Author: Andre Coleman

I will begin this essay with introducing some sociologists’ view on nationalism. Ronald Rogowski (1985 cited in Billig, 1995:43) viewed ‘nationalism as “the striving” by members of nations “for territorial autonomy, unity and independence”‘. Anthony Giddens mentioned nationalism as a ‘phenomenon which is primarily psychological’ (1985, p.116; see also Giddens, 1987, p.178 cited in Billig, 1995:44). According to his view, nationalism happens when normal life is disturbed (Billig, 1995:44). He thought that ‘nationalist feeling “are not so much a part of regular day-to-day social life” (1985, p.215 cited in Billig, 1995:44), but “tend to be fairly remote from most of the activities of day-to-day social life”‘; he thought that ‘ordinary life is affected by nationalist sentiments only “in fairly unusual and often relatively transitory conditions”‘ (p.218 cited in Billig, 1995:44). According to the writing of Michael Ignatieff, nationalism was being described as ‘dangerous, emotional and the property of others’ (Billig, 1995:46).

There are different real life examples that support the idea of banal nationalism: According to the Day Survey, journalists and politicians usually adopt the phrase ‘the nation’ (Achard, 1993 cited in Billig, 1995:116). It leads the readers to assume a story is happened in the homeland, unless the contrary is introduced in the topic or first paragraph of the story (Billig, 1995:116). For the weather section of the British press, Billig mentions that ‘the notion of “the weather” implies a national deixis, which is routinely repeatedaˆ¦the reports tend to be similar and contain a map of Britain, which is not actually labeled as Britain: the shape of the national geography is presumed to be recognizable’ (Billig, 1995:116-117). Also, the maps showing the weather in Europe and the north Atlantic in Telegraph, Guardian, Independent and The Times always put the British Isles in a central location (Billig, 1995:117). Billig also discovered that there was much more national news than international news being mentioned in the British press (Billig, 1995:117). Fowler claimed this phenomenon as ‘the “homocentrism” of the press, which is “a preoccupation with countries, societies and individuals perceived to be like oneself” (1991, p.16 cited in Billig, 1995:118). By reading the British Press on a day-to-day basis people are being mindlessly reminded that Britain meant to be the centre of world’s nations to them which things happening locally within the Britain are important to them. The people’s sense of belonging to Britain may be unconsciously enhanced through this daily practice of reading the British press. This example in line with the concept of banal nationalism which reveals that national identity is nothing natural but is socially constructed and maintained through daily activities such as reading a newspaper.

In addition to the example of the British press, there was a research carried out on the Turkish Press that supports the idea of banal nationalism: thirteen out of thirty-eight Turkish newspapers used the Turkish flag or slogans such as ‘Turkey for the Turk’, ‘The new newspaper of new Turkey’ or the map of Turkey as their logos which directly or indirectly remind the Turkish people of their national identity (Yumul & A-zkirimli, 2000:789). The ‘unimaginative repetitive’ act of the Turkish newspapers which act as a ‘continuous, albeit barely conscious, reminders of the nationhood’; they are equal to the ‘unwave flag which unmindfully reminding the Turkish of their national identity and homeland’ (Yumul & A-zkirimli, 2000:790). Seventy-six per cent of the Turkish newspapers divided the local news and the foreign news; ‘domestic news items are classified under subject headings and do not carry a specific caption like “Home News”‘ (Yumul & A-zkirimli, 2000:790). The Turkish Newspapers usually use an unlabelled map of Turkey to report the weather which ‘reinforce and naturalize at the level of the unconscious the geographical shape of the homeland which the reader has encountered countless times in the course of his lifetime’ (Yumul & A-zkirimli, 2000:790). We can also notice the banal nationalism through the sport news on the Turkish press. For instance, ‘Fanatik, after reporting the victory of the 14-16 age-group team of Galatasaray over the Dutch Ajax quotes the managers of Galatasaray: “Let them learn from us, instead of us taking them as examples”‘ (Yumul & A-zkirimli, 2000:800). This example of the Turkish press demonstrates that banal nationalism is taking place in different nations. The slogans, imbalance amount of local news and foreign news, style of weather reports, and content of the sport news of the Turkish press creates a sense of ‘us’ and ‘them’ between our nation- Turkey and others- the foreign nations. The readers will be unconsciously reminded about their national identity- Turkish. This example once again reveals socially constructed characteristic of the national identity.

Example that supports banal nationalism can also be found among the Scottish Newspapers: Daily Record a Scottish tabloid, which its masthead was stated as ‘Your Papers-Made in Scotland’; and also ‘Scotland’s Champion’, which ‘ensemble unambiguously fixes the centre of its social and spatial deictric’ and ‘evokes the Record as “the” defender of the Scottish nation’ (Law, 2001:306). There are far more examples that supporting the idea of banal nationalism in our daily life. For instance, the content and style of TV proagrammes, content of TV news reports, the words used by the politicians, and the name of road signs, etc.

Nation reveals ‘the sense of a “we” travelling together through time, acting collectively in our own space, with a common fate’ (Anderson, 1983 cited in Wetherell & Potter, 1992:141). The people of a nation contain ‘an idea of “national character”, a set of personality traits and attitudes which people share in common, distinct from others, such as the Australians and British, and it constructs a framework of rituals, icons, anthems and flags’ (Wetherell & Potter, 1992:141). The national identity is then a person’s sense or feeling of belonging to a nation. Banal nationalism contributes to the understanding of the national identity in many ways. For instance, it challenges the social identity theory: social identity theory suggests that ‘conflict can occur where the ingroup has absolutely nothing to gain from competing with the outgroup’; Tajfel believes that having identification with a group will increase self-esteem; and so ‘national identity helps us to find meaning in our lives’ (Houghton, 2009:171-172). Billig doesn’t agree with this theory because he thinks that ‘it fails to grasp how the social category of national identity is actually constituted, and why it persists; basic to Billig’s argument is that such identities are not cognitive schemata, but rather patterns of practice and habit built into the material and social environment; We do not just adopt such social categories because they fill certain psychological needs, we adapt to a social environment that renders these categories “real” and imperative’ (cf. Eagleton 1991: 40 cited in Hearn, 2007:660-661). Banal nationalism demonstrates that a person who adopts a national identity is through consistent learning and seeing perhaps mindlessly and routinely that build his or her sense of belonging to a particular nation but not like what has been claimed by the social identity theory that a person adopts a particular national identity is because of the innate need psychologically.

Another contribution of banal nationalism is that it challenges the concept of things about nationalism and national identity are far away from what ordinary people can reach or experience in a steady established Western nation. Instead, it reveals that many ordinary people are experiencing nationalism in their everyday life but just in another form from what they expected.

In addition, the theory challenges ‘the supposed dichotomy between “our” civilised societies and “their” violent ones’ (Skey, 2009:334). Local people within a nation usually deny they are nationalist or nationalism but point these things to the people in other nations because they usually see nationalism as something negative, dynamic, emotional which I mentioned in the previous part of the essay. However, the theory of banal nationalism reveals that nationalism is actually crucial for them to form and reform their national identities nowadays.

Banal nationalism also draws our attention to ‘the ongoing production of a hegemonic discourse whose power comes from being seen as natural, taken-for-granted, common sense’ (Sutherland, 2005: 196 cited in Skey, 2009:334); which in line with what Jan Penrose has claimed: ‘our acceptance of nations as natural divisions of the global territory and population is essential to the maintenance of the existing geopolitical order’ (Penrose, 1994: 161-81 cited in Skey, 2009:334). The concept of banal nationalism once again reminds us that the divisions of the world’s nations are not happened naturally and neither the adoption of our national identities.

However, on the other hand, there are different critiques to the idea of banal nationalism which may undermine the value of this theory: Mirca Madianou (2005) claimed that ‘take account of media theory which has long argued that audiences cannot simply be seen as either coherent or “empty vessels” that uncritically absorb the media messages that they encounter’ (cf Abercrombie and Longhurst, 1998; Gillespie, 2005 cited in Skey, 2009:336). It challenges that people who receive the messages from the newspapers, TV programmes, TV news, etc are not homogenous in terms of mind-set or perception toward different ideas. Different people will interpret and react differently when they receive the messages from the banal signifiers. For instance, people from different social class and political background will think differently. The concept of banal nationalism ignores the complexity of the audiences within a nation.

There is also a critique that claiming Billig has commit to ‘problems of assuming a settled and largely benign socio-political landscape even in what Billig has labelled as “established, democratic nations”‘(1995:93 cited in Skey, 2009:337). Jackie Abell et al. challenge ‘”the idea that any modern states are stable in the sense of being unchallenged over time, or lacking in internal tensions or external challenges is highly questionable” and as such should be critically evaluated in terms of its ideological function’ (Abell et al., 2006: 208 cited in Skey, 2009:337). The political and social situation of a nation could be far unstable and worse than Billig has expected even in a developed nation.

To conclude, the argument of this essay demonstrated the importance and contribution of the theory of banal nationalism for understanding national identity in both the social and political aspects. However, in my opinion, its value might have been declining and continue to decline in the future. Apart from the reasons of the above critiques and limitation, to certain extent it is also because of the improvement of technologies and process of globalization. ‘The relationship between the media and the nation is being made ever more complex through the widespread use of the internet (Eriksen, 2007 cited in Skey, 2009:336), satellite broadcasting (Madianou, 2005 cited in Skey, 2009:336), mobile phones etc’; It means that people in a nation have more choices to receive various information from other part of the world but not just from the national-operated media. Besides, globalization will also enhance the mobility, fluidity, and movement of people. These factors may increase the complexity of audiences in a nation since there are more different groups of people in terms of ethnicity, culture, gender, etc gather in different nations. These different groups of people may interpret and react differently from the banal signifiers and perceive themselves as having different national identities from the others.

Is there something called the Indian Middle Class? How does this manifest in everyday India ? Illustrate this from Mother Pious Lady Reference?

Indian middle class; is it a group or a phenomenon? Who are the people who form the Indian middle class, what are their culture? The Indian middle class has grown from a minority in pre-independence era to a vast majority taking the grip of the whole nation and playing a major role in driving it towards development. The book ‘ Mother Pious Lady’ by Mr Santosh Desai portrays the Indian middle class in vivid detail. The following writing takes the headings of the book and tries to explain Indian middle class with illustration from the book. I have tried covering the topics which I was able to connect to.

Economic reform has provided the Indian middle class the most needed the liberation in terms of living life to the most. There has been a constant shift in the cultural sign and symbols adapted through ages. Disappearance of girl’s pig tail, freedom of mobility through scooterette, providing the elders their own space of living, telecommunication evolution, explosion in the passenger car segment , changing clothing pattern are few of the visible patterns in society. Girl’s pony tail were a symbol of desired feminine reserved nature which has seen a change both in length and its handling. The shortening of hair gives a girl a sense of personal control displayed metaphorically. The scooty revolution has helped the female to expand her boundaries without being dependent on any family member providing her a sense of independence. Even the car owned has seen a shift towards adapting more compact cars. The recent shift from petrol to electric and LPG based cars not only signifies the change in attitude towards efficiency but also the urge to keep up technologically. Dhoni has been one the true middle class iconic figures which has altered the way Indian see a small town boy. The ‘can do’ attitude along with the lack of fear of failure and unmindfulness of hierarchy has been the reason behind success of Dhoni. Any Indian middle class can draw inspiration from him in the way towards dealing with pressure and performing without fear of failure. The increase in disposable income has led to the change in attitude towards life, attitude towards savings. The Indian middle class is not afraid to take risks in life to get a bigger return. He is in constant search of avenues of making money. An age where money has its own language, and the person in possession of money is in possession of power. It has become the source of energy which drives the entire economy, of which Indian middle class has played the most important role.

Arranged marriage in a typical middle class families is still not openly accepted, reasons may be preference for same caste bride which may not be guaranteed in love marriage. It may also be due to unfamiliarity or not being comfortable to other caste customs being brought and practiced in one family. Arrange marriage is not seen as marriage of two individuals but two families as well. The idea of prospective bride and groom to know each other before marriage is not given preference as the custom of these individuals having the luxury of spending time together is quite rare in any joint family. Also, the societal pressure is also a big factor which forces one to look into same caste bride or groom. The priority of selection bride or groom also is quite typical in middle class family and exchange of dowry which comes as unsaid package plays a major role in this decision. The education qualification in higher of engineer or doctor may fetch enough dowry to groom family to cover almost all the family members lifetime expenditure. Its agreed that many a times this money only changes hand in case the same family has a girl to be married away. All these factors doesn’t provide the luxury to place the freedom to choose the bride in the hand of the prospective groom himself. The power to choose the family needs to be closely guarded and the sense of freedom even need to be made to felt to the groom. Also, the custom of preparing and matching kundli of prospective bride and groom to formally accept marriage proposal also affects the decision. The decision to go against the family’s belief of marrying someone who technically doesn’t match on paper may lead to social seclusion. ‘The present has become poor indicator of the future’ indicates that current reputation, societal status, family acceptance takes preference over the prospective future of those two individuals living together happily. The middle path of arranged love marriage seems to provide the best possible solution in the current middle class society. It comes with best of both the worlds. Even though, this may not be happening at an encouraging level provides enough encouragement to other families to try to adapt for the benefit of those two individuals in question. Other reason for further acceptance of this phenomenon is the trend of growing number of nuclear families. The tradition of newly wed bride to stay with the family is becoming less frequent, leading to providing both the individuals to start their life with their own rules. The importance given to the caste is also decreasing due to importance given to education qualification and economic status in the society.

