Millennials in Adulthood: Is this you?

Pew Research has published a new study about YOUR generation and your social trends.

The Millennial generation is forging a distinctive path into adulthood. Now ranging in age from 18 to 33¹, they are relatively unattached to organized politics and religion, linked by social media, burdened by debt, distrustful of people, in no rush to marry— and optimistic about the future.
They are also America’s most racially diverse generation.

Read the full report here: Millennials in Adulthood -- Detached from Institutions, Networked with Friends

Sociology Assignment:

3 - Pick out three quotes to analyze/explain from the article.

2 - Give me two demographic trends that totally ARE or ARE NOT you, or one of each. Or how you are different than your parents generation.

1 - Summarize in a paragraph the finidings about your generation.

A message all Political Warriors and Political Leaders of the world should heed

 

Live Respect Week, Political Warriors!

Great job by Ivan and his supporting cast!

Maybe I should send to @PutinRF_Eng?

Lost in Translation: College Party Time in China

(From Teaching Comparative Blog)

Once again, the easy, simplistic answer might not describe the truth.

Students and the party: Rushing to Join

UNIVERSITIES in China are home to a strange mix of political emotions. To the Communist Party’s deep concern, many young lecturers have little enthusiasm for Marx, whose ideas are still officially supposed to “guide” intellectual life on campuses. Many students, by contrast, are desperate to join the Communist Party; recruitment levels are at an all-time high. Ideology plays little part.

In 1989, after the Chinese army crushed student-led protests in Tiananmen Square, enthusiasm on campus for joining the party plunged, as did the party’s eagerness to recruit there. In the following year only 26,000 swore the oath of admission... In 2010 more than 1.2m students joined, about 40% of the total (see chart)...

In 1997 just over 4% of undergraduates were party members. Within a decade the proportion had doubled...

This has little to do with communist zeal. The interest in membership is a byproduct of the expansion of college enrolment, which has created a glut of graduates in the job market. Public-sector employers usually prefer party members and often require membership for better positions. Demand for government-linked jobs has been growing thanks to the relatively generous benefits and security they offer.

In a survey of graduates from 12 universities, it found the employment rate within two months of graduation was 85% for non-members and about 80% for members... Only at vocational colleges did the party members appear to have an advantage, with 96% of them gaining work within two months, compared with 90% of non-members...

In competition for jobs at state-owned enterprises (SOEs), which are among the most coveted of all, a lack of party membership appears to be no bar. More than 21% of non-members surveyed got work at SOEs, compared with just under 20% of party members. That could be a recognition by SOEs that ability trumps political loyalty for entry-level jobs. But meritocracy extends only so far: the party still keeps the top slots for its own.

Traditional Government: Campaign Finance Flipped Lesson

Since the days of Andrew Jackson, campaign financing in America has been a controversial, confusing and important issue effecting elections in our republic. All you will need to know and more on Wednesday's Test on Campaign Financing (Glencoe, Pgs. 477-479) is here. This "flipped" lesson will need to be completed in the comment section here by Thursday, 3/6, but you need to know most of this stuff for Wednesday's test.

Campaign Finance History in US
Click on the Link and take notes

1) Define: a) Buckley v. Valeo (1976); b) Bi-Partisan Campaign Finance Reform Act (2002); c) Citizens United v. FEC (2011).

2) Watch the video above and identify the Citizens United vs. FEC case and explain its impact on elections in the U.S. today.

 

3) Analyze the charts above and View the Prezi presentation below (thanks, Maura O'Kane). In a sentence or two, what's the biggest takeaway?

Campaign Finance Prezi
4) What is a Lobbyist and what is a PAC? Other than monetary donations, how can they influence (for better and worse) the legislative process.....Jack Abramoff was the King of K Street (the HQ of lobbyists in Washington) until he went to prison on 2006. They made a movie about him starring Kevin Spacey.

 

 

5) Just for kicks, Colbert Super PAC meets disenter John Paul Stevens. Stevens doesn't think Corporations should have "Free Speech Rights." But the majority of the Supreme Court (5) did in a ruling that "created" Super PACs. What is the influence on our elections today?

Russia, Ukraine and Crimea

(From US Government Teachers Blog)
 The New York Times' "Lede" is an amazing blog that has almost real time video and coverage coming from people on the scene. While not limited to this coverage, you can be sure it will have a lot of the Russian troop movement into Crimea in the upcoming weeks.

