Name- Ankush Kathuria Student ID- 9064295
Question Option #1B: In your own words, how would you explain the
differences between Capitalism and Socialism? Refer to how the two systems
view (1) the worker and (2) the role of government. Refer to the following video
to get you started. (Note: This answer is not a research paper, I am looking for
your thoughts and opinions specifically with this question).
Capitalism is where everything is privatized. A person with money will start a
company, create something, sell it, and make a profit. The employee is simply selling
his time and efforts daily. The boss chooses the level of payment, and it is clear that
he will pay the minimum possible, as he will have more money for himself. And that
was precisely what the Crash Course video demonstrated: the old-time employers of
the factories paying their employees practically nothing just to get even richer
(Green, 2013). Their work hours were 14-16 hours in dirty, hazardous factories, even
for little children, and the owners did not care because profit is everything. The
government virtually remains the outsider. It is just in the duty to safeguard the
property of the rich guys and ensure that no one breaks contracts or loots anything.
Socialism declares that that is not just. Factories should be owned by the workers or
the government should own them for the people. In such a manner, no individual
would get very rich at the expense of his/her labor. The citizens receive good wages,
free medical care, free education, mandatory employment, and all the benefits. It
requires the government to strategize a lot and leave no one behind. According to
John Green, Marx thought that human beings prefer to work together and assist
each other, but capitalism has turned us to enemies and turned the world into a
competition (Green, 2013).
I must be honest that, at the end of watching the video, I do not fully love either of
them. Pure capitalism brings us new phones, applications, vehicles, and everything
super-fast as companies compete to make money, yet regular workers are being
mistreated, and the disparity between the rich and the poor continues to widen. Pure
socialism sounds like a dream on paper since no one will be sleeping on the street or
paying bills to the hospital, but I believe that many people would cease working so
hard when everyone receives almost the same money regardless of the outcome. I
prefer the Canadian manner a thousand times better. In this case, companies are
still allowed to do whatever they want, compete, make money, people can open
companies and be millionaires if they desire but on the other hand, we have free
healthcare to everyone, benefits when you are downed, minimum wage laws, child
benefits, all that stuff so no one is totally ruined in case something bad happens. It is
as though we had stolen the best of capitalism and the best of socialism and blended
them into one. The video concluded by stating that this argument remains alive
today, and I can witness it whenever people are fighting over taxes, healthcare, or
the extent to which the government should intervene. The middle road of Canada is
the witty and just way for me.
Question Option #2A: Bio-invasion is something all over the news these days with
Covid-19. For this question, provide a detailed, different, example of another real-life
bio-invasion (it can be a virus, plant, insect, rodent, predator, etc.). Explain your
example with reference to the invaded ecosystem, the origins of the bio-invasion, and
effects on the food chain.
I had initially heard of Asian carp through my cousin, who goes fishing on Lake Erie
each summer. It was one that I remembered when I was choosing a bio-invasion
example that I recalled him telling me about, and so I began to look something up,
and discovered this entire study, which actually made me a little scared. These
monster fish are from the Chinese and Russian rivers. They were introduced to the
southern U.S. by fish farms in the 1970s to clean catfish ponds, and then they were
swept into the Mississippi River during massive floods in the 90s. Since then they
have been swimming north. On this occasion, they are halted outside Lake Michigan
in Chicago by electric barriers that are expected to shock them and make them turn
back, but it cannot be said that it is perfect.
Between 2009 and 2011, scientists collected more than 2,800 water samples from
the Chicago waterways, barriers, and even Lake Erie. They were analyzing small
samples of DNA that were floating in the water - skin cells, scales, or poop. Their
silver carp DNA positive hits were 58, and 6 positive hits with the bighead carp DNA.
Part of the population was located in Sandusky Bay, specifically Lake Erie, some in
the Calumet River, and others even on the lake side of the electric barriers (Jerde et
al., 2013). This signifies that real carp had long since passed all its obstacles, more
than a decade ago. No living adult has been seen in the open waters of the Great
Lakes; however, DNA evidence suggests that a few have definitely escaped. When
they are ever in charge of the food chain, it is toast. The amount of plankton that
these carp consume daily is approximately 40% of their body weight, 24 hours a day.
