Author: Andre Coleman

Until recently, the existence of zoos in our society was never something which we thought twice about. Zoos were widely accepted as educational and entertaining institutions. Children, and adults, love seeing animals, and a visit to the zoo has always been something we look forward to. Gradually, however, discussion has aroused about the morality of keeping animals, and other creatures in captivity, as animals have rights such as we do. “There are around 430 zoos in Britain alone and 10,000 worldwide. Conditions vary greatly, with the worst being nothing more than concrete prisons holding very distressed animals.” (Born Free Charity). This quotation shows the insensitivity of the proprietors of such establishments and gives us a clear picture of the conditions in which creatures are kept.

Rather than encouraging animals to thrive in natural settings, zoos place very unnatural boundaries on their residents. For example, in zoos, polar bears are usually confined to spaces that are only around one-millionth the size of their minimum home range in the wild. Animals who stray across large distances in nature often develop ‘zoo chosis’ in captivation which is similar to dementia in humans. Typical behaviours resulting from boredom and distress when placed in zoo enclosures, are endlessly pacing or swimming in circles. Animals have evolved from nature, just as humans, and each belongs undisturbed in its own natural habitat. To remove these animals from what they are used to against their will is immoral.

As humans, we must treat animals humanely in our role as “stewards of the earth.” It is therefore unacceptable that animals in zoos under our care, are suffering from neglect and early death, through distress and health problems. In the wild, creatures such as the ones found in zoos are free to roam without restraint and interact with other species. Whereas, in captive conditions they are only able to mix with their own species, sometimes only being a few of each species. If these animals do not get on with the others in the enclosure, they have no way of escaping each other’s company, and animals, like us, have personalities and forge friendships and rivalries. Furthermore, animals do not gain the necessary skills for survival in zoos and so will never be able to be reintroduced back into the wild and survive. Therefore they will have to live an enclosed, cramped lifestyle entirely dependent on humans who do not always care for them appropriately, for the entirety of their lives.

On this note, Attachment relationships between animals are often studied by separating pack animals and recording their subsequent behaviour. Studies of primates have shown that separation results in changes of behaviour that are symptomatic of both psychological and physiological stress. Because of this, it is clear that in order to maintain physical and psychological well being in animals, it is vital that animals which are used to being together with animals of their kind should not be isolated from one another. In many zoos, it is felt necessary that animals should be alone as it saves costs and ensures there are no conflicts between them. Zoos are therefore knowingly causing the animals’ psychological and physiological trauma.

Animals kept in zoos have no privacy; they are continually watched by the public and have little enclosed space where they can hide. Zoo animals develop anxious behaviours if they are always in the public gaze. Being stared at all the time can be predatory and threatening. Another strange species staring at you or enproaching in your environment is disconcerting and agitating for wild animals in the same way that a tiger coming into your house and staring at you would be not just threatening, but simply terrifying. This in turn can lead to aggression and distress in the animals. Even when the animals are not disturbed by human presences watching over them, there is constant noise of other creatures and maintenance works on the zoo (e.g. Tractors). They will get no peace and quiet. This is not natural for any animal. They should be able to have time on their own to relax in harmony.

Zoo Keepers and many employees of zoos do not treat the animals living within the exhibitions with enough compassion or care. A San Diego Zookeeper described an incident in which an African Elephant was beaten for two days with axe handles, as ‘a way of motivating the animal to put on a display for visitors’. This kind of treatment is extremely vindictive and clearly demonstrates how in some zoos, the living beings are not treated as well as they should be. Even though they are given all the ‘necessities’ for life and they have a veterinary surgeon on hand at all times, the animals only get enough to get by, and no more. After all, zoos are a money making business. They often scrimp and save at the expense of the animals’ well being and comfort. Large animals such as elephants are often subjected to cruelty above and beyond that of smaller animals. A study has proven that in a certain American zoo, the elephants there were dying at a faster rate than they were breeding, as a result of disease spread by the lack of space and dirty cages. The exhibition of animals in captivity tells an impressionable public that cruelty to animals can be condoned.

Many zoos claim that they are of high educational benefit, and although some visitors only spend around two minutes at each inclosure, using the animals for entertainment rather than for instructive matters. Although, children do get to see animals and experience how they live, which they wouldn’t get the chance to do if animals were only in the wild. Zoos have to educate the public about the value of animals so that people understand the importance of conservation. After a fun trip to the zoo, visitors leave with a newfound awareness and perceptive about animals. How are they going to discover these interesting facts if they don’t get to see the creatures? Zoos give people an appreciation for animals. They need to see, listen to and smell an elephant to gain love and respect for the creature. Viewing an animal on TV does not give a person the same effect as seeing it first hand does.

An arguable advantage of having zoos present in today’s society is that many endangered species will be protected and will refrain from becoming extinct. Zoos promote the awareness of animals that are being wiped out. This would allow for people to help fund the repopulation of those animals. If more people are aware of new animals on the endangered species list, there is more of a chance that researchers will get more funds. But endangered species may not gain as much support and attention of the crowds as people are only usually interested in popular species like Lions. Furthermore there is some debate because of the inadequate gene pool of a species in zoos. This could, lead to inbreeding which would then create mutations and defects in the offspring.

In conclusion, animals are born wild and therefore should live and die wild. It is wrong that wild creatures should be kept in enclosures in zoos as they do not get to behave naturally: a lion cannot hunt for its prey, or experience the nobility of living with other lions in a pride. My overall view is that keeping animals in zoos is extremely cruel as they are not free to convey their natural way of living, whether it is to roam in a large area, to breed with a partner of their choice, or to kill their own prey. The animals are troubled every minute of the day by people observing them, something which, in the wild, would hint great danger. All of these factors contribute to my strong sensitivity to this topic of treatise.

Word count- 1310

Sources

www.bornfree.org

http://www.captiveanimals.org/zoos/zfact1.htm

Pros and Cons : A Debater’s Handbook [Paperback] published 1999

http://www.idebate.org/debatabase/topic_details.php?topicID=1

Medicine is very complicated field. There is no doubt that it has helped human beings through history to live longer, but it has had its bad times too. Because of medicine we have found cures for various diseases, and now can extend our lives for years. Medicine is helping animals too. However, on occasions, medicine is a very controversial field, and animal testing is one of the most controversial fields of medicine. Some people and medical experts regard animal testing as necessary and helpful in discovering various cures. On the other hand, many animal right groups, and also medical experts, consider animal testing cruel and unnecessary. In my opinion animal testing is unethical and if not forbidden it should be limited to the maximum. Animal testing kills innocent animals in the cruelest ways such as dissection, poisoning, vivisection, toxicology testing, and other methods. To better understand why animal testing is unethical and why it should be limited I will present the pros and cons arguments of animal testing.

First of all, animal testing should be forbidden because for certain products there is no need for testing. There are products, which pose no danger to the human health, but medical personnel still performs tests on animals to see the results. These are “just in case” tests, which kill animals for no cause. For example, killing animals just to find out if a shampoo or soap smells good is unethical. Medical companies, and experts, should create some kind of ethical code for animal testing. For example, animal tests are forbidden for products that do not cause serious health problems in human beings. Lab experts and doctors should find other ways how to conduct safety testing for such basic products, and limit the number of animals that are killed.

Additionally, many experts argue that results from animal testing may generate at least two or more different outcomes. For example, soap may cause allergy in rats, but not in rabbits. In this case both animals would be killed for no result. Also, blinding or killing a rabbit just to see if some new kind of mascara is satisfactory is very cruel and unethical. Further, animals are different from human beings – they have different bodies and other organs, so testing on animals may not bring the expected results. Rats, frogs, or rabbits may react to some chemical or drug, but this does not guarantee that the reaction will be the same or similar when tested on human beings. Because, humans are different from animals there is no need for animal testing. Medical workers should find more efficient ways to test products that will get them the right results.

According to many animal rights groups and medical experts, that are against animal testing, the biggest argument against animal testing is that there are now many other alternative testing methods available. The medicine has become so advanced that animal testing is obsolete. If we want more accurate and real results we can use human cells for testing. They may show the exact reaction and results from drugs or other testing. Also, tissue studies are very advanced methods for testing medical cures and drugs. Tissue samples can be used to analyze the effects of a soup or other body creams, or an allergen or other type of drug. These tissue experiments will show the desired effects on human beings. Because of the above mentioned alternative testing methods, and many others which are available nowadays, animal testing should be banned or very limited, as there is no need for it.

Even though, many people consider animal testing cruel and unethical, many other consider it essential for achieving the desired medical results. These pro animal testing groups have their arguments about this issue.

One of their strongest arguments is that medical research saves millions of lives each year. Because of testing on animals, they argue, medical workers around the world could find cures to HIV/AIDS, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and many other non-curable diseases as of the moment. Therefore, those supporters of animal testing argue that if animal testing is eliminated there may be some future problems in finding new cures for existing and new diseases. That is why animal testing is so important.

Another argument for animal testing is that animal testing not only helps human beings, but it also helps animals. During the last two to three decades, the discovery of various cures for animal diseases has increased dramatically. Animals today live longer compared to 40 to 50 years ago. Pro groups argue that thanks to animal testing, animals now have better chance to survive diseases and injuries. Animals are treated from various diseases thanks to them and the experiments done on them. Nowadays, a whole field of medicine is dedicated to animals. Doctors are performing surgical operations on animals; horses and dogs and other domestic animals are treated for various kinds of viral infections, etc.

Also, defenders of animal testing argue that if there were other testing techniques, that can substitute animal testing, then they will accept them. But, as of the moment, according to them, there are no other advanced testing techniques. That is why now and in the future, until some other testing methods are found, animal testing remains the most valuable testing method. People and medical science are massively dependent on animal testing to find cures for some serious diseases.

Moreover, as some supporters of animal testing claim, we should be more concerned with saving human lives than with saving animal lives. According to them, animals are worthy to some respect, but they are not as worthy as a human live. Many of them argue that if a person comes in the situation to choose between saving the life of a rat or the live of his mother, the answer is already known. That is why, animal testing should be allowed, because saving human lives is more beneficial than saving animal lives. However, the testing processes and experiments should be controlled.

Finally, the strongest argument for animal testing is that the complaints of the people, who are against animal testing, are not correct and they are vague, and they do not constitute serious arguments. The pro groups argue that animal testing has generated very valuable information of how certain drugs, and other medical cures, work inside human bodies. Because of animal testing we are where we are in medicine today.

Even though, both pro and cons groups have strong arguments, according to me, animal testing is unethical and cruel. Maybe it should not be forbidden altogether, but certainly it should be limited. Animal testing should be used when looking for cures for some serious disease such as cancer. But, it should be strictly controlled when the testing is done for products that cannot harm human health, such as testing animals for detergents. The medical companies and experts around the world should seat and discuss ways to reduce animal testing to the minimum. There should be some ethical standards of how animals should be used and treated during tests.

This paper is an argumentative essay on gay adopting rights. Gay adopting rights refers to a form where there is a joint adoption by same sex couple (males) adoption by one partner of a same sex couple of the other’s biological child and adoption by one gay person. “Adoption is a legal process whereby an individual or a couple presumes the parenting for another who is not kin and, in so doing, permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the original parent or parents” (Pertman, 2000). Globally, it is only 14 countries that have legalized same-sex adoption. In most countries, the phenomenon is against the law despite the fierce debate to allow such a phenomenon to be practiced. Oppossers’ main argument stems from the question of whether the adopting parents are in a position to be better parents.

