A Tale of Two Cited Articles: Scholarly Paper Four

My fourth paper topic is a closer analyzation of what "benefits" a rich, industrialized nation supposedly brings to its people, finding deeper truths and comparing the findings with what living in a poorer country brings.

McIntryre, Lisa. The Practical Skeptic: Core Concepts in Sociology. New York: McGraw Hill, 2008.

This book by WSU professor Lisa McIntyre describes the modern world and societies from the collective perspectives of multiple sociologists. Several chapters pertain to my paper four, entailing the social problems that have arisen with the unprecedented modern industrial world, how ideal benefits have brought about unforseen problems and upheavals, and the shift away from unfavored past traditions has brought about greater division and stress in several nations.

The social analyzations of pains and powers between rich and poor countries have had suprising results; "though rich people live better than poor people in general, rich countires seem to live worse off than poor countries overall" (McIntyre, 2008, 50). The increase in the amount of work per individual, the corruption of higher figures, the decrease in self worth, and the strain between different groups all seem to increase with a nation's prosperity. All great, powerful, industrialized nations are experiencing common issues: heart and liver disease spikes, fracturing social groups, and higher taxes and stress. This all seems to become a self-perpetuating cycle: as prosperity increases, so do taxes and prices, which cause more sress and deteriorating social bonds to meet them. Meeting the taxes and prices causes higher prosperity, causing them to rise higher, and the cyle builds until it can simply build no more, and collapses.

Along with these points, "The Practical Skeptic" describes sociological terms, the lives of several modern sociologists (Marx, Comte, etc), ethic and means of sociological study, and various types of discriminations, differentiations, and privileges in a society. In addition, several common sociological layouts are entailed, as are the advantages and disadvantages of each as a whole. Major findings are compared and displayed analytically, while more minor ones are attributed more to their discovering sociologist.

Wilkenson, RG and KE Pickett. Income Inequality and Health: A Review and Explanation of Evidence. New York: Social Science and medicine, 2006.

Again pertaining to my paper four, RG Wilkenson's article descibes how public and social health run perpendicular to national prosperity; as a nation rises, it people seem to fall. The greater the nation's wealth and power, the greater the gap between its people and the greater its problems overall. As said by Wilkenson, "inequality affects the vast majorit of the population, not just the poorest" (Wilkenson, 7). If an entire society is rich by comparison overall, then problems will tend to face the rich more than the poor as a result.