Baby walleye, yellow perch, whitefish, whatever fish we really want at all, begin life
as eaters of the same plankton, and thus, most of them would simply starve before
they were very big. The adult indigenous fish would become completely weak and
would cease to breed. Further down in the Illinois River, where carp have already
succeeded, 90-95 percent of the fish are currently carp only (Fisheries and Oceans
Canada, 2023). And none of them can eat the adults, as they are enormous, and
once a boat approaches, they will jump ten feet out of the water. My cousin showed
me the videos, and it is simply insane.
The entire towns that depend on fishing would collapse, Indigenous people would
have no immense food supply, and the Great Lakes would turn into one giant carp
tank. Canada and the U.S have been spending billions in their attempts to prevent
this, and they are spending even more since once they are in, there is no way to get
them out. One female is known to lay a million eggs.
Question Option #3B: Discuss the 2022 Russia/Ukraine conflict and its impacts
on Canada’s current economy. Choose and identify one Sociological
Perspective and discuss how they would view the economic situation.
When, on February 24, 2022, Russia rolled into Ukraine, I was sitting in front of the
TV, watching the news, and could not believe that I was actually watching it. The G7
straight-up referred to it as an illegal, unjustifiable, and unprovoked war of
aggression and claimed that Russia was assaulting the entire concept of
international rules (Government of Canada, 2023). It continues until 2025 and has
disrupted our economy in numerous ways.
The largest amount I experienced was at the gas pump and the grocery store. Due
to the fact that Russia is amongst the largest oil and wheat nations, and we
sanctioned them, the prices became insane. The Conference Board of Canada
(2022a) reported that the war already added 1.2% to our inflation only in 2022 and
they even warned that oil will reach $150 a barrel (it even nearly did so). Month after
month, the price of gas increased to more than $ 2 a litre, and food became
significantly more expensive, as Ukraine produces a substantial amount of wheat
and sunflower oil. Farmers in this area also paid a significantly higher price for
fertilizer, which is why all that was transferred to us. The Bank of Canada continued
to increase interest rates to tame inflation, and thus, today, my friends who
purchased homes are weeping over their mortgage payments. The growth was also
reduced - the additional Conference Board report indicated that we had virtually lost
0.1% of the GDP in 2023 due to all this (Conference Board of Canada, 2022b). To
this day, in 2025, things are still more costly than they ought to be. It had its share of
wins, too - Canada markets oil and potash, and when the prices of these
commodities rose, our energy companies gained profits, and the government
collected more tax revenue. But to a regular student like me it is really just mostly a
drag.
I have selected conflict theory as the sociological section because that is the most
reasonable in this case. Conflict theory is not simply Marx's assertion that the world
is always a battle between wealthy individuals and their poorer counterparts over
material possessions. They would analyze this war and say it is a typical power grab
- Russia trying to intimidate a smaller nation, and then the rich Western nations
(including Canada) would impose sanctions, which would sound like a tough
sentence but would end up crippling simple people the most. The G7 continues to
claim that the sanctions are intended to ensure that Russia does not profit from the
oil industry, yet in practice, gas and food prices are skyrocketing, striking low-income
families much more severely, as oil millionaires laugh their way to the bank
(Government of Canada, 2023). Increasing interest rates to combat inflation? That
will shield the big banks and wealthy investors, and it will be even harder to find a
job; rents will continue to rise. Even the Ukrainian refugees arriving here (which is
good) strain further resources in terms of housing and services, and therefore,
working-class Canadians are squeezed on both sides. The conflict theorists would
argue that this is indeed the case; as seen, told you, all the global fights leave the
rich getting richer and people poorer.
Reference
Conference Board of Canada. (2022a). Economic impact of the Russian
invasion of Ukraine.
[Link]
russian-invasion-of-ukraine/
Conference Board of Canada. (2022b). Economic impact on Canada of the
war in Ukraine. [Link]
canada-of-the-war-in-ukraine/
Fisheries and Oceans Canada. (2023). Asian carp. [Link]
[Link]/species-especes/profiles-profils/[Link]
Government of Canada. (2023). G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank
Governors’ Statement on Russia’s War of Aggression against Ukraine and its
Impact on the Global Economy. ProQuest.
[Link]
cdi_proquest_newspapers_2653276925
Jerde, C. L., Mahon, A. R., Chadderton, W. L., & Lodge, D. M. (2013).
Detection of Asian carp DNA as part of a Great Lakes basin-wide surveillance
program. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 70(4), 522–
526. [Link]
Green, J. (2013, February 11). Capitalism and socialism: Crash Course world
history #33 [Video]. YouTube. [Link]
v=B3u4EFTwprM