In America, between 6 and 14 million children are living with at least one gay parent. Most of the American states no longer hold back the consent of accepting peoples’ sexual orientation. It is worth noting that the courts as well as state agencies put in practice a principle of best interest of the child standard in order to arrive at a solution. It is as a result of this approach that an individual sexual orientation can’t be used to limit them from adopting children least it is proven beyond doubt that the relationship will be harmful to the child. Close to 22 states permit gay men and lesbians to adopt children via state or private run agencies (Bozett, 1987).

It is worth noting that since the 1977 Florida law is the only state that had completely banned gay and lesbian from adopting children. The legislation of 1977 was passed in the wake of a campaign dubbed, “Save Our Children”. It is the following states Vermont, New Jersey, Massachusetts and California that allow same sex couple adoption. Some states permit single people to adopt, others discourage it. According to Saletan, 2002, the American academy of pediatrics declared that gay, lesbian parents should be allowed to adopt children. This provoked outcries from all quotas. Despite the fact that the proponents have strong arguments supporting the notion that gay parent should be allowed to adopt children, the paper will strongly argue why this is wrong by drawing and presenting ideas in a succinct manner.

Argument against gay adopting kids

In the reflection of the gay adoption, there has been constant dispute on the issue of their custodies. It has widely been believed that the children who have been headed with heterosexual parents are better off by far than the one from single sex especially from the gay parents. There several aspect that have been cited to affect these children (Golombok & Tasker, 1996).

Sexual identity

This is one of the major concern that the children who have been adopted by gay parent experiences difficulties in the development of sexual identity. It has established that children who have been brought up by gay parents are constantly disturbed by gender identity where they are unable to personal identify themselves as male or female. In addition, they are disturbed by gender roles where they cannot be able to distinguish the d4egree to which different culture are regarded as feminine or masculine (Bailey & Dawood, 1998). Moreover, they are reported to get a problem of sexual orientation where they get a lot of problem in choosing the sexual partners. They get confused on whether to have a bisexual, homosexual or heterosexual relationship.

According to the research that was done by Kirkpatrick, he established that though it was very hard

Natural order

According to religion and science, kids are brought to the world by both a man and a woman. For this reason, it is only natural for kids to be raised in a family that has both father and mother as this is the natural order and perverting it is wrong to say the least. For this reason homosexuals should not be allowed to adopt children. It is no doubt that human are influenced by a number of factors among them those people we closely associate with such as parents

First of all, we are all influenced as we grow up by our parents which means they may take on the same sexual preferences as there parents. Homosexuality is common place in society but in the natural order of things it is not normal. We are born into this world by man and woman not by the same sex. Secondly, children have a hard enough time trying to figure who they are and how they fit into society as they approach puberty and in to there teens. They don’t need to deal with teasing and ridicule from peers and there parents. Some things should not be allowed. Our society has become a joke and I will definitely petition against this. If you grow up and decide that you want to be gay that’s your business but it is not fair to allow homosexuals to influence innocent children period.

In the reflection of the gay adoption, there has been constant dispute on the issue of their custodies. It has widely been believed that the children who have been headed with heterosexual parents are better off by far than the one from single sex especially from the gay parents. There several aspect that have been cited to affect these children.

Sexual identity

This is one of the major concern that the children who have been adopted by gay parent experiences difficulties in the development of sexual identity. It has established that children who have been brought up by gay parents are constantly disturbed by gender identity where they are unable to personal identify themselves as male or female. In addition, they are disturbed by gender roles where they cannot be able to distinguish the d4egree to which different culture are regarded as feminine or masculine. Moreover, they are reported to get a problem of sexual orientation where they get a lot of problem in choosing the sexual partners. They get confused on whether to have a bisexual, homosexual or heterosexual relationship.

According to the research that was done by Kirkpatrick, he established that though it was very hard to establish these differences, they were notable. He noted that as for the daughters who have been adopted by a gay parent, they tend to engage in rough and tumble play. They were reported to play with such toys as gun that mostly is masculine oriented. The male gender also, though to very little percentage, were found to have feminine orientation as they participated more to the feminine games more than the children who are being taken care by heterosexual parents.

Sexual orientation was another problem that the children from gay parents experienced. From Higgins interview to teenagers, very few teenagers who identified themselves that they are from gay parenthood. Compared to their counterpart from their real parents who were heterosexual, they seemed to have a problem of sexual orientation (Bailey & Dawood, 1998). Even for those who identified themselves to be from such family, they were not confident and suffered inferiority complex.

According to behavior genetic perspective, most of the teenagers who have been brought by gay parents most of them end up being either lesbian or gay still. According to bailey study from the teenagers who were mature enough to give their sexual orientation, out of nineteen teenagers from gay parenthood and similar number from heterosexual parenthood, seven from gay parenthood claimed to be interested in their life to be involved in gay or lesbianism. On the contrary, no among the nineteen from the other divide reported to be interested in such. This shows that moist of those children who have been brought up by either gay or lesbian parents, they prefer copying their parents eventually. In fact according to Bailey report from gay parents interview, 9% of the children they bring up turn to be gay or lesbian.

The interpretation of this study then show that most of the children who are brought up by the gay parents, they suffer from genetic conflict where they are unable to completely orient themselves sexually. Therefore, they mostly grow to be either gay or lesbian.

Social relationship

Children adopted by the gay parents are constantly in loggerhead with social relationship. This is brought by the difficulties that seem to be inherited from their parents. This is because; their parents constantly have difficulties to deal with their peers especially who refute the idea of one being a gay (Gottman, 1990). Anecdotal and first man account explains that children get stigmatized as they are constantly in worries of being asked about their parents’ sexual orientation. This brings a lot of peer relation difficulties to these children and as a result they may withdraw from social relationship. This may result to low performance in their school, low temper control among other antisocial behaviors in search of consoling themselves.

Adult relationship

Children adopted by gay parents seem to change their relationships to the parent depending with the sex of the child. It has been noted though not very pronounced, that male children tend to have a more nasty relationship to female genders as the female children in gay parenthood learn more masculine roles thus behaving like men. This makes females to have more intimacy to male adults than to female adults. The male are also seen to be so dashy towards female adult and have low relationship towards female gender.

Sexual abuse

Most of the children who have been adopted by the gay parents end up being sexually abused. According to statistic, gay parents are seen to be more reliable to perpetrate the children they have adopted than any other marriage partnership. Therefore, children in these families live in heightened fear that they may be abused sexually one day or the other. This makes them to get stigmatized and psychologically tortured.

Behavior problems

Most of the children who are in the gay parenthood, they tend to have a problem in the way they view different behaviors. Most of the behavioral changes are adopted from the parents. Therefore, putting in mind that the parents who are giving them custody are not biologically their parents, they trend to be reluctant to shape their behavior (Gottman, 1990). Most of them do not care much from exposing these children to behaviors that affect their moral. In addition, due to the state of their parental sexual position, they attend to be inquisitive to explore diverse behaviors also that may find them doing things that are not contrary to the community norms.

Self esteem

Due to the stigma that these children get especially from their peers due to their parent sexual orientation, they mostly develop low esteem. They are not capable of completely exploring their potential due to their low self esteem. This makes some of them to develop psychological problem as they feel that they are not complete in their life (Martin, 1993). It is believed that there is that idea of maternal and paternal love that makes the children to deal with different situation in their life which generally lack in these children. These children grow to be weak and vulnerable to various circumstances.

For instance, it is true that boys who are brought up by lesbian parents are taught and adopt feminine characteristics unlike their counterparts raised by heterosexual parents (Bailey, 1995). Similarly, girls who live and brought up by homosexual parents are at higher risk of adopting masculine behaviors. The result is that these individuals will tend to associate more with people from the opposite sex because they will believe that they are not fit to be with members of the same sex like them simply because they exhibit varied characteristics.

Moral judgment

According to Martin, 1993 most of the children brought up by the gay parents have very poor judgment towards moral. Morally, most of the society especially the religious community has been against this act. However, these children have been brought through these environments. This makes them to get confused on the moral judgment. Due to the segregation that most of these children have in their growth stage from their peers, they tend to be ignorant of the moral behaviors that are required in the society. This makes them to get constant criticism due to the way they carry themselves in the society though out of ignorance. It has been proved by psychologists that kids brought up in a single sex parent environment are prone to mockery, prejudice all these and related activities might work against the kid being a good performer in schools as well as other spheres of life.

Locus of control

Their locus of control against most of the vices is low. They are vulnerable to such things as drug abuse especially when they are under pressure to counter their situation. Due to the lifestyle that they have been exposed to from their family setup, their locus of control from their behaviors, feelings, temper among others tend to be lower than for those who are from especially heterosexual parenthood.

On the same note, it is only a husband and a wife who are happily in marriage full of faith that are capable of adequately and satisfactorily answer the persistent question asked by adopted kids, “Who is my dad, or mum, why did they not raise me”? Through such a union, parent can make the kid understand that he/she is loved as well as not all men or women are bad as the notion may be held by the kid (Bailey, 1995)

Conclusion

From the review of the concept of gay parent adopting kids, it is evident that between six and 14 million American children are being raised by gay parents; either lesbians or homosexual. It is only four states that have allowed gay parents to adopt kids. This has been possible for a number of strong reasons brought forth by proponents of the phenomenon. Most of the American states no longer hold back the consent of accepting peoples’ sexual orientation. It is worth noting that the courts as well as state agencies put in practice a principle of best interest of the child standard in order to arrive at a solution.

However, in light of this, the paper has brought forth a number of arguments that are against gay parents adopting kids. Among the concrete reason I believe that gay parent should not be allowed top adopt kids include the following; according to religion and science, kids are brought to the world by both a man and a woman so there is no need of going against natural order, kids raised in gay relation have difficulties in coping with sexual life as they will in most cases be influenced by what the parent do, encounter social problems, exposed to social ill such as drug use, violence among others.

What is identity?

Our identity is what differentiates us from each other. How we look, talk; think all contribute to our various identities. It is what sets us apart from each other. Similarly leisure and recreation has its own identity that sets it apart from all other modalities. I shall speak on how leisure form and change identities.

Roots of identities

Numerous philosophers have dealt with concepts of a person’s “self”. But not until the late 19th century did people try to dismantle identity and see what identity really is. Researchers and theorists like Freud and Jung are the greatest influences on recent interpretations of identity. There are also developmental theorists who believe that there is a process in forming an identity.

BIRTH a INFANCY a CHILDHOOD a ADOLESCENCE a ADULTHOOD a DEATH

This has become the norm. People think that our identities are derived from social status and our roles in society. Due to this, emphasis is placed on the exterior and aesthetic gimmicks to improve our identities. This is known as a social construct. Everything is constructed by society and people. Not by pure hard facts.

Personal and social identities

These are the two parts that are brought together and eventually makes up our identity. Personal refers to how the person perceives themselves. Whether they think they are funny, happy or confident. The social part refers to the roles we take on. We become recognizable by these roles. E.g. daughter, student, teacher sister etc….

