that surround it (Biondi and Richards 2002). The unfortunate thing is that all the efforts seem to have borne no fruits and tends to cause further contradictions and controversies (Back and Solomos 2009).  This paper seeks to explore the problematic nature of the term race. In achieving this, there will be reviews of sociological theories, and the works of eminent sociological scholars.

The first problematic nature of the term nature is related to its meaning, understanding and relations. Race and its meaning has evolved and changed over time (Driedger and Shivalingappa 2004, p.2). This is the most basic area of study in any subject and field. It is supposed to be the area that is very much understood and agreeable (Biondi and Richards 2002). However, this is not the case with the term race. As a matter of fact, this is the area that sparks most of the controversy. Race can be comprehended as a notion that characterises and typifies socio-political disagreements and clash of interests as concerns various types of human relations. The terminology is mostly utilised synonymously with subspecies (Buell and Hodge 2004). From this point of view, human races are believed not to exist. Taxonomically, every person is categorised as Homo sapiens. Many researchers have argued that all the conventional definitions of race are vague, subjective, have a lot of exceptions and progressions (Back and Solomos 2009, p. 15).

Although race is a concept that is widely recognised all over the world, it is one of the concepts that lacks universally accepted definition (Pruett 2002). The meaning and understanding of this concept vary from society to society and from culture to culture. The number of races defined varies with culture causing a lot of debates and controversies. The category of researchers and sociologists who reject the concept of race basically base their argument on the basis that the definitions and groupings that follow from the definitions are contradictory. Race is therefore a very controversial and hotly debated concept (Dalal 2002).

Even if the concept is strongly connected with the growth of the contemporary world and closely linked to the development of enlightenment-related rationalism, the notion of racial relations also retains essentially conventional and illogical descriptions. In the current world, the notion has been discharged as a false impression. It is argued that there exists only one race, and that is the human race (Keita 2002, p. 30). The problem is regardless of the fact that race is described as an illusion it goes on to separate and stratify humanity to a great extent. This means that this concept that is seriously taken for granted has a very serious impact on the society and humanity in general. To some degree, race constitutes a basic aspect of peoples identity, an aspect that is universally recognised. At the same time, race identity means completely different in specific societies and cultures (Boxill 2001). From a rational perspective, the contradiction in the meaning is usually very strange. This is due to the fact that the differences do not generally denigrate the near-collective recognition of racial identity, racial ladder and racially separated status, for example the white being identified as better and more superior to black.

The problem comes in explaining these aspects. The question that comes up as a result is whether race is truly an illusion, as many believe or an objective fact (Pruett 2002). The other issue that emanates is whether racial identity is a natural or socio-historical concept. There are endless questions concerning various aspects of racism, but none seems to have a definite answer. Many wonder if that concept is an atavistic renounce from a past era of capture, colonisation and slavery, which were all based on race, or if it is a lasting way of organising disparity and supremacy (Back and Solomos 2009). 

The modern society fails to recognise the ongoing role of race in the society. This is regardless of the fact that it is still operating as a social reality. Race still connects the micro-social perspective and the macro-social perspective of peoples existence. The idea that discrimination can be founded on race, presumes the subsistence of race. Nevertheless, the concept of race and efforts to deny the fact that race exists seems to have been given much interest among all the studies related to race (Dalal 2002). This leads us to the second problematic area as far as the term race is concerned.

History has seen many debates and researches carried out to find out the real nature of the term race. This area has also been a controversial one with some people arguing that it is a reality and that it exists, while others argue that it has no bases in science (Cashmore 2003). There have been researches and disagreements concerning the existence of the concept, race. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the physical anthropologists in Europe put forward a number of aspects in categorising people. The categories were founded on apparent traits like skin colour, type of hair, body proportions, and the skull dimensions (Boxill 2001, p. 11). This brought about the disparities among wide geographic populace of humankind. These categories that were innocently introduced very many years ago are currently a source of serious controversies around the world. The biological concept of race is no longer considered in apparent characteristics but instead in genetic characteristics like blood types (Buell and Hodge 2004, p. 45). The categories that are established in the contemporary society do not agree with those that were brought forward by the ancient anthropologists. There is also another discrepancy in that a person may be considered black in one culture and non-black in another. It is due to these two factors that sociologists currently consider race more of a social or mental make up rather than an objective natural reality (Back and Solomos 2009).
 
There have been arguments contended by many sociologists that natural races are not a reality in humankind (Biondi and Richards 2002). The supporters of this argument claim that race-concepts and race-aspects are social constructs. There is yet another group that strongly challenge this perception. The explanation of biological race by Robin Andreasen is one of the works that challenge this concept. Nevertheless, sociologists have maintained the argument that there are practical, experiential and theoretical setbacks with the theory of biological race. From a rational perspective, the acceptance of the inflexible dichotomies between biology and sociology, realities and principles, character and traditions, the natural and communal requirements should be abandoned (Boxill 2001). 

DNA fingerprinting is just a single area of investigation that shows evidence of how race stays as a concept and object for mankind population biology. However, this suggestion is untimely to the acceptance of no-race agreement across all the fields. DNA fingerprinting studies also reveal approaches by which reification of race is achieved by biologist through presenting what is cultural or communal as natural or scientific, and whatever is vibrant, comparative and incessant as stagnant, fixed and distinct. The theoretical evaluation of basic concepts of mankind populace biology like population, racial concepts and ethnicity is best achieved by avoiding conventional objective-based ways and adopting a systematic position that identifies the inextricability of science and sociology (Keita 2002).  Currently, many scientists have been involved in the study of genotype and phenotype. They investigate these variations by use of aspects like population and clinal progression. The majority of the academicians have taken the position that race categorization might be supported by universal phenotypes and genotypes, but the mostly-held notion of race is nothing but a social make-up without any scientific evidence (Dalal 2002, p. 18).   

