Writing Feedback / Revolutionary Organization 17 November - A Darwinian Perspective [NEW]

Hello Gloria,

First and foremost, thank you very much for your kind words and your commitment.

Could you please read my essay and give me some feedback?

The prompt is:

With the exception of al Qaeda, select a specific terrorist group and discuss the following features:

1. The purpose or mission of the group.
2. The actions undertaken by this group.
3. The potential for success of this group.

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration
Frederic

-------------

---the sources have not been fully integrated yet---

Greek Domestic Terrorism: A Darwinian Perspective on the "Revolutionary Organization 17 November"

Introduction

Most Americans would mock anyone asserting that Greece should deserve a close examination when it comes to studying the roots of anti-Americanism. As a matter of fact, many would-be Foreign Service Officers of the United States Department of State or Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) certainly imagine that one day they will benefit from an assignment in a nonchalant country, like Greece, in compensation for an excruciating job in a dangerous area such as Iraq or Afghanistan. They would be appalled to discover that a terrorist group of Marxist-Leninist obedience has assassinated a CIA Chief station and injured numerous U.S. military personnel in addition to having launched a rocket on U.S. embassy in Athens between 1975 and 2002. Moreover, those terrorists have performed various criminal attacks against British, French, and Greek officials and institutions, ranging from bank robberies to kidnapping. This Greek terrorist group, commonly referred to as "17N" in Greek mass media, is the "Revolutionary Organization 17 November". Founded in 1975 and named after the bloody repression orchestrated by the Regime of the Colonels against an anti-military junta demonstration of Athenian students, the organization has demanded the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Greece and of Turkish troops from Cyprus. Furthermore, 17N has anticipated the establishment of a Marxist-Leninist government to rule Greece.

Thesis & method

A rapid examination of the ideology defended by "Revolutionary Organization 17 November" and the subsequent actions undertaken to support its cause through the lens of ethology offer new perspectives on the subject of terrorism in Greece. The model employed to carry out this study will be the "Ecological Model" as described by its creator, the psychologist Uri Bronfenbrenner, in "The Ecology of Human development: Experiment by Nature and Design". Rather than considering that the potential success for the group's spin-offs may turn out to be negligible (compared with the tremendous death tolls claimed by other terrorist organizations all over the world), thorough ethological research should be conducted on the proximate and ultimate causes that have had fuelled Greek terrorism since the end of the Regime of the Colonels. A careful evaluation of the significance of the legacy vis-ŕ-vis the terrorist ideology and expertise of the "Revolutionary Organization 17 November" could permit to define the patterns and dynamics of what appears to be a symbiotic relationship between mainstream society and political intelligentsia, on the one hand, and violent activists, on the other.

Individual biological and psychological context of 17N members

Inherited and acquired individual characteristics of the 17N members are diversely obvious. Itemized individual features include, without being limited to, age, sex, ethnicity, health, nutrition, and physiological abilities and disabilities, which can be conspicuous because they are part of the individuals' phenotype (such as their skin, eyes, or hair colour) or not noticeable without closer medical examination such as an auscultation or a genetic scrutiny. The major repercussion of biological and psychological assessments is that they could permit to provide indications of the proximate and ultimate causes underlying these individuals' limitations and predispositions when faced with the possibility to adopt political violence. Indeed, social learning theorists argue that aggression results from one's observation and imitation of people who engage in violent acts. Dimitris Koufodinas, the terrorists' operational leader could certainly epitomize this hypothesis for he has engaged in left-wing political activism rejecting the capitalism as a university student. On the other hand, ethologists favour the thesis supporting a genetically inherited origin. For example, Costa Telios who has been the only one 17N member experiencing severe psychiatric impairments might have inherited his disorders. Finally, evolutionary psychologists adopting a biopsychosocial model assume that aggressiveness arises from both inherited and acquired individual features. Minute biological explanations and psychological evaluations of 17N members would turn out to be all the more important as the naissance of the group has remained obscure even for the most prolific academic specialist of the organization, i.e. Dr. Kassimeris

For instance, the fact that "blood bonds, so important in Greek society, reinforced trust and silence, helping to explain the group's operational continuity and remarkable resistance to infiltration" could shed led on the application of the relation linking inclusive fitness and altruism, a theory developed in the 1960s. Indeed, Hamilton has contended that individuals perform altruistic acts towards kin relations as long as the cost of these acts is inferior to these individuals' fitness. In other words, individuals help their relatives on condition that their altruistic acts do not undermine their forthcoming possibility to reproduce or their present offspring's survival. This hypothesis can account for the difficulty encountered by counterterrorist organizations in their endeavours at infiltrating the 17N group and the prompt collapse of the terrorist association as soon as one of the members was seriously injured and interrogated by Greek police officers in 2002. Actually, cohesion was cemented by the relative meagre cost of members' reciprocal altruistic acts towards their relatives because, thus, they ameliorated their reproductive fitness. Yet the menace represented by a long prison term resulting from the icon painter Savvas Xiros's initial defection, greatly imperilling 17N members' reproductive success in a foreseeable future, has rapidly initiated a chain reaction among Xiros's acolytes and the disintegration of the "Revolutionary Organization 17 November".

Mesosystem (or microsystem): immediate context of 17N members

Although the 17N members' immediate contexts make the impression to be quite heteroclite, "Revolutionary Organization 17 November" members' dedication to Marxist-Leninist ideals has been their common factor when examining their acquaintances. The group may have remained impermeable to criminal investigations for so long because intelligence and law enforcement officers might have not imagined that 17N members' professions could have been so extremely disparate. Actually, Greek mass media have revealed that they were icon painter, apiculturist, university professor, electrician, real estate agent, or musical instrument maker. Nonetheless, 17N members have shared a common point: their individual mesosystem was infiltrated with a Marxist-Leninist who politicized them. This implies that numerous strates of the Greek society have been deeply affected by the communist ideology.

For example, interactions between individuals and their family of origin can ignite their flame of commitment to terrorism. Alexandros Giotopoulos, the architect and instigator of the "Revolutionary Organization 17 November", can exemplify the role of parents on their offspring's involvement in political violence since his father has been famous for being an important theoretician of the Trotskyite doctrine in addition to being one of its active advocates before World War II broke out. Giotopoulos' university years can also illustrate the key influence of the community and academic world on his forthcoming involvement in political violence since he studied in France during the student revolutionary upheavals in 1968. During this period, he created a revolutionary group aimed at overthrowing the military junta in Greece with a friend named Andreas Staikos.

As a matter of fact, the 17N members' craze for the Marxist-Leninist dogma and its violent implementation could also result from the rivalry due to the sexual competition among them. Indeed, as early as 1859, Charles Darwin has suggested that two phenomena of sexual selection could take place among individuals, the first one between individuals belonging to the same sex (intrasexual selection) and the second one between individuals belonging to opposite sexes (intersexual selection). In his endeavours to promote the Marxist-Leninist doctrine, Giotopoulos might have aroused jealousy in other males evolving in his mesosystem because his political commitment might have enticed available mating partners. Therefore, in their attempts to seduce the aforementioned females, Giotopoulos's male relationships like Dimitris Koufodinas (the operational leader of the 17N terrorist group) might have competed with him through the adoption of the communist doctrine and more radical means for publicizing its ideals until one of them recommended the use of terrorist tactics. This competition among males to secure the position of dominance within the movement and thus gain access to the most alluring females hanging around them could explain the obscure formation of the 17N group. Undeniably, 17N members have certainly not noticed that their political commitment could have increased with their sexual excitement, and if they have noticed this trend, they would have definitely not desired to avow that they have engaged in terrorism to seduce females. Finally, the traditional attachment of the Greek society to patriarchy may account for the quasi-entire masculine composition of the 17N group.

Exosystem: post-Colonels Greek landscape

The very fabric of the Greek society since the collapse of the Regime of the Colonels has shaped the choice of the "Revolutionary Organization 17 November" for Marxist-Leninism tainted with nationalism rather than another ideology. Greece has endured four centuries of Ottoman domination before becoming independent in the early nineteenth century in addition to fighting the German invader during World War II, after many sacrifices on battlefields in both cases. Independence was gained thanks to the nationalists' dedication at home and abroad, thus propagating a nationalist pride still present on the Greek political scene. The archbishop Christodoulos, the very emblematic and media-friendly heir of the fight of the Orthodox Church of Greece against the Ottomans, has been the personification of this nationalist sentiment. During World War II, the resistance against the Nazi benefited from the Greek communists' perseverance. Their actions have significantly contributed to the institution of a democratic Greece. These fights have forged a strong sentiment of nationalism and a fierce attachment to communist and socialist values in an important part of the Greek society. As a consequence, the social, economic, political, educational, legal, and religious Greek systems permeated by nationalism and/or communism may account for the emergence and continuation of the 17N as a left-wing terrorist group claiming the establishment of a Marxist-Leninist government in Greece, the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Greece and Turkish troops from Cyprus in addition to the exclusion of Greece from the European Union and from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Surprisingly, albeit the 17N members' activities have encompassed the assassination of Greek and foreign officials in addition to car bombings and rocket attacks aimed at Greek and foreign administrations in Greece, which have leaded to an aggregate number of more than twenty people and making this group one of the most lethal in Western Europe during the twentieth century, 17N members have favoured symbolic targets rather than mass murders. In fact, the political missions and criminal acts of the "Revolutionary Organization 17 November" may have been the consequence of the generalized reciprocity theory elaborated by Herbert Higgins since 2000.

This hypothesis suggests that mutually beneficial relationships can be maintained through the acceptation of explicit laws and implicit rules among members belonging to a same community, thus, explaining why individuals act altruistically with in-group members while they do not hesitate to be egotistic with out-group members. Accordingly, the so-called inability of the Greek and American intelligence services to eliminate may not have been above suspicion of political interest despite its economic and human cost. Indeed, Greek political elites, whatever their political party, may have found relatively useful to have a terrorist group demanding the U.S. armed forces withdrawal from Greek territories since it prevented a direct confrontation between the Greek and American administrations. The 17N members may have acted as spokespersons for numerous Greek politicians who have never expanded too far the repressive arsenal against these terrorists because 17N members and Greek politicians have shared a common appurtenance to the in-group of the "defenders of the independence of Greece" against the out-group of the "foreign intruders".

Macrosystem and chronosystem: Greek cultural context across the ages

Despite the important diversity in the Greeks' cultural background due to important exchanges of population with Turkey and Bulgaria at the dawn of the post-Ottoman period and the immigration of Greek Cypriot after the Turkish invasion in the 1970s, the Greeks' collective imaginary has preserved a quaint depiction of the Klephts (mountain brigands) and their momentous participation in the national liberation from the Turkocracy in addition to a profound respect for the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) which resisted the oppression of the Nazi. Those common points in Greeks' macrosystems were also present in Koufodinas's cultural background (the founder of the "Revolutionary Organization 17 November") since he has deified Athanasios Klaras (alias Aris Velouchiotis) who was the founder and leader of the Greek People's Liberation Army. The bottom line is that Klaras's support for guerilla tactics in asymmetric warfare, in addition to his life in Greek mountains for long periods during the war, are not without being reminiscent of the Klephts' lifestyle.

A vindication for the transmission of cultural elements from generation to generation among the Greek population could be discovered in Richard Dawkins's work on memetic selection dating as far back as 1976. This scientist has assumed that the transfer of information across time and space could stem from cultural replicators, labeled "memes", which are modeled on the evolutionary principles applying to genes. Therefore, a certain idealization of political violence against oppressors employing insurgency tactics, and its subsequent acceptation, by the Greek population may reflect the propagation through the centuries in Greek communities at home and abroad thanks to a dedicated meme. In other words, the "Revolutionary Organization 17 November" members' commitment to terrorism and its relative tolerance on the part of the Greek authorities and population may be the fruit of the Greek macrosystem (i.e. prevalence in society) and chronosystem (i.e. evolution over time).

CONCLUSIONS

Eventually, the present rapid evaluation of the "Revolutionary Organization 17 November" has laid emphasis on the significance of the interacting contexts, or ecosystems, surrounding the 17N terrorists from birth to death and playing a prominent part in their development in addition to the development of conspecifics in touch with them. First, the individual biological and psychological context of 17N members has revealed that further research on their individual biological profiles could be useful for defining to what extent their genetic relatedness can explain terrorist organization's imperviousness to anti-criminal infiltration and its resilience over time. Second, the 17N members' mesosystem (or microsystem), the terrorists' immediate context, has suggested that further research for exposing the extent to which 17N members' exposition to sexual competition could have been the trigger activating their desire to engage in violence. Third, the 17N members' exosystem has evoked the possibility that the political involvement for Marxist-Leninist theories could have originated from the socioeconomic circumstances in the post-Colonels Greek landscape. Fourth, the 17N members' macrosystem and chronosystem have insinuated that the Greek culture could have reinforced the 17N members' motivation to engage in political violence for traditional Greek beliefs and ideals have valued armed rebellion against oppression. Therefore, the mission of the group has been brought about by the 17N members' exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem whereas the nature and intensity of the actions undertaken by 17N members have risen from their mesosystem (or microsystem).

In conclusion, the dislocation of the "Revolutionary Organization 17 November" arouses the question of the potential success of this terrorist group. Since this criminal association has stemmed from intricate biological, cognitive, and social interactions, the answer may lie in a quantitative and qualitative analyses of the 17N members' personality based on biopsychosocial models such as the Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Model. Indeed, adapted anti-terrorist and counter-terrorist applications aimed at responding to terrorist threats in Greece and sociocultural impediments checking their effective implementation could be discovered thanks to these analyses. Indeed, despite the trial and conviction of fifteen 17N members have severely hampered the organization; its demise might not be absolute because one communiqué has been released by 17N members since the trial, who apparently asserted that the end of the group was not on the agenda. Moreover, the legacy bequeathed by the "Revolutionary Organization 17 November" has seemed to be claimed by another Greek terrorist organization called "Revolutionary Struggle". This offspring of the most famous contemporary Greek terrorist organization has had the same mission and has aimed to employ the same violent means.

In the evolutionary arms race taking place between terrorists and law enforcement agencies, one trail to be followed could be associated with the autocephalous Orthodox Church of Greece. For instance, the penetration of the Greek clergy has been so deep and so durable over time that its full cooperation with intelligence agencies, or infiltration in case of clerical rebuttal, may prove useful to collect information on terrorist networks. Indeed, the predator-prey relationships existing between terrorists and law enforcement agencies has required to plunge into the depths of the Greek society to accumulate as many information on terrorists' activities as possible. Subsequently, the dense network of popes on the Greek soil in addition to the clerics 'extensive knowledge of local current affairs, due to their proximity with the population, could be exploited to target Greek terrorists. Nonetheless, one could raise the question of ethics. The crux of the matter lies in the Greek society's willingness to preserve high moral standards at the risk of protecting assassins or to lower its values to shield the contemporaneous style of Greek democracy.

Writing Feedback / Skeletal muscle physiology [NEW]

Hello,

Could you please read my essay and give me some feedback?

The prompt is:

This week we will be studying skeletal muscle physiology. We're going to take the lab a step further such that we're going to discuss muscle mass. This discussion is two-fold:

1. Obtain information on the procedures used to build muscle mass and how those procedures accomplish that goal.
2. Also discuss atrophy as a result of wearing a cast on a broken limb, and discuss what can be done about it.

Thank you in advance
Frederic

-------------

---The sources have not been integrated yet.---

An individual's physical performance depends on the relative proportion of fast glycolytic and slow oxidative fibres in his or her muscular system. On the one hand, the preponderance of fast glycolytic fibres in the muscular system facilitates intense physical activities over a short span of time. On the other hand, the predominance of slow oxidative fibres in the muscular system makes possible physical activities demanding high levels of stamina over long periods. Albeit conventional wisdom has it that people exercising elaborate the aggregate quantity of fast glycolytic and slow oxidative fibres in their skeletal muscles, the quality of these fibres is the only thing that evolves, and even only moderately. Consequently, professional or amateur sportspersons may desire to better their performance through exercise especially adapted to alter the nature of a certain type of fibres in order to ameliorate their performance.

First and foremost, specific exercises emphasizing one's resistance on the long run, such running or swimming over long distances and an elongated period of time, permit individuals to initiate the regular conversion of some of their slow oxidative fibres into fast oxidative-glycolytic fibres. There is a hypertrophy of the muscles because the diameter of these new fast oxidative-glycolytic fibres steadily increases, along with the amount of mitochondria and blood supply. Such exercises aimed at boosting individuals' strength are labelled as "aerobic" because they require an important consumption of air developing the cardiovascular system that, subsequently, provides the muscles with more oxygen and nutrients.

On the contrary, particular exercises stressing one's ability to produce a gigantic amount of strength during a few seconds or minutes are known as "anaerobic" because they value explosive efforts, which demand the display of considerable strength in a split second. Such exercises enlarge the synthesis of thick and thin filaments in sportsmen's muscles, leading to their hypertrophy.

Unfortunately, sometimes people fracture one their limbs and emergency physicians plaster this limb to immobilize it to facilitate and accelerate the healing. However, the muscular system is also affected since the muscles of the limb cannot be employed with a cast and, thus, they atrophy. This degeneration is brought about by the diminution of the size of muscle fibres because of the progressive loss of myofibrils. That phenomenon happens owing to the fact that muscular inactivity provokes a reduction of the number of nerve impulses to the muscles. As soon as the cast is removed, the withering of muscle mass can be counter thanks to the aerobic and anaerobic exercises aforementioned.

Writing Feedback / Comparison of the pelvis in females and males [NEW]

Hello,

Could you please read my essay and give me some feedback?

The prompt is:

Select a topic that interests you from this week's reading material and write an anatomy and physiology "lecture" (300 to 500 words) to your classmates; describing the topic to them as if your were the instructor teaching the class.

Thank you in advance
Frederic

-------------

---The sources have not been integrated yet.---

Since sexual dimorphism is rather obvious when examining an individual's reproductive system, one could assume that variations between males and females are also present in their skeletal system. Although osteological analyses lying on the study of minute details make possible the differentiation between males and females, one can easily notice that similitude are more prevalent than divergences when looking an adult human skeleton.

On the one hand, Homo sapiens sapiens, both males and females, have evolved towards obligated bipedalism. Consequently, males and females' skeletal systems have similarly been composed in many ways. First, the inferior view of the cranium highlights the fact that the position of the foramen magnum beneath the skull is the same in both males and females. Second, males and females' vertebral column has four characteristic curves when examined in the anatomical position. From its superior part to its inferior part, there is the cervical curve (a forward one, formed by the seven cervical vertebrae), the thoracic curve (a backward one formed by the twelve thoracic vertebrae), the lumbar curve (a forward one formed by the five lumbar vertebrae), and the sacral curve (a backward one formed by the five fused sacral vertebrae). Third, the human pelvic (hip) girdle is shaped in the form of a basin thanks to two large hip bones (also known as coxal bones) constituting a solid and stable basis for the vertebral column. Thus, the pelvis participates in the protection of the pelvic viscera in addition to the connection of the lower limbs to the axial skeleton. Furthermore, the ilium is short and broad to stabilize weight transmission during the walk thanks to the lower of the centre of gravity. Fourth, the lower limbs have been more elongated in human beings than in great apes such as gorillas, comprising about twenty percent of the an individual's body weight among human beings contrary to about eleven percent among gorillas. Fifth, knees permit the complete extension of the leg during walk contrary to other hominids whose particular joints are not designed for the full straightening of the lower limbs. Sixth, human beings' big toe is large to preserve the individuals' balance during the walk and their feet are characterized by distinctive longitudinal arch forms taking part in the absorption of shock and in the propulsion of during the walk, necessary for fluid bipedal locomotion.

Finally, albeit the Homo sapiens sapiens's evolution has progressed towards a sexual reproduction favouring the birth of large-brained newborns, which has strategically modelled the pelvis to facilitate the birth without hampering the individuals' bipedal locomotion, similar morphological patterns seen in the axial and appendicular skeletons stress the significance of the constraints of bipedalism on the human skeletal system whatever the sex may be.

Writing Feedback / Terrorists' victims [NEW]

Hello,

Could you please read my essay and give me some feedback?

The prompt is:

From the National Counterterrorism Center, the following data was collected on terrorist incidents that lists attacks/injuries.

Country No. of Terrorist Incidents
Finland 0
Norway 0
Spain 192/2077
Italy 14/30
France 115/27
Germany 2/02
United Kingdom 117/912
United States 14/01
India 1728/6566
Indonesia 78/761
Sri Lanka 280/944
Russia 416/3294
Saudi Arabia 24/269
Sudan 38/435
Pakistan 589/2180
Iraq 4405/30234

Americans are constantly being told of the dangers posed by terrorists to the United States. What does the above data say about who the terrorists are targeting? Explain why this would be the case.

Thank you in advance
Frederic

-------------

First and foremost, it is judicious to remind the reader that France has bred numerous anti-authority revolutionaries during its long history, the most famous being the Revolutionaries. This point is of particular importance because it might account for the persistence of the expression of various communist, anarchist, or nationalist ideologies among French terrorists. Furthermore, French has also been attacked by Algerian Islamic terrorists in the 1980s and 1990s because of the close relationships linking the French and Algerian governments owing to the French colonial expansionism in Africa. Therefore, no one would be surprised to notice that is currently ridden with Corsican, Basque, and Breton nationalists in addition to anarchists (like the Front National Anti-Radar) or North African Jihadists (such as the ones belonging to the GIA or the 9/11 group). After a review of the data and the methodology employed by the National Counterterrorism Centre to collect and process them, it appears that these data (which are taken out of context) cannot accurately reflect, in any way why some people are more at risk than others. Indeed, the victims' qualitative or qualitative nature is not clearly detailed.

Being a French citizen interested in current affairs, I will highlight the fact that the data need to be studied in context by analysts well versed in the anthropology of France to comprehend the victimology of terrorist acts in France. Moreover, having demonstrated that these raw data are also flawed, I will make obvious that serious doubt can be raised when using the database designed by the National Counterterrorism Centre.

On the one hand, these figures do not confirm that the actual victims are the ones being initially targeted by the terrorists. In other words, are they collateral damages? In addition, are the authorities sure that mortally or critically injured terrorists are not counted as victims? Second, were all physically injured people who necessitated immediate medical care counted? Indeed, local authorities might want to minimize the death toll in order to lower the impact on the media. Third, did all victims report their physical injuries to the authorities? Actually, some injured people among the victims might be the terrorists themselves such as the French revolutionary postal worker who exploded while preparing an IED. Since they might not necessarily want to be caught by the police, they also might abscond from the crime scene. Finally, people who are not gravely injured might prefer not to report their condition to the authorities because they might be illegals or they might consider that the emergency services should concentrate their efforts on more seriously injured people. Fourth, are psychologically damaged people immediately counted as victims? Similarly, people whose mental health impairments only surface a few hours or days after the terrorist attack do not automatically report their condition to the authorities. Moreover, the National Counterterrorism Centre does not clearly identify its sources. Indeed, the National Counterterrorism Centre does not explicitly precise if it collects its information from local media, local authorities, US intelligence agencies, or a mix of all those sources. Consequently, the figures collected by the National Counterterrorism Centre are really doubtful. They are all the more questionable that this government agency's political independence is not controlled by independent non-governmental organizations.

On the other hand, these figures do not indicate if the victims are government officials or simple bystanders. Indeed, the long-prepared murder of one single prominent government official may prove to be more significant for the advancement of the terrorists' cause than the heavy death toll of a bomb attack. For instance, Corsican nationalists favour attacks aimed at symbolic human targets like the French prefect Erignac who was assassinated or the bombing of French Gendarmeries in Corsica rather than mass murders. Moreover, symbolic targets are not solely composed of human beings. Thus, nationalist groups opposing the French government have a preference for terrorist attacks against government institutions (to stress their abomination of the French government's actions such as the Basque ETA). However, the attribution of the label "terrorism" to attacks targeting public or private properties is not so conspicuously easy. Indeed, when Corsican nationalists set fire on a house in Corsica belonging to a French mainlander, one could estimate that such an act underscores their abhorrence of the so-called French government interference on the supposedly "independent Corsican nation" or this act emphasizes the so-called resistance against the alleged French cultural or political invasion. However, to the extent that the perpetrators are seldom identified by the police and that they rarely confess the actual nature of their intents if they are taken in for questioning, it is difficult to determine if this conflagration is a case of arson, vandalism, insurance fraud, criminal retaliation, or terrorism. Subsequently, the abovementioned figures cannot be helpful to clarify the victimology by any means since the National Counterterrorism Centre is unable to confirm the terrorist intent of many acts in the database. For instance, a simple act of vandalism, which has neither been proved to be politically motivated according to the National Counterterrorism Centre itself nor generated any victim (both according to the National Counterterrorism Centre), has been counted as a terrorist act nonetheless. This case has been identified with the identifier "ICN: 200697294 DETAILS".

In addition, the National Counterterrorism Centre database is nowhere near reliability. For instance, it affirms that Jouy-en-Josas is located in the French region of Alsace whereas this city is located in the suburbs of Paris (which is in the French region of Ile-de-France). The French region of Alsace is about 500 km (about 320 miles) away from the French region of Ile-de-France. This case can be found under the identifier "ICN: 200711509 DETAILS". One could contend that this is a negligible detail, but given the use that is made of this database by the American counterterrorist community, it is far from being a minor point.

Subsequently, the database designed by the National Counterterrorism Centre in its attempt to totalize terrorist acts on a worldwide basis is, at the least, very poorly reliable and, at the most, a serious overestimation of the prevalence of terrorism. I would even dare to say that the obscurity surrounding the methodology that is utilized is reminiscent of the flavour of the propaganda employed by communist regimes during the Cold War. Therefore, such errors could incite cynics to deem that the National Counterterrorism Centre shows serious lacunae associated with the management of its database, if not an attempt at massaging the statistics.

Writing Feedback / Nothing new under the sun?: Darwinian surprises of skin colours [NEW]

Hello,

Could you please read my essay and give me some feedback?

The prompt is:

Select a topic that interests you from this week's reading material and write an anatomy and physiology "lecture" (300 to 500 words) to your classmates; describing the topic to them as if your were the instructor teaching the class.

Thank you in advance
Frederic

-------------

From the point of view of anatomy and physiology, skin colour depends on an individual's integumentary system composition. Indeed, an individual's skin colour results from the combination of three pigments. First, the yellow-orange pigment carotene induces an orange colour. Second, haemoglobin, the pigment present in red blood cells, is at the root of a reddish coloration of the skin. Finally, melanin, which is produced by melanocytes and then transferred to keratinocytes, is the "darking" pigment of skin. Contrary to all expectations, all individuals belonging to the Homo sapiens sapiens species have the same amount of melanocytes. Actually, the so notable differences in human skin colours, from pale rose to ebony, emerge from the amount of pigment that those melanocytes secrete. Furthermore, ultraviolet radiation stimulates the production of vitamin D that is consecutively transformed into calcium and phosphorus, from the digestive system into the cardiovascular system.

Apart from aesthetic consideration, the propensity to generate melanin, and by extension skin colour, deeply influences health in ways that are rarely publicized in mass media. Indeed, sub-standard levels of exposition to ultraviolet rays hamper vitamin D synthesis in the long run, which may lead to a detrimental lack of vitamin D if this insufficiency is not compensated by vitamin D supplements (Parra, 2007). Consequently, one could ask why the most visible aspect of the human phenotype, i.e. skin colour, ranges from light to dark.