Identity is greatly formed during adolescence (ages 13-23). Although we keep growing, our core characteristics are created and carved into us during these years. Erikson (1968) says that the more successful kids are at resolving problems during younger ages the better psychologically equipped they will be to adjust and consequently, happier.

Developmental theorists focus on how people accept and embrace their roles. They have come up with a checklist that describes what a psychologically healthy person should be. In America, a healthy person contributes to the community by means of employment, civic involvement and general community participation.

As I said earlier, the bulk of our identity is formed in adolescence. From ages 23-60, people’s identities are completed with their jobs and the work they do. However this can cause devaluation of people who are unable to work due to disability or other circumstances. Leisure can change this and these people formulate identities.

Leisure and identity formation

There are numerous factors that contribute to development such as biological, social, family, school etc. But during adolescence we experiment and we stick to what we think is best for us. In America adolescents are allowed to step out of line with regards to appearance and behaviour. This is known as social non conformity. During adolescence people can take part in numerous leisure time activities, be it structured or unstructured. People believe that these activities can help identity formation or conversely believe that their identity has already been formed and that is why they commit themselves to the activity. Both show that leisure has direct impact on people’s lives and identities. Leisure can be instrumental or expressive.

Instrumental leisure is when a person uses a leisure activity to help in other areas of life. Art is a good example as a person may paint for their pleasure but may have high levels of talent and hope to get into an art school. Because instrumental leisure is usually based on an outcome of leisure, it is said to be externally motivated.

Expressive leisure is done just for the pure enjoyment of the activity. Continuing from the above example if you take graffiti art, although it is often called vandalism, those artists do it for the pure enjoyment and they also produce some amazing pieces of art.

Leisure contexts are transitional

Adolescence is the transition phase of development. Leisure and other factors contribute to this transition. The stimulus (activity) can have benefits for development. But when partnered with the participant’s enthusiasm and commitment it has the power to increase benefits for development. Some skills that can be learned through leisure are communication, negotiation, flexibility and teamwork etc. All these skills develop during adolescence which as I mentioned earlier is the transition phase.

Leisure contexts provide opportunities to explore and try different leisure identities

In America, they are exposed to a whole host of recreation and leisure programs (structured and unstructured) and this contributes to their and the peoples identity. They have their summer camps, boy and girl scouts for kids, which are done in holidays and after school. Haggard and Williams (1991 & 1992) believe that there is a correlation between these activities and the person’s future identity. E.g. people that play musical instruments when kids are more likely to become musicians.

But what happens to non-participation? Does it mean that if we don’t participate we are identity-less? I believe that we are not identity-less but rather direction-less because recreational activities are activities that we do in our free time. We aren’t going to engage in activities that don’t give us pleasure. So from our recreational activities we get direction to who we are going to become.

Flow producing activities contribute to intrinsic motivation

If a person pursues an activity and they achieve some form of enjoyment from it, more often than not, they will continue to pursue it. And do avoid stagnation they will keep on challenging themselves in that activity. When we take it to a high level, we have to take charge of our behaviours and we can feel responsible and confident about our lives.

Leisure activities across the life span assist with continuity

Leisure can give a person stability if practiced over long periods of time i.e. childhood to adulthood. People can learn how to react and cope in different situations. For example a person that initially takes up running to lose weight soon finds themselves enjoying the running. Their primary aim which was weight loss now shifts to enjoyment and the weight loss is a positive by product of the running. Other positive outcomes of the running are more active lifestyle, stress reduction etc. The running has been infused into the person’s identity.

Conclusion

Whether we believe it or not, our leisure and recreational activities contribute largely to our identities and who we are. It has been highlighted that leisure gives us direction and more often than not leads us to our destination of discovering ourselves. Best part is that we have fun on the way there…. it is recreation after all.

Social values of recreation and leisure
What is important to you?

Everyone is different and have different ideas and opinions as to what the perfect or good life is. What we perceive are the products of values instilled into us, as well as past experiences. An individual’s recreation behaviour is controlled by personal, social and cultural beliefs e.g. drinking.

Social values

These are important in shaping behaviours associated with leisure and subsequently delivering the right programs. Social values relate to action, vitality, individualism, materialism and group identity. Western society lean towards goal orientated action. They value time and keeping busy. Their values are demonstrated in their work i.e. the job they do and how they do it. And this is further reflected in their activities. In America, the more active you are the more of an asset you are because it implies that you can produce and consume more goods and services. This is known as vitality. It is, however, important to keep intact the principle if individualism. Recreation shouldn’t force people to suppress their individualism but rather allow them to explore and express it fully.

Materialism is being judged on your possessions. What you have, where you got it from and how much you paid for it is all that matters. Peoples ring up the credit cards in order to attain immediate pleasures as they simply have to have that item at that exact time. There has been a huge boom in the equipment and apparel market due to materialism and people’s extra large consumptive behaviour.

Group identity is very important. Nobody wants to be left out and therefore everybody wants to fit in. People then create these groups, private clubs and associations so that people with similar thoughts and interests can join these groups and have their own identities. There are very many groups and because of this there are many service providers in leisure program delivery i.e. public, non-profit and private sectors.

There has been a huge shift of recent and values that were important before have lost their importance and other patterns have now emerged. There has and always will be different values and thoughts between urban and rural people. This is so because their priorities are very often different. Social and moral values are an eternal concept. How they are expressed is a different issue.

Values or recreation and leisure experiences

Some theorists analyze the value of recreation ion terms of its meanings and motives. Why a person did a specific activity and what they would have got out from that activity. Other theorists aren’t so intense and believe it to be a pleasurable activity. Leisure and recreational activities can be either planned or spur of the moment. It can be done in groups, alone physical or non physical in nature. Because recreation is so diverse, everybody can extract individual meanings from their recreational activities.

Clawson and Knetsch’s (1966) explanations fit outdoor recreation almost perfectly. They proposed that there are five steps involved in recreational activity. These five are planning, travelling, doing, returning and reminiscing. All of these stages add to the enjoyment of the activity as a whole and add to the excitement of the activity.

Another concept is serious leisure which is the pursuit of a role, hobby, or activity that the participants find so fulfilling that they centre their lives on that activity e.g. musicians who use their talents for charity or causes only. Angelina Jolie and Madonna charity work in Africa.

The opposite also applies and it’s aptly called casual leisure. This is when people do stuff just for the fun of it like relaxing, watching television etc. Both types have value for the individual. Kleiber (2000) said that people don’t appreciate the simple things like casual leisure.

Benefits and motivations for recreation and leisure

People do leisure because of the benefits that accompany it. People take part to achieve benefits and these benefits are closely linked to the motivation that initially encourages the participation. Some benefits affect the individual, the community, the environment and the economy.

There are 6 benefits associated with leisure. They are:

Physiological- benefits that affect health and fitness of the individual

Psycho-physiological- benefits that span physiological and psychological health (stress management)

Psychological- benefits that can lead to enhanced self competence and self worth.

Economic- tourism is in face leisure and it spurs on the economy.

Environmental- protection of the environment has been an avenue ventured to save and promote outdoor recreation.

Socio-cultural- benefits that arise when you feel proud of you community

A new program has emerged- the benefits based movement. This movement can be split down into three components namely benefits based awareness, programming and management. The programs main aim is to increase awareness of leisure and recreation through effective programming and campaigning to create a large support base for parks and recreation.

Constraints to recreation and leisure

There are many benefits to be gained from leisure and recreation, but we must also look at the limiting and inhibiting factors. Leisure constraints include things that affect participation, frequency, intensity, duration and quality of the experience. Constraints affect the person and how they feel. Various models were made to try to conceptualize and understand leisure. A successful model categorized it in four categories.

Intrapersonal constraints- this deals with the person and may lead to lack of interest.

Interpersonal constraints- associated with relationships and how people work togethera cooperation.

Intervening structural constraints- outside elements that affect participation. Lack of money, transport or facilities.

Antecedent structural constraints- external factors that stop a person from participating or enjoying the activity to the fullest. These constraints need to be overcome by the community. E.g. people want to walk, but there are no sidewalks.

Economic values of recreation and leisure

Basic economics say that the success of a product is measured by its demand and subsequently its supply. With recreation the demand is always there as people want to have fun and want to have safe places to do it in. The three sectors have reacted to this demand and have supplied the facilities and programs. Citizens can benefit hugely as jobs, personal growth and revenues increase.

Usually we look at the income statement of companies and sectors to ascertain its success. But with leisure and recreation it is better to look at the expenditure statement rather than income. Over the years recreation expenses have increased from 2% of a family’s expenses to 10%. This is a positive sign and step in the right direction as people are starting to recreate more. Recreation is also described as inflation and recession resistant. Recreation is big money but expenditures aren’t only what the public spends on recreation, but also what government spends on recreation. So with government have three levels, there should be large amounts of money being spent on recreation. But that is not the trend.

Participation rates

By checking and keeping proper records of how many people engage in leisure and recreation we can also measure the effect leisure and recreation has on the economy. If more people participate, then more money needs to be allocated for facility upgrading, or new facilities and new programs.

Intangible benefits

Leisure and recreation also include economic benefits such as increase in area and property values.

Location and property values

Most places in America are dependent on tourism to sustain the community e.g. Orlando Florida Disneyland or the Atlantic Coast. Majority of the community would be without jobs and the hospitality and tourism industry would be without clients. If this had to happen property values would decrease and employment issues would crop up. When recreation facilities are correctly constructed and maintained they appreciate the land that they are on. Lake properties generally have higher values.

Economic impact

All communities have common places for recreation e.g. Bowling alleys, gaming arcades, pool halls, restaurants etc. These places generate money from tourists and the community. But more often citizens recreate at home and tourists use these tourist attractions where they spend foreign money and boost the economy.

Goods and services

People want to work in a happy environment and a place where they are comfortable. They want family time and satisfaction. Recreation can give this. Recreation keeps people happy which makes them more productive and therefore increases the economic value of that area.

Employment

Job opportunities are numerous in recreation such as managers, supervisors, programmers, admin clerks etc. These are positions often seen in the public sector. The non profit sector is just as huge. If you take a camp for example, these are the possible jobs that are available: camp counsellors, admin staff, coaches, instructors etc.

Conclusion

Leisure has a clear cut place in the economy. A lot of people earn their keep by producing items of recreation. All these leisure programs and parks would not be needed if there was no interest in leisure. As time goes by leisure is getting bigger and bigger and these are great steps in the right direction.

Through past experience and research, hypermasculinity has led African American culture to be defined as a culture that strongly fights for their sign of status, and sexual aggressivity and dominance appear to be highly regarded. Research has concluded that media and false misinterpretations of hypermasculinity are the main causes, and the strong influences they have are causing these dominant, aggressive and demanding behaviours. Research has been done through personal interviews, field work and observation. Perhaps present and previous research is showing a better understanding for many cultures as to why African American men display certain characteristics, in which demonstrate power and control. Furthermore studies are creating awareness for society, although they are not justifying these behaviours as being acceptable.

