The French Revolution and Nationalism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

The French Revolution and Nationalism - Essay Example A force that is capable of rendering a national character to any uprising or event, nationalism is a phenomenon that permeates into the very core of a citizen’s life. It does so by giving the people of a country a common platform where they can meet, interact and bond. Subsequently, this leads to a rise in the national character as these people begin to identify with each other on the basis of a language, color, race or even suffering. Nationalism as a feature on any country’s historical or cultural climate rises to the fore as a result of threats. It is only when confronted with a threat, does a country – made up of its people and their collective sentiments – wake up and recognize their strengths. These in effect become the strength of the nation and nationalism is born. In this way, nationalism is defined, anew; every time there is suffering followed subsequently by an upheaval. As a result of this, nationalism can be called dynamic concept. This is owing to the fact that its elements change with the changing times and the reasons for upheavals. The only thing constant about nationalism is its power to bind people together as a nation and the fact that it rises to prominence only in the face of adversity. In modern times, nationalism has become a matter of celebrating everything that a nation takes pride in. This includes independence days, art, literature, music and various other symbols th at are a part of the national character as a whole – elements that remind nations of its past victories and present strengths. (Voltaire, 2005) The French Revolution and Nationalism The French Revolution was an upheaval that was marked by the formal birth of what we call nationalism. Spanning over a decade (1789 to 1799), this Revolution had a strong socio political dimension to it. The embodiment of nationalism in this revolution arose as a matter of its ability to define the elements that would support the construction of a democratic society free of feudal patterns. This was at the behest of the citizens from every quarter of the French society, who wanted to break free of the double standards that were being imposed on their way of life in the form of the Church's intervention

Family, Youth and Community Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Family, Youth and Community - Essay Example The term ‘domestic’ can comprise of a number of relationships and it is evident that the wider is the range of relationships included in its definition the higher are the result of domestic violence research. The term domestic is defined as the people living in a single household by some authorities like Police departments. This definition includes the relationships between siblings, parents and children, married couples and so on. The other school of thought classifies relationships as domestic which exist between intimate couples only. This definition may involve the relationships that exist between couples at early stages of their relationship when misunderstanding and violent situations occur due to inappropriate or insufficient knowledge about each other. Violence, in the same manner, ha a number of possible definitions and the scope of its definitions differ greatly from person to person and organization to organization. The research data available, keeping this vi ew in mind, may differ significantly. Some researchers believe that any kind of physical and attempted assault is termed as violence regardless of the causes and reasons of it. Whereas, others believe that the acts with an intention of the person to harm are termed as violent (Gelles, 1997). It should also be noted that violence is not associated with the physical assault only. The psychological distress, bullying, emotional abuse and other such activities which harm the individuals’ mental and psychological state are also termed as violent. Such acts cause a great harm to the individuals but the effects are usually not visible (Straus and Sweet, 1992). Reasons of Domestic Violence The main reason behind the increasing trends of domestic violence is that people follow the generational cycle of domestic violence and are exposed to these instances in every phase of their life. The acceptability of this trend and the gender bias form the foundations of such behaviors. Family env ironment, low self-esteem and substance abuse are found to be the sources of encouraging domestic violence and aggressive behaviors. Media plays an important role in our lives today. The new trend on the popular media of portraying murders and sexual harassment has created another major area for the concerned people to research, analyze and take necessary steps to stop the harmful effects. More and more people are now exposed to murders, aggressive behaviours and rape scenes via media. This heavy exposure has led to the visibility of these crimes to a large public which was never apparent to them in past and especially in their routine life. This heavy exposure to rape scenes and sexual harassments are creating new difficulties in the form of increased sexual violence. The use of violent exposure, blood, aggression and sexual harassment has been increased in the music videos, movies, dramas and so on. The media, in this context, is harming the psychological wellbeing of people. In o rder to understand the effect of this sexual exposure and sexual violence against women a number of studies have been carried out. For instance, a study reveals that college men’s perceptions and beliefs are strengthened as they learn from the sexually unrestrained magazines that women tend to get pleasure from forced sex (Malamuth & Check, 1985). Check (1984) studies the behaviours and attitudes of Canadian male samples frequently exposed to