On the one hand, skin colour differences might have partly arisen from the geographical distribution of ultraviolet distribution. For instance, Jablonski has assumed that the earliest individuals belonging genus Homo were hairy with light skins and that some of them have evolved in contemporaneous Homo sapiens sapiens through the concomitant loss of their initial hairs and darkening of their skin colour, i.e. human beings (2007). Norton, Kittles, Parra, McKeigue, Mao, Cheng, Canfield, Bradley, McEvoy, and Shriver have even suggested that the current geographical distribution of skin colours has originated from the intensity of ultraviolet radiation on different parts of the globe (2007). They have subsequently stated that this phenomenon might derive from an adaptation by means of natural selection (Norton, Kittles, Parra, McKeigue, Mao, Cheng, Canfield, Bradley, McEvoy, & Shriver, 2007). Other scientists have been up to assert that this adaptation has occurred to preserve homeostasis against diseases such as skin cancers for hair has lost its initial protective role against solar radiation (Jablonski, Chaplin, N.G.J., & G.C., 2003). However, Jablonski, Chaplin, N.G.J., & G.C have also hinted at the significance of ultraviolet exposition as regards its effects on strategic nutrients and their corollaries on individuals' reproductive success (2003).

On the other hand, and more surprisingly, skin colour might have stemmed from sexual selection, as well. Actually, Aoki has laid emphasis on the fact that a potential evolution intended for circumventing the apparition of rickets caused by an insufficiency of vitamin D could be most dubious (2002). Indeed, since a light skin colour is not enough for preventing individuals' offspring from developing rickets, Aoki has claimed that the prevailing penchant in most societies for light-skinned mating partners could also explain the presence of light skin in areas of low solar radiation (2002). Madrigal and Kelly have formulated a synthesis by stating that natural and sexual selection intertwine (2007). According to Madrigal and Kelly, natural selective pressure (huge solar radiation) has had the upper hand in sub-tropical and equatorial areas whereas it has been superseded in areas close to the poles by sexual selective pressure (preference for a lighter-than-average skin colour in sexual partners) (2007).

Finally, natural and sexual selection may only have performed the prelude to human evolution. As a matter of fact, although the study of skin colours through the lens of anatomy and physiology has gained from its amalgamation with the field of physical anthropology, it might be interesting now to push further the cooperation with other theoretical frameworks such the biopsychology or the evolutionary psychology to reveal other aspects of the human organism and its homeostasis. For instance, it could be interesting to investigate the aetiology and epidemiology of conversion disorders. Findings emanating from this theoretical research could validate theories related to the influence of an alleged human fear-circuitry, sponsored by evolutionary psychologists, and be applied to real world security issues related with terrorism and epidemic sociogenic disorders, as suggested by Bracha, Yoshioka, Masukawa, and Stockman in an article published in 2005.

Writing Feedback / Spread of the jihadist movement in the ligh ethology and Darwinian security [NEW]

Hello,

Could you please read my essay and give me some feedback?

The prompt is:

The media has recently reported on a classified intelligence assessment, Trends in Global Terrorism: Implications for the United States. This intelligence assessment asserts that Islamic radicalism, rather than being in retreat, has metastasized and spread across the globe. An opening section of the report, Indicators of the Spread of the Global Jihadist Movement, cites the Iraq war as a reason for the diffusion of jihad ideology. The report also states that the Iraq war has made the overall terrorism problem worse. After reviewing the unclassified section of the above mentioned report, list the underlying factors are are fueling the spread of the jihadist movement. Additionally, discuss how the United States can counter these factors.

Thank you in advance
Frederic

-------------

In the wake of the dramatic attacks on the Twin Towers in 2001, various American institutions have waged a war against terrorism. However, with insight, the US intelligence community has emphasized the counterproductive role of the cornerstone of this fight: the US invasion of Iraq. Indeed, declassified sections of the National Intelligence Estimate released in April 2006 have highlighted the fact that the global jihadist movement has benefited from the deterioration of the perception of US policies provoked by the Iraq war in Muslim communities in the Middle East and all over the world. The investigation of the primary factors fuelling the spread of the jihadist movement may permit to apply innovative solutions aimed at eradicating it, which are based on an ethological perspective. The United States may counter these factors thanks to the adoption of the framework offered by the nascent field of Darwinian security to design original means intended for preserving US citizens, values, and national interests without, on the first hand, exacerbating the initial hatred against the US, and bearing the opprobrium heaped by the international community, on the other hand.

First and foremost, the National Intelligence Estimate identifies four major reasons at the root of the dissemination of the jihadist movement in terms of number of followers and geographical distribution. First, Muslim activists tend to believe, rightly or wrongly, that the Western civilization's desire is to subjugate Muslims and Islamic nations, such as in Afghanistan. Furthermore, Muslim activists denounce a certain injustice against Muslim communities settled in non-Islamic countries resulting from the willingness to ignore their right to openly demonstrate their faith in their host country, even though this country does not authorize such behaviours for its nationals such as in France. Moreover, Muslim activists condemn the proliferation of corrupt elites in the political apparatuses of numerous Islamic countries. Second, Muslim activists take advantage of the US invasion of Iraq and, above all, of its subsequent occupation by western nations without the approval of the United Nations to wage a jihad (holy war) against these Christian crusaders who act all high and mighty in Muslim territories. Third, Muslim activists exploit the relative slowness of certain Muslim nations when it comes to reach the western economic, social, and political standards that set the guarantees of economic, social, and political stability on the international chess, such as in North African or sub-Saharan countries. Finally, US political, economic, and cultural influences all over the world clash with the traditional Islamic worldview and epitomize the pernicious effects of the West on Islam in the eyes of many Muslims. Therefore, Muslim activists benefit from many Muslims' fear of modernity and their aspiration to establish an Umma (community of Muslim believers) on a worldwide basis.

Although the National Intelligence Estimate distinguishes several methods to hamper the progression of the global jihadist movement, these measures only concentrate on proximate causes of terrorism. Indeed, albeit the US needs to address immediate security issues, the US intelligence community may find it constructive to adopt a different approach based on the examination of the ultimate causes of terrorism. In other words, since modern terrorism in the Middle East emerges from a long tradition of political activism dating as far back as the Jewish Zealots or the Shiite Assassins, one could ponder over two essential questions.

On the one hand, what is the terrorism's function when assessing its impact on the individuals' chances of survival and reproduction? For instance, why have Iraqi insurgents killed about six times as many Iraqi civilians as Americans? O'Hanlon and Campbell have also underscored this trend when examining the number of European colonizers and autochthonous civilians killed during several post-colonial wars in Africa and the Middle East (2007). Adopting the conceptual framework of evolutionary psychology, Kanazawa has assumed that terrorism, and suicide bombings in particular, might tightly be linked to intra-sexual competition between individuals belonging to a specific species (2007), given intra-sexual competition referring to the rivalry occurring between males to gain access to females. From this point of view, one assumes that Iraqi insurgents employing terrorism to eliminate their fellow Iraqi counterparts endeavour to eradicate most potential rivals who could interfere with their possibility to approach females. Consequently, the American administration might investigate and utilize socio-cultural levers to relieve these sexually induced tensions in Iraqi males. Without being up to liberalizing Islamic customs or menacing the traditional patriarchy of most Muslim countries, tensions engendered by the diverse forms of inter-sexual competition might also be defused through the augmentation of available females in areas ridden with terrorism. For example, PLO has proceeded this way to disband the Black September group. Another way to operate could be to the betterment of socio-economic conditions for women, such as an increased access to professional education and micro-loans for creating small businesses might be a first step in this direction.

On the other hand, what is the terrorism's phylogenic history? Stated simply: is terrorism only present among individuals belonging to the human species or is it employed by non-human species on hearth, as well? Taking into consideration that the Homo sapiens sapiens species pertains to the category of species of the animal kingdom having adopted dominance hierarchy, individuals frequently employ aggression as a means to ameliorate their status in the same way as other primates (Jurmain, 2007). Furthermore, competition among rival groups reveals gender differences in altruistic interactions. Indeed, Van Vugt, Cremer, and Janssen have spotlighted the fact that threats resulting from competition among rival groups elicit stronger responses from men than from women (2007). However, since they do not distinguish the difference between gender and sex in their research, one finds it difficult to recognize whether such corollaries are from socio-cultural or biological origin. Other species, such as many fishes, have developed a unisex reaction to predator attacks. Actually, preyed individuals release chemical alarm substances in water that are successfully analyzed by their conspecifics as warning signs thanks to naturally selected genes in those fishes (Chivers, Wisenden, Hindman, Michalak, Kusch, Kaminskyj, et al., 2007). Accordingly, a security solution aimed at diminishing the death toll in case of terrorists' identification in public places might be to couple CCTV networks with vaporizers spraying chemical compounds provoking a reaction of disgust when inhaled by potential targets. Thus, people circulating close to a probable perpetrator would rapidly be moved away from the villain without provoking waves of panic within the population. Blowguns paired with the CCTV network might project hypodermic needles to inject chemical inhibitors into terrorists' organism. Similar to crop spraying, the dissemination of those inhibitors on large scale, such as in Iraqi areas ridden with insurgents, might permit to maintain peace through a neat diminution in terrorist attacks.

Unfortunately, the definition of terrorism and its subsequent consequences on the adoption of counterterrorist strategies and tactics lie in the application of the political power currently accepted in mainstream US and world politics. Since the current views of terrorism reflect social constructs rising from various western and non-western worldviews, governments would have everything to gain by avoiding the, all too risky, traditional military and law enforcement settlements of these aggressions, which have already been criticized by the 2006 National Intelligence Estimate. Assuming that western governments would like to annihilate the current form of endemic Muslim terrorism once and for all, theoretical and applied research conducted on Darwinian security issues through the lens of ethology and evolutionary psychology could allow those governments to design practical applications aiming at defeating the violent eschatology conveyed by Islamic fundamentalists. Achieving this project would require to closely examine the elements undermining the survival (predators, resources, and homeostasis) and reproduction (resources, mating selection, intra and inter-sexual competitions) of people perpetrating or supporting the present wave of terrorism leaded by Muslim fundamentalists. However, it raises an important question: are western governments ready to contemplate the substitution of the traditional military and law enforcement way of waging war with a Darwinian approach of conflict? That is to say, are policymakers willing to adopt the scientific theory of evolution elaborated by Darwin and to reject religious considerations when war is broached?

Writing Feedback / Sickled red blood cells and homeostasis - essay [NEW]

Hello,

Could you please read my essay and give me some feedback?

The prompt is:

Select a topic (anatomy or physiology) that interests you from this week's reading material and write a "lecture" (300 to 500 words) to your classmates; describing the topic to them as if your were the instructor teaching the class.

Thank you in advance
Frederic

-------------

Sickle cell disease is an epitome of the mutual influences of the six levels of organizations of the human body on homeostasis. Indeed, sickle cell disease is a group of inherited red blood cells disorders harming the transportation of oxygen transferred from inhaled air, thanks to the respiratory system, to body cells through the cardiovascular system (Jurmain, Kilgore, & Trevathan, 2006). This pathology has been characterized by the proliferation of red blood cells presenting a sickle shape, i.e. a shape similar to the letter "C", whose detrimental effect has been to block the flow of blood in small blood vessels leading to the various tissues of organs (Jurmain, Kilgore, & Trevathan, 2006).

From the cell level point of view, sickle cell disease has stem from a genetic mutation modifying the sequence of amino acids taking part in the production of an altered form of a protein known as haemoglobin S (HbS) at the root of the "C" shape of red blood cells (Jurmain, Kilgore, & Trevathan, 2006). This condition has exclusively originated from genetic inheritance, i.e. transmitted from parents to offspring on the form of a recessive allele (Jurmain, Kilgore, & Trevathan, 2006). Subsequently, genitors carrying this gene have contributed to giving birth to individuals whose genotype may be HbA / HbS (i.e. affected by a condition called sickle-cell trait) or even HbS / HbS (i.e. suffering from sickle cell anaemia) (Jurmain, Kilgore, & Trevathan, 2006).

What is astonishing, at the very most, is that this harmful trait has propagated from West Africa to many areas in the world due to a zoonotic disease. As a matter of fact, specific environmental factors have played a prominent part in the process of natural selection, and its corollary adaptation, since at least about one thousand year (Currat et al., 2002). This dissemination, on the one hand, has sprung from the meeting of a pathogen agent and a vector, respectively the single-celled organism known as malaria and mosquitoes. On the other hand, this diffusion has arisen from the fact that malaria can only reproduce if it benefits from a sufficient amount of oxygen in the blood of its human host once introduced in the cardiovascular system. Subsequently, in areas such as Senegal where malaria has been endemic (Currat et al., 2002), individuals with sickle cell trait, that is to say heterozygotes whose genotype is HbA / HbS, have had a higher reproductive success than those with normal haemoglobin or those with sickle cell disease. Actually, they "enjoy" this trait that is at the root of the deprivation of oxygen experienced by malaria whereas homozygotes, whose genotype is HbA / HbA, produce normal haemoglobin and are likely to die because of malaria. As far as homozygotes whose genotype is HbS / HbS are concerned, they have sickle cell anaemia and will certainly expire because of it.

Finally, surprisingly as it may be, homeostasis can be achieved in certain areas and during periods whereas conditions seem to be the worst for ensuring human life on earth. This is a reminder that homeostasis is preserved in a certain ecosystem and that any change in this environment or any relocation in anther one can be far more noxious than it can appear at first sight for both autochthons and colonizers. This is all the more true that hitherto, though treatments have been developed, no panacea has been available (National Heart Lung and Blood Institute [NHLBI], 2007).

References

Currat, M., Trabuchet, G., Rees, D., Perrin, P., Harding, R. M., Clegg, J. B., et al. (2002). Molecular Analysis of the -Globin Gene Cluster in the Niokholo Mandenka Population Reveals a Recent Origin of the Senegal Mutation. American Journal of Human Genetics, 70(1), 207-223.

Jurmain, R., Kilgore, L., & Trevathan, W. (2006). Essentials of physical anthropology (6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Higher Education.

National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (2007). How Is Sickle Cell Anemia Treated?

Writing Feedback / Chemical compounds and human life processes - short lecture [NEW]

Hello,

Could you please read my essay and give me some feedback?

The prompt is:

Select a topic (anatomy or physiology) that interests you from this week's reading material and write a "lecture" (300 to 500 words) to your classmates; describing the topic to them as if your were the instructor teaching the class.

Thank you in advance
Frederic

-------------

Since the chemical level is the smallest unit in the structural organization of the human body, the comprehension of the influence of the various chemical compounds on human life processes is primordial. Those chemical compounds may be characterized by two categories: inorganic and organic compounds.

On the one hand, inorganic compounds are typically structurally simple and lack carbon, in addition to being held together by ionic or covalent bonds. Inorganic compounds in the body comprise water, numerous salts, acids, and bases.

Among the various inorganic compounds present in the human body, water is found in profusion because it is the main element in many lubricating fluids in the body and because it is an excellent solvent, although molecules containing mainly nonpolar covalent bonds are hydrophobic. Moreover, water contributes to decomposition reactions (hydrolysis). Finally, its capacity to release and, above all, absorb a large amount of heat without changing its own temperature too much, turns water into an efficient cooling system, which is extremely useful in the of the body temperature.

Inorganic acids, bases, and salts also play a prominent part in the maintenance of homeostasis because they dissociate into ions in water. Acids ionize into hydrogen ions, bases into hydroxide ions, and salts into none of the two ions abovementioned. This is of great importance because the amount of hydrogen and hydroxide ions characterizes respectively the acidity or alkalinity of a solution, i.e. its pH, which is expressed on a pH scale whose values range from 0 (most acidic) to 14 (most basic/alkaline). Buffer systems participate in the equilibrium of pH through the attenuation of strong acids and bases.

On the other hand, organic compounds always contain carbon and habitually hydrogen in addition to being strictly held together by covalent bonds. Organic compounds in the body encompass carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, nucleic acids, and adenosine triphosphate.

Carbohydrates consist of sugars, glycogen, and starches on the form of monosaccharides, disaccharides, and polysaccharides. Carbohydrates are the source of most of the chemical energy necessary to generate adenosine triphosphate. Furthermore, carbohydrates emerge from dehydration synthesis reactions in the same way as other macromolecules. On the contrary, the addition of water allows the dissociation of macromolecules such as carbohydrates into smaller molecules.

Lipids, which are stored in adipose tissue, encompass triglycerides (fats and oils), phospholipids (essential membrane component), and steroids (synthesized from cholesterol), whose aim is to protect, insulate, and provide energy.

Proteins emerge from amino acids and participate in the contraction of muscles and the transport of substances in addition to giving structure to the body, regulate processes, protect, and serve as enzymes. The latter are habitually proteins that accelerate chemical reactions and take place in numerous cellular controls.

Nucleic acids comprise deoxyribonucleic and ribonucleic acids, respectively DNA and RNA, which are made of nitrogenous bases, five carbon sugars, and phosphate groups. Contrary to DNA, which is the primary chemical in genes (on the form of a double helix), RNA conveys the instructions encoded in DNA and is single-stranded.

Adenosine triphosphate (ATP), as the main energy molecule in living organisms, transmits energy through hydrolysis from energy-releasing reactions to energy-requiring reactions maintaining cellular activity.

Writing Feedback / Is spanking a form of family violence? : "In Rod We Trust" [NEW]

Hello,

Could you please read my essay and give me some feedback?

The prompt is:

Is spanking a form of family violence?

Thank you in advance
Frederic

-------------

Is spanking a form of family violence? : "In Rod We Trust"

Since human beings belong to a highly socialized species, everyone has certainly observed or heard of parents who spank their children. Indeed, spanking as a discipline method has been largely widespread in the USA (Larzelere, 2000). However, such pervasiveness has not necessarily indicated that there is a consensus on the question in the American society (Larzelere, 2000). Consequently, in order to discover to what extent spanking, and more generally corporal punishment, may be considered as an acceptable discipline method in the USA, the arguments put forward by three significant figures epitomizing the main trends present in the debate on spanking in the USA will be analyzed. Thus, an attempt to delineate a conceptual framework permitting to distinguish the explicit and implicit norms established by the American society to address the issue of the child abuse will be made.

The very nature of corporal punishments that are administered can be a marker of child abuse. On the one hand, according to Murray A. Strauss, who is a social scientist investigating the sociology of the family with a special emphasis on discipline and an opponent of the utilization of spanking as a discipline method, all forms of corporal punishment should be avoided or at least shunned insofar as alternative methods preventing parents from jeopardizing their children's psychological and physical health might exist (Strauss, 1994). On the other hand, according to Robert E. Larzelere, a social scientist probing for curative treatments aimed at sexually abused children and who is also a proponent of spanking, and corporal punishments, the traditional form of spanking should be allowed (Larzelere, 1994). The debate is also impregnated by the influence of individuals who aim at propagating their political ideology such as John K. Rosemond who is a family psychologist advocating affirmative parenting. The latter deploys political tricks focusing on persuading through fallacies such as rash generalizations, appeals to one's own authority without supporting their claims with scientific evidence, economy with the truth, democratic fallacies, to cite a few. This demeanour could be laughable if it was not so serious a topic for American children's future. Consequently, Rosemond's position is only presently referred to, so that the political influence could be disclosed but his allegations will not be examined in this document. The nature of what is an acceptable form of corporal punishment is far from being an easy task because different, if not opposite, viewpoints confront in the American scientific and political communities. According to Larzelere and Strauss, the main difficulty has lied in the fact that the assimilation of spanking to child abuse would have amounted to accuse almost entirely the American society of cruelty against children (Larzelere, 1994; Strauss, 1994). Given that the American values and norms have largely been rooted in Christianity, it would come down to recognize the vicious character of certain messages that have been conveyed by the Bible such as in Proverbs 13-24: "he who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him promptly". Consequently, the recognizance of what are abusive corporal punishments falls far beyond the limits of what are acceptable discipline methods. In fact, it would shake the foundations of the American society as a whole, which could explain why this debate has been ignored according to Strauss (1994).

Insofar as spanking and corporal punishments have been tolerated by the US legislation (Larzelere, 1994; Strauss, 1994), the intensity and frequency of this type of punishments can be an indicator of child abuse. Strauss has suggested that ordinary spanking could be considered as a form of child abuse since its outcomes are tantamount to the ones of child abuse (Strauss, 1994). Whatever the intensity of the act (i.e. spanking or physical abuse) might be, Strauss has argued that the consequences are detrimental to children (Strauss, 1994). Nonetheless, studies examining the occurrence of psychological disturbances in individuals who have been spanked in their teens have not established that the nature and intensity of spanking could be causal factors of psychological disorders during adulthood according to Larzelere (1994). Furthermore, antisocial aggression in children is not linked to ordinary parental spanking by a strong statistical correlation (Larzelere, 1994). However, in order to prevent the transformation of ordinary spanking into child abuse overtime, which has been a possibility ranging from a simple assumption (Larzelere, 1994) to a fact of an extreme likelihood (Strauss, 1994), advocated legal solutions have varied from laws granting a decision nisi (i.e. contingent in certain limits of intensity and frequency) according to Larzelere (1994) or absolute (i.e. a total interdiction) according to Strauss (1994). Such a resolution is also far from being achieved in the USA since the sociological consequences on a population of the legal prohibition of spanking and corporal punishment are still uncertain, ranging from highly profitable for the cause of abused children according to Strauss (1994) to highly prejudicial according to Larzelere (1994). The drift of the debate's focus from the nature of corporal punishment to its intensity and frequency steers the conversation back onto the subject of freedom granted by the US constitution: are American citizen free to spank their children and, thus, risk their health in the long run to secure an immediate obedience? Larzelere (1994) has evoked an interesting idea based on the notion that authorization to spank could be allowed depending on the parents' cultural values. Such a consideration, independently of its intrinsic value, reminds the scientific and political interveners that the American society is not an indivisible block but rather an amalgamation of communities that are all influenced by a wide range of diverse micro and macro-level forces. Consequently, the debate concerned with the legalization of spanking is not only subject to the preservation of the great majority of US citizen but is also depending on the recognizance of its individuals' cultural and socioeconomic diversity.

American customs as regards corporal punishments, and the subsequent debate on its potential legalization, is so saturated by the willingness to shield children against abuse that one could forget to keep abreast of the actual efficiency of spanking as a discipline method. First, Larzelere (1994) has pointed out that corporal punishment might prove to be a powerful assistance for parents wanting to aggravate the effects of reasoning or discipline methods with a low degree of coerciveness when immediate compliance is vital or when long-term remembrance is essential. Yet even Larzelere's findings have highlighted the fact that a high level of obedience is attained with or without the employment of corporal punishment according to Strauss (1994). Therefore, parents should restrain themselves from utilizing corporal punishment and should exploit the large assortment of alternative discipline methods that exclude physical coercion, even though they may not be as effective, in order to circumvent the slightest risk for their children's safety according to Strauss (1994). Indeed, research has indicated that corporal punishment, in the same way as physical abuse, might ultimately initiate numerous psychological, physical, and economic nuisances for children according to Strauss (1994), albeit some controversies surrounds the validity of such a contention of causality according to Larzelere (1994). When Strauss (1994) contended that spanking should be revelatory of parents' inaptness, he might have warned parents against the ravage of authoritarianism resulting from their laziness or exhaustion when they need to make decisions as regards the tools for disciplining their children. Although Larzelere (1994) concurred on this particular point with Strauss, he also promoted the utilization of an authoritative style of parenting, labelled "optimal parental discipline responses", exalting the virtues of moderate spanking through a combination of behavioural parent training associated with corporal punishment and reasoning. For freedom's sake, Larzelere (1994) has even asserted that this is not because certain parents are able to behave well their children without the aid of spanking that spanking should be forbidden. Finally, when non-physical methods demonstrate their efficacy and relevance whereas corporal punishment is conspicuously pilloried, because of its adverse consequences and relative inappropriateness, a consensus on legislative means regulating spanking is not reached. It is not so much a question of indisputable efficiency as a question of freedom of choice that really composes the crux of the matter as far as spanking in the USA is concerned. Actually, the point is rather to decide if a democratic country can renounce a legislation condemning corporal punishment for its minor citizens while this same country protects its adult citizens against the domestic violence, for instance through the Violence Against Women Act.

The analysis of scientific arguments offered by prominent figures involved in academic research conducted on discipline does not permit to easily define what an acceptable discipline method in the USA is as far as the nature, frequency, intensity, and efficiency of corporal punishments are concerned. Indeed, the cultural, social, economic, and political diversity of US citizens fuels the debate of the characterization of norms, and especially laws, when parental duties and rights are broached. This attempt at defining a conceptual framework permitting to distinguish explicit and implicit norms associated with acceptable and intolerable parental behaviours has shed a new light on the concept of liberty granted by the Constitution to US citizens. In other words, the present document highlights the fact that the American Legislative branch is faced with the difficulty to create norms implementing American children's rights in addition to embodying both the general US worldview and particular interests without attacking the very nature of liberty conferred by the First Amendment. Currently, the spanking lobby succeeds in its endeavours at preserving majors' individual liberty for no nineteenth amendment prohibiting corporal punishments is underway.

Albeit research on the implications of the First Amendment on mainstream America as regards children's rights could be interesting, an ethological study of the utilization of corporal punishments through longitudinal and cross-cultural research focusing on the USA and foreign countries in addition to comparative research with other primate species' behaviour could reveal whether corporal punishments are an adaptive behaviour or not. If clues could suggest that this is the case, other questions would necessitate further research, for instance: is this behaviour recent? Why is it transmitted? Does its transmission occur genetically or culturally? Finally, in addition to broaden the academic body of knowledge associated with the study of human beings, their findings could permit to implement innovative, practical applications. For instance, the discovery of a biological basis at the root of parents' aggressiveness would lead to research on the elaboration of medical treatments for appeasing petulant parents. On the contrary, the learning through social interactions of this behaviour would entail research on legal, criminal, or social policies concentrating on preventive and curative behavioural methods for protecting both children and parents. However, once more, the topic would irretrievably focus on the issue of individuals' liberty.

Writing Feedback / Media file - Sociology of the Family essay [3]

Hello,

Could you please read my essay and give me some feedback?

1) Interracial relationships

In a news article titled "Interracial Marriages Surge across US" released in USA Today on April 12, 2007, David Crary stresses the continual ascent of the number of interracial marriages in the USA since the repeal of anti-miscegenation laws forty years ago. However, black educated women mainly spearhead this social change because they break community and gender stereotype barriers in the workplace, public, and private spheres. Indeed, they tend to more and more marry white males of higher socioeconomic status, which arouses fierce political debates in addition to creating biases conveying a deleterious vision of African-American men.

Although American citizens have increasingly identified themselves as "multiracial" (Benokraitis, 2008, p.112), an attribute that has been recently incorporated into US Census Bureau Surveys' variables (Crary, 2007), scientists have avowed that minors are mainly the ones who claim this multiracial characteristic (Benokraitis, 2008, p.113; Crary, 2007). This perception has been all the more important as the acculturation to the American heritage has favoured interracial marriages (Benokraitis, 2008, p.115), albeit trends have presented substantial variations depending on intra and inter racial-ethnic relations (Benokraitis, p.113; Crary, 2007). Supporting the filter theory of dating, socio-cultural forces in the black community such as peer-pressure and propinquity have imposed severe constraints on individuals who would like to date "outsiders" ((Benokraitis, 2008, p. 113; Crary, 2007).

Finally, scientific research and mass media emphasize the prevalence of exogamy over endogamy. Although its development has largely been heterogeneous, the main stimulus has seemed to be a perceived shortage of eligible partners in one's group (Benokraitis, 2008, p. 114), a theory mainly based on gender-related trends giving weight to evolutionary sociology. Indeed, people's desire to ameliorate their reproductive fitness may tip the scales in favour of interracial marriages to the detriment of patriarchal or segregationist community ideals when a group does not display sufficient members who could satisfy the need of eligible partners with high level of resources or reproductive success.

