Starbucks and Aristotle

Aristotle argued that democratic participation in decision-making rests on informal encounters between citizens, because these interactions help to build civic friendships. In modern-day North America, the Starbucks corporation has posited itself as a “third place”, a space other than work and home that acts as a theatre for the development of civic friendships. In this essay, I investigate whether visiting Starbucks allows customers to connect to their larger community by providing the opportunity for meaningful social interaction. While Starbucks’ marketing strategies capitalize on the human desire for belonging, its expensive brand succeeds in differentiating citizens by their socioeconomic status, thereby undermining social unity. Furthermore, the environment in Starbucks stores emphasize experiences of personal pleasure rather than the enjoyment of community, as evidenced by the lack of authentic civic dialogue occurring within these spaces. As it encourages customers to settle for less than the formation of civic virtue, Starbucks’ commodification of community may challenge the flourishing of contemporary democracy.

Distinguishing Between Suicidality and Mental Illness

This paper utilizes various different cultural and historical contexts to investigate the modern Western perception of the relationship between mental illness and suicidality. The author first breaks down the nuances and assumptions inherent to the “mental illness” concept, and then uses these complexities to demonstrate that conceptions of suicidality are unjustifiably narrow. Through the examination of modern and historical Japanese, Chinese, Indigenous, and other worldviews, the author demonstrates the plethora of interpretations of human suicidality, and then regards these in light of the previously established fluid idea of mental illness. The paper concludes that suicidality is not inherent or automatic evidence of mental illness, but rather, a nuanced phenomenon that can be indicative of a variety of mental states. As a result, the author encourages a stronger basis in lived experience for suicidality prevention measures.

Raising a Child in the Era of Smartphones

In light of an increasing technological dependence for millenials, and the fact that members of this generation are starting to become parents, this paper examines a crucial area of technology use: how smartphone use impacts a parent's relationship with their child. Rather than looking at the issue of technology and parenting in the purely psychological context of affects on a child's brain development, as is most often the case, this paper takes a sociological perspective to focus on the bond between parent and child. This issue is only very recently starting to become of interest to researchers, so this paper consolidates existing work in the field to bring attention to the ways in which a parent's dependence on, and distraction with, their smartphone, is changing how they interact with their child. For future and current parents to learn to juggle technology use and sustainable practices of caring for their child, it is important that they are cognizant of the patterns of disengagement and dissatisfaction that are produced by the common habits of smartphone use.

Understanding Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Rejection of Hope

Ta-Nehisi Coates’ book Between the World and Me is written as a letter to his son, but serves many roles: a collection of personal experiences as an African American man, a history of black people’s exploitation and oppression in America, and advice for navigating the country and its historical, systematic, expansive and deeply embeddedd racism. Readers and critics have noted the pessimism of the work, as Coates writes pragmatically and coldly with no optimism about the potential to end the racist oppression of black Americans. This essay analyzes Coates’ rejection of hope by parsing through the audiences he addresses and the respective messages underlying his work. First, the essay considers how Coates urges readers to think critically about the hopeful narrative of the American Dream and see how it obscures the racism underlying and determining both white Americans’ economic, political and social successes, as well as the struggles and cyclic obstacles afflicting black American communities. Using literary analysis, the essay argues that Coates’ rebuke of the American dream is meant to be addressed towards white Americans, as they are more susceptible to accepting its tempting and convenient narrative. Coates provides his son and the black American community with a different critique of hope; he shows the futility of maintaining optimism about the achievement of racial equality when that outcome depends on their nation and white peers who demonstrate no interest in ending the racist structures and systems that privilege them. Coates’ argument is clarified in the essay by framing it as a form of literary theorist Lauren Berlant’s conception of cruel optimism. Ultimately, by exploring the nuance in Coates’ pessimistic work, the essay reveals how Coates’ rejection of hope is both an effective message in addressing his various audiences and a justified sentiment, particularly given the high cost of holding on to hope for black Americans.

Marxist Commodity Fetishization Encoded In Illusory Environmental Policy

The realm of environmental policy is riddled with issues with regards to method of approach and execution. This contemporary form of environmental policy is demystified through the utilization of a Marxist framework. In particular, the concept of commodity fetishism can be used to illustrate the manner in which modern environmental policy fetters the Global South to the economic survival of the Global North.