Social Capital and the Idea of Choice Mathematics & Economics Essay
For the final paper, each student will be analyzing a documentary film. It is expected that you will be drawing on multiple theorist covered throughout the course. The paper must draw on the works of Burawoy or Bourdieu or both in some way. The documentary is Harlan County, USA, by Barbara Koppel. This documentary covers a coal miners’ strike in a Harlan Country, Kentucky. Word minimumis 1500, maximum is 2000.Use Times New Roman 12 point font and number pages.Late submissions will be marked down one letter grade for each day that they are late (i.e. A to B not A to A).https://www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=Q2aPy_XVVZ4 (here is the film link) You can also search it on youtube.
Final Paper Final Paper (40%): For the final paper, each student will be analyzing a documentary film. It is expected that you will be drawing on multiple theorist covered throughout the course. The paper must draw on the works of Burawoy or Bourdieu or both in some way. The documentary is Harlan County, USA, by Barbara Koppel. This documentary covers a coal miners’ strike in a Harlan Country, Kentucky. I will screen, Harlan County, USA, at 7PM November 18th for the class. If you cannot attend, the documentary is available on YouTube (link below) and students are expected to watch it on their own time. Word minimum is 1500, maximum is 2000. Use Times New Roman 12 point font and number pages. Late submissions will be marked down one letter grade for each day that they are late (i.e. A to B not A to A). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2aPy_XVVZ4 The Writing Goals for the Economics Department are: I. Compose a well-constructed argument that addresses a question of importance. In order to do this, the student will: A. Provide context with a literature review or historical or policy narrative. B. Formulate a hypothesis/make a claim. C. Use methods and provide evidence appropriate to the claim. D. Anticipate and respond to counter-arguments. II. Analyze a question using appropriate methods and tools, which may include cases, models, or econometric tools for data. In order to do this, the student will: A. Explain methodology, including assumptions. B. Use only reliable sources and evidence. C. Explain limitations of method and/or data/evidence. III. Critique their own and other’s work. In order to do this, the student will: A. Identify gaps or weaknesses in existing literature. B. Interpret results in light of the limitations of method and/or data/evidence. IV. Compose using effective prose suitable for intended audience. In order to do this, the student will: A. Identify the intended audience. B. Use and/or explain economic terms as appropriate for intended audience. C. Avoid ambiguity in language. D. Make connections between ideas or steps in argument so that the reader can easily follow the logic. E. Shift from English to the language of mathematics and graphs and back again as necessary. Final Paper F. Write concisely. G. Adhere to rules and norms of formal written English. V. Write ethically. In order to do this, the student will: A. Use evidence, sources, and argument according to norms of academic integrity. B. Cite all sources in format specified by instructor. Writing Rubric: Essays must be typed and proofread. They will be graded according to the following criteria: 1. Is the essay responsive to the prompt? Does the essay make use of the required readings? (C). This required attending to writing goals: I (A, B, C) II (A, B) all of IV (except E), all of V. 2. Does the essay approach the question in a logical manner? Is the essay well written? (B). This requires attending to all those goals listed in 1 above and in addition goals: II (C), 3. Does the student use his or her own critical insights in the formulation of the essay? (A) This requires attending to all those goals listed in 1 and 2 above and in addition goals: I (D), III, and exhibit original insights or analysis beyond the assigned readings. Completion of all three of these points is required to achieve an A grade. Additional Writing Guidelines: 1. Organization a. Any basic guidelines for assignment length must be followed, though some leeway is given in the sense that it is totally acceptable to be a little below a minimum length requirement or above a maximum provided that the paper itself is well done regardless the fact that you are outside of suggested length ranges; If not enough information or effort is provided, or excess length actually detracts from the quality of the paper, then not being within the suggested range will negatively affect your paper’s grade; b. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, ALL written work must be completed in APA format—this means it must have a cover page, short abstract, the work/essay itself, and then references. For more information, see Purdue OWL (https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/), APA’s website (http://apastyle.org) and/or visit WRSL for help (http://www.wartburg.edu/pathways/wrsl/ ) c. All essays should have proper paragraph ordering—introduction paragraph, body or idea development paragraphs, and concluding paragraph—should contribute to effective argument/delivery of information; i. Give the reader a clear idea of issues to be addressed in a short and focused introductory paragraph; ii. Address topics in an order apparent to the reader (chronological, specific-togeneral or vice versa, theoretical vs. applied, 2 or 3 main points to be discussed, and so forth); Final Paper iii. In the idea development paragraphs, distinguish between discussing main topics and a point-by point list or paraphrasing (“author said this, then said this”). This is VERY important; iv. In the idea development paragraphs, distinguish between summarizing the argument or work of another and interjecting evaluative comments of your own; v. Give the reader a clear indication that the paper has concluded in a concluding paragraph that extends/connects/comments on main themes; the reader should not be left wondering if/why something has been left unaddressed or unfinished; 2. II. Writing Style a. Writing style should be formal and serious. Points deducted for less formal tone, slang, etc. b. Tense should be consistent throughout the paper. For instance, do not shift between present and past tenses; c. Avoid awkward uses of language, unorganized ideas, or overuse of words. Avoid informal, slang, or otherwise vernacular language. d. Do not write that the author or paper “talks about” something. This has a very unprofessional tone to it. Use “discusses,” “explains,” or other similar verbs instead; e. Do not overuse quotes or paraphrasing, and be sure to place them in context when you do; f. When referring to an actual person, always use either their full name or their last name, never the first name only. If you are referring to someone’s publication, then you can use the last name only, even the first time. If you are referring to a nonauthor (i.e., government official, character in a book), then use full name the first time and last name thereafter. If he/she has a title (President, Chair, etc.) then capitalize it when it is used; g. Discuss the logic of an author’s argument in the context of a given assignment or research question. Do NOT interject (implicitly or otherwise) your agreement or disagreement with another author unless you are explicitly asked for it. Remember, this is an academic forum, not a political one; h. Refer to others’ work by their last name(s), NOT by the name of the article/book/journal. That is, write “Friedman (1970) argues that . . .” or “the article by Friedman suggests that . . . .” Do NOT write “In the article, ‘The Social Responsibility of Business,’ the author argues . . .” or “The article ‘The Social Responsibility of Business’ argues that . . . .” NEVER use an author’s first name only in the text. i. For any quotations, be sure to interpret it (“here, the author is suggesting that . . . “) and/or demonstrate that you understand it in your own words. j. Be specific and avoid over generalizations or stereotypes; k. Exaggeration does not impress; simply present your argument(s) and your supporting evidence; l. Avoid describing your position using words like “think,” “feel,” or “believe.” Do some analysis and state the conclusions of your analysis; 3. Presentation Final Paper a. Neatness matters! Points deducted for “sloppiness,” “messiness,” and the like; b. Any formulas in the assignment are clear and explained; c. Any graphs or tables in the assignment are clear, completely labeled, and explained in the text. Data source(s) must be noted either in the figure or in the text; d. Throughout the text, tables, and graphs, use of percentages (as in 15%), decimals (as in 0.15), or dollar values MUST BE CONSISTENT and CLEAR; the reader should NEVER be confused which you are referring to; 4. IV. Spelling and Grammar. Common errors include but are not limited to the following: a. Make sure every sentence has a subject and a verb; b. Make sure that the number of subjects matches the case of the verb; c. Avoid contractions in serious writing; d. With very few exceptions, commas and periods go inside quotation marks and colons and semicolons go outside quotation marks; e. Current convention is not to use an apostrophe for decades written as numerals; use 1980s, not 1980’s; f. Introduce an abbreviation in parentheses after writing the term/phrase entirely the first time; g. “definitely” (there’s no “a” in it!) h. “its” is possessive; “it’s” contracts “it is”; i. “your” possesses; “you’re” contracts “you are”; j. “their” possesses, “there” places; “they’re” contracts “they are”; k. “whose” possesses, “who’s” contracts “who is”; l. “too” means “also” or can add emphasis as in “too much”; m. “then” refers to time; “than” compares; n. “accept” is to receive; “except” is to leave out; o. “affect” is a verb; “effect” is most often a noun (though not always); p. “farther” refers to distance; “further” measures degree, quantity, or time; q. Book or journal titles are written in italics; article titles are written in “quotes”; r. A quote within a quote uses ‘’, not “”. Example: According to Smith (2009, 11), “Jones’s response was, ‘the company will turn a profit this year.’” 5. Write in the Third Person a. Use third person; DO NOT use first person (“I” or “we/us”) or second person (“you”) even once in your report, essay, or research for the class unless explicitly permitted or required by