2) Homosexuality, bisexuality, or trans-sexuality

In the news article "Aging and Gay, and Facing Prejudice in Twilight" published in the New York Times on October 9, 2007, Jane Gross draws attention to the individuals' perception of elderly LGBT people and the concrete governmental actions aimed at the aging LGBT community in the USA. Gross particularly stresses the sufferance entailed by covert and open homophobia although people are currently more informed and open-minded than they were a few decades ago. Gross does not forget to describe the influence of ageism in addition to the financial burden generated by the expensive costs of institutions for elderly that pressurize families.

Albeit homophobia has been in regression (Benokraitis, 2008, p.215; Gross, 2007) and the overall acceptance of LGBT people (Benokraitis, 2008, p.215; Gross, 2007), elderly, and above all old men who have never been acquainted with non-heterosexual people (Benokraitis, 2008, p. 215), have continued displaying homophobic behaviours (Gross, 2007). Furthermore, institutional caregivers have needed to be correctly trained because they have been still fearing accidental HIV contamination (Gross, 2007), though medical researchers have ascertained that this is not possible through simple contacts, such as simple care giving acts, which do not require an exchange of blood or semen (Benokraitis, 2008, p.218).

Gross's news article sheds light on the demographic evolution of the American population and the political transformation of the US political scene as regards the LGBT community. Indeed, self-identified non-heterosexual people have not only represented about ten percent of the US population (Benokraitis, 2008, p.214) but they have also progressively benefited from various forms of legal protection warranting them the same rights as their heterosexual counterparts in several states as far as officially approved mating relationships are concerned (Benokraitis, 2008, p.215). However, as Gross (2007) have referred to, federal laws are still inexistent although LGBT people take an active part in the funding of the Medicaid and American Social Security Systems. Moreover, people pertaining to the LGBT community are more likely to experience difficulties when they are old than other heterosexual elderly because, according to Benokraitis (2008), about half of the latter have been taken care of by their children or children-in-law (p.538). Subsequently, the legal recognition of the LGBT at the state level, which has already provoked changes in the daily relations caregivers-recipients in addition to attitudes (Gross, 2007), will necessarily emerge on the national stage.

3) Family violence

Julies Bykowicz reports, in a news article released in the Baltimore Sun on February 25, 2008, an initiative of the Baltimore Courthouse office aimed at implementing an innovative program concerning domestic assaults. City officials are going to create a task force constituted of specialized investigators and social workers who will be able to ameliorate the available immediate assistance to secure the medical, legal, and financial future of victims who tend to be averse at terminating a violent relationship and prosecuting their abuser.

Bykowicz (2008) has underlined the necessity of developing solid cases to succeed in putting perpetrators in detention because court records have seemed to demonstrate that it is an indispensable measure not only for stopping intimate partner violence but also to prevent abusers from murdering their victims. Benokraitis (2008) has buttressed this empirical evidence through the presentation of the cycle theory of domestic violence, which had been supported by Walker since the late 1970s (p.425). However, this scientist has argued that the recurrence of domestic violence between intimate partners has induced women into terminating their violent relationships by killing their aggressor, a hypothesis that she labelled the "battered-women syndrome" (Benokraitis, 2008, p.425). Furthermore, Bykowicz (2008) has underscored one of the many reasons inciting women into preserving their couple despite domestic violence: destitution. Benokraitis (2008) has presented several hypotheses that had been proposed by the scientific community as regards economic hardships experienced by women (p.442). On the one hand, advocates of the "resource theory" have advanced that domestic violence might emerge from the male's perception that their female partners might be interested in extra-conjugal affairs to obtain more resources (Benokraitis, 2008, p.442). On the other hand, proponents of the exchange theory have contended that females' financial dependence and males' desire to enforce their power have initiated an "economic" relationship between partners in which gains compensate sacrifices (Benokraitis, 2008, p.442-443).

Although Benokraitis (2008) has broached theories based on large-scale panels (p.449-450) and Bykowicz (2008) has reported a singular initiative, they have both promoted the implementation of interventionist and preventive programs. I would defend another approach, derived from the Darwinian theory of evolution, hypothesizing that domestic violence could be a human adaptation to adverse environments. Individuals' chances of survival and reproduction augment albeit the presence of domestic violence since partners' death is atypical. Accordingly, rather than attempting to eradicate domestically violent behaviours, governmental and local authorities should endeavour to improve the standard of living of the US population by acting on macro and micro-level economic forces, on the one hand, and publicize alternative means to tackle deprivation, on the other.

4) Adoption (any aspect)

In a news article titled "Fewer foreign children adopted" and published in USA Today on February 10, 2008, Wendy Koch introduces readers with the consequences of the evolution of adoption trends and policies abroad on American prospective parents. She contends that Americans, who are accustomed to adopt children, gradually resort to adopt children from foreign countries because the domestic pool of eligible children is not sufficient.

American prospective parents faced with infertility may resort to domestic or international adoption to transform their family of "non-procreation" into a nuclear family (Benokraitis, 2008, p.332; Koch, 2008). American prospective parents have primarily relied on American children eligible for adoption (Benokraitis, 2008, p.332; Koch, 2008) because of the promotion of adoptions from American foster care over the past few years (Koch, 2008) and because of foreign bureaucracies' restrictive policies (Benokraitis, 2008, p.335; Koch, 2008). However, since the delay for obtaining a child has been from three to ten times shorter abroad than in the USA, American families have hinged on foreign contributions (Benokraitis, 2008, p.334), which has constituted an aggregate pool of about one hundred and forty million orphans (Koch, 2008). Although international adoptions have usually proved to be satisfying for adoptive parents and children (Benokraitis, 2008, p.335), they have generated expensive costs due to intermediaries' chicaneries or briberies aimed at the civil service personnel (Benokraitis, 2008, p.335). Moreover, substandard foreign health systems providing ailing children (Benokraitis, 2008, p.334) or aversive foreign administrations (Benokraitis, 2008, p.335) have impaired international adoptions because American prospective parents have rarely been cognizant and aware of these concerns (Benokraitis, 2008, p.335). Finally, although more and more American households have adopted Chinese children since 1991, restrictive regulations passed by the Chinese and Russian governments as regards the number of children allowed to be adopted in the USA have strongly contributed to the decline in international adoptions (Benokraitis, 2008, p.335; Koch, 2008).

From a biological point of view, the adoption of a child who does not belong to one's kinship seems inconsistent with one's somatic and reproductive efforts. Why would individuals like to allocate their time and resources for children who do not carry their genes while they could increase their inclusive fitness by transferring their parental investment to kin altruism? Contrary to some evolutionary scientists, claiming that this type of adoption is one of the legacies of the so-called "environment of evolutionary adaptedness" and that this is a gesture of absolute altruism, I would dare to advocate another approach. I deem that these famous scientists tend to overemphasize our reproductive efforts and gradually ignore our somatic efforts when they analyze the behaviour of our species. Their viewpoints tend to disregard the importance of our survival. Contrary to them, I would theorize that individuals adopt children with a coefficient of relatedness whose value is null, namely complete strangers, because they endeavour to secure their future. Indeed, in case of unemployment or disease, their adopted children could be of valuable financial or physical help. This hypothesis would be especially true if the "selfish gene" were demonstrated. Actually, the multitude of selfish genes in an individual's body could be illustrated by a flock of birds in the sky in which each bird interacts with its closest congeners for its own benefits without knowing the overall movement of the group. Thus, I envisage that selfish genes tend to individually secure their survival even if they are unaware that the whole system, the human body in which they live in, is unable to reproduce. My theory could shed a new light on why same-sex couples want to adopt children as well.

5) Extra-marital sexuality

E. J. Dionne Jr. relates the John McCain's extramarital affair, the incarnation of the phenomenon known as infidelity, in the news item titled "McCain's Lobbyist Baggage" and released in the Berkshire Eagle on February 22, 2008. Dionne emphasizes the difficulties experienced by pre-eminent political leaders for preventing intruders from infringing on their private life, which can seriously tarnish the presidential contender's image. Dionne also underscores the economic and political implications of such an extra-conjugal affair.

First, Benokraitis (2008) has stressed the fact that the customary definition of adultery encompasses emotional infidelity (p.211); in the same way as Dionne (2008). Whereas Americans have tended to deem that infidelity is mundane in today's US society (Benokraitis, 2008, p.212), research have demonstrated that it is exceptional since only about one in six Americans confirms to have had an affair (Benokraitis, 2008, p.212). However, researches (Benokraitis, 2008, p.212) and public opinion's reactions (Dionne, 2008) have firmly condemned adultery because of its immorality. One of the many reasons for this rejection might be that this affair may be based on pragma, namely practical considerations aiming at drawing mutual benefits (Benokraitis, 2008, p.165; Dionne, 2008). Although the actual micro-level and macro-level igniters have still remained vague or unconfirmed, such as a probable revenge, a need for emotional satisfaction, or the evolution of the purpose of marriage at the dawn of this third millennium (Benokraitis, 2008, p.213), this relationship might be considered as economically motivated (Dionne, 2008), namely giving weight to the social exchange theory (Benokraitis, 2008, p.213).

The geographic, social, psychological forces underlying the selection of human beings' pool of prospective partners emerge from both physical and cultural influences. Furthermore, they are likely to provide each individual with his or her most appropriate dating partner. Moreover, since individuals can improve the qualitative and quantitative results of their selection thanks to various artifices, such as online dating for men or sophisticate makeup for women, the filter theory of mate selection may be considered as an epitome of the Darwinian theory of evolution applied to the Homo sapiens sapiens species. Indeed, individuals adapt to selective pressures so as to ameliorate their reproductive fitness. Consequently, John McCain's extramarital sexuality may be an adaptation to overcome the selective agents of its ecological environment.

6) Births outside of marriage

On July 1, 2007, Sharon Jayson titled one of her articles in USA Today "Unwed births shift to older, cohabiting couples", in which she explained that out-of-wedlock children tend to be born to older mothers. Moreover, she establishes thanks to primary and secondary sources that this increase may be correlated with cohabitation, which is more present in the USA and better perceived by the American population nowadays.

Although research on relationships and parenthood have spotlighted an escalation in both out-of-wedlock births since about the 1960s (Benokraitis, 2008, p.341; Jayson, 2007) and cohabitation in the USA (Benokraitis, 2008, p.271; Jayson, 2007), they have diverged on the acceptation of these phenomena by the American population (Benokraitis, 2008, p.271; Jayson, 2007). Some scientists have argued that the increase in cohabitation might be a causal factor of the rise in out-of-wedlock birth rates (Benokraitis, 2008, p.341; Jayson, 2007). Indeed, women aged more than twenty-five may have tended to favour their professional career (Jayson, 2007) or to ignore the socio-cultural yoke as regards the obligation to marry before having children and, thus, securing the legal recognition of children by fathers (Benokraitis, 2008, p.341) since about half unmarried births have been to cohabiting mothers (Jayson, 2007). However, these figures have greatly varied according to mothers' educational levels, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and age (Benokraitis, 2008, p.341). Though the number of older mothers have augmented, these mothers have still been a minority (Jayson, 2007) since the bulk of them have been in their teens (Benokraitis, 2008, p.342; Jayson, 2007), despite a decrease due to the implementation of pro-abstinence programs, school sex education, and a period of economic growth in the 1990s (Benokraitis, 2008, p.342).

What is astonishing with birth rates for unmarried women in the USA is that changes in the rates depend on the age of the mothers. The age of eighteen-nineteen appears to be the limit defining a bascule in women's choices of bearing out-of-wedlock children. Since scientists find it difficult to establish the reasons why teenage pregnancy has kept diminishing, I would spotlight the fact that this age bracket accords with the age when females effectively experience freedom from parental supervision, though they reach their majority when they are twenty-one. Consequently, rather than searching what policies may be at the origin of the birth rates changes, I wonder if it could be a consequence of parenting in US families. Indeed, the change happened in the mid-1990s while minors' mothers had experienced the sexual liberation of the 1970s. It may be possible that birth rates in the mid-1990s could be the first perceptible effects of the women's liberation movement. Women committed to feminism may have preferred cohabitation or single life while women who have not been committed to feminist ideals may have favoured marriage and enforced a stringent discipline on their daughters to prevent them from becoming pregnant teenagers.

7) Marriage trends/statistics

Elise Kleeman dwells on shifts in marriage trends in the USA in a news item tilted "Experts weigh shift in marriage trends" and published in the Pasadena Star-News on February 13, 2008. She explains that, albeit the emotional and economic benefits of being married, Americans more and more favour cohabitation or single life rather than marriage. On the other hand, she also stresses that divorce rates are dwindling.

Marriage trends have been shrinking (Benokraitis, 2008, p.269; Kleeman, 2008) because many people have been not married or have postponed marriage (Benokraitis, 2008, p.258). Furthermore, after having come to a climax in the 1980s, divorce rates have been declining (Benokraitis, 2008, p.269; Kleeman, 2008). Moreover, cohabitation and single life have also been preferred to marital life (Benokraitis, 2008, p.269; Kleeman, 2008). Although the stability of a marriage might be a successful key to partners' happiness (Kleeman, 2008), marital stability and marital satisfaction have highly been contingent on the influence of individuals and socioeconomic factors (Benokraitis, 2008, p.296; Kleeman, 2008). Marriage education might be beneficial to a relationship if effective communication patterns of handling conflicting situations were learnt such as the awareness of one's partner's needs and compromises (Benokraitis, 2008, p.314; Kleeman, 2008), which could explain why marriage education and divorce rate have been correlated positively (Kleeman, 2008).

The current disaffection of marriage in the USA reveals the macro and micro level influences affecting the American society. Changes associated with marital commitment results from personal choices such as one's religious or political convictions in addition to personal constraints such as the difficulty to find eligible partners because of drastic limitations imposed by propinquity. Furthermore, those changes also demonstrate the powerful influence of pressures exerted on the American society such as health or employment policies. Finally, marriage trends simply mirror individuals' adjustments due to economic, religious, and political evolution of their environment at the dawn of this twenty-first century.

8) Blended families

In a news article titled "Blended families face financial challenges" released in the Dallas Morning News on July 16, 2007, Pamela Yip underscores the financial predicaments in blended families. She stresses the various possibilities to tackle expenses issues in blended families in addition to children's inheritance rights.

Stepfamilies have been on the verge of outnumbering traditional nuclear families in the USA (Benokraitis, 2008, p.485; Yip, 2007). Not only have remarriage complicated families' genogram (Benokraitis, 2008, p.496) entailing social and psychological changes for stepfamilies' members, but it has also posed legal and economic challenges (Benokraitis, 2008, p.490-491; Yip, 2007). Consequently, evolution rather than stability have epitomized stepfamilies' life because of occasional opposite members' concerns (Benokraitis, 2008, p.498; Yip, 2007). This is all the more significant as stepparents have seldom acknowledged legal responsibility for their partner's biological children (Benokraitis, 2008, p.491), which might induce stepfamilies' members into performing ambiguous roles (Benokraitis, 2008, p.501). Moreover, remarriage have seldom clearly established stepparents' legal responsibilities when issues such as medical coverage and inheritance rights have been addressed (Benokraitis, 2008, p.491; Yip, 2007). Furthermore, the distribution of parental resources between biological children and stepchildren in blended families might prove to be aggravating (Yip, 2007) since biological parents might reject any financial responsibility for their partner's children, whatever their partner's income might be (Benokraitis, 2008, p.491). Blended families have had to apprehend the unique nature of stepfamilies' necessary adjustments (Benokraitis, 2008, p.497; Yip, 2007) to cope with unexpected expenses due to biological children legally bound to ex-spouses, or other financial obligations, which might arouse diffidence and anxiety between partners due to different personal finance management styles (Benokraitis, 2008, p.491; Yip, 2007). Finally, inheritance laws that have usually ignored stepchildren's rights have often provoked the emergence of covetous feelings between biological children and stepchildren (Benokraitis, 2008, p.491; Yip, 2007). However, life insurance policies allowing subscribers to control the allocation of their assets after their death in addition to minimizing the effects of estate tax measures might help stepparents in their endeavours to circumvent such predicaments (Yip, 2007).

The social behaviour of remarriage, or successive mating, highlights the human beings' commitment to religious and legal bounds to satisfy their sexual and somatic needs. Remarriage provides both spouses with the certitude that they will be tightly tied to partners resolved to secure both their biological children and their stepchildren, thanks to the social, economic, and legal pressures resulting from religious and legal seals. Moreover, these religious and legal links assure both spouses that their respective partners will not abscond from their new family and, thus, jeopardize their own existence in addition to the survival of their children. Consequently, remarriage is a cultural adaptation to selective agents such as environmental, community, and individual constraints. The progression of blended family trends may be defined thanks to the study of long and short-term macro and micro level forces acting on the American social, political, legal, and religious stages in addition to individuals' psychological motives. For example, is the current progression due to economic motivations or to the Evangelical movement's influence in politics?

9) Childfree couples (may address childfree lifestyles or workplace issues)

In a news item titled "America becomes a more 'adult-centered' nation" and published in the Christian Science Monitor on July 10, 2007, Ben Arnoldy depicts the current fertility trends' influences on the American political stage. Indeed, researches spotlight the marked emergence of both motivated and involuntary presence of childless families in the USA. Moreover, such findings stir up political agitation among conservatives because they fear an intellectual and financial rejection of social agendas associated with children.

First of all, researchers have noticed that the Total Fertility Rate has kept dwindling since the 1900s (Arnoldy, 2007; Benokraitis, 2008, p.324). Fertility rates have underscored the more and more obvious refusal of some American households to have children (Arnoldy, 2007; Benokraitis 2008, p.347). As a matter of fact, contemporaneous couples have no longer deemed that children might constitute a keystone for personal and marital accomplishments, an idea that has mainly been advocated by females (Arnoldy, 2007; Benokraitis, 2008, p.347). However, other causes leading to such low rates have resulted from inertia or indecision concerning marriage and pregnancy, as well (Benokraitis, 2008, p.348). Although federal welfare policies have still been detrimental to childless employees, employers often endeavour to establish equity, to the great benefit of childless women (Arnoldy, 2007). Furthermore, albeit people's motivations for being childless have mainly stemmed from their desire to achieve professional success other reasons have been displayed, such as an increased marital satisfaction, a noteworthy personal fulfilment, or the fear of legal parents' answerability for children's acts (Arnoldy, 2007; Benokraitis, 2008, p.347). Although this self-centred fervour for freedom have worried conservatives, fearing that childless couples might lobby against budgets aimed at securing children welfare and education, childless people might feel more interested by such programs than expected (Arnoldy, 2007). The bottom line is that proponents and opponents of childfree households have been alarmed about future American family patterns (Arnoldy, 2007). On the one hand, childfree people have wanted a social recognition and, on the other hand, conservatives have wanted to safeguard the traditional family model at the root of the American social fabric (Arnoldy, 2007).

In conclusion, the case pro-child vs. pro-freedom reflects another already present and controversial issue in the USA: pro-life vs. pro-choice. Although both sides can endlessly put forward numerous arguments in favour of their respective viewpoints, the real sociological problem lies in a political choice as regards the kind of society that has been preferred for four centuries, which has been embodied by the first Amendment of the US Constitution, namely freedom. However, sociological studies warn US citizens that if the current fertility rate continues declining, the US population might seriously shrink and might, for example, in the end, lack political influence on the international stage to secure US citizen's freedom. Consequently, should US policymakers impose a multi-children obligation on American families in addition to implementing subsidies for effective procreation, to the detriment of individuals' freedom? One could argue that such a political choice might be considered as undermining individuals' freewill. Nonetheless, to what extent are US citizens really free given that they undergo various macro-level forces deterring them from having children such as women's greater opportunities of career development or the abatement of the patriarchal influence as regards the obligation to perform the traditional role of wife-mother?

10) Disciplining children
In a news item titled "Study: Spanking may lead to sexual problems later" released in USA TODAY on February 28, 2008, Sharon Jayson portrays the current findings associated with the effectiveness and utility of spanking. The present stances as regards disciplinary methods, stemming from primary and secondary analyses based on research and educational literatures, are derived from at least diverse, if not opposite, results.

Although spanking has been an omnipresent disciplinary method in the USA (Benokraitis, 2008, p.360; Jayson, 2008), this physical punishment might gradually vanish along with the children development and might become quasi nonexistent when children enter adolescence (Benokraitis, 2008, p.360). In addition to securing immediate obedience to parents (Benokraitis, 2008, p.360), spanking might also take an active part in the process generating violence, insubordination and antisocial attitudes in children in the long term (Benokraitis, 2008, p.360; Jayson, 2008). Nonetheless, scholars and professionals' opinions vis-ŕ-vis the effectiveness and utility of spanking have been extremely divergent (Benokraitis, 2008, p.360; Jayson, 2008). On the one hand, spanking might be one of the many causal factors at the root of emotional or sexual matters during adulthood though most spanked children have never displayed long-term impairment (Jayson, 2008). On the other hand, advocates of non-physical discipline have contended that guidance rather than punishment might be more valuable because a high self-esteem, a well-delineated code of ethics, and a flexible decision-making methodology might empower children with the capacity to practically solve problems without resorting to aggressiveness as an adult (Benokraitis, 2008, p. 360). Finally, spanking as a disciplinary method might prove to be effective to raise well-mannered children though it has mainly been contingent on the way to administrate this corporal punishment (Benokraitis, 2008, p.360; Jayson, 2008).

Although spanking might be noxious from an ontogenic viewpoint, it could be an extraordinary adaptive process from a phylogenic point of view. Actually, one of the oldest written evidence of the necessity to perform corporal punishment lies in one of the biblical records. The transmission of the famous "spare the rod and spoil the child" saying (Proverbs 13-24) illustrates the fact that physical punishments have been recommended to educate children since at least the sixth century B.C.E. If spanking was so harmful for the development of children, it should have not survived until now for it would be too noxious for an individual's future reproduction. Consequently, what are the functions of spanking and how does it impact on individual's chances of survival and reproduction? Among the immediate functions of spanking, one could claim, for example, that it guarantees the almost instantaneous obedience on the part of the child or that it allows parents to air their frustrations. As far as long-term effects are concerned, spanking could be considered by many indigent parents living in environments with numerous selective agents, such as poverty-stricken and neighbourhoods deprived of safe places for letting children play, as a lesser evil when it comes to be sure that their children do not sneak away from their household. Such an attitude tends to support the "kin altruism" hypothesis assuming that individuals adopt particular behaviours in the short-term to safeguard their relatives' life in the long-term and, thus, secure the transmission of their genes. Finally, research may investigate to what extent individuals should employ spanking given the environment they live in.

Letters / In search of a business mentor. Cover letter to prospective employers [2]

Hello,

Could you give me some feedback?
Is this letter insufficiently or excessively aggressive for an American business audience?

Thank you in advance
Frederic

-------------

In search of a business mentor

Could you share with me your professional acumen? I need constructive advice for accelerating the pace of my career development. The major characteristics of my academic and professional career are presented in the following document, which I have especially designed for the purpose of enlightening you about my current situation.

First, let me introduce myself to you. I am Frederic Cuissinat, a thirty-four year-old French citizen who lives in cohabitation in the environs of the French capital city, Paris. As far as my education, I passed a competitive examination of the French Department of Defence when I was sixteen and studied electronics at a training centre for civilians of the French Army (Centre de Formation des Armements Terrestres). I graduated with a Certificate in Electronics, a Certificate in Measurement, and a High School Diploma in Electronics.

Subsequently, I worked for GIAT Industries (now known as Nexter) on the French main battle tank "Leclerc" for eleven years. I was a Test Operator (as both Gunner and Commander) for three years, a Maintenance Operator for three years, and a Measurement Technician for the last five years. I also fulfilled my military service duty as the secretary of the Chief of the Military Resources Division at the Regional Headquarters Department of the Army in Lyon, France, for ten months. After having been made redundant, I worked as a planning manager for several companies for three years.

However, considering that activities disconnected from the Defence industry clearly lack intellectual interest and that a bachelor's degree was crucial, I entered the American Military University (a regionally and nationally accredited online university offering distance learning programs). I will obtain an undergraduate Certificate in Family Studies in June 2008. As a sophomore with a 3.90 GPA, I am going to declare a major in Intelligence Studies. I have made these academic choices with the willingness to successfully broach the psychological, sociological, political, and economic perspectives of intelligence analysis. My academic achievements have also aroused my curiosity in the strategic denial and deception applications employed in medieval Japan; furthermore, I have been considering learning Japanese.

Notwithstanding the remarkable efforts of my common law wife who had provided for our couple, she was made redundant recently. Consequently, I really do necessitate landing a job to support our couple. At this very point, your help will prove to be inestimable. Indeed, I think I could use a multidisciplinary approach to provide open source intelligence on military-industrial, social, or political issues in the francophone sphere (France, Canada, Africa), focusing on discovering opportunities or threats for companies. Moreover, I could actively take part in the expansion and success of a company by developing and exploiting competitive advances to insure a firm's superiority. May I ask for your opinion and advice? And, do you know vacant jobs of Open Source / Foreign Media analyst in the Defence industry for bicultural or bilingual profiles like me (I scored 97 on the TOEFL iBT / Test of English as a Foreign Language, the most widely accepted English-language test in the world)? Or, even better a private or corporate philanthropic sponsor?

Finally, I thank you for having taken the time to read to this email. I have endeavoured to concisely provide you with sufficient data to discuss my situation and potential opportunities. Nevertheless, this document is only an Ariadne's thread and I am actually willing to pursue the dialogue with you.

Best regards

Writing Feedback / Evaluation of my father and mother's parenting style - essay [4]

Hello,

Could you please read my essay and give me some feedback?

The prompt is:

Can you describe the parenting style that you were brought up with- was it really effective and what could have made it better?

Thank you in advance
Frederic

-------------

Analyzing the parenting style that my parents employed with me is far from being a simple task. Indeed, the assessment of the very nature and extent of my parents' parenting style requires identifying and criticizing its essential elements in addition to the relations between them. By examining my parents' objectives, it will appear that the parenting style they utilized from my early childhood to my early adulthood was what seemed to be the best system for raising a first-born child. This is important because it may provide a deeper understanding of the evolutionary theory on parenting. The elements that are to be explored are associated with ethical and academic education in addition to emotional commitment.

First, my parents focused on the development of a set of standards of morality. That is to say that they kept stating that I had to behave "well". The sources to which they referred to were catholic principles and their prior practical experiences of relationships in society. For instance, I had to follow the biblical Ten Commandments although they highlighted the fact that lying was not always necessarily a bad thing in one's life because each situation should be appraised in relation to its idiosyncratic factors. Consequently, whether I liked it or not in those days, I finally started acting according to the moral code that they had designed for me. Since, hitherto, I have benefited from agreeable relations with most of the people to whom I have been acquainted and that I have never been involved in any issues associated with law enforcement, I deem that my parents have achieved their goals vis-ŕ-vis morality.

Second, as my parents were not graduated from high school and as both of them had to occupy two positions for providing for my two younger sisters and me, they especially valued academic achievement. They endeavoured to promote every single realization in school, whatever its actual worth may be. Furthermore, they incited me into working hard for succeeding in my academic life. For instance, they warmly supported me when I decided to take a competitive examination for entering into a high school of the French Defence Department when I was sixteen. Therefore, their behaviour concerning scholarship involvement not only helped me to land an exciting job as a test operator on the French main battle tank Leclerc for Giat Industries but also incited me into persevering into upgrading my command of the English language. Given that I have been studying at an online American college, I estimate that their parenting style concerning academic education was a success.

Third, despite their adverse socio-economic impediments in life, my parents' desire was that my affective life could become as healthy as their loving relationship. Through the exemplarity of their affectionate behaviour on a daily basis, they provided me with an emotional framework for dealing with love in a respectful, warm way. For instance, when I introduced my girlfriend to them and said that we wanted to cohabit, they sincerely welcomed my girlfriend and our decision to live together. Consequently, their demonstration of their loving feelings for me certainly participated in my emotional development in addition to the resilience of my present relation since my girlfriend has become my common-law wife. Since my common-law wife and I have happily had a joint household for seven years, I consider that my parents' parenting style concerning emotional and conjugal life is a complete achievement.

