Author: Andre Coleman

Each and every one of us on his way from childhood through adolescence to adulthood has to go through some major physical, emotional and social changes. Ideally step-by-step and through elaborate self-exploration we learn to understand ourselves better and accept ourselves just the way we are. comes to better understanding and accepting himself. as an individual as well as a member of a group. Identity is a very complex aspect of the personality development and has several dimensions, one of which is ethnic identity. Ethnic identity can be defined as a sense of belonging to an ethnic group. Many psychologists like Phinney, Nesdale and Mak note that “ethnic identity reflects not only membership in an ethnic group, but also attitudes and feelings including ethnic pride, the importance of one’s ethnicity relative to other parts of the self, and involvement in one’s ethnic heritage” (qtd. Marks et al. 501). For children of immigrants, the formation process of ethnic identity can be complicated by experiences of intense racial and cultural conflict (Rumbaut 752). Studies of American immigrant families conducted by Phinney et al. suggest that while these young people were raised by parents who are likely to retain the language, values, and customs from their country of origin, they are “educated in the American school system, which emphasizes English proficiency and American customs” (136). Hence, the exploration of the ethnic identity among these children is highly affected by their family ethnic practices as well as peer contacts from different ethnic groups. “The immigrant context provides family and community social environments that heighten” the importance of ethnic identity among children of immigrants (Marks et al. 502).

There is a complex psychological mechanism that underlies the formation of ethnic identity. Children growing up tend to compare themselves to different social groups looking for similarities or differences in such traits as race, nationality, religion, class, language and accent (Rumbaut 760). The more differences they find between them and other ethnic groups the higher level of their self-awareness. Moreover, Cross proposed a framework for ethnic identity development in which “individuals remain largely unaware of their racial identities until they encounter racism, which triggers active identity exploration” (Marks et al. 502). The young adolescents try to cope with the psychological pressure and seek to reduce the social conflict by assimilating (literally, becoming similar) within the certain social group. Whereas, “an alternative reaction may leadaˆ¦ to the rise and reaffirmation of ethnic solidarity and pride” (Rumbaut 767). Hence, there are multiply ways of ethnic identity resolution among second-generation immigrants. Psychologists, who devoted years of study to the problem of ethnic identification among American immigrants have agreed on the three major types of ethnic identity among their children:

This classification is based on the three main reaction to the dilemma of remaining within the sphere of nationality and the culture of the country of origin or breaking out of it altogether into the culture of the host country, described by Child: the “in-group” reaction of those who retain their ethnicity; the “marginal’ reaction of those who combine the traits of both worlds; and the “rebel’, who fully assimilate into American culture (qtd. Rumbaut 787). For some children, mostly of white European immigrants, the acculturation process is so successful, that it puts them at risk of estranging from their family.

Talking about family role in the ethnic identity formation, parents’ attitudes regarding cultural maintenance are one of the most significant influences on the process of adaptation among their children. The results of research with European American immigrants conducted by Alba in 1990 showed that parents who believed that ethnicity is important were more likely to pass these attitudes to their children and promote ethnic identity in them (qtd. Phinney et al. 138). The economic and social status of parents also has a great impact on their children ethnic identity. According to Rumbaut, immigrant parents who are higher-status professionals are more likely to influence their children’s selection of a national origin identity. “In such upper middle-class immigrant families the child may have more reason to associate social honor with and to feel pride in the national identity of the parents” (790). Parents’ involvement in their child social live, help with a school work, support to their interest contribute to his sense of ethnic pride. In comparison, children who reported feeling embarrassed by their parents are much more likely to identify themselves as Americans. A good example is a response of a Philippino immigrant girl to the Olsen’s survey: “Our parents don’t come [to school functions] because they don’t know any English. I don’t even tell them when they are supposed to come. They dress so different and I don’t want our parents to come because the others will laugh at them and tease us. We are ashamed” (qtd. Rumbaunt 753). Overall positive parent-child relationship allow a child to incorporate the culture of his origin to his identity and experience positive well-being, while the conflictual parent-child relationships are associated with difficulties in adaptation process and lower self-esteem among children.

Another highly influential factor in the ethnic identity formation process is language proficiency. Those children who choose to speak English over the language of their ethnic group are much more likely to identify themselves as Americans, and less likely to self-define by national origin. “Conversely, youths who do not prefer English and who report greater fluency in their parents’ native languages are most apt to identify by national origin” (Rumbaut 790). The knowledge of mother tongue may help to maintain the ethnic participation, which reinforces ethnic identity (Phinney et al. 138). So to speak, native language can be a tool of indirect parents’ influence on ethnic identity promotion among their children. Whereas, language spoken outside of family circle is equally important in self-defying process. Proficiency in English helps an immigrant child to assimilate into American society through the peer interaction, school achievements and exposure to American culture through media.

Another influential factor in the self-defying process which is also closely related to the two mentioned above is peer interaction. Although, findings on this matter are somewhat controversial. The amount of time spent with peers from the same ethnic group evidently has a positive effect on the ethnic identity. However the studies of Bakalian on Armenian families in America showed that even when the second generation immigrants broaden their social circle and limit friendship contacts inside their ethnic circle they still retain their already formed ethnic identity (Phinney et al. 139). So the peer interaction is only as important as it provides the means for exploration and expression of the ethnic identity. It also can indirectly reinforce it if the native language is used.

The role of discrimination in the process of ethnic identity formation among immigrant children also shouldn’t be underestimated. Quite predictably the Rumbaut’s research results showed that the respondents who have experienced discrimination in the United States are not likely to self-define as Americans. Even just the expectation of discrimination or rejection based on the race or ethnicity negatively affects the process of assimilation among immigrant children. “Respondents who expect that people will discriminate against them no matter the level of education they may achieve are aˆ¦ more likely to maintain a national-origin identity” (Rumbaut 787). On the other hand in the same survey the refugee groups who have been receiving public assistance from the government highly agreed with the statement that “There is no better country to live in than the United States.” Correlatively they scored highest on the American preferences scale.

Finally, obtaining the United States citizenship status can shift the already formed pattern of ethnic identity (for those children who weren’t born in the US, but who arrive with their parents). It was proven that the citizenship is superior to nativity. It is perceived by an immigrant as a sign of complete acceptance by American society and promotes the preference towards self-defying as American (Rumbaut 789).

Obviously, psychological well-being of immigrant children is highly wired to the process of assimilation and adaptation to the new culture. These children have to go through experience of “living in two worlds and not fully belonging to either” (Greenman and Xie 114). The feeling of alienation to either culture is unavoidable. As we tend to attribute certain values to the groups we belong to the sense of belonging and acceptance by this group are crucial to our self-esteem and self-acceptance. Therefore a healthy sense of ethnic identity is extremely important to the social development and well-being among the children of immigrants. Indeed, these children have tough decisions to make from which language to speak to customs of which culture to follow. While the already hard process of self-exploration can be even more complicated for the children thrown new culture it can also boost their self-awareness giving them better understanding of who they are, what their roots are and where they belong in the future.

Traditionally war has been viewed as an irrational act, brought about by misunderstanding and coordination failure. It has also been seen as something that occurs between nations. Today most armed conflicts occur between groups within the same nation state. And as a consequence, many of the conflicts or mass violence of recent decades have been characterised by the adjective “ethnic”. This means that the leading players were groups opposing one another on the basis of (or so it is assumed) identitarian, religious, linguistic or more generally cultural assertions. Since most armed conflicts occur between groups within the same nation state, once the interests of belligerents are taken into account, conflict may be the product of rational decisions (Boudon, 2003). For individuals, viewing from the outside, the costs of violence often appear to outweigh the benefits; and for society as a whole, violence, though costly, merely redistributes rather than creates resources (Bates, 1997). Violence / conflict is therefore destructive, and ethnic violence particularly so. For these and other reasons, ethnic conflict poses fundamental challenges to any theory based on the premise of rationality (Boudon, 2003). Thus, the recent reassertion of ethnic claims stands as a challenge to the recent rise of rational choice theory in the comparative study of politics.

What are conflicts? Conflicts are disputes about political, economic, social, cultural or territorial issues and they can occur at all levels of social interaction: between/within structures (alliances, states) or between/within agents (groups, individuals) (Avruch, 2004.) Ethnic conflicts are one particular kind of such disputes about political, economic, social, cultural or territorial issues between two or more actors in which at least one of them is an ethnic group that defines causes, consequences and potential solutions of the conflict along an actual or perceived discriminating or otherwise distinctive ethnic divide. Furthermore, ethnic conflicts are situations in which organised ethnic groups take recourse to the systematic use of violence for strategic purposes. There are many ways of classifying theories of ethnic conflict. One such classification entails the rational choice theory, which allows the costs of action to enter into the reckoning and further suggests that ethnic conflict is a product of rational insecurity, -opportunity, or -greed based on rational choice.

The term ethnicity is a relatively recent acquisition in the English language. The origins of the term ethnicity go back to the Greek word for nation-ethnos. In ancient Greek, the term was used to describe a community of common descent. In more contemporary times, according to Glazer and Moynihan, its first sociological use dates back to David Riesman’s work in 1953. Ethnic cognition can be explained and will be examined through the instrumentalist model, which is that individuals shift their identity-consciousness according to the situation. The shift involves employing differing aspects of their particular race/homeland territory; religious beliefs et cetera relevant to their situation. Contrary to instrumentalism is the primordial’s view which entails ethnocentric ways (the favouring of those who appear of similar religion, language, race or lifestyle).

Perceiving the world through an ethnic lens creates reality for many people. This reality is not a false reality; it is the reality on which people base their actions, thus creating patterns of understanding and corresponding institutions (Gil-White, 2008). The question that arises than, is ethnic conflict (in context) which follows from a particular ethnic identity based on an understanding of rational choice or is the concept of relational choice a fallacy in terms of the perceived ethnic identity and ethnic conflict? In other words, are ethnic groups’ rational associations of self-interested actors, or are they irrational ‘primordial’ groupings governed by emotional attachments? (Gil-White, 2008). If ethnic actors are instrumentalists, then new ethnic groups should follow shifting interests, arising and disappearing as suddenly as do purely political or territorial alliances; people should spontaneously switch ethnic identity when it becomes convenient; and it should be more common for new ethnicities to spring forth around changing material interests and concerns, than for ethnicities to persist in spite of costs to their members’ interests.

In order to answer this question it would be momentous to first establish exactly what ethnicity truly encompasses. The concept of identity has been employed to analyze non-instrumental, expressive modes of action that assumedly aid us in understanding participation in social movements (Melucci, 1994). Theorists have been aware for some time of the difficulty of coordinating individual incentives with group incentives. Scholars previously believed ethnic groups or ‘cultures’ to be ‘peoples’ in a unitary sense along various dimensions: ‘ascriptive’ (labelling) ‘moral’ (normative) and ‘cultural’ (linguistic and arti-factual) (Gil-White, 2008). An ethnic group therefore understood itself as such; it was defined by its boundaries (Avruch, 2004). And was labelled by ‘others’ in like fashion, had a particular and distinctive culture (including a dialect), and whose members preferred each other to non-members, in other words; endogamy, discrimination, in-group solidarity, et cetera (Gil-White, 2008). This over simplifies but still captures the more common ‘culture area’ view of ethnic groups.

Reactions against this view of over simplification began with Edmund Leach’s Political Systems of Highland Burma (1954), trailed later by Moerman’s work among the Lue in Thailand (Moerman 1965, 1968) and Fredick Barth’s 1969 introduction to Ethnic Groups and Boundaries (Gil-White, 2008). These studies counter argued that ethnic identities did not map neatly to the distribution of cultural material, and proposed a shift from ‘objective’ indicators of togetherness (group), such as measurable discontinuities in the distribution of arti-factual or ideational culture, towards a more ‘subjective’ focus that relied heavily on the labelling processes of ethnic actors themselves (Gil-White, 2008). The argument entails; in order to have a social identity one must meet ‘the conditions for being referred to by the linguistic expression [the label] that names the identity’ (Goodenough 1965, in Gil-White, 2008). That is to say, the labelling processes are determined by the actors themselves and the [cultural] features that are taken into account are not the sum of “objective” differences, but only those which the actors themselves regard as significant’ (Barth 1969, in Gil-White, 2008). In order to provide evidence for this statement; it was reported that people in the Burma Kachin Hills sometimes switched ethnic identity, this illustrates that the view of ‘a society’ as a ‘thing’ (that is, a bounded whole) was wrong (Gil-White, 2008). Similarly was noted by Barth (1969) in Swat, Pakistan. Some individuals born into the Pathan ethnic group were, later in life, labelling themselves ‘Baluch’ as circumstances made this advantageous. Correspondingly, some Fur in Darfur, Sudan, were taking up nomadism and calling themselves ‘Baggara'(Gil-White, 2008).The evidence suggests that ethnic identity is self imposed and are coordinated with others ‘of a kind’ for reciprocal positive gain. Thus, if I am an A, but it is better for me to interface and network with B’s, I shall acquire a B identity together with B ways of being so as to tap into the B network (Gil-White, 2008).

