How to Use the Ball Game as an Icebreaker for Groups

An icebreaker game, activity, or exercise is a great way to kick off a class, workshop, meeting, or group gathering. Icebreakers can: Serve as introductions for strangersFacilitate conversationEncourage group interactionBuild trustEnergize group membersEncourage teamworkBuild team skills Icebreaker games are most effective in groups of three or more people. To give you an example of how an icebreaker works, were going to take a look at a classic icebreaker game that can be used for both small and large groups. This icebreaker game is traditionally known as the Ball Game.   How to Play the Classic Ball Game The classic version of the Ball Game is designed to be used as an icebreaker for a group of strangers who have never met each other. This icebreaker game is perfect for a new class, workshop, study group, or project meeting.   Ask all of the participants to stand in a circle. Make sure they are not too far apart or too close together. Give one person a small ball (tennis balls work well) and ask them to throw it to someone else in the circle. The person who catches it says their name and throws it to another person who does the same. As the ball moves around the circle, everyone in the group gets to learn one another’s name. Ball Game Adaptation for People Who Are Acquainted With Each Other The classic version of the Ball Game doesnt work very well if everyone in the group knows each others names. However, the game can be adapted for people who are acquainted with each other but still dont know each other very well. For example, members of various departments within an organization might know each others names, but since they dont work closely together on a daily basis, they might not know very much about each other. The Ball Game can help people get to know each other better. It also works well as a team-building icebreaker.   As with the original version of the game, you should ask group members to stand in a circle and take turns tossing a ball to each other. When someone catches the ball, they will state something about themselves. To make this game easier, you could establish a topic for the answers. For example, you could establish that the person catching the ball has to state their favorite color before tossing the ball to the next person, who will also call out their favorite color.   Some other sample topics for this game include: Say one thing you like about your jobDescribe yourself in one wordName your favorite bookIdentify your biggest strengthIdentify your biggest weakness Ball Game Tips Be sure that you remind participants to throw the ball gently so that nobody gets hurt.Make this icebreaker game more fun by timing the exercise and seeing how fast the participants can get the ball around the circle.Try to select a topic that fits the participants and the goal of the icebreaker.

Essay about The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and...

The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels The Communist Manifesto was written by two world renowned philosophers, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. This book was produced in an era of great suffering and anguish of all workers in a socially distressed system. In a time when revolutions were spreading through Europe like wildfire, Marx organized his thoughts and views to produce the critical pamphlet â€Å"The Communist Manifesto†. Marx’s scrutiny illustrates his belief that unless change is to occur the constant outcome will repeatedly remain uniform. This is a novel that displays the differentiation between the Bourgeois and the Proletariat. Class relationships are defined by an eras means of production. Marx’s†¦show more content†¦Marxs ideas on labor value are very much alive for many organizations working for social change. In addition, it is apparent that the gap between the rich and poor is widening on a consistent basis. According to Marx, the course of human history takes a very specific f orm which is class struggle. The engine of change in history is class opposition. Historical epochs are defined by the relationship between different classes at different points in time. It is this model that Marx fleshes out in his account of feudalisms passing in favor of bourgeois capitalism and his prognostication of bourgeois capitalisms passing in favor of proletarian rule. These changes are not the reliant results of random social, economic, and political events; each follows the other in predictable succession. Marx responds to a lot of criticism from an imagined bourgeois interlocutor. He considers the charge that by wishing to abolish private property, the communist is destroying the ground work of all personal freedom, activity, and independence. Marx responds by saying that wage labor does not properly create any property for the laborer. It only creates capital, a property which works only to augment the exploitation of the worker. This property, this capital, is based on class antagonism. Having linked private property to class hostility, MarxShow MoreRelatedThe Communist Manifesto By Karl Marx And Friedrich Engels1746 Words   |  7 Pagesdrawn on what the government can do that is acceptable. Niccolo Machiavelli wrote The Prince, in which he argues that people are naturally immoral and will do what they can, whether good or bad, to maintain well-liked. In The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the main argument is that humans are rational and would be able to govern themselves as a result of have one single class. When thoroughly analyzing each of the political works, it is clear that the main motivating factorsRead MoreThe Communist Manifesto By Karl Marx And Friedrich