Finally, my parents' choices as regards parenting have had extensive consequences for my ontogenic development and minute effects on the phylogenic development of the human species. My parents' behaviour could be described as an "authoritative" style, such as defined by academic researchers as Supple and Small (2006). This model has been popularized in the mass media as the "consultant" parent by educational coaches such as Michael Riera, Foster Cline, and Jim Fay. Concisely presented, parents parenting their children in this manner are both highly supportive and controlling (Hastings, McShane, Parker, & Ladha, 2007), namely they enforce stringent standards of behaviour along with positive reinforcement. I am not in a position to contend that anything could have made it better because I deem that from an evolutionary point of view, they acted in what seemed the most appropriate manner given the conditions they faced in their ecological niche. Indeed, they satisfied my immediate physiological needs in addition to providing me with suitable behavioural tools to meet my physiological and somatic needs in my future life as an adult. Consequently, one could estimate that they have contributed to increase my reproductive success and, thus, play a part in the preservation of the phylogenic development of the human species.

Andrew J Supple, Stephen A Small. (2006). The Influence of Parental Support, Knowledge, and Authoritative Parenting on Hmong and European American Adolescent Development. Journal of Family Issues, 27(9), 1214-1232. Retrieved February 7, 2008, from Research Library database. (Document ID: 1142425001).

Paul D Hastings, Kelly E McShane, Richard Parker, Farriola Ladha. (2007). Ready to Make Nice: Parental Socialization of Young Sons' and Daughters' Prosocial Behaviors With Peers. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 168(2), 177-186,188,190-200. Retrieved February 7, 2008, from Research Library database. (Document ID: 1365375561).

Writing Feedback / Experience in life creating a strong memory [2]

Hello,

Could you please read my essay and give me some feedback?

The prompt is:

Each person has had an experience in life that created a positive memory, or a negative memory. Please describe the event and why it made an impact on you. Write the event as if you were submitting it for the next Chicken Soup book. In the last paragraph, or two, write why you remember it, and if it has made an impact upon your life and behavior as an adult.

Thank you in advance
Frederic

-------------

I am a French man who has been studying at an online American university. This requires a lot of hard work to ameliorate my command of the English language in addition to my comprehension of the American culture. Among the different methods I usually utilize so as to perfect and enrich my vocabulary and grammar, I particularly enjoy watching American and English television shows and running commentaries. A few months ago, an episode of the series "Everwood", which was titled "Daddy's little Girl" especially took me aback. As a matter of fact, the plot reminded me of an event that happened during my early childhood.

When I was six, my first teacher started teaching us the basic educational abilities. Obviously, she introduced us to the French alphabet and its inherent difficulties. Indeed, French language sometimes requires that one ignores the presence of some letters when reading. On the contrary, one has to pronounce some especially complicated combinations of letters according to stringent, incomprehensible rules that are littered with exceptions. Finally, when this goal is achieved, one is still faced with other predicaments such as an incredibly obscure jungle of grammar and syntax rules. All this intricacy represents an actual challenge for a six-year-old child.

Therefore, as any of my classmates, I experienced great pains on my way to the bigger boys' heaven, i.e. the first grade. However, at variance with my counterparts, my progression was not as fast as theirs was. Indeed, other children could rely on their parents to support their efforts on a daily basis through additional readings and supplementary exercises. Unfortunately, my parents were not educated and they had to occupy two positions to provide for my two young sisters and me. Furthermore, their schedules did not meet and only one of them could be at home to take care of us when we were at home. Consequently, not only did our parents spend most of their time at home carrying out the domestic drudgeries but their somewhat impaired literacy prevented them from helping us when reading and writing was involved.

Subsequently, my classmates, who were far from appreciating the nature and extent of my parents' predicament, did not comprehend why my progress did not evolve at the same pace as theirs. When our teacher asked for me to read, I experienced great difficulties in deciphering the words. My plight rapidly became a source of mockeries on the part of my classmates. The more they ridiculed me, the more I was ashamed and stumbled on the words. Their amusement, sometimes tinged with genuine contempt, kept undermining my confidence in my aptitude for reading.

However, fortunately for me, our teacher, Miss Garagnon, was more than a teacher: she was a dedicated educator and communicator. Indeed, she observed that despite my hurdles I had never lost my motivation. She was determined to discover the quality and degree of my difficulties by asking me a few questions about my life outside the classroom. She elucidated the causes of my impediments and decided to help me. Accordingly, she spoke to my parents and provided me with the opportunity to spend one supplementary hours every day after the class. Additionally, she invited me to a reading group for youngsters on Saturday mornings.

Not only did my reading skills significantly develop in a relatively short amount of time but my assurance also kept augmenting. A few years later, when I was ten, I started learning English at school and I am now sufficiently competent to undertake a college education in an American university. Moreover, I have endeavoured to perpetuate Miss Garagnon's legacy by volunteering through coaching young children who have failed in their early school career. Every day, on my way home after work, I spend a couple of hours in a community centre to help children make their homework.

Beyond her immediate and applicable aid, this teacher, above all, taught me something fundamental for my present and future life. As a matter of fact, in those days, she gave me a lifebelt with which I have managed to preserve myself from drowning into the vicissitudes of life. Notwithstanding Miss Garagnon's decease twenty years ago, her acts are a still vivid memory. Therefore, when I watched the episode of "Everwood" with Delhia, a nine-year-old character, describing her mother as her greatest hero, I realized the extent to which one's behaviour with children could be influential. Despite expressions of love and concern for children may only be an insignificant gesture for adult benefactors, it will certainly remain forever engraved on the young beneficiaries' memory.

Writing Feedback / In Love within the Law [2]

Hello,

Could you please read my essay and give me some feedback?

The prompt is:

During the course of the session, you will be required to write an academic paper on an aspect of family communication of your choosing

Thank you in advance
Frederic

-------------

In Love within the Law: Relationship Challenges, Interpersonal Communication, and Family Law Practice

Globalization not only affects the economic life of nations on the international stages but also permeates the private sphere in several ways (Dau-Schmidt & Brun, 2006). Among these numerous implications, transnational migration has a significant impact on existing and forthcoming families (Segal & Mayadas, 2005). Indeed, people from extremely different cultures meet, become friends, and even sometimes fall in love (Segal & Mayadas, 2005). Consequently, skills associated with family communication may turn out to be of great use not only for family members but also for the professionals involved in the legal regulation of family issues. Thanks to the examination of strategies overcoming barriers to effective communication between culturally diverse family members, it becomes possible to appreciate the benefits generated by research on intercultural communication skills. This field of study may become of particular importance for researchers who endeavour to discover efficient peaceful settlements of conflicting situations stemming from misunderstandings and miscommunications that occur between intimate partners from different cultures. Their findings concerning appropriate strategies for overcoming barriers to effective communication between culturally diverse family members could help legal mediators develop competences of comprehension, acceptation, and adaptation in their practice of Alternative Dispute Resolution solutions, from premarital to post-divorce issues.

Comprehension can be achieved thanks to the development of skills aiming at expand one's knowledge of people with different worldviews. A first step in the search for understanding the cultural expectations of individuals may be to seek information about their culture since intercultural communication is a source of uncertainty (Neuliep & Ryan, 1998). For this reason, once a working knowledge of the indigenous culture has been built up, it may be constructive to ask questions to one's interlocutors and, above all, carefully listen to their answers to reduce uncertainty. Then, it becomes essential to integrate this collection of heteroclite elements into a "third culture" (Beebe, Beebe, & Redmond, 2008). The successful assimilation and implementation of this transactional model makes possible the acquirement of theoretical framework allowing the most proper transcription of messages from an individual to another one. Consequently, legal professionals who are adept at learning foreign cultures' worldviews in addition to clarify situations thanks to questioning and active listening can diminish uncertainty between them and their clients or between clients. Thus, they can ameliorate their relational empathy, which can allow them to create common grounds for subsequent actions. For instance, a legal mediator who demonstrates a proper use of comprehension may not only be able to appreciate the apprehension experienced by an American citizen who expresses the desire to let his fiancée of Russian extraction know that he would like her to sign a premarital agreement but also to allay the fiancée's suspicion.

Acceptation is a difficult competence to attain and it requires a strong motivation. First and foremost, acceptation necessitates accentuating cultural relativism and precluding oneself from judgmental assertions against one's interlocutor (Beebe, Beebe, & Redmond, 2008). However, one must keep in mind that it is damaging to ignore the presence of cultural differences when dialoguing with an interlocutor (Ucok, 2006). Finally, an objective acceptation of cultural gaps can greatly mature through the toleration of the vagaries of life, such as delays, hesitations, and ambiguity (Beebe, Beebe, & Redmond, 2008). The recognition of interlocutors' distinctive cultural characteristics permits to enhance the motivation to be mindful when encountering people with various cultural backgrounds and, thus, the impetus to acknowledge the interlocutors' aspirations and suggestions (Ucok, 2006). Accordingly, legal professionals who are practised at accepting the singularity of diverse worldviews may be in a position to resolve issues provoked by a divorce between a wife of Middle-East origin and a husband of American extraction, such as the utmost divisive issue concerning child custody and child education. The capacity to accept cultural values (i.e. an eastern matriarchal vision of education) or factors (i.e. the fundamentalism of the Mormon religious movement) into their practice, may allow lawyers to find original compromises that satisfy both clients, such as a bilingual education or a dual religious instruction.

Adaptation is a practical implementation of the comprehension and acceptation competences. First of all, comprehension and acceptation provide the essential tolerance and plasticity for intercultural communication (Thomas & Inkson, 2005). Indeed, individuals demonstrating these abilities are not only other-oriented but are also sufficiently flexible to predictively and reactively adapt to novel situations in creative ways (Beebe, Beebe, & Redmond, 2008). Furthermore, their experience allows them to employ cognitive and emotional processes such as social decentring and empathy so as to assimilate their interlocutors' perspectives and feelings (Mark, 1989). As a consequence, they are equipped to anticipate or adjust their own verbal and non-verbal communication to their interlocutors whatever they cultural backgrounds may be. Therefore, legal professionals who apply these principles to their activities may be capable to adapt their communication so as to, on the one hand, explain their middle-class American clients, who want to adopt a baby, the Chinese legal procedure in plain language and, on the other hand, transcript their clients' practical expectations into the formal language and documents demanded by the Chinese authorities.

Theoretical and applied research on communication for resolving family issues is beneficial for the private sphere all along the life course of families in addition to the professional circles regulating legal issues concerned with families. Lawyers' communication competences in judicial and mediated dispute resolution may be highly profitable to their clients but also to their law firms. As a matter of fact, intercultural communication skills may contribute to the clients' satisfaction from premarital to post-divorce issues and actively participate in their loyalty whenever they may necessitate legal actions. In addition, applied research on communication for resolving family issues in intercultural contexts may permit legal professionals to expediently widen and publicize their offers of service aimed at facilitating their clients' mandatory legal formalities and at meeting their clients' expectations as regards avant-garde Alternative Dispute Resolution solutions that abide by family law in addition to respect individuals' emotional rights, such as couple's communication counselling and parenting plan mediation.

Writing Feedback / Slides 26 -> 30 - Timeline violence and intimate/family relationships [2]

Hello,

Could you please read my essay and give me some feedback for the last slides?

The prompt is:

THIS FINAL PROJECT WILL BE COMPLETED IN POWERPOINT IN A TIMELINE FORMAT
Each student will develop a timeline of "The Evolution of Violence" and this will include research and information dating from the caveman time to the year 2004. Your timeline will review history regarding gender differences over time, gender roles over time, power, control, political gender issues how this has affected intimate/family relationships. You will also need to discuss if you believe the events on your timeline are socially or biologically determined and why. Include at least 30 events in time

Thank you in advance
Frederic

-------------

26) 1994 - United Nations Conference on Population and Development
- Held in Cairo, Egypt, this conference focused on world population control and on world reproductive health. Abortion, pregnancy, childbirth were the crux of the matter as regards the problems encountered by women on the globe.

- Religious morale was question on the face of the potential abortive means that could be employed for controlling the world population in addition to enhancing women's status.

- Women's reproductive health surfaced on the political stage and definitively came out of the scientific circles studying unwanted pregnancies.
- This conference permitted the global recognition of the population issue in addition to politico-ethic correlates of women's status.

27) 1995 - Fourth World Conference on Women
- Fourth of a series of conferences sponsored by the United Nations on the status of women and that was held in Beijing, China. United Nations delegates had organized a Platform for Action that aimed at improving equality and opportunity for women.

- Thanks to this conference, one hundred and eighty nine governments and more than five thousand representatives from two thousand one hundred non-governmental organizations addressed issues related to women's status all over the world such as women's rights, poverty, decision-making, in addition to the girl-child and violence against women.

- The main findings were that patriarchal ideologies were far from having disappeared, even in democratic and equalitarian societies.
- The United Nations and the governments participating at the conference promoted political and religious evolutions in values, practices and priorities for enhancing women's status.

28) 1996 - Gun proscription in the USA for abusers
- The United States Congress passed the Domestic Violence Offender Gun Ban. It amended the Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act that prohibited individuals convicted of a misdemeanour crime of domestic violence, or who were under a restraining order for domestic violence, from delivering, transporting, and owning guns or ammunitions.

- This law was an actual challenge for its proponents because it was in opposition to the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution that authorized American citizens to bear arms.

- Whatever their gender, domestically violent people were deprived from their constitutional right to own, carry, and utilize arms.
- The Domestic Violence Offender Gun Ban was the first law that clearly affected all Americans' political awareness and initiated a nationwide debate about the nature and extent of domestic violence in the United States of America.

29) 1990s - Human ecology
- Studies depending on the ecological system theory argue that domestic violence stems from the interactions between individuals and their environment such as economy, community, politics, and culture.

- Domestic violence is a dysfunctional adaptation to micro and macro environmental cues. Therefore, domestic violence could be removed from society thanks to policies dwelling on teaching people who tend to display aggressiveness, how peacefully adjust to their environment.

- Integration of the biological composition into a theoretical framework focusing on domestic violence.
- Application of pro-social behaviours previously observed in non-human species to human beings.

30) 2000s - Multi-analytic approaches
- The development of computer science in addition to the expansion of various intellectual approaches as regards the study of domestic violence leads to the perception that integrative frameworks are much more necessary.

- Current research benefits from numerous sound theoretical models whose extent and value can be evaluated thanks to the employ of meta-analysis. Computer programs permit to integrate macro, micro, meso, and exosystemic levels into cross-sectional and longitudinal studies.

- Biological and social causal factors in addition to the consequences on human beings' biology and society are, on the one hand, less and less differentiated, and more scientifically scrutinized than they have ever been, on the other.

Writing Feedback / Timeline violence and intimate/family relationships - slides 1 -> 25 [2]

Hello,

Could you please read my essay and give me some feedback?

The prompt is:

THIS FINAL PROJECT WILL BE COMPLETED IN POWERPOINT IN A TIMELINE FORMAT
Each student will develop a timeline of "The Evolution of Violence" and this will include research and information dating from the caveman time to the year 2004. Your timeline will review history regarding gender differences over time, gender roles over time, power, control, political gender issues how this has affected intimate/family relationships. You will also need to discuss if you believe the events on your timeline are socially or biologically determined and why. Include at least 30 events in time

Thank you in advance
Frederic

-------------

A brief historical overview of violence and intimate/family relationships

1) c. 2,500,000 - 10,000 B.C.E. - First humans
- Scientists speculate that there was a rough equality between men and women in nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes living during the Palaeolithic Age. Moreover, although the first specimens of the Homo sapiens sapiens species favoured the R-selected reproductive strategy, monogamy as the normal standard in those days still remains dubious.

- The overall severity, frequency and focus of violence are still vague.
- Physical anthropologists attempt to reveal the biological causes of violence thanks to inference from comparison between pathologies in current human or non-human primates and prehistoric endocasts. Furthermore, physical anthology also provides potential explanations thanks to the study of contemporaneous non-human primates' behaviour.

- The social causes of violence may be apprehended thanks to ethnologists' works on current primitive societies.

2) c. 10,000 - 4000 B.C.E. - Emergence of civilization
- The agricultural revolution during the Neolithic initiated the gradual disappearance of the nomadic way of life to the benefit of settled communities.
- Systematic agriculture was performed by men while women undertook household tasks. Consequently, the considerable charge assumed by men empowered them with a dominant role in Neolithic societies.

- Physical anthropologists attempt to reveal the biological causes of violence thanks to inference from comparison between pathologies in current human or non-human primates and prehistoric endocasts. Furthermore, physical anthology also provides potential explanations thanks to the study of contemporaneous non-human primates' behaviour.

- The social causes of violence may be apprehended thanks to ethnologists' works on current primitive societies. In addition, archaeologists endeavour to decipher the signification of Neolithic artefacts and constructions that seem tightly associated with the growing role of religion, division of labour, and social stratification.

3) About 2000 B.C.E. - First legal recognitions of marriage and the family in human history
- Among the first written law codes developed by Sumerian city-states in Mesopotamia, the code of Hammurabi, based on the principle of retribution (i.e. lex talionis) and punishments, largely dwelled on stringent regulations on marriage and the family.

- These patriarchal theocracies established a new social structure based on domination according to economic power and gender and subdued their opponents thanks to well-disciplined armies of foot soldiers.

- Biology may be considered a causal factor of violence as far as homeostatic drives are concerned, given that control over water supplies and arable land were primordial to survive and expand.

- The strict obedience of offspring and women to men was officially acknowledged as standard.

4) 1500 B.C.E. - 100 B.C.E - Hellenistic Period
- The primary function of the nuclear family was to produce new citizens for the city-states as stated by the laws. Moreover, the law required that women bear children, take care of their family and children in addition to be supervised by a man in their activities outside their dwelling.

- Although most philosophers rejected equality between men and women and women were excluded from public life, women participated in religious life and gained new opportunities in the economic, scholar, and artistic spheres. Western civilization defined patriarchy as the social norm.

- Sex at birth assigned one's position in the dominant or subordinated position.
- Although heterosexuality was demanded for women, men's homosexuality was authorized because it aimed at introducing young males into the male world of political and military dominance.

5) 500 B.C.E - 500 C.E. Roman Empire
- Romans created standards of justice based on natural law that applied to all people on their territory and instituting the paterfamilias as the head of the family, which was at the heart of the Roman social structure, in addition to the legal authority over his wife and children.

- The Roman military and political expansion all over the Mediterranean laid the foundations of the future western legal systems
- Sex at birth assigned one's position in the dominant or subordinated position in the same way as in the Hellenic Empire.
- Patriarchal values of Roman law combined into local political frameworks, affirming the preponderance of males in Mediterranean societies.

6) 0 - 500 Development of Christianity
- Christianity emerged and spread within the framework of the Roman world, favouring the concept of monotheism in addition to carrying the ethical notions of humility, charity, and brotherly love.

- The diffusion of Christianity in the wake of the Roman expansion formed the basis for the value system of the medieval western civilization.
- God was seen as deciding individuals' sex and therefore place in society.
- Husband's patriarchal authority was granted by the Christian Church, asserting that the emergence and transmission of the original sin allowed men to subdue women.

7) 500 - 1500 The Middle Ages and the Renaissance
- During the Middle Ages, Christianity was an integral part of the fabric of the European society. Catholicism in Western Europe declares that revealed truths of the Christian religion set out in the Bible were not only authoritative but also soundly supported by reasons independent of faith.

- Christianity implemented dominance of aristocracy over the lower classes and of men over women and European kingdoms enforced these policies.
- God was viewed as planning individuals' sex and place in society.
- Social rules reflected the ancient Roman law, God's will, and terrestrial kings' will of divine authority. Women remained subordinated to men according to the Biblical vision of the family.

8) 1500 - 1600 The Reformation
- Christian humanism, whose goal was the reform of Christendom, promoted the emergence of the Reformation in Europe, headed by Luther and Calvin.
- Protestantism placed the family at the centre of human life and emphasized mutual love between married heterosexual intimate partners.
- God's command was that wife is to compel to her husband and please him.
- The Protestant Reformation did not markedly modify the women's subordinate position in the European society.

9) 1700 - 1800 Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment
- Modern European feminism emerged from the works of the English writer Mary Wollstonecraft. She argued that since all human beings were given an innate reason, including women, as a consequence women were also entitled to the same rights as men in terms of political, educational, and economic attributions. Olympe de Gouges (pen name employed by the French writer Marie Gouze) demonstrated against the sexist Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen through the redaction of the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen.

- The Philosophes promoted the diffusion of cosmopolitanism, tolerance, and reason thanks to social, legal, and political improvements in order to eradicate the pernicious Christian influence on social issues. For the first time in human history, women publicly claimed their right to equality with men and their desire to reject subordination to men.

- On the one hand, the French rationalism epitomized by Descartes favoured pure determinism, i.e. violence was rooted in one's biological background.
- On the other hand, the English empiricism exemplified by Locke promoted tabula rasa state at birth, i.e. violence was learnt.

10) 1824 - Denial of justice for battered women in the USA
- In the domestic violence case Bradley v. State, a court ruled that a husband had the right to batter his wife without being prosecuted.
- Through this judicial precedent, the United States of America legalized domestic violence on its territory.
- The American legal justice conspicuously promoted quasi-absolute patriarchy as standard of living for all American families in the US.
- Despite English and American Enlightened females' endeavours, the Anglo-Saxon world did not alter its commitment to the subjugation of women by men.

11) 1920s - Cultural evolution Ethologic instinct theory of aggression
- The nascent field of ethology, founded on the works of Lorenz and Tinbergen, argues that aggression is instinctive and is not a response to environmental stimuli but the discharge of a hydraulic drive.

- Violence is considered as one of the utmost important elements in the evolutionary development of species because aggression might be a means to adapt to the environment, survive in it and successfully reproduce.

- Although aggressiveness has biological bases and is therefore innate, domestic violence is perceived as a learnt behaviour that is transmitted from generation to generation.
- Domestic violence no longer appears as an abnormality but as a successful adaptation to a particular ecological niche.

12) 1920s and 1930s -Psychoanalytic instinct theory of aggression
- Freud's psychoanalysis asserts that the conflict between the life instinct (Eros) and the death instinct (Thanatos) because of the deprivation of intimate maternal care as an adult results in the displacement of individuals' aggression onto others.

- Although aggression can be avoided thanks to prior reduction of tension and excitation to a minimum through physical activities, psychoanalysis claims that women display a masochist need for experiencing violence, because aggression from their counterparts provides them with sexual gratification.

- Although the extent of the biological basis underlying the concepts of Eros, Thanatos, and masochism is not comprehensible, biological transmission of violence is acknowledged.
- Social interactions are viewed as the reflection of innate violent behaviours.

13) 1939 - Frustration-aggression hypothesis
- Dollard et al. transcribe some psychoanalytic concepts into learning theory terms by contending that aggression stems from frustrating events or situations and, reciprocally, frustration emerges from aggression.

- Domestic violence would result from a displaced aggression focusing on a weaker, safer target (i.e. often the female intimate partner) than the frustrating agent.

- This is an explanation that asexualizes the causal factors for perpetrating domestic violence.
- This hypothesis offers an alternative to the feminist theory by demonstrating that the pervasiveness of men's expression of violence stems from women's physical weakness and incapacity to defend themselves from their intimate partners.

14) 1964 - Rational choice
- Social-exchange theory claims that both offenders and victims, respectively, engage in or tolerate domestic violence because they deem that the benefits of such a relationship prevail over the costs that are generated by violence.

- Domestic violence is the lesser evil insofar as one expects commensurate return of one's behaviour. Therefore, domestic violence could be eliminated in meeting peculiar individuals' expectations as regards what seems a valuable relationship to them.

- One's sex has no demonstrated significant influence on one's involvement in violence.
- Economic theory of human behaviour emphasizes individual self-interest as the fundamental human motive for acting violently.

15) 1965 - Family dysfunction
- Some studies on domestic violence rely on Bandura's social learning theory and assert that domestic violence is learnt through one's witnessing or experience of violence in one's family of origin, the mass media, or with peers.

- Continuous exposure to abuse and violence during childhood contributes to the intergenerational transmission of violence from generation to generation. Consequently, domestic violence could be stopped thanks to policies aiming at protecting children from violent parents.

- Sex at birth does not determine one's likelihood to perpetrate abuse.
- Domestic violence results from personal cognitive processes, independently of one's sex.

16) 1966 - Aggressive cues
- Some research on domestic violence hinge on Berkowitz's aggressive-cue or cue-arousal theory and claim that frustration first produces painful anger that subsequently leads to aggression against one's intimate partner.

- This approach suggests that the presence of environmental cues are mandatory for initiating frustration which refines the frustration-aggression hypothesis, and denies the influence of learning as argued by the social learning theory.

- The biology underlying emotions triggers off aggressiveness and then domestic violence.
- Society influences the emergence of domestic violence because it is a source of cues but society is not the sole contributor (through learning) to domestic violence.

17) 1968 - Learnt helplessness
- Introduced by Martin E. P. Seligman et al., the learnt helplessness is an apathetic condition that results from an individual's confrontation with insoluble problems, or inescapable physical or emotional stress. The lack of visible emotions of this condition is reported to underlie depression.

- The acceptation of domestic violence from one's partner is a learnt behaviour that reinforces itself in the long run.
- Domestic violence seems the originator of biological consequences rather than the opposite.
- The victimization is considered as a social construct.

18) late 1960s - Women's movement
- A second wave of the women's movement puts forwards the feminist theory and contends that men assume a position of authority over women when addressing the aetiology of domestic violence.

- Men employ domestic violence because they are culturally encouraged to act this way. Accordingly, domestic violence could be eradicated thanks to the implementation of policies promoting equality between men and women.

- Sex at birth determines the appurtenance to either the dominant or the compliant gender.
- Domestic violence is purely a social construct that is rooted in the early history of human beings.

19) 1971 - Attribution bias
- The Zillman's excitation transfer theory suggests that an "aroused" person has some disposition to react aggressively and that the arousal is incorrectly attributed to the aggression-provoking person rather than to the correct source.

- Consequently, abusers attribute an improper intention to their intimate partner and, subsequently, perform retaliatory aggressions against them.
- Biology is the internal source of uncontrollable aggressiveness.
- However, social circumstances construct the misattribution of the initial intention.

20) Late 1970s - Socioeconomic status
- Scholars banking on the resource mobilization theory state that violent intimate partners usually command greater financial, educational, and social resources than victims do.
- Differences of socioeconomic status between intimate partners predispose the partner with the lowest status to be abused by the other one. Subsequently, an increase in abusers and victims' material resources could help them to abscond from domestic violence.

- Open new vistas on the comprehension of the existence of domestic violence in same-sex couples
- First attempt at explaining why domestic violence is not only widespread in destitute neighbourhoods but also in wealthy families

21) 1980s - Psychopathology
- Thanks to the examination of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory profiles of abusive men, Bernard and Bernard highlight the high rate of male abusers with psychopathologies.

- It appears that domestic violence may tightly be related to psychological and behavioural dysfunctions occurring in mental disorder or in social disorganization.
- Medical pathologies emerge as potential causal factors involved in domestic violence.
- Tremendous progress of science as a whole and medical investigation in particular breach the "all social" approaches.

22) Mid 1980s - Mandatory arrest laws in the USA
- Some states in the USA implement laws that incite police officers into arresting apparent domestic abusers when their violent acts are not even crimes. A few states instigate the adoption and enforcement of mandatory arrest laws.

- Compulsory arrest laws are the manifestation of the recognition of the severity and frequency of domestic violence in the American society.
- The scientific reliability of biological and social factors linked to domestic violence are at the heart of fierce political and legal debates concerned with the implementation of such laws, in addition to the disputability of some theoretical perspectives as regards individuals' privacy.