The Rational Choice methodology consists of systematic evaluation of options through an analysis of the various consequences of the judgments made such as validity, rationality, value assessment and risk aversion (Masri, 2003). Rational Choice Theory provides a methodology for assessing decision-making by using empirical evidence to understand revision and choice, and thus rationalize the inferences and conclusions made (Masri, 2003). In other words, for a choice to be made, an individual must face a set of possible options (her feasible set). It is assumed that given her feasible set, the individual will choose the option that leads to – or she believes leads to- the best outcome. If she has full information about the outcome of her decisions, she will find herself in a situation of certainty and be able to maximize her utility (Masri, 2003). On the other hand, if the information is incomplete, however, she will only be able to maximize the expected utility in a context of risk and uncertainty. In this situation she will attribute an objective or subjective probability to the outcome of her action. This probability is the belief she has about the results of her action (Aguiar, 2002). In other words, If a person chooses X instead of Y it is because she believes that X best satisfies her desires. These internal beliefs and desires, which are subjective, prompt her action. As Boudon formulates it: “any action is caused by reasons in the mind of individuals (rationality)” (Boudon, 2003, emphasis added).Relaying the concept of Rational Choice Theory to ethnic identify or even ethnic conflict, Rational Choice amounts to saying that people who do not really believe themselves to share common descent will nevertheless participate in collective self-delusion because pretending to share such descent is conducive to their common mobilization, which is desirable as it serves common, objective interests, rationally identified. In other words, the rational choice theory perceives ethnic conflict as the result of individuals’ rational pursuit of universal interests such as wealth, power, and security (Mirzayev, 2007). Overall, Rational Choice considers identity as a key concept in explaining social action (Aguiar, 2002).

The basic distinctions between different schools of thought on ethnicity is brought forth by the primordialist school and the instrumentalist view. The primordialist school holds that ethnicity is so deeply ingrained in human history and experience that it cannot be denied that it exists, objectively and subjectively, and that it should therefore be considered a fact of life in the relations between individuals and groups who all have an ethnic identity. In other words, the primordialist view sees Ethnicity and race as deep-seated and relatively fixed. In contrast to this view, the instrumentalist school argues that ethnicity is by no means an undisputable historical fact. Rather, they suggest that ethnicity is influence by rational choice and is first and foremost a resource in the hands of leaders to mobilise and organise followers in the pursuit of other interests, such as physical security, economic gain or political power. In other words, Ethnicity is seen as a resource to be used in times of competition.

In conclusion, the debate between primordialists and instrumentalists are one of stale-mate, so to speak. Both provide truths to some degree. Since ethnicity can be viewed as a group’s culture, traditions, and historic experiences. However, the instrumentalist view validates the concept of rational theory that ethnicities is also dependent upon contemporary opportunities which can be a useful instrument for social, political or economic purposes that may or may not be related directly to their ethnic origins. Individuals identify with a group for many reasons (as was noted above), but one overarching key factor is that the members of a group are by definition participating in a positive-sum game (Basuchoudhary, 2007). Cooperation yields benefits in excess of costs which are shared according to some rule. In interacting with other groups, however, the game frequently is zero-sum – one group’s gains are secured at another groups’ expense. (Basuchoudhary,2007). Participation in positive-sum game is not accidental but a rational choice. Ethnies are collections of individuals sharing a common self-ascription, that common self-aspiration is by choice. Furthermore, Hardin (1995) makes the case that it is possible to align an individual’s interest with a group’s interest, but that such alignment usually is detrimental to the interests of the members of other groups. In other words, successful alignment of self-interest and group interest weakens incentives to cooperate with other groups, which may come to be seen as adversaries. Hardin’s view is consistent with that of a long line of rational choice theorists who have looked at the issue of group identity. Ethnicity follows from rational choice it is only partly based on culture, myths of descent, historical memories, religion, customs, traditions, language, a specific homeland or institutions, it is just as much based on what people believe, or are made to believe, or yearn to have in order to create a sense of solidarity among those who are members of a particular ethnic group, excluding, and at times directed against, those who are not.

In todays world we have one common phenomenon which can be found in everywhere because of some political and sociological situations that our world has. The phenomenon is called as an ethnicity or racism, and normally the problem that we have can be called as ethnic conflict. As we know that conflict refers to some form of friction, discord arising, or disagreement within one specific group or between two different sides. Normally in order to have a conflict, there has to be some relationships, and all kinds of relationships can create one or more conflict in a given society as a group. According to Ross ; “Conflict occurs in virtually all communities, but there are important cross-cultural differences in its levels and forms” (Marc Howard Ross 304). As how Ross pointed out the importance of cross-cultural differences related with conflict, we have to know more detail information about one specific conflict to understand how it started and what kinds of effects does it has. As we know that ethnic conflict also shows a lot of differences from culture to culture. Therefore, firstly we have to define what ethnic or race conflict is. According to Ross ; “The term race refers to groups of people who have differences and similarities in biological traits deemed by society to be socially significant, meaning that people treat other people differently because of them” (Ross 308). Defining one phenomenon is one of the most challenging things, because all experts explain ethnicity or race in different ways owing to their different perspectives and knowledge background. The ethnic conflict mostly can be found in America and Africa continent. According to Payne ; “While it is common to associate racial and ethnic discrimination with blacks in United States, it must be pointed out that there are other groups which have experienced some things as blacks. Such as Native, Mexican, Puerto Rican Americans” (Charles Payne 1). Most specifically I focus on the conflict that America has between blacks and whites as an ethnic conflict, because the historical background of ethnic conflict is very ancient in America. Owing to the conflict that American society had in the past, we can see some irrefutable and irrepressible effects on people who live in America, most importantly on black people. As we know that the problem did not solve since the time period of American Civil War. This is because as I mentioned that the socio-cultural differences and the relationships between blacks and whites have different variables. Since the time of problematic period which can be called as inequality between black and white people or seeing black people as secondary American citizens, nobody can find reliable solutions for this case. Because of this unsolved problem, black American citizens who are also called as African Americans have been suffering both morally, politically, educationally and economically. In this research, my main concern is education related with how African American students are affected by ethnicity and racism in schools. Briefly, black students can be humiliated because of some ethnic problems that they face in their schools and I believe that the successes of African American students are affected by ethnic conflict because of three reasons which are historical background of ethnicity in America, social identity problems that African American students have and the problem of educational utility which is related with how African American students are educated and does the education effective. With these three reasons, mostly I focus on the effects of ethnic conflict in America between black and whites and related with all these information I will try to find most reliable and successful solution way in education to protect African Americans.

First of all, as we know that the historical background of ethnicity in America includes a lot of variables, and related with these factors I believe in the African American can be humiliated. This is because tribes about black people in America which play crucial role in decision making processes which are done by mostly white American people. In America we have general tendency to see African American people as a weak owing to the historical knowledge, A±f we look the side of racist white American people. Firstly, we have to point out that some things have changed and some things have not related with ethnic conflict case in America. According to Jim Wallis ; “What has not changed is the systematic and pervasive character of racism in the United States and the condition of life for the majority of African Americans. In fact, those conditions have gotten worse” (Wallis 198). Basically we can understand that the situations of African American people are still bad and can be worse than how it is now. As I mentioned that the tribes which cause worse conditions of African American people come from the past which is the time period of 1400 and 1500, and the ethnicity / racism started with slavery in American continent. Wallis explains the historical background of slavery very clearly with these sentences; “In the United States, the original purpose of black racism was to justify slavery and its enormous economic benefit. The particular form of racism, inherited from the English to justify their own slave trade, was especially venal, for it defined the slave not merely as an unfortunate victim of bad circumstances, war, or social dislocation but rather as less than human, as a thing, an animal, a piece of property to be bought and sold, used and abused” (Wallis 198). The thing is clear without any doubt, as we can see from Wallis’s thoughts that the slaves in the past were seen as an animal, and they did not have any civil right as human beings. As I mentioned that some things have changed by the time, according to Wallis what has change is described in this way ; “The personal racial attitudes of many white Americans and the opportunities for some African Americans to enter the middle levels of society. The word “middle” is key here, in so far as African Americans have yet to be allowed into most of the upper echelons and decision-making positions of business, the professions, the media, or even the fields of sports and entertainment where black “progress” has so often been celebrated” (Willis 199 ). As how Willis asserts that we have some recoveries, however despite the improvement of black American’s conditions in society, we have one problematic area which is not solved yet. This is also again related with the historical background of ethnic conflict in America. This area is called as education. In brief, historical background of slavery and the tribes that American society has related with racism are two important key feature of racist conflict which can be found in education.

Secondly, as I mentioned that ethnic conflict can be found in education, most specifically ethnic conflict force student to select their sides as an identity and it creates identity problems related with African American students, and also this problem affects African American youths’ academic performance. According to writers; “Although African American youths’ academic performance has received a great deal of attention from both popular media and research scholars much of this attention has focused on how African Americans compare academically to other racial groups” (Ciara Smalls, Rhonda White, Tabbye Chavous and Robert Sellers 299). We always compare the successes of different ethnic groups, owing to this tendency we have little concern about the causes of academic success or failure related with African American students. Rather than compering how Afro-Americans are more successful than other groups or not, we have to focus on the primary causes of academic success which can also be called as academic engagement. According to researches about this case; “Academic engagement encompasses linking one’s personal identity to the roles of student and learner , showing sustained curiosity and interest in class, and displaying intense efforts in learning tasks” ( Sellers et al. 300). However the ethnicity problem sets indestructible borders in front of African American students, because of their beliefs about race and ethnicity. It is explained by writer in this way; “it is likely that African American adolescents’ levels of academic engagement are influenced, in part, by their beliefs about the meaning of race and their experiences with racial discrimination” ( Sellers et al. 300).

Thirdly, educational utility is also main problematic issue which is related to how African American students are educated and does the education effective on Afro-American students despite the ethnic problems that most schools have. According to Rowley; “Educational utility is defined as the value that student places on doing well in school and on getting a good education” (Rowley 4). However in most part of United States, African American students show tendency to lower academic success, and all experts and sociologists like Rowley have been trying to find main causes of this unsuccessfulness. Basically Rowley evolved Cluster Analysis to easily understand the relationship educational utility, African American’s performance and the ethnic conflict’s effects on these students’ academic performances. According to Rowley; “Utility as having two dimensions that are relevant to African American students. The first dimension, idealistic educational utility, is based on the Protestant work ethic-hard work in school is directly related to success and the second dimension of educational utility values, is context-specific educational utility, and reflects the idea that education does not always result in occupational success-that because of discrimination, education is less useful for African Americans than it is for members of other racial or ethnic groups” (Rowley 5). Normally we can understand that we have two different dimensions for African American students. Firstly, hard working in schools like schools which have protestant work ethic can bring success to Afro-American students. Therefore according to Rowley’s analysis, African American students can only be successful in this type of schools. However this analysis also gives counter argument by saying that the context-specific educational utility cannot always be the way of successful education for African American students, this is because of contextual factors such as race, gender, and socioeconomic status constrain the value of education. Basically, we can say that the context-specific educational utility is not suitable as much as others, because the context-specific educational utility component also refers specifically to race and education.

If I take all these point into consideration, I can say that without any doubt ethnic conflict is one of the greatest problem in American society. They have been trying to solve it by using different ways. For example, African American students’ families try to protect their children by providing some new ways against the racial things that occur in American education system by using homeschooling. However educational problems related with ethnic conflict unfortunately is not solved yet. African American students suffer so much. For instance, they cannot take adequate education as much as how White American students are educated. Huge conflicts can be found in America, most specifically in education because of the historical background of ethnic conflict, identity problems that African American students have and the education utility related with how African American students take education and how does education affect their social condition. To solve these conflicts between ethnic groups in America most specifically between blacks and whites in education, we have to know historical background of ethnicity and effects of its on American society very well to find most reliable solution ways.

Ethics in research has been around since World War II and is still to this day a growing concern among researchers. The main aim of the researcher is to

“ensure that their studies are directed toward worthwhile goals and that the welfare of their subjects and their research colleagues is protected.” Alan Kimmel, 1988

There are several reasons why it is important for an investigator to adhere to ethical standards in research. First, some of these norms promote the aims of research, such as knowledge, truth, and avoidance of error. For example, prohibitions against fabricating, forging, or misrepresenting research data to promote the truth and avoid error. Second, since research often involves a great deal of cooperation and coordination among many different people in different disciplines and institutions, many of these ethical standards promote the values that are essential to collaborative work, such as trust, accountability, mutual respect, and fairness. For instance, one particular ethical norm, confidentiality, is designed to protect intellectual interests while encouraging collaboration among the participants. Third, ethical norms in research also help to build public support for research. People are more likely to fund research project if they can trust the quality and integrity of research (this particular example is relevant to the scenario being assessed.) Finally, many of the standards of research promote a variety of other important moral and social values, such as social responsibility, human rights, and compliance with the law

So although all these codes, policies and principles are very important and useful but like any set of rules they do not cover every situation that arises in research, they are often conflicting and require considerable interpretation. It is therefore important for the researcher to learn how to interpret, assess and apply various research rules and how to make decisions about how to act in various circumstances. The vast majority of decision making in the conduct of research involves the straightforward application of ethical policies.

