Homework For 1.29

Reggy Elizer
1. In Lenski’s view, it is a society’s level of technology that is critical for its survival. Tecnnology is
defined as ‘information about how to use the material resources of a given society or culture to
meet human needs and satisfy human desires.’ Lenski then viewed that through technology,
societies will evolve, change and survive. When looking at the technology of a society, Lenski
focused on information – the amount of information a society has and how it uses that
information. The more information (or knowledge) a society has, the more advanced it will
become.
2. Informal means of control are the internalization of norms and values by a process known as
socialization, which is defined as “the process by which an individual, born with behavioral
potentialities of enourmously wide range, is led to develop actual behavior which is confined to
the narrower range of what is acceptable for him by the group standards.”
Formal means of social control are external sanctions enforced by government to prevent the
establishment of chaos or anomie in society. (mention ISIS). Some theorists, such as Emile
Durkheim, refer to this form of control as regulation.
Ross argues that belief systems exert a greater control on human behavior than laws imposed
by government, no matter what form the beliefs take.
Social control is considered to be one of the foundations of order within society.
3. In linguistics, the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis states that there are certain thoughts of an individual
in one language that cannot be understood by those who live in another language.
The hypothesis states that the way people think is strongly affected by their native languages.
It is a controversial theory championed by linguist Edward Sapir and his student Benjamin
Whorf.
Mention Daniel Everett and his study of the Amazon Basin’s Pirana people and their language.
Cross-cultural communication is a field of study that looks at how people from differing cultural
backgrounds communicate, in a similar and different ways among themselves, and how they
endeavor to communicate across cultures.
4. It would take a balance of both. How they interpret their material culture using their
nonmaterial culture shows the most about a culture.
Social Organization: the family patterns and social classes of a culture.
Customs and traditions: way people act, wear, what they eat, and their laws.
Language: communication by word of mouth
Religion: a system of beliefs that answers questions about the meaning of life.
Art and literature: ways the people entertain themselves. There are stories they tell and how
they dance. It’s also the music they listen to and their artwork.
Forms of government: the people or groups that control the people and provide/enforce the law
Economic systems: the method used by a society to produce and distribute goods and services.
5. RESPECT FOR DIVERSITY

We must honor cultural, ethnic, racial, sexual, religious and spiritual diversity within the context
of individual responsibility to all beings. We must reclaim our country's finest shared ideals: the
dignity of the individual, democratic participation, and liberty and justice for all.
6. SOCIAL JUSTICE
We must respond to human suffering in ways that promote dignity. We must encourage people
to commit themselves to lifestyles that promote their own health. We must have a community
controlled education system that effectively teaches our children academic skills, ecological
wisdom, social responsibility and personal growth. We must resolve personal and group
conflicts without just turning them over to lawyers and judges. We must take responsibility for
reducing the crime rate in our neighborhoods. We must encourage such values as simplicity and
moderation.
7. GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY
We must develop systems that allow and encourage us to control the decisions that affect our
lives. We must ensure that representatives will be fully accountable to the people who elected
them. We must encourage and assist the "mediating institutions" - family, neighborhood
organizations, church group, voluntary association, ethnic club - to recover some of the
functions now performed by the government. We must learn the best insights from American
traditions of civic vitality, voluntary action and community responsibility.
8. FEMINISM
We must replace the cultural ethics of dominance and control with more cooperative ways of
interacting. We must encourage people to care about persons outside their own group. We
must promote the building of respectful, positive and responsible relationships across the lines
of gender and other divisions. We must proceed with as much respect for the means as the end
(the process as much as the product of our efforts). We must learn to respect the contemplative
inner part of life as much as the outer activities.
9. COMMUNITY BASED ECONOMICS

We must design our work structures to encourage employee ownership and workplace
democracy. We must develop new economic activities and institutions that will allow us to use
our new technologies in ways that are humane, freeing, ecological and accountable and
responsive to communities. We must establish some form of basic economic security, open to
all. We must restructure our patterns of income distribution to reflect the wealth created by
those outside the formal monetary economy: those who take responsibility for parenting,
housekeeping, home gardens, community volunteer work, etc. We must restrict the size and
concentrated power of corporations without discouraging superior efficiency or technological
innovation.
10. DECENTRALIZATION
We must reduce power and responsibility to individuals, institutions, communities and regions.
We must encourage the flourishing of regionally based culture, rather than a dominant mono-
culture. We must have a decentralized democratic society with our political, economic and
social institutions locating power on the smallest scale (closest to home) that is efficient and
practical. We must redesign our institutions so that fewer decisions and less regulation over
money are granted as one moves from the community to the national level. We must reconcile
the need for community and regional self determination with the need for appropriate
centralized regulation in certain matters.
11. ECOLOGICAL WISDOM

We must operate human societies with the understanding that we are part of nature, not on top
of it. We must live within the ecological and resource limits of the planet, applying our
technological knowledge to the challenge of an energy efficient economy. We must build a
better relationship between cities and countryside. We must promote sustainable agriculture
and respect for self regulating natural systems. And we must further biocentric wisdom in all
spheres of life.
12. PEACE/NONVIOLENCE
We must develop effective alternatives to our current patterns of violence at all levels from the
family and the street to nations and the world. We must eliminate nuclear weapons from the
face of the Earth without being naive about the intentions of other governments. We must
constructively use nonviolent methods to oppose practices and policies with which we disagree
and in the process reduce the atmosphere of polarization and selfishness that is itself a source
of violence.
13. PERSONAL AND GLOBAL RESPONSIBILITY

We must be of genuine assistance to grassroots groups in the third world. We must help other
countries make the transition to self-sufficiency in food and other basic necessities. We must cut
our defense budget while maintaining an adequate defense. We must promote these ten GREEN
values in the reshaping of our global order. We must reshape world order without creating just
another enormous nation-state.
14. FUTURE FOCUS
We must induce people and institutions to think in terms of the long range future, and not just
in terms of their short range selfish interest. We must encourage people to develop their own
visions of the future and move more effectively toward them. We must judge whether new
technologies are socially useful and use those judgments to shape our society. We must induce
our government and other institutions to practice fiscal responsibility. We must make the
quality of life, rather than unending economic growth, the focus of our future thinking.

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Reggy Elizer

Social control is considered to be one of the foundations of order within society.

Social Organization: the family patterns and social classes of a culture.

Language: communication by word of mouth

5. RESPECT FOR DIVERSITY

9. COMMUNITY BASED ECONOMICS

11. ECOLOGICAL WISDOM

13. PERSONAL AND GLOBAL RESPONSIBILITY

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