23) Late 1980s - Battered woman syndrome
- Feminists appropriate the learnt helplessness theory to provide an explanation for battered women's aversion to become estranged from their abusers. Moreover, victims are reported as suffering from posttraumatic stress disorders that are the direct consequence of their victimization.

- The study of victims becomes as central as the one of abusers for scholars conducting research on domestic violence.
- Domestic violence is reported to have severe consequences on the victims' mental and physical health.
- The pressure exerted by abusers and society as a whole opens new vistas on what seemed inconsistent behaviour on the part of victims of domestic violence.

24) 1993 - Global denunciation of violence against women
- The United Nations World Council of Human rights declared acts of violence against women as being a violation of human rights.
- Although the denunciation of violence against women remained a symbolic gesture since there was no obligation for the international community to conform to the United Nations' decisions, this act obviously affirmed the willingness of many actors on the world stage to recognize the universality of equality of rights between women and men.

- Individuals' sex and gender gradually commenced losing their significance as promoter or inhibitor of accession to the top of the social scale.
- Social factors favouring gender discrimination tended to be curbed by the powerful pressure exerted by globalization.

25) 1994 - First federal law against domestic violence in the USA
- The US Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act, part of the federal Crime Victims Act.
- This law not only subsidized agencies and services but also legal remedies for victims of violence in addition to enhancing criminal justice and legal justice people's awareness to these crimes.

- Biological and social influences can be used to incriminate and/or discredit victims and perpetrators of violence at trials.
- Biological and social influences that are utilized in the courts reflect the contemporaneous weight of scientific research, judicial precedents, and political involvement.

Writing Feedback / An evolutionary perspective on domestic violence - essay [2]

Hello,

Could you please read my essay and give me some feedback?

The prompt is:

Discuss your thoughts about the cycle of violence. What are your suggestions to help stop generational violence? What is your community/state/workplace doing in terms of this issue and is it working? What is new in the year 2007 that could help with this issue? Please be specific and give examples.

Thank you in advance

Frederic

-------------

Eros and Thanatos struggle: an evolutionary perspective on domestic violence integrating psychoanalytic concepts.

Conventional wisdom in western countries considers domestic violence as a scourge that should be eradicated once and for all. Therefore, the executive, legislative, and judicial systems of these nations endeavour to determine the best means to reach this goal. However, a question has not been raised yet, though it could be useful to tackle the issue of violence between intimate partners. Although western worldviews generally deem that domestic violence is detrimental to individuals, to what extent is this consistent from a biological point of view? The integration of the psychoanalytic concepts of "Eros" and "Thanatos" into the evolutionary concept of "selfish gene" shed a new light on the intergenerational transmission of domestic violence. This is of tremendous importance because the subsequent findings may open new vistas for philosophical issues concerning the cultural acceptation of violence, in addition to a more practical management of domestic violence.

"Thanatos", the irrepressible drive towards dissolution, death, and aggression defined by psychoanalysis, may be apprehended as the transmission of "selfish" genes controlling extreme emotions such as aggressiveness. Genes favouring aggressiveness tend to make individuals prone to violence and more likely to retain their intimate partner along with them in their household thanks to the use of physical assaults. Moreover, these genes may also incite them into sexually abusing their intimate partner. Consequently, these individuals are bound to augment their reproductive success. Moreover, since they are apt to display a rather significant reproductive success, they pass their genes favouring aggressiveness on their offspring. The "selfish genes" make their way through generations albeit parents are bound to be jailed (for the abusers) or to be murdered (for the abused). In this case, should individuals be refrained from or even sentenced for something that they cannot consciously manage? Domestically violent partners might not be considered as criminals but rather as people who unfortunately have to abide the consequences of dominant genes favouring aggressiveness. Accordingly, research and discussions are needed to evaluate the extent to which our societies agree to accept the perpetration of domestic violence as an inherent human trait.

"Eros", the intractable drive towards self-preservation and sexual instinct described by psychoanalysis, may be understood as the transmission of "selfish" genes organizing the whole human organism's survival. Dominant genes promoting the satisfaction of homeostatic drives, such as sexual reproduction are liable to motivate individuals into accepting being physically abused because they enhance these individuals to preserve their position of principal intimate partner and, thus, their possibility to copulate with an utmost dominant partner. Furthermore, these individuals are all the more inclined to accept sexual abuse since they increase their reproductive success and pass their genes on their offspring. Subsequently, these "selfish genes" are transmitted from generation to generation although abusers are likely to be sentenced to prison terms or death penalty and abused are bound to be severely injured (both emotionally and physically) or killed. Therefore, should individuals be necessarily considered as abusers' involuntarily preys? Partners enduring domestic violence against them might not be systematically regarded as victims of socially learnt behaviours but rather as people who cannot counter the submerging force of their genes seeking to enhance the individuals' reproductive success and their own transmission. Consequently, research and discussions are also needed to assess the societies' desire to accept that domestically abused individuals may want to preserve this kind of relationship.

In France, the legislation now benefits from the "Loi du 4 avril 2006 renforçant la prévention et la répression des violences au sein du couple ou commises contre les mineurs" (Law dated April 4th, 2006, reinforcing the prevention and repression of violence within couples or committed against minors). This law aims at preventing and restricting domestic violence thanks to, among other aspects, the augmentation of the punishment (from 30 years to life imprisonment for murder) in addition to restrictive orders. Although this law seems quite persuasive as far as prevention of domestic violence is concerned, in no way does it take into account the biological factors triggering off violence between intimate partners. Such a law could even be more valuable, for example, thanks to the integration of chemical inhibitors restraining the production of testosterone.

Finally, practical policies aimed at tackling the issue of domestic violence may be better apprehended in the light of a "critical mass theory". Explicitly, domestic violence may be the result of the aggregate of genes' and memes' minute forces promoting their individuals transmission. Their endeavours for surviving end in the completely opposite goal, i.e. the vulnerability of the whole body, and the serious diminution of the human beings' differential reproductive success. This behaviour is reminiscent of flocks of starlings when they migrate. Consequently, policies aiming at curbing domestic violence should be inspired from wine growers' methods that lay emphasis on the birds, i.e. the genes and memes, rather than on the flock, i.e. the human being, to protect their vineyards. In this way, the alleged innate sadism and masochism of partners involved in domestic violence could be treated to the root of the problems. For instance, research could be conducted on means to introduce potential predators to genes controlling aggressiveness or on means to create a fierce competition between these genes thanks to the deprivation of available resources. However, such ideas might only be developed on condition that the actual modus operandi of gene transmission becomes discovered.

Writing Feedback / Cycle theory of violence & legal responsibility [2]

Hello,

Could you please read my essay and give me some feedback?

The prompt is:

Each student will write an essay that discusses the generational cycle of violence. This essay will include the stage/phase theories on violence patterns and will include relevant current research on this topic. Include if the research is noting the patterns of intergenerational violence to be socially learned or biological in nature.

Thank you in advance

Frederic

-------------

One flew over the research's nest: Is the legal responsibility of domestically violent partners correctly evaluated?

Conventional wisdom assumes that domestic violence occurs according to a cyclic pattern between intimate partners. The feminist Lenore Walker was one of the earliest scholars who tackled the issue of scientifically defining this pattern. She supported a "cycle theory of violence" consisting of three phases to explain the recurrence of abusive episodes between intimate partners. A first phase of tension building characterizes a gradual escalation of hostility between the partners. A second phase of battering epitomizes by the utilization of violence for exerting dominance. Finally, a third phase of honeymoon typifies the seeming conclusion of violence in addition to apologies. Such a theory is so clearly explicit that one could be tempted to overlook the factors that were at the origin of the earliest abusive event and why the frequency and severity of the subsequent episodes of domestic violence augment. It is hypothesized that a review of the current research on activators of aggressiveness might highlight common characteristics between recurrent heterosexual and homosexual abusers. It may help individuals' involved in the legal system, such as lawmakers and lawyers, to evaluate to what extent abusers are influenced by their genetic makeup or their environment, namely to what extent they can objectively be considered responsible for their acts. Two models appearing especially suitable to reveal the conditions that lead to the repetition of abusive events between intimate partners are presented. The first model derives from Locke's empiricism and a cognitive perspective whereas the second one derives from Descartes's nativism and a biological perspective.

Scholars have offered various theoretical models for apprehending the cycle theory of violence. The repetition of one's employment of domestically violent acts in homosexual and heterosexual relationships may stem from the education associated with one's gender. On the one hand, Low claims that aggressiveness is predominantly inculcated to males whereas self-reliance and obedience are primarily aimed at females (1989). That finding may explicate why males generally utilize submission, humiliation and intra-sexual menaces when they feel a potential infidelity on their partner's part (Buss & Shackelford, 1997). Moreover, men's perception of social support is one of the three pillars leading to their aggressiveness (O'Leary, Smith Slep, & O'Leary, 2007). Such findings highlight the homosexual and heterosexual males' repetitive employ of abuse against their intimate partners. On the other hand, Low underlines that mothers living within societies in which women really control their own resources do not induce their daughters into being docile (1989). Furthermore, Buss & Shackelford suggest that females display verbal signals of possession to ensure the retention of their intimate partners (1997). This behaviour associated with the greater confidence above-mentioned may explain why some homosexual and heterosexual females recurrently abuse their intimate partners. Accordingly, domestically violent partners may not be automatically fully responsible for their acts since they may have been taught to react this way. Cross-cultural and local examinations of learnt behaviours should be carefully investigated by individuals' involved in the legal system before contending that an individual is empowered with absolute free-will.

The recurrent utilization of abusive behaviours in one's heterosexual or homosexual relationships may be associated by personal experience. Indeed, the perpetration of violent acts against one's intimate partner is reported to strongly result from exposure to conduct disorders and domestic violence between parents, whatever one's gender may be (Ehrensaft, Cohen, Brown, Smailes, Chen, & Johnson, 2003). Furthermore, marital adjustment is also suggested to be among the most significant determinants of aggression against one's intimate partner (O'Leary, Smith Slep, & O'Leary, 2007). These examples are only an infinitesimal sample of the long list of personal experiences that can alter the course of one's commitment to perpetration of domestic violence. As far as the cycle theory of violence is concerned, the multitude of causes gives an insight into the myriad of possible situations generating violence between intimate partners. Moreover, personal problem-solving and decision-making systems that have been constructed by individuals to address their intimate partners' daily issues are not necessarily the fruit of conscious thoughts, but may rather be the consequence of phenomena such as social learning. This substantiates the assumption that individuals may employ domestic violence simply because it fits these cognitive and behavioural patterns. Accordingly, individuals' involved in the legal system may keep in mind that perpetrators of domestic violence may be "puppets" of their environment and, thus, they may have not be given the same education or experience as people who do not employ violence against their intimate partners.

The impact of neuroanatomical impairments on the prevalence of aggressiveness has been showed by researchers. Antisocial, violent, and psychopathic behaviour may be the consequence of lesions affecting the amygdalae (Miczek, De Almeida, Kravitz, Rissman, De Boer, Raine, 2007). Indeed, as one of the basal ganglia in the cerebral hemispheres, amygdalae regulate moral cognition in addition to perceiving and adjusting emotion. Coccaro, McCloskey, Fitzgerald, Phan point out that individuals with a history of impulsive aggressive behaviour experience a dysfunction of the amygdala-orbitofrontal cortex that induces them into violence when faced with ecologically-valid social threat signals such as their intimate partners' angry faces (2007). This inappropriate activation of affective defensive responses, also supported by (Strueber, Lueck, Roth, 2006), may highlight why homosexual and heterosexual partners of both sexes utilize violence against their intimate partners whereas their own life is not in jeopardy. Phillips contends that violence could be linked to undersized amygdalae (2006), because he notes that males and females with small amygadalae carry a variant of a gene that has been associated with aggression. However, individuals undergoing borderline personality disorders (characterized by psychological instability, impulsiveness, and aggressiveness) have not significantly under or overdeveloped amygadalae, neither problems in its structure (New, Hazlett, Buchsbaum, Goodman, Mitelman, Newmark, Trisdorfer, Haznedar, MKoenigsberg, Flory, Siever, 2007). Therefore, the volume and the constitution of individuals' amygdalae cannot be considered as the sole predictor of violence. Consequently, individuals' involved in the legal system should consider a close examination of the domestically violent partners' neuroanatomy before claiming their entire responsibility when these people are engaged in the judicial process. Indeed, a violent lesbian could be blamed, at first sight, because she allegedly does not want to put an end to the cycle of violence whereas she is, from a biological point of view, incapable to stop her aggressiveness.

The possibility that the major neurotransmitters, such as norepinephrine (also known as noradrenaline) and serotonin, might generate aggressiveness has been studied. Whereas Haden claims that a great number of researches tend to establish that levels of norepinephrine affect the appearance of aggressive behaviour (2007), Bond argues that impulsive aggression are tightly connected with low levels in serotonin (2005). These conclusions could support the hypothesis that abusers of both sexes could not entirely be accountable for their aggressive behaviour. Indeed, a mutation in one of the genes intervening in the production of neurotransmitters, such as the one coding the monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) catalysing the oxidative deamination of norepinephrine and serotonin, can lead to a rare behavioural syndrome linked with chromosomes X (Rosenberg, Templeton, Feigin, Lancet, Beckmann, Selig, Hamer, & Skorecki, 2006). Rosenberg and al. state that this condition not only hampers individuals' impulse control but also sparks off aggressiveness in addition to mental retardation on the form of the Brunner syndrome, which is a borderline mental retardation (2006). However, deficiencies in serotonin can be sequels of childhood trauma, such as neglect and abuse (Strueber, Lueck, Roth, 2006). This insufficiency associated with enduring neurobiological consequences of other childhood trauma, such as an excess of norepinephrine, can transcribe one's perception of abandonment into responses of terror and fury (Dutton, 2002). Consequently, permanent deficiencies or excesses of certain neurotransmitters may explain why heterosexual and homosexual abusers of both sexes employ aggressiveness with their intimate partners. Moreover, such long-term biochemical differences may also explicate why domestic violence is resurgent in relationships between intimate partners. Nevertheless, these biochemical differences are not necessarily connected with early trauma experience or genetic variations since various antisocial behaviours may stem from substance abuse. Consequently, although domestic violence may partially relieve perpetrators of answerability because they do not apprehend the severity of their acts, individuals involved in the legal system also have to estimate whether offenders are in a position to refrain from abusing their intimate partners or not.

The influence of high level of hormones such as testosterone on male aggressive behaviour has been demonstrated. High levels of the masculine sex hormone predict aggressiveness in males (Sjöberg, Ducci, Barr, Newman, Dell'Osso, Virkkunen, & Goldman, 2008). Moreover, these males tend to be more willing to engage in aggressive behaviours than females (McDermott, Johnson, Cowden, Rosen, 2007). These findings support the idea that abusive males towards their opposite or same-sex partners may not be completely responsible for their acts. Indeed, a husband who would suffer from a tumour producing high levels of androgens, and especially testosterone, would be more likely to be aggressive. In the same way, a professional football player who is accustomed to employing injections of steroids to ameliorate his performances would also have high levels of testosterone. Consequently, a growing tumour that is not removed or doping injections that are frequently utilized during sportive seasons may explain why the recurrence of abuse on the part of a man increases in frequency and severity. Accordingly, individuals' involved in the legal system must keep in mind that domestic violence may result from a medical condition that is not desired by the abuser or may originate from illegal acts. Whatever the case, the legislation has to evaluate the degree to which an individual's condition is the fruit of illegal actions or a poor health.

When she developed her cycle theory of violence, Lenore Walker might have been far from imagining the whole range of reasons generating domestic violence. As a matter of fact, Walker's theory is only descriptive of a cycle that generally happens in couples living in western countries. This cycle is tailored to fit into the feminist theory advocating a worldview rooted in a quasi-despotic patriarchy. However, since domestically violent individuals belong to both sexes in addition to being involved into homosexual and heterosexual relationships, conceptual frameworks that are only based on socio-cognitive approaches, such as individuals' culture or personal experience, are in no way sufficient to apprehend the many reasons that may generate the recurrence of abuse in domestically violent couples. Nevertheless, thanks to tremendous advances, biology, and especially genetics, open new vistas into the very reasons that may spark off violence between intimate partners.

The investigation of factors contributing to the escalation in frequency and severity of abuse may be better conducted thanks to the Tinbergen's proximate (or mechanistic) question for ethologists. Indeed, abusive attitudes may be responses elicited by a repetition of stimuli, endogenous and/or exogenous, which are closely related to this individual's genetic makeup. That individuals' intrinsic structure directly influences their ontogenic development that, in return, acts on their proximate mechanisms and behaviours. Finally, the transmission of memes and genes impacts on the phylogeny of the Homo sapiens sapiens species. Consequently, scholars could put forward an explicative theory for the descriptive cycle theory of violence.

Finally, these considerations raise the most important question for people involved in the legal system: may perpetrators of domestic violence be considered morally accountable for their acts? In other words, do they benefit from free will? This is a quite controversial question since it implies that lawyers, judges, and policymakers, among others, ponder whether domestically violent partners should be sentenced to jail, capital punishment or medical treatment on a vague approximation of our biological composition. That consideration sheds light on the fact that Lawyers, judges, and policymakers should dwell on sound forensic expertises involving both nativistic and deterministic approaches. And in the end, are people involved in the legal system willing to "lobotomize" their own intellects to preserve our legal and cultural expectations?

Writing Feedback / Interpersonal communication & proxemics [2]

Hello,

Could you please read my essay and give me some feedback?

The prompt is:

Please provide a detailed and thoughtful, half-page response to the follow question: What are the four zones of personal space? Give examples of how you use each zone in your personal life.

Thank you in advance

Frederic

-------------

Interpersonal communication employs a wide range of strategies to convey information between human beings. The first step in this process commences when one person catches a glimpse at another person. From this very moment, people evaluate new congeners and attempt to forecast their thoughts, beliefs, and behaviours. The comprehension of the nonverbal codes that one interprets has aroused the curiosity of numerous researchers. Among them, Edward T. Hall focused on the understanding of the human species' use of space between individuals. His study of proxemics has revealed that most individuals living in western cultures customarily institute four main spatial zones to adjust the space around them when they engage in social interactions, which are implicitly understood and accepted by most individuals in a society.

First, the closest area surrounding an individual is known as intimate space and ranges from zero to about one and a half foot from an individual. This zone is aimed at the most personal and intimate relations between individuals. Therefore, when someone enters this area he or she must be considered as a very close person because, if it is not the case, the one who approaches is viewed as an intruder. Consequently, before penetrating this zone, one must be abreast of his/her level of intimacy with his/her interlocutor in order to avoid disturbing him/her. As far as I am concerned, this area is habitually reserved for my common law wife. However, since two friends or colleagues of opposite sex in southern European countries traditionally kiss when they meet, I regularly let people pierce this perimeter for a limited amount of time. However, my Greek friends are more tactile than I am and often come in this zone.

Second, the area that comes in second position is identified as personal space and ranges from about one and half foot to about four feet from an individual. This circle is usually intended for conversations with one's friends and family members. For that reason, this zone is still considered a personal area since, when people who are not intimates enter, they are also perceived as intruders. Consequently, when individuals come within a radius of about four feet, without being invited by his/her interlocutor, they are likely to upset him/her. In this case, I do not differ from the bulk of my western counterparts because I usually keep this zone for my friends and family.

Third, the next zone is branded as social space and ranges spreads from about four fees to twelve feet around a western individual. This virtual ring is the area in which most group interactions happen. As a result, being outside the intimate sphere, this area witnesses more reserved relations and one's standing in this zone clearly denotes one's will to mark formal relations deprived of intimacy or one's rejection from another individual's sphere of intimacy. I typically endeavour to speak to people in my or their workplace without being closer than four feet.

Fourth, the last zone is identified as public space and its scope starts beyond a distance of about twelve feet. One's position in this area is not considered a suitable one for performing interpersonal communication. Indeed, at such a distance, one is unable to convey to, and above all, receive personal emotions from an interlocutor. That is why this zone is utilized by orators when they want to address large attendances. As far as I am concerned, when I want to stay aloof, I maintain a distance of at least twelve feet from my interlocutors. Each time I have to address an audience, I preserve this space for it allows me to look at each participant and give them the impression that I personally speak to each of them.

Finally, although the description of these areas roughly matches with my personal preferences, they are not intangible. As a matter of fact, as most individuals, I adapt my behaviour according to the circumstances. Indeed, the first factor of change is the feeling of closeness with someone that I feel. The space separating my interlocutor and me is conversely proportional with this degree of intimacy. Moreover, other factors such as the socio-economic status, the gender, my interlocutor's culture and the available room around us play a prominent role in this phenomenon of adaptation. These adjustments allow me to ameliorate my cross-cultural communication skills and, thus, improve both my relations with my intimates and my capacity to adapt to the job-market.

Writing Feedback / Mandatory arrest laws - domestic violence [2]

Hello,

Could you please read my essay and give me some feedback?

The prompt is:

Discuss your thoughts about "mandatory arrest laws" keeping in mind that over 40 states have them in the year 2007. Do you agree with them or not? Why?

Thank you in advance

Happy new year 2008
Frederic

-------------

Mandatory arrest laws play a prominent part in the US government's attempts to tackle the issue of domestic violence (Frye, Haviland, & Rajah, 2007). They have been created and adopted in order to compel police officers to arrest perpetrators of domestic violence even if victims do not intend to officially accuse their partner of abuse at the very moment of the offender's apprehension (Sengupta, 2001). These laws aim at clearly stressing the dedication of the American institutions as regards the management of offenders and the eradication of violence between intimate partners (Kennedy, 2005), in addition to homogenize the criminal justice agencies response to domestically violent acts (Frye, Haviland, & Rajah, 2007), in the short as well as the long-run. The practical effects of such a policy are briefly examined to evaluate its efficiency.

The practical effects of the implementation and subsequent enforcement of mandatory arrest laws have profoundly affected the statistics of domestic violence in the states having passed these laws. Surprisingly, according to Iyengar, the rate of homicides between intimate partners in states with mandatory arrest laws is twice as high as in states without them (2007). Moreover, contrary to what one may have surmised, the number and proportion of females who are arrested is higher than the number of males (Henning, Renauer, & Holdford, 2006). Consequently, it seems at first sight that laws that have been passed to protect battered females are completely beyond the point of their original purpose. What is at stake in those states is the relevance of such laws to safeguard abused partners.

On the one hand, the efficiency of mandatory arrest laws has seemingly been demonstrated. As a matter of fact, the sudden increase in the figures above-mentioned may be the result of a better apprehension of the reality of domestic violence in the USA. Indeed, Henning, Renauer, and Holdford claim that "rates more accurately reflect the true prevalence of physical aggression perpetrated by women" (2006). This contention presumes that the sole physical aggressiveness of males had been recorded, but now figures have encompassed the aggregate violent acts perpetrated by both males and females. However, other researchers have reservations about this alleged equal prevalence of violence in both sexes. For instance, Henning, Renauer, and Holdford highlight the possibility that arrested people have just employed violence as means of retaliation against their abusive partners (2006). Although the police have sometimes apparently lacked good judgement (mainly due to the fact they have not been fully aware of the desperate situation of the abused partner), women, in their great majority, have approved of the implementation of mandatory arrest laws (Smith, 2000). Accordingly, the overall impact of mandatory arrest laws on the management of domestic violence in the USA is rather positive despite awkward enforcement errors.

On the other hand, the relevance of mandatory arrest laws is also questioned. Thus, Henning, Renauer, and Holdford suggest that physically violent acts perpetrated by women are the direct consequence of the violence of their male partners, for the most part (2006). This assumption results from a study they have conducted and that aimed at establishing the initiators of violence among arrested women. Consequently, mandatory arrest laws may tend to induce a behaviour of "interpellation at all costs" among police officers even though this interpellation is only based on shallow evidence and allegations, for example, independently of the legitimacy of men who have immediately reported the violence of their spouse whereas their female partners customarily refuse to appeal to the criminal justice system. Unfortunately, although having been passed to protect abused partners, mandatory arrest laws give the impression of complete failure since researchers such as Smith argue that women may be tempted to condone the violent behaviour of their spouse to avoid undergoing retaliations from a partner who would experience incarceration because of their female partner's denouncement (2000). Therefore, the efficiency and subsequently the utility of mandatory arrest laws is far from being widely accepted and should be carefully assessed to check if they fulfil their initial requirements.

Furthermore, mandatory arrest laws have raised questions because they have quite unexpected consequences on domestic violence in the USA. A prime example of unintentional and noxious consequence of mandatory arrest laws is the increase in dual arrests. In their laudable endeavours to curb domestic violence in their areas, law enforcement agencies prefer to apprehend both partners rather than to arrest the wrong person (Sudderth & Dubois, 2005; Rajah, Frye, & Haviland, 2006). However, police officers take this risk and unfortunately arrest the partner who is usually abused because the abusers calls for the police to search revenge (Rajah, Frye, & Haviland, 2006). Therefore, mandatory arrest laws sometimes prove to be worse than the original evil for abused partners. That observation highlights, on the one hand, the difficulty for the police to enforce these laws and, on the other hand, the necessity to clarify the instructions for the police concerning the enforcement of these mandatory arrest laws.

Finally, mandatory arrest laws are somewhat ambivalent. Indeed, albeit the American authorities' intent was to improve the protection of people suffering from domestic violence, the enforcement of the legislation may turn out to enlarge the panel of weapons in the arsenal of perpetrators against their partners and, thus, intensify the misery and desperation of their victims. Admittedly, one may chastise the authorities, from the community level to the federal administration, and argue that nothing is really done to alter for the better the situation of victims of domestic violence. But, before castigating these imperfect efforts, I prefer to underline the conspicuous, actual endeavours of the American authorities to tackle this issue in spite of the flaws. This clearly denotes their willingness to change the situation and to continue in this way. Moreover, when fully beneficial policies are achieved it will reveal that the main underlying reasons at the origin of domestic violence will be found out, which will be useful for other uses. For instance, agencies operating covert operations would be able to generate or stop domestic violence at will in the couples of heads of state to destabilize foreign governments. Indeed, intelligence officers could develop tactics to initiate domestic violence between a head of state and his wife, and generate leaks in the national and international press. Accordingly, they could create a climate of suspicion about the reputation of this head of state on the international stage or at home and, thus, instigate political unrest against this politician during an election period. For example, what would Americans think if they knew that a presidential contender might be domestically violent?

Writing Feedback / Review of 4 journal articles on domestic violence [2]

Hello,

Could you please read my essay and give me some feedback?

The prompt is:

Each student will research four journal articles about intergenerational violence. Once you have located your articles you will write a comprehensive critical analysis of the researchers work. This analysis should include the author's perspective on the topic, the type of research conducted, outcomes and areas of need for further research. You will need to review and compare each article.

Thank you in advance
Frederic

-------------

Research on the aetiology of domestic violence has led to the emergence of numerous concepts. The social learning theory has laid the ground for one of them: the intergenerational transmission of violence. This approach is of particular interest since it presupposes that domestic violence is passed on from one generation to the next generation and that domestic violence is only the consequence of a learnt behaviour. These considerations are of prime importance since they raise various questions about the actual nature and extent of this intergenerational transmission of violence between intimate partners. Thanks to the critical analysis of four journal articles, exploring diverse aspects of this issue, one will be afforded the opportunity to apprehend the extent of the research that has been conducted hitherto in addition to understand the current theoretical issues associated with the intergenerational transmission of violence between intimate partners. So as to review and compare the four studies, the author's perspectives, the type of research conducted, outcomes and areas of need for further research have been analyzed.

