Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and exercises for Social sciences for Baccalaureate

The Nature of the European Union

The European Union (EU) is an international organization which shall be distinguished from numerous international non-governmental organizations. There are special features which cannot be found in other international organizations. The EU lacks many features of federations; instead, it is labeled as a supranational organization. There is no similar structure in the world.

Chronology of European Integration

1951: The Treaty of Paris

Six founding countries (Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands) signed a treaty to run heavy industries. The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was born as the precursor of the EU.

1957: The Treaty of Rome

The six founding countries expanded cooperation...

Liberalism and the Old Regime

Core Principles of Liberalism

• Individualism: Promotes independent thinking and private initiative.
• Anti-Clericalism: Advocates for the separation of church and state, rejecting religious interference in politics.
• Key Figure: John Locke, the precursor of liberalism, who championed political, economic, and social freedom.
• Objectives: Fighting against monopolies and state control to ensure personal and societal liberty.

The Old Regime and Absolutism

The Old Regime was a political system defined by absolutism, where power was centralized in a single individual without legal boundaries. In response, Enlightened Despotism emerged as a defensive government strategy against the spread of Enlightenment ideals.

The Rise of the Bourgeoisie

Emerging...

Critical Ideology

He believed in a descriptive and interpretative criticism that was objective. You tell what the poem says, you explain what the poem looks like, and you give meaning to it. There is a kind of criticism omitted that is called Judicial criticism. The judgement should be as little contaminated by personality and subjectivity of the critic. It should be as distant as possible from the personality of the critic because the most important critical judgement forms itself without a relation with the critic.

The critic should have fresh knowledge and let out his own judgement. Here we have the clash between objectivity and subjectivity because the critic has to be objective and let the judgement pass along as a secondary factor of knowledge....

Karl Marx's Theory of Alienation

Karl Marx's thesis on the alienation of humanity within capitalist society describes a condition he sought to expose and overcome. Alienation, in this context, signifies estrangement, humiliation, and even reification (the process of turning a person into a thing). From the perspective of historical materialism, work and production are fundamentally the primary sources of human self-realization and development. However, capitalism alienates the worker, thereby corrupting their activity, humiliating them, and reducing them to an object, a mere commodity. Through the worker's labor, the value of goods increases, creating an added value to the commodified object. Interestingly, alienation also impacts the capitalist,...

Norman Justice I: Ordeals and Wager of Battle

• Proof by ordeal: Remained common until the early 13th century.
• Wager of battle: Used to recover land or in cases of felony or treason.
• Social context: Common among nobles.

Norman Justice II: The Rise of the Jury System

• Communal justice: Historically functioned like an opinion survey.
• Jury evolution: By the late 12th century, juries of twelve free men were established to decide the facts of cases, rather than the law itself.

Norman Justice III: Foundations of Common Law

• Royal justice: The birth of the common law system, with procedures based primarily on customary law rather than Roman law.
• Judicial authority: A clear differentiation between judicial and political authority emerged, leading to the development

Composition of the Constituent Assembly, 1869

Description and Interpretation of the 1869 Assembly

This semicircular sector chart illustrates a significant political event: the composition of the Constituent Assembly following the 1869 elections in Spain. It details the number of seats (representatives) secured by each political group that gained representation in the Cortes of 1869. A total of 351 deputies were distributed as follows:

• Progressive Party: 159 seats
• Liberal Union: 69 seats
• Federal Republican Party: 69 seats
• Democratic Party: 20 seats
• Carlist Party: 18 seats
• Isabelino Party: 14 seats
• Unitary Republicans: 2 seats (maintaining symbolic representation)

Historical Context: The 1868 Revolution and Suffrage

These election results emerged directly...

Convening the Cortes of Cádiz (1810)

The Committee on Courts, created by the Supreme Central Junta to convene courts, agreed to summon a Constituent Assembly elected by vote of the Spanish people. This Committee debated whether the Cortes should be unicameral or bicameral, and whether it should be based on estates or a single body. The initial decision was to convene a bicameral Cortes, elected by universal suffrage for men over 25 years.

Election and Opening of the Cortes

However, in January 1810, an instruction was given to select a single House, which would be the only one elected. This change occurred following the capture of Seville by French troops and the transfer of government from the Central Junta to the Supreme Council of Regency,...

The Nature of the Political Oligarchy

The system was defined by those who formed an oligarchy in power, while the mass of the people—especially the rural, illiterate, apolitical, and conformist—remained aloof.

The Formula of Political Turnismo

Political Turnismo was a political formula of immediate advantage. Thanks to electoral manipulation, it gave both parties the possibility of alternating in government peacefully. As was already agreed, the system was based on permanent counterfeiting, which meant not only an agreement with the Crown and the Constitution but also socio-economic approaches based on capitalist production and private property. This was a government that worked "from the top down."

The system was secured by a party leadership...

Historical Materialism: Marx's Core Theory

Karl Marx's historical materialism posits the denial of the autonomy of ideas concerning the conditions of human existence, emphasizing the dialectical and historical character of the material base. Friedrich Engels, in fact, considered Marx's historical materialism (along with the theory of surplus value) among his most significant scientific findings. It is, fundamentally, a sociological theory rather than a purely philosophical one.

Key Tenets of Historical Materialism

1. The Economic Structure: The economic structure forms the real basis of society.
2. Production Relations: This structure consists of the relations of production, which are the relationships established between individuals according to their