Abstract
The paper examines "Hamlet" and "The Importance of Being Earnest" and explains that both of these plays analyze the moral state of the 'modern' society. The paper notes that these plays are at two very different moments in time, the Renaissance and the end of the Victorian Age, but they both show the moral decline of society. The paper discusses how the plays reach a similar conclusion about humanity: the trivial side of human nature usually prevails over the spiritual, ethical one.

From the Paper
"In Shakespeare's Hamlet, the state of moral decline of the society at the Court of Denmark is the main focus. Denmark is meant to figure, of course, the larger, universal context of man. The plot is somewhat simple: Hamlet is called upon to revenge (morally) the death of his father. The appearance of the ghost of the murdered king in the first act is already a sign of the moral direction in which the play goes: a dead spirit comes back to claim justice. Thus, Hamlet's own ideas about the world and about man, which are essentially idealist, meet with an obvious obstacle in the material world, where he sees the baseness of character of both his uncle and his mother who are capable of murder, adultery and duplicity. All of Hamlet's famous soliloquies oppose the idealist and the actual, real view of man as an immoral and trivial creature."

Tags:Court, of, Denmark, Ernest, Algernon, spiritual, depravity, superficiality

Abstract
A paper which identifies societal upheaval and the breakdown of the family as the integral causes of the moral decline of the society.

Tags:moral, deterioration, society

Abstract
This paper takes a strong moral stance against pornography, arguing that it undermines morality in relationships and society, and may even explain the increase of sex offenses. One section of the paper is devoted to the business side of pornography, citing which companies have a financial interest in the industry. The paper then goes on to examine the role between pornography,sexual disorders and sexual addiction, citing psychologists and studies. The link between sexual violence and pornography is also explored.

From the Paper
"Pornography is a big business that makes a lot of money and does not care how. The Attorney General's Commission on Pornography supports what many people claim; that ninety percent of the porn industry is run by organized crime (USA Today Magazine, 1994). Pornography earning is estimated at $10 billion to $14 billion a year in the United Stated. Some mainstream corporate giants like AT&T, Time-Warner, Comcast, Visa, and MasterCard are obtaining enormous profits from pornography material. It is no shocker that most corporate leaders are unwilling to speak publicly about this side of their business (LaRue, 2002). That's billions of dollars a year spend on smut. The New York Times published an article entitled "Naked Capitalists," in which the paper stated there were 11,000 porn videos in the 2001, versus 400 movie releases from Hollywood in the 2001, and 70,000 pornographic web sites (Rich, 2001). The porn industry shows you whatever they think will make you come back and to buy more and people do."

Tags:Pornography, Crime, the Decline of Morality, Criminal Justice

Abstract
The writer describes an incident where a very elderly woman was attempting to walk across the road at a busy intersection and nobody offered to help her cross safely. The writer further describes how young people jeered and taunted the old woman, even throwing a bottle at her. The writer goes on to discuss how there has clearly been a decline in standards in our societies since the 1960's and 1970's, with a lack of respect for the individual and for the elderly.

From the Paper
"Just as I thought that the worst was over for the old woman, the group of young people appeared again. They now began to jeer and taunt the old woman, calling her crude names. One young girl picked up a bottle from the sidewalk and threw it at her. This made the old woman even more confused as she thought that they had escaped harm. I could see that she began to cry. However, instead of making the youngsters compassionate, this seemed to increase their sense of enjoyment at her predicament and they laughed and began to throw pieces of garbage at her. The old woman fell and then started to stumble away. By this time I had already phoned the police but when they arrived the old woman was nowhere to be found. She had probable escaped down an alley and was hiding. I could not even begin to imagine her feelings of despair and confusion.
"The event that I witnessed was not earth shattering or even unusual in many large cities. However, what I had witnessed had shocked me out of my own sense of complacency. The fact that a vulnerable elderly person could be treated in that way in our society places a huge question mark behind the standards and values that are prevalent in our culture."

Tags:morals, standards, respect, compassion

Abstract
This paper discusses the decline of ethics and morals in society. Declining belief in religion is offered as the primary cause for the erosion of moral and ethical standards, but other contributing factors are dealt with as well, especially cultural, political, and social reasons.