The essence of middle class can be truly experienced while travelling across country via any means be it train, bus, jugaad or be it airplane. Out of all these means Train definitely displays the middle class in true sense. Indian Railways carries millions of Indians mostly middle class people through length and breadth of this huge nation on a daily basis. A typical middle class passenger takes a train journey not just as travel but as ritual. He is worried about the co-passenger’s destination more than his own. The train coupe forms a perfect blend of many cultures and their practices. It is clearly visible during the meal time. Any Gujarati family travels in a group of min 4-5 members with a plethora of food varieties in their stock. The ritual of cutting and preparing salad, preparing for the meal by arranging the plates and laying out the pre made food contents. The daily routine of having daily meal is still maintained irrespective of the place they may be.

After Gold, probably Stainless steel is the metal which places itself highly in the life of typical Indian middle class family. The metal is a reliable carrier of memories. It stands for pride, trust and assurance. Stainless steel makes its presence very eminent in daily life of middle class family through vessels, utensils. It is the true representation of aspirations of middle class family, to be able to shine even after being put to test on a daily basis. It serves to utility to max. But due to recent advent of polymer technology and post liberalization era, Stainless steel is being slowly being replaced by more cheaper and easily replaceable elements like plastics, aluminium. This trend not only displays the changing attitude of the middle class towards daily life approach. There has been a constant shift from need for longevity, durability to alternatives which would serve the utility at best price. This change is evident of the fact of the fast changing life, non belief in long standing commitment. Ease of manufacturing, handling, disposal, multi utility and economy of use

Need for Communication places itself on a very high scale for any Indian, specially a middle class family. The urge to stay connected through any possible means forms a strong bond among geographically spread and settled of the community. Even Post card saw its evolution in the form of launch of competition postcards, travel postcards etc, which formed an important part of a typical middle class family. Post card, in pre telecommunication era, was the perfect carrier of messages which contained message not for individuals but for the whole family from another family as such. Post card was like the facebook wall for the whole family. After the advent to telecommunication era, the ease of message transmission was shifted to audio content from textual content. But the current shift to electronic mail or e-mail has detached the flavour of writing letter to near and dear ones. Its well acknowledged that it has made life simpler, but the shift from paper letter to e-mail has shifted the letter only as intention.

Middle class is best known for its ability to excel at the time of scarcity. The backbone of this feat comes from the culture of staying in joint families. Joint family is a true representation of Marxist institute where the fruits of toil of the family is equally shared among the members. The belief in sharing everyone materialistic property among the members gives it a strong sense of binding. Every member works for the family not for his self individual. But, there has been a constant erosion in the concept of living through sharing. This is clearly evident in the rising conflict in land claiming issues in joint families. The constant shift from joint to nuclear families, constant movement of families from rural areas to urban areas, rising living costs and at the base of all the changing attitude of middle class towards living through sharing has led to this crude change.

Summer break was usually associated with long break from school, summer holidays and trip to either native place or to a holiday destination with the family. It was a time to spend quality time with our near and dear ones. It was a time to take up some hobby at leisure be it reading comics, take up painting or music classes. But the true essence of the break was that it provided an opportunity to connect to our real self, to our places and culture of origin. It was a time to experience the new, refuel with fresh change of much needed air. There has been a constant shift in the attitude of middle class towards the summer break as well. The shift from leisure spending to time to more serious way on engagement has been created due to constant peer pressure and to prove oneself distinct from the lot. The mushrooming of summer camps for children for sports, music and arts classes is not due to self interest of children as such but also to satisfy the aspiration of typical middle class parents to see their children develop a multi faceted personality.

Mother’s role is universally given the top priority in any human being relationship pyramid. Indian Mother plays an even more important role in any middle class family. Gender Role of mother is very prominent in a middle class family. She is the person responsible for binding the family, its health and even for counselling. She plays multiple roles in a family with varied responsibilities. She is the one who is more bothered about her sons exams. She portrays the true values of middle class through her aspirations for the family at the cost of sacrificing her own life.

The affinity of a typical middle class family with white cloth reflects its aspiration levels of getting noticed in the society. This portrays the notion of purity in the era of corruption. The analogue of usage of ultramarine on white cloth is clearly with thin film of elite culture which every middle class aspires to be a part of. Ultramarine actually doesn’t help in whitening the cloth but only provides a blue coat to cover up the real patches of yellow dirt resting on the cloth. It signifies the constant urge of Indian middle class to stand apart, its constant urge to excel through continuous trial. The recent adaption of dye based cloth dye from ultramarine depicts a change in time. The spike in demand of English medium school for middle class and associating children education with English displays the attitude towards thin film culture to hide their true image.

The obsession with order and discipline is a typical characteristic of Indian middle class. The sense of belonging is one of the implicit needs of the Indian middle class. Well creased and iron clothes are one of the symbols used to strengthen the need for order. It gives them the strength to fight against the chaos of nature. Straight Line represents their triumph of humanness.

In the pre-liberalization era when people were not suffering from ADD(attention deficit disorder), people had vivid means of entertainment ranging from coffee house debating, fishing, travelling or be it sitting idle with friends with corner tea shops and having friendly chat. Even the perception of viewing something in motion could be termed as entertainment. Here the house window played an important role in opening. It was the theatre of our imagination which would let your creativity do the talking. The recent expansion in the media domain has increased the options of entertainment but also reduced the interest in the outside real world. The role of window has changed from taking interest in real world to secluding oneself from the society.

The ritual of visiting our relatives and near and dear ones without pre-announcement and even without a purpose was a common habit among middle class families having geographically scattered members. Even the purpose of the visit was not important. But recently due changing relationship among people and with growing linearity among it, the visit is associated with a purpose. Even the acceptance of un announced visit are not welcomed. The reasons of the trend can be varying ranging from improving communication technology to shrinking of family size to engulfing oneself in their own word.

One place where the true middle class can be found congregating is the 4 pages of weekly matrimonial ads in daily newspapers. The ads are structured as per the caste requirement. The place becomes the marketing platform where packaging the individual in the form of few highlighted well seeked off words becomes the success criteria of finding any mate through those ads. A typical middle class arranged marriage doesn’t takes place between individuals but between the families and in turn their relatives. It doesn’t remains an event affecting 2 individuals but goes far beyond. The typical middle class phenomenon of intra caste marriage even at the cost of not finding suitable bride/groom can have unwelcomed effect. It not only affects those individuals but also the society. This menace can only be dealt with if the priority of suitability for partner selection is shifted from caste to their personal attitude matching.

Any vehicle which is typically associated with a middle class family has to be a scooter. A scooter is analogues to a mule; comparable in strength and obedience for load carriage. A vehicle providing mobility with multi utility and an aura of safety around it was the perfect companion of any Indian middle class family. Scooter portrays the middle class persona to perfection. The ability of carry person well above rated number and weight, the ability to transform from people carriage vehicle to goods carrier in both front compartment and side deck, never asking for maintenance and providing the security of spare wheel made it the most suitable vehicle on Indian roads for any middle class family.

Auto rickshaw has been an integral part of our lives which provides personalised travelling mode at near affordable price. Auto rickshaw was a vehicle which provided freedom from wait for public transport and provided door to door connectivity. The vehicle was a true image of the growing aspirations of the Indian middle class providing them the much needed differentiation in terms of image perception. The vehicle itself was positioned between the affordable but not comfortable mode of transportation , ie 2 wheelers and un-affordable 4 wheelers for a typical middle class. Of late due to improving public transportation in cities and increasing fares of auto transport, there has been a shift towards other modes but auto rickshaw is here to stay to its USP.

In the pre-liberalization era, buying of any household appliance was an occasion in itself. The long term association with the appliances bought made it even further a special occasion. The appliances ranged from TV, fridge, Tape recorder, scooter, cooker, sewing machine etc. The appliance almost became a part of the family itself with special handling care taken care by the head of the family. The TV remote was the power centre which needs to be wrapped in polythene and handled only under guided supervision. Of late with the advent of consumerism and even increasing appliances buying and replacement rate, the importance of any appliance has reduced drastically. The role of appliance has shifted from being centrally used by the family to personalized usage. The concept of personalized appliance for every member of the family be it mobile phones, music systems or even vehicles has reduced the emotional elements attached with the appliance. The behaviour has changed from repair mentality to exchange mentality. This has further reduced the need for caring for the appliance as the life cycle of the technology considered upto date has also reduced drastically with new models being churned out every few models with better and improved features.

The medical service was and is still considered luxury for many strata of our society. The affordability and notions attached with medical service and doctor are still alien in many parts of the society where the sole responsibility of the family health either lies in the hands of god or local medicine practitioners. But in other well off places doctors are almost next to god. The typical Indian middle class finds itself stuck between the affordability factor and belief factor. Of late a typical Indian middle class tries to over smart the well trained doctor through primary research on internet. To him the advice given by an unknown on internet appeals to him with greater truth factor than the advice given to him by doctor.

Radio was a very strong binding medium in pre TV era connecting people from across the geography, occupation etc. There has been a constant shift in the methodology of popularity calculation of songs. Not only radio but also TV has been affected by the consumerism. The method of popularity is not only based on artists performance but also on the no. of sms send during the event. The Indian middle class is an upfront participant in the era of consumerism. The power of voting for their favourite performer has engaged the middle class into ever longer participation and increased its loyalty for the event. A typical Indian middle class finds pleasure in seeing someone alike performing well and progressing in the event. Cinema is trying to woo the middle class by providing much demand exclusive comfort through various class in shows.

Typical Indian street food is a moving map of Indian culture whether you eat paani poori or idli dosa or Chinese. Its a place where hygiene is typically overlooked and is subsided by taste. Its a place for any typical calorie conscious individual to indulge and forget about extra calories. Its also a place where people across religion, caste and race are binded without issues.

Indians love their cinemas and Songs and heroes are an integral part of it. Of late, there has been a constant shift from emotion based poetic songs to meaningless songs which are getting more encouragement from the society. Society doesn’t have the quest for meaning through songs anymore, reasons may be varied. May be the middle class doesn’t come to cinema anymore as a issue solver but as a mere entertainer. Cinema provides them escape from daily life issues for a couple of hours. And that’s the reason, people look up to today’s heroes as mere epitome of excess.The need of the hour is to encourage the real heroes to bring change in the society. Middle class need to rise to true heroism, be it being entrepreneur; helping generate jobs, generate income for people, be it working for societal development.

Indian middle class is obsessed with power which really comes hard and short lived at times. The phenomenon is clearly evident in political hierarchy, power associated with official cars, its red sirens, the issue associated with security frisking. The reasons may be in the culture’s acceptance of power distance, the need to show power at hand to society to gain importance. PSUs were set with mind set of socialism, but apparently they are the power house of the Indian industries. This scenario has been constantly shifting due to increasing entry of MNCs in India who preach exactly the opposite with its flat office structure, its open door policy, its transparency, its priority to performance over age based seniority etc. Film, politics and corporate are biggest institutions providing transfer of legacy through free passage of the baton to their next generation. License raj period was a black era where one’s ability to survive directly depended on the bureaucratic contacts he/she had. The Indian middle class was a complete misfit in this zone. The scene is also changing fast due to increased concern over the company’s performance even at the cost of baton going to an outsider fit for the role. We need to watch for similar happenings in politics as well.

Indian middle class are the true carriers of ancient Indian culture in today’s Indian culture. This is represented clearly in the food and our existence around it. The food acts as the centre of our existence and stomach the seat of our soul. Food may be the barometer of our lives. The reasons could be due to immigration of varied cultures in India through ages, providing an enriching mix of food culture. One of unique form of food serving can be found in Thali. It forms a unique contrast with the western food culture of serving food in linear courses. The food itself is arranged all a time providing the connoisseur the option of selecting his course order accordingly. The reason why we enjoy Thali may be due to our finding pleasure in chaos. Another, interesting food form ie Pickle forms a central part of a typical middle class diet. Pickle tries to preserve its ingredient in interesting form. It acts like the culture distillate. The availability of thali food in restaurant and pickle available in jars in retail stores reflect the changes in society. The hectic and fast moving lifestyle in urban areas doesn’t provide an opportunity to families in either engaging in pickle preparation at home, neither do they find time to have meals at a time with the whole family at once. Even the food habits have seen constant change from Indian food to western food. The need to have the food on the move has seen shift in food and catering culture.

Indians have always felt fuzzy in declaring their love towards their loved ones and the concept of expressing oneself through words, day celebration etc was of alien in nature. With liberalization and adoption of western culture, there has a constant shift towards need for verbal and visual expression of love and care. The growth of cards culture in form of Archies, Hallmark etc., celebration of father’s day, mother’s day, and even valentines day has come under accepted and much needed norms. The major reasons may be increasing spatial, cultural and generation gap among the family members. The middle class in the run to keep up with the society has replaced bhai dooj with brother’s day, the daily expressed silent care with valentine’s day, the parental respect with father’s day. The reason could be the need to make every occasion big and reason to celebrate with public display. The love in some cases may also be weighed in terms of the value of the gift exchanged. The Indian middle class obsession with English is not a new phenomenon, whether in the form of English pet names, obsession with English medium schools, the urge to communicate in English. This market is very well served by the growing tutorial classes promising to teach English in 30 days. Even though the excessive obsession has led to corrosion of native Indian culture but it also has a silver lining along with it. The booming IT outsourcing industry has been successful majorly due to the proficiency achieved by Indian middle class to international acceptable standards which has led to opening of job horizons for many.

