Examining the Jobs Problem: Inheritance - 470 (words)

             Social Capital and Social Networks (not Facebook) are such interesting concepts in American society, especially when examining the way Americans acquire employment. Which ultimately brings me to the question that is burning in my mind, how does Social Capital, Social Networks maintain the hegemonic power structure in American Society.

            Obviously when asking what effects how Americans obtain employment it must be understood in what ways employment can be gained. I would suppose that there are three general ways in which most Americans obtain employment: First and most readily available to everyone is when citizens apply for jobs via wanted ads found in media; second people attempt to make contacts through establishing social networks with the business community; finally though and most intriguing is when people obtain employment because they have a family or personal connection to the employer.
             Investigating employment, then, must start at looking at interviews and surveys of data collected on employment in America. The approach must come at various levels, meaning that what are the connections available to people obtaining working class jobs at places such as restaurants and factories etc. Also mid-level professional labour must be examined and then management level employment should also be examined. It is important to understand not only who is getting jobs and how they are obtaining them, but also who is getting what jobs and what allows them to attain them.

             In America inheritance, the ability of one generation to hand down wealth to proceeding generations is a touchy topic when the society is supposed to be designed with the concept of meritocracy. How could one say that he starts equal with other men and his merits carry him to success when he has been born into privilege is a question that must be posed. Billionaire Bill Gates was born into a family of millionaires and because of this he was able to drop out of college and start Microsoft. Gates would likely not be able to have done this if he had come from a working class background.

           I think it would be interesting to focus my work on local research, especially in the DC/Baltimore metropolitan area. This area has a long and rich history of diversity as well as an increasingly broad range of citizens from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds. These circumstances make our area ideal for research and obviously since I will not be doing my own research, pulling on the research from the area should prove fruitful.

            How can the disadvantaged get ahead in society when the rich allow themselves to get richer and create blockades that the disadvantaged can never breakthrough? That is why answering this research question is so important because Americans need to become aware of the problems with inheritance and discover a pathway for a more meritocratic society. 

Real Blog #1 - Social Capital - 282

In American society people are told from an early age that they will get an education and then use their education to find gainful employment. Small children dream of being fireman and astronauts and all sorts of extraordinary professions. The problem is that this American Dream, the idea you can be anything you want to be tends to be a lie.

            No matter how many education accreditations one obtains in America they are not guaranteed the acquisition of a position as an astronaut or fireman. In fact it is more likely for you to become an astronaut if your father is a bureaucrat in NASA or a fireman if your Uncle has been in the department for 15 years than merely having a PhD in Astrophysics.

            Social Capital is a concept which evaluates the value of ones social ties and social networks and how those connections can be used to achieve employment among other things. I currently work at a government agency in which my mother was formerly employed. Working for the government is something that many people desire, but machines do not make hiring decisions people make them. Would I be employed by the Government if it was not for family connections, maybe so, maybe not, but nonetheless connections certainly did not hurt my chances.

            There is a problem with social capital, especially in a society that is supposed to be based on equality because social capital is more often than not inherited instead of earned through merit. People obtain employment because of family relations not connections they made in life. The question has to become how society moves away from social capital overriding merit when people try to attain employment

My Computer

My Computer

Technology in today’s world is at the forefront of most people’s lives, even for those who would not consider themselves “tech savvy.” When I was born in 1990 very few people had cell phones and those who did carried around massive walkie-talkie like devices. Today nearly everyone carries around a small personal computer, a smart phone, and use it not only call people, but can text and email them at the same time.

            In my life technology is something of a second nature and working with computers is one of my favorite pastimes. When people want a new computer they go on the Internet, Dell.com, Sonystyle.com, etc., but when I want a new computer I go shopping for computer parts. Far beyond the power of your Sony or Dell is my computer lets call it “Tom” brand, that I have completely assembled myself from circuit board and processor.

            Super fast computers, like mine, produce massive amounts of heat because of the amount of electricity passing through the circuitry. Enthusiasts like myself thus use water instead of air to cool our machines. A normal computer uses fans to pass air over large chunks of copper attached to the processors dispersing heat from the CPUs and GPUs into the surrounding air. This process is only nominally successful and thus fast computers, like mine, use water instead of air to keep them cool. Using specially designed Water Blocks (pieces of hollow copper that attach to a processor and allow water to flow into) water is run over the processor and then pumped into radiators that cool the water and allow the processors to run at around room temperature.

            Working with all these parts and putting everything together is very calming and peaceful as well. This makes my hobby, building computers both fun and exciting, but also relaxing and of course useful since computers are such a large part of our everyday lives.