Introduction:

Life threatening situations are brought upon us every day as we walk out the front door, into the bus or into the front doors of school. Growing up in today’s society and conforming to various norms, values and behaviours in which one witnesses, is traumatic and time consuming amongst young men and women, especially young African American men. Gender roles and societies’ expectation are presented at such a young age, this leading to pressure and unjustified behaviours, such as drug trafficking, prostitution and pimping. Within African American society, gender roles are depicted precisely and followed. Various different ethnic groups live in different parts of the world, but the “status of black males in American society has been in flux for the last several decades (Lips 2001, p.5)”. The reasons why all these groups must show status is to prove their images of what it means to be masculine. “Sentimental, submissive and superstitious (Lips, 2001, p.5)” are qualities associated with females in every country. On the other hand males are more likely to be connected to characteristics resembling “dominance, forcefulness and strength (Lips, 2001, p.5)”. In a variety of Hip Hop, Rap music video clips, the images being portrayed of how young men must behave always consists of the same factors; dominance, power, aggressivity and the ‘tough guy’. The question of how hypermasculinity is defined in African American culture and why sexual aggressivity and dominance appear to be highly regarded within this culture, has been an ideology for many. Despite false interpretation that the media portrays, and the pressure of “role models” and “real men”, the following paper will examine the main points and answers to these questions. Furthermore it will observe the use of the term “nigga” and “gansta” from an open minded point of view.

Hypermasculinity defined and expressed

Hypermasculinity is an extremely important sign of status for black males. Hypermasculinity is defined in the (Oxford Dictionary) as an “exaggerated masculine qualities”, although this term can be negative, it is also personalized when examining these behaviours as adaptive or maladaptive impassively. The term ‘gansta’ for example comes from the word gangster, which means a criminal who is a part of a gang; who would want to be viewed as a criminal. The other term often miss used, is the word ‘pimp’. A ‘pimp’, is an agent for prostitutes who lives off their earnings (Oxford Dictionary)”. Today pimp is being used to refer to guys who sleep with many girls, or the ones who can pick up any girl they want. Where will society draw the line, and who comes to decide whether one corresponds to the definition of a man “an adult human male, sometimes also used to identify a male human regardless of age, as in phrases such as men’s rights (Oxford Dictionary)”.

DeReef examines African American behaviour and defines masculinity to “the degree where a male is able to successfully manifest their attributes (DeReef, F. J. 2006, p.46)”. These behaviours are being shown in different ways where males are modifying or distorting their real behaviours in order to conform into society, as to what seems to be “correctly” acceptable. Over a long period of time until today black compulsive masculinity has been a dysfunctional response to solving racial domination and has been causing more problems within the environment. In other words black compulsive behaviours is an ideology composed of African consciousness, in which has created a reactionary masculinity in many African American males who “seek to imitate their white male counterparts (DeReef, F.J. 2006, p. 47)”. According to Wolfe African American males strongly believe it is hard to achieve masculine identity through usual work or responsibilities. They are justifying their behaviours through assumptions in which they believe that they are the only ones who must work hard and have responsibilities in order to achieve masculine identity. Maladaptive hypermasculine behaviours such as drug trafficking, or being a pimp are the ones being justified because there is not enough employment opportunities given to black men. There has been a correlation between joblessness and higher incidence of various maladaptive behaviours.

Hypersexuality and homophobia

Black males, especially young men are so afraid to be referred to as “wimps”, or “homos”, that they have even created the term “no homo (Masculinity, homophobia and Hip Hop, n.d )”,. The term ‘No homo’ must be said at the end of each sentence, in order for people not to think they sound gay, or they said something gay. During an interview regarding the term “no homo“, males claimed not to be reinforcing that their not gay because they know they’re not, but they are just making sure that when they speak others don’t assume they’re gay. Homophobia is a big issue that has aroused and has become serious within the generation today. Elijah G.Ward, discusses how the black churches are also encouraging homophobia amongst black males and most of the time those who are against homosexuality are uncertain of their own sexuality and fear that they will be categorised as a community. This strongly emphasizes their powerful beliefs that heterosexuality is the right way. Many cultures do not support homosexuality, a significant amount of black people according to Elijah G. Ward, see “homosexual relationships as unacceptable and morality wrong p.494”. In the black community a famous gansta-rapper Ice Cube has implanted in one of his famous songs “true niggers ain’t gay (Ward, G.E .2005, p. 497)”. Homosexuality is seen to be a sign of weakness and is associated with feminine characteristics, these also encouraging labels towards men such as ‘fags’ or ‘queers’. The black church strongly enforces that homosexuality is not what a ‘man’ is and a man should be violent, demanding and have control. Their main priorities are their labels and they pay close attention, not to be called ‘sissies’ which is the opposite of being cool. They want to portray that hard core ‘gansta’ rapper role model who is an “intensified, black male cultural reflection of patriarchy, sexism, hetorosexism and gansta-style (Ward, G. E. 2005, p. 497)”.

Violent behaviours and “gansta”

Throughout history, the black population have undergone several changes some harder to adapt to then others. The main issue with behaviours constantly changing and deviance sometimes being accepted, is when you adapt to an aggressive dominant behaviour you don’t want to let go of that control you have obtained. A problem which has occurred and is important to understand is to know the difference between, understanding what you have been told and believing and making your own judgements accordingly; if it is right. For example in the black society it is a “sign of status”, to sleep with as many women as possible. William, A. & Wolfe, summarize in their article that “it is right to deceive a girl in order to have sex with her (Wiliam, A. & Wolfe 2003, p 848)” and that they don’t believe in the use of the condom for a simple reason that they would be “undermining their masculinity (Wiliam, A. & Wolfe 2003, p. 848)”.Black males have been socialized into using their penis as a way to achieve manhood. Different expectations within a culture or society and how values have changed over time. This has also caused many African American women to fear their partners, and studies say that a woman has been in an abusive relationship is more likely not to speak up and fight her partner. In regards to sexuality and power the black African American society believes that when “sexual aggression exists in a relationship (Wiliam, A. & Wolfe 2003, p. 848 )”, this shows violence is involved therefore he is a man; concluding violence is manly. Adolescent black males are also accounted for having a “higher victimization rate than any other racial or age group (Gregory,S. 2007, p 371)”. African American women compare to their counter parts are the ones to usually get involved in abusive relationships and stay quiet due to their surroundings and or an abusive father. African American women are more vulnerable and listen to their partners when they use aggressive behaviours. This also brings out statistics which show that over “fifty percent of babies are born to minor females, fathered by African American men. They also show that the father is usually on average 26.1 years older (Wiliam, A. & Wolfe 2003, p. 849”.From this one can clearly conclude that a young African American female is no way has interpersonal skills and dominance over her partner to demand the use of a condom.

Furthermore, black males are often taught or trained to control their emotions internally towards exercises that stimulate minor frustration, although this does not emphasise the power that long term “maladaptive, self destructive and life threatening (Gregory, S. 2007,p.386) ” consequences have above it all. An infant who is brought up in a dangerous neighbourhood, attended an unsafe school and dealt with racism is more prone to recognize feelings towards aggression and violence. Black men who have experienced a tragic event of a life threatening situation will want to be prepared if it ever happens again, this is why Gregory, S. discusses the use of carrying of a weapon. In most neighbourhoods today and schools, young teens will not walk around with knifes and use it as an excuse of security purposes, although in neighbourhoods where there are at least three people getting stabbed every day, these young kids want to feel safe. The college of New Jersey evaluated that males are more likely to carry a weapon than females, and a survey in 2007 showed that 27% of boys did carry a weapon (Gregory, S. 2007, p.369). Carrying a knife or a gun is a sign of security, despite its encouragement towards violent behaviours. A weapon stimulates the “fight or flight” response which is a decision you make when experiencing a dangerous situation. Is the individual going to walk away, or will he make a decision and fight. In a situation where someone is carrying a weapon, almost one hundred percent of the time if they feel secure enough to fight and win, the weapon is their support and will cause them to partake in this dangerous behaviour. Statistics show that” in 1994, gun control accounted for approximately 1,700 Black youths aged ten to nineteen (Gregory, S. 2007, p 368)”. The following statistics tell us that most of crime is being committed at a young age by youth. Young children are the ones who are victimised, especially in schools in poor neighbourhoods and the fear they experience is unpleasant and it creates an awareness of danger.

Hip Hop; a justifiable reason leading to hypermasculinity

The third point, if not one of the most influential one in society influencing power, dominance and control is Hip Hop. As a whole Hip Hop has become a culture for most black African American men and this has brought up a new image of acceptable behaviours and hypermasculinity. Many video clips you watch or lyrics you read are not only full of vulgar language, but it’s always a battle over a girl, power or insulting someone’s mother. Rap has created a new lifestyle for young men, and also many role models like Eminem, 50 cent and Tupac. Luxury has also become a big part of status. Many African American men today believe that rap is a way to express their true black life. There are different kinds of rap music, this having an influence on different kind of behaviours that are being acted out in society. Rap is categorised using five different forms. “Teacher-rap, nation conscious rap, gansta rap, player/lover rap, porno rap and last religious rap (DeReef,F.J. 2006)”. These different kinds of rap all influence different ideas from social commitment to struggle, romance, sexual aggressive behaviours and spirituality of Christianity and Islam. It is amazing to listen to a rap song and interpret all these different ideas, and thinks to yourself, how can a young fifteen or sixteen year old kid understand this. What is being said is sometimes due to a personal experience or the rap artist is expressing his feelings and or emotions. Media has shown violence to be a part of masculinity, that it has become a norm and is no longer deviance within society. Statistics show that one in four men will use violence against their partner, and eighty-five percent of murders are being committed by men. As one can witness sexuality, criminality and violence play a strong role as being partners. Hip Hop role models like Lil Wayne display high rates of criminality for young African American men, and also use violence and strength towards sexuality. Young males are being brain washed and influenced in regards to these being the real characteristics of men and it’s a direct justification for hypermasculine behaviours.

Roots of slavery

The 17th century African American slavery was devastating and today has become a part of history. Slaves were not entitles any equal rights compare to what other had. They were demanded to do hard labour work and were treated with cruelty. Slaves were working ridiculous amount of hours a day and weren’t even treated as human beings.These slaves were being sold as if they were commodities from city to city. Slaves were seen by many as a different class of people in society. Many slaves tried to fights their master although there was not much success as they would be arrested or sent somewhere else. Slavery today plays a role on how society view black males and how they view themselves compare to society.

The word “nigga”

The word “nigga” is a good example or a word that has different meanings and that has been re-appropriated in society depending on who uses it. The word “nigga” comes from the word nigger which was originally used to refer to black people. The word was also used in the time of slavery for the black who were trying to escape. Today many African American men use the word amongst each other like white people would use the word “brother”. Although if a white person were to use the word nigger it is seen as insulting and some African American men take it to the extreme of being offended they might even beat someone up. Nigger for the African American culture is a sign of self identity amongst one another and pride. It is a moment in time of history and they want to hold onto this. In the 1970 the word nigger was seen as racists, offensive and as early as today it is a word that many will refrain from using.

Slavery and hypermasculinity

Men have enslaved other men to show their mastery over them, and think it is a weakness to show or express their feelings towards other human beings. Patriarchal masculinity has caused problems that are so complex. Long after “legal racial segregation ended ( Lips, 2001, p.2 )”, it is still clear how the white society treats Black men. Unless close attention is being payed to little factors which make a difference; often Black men are “referred to not as men but as boys (Lips, 2001, p.20)”. Black men lived through times where they were never given the same privileges as white men, and they always had to earn their masculinity, most of the time not feeling good about being a man. Black males were always viewed as inferior to other cultures and always had to prove themselves one way or another. They were always stereotypically related to drugs, poverty and violence. Black American youth during the period of black power to Hip Hop, were denied opportunities to exercise their citizenship; this having an effect today, they don’t want to fall back down beneath everyone. Being denied opportunities, rights and not able to achieve personal goals has stuck with the black society until today. Not only is being labelled “black” a mental damage, but creates physical aggression as well.