The United States governments Human Genome Project has revealed that the full mapping of DNA up to today shows that there is no distinctive genetic foundation for race. Therefore, as per this revelation, racial characters basically cannot be apparent like dissimilarities in colour or hair texture (Buell and Hodge 2004, p. 36). The project report reveals the fact that skin colour is there as a matter of biology. As a result, there is a claim that whatever exists as racism can be biologically termed as skin colour stimulated prejudice. This concept is appropriate because it is founded on an aspect that can be proved scientifically, is not founded on refuted ideas of biology, and does not disseminate an untrue perception in the refuted aspect of science-base racial concept (Boxill 2001).

Charles Hamilton and Kwame Ture argue that the race concept is a forecast of choices and policies on the basis of race in an effort to subordinate an ethnic group so as to have authority over it (Boxill 2001, 22). This means that race only exists as a reason for some groups to have control over others. It has also been used by individuals and institutions that are power hungry in justifying their dominance over the minorities. This is what is referred to as racism. Therefore this points us to the third problematic area concerning the concept race (Dalal 2002). 

Another area that reveals controversies in the concept of race is racism. No one can deny the fact that racism is a problem.  It is also clear that racism has been there for very many years, since people realised that there are others who have different skin colour, culture, traditions, and language, and that all the efforts to eradicate it have borne no fruits (Afshar and Maynard 1994).  The problem comes in due to the fact that there are many misunderstandings about race and racism. There have been many misconceptions that racism is a concept that is perpetuated by mean people who discriminate others on the basis of their skin colour. This is basically a misconception. It is crucial to understand that racism is a scheme of race-based discrimination that is carried out even by well-meaning individuals (Afshar and Maynard 1994).

Even if racism relates to racial related discrimination, aggression, hate, segregation, or domination, the terminology can also be used to denote diverse and controversial definitions. The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as a conviction or philosophy that all the members of every racial category have traits or capabilities that are special to that group. This conception distinguishes these groups as being superior or inferior to others (Cashmore 2003). The Merriam-Websters Dictionary asserts that race is the basic determinant of peoples characteristics and capabilities and that the differences among races create an internal dominance or inadequacy of a specific racial category. According to The Macquarie Dictionary, it is the conviction that mankind races have unique characters that define their particular cultural beliefs and the belief that a persons racial group is superior and has authority or others (Dalal 2002, p. 52).

Ruth Benedict argues that race is an unbiased logical class of taxonomy. She adds that in itself race has nothing to do with racism. Race is a matter for careful scientific study Racism is an unproved assumption of the biological and perpetual superiority of one human group over another (Dalal 2002, p. 21).   

Eduardo Bonilla-Silva (1997) argued that the central problem of the various approaches to the study of racial phenomena is their lack of a structural theory of racism (p. 465). He identifies a number of problems to the existing methods of handling the topic. One of the limitations is that sociologists have tended to handle racism too narrowly. They have treated the topic as psychological and illogical rather than methodical and logical. They have also tended to handle it as a free-floating philosophy instead of structurally-grounded. Racism has also been taken as a historical phenomenon instead of a modern structure (Loveman 1999). Bonilla-Silva believes that the only way to handle these problems is to come up with a structural theory founded on the ideology of racialised social systems (p. 469). Racialised societies are defined as societies in which economic, political, social and ideological levels are partially structured by the placement of actors in racial categories or races (p.469). Loveman (1999) agrees with the arguments of Bonilla-Silva that problems exist in the study of race. He argues that it is necessary to improve the understanding of the causes, mechanisms and outcomes of the racial concept. However, he asserts that a structural hypothesis of racism is basically not the pre-eminent investigative structure for achieving this objective (Loveman 1999). 

The usefulness of the structure proposed by Bonilla-Silva is limited by three shortcomings. The first shortcoming is the confusing categorisations of groups (Loveman 1999).  The second pitfall is reifying race. The last pitfall according to Loveman is sustaining the unnecessary systematic differentiation between race and ethnicity. He asserts that the theory is not the best in comprehending the most suitable meaning and outcomes of this controversial topic (Keita 2002). Loveman suggests that to eradicate these shortcomings and comprehend better how race influences social interactions and gets incorporated in institutions, there is need to evade race as a distinct category of investigation. This way, it will be possible to improve systematic outlook in the investigation of race as a concept of practice (Solomos 2009). Loveman suggests that the only way for improving the comprehension of race is not to come up with a structural hypothesis of racism, but instead to establish a systematic structure that emphasises on procedures of limit creation, preservation and decline a relative sociology of group-building, established on Weberian theory of social closure (Loveman 1999). 

This paper is a critical evaluation of the term race and the controversies that surround it. It is evident from research and literature review that the concept is surrounded by a lot of controversies that are not likely to end in the near future. The problems associated with the term race begin from its basic level, that is, the meaning. The meaning and understanding of this term has been disagreed and challenged by many theorists and sociologists. Its meaning is vague and ambiguous. This topic that is universally recognised lacks a universally accepted meaning. As it is already apparent, its meaning varies from country to country, society to society and from culture to culture, and this is not likely to change. Proving the existence of the concept has been a problem regardless of the many researches and investigations that have been carried out. Up to date, there has no been any agreement in this area.

