Read the assigned reading from the chapter. Then choose ONE of the questions below to answer. Answer the question you chose in a minimum of TWO paragraphs. Use your course texts and the course slides to help you respond to the topic, and when you quote and summarize from the course texts, include information about the page reference.
General Instructions for our Discussions
A) Choose which question you’d like to write about.
B) To create your post, click the Create Thread button. In the title of your post, indicate which question you are answering. Write your response and post it in the discussion board. Save your post as a Word document.
C) Upload the word file containing your response to the corresponding Turnitin dropbox. *You do NOT need to include your reply to another student in the file that you upload to TurnItIn.
D) Reply to another student’s post. Part of your score is based on the quality of your reply to of your classmate’s post. It should be a meaningful reply that continues the discussion, points out something good about the post, and makes a constructive suggestion for improvement. When you refresh the board after you publish your post, you will then be able to view everyone’s posts. Hover your cursor at the bottom of a post, and the button to reply to that student’s post will appear.
Notes: The first post you submit to the board is the one that will be graded – even a blank post WILL be graded if it is your first post in the board.
While you are writing, you can save your post as a draft. Your post will not be published for students to view, nor will it be queued for grading until you click the Submit button. To be able to read and respond to other people’s posts, you will first need to publish your own post.
You are discouraged from using any sources besides the textbook and the slides. Your response should show evidence of close reading. If you do choose to use any outside source, be sure to cite your source, just as you do when you use the course texts. If you use a quotation or an example from a website, cite the website’s url and the date accessed.
Question choices:
Be sure to explain your answers and give reasons for your views. You should cite the textbook and use brief quotations and summaries from the textbook in your response.
1. A classical liberal might say to a Marxist that liberty and rights are the most important values in a society, and Marxist societies have few, if any, liberties. The Marxist might reply that liberties and rights don’t mean much if people are too poor and oppressed to enjoy them. Which view seems more reasonable to you? Which society would you be willing to live in-classical liberal or Marxist? Why?
2. Does alienation as described by Marx exist today in modern capitalist societies? Explain.
3. Suppose all resources in the United States were distributed according to Marx’s dictum: from each according to his ability, to each according to his need. What would such a society look like? Would it be better than the system that exists now? Why or why not?
4. Suppose the state compelled you to work in a factory for the rest of your life, and it arranged for your salary to be based solely on what the state thinks you need. Would these actions be a violation of your autonomy? If they would improve the general welfare, would they be morally justified?
5. Assess socialism: Is it a good theory of justice? Is it better than liberalism? Explain your answer.
6. Does Okin’s claim about the injustice of current practices of family life coincide with your own observations of family life in our culture? Explain.
7. Okin says that the gender roles of American men and women are not the way they are by necessity but are “socially constructed” (based on variable social conventions). Do you agree? Are gender roles established by natural or divine law?
8. Should the laws of a society reinforce currently accepted family practices-or should laws set the standard for just family practices?
9. Are the traditional theories of justice (social contract theories, for example) irredeemably flawed because they were devised by white men who thought of women as second-class citizens?
10. Miller says that what feminists are pointing out about relationships between men and women is not so much their inherently political nature as the failure of politics to address them. Do you agree? Why?
Note: Your journal entry also needs to be submitted to Turnitin to generate an originality report.
