Chapter 22 pg 675-687

After the cold war took place the nuclear race began. It was a race between countries to see you could produce the most deadly and greatest amount of nuclear weapons. The first to have a monopoly over the nuclear weapons was the United States after World War II. Soon after that the Soviet Union wanted in on the race. Because the United States and the Soviet Union had the nuclear weapons, they became the two super powers of the world. People knew that since they had these weapons they did not want to start a war with them because the United States and the Soviet Union could destroy an entire major city with just one bomb. The United States became the super power of the West after World War II. After the cold war and World War II the Soviet Union became a super power for the communist world because of their military forces that they had. After the 1970s the ideals of communism slowly changed and people were abandoning those ideas and converting to the western ideas. In China there is still communism but they are changing their practices and taking over some of the ways of the Western societies. China became a capitalist economy while keeping their communist ideals.  

Living Justice

In the second part of the reading of Living Justice, the section about “rights of workers and support for labor unions” I felt was important. The church wanted better working condition for workers and they dedicated some time in order to have that happen. It is said that they there were ahead of their time with advocating and creating better labor condition for workers. There are some aspects of having labor unions that are good and there are some that are bad. Unfortunately labor unions will cause an increase in wages and there is always the threat of going on strike. Yet even though there may be an increase in wages there are also better working conditions which I feel is just as important. Another good aspect of labor unions is that they allow people to come together in order to voice their opinion which will allow them to have a greater power instead of just one person trying to make a difference. Even still today labor unions are looked upon negatively. People only look at one side of what labor unions or even just the consequences of work. No matter what type of work there people go into, labor unions or they work for some company, there will always be both positive and negative sides of working where they work.

Chapter 22: pgs 659-674

In chapter 22 the author discusses the rise and fall of the communism. After World War I and the struggle Russia had, ideas of communism began to take place. What was surprising was that Russia became a communist nation in a year.  Lenin was the one who believed that it was time and ready for Russia to have a socialist revolution. Yet a year later there was a 3 year war that took place which was very brutal. About thirty years after the revolution that took place in Russia, communism began to enter the Chinese society.  In China it was more of a struggle for communism to take over. In order for communism to grow in China a group formed known as the Chinese Communist Party and even though they started out small, after some time there group kept on growing and growing. One of the first issues that arose from the communist parties was that of feminism. Another issue that came up was the redistribution of land to the peasants. Now peasants were able own their own property but that property came from wealthy landlords’ estates. A main factor to end poverty in the communist nations was to build up their industrial development. 

Chapter 21

Now that Europeans that taken over many different parts of the world, there is now conflicts between the colonized countries. The first war the broke out was the World War I, which is also known as the “Great War”. Because of the Great War the ideal of “war socialism” developed. This is because of all of the propaganda campaigns.  It is not surprising that because of the Great War there was changes that took place after. Generally after there is a war changes happen since there is either a new power that takes over or there was many people that were killed and the war hurt the country’s economy. As a result of the Great War the United States then became a global power, but it did lead to the great depression. Because of the great depression it leads to hard ship. As a result of financial issues it leads to people committing suicide. I found it interesting that “the Great Depression sharply challenged the governments of capitalist countries which generally had believed that the economy would regulate itself through the mark” (pg 635). Also because of World War I, there was conflict in other countries like in Germany. This is because of new powers, Britain, France, and the United States. Then there was World War II that happened shortly after the Great War. This was more of a global war. It first began solely in Asia before the United States or Europeans became involved.  Because of World War II, there was the formation and rise of the Soviet Union and the Communist world. There were a few factors that helped the recovery of Europe. Since they created the industrial society there were able to use their habits of work in order to help their economy. Also the Western European countries were that they wanted “prolonged peace and a general prosperity”. Lastly the Europeans have the United States as their “reservoir of military man power, economic resources and political leadership for the west.” 

Living Justice

In the reading, Living Justice, it talks about the nine themes of the Catholic social teaching. The first teaching is about the dignity of every person and human rights. I found this interesting and I also agree with the statement. It says that “the picture of human life is that all humans are made in the image and likeness of God.” It then goes on to explain that everyone deserves to live a life with “care and attention” even if they have done crimes and are in prison or it they have a disease. Every one “deserve to be treated with inalienable respect as children of God.” Yet I do not agree with the Church’s ideals of pro-life, especially with abortions. This is because there are in some situations people should have the option to have an abortion say if they were raped or if something happened and they are not financially ready and can not afford a baby. In some situations accidents happen sometimes when you are not ready to have a baby and in others like if a woman is raped it should be her decision if she would like to keep the baby or not. I also agree that human dignity very important in order to have equality. I feel like it is important for the Catholic tradition should threat everyone equally. The reading then continues with that human rights is a way to express human dignity. Another theme of the Catholic social teaching is colonialism and economic development.

Chapter 20 pgs. 607-614

In the second half of chapter 20 the author discusses the cultural change in Africa and Asia because of their exposure to European culture. One of the changes was education. Education would allow them to get better-paying jobs, and they did not have to live under the European control. People would even start to be like the Europeans like they would dress, speak the language, and even build European style houses. Those who were educated now believed that they were superior of those who were not. Another change that took place was religion. There was a large spread of Christianity throughout New Zealand, the Pacific islands, and non-Muslim Africa. There was a great liking to Christianity. Many people became attracted to the new faith. Lastly the cultural change that took place was the recognition of race and ethnicity. This is because of the Europeans racism. Different countries acknowledge that they have a different history then the Europeans and culture resulting in their own history. The Africans were able to find the ethnic identities useful, especially in separating groups by language in fast growing urban areas. 

Chapter 20 pgs. 589-606

In this chapter Strayer discusses the second wave of the European Conquest of land. During this conquest they focused on taking over Asia and Africa. This conquest was because of the industrial Revolution in which it was able to create military and economic power for the Europeans. It was not surprising that the Europeans had military advantages like guns and they used that power to take over other countries and societies that did not have that of strong weapons or any guns at all. Unfortunately when Europeans took over countries they lost political sovereignty and freedom of action. This also especially hurt small societies. These types of societies would lose their land, homes, life, cattle, and crops. Also this new wave of conquest resulted in a large effect on the way the people worked. Instead of having everything handmade there was not machines in factories that would do the work. Also European’s financed commercial firms took over the trade that Africans and Asian merchants were in charge of. Lastly peasants had to use at least 20% of their land for cash crops in order to pay for their tax obligation and as a result of this many became in debt because they could not meet their tax obligations.