Nevertheless, the side that garnered more support in the debate concerning whether it exists or not, is the one that agrees that the concept does not exist. Interestingly the notion of racism has been in existence since the time when human beings met others who possessed dissimilar skin colour, language and cultures. Another problematic area in the term race is racism. Based on the fact that race is a concept whose meaning and understanding is a problem, so is the concept of racism. The basic theory that is likely to fully describe the meaning and understanding of racism has not been agreed on. Even if it seems like there is no likely agreement on this area in the near future, a lot of research needs to be carried out to provide more insight on the topic. 

Simmel in his book Metropolis and Mental Life considered the Urban Division of labor as a catalyst of freedom. It implies specialization and it made many people to find specific and specialized task. For him, today we create all sorts of needs that pre-modern people cannot imagine. Our needs became infinite and constantly and indefinitely expanding. He also added that some modern needs are way beyond our needs for survival. Examples such as pedicure services, yogurt drinks and Krispy Kreme Donuts. For him, city life is more than subsistence. However in our time, the luxuries of modern living are now considered as necessities. He also noted that these new industries create lots of jobs and money for different people. Most of the the time, these new industries becomes saturated. Some examples are coffee houses, tattoo houses etc.

growing differences  growing freedom

For him, these new occupations are now becoming personalities. Stereotypes are formed and assembled. He also note that our freedom to choose jobs or occupations provide an image that we are free to choose. Though some people argues that we loss this freedom since other people also choose what we choose, it does not matter for Simmel. For him what matters is we choose the path for and by ourselves.

Rural people are not immune to this phenomenon. Most of them migrate into cities due to the influences and encouragement of media that city life brings freedom. Additionally, he noted that people are becoming obsessed with difference. Some differentiate just for the sake of being different, to be different for its own sake. Most people goes to extreme just to stand out. In this respect there is a common use of the term PERSONALITY. Personality implies differences and not commonality. We celebrate and encourage differences in the city (food, place, clothes, social circles). Simmels speak of the city as a representation of the objective culture. Objective culture is the sum of societys artistic, intellectual and technical accomplishments. (e.g. art, invention, paintings, literature). For him objective culture is complex and wide. We only experience tiny fractions of it in which we make us own. This is in contrast to the country wherein they have limited choices e.g. country music. In city you almost unlimited choices.

tragedy of culture

objective culture expands subjective culture contract

For Simmel there is a tragedy in this kind of objective culture which is widespread in city life. For him, as the city expanded and jobs and opportunities are created, people become more and more narrow minded. It is almost that though individuals who specialized know more and more about less and less. We only learn a tiny fraction of objective culture. The university is an attempt to encompass and compile all this knowledge however it is failing now and losing its edge.  The economy is  pushing us to specialize since since highly paid people are the one who specializes. Experts in their fields are paid the best. In many cases experts and specialists use special language and jargons. They have monopoly with the language. This became their currencies because they are the only one who can understand it. (e.g. lawyers language or lawyer talk).

In our times there are no more family doctors or country lawyers who know and can do all. City life make us one dimensional individuals. He also noted that artists are prone to this phenomenon. Originally, artist follow their selves and imagination (subjective culture). However since they also need to earn money, they also need to follow the clients or audience taste and requests. In this respect, artists become entertainers. There is a difference between the two, artist follow their bliss, entertainers follow their audienceclients wants or desires.

Today only few people can grasp the big picture of the society. The world is getting bigger but individuals world is getting smaller. This is negative to us especially for democracy since democracy requires informed citizens to be able to decide smartly.

Zurcher

In the article of Zurcher, he stated that the mutable self or the ever changing self is a creation of the modern world. People mutate and adapts todifferent societal changes. We must notice that people are not the same in all places in all time. Even people you live in the same generation, you are different. For example it is difficult to comprehend the past societies that does not encourage money or acquisition of money. Bias against merchants in the past is different to comprehend in our present context self as image and self as process

Today self is becoming as an image rather an a process. Fixed self is becoming obsolete. Change has become more institutionalized in our understanding. our culture celebrate change and improvements. people who are not willing to change are judge as stubborn etc. social change is forcing the individual to change from within,  Change in orientation,  from stability to change. In our time, self that can adapt changes or mutable is more rewarded, adaptive and valued than a self that is fixed. society requires us to change according to changing times.

accelerated socio-cultural change leads to existential revolution in self concept

Yesterday, we can have a concrete way of seeing ourselves in the future. Before, say you want to be a software writer or programmer. Today, the society will not permit you to do that. the society had arranged its self towards a society wherein software writing is done somewhere else for cost benefits. That particular job is outsourced some where else. As a result you need to adapt to the change, learn a new skill to be able to survive.

It is noted that globalization influences and push forward societal changes. Today we tend to have multiple job and career changes due to the shift in demands since global capitalism changes the opportunity structure. this encourages us to form a mutable self or unless you will not be able to survive. Before our grandparents is stacked with a stable occupation, send their kids to one school, one religion,( e.g. old fashioned Middle America Life). However today, this is difficult since the economy will uproot you in this aim. you will be fighting the trend when you do it. In our times, change is normal. It now became the positive normal cultural value. Our culture celebrates persons who are open to change and not way down to tradition. Today more than ever generation gap is more inevitable since today moving culture cannot relate to the stable culture of yesterday.
C-mode vs. B-mode

CMODE
C mode is what he refers as the mutable self which is  an autonomous and detached self. In contrast, B mode is the traditional self and define their selves according to the social groups where they belong.  In C mode, the master is them in their own life. Membership of C mode to other groups is only defined by terms of self interest and nothing else. In C mode, nothing is compulsory.