Scholars conducting research on the intergenerational transmission of violence have identified various topics in relation to this issue. First, some researchers have been interested by the effects of witnessing marital violence and experiencing harsh parenting in one's family-of-origin, both separately and combined, on individuals' future relationships such as Alexander, Moore, and Alexander (1991) or Stith, Rosen, and Middleton (2000). On the other hand, some scholars preferred to concentrate their research on the contributions of special factors, such as Bevan and Higgins (2002) who examined the influence of child maltreatment or Kernsmith (2006) who investigated the influence of gender. Consequently, the wide extent of the various hypotheses demonstrates that researchers do not pay attention to the same factors for explaining the transmission of violence between intimate partners. Moreover, this also reveals that scientists do not give the same consideration to all assumed causal factors. Indeed, this supports the claim that, up to now, there is not a single academic way of looking at the study of one's propensity to engage in domestic violence as perpetrator or victim in one's adult relationships. However, although the underlying reasons of a potential intergenerational transmission of violence on the basis of the social learning theory have not been conspicuously determined yet, scholars seemingly agree with the fact that one's parents' behaviour should be closely studied to predict one's attitudes in becoming involved in violent relationships in the future.

The study of the intergenerational transmission of violence has primarily focused on perpetrators and victims. Some studies have primarily employed subjects who were established perpetrators, such as Bevan and Higgins (2002) and Kernsmith (2006) who utilized people having perpetrated domestic violence. Others have preferred subjects who were perpetrators and/or victims such as Stith, Rosen, and Middleton (2000). Finally, some scholars have favoured the utilization of samples from the general population, namely integrating potential both perpetrators and victims in addition to people who reported having never been involved in domestic violence, such as Alexander, Moore, and Alexander (1991). These four studies reflect one of the many difficulties encountered by scientists who have attempted to understand the phenomenon of intergenerational transmission of violence. Indeed, if one tries to locate actual perpetrators and victims, one could be trapped in a situation where none perpetrators and victims are present or where perpetrators and victims are exaggeratedly represented. The problem of the over versus under-representation of perpetrators and victims can lead to serious bias for the results of studies.

However, researchers can control this kind of bias generated by the relative representation of people directly involved in domestic violence thanks to the selection of their subjects in community or clinical samples. On the one hand, clinical samples allow researchers, such as Bevan and Higgins (2002) and Kernsmith (2006), to be certain that the subjects are abusers or abused people. On the other hand, community samples let the possibility to reach respondents that are involved in domestic violence as perpetrators or victims without having implicated the legal, medical, or criminal justice systems, such as Alexander, Moore, and Alexander (1991) who used students. Finally, others can decide to overcome the bias by utilizing a very large sample of subjects originating from both community and clinical settings, such as Stith, Rosen, and Middleton (2000), whose study bears on 12,981 participants coming from both settings. Moreover, this is not because one has finally succeeded in locating actual perpetrators and victims. These people may not want to participate in a study that can potentially have emotional incidences on their recovery. Furthermore, both in the general population and in populations of known perpetrators and victims, the subjects can voluntarily overlook certain aspects of their vision of domestic violence. Conversely, people in the general population may be tempted to conceal their perpetration or victimization of domestic violence to preserve their present life. Consequently, it obviously appears that scholars studying the intergenerational transmission of violence are, to some extent, faced with bias whoever their subjects may be.

Scientists carrying out research on the intergenerational transmission of violence have at their disposal numerous pre-existing tools. However, it is hardly surprising to discover that only two methods are present among the four studies that are presently examined given that scholars often prefer to base their studies on the statistical analysis of quantitative data. For example, Stith, Rosen, and Middleton (2000) employed a meta-analysis, which is a statistical technique allowing to detect significant trends among the findings from a number of studies, and computed effect-sizes. The studies were included in the met-analysis on condition that they had met two standards. First, they had to examine the relationships between witnessing inter-parental violence during childhood, experiencing harsh parenting during childhood, or both witnessing inter-parental violence and experiencing harsh parenting during childhood. Second, all these studies have also to investigate the perpetration and victimization via physical abuse of their subjects in adult heterosexual cohabiting or marital relationships. Moreover, studies uniquely based on emotional and psychological abuse or examining one of these two types of abuse with physical violence were excluded. Although one could find out whether these studies had relied on the use of questionnaires by looking individually at each one of them, there are no annexes in the research providing this information. In opposition, the three other researches that are analysed in this discussion have relied on the utilization of questionnaires and have only focused on single samples of subjects. Although researchers can exploit a great number of available questionnaires, some of them are more frequently used. For instance, Kernsmith (2006) in addition to Alexander, Moore, and Alexander (1991) utilized the Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS), albeit Kernsmith abbreviated it (2006).

The discrepancy as regards the tools employed to conduct research is in no way astonishing because researchers do not found their studies on the investigation of the same factors. Indeed, except Bevan and Higgins (2002) who intentionally prefer an ecological approach and Stith, Rosen, and Middleton (2000) who involuntarily integrate all types of actors, Kernsmith (2006) and Alexander, Moore, and Alexander (1991) only rely on individual factors. These choices prop up the claim that researchers disagree about the potential causal factors, either they be environmental or individual, at the source of the intergenerational transmission of domestic violence. Moreover, these choices also stress the will to highlight or condone certain variables as being potential dependent or independent variables in the theoretical models implemented to conduct the research. Consequently, it follows from all that the variables coming into play in the search for the triggers provoking the intergenerational transmission of domestic violence can deliberately prejudice the results and findings of research since they lay emphasis on the peculiar perspective of the scientists. As a consequence, although one is aware that inclusion of the totality of the variables is practically impossible, because of the budget or deadlines, the examination of the spectrum of abuse in addition to the continuum of domestic violence over time and space is largely prejudiced by theoretical biases.

The results of the four researches that have been carried out are relatively diverse and bolster, more or less, the hypotheses that had been stated by researchers. For example, Alexander, Moore, and Alexander (1991) find that physical, sexual, and psychological abuse from a father on his son increases the likelihood of perpetration of domestic violence on the son's part in his future relations. Consequently, these results substantiate Alexander, Moore, and Alexander's hypothesis that abusiveness in one's family-of origin may lead to dating violence (2000). Moreover, Stith, Rosen, and Middleton (2000) discovered that these factors associated with witnessing inter-parental violence not only augment the probability of boys' violence but also girls' victimization in future relationships. Therefore, these results corroborate Stith, Rosen, and Middleton's hypothesis that growing up in an abusive family influences, to some extent, one's future involvement in violent marital relationships (2000). Furthermore, Stith, Rosen, and Middleton (2000) discovered that the possibility of becoming perpetrator or victim of domestic violence is all the more probable as one's lives in a clinical setting. These results underpin Stith, Rosen, and Middleton's hypothesis that gender and setting (community or clinical) may have differential effects on the likelihood of becoming perpetrator or victim of domestic violence whether individuals' have experienced harsh parenting or witnessed inter-parental violence during their childhood (2000). On the other hand, Kernsmith (2006) reveals that experiencing harsh parenting in addition to witnessing inter-parental violence make plausible the fact that boys and girls can become perpetrators of domestic violence, contrary to Stith, Rosen, and Middleton (2000) who do not corroborate the potentiality of women's victimization in future relationships. Consequently, Kernsmith's results substantiate his hypothesis according to which experiencing harsh parenting in addition to witnessing inter-parental violence greatly increase the emergence of feelings of fear and hyper-vigilance to threats in adult relationships (2006). Finally, the main conclusion that may be drawn from all those results is that physical, sexual, and psychological abuse during one's childhood largely contributes to the emergence of domestic violence in one's future relationships, although more research is needed to assess other variables as potential triggers of domestic violence.

Moreover, the results of the four researches that have been conducted shed a new light on other aspects of the extent of domestic violence. For example, Alexander, Moore, and Alexander (1991) spotlight the significance of witnessing inter-parental-violence as a major influence on one's attitude towards women, which represents one's vision with respect to the roles and rights of women in the respondents' society at the time of the study. Alexander, Moore, and Alexander (1991) reveal that witnessing inter-parental violence induces men into having conservative attitudes whereas it encourages women to have liberal attitudes towards their same-sex congeners. Furthermore, Alexander, Moore, and Alexander (1991) notice that liberal attitudes in women tend to increase their likelihood to displaying violent behaviour in their future relationships, but the opposite is not true in men's behaviour. On the other hand Bevan and Higgins (2002) point out that among the five main forms of child maltreatments that they consider as potential causal factors, two of them (neglect and witnessing inter-parental violence) play the lead as regards, respectively, the level of physical and psychological spouse abuse in addition to the trauma symptomatology scores. Indeed, according to the results of Bevan and Higgins's study, albeit all forms of child maltreatment during childhood added to one's current alcohol abuse and one's childhood family characteristics (low family cohesion and adaptability) significantly influence one's level of physical spouse abuse and trauma symptomatology scores, neglect has a unique association of one's level of physical spouse abuse (2002). Moreover, witnessing inter-parental violence has also a unique association with one's level of psychological spouse abuse and trauma symptomatology scores but not with one's level of physical spouse abuse. Finally, Kernsmith (2006) foils the prediction of conventional wisdom claiming that perpetrators of domestic violence are also violent outside their home. Subsequently, the results produced by the four studies that are analyzed demonstrate that, in spite of the discrepancies between results, there is a high degree of inter-correlations between risks factors.

Researchers' conclusions regarding an intergenerational transmission of domestic violence rooted on the social learning theory is, in some measure, supported. Therefore, theoretically, children learn abusive behaviour in their family-of-origin and then emulate this abusive behaviour in their own relationships. Most results back this conjectural vision of the transmission of domestic violence based on the social learning theory (Alexander et al., 1991; Bevan and Higgins, 2002; Kernsmith, 2006; Stith et al., 2000). However, although they often disagree about the actual nature and extent of the intergenerational transmission of domestic violence, they are in agreement about the fact that growing up in a violent home is positively related to becoming involved in a violent marital relationship. Furthermore, Alexander, Moore, and Alexander (1991), Kernsmith (2006), in addition to Stith, Rosen, and Middleton (2000) are in accord about the fact that witnessing inter-parental violence during childhood has a significant impact on one's probability to being involved in a domestically violent relationship. Alexander, Moore, and Alexander (1991) even support the idea that males who have experienced their father's abusiveness model their conception of relationships on this standard and then imitate this behaviour in their future relationships. Nonetheless, Alexander, Moore, and Alexander (1991) also raise a particularly interesting point in relation to one's attitudes towards women, namely the way one considers the role and rights of women in one's contemporary society. They assumed that "people are influenced by and act on the basis of their perceptions of others' attitudes". Alexander, Moore, and Alexander (1991) surmise that prior exposition to domestic violence during childhood induces into adopting conservative attitudes for males and liberal attitudes for females. Furthermore, they suppose that this divergence in attitudes may be the cause of the emergence domestic violence in adult relationships. This assumption is all the more attention grabbing as Stith, Rosen, and Middleton (2000) contend that growing up in a violent home seemingly augments the probability for men to become perpetrators and for women to become victims when domestically violent episodes happen. Moreover, high possibility that domestic violence may emerge is also maintained by Kernsmith (2006), who reveals that exposition to domestic violence during childhood greatly increases one's feelings of "fear and weakness in relationships for both males and females" in addition to enhance the possibility of "experience greater fear in relationships".

The four studies display common weaknesses in addition to several unique limitations. First, all four researches demonstrate a lack of generalizability because they all set themselves the task to restrict their field of research with criteria of inclusion and, a fortiori, of exclusion. Moreover, even the Stith, Rosen, and Middleton's meta-analysis is based, at the very least, on retrospective self-report that have been not corroborated by other people than victims or perpetrators (2000). Second, each work is subject to distinctive biases with respect to the methods that have been employed to collect data. For instance, the Stith, Rosen, and Middleton's meta-analysis encompasses studies spreading over a long period of time, in the case in point a period of seventeen years, from 1980 to 1997 (2000). Consequently, the validity is contingent to the probability that the aetiological factors leading to domestic violence have not evolved over the time. Furthermore, this study is also marked by the ability of the researchers to choose sufficiently representative studies to constitute their sample (Stith, Rosen, and Middleton, 2000). Finally, the works of studies conducted by Bevan and Higgins (2002) and Kernsmith (2006) exhibit similar limitations. Indeed, their researches not only rely on small size samples, thus compromising the validity of the statistical analyses, but they also show imperfections because they utilize clinical samples, emphasizing the frequency of violent behaviour since it is the very reason why people are treated in clinical settings. In addition, they overlook distinctive characteristics such as the influence of the geographical location of the respondents (areas that may be populated with different ethnic groups). Furthermore, these studies also ignore to which extent the intervention of counsellors may affect the respondents' beliefs and behaviour. However, what may appear at first sight as severe limitations to the generalizability of the researches that have been conducted may prove though to be favourable to the comprehension of peculiar populations and, therefore, the implementation of policies adapted to these specific populations.

Finally, domestic violence does not necessarily entail an intergenerational transmission of violence based on the social learning theory, namely on the replication of one's parents' violent behaviour. This close look at the research conducted by Alexander, Moore, and Alexander (1991), Bevan and Higgins (2002), Kernsmith (2006), in addition to Stith, Rosen, and Middleton (2000) rather favours the idea that the intergenerational transmission of domestic violence stems from an intergenerational transmission of the predisposition to trigger violence in relationships based on the social learning theory. Consequently, more research should be carried out in the field of domestic violence to attempt to unravel as many underpinning causal factors and moderating variables as possible. Indeed, in addition to the traditional weaknesses associated with the design of the four researches, another Achilles' heel is evident, though one may forget it in the end: what is the independent influence of biological factors? And what are the combined influences o

Writing Feedback / History, patterns, and dynamics of violence between intimate partners [2]

Hello,

Could you please read my essay and give me some feedback?

The prompt is:

Each student will write an essay that reviews the history, dynamics and patterns of violence in marriages both heterosexual and homosexual. This essay should critically analyze the research and discuss the similarities and differences that the researchers are finding. You will need to find at least 4 research studies to discuss this topic thoroughly.

Thank you in advance
Frederic

-------------

Primary needs and second thoughts: a brief review of intimate violence in the light of the evolutionary psychology

Introduction

Intimate partner violence is reported to affect about 4.6 per 1,000 of all American women according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. However, these figures are far from being representative of the actual prevalence of violence between intimate partners in the United States of America nowadays because, although intimate violence is a scourge afflicting traditional heterosexual marriages, it is also highly widespread in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender couples. In the present paper, the history, patterns and dynamics of violence between intimate partners are investigated, whatever the sexual orientation of the individuals may be, in order to comprehensively broach the review of the research that has been carried out on violence between intimate partners. It is hypothesized that the patterns and dynamics underlying intimate violence would be more comprehensively apprehended thanks to the embracement of the evolutionary psychology approach as an integrative paradigm based on the findings of previous research rather than the traditional approaches (including legal, psychological, social and medical perspectives). The following essay attempts to demonstrate and support this hypothesis through a critical analysis of the most important or controversial statements that have emerged up to now.

Historical Issues

The first written documents officially bearing witness to violence between intimate partners in what is now known as the United States of America come as far back as the eighteenth century. However, such documents are relatively scarce since intimate violence was considered a private matter and was authorized, either explicitly or implicitly, by the legal and social systems until the late twentieth century. Although the initial passage from the darkness of privacy to the light of public awareness is the fruit of collaborative efforts between individuals on the fringe of the judiciary, legal, and political systems, US institutions and legislation have successfully engaged in the way of change. This evolution is the criminalization of violence between intimate partners, which provides the American society with the indispensable tools to apprehend the patterns and dynamics of violence between intimate partners.

Nonetheless, scholars, agreeing with the fact that the underlying causes of domestic violence have to be discovered in order to implement and enforce the most efficient policies and laws, have advocated different, if not completely opposite, paradigms and patterns in qualitative and quantitative data for the last forty years. Three major ideological currents have stood out over these past decades and have competed with one another to gain public approval as regards what is the assumed "explanation" of violence between intimate partners, and consequently, the subsequent policies that should be implemented. First, feminist scholars have claimed that violence between partners is the unfortunate result of the implementation of patriarchal beliefs in the American society. Conversely, such a justification being in no way defendable when the problem of violence between partners in same-sex couples is broached, other scholars have contended that domestic violence is the consequence of the experience or witnessing of violent acts in one's family of origin that is later emulated in one's own relationships. In opposition to this family dysfunction hypothesis and to structural approaches such as the feminist views, some scholars have declared that domestic violence is the outcome of personality disorders because only individual psychopathologies can explain why lesbians who have never experienced or witnessed violence in their family of origin could batter their female partners.

Finally, a new hypothesis emerged in the early 1990s and obliterated the ideological barriers of the researchers studying domestic violence. Based on the evolutionary theory of Charles Darwin, scholars integrated the findings of anthropologists and psychologists so as to apprehend the human beings' actual nature. Consequently, the adoption of evolutionary psychology to study domestic violence would not mean to create another reductive window but would rather imply to look at all the windows that have been constructed so far. In consequence, the espousal of evolutionary psychology would permit researchers to critically analyze findings originating from all approaches. This enlargement of intellectual scope would be most beneficial to victims and aggressors because the researchers' findings could fuel policymakers, law enforcement and health care interveners with a sound theoretical framework that could allow all those people to design and implement practical tools for tackling the issue of violence between intimate partners. Furthermore, since theorists studying violence between intimate partners argue over the temporal extent of this phenomenon, evolutionary psychology can incorporate all their findings to evaluate its prevalence and significance in the course of human history.

Patterns of intimate violence

The most significant elements transpiring from a brief overview of the current literature addressing the topic of violence between partners are, on the one hand, that a technical vocabulary is far from being fixed and, and on the other hand, that the nature and extent of domestic violence fall beyond the limits of one's imagination. First, the linguistic vagueness in the past and present research emphasizes the relative difficulty to determine the limits of what are, or are not, abusive behaviours in intimate relationships within the framework of the American cultural expectations. Second, the imprecision of the language also highlights the difficulty to apprehend the patterns associated with intimate violence because of the numerous academic domains dealing with the issue, such as the criminal, sociological, medical, and political sciences.

The range of abusive behaviours is extremely wide because it encompasses a collection of diverse types of assault and abuse. However, the nature of abusive behaviours that are employed by offenders against victims can be catalogued into four main categories that are often combined to form complex sets of tactics. A typology of abusive behaviours recognizes physical, sexual, psychological and economic abuse that is employed in both heterosexual and homosexual couples, such as the obligation of sexual relationships. Nonetheless, some of them are idiosyncratic with respect to same-sex couples, for example the fact of threatening one's partner with "outing", or characteristics of heterosexual couples, like uxoricide.

Except the traditional dichotomist classification based on sexual orientation (heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual), perpetrators and victims are also epitomized by factors such as their gender (male, female, transgender), socioeconomic status, ethnicity, cultural or sub-cultural background, and homophobia (parental, internalized). Moreover, research on intimate violence is highly hampered by the difficulty to clearly define who the initiator of the violence is and whether the employment of violence is mutual or unilateral. Furthermore, the construction of patterns is also impaired by the definition of the location where violence happens, though studies tend to show that households are the most important location for intimate violence. Finally, patterns of violence can be drawn according to notions of time at both micro-levels and macro-levels, such as the developmental stage of the people involved (childhood, adolescence, maturity), the frequency of occurrences (endemic or sporadic), the continuum of the relationships (courtship, marriage, separation), or the legal status (citizen, alien, illegal immigrant, married, divorced).

Since scholars, policy makers, and interveners underpin divergent views on the typologies that should be espoused for conducting research on violence between intimate violence, evolutionary psychology can integrate all existing typologies to ameliorate future research. Indeed, evolutionary psychology emphasizes the selection of patterns allowing the explanation of ultimate rather than proximate causes, namely patterns for studying intimate violence should embrace phylogenic rather than ontogenic characteristics. In this way, researchers should avoid focusing on peculiar symptoms and, thus, they could root their studies on intimate violence on complete systems applicable to the whole Homo sapiens sapiens species.

Dynamics of intimate violence

Scholars seemingly vindicate as many underlying reasons for the emergence of violence between intimate partners as they model patterns. However, three main phases govern the continuum of violence between intimate partners (genesis, persistence, and disappearance). So far, four main theories have been developed to explicate this continuum. The significance of structural, individual, family, and developmental characteristics have been supported respectively by the feminist, psychopathological, family dysfunction, and developmental approaches.

First, feminist theorists support the universal-risk theory arguing that the American society, as many other western societies, has institutionalized in addition to legally and socially maintained male dominance and female subordination through a patriarchal framework that puts forward male privileges, misogyny, and an asymmetry of power favourable to males. According to the feminist paradigm, males utilize all forms of violence over females to exert their power. However, this theory fails to recognize that its epistemology is invalid since the unidirectional causation of violence has been refuted. Moreover, the feminist approach fails to justify why violence also happens in same-sex couples. Furthermore, the feminists also struggle to elucidate why men who batter their female partners do not constitute the bulk of the male population since this practice is largely acknowledge, even if encouraged.

Second, some theorists claim that violence between intimate partners results from an intergenerational transmission of violence. This paradigm bases its ideological foundation on the social learning theory that assumes that people model their current behaviour according to behaviours they have previously experienced or witnessed. Consequently, the proponents of the family dysfunction theory contend that individuals who experienced and/or witnessed violence in their family of origin emulate these violent attitudes in their present families. However, the family dysfunction paradigm fails to explicate why parents are expected to have a more significant influence than other potential role models on their offspring, such as classmates or celebrities. Furthermore, the family dysfunction theorists find it difficult to evaluate whether children imitate their same or opposite gendered parent.

Third, some researchers assert that violence between intimate partners stems from individual pathologies. The psychopathological paradigm emphasizes the predominance of personality disorders and traits, such as substance addictions or bipolar disorders, as the main causes that give rise to violent acts from the part of one partner over the over one. Nonetheless, the psychopathological theory cannot explain why batterers do not necessarily suffer from addictions or mental disorders. Moreover, some scholars have revealed that, independently of the actual state of the offenders, their expected behaviour was a source of criticism from their partners and that these denigrations were the triggers of violence from the part of addicted people.

Fourth, some scholars affirm that violence between intimate partners is a consequence of the socio-reproductive dialectic. That developmental theory is rooted in the premise that individuals experience a need for intimacy because of external social and internal biological forces and that necessity is often impaired during one's life. Consequently, when this need for intimacy is repressed, individuals harbour an irrepressible feeling of frustration arousing an intense stress. That nervous tension put the individuals in a state of extreme irritability that provokes the degeneration of simple quarrels between partners into violence. Developmentalists also anchor their comprehension of the dynamics of intimate violence on the cycle of violence theory, developed by Walker in the early 1980s, which claims that relationships undergoing violence follow a cycle of three consecutive stages: tension escalating, battering, and repentance. Albeit the latest paradigm seemingly appears atheoretical at first sight, the developmental theory lays its foundation on the assumption that human kind is scarcely deprived of inner dispositions to its own biological reproductive function and that societies stimulate individuals' interest in their reproductive function. That postulation, unfortunately, fails to take into account the fact that the Homo sapiens sapiens species has succeeded into sufficiently growing to avoid extinction whereas natural selection exerted an intense pressure over human beings.

Finally, researchers generally consent to admitting that integrative models for studying the dynamics of violence between intimate partners are much more needed because the current perspectives are now too restrictive to really apprehend the extent and complexity of the dynamics of intimate violence. Accordingly, evolutionary psychology can provide the necessary theoretical framework to establish an Ariadne's thread between all the approaches that are currently used. Indeed, with the benefit of hindsight, evolutionary psychology can suppress the theoretical frameworks that are too largely based on ontogenic characteristics or that are not eminently sound from a logical point of view. Once this ideological pruning done, evolutionary psychologists, whose staple diet is composed of research originating from natural and social sciences, could demonstrate that their diversified intellectual nourishment provides with the most appropriate foundations to establish an utmost efficient multi-analytic approach to study the dynamics of violence between intimate partners.

Conclusion

This brief review of the history, patterns and dynamics of violence between intimate partners has revealed that the American society as a whole has become aware of this phenomenon. Thanks to individual and collective efforts to criminalize intimate violence, research has been conducted. This research has started disclosing the structure of violent behaviours in addition to the motivational forces that have been mobilized behind them. However, research has seemingly reached breaking point: it may either pursue studying intimate violence through hyper compartmentalized and contextualized perspectives or espouse a "liberal normativeness" based on the espousal of a highly multi-analytic approach that would be an amalgamation of exo, meso, micro, and macro systemic procedures. Evolutionary psychology can afford researchers, policymakers, interveners a unique opportunity to integrate an all-encompassing paradigm. Evolutionary psychology puts forward a constructivist approach, integrating the findings of previously conducted nativistic and empiricist studies. Thus, practitioners involved in the political, legal, or medical management of violence between intimate partners would be given the possibility to ameliorate their comprehension of the ultimate aetiology and pathogenesis. Furthermore, the gain of an improved awareness of the prevalence, severity and persistence of intimate violence would allow the American society to efficiently tailor social, legal, and medical alternatives to address this reality through the reorientation of the present scientific goals into the initial humanitarian objective of the study of intimate violence: save lives. One can conceive that the adoption of the evolutionary psychology paradigm can arouse suspicions but having second thoughts on this topic would permit the American society to fulfil its primary need, namely adumbrates preventive and curative treatments aimed at both victims and perpetrators eradicating the actual causes rather than the symptoms of violence between intimate partners.

Writing Feedback / Socioeconomic status & intergenerational violence [2]

Hello,

Could you please read my essay and give me some feedback?

socioeconomic status and intergenerational violence

"Domestic violence is widespread in poor neighbourhoods" is a well-known assertion. Indeed, it is often firmly believed that poverty gives rise to many evils, one of them being violence between intimate partners. However, a review of the literature on the topic edited during the last decade allows one to notice that all scholars are far from sharing this view, particularly when it comes to establish a link of causality between low socioeconomic statuses, on the one hand, and the emergence and permanence of intergenerational violence, on the other. Conclusions could be drawn in addressing the subsequent question: to what extent research on intergenerational transmission of violence (IGT) during the closing decade has considered the belonging to a low socioeconomic status as a catalyst for the emergence or permanence of intergenerational violence? The following discussion espouses the viewpoint of evolutionary psychology and focuses on different aspects of this issue associated with heterosexual couples living in the USA.

On the one hand, domestic violence has seemingly been widespread in low-income families. The adverse economic conditions experienced by men who display the lowest economic statuses put these men at risk of seeing their female partners searching for male partners who can contribute to fulfil their economic requirements. This thesis is supported by the research carried out by Sanders and Schnabel (2006) expounding why "economic dependency in women and emotional dependency in men independently contribute to domestic-partner abuse risk" and the research conducted by Bornstein (2006) explicating why abused women remain or even return with their abuser due to their economic dependency. The delicate nature of such situations is so stressful that some men may tend to utilize violence as a preventive or punitive means for preventing female infidelity that could emerge. Indeed, frustration generated by the repression of one's desires to provide for one's family make some men feel vulnerable comparatively with more wealthy males. That irritation provokes so high level of anger that they cannot restrain themselves thanks to cultural inhibitors learnt during childhood to cope with stress like the great majority of men. Consequently, this hypothesis highlights that some males are particularly exposed to the use of aggressive behaviours, which are customarily rejected in the American society nowadays, because of psychopathological deficiencies preventing them from coping with such explosive contexts. Research of Cunradi, Caetano, and Schafer (2002) in addition to the research carried out by Anonymous (2005) may be used to buttress the argument that a low socioeconomic status contributes to augment women's exposition to abuse from their male partners whatever the ethnic origin of the partners, which tends to establish that this characteristic does not depend on their ethnicity. Therefore, those conclusions support the contention that domestic violence of male partners towards their female partners is a deviant form of the ontogenic characteristic of "male proprietariness" of the males of the Homo sapiens sapiens species. Moreover, this evolutionary psychology assumption could explain why sexual aggression is so often present with high level of physical assaults. Actually, sexual assaults may be the ultimate means to express one's manhood when physical aggression does not produce the expected effect of coercion.

