Introduction to Sociology of Religion When Religion Defines the Moods in Community

Introduction to Sociology of Religion When Religion Defines the Moods in Community Introduction: The Sociology of Religion as a New Interpretation of Theological Issues Weirdly enough, the idea of studying human race in general and the phenomenon of society in particular is rather recent. Having appeared in the XIX century, however, it has become one of the major fields of social sciences.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Introduction to Sociology of Religion: When Religion Defines the Moods in Community specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Indeed, researches on the subject of the factors that predetermine people’s behavior, shape their character and serve as the causes of people’s actions is rather intriguing. However, after studying the key elements that have the greatest impact on society, the humankind has come up to a peculiar conclusion that religion takes a very important part of an individual’s life in society. Even atheists have pondered religious issues once before decidin g not to be converted to any of the major religions. Moreover, the attitudes towards religion in a specific society can shape the life of an individual greatly. Hence, the need in the sociology of religion appears to study the impact that religion has on society and its members. Sociology of Religion: Definition and Examples. Pinning Down the Essence of the Phenomenon There are many ways to define the phenomenon of sociology of religion. However, it is important to mention that the search for the right definition is rather hard in the given case, mostly because the issue in question embraces two extremely broad notions, i.e., sociology and religion. Hence, to define the phenomenon under discussion, it is required to denote the two above-mentioned terms. According to the popular definition, sociology is the social science that focuses on the development of society and the processes that take place in society, as well as the relationships between its members. In its turn, religion can be defined as a social phenomenon that incorporates a system of beliefs and relates to spirituality. It is essential to mention that religion often provides a set of moral value and norms for its adepts to follow. With that in mind, one can come up with a proper definition for the sociology of religion. Offering a completely objective evaluation of the impact of any religion on any society, sociology of religion presupposes the study of the effects that religion has on a particular society, the way it shapes the behavior of the members of the given society and how religion helps create certain moral values within the given society. In a very basic way, sociology of religion is the study of how religion shapes the communication between the members of a specific society. The Significance of the Subject: When Religion Must Be Considered from a Social Standpoint As it can be deduced from the definition offered above, religion plays quite an important role in an average society. It affe cts people, their lives, the way they behave, communicate with each other and even judge each other. However, the significance of the subject still needs to be evaluated.Advertising Looking for essay on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More While religion does play a great role in a specific society, it might have an impact on a single issue, thus, empowering people to behave in a certain way, or, on the contrary, touch upon a number of various issues slightly, thus, penetrating every single aspect of people’s lives and influencing it subtly. As it turns out, religion shapes several basic fields. To start with, it affects the group thinking. Providing the growing foil for the concepts of good and bad among the members of a specific society, religion helps channel the current of thoughts of any individual member of the society into the necessary track. Another important way in which religion shapes t he life of a specific society is enhancing all sorts of group practices, be these religious rituals or certain habits. Disregarding the results of the given practices, one must admit that the latter serve mostly to bring a certain group of people together. In addition, religion serves to distill the group goals. While without religious context, people can have completely different goals, e.g., making a career, raising children, starting a war, etc., religion sets common goals for the entire community. The given feature of religion brings the members of the society even closer to each other. The moral principles that most religions establish in the society are also worth mentioning. No matter what one might say about the negative effects of religion, it is still necessary to admit that religion provides people with moral guidelines. However, the defining element that religion brings into society and that glues the members of the society together is the notion of the sacred. With the help of the holy other, as scholars define the phenomenon, religion allows to create the image of an idol that becomes the object of worship. Rational Choice Theory and Its Key Postulates: Modeling Social and Economic Behaviors On the surface, the idea of following the beliefs which, from a rational point of view, have never been tested and seem to have nothing to do with reality is quite hard to explain, the phenomenon of common religious beliefs within a specific society can be explained with the help of the rational choice theory.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Introduction to Sociology of Religion: When Religion Defines the Moods in Community specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More According to the latter, it is in human nature to choose the most favorable option in a specific situation, or what seems the most favorable option according to the actions of the society members. Hence, choosing between the harsh light of reality and the bliss of Promised Land, one will doubtlessly choose the latter. Providing emotional support in difficult situations, religion becomes the support that anyone can afford. Hence, the existence and the functions of religion in a society are fully justified by the rational choice theory. Conclusion: When Religion Is Viewed as a Social Phenomenon Judging by the fact that religion still has a huge impact on peoples’ lives, one must admit that society and religion are intertwined. Moreover, religion performs a number of functions in the society, bringing all of its elements together. Performing the functions of a stronghold that people can always rely on, the set of morals that serves as guidance for the members of the society and the idea of the sacred that brings the people of different background together, religion is an integral part of a social structure. However, as it has been discovered, religion is more than another substitute for the idea of magic and an ex cuse for being superstitious; as a matter of fact, religion offers another means to control people quite efficiently. Hence, when becoming a tool instead of a guide for the members of society, religion can lose its primary meaning and become another weapon of control.

