Annotation 2 (draft + rev. ed.)- Reasons of hygiene

Annotation 2 (rev.)- Reasons of hygiene

Changes in the rev. ed.:

1. I amended the citation format in accordance with APA (American Psychological Association) style, both the reference list and in-text citation.
2. Most of the annotation is left untouched.

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Mennell, S. (1989). Nobert Elias: Civilization and the human self-image. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell

With the published works of the german sociologist Nobert Elias (1897-1990), Mennell discusses Elias' opinions and thoughts toward the process of civilization: from what had we came to be the modernized people and by what means and reasons were we 'transformed' to be civilized beings.

In this article, Reasons of health and hygiene (p. 46-47), Mennell cited Elias's work 'The Civilizing Process' (Elias, 1939, vol. 1, p. 150) to elaborate that civilization was seemingly caused by the reasons of health and hygiene, while it was not. In this 700-hundred-word article Mennell first explains how the reasons of health and hygiene is in itself irrationale and could not serve as the true reason of the civilizing process, e.g. advancement of the threshold of shame and repugnance toward feces. Mennell also compares Elias with Freud and Max Weber at the end of the article on their opinions toward reasons that transform uncivilized men to civilized men.

The author’s ideas are well-presented in that examples are quoted to ensure reader’s comprehension to the main points. And those examples all revolves around one specific topic, “Reasons of health and hygiene.” However, beside the simple reason of health, this article provides little clues to any other potential reasons that may truly result in the advancement of civilization except for the last sentence “middle-class feelings of repugnance toward their inferiors’ smelling and lack of cleanliness seems to have motivated a concern with sanitation even before it was clearly understood how cholera was spread” (p. 47). Additional sources that provide or discuss the true reasons of the advancement of civilization may be added to further clarify this unanswered question at the end of this article.

As for my thesis statement where I disagree with the employment of horticulture that is unsoundly justified by ecological, sociological and aesthetic reasons, this article provide a very simple yet academically sound reason that may shed light on the true reason why horticulture has came to be. It could also show that the emergence of horticulture is not rational and advocates of which should not use it as justification.

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Annotation 2 (draft)- Reasons of hygiene

Mennell, S. (1989). Reasons of health and hygiene, Nobert Elias: Civilization and the human self-image (pp. 46-47). UK: Black well

With the published works of the german sociologist Nobert Elias (1897-1990), Mennell discusses Elias' opinions and thoughts toward the process of civilization: from what had we came to be the modernized people and by what means and reasons were we 'transformed' to be civilized beings.

In this article, Reasons of health and hygiene, Mennell cited Elias's work 'The Civilizing Process' to elaborate that civilization was seemingly caused by the reasons of health and hygiene, while it was not. In this 700-hundred-word article Mennell first explains how the reasons of health and hygiene is in itself irrationale and could not serve as the true reason of the civilizing process, e.g. advancement of the threshold of shame and repugnance toward feces. Mennell also compares Elias with Freud and Max Weber at the end of the article on their opinions toward reasons that transform uncivilized men to civilized men.

The author’s ideas are well-presented in that examples are quoted to ensure reader’s comprehension to the main points. And those examples all revolves around one specific topic, “Reasons of health and hygiene.” However, beside the simple reason of health, this article provides little clues to any other potential reasons that may truly result in the advancement of civilization except for the last sentence “middle-class feelings of repugnance toward their inferiors’ smelling and lack of cleanliness seems to have motivated a concern with sanitation even before it was clearly understood how cholera was spread.” (p. 47). Additional sources that provide or discuss the true reasons of the advancement of civilization may be added to further clarify this unanswered question at the end of this article.

As for my thesis statement where I disagree with the employment of horticulture that is unsoundly justified by ecological, sociological and aesthetic reasons, this article provide a very simple yet academically sound reason that may shed light on the true reason why horticulture has came to be. It could also show that the emergence of horticulture is not rational and advocates of which should not use it as justification.