It seems that an individual who has been constantly emasculated over the years would at least try to conform to the dominant culture in hope of their being some acknowledgment of acceptance. It has been proven throughout society especially in the United States, that growing up as a black male has been a tough process. “Being a black male is a burden at times because some people see and think of me, and men like me, as “menaces to society.” The masculinity that has been a part of my life has been one that has been used to oppress others and oppress me (Clifford, A. 2006, and p.4)”.

The status of poverty for African American youth is the one that is the most revealing. ” In 2001 among all American children under the age of eighteen, the poverty rate was sixteen percent, but it was three times as high for black children; 30 percent (Collins, H, P. 2006, p.3)”. Black youth are the ones who are affected the most by social problems. Increasing employment opportunities for African American males would be ideal, this would give them a better environment, better surroundings and influence them that they are like the rest of the society. This is also why many black males rape, because that act of aggression towards a women is a form of status in which they would use in a workplace which is often not available for them. In other words, having the right to work and live a “normal life style”, will affect them positively. Several African American men have shaped their understandings and realities based on the past and keep exercising those actions. Having a normal life style remains a dream for many black youths living under the age of eighteen. The main problem that touches upon poverty is the “ineffectiveness of political strategies that strive to resist it (Collins, H, P. 2006, p.9)”. The civil rights movement was the primary strategy to solve racial integration, although African American politics are trying new social challenges to meet old responses. Despite some accomplishment, African Americans are frustrated because they don’t see anything opening up ahead of them and they are still dealing with high unemployment rates. Beyond social problems resulting to poverty, unemployment and lack of civil rights, masculinity today is a big part relating to the past. African American societies have developed strong personalities to prove who they are and what they are capable of. For instance when you look around today, you will see more black males working, neighbourhoods are less poor and opportunities and chances have been and are being given to black communities. Considering that young African American males occupy such a visible position within society, they have demonstrated a zero tolerance for “race, nation, gender, age and sexuality (Collins, H, P. 2006)”. All these different aspects that influenced black men have created the drives towards manhood today. When black men were in slavery they were being ordered around and always given commands; comparing that to this new generations they are the ones who are in control, and for the most are the ones giving commands.

Conclusion:

The issue of hypermasculinity is one that is quite complex and a total solution cannot be found. Research has shown that African American men believe in proving themselves as “real men”; this leading to behaviours in which can no longer be controlled. These actions are being ‘tolerated’ by society today especially for young black males. Sexual aggressivity, dominance and hypermasculinity are highly responded within the culture for a countless amount of reasons. Media is portraying false misinterpretations as to what it means to be masculine, there is always a constant pressure being brought upon black males which enforces violent and controlling behaviours and they are being accepted as ‘normal’. Thirdly, African American culture has such a strong influential past of slavery that their culture is looking at society through a different lens.

Black male needs to accomplish giving themselves an identity that will cause them to be comfortable with themselves. Ideally black males should critically assess the dominant culture’s norm of masculinity instead of reworking the norms to satisfy their social situation. Many black males have failed to see the problem of the dominant culture’s norms of masculinity in their lives. Society in general has labelled black men as being dangerous, and regardless if you know the person or not before even speaking to many black men they fall into that category that they are violent, dangerous or a sex maniac. Society has enforced black males to feel this way and cause them to do things in which they shouldn’t do. It has caused a psychological problem which is hard to erase. In no way do African American men believe they can show weakness, this would mean they are not men. Violence in the media is glorified, and is exposed to children of all ages. Police will not hesitate to use violence against suspects, and these young black males are often the targets of violent behaviours in their neighbourhoods; drugs, rape, gang related fights or domestic violence.

Nowadays, as we know that dress code is very important to man or women that mentioned by the community now because dress code is represent a person respect to another person. Dress modestly is an issue that happening in our daily life or working life. Modestly is all about showing a person’s behaviour, social status, dress and values.

Yet for women, they do not care any things about safety that they wearing clothes where very expose their body or rock and they think this kind of wearing styles will bring them to pretty and feel that they are in the centre of the world nowadays. But all these stuff also determine level of social problem of a country and whole world countries also faced same problem that changing the style of girls dressing.

The way of girls dressing like expose their body is a dangerous action that can caused criminal happened and the girl will be hurt at the end. Sometimes, the girl not only hurt yet she may be killed by criminals. For an example, there is a famous rape case in the Indonesia where an India lady raped by few criminals in the bus until dies and she is not wearing so expose.

So that, government was set few rules or laws that required women dress modestly based on these few rape cases. From that laws set, it may decrease the rate of criminal happened.

RESEARCH ON DRESS MODESTLY OF WOMEN
Rules and regulations in Malaysia

In Malaysia, the school uniform rules are for all students whatever boys or girls, they must wear their shirts or pants over kneel of the leg. Not only for school students, but for every parent that think want visits their child in the school, are they needed to follow these rules.

Types of clothing to dress decently

There are four types of clothing that mentioned dress decently, such as formal or informal, party attire and house coat. All these four types of clothing is a good guideline for every women in their daily life even though they have to work at outside or inside house or have to attend certain wedding dinner or party.

These are some example of formal clothing for women in their workplace.http://businescasualforwomen.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/ACFDF9.jpg

This is an example of party attire of women dressed in modestly.http://i00.i.aliimg.com/wsphoto/v0/530454962_1/European-American-style-font-b-women-b-font-font-b-Attire-b-font-rivets-shoulder-evening.jpg

Why the rules must require women dress decently?

There are many harmful matter that faced by woman who did not dress decently.

For safety

Girls or women should dress decently before step out from the house even in the house because if you are like to dress that just want to expose your body then you just bring benefits to the man that always looking to you and attract them to do criminal on you because of you want to be more sharp in the other eye.

Majority of girls or women did not realise this fact. There are many cases that published in the newspaper to show that many criminal cases such as murder or rape the women or girl whose didn’t dress decently. Clothing can also be used as sexual signal.

Looks more professional

The looks of the way women dressing will be professionalism. In the other word, clothing can give stating or claiming personal or cultural identity. When you are dressing decently, you are giving good impression to other and let other treat you better. So that, in many societies, women have to dressed decently to meeting with customer if not the customer will think the women who meeting with him or her is not serious in the business.

In this case, women wearing properly will bring her leadership character when she is leading a team to the more professional culture in the office.

Keep body warm

In the mentality and physically of women, they could not face any harm form outside such as cold weather. From the biological aspect, body structure of women is weaker than man’s body structure so that they have to cover their body with clothes to avoid getting sneeze and cough.

If they are getting cough or sneezing, they may different with usual in emotional and get them to depress in their life, such as student or employee and this is reason for self-murder case happened.

The way to increase knowledge of dress decently in women

As one friend for whose dressing that exposes their body, we should advise them to wear properly to avoid dangerous or criminal no wonder that you are. Besides that, we as family member should advise them do not dress too expose their body. Yet we as family member done this, we should having family meeting or family day to remind them back also.

As the government, we should enforce or make the laws and rules more strengthen to avoid the rate of criminal case increase. Furthermore, to decrease the rate of criminal, the government should organise campaign or talk to increase alertness of women. The government should organise training for women learn self-defence art as a way to protect themselves from criminals even though they are wearing modest dressing.

Besides that, the police should make more portals in certain dangerous place to avoid criminal case of women increase. The places where there is higher risk of women’s safety are playground, recreational park, shopping complex and car park.

Conclusion and recommendations

From the education aspect, we should increase this kind of knowledge for women into girls who are growing up into women and in another side, as a parent, we should implant some religious knowledge such as Islam, Buddha, Christian and India religious teaching to our children to stop this sad matter that is happening around them. By learning this knowledge, women not only understand other religious knowledge but also understanding the facts which will eventually help them someday.

As my opinion, all parties should work together and solve this issue especially the women. Women should change their clothing style to ensure that they are in safety and do not try wear some clothes that expose their body and then make their life in risk. Sometimes, we as friend should accompany them and help them to choose suitable dress and clothes to avoid they don’t know how to choose and then choose wrong dress and clothes and make their life in risk.

Dress indecently may be make you feel beautiful and get attention when people is surrounding you but please do not make yourself look like yourself wanted to do it because your life is given by GOD and is precious to your parents. So do not make them sad for the sake of your happiness because this happiness would not last long.

INTRODUCTION TO DIVORCE

Divorce is the legal separation of husband and wife, affected by any reasons that make them lost confidence on their marriage and also the divorce must have the judgement of a court by accepted custom. (thelawfictionary.org)

A big change that has occurred in the Western families are an increased with high rate in divorce. In the last 20 years, the rate of divorce was increased with high rate in Western countries. For example, 20 years ago in Australia, only one marriage in ten ended in divorce but the figure is more than three multiples nowadays. (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1996)

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/images/c/c0/Crude_divorce_rate%2C_selected_years%2C_1960-2011_%281%29_%28per_1_000_inhabitants%29.png

Based on statistic from Eurostat, Latviais reached highest rate of divorce on the Western countries that is 4.0 billion. For the coming Western country, Luxembourg is the next of the Latviais that reached 3.4 billion at the 2011.

RESEARCH ON DIVORCE
Causes that lead the marriage into divorce

There are many causes that will affect the husband and the wife’s marriage and lead them into divorce. Divorced can be caused by simple mistake done by any party of the family and there is no point if the people did wrong and did not realise and correct it to save the marriage based on what they have swear in the wedding.

Cheating and dishonest when having extra illegal relationship

Many respondents said that if their life partner cheated or lie to them, they could end the relationship. They could not live with another life partner that lied to them before because they think this is ashamed. By cheating, the other spouse would lose their trust towards their partner. When there is lack of trust, misunderstanding occurred easily because none of them actually wanted a proper solution for their conflict. They have extra illegal relationship based on the situation that another life partner dishonest to their spouse in return for another life partner. This situation is frequently happened to the majority of marriage.

Higher income

Usually, husband is the sole bread winner but nowadays women play the roles of wife is now earning more income than the husband. Eventually the wife decided to take control of whole family disregarding to the feeling of the husband. This is known as the ‘queen control’ where the wife has more authority than the husband. So the wife’s ego attitude has brought up into family conflict and the husband’s ego underestimate. This will bring the misunderstanding to both parties where both parties could not tolerance with each other and this bring their marriage to broken and afterwards, there are very hard to them recover back their relationship and marriage.

Effects after husband and wife divorced

There are many effects after husband and wife divorced and this will bring many harmful effects to their child. Not only they will bring effect to their child but to their own family members, community or worldwide. These are some effects as stated as below:

To family members or own self

The effect of divorced will bring more suffer and pain or sadness to their own family member first because they are the one closed with divorced people. Furthermore, the people who divorced may thinking lifeless or something related to negative could do some stupid actions like revenge to their life betrayer who betray and dishonest on their marriage before. They will lost confidence on any relationship and marriage to avoid them get hurt again.