Ethical issues that are encountered in applied social research are both subtle and complex, raising difficult moral dilemmas that, from the outside, appear unresolvable. With these dilemmas the researcher is required to strike a delicate balance between the scientific or social requirement of methodology and the human rights and values potentially threatened by the research.

Privacy and confidentiality are two ethical issues that are crucial to social researchers who request individuals to share with them their thoughts attitudes and experiences. The ethical social researcher is one who is aware of ways in which privacy and confidentiality may be jeopardised and safeguarded and is knowledgeable about the effects of privacy and confidentiality on consent.

“The nature of privacy concerns has changed over time as social scientists have become more involved in identifying social problems and testing possible solutions through field research (Boruch & Cecil, 1979)”

Organisational research focus is directed toward personnel – relating issues, including the testing and appraisal of employees for personnel decisions. In conducting these investigations, researchers and consultants may seek to improve on organisations capacities to achieve various goals (e.g. profit for a business, its employees quality of work life or the impact of the organisation on communities in isolate rural areas.

Evaluation research is a major type of applied research, typically undertaken by social scientists to determine if ongoing social programs are working as they should. Evaluations tend to focus on programs that are beneficial in nature, such as remedial education, health care and job training programs.

The results of an evaluation study, in revealing whether a social program is accomplishing what was intended can have immediate impact on social policy and political decisions regarding the program’s fate – whether it should be continued or stopped, its budget and personnel increased or cut backs made.

There are a number of vested interests in the design and implementation of evaluation studies and because their results are likely to affect people’s jobs, education and health. Like research conducted in organisations, evaluation research raises some unique ethical questions about whose interests are served an whose point of view should be represented during the research process (Kidder & Judd, 1986)

With this particular scenario there are two different situations where ethical issues will arise. Firstly, you begin to suspect that food is being stolen from the kitchen and the viability of the project may be at risk. From a researchers point of view suspicions would need to be backed up with hard evidence. If you were to say to you manager, you run the risk of them discharging you and not allowing you to carry out anymore research – how could you possibly imagine that of any of their staff? Although on the other hand if your manager was to take you suspicions on board and further investigate the matter over a closely surveyed period of time, they may benefit and appreciate your integrity that you hold with the company. In a case like this it is often difficult for the evaluator to separate their research role from their role as a work experience placement student. You have been promised the confidentiality of the staff and if you were to say anything about the stolen food it could affect your research and you rapport with the staff. The staff may turn against you and refuse to cooperate after you telling the boss on one of their colleagues.

Throughout the research you must remember what the objective is and if you remain silent with your suspicions, will your results in anyway end up being bias? This will reflect an untrue outcome and the company could face further scrutiny from the funding body.

There is also the legality aspect for the researcher to consider and stealing is against the law, could you live with yourself if you thought that you were covering up for a criminal, no matter how small the offence was? In failing to voice your suspicions Kimmel, (1988) stated you “legally could face prosecution as an “accessory after the fact” for failure to report a crime.”

If I were to be placed in this situation I personally would confront the manager of the company and explain my situation with regards to my research. I believe that stealing is wrong and should not take place no matter how big or small the offence is. Although I can understand why somebody may not say and not only put their research at rick but their social responsibility.

The second scenario where the researcher will be confronted by ethical dilemmas is in carrying out the interviews with some of the senior citizens that are receiving these ‘Meals on Wheels.’ To carry out interviews you will need the consent of the person involved, some elderly clients may not like the prospect of being intimated with questions. The elderly are of the vulnerable sector in our population and should be informed of why the interview is taking place and the effects that their answers could have on the survival and funding of the business while always remembering the objectivity of the research and expressing it in clarity to the senior citizens. The interview will involve asking how they feel about receiving their ‘Meals on Wheels,’ how they approve of the service and how would they feel if this service was to be taken away from them? This could cause distress and emotional shock among the elderly, especially if they thought that their opinion meant the deciding factor of whether the company received funding to continue its business. Many of the elderly could largely depend on this service and there must be no deception in making them fully aware why the interviews are taken place.

The senior citizens should be made aware that the researcher will be evaluating and publishing their results to the company and will have to give an open and honest account of what has been said in the interviews. The researcher is under the obligation from the code of ethics so as not to fabricate the data in anyway. The researcher, if a member of the local community, may feel tempted to fabricate the interview responses so as the company will receive their funding to finance this project as they realise how vital this scheme is for the elderly in this isolated rural area but as Kimmel noted personnel values may play a significant role in social research, therefore researchers must be careful enough to protect the integrity of their inquiries through careful data collection and analysis and accurate and objective reporting of their research findings.

If I were the researcher in carrying out the interviews I would make the elderly entirely aware of the project and encourage them to see how they are beneficiaries of it. This in return will boost their confidence of the company and help portray a better interview for the research. After all if you were a senior citizen who lived in an isolated area and the only person you may see everyday is the delivery driver of ‘Meals on Wheels’, wouldn’t you appreciate the service? Not only are they providing a food service but they also help to bring a warm and friendly atmosphere into the home.

In conclusion ethical decision making is neither a perfectly rational nor entirely timeless enterprise, and even after a considered judgement about the issues involved in a given situation has been made, doubts about whether or not one’s subsequent behaviour was ethical may remain.

As we continue to proceed with social research in applied settings, we can expect a growing wealth of documentation on the conditions under which certain interventions are successful in reducing certain social problems and on what side effects might be anticipated as a result of their implementation.

To proceed ethically it is important for social researchers to bear in mind that their first obligation is to those persons who cooperate with and participate in the research process, and that it is their interests that first must be considered during the preparatory stages of program development.

References
Kimmel, A (1988) Ethics and Values in Applied Social Research Sage Publications London

The Chinese ideal of a family follows the Confucian belief that the family should be big and complex. The father is to have as many sons as possible so that the son can fulfill his obligations to the father and their lineage [1] .

The family is very important for the Chinese that they even coined the term familism which is “the basis of a kind of society distinctive from any other kind in the world” [2] . This means that whatever the members of the family are doing should be only for the benefit of their family. Because of familism, a Chinese couple feels compelled to have at least one male child. The Chinese believe that having a son will benefit them in many ways and one of these is to ensure that their family line would be continued [3] .

The family in the Confucian view stresses the significance of hierarchy. Confucius also said that in a relationship, one should command and the other should obey. It is now known that the one who commands is the man or the elder, while the one who obeys is the woman or the younger person. The Chinese family is very paternalistic in a sense that it favors the men of the family more than the women [4] .

Unlike in the West, children in China were not as treasured by their parents. They were more of necessities for the families especially in the rural areas, so that they could help their parents with work in the fields. Sons were especially valued because of their ability to provide for their parents and to carry on their family name, something that the women can never be capable of doing [5] .

The men are also the only ones who have direct access to Heaven and they can perform rituals for their ancestors. The one who was in charge of the rituals is called the descent-line heir or the tsung-tzu [6] . For the Chinese, having a daughter would not be beneficial to them in any way because daughters would eventually leave them to join her husband’s family. She would worship their ancestors and serve his family. Having a son would be an assurance to a family; that the son would care for his parents and stay with them even after he gets married [7] .

The men of the family would also inherit the property that is left to them, and there is no way that a woman would be allowed to become heir to what has been left by the ancestors. An example of this would be the opposition of Chu Hsi, one of the most influential leaders of the Learning Way Movement, in his Family Rituals that a daughter cannot inherit her parents’ estate even when she had no (more) brothers. A woman, without brothers, inheriting the property of her parents was a Sung practice, but Chu Hsi emphasized that the males should be the ones inheriting the properties because if it were women, then “such property would be obtained ‘inappropriately’” [8] .

Everyone knows about how China is becoming more developed and as a result, the population of China has been growing rapidly. China had to do something about the population growth because the government was not able to meet the needs of the citizens anymore. To add to that, death rates were also declining. The government had different programs to prolong a couple from having a child such as encouraging them to get married late. This policy was implemented to answer the problems of overpopulation. Couples who abided by the policy would receive incentives, while those who decide to have more than one child would have to pay the sanctions [9] .

China’s one child policy was launched in the year 1979 by former Premier Deng Xiao Ping [10] . The main purpose of this policy is to stop the rapid population growth of the country that was clearly evident during the year 1949, when the population was nearly half a billion, the same time when the Chinese Communist Party was establishing itself and thought that this concern would hinder development [11] . The policy was not supposed to be permanent but because it was successful, they decided to continue implementing it. It was also not applied to all places in China. Places that do not practice the policy are Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and in total only about 40% of the Chinese population practice the one-child policy [12] . The policy itself is not fully unreasonable since it had a practical purpose of controlling the population growth which was certainly necessary at that moment. The only time it gets out of hand is when the Chinese norm of favoring sons enters the picture. The fact that a family has to have only one child is absurd. How can the government of China expect to control millions of families in the country? Is this even possible?

In the urban areas, people found it difficult to resist this policy because of their social and economic conditions as well as the strict ruling of their leaders during that time. However, this is not the case in rural areas wherein active resistance could be seen everywhere. This is because of their children’s contribution to the typical Chinese agricultural family and “for their role in preserving the family line”. Because of the unfairness of this policy, a lot of people resisted in three forms: first was when the targets confronted the implementers of the policy; second was the escape from the policy by either “deceiving rural cadres or colluding with sympathetic ones”; third was to appear to be complying with what the state wanted but defying them at the same time. This means that the state succeeds when the couple would obey the state’s policy of having only one child (even if they want more), but the same couple would “reveal the influence of a counter-discourse that challenges the state’s ideological claim to dominate child-bearing” when they practice female infanticide. Couples would then resort to ultrasound technology, wherein a rural or urban couple can “engineer the sex” of their baby [13] .

The problem of population growth can be seen mostly in rural areas since “80 per cent of China’s population is rural and 87.2 per cent of births” occur there. The government tried to reason out with the peasants regarding the change in family size but they were not successful in changing their minds. By the year 1970, incentives and penalties were introduced as part of the two-child policy campaign. These were even highlighted during 1979, when the one-child policy was finally launched [14] .

Why the Chinese peasants preferred to have a large family is due to economic reasons. They felt that having a large family would bring more advantages for them, as compared to having only one child. The advantage would be that the family would receive “an allocation of grain distributed on a per capita basis”. The same goes for the allocation of land that is why people in the rural areas can expand their homes when they expand their families [15] . Sometimes, these children would help their parents by gathering materials related to the maintaining of the land such as water and fuel. They would also feed the animals and weed private plots. These tasks could be done even by children, thus it helps the parents prepare for the more rigorous chores. Their children are also the only large-scale investments of the peasants because sons join the work force and they eventually have to provide for their families [16] .

The preference for sons is also evident in the rural areas because they continue their family line, whereas most of the women get married outside their village, live with their in-laws and join their labor force. This preference is also reflected in a survey conducted during the year 1981. The participants are those couples who had a second child. 42.61 per cent of the 1000 participants had one son and 57.39 per cent had a daughter. When they were asked why they had another child, 50.5 per cent said that they wanted a boy and only 11.4 per cent said that they wanted a girl. This clearly indicates that majority of the respondents prefer a son over a daughter [17] .

Because they had to, the people from the rural areas used different methods to postpone the creation of children. Some relied on the low cost methods of contraception such as IUD and the second method is sterilization. However, those with only one child have a hard time using this method because they would consider having a second child in replacement of the first one just in case the first one dies or becomes disabled. They do not take pills that much because it is more expensive and supply could be a problem for them. In some rural areas, particularly in Sichuan, vasectomy was used. Both men and women had more complaints regarding the side-effects of this method because the men claimed to be “losing their strength”. However, this method became very effective because Sichuan was most successful in reducing its birth rate. There was also induced abortion, which was originally just a back up method and was not really meant to be an independent option for contraception [18] .

Despite the resistance, people still follow because there would be incentives and penalties enforced just to make sure that no one will go against the policy. Among the many incentives are a nutrition allowance, a full adult grain ration and free medical, educational and kindergarten facilities for the child. An example of the penalties on the other hand is the deduction of the couple’s income by 20 per cent from the time the second pregnancy is discovered but this 20 per cent will be returned to them if they had the child aborted. There are times when a couple is allowed to have a second child. Among these are if the first child suffers from a disability that would hinder him from working or if both are overseas Chinese who have just returned from another country [19] .

The policy was more successful in the urban areas than in the rural areas. This could be due to the aim of the government “that 95 per cent of the married couples in the cities and 90 per cent in the countryside will have only one child” so that by the end of the century, China could limit their population to about 1.2 billion [20] .

As early as 1955, family planning was being enforced in the urban areas of China [21] . Chen Da, a pioneering demographer, emphasized that people who received education overseas would more likely have less children because they have a background on birth control [22] . The people from the urban areas were more open and accepting of the one-child policy because for one, there were efforts to raise the status of the women by letting them enter into the labor force. Child bearing and rearing are not the only things that a woman is bound to do with all the work that she has [23] . The Chinese from urban areas also see children as more of an “economic liability” because it requires a lot of effort, attention and resources (like money) to raise them but these children contribute little to the lives of their parents [24] .