Abstract
This study examines the ethical and moral arguments that support or decline the validity of suicide within modern American society. By examining the role of assisted suicide for suffering patients, the autonomy of a person's own body argues that the law has no right to interfere with the rational taking of one's own life. In contrast, the writer maintains that the morality of the law often denies a person's self-autonomy due to the religious and ethical background of the American legal apparatus. In essence, these two contradicting points of view are analyzed within this ethical and moral evaluation of suicide in modern American society.

From the Paper
"Although the law makes it possible for a person to terminate life with the consent of a family member, the issue of self-autonomy and the right to life is deferred on religious morality and within the criterion of the Hippocratic Oath that many doctors adhere to in their medical code of ethics. These are the major factors that define how American law perceives suicide and how it can be dine within the parameters of social morality and ethical standards. Often, the basis of religious or medical ethics provide the legal standards that often enforce a lack of self-autonomy on the part of patient's to choose their own suicide. By understanding the basis of law, one can now examine the counter arguments for suicide that detail the right to live or die through a person's own bodily autonomy."

Tags:life, suffering, moral, patient

Abstract
In this article, the writer points out that there are many studies which assert that there has been a strong and even radical decline in American family values since the 1950s. The writer maintains that one of the main aspects leading to this decline is that the centrality and importance of marriage in society has also suffered a steady decline since the 1950s. Firther the writer claims that the values associated with different gender roles have changed as a result of the changes in the nature and structure of the family. In conclusion, the writer points out that the decline in traditional family values since 1950 is a fact that is evidenced in many research studies.

From the Paper
"This is supported by statistics which show that the proportion of adults who have never been married rose from 15% to 23% between 1972 and 1998. There has also been a concomitant increase in the divorce rate. These aspects have all contributed to the changing values in the family."
"For example, the values associated with different gender roles have changed as a result of the changes in the nature and structure of the family. The value system in the traditional nuclear family was dependent on gender role differentiation and responsibilities. These roles, which created certain values and norms associate with the sexes, were disturbed by social events such as the increasing participation of women in the workforce since 1950. This altered the responsibility structures and values attached to the concept of the mother as the 'homemaker'."

Tags:morals, marriage, gender, role

Abstract
This paper analyzes the sociological concepts, studies and arguments to support or challenge the notion that religious beliefs are changing. Attention is given to the secularization thesis, televangelism, new religious movements, declining church attendance, arguments of de-sacrilisation, the fragmentation of society and issues concerning modern morality.

From the Paper
"In the nineteenth century it was widely believed that industrialization and the growth of scientific knowledge would lead to what is known as secularization; a process whereby religious thinking, practices and organizations lose their social significance through either the process of disengagement or the process of disenchantment. Weber argued that a greater "rationalism" would replace beliefs based on magic, superstition and the supernatural. Many sociologists have agreed with these ideas and have claimed that social change would lead to the weakening or even disappearance of religion in society."

Tags:evangelism, morality, sacrilisation, secularization, rationalism

Abstract
This paper explains that the primary reasons for the decline and eventual fall of the Roman Empire are the moral, social and political decadence and the loss of inner integrity that marked the final stages of this society. The author points out that this cause is linked with other factors such as the invasion of the various "barbarians", economics and the unequal distribution of wealth among others. The paper relates that the basic aspects of this decline refers to a combination and interaction between economic and political power including the disassociation of this power from the electoral base, invasive elements from outside the country that sapped important resources, internal and external strife and the decline of the cohesion of the society. The paper includes many quotations.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
Reasons for the Decline of the Roman Empire
Decline and Decadence
Conclusion

From the Paper
"However, some historians are of the opinion that, while all the above elements are critical to an understanding of the decline, they are all subservient to a central and vital factor, namely that the inner decadence, moral decline and loss of integrity within the Roman society and body politic in general were the foundational causes for the decline and fall of the Roman world. According to the renowned scholar in this area, Edward Gibbon, the fall of the Roman Empire was due to a loss of "Civic Virtue"."

Tags:virtue, cohesion, integrity, stages, invasion

Abstract
This paper discusses how Diamond uses the Easter Island example as a moral illustration for contemporary society and what will happen if it persists in its unmitigated consumptive habits. The paper discusses the lesson, as portrayed by Diamond, that contemporary societies the world over must adopt sustainable economic strategies or they will meet the same ignominious end as Easter Island's original Polynesian tribes that eventually found themselves few in number, struggling to gather even basic food supplies, and generally in a state of abject poverty even by primitive society standards.

Tags:environmental, economics, diamond