the assignment. Unless you are a very good writer, these do not usually appear professional; 6. Avoid Plagiarism and Cite Appropriately—Be sure it is clear when you are borrowing another’s ideas a. Do not convey the ideas of others as your own. Be clear that it is the author of the article/book that has such ideas or opinions. You can do this—to give a few examples—by stating that “the article argues that . . .” or “Smith writes that . . .”; Final Paper b. Within the text of your writing, EVERY quote or idea that is not your own needs to be cited. Simply place the following in the text: (Last Name or Title of Periodical if No Author Given Year, page number). Examples: (Smith 2003, 32), (The Economist 2003, 43). Also, when there are more than two authors, these can be cited in the text using “et al.” as in (Smith, et al. 2003, 32) or “Smith, et al. (2003, 32) argue that . . .”; c. For consecutive citations from the same source, starting with second citation cite only page numbers; d. At the end of the essay or report list all sources in APA format under “References” or “Works Cited”; e. Do not overuse quotes or paraphrasing; they should not substitute for your own work. If you find this difficult, try to outline or otherwise map out the main points first, then continue writing; f. Cite sources for statistics, data, or other information unless it is generally accepted information. In this course, formulas, graphs (such as supply and demand), and theories are considered common knowledge and do not need to be cited, though you would want to cite any data, anecdotes, examples, or supporting discussion you are borrowing from course materials; g. Harvard University has excellent online material on plagiarism—please review it: i. http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k70847&pageid=icb.page342057 ii. http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k70847&tabgroupid=icb.tabgrou p106849 iii. http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k70847&pageid=icb.page342054 #a_icb_pagecontent732741_paraphrase h. Harvard also has some excellent material on citing via APA method: i. http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k70847&pageid=icb.page363223 #a_icb_pagecontent751528_APA-pc ii. http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k70847&pageid=icb.page363224 iii. http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k70847&pageid=icb.page363225 iv. http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k70847&pageid=icb.page363226 v. http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k70847&pageid=icb.page363227 vi. http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k70847&pageid=icb.page363228 i. See also the APA site (http://www.apastyle.org/ and the Purdue OWL site on APA citations and formatting (https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/) j. Finally, if you have not yet been told, now you will know—Wikipedia, Investopedia, and any other non-peer reviewed, non-specialist “pedia” are NEVER appropriate sources for your papers. You can feel free to use these as a starting point, but only to familiarize yourself and perhaps help a bit with sources (though on their own, they aren’t good for this either—there’s no substitute for library resources; even Google doesn’t cut it on its own). i. Here’s Wikipedia’s own explanation of why it isn’t a scholarly source, but the same applies to Investopedia, etc.-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Academic_use. ii. Perhaps the best thing I’ve found on this topic is this (from here-- http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~janzb/courses/scholarly1.htm): Final Paper How about reference works like Wikipedia or Encyclopedia Britannica? Let's take Wikipedia first. A wiki is a communityedited document, one which anyone can add to or change. That's not exactly peer review, because the reviewers aren't necessarily people who have studied an area. Wikipedia might, though, give your ideas to follow up elsewhere, and that's fine. But I wouldn't use it as a scholarly source. Encyclopedia Britannica: It has a real editorial staff, and high quality articles. It is, however, a general encyclopedia, and so its purpose is to meet the needs of a general audience, not a specialist audience.
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December 14, 2019
Abstract
Social tensions are almost always bound to happen within different classes in the society. This is due to the inherent differences in the interests of every group, which is then balanced by institutionalized mechanisms that operates within. Accordingly, this article discusses about the different causes and ‘advantages’ of social tensions as portrayed in Kopple’s (1976) film entitled Harlan County USA. Using the writings of Bourdieu’s and Buroway’s frameworks for analysis, the author of this article would show how social tensions are eased and balanced by the State as well as why the State finds these ‘micro-conflicts’ as beneficial for its presentation. All in all, the article would show that the inherent differences between forms of capital, illusion of freedom, and fields of struggle creates a cycle of causality that is the reason why the State is able to preserve itself through the Capitalist System.
