Diglossic Situation in Egypt: Past, Present, Future

Introduction People use different codes of speech for various situations in a mutually exclusive way. This phenomenon intrigued the attention of many linguists who studied it and called it “diglossia”. This term originated from the Greek diglōssos, with “di-” for “two” and “glossa” for “tongue” or “language”, so meaning speaking two languages (The Free Dictionary,…

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels: The Bourgeois & Proletariat

Chapter 3 in Wadsworth is an essay by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in which they discuss the division of society.  The essay begins, “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.” (Wadsworth, 2011)  This statement is one of the foundational beliefs of Communism, which includes the theory that society…

D. L. Rosenhan’s On Being Sane in Insane Places: Summary & Analysis

In his essay, On Being Sane in Insane Places, D. L. Rosenhan discusses a series of experiments that he participated in involving psychiatric institutions and the effect of misdiagnoses of psychological disorders on the patients admitted to the hospitals.  Rosenhan’s research shows us that the labels associated with mental illness (particularly schizophrenia) have a significant…

Essay: Social Movements & Collective Behavior

In sociology, the terms social movement and collective behavior are closely related.  Both terms address both the way we behave in large groups as well as the end result we have in mind.  However, they are slightly different in regards to when and how they occur. According to Brinkerhoff, a social movement is defined as “an ongoing, goal-directed effort…

Essay: Prejudice and Discrimination

In the modern world, there is a direct link between prejudice and discrimination.  Prejudice is defined as the unjustified negative attitudes that some people hold against others of a certain group of people. Prejudice can include attitudes such as sexism, racism, homophobia, and religious persecution.  Prejudices are pre-formed and have no reasonable basis.  Discrimination includes all…

Friedrich Nietzsche: Biography, Philosophy & Works

Born: 1844. Rocken, Germany Died: 1900. Weimar, Germany Major Works: The Gay Science (1882), Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883-1885), Beyond Good & Evil (1886), On the Genealogy of Morals (1887), THE PHILOSOPHY OF FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE Sometimes philosophy is called “timeless,” implying that it’s lessons are of value to any generation. This may be hard to see…