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A “slum” is often used to describe informal settlement within cities that have inadequate housing and squalid, miserable living conditions ( city alliance, n.d. myths and realities of slum upgrading. [online] Available at: [Accessed ]

Slums aren’t some kind of contagious sudden growth in a city. Slums in actuality are created when people leave their rural villages to go in search of better life in the city. They are the result of natural economic forces. Due to the high cost of land and rent in the city they resolve to living in slums.

Slums, as they are illegal establishments, are the breeding ground of many social problems. They range from personal sanitation to formation of many illicit activities that threat the peacefulness of the city. Lack of water restricts and leads to bare minimum personal sanitation, transforming the slums into a residential and human waste dump.

Slums are usually overcrowded settlements with many people crammed into a single space. These settlements often lack basic municipal services such as water, sanitation, waste collection, rain water drainage, lighting and roads for emergency access.

For decades these settlements and communities have been unserviced and unrecognized, making them vulnerable, with each year, to worsening living conditions and social indicators on a downward slide; such as, resident crime circles that breed and dwell on the ignorance of the government.

This is the usual horror story of slums.

Population Boom

With each year the population on earth grows. In the year of 2011 we reached a milestone of 7 billion people on earth, out of which more than 1 billion people lived in slums. That is one seventh of all humanity. In a developing country such as Sri Lanka this number is further reduced to 1 in 3 people. (http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/feb2004/slum-f17.shtml) In a country with a population of 21,481,334, (http://www.statistics.gov.lk/PopHouSat/CPH2011/index.php?fileName=Activities/TentativelistofPublications) this amounts to 644,440. This is a relatively high figure of slum dwellers, compared to most countries.

Cause of slums.

Although viewed solely for its putrid tenure, slums in Sri Lanka and around the world have a complete history and livelihood behind the ramshackle, make-do houses.

In the early 1940s the world of Industrialization seeped in to Sri Lanka (http://www.dailynews.lk/2009/12/15/fea01.asp) This movement turned the world of elite upside down and changed the functioning society in the country. The cities and the economy began to prosper but this creation of vast jobs was the main reason for migration of residents from rural areas of the country to the urban. This huge influx of people built up their own houses and communities in the available spaces in and around Colombo. The resulted so called “Wattas” are the only form of settlement affordable and accessible for the poor.

These communities today are vast cities with their own law and infrastructure. The earliest residents who have fared well from their move to the cities, now rent out their houses to new, fresh candidates of the urban dream. According to the census of population and housing 2011, an average of 593,942 people migrate to Colombo; out of many reasons such as, marriage, education and displacement, employment rem ranks the highest cause for migration with a staggering 240,805 people.

However, Wattas do not merely represent the shifting of jobs from rural agriculture to the concentration of industrial opportunities in urban areas; it’s also the main driving force of the industrialized city. They are a significant economic force and a representation of a successful city. As much 60 percent of the employment is in the informal sector of the urban population (http://www.citiesalliance.org/About-slum-upgrading)

The current approach / take your society glasses off.

According to the City Alliance publication on slum upgrading the attitude of the government towards urbanization is an important component.

Inability of the municipal organizations to realize the existence of slums, most of the slums dwell in its own justice system. This leads to many underground illegal power sources that control the whole community. However, the current authorities believe that if they provide the poor with urban services, it will attract urbanization and cause the slum to grow.

“However, even with no services provided the slums and shanty towns in Sri Lankan urban areas continues to grow. Is the Colombo urban development plan missing something?”

The above stated view has lead them to implement the current system slum eradication; completely uprooting the shanty communities from their lands and relocating them in to apartment complexes located in rural areas. But this method continues to fail throughout because of the government inability to realize the actual needs of the slum dwellers.

Slum upgrading on the other hand is a process that gradually improves, and incorporate the informal areas into the city. It is not simply about water or drainage or housing. It is about creating an atmosphere and putting into motion social, economic activities that are needed to turn around the deforming trends in the area.

This constitutes of providing the slum dwellers with the economic, institutional and community services available to other citizens. These include legal (land tenure), physical (infrastructure), social (crime and education, for example) or economic services. (http://www.citiesalliance.org/About-slum-upgrading#Why_is_slum_upgrading_important)

Steady corporation and perpetual communication among the involved parties, residents, community groups, businesses as well as local and national authorities, is a vital component for a successful upgrade. Moreover slum upgrading creates a sense of ownership, entitlement and inward investment in the area, incrementally forming a dynamic and upgraded addition to the city.

Authorities should recognize the existence of urbanization in Sri Lanka and focus and seek out alternate solutions rather than focusing on rural tranferral development; it is rarely effective.

Nature of the Subject and Topics to be explored
” the places we live”

The activities tend to include the provision of basic services such as housing, streets, footpaths, drainage, clean water, sanitation, and sewage disposal. Often, access to education and health care are also part of upgrading.

“Who are we to deny any person from an impoverished background the opportunity to work, which may allow them to earn enough money to lift their family out of the slums?”

