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Ellen L

Rational Choice and Deterrence Theory - 0 views

www.umsl.edu/...ratchoc.html

In Cold Blood rational choice theory

shared by Ellen L on 21 Mar 12 - Cached
  • An understanding of personal choice is commonly based in a conception of rationality or rational choice
  • he central points of this theory are: (1) The human being is a rational actor, (2) Rationality involves an end/means calculation, (3) People (freely) choose all behavior, both conforming and deviant, based on their rational calculations, (4) The central element of calculation involves a cost benefit analysis: Pleasure versus Pain, (5) Choice, with all other conditions equal, will be directed towards the maximization of individual pleasure, (6) Choice can be controlled through the perception and understanding of the potential pain or punishment that will follow an act judged to be in violation of the social good, the social contract, (7) The state is responsible for maintaining order and preserving the common good through a system of laws (this system is the embodiment of the social contract), (8) The Swiftness, Severity, and Certainty of punishment are the key elements in understanding a law's ability to control human behavior.
  • Ellen L on 21 Mar 12
     
    This article discusses the rational choice theory. This includes the factors of pain vs. pleasure, knowledge of certainty of punishments, and individual gain. In In Cold Blood, the murderers rationalize their actions by the assumptions that they will be able to escape the law, and with the great sum of money they would potentially gain, the two could skip the country and live a pleasurable life
David D

God In America - Malcolm X - 1 views

www.pbs.org/...malcolm-x.html

malcolm x

shared by David D on 09 Jan 12 - No Cached
  • David D on 09 Jan 12
     
    This biography is very interesting because of the information it contains. Whereas the Alex Haley version had hundreds of pages of Malcolm's hustler stage, this condenses it into one sentence. It also talks more about Malcolm's relationship with MLK, quoting him as saying that he made MLK's job easier because when given the choice they would not prefer his violent attitude over King's peacefulness.
Evan G

Critical Analysis of "The Grapes of Wrath," by John Steinbeck - Inkweaver Rev... - 3 views

inkweaver-review.blogspot.com/...sis-of-grapes-of-wrath-by.html

grapes of wrath

shared by Evan G on 28 Sep 11 - No Cached
Julianne M liked it
  • . On arriving in “the Promised Land”, though, they find their dreams to be disappointingly unattainable. The advertisements about ample work for all are really just ploys by the land owners to get cheap labor by attracting more workers than there are jobs. Gradually the family’s condition goes downhill as different members of the traveling group leave
  • . Like the persistent turtle, the Joad family will not give up. In addition, neither the story of the turtle, nor the story of the Joad family may end happily, but both the turtle and the Joad family will survive despite attacks and difficulties.
  • Evan G on 28 Sep 11
     
    Discusses the author's motives behind the novel, as well as the strategies he uses to convey his points. It's a really good source that gives the background and reasons for the book. It mentions literary techniques used to write the story, analyzing the interchapters and discussing the diction and word choice used by Steinbeck. It has good analysis of multiple parts of Grapes of Wrath. This is a very useful source in part because not only does it discuss the novel, it also points out the reasons behind the writing of the novel.
  • Julianne M on 28 Sep 11
     
    This is great, I was looking for a review like this when writing the first paper.
Evan G

Blog.amhill :: Book Reviews :: Nickel & Dimed (part 1 of 2) [Book Review] - 0 views

blog.amhill.net/...-dimed-part-1-of-2-book-review

nickel and dimed

shared by Evan G on 03 Oct 11 - No Cached
  • It seems completely counter-intuitive: we are told time and time again this Protestant mantra that hard work is the path to prosperity; that the poverty-stricken and homeless are the way they are because of sloth or carelessness and bad choices; that having a job will logically lead to having a home and ultimately a life. But the reality is far less simplistic.
  • For them, a typical day is filled with only work and sleep. The worst part is that, for most of them, their work is not building towards anything at all – they will likely never make it to management, they are not attending classes as I was (no time to do it!), and they live paycheck to paycheck.
  • They are in stasis, effectively just biding their time until they are old enough to collect a modest social security check. (And they will likely continue to work after that).
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • they are essentially donating their time, their lives, to make other people’s lives better, and they do so in a way that is rewarded in a disproportionately unfavorable way.
  • Evan G on 03 Oct 11
     
    Talks about the dead routine of the workers' lives. They have nothing to enjoy about life, they simply work, eat, and sleep. They spend almost every hour working to stay alive. But their life isn't really worth the trouble. It sucks. And also talks about how the minimum-wage workers work harder than countless other jobs, yet because there is not much academic knowledge or professionalism required, they are disgarded as underclass or dumb. 
Ellen L

No Union Please, We're Wal-Mart - 0 views

www.businessweek.com/...b3971115.htm

shared by Ellen L on 03 Oct 11 - No Cached
  • As I'm checking out, the elderly man in front of me says to the young woman running the register: "It's so sad to see your favorite store like this." She just shrugs.
  • A media capital Jonquière is not. And yet Wal-Mart's abandonment of this north Quebec outpost in the spring of 2005 made news from Tokyo to São Paulo as an object lesson in the lengths to which America's largest company will go to throttle the threat of unionization. Wal-Mart closed its store here a few months after it was certified by the Quebec government as the only unionized Wal-Mart in North America.
  • Discretion was essential, for they knew that there were workers who either truly liked their jobs without benefit of a union or were so fearful of losing them that they would oppose unionization.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • The store soon was riven into bitterly opposed camps. Management began holding mandatory anti-union meetings and issuing dire warnings about the future of the store. Complaints of intimidation and harassment cut both ways, as pro-company employees told of organizers pestering them at home at all hours.
  • Two months later, just as the UFCW and Wal-Mart representatives were preparing to begin mandatory contract negotiations, Wal-Mart Canada issued an ominous press release from its headquarters near Toronto. "The Jonquière store is not meeting its business plan," it declared, "and the company is concerned about the economic viability of the store."
  • Not long ago, Lavoie's 10-year-old daughter came home crying from school after she had been harangued by the child of a former Wal-Mart manager. A hero to some and a villain to others, Lavoie insists that she had no choice but to fight. "Je ne regrette rien," she says. "I regret nothing."
  • Ellen L on 03 Oct 11
     
    This article reports on the thwarting of a unionized Wal-Mart in Quebec. As the first unionized North American Wal-Mart, the leaders went out on a limb to gain support for their cause (although the percent of unionized workers in Canada is greater than that of the US,) and were inevitably shut down for reasons relating to poor value, although few believed this to be true.
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