The Indian middle class believes in sharing and living, but sometimes at the cost of others inconvenience. This is clearly evident in the missing mobile etiquettes, throwing garbage in public places, listening TV at home at full volume. The lack of need to respect others space may be the outcome of the feeling of one with the society. This seem an issue of little relevance but with times there arises the need to educate people about respecting for others feeling and space essential for peaceful coexistence.

Few rituals find peculiar adaptation in typical Indian middle class society. The traffic system portrays a system of chaos working perfectly in harmony. Every driver has his own meaning of traffic rule, he drives focused only on his objective. The myopic objective getting ahead of others even at the cost of creating traffic jam later. Honking is used for power display with safety put to backseat. Indian traffic is a perfect smaller version of Indian middle class culture. Many cities operate with no traffic signal nor with traffic policemen, which display almost magically the understanding amongst motorist. Indians always find hard to follow rules carved by someone else but are always apt to form their own. The rules are there to be bent which is evident in the way drivers do when they jus hang the seat belt to escape fine only to release it at the first possible opportunity, two wheelers carry helmets in hand only to be worn when faced with a traffic policeman. The ‘chalta hai’ proves to be major deterrent to arrive at a lasting solution. The lack of desire for quality may be due to lack of desire for lasting solution. The major beneficiary is Indian politics where criminals are forgotten and re-elected, where scams are forgone with time. India has come a long way from 64 crore bofors scam to 1.76 lakh crore 2G telecom scam of which Indian middle class was a mere spectator. Indian middle seem to be good at forgiving and even better at forgetting. Even sports remains untouched when come to the scandals like cricket and recent common wealth games. The reason may be the attitude of disinterest of people towards apt punishment.

The need of the hour is to educate the mass about the importance and benefit of following traffic rules. The need of the hour is to make the Indian middle class realize the power they have in their hands to elect capable and apt people.

Liquor was always looked up as a menace in the Indian middle class and its association with ability to take the human out of oneself. The elite and extreme lower class always some occasion or reason associated with liquor consumption. But the middle class always took it as an unwinding tool, as a medium to hang out with. Our trip to Hill stations have always been associated with family, as a place to escape the heat and noise of the city. Indians always have been worshiping Sun, but also has always been looked with harshness of its nature which is quite opposite to western culture where they tend to welcome sun. Amitabh Bacchan is one those iconic figures who has lived through Indians for almost four decades now. He has lived almost all his characters too real life like. He has given every Indian the sense of his own existence through his reel characters. He has been the icon of credibility for most if the Indian middle class. He is the one who can be trusted by any brand either for publicity or damage control, ranging from Gujarat tourism to Cadbury worm controversy.

Introduction

Human relationships are complex in their nature. People coexist with each other in the world where conflict and differences in their lives occur and learning how to effectively manage those problems can have a great impact on the quality of the relationshipe. Conflicts gives people the opporunity to find the appropriate decisions and finding ways to find a solution to the problemswith minimal negative events. That is why, the issue of marital counseling is worth emphasizing (Cook, 29-67). In other words, marriage, is the unity of a man and a woman and unresolved conflict situations have an impact on marital satisfaction and longevity. It also directly impacts the quality of the relationship, but also on the overall satfisifcation of eac partner that is in the relationship. The aim of the present paper is to identify the notion of “marriage”, “conflict”, satisfaction”, “longevity”, and find out the relationship between these concepts. The urgency of the paper is determined by globalized way of human relationships that has changed human life which is observed through the role of marriage, the way of coping with difficulties and longevity on the whole.

Marriage and Conflict

The definition of marriage can change from person to person, that is why it’s vital to select a defitition that the majority of the population will agree on. The term marriage is “a mutual desire of a man and a woman to compose a family” (Lewis, 54).. The unity of people in a family causes new types of relationships in which the members of that family develop coping skills to interact with eachother. At this point is where it can lead to different in opnions and differences in the way conflict is handled, “Conflict happens. Every couple argues and stresses out” (Lewis, 63). In order to understand their role on longevity, it is important to give a definition to the term “conflict” and its impact on longevity.

There are various definitions of conflict, but they all emphasize the existence of contradictions, which take on the form of disagreement. This is the point in the relationship were positive outcomes can happen or negative interactions can set the relationship back.. Conflicts can be hidden or obvious, but their basis always lies in the lack of consent. Therefore, the conflict is defined as the absence of agreement between two or more parties – individuals or groups.

The lack of agreement is due to the presence of a variety of opinions, views, ideas, interests, and viewopints. It is important to remember when discussing conflict resolution that the couple be able to see both sides of the argument, no just from their viewpoint. This happens only when the existing contradictions and differences disrupt the interaction of people, and disrupt the advancement of goals for the couple. In this case, people simply are forced into a situation that they try to overcome their differences and enter into open conflict interaction.

If conflicts contribute to informed decision-making process and development of relationships, then they are called functional. The conflicts that impede effective communication and decision-making process are called dysfunctional. It is necessary to be able to analyze conflicts, understand their causes and possible consequences. When a couple struggles with finding a healthy way to communicate and find a ways of ending the conflict it can have greater consequences for future problems.

Conflict usually arises in the process of emotional convergence of spouses, especially when one or both of them violate personal boundaries of a partner without visible intention. This is one reason why it is important at the start of the relationship that both couples are aware of the boundaries and limitations of the other person. When these boundaries are not seen or when a person oversteps these boundaries conflict will arise. Then the conflict allows couples to increase the distance away from each other for a definite period.

Conflicts in family are caused by inadequate and conflicting family-marriage expectations and perceptions. The most common myth is that one partner expects to see the other as an attachement of themselves, going everywhere together, not having any free time for oneself… This expectation may be contrary to the interests of a partner who wants to realize his or her personal aspirations and interests and that type of expectation would would damper the relationship and would restrict the freedom and opportunities for development and fulfillment of both partners.

Spouses need to understand whether they can accept each other as they are, take with respect to the views of partner and his or her traditions, which he or she brought from the parent family, without any attempt to alter partner’s behavior and attitude for other views and expectations of another partner. The majority of marital conflicts that occur frequently have hidden purpose, that is, the struggle for leadership.

Signs of the struggle for leadership in marriage are the following ones: 1. conflict arises out of nowhere, literally out of nothing; 2. conflicts occur frequently on the basis of different issues; 3. both spouses are older children in their families, – wife is the eldest child in her parental family, or her husband is younger. It is possible that in such types of families the leading position is occupies by parents of a couple; 4. conflicts occur with increasing frequency over definite period, and they are accompanied by accusations, or even insults, and the period of rest in the family is declining. There are no winners in these conflicts. Both spouses are characterized by low self-esteem.

Crises and conflicts are normal for the family as a developing system. Crises may be associated with certain life-cycle of the family, such as marriage and the need to separate from their parents, birth, adolescence of a child, the separation of children from their parents and the last – the death of a spouse. All people are sometimes in conflict. All people are arguing. This is necessary, because conflicts generate liability and resoluteness. This means that people are not indifferent to the problem and each other. If a conflict is recognized and understood, if the parties are prepared to resolve it, so that both sides have won, then such a conflict leads to the renewal of relationships and improves communication.

If conflicts are frequent and sharp, a family went through a period of crisis in the marriage. It is necessary to allocate crises stages of marriage (years, three years, seven years, “adolescent”), as well as crises, based on a stressful family circumstances (adultery, death of relatives, loss of a spouse, etc.). The crisis is a test of the family “for strength” of their relationships. Many problems can be avoided if to know how to resolve them. Fortunately, some steps are made in the present paper. Thus, many problems can be solved if sincerely want this and be prepared for them.

Conflicts in the family can create mental environment for the spouses, their children, parents, as the result of which they acquire a number of negative traits of personality (Pitt-Catsouphes et al. 2006). A conflict family is characterized by the establishment of negative experiences, lost faith in the possibility of the existence of friendly and affectionate relationships between people, accumulation of negative emotions that lead to psycho-trauma. Psycho-traumas are often manifested in the form of experiences, which, because of severity, duration or frequency strongly influence personality. It is necessary to distinguish such traumatic experiences as a state of total dissatisfaction with the family, “family anxiety”, neuro-psychic tension and condition of guilt.

The condition of a full family dissatisfaction arises because of conflict situations where there is a noticeable discrepancy between the expectations of the individual to the family and real life. It is expressed in boredom, colorless of life, the absence of joy and nostalgic memories of the time before marriage, complaints to the surrounding people concerning the difficulties of family life. Accumulating from conflict to conflict, this dissatisfaction is expressed in emotional explosions and hysterics. Family anxiety often appears after a major family conflict. Signs of anxiety are doubts, fears, and concerns, related primarily to the actions of other family members.

Mental stress is one of the major traumatic experiences. It arises because of 1. creating constant psychological pressure, a difficult or even hopeless situation for the spouse; 2. creating the obstacles for the manifestation of spouse’s major feelings and satisfaction of needs; 3. creating a situation of constant internal conflict in the spouse. Mental stress is manifested through irritability, bad mood, sleep disorders, rage. Condition of guilt depends on the personal characteristics of the spouse. The person feels a hindrance to others, guilty of any conflict, quarrels and failures, he/she tends to perceive the relationship of other family members as accused and blaming to himself/herself despite the fact that in reality they are not such.

Relationships in Marriage

The increased interest in family and marriage is due to a number of reasons. One third of all marriages is unviable. The issue of strengthening marriage and the improvement of marital structure of the population is of overriding public importance in connection with the problem of fertility. Addressing such issues is impossible without studying the mechanisms of family relationships. Socio-psychological climate in the family determines the stability of these relations, it has a decisive influence on the development of both children and adults. The psychological climate of the family is not something unchangeable, given once and for all. It was created by members of each family and their efforts depend on how it will be, a favorable or unfavorable. Every single person is a personality, unique and unrepeatable, with her worldview, which affects the establishment of mutually satisfactory relationships. Modern marriage is based on the compatibility of modern humans as individuals.

Satisfaction with marriage is the main parameter characterizing the conjugal relationship. Definition of “happy marriage” is the following one: both husband and wife share the view that they are found or reached the “golden mean” or special “universal balance” in individual needs, desires and expectations, balance sheet, which they consider a unique and probably irreplaceable. This feeling of the golden mean, is achieved by joint efforts, and it is created thanks to creativity and it is developed by a married couple in the process of moving, ever-changing interactions within the family. It has many sources: the values shared by both spouses, when the importance of marital relations is recognized, and their marriage they believe exactly as they wanted to create.

This balance incorporates experience of childhood and adolescence, and especially it is fueled by powerful unconscious transformations, hopes, fears and fantasies that each person brings to the marriage. The balance is based on the realities of present and past both within the family and social environments surrounding it. It is also created due to the ability to emotional maturation, the growth of individual consciousness, and the same ability to more deeply understand a partner and show empathy.

And it is always an ongoing creative process which is discussed in terms of psychological problems that should be solved in a marriage. The essence of this concept lies in the fact that it is the totality of these problems compose the basic problem of human interaction in the family; they need to be addressed in family couple throughout their lives, otherwise the marriage is counter-productive and is in danger of collapse. It is this basic context, including the power and flexibility of family union, created by two persons, distinguishes a marriage that satisfies both partners.

The special emphasis deserves the issue that shown the necessity to detach oneself emotionally from the family of childhood in order to be able to fully invest the strength and feeling in their marital union, but at the same time, overestimate the possible points of contact with both parents’ families. Moreover, the dependence of a husband on the parents is more important and more likely to lead to problems than the affection of his wife to her parents. Under the emotional department, the study considers the absence of an exaggerated sense of guilt, mistrust, anxiety, responsibility, resentment and anger from both spouses in relation to their mothers.

The degree of adaptation to the new family life of a wife largely depends on the degree of independence of a husband from his parents. Marital satisfaction can be achieved through implementation of several items: 1. Creation of a full and happy sexual relationship and their protection from intrusions from the liabilities associated with the implementation of household and other works. 2. Combining efforts, involving the frightening obligations in connection with the birth of the child, the ability to survive in a dramatic appearance of a baby in the family, and protecting individual rights and the proximity of the couple. 3. The ability to withstand and overcome the inevitable crises of life, maintain the power of family ties in the face of adverse circumstances. 4. Creating a safe space within the family in order to express and resolve differences, anger and conflict. 5. Use laughter and humor in clarifying the true state of affairs, and also avoid boredom and alienation. 6. Providing the conditions of care and comfort for a partner, as well as meeting the continuing need of a partner in getting emotional and other types of support. 7. Saving of the romantic, idealized notions of love when they met the sobering realities encountered on the path of life.

Unresolved Marital Conflicts and Longevity

Chapman (2007) writes that “Unresolved conflict in a marriage can also be a source of defensiveness. If we have not resolved our differences, we feel somewhat estranged from each other and are therefore more vulnerable to being defensive. Some couples who fail to resolve conflicts over a period of years draw the conclusion that they are not compatible and, in fact, are enemies” (Chapman, 157).

Health of people is directed connected to human activity and his or her relationships with the surrounding people. Consequently, marriage is the main factor that has a direct impact on human life and longevity. It can be explained by the fact that emotions of people cause different feelings such as happiness, grief, etc. These feelings force people to experience different situations during a long period that frequently cause stressful situation in the case of unresolved conflicts in marriage. Stress can provoke different diseases that obviously lowering the duration of human life.