In addition to divorce, there are many divorced people hide their feeling and afraid to seek assistance from outside and this will affect their daily life become more tough and stressful than other normal people. This means their mentality is already affected by “divorce” this word. Besides that, they afraid to know new friend even try to enlarge their social network because they keep that outsider is the one who will bring dangerous to them and they could not face any pain or sadness any more.

Many parents no matter is father or mother, they will face mentality problem after they are divorced and this problem will cause divorced parents’ child will get suffer and pain because of abuse from their parents. Child abuse can be sexual abuse from their own parent whose are divorced to fulfil their requirement. The child could not get a good and memorable childhood because they are live in incomplete family. The child will be growth in an incomplete family and their mentality will be affected and do stupidest action to make them happy and enjoy by doing some actions related to social problem, such as taking drug, alcohol and so forth.

Neighbourhood

Generally, a family is not complete by having divorced in that particular family. The divorced story will become a gossip that discussed by neighbours although this is a common matter that will happened if something happened to your family but it is too hurt a people when you are talking and chatting his or her gossip behind when he or she know it. Sometimes, a couple had divorced and then it can be form a bad reputation to other family members. It is because people will not sympathise to what happened to you but they will make joke or keep laughing on you and this is caused divorced couples cannot face any stress because this is most stressful thing they have to face. This is what we call it as human being.

Besides that, the other family will feel ashamed on your divorced marriage because they think the people who dishonest in the marriage are their own relatives but not for the other side or they will put the fault into the people who divorced with their relatives and they will start the gossip and spread it out.

Community

For the divorced family or couples, they will hard to face community ashamed because they think they are isolated from outside party and they only focus his or her own social network and they try do not enlarge it but sometimes they are tried to know more new friends yet the community will think divorced couples or family is unlucky for them and think they make mistakes in their marriage.

The child from divorced families will be isolated from their friends in the school or college because they tend to stay out from the trouble by avoid who from the divorced family. The child from divorced family also will underestimate by other friends in the school because they may don’t have father or mother to accompany them growth together.

Eventually, the child from divorced family will get influence by their bad or evil friends because there is no good friends want be friend with them so they try to be friend with those are the gangster in school to get protection or involved on their gangster activities, such as bully other students or take illegal items to enjoy himself or herself. For an example of illegal items, drug, alcohol and so forth. Afterwards, they are made mistake in the school need their parents to meet with principal rather than their parents need work at outside so that their parents hard to work or find job and they will face jobless. The parents already divorced and adopt the child with single part but they need to take care the whole family with one salary.

Nation

If the rate of divorce for a country is high, that means the country do not make any policies to stop this situation continue happened. In addition, the image of the country will be spoiled at the same time. In spite of the rate of divorce increasing tremendously yet the separation of family still continue increasing equally. Child from divorced family will be friend with gangster because the divorced parents spend time in their working time rather than spending time with their children. So that, they are making trouble in everywhere and caused the rate of social problem increased. In spite of the rate of social problem increased yet the security of the country will be challenged by all these issues and problems of the child and gangster made.

Conclusion and recommendation to reduce the rate of divorce

Divorce is a hot topic that has been discussed by community. Divorce also bring many painful and sad memory to whoever affected by the divorce process or separation. Divorce has been classified as a social problem and this will affect the process of develop for a country. Without any understanding and honest between each other in couple, there is will be separation for them. In the conflict between couple, the most suffer is their children and they never think about it. They only care about their own benefit and make it to the court to judge their children pass to who to take care.

Compare and contrast how your views of a traditional nuclear family, cohabitation and sexuality might differ from those of your parents.

The ever changing world as we know it has led to differences in lifestyles and contemporary views towards how families should be run in modern society but the core values of family life still remain the same. Families are still mediums whereby people can enjoy security, companionship and a refuge from an often harsh and uncaring world. Structures of families have changed along with society in general but the traditional nuclear family of mother, father and children still remains an ideal. Many variations of the traditional nuclear family have arisen in the years since world war 2 that have changed the current generations views to that of our parents and grandparents generations.

In previous generations the mother was expected to look after the household and not partake in paid employment while the father was considered the bread winner and sole source of income for the family. This perception of the nuclear family has changed vastly due to major changes in social structure, education, the feminist movement etc. These forces have changed how we view the modern family along with the increase in cohabitation, decline in marriage, rise in divorce rates and the prolonged postponement of union formation. Single-sex marriages, single-parent families, cohabitation and single living have increased in regularity.

Increases in the rate of divorce has lead to a growth in the popularity of cohabitation whereby more couples live with each other before marriage, somewhat as a testing period, and couples are marrying later in life. Marriage has become less relevant in our generation compared to the ‘golden age of marriage’ during the 50s and 60s where marriage was an important institution in society. Changes in laws such as those concerning same-sex marriage have led to this attitude. In the last two decades there has been a dramatic increase in cohabitation in the US. Between 1970 and 1994, the number of unmarried couples living together rose from about 500,000 to almost 3.7 million. Between 1965-74 just 11% of marriages were preceded by cohabitation whereas between 1980-84 44% of all marriages involved at least one spouse who had cohabited (1). Cohabitation has been prevalent in previous generations where couples were unable to marry due to the fact that they weren’t able to afford marriage or were not lawfully able to marry. Couples also believe that it is easier to end a cohabiting relationship than it is to end a marriage. For one tenth of cohabiters, cohabitation is a long term relationship which does not lead to marriage (1).

In the space of a couple of decades cohabitation has nearly replaced marriage as the regular choice of a first union. In France, a massive rise in cohabitation occurred between 1965 and 1995 when the proportion of couples starting their union by cohabitation increased from 10% to 90% (2). During the 1990s marriage was still the superior marker for first union entry in the south of Europe whereas in juxtaposition most western and northern European countries and the United States cohabitation had surpassed marriage as the preamble for first partnership.

The mean age for which people enter marriage has increased for many reasons. The prolonging of many transitions to adult life(finishing education, leaving the parental household, starting a first job) along with the rise in young adults entering unions without marriage has added to the mean age. Nowadays marriage is no longer seen as the singularly appropriate avenue for childbearing. People who decide to have a child do not feel rushed into marriage and being pregnant is not seen as a determinant for marriage. This attitude can be compared to those of prior generations where pregnancy before marriage was frowned upon and unmarried cohabitation did not last very long due to social pressure.

In our parents generations the normal route of marriage followed by childbearing has been steadily replaced by a number of different pathways: in some countries, the sequence of cohabitation followed by marriage and then childbearing has become the most common path, while in other societies, cohabitation first followed by first or second birth and then marriage has become the most popular pattern and an increasing number of couples with children opt to not marry at all (3). In the United States the number of children born to parents who cohabitate nearly doubled between 1984 and 1994, growing from 6% to 11% (4).

In recent times marriage instability has increased, this along with less-stable living arrangements have led to an increase in the numbers of single parent families and a high frequency of single motherhood across Europe. In Europe a substantial percentage of children are exposed to living with a single parent before reaching the age of 15. The total exposure ranged from 11-18 percent in Southern Europe (Italy and Spain), Belgium, Poland, and Slovenia; to 39-41 percent in Austria, Germany, and Latvia; and, outside of Europe, to a very high level of 52 percent in the United States (these figures are period life table estimates based on the FFS data). In agreement with the evidence provided by the census data in Table 6 above, the authors argue that, while the pace of family change has varied across countries, the shift of childrearing from married parents to single mothers is universal in Western societies, and has been proceeding faster than the shift to cohabiting parents and stepfamilies (5).

In our parents and grandparents generations there was a fundamental belief that marital union should be between a man and a woman. Same sex couples were shunned and granted none of the rights that were enjoyed my heterosexual couples. Throughout the world same sex couples and those in support of equal rights for same sex couples have campaigned for what they feel are basic human rights that should apply to everyone; the right to have their relationship recognised lawfully and the right to marry. Homosexuality has gradually become decriminalised since the 60s in most countries but is still criminal in some countries run by religious laws. Pressure from these groups seeking equality for same sex couples and recognition of their union along with the increase in cohabitation has led to law reforms that allow these couples to achieve a specific legal status when the register their partnerships.

Although same sex couples are gaining momentum in their continuous battles to secure recognition there are still pockets of resistance and intolerance. The introduction of civil partnership to the United Kingdom has granted same sex couples more rights including employment, pension and inheritance related rights. This increase in rights is a stark contrast compared to the limited rights allocated to same sex couples in our parents and grandparents times.

References
Cohabitation: A Snapshot by Hilda Rodriguez, 1998
Cohabitation is here to stay by Touleman, 1997
Children born outside marriage in France and their parents: recognitions and legitimations since 1965 by Munoz-PA©rez, F., and F. Prioux, 2000
Larry Bumpass, 2002
Shifting childrearing to single mothers. Results from 17 Western countries by Heuveline, P., J. M. Timberlake, and F. F. Furstenberg, Jr., 2003

Sociology studies the social structures and influences society has on people, their experiences and interpretations of the world around them. Sociology provides information on how human societies are constructed, where our belief system may stem from, our daily routines and how social identities are formed. This essay will cover a small fraction of sociology; Quantitative and Qualitative methodology, its advantages and limitations. What will also be covered is quantitative approach to suicide by Emile Durkheim (1897) and his critic, J.D Douglas’ qualitative approach to suicide. (Tutor2U 2010)

Emile Durkheim (1938) advocated Comte’s methodology and agreed that social factors should be studied rather than what goes on internally; his rule was to ‘consider social facts as things’, he believed social facts make individuals behave in a certain ways (Haralambous).

Sociologists use different methodologies to reach their conclusion; ways of producing and analyzing data so the theories can be tested which are then accepted or rejected. Durkheim adopted the methods of natural science by applying the use of quantitative methods in his suicide study.

There are two ways in conducting a research, primary and secondary research. Primary research is where sociologist has to start from scratch as there is no data available, for it to be taken from. In order to do this the researcher needs to design they method of collecting data and analyze the results. Primary research is only validated if the research gives true measurement, descriptions or explanation of what was being studied. Unfortunately there is a likely hood that these finding may not be actually explain peoples everyday settings or actions. (Haralambous p815-16)

Secondary research is data that has already been produced by a previous researcher(s); Organizations such as companies, charities, trade unions are useful sources of data as well as documents such as letters, autobiographies and dairies. Secondary research may not be specific enough for researchers needs which in that case means they may have to look at more than one source to come to a conclusion and not only that but more than necessary time is taken up, also information given by the secondary data are sometimes questionable which is why the research has to be aware of this disadvantage (Haralambous 838-9)

Quantitative research, in sociology, contains measurements of variables within society; people and groups. In order to get people’s opinions, a survey may be carried out; fieldwork, experiments or documentary research. When these methods are carried out, the researchers are usually avoiding being biased. In order to be unbiased as possible questions that are asked in a closed question form, so the participant’s replies are very limited or generalised observations are then conducted. Researchers who carrying out quantitative research do not want to get distracted from the intent of the research; they know exactly what they are looking for so their researches are controlled, with closed questions or only statistical information (McGuigan 2010).

