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Hong Kong Is An Island Off The Coast Of Mainland China

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Hong Kong is an island off the coast of mainland China. It was a British colony until 1997 when it was officially handed back to China. Even though Hong Kong has its own constitution and currency, China still controls its defense and foreign policy. Hong Kong 's constitution, the Basic Law, states that Hong Kong will co-exist with China as "one country, two systems" for 50 years after the handover of power in 1997. Due to expire in 2047, it states that the city "shall safeguard the rights and freedoms of the residents." One of the tenets contained in the Basic Law was the right to develop its own democracy. However, Beijing keeps reinterpreting this document and recently released a White Paper reaffirming its “complete jurisdiction” over …show more content…

For example, Marxists will view the relation between a factory worker and the owner as a struggle of class where the worker is exploited and the owner makes profit off them. On the other hand, a Functionalist would approach this differently. They will argue that they each serve their own function in the society. The owner owns the means of production and therefore has more risks and he is also keeping the worker employed by giving him a job. In this case they both have a role to play and therefore has to coexist in the society maintaining its stability. One of the main theorists that we will focus on is Emile Durkheim, often considered as the founder of modern sociology. Durkheim was a positivist and therefore believed that society should be studied through empirical methods. Durkheim was influenced by another theorist Auguste Comte. He was the one who introduced the concept of positivism and believed that change can occur without revolution and disorder. Durkheim viewed society as a system that could only exist over time if certain conditions of stability and continuity were met (Garner, pg. 73). Another theorist we will focus on is Max Weber, who is one of the greatest influences on sociology together with Marx and Durkheim. Weber focuses on individual action rather than the structure. His central idea is that action is becoming increasingly formally rational over the

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