Different families have various practices or methods to get rid of a daughter. One of these is female infanticide or “the intentional killing of baby girls” [25] . The couple will resort to female infanticide to try their luck again hoping that they would get a boy the second time around (or kill the girl when the mother gets pregnant with a boy) [26] just so they could comply with the policy that was being implemented [27] . There are also hospitals in China that have “contraceptive technical guidance institutes”. These institutes have lower level workers who are trained in the four operations which are “tubectomy, vasectomy, insertion and removal of the IUD, and induced abortion” [28] . IUD and sterilization are widely used in China; in fact, as many as 50 per cent of the Chinese rely on IUDs and sterilization is the second most widely used form of contraceptive method [29] .

Partly because of these methods, it became possible for China to control its people. Again, the motive of preventing overpopulation is not a bad thing. In fact, it would be helpful to the government so that it could rule the country better. However, is this inhumane policy the only option that they had? Is it really success that they are achieving? Would they call this successful when they know that there are innocent babies killed along the way?

The Chinese may have controlled the growth of their population but they are also encountering problems as they go along with their one-child policy. This policy has prevented around 4oo million births, according to Chinese officials [30] . Because there are fewer children that are born, there is an expanding population of the elderly. This is a problem because there would be less number of young laborers in the future when the elderly die [31] . Another problem is the ratio of men and women because men have been outnumbering women already by about 60 million. This imbalance between men and women would make it difficult for the former to look for wives; therefore they can result to human trafficking of women and children [32] .

The policy is even crueler because of the inequality between men and women. The government has been addressing this issue saying that men and women must be equal at all costs and that this equality has to be promoted through media. People who commit infanticide, those who neglect or abandon their children or any act that would harm people especially female babies must be punished [33] . If the government really means this, then they could already stop with the payment of fines for having more than one child and just have a law against female infanticide, or better yet just abolish the policy.

Unfortunately, the Chinese will still be continuing this policy in the coming decades to control the population growth in their country [34] . According to the official and minister of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, Zhang Weiqing, China will not make any changes for about another decade because it has been effective in controlling their population growth. Since China’s population is growing by 17 million per year (according to China Daily as of 2008), abandoning the policy would have “major fluctuations in population growth”. Officials said that the one-child policy was the only choice that was available and realistic at the time of the construction of the policy, but they are now considering amendments to it, but abolishing it would cause many problems [35] .

The Philippines is also experiencing an event that is quite similar to the policy that China has implemented on its country for a long time. There may be many people in the Philippines, but they are still able to live their lives normally because the resources are sustaining them. There would be no poor people if only there was equal distribution of resources to all the Filipino people. The church also claims that poverty is not because of overpopulation but is due to the irresponsible and corrupt government that the country has [36] , but what exactly is overpopulation? As defined by Merriam Webster Dictionary, overpopulation is “the condition of having a population so dense as to cause environmental deterioration, an impaired quality of life, or a population crash” [37] .

The option that the lawmakers are considering is the Reproductive Health Bill that “promotes information on and access to both natural and modern family planning methods, which are medically safe and legally permissible” [38] . The difference of this from China’s one-child policy is the variation of the Filipino and Chinese mentality; that the former does not favor any gender because Southeast Asian countries tolerate both genders. The cause is the same-which is to control population growth, but the motive is different because while China intends to just control their population, the Philippines aims to eliminate poverty by controlling the population growth.

The cause may be reasonable but some parts of the bill are disadvantageous to the lives of the Filipinos, especially the Filipino women. Some institutions are supporting the RH Bill like the National Council of Churches in the Philippines or NCCP, saying that the Reproductive Health Bill does not necessarily promote anything illegal such as abortion [39] . However in the bill, it is said that women with post-abortion concerns will not be treated differently [40] . Does this mean that the government will still tolerate abortion even if they mentioned in the bill that abortion is illegal? Is what the NCCP saying about the bill not promoting abortion true?

Another is the mandatory sex education for elementary students [41] . Some parents have a difficult time explaining to their children about how they came to life or even talk about sex with them. Usually parents would wait for the right time to educate them about these things so that the child would understand better. If the law requires mandatory sex education, then these children will be more curious and try to experiment things and be exposed at a very young age.

Just like China’s one-child policy, the RH Bill may have a good purpose but its execution and some of the policies in it are not beneficial. The bill promotes responsible parenthood [42] –but does this responsibility involve the choice between having the baby and having the baby aborted?

If there is the belief that the Philippines is overpopulated, then why not use this to our advantage? Why not use the money for creating jobs instead of spending so much on contraceptives (or letting the corrupt officials keep the money) that will not bring any benefit to a person’s life? Our religion is also different from the Chinese. Filipinos do not see their children as economic liabilities because Filipinos are more emotionally attached to their children. The punishments in case of non-compliance stated in this bill will also have a great impact in the lives of the Filipinos who are compelled to comply with the provisions [43] .

Filipinos must be alarmed that there is so much poor people because the population is rapidly increasing that is why they are assuming that the country is becoming overpopulated and we need to solve this problem. However, the Philippines does not need the RH Bill because the country is not overpopulated. There is the assumption that poverty and overpopulation are connected, and by controlling the population, poverty will be reduced. According to Simon Kuznets, a Noble Prize Winner and author of Population and Capital Growth, there is no clear connection between overpopulation and economic development [44] . Places such as Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan are overpopulated but still flourish. The population density of Taiwan is 1,460 per square mile but CIA’s “World Factbook 1999” stated that “Taiwan’s per capita gross domestic product is $16,500” [45]

What the Filipinos need is a better and more capable government instead of implementing an unnecessary law. As for China, they are also starting to question their own policy [46] and because they are already having doubts, then it is best that they reconsider executing it for another decade. By doing this, China would cease to harm innocent human beings and prevent the Philippines from following the footsteps of China in putting something unethical into practice.

1. The first major ethical concern we encountered in this exam period was that of Watson and his “Little Albert” study. The modern code of ethics denounces evoking fear responses from human participants, unless the participant has been made aware of and consented beforehand. As an infant, Albert was obviously unable to give consent and also unable to realize that what he was taking part in was controlled research. Scaring a child to the point where he is visibly terrified and crying seems unequivocally immoral. I take more issue with the fact that Watson didn’t remove the fear in Albert by de-conditioning him, even though he had time to allow for it. The impact of the study might justify ethical wrongs it committed. It is one of the most influential studies on phobias of all time, paving the way for counterconditioning (Cover Jones) and other therapies that have allowed millions of people to overcome incapacitating fears and emotional issues.

Another case briefly covered this exam period was the study done by Schreiner and Kling on Kluver-Bocy Syndrome. The syndrome is a behavioral disorder that typically occurs as a result of damage or malfunction of the amygdale. In carrying out their research, Schreiner and Kling removed the amygdale of cats and monkeys (Squire 201). This research led to a greater understanding of the brain and the importance of the amygdale, but obviously came at a cost to the animals involved in the testing. Modern research by Rusiko Bourtchouladze has shown the syndrome to hinder the ability to understand feelings and emotions. He describes how they lose their desire to compete or cooperate and an inability to detect sadness, disgust, fear or rage (Bourtchouladze 83). This is in addition to highly unusual sexual practices and various memory and recognition problems. The research was illuminating, but in retrospect, leaving an animal with a disorder in the process seems unethical and avoidable.

The last psychologist I’ll highlight is Harry Harlow, one of the most ethically controversial figures of modern psychology. The knowledge he attempted to gain from his research was noble; understanding the caretaker-child relationship and how this relationship leads to certain behaviors and abnormalities in the child’s maturation. The execution, however, is highly unethical by today’s standards. Many of the monkey’s Harlow experimented on were severely traumatized by their time in the research lab. Harlow employed devices such as his “rape rack” to artificially inseminate monkeys and also a “pit of despair” to produce isolation and depression. In addition, he purposefully tried to evoke fear responses in the animals and admitted to physically abusing some of the subjects. It really doesn’t come as a surprise that many of the subjects of his studies were left permanently psychotic upon the completion of the research.

As ethically deplorable as Harlow’s studies may seem today, the impact of his studies do seem to justify their moral impropriety. The influence and impact of Harlow’s studies are high; they helped improve and educate society about parenting. Many of those from my father’s generation grew up with limited intimacy and affection from their parents. My dad told me that his father rarely showed any sort of physical affection towards him, never once hugging him or telling him that he loved him. The work of Harlow helped illuminate just how important contact comfort and affection is in the relationship between a child and its caregivers. This principle has also helped positively shape the methods used in dealing with children that have been abused and children in orphanages. Furthermore, some study had to be the one that led to a major push in ethical reform of psychological research. Harlow’s highly unethical treatment of his rhesus monkeys was a major factor in the animal advocacy movement and also in the creation of the American Psychological Associations code of ethics. Harlow was wrong, but the publicity and attention he brought to his studies had the side effect of revealing some of the improper and unethical practices that had been occurring within psychological research.

Bourtchouladze, Rusiko. Memories are made of this: how memory works in humans and animals. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002. Print.

Squire, Larry R.. The history of neuroscience in autobiography . Washington D.C.: Society for Neuroscience, 1996. Print.

2. In contrast to the dominant thinking of the time, John Watson’s behaviorism relied only on observable behav­ior for its information. His “Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It” is now known as the “behaviorist manifesto” and is one of the most influential documents in the formation of behaviorism. The prevailing school of thought in psychology at the time relied heavily on introspection, but Watson did not believe introspection to be objective enough to be measured and accurately portrayed as science. In hoping to increase this objectivity, he took the focus away from enigmatic mental processes and placed it on empiricist principles that sought to predict and control actions. Emotions to him weren’t understandable through introspection but rather as a response to a stimuli. One of his major pieces of research was his study of Little Albert. Albert, an infant, was exposed to a white rat which he showed no visible fear towards. Watson then began accompanying the presentation of the rat with a loud noise. Eventually Albert was conditioned to associate the two; even when the noise was discontinued, Albert kept his fear response when presented with the rat. This study verified to Watson that conditioned reflexes could be used to explain behavior and that psychological research should be rooted in observable stimuli and responses to these stimuli.

Skinner was a proponent of a school of behaviorism called “radical behaviorism.” In many ways, his behaviorism, which focuses on operant conditioning, has supplanted the behaviorism of Watson. Skinner was focused on behavior as a function of schedules under which rewards are attained. Rather than the reflex focused theory of Watson, Skinner incorporated more the role of consequences in behavior and conditioning. Many human and animal actions can’t simply be explained as reflexes. Writing this paper, for example, is not a reflex and the stimuli that govern it do not precede it. Rather, it is influenced by what follows it, its consequences, such as a good grade and the outcome of a good grade. Of interest to Skinner in understanding behavior are the types of reinforcement we get from our actions. Positive results from a behavior will typically increase that behavior and negative results will decrease it. One of Skinner’s famous studies was that of superstition in the pigeon. Placing pigeon’s in a box that would release food at regular intervals, Skinner found that the pigeons associated the release of the food with whatever coincidental action they had performed as it was delivered. The pigeons would then repeat this action, believing it to have an effect on the releasing of the food. This study helped continue to cement Skinner’s belief in and support for operant conditioning.

Tolman rejected Watson’s reflex based form of behaviorism. He felt that mental processes could be objective and measurable in the same way physical ones were, broadening behaviorism to incorporate the psychological concepts of purpose and cognition. To Tolman, learning does not have to manifest itself in performance, nor is reinforcement needed to connect stimuli. For Tolman, reinforcement is not the essential aspect of learning that Skinner claims it to be. Rather, we can learn things latently and then use them in a flexible manner that may not necessarily be immediate. He used studies involving rats and various mazes to demonstrate that we can learn even when rewards are not present. Rather than a rigid model based in automatic responses, Tolman saw us as creating tentative, cognitive maps that indicate to us routes, paths and relationships that are relevant to goal orientation. His theory of goal-directed behavior focuses on an organism’s behavior, what it is attempting to accomplish with the behavior and where it is going. Tolman also took Skinner’s idea of a “third variable” (a variable other than stimuli and response) and tweaked it to suit his own form of behaviorism. Rather than something external in the environment as Skinner posited, Tolman’s “intervening variable” was something mental occurring within the person or animal, such as hunger, motivation, intelligence, or intention.

A June 2002 survey by the Review of General Psychology chose Skinner as the most influential psychologist of the 20th century and I agree. He is often credited with the change in terminology for renaming academic psychology departments “behaviorism departments” during the 1950’s. His work is highly influential in academia, psychological treatment and therapy, and the understanding of learning, education, communication, and human behavior.