Alternatively, qualitative research, in sociology, attempts to gather more in depth understanding of individuals or groups actions in the context of social life (Giddens 2009). There usually is no scientific evidence and if there is, it’s very little evidence. When using qualitative methods of research the investigator is more interested in deeper truths; they prefer to observe things in their natural settings, make sense of things and interpret the information gained; in order to gain information they may interview people or observe them in non artificial settings. Qualitative is more theoretical rather than statistical. Information gained explores deeper into their interest and then data is collected by either observing or interviewing and from the data gain helps generate a hypothesis. Qualitative research digs deeper into reasons of why people may act the way they do.

A survey is a method used by researchers to gather information from a sample of individuals whether it’s from a certain gender, age, race etc where the researcher’s interest is at and changes depending on the purpose of the study. These samples of individuals are questioned on their information that will help the sociologist conclude, questions can be very much closed questions or open, they are sent out to participants or administered directly; surveys can have a variety of purposes and questions are asked in standardized procedures so the same questions are asked; Surveys help obtain a composite profile of the population. In all reputable survey organizations, organisers should present their results anonymously (Scheuren). Surveys are an advantage for generalizing a big group by getting smaller groups to answer the questions once there is an efficient amount of results. Unfortunately there is a risk of answers to the questions being answered falsely, may not actually reflect their true feelings or may even seem superficial. Surveys can be used to either get quantitative or qualitative data, solely relies on the wording of the question, whether it’s a open question or a closed question.

Field work is when the investigator hangs out, works or lives with a group, organization or community and lives the realism of the environment by taking direct part in their activities; in other words ‘real world’ experience. Investigators who take part in this are likely to have a better understanding of those who actually are a part of what they are investigating. This method is more likely to be used to have a qualitative outcome.

There are two types of experiments, one being laboratory and the other being field experiment. Experiments are used to test the hypothesis and the relationships between the two variables are tested. It is conducted in a controlled environment where the variables are isolated and the correlation between things can be discovered. In sociology laboratory experiments are barely used as they believed variables cannot be controlled, the environment people are put in are artificial which will lead to the actions of people being artificial too and they do not believe its right to put laboratories just to measure the effect of variables. Field experiments have been proved to be more used and affective in sociology as they are conducted in normal everyday situations and environments; variables cannot be controlled. Although field experiments aren’t conducted in laboratory they are still not exact but are more valid than lab experiments as the actions from the people are real; less artificial. But if people are aware that they are taking part in a experiment their actions can become artificial, for an example workers may work harder in normal conditions because they know they are being observed.

Emile Durkheim (1897) did a socially confusing study on suicide based on the hypothesis; as the individual’s social unity decreased it was found there was an increase of suicide rates. Durkheim (1897) did not believe that reasoning for suicide was an individual act, he believed suicide was a social fact that can be proved by other social facts; the larger social forces can account for social facts. Durkheim (1897) employed quantitative research to his study of suicide, to make it have a scientific backbone as he believed it to be more rich and valid, by examining the official suicide statistics in France; these official statistics were secondary sources produced by the government. He believed that patterns of suicide were linked to the way which individuals were integrated and regulated by society and how they controlled them, he identified there were four types of suicide, and he generalized these four types of suicide to everyone; the four were Egoistic, Anomic, Altruistic and Fatalistic suicide. Egoistic suicide is when an individual is isolated or their ties to a group is broken or weakened; Catholics and Protestants. Anomic suicide is when an individual feels his life has a lack of meaning and feels as they are worthless, this can be a result of a divorce. Altruistic suicide is when an individual values others more for an example a mother who pushes their child out the way of a oncoming car and hurts herself or a suicide bomber. Fatalistic suicide is when an individual feels hopeless about their fate or feels excessively restraint for an example an individual may take their own life before the police arrest them to avoid being in a cell for the rest of their life or many years. Egotistic and Anomic are the two most common occurred, of the four.

In contrast to Durkheim’s study of suicide Douglas (1967) is one of the many interpretive sociologists; interpretive approach strongly advocate qualitative data as they believe sociologists should be able to understand and interpret the meanings and motives of actions and quantitative data does not help discover meanings and motives. Interpretative sociologists reject studying social facts as things, they say natural sciences deal with matter and matter does not have a mind which in that case has no consciousness which in that case there is no meaning in behaviour. Interpretive approach acknowledges that people have consciousness, it is believed that people will interpret the meaning of a stimulus and then react to it; meaning is attached to the stimulus.

J.D Douglas (1967) conducted his study ‘Social meanings of Suicide’, he believed that the official statistics were systematically biased and could have been made up by friends, families, and coroners. He disputed that Durkheim (YEAR) neglected other meanings attached to why an individual may commit suicide, he believed it to be wrong that Durkheim (YEAR) would treat all suicides the same without investigating other reasoning’s. Douglas was concerned with meanings of suicide and believed there to be different reasons behind a suicide than the four generalisations Durkheim (YEAR) had made. In Douglas’s (1967) study of social meanings for suicide he believed there to be four different meanings of suicide. Douglas (1967) believed in qualitative research methods to find his answers to why an individual would commit suicide; his methods were conducting case studies, unstructured interviews and diaries, from his investigations he found four types of suicide, the four are Transformation of the soul, this is where it is used as a way of getting into heaven, transformation of self, this is where the individual would want others to think differently of them, suicide where an individual wants sympathy and suicide where the individual tries to get revenge by leaving the other person feeling guilty.

The UK family has undergone considerable changes since 1945. Britain nowadays is a society mixed with different household types including cohabiting families with or without children; divorced or never-married lone parents; gay and lesbian couples (McRAE, 1999, p.1). This essay will demonstrate that family as an example of continuity change, an explanation on the changes of household types. I will also discuss marriage and divorce rates, the rising in cohabitation and lone parents, and the sexuality of society and value changes. At the expense of traditions, this diversity has gained and there has been a downward trend particularly in the traditional nuclear family. This will compare the value changes of different family types using three social sciences disciplines of history, politics and sociology.

First of all, Patriarchy and Second World War are the main factors to family of the ‘Golden Age’. According to German (1981), in early days, women must struggle for their rights as that is the time when both the households and society are men-dominated. The ‘Golden Age’ portrayed husband as ‘breadwinner’ of household and wife as ‘home maker’. A social norm is marriage is for ‘life’ and a family was built up by a pair of heterosexual couple with dependent children. To explain further, conservative thinkers stated “family is a place of offspring reproduction, protection of children’s safety, inculcation of proper values on children” (Hughes and Fergusson, 2004, p.60). Also, “hierarchy and stability” are the two important elements to maintain a healthy family and society (ibid.). On the other hand, changes in family structure were related to rising needs for stability and people’s thought of family as a unit after the World War II (WWII) and probably can help reordering of a ‘healthy’ society after a war. Later, the situation of only men working out to earn money did not last long after WWII as the UK’s economy was depraving and thus women need to work to keep it running (“Gender Role”, 1980). Thus, conservatives argued “changes in the labour market,

rise in women’s employment rate and the interventions of the welfare state” give threats to male’s status and power in the society (Hughes and Fergusson, 2004, p.61). It follows that as age at marriage, teenage motherhood and childless has risen and smaller families size. Cohabitation before and between marriages has become common (Rimmer, 1981). Consequently, there is a sharp jump in births outside marriages, such as in the 1990s the birth rate is over 30%, rating above European mean (Irwin, 2000) and rising divorce rates accompanied by numerous lone-parent families (Rimmer, 1981). As a result, the nuclear family is on the decline.

One argument is that marriage is still popular but there is steady two thirds fall in marriage rates since 1970s (The Centre For Social Justice, 2006). The number of marriages has dropped by 35% in England & Wales, following by a rapid fall of 3 to 4 % per annum later (The British Academy, 2010). Previous generations growing up in an environment with strict sexual morality, view marriage as a “life-long promise” and cohabitation outside marriage are prohibited; however, the youngsters are changing their attitude and accepted to them. Moreover, there is evidence showing that the close relationship between cohabitation and divorce. Surprisingly, UK is particularly having higher divorce rate when comparing to the other countries. Before 1867, divorce was unpopular because it costs a lot and heavily stigmatized. Alternatively, the establishment of “Divorce Reform Act (1969)” which introduced an irretrievable breakdown of relationship has contributed to rapidly rising divorce rates (The Social Issues Research Centre, 2008). Apart from women’s higher income and ability to take care of themselves, changes in people’s material livelihoods and unreasonable behaviour of partners are also the causes for divorce. Feminists John Stuart Mill protested that the penalty of self-defense by women due to domestic violence should not be that heavy than

a violent man (The British Academy, 2010). What is more, feminism focuses on the rights and freedom of women and rejects the idea of patriarchy which women are oppressed by men. In 1968, there was a women’s movement which has raised the public awareness about domestic violence and sexual violence (ibid.). This has greatly provided refuges and support for women under oppressions.

On the other hand, cohabitation has become a common form of partnership in today society. People cohabitated as an alternative to marriage. The cohabitation rate wasn’t high in the 1960, about 5 %, yet by the 1990s, it has risen to 70% (Haskey, 1995). Social scientists do not view cohabitation can be long lasting as it is fragile. On average, cohabitations usually last for less than two years before breaking up (Ermisch and Francesconi, 1998). Since the proportion of cohabitating unions’ proportions are getting larger than the marriage rate, this composition will lead to breakdown of the traditional families. From the mid-1980s, the growth of this kind of families was possibly regarding to changing attitudes toward pre-marital sex of the young generations, shotgun weddings, and cohabitating is simpler than marriage (McRae, 1999). Lone parent families are more likely to suffer from poverty and imbalance between work and family as the only parent needs to bear the responsibility of child rearing and earn money by themselves at the same time. Also, UK has had the highest percentage of children living in these families in the European Union (15%) and doubled the EU average and just only followed by Denmark (Murphy and Wang, 1999). Nevertheless, “Teenage Mothers” is another “new family” form arise in the society, which has the fastest increase rate than the others from 1969 (Murphy and Wang, 1999). On the face of it, it seems the age of lone parent and family sizes in UK are tend to be smaller than the cases in the past which is definitely connected to the ideological and pragmatic separation of parenthood from marriage

(The Social Issues Research Centre, 2008).

After that, people’s changing attitudes towards sexuality have created diverse family arrangements and one of the most argumentative issue is gay and lesbian families. The term “gay” is often refers to “homosexual individuals, particularly men” while “lesbian” is described as “homosexual women” (Morrisey, 2010). The “Sexual Offences Act 1967” stated legal sex between consenting males aged above 21(The Law Commission, 2000). An ESRC report showed that there are approximately 1,700 same sex couples in Brighton, the highest in the UK at 2.67% of all couples (Duncan & Smith, 2004). What is more, a civil partnership is a legally binding agreement as in 2004, the parliament has passed the “Civil Partnership Act” which gives legal rights and responsibilities to same-sex couples as married heterosexual couples (The Social Issues Research Centre, 2008). Legal process is also set by the act on the dissolution of partnership (ibid.). Thus, these changes are evidence illustrating that the society is becoming more liberalised and the move from conservatism to feminism. Both genders are having equal rights and social status. The situation of same sex couples being discriminated by others have altered since the society is more accepted to it and there are policies to protect them now.