Some question to ponder regarding this kind of personality or self
-can society survive with this arrangement Will it take us to a state of nature or law of the jungle (question to ponder)
-how are free to outside influence
-is freedom an illusion
-do we always need to serve anyone
-maybe rich people can afford the luxury of mutable self, but not the poor people

Some argue that C mode personality is only a function of age. C mode are for youngsters only. Change become a mere status symbol. It can become a shallow orientation. It can be a function of age. Young people are more mutable than old people. As you get older you will go for more stability. However, we can still cite C mode example to older people. Middle life crisis is an example of mutable self for older people.

B MODE
In contrast to C mode, B mode are more traditionalist and conservatives.
Paradoxes of the Mutable Self Permanent change or fad
(revised)

It was noted that it is possible that the mutable selfs desire for change is not permanent. Some argues that it is possible that desire for change is just a function of age as younger people tend to be more prone to desire change. Older people however tend to be more inclined in stability more than anything else. It has been observed that adventurous youth tend to be more stable and uniform when they grew up.

Some also argues that mutable self is not a permanent phenomenon. Some case and scenario can reverse the effect. For example a nuclear war that will slow down changes and innovations.

From here, it can be concluded that the paradox of the mutable self is its desire for change changes to its desire for something new which is stability.

LAG VS LEAD

Lagers are the people who resist cultural change. This is directly in contrast of pioneers who always forecast and always found in the upfront of change, they lead us to cultural change. These pioneers are ridiculed at first, tagged as nerds but one the new patters emerges, they become iconic (e.g. Bill gates solving the PC revolution in 1980s). On the other hand, lagers are behind changes. They argue that there is good in the past that we need to preserve (e.g. principle and moral conviction). Lagers want to defend their life, what they have,  they believe that they have something to offer, they dont want to be dismissed e.g. financial transactions being taken by machine is not preferred by many old people. They prefer face to face interactions in financial or monetary affairs. Sometimes they can go bad for being dogmatic (e.g. jihad, force people to resist change through violence). In America we can cite one specific example,  this is called culture wars, Conservative (Family Values) vs People who adapt changes conservatives want to maintain a nuclear traditional family, dad works, mom nurtures.

It is important to note that today, only 20 of households comprises the nuclear family. The number one most common household todays is the single household, a person living alone.

Week7 02.18 Thurs.

I.Modal Personality Types
A.The  Mutable Self - Zurcher
1.Lag v. Lead
2.Is the Mutable Self free

B.Durkheim on the  Anomic Self
1.Anomie as the human condition- as a function of  imagination
2.anomie as a  moral  problem
3.class differences in Anomie-Rich v. Poor
4.Anomie as a product modern individualism
5.Economic causes of anomie

The Mutable self

Is the Mutable Self Free

A mutable self is related to the breaking free from society. In other words, no  other social forces to influence the self. Individuals are free to experience the world through their sense. No bias, values that influence you. This is a kind of freedom that  human never attained. In a mutable self, you will choose if you want to participate or not, no pressure, no compulsory actions

Question to ponder.

If everybody is doing their own thing, what will happen to society

If you are libertarian, you will like this society. The only arranging factor is the market. However, this will lead to bigger greater social inequality, the strong will dominate. The market will generate gross inequality.

According to him, ultimate freedom is impossible since your choices as a freeman will still be determine by the society. You choose but your sets of choices is not choosing. For example your occupations, you choose your job but there is a limited number of job to choose from. For example though you are free to choose who to marry, you are still limited to the choice who and what to marry, men or women. Conclusion, we can never really break free from society. Possibilities are NOT endless

Durkheim on the  Anomic Self
Suicide (1897)

According to Durkheim in his book, Suicide (1897) there is a growing number of anomic people today. Some leads to suicide, a form of suicide that  is caused by extreme feeling of anomie. Some examples are the public shootings in the United States and in other parts of the world. Before an anomic kill his self, he kill other people first. According to Durkheim, anomie is caused by the disintegration of morality. This deprive people of meaning. Something bigger than people is loss and this weakens the societys hold for people.

Today, people become free but they are more detached from the society. This leads to loss of meaning since for Durkheim human beings naturally derive our meaning to life in membership to society and not from some biological impulseimperative. He argues against the role of biological impulse or imperative to its role in maintaining life since if biological impulse is dominant to human beings, no one will commit suicide since we are hardwired to suicide. Suicide is a mystery for biologists. In this respect the author believes that suicide is due to the loss of hold of an individual to society. As a support, he argues that suicide varies from time to time and place to place. when you are detached to society, it is lonely and depriving. When your hold for group weaken, your purpose for living will weaken. Your hold for life will also weaken.  Nothing will excite you, nothing will motivate you. This is also the reason why we can see today the comeback of religion. Books such as  Purpose Driven Life  are in demand. This is because of the crisis of meaning in our secular society that created a vacuum which religion can fill.

Anomie as the human condition- as a function of  imagination

The author believes that animals can control their instincts  for needs and desire. When they are hungry, they hut. When they are full, they stop eating. When its time to mate, they mate. It is pure impulse and pure reflex. No imagination is involved. Humans however do not have this kind of mechanism, either biologically or psychologically. The only thing that stop us is the society. The society is the only external mechanism that can stop us, though not so well sometimes. We humans operates on imagination rather than instinct. This implies that we can imagine a world with infinite possibilities since we humans can fantasize. Anomie will come out when the world cannot deliver your appetites brought by your imagination. As a result we feel frustrated. Our expectations are also raised by the mas media. Mass media says that you can have everything now. When this is not met, it results to anomie.