3. The person in psychology that we have covered in class that has resonated most with me is Morton’s study on skull size and it’s use to justify racism. Morton conducted an extremely biased study where he found the skull size of Caucasians to be largest and North American Indian and Africans to be smallest. His study prompted many to believe that Indians and blacks were of a different species and, in a highly Christian influenced culture, that the bible was not directed at them. This implied that African and Native Americans were not destined to heaven as their Caucasian and “Asiatic” counterparts were. His ethnology was accepted as a way to justify racism and slavery against the Africans who were forcefully brought to the U.S. against their will for labor. In regards to the “Indians”, their mistreatment was justified since they were looked at as savages or a subhuman race. In this theory, it was believed that the size of one skull is the decisive factor in terms of one’s mental capacities and belief system where a larger skull is most desirable.

Even if skull size was an accurate way to determine intelligence, it is obviously not true that all Caucasians would have larger skulls than all blacks. There might be some Caucasians with small skulls and blacks with larger. He was selective in choosing his subjects though where he had more women for the groups that were supposedly inferior since generally, women have smaller skulls sizes than men. This produced his desired outcome.

This was a landmark study because racism had existed long before this study was published. It still continues today after this study was found to be erroneous. At the time of the study though, Caucasians justified the mistreatment of other races. They were inferior and lacked the intellectual capacities so it was not immoral. It was found though that Morton only used data that supported this conclusion and rejected data that might counter his argument.

It is interesting that after this study was found to be false, other eugenic studies have come out insinuating that whites were superior. (Herrnstein and Murray’s The Bell Curve comes to mind as a modern example.) These studies show the way the human mind operates. It is obvious that there was a sense of guilt in the mistreatment of other races. The only way to justify these actions to God would be through science where treating an inferior group poorly would not be immoral. The inferior group would not understand this mistreatment. Morton’s study also shows that the groups doing the mistreating knew that what they were doing was not right. They knew that it was not moral to forcefully remove a race and ultimately annihilate it as they did with the Native American race and on the other hand, forcefully bring another race in a country, stripping them from their families, to act as slaves. Another way that the Caucasian race showed their sense of superiority was through the assimilation of other groups. Many Native American tribes were forced into boarding schools where their language was forbidden, converted into Christianity, and forced to embrace western culture. They did not believe the Native culture to be as refined or sophisticated as theirs.

This study seems absurd through the 21st century lens however it was widely accepted at the time. Racism still exists today in more subtle ways. The American Dream is supposedly attainable for all yet there are still disproportionate numbers of whites at the top and racial minorities at the bottom in terms of wealth. Success in this country is determined by factors that are biased towards the upper class Caucasian group. It is possible for other races to be successful but there are more barriers to entry. For one, racism makes some racial groups believe that they are not good enough to make it to college or top jobs in a self fulfilling prophecy. It is disheartening to think that the remnants of this study, however absurd they seem, still negatively affect the “out groups” today.

5) In class we discussed different cases in which scientists have cheated. There are different reasons why these scientists cheated but all are for personal gain or simplifying their studies. The types of cheating are data fabrication, selective exclusion of results, plagiarism, and ‘ghost-writers’. We see these same types of cheating in our world today whether it is in our peers, ourselves, our government, or large corporations. Comparing the case of Kammerer and the actions that resulted in the 2008 government bailout, we see two instances where data fabrication occurred.

In Kammerer’s studies he was trying to prove that acquired traits could be passed down through heredity. Today this is known not to be true but Kammerer proved it through cheating in a study with toads and nuptial pads. The nuptial pads were acquired when toads lived and mated in an aquarium. He claimed that the offspring of these toads who lived in aquariums and acquired the nuptial pads were born with the pads as well. It was later found that he had actually injected the offspring with ink to imitate the nuptial pads to support his theory of heredity of acquired traits. Kammerer committed suicide and in a last note, he stood by his word that he did not commit fraud but was suspicious of someone who manipulated his study.

During the financial crisis many large financial institutions were selling securities that they knew were not good investments to their clients. Selling these securities would give them money in the short term. In the long run though, they lost money and many organizations had to declare bankruptcy. They claimed that the government had to bail them out otherwise the whole country’s finances would collapse, which arguably happened anyway. The average American was defrauded into debt through the credit rating system. The ratings are used by investors to determine the risk of the credit ideally making the costs lowest for both borrowers and lenders. Financial products and investments were given high grades even if they were risky or bad investments. The low interest rates were an incentive for Americans to buy things they simply could not afford through borrowing. Often times the bankers would bet against an investment or loan that they gave a high rating to. This would give them more money if the loan failed.

In both cases the motives involved personal gain. In the Kammerer case, he wanted to make a landmark discovery that would put him down in history as one of the greatest scientists. He did not directly have innocent victims but could have misled the public to believe that something was possible that was not. Also, being a scientist, he should have known that future studies would be done involving his theory and would undoubtedly find his theory to be false. In the case of the large financial institutions giving bad loans and falsely rating investments, their incentive was to get more money for themselves regardless of who would suffer. The United States was the victim in this matter causing the greatest recession since the great depression. People lost their savings and homes. The perpetrators were not punished and should have been.

I found the latter case to be far more problematic with fewer consequences. The financial institutions did not seem to have any sort of guilt since it was a large umbrella organization and not one single individual as in the former case. Kammamer obviously felt guilty about his actions and took his own life as a result. In that case tangible things were not taken but rather a false idea was put in the minds of the public. In the latter case, many people lost everything they had. Their careless actions caused many people depression in the aftermath. The individuals on Wall Street failed to perform their job and made the American people pay for their mistakes through their losses and in the tax dollars they used in bailing them out.

Durkheim and Links Between Suicide and Solidarity in Society

Emile Durkheim’s third piece of work was, ‘Suicide’ published in 1897 and was a case study of which the title describes. A subject that Durkheim was very interested in along with suicide rates and the aspects of social life which had an impact on these statistics. Durkheim’s own definition of suicide was ‘applied to all cases of death resulting directly or indirectly from a positive or negative act of the victim himself, which he knows will produce this result’ (Durkheim, extract from ‘Suicide’ p110). This instrumental piece of writing looked more closely at the sociological reasons behind taking ones life rather than the personal or psychological reasons.

Durkheim gathered suicide rates and statistics from many European countries and these were analysed and played a large part in his beliefs that, changes in social solidarity were linked to suicide rates. He also offered his theoretical opinions on the social aspects that also, played a part in these suicide statistics and this essay shall delve more deeply in to the links between suicide and the changes in social solidarity.

Emile Durkheim was a great believer in sociology, social facts and the aspects of social life that shape our actions as individuals, things like the state of the economy, religious influences or family. (Giddens, 1997). Social facts were important to Durkheim and he believed they ought to be studied seriously and as objectively as any other science. Durkheim was fascinated at how society was changing and transforming. That the very things that were important to society and glued it all together, values, morals and customs were changing with the times and to Durkheim this played a part in his conclusions on suicide and their rates. Durkheim spoke of society having ‘sacred character’ and the emergence of ‘sacred symbols’. These were a key part of his theory.

Durkheim focused much on social solidarity, he describes this as the belief systems and institutions which play a vital part in giving societies ‘coherence and meaning’ in the way we relate to each other. As society changed it created new social situations and along with these came, what he called ‘social conditions’. These were things like severe neurosis and mental fatigue. All coming about as one type of society ends and another is born. He accounted several reasons for the changes in society, the boom of mass media, the vast increase in the use of steam power and scientific rationalism.

Durkheim explained that morality was at the heart of social solidarity and it’s when social cohesion is lacking when those all important symbols, like religion and family, that bind us all together in a moral manner, fall to the wayside. These things taught us how to relate to one another and on their demise, society and how we achieve social solidarity demises also. In Durkheim’s words ‘when society is strongly integrated, it holds the individual under it’s control’ (Durkheim,1982, Excert from ‘Suicide’ p209).

Durkheim makes a distinction between mechanical and organic solidarity. The first of which is what he considered to show the traits of a more traditional society. The division of labour was of a more simple nature and individuality was less common. He claims there was a far more ‘collective consciousness’ and religion and god played a far bigger part in society. Mechanical solidarity occurs when individual differences are minimized and the members of society are much alike in their devotion to the common weal (Lewis A. Coser, 1971, Masters of Sociological Thought, p 30).

Durkheim talks of legal codes and how when crimes are committed, they are offensive to the masses, not just the individual. In this type of society crimes and criminal behaviour are punished in a most serious way, sometimes even by death. In Durkheim’s’ own words ‘an act is criminal when it offends strong and defined states of the collective conscience’ (Division of Labour, p 80). This contrasts strongly with how things are in this day and age and indeed when Durkheim noted changes in society, ‘But today, it is said, punishment has changed it character, it is no longer to avenge itself that society punishes, it is to defend itself.’ (Division of Labour, p 86).

Organic solidarity is related to a more modern society, where things are less traditional and things like family and religion are no longer at the very heart. This is a more capitalist society and has a high division of labour and specialised skills. The collective consciousness is less so and individuality is far more common. Social differences are obvious via class, race or gender. Specialized activities, different ways of living and individual dependence are all more common than within mechanical solidarity. Durkheim talks of the differences as individuals and as groups and thus a new form of social solidarity is born. Organic solidarity, presupposes not identity but difference between individuals in their beliefs and actions. The growth of organic solidarity and the expansion of the division of labour are hence associated with increasing individualism. (Giddens, p 77).

Durkheim’s use of an organic analogy explains how he comes to use the term ‘organic solidarity’, Society becomes more capable of collective movement, at the same time that each of its elements has more freedom of movement. The solidarity resembles that which we observe among the higher animals. Each organ, in effect, has its special physiognomy, it autonomy. And moreover, the unity of the organism is as great as the individuation of the parts is more marked. Because of this analogy, we propose to call the solidarity which is due to the division of labour, organic. (Division of Labour, p 131). Durkheim believes that the division of labour, the rights given over more to individuals and that the division of labour was not a natural occurrence that benefited society and this is why organic solidarity was born.

Durkheim spoke much on social solidarity and the division of labour. He argued that the process of transcending from mechanical to organic social solidarity was the very cause of ‘new social and economic institutions and relationships’. A more complex and specalised division of labour had not given the outcome Durkheim had predicted. He expected it would result in social economic meritocracy and this was not the case. Class conflict was one outcome of the division of labour.

Anomic division of labour, Durkheim explains, happens in times of economic, commercial or industrial crisis. The unusual situation of conflict may occur between capital and labour and this would be seen as a non usual situation. Organic solidarity begins to break down and a state of anomie occurs. Forced division of labour happens when the division of labour does not continue organically. People may begin to act in ways that are aimed at protecting themselves or their position and constraints in place can cause inequalities between gender, race and or class.

Durkheim’s interest in suicide and suicide rates within Europe stemmed from his belief that sociology could explain ‘social malaise’. He believed it was the path to modernity that caused social malaise. He also believed that psychology and neurology could only ‘diagnose’ the problem not expose the social genus of condition. His interest in suicide was also stemmed from the division of labour in more modern societies and the importance of social solidarity on people.

In another of Durkheim’s writings, Rules of the Sociological Method, he talked about the concept of anomie. Within his research he studied the suicide rates between catholics and protestants. He concluded that more protestants committed suicide than catholics did. His explanation for this was that catholics being more god fearing. and having more ‘social control’ than protestants, stopped them from committing suicide as often as protestants did.

Durkheim believes that the more ‘social integration’ people have then the less likely they are to kill themselves. Those who have little social integration, less involvement in society, are more likely to kill themselves before they become a serious drain on society. According to Durkheim, changes in the modern world occur at such a speed and with such intensity, that social difficulties are born and these are what he link to anomie. A feeling of aimlessness or despair provoked by modern social life. (Giddens, (1997)

It seems that part of this research could have been flawed. Durkheim didn’t take in to account the guilt and shame that often came with Catholicism. Many times in the past catholic families would not declare their dead family members as having committed suicide for fear of not being given a proper burial or the shame faced by other members of the community. Therefore the statistics at that time could perhaps have been skewed down to these facts.

Durkheim believed that the issues of social solidarity could well explain some of the reasons why people committed suicide. He believed those less involved and or couldn’t identify with society were at risk of committing suicide or indeed those over involved with society too attached or unattached to the rules, morals, values and belief systems of society.

Durkheim spoke of different typology of suicide, the first being Egoism and Altruism. Egoism suicide is when a person forms very little attachment to society. They can’t see any worth in their own lives and suicide feels like a last resort.He claimed married people committed suicide less than people who were single and this was the typology that the protestants versus catholic rates would fall under.

Altruistic suicide is the opposite effect. It’s when a person develops an over attachment to the collective goals of society. He said this type occurs when people who belong to a tight knit group begin to feel threatened and in turn these types of suicide can almost be seen as honourable. More relevant today with suicide bombers, cult members and samurai’s. Durkheim described it as ‘self destruction in defense’.

The second typology of suicide was anomic and fatalistic. The first being related too a person having a sudden and stressful change in their life circumstances. This could be from divorce to financial ruin, those who once held wealth and prestige and then faced to lose it all and become unemployed would perhaps commit anomic suicide. Fatalistic suicide, Durkheim explained was ‘an intense over regulation of an individual by society’. Therefore the types of people who may commit fatalistic suicide are slaves, prisoners of war or in earlier times perhaps women who remained unmarried or without children. Durkheim didn’t consider this type of suicide to be common in the modern society.