Garner (2009) stresses that “to attain to a lengthened life, to enjoy ease and tranquility in life’s decline, and immunity from pain, debility, and other forms of suffering, are objects worthy of far more earnest attention than they usually receive. Since we have more accurately investigated the constitution of man, body and mind, the conditions of life, health, disease and death, the nature and relations of things around us, we are able to form more rational aims, and to pursue them with better hopes of success” (13-14).

Self-assessment of health is deteriorating in every person. However, this deterioration is more rapid in the marriages with dissatisfaction, particularly in old age. Marriage is the most important factor of social contact for human health. The years of tension spend in marriage may slowly undermine the health. Age also affects the activity of the immune system, leaving older people vulnerable to stress. Older people are more likely to have chronic health problems that stress can increase. In addition, older people may attach more importance to marriage, as they lose their other social connections.

Chapman (2007) adds that “After several months or years of unresolved conflicts, we begin to hear inner voices that say: “I know I married that wrong person”. “How could I have let myself get into such a mess?” “I can’t believe that my mate is so inconsistent”. The unresolved conflicts lead us to think that we are incompatible and that our spouses is not really on our side. The unresolved conflicts push us toward making broad generalizations about our spouse and our marriage” (Chapman, 158).

Prevention of Marital Conflict

Constructive of marital conflict resolution primarily depends on the ability of spouses to understand, forgive and concede. There is one of the conditions for ending the family conflict. It is not to seek victory. The victory as the result of a loved defeat can be hardly called an achievement. It is important to respect others despite the level of guilt. It is necessary that the spouse is able to honestly ask himself/herself what he/she is really cared about.

It is necessary to dwell separately on such a radical way to resolve marital conflict as divorce. According to psychologists, a process consisting of three stages precedes divorce: a) an emotional divorce, manifested in alienation, indifference of the spouses to each other, the loss of trust and love, and b) the physical separation that leads to separation, c) a legal divorce, which requires legal registration of divorce. Divorce brings freedom from animosity, hate, deceit and everything that prevented from being happy in marriage to the majority of people. A woman, with whom children are usually remained, is the most vulnerable to divorce. She is more than a man, subjected to the neuro-psychiatric disorders.

It is important to note that many recommendations for the normalization of the marital relationship and prevention of disputes from escalating into conflicts have been developed. Most of them are summarized as follows: 1. Respect yourself and others. Remember that he (she) is the closest to you. Try not to accumulate errors, wrongs and sins, but immediately respond to them. It will prevent the accumulation of negative emotions. 2. Do not criticize each other in the presence of others (children, friends, guests, etc.). 3. Do not exaggerate your own abilities and dignity; do not consider yourself always right in all. Trust your spouse more and minimize jealousy. Be careful, know how to listen and hear the spouse. Always take care of your physical attractiveness, work over your own weaknesses. Do not generalize even obvious shortcomings of the spouse; lead a conversation only about a specific behavior in specific situations. 4. Treat the hobbies of the spouse with interest and respect. In family life, it is sometimes better not to know the truth, than try to establish the truth. Try to find time to take a rest from each other at least sometimes. This will help removing the emotional and psychological heaviness of communication.

In other words, “When conflict happens and communication starts to break down, take a break from each other to cool off and think through the issues. There are some ways to resolve the conflict and how you can avoid battling about the same issues again. For example, I need to listen to you more and not read into what you’re saying. I’ll try to be more patient with you. I won’t say harsh or unkind words to you. Get back together and talk. Remember, your goal is to resolve the conflict. Take turns so that you both can speak and both actively listen. Share what you wrote while you were cooling down. You might need to “give” a little more to compromise, so humility and cooperation are important. Spend time in prayer together to end your discussion” (Lewis, 63).

It is necessary to keep in mind some key points that can be used in everyday communication that helps to avoid conflict situation in marriage and resolve different cases. Firstly, it is important to talk about everyday affairs every day. In this case, couples learn to trust each other and then they share their problems with each other that creates mutual understanding. Secondly, it is essential to find time for talking; it may be a family meal. Thirdly, it is important to be approachable. It is necessary to empathize and listen to each other.

The main suggestion for successful family communication is to be intentional. This means that couples should not avoid conversation with their children, give time and space for it. Communication is not only words; it may be expressed in tone, body language or some actions. Therefore, it is important to listen carefully and try to understand not only words but also feelings behind them. Sometimes, a conversation may be tough. It is better to think about it in advance, prepare possible questions or do something.

It is essential to invest in family communication, for instance, by writing a letter, sending a card, or making a phone call that will result in opening a friendly dialogue. It is better to build relationships during good times that will help at bad times. Besides, the knowledge of likes and dislikes of the closest relatives will contribute to successful everyday communication in the family.

Conclusion

The problem of conflict has always been more or less relevant to any society. Life proves that conflict does not apply to events that can be effectively managed on the basis of life experience and common sense. The issue of family conflicts is worth emphasizing because family is the oldest institution of human interaction, a unique phenomenon. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that several people intimately interact for a long time (tens of years), that is, for the greater part of human life. Disputes, conflicts and crises cannot arise in such a system of intensive interaction as family.

Divorce leads to the fact that the society receives an incomplete family, because of which the number of adolescents with divergent behavior is constantly increasing and leading to crime expansion. This creates additional difficulties for the society. Key role in family conflict relations belongs to marital conflict (Pitt-Catsouphes et al. 2006). They arise because of unmet needs of the spouses. Most conflict situations are the crisis periods in the development of the family. Family conflicts have traumatic consequences: a state of total dissatisfaction with the family, “family anxiety”, neuro-psychological tension and state of guilt. The experts have made recommendations on regulation of marital conflict in order to prevent conflict situation within the family and increase the importance of family in the future.

It is necessary to add that “Unresolved conflict does not mean that these couples never discuss conflicts. Periodically, they may have long and heated discussions about conflicts. The problem is they never reach a solution. After the heat has intensified to a certain point, they drop the conversation and withdraw from each other, leaving the conflict unresolved. Then when the spouse says something that is emotionally tied to this unresolved conflict, the person will have another defensive response” (Chapman, 158). In summing up, the obvious connection between conflict situations in marriage and human life, that is, longevity, is supported by different research studies. People living in the marriages with obvious dissatisfaction because of unresolved conflicts, demonstrate health problems that affects longevity of couples (Amato, 77).

Amazons of the animal world: the complex matrilineal social structure of spotted hyenas. The spotted hyena, Crocuta crocuta? has evolved a matrilineal society in which the females are more dominant and aggressive than males within the clans. Female and male behaviors come together to form a complex societal structure that promotes variability and reproductive success. This species is an exceptional example of matrilineal hierarchy and social organization as opposed to the regular male-dominant societal structure present in the case of most mammals. Scientists continue to study the spotted hyena for its remarkably sophisticated social behavior, which may be comparable to that of some primates and possibly even human beings (Jenks et al., 1995; Drea et al., 2002; Engh et al., 2002; East et al., 2003).

The spotted hyena, Crocuta crocuta, is a very intelligent animal that organizes itself into large clans of 50-80 members (Engh et al., 2002). While most mammals exhibit a male-dominant society where males fight for rank and the right to reproduce, the spotted hyena has developed a matrilineal society (Jenks et al., 1995). Females are more dominant and aggressive than males and pass on their rank to their offspring (Jenks et al., 1995; Engh et al., 2002). They are responsible for reproductive choice due to their dominant status (East et al., 2003). Males regularly travel to clans outside their natal society, despite the cost of access to food, for the chance of higher reproductive success (Engh et al., 2002). They also engage in specific favorable behaviors to entice females to choose to mate with them (East et al., 2003). All of these sophisticated behaviors have evolved to promote variability and overall success for the spotted hyena. Even more amazingly, the same social structure and behaviors of dominant-submissive interactions emerged within an isolated group of spotted hyenas raised in captivity (Jenks et al., 1995). The spotted hyena is definitely a very unique case of societal arrangement (Engh et al., 2002). With further study, the evolution of this remarkable case of sex-role reversal and complex hierarchy may soon be fully understood. It may provide further insight into similar social arrangements seen with other animals such as primates (Jenks et al., 1995). The study of spotted hyenas may even provide insight into more primitive stages of human societal structure, especially where there are matrilineal cultures.

Females are without question the more dominant gender within spotted hyena clans and they exercise this dominance when it comes to reproduction (Engh et al., 2002; East et al., 2003). They are on average larger, more aggressive, and more violent than males within the clan (Engh et al., 2002). Their special anatomy – an enlarged clitoris through which copulation occurs – gives them full control over sexual activities and partners (East et al., 2003). There is no chance for forced copulation simply because the male hyena needs the female’s full cooperation for proper coitus to occur (East et al., 2003). Theories for the evolution of this physical characteristic include (a) counter-evolution in the presence of high rates of forced copulation and (b) selection for overall more dominant and aggressive individuals resulting in masculinization (Drea et al., 2002). Since more dominant and aggressive females also attain a higher rank within the clan, they tend to be more successful in raising a larger number of young. A higher rank correlates to greater access to food and thus higher chances of survival for both mother and offspring (Engh et al., 2002).

Female spotted hyenas have multiple criteria for choosing mates. They prefer immigrant males to natal males, those born within the community – a possible measure for prevention of inbreeding (Engh et al., 2002). Even more amazingly, females generally prefer males of similar age, preventing sexual interactions with fathers or sons (East et al., 20023). Females also show preference for more submissive, less aggressive males (East et al., 2003). This selection for less aggressive males further emphasizes the sexual dimorphism, both in behavior and physical characteristics, present in this species. Females copulate with several males when in heat, possibly to dissuade males from infanticide (East et al., 2003). This behavior further increases variability – it is quite common to see single litters whose cubs can be traced to different fathers (Engh et al., 2002). It serves to confuse males and dissuade them from killing cubs that may or may not be their own – a complex behavior that shows foresight and intelligent thought (East et al., 2003). Female choice for less aggressive males and behavior to prevent infanticide may have evolved to counter the extremely high-risk pregnancies these animals go through due to their anatomy (Drea et al., 2002).

In a study conducted by Engh and colleagues (2002), the reproductive skew among male hyenas was investigated. One of the major discoveries was that immigrant males had an immense advantage over natal males. Over the 10-year period that one clan of hyenas was observed, it was found that immigrant males sired 97% of the cubs, while natal males only sired 3% (Engh et al., 2002). This explains the males’ behavior of leaving natal clans and immigrating elsewhere: the cost of rank and access to food are highly outweighed by the reproductive benefits in a non-natal clan (Engh et al., 2002). Within the group of immigrant males, it was found that rank did not have a statistically significant effect on a male’s reproductive success. In fact, males a few ranks below the highest ranking immigrant had the most success in terms of cubs sired (Engh et al., 2002). In general, tenure – the measure of how long an immigrant male had been in the clan – was found to be a better indicator of reproductive success. The immigrant males’ rates of producing cubs increased significantly the longer they remained in the clan, showing a strong correlation between tenure and reproductive success (Engh et al., 2002).

Male spotted hyenas are also observed to exhibit behaviors to make themselves more attractive to females. As found in a recent study by East and colleagues (2003), there was no reproductive advantage to harassing, shadowing, or defending females from other competition. In fact, males exhibiting these behaviors were often attacked or chased away by females and other clan members. Instead, males found significantly more reproductive success by fostering relationships with females over longer periods of time – a surprisingly complex behavior very close to that of humans (East et al., 2003). Having these friendly relationships also were seen to solidify the males’ places within the clan hierarchy – once again, a very complex sociological behavior, especially when seen outside the order of primates (East et al., 2003).

The sophisticated system of hierarchy was even recreated in captivity by a group of previously unranked hyenas collected at infancy (Jenks et al., 1995). Amazingly, these young hyenas grouped themselves in a matrilineal hierarchy, as observed over the course of two generations (Jenks et al., 1995). This structuring occurred despite the lack of maternal input for the first generation, showing that social organization is programmed into the spotted hyena’s behavioral patterns (Jenks et al., 1995). While the first generation had little to no maternal interaction to help rank them within the clan, they went on to influence their own offspring’s place in the clan hierarchy, just as observed in wild clans (Jenks et al., 1995). The only significant difference between the experimental clan and wild clans was the speed at which the cubs’ ranks stabilized within the community. Experimental group cubs solidified their place much faster than those in the wild, possibly due to smaller numbers and less movement within the clan (Jenks et al., 1995).

The spotted hyena is a remarkable animal. It shows extremely complex behavior that leads to sophisticated social structure – something that is rarely seen in mammals outside of primates (Jenks et al., 1995). In fact, the matrilineal group structure of hyena clans is very similar to that of Old World primates (Jenks et al., 1995). The sense of organization in this manner is so strong within the hyena’s evolved behavioral patterns that matrilineal structure is even seen to spontaneously emerge in isolated hyenas raised in captivity (Jenks et al., 1995). Complex sexual behaviors, such as the female’s choice of partner based on immigrant status, tenure, and age, seem to promote the creation of this social structure (Engh et al., 2002; East et al., 2003). Carefully nurtured relationships between same- and opposite-sex individuals show the multifaceted interactions between clan members that also contribute to the development of matrilineal organization (East et al., 2003). Female dominance is even supported by biological mechanisms and the altered anatomy of this species (Drea et al., 2002). With further study, the circumstances that led to the evolution of this unique system may soon be uncovered. This will provide insight not only into the spotted hyena’s sociological history, but also into that of Old World primates and possibly even that of human beings. It is an exciting prospect that will hopefully emerge within the years to come.