Anomie as a product modern individualism

According to clinical psychologist, anomic pathologies are growing in number. This is due to the expansion of humans expectations that are not met. In order to solve this, the society must set ceilings and guidelines to guide human beings to avoid the feeling of anomie. It was cited that in a society wherein there are many guidelines, youths have a more peaceful transition to adulthood e.g. right of passages. However we dont have that in our own society. What we have are some institutions, but most of them fails. In adults we have different limiting institutions such as careers, jobs, marriage and religion. This institutions however fails slowly to limit us. e.g. extramarital affairs, premarital affairs.

It is also important to note that anomie is parallel to Marx concept of alienation. As stated, Marxs alienation leads to frustration that leads to revolution. Expectations that are not met. anomie is parallel to it in the case that anomie is more general. Alienation is more economical.

It was also noted that students suffer a great deal of anomie. For example,  anomie in grade that you received in High School. You receive all As in HS. But in college, you receive B. You feel bad for it. You feel this because you carried a fix expectation from HS to college. You need to refocus your expectations. Unreasonable standards set by you leads to unhappiness or anomie. Anomie can make you go up in your career but the question is, are you happy

side note prom instructor its okay to have B. you will learn more in your lost rather than your triumphs. In this case anomie can be a positive experience. You just need to reflect at it positively.

class differences in Anomie-Rich v. Poor

Economic causes of anomie

It has been said that poor people are happier because they set lower standards and limits to their selves which are easier to reach. Rich people tends to expect more and when these are not met, they become unhappy and frustrated. For example a kid who goes once to Disneyland, vs a kid who always goes to Disneyland. The first kid will be happier. This is also the same with drugs, you need to consume more to be able to feel happier. Rich people set higher standards which is more difficult to achieve therefore causing anomie. Rich people overdo and overdose to everything. They are self indulgent and have an unhealthy sense of entitlement.

.anomie as a  moral  problem

Anomie is a moral problem because it limits our behaviors and presupposes question of right and wrong. Religion have countered this through laws and commandments. Christianity has 7 deadly sins, other religions also have it. This is to serve a limit to people to avoid the feeling of anomie. This limit is called morality.

It was also noted that the opposite of anomie is fatalism. Fatalism is caused by having too many limits. If anomie is modern society product, fatalism is product of totalitarian and pre-modern society. Take for example someone in prison and someone under a dictator. They are bonded so much that they feel the lost meaning of their lives. Fatalism also leads to suicide. It is important to note today there is smaller rate of suicide in prisons when compared to freemen. However, when prisoners are released they are overwhelmed to choices outside and become suicidal e.g. movie REDEMPTION (Morgan Freeman).

Society tells us that if we cannot control ourselves, we are immoral. oftentimes this uncontrollablereckless behavior will harm other people. It is also important to note that libertarian dont care with anomie as long as there are no other people are harmed. However we can argue that addicts for example are not solitary individual, they are member of family, class etc. therefore affectharm other people.

Today there are many debates to where we can draw the line between letting people free or controlling them. We lived in a society wherein moral problems of the past are considered illness such as obesity and sex addiction. Many lines are redesigned and relocated. in the old days there are fixed way of identification, almost a manual for everything, today it is lost. In our times, there are many gray areas. We live in a society where there are many in between

Week 9 03.02 Tue.

I. Personality Types
A. The Narcissistic Personality (Christopher Lasch)
1.Narcissism as Pathology
a.)as a defense mechanism against separation anxiety
b.)symptoms

Shyness

Before tackling narcissism, the instructor read an article about shyness. As stated. Shyness also known as social anxiety disorder is the withdrawal from the world because of the extreme feeling of shyness. As for students who have this social anxiety disorder, most dropout of universities and schools due to extreme feeling of shyness. Social phobia leads to depression and most likely to commit suicide. Some of its physical symptoms are increased heartbeat shortness of breathe. Today there are some drugs that can alleviate feeling of social phobia that are approved by the medical board. He also noted that shy people rarely ask for help unless their anxiety really intervenes with their way of life.

As for critics, there is no objective way to define normal shyness and social phobia, Today, there are more than 50 of adults who honestly admits that they are shy. The number of children using antidepressants grew from 2.5 in 1998 up to 4-5 today.

A.The Narcissistic Personality (Christopher Lasch)

Christopher Lasch is a Freudian psychologist and social psychologist. For him, every society has a problem in controlling and regulate child impulses and integrate that in the social order. Because of this, all societies must find a ways to obtain conformity and civilized children. Children are regarded as  barbarians, new breed of barbarians every generation. In our today world, he stated that children are becoming more and more narcissistic

as a defense mechanism against separation anxiety

He defined narcissism as a form of neurosis. He also stated we are raising our children to be narcissistic in our modern way of living. He define narcissism as not mere self love or vanity. Actually he assigned a clinical definition for it. Narcissism is a neurosis that serves as a defense mechanism against the separation anxiety. For him, the root of narcissism is separation anxiety

Today, children feel extreme and intense emotion of separation anxiety. Children relieve it through creating a fantasy of omnipotent mother and father who is incorporated to their selves. in many ways, the self love they exhibits is actually the displaced love of parental figure in response to separation or fear of loss of their parents. Today, mother and father is absent so they create a fantasy in their self, mom and dad become a part of them. He also noted that this even leads to multiple personality disorder. The more the parents are neglectful, the more narcissistic the child and this is more common to our society today.