PH Titration Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

PH Titration - Lab Report Example The paper describes the experiment. During titration, it is essential to figure out the ‘equivalence point’ where moles of acid and moles of base added become equivalent. To aid an experimenter in this situation, a halochromic organic compound known as ‘indicator’ (s.a. phenolphthalein, methyl red, methyl orange, and bromothymol blue) is incorporated where appearance of color change from clear solution signifies the ‘end point’ or the point assumed to be nearest the point of equivalence. At this stage, the volume of reading from the burette is noted down the instant the indicator changes color. With experimental outcomes comprising known molar concentrations and volumes of acid and base used, pH is calculated. In place of an indicator, glass electrode is utilized so that multiple pHs may be read and graphed from which to determine the pH at the equivalence point. For the neutralization reaction occurring between HCl (aq) and NaOH (aq): For the n eutralization reaction occurring between CH3COOH (aq) and NaOH (aq): Hypothesis: The equivalence point is achieved once the titration has gone to the extent when the acid (analyte) and the base (titrant) are in equimolar amounts which takes place on yielding a neutral pH along a steep region in the titration curve Aim: To locate the ‘equivalence point’ through the measure of pH based on the titrant volume vs. pH-titration curve obtained in the experiment and identify the remaining species (in excess) as well as find the pH of the resulting solution after each titration attempt Method: The burette was filled with 1.0 NaOH to the zero mark. A 250- conical flask was rinsed with distilled water, emptying the flask and refilling it with about 50 of deionised water, after which, a 25 of 0.1 HCl was poured into the flask via pipette and the flask was placed on the magnetic stirrer. With the stirrer bar dropped in the flask, the glass electrode was immersed in the flask then th e burette was positioned over the flask’s mouth such that the NaOH would be added into it without obstruction from the glass electrode. The magnetic stirrer was turned on and the flask was adjusted in the manner that would enable the stirrer bar to move freely, having no obstructive contact with the glass electrode throughout the titration process. Measuring of the pH prior to titration was initiated then successive additions of the base titrant were carried out starting with 1 until the equivalent point was arrived at, followed by 0.2-additions that sum up to approximately 8 of NaOH. Final addition of two consecutive 1- titrant amounts was made, taking into account the pH reading for each addition from the onset of titration to this point. Another trial (using the same analyte -- HCl) was performed, then titration was repeated, this time using a different analyte (0.1 CH3COOH) and applying the same quantity (50 ) of deionised water and of 1.0 NaOH. As conducted for HCl, pHs of neutralization reaction between HOAc (analyte) and the titrant (NaOH) were correspondingly read after each base addition. Results and calculations: Note: ( 1 cm3 ? 1 mL ; 1 mol / dm3 ? 1 M ) pH @ equivalence point is about 6.8 based on the graph. This corresponds to NaOH volume of about 5.5 mL. mmoles NaOH = (1.0 M) (9.00 mL) = 9.0 mmoles NaOH mmoles HCl = (0.1 M) (25.00 mL) = 2.5 mmoles HCl Upon neutralization, 9.00 mmoles - 2.5 mmoles = 6.5 mmoles NaOH left total volume = 50 + 25 + 9 = 84 mL [OH-] = = 0.07738 M ---? pOH = -log (0.07738) pOH = 1.11 so that pH = 14 - 1.11 ---? pH = 12.89 Since NaOH and HCl are strong base and strong acid, respectively, pH