This paper analyzes the social issues surrounding homeless families and describes the extent of the problem within the U. S. community, while comparing the U.S. community to other communities in other parts of the global system. Causes listed in this paper include unemployment, mental illness, drug or alcohol abuse, and lack of affordable housing. Three theoretical models guide the analysis: social systems theory, functionalist theory and conflict theory. The data come from statistics of homeless families in the U.S. and global communities. These results deliver some evidence for current explanations for homeless transitions, and they propose probable avenues for additional research on the dynamics of homelessness.

Macro Community Analysis

Homelessness is a significant concern within the U. S. and global community. This situation arises when its individuals are poverty stricken and do not have regular access to affordable housing. In the U. S. in the early 1980s, families with young children became one of the fastest growing segments of the homeless population and now consist of 34% of the homeless population, which includes 23% children and 11% adults (Burt et al., 1999). The issues of homelessness have always been a problem around the world, even though it varies greatly, it has been considered to be one of the oldest social dilemmas in the world. Any day, no less than 800,000 individuals are homeless in the U.S., including about 200,000 homeless families. Most homeless families have incomes below 50% of the federal poverty level that makes it nearly impossible for them to find rental property within their means. To make matters worse, as many as 70% of homeless people struggle with serious health problems, mental and physical disabilities, and/or substance abuse problems (Burt, 2001). Countries have different ways of reporting homelessness, dissimilar measures with which to define homelessness. Some countries have no policy regarding this condition at all and for that reason are unable to report on the statistics.

Causes and Effects of Homelessness

As mentioned, homeless is also a global issue and not a problem specific to the U.S. It is

estimated to be around 3 million homeless individuals in 15 countries of the European Union.

Philip Alston, Chairperson of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights since

1991 states that “on any given night, three quarters of a million people in the United States are

homeless; in Toronto, Canada’s largest city, 6,500 people stayed in emergency shelters on a

typical night in late 1997, a two-thirds increase in just one year” (Unicef, 1998).

Furthermore, abuse and assault appear to be silent characteristics of homelessness. Studies have frequently found, in the histories of both individuals and families who are homeless, high rates of sexual and physical abuse in childhood, frequent foster care and other out of-home placements, and a variation of other family disruptions. Those that are always getting assaulted by their families might choose to run away and seek shelter in the streets than consent to a life of day-to-day abuse from beatings and molestation. The most significant reasons why people become homeless may be due to the inaccessibility of affordable housing for low income people. Studies show that people are likely to become homeless out of unavoidable situations. There are people who do work but they earn too little to pay for rent, electric, gas, and other housing utilities and expenses. If a person becomes unemployed, they will be unable to pay for anything at all.

Homeless Families Demographics

Although homelessness is a difficult number to measure, one way to analyze the extent of the problem is through demographics. According to The National Center on Family Homelessness (2008), the typical sheltered homeless family is comprised of a mother in her late twenties with two children.

Eighty-four percent of families experiencing homelessness are female-headed. This is due to number of factors:

Most single-parent families are female-headed (71%). Single-parent families are among the poorest in the nation and as such, are extremely vulnerable to homelessness

Several family shelters do not take men into their programs, causing families to separate when they become homeless

Families of color are overrepresented in the homeless population. Nationally:

Forty-three percent are African-American

Fifteen percent are Hispanic

Thirty-eight percent are White, non-Hispanic

Three percent are Native American

Families experiencing homelessness frequently have limited education:

Fifty-three percent of homeless mothers do not have a high school diploma

Twenty-nine percent of adults in homeless families are working

Forty-two percent of children in homeless families are under age six (The National Center on Family Homelessness, 2008).

The lack of reasonable housing has led to high rent payments for families that already struggle to pay their living expenses. These issues force many families to become homeless each day. A solution would be to lower the cost of housing, provide more support for those that are in need, and for the government to recognize that homelessness is a large scale problem.

Application of Theory
Social Systems Theory

Social inequality is shown all over the world stemming from situations of race, gender, and age. An individual’s social environment includes all situations a person comes into contact with on a day-to-day basis such as the individual’s home, job, and income level, and the social rules that govern them. Person-in-environment refers to interaction between an individual and the multiple systems surrounding that individual, and adaptation refers to one’s capability to change in order to adjust to new situations. In order to endure, an individual must be able to function effectively within their social environments (Kirst-Ashman & Hull, 2002).

The important factor behind the social selection model is that homelessness signifies the final point in a process characterized by the slow reduction of an individual’s social and economic resources. As an individual’s substance use escalates, the person’s financial reserves are exhausted as they sustain an increasingly expensive ”habit.” They either fall into rent debts that leads to eviction (Bessant et al., 2002), or family relationships break down leading to homelessness (Coumans & Spreen, 2003). Fountain and Howes found that 63% of their sample of homeless people in Britain named drug or alcohol use as a reason for first becoming homeless. The researchers decided that ”drug use is traditionally seen as one of the major routes into homelessness, and this was borne out by our survey” (Fountain & Howes, 2002, p. 10). This compares to the above U.S. percentages that have reported drug and alcohol abuse as one of the causes of homelessness.

Functionalist Theory

Homelessness can be explained by functionalism, a theory developed by Durkheim. Poverty is best understood from a mixed perspective involving conflict, by Karl Marx and functionalist, by Emile Durkheim. Since poverty certainly plays a role in a homelessness community, this theory certainly applies. In my opinion, functionalist theory explains that our country does actually help those in need but occasionally we can be unsuccessful. This theory continues to remind us to live practically and tells us that the social order does essentially work (Meyerhoff 2006).

Regrettably, at this time, scientific studies of family homelessness have been unable to instantaneously reflect all of these probable risk factors. Most of the research can be divided into those studies that present family homelessness as the product of separate faces or of community conditions, without examining both factors together (Shlay & Rossi, 1992).

Conflict Theory

Conflict theory, which is significant to the analysis of the homeless condition, is the belief that the means of mental capability and mental achievement plays a role in the determination of what interests will be articulated effectively. Conflict theory studies the macro level of our society, its structures and organizations. While functionalists dispute that society is held together norms, values, and a common morality, conflict theorists consider how society is held together by power and coercion for the advantage of those in power (Ritzer, 2000).

Though individuals and groups appreciating great wealth, prestige, and power have the resources needed to impose their values on others with fewer resources, Max Weber, a theorist viewed a range of class divisions in society as normal, inevitable, and acceptable, as do many contemporary conflict theorists (Curran & Renzetti, 2001). Weber’s theory separated the class of individuals into bourgeoisie and proletariat. Bourgeoisie are those capitalist who possess the means of production while the proletariat is deemed as the working class; they are the ones who sell their own labor power. These groupings show how people are classified according to their status in life. It basically defines the society’s state of inequality that is stabilized and reproduced through cultural ideology (Meyerhoff 2006).

Social Ill within Turley Homelessness

Poverty and inequality continues to afflict many residents in Turley, Oklahoma. The best theory that explains the social ill in Turley, Oklahoma, is conflict theory. One of the conflicts impacting Turley residents is the lack of transportation and close health care facilities. Without access to transportation, residents cannot get to work or to doctors or hospitals easily. Weber’s theory separated the class of individuals into bourgeoisie the “haves”, and the “have-nots” were called proletariat. It would be ideal if Marx’s idea of constructing a fundamentally “equal” society where there is no competition for wealth and power (Meyerhoff, 2006). It is known that several of Turley residents have less than other communities. One of the social ills within the Turley community is the many houses that are abandoned, boarded up, falling down or even burned-out by vandalism, which results in minimal to no housing for Turley residents. Also, from low income or unemployment, this may be caused by lack of transportation. This can result in individuals becoming depressed and utilizing drugs or alcohol as a coping mechanism. Prolonged use of drugs or alcohol may result in a mental disorder. People who have complicated life issues related to mental illness and of drug or alcohol use are the most common people who tend to be homeless. There is a common perception that substance abuse and homelessness are linked, but there is considerable contention about the direction of the relationship (Kemp, Neale, & Robertson, 2006; Mallett, Rosenthal, & Keys, 2005; Neale, 2001; Snow & Anderson, 1993).

Many people in Turley, Oklahoma are homeless due to lack of affordable housing and lack of access to health care facilities, both of which makes life worse for residents with mental illness or substance abuse problems. Severe mental illnesses may be caused from substance abuse and affect people’s ability to carry out vital stages of everyday life, such as retaining a job, household management or even self-care. Mental illnesses may also prevent people from forming and maintaining stable relationships or cause them to misconstrue assistance from others’ and react in an angry manner. This often results in pushing away family, friends and caregivers who may be the force keeping that person from becoming homeless. Some studies indicate that substance abuse is a risk factor for homelessness, whereas others suggest that homelessness ”induces drug use” (Neale, 2001, p. 354).

Summary

In summary, when comparing the U. S. to other global communities, the causes of homelessness were similar, with poverty being the leading cause. To effectively address homelessness, communities need a clear understanding of the problem and realize that it could affect anyone at any given time. Homelessness continues to be an increasing problem and requires social action to overcome the injustice that those people suffer. A change can be made by building or offering affordable housing units to people with low or very minimal income, as well as shielding families from the abuse they may get exposed to and trying to help guide them in the right path. Finally, through helping communities with programs that assist addicted individuals to overcome their addiction as well as people with mental illness by providing affordable health care programs, the homeless have an opportunity to rise above their current situation.

As a Child Welfare Supervisor, I selected this particular social justice issue because several of the children that come into OKDHS custody will age out of the system without a permanent home or family, which results in most of them becoming homeless; this was learned in our Child Welfare Trainings. I wanted to learn more about this ongoing problem and feel it is very important that we help homeless people obtain a better life.

“The commercial sexual exploitation of children is a fundamental violation of children’s rights. The child is treated as a sexual object and as a commercial object. The commercial sexual exploitation of children constitutes a form of coercion and violence against children, and amounts to forced labor and a contemporary form of slavery.”1 Child Sex Tourism is part of the global phenomenon of commercial sexual exploitation of children. It involves the sexual abuse exploitation of both male and female children, usually – but not always, in tourism destinations. Several studies have attempted to understand the extent and severity of the phenomenon, emphasizing different aspects thereof: be it travel trade, psychological, socioeconomic facets. The factors that push children into sexual exploitation are numerous for example: family disintegration, inequitable socio-economic structure, harmful and religious practices which undermines fulfilment of the basic need of the children. By treating the child as a commodity which can be purchased, hired sold or thrown away is no longer a question of poverty, but rather one of values, in particular the values of consumerism.

According to NHRC Report on Trafficking in Women and Children, in India the population of women and children in sex work in India is stated to be between70, 000 and 1 million of these, 30% are 20 years of age. Nearly 15% began sex work when they were below 15 and 25% entered between 15 and 18 years (Mukherjee & Das 1996). In public view child sex tourism is not considered a major social issue in India, partly because of the perception that the problem is not as acute as in some countries of South East Asia and partly because the problem is largely associated only with poverty. Every hour, four women and girls in India enter prostitution, three of them against their will. Here when a women or a children are forced for such things then Are these not a concern related to ethics? This paper will discuss the causes of the problem of child prostitution for sexual needs in India.

Sex tourism refers to an organized tour whose primary purpose is the

commercial-sexual relationship with an individual from the country that he or she is visiting. There are three major categories of sexual exploitations that occur within sex tourism. These are prostitution, pornography and trafficking for sexual purpose. Recently, the trend of sex tourism is to provide sex tourists a wider number of children as opposed to older and more mature women. In fact, the commercial sexual exploitation of minors by international tourists today is considered as

a human tragedy occurring in a grand scale with virtually no consequences for those who practice this. The World Tourism Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations, defines sex tourism as “trips organized from within the tourism sector, or from outside this sector but using its structures and networks, with the primary purpose of effecting a commercial sexual relationship by the tourist with residents at the destination”. But it also refers to business people, transport industry workers or military personnel. Attractions for sex tourists can include reduced costs for services in the destination country, along with either legal prostitution or weak law enforcement and access to child prostitution.

More than 2.4 million tourists visit India every year and growth of the tourism industry in the country has contributed to an increase in the sexual exploitation of children by tourists. Child sex tourism is prevalent in Goa, North Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, West Bengal and in Rajasthan. Mumbai is believed to be the ‘biggest centre for pedophilic commerce in India’. Child sex tourism involves hotels, travel agencies and tour operators and some companies openly advertise availability of child prostitutes. They have contacts with adult sex workers, rickshaw pullers; petty traders who make contact with street or other vulnerable children and bring them to tourist hotels and lodges. Children are often promised better jobs and then ‘forced’ into sex and in many cases moneylenders force parents to sell their children to repay debts. A traveler may not intend to engage in sex with children while he is away from home, but he does so because a child is made easily available to him. Opportunistic exploitation, then, along with organized child sex tourism, is a critical factor compounding the complex socio-economic factors that push children into local prostitution industries.