It was observed that there is change in the type of patients that undergone therapy in the last 60 years. From the end of World War II up to today, patients feel an extreme and vague feeling of emptiness. For them life is futile and purposeless. Before World War II however there are other symptoms that are exhibited. Most of this is caused by repressive social controlling and repressed urges. Most of the time this is due to an overdevelop superego of over socialized individuals. In their times, everything is sin e.g. Puritans and Protestants. According to therapists, patients today are acting to their impulse rather than controlling or repressing them.

GENERAL SYMPTOMS

Some of the general symptoms of narcissism are
-dependent on the affection of others
-addicted to affection of others
-the same time afraid of dependency
-they need affection it but they fear it

More Specific Symptoms

Some of the more specific symptoms of narcissism are

-pseudo self insights or fake talking about their selves to other people
-calculating seductiveness
-seductive individual but still feeling emptiness inside
-self deprecating humor
-shallowness in emotions and avoidance of intimacy
-they want affection of other people but they resist returning it
-mutual intimacy is resisted
-insensitivity, a wall that shield individual against the hostility released by intimacy
-narcissist resist long term relationship
-afraid of being left by the person

It was noted that the moment you break their wall, they will break down. some therapist even go to extreme by having sex to their patients in the 70s to break the wall of the patients

Narcissist also tends to distrust other people. They are unable to mourn, grieve or sorrow. Basically they are insensitive to other peoples pain. It is also noted that narcissist are hypochondriac. They are uneasy about their health and have a chronic fear of illness whether it is physical, medical or mental illness. For them every pain means something worse.

He believes that therapy does not work on narcissists. It only worsen their illness. Narcissist use therapy for self insight, to put their selfs in to spotlight. They seek therapy but does not really respond to it.

Narcissist also fantasizes that they are omnipotent or they are all powerful. They belief that they a right to exploit other people and to be gratified by other people. For them, other people are just guests to their realities. They craved approval and praise of others but despised and mocks those who provide it for them. For a narcissist, all relationships are not satisfying. He just use other people to stroke his ego. He does not feel empathy and feels that life owes him for his suffering.

A narcissist is always bored. They tend to have tons of sex but all of it are just meaningless sex, not sensual and devoid of pleasure.

It is also important that aside from hypochondria, they are afraid of dying and aging. They do everything that they can afford to reverse or suspend it. They want to look young, stay young, remain beautiful. Aging is the best attack for grandeur self of narcissist.

SOCIOLOGY OF NARCISSISM

As stated in the lecture, narcissism is more common today. For sociology this means something had changed outside of the individual. This is because certain type of socialization and cultures produce certain types of personality.

Some critics blame the media for the growth of narcissism. Todays media as they argue is violent and sex craved. Media overstimulate this infantile desires. massive exposure to mass media overpower traditions of restraints. For example, commercials or TV shows arouse the urges. Media seduces people for false promises then leaving them excited but not satisfied. The former restraint which is tradition cannot keep these impulses at bay anymore. Traditions and religions are no longer a strong force.

However for Christopher Lasch, media is not the sole or exclusive reason to the spread and growth of narcissism. For him, narcissism thrive and go far in our society because of the arrangement of our society. Narcissist are rewarded and encouraged in out society. They are the perfect person to work in our modern society. They have shallow values and fear of intimacy that make them perfect recruits for government and corporations. the increasing size of corporations and universities brings greater anonymity make people more self interested. In competitive environments, narcissist do very well where individuals are allowed to pursue their interest without responsibility to the group. Narcissists are rewarded by the modern society and social structure since they overlap with the prevailing structure. The social forces worsen narcissism and feeling of emptiness.

It was also noted by a student that narcissism is facilitated and cultivated by capitalism.

The most complicated study in the realm of knowledge is the behaviour of human beings. It is always relative and unpredictable, the thought pattern always moulds with respect to time, space and circumstances. The social structure and embedded traditional fabric guides the human behaviour accordingly (Harris, 2001). So if we are into research we ought to consider the valve system as a major variable. The social science research methods are thus incomplete if we ignore the role of values. It is not possible to separate facts from values in social sciences because of the huge impact factor of the social structure over a phenomenon, for instance doing research in Indian society and ignoring the caste structure would not bear considerable results. To work in Saudi Arabia it is mandatory to study the Arab traditional way of life and the blend with Islamic fundamentals.  The empiricist school follows purely scientific tools of research which is not influenced by social orders or value systems (Barton, 1999). On the contrary the interpretative school take in to account the value structures this school is also known as hermeneutic approach (Barton, 1999). The laws of pure science arent concerned with the traditional ways of life they are same in all parts of the world. But on the other hand social sciences such as anthropology, sociology, political science, economics, international relations, psychology involves the study of human behaviour that is not value free (Harris, 2001). In these soft sciences the importance and impacts of social life cant be ignored out rightly. This is not because the research work is not rigorous or lacks in objectivity or validity but the subject matter is human attitude and behaviour which includes norms and values. Both these norms and values have different forms and manifestations in every particular society. Historically the study was known as humanities because of the mode of inquiry and approach to the methods of discourse towards the realm of knowledge (Harris, 2001).