Durkheim’s work has been much accredited over the years. It was one of the largest studies carried out in a sociological perspective on suicide. His research methods and use of rates and statistics was innovative at the time it was carried out although as was the case with catholics versus protestants in regards to suicide rates, he did fail to take in to account the natural guilt that came with Catholicism. Some claim Durkheim’s approaches are too positive and or functionalist in nature. Durkheim puts huge emphasis on social facts and perhaps via this he fails to look more closely at personal phenomena. Others have claimed that Durkheim’s’ theories were not empirically supported . Durkheim’s’ work undoubtedly was remarkable in nature and offered a stunning insight in to suicide and the changes of social solidarity.

Several psychological theories have attempted to provide a definition of identity and an explanation of the processes that develop it. Many theorists see identity development as a means for an individual to explain the present as a bridge from the past to the future, agreeing that identity consists of both individual and social elements. This essay aims to consider the contributions and implications posed by two different associated fields of study; the Erikosonian Psychosocial tradition and Social Identity Theory.

Erikson’s Psycho-social method was the first identity theory to provide an explanation between our self image (psycho) and the others in the community (social). He proposed individuals must have a stable sense of ‘core identity’, as failure to do so would mean the individual may be subject to an ‘identity crisis’. This is not to say that people must never experience a conflict of interest between individual needs and social demands. In fact Erikson argued that only by the successful resolution of these ‘normative crises’ is the achievement of identity possible. He went on to identify eight stages in this life-long development of identity, marked by a distinct conflict, for which successful, normative crisis resolution would result in a favourable outcome. According to Erikson, the most important conflict takes place during adolescence, the fifth psychosocial age. Here the individual re-evaluates everything that was established in childhood by enduring “psychosocial moratorium”. During this socially approved period of uncertainity, the indiviual can experieent with dfferent scial roles and consquently personality, self concept and self worth, may all be altered.

Psychosocial Theory is a persuasive model. It is both accessible and relevant, resulting in Erikson being highly regarded amongst psychologists. He has been described as a visionary, providing a basis for the work of James Marcia on different forms of identity. The theory is still relevant in today’s modern life, due to its “utility in many professional arenas [such as] clinical, theoretical and empirical” (McKinney, 2001). Erikson has had a huge impact in child development, resulting in teachers, parents and counselors drawing on ideals of his to support their work. Theorists such as Mary Ainsworth, who studied attachment in infancy explained concepts similar to those of Erikson, offering credibility to his work. The approach has been useful for understanding and explaining how personality and behaviour manifest, and therefore has become a much-used tool in dealing with conflict managent and in general self-awareness. It also provides a convincing explaination for many current issues, such as bullying in school. During stage 5aˆ¦. and current racial issues and why it can cause so much aggression and understanding of motives behind terrorism.

However the theory does not go without criticism. Santrock (2004) highlights research which suggests that identity formation does not begin or end in adolescence, that the conflict is notably less dramatic than proposed, and that in fact some individuals go through their teenage years without any real problems at all. It therefore seems that erikson may have placed too much emphasis on adolescence. This maybe due to erikson’s own personal experiences having an effect on his interpretation of results. His young life was fraught with problems, not least being tall and blond and living in a jewish neighbourhood, with a jewish step-family. This need for acceptance and the conflict associated with being different became important themes in his theory. aˆ¦aˆ¦aˆ¦aˆ¦Based on field work, so reliable as in own environment; He studied combat crises in U.S. soldiers during World War II, child-rearing practices in Native American communities and social behavior in India.

There are two basic problems with the pychosocial approach to identity. Firstly that large social group were ignored beause although Erikson believed person and social were interlinked, he treated them separately. And secondily Erikson focused on individual identities to explain how people identitfy with indivudal groups.

Sit:- 700 words – get down to 200!

social identity theory (SIT) aims to resolve some of these problems highlighted with the pychosocial tradition, by producing a social rather than individual focus on identity, empahsising on the way we compare ourselves to others. concerned with when and why individuals identify with, and behave as part of, social groups, adopting shared attitudes. Tajfel, the founder of the theory, directly challenged the eriksons concept that group behaviour could be explained by looking at the psychology of individuals. He studied the relationships between people and proposed two separate sub-systems; Personal Identity (describing oneself as a friend or parent for example) and Social Identity (in instances such as referring to gender, race or religion). Their alternative theory suggested a distinctive level of collective psychological processes. This meant that people acted as group members as well as individuals. Their central idea was that behaviour and identity operated on a continuum based on situation, ranging from the highly individual and unique at one end (purely interpersonal), to the collective and common at the other (purely intergroup).The theory’s fundamental idea is that identity is drawn from selfcatagorisation, when describing characteristics from our social group. This provides labels for ourselves, in turn provding rules for our behaviour. The category in which we place ourselves is called the “ingroup”. There is a sence of elitism and a tendency to exclude others; the “outgroup”. Tajfel research aimed to consider this discrimination between the groups, by proposing superficial differences, he split participants into inial groups and subjected the to aˆ¦.he concluded that this was sufficient enough to generate predujices. This has been demonstrated, for instance in one example where school boys were placed in groups based on preference for abstract painters such as Klee or Kandinsky. Even using this trivial basis for grouping, and despite the fact that the school boys didn’t know who was in the groups, the boys allocated more resources towards ingroup members than outgroup members. In addition, the resources were given to other individuals in a group instead of the group as a whole, so the boys were not just giving resources to themselves out of self-interest.[13] This experiment was especially interesting because it challenged other models of intergroup interaction which are based on the idea that discrimination between groups happens because there is a clear reason for it, such as a competition for resources or a conflict of interests between the groups. Sit proposes that the reason for this discrimination is because of the need to belong to a group, taht are distinctive and have a high status, it boosts self esteem by making the other group inferior however sit argues that the resistance to this prejudice can result in some individuals seeking to iprove their status by using social obility or leaving behind their soial group. Others may attept social change, by social creativietly, a redefition of the group or through social competition, actively dmenading alternative social ideas in regard to a particular group.

People don’t like being in the out goup; so one answer is Moving to another group, but requires social mobility to be practicable. For instance, this may be viable in the case of social class or a job, but not so much in groups based on race or gender for example. Social mobility is at the individualistic end of the social behaviour continuum suggested by social identity theory.At the other end of the continuum, group level strategies focus on direct competition. But for this to be possible, there needs to be a belief that change is genuinely possible as well as desirable. In addition, group members need to perceive the current relationships with other groups to be unjustified.Finally, if neither of the above two options are viable, members of groups wishing to change their status may decide to compare themselves using different criteria where they compare more favourably, or focus on comparisons with a different group compared to whom they fare better. People can also choose to redefine the negative elements of their group identity, or even redefine the group identity itself. These actions are not as effective as the others described above, but do allow group members to contend in a small way with the undesirable current perception of their group.

Good bits

Attepts to explain prejudies and self esteem, where erikson did not.

Self-categorization theory grew from Tajfel and Turner’s early work on social identity. It is a development of social identity theory, specifically in the part of the relationship between group behaviour and self-concept that describes the social cognitive processes that create social identity effects. The theory describes how people define themselves at a group level but also at an individual level.[4][15] It considers group and individual identities to be at different levels of self-categorization, and more distinct from each other than social identity theory does. For instance, individuals can have several different group identities (e.g. gender, occupation, or nationality) and also several different individual identities depending on context (e.g. how someone considers themself as a male or how they consider themselves compared to their colleagues at work).[16][17] This concept of a hierarchy of different identities replaced the continuum in social identity theory, and allowed an individual an unlimited range of identities based on context.[18] The salience of a particular group identity is based on how accessible a categorization is to an individual, and how well it fits the social context (e.g. bearing in mind what the individual wants to achieve with their behaviour, or what they did last time they were in the situation). For instance, when discussing political issues in a conversation, nationality may become more salient.[19]

Bad triviualise issues such as diability

Ethical ?

Labtest unreliable?

Can results be applied to real life stuations.

Some criritces cos it trear groups as indivudals (see bx on pg 66)

Conclusion:-

Although Erikson’s theory of identity development is widely cited, other theories provide important knowledge about identity and its development. However Eriksons’ work is as relevant today as when he first outlined his original theory, in fact given the modern pressures on society, family and relationships – and the quest for personal development and fulfilment – his ideas are probably more relevant now than ever. Erikson was keen to improve the way children and young people are taught and nurtured, and it would be appropriate for his ideas to be more widely known and used in day-to-day life, beyond the clinical and counselling professions. Erikson’s psychosocial theory is. As with any concept there are critics, but generally Erikson’s theory is considered fundamentally significant. Erikson was a psychoanalyst and also a humanitarian. So his theory is useful far beyond psychoanalysis – it’s useful for any application involving personal awareness and development – of oneself or others. Social learning theories expand the constructs of self concept and self worth as the basis of self description in late childhood. Cognitive development theory describes the age-related processes leading to a child’s limitation before adolescence and competence during adolescence for establishing identity. Researchers investigating Erikson’s theory of identity development have provided important modifications to the theory.

Equality Rights Feminism

Equality – a term associated with fairness, cohesion, and rights – has been an important goal for various theoretical movements that have formed in Feminism. The debate surrounding equality has and continues to be of concern at all different levels – feminism arose as a response to the inequalities between men and women. The question of equality itself puts up a parameter of analysis and critique that allows for investigation and speculation.

To ponder equality, is to enlighten the senses to explore the possibilities of what is known, what needs to be done, and who or what is involved in seeking equality – it challenges the word as well as the people framed within it. Catharine MacKinnon states that “Feminism is the discovery that women do not live in this world, that the person occupying this realm is a man, so much more a man if he is white and wealthy” (367). With this in mind, feminist movements emphasize the importance of every women’s position in social and political spaces.

Various feminist movements can be used to achieve equality. However, each perspective provides a different contribution in obtaining such equality. Feminist theories of the liberal, Marxist, radical, and postcolonial perspectives all cover certain aspects of inequality while limiting in the acknowledgement of another. The integration of these perspectives will allow for a truly beneficial equality for women.

Liberal feminism is a stance that argues for women to have equal rights to men and to achieve individual autonomy. They propose a model of individual autonomy by fighting for the right of women to have educational opportunities and to obtain a career that is outside of domesticity. This is part of their main focus of their strive for women to have the same rights that men hold “naturally” – men being the gender of privilege and power (Whelehan 29). Liberal feminists are interested in the politics of law to maintain equality between women and men.

From this perspective, equality for women is achievable but due to the nature and intensity of its movements, liberal feminism is considered as a starting point for equal rights and freedoms guaranteed to each individual. It takes a more “soft” lobbying approach to fight for the equal rights of women to those of men as they try to refrain from any direct challenge to institutions that cause them to be unequal. They would like to change laws but stay within the boundaries of institutions as they prove to be valuable to many women.

Imelda Whelehan points out that the “liberal perspective on state intervention in people’s lives also proved problematic, since state support was crucial to many women’s lives, and any shrinkage of its services would probably mean that their living standards deteriorated” (34). As a result, liberal feminists were caught between fighting for women’s rights and expressing their victimization that is due to their differences in biological sex. Moreover, social change is restricted because if the current liberal state was overthrown, the male-dominant liberalistic status quo would be disrupted and many services provided by the state (especially services provided to women to improve their living standards) will be in jeopardy.

Combining liberal thought and feminism provides many contradictions because their beliefs do not apply equally to both male and female due to the constraints of reality. If males and females are given equal rights (as hoped by liberal feminists), there will be strains on both sexes in terms of gender roles within and outside of the economy as well as an emphasis on the females biological anatomy of giving birth.

As a result, liberal feminism’s concept of equality is an ideal that is contradictory due to reality, personal benefits, and environmental constraints (such as the state, education, and family needs). It is important to realize that this does not necessarily prove liberal feminism as an ineffective approach to equality. In fact, liberal feminism is the most widely known feminist movement in today’s society. The liberal feminist movement can be seen as the basis and the starting point for the fight towards gender equality. However, this approach needs to be combined with other perspectives for a more effective outcome.

Another effective approach to strive for gender equality is to analyze the problem through the Marxian framework. Marxist feminism emphasizes that capitalism and patriarchy are organizing devices that hinder the contemplation of having a society that is equal between genders. They argue that class is a major factor that creates the division between men and women. In other words, the hierarchy system of class produces inequalities by placing power in the hands of a few while oppressing others that do not have this privilege.

Marxist feminism focuses their attention on women’s position in labor and in the capitalist system – women’s participation in the home and in wage work. Heidi Hartmann states that “the problem in the family, the labor market, economy, and society is not simply a division of labor between men and women, but a division that places men in a superior, and women in a subordinate, position” (7). As a result, Marxist feminists take on a revolutionary approach to overthrow capitalism in order to dismantle male privilege [really really really good clean cut statement].

