PART I
- National Policy (1878 Tariffs)
The term National policy was an economic program that was introduced by the Canadian Conservative party through John Macdonald in the year 1976 buy enforced in the year 1978 (Geyer, 2007). The policy was intended to be nationalistic and intended to broaden the economic base of the country. This was argued to have the potential of restoring the confidence of the citizens in the development of the country. It was also intended to offer growth to a number of wealthy business individuals to whom the conservative party could count on. The policy was introduced at a time the Liberal party, which had supported free trade, had been unable to raise sufficient revenue for financing the national budget.
The policy was meant to increase the amount of tariffs that was being charged on the imported goods with an aim of offering protection to the locally manufactured products. The policy also reduced the amount of custom duties charged on the raw materials that were being used by the local industries in the production of goods. Either, the policy was meant to spur the Canadianism spirit rather than let the continentalism spirit thrive at the expense of the growth of the Canadian economy. It was thus a political tool for economic growth.
- Sociological Imagination
Sociological Imagination is a term that was coined by an American sociologist by the name Wright Mills in an attempt to describe the various insights that were offered within the field of sociology. It is majorly used to explain different natures of sociology and the relevance it has in the day to day life of individuals (Geyer, 2007). The term has been defined by different sociologist as a concept that involves the relationships that exists between an individual’s life experiences and the society at large. The concept is used the sociological imaginative thoughts in the understanding of how various social outcomes are shaped by the social contexts, social actions and the social actors.
Social imagination concept dictates that factors such as social norms, individuals’ motives and the social contexts in which people act in significantly shape the social out comes within the societies. Either, the social imagination is also argued to be the ability and capacity an individual has that enables them to shift form one sociological perspective to another. It relates to individuals’ personal choices and the manner in which the society at large plays a role in shaping the individuals’ lives. The concept is helpful in the field of sociology as it helps sociologists to understand the varying patterns that are shown in individuals’ behaviors.
- Continentalism and Globalization
The term continentalism is used in reference to various policies or agreements that are in favor of the regionalization process that involves the cooperation between nations within a specific continent (Geyer, 2007). The term continentalism has have widely been used within the continents of North America and also in Europe but in the recent days other continents such as Australia and South America have also embraced it. In Africa, continentalism is mainly seen through Pan Africanism while in the South American region it is mainly seen through the union of South American Nations.
The term globalization, on the other hand, refers to the processes involved in the integration of countries on an international level through the interchanging of views, ideas, aspects of culture and products. Either, it refers to the process that involves the increase of world wide exchanges of cultural and national resources among world nations. The IMF has identified four aspects that should be used in the process of globalization. They include transactions, trade, movement of investments and capital. It also includes the migration of people and sharing of knowledge on an international level. Either, the globalization process is argued to have an impact on the sociological, economic and natural environment of various nations.
- Food Sovereignty
The term food sovereignty is argued to have been coined by members of a group know as the Via Campesina society who wanted to assert that people had the right to define the type of food they wanted to exist within the systems and diets (Geyer, 2007). There are individuals who advocate for the food security and have the tendency of putting the individuals who are actively involved in the production, distribution and consumption of the food materials at the center of every decision making process when it comes to the formulation of systems and policies. This differs with the usual practice whereby institutions and other corporations have been allowed to dominate the processes that are involved in decision making concerning global food systems.
The concept of food sovereignty was established due to the failures of food security. The food security concept has over the years emphasized on the need to have a corporate food regime on a large scale basis through industrialized farming, land concentration, specialized production and liberalization of trade. Food sovereignty, on the other hand, has gone beyond the scope of food security and ensured the certainty of individuals having enough to eat although it is silent on the sources of food and the manner in which it has to be produced. The concept provides support for small scale farm ownership providing a platform to revitalize equitable distribution of food on a global level.
- Feminism
The term feminism refers to a collection of ideologies and movements that are aimed at giving definition and establishing the rights of women through the provision equal economic, social and political platforms (Geyer, 2007). Feminism also endeavors to defend these rights of women and seeks to ensure the establishment of equal opportunities within the employment and education sectors. The term was coined by a Utopian socialist who also doubled up as a philosopher by the name Charles Fourier. This led to the development of the feminism theory that mainly emerged form the feminist movements.
Activities involved in feminism are meant to campaign for the rights of women more especially when it comes to issues related to ownership of properties, reproductive rights and voting rights in certain countries. Acts of feminism have also offered protection to girls and women against domestic violence, sexual assaults and violence and general discrimination in various areas such as work places and social arenas.
PART II
- The Agrarian Protest Movements of 1900 and the World War II According To Conway
According to Conway, the agrarian movements and protests that occurred during the period of 1900 and that which occurred during the World War II period were occasioned by various factors. Most of the protests and movements were majorly found within the American continents and Europe where intensive agricultural activities were taking place in large scale (Conway, 2012). These movements marked the beginning of various developments in agricultural activities that led to the increase of food productivity and the overall net output that eventually saw the end of the historical scarcity in the production of food and other agricultural products.
According to Conway, there are a number of factors that led to the emergence of the agrarian revolutions of the 1900 and those that subsequently followed during the World War II period. According to Conway, population growth was the major cause for agrarian revolution during these periods. In terms of protests, Conway argues that the misuse of slave labor to produce agricultural commodities that were then sent to factories in England with the farmers being left with nothing led to the protests. Civil rights groups emerged that fought for the rights of the farmers who were being over exploited by their masters. People were tied of working so hard in the fields to grow crops and then their produce taken whenever they got ready for harvesting. The farmers wanted to enjoy the benefits of their fruits too.