Five approaches to qualitative research Coursework

Five approaches to qualitative research - Coursework Example This research problem focuses on the way of life of the members of the skin bleaching community, a community wherein a White complexion is almost an obsession. The purpose of this research is to observe and interview several members of this community and identify the practices that are distinctive to them. The ethnographer will observe the daily activities of this community and determine the underlying reasons for their practices. The ethnographic method enables a researcher to have a direct and personal look with the culture s/he wants to study. It puts the researcher at the center of the study, normally letting them to take part in the community or culture they aim to understand. The array of topics for ethnographic study is vast. Ethnographers can observe or examine the extraordinary or the ordinary. Since ethnography gives room for the researcher’s subjectivity, it puts the researcher in an exclusive, distinctive position where expressive interpretations and expression of emotions are allowed. The purpose of field research is to observe, understand, and interact with individuals in their normal environment. Field research involves observation in the natural or actual setting and of the daily lives of the individual under study. Field research may be described as a blanket term that involves the numerous tasks that field researchers carry out when they gather data—participation, observation, interview, and analysis of artifacts or documents produced by the individuals they study. An example of a field research question is: what are the different factors that influence the motivation and job satisfaction of employees in financial institutions? This research problem relates to the various factors (e.g. salary, benefits, interpersonal relations, etc.) that affect the job performance of employees in financial institutions, such as banking organizations. The purpose of this research is to directly

Economic Releases and Resulting Market Reactions Research Paper

Economic Releases and Resulting Market Reactions - Research Paper Example The US Economy created 113,000 jobs with unemployment rate dipping to a low of 6.6%. Despite more people gaining employment, decline in hiring rates raised concerns of a slower growth. Rather than the economy taking off, it stumbled. Federal Reserve’s much-anticipated announcement a decision to start scaling back, the monthly asset purchases in January encountered a relatively mute market reaction not just in the US but across the globe. Although US equity markets at first fell on news, markets rallied strongly for remaining part of the month coupled with economic activity improvements as well as reassurance from central bank that its major interest rate would most likely remain near zero until after unemployment in the US fell below 6.5%.Hourly wages increased by 5 cents. As a result of the changes, job changes were recorded with job growth being constrained by sharp decline in public sector. Federal government shed off more than 12,000 jobs, while states and municipalities shed off 17,000 workers. Healthcare increased only 1500 jobs. Consumer spending: consumer spending declined for a 2nd straight month signaling a slowdown in the economy. Retail sales declined 0.4% in January marking the largest drop in the last ten months. The slowing economic fortunes are likely to see further reduction in consumer spending. The Manufacturing sector experienced expansion as shown in PMI, 51.3% although this was drop by 5.2% compared to seasonally adjusted rate of 56.5% in December. However, the reading being more than 50% indicates expansion of the manufacturing sector. The number of unemployed people (10.2 million) as well as the unemployment rate (6.6 %) recorded little change in January. This is a continuous trend from October which has seen joblessness rates reducing by 0.6%. Of the major work groups 20.7% of the unemployed are teenagers, 5.7% are whites, 6.2% are adult men, 12.1% are blacks, 5.9%

Economical Events That Lead Up To The Great Depression Essay -- essays

Information: In the 1920's, things were really rocking in the US and around the world. The rapid increase in industrialization was fueling growth in the economy, and technology improvements had the leading economists believing that the up rise would continue. During this boom period, wages increased along with consumer spending, and stock prices began to rise as well. Billions of dollars were invested in the stock market as people began speculating on the rising stock prices and buying on margin. The enormous amount of unsecured consumer debt created by this speculation left the stock market essentially off-balance. Many investors, caught up in the race to make a killing, invested their life savings, mortgaged their homes, and cashed in safer investments such as treasury bonds and bank accounts. As the prices continued to rise, some economic analysts began to warn of an impending correction, but the leading pundits largely ignored them. Many banks, eager to increase their profits, began speculating dangerously with their investments as well. Finally, in October 1929, the buying craze began to dwindle, and was followed by an even wilder selling craze. The Great Depression was the worst economic slump ever in U.S. history, and one, which spread to virtually the entire industrialized world. The sock market crash was the start of an economical downturn. Numerous people bought their stocks on margin. They also purchased stock with borrowed money. When there was a drop in the st...