Engels Essay929 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"The Communist Manifesto† – the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels was published on February 21, 1848. This book is the first document of scientific communism and the first program of the internati onal communist organizations and parties. It is the most systematic work of all thoughts and great teachings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. â€Å"The Communist Manifesto† consists of the main statements of the materialistic conception of history, the impartial laws of social development, the laws ofRead MoreThe Communist Manifesto By Karl Marx And Friedrich Engels2286 Words   |  10 PagesIn 1847, a group of radical workers who were called the â€Å"Communist League† met in London. During this meeting, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels were commissioned to write a manifesto which soon became known as the Communist Manifesto. â€Å"A road map to history’s most important political document.† These words on the cover of one of the books newest editions to The Communist Manifesto represents that this document has been translated into many different form; this particular remake was meant for all levelsRead MoreThe Communist Manifesto By Karl Marx And Friedr ich Engels1255 Words   |  6 PagesThe Communist Manifesto was written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels to begin explaining Communism and its goals. The Manifesto suggests that history acts according to what is called â€Å"class struggle.† The â€Å"means of production† are what truly defines the class relationships according to Marx and Engels (Marx 2002). Inevitably, the classes conflict and become hostile, no longer moving fluidly (Spalding 2000). The Manifesto states that this conflict becomes so severe that it eventually becomes a revolutionRead MoreThe Communist Manifesto By Karl Marx And Friedrich Engels831 Words   |  4 PagesNovember 4, 2015 COMM 8200 Analysis of The Communist Manifesto A spectre is haunting Europe--the spectre of Communism. The Communist Manifesto reflects an attempt by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels to explain the goals of Communism, as well as the theory behind the movement. Marx sees all of Europe allied against the idea of communism and consistently demonizes it and its followers. This caused the Communists to assemble in London and create this Manifesto in order to make their views public and clarifiedRead MoreThe Communist Manifesto, By Karl Marx And Friedrich Engels Essay1664 Words   |  7 PagesThe Communist Manifesto The Communist Manifesto was drafted under the commission of the Communist League, a body that consisted of a group of radical workers who were disgruntled by the abject poverty of the working class in industrialized Europe. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the authors of the Communist Manifesto, lived at a time when the gap between the rich and the poor was becoming evidently wide, and the working class was struggling to survive. The Communist Manifesto is a result of contextRead MoreThe Communist Manifesto, By Karl Marx And Friedrich Engels1000 Words   |  4 Pagesis the history of class struggles† (Marx). In the year 1848, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels decided to publish a manifesto after sitting down and sharing ideas for a period of time. Today, that piece of writing is known as The Communist Manifesto. In this book, Marx, the principal author stated that escaping from alienation required a revolution. That was the only possible way in which a political as well as a socia l change could have been seen. Therefore, Marx’ theory implied the use of violenceRead MoreThe Communist Manifesto By Karl Marx And Friedrich Engels835 Words   |  4 Pages The Communist Manifesto is written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels which was published by a group of German born revolutionary socialists known as the Communist League. The main idea in this book is define the goals and theory of Communism. It explains how classes affect one another as well. This book consists of four different chapters which display Marx’s approach on Communism in different circumstances. This book is about Marx’s perspective on Communism, its effects, how it is criticized,Read MoreThe Communist Manifesto By Karl Marx And Friedrich Engels1212 Words   |  5 PagesThe history of all hithero existing society is the history of class struggle. (Marx Engels 1848). This statement establishes the setting for the Communist Manifesto written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A bold proclamation, the Communist Manifesto set the stage at the time for illustrating, so distinctly, a prolonged tension between two opposing and intertwined classes of a capitalis tic economy. Still resonating in contemporary society, class struggle, especially between these two classesRead MoreEssay The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels958 Words   |  4 PagesThe Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels The Communist Manifesto, written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, outlines how a society should be run under communism. The document provides truths to what is wrong with society; what causes these wrongs; how they can be fixed; and how this relates to humans and nature. Marx was a political philosopher of German ancestry. Marx and Engels split the document up into four sections: Section 1: Bourgeois and Proletarians, section 2:

The Social Theory of Du Bois Free Essays

Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Emile Durkheim are widely recognized as the trinity of sociological theory. While these three sociologists were trailblazing social theorists who enhanced the study of human behavior and its relationship to social institutions, other, more contemporary scholars were just as innovative – one of those scholars being W. E. We will write a custom essay sample on The Social Theory of Du Bois or any similar topic only for you Order Now B. Du Bois. W. E. B. Du Bois was a political and literary giant of the 20th century, publishing over twenty books and thousand of essays and articles throughout his life. W. E. B Du Bois is arguably one of the most imaginative, perceptive, and prolific founders of the sociological discipline. In addition to leading the Pan-African movement and being an activist for civil rights for African Americans, Du Bois was a pioneer of urban sociology, an innovator of rural sociology, a leader in criminology, the first American sociologist of religion, and most notably the first great social theorist of race. The work of W. E. B. Du Bois (1868-1963) has recently become recognized for its significant contributions to sociological theory. Although Du Bois himself was overwhelmingly concerned with the scientific perspective of â€Å"value free† sociological research, later social theorists have found his thoughts on race to offer one of the first instances of the articulation of standpoint theory. This theoretical perspective is anything but value free, because of the self-conscious efforts of the researcher to look at the social world from the vantage point of minority groups. Feminists, multiculturalists, and even postmodernists have come to recognize the importance of the black point of view found in Du Bois’s work. They have also come to appreciate Du Bois for his focus on local knowledge and practices. W. E. B. Du Bois was an important American thinker. Poet, philosopher, economic historian, sociologist, and social critic, Du Bois’ work resists easy classification. Du Bois is more than a philosopher; he is, for many, a great social leader. His extensive efforts all bend toward a common goal, the equality of colored people. His philosophy is significant today because it addresses what many would argue is the real world problem of white domination. So long as racist white privilege exists, and suppresses the dreams and the freedoms of human beings, so long will Du Bois be relevant as a thinker, for he, more than almost any other, employed thought in the service of exposing this privilege, and worked to eliminate it in the service of a greater humanity. Du Bois was a prolific author. His collection of essays, The Souls of Black Folk, was a seminal work in African-American literature; and his 1935 magnum opus Black Reconstruction in America challenged the prevailing orthodoxy that blacks were responsible for the failures of the Reconstruction era. He wrote the first scientific treatise in the field of sociology; and he published three autobiographies, each of which contains insightful essays on sociology, politics and history. In his role as editor of the NAACP’s journal The Crisis, he published many influential pieces. Du Bois believed that capitalism was a primary cause of racism, and he was generally sympathetic to socialist causes throughout his life. He was an ardent peace activist and advocated nuclear disarmament. The United States’ Civil Rights Act, embodying many of the reforms for which Du Bois had campaigned his entire life, was enacted a year after his death. Early in his career Du Bois claimed that the â€Å"race idea† was the central thought of all history and that the primary â€Å"problem of the twentieth century was the problem of the colour line. † Du Bois viewed the goal of African Americans not as one of integration or absorption into white America, but one of advancing â€Å"Pan-Negroism. † Critical of the excessive materialism of white America, Du Bois believed that black culture could temper the self-interested pursuit of profit. Du Bois called on blacks to organize and unite around their race, and although he was not opposed to segregation per se, he did come to realize that discrimination stifled the development of â€Å"separate but equal† facilities and institutions. The concepts of the Veil and double consciousness occupy an important place in Du Bois’s theory on race. Du Bois discusses both in his work The Souls of Black Folk. The Veil is an imaginary barrier that separates whites and blacks. Du Bois hoped his work would allow whites to glimpse behind the Veil, so they could begin to understand the black experience in America. Perhaps the most fundamental component of the black experience in America was living with what Du Bois called double consciousness. Blacks are simultaneously both inside and outside of the dominant white society and live with a feeling of â€Å"twoness. † By trying to cultivate and preserve a racial identity, blacks come into conflict with trying to fit into white society. According to Du Bois, the tension of being both black and American can manifest itself in pathologies within the black community and discrimination in white America. Whatever turns out to be the best general account of Du Bois’ philosophy, it seems the significance of his thought only really shows up in the specific details of his works themselves, especially in The Souls of Black Folk. It is here that he first develops his central philosophical concept, the concept of double consciousness, and spells out its full implications. The aim of Souls of Black Folk is to show the spirit of black people in the United States: to show their humanity and the predicament that has confronted their humanity. Du Bois asserts that â€Å"the color line† divides people in the States, causes massive harm to its inhabitants, and ruins its own pretensions