Here are some of the prominent facts about child sex tourism in India:

India has the largest number of children (375 million) in the world, nearly 40% of its population

69% of Indian children are victims of physical, emotional, or sexual abuse (or read it as every 2 out of 3)

New Delhi, the nation’s capital, has an abuse rate of over 83%

89% of the crimes are perpetrated by family members

Boys face more abuse (>72%) than girls (65%)

More than 70% of cases go unreported and unshared even with parents/family

There are many factors that make children vulnerable to sex tourism. They may also be called as a ‘Push factor’ for them in child sex. Let us discuss some of them.

Organised prostitution: It is known that child prostitution is the sexual exploitation of the child for remuneration in cash or in kind, usually but not always organized by an intermediary (parents, family members, procurers, etc.). Many children, particularly girls, are abused within brothels that are frequented by both, local, regional and foreign child abusers. Some research suggests that girls enter the sex industry as a direct result of coercion or an unspoken expectation by other family members, including sisters or mothers already in the industry. Many of the girls are from the States of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra and often the daughters of migrant women involved in the sex industry.

Poverty and economic insecurity: The majority of the children, both migrant and local, come from poor backgrounds and have little or no access to education. The parents are unskilled workers from neighbouring States who need to migrate to various regions in search of employment. As a result, many of the children are also compelled to work and can be found around beach and resorts areas, often working as vendors. The nature of their work requires them to be friendly to tourists and therefore leaves them open to offers by sex tourists.

Weak family structure: Family breakdown is seen as an important aspect leading to children being exposed to abuse. Many children have run away from home and live on the streets due to problems at home ranging from drug abuse, alcoholism or physical or mental illness. Like all children who suffer from violence and abuse, they may be physically, mentally injured. They are at high risk of: long-lasting physical, social, and psychological damage, disease (including HIV) or unwanted pregnancy and forced abortions.

Lack of parental supervision: Many of the abused are migrant workers’ children who are unsupervised and alone on the streets while their parents take up casual or daily wage work in Goa. These children often end up wandering on the streets and are vulnerable to the lures of sex tourists.

Trafficking: Trafficking of children is a worldwide phenomenon affecting large numbers of boys and girls every day. Children and their families are often lured by the promise of better employment and a more prosperous life far from their homes. Others are kidnapped and sold. Trafficking violates a child’s right to grow up in a family environment and exposes him or her to a range of dangers, including violence and sexual abuse. There is also some evidence to suggest that children are being trafficked to Goa from other parts of the country or even from other countries for purposes of sexual exploitation. Children are also sold by poor families from different regions and then forced into working in the sex industry or other labour around coastal areas where they are at risk from sex offenders. It appears that some families sexually exploit their own children by either selling them to traffickers or by forcing them into prostitution. Such families prize material benefits at the cost of any abuse to their child.

Pornography: Pornography is like a media in sex tourism. Child prostitution is somehow connected with child pornography. It refers to the visual or audio depiction of the child for the sexual gratification of the use, and involves the production, distribution and or use of such material. Pornographic images of children are often copied multiple times and may remain in circulation for many years; the victim continues to be subjected to humiliation long after the image has been made.

Discrimination: Many prostitutes in India are victims of the Devadasis (temple prostitute) system and have been ‘dedicated’ to the Goddess Yellamma (around 10,000 girls in India are dedicated annually). Goa is no different and many of the girls in its red light districts are victims of this system.

After knowing all the factors which push children into such vulnerable situation, one thing which comes instantly into mind is that all contrary to the principles of ‘Integrity’ and ‘Fairness’. It is always questionable that ‘Are these children not a human being?’ ‘How a parent can do such pitiful things with their own child?’Every child has its own integrity and has the right to live a life of respectful human being. The exploitation of human beings dehumanizes the individuals who are trafficked, rewards the inhumanity of the traffickers, and weakens the moral and social fabric of society at large. Restoring dignity to persons who have been exploited is not easy, and the danger of paternalizing trafficked victims in the name of aiding them must be kept in view. Traffickers and parents who expose their children need to be stopped and held accountable, but they also need those who will help them to a transformation of heart and mind.

Sex tourism is the dark side of the global phenomenon of tourism. Every day we read about the benefits of tourism, its income and employment potential, its ability to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor, its potential to overcome uneven development in backward regions of the world Asks why sex tourism is being condoned and wonders why more voices are not raised in protest against its continuance. It often raises a concern for the Indian society but why only India society, child sex tourism is the part of every country whether in Asia or Europe or America. Do societies and Government need not to show ‘Concern and Respect’ towards these children. Children are the future and some even call them ‘Gift of God’.

Travellers who travel to some less developed country think that they have all the rights to use people as they want. The methods that sex offenders use to lure children into abusive situations range from offering them money or gifts, convincing parents that the child will enjoy a better life and providing children with shelter and employment. Such grooming methods are the hallmark of the preferential sex offender whereas the opportunistic ones exploit the children they meet on the street or are offered by pimps.

The justifications that sex tourists offer for their abuse of children include the perception that they are helping the children monetarily and also giving children the ‘love’ that they appear to crave. Many travel agencies, hotels and others are all involved in this whole process. These people think that it is part of their job and they are rendering their services to these travellers. But are their not any ‘Code of Ethics’ in tourism industry. Develop an ethical policy regarding trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of children. Providing information to tourists on CST and request them to help dealing with the problem by informing if they see any doubtful behaviour of tourists who accompany children. To provide information to travellers by means of catalogues, brochures, in-flight films, ticket-slips, home pages, etc.

The study calls for specific national, regional and local actions to safeguard children who are being sexually exploited, or are at-risk of sexual exploitation. Recommendations include the Ministry of Tourism creating a National Plan of Action to Counter Child Abuse in Tourism and for businesses in the tourism industry to shoulder more responsibility for this problem by, for example, joining the Code of Conduct (www.thecode.org). It was recommended that state and central tourism departments report annually on the status of child abuse cases, set up mechanisms along with other bodies for the protection of children, and to demonstrate a clear stand against any form of child sex abuse. The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) are also called on to create a comprehensive Act that imposes severe punishment of offenders, including extradition laws (through the Ministry of Home Affairs). The report also calls for child sex tourism cases to be treated as non-bailable offences. Training on child rights laws and how to handle child abuse cases for Police was also recommended, along with sensitization training and mandatory reporting of child abuse (including adults traveling with children under suspicious circumstances) both by Police and by airport and railway authorities. More in-depth study on the commercial sexual exploitation of children is also necessary to inform policy, protection mechanisms and campaigns. What can we do? Here are my thoughts: Educate our children about sex. If you are not parents yourselves, but know and care about other families of friends and relatives, open up this topic for discussion and encourage the parents to do what is right. If you think talking about sex is difficult for you, don’t just be embarrassed, shrug it off, and give it up. Many parents don’t know their children are victims, and live in a fantasy world of “nothing like that would ever happen to my child”. Talk to your parents in order to understand what difficulties they had to face culturally when bringing you up. That may give clues to how to overcome cultural taboos. Finally, spread the word. Spread the awareness. We owe it to the next generation. With the knowledge that our children know the basic facts to safeguard themselves, we can at least hope to hold our heads high once again. With the economic growth… more tourism… increased salaries… limited family lifeaˆ¦ more luxury lifeaˆ¦ money being spent for temporary pleasure going highaˆ¦ all kind of un-social activities will be going high. It is the real form of terrorism. Let the policy maker and the party in power and the opposition party see that this is the new form of suicide bomb.

After centuries of being shoved under the carpet, the truth is out. And we, as Indians, should stop, hold our breath, drop our heads in shame, and introspect. In the fight against trafficking government organizations, non-governmental organizations, civil society, pressure groups, international bodies, all have to play an important role. Law cannot be the only instrument to take care of all problems.

Notes

A statement from The Declaration and the Agenda for Action from the First World Congress against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, held in Stockholm, 1996

The book, “Code of The Street”, by Yale Professor Elijah Anderson puts in light the various issues that are common in the city today. The street codes majorly affect the actions and behavior of many youths in the inner city. In the inner city, Anderson shows that there are many social evils like high rates of unemployment, teenage pregnancy. The main force contributing to these street codes according to him is racism though that kind of behavior is accelerated by the existing economic and political commands in the city (Anderson 34).

The Code of Street applies to the behavior for the public and is a norm for the community which is alienated (Anderson 69) .if these codes of conducts within the street are not fully immersed into the lives of the young they tend to switch to the behaviors that they find on the street, Learning of the street code starts early in one’s life from his or her parents to the street families who introduce them to such codes. Parents don’t take role in tending their children leaving them to do it themselves (Anderson 49).

The code of the street is worrying according to the sociologist Anderson as it is attributed to ills like increased rate of crime, stress, drug trafficking and all forms of violence with ultimate result of death. The urban life within the ghettos majorly contributed to the street codes. He brings out clearly the issue of respect .According to Anderson, the codes of the street is majorly affected by the poor dwellings the youth live in .In addition to the environment they live in (Anderson 50).

The inner city is seems to be morally decayed as it lacks role models to be copied by the youth and the economy favors few people. With the relocation of the creators of employment to oversee leaving the youth idle within the inner city .Comparing the middle class and the lower class males of the lower class are involved in rebellious acts. Another factor is frustration of the disadvantaged youth led s to adaptation of the street codes. The inner city families were described to be decent with good values while the street families excluded themselves from the greater society Apart from the two types of families being distinct they greatly interact on the streets. Also in the schools, open public’s areas are other places where these people interact. (Anderson 54).

The major determining factor of how people behaved lied on the families values one is brought up with those brought up in the decent homes have proper street codes ,while those of the street families were viewed as those found like drug to commit ills like drug trafficking and all negativities of the neighborhoods like murder and violence .People fought and even shot each other to acquire respect .Lack of respect could render one to be tried by his or her peers and to the extreme the strangers. Respect was used as a measure of one’s credibility within the streets. Ethics of hard work, appreciating religion and achievements in the academics were considered as respectable action within the streets. (Anderson 45).

According to Anderson, teens became pregnant because they don’t know the implication of having sex. For the adolescents, they became pregnant knowingly or sometimes not knowingly. The males portray a behavior of escapism of responsibilities’ and most times the females are left to take care of their children without father figure or sometimes get a helping hand from their family members. Many men or fathers deny the fatherhood to their children especially if they doubt their fatherhood to that child or the character of the mother may cause this. Anderson conducted ethnography study in Philadelphia in 1990 where he studied African Americans in certain classes within the city coupled with his observation (Anderson 43).

According to Anderson (2000), the people in the mainstream society have proper values that don’t allow them to retaliate after an attack rather they move away from the areas of fight. This makes them uphold their self esteem (Anderson 34) .This is a show of respect. Their counter parts on the other hand cant suffer the humiliation of walking away all in all they have nothing to lose as their status is low .Those from the low status communities want to uphold their respect even though it calls for the fighting to show how they are they can attack their counterparts

The methods used in this research include survey whereby various households were sampled and the youth in those families who were capable of being interviewed were interviewed to gather information from them. This could help in giving the data collector an insight on the youth violence. The youth by the time they are teen, they learnt these codes, make them part and parcel of their life’s and thus the survey conducted on the youth in their adolescence is valid (Anderson 83).

In the society classes i.e. middle and lower classes, Anderson interviews the subjects of target whom are faced with the daily decadency of the urban ills ranging from teens pregnancy, child delinquency and family disagreement. Anderson the code of street heroes is those that overcome the streets temptations to have a brighter tomorrow for the future people

Findings according to Anderson show that peer aggression, having been a victim of violence and type of parenting are associated with the following and obeying the street code related to beliefs. Those who have ever been victims of a circumstance tend to refrain from the bad codes. Also anger is a contributing factor to the adherence of these codes. Though being involved in prior victimization might be seen as a factor towards the adherence of the codes, it isn’t. Instead it makes the victim learn from the prior experience (Anderson 70).

Several matters have made the scope of this study to be limited .First; the subculture thesis assessment according to Anderson is not dealt in depth. There is dire need to do in-depth investigation on this thesis. Anderson just gave a highlight .more need to be added especially on the code switching, how the people take their authorities that instill these behaviors. To add on that, the role of race in bringing out the belief related codes and the contributing to the youth violence is not clearly brought out. The youth violence is not only attributed to the blacks even the other races are victims of it.

Also other factors like poverty coupled with the few opportunities could still contribute to this. Finally, the findings are more side lined on male youth violence. To the male youth, even some cliques of inner city girls are found to incite the infighting (Anderson 92). At this juncture, gender role in not clearly brought out in the contribution to the youth violence.

In conclusion from the studies, it shown that the beliefs in our traditional subcultures contribute a lot in the violent behavior among the youth. Violence is more prevalent with those follow those beliefs that are in agreement with the street codes. Though it is not possible to get the etiology of these code beliefs but it is seen that the way one is socialized, the role models one looks up to and the parental upbringing matters (Anderson 97).

Those youth who claim lack of future for them and had prior victimized tend to acquire the aggressive behavior in future. Also the way of parenting is also a factor where by those parents who are aggressive to their children tend to acquire violent behaviors from them. Then they will be the pioneers of all the crimes, violence in the society. Thus provision of future opportunity to our youth is of great importance as well as personal protection especially parent to their children (Anderson 120).

Work Cited

Anderson, Elijah. Code of the Street: Decency, Violence, and the Moral Life of the Inner City. New York: W.W. Norton, 2000.

As Peter Ustinov says:” Parents are the bones on which children sharpen their teeth”; in other words, family as an invisible rope binds the family members together. Family is a group blood- related people living under one roof. That is a family including members as grandparents, parents and children. However, with the rapid development of society nowadays, the family structures are more and more becoming multiform and complicated than the past; however, the family structures as a whole still have four main types of families based on the family structure.