Last but not least, changing attitudes of people is of paramount importance towards the increasingly diverse family life and structures in UK. Accounting for continuity in these changes, Scott and Brook suggested that, most individuals’ held the same values with commitment to their family even in the post-war period, and results in complex attitudinal and behavioural choices. Besides, shifts within the social and economic trends did also contribute to the road of a more liberalized society of UK. In addition, another main factor is the

changing role of women in the family and society. Higher educational qualifications have

increased the participation of women in workforce which also gives them a higher social status.

To conclude, families have fluctuated over time from the traditional nuclear family to lone parent families, cohabitation, same sex couples and teenage motherhood. The tendency to blame for family break-up relates to social, economic and personal attitude and behaviour regarding the issues. There is no doubt that the traditional nuclear family is getting weaker but not the case what people have said about the fading out of the family as most of the people still have a strong family ties in their heart and they have proved family as a demonstration of continuity change.

In this essay, I will be discussing the analysis of the data collected in finding out the possibility of reality television programmes influencing the perception of the youth on matters surrounding them socially, looking at the series, “keeping up with the Kadashians” and using Ugandan youths as a case study. As a method of collecting data, I chose interviews both as a one on one and as a large group interview. I will be discussing the procedure of data collection and data analysis methods of the data collected.

During data analysis, I used the discourse analysis method mainly because I used interviews and focus groups as the data collection methods as it was informative to analyze the discourse of the interaction between the respondents and researcher.

Interviews as a method of collecting data

I chose interviews as the data collection method because they are widely used in the qualitative methodology for gaining an understanding of peoples experience (Evans, 2012). They also provide a means for exploring the points of view of the research subject, thus, granting the culturally honored status of reality (Miller and Glassner, 2011:133).

However, qualitative interviews require a great deal of planning as the absence of a predesigned set and sequence of questions, the interviewer has to prepare to think beyond their feet during the interview. (Mason, 2002:67). In addition, qualitative interviewing operates on the notion that knowledge is constructed rather than straight forwardly excavated (Mason, 2002:63).

There are two forms of interviewing I used, i.e. structured interviews and unstructured interviews. Structured interviews with open-ended questions elicit “authentic accounts of subjective experience” (Miller and Glassner, 2011:131), showing that interviews are very good for collecting data because they offer a researcher true accounts for data analysis. However, radical social constructionists have argued that there is no knowledge of a reality “out there” in the social world, but rather that it can be obtained from an interview. This is because the interview is obviously and exclusively an interaction between the interviewer and interview subject where both participants create and construct narrative versions of the social world (Miler& Glassner, 1997:99 cited in Silverman, 1997).

Interviews construct not just narratives about social world, but the primary issue is to generate data that gives an authentic insight into people’s experience, (Miller &Glassner, 1997; 100 cited in Silverman, 1997).

My previous assignment in which I described the methods of collecting data in researching and rationale of the research topic, was interested in finding out the chances of imported programming content and how it can be used to develop new characters or ways of thinking from the youth in Uganda. Such examples of imported programming are reality television programs, which are aimed at filming people in ‘real time’ as they live out events in their lives, contrived or otherwise as they occur (Nabi et al, 2003:304 cited in Beck, Hellmueller and Aeschbacher, 2012:2-5).

During data collection, I set up three areas of topics to explore. Firstly, how these people made sense of reality programmes and “Keeping up with the Kardashians” in particular. Secondly, how the respondents understood the themes played out in the series and the thirdly, how they related it to their own experiences. I set up several questions to be answered, in some situations however, the respondents did not particularly like being asked many questions individually but could answer them in a group.

In this, several questions were asked during the interview ranging from how they understood reality television down to their perception of the program, ‘Keeping up with the Kardashians’. I found that to prove my hypothesis, I had to ask questions that were more likely to explore the themes and ideas I already had about the programme. Not to impose my ideas on them, but to have something of a debate where the respondents gave me their own views.

As such, I started with the big questions, breaking them down into smaller questions where the smaller questions were supposed to get the relevant issues. I carried out three interviews with different girls and two boys from Uganda. Even though the interview is primarily about female perception on this content, the urge to get a male point of view kicked in because of the male characters in the series where I became interested in hearing their views on their portrayal. My main criterion therefore was any youth from Uganda. Luckily, I did get two Ugandan respondents living in the UK, which made it interesting because they could compare and contrast what they had seen from their experience living both in Uganda and in the UK.

Mason, (2002; 77) suggests that recordings be made as fully and explicitly as one possibly can, the route by which the researcher came to the interpretations they are making. In order to ensure that I was not imposing my own interpretations therefore, I had to obtain ethical approval and maintain a code of ethics before we could conduct the interviews. I mentioned it to the respondents that I would have the interview recorded but that they would remain anonymous which they agreed to. However, some of the respondents had problems with the interview asking what was in it for them to gain and after I told them nothing monetary was to be given, they opted out leaving me with just four respondents. I thus gave them a form to sign and recorded the interview (on the audio device in my phone, Samsung ace).

Method of analysis

The method used in analyzing the data collected is discourse analysis mainly because I used interviews and focus groups as my data collection methods, thus analyzing the discourse of the interaction between the respondents and myself.

Discourse can mean many things depending on different disciplines. In cognitive psychology, it focuses on the use of mental scripts and schemata to make sense of narratives (Potter, 1997; 145). Discourse is a set of meanings, metaphors, representations, Images and statements (Evans, 2012). Discourse Analysis emphasizes the production of the different versions of the world, society, events and inner psychological worlds in discourse (Potter, 1997; 146). During research, I needed to find out how the youth in Uganda perceived programmes such as “Keeping up with the Kardashians”. This kind of data analysis can only be done in the field and not in a laboratory (Evans 2012). Talking to these people and finding out from them what and how they truly feel.

According to a lecture conducted by Doctor Evans, discourse analysis has three approaches namely conversation analysis, interpretive repertories and the Foucaldian discourse,

An interpretive approach, not only sees people as primary data sources, but also seeks their perception rather than impose an “outsider view” (Mason, 2002; 56). Mason (2002; 56) adds that it also supports a study, which uses interview methods where the aim is to explore individual and collective understandings, reasoning processes, and social norms.

Conversation analysis on the other hand aims at studying methods for producing orderly and social interaction (Silverman, 2001:167, cited in Mason, 2002; 57) especially through naturally occurring talk. Foucaldian discourse.

Discourse analysis emphasizes the role of language in the construction of social reality (Talja, 1999) where Michele Foucault says language produces knowledge through doing things such as creating meaning. Language is also produced socially and as well leads to action (Travers, 2001; 84). I would have to understand in analyzing my data how these people make sense of the information they receive from these programmes and what worlds they thus construct. How they understand themselves in this world and how it all makes sense.

According to Harvey Sacks (Travers, 2001; 84), language is a central part in the methods used for understanding things around us and displaying their meaning. He believed that one can develop a truly scientific approach to studying society through studying tape recordings of conversations.

Data Analysis

During data analysis, I described generalized views of the respondents regarding the questions given to them. This is because they were a group of people and I could not give all transcripts of the interviews. The discursive object is the family life portrayal in the programme where the respondents generally agreed that the family members are cooperative, supporting and caring of each other. Family is a priority where they always try to spend time with each other through organizing trips and events.

Regarding how they made interpretations of reality television, the respondents said they knew it was staged but still allowed them see the characters’ daily lives. How I would interpret this that the respondents like the programme because it is appealing, and however much it is staged, they still watch it. For them, it is just another entertainment programme on television.

However, the belief that what the respondents were watching goes on in the characters’ lives meant they did not know much about reality television, which relates to the hypothesis that reality television programmes can be perceived in ways that could have certain attitude changing effects on the youth.

My next questions were on how they made sense of the themes portrayed in this program. When asked about the characters individual roles ,the respondents agreed that the females were the more dominant parties in the family with one respondent going further to say that culturally,’ women are meant to be followers of the men, not the other way round’.

Majority of the respondents said that the mother/wife tries so hard to be there for everybody, which for the respondents is what a good mother should do but that however, she often exceeded her limits. Two respondents said that she was dominating and materialistic as she at times seems to put money making before her children’s needs such as when she urged Kimberley Kardashian to pose for playboy.

The respondents therefore seem to relate what they view on programmes such as ‘Keeping up with the Kardashians’ with their knowledge of what family should be from a cultural context. They are also able to relate to their experiences. Some expressed strong views on the portrayal of family life in the series, stating that the females were the dominant characters giving the impression that women had to have control over not only housekeeping affairs, but also their personal relationships. In line with the state of affairs in characters’ home country, the respondents saw this as a means of spreading female empowerment. However, with the male characters seen as “easy”, as generally agreed by the respondents, it distorted the cultural values they held.

Lastly, on whether such imported programming could be responsible for a change in the attitudes of the youth’s concerning how they view their society, the respondents agreed it would be a long time before it happened. This is because, “it didn’t make sense in real life” and that “it existed on a different level to that back home”. However, that was true for how family life is portrayed and that on an individual level, the programming held some power in “making ‘society’ want to be like them through the clothes they wore” which was fine because it “encouraged females to work harder.”

Strengths and weaknesses of the discourse method

Discourse Analysis emphasizes they way versions of the world, society, events and inner psychological worlds are produced in discourse (Potter, 1997; 147 cited in Silverman, 1997) through systematizing the different ways of talking, making the perspectives and starting points on the basis of which knowledge and meanings are produced, visible in a particular historical moment (Talja, 1999).

Discourse Analysis pays attention to the way in which discourses produce and transform social reality, making it possible to evaluate the practical consequences of different ways of approaching a particular phenomenon (Talja, 1999).

On the other hand, Discourse analysis is much a craft skill because it generates interpretive claims with regard to the power effects of a discourse on groups of people, without claims of generalizability to other contexts (Cheek, 1997 cited in Powers).

Wetherell & Potter (1988), argue that discourse analysts are more interested in the regularities of language use such as the possible kinds of descriptions and accounts of a topic. What kinds of evaluations these descriptions are based on as well as how different modes of accounting construct different versions of the topic or produce different kinds of truths, and what these versions accomplish rather than the processes taking place either in individuals’ minds or in reality.

References:

Evans, A. (2012). Discourse Analysis [online lecture] module M96MC, Coventry, Coventry University available from < http://adrienneevans.com/teaching/m96-research-methodologies/>

Potter. J, (1997) Discourse analysis as a way of seeing naturally occurring talk in Silverman, D. (1997) Qualitative research; Theory, Method and Practice. London, Sage Publications.

Silverman, D. (1997) Qualitative research; Theory, Method and Practice. London, Sage Publications.

Mason, J. ed (2002). Qualitative Researching. 2ed. London, Sage Publications.

Talja, S (1999). Analyzing Qualitative Interview Data: The Discourse Analytic Method Volume 21, Issue 4, November1999, Pages 459-477 [online]

Available from< http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0740818899000249>[07.01.13]

Travers, M (2001). Qualitative Research through Case Studies. London. Sage Publications.

Powers P ( ) The Philosophical Foundations of Foucaultian Discourse Analysis, Critical Approaches to Discourse Analysis across Disciplines 1 (2): 18-34 [online] availablefromhttp://cadaad.net/files/journal/Powers%20%20Philosophical%20foundations%20of%20Foucaultian%20Discourse.>[7.01.13]

Appendix 1

M96 Research in CCM Rehema Nakalema

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