The term broken window signifies the many forms of neighborhood deterioration. It further explains that if a broken window in a building or a car is left unrepaired, other types of disorders will increase. Philip Zimbardo in 1969 tested this theory with experiments. He organized for an unlicensed car to be parked in a Bronx neighborhood, and another comparable car is parked in Palo Alto California. The car that was left in the Bronx was vandalized within ten minutes, and the other one in Palo Alto remained intact for more than a week. After Zimbardo had smashed the vehicle in Palo, it was followed by massive destruction from the passersby. Theft soon followed. He intended to show that neighborhood disorder is the source of the breakdown of social controls. This theory does not tell us whether some neighborhoods are more dangerous than the others, it simply tells us that every neighborhood is a potential threat to social norms, if they are exposed to disorganization.
The connection of Wright Mills and Karl Marx's View of a Capitalist Society
Mills in his philosophy was much more similar to Marx, and he was seen to echo what the latter believed in. He supported the Marx's idea that it is not consciousness that determines the day to day life but instead it is the life itself that predetermines the awareness. Mills was against the concept of individualism and noted that the society is built from the sum of the individual relationships. He also shared in the Marxist idea that the community is sharply divided between the powerful and the powerless. The three institutions of decision making according to him were the economy, the government, and the military. These three organs had the monopoly of power and had the luxury of making decisions at the expense of the society. Karl Marx fancied the government to be the source of capitalism, causing alienation due to their accumulation of power.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Hegemonic Males’ Social Status
Hegemonic males’ social status is a perception that elevates the man into a superior role and the woman as a subordinate to the man. This perception may as well be invisible in the eyes of women, especially those who fight for their rights and feminists. Events are slowly overcoming the notion of male dominance, and with increased cases of female education and change of social beliefs, the male is under threat of being appreciated at the same level with the woman. The idea of male dominance over the woman created what are known as the gender roles. The man is the head of the family in charge of productive jobs while the female was seen as a birth tool, a sexual machine, and other work as stipulated by the man without questioning.
Race Is Social Construction
This means that the idea of classifying people in racial groups is not a biological thing. It is something that has been created by the society because there are no genes particular to the black or the white people. If race were at all real in the genetic sense, then the classification of people on race would be constant along all boundaries. Every argument that is associated with race is just a mental hurdle, created by the society to paint a precise picture. For instance, the whites are more intelligent than the blacks or the whites are better footballers. Players like Samuel Eto'o have been subjected to racism in this regards.
How Gender Roles Shapes Men and Women’s Lives
With the assertion that family life is for the woman and work life for the man, there has been a negative influence in how women are educated. Since they are thought to belong to the family life, they are taught less compared to the man. Since they are catered for by the man, they are degraded to being subordinates rather than equals. The man acquires more social status and thus is involved in the decision-making process, and finally, the woman loses her societal essence and is not seen as a person who can lead.