Explanation
With the development of the subjects of social sciences the need emerged that empiricism must be applied for more effective and problem solving generalizations. The growth patterns in research lead to the development of different variances while following these traditions, the nature of empiricist tradition has been mathematical and value less which is only based on empirical data that is regardless of the fact that there is deviation in human behaviour and circumstances. This deviation may cause disorders in the data which is only reflected through positivist traditions. Therefore, while dealing with human behaviours through this approach it is a far possibility to arrive at a value free theory. Critical theorists have come up the assumptions that there is always a circumstantial reason behind every school of thought, power structure govern the body of knowledge according to its interest needs that cater the policies of powerful in the world where chaos is the only political order (Harris, 2001). The realist school of thought is the greatest justification of status quo for the powerful nations of the world the liberal school is thought to be coined for the interests of capitalists and their free trade paradigm. The idea of clash of civilization by Samuel P Huntington caters the foreign policy of US in the later decades of 90s, so as the theory of the End of History by Francis Fukuyama which says that liberal world order is the only solution for the global governance (Ritzger, Smart, 2001).

Thus coming to the definitions of the phenomenon of facts and values, online dictionary implies that the fact can be defined as something that actually exists reality truth or something known to exist or to have happened. A fact can be known as the truth known by actual experience or observation something known to be true. On the other hand values can be defined sociologically as the ideals, customs, institutions of a society toward which the people of the group have an affective regard. These values may be positive, as cleanliness, freedom, or education, or negative, as cruelty, crime, or blasphemy. From the above definitions it can be deduced that value is an ideal and fact is the happening or the practical manifestation of the value. Values are intertwined with facts and give meaning with the help of facts (Harris, 2001). With out values facts are meaningless and vice-versa. Answers regarding the simple facts regarding a river or pollution level in the air can be given through scientific research but when it comes to sociological facts values becomes the guiding principles or the driving force for the facts. 

In social sciences behaviouralism brought a fundamental transformation in the thinking process which took turn after the age of reason and enlightenment in between 1600 (Ritzger, Smart, 2001, p371). It started with the study of the natural world and spread to the study of social sciences or soft sciences.  People now believe that most of the natural and social phenomenon is under the jurisdiction of science. Social scientists gather data through specialized techniques. These techniques include participant observation, key informants, focus group discussion and sampling. The empirical data includes the evidence which people have felt through their sensory perception. This thing creates confusion among researchers as they cannot employ their senses directly to observe things like intelligence, opinions, attitudes, feelings, emotions, power and authority (Ritzger, Smart, 2001, p371). This thing also creates confusion in the research world and gives birth to debate that it is not possible to separate facts from the values. For instance, the difference between the cure, prevention and ones attitude towards disease is called cancer. In other example the approach would be different while a researcher would measure the attitude towards economic systems applied in different societies.

The German sociologist Weber is the creator for freedom from value decision in the social sciences, an ideal he referred as Werturteilsfreiheit (value-freedom). He says that there is a rational distance its not a matter of quantity, separating the causal premise and empirical generalizations of science from value judgments. It is more of moral, political, and aesthetic first choice. Social scientists keep the two sides, fact and value. Thus it can be argued from the Weber, that this separation is not observed by anyone. 
Weber seized that values affect the way in which research is done in the social sciences and that the values are also affected by the research results. Facts can be brought to bear on values, affecting ones holding of them. On the research side of the human disciplines, evaluations enter into the subject matter. Using understanding explanation that is, the subjects evaluations seen in relation to the conditions of his or her action, the researcher can hope to sort out the decisive motives of the actor studied. In research, the scrutiny of values permits a discussion between investigators that can clarify the points of view each brings to bear.

Values serve the science by an empirical treatment. Values ultimately come into view, in practical situations the implications of values are judged in particular terms. In addition new values can be revealed and their factual consequences can be judged (Weber, 1949).  Value is not determined by any fact for instance and is necessarily free (Weber, 1949). It is free because it is a value (Weber, 1949). And it is because there are a lot of values and they are at odds, and according to Weber these are warring gods in the modern world.

Humans are cultural beings and are caught in the chains of the culture, values, norms and traditions. Both the researcher and the respondent cannot get rid of the cultural implications. Taking the culture as the object social scientists must recognize the prerequisite for a cultural science is as cultural beings, humans take up behaviour to the world and give it meaning and significance. Values permit this. Core cultural values in cultural science change with culture over time (Weber, 1949).

Webers idea of value-freedom is of extreme importance that research cannot be conducted in space. Hence the cultural values are enveloped in the cultural facts.  Values and facts are interrelated and interdependent. No value in culture is out of context of facts (Weber, 1949). Infact cultural facts give meaning to values and norms. Thus it cannot be separated from the cultural context. Thus this idea gives that Weber is positivist and facts be studied for scientific purposes and only science cannot save the human beings only.

The empirical researcher asks for the objectivity in the research keeping in view the apolitical environment (May, 1993). However the interpretative research looks for the reflection of personal point of view. It infact does not ask for the value freeness, rather it sees the values and meanings fused together (May, 1993).

The empiricist approach tends to say that all the social research is based on the empirical data and evidence. All the knowledge is empirical in nature and intensity. Social research is based on rationale and empirical observations. Social research involves the contact between thoughts and evidence. Ideas help social researchers to give sense to the evidence and the researcher use this evidence to support ideas.

Research has attempts to influence the real world. No laws in social science are parallel to the laws in the natural science whereas law is a universal generalization about a fact and fact is an observed phenomenon and it means it has been seen, heard or otherwise experienced by researcher (Barton, 1999, p232). Thus the researcher holds a relationship with the society directly. Empirical school is all about data collected through sensory perception and all that. This term was used for certain ancient Greek practitioners of medicine who rejected following to the basic principles, preferring to rely on personal experience and observation.  Building further, empiricism became a theory which refers that knowledge arises from experience and evidence gathered using senses (Barton, 1999, p232).