They recognize that women are subordinated as a class and that women’s unpaid work in the home needs to be acknowledged because “women at home not only provide essential services for capital by reproducing the labor force, but also create surplus value through that work” (Hartmann 8). Moreover, Marxist feminism recognizes the social and historical context of all women’s work in paid and unpaid labor. By acknowledging women’s participation in society, women’s contribution will not be taken for granted hence elevating their gender status. Equality can therefore be achieved in a capitalistic sense.

While the liberal approach focuses on gender equality in rights before the court of law, the Marxian perspective takes on a capitalistic approach strengthening women’s status in the economic system. These two approaches aim to fight for more power for oppressed women but, at the same time, they lack focus on a major source of this oppression – the problematic male-dominant gender system. Radical feminism is useful in analyzing this issue as it focuses on patriarchy as the source of gender inequality.

This binary gender system is seen to be a social construct that serves as the basis of gender inequality. Radical feminists argue that men’s privilege oppresses women though social institutions and cultural productions. As a result, men’s dominance over women is seen to take on a social hierarchy that produces unequal power relations. They stress that social organizations created male domination, which has forced upon society a type of thinking that is “malestream.” Moreover, violence towards women and the objectification of women’s bodies have placed women in a position of exploitation and victimization.

Radical feminism coined the slogan “The personal is political” to emphasize that individual experiences brings out political issues that need to be addressed and acknowledged. They take on a revolutionary approach in that social and political changes are necessary in order to overthrow the structural framework of inequality between men and women. They argue that “individual female identity and experience [is] the first step to collective revolution” (Whelehan 36).

Acknowledging female identity apart from the structural gender framework will allow the female gender to break free from “malestream” ideals. In other words, the elimination of this gender system will possibly bring the two genders into equality.

Another feminist movement that aims to challenge existing social norms and constructs is postcolonial feminism. This movement focuses on rejecting all foundational thought that is known and used as truth. They argue that this truth is constructed and created by the powers of those that are the colonizers (middle-class, white males) who have power over the colonized. Moreover, this truth becomes part of the universal – it is accepted to be true with little or no questioning.

As a result, postcolonial feminist reject universalizing principles because it marginalizes those that are not part of the norm. Leela Gandhi argues that a “comprehensive dismantling of colonial hierarchies and structures needs to be matched by a reformed and imaginative reconception of colonized society and culture” (82). Postcolonial feminists stress that women are situated in a “double colonization” in which they are oppressed as women and colonized people as well as constructed as sexual objects.

A reformation of the constructed male-dominant society should take place revamping all social norms that naturally set women as the subordinate. By destabilizing the colonization, ideals on gender that are taken for granted will be overthrown granting an opportunity for women to be acknowledged in society. With an increased level of appreciation of women’s contribution, equality between the genders can be achieved.

With the unique standpoint of each perspective, inequality issues regarding different structures of society can be understood better. Each of these perspectives is effective in their own way as they all aim to bring equality between the genders. By incorporating the multiple perspectives, equality can be achieved to a certain extent. The issue of equality is based on people’s perspectives and the social contexts these people are positioned.

No matter how hard these feminist movements try to strive for equality, gender differences will continue to exist – biological differences can never be eliminated. If “absolute” equality is achieved, men and women will be seen as equal and existing protection for female’s biological differences will be removed. Protection such as laws regarding birth right allowing women to be released [better word?] from work for a recovery period is beneficial and should not be revoked due to “equality.”

In a sense, rather than relieving female victims from oppression, this “absolute” equality may cause even more distress for the female community. With this in mind, achieving absolute gender equality should not be the main goal of feminist movements. These perspectives should be used to help strive to seek for the acknowledgement of women’s position in society. Equality does not necessarily have to be achieved in order for females to obtain a better life. Providing respect and recognition for the female gender will be more useful and beneficial.

Based on people’s perspectives/attitudes and the social context people are positioned
Equality may or may not be possible
Possible for certain sectors but women still needs more rights (ex. birth ? biological difference)
May agree/accept certain aspects of a feminist perspective but don’t have to accept all of it
All these feminist perspectives has helped strive to seek equality for women and have made significant contributions to the acknowledgement of women’s position in society
Liberal and radical both aim at giving women more rights
Even if they strive for equality, gender differences will still exist no matter what (biological difference)
Would should still have more rights and be protected for those differences
Works Cited

Gandhi, Leela (1998). “Postcolonialism and Feminism” in Postcolonial Theory: A Critical Introduction (81-101). New York: Columbia University Press.

Hartmann, Heidi (1981). “The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism: Towards a More Progressive Union.” In Lydia Sargeant (Ed.) Women and Revolution (1-41). Montreal: Black Rose Books.

MacKinnon, Catherine (1985). “Pornography, Civil Rights, and Free Speech.” In Rosemary Tong (Ed.) (1999) Feminist Philosophies. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Whelehan, Imelda (1995). “Liberal Feminism: The Origins of the Second Wave” in Modern Feminist Thought (25-43). New York: New York University Press.

Question Three:

Discuss the potential and limitations of feminist theories with respect to the analysis of gender and sexuality. Compare several perspectives and then draw your own conclusions about this issue.

The social stratification of our society has placed boundaries on all aspects of our lives. With deeper exploration of these constructed issues, multifaceted debates arise in feminism. Moreover, by looking at the social organization of the everyday, feminist theories are able to take a closer look into the complex views surrounding gender, sex, and sexuality. It is important to make a clear distinction between the concepts of gender, sex, and sexuality to understand the underlying message that each of these words conveys – each concept has a particular meaning and construction to its term.

Gender is often referred to as the social construction of our identity of being “man/masculine” and “woman/feminine” (sometimes known as being “gendered”), whereas sex pertains to the biology of our species (male and/or female). Heidi Hartmann eloquently emphasizes that “we are born female and male, biological sexes, but we are created women and man, socially recognized genders” (16). Sexuality, on the other hand, refers to our emotional and intimate relationships (heterosexuality, homosexuality, and bisexuality).

The work of liberal, Marxist, radical, postcolonial, lesbian, and third wave feminism all have considerable overlap in their analysis of gender, sex, and sexuality, but each of these perspectives has its own central focus. As a result, the dissimilar concepts have always resulted in contrasting debates. It is beneficial to analyze the potentials and limitations of each of these feminist theories in order to fully understand the complexity of gender, sex, and sexuality. The integration of these various perspectives will provide a deeper understanding and awareness of the diverse issues that our social structure tries to mask.

As a mainstream feminist movement, liberal feminism claims that differences in gender are not based in biology. They believe women and men are not very different due to their common humanity. As a result, they argue that women and men should not be treated any differently under the law – women should have the same opportunities and legal rights as men – by striving to eliminate laws that differentiate people by gender (Whelehan 29). Liberal feminism has the potential of slowly changing people’s attitudes toward gender and sexuality by increasing women’s participation in what is known to be male occupations as well as encouraging support networks for women.

They also provide great contribution by socializing and educating the young with gender-neutral terminology. However, liberal feminism is limited in their focus – there is too much emphasis on the macro and very little on the micro. The private sphere of women’s experiences in their home is not brought to the forefront. As a result, many troubling issues such as domestic violence and marital rape are not spoken about. This limitation undermines liberal feminism’s goal to have men and women being treated equally. The silencing of the private and personal life has hindered the individual autonomy and freedom of speech of women – women’s domestic and sexual lives become unacknowledged (Whelehan 38).

Moreover, Imelda Whelehan states that there is a “limit to how far liberal feminists will ‘pry’ into individual’s private social/sexual choices” (38). As a result, they do not directly challenge capitalism (the main contributor to the oppression of women), which undermines the idea of changing the institutions that maintain gender bias and censors sexuality.

Whelehan also emphasizes that liberal feminism is problematic in that its views are predominately white, middle class, heterosexuals – this ignores women who do not inhabit what is a relatively privileged social position (41). Although liberal feminism has created conditions to fight for equality, it is only a stepping stone for the other feminist theories that follow – it is limited in the macro and public realm of politics.

Another way to approach the problematic concepts of gender, sex, and sexuality is through the Marxian perspective. Marxist feminism suggests that the dual system of roles as paid and unpaid workers in a capitalist economy is the reason behind women’s oppression. They argue that in the workplace, women are exploited by capitalism whereas in the home, they are exploited by patriarchy (Hartmann 5). Moreover, women have fewer economic resources due to their low paying wages as compared to men.

Heidi Hartmann argues that sexist ideology has adopted a capitalist form in that patriarchal relations bolster capitalism – the subjugation of women in the private and public sphere has allowed for the continuance of patriarchal and capitalistic needs. Women’s work is devalued even though they are the major source to an efficient economy – they are caregivers, housekeepers, and work for the paid marketplace. Marxist feminism greatly focuses their analysis on gender being a source of job segregation that exploits women as paid and unpaid workers in the workplace and in the family.

They argue that women are subordinated as a class and that “the problem in the family, the labor market, economy, and society is not simply a division of labor between men and women, but a division that places men in a superior, and women in a subordinate, position” (Hartmann 7).

However, Marxist feminism is limited in its macro analysis of society because the individual and private lives of people (especially the exploration of sexuality in regards to producing products of capital) need to be analyzed. It covers feministic issues within the economic system but, due to its limited framework, it is inefficient in addressing problems surrounding individual issues that women are facing in today’s male-dominant society.

To analyze these problematic individual issues, the radical feminist framework has proven to be effective. Radical feminism is a conscious-raising group that addresses intense debates surrounding issues of women’s everyday lives. They argue that “the personal is political” in that the “original and basic class division is between the sexes, and that the motive force of history is the striving of men for power and domination over women, the dialectic of sex” (Hartmann 13).

Radical feminism are greatly concerned about violence towards women due to the depictions of women as sexual objects to be used, abused, and produced in the mass media. Catharine MacKinnon argues that “maleness is a form of power and femaleness is a form of powerlessness” (369). As a result, according to radical feminism, patriarchy results in the sexual exploitation of women through social control and construction.

However, radical feminisms limitation is that the creation of a women-only space includes particular “women” while excluding those that do not conform to certain gender assumptions such as transgenders – it creates another form of power. This exclusion will lead to another type of inequality and oppression that will once again damage society as a whole.

The liberal, Marxist, and radical feminist perspectives all focus on the major structures that act as the basis of society’s gender concepts. Postcolonial feminism, on the other hand, challenges the gender blindness that is masked in traditional colonial history – it focuses on problematic gender concepts rather than the major structures behind them. In traditional thought, the “Third World Women” is represented as the colonized women of nonindustrial societies and developing countries who are brought into civilization by imperial, patriarchal domination of Western and European masculinity.

Feminist postcolonial theorists argue that the basis of these women’s gender and race places them under imperial circumstances of being women of “double colonization” – “Third-World Woman” are seen “as victim par excellence – the forgotten casualty of both imperial ideology, and native and foreign patriarchies” (Gandhi 83). This is problematic because the “Third-World Women” are placed in contrast with Western woman as opposites, othered, and marginalized – a position of inferiority to ones gender of not being a dominant, white, middle-class woman. Leela Gandhi exemplifies that this “implied cultural lack of the ‘third-world woman’ fortifies the redemptive ideological/political plenitude of Western feminism…seen yet as another object of Western knowledges, simultaneously knowable and unknowing” (86).

As a result, postcolonial and feminist theories challenges discourses that are about women by highlighting the anti-colonial gender blindness and to acknowledge “Third-World Woman” as a voice of difference instead of an object to be silenced by the power and privilege of colonialism.

However, postcolonial feminism is limited in that, like the above perspectives, a more macro-level of analysis is taken whereas the micro-level analysis of sexuality. Postcolonial feminism focuses their attention on the social organization of the “third-world woman” in relation to colonial practices and exploitation.

Lesbian feminism, unlike other perspectives, acknowledges the oppression of compulsory heterosexuality. By challenging traditional norms and heterosexuality, they fight for both women’s and homosexual rights. Lesbian feminism has the potential to combat homophobia by empowering women to explore sexuality and to understand of heterosexual relationships.

They argue that the diverse range of “woman-identified experience” needs to take into account the history and individual experience of each woman’s life (Rich 648). Adrienne Rich argues that compulsory heterosexuality is not examined but accepted as the “sexual preference” of our society (633). As a result, the perspective of lesbian feminism has implications of dismantling compulsory heterosexuality by recognizing the central truth of women’s history in that the “preference” of heterosexuality has been “naturally” imposed on women and that “women have always resisted male tyranny” (Rich 652).

It allows women to move away from the prescribed scripts produced by the distorted lie of compulsory female heterosexuality as “normal” and a “preference” – a form of liberation for all women. However, lesbian feminism is limited in that they do not address the power issues may still exist in lesbian relationships just as they do in heterosexual relationships. It also neglects larger oppression issues that are bringing distress to the female gender.

Contrasting other perspectives, third wave feminism guides their analysis towards a more micro perspective and emphasizes that individual identities are unique and complex. They strive for women to have agency and acknowledge that female sexuality is a form of power to express oneself. They find the category of “woman” to be problematic because, as stated by Himani Bannerji, women’s issues should not be located on a broad and generalized way of “Woman – a singular yet universal entity” of patriarchal social construction (48).