Hip Hughes, in his usual timely fashion, has a new flipped video on Russia and Crimea which he put up yesterday and you can see below.
__________________

In a related knowledge drop for Professor Dick Farkas of DePaul University at the 2014 DuPage Valley Social Studies Conference from his lecture: Big Countries/Small Countries -- Does Size Matter:

Proliferation of "States"

• End of World War II; 47 sovereign states
• Today, 207 sovereign states
• Last 15 -- smaller than Chicago in economy and population
• "Self-determination of peoples," -- Wilsonian thesis
• But thinking Russia, Ukraine and Crimea, "Who Decides What/Who are the People?"

Your thoughts?

Arizona SB 1062: Changing Norms and Comparative Governing and Politics

A couple of governmental and sociological teaching points coming out of this week's breaking news where Arizona's Governor Jan Brewer (R) vetoed SB 1062, a controversial bill that would have allowed businesses to deny service to lesbian and gay customers.

First, with a reminder that my Sociology class has its Culture and Society test on Monday, Brewer stated that "long held norms on marriage and family are being challenged,'' For Monday's test, there may be a short answer essay on what leads to cultural and societal change.

Second, our government and politics talking points (hopefully you'll share your thoughts here during your break).

Domestic:
Was Gov. Brewer's decision all about the "Benjamin's" -- be it Constitutional (14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause or about the dollars that it could cost the state, as expressed by national businesses like Marriott in this letter (right) urging the veto?

• Among the First Amendment's five basic liberties is the right to freely exercise your religious beliefs. This makes the United States, a liberal or industrial democracy that has rule of law that protects civil rights and civil liberties. But some have said this decision lessens one of these rights at the expense of another. Your thoughts?
• This Watchdog media exchange shows how we are not a democracy (despite the above) but rather a republic with checks and balances in a federal system with reserved powers to state's like Arizona. Also, how many politicians use the media as a scapegoat.

Comparative:
For Bonus Popp blog points, take any of our CP 6 and look into any same sex legislation it has on the books and summarize in the comment section. (ie: What Would -- UK, Russia, China, Mexico, Iran, Nigeria -- Do?)

Crisis of (new) Nation-building in Ukraine

 

 

BBC News: 'Protesters Should Stay in Square' says opposition leader

To try to tap into comparative government's attempts to solve a real Crisis of Nation building building currently developing in the Ukraine, on Wednesday we will hold a Model UN-type of General Assembly meeting, with the goal of producing a resolution on the situation in Kiev.

First: Watch the videos linked above and read the article, Europe's New Battlefield. Individually, you will need to fill out a dialectical journal (dialectical journal Ukraine linked and Shared at Wolak Google Docs page).

Second: You and your partners in your country of case study, will follow the Model UN format, and draft a resolution on what to do about the situation in the Ukraine. Each resolution must have a comparison to political cleavage that your country has/or is dealing with. The format for your resolution is linked here:

Sample Model UN Resolution

Third: On Wednesday, will have a simulation with the goal of drafting a joint resolution of the multi-national organization. Would this solve the crisis? Is it even possible to agree to a joint resolution coming from these comparative/contrasting  political cultural perspectives.

Country Briefs to get you started:

Russia:  Russia to help Ukraine solve the crisis, if Yanukovych asks Is this a crisis for Putin's Russia, as Sen. John McCain suggests above. Russia considers the Ukraine a near abroad. An Ukrainian cleavage can be seen in the map below. As written in The Economist article, "Of all the former Soviet republics that won independence in 1991, Ukraine was arguably the most passive."  Also, may need to consider Chechnya.

 

China:  China Urges Ukraine to Resolve Crisis

Think Tibet and/or Taiwan here.

 

Mexico: Interestingly, as U.S. President Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Harper made strong statements on the Ukraine this week from Mexico where the NAFTA leaders are meeting, Mexico has been pretty silent diplomatically. Ukraine comments underscore how NAFTA trade partnership is drifting. Research and consider the Mexican ethnic conflict in Chiapas here.

 

Iran: Not exactly a global partner in the UN, the Iran foreign ministry had this to say Thursday. Foreign intervention to exacerbate situation in Ukraine: Iran.

 

Nigeria: Nigeria has its own rebel issues, this week President Goodluck Jonathan order the closing of the northern boarder of Cameroon. But as long as two years ago, the Nigerian ambassador to Ukraine warned against Nigerian students from studying there

 

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/02/19/3945940/obama-heads-to-mexico-summit-amid.html#storylink=cpy