A Difficult Task Force: Organizational Behavior Essay

The concept of groups, teams and teamwork is a very important factor for good performance of the whole company. I read the case about the group of professionals who had to control and serve the new joint venture between companies from Japan, United States, and South America. This new company had to make, sell, and service pet caskets for the burial of beloved pets, mostly dogs and cats. During the first month of work, each company had assigned personnel to the task force. The members from every company were chosen to participate in the joint venture. As chair of the task force, Jose initiated a meeting of all the members of the new company. He gave historical information, and then he reviewed the market for the innovations of their prospective product. The task force was to develop the initial design parameters for the new product to meet increasing demand around the world. Next part of the meeting was opened to comments and suggestions. Mariana Preus, representative from Argentina, the head of product design, said that the current designs that they had in production in Argentina plant were just fine, and he didn’t see any reasons to innovate the design of their product. All other members of the meeting agreed not to make any changes in the design of the product. Jose reminded to all of the participants of the meeting that their task force’s purpose is to redesign the product and its manufacturing systems. Finally, Jose had to agree with members of the meeting and to write a memo to the council of presidents with the recommendation to use existing designs and to begin immediately to design the plant and the manufacturing system. The meeting adjourned,d and Jose returned to his computer and started to write the memo that, he knew, would anger the presidents. He wondered what had he done wrong and what he could have done to prevent such result of the meeting. I think that in this case study we see an example of the formal group that is formed by a manager to help the organization to accomplish its goals. The group development process wasn’t finished and ended on the second stage–storming. Analyzing the group member roles, in our situation Jose is the initiator of the meeting, information giver, opinion seeker, and orienter. Mariana Preus has a role of initiator and information giver, because he insisted on the not redesigning of the product. The other members seem to serve just as a passive audience–followers, because they all agreed  to the Mariana’s suggestion, and didn’t give any other opinions. Also, there was no group cohesiveness; a â€Å"we feeling† binding group members together to accomplish their goal. The diverse nature of the group affected the committee’s action by not understanding and participating of all members in the meeting. If I was in Jose’s position, I would try to keep the group headed toward the stated goal better, and not to agree with the suggestion of one member, but to count the opinions of every member of the group. Also, it wasn’t right to adjourn the meeting before getting the result that would approach to the goal of the whole meeting.

Using Ruby Environmental Variables

Environment variables are variables passed to programs by the command line or the graphical shell. When an environment variable is referred to, its value (whatever the variable is defined as) is then referenced. Though there are a number of environment variables that only affect the command line or graphical shell itself (such as PATH or HOME), there are also several that directly affect how Ruby scripts execute. Tip:  Ruby environment variables are similar to ones found in the Windows OS. For example, Windows users may be familiar with a TMP  user variable to define the location of the temporary folder the for the currently logged in user. Accessing Environment Variables from Ruby Ruby has direct access to environment variables via the ENV hash. Environment variables can be directly read or written to by using the index operator with a string argument. Note that writing to environment variables will only have an effect on child processes of the Ruby script. Other invocations of the script will not see the changes in environment variables. #!/usr/bin/env ruby# Print some variablesputs ENV[PATH]puts ENV[EDITOR]# Change a variable then launch a new programENV[EDITOR] geditcheat environment_variables --add Passing Environment Variables to Ruby To pass environment variables to Ruby, simply set that environment variable in the shell. This varies slightly between operating systems, but the concepts remain the same. To set an environment variable on the Windows command prompt, use the set command. set TESTvalue To set an environment variable on Linux  or OS X, use the export command. Though  environment variables are a normal part of the Bash shell, only variables that have been exported will be available in programs launched by the Bash shell. $ export TESTvalue Alternatively, if the environment variable will only be used by the program about to be run, you can define any environment variables before the name of the command. The environment variable will be passed onto the program as its run, but not saved. Any further invocations of the program will not have this environment variable set. $ EDITORgedit cheat environment_variables --add Environment Variables Used by Ruby There are a number of environment variables that affect how the Ruby interpreter acts. RUBYOPT - Any command-line switches here will be added to any switches specified on the command line.RUBYPATH - When used with the -S switch on the command line, the paths listed in RUBYPATH will be added to the paths searched when looking for Ruby scripts. The paths in RUBYPATH precede the paths listed in PATH.RUBYLIB - The list of paths here will be added to the list of paths Ruby uses to search for libraries included in the program with the require method. The paths in RUBYLIB will be searched before other directories.