The first group consists of more than parents and children though extended by the addition of other relatives of the parents, for instance grandparents, uncles, aunts who are living in a house together; it called extended family. In the past, it can be seemed the most popular type of families, specially in the countryside where has spacious land. The advantage of being a member of a large family is that there are many members they help to train each other. The older ones, who have received some discipline and education, show the younger ones, by precept and example, how to behave, and so relieve the parents or grandparents of a lot of trouble. In addition, one advantage of being a member of extended family over the other families is that more hands make less work. In such a family, it is not uncommon for everyone to do his or her share of the work. It may simply be to wash the dishes, to sweep the floor, to care the younger ones or even to cook. These daily chores are actually useful for through them, they learn to be more independent and self-reliant. They gain confidence, too, knowing that there are many things that they can do. When their parents or grandparents are away, they will have to share the burden of keeping house in order to cook for themselves. In this way, they learn cooperate and to contribute them share of work. Through sharing they learn not to be selfish and not to think only of themselves. However, it also has the advantage that there is more quarrelling. A large family is not always a united family; and it may split up into factions. A quarrel between brothers is often worse than one between friends or acquaintances. Another signal disadvantage of a large family is that the facilities for self-improvement or for recreation may be less available for its members. There may be less privacy too, because rooms would have to be shared.

The second group includes nuclear family, which consists of parents and their child or children. They don’t want or have to live apart from the grandparents or the other relatives. This type of family can be arranged the best type in modern life. Life as a member of a nuclear family has its own advantages as well as disadvantages. The first point appears in the mind of a person is privacy of life. The parents can get their privacy in their own house in nuclear families whereas they cannot get their privacy in extended family. People can live their own way and can do whatever they want in their life without the elders restrict. The other and the strongest points in the nuclear family is financial stability. There is the less number of people in the family so the expenses will also less. People cannot have a strong financial stability if they are the only person who is earning in extended family. On the other hand, there are certain disadvantages. The parents cannot give so much individual attention to their child or children if they are working and the child or children get any small or big disease, so one has to deal with it alone because they lack of elders and other family members to take care of. They tend to feel lonely or even sicker when they see no one around. Moreover, if the child is small and need a special care, it will be become a big trouble as they have no other family members who can take care of the child while they have to do their work. The security and safety is one another in the nuclear family. There are so many cases of robbery and murders; many of them are from the nuclear family. It is dangerous for those who lives alone in house or with less number of people

The single-parent family belongs to the next group, which refers to only one parent in the house raising the child or children. The number of single-parent families have become more common in recent years. It can be a result of separation, divorce or death of the parent. Being a child or children in single-parent family, they nearly lack of a quality proceeding from feelings of father’s love or mother’s love. Children were taken by single mom or single dad will easy to suffer from psychological and behavioral problem. They tend to easy way to get anger, noncompliance, rule violations. School achievement also can suffer. For example: they can be sneered by their friends because they don’t have mother or father or they can feel lonely when the other friends have parents. Besides, a single parent have to work harder to earn money and they have to be both mother and father to give more care, attention to their child or children at the same time. Nevertheless, there are also advantages that the children will enjoy full love from their parent. The child can be provided with better nutritious and well-balanced food or they can have better clothing of good materials and new fashions. Additionally, they will have more opportunities to develop responsibility. They have to face with all problems in life when their parent is away.

Single member accounts for the last category and usually don’t have family or tend to live without family. They are usually students or workers who live far away from home to have more and better job opportunities or higher educational opportunities. The first, and also a very common, that they have to face is that once they start a life away from home, they always get homesick. They usually miss the moments that they share with their family, such as sitting together in a couch watching TV shows, or having a dinner together and telling about their day during family meals. The other is once they live far away from home, they have to learn how to do things by themselves. They have to get used to a life full of duties. Now they have to worry about every aspects of their life, from bigger such as manage their budget to smaller tasks like cleaning rooms, cooking their meals, doing their washing up, etc. The best thing about living away from home is that people have more freedom. They can set their rules, stay up late, or do anything they want without being afraid of disturbing any family members. The other advantage that they will have more opportunities to experience life by themselves and explore other’s cultures

In short, each person can choose for theme one of in four kinds of these types: extended family, nuclear family, single-parent family and singe member. Whatever your particular family structures, it will have tremendous influence upon your happiness, development and future; therefore, people need to decide what is the best one for theme in the future to build and make a happy family.

The Sri Lankan civil war by definition started in 1983 when two pronounced groups began to rival, the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam, a separatist group that was formed seeking to represent the Tamil minority in Sri Lanka (Clarance, 2002). However civil war on an emotional level between the two ethnic groups, Sinhalese and Tamils started in 1948, when Sri Lanka was granted independence from the British (Clarance, 2002).

Sri Lanka first encountered colonialism in 1505 when the Portuguese arrived in search of valuable natural resources such as cinnamon, tea, and the most valuable, land (Clarance, 2002). The Portuguese conquered regions of Kotte, Sitavaka and Jaffna. They also aimed to conquer Kandy as well but failed through several attempts (Clarance, 2002). Next were the Dutch, in 1638 King Rajsinha who ruled Kandy at that time turned to the Dutch to fight over the Portuguese, the Dutch conquered everything except Kandy (Clarance, 2002). Last to colonize Sri Lanka was the British, they set foot in 1796 when the Dutch rule gave away to the British (Clarance, 2002). The British conquered the entire island, and built coffee and tea plantations and imported laborers from India mainly Tamils to work in these plantations (Clarance, 2002). In 1947 Sri Lanka requested to become an independent nation, and in 1948 Sri Lanka gained independence (Clarance, 2002). On the surface, colonialism can be viewed as harmless and in most areas beneficial as it guided Sri Lanka into development. Even though colonialism brought forth an identity for Sri Lanka in relation to trade and international exporting, it also brought separation, discrimination, and a hunger for dominance amongst the citizens of Sri Lanka.

Being a Canadian born Sri Lankan Tamil this topic brings great importance and relevance to me. My Canadian birth is a result of this civil war in which my parents found the desperate need to emigrate from their greatly loved motherland. This topic is extremely important to me because I believe in peace and safety for the innocent and vulnerable, violence and death for the individuals who choose to fight is equally remorseful however inevitable. I lost both my grandfathers as innocent civilians to the civil war in Sri Lanka likewise many Sinhalese families were destroyed. All due to the separation caused by language, as everything else between a Tamil and a Sinhalese was identical.

There are great faults on both sides, with regards to the actions of both opposition parties. However when pinpointed, the foundation for this violent desire for domination, can be seen as colonization as the main cause if not the only cause for this fight for power and equality.

Theoretical Backing:

Colonialism has given Sri Lanka a negative impact rather than the positive outcomes it has provided the global north with. Through what can be seen as an immature rivalry between European states to gain land, and other valued goods, it is proven that lack of structure and democracy when granting independence to a colony can shatter an entire nation. The development theory that supports the argument of colonialism being the main cause of the civil war in Sri Lanka would be the post-development theory. The post-development theory believes that only with relation to the global south, colonialism has been destructive on several levels: culturally, economically, socially, and psychologically. Sri Lanka is not the only former European colony that is facing the aftermaths of colonialism; several other countries in Asia have been robbed of their full potential to run as a developed nation, especially in the Middle East. Another prime example would be in Africa, where even in the present day, systems that were brought in by the European states are still being used, such as monarchy. Another more specific theory that would back up this argument would be the postcolonial theory, the postcolonial theory investigates the effective and legacy of European invasion on global south. Postcolonial theorist, Franz Fanon states “And it is clear that in the colonial countries the peasants alone are revolutionary, for they have nothing to lose and everything to gain. The starving peasant, outside the class system is the first among the exploited to discover that only violence pays. For him there is no compromise, no possible coming to terms; colonization and decolonization a simply a question of relative strength.” Fanon pinpoints the exact fate that Sri Lanka has overcome with its decades long civil war, the need for violence to achieve goals, in this case justice and equality.

Research and Analysis:

Colonialism is the leading cause for the now silent, yet on-going civil war in Sri Lanka. When the British left Sri Lanka in 1948, they built a government and left power to mainly the wealthy Sinhalese landowners (Lange, 2009). These powerful Sinhalese landowners had nothing in common with the rural areas or the minorities in Sri Lanka. Thus, taking rule and advantage of the nation to their liking. They made Sinhala as the official national language and also making Buddhism as the official national religion in Sri Lanka. This created great tension amongst the Tamil community as opportunities were not made equal, Tamils were not permitted nor able to obtain a higher level education or work for the government due to the fact they were not able to speak the national language (Lange, 2009). This created massive riots and rage throughout the Tamil community, which eventually ended in the creation of a separatist group the Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam seeking to gain land separate from the Sinhalese population for the Tamils called Tamil Eelam. This was the beginning of a two-decade civil war for the Tamils to both gain equal rights and dignity or to gain a separate Tamil region.

Histories of Sri Lanka prior to British colonization are important aspects when examining cause of conflict, in this case the cause of civil war in Sri Lanka. According to research of DeVotta (2000) archeological analysis can prove that Sri Lanka was physically part of India, and was separated through plate movement caused by slow, natural causes. The southern regions of India, specifically Tamil Nadu, are concentrated with a Tamil population, and the northern regions of Sri Lanka are also concentrated with Tamils. Such relations and connections cannot only be seen through language but also through religion and way of life. Clarance (2002) states that reoccurring enslavement caused by colonialism creates a need for finally holding the dominant, leading post. Both the Tamils and the Sinhalese were faced with great amounts of mental and physical damage when the Portuguese, Dutch, and the British colonized Sri Lanka, however the Sinhalese were faced with a greater level of damage because it was mainly Sinhalese regions that were fought for, such as Katte, Kandy, Sitavaka, Colombo and Anuradhapura (Clarance, 2002). Therefore the Sinhalese psychologically developed the need for control, power, domination (Duncan, 2002). Wickramasinghe (2006) expands on the roles that each colonizing groups had. The Portuguese conquered Colombo on arrival which caused the Sinhalese population to move into the Kandy region of Sri Lanka. The Portuguese also forced religious conversion, Christianity, Buddhists and Moors a term used for Sri Lankan Muslims were impeached. Wickramasinghe (2006) argues that such invasion of the Sinhalese caused them to make Buddhism as their national religion when independence was gained. Clarance (2002) makes a diverse point in stating that with the colonization of the Dutch it was greatly the fault of the Sinhalese. Rajasinghe II who was the king of Kandy in 1638 requested the help of the Dutch to fight against the Portuguese, the Dutch however defeated the Portuguese and overruled what Portuguese had conquered and everything else on the island except Kandy. They also promoted protestant views and demoted Catholicism, and to keep their legacy they mixed themselves with the Sinhalese, now known as Burgher peoples’. This later on was a another major cause of great discrimination and violence.

The British were the last rulers in Sri Lanka they take the majority of the blame for the current effects of colonization and the civil war in Sri Lanka today. According to Lange (2009) the Tamils and the Sinhalese were in peace living together, reason being that different regions were ruled by Kings that were associated with the citizens of that particular region, therefore conflict with other regions were minimal. When the British entered Sri Lanka in fear of the French gaining power of Sri Lanka in 1796, they started off by merely occupying the coastal areas, to remove the Dutch from the picture, through the Treaty of Amiens, the Dutch ruled areas of Sri Lanka was conceded to the British. Since the Dutch had conquered the entire island excluding the Kandy region, the British only had to fight for Kandy. Jones (2008) states that there were two Kandyan wars in which both were defeated by the Kandy. Jones (2008) clarifies that this was the real cause of independence in Sri Lanka, lack of British gaining the most resourceful region in Sri Lanka. However Duncan (2002) elaborates on the beneficial aspects of the British rule in Sri Lanka, the British despite failing to conquer Kandy, built massive, national standard plantations for coffee which later became tea production, which was the money making resource in Sri Lanka at the time. The Sinhalese were reluctant to work on tea plantation as they were used to the working on the paddy farm. Wanting to expand the industry thousands of Tamils were shipped from India into Sri Lanka to work on these plantations. Duncan (2002) states that this was also a great cause in the separation between the Tamils and the Sinhalese. As working on a plantation was considered a job of the members of the lower castes, because the desperate and the poor were eager to gain a job at the these plantations for a fraction of what was considered a minimum wage back then. And since thousands of Tamils were imported from India by the British, this caste was automatically generalized for the Tamils, creating a hierarchy between the Tamils and the Sinhalese. Winslow (2001) expands on the final gestures of the British that caused a long term effect on the future of the nation. When Sri Lanka was granted independence the British unconcerned and naively transferred most if not all the power to the Sinhalese, maybe not intentionally by ethnicity but intentionally by who held the most power, the Sinhalese at the time had most of the island’s land, business, and wealth, in comparison to the Tamils. According to Erritiouni (2010) it was this particular “mistake” that is until today the leading cause of the civil war between the Tamils and the Sinhalese.