Conflict and tension can be inherent in any society. Due to the constant interaction of people in the society and the relegation of one status compared to the other, clashes and other violent conflicts can happen in order to pursue one’s interests or ensure one’s survival. In the documentary entitled ‘Harlan County USA’, this conflict arising from social tensions was made apparent through the film. On the one hand, the miners working for Brookside Mine of the Eastover Mining company wanted to join the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) in the hopes of realizing changes in the mining industry. On the other hand, however, the administration of the mining company resents the miners’ move and thus refused to sign contracts with those who joined the union. Accordingly, while these kinds of tension might be inherent in the society, the documentary would show how differences in the society can be understood through the use of social theories such as Bourdieu’s Social Capital and the Burawoy’s power of choice. Thus, the subsequent parts of this article would discuss how each of these concepts creates to the segmentation and structuralization of the society, which in turn governs who holds the power within it. All in all, the author of this paper argues that the relationship between the forms of capital, illusion of freedom, and fields of struggle creates a cycle of causality that helps perpetuate the capitalist system.
Bourdieu and the Forms of Capital
In his article entitled ‘Forms of Capital’, Bourdieu (1986) discussed the different kinds of capital that society values, which could exist in three basic forms, namely; (1) economic capital, (2) cultural capital, and (3) social capital.
Economic Capital
First, economic capital mostly comes from money and other assets that are easily visible to people. Thus, a person who has a huge house and several cars has significantly more economic capital than a person living in the streets. Going back to the documentary, these kinds of economic capital can easily create a kind of disparity between the power relationships between the miners and the owners. Institutionally, the documentary showed the seeming ‘dispensability’ of the miners as compared to those who have the assets to produce. Despite the coal miners’ strike, the company easily replaced them by hiring ‘scabs’, suggesting that the pieces of machinery and other material assets are valued more as compared to the lives of people in this capitalist society. Personally, this difference in economic capital is also reflected in the capacity of each social class to buy the basic necessities that they need. Upon a closer analysis of each class from the film, it could then be seen that while the mine owners could afford to live in comfort, the miners found it hard to find subsistence or afford the medical treatments that they need to have themselves treated for occupation-related diseases. In fact, the doctor interviewed in the documentary said that “some miners that are working and are very symptomatic that who don’t quit unless they can be reassured that they have sufficient disability to be entitled to disability benefits” CITATION Aca \l 1033 (Kopple, 1976). This simply reflects how economic capital does not only sustain the hierarchy of social classes in society but even perpetrates injustice towards the poor and those who cannot afford it.
Cultural Capital
Second, Cultural capital refers to the personal and social traits of an individual that allows for his greater social mobility than others. This can be exemplified by individuals who have earned a Ph.D. degree, which gives them ‘ideally’ better chances as compared to those who were not able to go to school. Accordingly, Bourdieu has discussed that this kind of capital can exist in any of three forms, to wit; (1) embodied, (2) objectified, and (3) institutionalized (Bourdieu 1986, 243). While these three could be used to analyze the different social relations between the miners and the owners of the mining company in the documentary, the author believes that the third class (institutionalized) is the most important among them with regards to how they influence the interaction between all stakeholders including the State.
Institutionalized state of cultural capital refers to the qualifications of the individuals within a society (251). Thus, miners who cannot and were not able to afford education have significantly less of this kind as compared to those who were able to get a degree and establish themselves in society. Accordingly, one of the reasons why this is one of the most important states is because of the fact that qualifications can become the means for individuals to convert this capital (or enhance others) from one form to another and thus increase their power within the society.
Social Capital
Lastly, social capital refers to the quantity and quality of the totality of a person’s connections or network in society. Accordingly, Bourdieu has discussed that this kind of capital can exist in different forms such as practical, material, and symbolic exchanges among others (Bourdieu 1986, 249). In other words, this shows that the better ‘connected’ you are with those in the higher echelons of society, the better your chances are to consolidate your power.
In line with the documentary, it could be seen that social capital is another crucial form that others can utilize or suppress in order to con...
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