Capitalism: Inevitable Collapse?

Capitalism: Inevitable Collapse?

Topic 1:

Capitalism: Inevitable Collapse?

Your presentation (and handout) should address the following general issues:
– What is the argument being made? What is the thesis of the author(s)?
– What can we learn from the articles? How do these articles contribute to our SOCIOLOGICAL understanding of the world we live in?
Additionally, based on your class presentation and handout your classmates should be able to answer the following questions after your presentation:
– What did Marx and Engels mean when they said, “the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle?
– What makes capitalism different from previous eras? What specifically distinguishes capitalism from other economic systems?
– Why did Marx and Engels reason that the fall of capitalism is INEVITABLE?
– Does what Marx wrote so many years ago have any relevance today?
NOTE: This is hard reading—I know that. Come see me for help with it.
Reading:
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/pdf/Manifesto.pdf (“Manifesto of the Communist Party” by K. Marx and F. Engels)

Capitalism: Inevitable Collapse?

TOPIC 2:
Education: Equal Opportunity?

Your presentation (and handout) should address the following general issues:

– What is the argument being made? What is the thesis of the author(s)?
– What can we learn from the articles? How do these articles contribute to our SOCIOLOGICAL understanding of the world we live in?
Additionally, based on your class presentation and handout your classmates should be able to answer the following questions after your presentation:

– Historically, the US educational system has had two objectives: increasing opportunity and stabilizing an unequal society. Which is emphasized in most public discussions of schooling? Which is emphasized more in practice?
– According to Bowles and Gintis, how has schooling supported the capitalist economic system?
– What are Bowles and Gintis’s research findings about the relationship between schooling, “natural ability” (IQ), and social background?
– You are strongly encouraged to find additional (and current) information related to this issue.

Capitalism: Inevitable Collapse?

Reading:
1. http://homepage.smc.edu/delpiccolo_guido/Soc1/soc1readings/education%20and%20inequality_final.pdf (“Education and Inequality” by S. Bowles & H. Gintis)
2.
http://www.rougeforum.org/newspaper/winter2001/CanKnow.htm (“What We Can Know and When We Can Know It: Education reform, testing, and the standardization craze” by K. D. Vinson & E. W. Ross) / ( don’t have specific questions related to this article, but rather use it to “update” the first article and use it to explore the issue of educational inequality further.)

P.S – Please apply the concept of sociological thought or vocabularies. This is my class’s typical contents of these days. (1. Functionalism 2. Conflict Theory 3. Symbolic interaction theory)

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By admin in Essays on November 20, 2016