On the other hand, violence between intimate partners has also been present between members of low-income families. Consequently, one could argue that domestic violence is by no means triggered off or sustained by the families' appurtenance to the lowest socioeconomic categories. Therefore, one could estimate that violence between partners is the result of micro-level rather than macro-level factors. That assumption is supported by Newby, McCarroll, Thayer, Norwood, Fullerton, and Ursano (2000) who claim that socioeconomic status is an improbable reason for explaining the prevalence of spouse abuse in addition to Bauer, Rodríguez, and Pérez-Stable (2000) who state that the occurrence of violence between partners cannot be distinguished "by education, employment, or medical insurance status of the women". One could argue that this is not surprising because high socioeconomic status males may certainly not feel the same frustration that their poorer congeners since they do not feel vulnerable thanks to their economic capacity to support their families. However, since domestic violence still remains evidenced indifferently of the socioeconomic status, one could also contend that factors such as the isolation of female partners and feelings of possession or jealousy experienced by male partners seem more conspicuous arguments to explain this phenomenon in more affluent families. That thesis is supported by Moe and Bell (2004) who claim that the more a woman is battered, the more difficulties she has to find a job or preserve her professional career. Consequently, individuals' socioeconomic status is not automatically a cause of the emergence of violence in their households but could simply be one of the many consequences brought about by spouse abuse. Accordingly, those conclusions back the contention that domestic violence of male partners towards their female partners is the deviant form of the ontogenic characteristic of "male proprietariness" of the Homo sapiens sapiens species.

Finally, the research conducted by Bornstein (2006) shed an interesting light on the connections that can be established between individuals' socioeconomic status and intergenerational violence within families. According to Bornstein (2006), the keystone allowing one to apprehend the reasons that lead to the emergence and continuation of domestic violence is the relations of dependency between male and female partners. Indeed, Bornstein (2006) bolsters the evolutionary psychology perspective assuming that women experience an economic dependency towards their male partners while men experience an emotional dependency towards their female partners. Consequently, what is of great importance to understand why males come to employ physical and sexual assaults is that one should considerer what may happen when dependency relations are unbalanced. Low-income families are undeniably more at risk to engage in violence between intimate partners but a more crucial point seems to be the way according to men and women perceive their own socioeconomic status and their partners' socioeconomic status. Actually, if an executive woman (high socioeconomic status) feels that she could find a male partner with a socioeconomic status even better than the one of her male, she may search for a lover that would arouse jealousy in her current partner and then domestic violence, regardless of the couple's socioeconomic status. That assumption is more credible when the woman does not benefit from a high socioeconomic status, for instance when she is a homemaker or a kept woman. Therefore, it seems that the emergence and continuation of domestic violence is (albeit it may sound flabbergasting at first sight) a gesture of love from some men, namely because these males physically and sexually abuse their female partners because they love their female partners and do not abide the idea that their female partners could leave them. Furthermore, it also seems that the trigger of domestic violence is not the socioeconomic status of the individuals within a couple per se but rather the actual men's perception that they female partners could leave them due to their "insufficient" socioeconomic status, in addition to the alleged women's perception that they could find "socioeconomically desirable" male partners. That hypothesis is backed by the study of Workman and Reader (2004) who emphasize the importance of the socioeconomic status as a selective agents used by women all over the world to choose their potential male partners.

Consequently, that study clearly highlights the fact that research carried out during the last decade, some of them having been utilized to buttress the argumentation of this essay, has recently led to the emergence of theories based on micro-level factors distinguishable in all human beings whatever their biological or cultural backgrounds. Namely, these concepts not only refine the paradigm of evolutionary psychology but also introduce evolutionary psychology as a theoretical framework integrating the many diverse sub-disciplines within psychology into a unitary whole rather than creating another separate sub-discipline within psychology. Finally, regardless of the huge amount of already existent academic research, the nature of the Homo sapiens sapiens species is still far from being well understood because human behaviour retains unexplored or misunderstood concepts.

Writing Feedback / Courtship Violence in the 2007 ; My thoughts on that issue [2]

Hello,

Could you please read my essay and give me some feedback?

The prompt is:

Discuss your thoughts about courtship violence in the year 2007. The text discusses that this is evidenced as young as 12years old, what are we as a society doing to address this? What are families doing to address this issue and do you believe that courtship violence is at a higher risk for preteens from families with a history of violence?

Thank you in advance
Frederic

-------------

At first sight, from a French point of view, the most surprising element as far as courtship violence is concerned, is that violence seems so deeply ingrained in the American culture that researchers, activists, and intervention services feel the need to tackle this issue because of its prevalence in the USA. From a French point of view, the fact that violence could be so prevalent in the American society and that violent acts could be so horrendous is somewhat flabbergasting. Consequently, the study of violence between intimate partners during this semester may hep me understand whether domestic violence is actually more present in the US than in any other western country or the American society exaggerates its frequency of occurrence and intensity. American society as a whole, from institutions to family and from theorists to interveners, should evaluate both the nature and the scope of courtship violence in the US to implement effective public policies, with a particular attention for preteens from families with a history of violence who are allegedly more at a higher risk.

First, public awareness as regards courtship violence has been made possible because, in spite of the relative unreliability of the previous studies, public and private interveners have already attempted to cope with this issue. Indeed, the growing concern for the creation and implementation of preventive and curative methods results from the interest that has been aroused in researchers, activists, and intervention services for both victims and per perpetrators of courtship violence for the closing decades. One could chastise the inconsistence of the methodologies that have been employed or one castigate the irrelevance of the data that have been utilized, nonetheless one should acknowledge that that awkward attempts have had the merit to arouse interest in the public for the painful situation of all actors involved in courtship violence. Furthermore, the emergence of that field of study has also allowed the conception of educational materials, the enhancement of the general knowledge of law enforcement and criminal justice agents, the implementation of high school and college policies, and the expansion of education, counselling and social work professions. However, this burgeoning field of research must develop the scope of its activities in addition to adopt models integrating various psychological paradigms to reach its maturity. Both private and public sectors could lend credibility to this domain on condition that theoretical and practical efforts were made. For instance, private and public organizations should fund research focusing on the detection of the most significant causal variables or on the improvement of the theoretical framework currently in use, and especially through the adoption of the evolutionary psychology to understand the potential phylogenic functions of violence between intimate partners.

Second, American families are the crux of the courtship violence matter as the cradle of the emergence of this issue and as tanks of resources for fighting this scourge. On the one hand, no research can be conducted as long as families do persist to put a veil on the problem of courtship violence. Intimate violence during the pre-marriage phases can be studied providing victims and witnesses disclose the nature and scope of the violence to the authorities and relief agencies. Indeed, the main difficulty perceived by researchers is that available data do not meet the reality of the facts because victims and witnesses apprehend to unravel acts of victimization due to cultural, economic or institutional factors. Consequently, such behaviour harms the production of efficient preventive and curative policies and, therefore, checks the end of the sufferance for all the actors involved. On the other hand, in my opinion, American families are undoubtedly the richest sources of emotional and financial support for both children and adults implicated in courtship violence. Actually, victims need comforting from loving ones when plagued with their partner's violent behaviour. Later, these victims will need a psychological and economic support from their family to reconstruct their life, whatever their choice (i.e. with the same partner or without him/her), as well. Finally, as regards the particular cases of courtship violence during the high-school years, families must keep in mind that they are legally and morally responsible for the behaviour of their offspring. Subsequently, adults should teach their children their rights and duties when they woo a partner, namely in the words of French revolutionaries in the fourth article of The Declaration of the Human Rights (1789): "Liberty consists in being able to do anything that does not harm others".

Third, the possible causal connection between the preteens' experiences in families with a history of violence and these children's possible involvement in courtship violence still remains undemonstrated to say the least. Among the tree main models that serve to apprehend the delicate issue of courtship violence, the family dysfunction approach especially emphasizes the intergenerational transmission (IGT) theory. According to the theorists who sponsor this perspective, violent behaviour are deeply rooted in the children's observation and imitation of their parents' violent behaviour to settle issues in their own lives, and notably with their intimate partners. Offspring's' preference for violence as a means to resolve conflicts gives rise to courtship violence and then domestic violence. However, some scholars disagree with this vision because their studies have challenged that intergenerational transmission of violence, owing to, among other things, the lack of accuracy of the methodologies employed. Indeed, they often do not differentiate defensive and aggressive behaviours that are experienced, either directly or indirectly, such as with Strauss's Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS). Moreover, the intergenerational transmission theory has not been backed by reliable and rigorous multivariate statistical techniques yet. Furthermore, the intergenerational transmission theory is also highly debatable since it cannot explain why most violent daters do not primarily come from violent homes or why children who experienced or witnessed domestic violence in their household of origin do not systematically engage in violent relationships with their partners. Besides, scholars underpinning intergenerational transmission theory are still unable to explicate whether an individual's behaviour is attributable to the appurtenance to the same gender that the one of the violent parent. Finally, these scientists cannot elucidate whether violent daters have been more influenced by their parents or other role models, such as close peers, partners, or prominent figures in the mass media.

Finally, courtship violence can seemingly be eliminated thanks to the involvement of numerous actors, from the individuals to the state. First, the commitment of the American society as a whole to eradicate courtship violence in the USA could stem from the practical implementation of reliable findings resulting from theoretical studies that could be of use to the healthcare and criminal justice systems in their endeavours to implement valuable policies of prevention and cure intended for victims, perpetrators and their families. Besides, American families could turn into the keystone of successful recoveries and cures instead of being systematically the source of plaguing violence during courtship on condition that families assume responsibility for acting to curtail courtship violence and not ignore it. In addition, the family dysfunction approach and its intergenerational transmission of violence is far from substantiating the hypothesis assuming that preteens from families with a history of violence could be particularly exposed to courtship violence as either victims or perpetrators. That conclusion does certainly not, in any way, excuse violence between spousal and even less curbs the detrimental consequences on a child's development on account of violence between parents, but, rather provides hope for those who could have endured such pains during their childhood. Consequently, previous experiences do not constitute an indestructible straitjacket: those who have experienced or witnessed violence in their parent's couple are not obliged to reiterate violent behaviours when they woo an individual.

Writing Feedback / Rules governing interpersonal relationships / mini-essay [2]

Hello,

Could you please read my mini-essay and give me some feedback?

The prompt is:

Please provide a detailed and thoughtful, half-page (single spaced) response to the follow question: Are interpersonal relationships governed by rules? Why or why not?

Thank you in advance
Frederic

-------------

The textbook' authors refer to interpersonal relationships as lasting, tight emotional links perceived between two people that generate the development of relational expectations and fluctuating in their degree of interpersonal intimacy. Given that such enduring relations are not automatic but are the fruit of a long construction, they need to be managed thanks to an idiosyncratic, transactional type of human communication implicating reciprocal influence, i.e. interpersonal communication.

On the one hand, since that particular means of communication has been studied and that the subsequent findings have been applied to enhance the development of interpersonal relationships, one may state that rules stemming from works of induction exist. For instance, the mechanisms operating interpersonal communication as mutual transactions (such as the misinterpretation resulting from interferences caused by physical and psychological noises) are well identified and understood, despite divergent views are in opposition as regards the theoretical models that should be adopted. Furthermore, as governing principles, rules regulating the ontogenic functions of interpersonal relationships and communication have also been discovered.

On the other hand, the comprehension of the phylogenic functions of interpersonal relationships remains highly debatable as for their potential existence. For example, there is no denying that human beings necessarily need to communicate to stay alive as much as possible since Homo sapiens sapiens primates have adopted a social behaviour and a K-selected reproductive strategy. Nonetheless, although humans' obligate communication (ranging from autonomic to voluntary responses) is conspicuous, the development of interpersonal relationships to enhance the human species' reproductive success is far from being widely accepted.

Finally, although social scientists have already revealed numerous "natural laws" governing interpersonal relationships and their corollary, interpersonal communication, much remains to be unveiled about their ins and outs. Another issue retains the attention of researchers is the quasi-impossibility to apply universal, practicable solutions to dysfunctions occurring in interpersonal relationships due to the huge biological and cultural diversity present within the Homo sapiens sapiens species. Furthermore, one must bear in mind that the current absence of known rules does not necessarily mean that no rules exist.

Writing Feedback / Universal Declarations of Human Rights & problematic human rights issues [2]

Hello,

Could you please read my essay and give me some feedback?

The prompt is:

Though most countries have signed the United Nations Universal Declarations of Human Rights, many human rights issues remain unaddressed and unresolved. Why is this the case?

Thank you very much
Frederic

-------------

"Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité" (Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood"), which is the motto of the French Republic, is one of the many corollaries of the first American and European's attempts in the eighteenth century to draw founding documents for establishing the recognition of human rights. About two centuries later, in 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Despite the Universal Declarations has been a landmark in the history of human rights activism because most countries have signed it, many issues still remain at best unsettled and at worst not even addressed. The barriers hindering the progress of human rights may result from several cultural and political factors that hamper both the entire implementation of human rights treaties and the acceptance of abuse reports from the international community.

First, culture plays a predominant role in the setting of standards that define the limits of what is an abuse against human rights. Within the international community, which encompasses about two hundred states, separate cultures are so numerous and diverse that revealing common features of what are the fundamental human rights is not an unproblematic enterprise. Indeed, one state can sign a United Nations treaty regulating a particular form of criminal conduct and be charged with abuse for the interpretation of the terms of the treaty and their practical implementation is subject to biases caused by the culture of that country. Moreover, that state can also be blamed for misconduct, although its implementation respects the general consensus about a human rights concern, because a minority of countries does not consider that this convenient policy for the majority yields to its unique cultural values. Consequently, despite states can agree about a theoretical framework addressing the resolution of human rights divisive issues, the practical implementations, which are left to the free reading of each country, can raise other divisive issues due to the wide range of distinctive worldviews resulting from the cultural diversity of the nations asserting their affiliation with the United Nations.

Second, political scientists highlight the capacity of political leaders to utilize political selectivity when decisions or comments on human rights issues are to be addressed. This political leaders' ability lies in their aptitude to select two opposite treatments to deal with information. It depends on whether the alleged abuser belongs to the "ally" or "adversary" category at a particular moment. On the one hand, when a divisive issue about human rights is raised, a country can prefer to air official, and often off the record as well, remonstrance so as to stress its political divergence from a state defending other political views. On the other hand, a country can also prefer to completely ignore, or pretend to disregard, abuses against human rights that could happen at home or abroad. Such an attitude spotlights a will to dwindle the significance of human rights abuses to preserve strong, friendly political links with allied nations or create a climate of confidence with countries that are intended to be influenced in a foreseeable future. Consequently, political selectivity is not based on the gravity of unmoral acts but rather on the political consequences that a country should have to assume in case admonitions would be voiced.

Third, the so-called "standard of sovereignty", which is the aggregate of all the adamant endeavours to safeguard a state's sovereignty on the world stage, is frequently utilized as a shield to rebuff domestic or foreign interference with internal human rights abuses. For one thing, some states do not admit the fact that foreign nations can express their disagreement about their citizens' ill-treatment because such reactions are perceived as a foreign interference in the way to cope with domestic issues. Those countries fear that another state might take advantage of such a situation to impose a direct or indirect political domination over their nation, which would entail the loss of their sovereignty. For another thing, some countries entirely refute any act of human rights abuses that allegedly occur on their territory because they do not want to provide any foreign or domestic political opponent with the slightest reason to attack the ethical conduct of their political leaders or administrations. The complete ignorance of such behaviours aims at minimizing their extent in terms of both quantity and quality for the less significant those abuses appear the less opportunities to enhance the credibility of criticisms are given. The exploitation of the "standard of sovereignty" is one of the many political gimmicks that are employed to dampen the ardour of opponents' contestations and, in the end, to avoid settling a human rights issue.

In spite of candid attempts from various organizations such as the United Nations to draw treaties aiming at preventing abuses against human rights, this is not sufficient to completely bring to an end such behaviours. Indeed, human rights are a cultural construction from western worldviews that do not perfectly fit into the broad array of cultures all over the world. Such endeavours to eradicate human mistreatment prove to be a far more complicated task that their initiators have certainly underestimated. Furthermore, that effort to eliminate human ill-treatment to favour ideals of peace and democracy all over the world may fail to appreciate the authentic human nature. On what grounds are we sure that aggressive behaviours against our fellow creatures are contrary to the genuine human nature? As a matter of fact, hitherto, scholars have based their studies on the premise that humans are equals. However, evolutionary psychologists have been searching for the possibility that human aggressive behaviours could stem from an adaptation of the human species to its environment and the pressures exerted by selective agents. In case scientists could demonstrate such a theory, the human commitment to peace and democracy could appear as a chimera that does not take into account the actual nature of the human species.

Writing Feedback / How does international trade and commerce promote peace? - essay [2]

Hello,

Could you please read my essay and give me some feedback?

The prompt is:

How does international trade and commerce promote peace?

Thank you in advance
Frederic

-------------

In news items, globalization often goes hand in hand with world trade, international investments, and currency exchanges and their adverse consequences on common people. Economic interdependency has undoubtedly been connected with both opulence and poverty from the individual to the international level. However, the international trade also affects the international stages in more than one way. International commerce has a prevalent influence over diverse fields of human activity due to the propagation of transboundary political, economic, and military issues all over the world. Within the various reasons on which economic internationalists base their argumentation to favour free economic interchanges and foster economic development, non-economic reasons shed a new light on the promotion and preservation of peace on the world stage.

First, economic interchanges favour world cooperation. Countries that are interested in benefiting from international trade and commerce necessarily need to create friendly relations with other states. On the one hand, economic interactions between two different states inevitably necessitate that those countries augment the number of their contacts for different reasons. For instance, such as in Europe, countries establish a legal framework so as to regulate their respective requirements as regards customs standards. Consequently, diplomatic relations intensify in order to settle economic and legal compromises to facilitate the transports through borders. Accordingly, countries that are involved in international commercial and financial activities not only augment their contacts with foreign countries but they also tighten those links in order to preserve their prosperity. On the other hand, economic interactions between different states necessarily arouse interest in the general population for what appears as "exotic". For example, the fact that individuals appreciate the culture of foreign countries when they travel abroad for trading their products or when they accommodate foreign representatives spreads a better comprehension of other cultures. As a consequence, economic interchanges enhance the comprehension, cooperation, and interactions between countries and, thus, strengthen the political connections that promote world cooperation.

Second, economic interchanges help dwindle violence between states. Countries rely more and more on supplies of materials from foreign origin, which certainly refrains them from attempting aggressive behaviours against states that do not support their political beliefs. Indeed, in case of war, producers can cease the providing of essential resources for their counterparts, such as oil or water, or even blockade their trade networks, which can prove to be detrimental to their economies. Furthermore, citizens of the countries in the south hemisphere are more and more resentful towards north states as the northern affluence expands and as the southern poverty runs rampant. Consequently, the expansion of economic interchanges between and within the two hemispheres can fill the gap of the south's sense of relative deprivation and, thus, alleviate tensions between northern and southern countries. Therefore, economic interchanges help maintain previous diplomatic relations in addition to slow down the impoverishment in the southern hemisphere and, thus, relieve the feeling of resentment against the north that is a main cause of potential menace to global security.

Third, economic interchanges promote democracy all over the world. The propagation of commercial and financial activities between states leads to the subsequent dissemination of the concept of free enterprise on the world stage. Indeed, the capitalist system promotes certain principles, which remain essential for its perpetuation. For instance, the capitalist system encourages independent decision-making for expanding commerce. Furthermore, it also favours the free circulation of flows of ideas within a state and with the outside world in order to enhance the required intellectual emulation for achieve commercial success. Finally, the capitalist system also intensifies the development of puissant financial interests through investments in transnational businesses. The common feature of all those characteristics is that capitalism favours the propagation of liberty. However, in terms of political system, liberty shapes democracies rather than dictatorial regimes. The multiplication of channels of communication and their subsequent dissemination of foreign influences in a society overwhelm the stringent regulations of authoritarian systems. Consequently, economic interchanges indirectly promote democracy through the undermining of authoritarian political regimes. Finally, the propagation of democracy tends to encourage the resolution of conflicts through diplomatic ways rather than through war and, thus, reduces potential menace to global security.

Whether analysts agree or disagree with the potential beneficial effects of globalization, economic interchanges retain a powerful grip on the current domestic and transnational economic relations. Moreover, those relationships induce a political reorganization of the world since it keeps a significant influence on all types of political systems, and particularly authoritarian regimes, due to the expansion of cooperative behaviour from the individual to the international level. The slow disappearance of unilateral economic policies and the gradual augmentation of international commercial and financial rules through collaborative commercial activities and expansionist support to economic developments lessen the number and the intensity of the menaces against global security in the short term caused by resentful emotions felt by individuals. In addition, they also diminish the propensity to exacerbate conflicting relations between states in the long run due to political divergences. Finally, economic interchanges seemingly create and maintain a peaceful climate on the international stage, which reinforces the position of democracy in world politics.

Writing Feedback / International Court of Justice & International Criminal Court essay [2]

Hello,

Could you please read my essay and give me some feedback?

The prompt is:

Tension exists in global politics between the possibility of independent and powerful global organizations and the primacy of state sovereignty. Such tension is common for many international organizations that are established to promote international justice and uphold international law.

How does this tension affect the functioning of the International Court of Justice or the International Criminal Court?

Thank you in advance
Frederic

-------------

The city of The Hague in the Netherlands is at the heart of controversies concerning the international legal system because the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC) have their headquarters in this little European country. The relatively new international legal system has aimed at adjudicating the international law within the framework of global politics. However, due to the fact that the international legal system is still in the early stages of its developmental process, it is on the way to maturity through the enlargement and improvement of institutions and attitudes that are necessary for adjudication. Although International Governmental Organizations such as the ICJ and ICC have played an increasing role on the world stage, those independent and powerful international organizations have to face up to the influential power of the primacy of state sovereignty in global politics that give rise to impediments to the effectiveness of international courts.

First, the ICJ and the ICC are faced with their jurisdictional limits. For instance, in theory, the ICJ has the authority to settle all international legal disputes as soon as states submit legal matters between them or when one of the many organizations belonging to the United Nations seeks for an advisory opinion as regards legal disagreements. The jurisdiction of the ICC is more specialized in the field of international criminality. That domain encompasses the adjudication of disagreements concerning wars of aggression, genocides. The ICC is also in charge of the adjudication of disputes concerning commit "widespread and systematic" crimes that may have been perpetrated by "state, organization, or group policy" during periods of international and internal wars. Although the original goal is laudable, many states now avoid submitting decisions to the ICJ, litigate cases before it, or even abide by its decisions. Indeed, states can choose not to assert their compliance to the ICJ thanks to their adherence to the "optional clause", which notifies a state's agreement to be subject to the compulsory jurisdiction of the ICJ. States can also challenge the authority of the ICC by refusing the possibility that its troops can be investigated, charged, or prosecuted in cases of complaints. Consequently, the jurisdiction of international courts is faced with the potent barriers imposed by the state sovereignty. Indeed, the international legal system is now in a position where it can only adjudicate cases on condition that states accept to be willing to engage in a legal process.

Second, the ICJ and the ICC are also faced with the unwillingness of some states to submit to their decisions. The prime concern of the international courts lies in the fact that they depend on the voluntarily compliance of states to their jurisdiction. For example, some countries are clearly reluctant to accept and follow decisions that are issued by the international courts. Moreover, and unfortunately for them, international courts does not benefit from a powerful executive branch that could have the power to enforce decrees emanating from the courts. For example, as the ICJ executive branch, the UN Secretariat does not have the physical power to enforce ICJ judgments. Indeed, owing to the relative novelty of the international legal system, despite the desire of most to promote justice, not all countries and political leaders have decided to provide the executive branches with both authority and power yet. Furthermore, the UN does not have the means to compel states, even those who signed treaties claiming their willingness to conform to the international law, to give the executive branches coercive means to enforce the decisions of the international judiciary.

Finally, the city of The Hague will witness confrontations about issues related to the authority of international courts and the power of executive branches. The settlement of the dispute about the lack of enforcement of international legal decisions will certainly last for many years. Indeed, the desire of the USA to play a hegemonic role on the international stage will be a severe impediment to a resolution of this issue. However, the increase in cases that are tried by international courts since their creation has evidenced the fact that states are more and more willing to utilize them, such the ICJ and ICC, to accept their decisions. Although the international system court is still primitive and experiences difficulties in the enforcement of its judgments, the international legal system has begun to find its niche within global politics. As a matter of fact, despite the international court system may be criticized on its form or functions, it seemingly assumes a consensus between states to settle disputes concerning international relations.

Book Reports / Book Review - "La Bęte du Gévaudan" (the beast of the Gevaudan) [2]

Greetings,

Could you please read my book review and give me some feedback?

The prompt is:

A book review is a critical review of a book-it is not a book report like you might have written in high school. After reading a historical work, you should review the major thesis (position, point of view) of the author and make a judgment on how well the author addresses his/her topic, supports the thesis, and argues his/her point of view. A book report is a narrative description of the book. A book review is a critical analysis.

You can use the following outline in writing the book review but DO NOT divide the body of the review into separate sections. Your review is a flowing narrative that considers these major points:

Bibliographic information: Author's name (last name first, first name next, middle initial). Title of the book. Place of publication: Publishing company, Date of publication.

I. Introduction: use an interesting incident in the book, something unusual, or etc., to lead into the book. The first paragraph should lead a reader to want to read the rest of the review. One paragraph.

II. General Information: What is the book generally about? Who is the author (background, education, special qualifications to write on this topic? Etc. (one to two paragraphs)

III. Body of the Review (around 1˝ to 2 pages)
Author's position: is it controversial? If so, why?
Analysis of sources: generally primary or secondary sources?
How does the book fit into the overall body of works on the topic?
Your views of the book, the author's position

IV. Summary (one paragraph)
Was the book worth reading? Why or why not?
Would you recommend it for others to read? Why r why not?
Who would find the book useful?

Thank you in advance
Frederic

-----------------------------------------------------------

Louis, Michel. La Bęte du Gévaudan. Paris: Editions Perrin, 2003.

Although France has always spearheaded rationalism to the greater extent, two hundred and fifty years after the facts, the atrocious carnages perpetrated by a phantasmagorical beast in the Gévaudan, a central and mountainous area of France, still inflame the readers' imagination. Based on official documents, oral traditions, the most up-to-date findings of zoology, and the author's practical knowledge of relationships with big cats, Louis Michel's work is the most complete available reference on the topic. The author of this breathtaking book raises emotions and kindles fear in the reader on his way to resolve the most exciting enigma of the devil's agent on the old continent. His forensic quest even leads him to consider influences from the Americas...

As a wild nature enthusiast, and especially an aficionado of the beast of the Gévaudan, Michel Louis is the founder and the current director of a zoo at Amneville. Despite a lack of formal training in zoology, the author displays an amazing knowledge due to his familiarity with wild beasts such as tigers, bears, and wolves and his readings about animal behaviour. Moreover, thanks to the assistance of historians, journalists, and other wild beast specialists, Louis Michel tackles the mystery in the light of the social, zoological, political, economic, religious contexts in those days, and the subsequent consequences over the European society.

Throughout the book, Michel Louis's findings emphasize the hypothesis of a machination hatched by local instigators: a vicious noble, Jean-François-Charles de Morangiès, who delighted the misfortune, chaos, and terror that he created in the French kingdom assisted by the head of a peasant family, Antoine Chastel, who enjoyed the bloody activities of the animal he personally trained. Thanks to an attentive reading of primary sources such as official or religious records written as early as the first corpses were discovered, Michel Louis elaborates the theory of an animal that had been trained to spread a feeling of terror in the Gévaudan. Moreover, his use of secondary sources dating as far back as a few weeks after the first occurrences of assassinations allows him to demonstrate that the macabre arrangements of the corpses in addition to their nudity and decapitation were the morbid work of a human being. Furthermore, the author also buttresses his vision of a human manipulation thanks to primary and secondary describing the beast with an armour-plate. On the other hand, the author gives evidence against any vengeance orchestrated by rancorous Calvinists or English attempts to destabilize the French royalty that are rather cogent.