Scientifically, the term refers to the gathering of data using only evidence that is observable by the senses or in some cases using calibrated scientific instruments. The investigator tries to describe the interaction between the human senses and the unit being observed. The researcher is expected to adjust tools by applying it to known standard objects and documenting the results before applying it to unknown objects. Thus in short it can be analyzed in empirical school that the facts and values are part and parcel of any culture and society (Couvalis, 1997, p40). Facts give meanings with the help of values and values through facts. Both are pre requisites of each other. When the word scientific comes in vogue than it means that only scientific and systematic methods of inquiry are applied to understand and investigate the social phenomenon that includes interaction among more than two individuals. The values and norms are the guiding principles of this interaction. Values are a set of ethics or standards of behaviour and are held in high esteem and sough-after by a particular society in which a person lives (Couvalis, 1997, p45). Without values, life is confusion, signifying nothing. It is the pre-requisite to be human.

Everything in this world is relative, truth is not truth but it is being made truth, constructed as a truth, thus perceived to be truth, so it is the perception which makes our impression which we except as a truth and the only truth in this time frame is that only the creature is absolute. So facts are actually truths about social world driven under the umbrella of values. Relatively speaking neither Earnest Najel is wrong nor Longino or Karl Marx. But every phenomenon has some critique, which is valid to considerable extent. For this reason not totally disagreeing with any one I would just highlight some angles upon which light could be thrown.

It is not against the use of scientific method to apply to social research, no doubt science has developed a lot it has revolutionized our lives and mechanized as well, here the stress is at, mechanized our lives, when it comes to human thoughts the development means a lot but as man is social animal so his social world tends to be developed the world around him and the world in which he lives. For this reason objectivity of using scientific methods in social fields is sought.

But prior to check whether there is any similarities between natural science and social phenomenon, for using them simultaneously they must be identical in subject matter, in terms of application and generalisation. Are the patterns to the theories similar in these respects Social science is based on rules while natural science is based on laws. Social theory need to be reduced to natural theory.

Replicating a social phenomenon for the sake of experimental study might be possible in some cases but not in all cases, thus behavioural, cultural, and the normative order could make difference. Anatol Francis said that the difference between animal and human being is like literature and lying. Scientific approach has been very rigid as far as the conclusion are concerned either right or wrong while on the other side it not the same case.

Social scientific thesis is not compatible and universal, that is not applicable every where and could not be tested or verified universally as values very society to society and same as the facts. Science approach cannot give you perceptions. Science tells the ability of a person to work instead of value judgement.

Social constructivists build their thesis that all the relevant factors contributing in any scientific phenomenon should be considered. Science is thought to be the knowledge of elites. Authoritative explanation of knowledge makes difference, while tradition also plays its part in your knowledge system. As in the non-scientific world knowledge is highly subjective and same is in the sciences for a matter of fact as its not been possible to exclude the human behavioural factor while studying any phenomenon. Repercussions of the reliability of this subjective knowledge hold a question mark. Till present except from few females the sciences served the male interests as world remained patriarchal over time.

Feminists who have managed to transform to Marxist models and other modern description of perspective explicitly holds that the beliefs in certain school often shows the social, political or economic interests of a particular group. As a matter of fact the scientific and social theoretical perspective over time reflected the specific interests for example theories in the realm of power serves people in the corridors of power. Similarly people out of power will come up with their own notion of power like coercion, force, morals etc. (Rose 1983 Haraway 1978).

Interpretative social sciences go back to the German sociologist Max Weber and another German philosopher Wilhem Diltey. This is related to the word hermeneutics that originated in the nineteenth century. This employs that making the obscure plain. This thing refers that true meanings are rarely simple or obvious on the surface. One absorbs that scanning through the complete text. In this method the researcher uses participant observation and field research method.  The interpretative researcher lives for year among the respondents to collect data. This is the organized analysis of the social actions through direct and detailed observation of the people in the natural world. The goal of the social research is to deep down understand the social life and discover how people construct meanings in the natural setting.  The basic aim of the interpretative social science research is to discover social reality.         
Conclusion
All the social sciences studies and researches are conducted to find out the meaning and truths behind the values. All the facts give explanations to the prevailing values in short. The purpose of the research is to give scientific explanation to the facts and to dig out the universal laws about human behaviour (Weber, 1949). It is not the motive to separate values from the facts. As I have previously mentioned that both are interlocked. In our society the correlation of values with daily life holds a clich. The above debate can be concluded that values and facts are interlinked and phenomenon and concepts which give meaning while combined (Barton, 1999, p232). All research is empirical in nature and holds roots in the society that is composed of human beings. Research is an ongoing, evolving, moving process. The current knowledge and paradigms are not perfect. The only aim is construct scientific laws about human behaviour and when the word behaviour is used, the term values automatically jumps in. facts in any cultural, societal and communal reflection explains the values and norms of that particular society. Social scientists gather and explain data accordingly.

Thus it can be concluded that generally established objectivity and subjectivity or simply reality versus values that is applicable to individual cultures only. In their own conclusion, the authors state that it will be the theory of argumentation that will help develop what pure logic could not, the justification of the possibility of a human community in the sphere of action when this justification cannot be based on a reality of objective truth. (Bizzel and Herzberg, 2001, p. 1377)