Day: March 18, 2021

Part 1: Discuss your blog for this course. How will your two blog posts contribute to the other work you are doing this semester? What is unique about each of the posts?

Part 2: Paste your blog entries here. Minimum of 550 words for each blog post on your topic.

MY TOPIC: How to change your life in one year.

Respond to the student response to the following prompts based on Classical and Contemporary Sociological Theory by Appelrouth and Edles, 4th edition. 

PROMPT 1: To what extent do you feel that the principles of the Enlightenment have become ingrained within our everyday 21st-century actions and thought? What role does technology play in promoting or suppressing such principles? Would you say that the mass media supports this type of thinking or not?

Student Response:
I would say that the Enlightenment is still ingrained in the 21st century, Many things are still questioned in our society. This period of time was not a set of ideas set in place, but a time where they put a lot of attention and emphasis on reasons, something that has continued on today. Technology only enables us to further these principles with it changing and building new and more intelligent forms of technology. In my opinion mass media can do either promote or suppress depending on how they want society to view it. If it is something they want to get out for the public to promote and go along with that is how they will allows us to view it and vice versa.

PROMPT 2: Review the authors four coordinates and then look at the figures in the chapter. Which classical theorists orientation most closely matches your own beliefs regarding action and order in society? Explain. If you cant pick only one theorist, explain the portion of the various theorists work that speaks to you.

Student Response:

The four coordinates of non-rational, collective, rational, individual, I feel that I best identify with the writing of George Herbert Mead because I believe in the power of the individual and people making decisions because they are lawful, morale and just.  The irony being that what the individual does can contribute to the collective, which is on the complete other end of the spectrum.  For example, if I own a trucking company that employs people to drive and maintain those trucks, and those trucks transport good across the country, that is enabling the collective by giving people a source of income and also by giving people the goods that they desire.  However, I feel that none of this can be accomplished unless the individual is allowed to be free to make their own decisions, and in this case, I was allowed the opportunity to open a trucking company.  (FYI, I do not own a trucking company, it was just an example).   

After reading (1) Chapter 2 of the textbook (P17-18),
(2) read the article, Why Social Responsibility Produces More Resilient Organizations (CSR Article),
(3) and watch the TED Talk by Alex Edmons, The Social Responsibility of Business, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5KZhm19EO0,
(4) as well as the 2020 documentary, Amazon Empire: The Rise and Reign of Jeff Bezos (available on PBS and YouTube). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVVfJVj5z8s
Plan ahead to ensure you have time to read the article and view the TED Talk and film at least once before beginning your paper.
Essay Prompt: 
There are numerous examples of ethically ambiguous practices featured in the Amazon Empire film. These practices may include actions, affirmative statements, omissions and/or schemes. Identify and explain one specific ethically ambiguous practice, including a brief description of the parties involved and how the practice worked. Then, utilizing the ethics material discussed in class and Chapter 2 of the textbook, as well as the information contained in the article and TED Talk, analyze the ethics of the one specific practice on which you are focusing. Your analysis should:
(1)    Include two of the Theories of Ethics (you must choose from Utilitarianism, Deontology, and Justice) presented in Chapter 2.
(2)    Include at least one concept from the CSR article and one concept from the TED Talk.
(3)    Define and explain the theories and concepts you are utilizing.
(4)    Apply the theories and concepts to analyze the one specific practice you are focusing on.
(5)    Use specific conversations and evidence from the film to assist in your analysis.
Your paper must be written in essay format; in other words, it should not be divided into individual answers to the above questions. Your paper must include an introduction and a conclusion, and the bulk of your paper should focus on analysis, not recitation of facts. There is no need to consult sources beyond your textbook, your class notes, the film, the TED Talk, or the CSR article (outside research is, in fact, discouraged). Your paper must be a minimum of 1200 and a maximum of 1400 words, and must be double-spaced, utilizing Times Roman 12-point font and 1 inch margins. In the upper left-hand corner of the first page of your paper, list your name, your instructors name, the course (BSL 212), the date, and the exact word count of your paper. Direct quotes from the film, the TED Talk, the article or the textbook must be placed in quotation marks and the source should be noted in parentheses directly after the quote (Amazon for the film, Mann, Roberts, followed by the page number, for the textbook, TED for the TED Talk, and Article, for the CSR article). Failure to comply with these specific instructions will negatively impact your grade, as reflected in the Analytical Paper Grading Rubric posted on Blackboard.