Effects of colonialism in Sri Lanka still take in effect today. Errotiouni (2010) proceeds to state the following occurrences that fed this hunger for war. When the Sinhalese gained power for the entire island they omitted the existence and importance of the Tamils, they made the Sinhala the national language of Sri Lanka, and they made Buddhism the national religion of Sri Lanka. This as a result lead to the discrimination of the Tamil population, not being granted access to a higher level of education such as university or college, and not being granted to opportunity to hold a government job, therefore forbidden to gain a position in the government to have a say in the rights that Tamils are given. Jacoby (2006) elaborates on the separatist group Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam that was formed, as a result of discrimination this group that represented a majority but not the entire Tamil population demanded a separate region for the Tamils, namely, Tamil Eelam. The quest for Tamil Eelam was at a cost of hundreds of thousands of lives over the past two and a half decades. A member of the Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam was the convicted suicide bomber in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, India’s Prime Minister at the time, in a deadly, sinful quest to gain international attention on India’s partnership with Sri Lanka’s war against the Tamil’s. Sri Lanka has lost a great deal as result of this war, the most important, innocent lives.

Effects of colonialism are causing major issues in the present time. The recent crisis that occurred in Egypt where nearly the entire population of Egypt protested against the presidency of former President Mubarak. The fight to start a democratic government, and to end a monarch government (“Pakistan article warns against ‘struggle for power’ after Egypt unrest”, 2011). According to Burke (1998) Europeans set up boundaries around Africa that split up tribal areas and groups of Africans, so Africans who spoke the same dialect or practiced the same traditions would be split between two different European territories. This also was the cause of monarchies that continue today within countries in Africa. This has caused many civil wars across Africa, and more importantly the mass level of poverty that was caused that even until this day is unsolvable.

Power is a vital tool that needs to be transferred and received wisely. Colonialism is a prime example of how power should not be gained and withdrawn from. Sri Lanka has been greatly victimized by colonialism and has been ripped from its great potential as a nation. Through the unprofessional use of power by the European states power was distributed unequally to the people in Sri Lanka at the time of decolonization, which has caused a great deal of destruction and death for tens of thousands of people. Hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians lost their lives due to the crossfire between the Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam and the Sri Lankan government, they were slaughtered, shot, molested, violated, and tortured solely because they were born either Tamil or Sinhalese. As there were positive effects to colonization in Sri Lanka, they will never out weight the negative effects that have caused a greatly unstable nation even today. Power at any level is a position with immeasurable value especially when it is in relation to people. The Europeans help immense power, but childishly overthrew that power to distribute power in a nation. They thought for the better of themselves and failed to think for the better good of the nation’s people. Their decisions that were made carelessly have caused great damage and will continue to cause difficulty in the far future.

Introduction

“The commercial sexual exploitation of children is a fundamental violation of children’s rights. The child is treated as a sexual object and as a commercial object. The commercial sexual exploitation of children constitutes a form of coercion and violence against children, and amounts to forced labor and a contemporary form of slavery.”1 Child Sex Tourism is part of the global phenomenon of commercial sexual exploitation of children. It involves the sexual abuse exploitation of both male and female children, usually – but not always, in tourism destinations. Several studies have attempted to understand the extent and severity of the phenomenon, emphasizing different aspects thereof: be it travel trade, psychological, socioeconomic facets. The factors that push children into sexual exploitation are numerous for example: family disintegration, inequitable socio-economic structure, harmful and religious practices which undermines fulfilment of the basic need of the children. By treating the child as a commodity which can be purchased, hired sold or thrown away is no longer a question of poverty, but rather one of values, in particular the values of consumerism.

According to NHRC Report on Trafficking in Women and Children, in India the population of women and children in sex work in India is stated to be between70, 000 and 1 million of these, 30% are 20 years of age. Nearly 15% began sex work when they were below 15 and 25% entered between 15 and 18 years (Mukherjee & Das 1996). In public view child sex tourism is not considered a major social issue in India, partly because of the perception that the problem is not as acute as in some countries of South East Asia and partly because the problem is largely associated only with poverty. Every hour, four women and girls in India enter prostitution, three of them against their will. Here when a women or a children are forced for such things then Are these not a concern related to ethics? This paper will discuss the causes of the problem of child prostitution for sexual needs in India.

Sex tourism refers to an organized tour whose primary purpose is the

commercial-sexual relationship with an individual from the country that he or she is visiting. There are three major categories of sexual exploitations that occur within sex tourism. These are prostitution, pornography and trafficking for sexual purpose. Recently, the trend of sex tourism is to provide sex tourists a wider number of children as opposed to older and more mature women. In fact, the commercial sexual exploitation of minors by international tourists today is considered as

a human tragedy occurring in a grand scale with virtually no consequences for those who practice this. The World Tourism Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations, defines sex tourism as “trips organized from within the tourism sector, or from outside this sector but using its structures and networks, with the primary purpose of effecting a commercial sexual relationship by the tourist with residents at the destination”. But it also refers to business people, transport industry workers or military personnel. Attractions for sex tourists can include reduced costs for services in the destination country, along with either legal prostitution or weak law enforcement and access to child prostitution.

More than 2.4 million tourists visit India every year and growth of the tourism industry in the country has contributed to an increase in the sexual exploitation of children by tourists. Child sex tourism is prevalent in Goa, North Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, West Bengal and in Rajasthan. Mumbai is believed to be the ‘biggest centre for pedophilic commerce in India’. Child sex tourism involves hotels, travel agencies and tour operators and some companies openly advertise availability of child prostitutes. They have contacts with adult sex workers, rickshaw pullers; petty traders who make contact with street or other vulnerable children and bring them to tourist hotels and lodges. Children are often promised better jobs and then ‘forced’ into sex and in many cases moneylenders force parents to sell their children to repay debts. A traveler may not intend to engage in sex with children while he is away from home, but he does so because a child is made easily available to him. Opportunistic exploitation, then, along with organized child sex tourism, is a critical factor compounding the complex socio-economic factors that push children into local prostitution industries.

Here are some of the prominent facts about child sex tourism in India:

India has the largest number of children (375 million) in the world, nearly 40% of its population

69% of Indian children are victims of physical, emotional, or sexual abuse (or read it as every 2 out of 3)

New Delhi, the nation’s capital, has an abuse rate of over 83%

89% of the crimes are perpetrated by family members

Boys face more abuse (>72%) than girls (65%)

More than 70% of cases go unreported and unshared even with parents/family

There are many factors that make children vulnerable to sex tourism. They may also be called as a ‘Push factor’ for them in child sex. Let us discuss some of them.

Organised prostitution: It is known that child prostitution is the sexual exploitation of the child for remuneration in cash or in kind, usually but not always organized by an intermediary (parents, family members, procurers, etc.). Many children, particularly girls, are abused within brothels that are frequented by both, local, regional and foreign child abusers. Some research suggests that girls enter the sex industry as a direct result of coercion or an unspoken expectation by other family members, including sisters or mothers already in the industry. Many of the girls are from the States of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra and often the daughters of migrant women involved in the sex industry.

Poverty and economic insecurity: The majority of the children, both migrant and local, come from poor backgrounds and have little or no access to education. The parents are unskilled workers from neighbouring States who need to migrate to various regions in search of employment. As a result, many of the children are also compelled to work and can be found around beach and resorts areas, often working as vendors. The nature of their work requires them to be friendly to tourists and therefore leaves them open to offers by sex tourists.

Weak family structure: Family breakdown is seen as an important aspect leading to children being exposed to abuse. Many children have run away from home and live on the streets due to problems at home ranging from drug abuse, alcoholism or physical or mental illness. Like all children who suffer from violence and abuse, they may be physically, mentally injured. They are at high risk of: long-lasting physical, social, and psychological damage, disease (including HIV) or unwanted pregnancy and forced abortions.

Lack of parental supervision: Many of the abused are migrant workers’ children who are unsupervised and alone on the streets while their parents take up casual or daily wage work in Goa. These children often end up wandering on the streets and are vulnerable to the lures of sex tourists.

Trafficking: Trafficking of children is a worldwide phenomenon affecting large numbers of boys and girls every day. Children and their families are often lured by the promise of better employment and a more prosperous life far from their homes. Others are kidnapped and sold. Trafficking violates a child’s right to grow up in a family environment and exposes him or her to a range of dangers, including violence and sexual abuse. There is also some evidence to suggest that children are being trafficked to Goa from other parts of the country or even from other countries for purposes of sexual exploitation. Children are also sold by poor families from different regions and then forced into working in the sex industry or other labour around coastal areas where they are at risk from sex offenders. It appears that some families sexually exploit their own children by either selling them to traffickers or by forcing them into prostitution. Such families prize material benefits at the cost of any abuse to their child.

Pornography: Pornography is like a media in sex tourism. Child prostitution is somehow connected with child pornography. It refers to the visual or audio depiction of the child for the sexual gratification of the use, and involves the production, distribution and or use of such material. Pornographic images of children are often copied multiple times and may remain in circulation for many years; the victim continues to be subjected to humiliation long after the image has been made.

Discrimination: Many prostitutes in India are victims of the Devadasis (temple prostitute) system and have been ‘dedicated’ to the Goddess Yellamma (around 10,000 girls in India are dedicated annually). Goa is no different and many of the girls in its red light districts are victims of this system.

After knowing all the factors which push children into such vulnerable situation, one thing which comes instantly into mind is that all contrary to the principles of ‘Integrity’ and ‘Fairness’. It is always questionable that ‘Are these children not a human being?’ ‘How a parent can do such pitiful things with their own child?’Every child has its own integrity and has the right to live a life of respectful human being. The exploitation of human beings dehumanizes the individuals who are trafficked, rewards the inhumanity of the traffickers, and weakens the moral and social fabric of society at large. Restoring dignity to persons who have been exploited is not easy, and the danger of paternalizing trafficked victims in the name of aiding them must be kept in view. Traffickers and parents who expose their children need to be stopped and held accountable, but they also need those who will help them to a transformation of heart and mind.

Sex tourism is the dark side of the global phenomenon of tourism. Every day we read about the benefits of tourism, its income and employment potential, its ability to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor, its potential to overcome uneven development in backward regions of the world Asks why sex tourism is being condoned and wonders why more voices are not raised in protest against its continuance. It often raises a concern for the Indian society but why only India society, child sex tourism is the part of every country whether in Asia or Europe or America. Do societies and Government need not to show ‘Concern and Respect’ towards these children. Children are the future and some even call them ‘Gift of God’.

Travellers who travel to some less developed country think that they have all the rights to use people as they want. The methods that sex offenders use to lure children into abusive situations range from offering them money or gifts, convincing parents that the child will enjoy a better life and providing children with shelter and employment. Such grooming methods are the hallmark of the preferential sex offender whereas the opportunistic ones exploit the children they meet on the street or are offered by pimps.

The justifications that sex tourists offer for their abuse of children include the perception that they are helping the children monetarily and also giving children the ‘love’ that they appear to crave. Many travel agencies, hotels and others are all involved in this whole process. These people think that it is part of their job and they are rendering their services to these travellers. But are their not any ‘Code of Ethics’ in tourism industry. Develop an ethical policy regarding trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of children. Providing information to tourists on CST and request them to help dealing with the problem by informing if they see any doubtful behaviour of tourists who accompany children. To provide information to travellers by means of catalogues, brochures, in-flight films, ticket-slips, home pages, etc.

The study calls for specific national, regional and local actions to safeguard children who are being sexually exploited, or are at-risk of sexual exploitation. Recommendations include the Ministry of Tourism creating a National Plan of Action to Counter Child Abuse in Tourism and for businesses in the tourism industry to shoulder more responsibility for this problem by, for example, joining the Code of Conduct (www.thecode.org). It was recommended that state and central tourism departments report annually on the status of child abuse cases, set up mechanisms along with other bodies for the protection of children, and to demonstrate a clear stand against any form of child sex abuse. The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) are also called on to create a comprehensive Act that imposes severe punishment of offenders, including extradition laws (through the Ministry of Home Affairs). The report also calls for child sex tourism cases to be treated as non-bailable offences. Training on child rights laws and how to handle child abuse cases for Police was also recommended, along with sensitization training and mandatory reporting of child abuse (including adults traveling with children under suspicious circumstances) both by Police and by airport and railway authorities. More in-depth study on the commercial sexual exploitation of children is also necessary to inform policy, protection mechanisms and campaigns. What can we do? Here are my thoughts: Educate our children about sex. If you are not parents yourselves, but know and care about other families of friends and relatives, open up this topic for discussion and encourage the parents to do what is right. If you think talking about sex is difficult for you, don’t just be embarrassed, shrug it off, and give it up. Many parents don’t know their children are victims, and live in a fantasy world of “nothing like that would ever happen to my child”. Talk to your parents in order to understand what difficulties they had to face culturally when bringing you up. That may give clues to how to overcome cultural taboos. Finally, spread the word. Spread the awareness. We owe it to the next generation. With the knowledge that our children know the basic facts to safeguard themselves, we can at least hope to hold our heads high once again. With the economic growth… more tourism… increased salaries… limited family lifeaˆ¦ more luxury lifeaˆ¦ money being spent for temporary pleasure going highaˆ¦ all kind of un-social activities will be going high. It is the real form of terrorism. Let the policy maker and the party in power and the opposition party see that this is the new form of suicide bomb.

After centuries of being shoved under the carpet, the truth is out. And we, as Indians, should stop, hold our breath, drop our heads in shame, and introspect. In the fight against trafficking government organizations, non-governmental organizations, civil society, pressure groups, international bodies, all have to play an important role. Law cannot be the only instrument to take care of all problems.

Notes

A statement from The Declaration and the Agenda for Action from the First World Congress against the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, held in Stockholm, 1996