Songs in the Key of Stevie Wonder’s Life Essay -- Biography

At the young age of twenty two, Stevie Wonder sang, â€Å"When you believe in the things you don’t understand / Then you suffer / Superstition ain’t the way†. He started his career in the early 1960s, but in 1972, Superstition established Stevie Wonder as one of the most recognizable musicians of his time in American and African-American culture and music. Although music was Wonder’s main priority, he also dedicated his time to a fight against racism throughout national and international borders. Musically, socially, and politically, Stevie Wonder was able to bring people together with his music and words. From the time of his birth to the present day, Stevie wonder sang his way into our hearts and remains one of the most influential people within African-American history. Steveland Hardaway Judkins was born on May 13, 1950 in Saginaw, Michigan to Calvin Judkins and Lula Mae Hardaway. As his current musical career was groundbreaking, his family life was not so perfect. The relationship between Calvin and Lula Mae was difficult and abusive; even before Stevie was born, Calvin was drunk, domestically violent with Lula and forced her into prostitution to support the family and Calvin (Ribowsky 10). After Stevie’s birth, Calvin’s mannerism did not change and simply regressed. However, Calvin agreed to move to Detroit with Lula, Stevie, and his two elder siblings to Detroit to work on the relationship and family dynamic (Ribowsky 18). Calvin and Lula’s relationship later terminated with a divorce and a name change for Stevie, as his birth name was changed to Steveland Hardaway Morris. As the third child out of six, he was the only one to be born blind. Wonder was blind shortly after his premature birth from staying in an incubator for... ...r and a legal separation of race does not mean it is acceptable (Jet). Through his actions across the United States and South Africa showed the world how to be open to African-American culture and people. Stevie Wonder also sings â€Å"Broke the lookin’ glass / Seven years of bad luck / Good Things in your past† in his 1972 hit Superstition. However, Stevie Wonder did not come across any bad luck within his musical and political career. Both an inductee for Rock-and-Roll’s Hall of Fame and United Nations’ Messenger of Peace, Stevie Wonder brought insight to the minds of the public. Sixty years later, on March 1, 2011, Berry Gordy, Stevie Wonder, and other Motown singers came together once again at the White House to honor Motown music and its beloved singers; this came a celebration of the soulful music that Stevie Wonder and among others once and continue to sing.

Prejudice and Stereotypes Essay

Everyone has dealt with being treated as an outcast at some point in their lives. Everyone has had an incident when we have been treated unfairly. Discrimination because of prejudice and stereotyping is one of the main problems that we must face in an ethnically and culture diverse world. Considering these beliefs and the means behind these actions may essentially help us be a step closer to resolving this social injustice. â€Å"Prejudice involves a negative attitude toward individuals based on their membership in a particular group†, (Feenstra, J.(2011). Prejudice takes place when a person has negative views about someone even if they do not have the complete background on the individual or group of people. Prejudice is mostly caused by a particular stereotype made about a person or group. A stereotype is â€Å"a fixed, over generalized belief about a particular group or class of people† (Cardwell, 1996). People make stereotypes by making generalizations such as females should only cook, clean and raise children. Or all Americans t are greedy, or all African Americans steal. â€Å"Discrimination refers to the treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit†( uslegal,2012).? An â€Å"ingroup† is a group to which someone belongs, and an â€Å"outgroup† is a group to which the person does not belong (hence, one person’s ingroup may be another person’s outgroup, and vice versa), â€Å"(Linville, 1998). On a personal level, I can relate to being placed in a stereotype. I can remember a time where I went to get my car fixed at a particular car shop. I could actually tell I was being treated different because I am a female. I think because they figured I was a woman I would not know about cars so the mechanic told me things were wrong with my car that were not actually wrong with it. I can also say I have discriminated against a certain group especially after 911. I would be scared to ride a plane if I saw someone from the Muslim community aboard the plane which I can see now it was a totally false accusation of mine. I had to realize just because there was one bad apple that decided to do such a horrific act everyone in that community was not that way. Society confirms prejudicial attitudes by focusing on personal differences such as ones nationality, race, gender, sexual orientation or their beliefs such as religion. Society seems to confirm it because people really don’t do anything to stop it. It seems that some prejudices are highly accepted in society. Individuals in society seem to accept some prejudices as opposed to being a team with your fellow neighbor, friend or coworker. One’s social identity contributes to prejudice based on the awareness of inadequate social control. One’s social identity contributes to prejudice because people in today’s society seem to have their own set of stereo types against other races, nationalities and genders. Some people associate certain actions or characteristics to a particular group. An example may be some people may think a woman should ever has a job as a mechanic and that should only be a man’s job, or think that a woman’s place is at home cooking , cleaning and raising the children. Another stereo type may be that all people from Iraq are violent and hate Americans. The more you have faith in that you can influence your surroundings or social status, the less of an influence social identity plays. Emotions encourage prejudicial attitudes because the majority of the time individuals make decisions from their emotions. The cognitive processes influence prejudice because cognitive thinking is the mental result of one’s opinion, learning and reasoning process. Discrimination is very prevalent, there are ways to improve our feelings, judgments and behaviors so that we are more accepting of individuals whom we view to be diverse from us. There are laws against discrimination such as the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Laws. These laws â€Å"prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin; the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA), which protects men and women who perform substantially equal work in the same establishment from sex-based wage discrimination; the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), which protects individuals who are 40 years of age or old, (www.eeoc. gov, 2009) Differences will always be around but it will be our outlooks and behaviors concerning these issues that will make a difference. I think the way to beat discrimination if everyone were to just open their minds and get to know one another as their equal.

Essay on Sociological Perspectives on Unemployment

Sociologists study human society. Their studies include human behavior in many social contexts such as social interaction, social institutions and organization, social change and development (Abraham). Because of the broad spectrum of social circumstances that are studied, unemployment is an issue in which sociologists thrive. Conflict in the areas of age, race, gender, and disability is common among the employed as well as the unemployed. From a sociological perspective, unemployment can be studied through both the Functionalist Theory and Conflict Theory. It also touches upon the results of unemployment in societies and institutions such as family, education, government, and health. Unemployment affects almost everyone to some extent†¦show more content†¦Power is the emphasis is an employment situation. While employed you have a certain amount of power, both over your work environment and your own life. Once a you become unemployed, however, you become powerless, despera te for any source of an income. Once in this position, an individual is likely to take a job which is below their capabilities and for less pay. The difference in class and standing continues to increase. Those with money have the luxury of waiting for a job that strikes their interest, not just a job to make minimum wage. They can wait until an appropriate job comes up or they can further their education to improve their position even more. Economically, the world is entering into a new phase in which fewer workers will be needed to produce the goods and services for the global population. For most of the modern era, peoples worth has been determined by the value of their labor and skills. However, life has changed, globalization and feminism have had a huge impact on the work environment all around the world. Technology has also made many jobs easier, yet very, very similar. 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