to democracy. He shows, in particular, how a veil has come to be put over African-Americans, so that others do not see them as they are; African-Americans are obscured in America; they cannot be seen clearly, but only through the lens of race prejudice. African-Americans feel this alien perception upon them but at the same time feel themselves as themselves, as their own with their own legitimate feelings and traditions. This dual self-perception is known as â€Å"double consciousness. Du Bois’ aim in Souls is to explain this concept in more specific detail and to show how it adversely affects African-Americans. In the background of Souls is always also the moral import of its message, to the effect that the insertion of a veil on human beings is wrong and must be condemned on the grounds that it divides what otherwise would be a unique and coherent identity. Souls thus aims to make the reader understand, in effect, that African-Americans have a distinct cultural identity, one that must be acknowledged, respected, and enabled to flourish. Du Bois’ other major philosophical concept is that of â€Å"second sight. † This is a concept he develops most precisely in Darkwater, a work, as we have seen, in which Du Bois changes his approach and takes up a stauncher stance against white culture. Du Bois holds that due to their double consciousness, African-Americans possess a privileged epistemological perspective. Both inside the white world and outside of it, African-Americans are able to understand the white world, while yet perceiving it from a different perspective, namely that of an outsider as well. The white person in America, by contrast, contains but a single consciousness and perspective, for he or she is a member of a dominant culture, with its own racial and cultural norms asserted as absolute. The white person looks out from themselves and sees only their own world reflected back upon them—a kind of blindness or singular sight possesses them. Luckily, as Du Bois makes clear, the dual perspective of African-Americans can be used to grasp the essence of whiteness and to expose it, in the multiple senses of the word â€Å"expose. That is to say, second sight allows an African-American to bring the white view out into the open, to lay it bare, and to let it wither for the problematic and wrong-headed concept that it is. The destruction of â€Å"whiteness† in this way leaves whites open to the experience of African-Americans, as a privileged perspective, and hence it also leaves African-Americans with a breach in the culture through which they could enter with t heir legitimate, and legitimating, perspectives. Later in life, Du Bois turned to communism as the means to achieve equality. Du Bois came to believe that the economic condition of Africans and African-Americans was one of the primary modes of their oppression, and that a more equitable distribution of wealth, as advanced by Marx, was the remedy to the situation. ( John J. Macionis: Sociology 14th edition) Du Bois was not simply a follower of Marx, however. He also added keen insights to the communist tradition himself. One of his contributions is his insistence that communism contains no explicit means of liberating Africans and African-Americans, but that it ought to focus its attentions here and work toward this end. â€Å"The darker races,† to use Du Bois’ language, amount to the majority of the world’s proletariat. In Black Folk, Then and Now, Du Bois writes: â€Å"the dark workers of Asia, Africa, the islands of the sea, and South and Central America†¦these are the one who are supporting a superstructure of wealth, luxury, and extravagance. It is the rise of these people that is the rise of the world† (Black Folk,). A further contribution Du Bois makes is to show how Utopian politics such as communism is possible in the first place. Building on Engle’s claim that freedom lies in the acknowledgment of necessity, as Maynard Solomon argues (Solomon, â€Å"Introduction† 258), (because in grasping necessity we accurately perceive what areas of life are open to free action), Du Bois insists on the power of dreams. Admitting our bound nature (bound to our bellies, bound to material conditions), even stressing it, he nonetheless emphasizes our range of powers within these constraints. Although difficult to characterize in general terms, Du Bois’ philosophy amounts to a programmatic shift away from abstraction and toward engaged, social criticism. In affecting this change in philosophy, especially on behalf of African-Americans and pertaining to the issue of race, Du Bois adds concrete significance and urgent application to American Pragmatism, as Cornel West maintains, a philosophy that is about social criticism, not about grasping absolute timeless truth. Above all, however, Du Bois’ philosophy is significant today because it addresses what many would argue is the real world problem of white domination. So long as racist white privilege exists, and suppresses the dreams and the freedoms of human beings, so long will Du Bois be relevant as a thinker, for he, more than almost any other, employed thought in the service of exposing this privilege, and worked to eliminate it in the service of a greater humanity. References: Du Bois, W. E. B. Black Folk, Then and Now (Millwood, N.Y.: Kraus-Thomson Organization Limited, 1975). Du Bois, W. E. B. Darkwater: Voices From Within the Veil (Mineola, N. Y. Dover Publications, 1999). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._E._B._Du_Bois http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072824301/student_view0/chapter10/chapter_summary.html Sociology: 14th edition (John J Macionis; Prentice Hall, 2011) How to cite The Social Theory of Du Bois, Papers