- Analysis of the Rise of Conservative Parties in the West Between 1970’s and 1990’s
The conservative party members were those individuals with relatively conservative views on matters politics. The rise of the conservative parties within the west arose due to the actions of the leadership of the progressive parties that included the democrats who decided to support the civil rights of the Negros (Conway, 2012). This action led to a mass walk out by a majority of the members who were attending the congressional summit and formed their own parallel party that wanted to continue with the segregation of the blacks. The members who walked out of the congress meeting were mostly from the south. The conservatives wanted to maintain the initial status where people were segregated along racial lines thus leading to the rise of the conservative parties.
- Conway’s Analysis of the Use of Natural Resources in politics within Western Canada
According to Conway, the politics within the regions of western Canada is dynamic and majorly influenced by the natural resources found within the area such as the oil and natural gas that is found within the area of Alberta (Conway, 2012). The control of these vast deposits of natural resources within west Canada has caused deep rooted differences among the political leadership of western Canada with most politicians supporting the conservative governments who are in tight competition with their democrats for power. The political wing that is in power does have the absolute authority and control over the natural resources that also include a vast agricultural land. The division over the political control of the region has also taken an ethnic dimension with the northern woodland tribes within the western region holding a bigger sway in the political dealings. these have limited the level of democratic space within the region as those in power do not want to lose the control of the vast natural resources thus for a longer period of time the democrats have not been able to ascend to power do to the influence that the vast natural resources have played in the politics of the region.
- Conway’s Notion of Politics of Fragmentation
Conway’s notion of the term political fragmentation refers to the various tensions that were underlying tensions that existed between the urban centers and their rural counterparts (Conway, 2012). These tensions have manifested themselves in the politics of various countries causing conflicts that were seen to be causing segregations among different populations. Conway argues that the process of political fragmentation involves the polarization of the attitudes of the urban dwellers and that of their rural counterparts. This involves the maintenance of a given level of political autonomy and the skewed provision of government services due to the scarcity of resources. Political fragmentation, therefore, involves the discrimination of other areas within a jurisdiction for purposes of political gain.
PART III
- Qualman’s Argument of People Facing the End of Agriculture
Qualman has fronted an argument that in the near future, there would be an end to the agricultural activities due to the kind of developments in the current world (Borras et al, 2008). He argues that in the olden days there was intensive usage of natural means to the process of agricultural activities. His argument is that the technological changes that have been witness have affected the agricultural activities significantly. The process of industrialization is majorly to blame for this as the pollution that happens to the environment has significantly affected the ozone layer thus causing massive environmental changes and degradation that significantly affects the agricultural activities in the long run. Thus, to him, these activities will affect agricultural practices which will further diminish in the near future.
- Revolution of Agriculture in Canada over the Last 20 Years
Canada is one of the countries around the world that do practice agricultural activities on a large scale basis. It engages in the exportation business of its produce with agriculture being a major provider of revenue in the Canadian economy (Borras et al, 2008). There are a wide range of agricultural activities that are practiced within Canada that range form wheat production to other smaller crops that are also produced. Agricultural activities in Canada have undergone through a series of revolutions and changes that have seen it become better at the current moment as compared to the manner in which it was twenty years back.
There has been a systematic introduction of various technologies in the agricultural practices within Canada with the most recent one being the introduction of the aquaculture technology. The coast line is argued to provide a potential area for fish farming and the area has over the years seen the in introduction of various fish farming methods that have seen Canada’s fish farming activities become on of the best in the world. In the field of horticulture, the country has the growth of the horticulture sector with the country venturing in the production of sugar beets, beet roots and potatoes in large scale. The country has also seen the development of its livestock industry with the latest development being the intensive researches done in the pig farming that has made it one of the best around the world. Alternative crops have also been introduced within the farms with agricultural research institutions being set up to spur further growth.
- Is Family Farm An Inherently Patriarchal Institution?
In most cases, the family farms are always patriarchal. Studies and research works have also shown the same arguing that the family farms are usually patriarchal in nature. The owners of the farms are always at a different level compared to the farm workers who are in most cases unskilled (Borras et al, 2008). The farm workers usually have a reaction that creates an ambiguous class status for the farm owners. Most family farms have been associated with discriminative tendencies on the females. Most family farms are managed by the male family members with the female either left to do menial jobs even though most of them could be qualified to do the same job. This is mostly influenced by the various cultural roles of the women within individual cultures.
The hierarchy within the family set ups have also placed women at lower carders compared to their male counterparts who are assumed, through cultural lenses, to be the heads of the families thus in charge of the family properties. The succession practices also bestow the leadership of these family farms in the hands of the male family members. Through all these cultural and social practices through which roles rend to be assigned between different sexes within the families, family farming can conclusively be said to be hereditary patriarchal based on the findings of various studies and observations of the manner in which family farming activities have been carried out over the years. The activities and leadership of the family farms have over the years been left in the hands of the male members of different families.
References
Geyer, S. (2007). International Handbook of Urban Policy. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.
Conway, B. (2012). A Course in Abstract Analysis. USA: Library of Congress Publication
Borras, S. Edelman, M. & Kay, C. (2008). Transnational Agrarian Movements Confronting Globalization. West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell Publishers.