However, Michel Louis's position remains debatable because he does not take into account a significant psychological aspect of the French nobility in this end of the eighteenth century: Jean-François-Charles de Morangiès could have defended its ideal of a proper society. Indeed, one should keep in mind that the seventeenth century and its Scientific Revolution had trampled on the revered Ptolemy's geocentric theory of the universe that was the bedrock of Catholicism and Descartes's rationalism had jeopardized the foundations of the Catholic Church. Besides, eighteenth-century Philosophes such as Montesquieu and Diderot rejected the supremacy of the European oligarchy, in addition to Adam Smith who promoted personal enrichment outside the ranks of the aristocracy. Michel Louis could ameliorate his investigative work by shedding light on the possibility of an attempt from Jean-François-Charles de Morangiès to counter the destabilization of the old order. Actually, this aristocrat's intentions could have been to demonstrate the incapacity of the new world order to understand everything and control the French kingdom. Moreover, this noble could have intended to highlight the fact that the French populace was neither ready nor sufficiently intelligent to assume the responsibility of self-governance. Finally, he could have simply been determined to maintain the traditional pattern of Europe's social organization and reassert the dominating role of the French patrician oligarchs.

Despite some lacunas, Michel Louis's "La Bęte du Gévaudan" will delight the readers for several reasons. First, the outstanding work of investigation buttressing the book brings to light a somewhat unknown side of the French rural society in the pre-Revolutionary period. Second, the author admirably conveys the sadism of scenes that largely equal present-day true-crime stories. Last and not the least, I would strongly recommend this book to learners of the French language who would ameliorate their command of this language because Michel Louis is an actual lover of the words. Who could resist to the appeal of an eeriest depiction of humans' bestiality in the utmost delicate language of the Marquis of Sade?

Writing Feedback / Israel and Palestine - a physical anthropology approach [2]

Hello,

Could you please read my essay and give me some feedback? Thank you very much!

The prompt is:

In late 1947, the United Nations voted to create a separate Jewish state and Arab state in what was then British Palestine, and, after a short but brutal conflict with the surrounding Arab countries, Israel won its independence. However, independence did not bring peace to the region, and one of the world's most enduring conflicts remains the ongoing conflict between Arabs (and Muslims) and Israel. If you had the ability to impose a solution, how would solve this seemingly insolvable problem?

Thank you in advance
Frederic

-------------

Since 1947, and the United Nations' vote approving the creation of separate Jewish and Arab states in what was then British Palestine, not a single year elapses without fights between proponents of one of the two entities. Every year, lots of seasoned political analysts have provided numerous frameworks and schedules to settle the conflict, but, in the end, no viable solution has ever been accepted in the long term. The international stage considers that the current situation in Israel must be allayed. However, the crux of the matter may lie in the fact that there is no problem at all. It seems that political leaders and their cohorts of political advisers do not intend to consider the idea that conflict could be part of the human nature and that, therefore, wars cannot be prevented. I would defend a biological approach based on physical anthropology that asserts that human's behaviour is the result of the influence of the Darwinian theory of evolution on humankind, in the same way as any other primate species, to demonstrate that multidisciplinary solutions could be implemented.

Although the current tension between Israel and Palestine is mainly rooted in more or less recent political decisions, it is constantly reinforced by demographic pressures. From an evolutionary perspective, Jews and Arabs are now competing for resources in order to survive and, thus, ameliorate their reproductive success. Besides, Israel welcomes thousands of new migrants from abroad on its territory. Palestinian families are rather large and often live in abject poverty because of the seclusion imposed by the Israeli authorities, which hampers their daily commute to work. Consequently, demographic policies aiming at curbing the aggregate populations of Jews and Arabs should be implemented. For instance, the current demographic expansion of the Israeli and Arab populations could be curtailed thanks to the implementation of a limitation of the influx of new migrants in Israel and a policy of birth control in Palestine, on the one hand, and a policy deterring Palestinians who fled their homeland from coming back in the country, on the other. Accordingly, policies reducing the demographic pressures could minimize the competition for resources between Israeli and Palestinians, and thus establish a more serene climate for the settlement of the conflicting relations between those two nations.

The Palestinian economic plight severely impairs the resolution of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. From an evolutionary viewpoint, given that policies focusing on decreasing the demographic pressures are not implemented and that their potential effects could not be immediate, the competition for resources is not only fierce but also frequently detrimental to the Palestinians. Indeed, hardly any company can pursue its commercial, industrial, or financial activities in Palestine because of the combats and bombing that recurrently occur in the area. Moreover, the Palestinians seriously suffer from the severe restrictiveness imposed by Israel at the checkpoints, which either put a stop to the Palestinians' commute or dissuade potential investors and entrepreneurs from setting up their businesses in Palestine. Therefore, policies fostering the economic recovery of Palestine should be implemented. For example, at the system-level of international relations, the World Trade Organization could publicize the advantages of the low-cost workforce in Palestine in the agricultural sector while, at the state-system level, Israel and Palestine could provide subsidies for businessmen who would set up companies in Palestine and hire Palestinians . Consequently, policies curbing the economic pressures could downplay the competition for resources between Israeli and Palestinians. Palestinians would not be badly in need of food and daily necessities and, therefore, they would be less eager to air their resentment against the Israel's policy of security through violent acts of retaliation such as bomb attacks. The appeasement created by the implementation of such economic policies could greatly facilitate the necessary peace talks for a resolution of the conflict.

Palestinian and Israeli cultures seriously damage the relations between the two peoples because they are used as means of propaganda, which are utilized to maintain the pursuit of the conflict. From an evolutionary standpoint, that conflicting climate exacerbates the Israeli and Palestinians' respective perception of excessive selective pressures of their allegedly inhospitable environments. Actually, the Jewish and Islamic religions have always played a significant role as an excuse for substantiating the opposition between the Israeli and Arab positions. Furthermore, although Israeli and Arab arts share common topics such as the disillusionment of modern life or the women's role in society, as a large, and in private life, in particular, they are also means of manipulation to fuel violent behaviours thanks to the amplification of negative, destructive emotions, such as derogatory drawings or songs calling to hostility. Accordingly, policies furthering cultural rapprochements between Israeli and Palestinians should be implemented. For instance, ecumenical study groups could develop the archaeological and literary heritage of the area in order to demonstrate that those two peoples share more common points and values as regards religion than moot points. In addition, both states should persuade their own citizens to learn and speak the Arabic and Hebrew languages to facilitate the communication between them. Finally, scholarly works in fields, such as sociology and psychology, laying emphasis on the sociability of those cultures should be published and advertised. As a consequence, policies curtailing the cultural pressures could lessen the perception of social and ethnic contrasts between Israeli and Palestinians. Therefore, that intellectual step in the direction of pacification could prove to be a valuable stage in the laying of the foundations for peace.

The settlement of the conflict between Israel and Palestine clearly highlights the importance of politics, demography, economy, and culture as individual agents of change and as components of a core of stimulus-response processes. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is an epitome for behavioural ecologists because it allows them to stress the evolution of behaviours and behavioural patterns in the direct-opposition type of conflict. This war perfectly exemplifies the interactions of ecological factors as agents of natural selection that have been favoured because they augment the individuals' reproductive fitness. In the specific environmental context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and at a macro-level, cohesion and aggressive interactions that are present in the area illustrate the significance of those social behaviours in those types of human societies. Consequently, it could be interesting to fall beyond the framework of the physical anthropology to enlarge the scope of such a study to the whole world and to a far much larger time scale in order to corroborate or reject the evolutionary psychology paradigm claiming that aggressive interactions are inherent to the Homo sapiens sapiens species because humankind has inherited that trait from its first hominid ancestors. Such a discovery could greatly influence the field of applied social sciences, from international political counsellors to marriage and family therapists, because it could open new vistas in the management of aggressive behaviours.

Writing Feedback / Post-WW II era / development of animosity between the US and the USSR [2]

Hello,

Could you please read my essay and give me some feedback? Thank you very much!

The prompt is:

From 1941 through 1945, the United States and the Soviet Union were allies, friends in the great global conflict to end Nazi tyranny in Europe and Japanese militarism in Asia. Yet, the ink was barely dry on the agreements made at Yalta in Feb 1945 and later at Potsdam in Jul 1945, when observers could already see the Grand Alliance coming apart. Within three years, the two countries would be in an ideological conflict, the Cold War that lasted until 1991.

Identify and discuss what you believe to be the one most significant reason for the development of this animosity.

Thank you in advance
Frederic

World War II is a particular importance as regards politics since it epitomizes the fact that completely opposite political ideologies such as capitalism and communism can bridge the gap of their discrepancies to fight against a common threat such as Nazism. As soon as the menace had been cleared, this Grand Alliance decided to set up the new geographical and political limits of the post-WW II international stage at the Yalta Conference in February 1945. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin had the same objectives, i.e. security and development, which required the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany in addition to its complete demilitarisation and denazification. Although, retrospectively, the collapse of the Yalta system was predictable, the first signs of disagreement were exacerbated by those leaders' willingness to shape the international stage according to their respective political visions of what could have been the best governance system for humankind, which was epitomized by the partition of Europe in the wake of the armistice.

Acrimony emerged within the Grand alliance because of the Allies and Soviets' desire to secure peace in Europe, and thus, avoid another global conflict. The prospect of another war that could break out in Europe would have been catastrophic, not only for the Europeans but also for the US and the USSR. Indeed, WW II had caused the death of millions of people (of all extractions) and the US, the USSR, and the Europeans could not afford to wage a new war, especially since the emergence of nuclear arsenals, if they wanted to avoid the complete annihilation of their nations and peoples. Moreover, in case of war at this particular time, US leaders certainly realized that the USSR could easily conquer Europe due to a lack of resistance thanks to the disastrous economic and demographic plight of European States. Consequently, communism would have managed the Eurasian continent and could have also enticed African states, which would have meant that communism would have virtually overwhelmed capitalism.

On the other hand, such a situation was not so evident in the light of what happened in Yugoslavia. Actually, communist governments had established strong powers that were loyal to Moscow in Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia. However, the leader of the Communist resistance movement in Yugoslavia (Josip Broz, also known as Tito) set up an independent Communist state although he had been a loyal Stalinist until the end of the war. Furthermore, the opposition between the Communist resistance and the monarchy in Greece was also a source of worry for both the Allies and the USSR. The members of the Grand Alliance were fully aware that two World Wars had not quenched the ashes of nationalism in Europe. Since capitalists and communists needed to secure peace in Europe to preserve or develop their spheres of political influence, they were compelled to agree on a peace settlement, in the case in point the Yalta Conference, which could be interpreted at will without arousing anger in the other camp. Politically speaking, that was, to some extent, a success since both competitors had implemented policies to counter their opponents' moves. The capitalists implemented a doctrine of containment, through the Truman doctrine and the Marshall Plan, while the communists entailed the partition of Germany into two states and assured their political domination in Eastern Europe.

Eventually, the search for peace brought the creation of a new source of tension between the US and the USSR, referred to as "Cold War" by the former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill as early as March 1946. First, the hostility between capitalist and communist governments separated Europe in two blocs that were led by two power poles, i.e. the US and the USSR. Then, all over the world, nations took a stand for the US (for example through the appurtenance to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization), against (for instance through the belonging to the Warsaw Pact), or for neutrality (for instance through the commitment to the Non-Aligned Movement). Although the development for such an animosity on the international stage may have mainly emerged from an opposition of worldviews, that antagonism was the reflection of global concerns making the headlines nowadays such as "Is peacekeeping preferable to peace enforcement?" However, those issues raise a more universal question: on what grounds should peace be the key plank of international relations?

Writing Feedback / Essay on Responsibility for WW II [2]

Hello,

Could you please read my essay and give me some feedback? Thank you very much!

The prompt is:

After 1934, Prime Minister of Britain Neville Chamberlain and French Premier Edouard Daladier followed a policy of appeasement. They believed that Adolf Hitler had legitimate and reasonable changes to the Treaty of Versailles--rearmament in 1934, the remilitarization of the Rhineland in 1936, the political union with Austria, and so on. They strove to satisfy Hitler's demands by allowing these changes although they were blatant violations of the 1919 peace settlement. Despite allowing Hitler to make these changes, Europe was again at war in Sep 1939, signifying the failure of the appeasement policy. In response address two related questions: were Chamberlain and Daladier correct in acquiescing to Hitler's demands? Why did the policy fail to prevent war in Sep 1939?

Thank you in advance
Frederic

Despite all the efforts deployed by nations that had fought during WW I because they did not want to reiterate such a bloody experience, once more, a global conflict broke out in September 1939. The policy of appeasement initiated by the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and the French Prime Minister Edouard Daladier are often cited as the main cause of the outbreak of WW II. However, before condemning those political leaders as scapegoats, one should reconsider the situation between the two World Wars and the protagonists' aims in those days. Although no one could assert that Chamberlain and Daladier were correct in acquiescing to Hitler's demands, they had strong arguments to advocate a policy of appeasement during the 1930s, despite it proved a failure to prevent WW II.

The assessment of the appropriateness of Chamberlain and Daladier's acquiescence to Hitler's demands is at the heart of a highly controversial debate, nonetheless, some historical elements can shed light on the underlying reasons that incited those political leaders to act this way. First, reminiscences of the carnages of WW I battlefields prevented Chamberlain and Daladier from considering aggressive foreign policies that could trigger off a bloody global conflict. The European population had been decimated during the Great War and the survivors had had to suffer from the Great Depression during the 1930s. Consequently, Europeans had not voted to be leaded by belligerent political leaders and they would have not backed Chamberlain and Daladier if they had wanted to wage war once more. Europeans wanted to benefit from durable peace and democratic political systems. Moreover, Chamberlain and Daladier might have noticed that industrialization had not only permitted to improve the quality of the military arsenal but that mass production had also greatly augmented the quantity of that military hardware. Accordingly, Chamberlain and Daladier might have feared that another war could have annihilated civilization. Furthermore, Europeans, who so deeply cherished peace, feared Russia more than Germany. On the one hand, Stalin had never hidden his desire to propagate communism all over the world and the European populations knew that that spread could only happen through revolution, namely at least political confrontations or at worst war. On the other hand, Hitler had always firmly taken a firm stand against communism and Europeans, especially Great Britain and France, which might have thought that Germany could act as a buffer in case the Soviets would have desired to launch an attack against western European countries. Subsequently, for Europeans and their political leaders, Hitler might have appeared as a lesser evil. Finally, one could argue that such a policy was an incentive to Hitler's desires of military and political expansion and that more coercive policies could have been implemented. Nevertheless, one should keep in mind that during the 1930s, Germany carried out a fierce economic competition with Great Britain and France and was on the verge of becoming the economic European leader thanks to its domestic policy. Therefore, Chamberlain and Daladier might have deemed that it would be more advantageous at first to agree to Hitler's requirements. Actually, the rearmament of Great Britain and France with large amounts of state-of-the-art weaponries would have allowed Chamberlain and Daladier to utilize those deterrents to thwart Hitler's political greed.

The causes of the failure of Chamberlain and Daladier's policy of appeasement in the 1930s might be rooted in Hitler's three main objectives. First, Hitler wanted to abolish the Treaty of Versailles because he considered that Germany was not responsible for initiating WW I (as specified in the War Guilt clause). Furthermore, he thought that the pecuniary reparations that Germany was required to pay for the damage caused by the war were disproportionate. Moreover, Hitler deemed that the extreme reduction of the German army added to the demilitarisation of the Rhineland were excessive requests. Besides, Hitler estimated that the interdiction of an Anschluss with another country (especially Austria) was an unbearable demand, as well. Consequently, the policy of appeasement was unable to hamper Hitler's desire to put an end to the Treaty of Versailles because it was an intolerable reminder to Hitler of the Germans' humiliation caused by the Triple Entente. Second, Hitler had to face practical considerations such as the growing German population, which needed new territories to live comfortably. Hitler felt that if the expansion of the German national territory failed to happen he could not be in a position to satisfy Germans' needs and, thus, he could not be backed by a sufficiently substantial political basis to wage war against its enemies. Hitler knew that the achievement of his political future was based on its ability to integrate his people's needs into his political agenda; and those two requirements could be fulfilled through the conquest of lands in Eastern Europe. Subsequently, the policy of appeasement was not efficient to stop Hitler's desire to fulfil his people's wishes, especially since this promoted the pursuit of his political rise. Third, Hitler was determined to obliterate communism, which was exactly his opposite political belief, through a war against the Soviets. Hitler was so resolute in his actions that he was clever enough to sign a German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact on August 23, 1939, while he had already planned to invade Russia. Hitler was in no way deprived of political acumen. In case Chamberlain and Daladier had managed to entail Hitler to sign a peace agreement, this accord would have remained a bogus document for the Führer.

Finally, it appears that Hitler's ambitions had been largely minimized by European political leaders. Europeans also failed to assess Hitler's true political determination for reaching his objectives. However, only armed with their benevolence, European leaders completely came to naught with estimating the Führer's actual political aspirations and, above all, the fact he went to a lot of trouble to achieve his goals, at all costs. Instead of asking whether the appeasement policy failed to prevent war in September 1939, one should better ask whether any policy could have stopped Hitler. Consequently, instead of heaping reproaches on Chamberlain and Daladier for their alleged inefficiency, one should bear in mind that they have done their best to preserve peace and prevent a global conflict whereas Hitler was firmly determined to enter war; he has been the sole person to blame for WW II.

Writing Feedback / Essay on Reactions to Western Imperialism in Asia [2]

Hello,

Could you please read my essay and give me some feedback? Thank you very much!

The prompt is:

The 1800s saw the steady decline of China as western countries gradually obtained concessions and control of extensive parts of the country. Japan, on the other hand, responded differently and began an extensive and intensive program of modernization. As a result, Japan not only kept control of its destiny, it also became a major world power. What do you believe made the difference in the reaction of the Chinese government to western encroachments and the Japanese reaction to the west?

Thank you in advance
Frederic

-------------

The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were particularly challenging for East Asian poles of power. China and Japan responded to western pressures in different ways, whose later implications entailed opposite political, economic and cultural consequences. Although the totally of the reasons that underlie the difference in the reaction of the Chinese and Japanese governments to western encroachments are far from being discovered, four main historical developments can shed light on the issue.

First, Japanese isolationism, which started in the sixteenth century with the advent of the Tokugawa dynasty, allowed the subsequent rulers to bar foreign political, economic, and cultural intrusions from permeating the Japanese archipelago. However, Japan did not stagnate because the traditional social stratification and institutions changed in reaction to the emergence of a new merchant class and to the Tokugawa centralization. Those two characteristics are not without reminding early modern European empires that later gave birth to the scientific Revolution and that spread Industrialization. Consequently, Japanese isolationism created the most beneficial conditions for the country to cope with the nineteenth-century Imperialism. China also isolated itself from western political and cultural influences but opened the Chinese economy to foreigners and awkwardly attempted to control the commercial penetrations of the western Imperialism, without success.

On the one hand, Chinese government favoured aggressive diplomatic and domestic policies rather than negotiations. Instead of altering the Chinese economic policies, the Qing dynasty preferred to be at war with Great Britain in 1839. The Western technological advances empowered the British to force China to accept Great Britain terms of commercial relations (Treaty of Nanjing in 1842). The Qing humiliatingly ceded territories to Great Britain (the island of Hong Kong) and opened its market to British traders (legalization of the opium trade). The Taiping Rebellion, which started in 1853 and which lasted eleven years before being crushed in 1864, did not incite the Qing into settling the peasants' plight. The first reforms to eliminate the European spheres of influence on the Chinese territory through the amelioration of the Chinese economy (policy of self-strengthening) only happened when the Qing dynasty was disintegrating. However, those efforts were not sufficient to prevent the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. Once more, the Chinese government was unable to anticipate and tackle that peasants' revolt, which brought about a European repressive military intervention. Furthermore, even the Sun Yat-Sen's revolution in 1911 proved to be a failure as regards the creation of new institutions to change the Chinese society. Consequently, China entered the twentieth century and, vis-ŕ-vis industrialization, lagged far behind Japan at the same time.

On the other hand, taking advantage of the changes due to the isolationism under the Tokugawa and the unfortunate experience of China with the Europeans (both abovementioned), Japan managed to benefit from the nineteenth-century New Imperialism. Instead of taking the risk to definitively lose its privileges, the Japanese oligarchy initiated a wave of changes in the wake of the diplomatic and economic encounter with the United States of America. The westernization of Japan occurred during the Meiji restoration, which promoted industrialization in addition to the entire reform of the Japanese political framework without impairing the aristocracy or the bourgeoisie. The success of the transition was so encouraging and rewarding that Japan even took part in the craze for overseas expansion through the Sino and Russo-Japanese Wars. Consequently, Japan gained more and more confidence in its capacity to deal with Western powers, which entailed the continuation of its line of conduct with foreigners.

Furthermore, at the outbreak of World War I, Japan joined the Allies to pursue its expansionist foreign policy, which reinforced the links between Japan and Western countries. Indeed, the Japanese greed for German territories in the Pacific and in China, allowed Japan to overcome China as regards diplomatic and commercial relations with the West. Such a reaction, turned out to be a clever choice because the Allies eventually decided to recompense the Japanese government for its support during the conflicts. Accordingly, Japanese appreciated the returns of its political, economical, and cultural investments in the Western culture whereas China suffered from its tardiness in altering its political, economical, and cultural frameworks to adapt to the changing world.

Finally, the Chinese and Japanese management of the Western Imperialism highlights that those countries, which had a strong sense of their respective ethnicities and which had preserved their territorial unity, completely diverged in their manner of facing foreign pressures. One could argue that the practical approach of Japan was the best because that country benefited from a period of prosperity and expansion in addition to preserve its sovereignty whereas the Chinese experience was limited to enduring the assault of the Western Imperialism. However, one could advocate a different viewpoint and could support a nationalistic standpoint over the period. In this case, one could argue that Japan sacrificed its cultural exception to its integration in the nascent globalization of world affairs after having accepted to become a dependent sovereign state. China's inability to cope with its political and economic predicaments may have saved the Chinese nation from the first attempts of cultural standardization. In the light of those considerations, it becomes much more difficult to ascertain who were the winners and losers during this period.

Writing Feedback / New Imperialism in Asia and Africa [2]

Hello,

Could you please read my essay and give me some feedback? Thank you very much!

The prompt is:

By 1900, most Western European countries, the United States and Japan had become involved in a new round of empire-building, the New Imperialism. They established spheres of (political and/or economic) influence and colonies in most to the remaining unclaimed parts of Asia, Africa, and Asia. Causes often cited for this new colonial impulse are political, economic, social, cultural, and psychological, deriving from industrialization, growing steam navies, Social Darwinism, and need for raw materials / new markets for excess goods. What do you believe was the most important reason for the New Imperialism and why do you select this reason?

Thank you in advance
Frederic

In the nineteenth century, a new phase of western expansion in Asia and Africa occurred. Scholars have advanced numerous factors of significant importance to explain this New Imperialism. However, the extraction of the practical causes within a myriad of political, moral, or scientific justifications has been a matter of some controversy. Although we will never be in a position to be absolutely certain to know whether economic causes were at the origin of the nineteenth-century New Imperialism, evidence suggests that the need for natural resources, desire to expand markets, wish to realize new investments, search for uninhabited territories for growing populations were the underlying reasons of what should be considered as the New Economic imperialism.

The need for supplementary sources of raw materials originated in the nineteenth-century mass consumption and leisure. The emergence of mass society in the nineteenth century brought improved standard of living for the lower and middle classes, which composed the great majority of the population. The rise in real wages accompanied by the decline of various costs for consumers led to an increase in mass consumption that reflected in the development of department stores in cities. Moreover, the expansion of new transportation systems, such as automobiles and railroads, allowed the populations to move and enjoy new forms of leisure, for example beaches and amusement parks. Consequently, the production of those equipments required tremendous and reliable supplies of raw materials such as rubber and steel. The First Industrial Revolution had already led western industrialists to exploit the European natural resources. Furthermore, products such as rubber were only available abroad. Consequently, necessary raw materials were imported from Asia and Africa because the political conjuncture and moral justifications allowed the western industrialists to stock up with low cost or foreign origin resources.

The search for uninhabited territories for the growing nineteenth-century western populations came from the need to augment the numbers of urban centres close to reserves of natural resources. The population explosion and urbanization in the nineteenth century overcrowded western urban centres. First, the lower class workers were skilled at industrial tasks and accustomed to the comfort of their urban dwellings. Second, the middle class white-collars did certainly not consider renouncing their new social ascension and their improved standard of living in their cosy domiciles. As a consequence, the western nations faced the obligation of finding territories that could provide sufficient raw materials for the industries, farming lands for nourishing the population, and, above all, sites where the creation and development of cities could be achievable. Unfortunately, such types of territories did no longer exist in the western countries. Therefore, western industrialists settled urban communities in Africa and Asia, where medical breakthroughs, such as the quinine, permitted western people to work and live in compliance with the new western standards of living.

The desire to explore markets abroad was the result of the nineteenth-century mass production in western countries. Western industrials needed to investigate the wide range of potential markets abroad because the western market was subject to fierce competition between the different industries. Producers benefited from Asian and African people who had been educated in western universities and who lived in the western way of life. Those acculturated subjects of western empires represented perfect sources of potential purchasers because they did not only buy western artefacts to imitate western customs for social advancement or prestige but they also publicized the western way of life to other potential buyers. Therefore, New Imperialism was backed up by industrialists who, while extending the limits of their markets, promoted the political expansion of western empires.

The wish to realize new investments in Asia and Africa was initiated by the nineteenth-century industrial bourgeois who wanted to expand their benefits. Nineteenth-century bourgeois were constantly searching for lucrative investments, ranging from the exploitation of natural resources, such as farming or mining extraction, to production of goods, such as electric appliances, or to services, such as legal counselling. The new businesses in Asia and Africa provided huge returns because the western consumers demanded more and more items that required to be made with foreign materials. The western industrialization stimulated the intensification of economic relations between the west and the Asian and African continents that increased industrialists' greed and, as a consequence, augmented their desire to expand western possessions in Africa and Asia to make more money. Therefore, the aggregate investments abroad were one of the economic levies that amplified the western expansion in Asia and Africa in the nineteenth century.

New Imperialism in the nineteenth century was primarily fuelled by economic necessities. Indeed, social causes, such as Social Darwinism or the spread of Christianity, were only justifications to subjugate Asian and African populations. They were simply means to expand economic returns without letting appear the real objectives and with the aim to prevent accusations of harsh colonialism. Actually, to the best of my knowledge, Jesus does not advocate slavery. Furthermore, Darwin explains that the fittest survives and overcomes the weakest but he does not assert that the fittest could have the slightest obligation to take advantage of the weakest. Furthermore, political and military causes were also justifications to legitimate the countries' expansion in the eyes of the other nations on the international stage. New western empires wanted to avoid political tensions at home, such as in Europe, and between the colonies. Indeed, the European colonies in Africa generated relatively few tensions between the colonial powers. Moreover, those colonies were primarily aimed at commercial activities. Actually, given the immensity of the territories, they supported few troops and that might was mainly to police the area. As regards the technological causes, such as medical or weaponry breakthroughs, they were valuable advantages but did not constitute the principal objective of the nineteenth-century New Imperialism. Finally, in my opinion, the debate about the importance of the causes of the New Imperialism reflects the influence of capitalism in world politics and that could be summarized thanks to the subsequent saying: "money talks".