Life Essays

Many theories have been put forward in an attempt to answer the question why the Labour party lost four elections between 1979 and 1997 and could be put into three categories. The first being socio-economic which is put forward by Ivor Crewe, arguing that it is due to a shrinkage …

There is no doubt that between 1529 and 1640 the relationship between monarch and Parliament changed greatly. During the period Parliament changed from being a non-independent institution of “yes men” used as a servant in Henry VIII’s reign, to opposition to monarchy in Charles’s reign. The catalysts to this “monumental …

A pressure group is an organisation that seeks, as one of its functions, to influence the formulation and implementation of public policy.1 A pressure group’s interests lie in influencing a relatively narrow range of public policy, without itself seeking to govern (the country)2. When pressure groups with exclusive interests (aggressively) …

Same-sex friendship in childhood and adolescence has been well investigated. However, normative individual differences in the perception of friendship among heterosexual young adults has had little research attention. The aim of this study is to explore individual differences in the perception of friendship including needs attached to close relationship. Three …

Feminist theory is very different to other forms of key literary theories. Feminist literary theory is not a single unified theory with a single body of work. There is no single key commentator, whose work defines feminist theory. The feminist theory makes few assumptions, and is therefore very adaptable to …

The above quote is taken from a brief speech made by the Dean of the University of Oslo to introduce the visiting Zygmunt Bauman in 1997. It clearly illustrates that Bauman is a much respected and valued writer, and a key intellectual in the postmodern era. In this essay I …

As we move into the twenty-first century, the political climate in Britain is changing, and with this change, comes a shift in the decision-making power within the British government. The British executive, is usually thought of in broad terms, as consisting of the Prime Minister, the political members of the …

The most important factor determining the outcome of the War was Charles’s lack of initiative and strategy to firstly win the battle of Edgehill, and destroy Parliament and Essex’s army while they were in “their darkest hour” and then march on London. Charles had advantages at this early stage in …

In 1815 women’s rights were severely constrained. Their situation was mirrored by the fact that they had no political rights. The underpins behind the prohibition on female participation in politics was that females were seen mentally and physically inferior to males, and that this belief was governed by the divine …

The first thing to say here is that interpretive sociologists do not agree at all that sociology can be a science. In other words, they adopt an anti-positivist position. Now what does this mean? Essentially, it boils down to this: a human being’s conduct in the social world cannot be …