Third wave feminism embraces sexuality and the act of sex as fun rather than deviant or dangerous. They see themselves as empowering and as women of choice. Third wave feminism appreciates and views the internet as an important source for opening up lines of communication and support networks for young scholars (Alfonso and Trigilio 7). They stress the importance of speaking and writing about individual personal experiences in order to resist universal assumptions. However, this is limiting in that they do not evaluate certain issues that arise.

Third-wave feminism provides a more micro-approach to analyze everyday conversations. This can be problematic because the specificity of these conversations becomes hard to apply to societal issues. In Rita Alfonso’s dialogue to Jo Trigilio, Rita acknowledges that a “political generation can account for subject positions across historical waves of feminism, as well as for the existence of two relatively distinct waves of feminism (9-10).

However, Trigilio stresses that the use of “political generation” needs to accompanied with concerns about which groups are empowered to give them a voice (10). Trigilio also fears that there is becoming less class-consciousness in third wave feminism and highlights the increasing problems of academic discourses (written in a form that is only accessible to a few and again oppresses).

All perspectives have their own unique qualities that provide insight into the deeper issues that underlie our social and political structures in society. Each stance is beneficial to our understanding even though they are limited due to their specific nature. The combination of liberal, Marxist, radical, postcolonial, lesbian, and third wave feminism will allow us to recognize the historical shifts of these perspectives – all these perspectives have risen at certain points in time due to societal issues concerning gender and sexuality.

Society is a gradual process that slowly finds acceptance in issues (especially in sexuality) that surface as a result of progressive movements that fight for change. The problematic issues surrounding gender, sex, and sexuality have always brought a lot of distress to women in society. On a larger scale, these problems exist in the economical, political, and patriarchal aspects of society. From a micro viewpoint, domestic oppression and heterosexual gender ideologies are also the concerns of the female gender.

Sexuality is a major concern because not only is it seen to be deviant but talk of having sex is seen to be sacred. Instead of finding pleasure in explore ones sexuality, traditional ideology has oppressed the talk and the act of engaging in this private and personal sphere of the individual. Historically, many issues were shunned because of dominant discourses but over time, it has been a gradual movement to give rise to these issues that were always present. By incorporating the multiple perspectives discussed, society can continue to evolve and move towards better social structures and norms that will help improve the living standard of the female gender.

Works Cited

Alfonso, Rita and Jo Trigilio (1997). “Surfing the Thrid Wave: A Dialogue Between Two Third Wave Feminists.” Hypatia 12, 3: 7-16.

Bannerji, Himani (1999). “Inroducing Racism: Notes Towards an Anti-Racist Feminism” in Thinking Through: Essays on Feminism, Marxism, and Anti-Racism (41-53). Toronto: Women’s Press.

Gandhi, Leela (1998). “Postcolonialism and Feminism” in Postcolonial Theory: A Critical Introduction (81-101). New York: Columbia University Press.

Hartmann, Heidi (1981). “The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism: Towards a More Progressive Union.” In Lydia Sargeant (Ed.) Women and Revolution (1-41). Montreal: Black Rose Books.

Rich, Adrienne (1980). “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence.” Signs 5, 4: 631-660.

MacKinnon, Catherine (1985). “Pornography, Civil Rights, and Free Speech.” In Rosemary Tong (Ed.) (1999) Feminist Philosophies. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Whelehan, Imelda (1995). “Liberal Feminism: The Origins of the Second Wave” in Modern Feminist Thought (25-43). New York: New York University Press.

Indigenous Australians have poorer education rates compared to their non-Indigenous counterparts. The ABS reveals that 39% of Indigenous Australian students stayed on to year 12 at high school, compared with 75% for the non-Indigenous population. Less than half of indigenous adults (22%) had a vocational or higher education qualification, compared with 48% for the non-Indigenous Australian population. Although the situation is improving slightly, (with significant gains between 1994 and 2002) these results illustrate inequality between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

Unemployment rates are also a problem in Australia, more so for Indigenous Australians. As of 2002, the average household income for Indigenous Australian adults was 60% that of the non-Indigenous average. The 2006 census showed a large gap regarding unemployment rates between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, with Indigenous people being 3 times more likely to be unemployed compared to their non-Indigenous counterparts.

Data from the 2002 NATSISS also indicated that Indigenous Australians were twice as likely as their non-Indigenous peers to be a victim of violent aggression, with 24% of Indigenous Australians reported being a victim of violence in 2001. In 2004, Indigenous Australians were 11 times more likely to be in prison with 1/5 ( 21%) prisoners in Australia being Indigenous-Australian.

A study by the ABS in 2009 revealed the estimated life expectancy at 67.2 years for Indigenous men (11.5 years less than for non-Indigenous) and 72.9 years for Indigenous women (9.7 years less than for non-Indigenous). It shows a difference of about 5 years to the previous figures but at the same time, points to another issue of inequality.

Studies in the 1960s reveals, among Indigenous Australians, a high rate of infant mortality of around 100 infant deaths per 1000 live births. In following years, there was a steady decline to around 26 per 1000 by 1981, with much of it due to improvements in post-neonatal mortality. While this can be seen as slightly promoting equality between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, the latest statistics reveal that Indigenous infant mortality rates are consistently around two and a half times the Australian average, an obvious example of inequality in this area.

The key to improving indigenous lives is education. Photo: Terry Irwin

The major difference between equality and inequality is very simple – education. Family circumstances and genetics play their part, but the be all and end all to eradicating inequality is a good education.

It is the one essential ingredient above all others that would raise the indigenous communities of northern Australia out of poverty and Third World conditions to an equal place with white Australia – equal health, equal wealth and equal status.

As indigenous leader Noel Pearson said recently, ”indigenous education is a shameful failure”.

There is no colour divide in maths, physics, world history, geography or languages. Nor to the guaranteed opportunities education brings. The only barrier is the ability to deliver it quickly enough, in enough quantity and quality to make the transformation. And it does need to be done quickly – we are already 200 years behind time.

Pearson calls for two new methods of delivery: a change in the governance of indigenous schools; and a departure from centralised public education delivery in favour of independent publicly funded schools like those known in the United States as charter schools.

This is no easy solution. Cultural barriers, poverty, misunderstandings and a chronic lack of infrastructure are real problems, but they are all within our capacity to solve. If for no other reason, our pride as a nation should drive us.

We are justly proud of our athletes and sportsmen, our business men and women, our actors, painters and scholars. But while we parade our successes on the world stage, just a few words bring us crashing down: “You allow your indigenous people to live in poverty and ignorance. On that matter you are by world standards a huge failure.”

We are extraordinarily accomplished and generous in bringing many different cultures from around the world to live peacefully and successfully in this country, yet we cannot accommodate our own indigenous culture.

The delivery of well-educated, indigenous VCE students to universities and TAFEs can be achieved on two levels. Our top schools, both public and private, receive a fortune in government funding and commonly see about 90 per cent of their students enrol in university. They should take on the task of educating the brightest indigenous children.

I once chaired a lunch meeting at which principals made clear their embarrassment that our schools are educating students from cultures all around the globe, but not educating significant numbers of our own indigenous children. Tired of waiting for government policy, many top schools have embarked on their own scholarship schemes in an ad hoc manner.

It is estimated that by working with indigenous communities and with government, these schools could deliver 1000 indigenous university entrants each year without causing a ripple in their daily routines. The problems of culture shock and family support for students at such schools can be solved with the help of local communities.

The second level involves enticing children in the outback to school and providing them with quality teaching. Interactive technology means that teachers throughout the outback can work with the best “virtual” teachers in city schools.

School attendance might be a condition for joining the local football team, going to swim, or for mum and dad to collect their welfare cheque. If there is transport, a reason to turn up and a pay-off, children will attend. Initiatives in Cape York showing between 70 and 96 per cent attendance rates put paid to arguments by sceptics that high indigenous attendance in far north and outback Australia are unachievable.

Fresh thinking is called for in the delivery of education in outback Australia and it may be we will never get that from government bureaucrats. Is it time for private enterprise – the bastions of initiative and lateral thinking – to bring some of their energy and relentless determination to the table?

The initiative presently being considered in Queensland of an independent indigenous academy will have its critics, but it is the sort of bold move that is needed. It should attract private money from the many Australian companies and benefactors who support and sponsor important community causes. And what more important cause in this country could there be?

Private not-for-profit schools should collectively take up this challenge as well. With access to private foundations and innovative teaching techniques, and being experienced in providing accommodation and cultural leadership, they are well placed to deliver such focused education institutions.

I am damned if I know why Australia’s determination, sense of fairness and ingenuity have not enabled us to overcome this major national failure – even if for no other reason than sheer embarrassment.

(b) The article highlights the importance of education in reducing inequality between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. It reveals that education guarantees opportunities thus the improvement of education for Indigenous Australians will promote equality of opportunity and equality of outcomes for Indigenous peoples, by ‘raising indigenous communities of northern Australia out of poverty and Third World conditions’ and establishing ‘equal health, equal wealth and equal status’.The author also hints at Australia pride in its cultural diversity and our success in ensuring different cultures live peacefully and advantageously yet we can’t even ensure the same level of equality for Australia’s Indigenous population. A number of ideas also surface regarding the ways education can be improved for Indigenous Australians to help promote equality in the long term. A change from centralised public education in favour of independent publicly funded schools is suggested, similar to charter schools in the US. Other ideas also include incentive for Indigenous students to attend school and the use of technology for communication between teachers in the outback and those in the city, enabling them to work together.

Equality and difference for Indigenous Australians has experienced some change overtime. Significant changes include the earlier laws of the mid-late 20th century which focused on the rights of Indigenous Australians. The policy of Assimilation, introduced in 1937 saw Indigenous Australian on a different level to ‘white’ Australians, with Aboriginal Australians having little or no rights; Aboriginal people of mixed descent are to be assimilated into white society by force and, those not living tribally are to be educated, with all others having to stay on reserves. Segregationist practices were also put in place and continue until the 1960s including separate sections in theatres for Aboriginal Australians, separate wards in hospitals and schools able to refuse enrolment to Aboriginal children.

The policy of integration of was introduced in 1965, supposedly to give Aboriginal people more control over their lives and society. This is an example of a change over time, which allowed Indigenous Australians to make more decisions, however it is still a poor improvement in relation to equal rights for non-Indigenous Australians at the time. The Commonwealth 1967 Referendum is another event of significance as it recognised that Indigenous Australians were a part of the nation to be included in the census, a significant step in identifying Aborigines as ‘equal’ and to the rest of Australian society.

The abolishment of the White Australia Policy and the subsequent introduction of the Self-determination (self-management) policy is arguably one of the largest steps in establishing that Indigenous Australians are no different to the rest of Australian society. The change meant that Aboriginal Australians would have the right to preserve their culture and language and to manage the natural resources on Aboriginal land. These rights were already available to non-Indigenous Australians, revealing a delay in equality for Aboriginal Australians, obviously as a result of discrimination. Despite these milestones in policies to improve equality, the issue of poor health among Indigenous Australians is still a major issue. The overall life expectancy and health issues that occur among Indigenous Australians are proven to be more severe than for non-Indigenous Australians with poor education, socio-economic status and employment rates to blame. The infant mortality rate is an example though, that illustrates a decline in the number of infant deaths since the 1960s and proves that future trends may continue to decline, possibly along with other health issues regarding Indigenous Australians.

Individuals, groups and governments can help achieve desirable outcomes for all people in the future by contributing and ensuring equality of opportunity, if not for outcomes for every Australian, in particular, disadvantaged groups such as Indigenous Australians. Individuals need to recognise the level of inequality that can be found in society, especially inequality in many aspects of Indigenous Australian life including, large numbers of unemployment rates, many of which are issues that can be solved, although it may take some time to improve dramatically.

Groups can play a large role in improving equality in society, particularly for the state of Indigenous Australians and the issues they face. Dick Estens’ Aboriginal Employment Service is an example where action has been taken by a community to improve equality in employment for Indigenous Australians. Establishments like Estens’ can also be extended to other services, by the government, such as Indigenous health care; ensuring all Indigenous Australians have access to proper health care.

The recent ban of alcohol for areas in the Northern Territory seems a poor way to reduce rates of violence relating to alcohol consumption. The consequences of alcohol for many Indigenous Australians is evidently a problem with high rates of abuse and violence but Perhaps this government initiative should have been altered to the formation of rehabilitation centres instead. This may also have followed with incentives to attract and consequently help Indigenous Australians overcome excessive alcohol consumption or provide them with better knowledge of its consequences rather than intrude on their rights by not allowing the consumption of alcohol.

For issues regarding Indigenous Australian education; private, non-for-profit schools like SMH author Robert Dean suggested should possibly be put in place to promote better education for Aboriginal Australian students in society, the results of which would most likely achieve a greater equality for Indigenous Australians to have better opportunities and outcomes in life than in previous years. Hopefully, these opportunities and outcomes will one day, equal that of non-Indigenous Australians.

Helen Pham, 11.2SOC