What you’ve read above is the usual horror story of slums. Despite the squalor of living, slums do consist of an infrastructure of its own and it is not all bad. The residents are a close-knit community who are not hesitant to help another member of the community who is in need. People who are well-off in the area are frequent activists of the community who focus on improving the community as it is of their own family.

No matter the conditions, slums have an electric and enigmatic connection between each resident forming a constantly updated network. This is a trait that lacks in the concrete jungles of cities, where a person sometimes would not even know the existence of his neighbor; confined to the tight schedules of work, they are almost like wound up figurines walking around the city to complete the day’s tasks.

With no consistency in life, slum dwellers are masters in adapting to lives situations. Facing the obstacles of their lives, they are not hesitant to start from ground zero which leaves them as an open and accepting community for improvement.

The expected impact of the proposed project, Area Code, is the redevelopment of the available space at 186, Sri Siddhartha mawatha, Kirulapana to stand as a sample housing community and a centre for initiating connection of the community to the city of Kirulapana. It’s mission is to inspire, innovate and impact the surrounding area, Kirulapura, and transform the community to a dynamic addition for Kirulapana. The centre would both stand as a formal league structure and as an open, community oriented functional space. When completed, Area Code, will address the afore mentioned issues of slums and slum eradication ad hoc to the Kirulapura community. The space will invite the community residents, interested parties, individuals and societies in to the space to discuss issues and seek out alternative methods of slum alleviation, provide education on legal aspects of informal living and proper construction of houses, inform and create awareness of opportunities available to an average citizen of Sri Lanka, both young and old and initiate social trends that will benefit the society in the long run..

The center will be the home to housing units and a community space which will be available for activities such as meetings, educational seminars and local function. This space will transform to a more formal social area at night targeting the outsiders of the community to create cohesion and awareness between the city and the community. Ultimately the impact of the project will provide a innovatively refurbished facility which would bring together the community and provide a focal center for the community.

Funding

“United in peace, Let’s Build a Great Nation: HE. The President Mahinda Rajapaksa

With a set current fund for the sustainable development of cities and slum alleviation, the development and the operation of the proposed centre will be funded by the Sri Lankan government.

The project will be supervised by the Urban Development Authority, who overlooks the city urban development and the integration of communities and its benefits, on behalf of the government. (http://www.uda.lk/)

To ensure the project is a successful initiative the UDA will partner with UN-HABITAT, the United Nations agency responsible for human settlement (http://www.unhabitat.lk/about.html), who will provide managerial and technical expertise specified to national slum alleviation.

Precedence
“When you look inside you will find that the apartments are actually like any middle class apartments in the world. So this is not a slum; the slum is in your head.”

“an unplanned piece of city can work as well as one made by architects.” (http://torredavid.com/)

There is plenty of precedence to housing complexes. Around the world plenty of housing unit designs are undertaken and built for various demographics and various countries; and plenty more for slums. But the research yielded a continuous stream of generic data, which for most part focuses mainly on the most cost-efficient way of implementing housing to a collection of illegal dwellers.

Therefore my precedence and solutions came mainly from installations and ideas rather than a slum-wipeout-in-a-box mega housing unit implementations.

“An Idea sparks the imagination and the physical design process takes through the many stages and implications that the project has.”

So you decided to stack them up to save real estate. Tell me, how is that not a vertical slum?

Torre David/ Gran Horizonte Installation and Cafe

A controversial installation by architecture critic Justin McGuirk, photographer Iwan Baan and the team of Urban think-tank of Venezuela, [Arch Biennale Venezuela 2012] Horizonte cafe opens up a fresh perspectives at these so called slums.

The project starts with the introduction of Torre David, a 45-story office building in Caracas,Venezuela, abandoned due to the death of its developer and the fall of economy in 1994. Where some would see it as an abandoned, dirty building, many squatters in Caracas saw it as a shelter. And today Torre David is an improvised home for more than 750 families (more than 3000 residents) who would otherwise live in slum around the edge of the city.

Supported by the idea “why should the people live in slums when there are empty office spaces in the city?”, the residents of Torre David has created an amazing infrastructure in this abandoned building. Self- put up walls and partitions scattered all over the building form a self-made city. The spaces in this concrete shell is not only occupied by residential units but also with the necessities of the community; which includes a church,a grocery, a hairdresser and a gym.

The UTT spent an year studying the social dynamics within this building and the community. They came to conclusion that successful urban development lies in the collaboration among the architects, designers and the population of the slum dwellers. Thereby forming the cafe Horizonte.

Built in the ground floor of the Torre David, also the popular meeting point, where the residents gather and converse, as an installation, Gran Horizonte, takes the form a Venezuelan arepa restaurant . It forms a genuine point of discussion and social space along with an exhibition space. Introducing the common ground spaces already created by the residents of Torre David, such as meeting spaces, worship and leaisure, reinforces the cohesive nature of the settlement.

Gran Horizonte brings in the public for the taste of the culture formed in Torre David. Along with the exhibition it provides an experience Torre David forms an exhibition space along with a common ground that sparks imagination and discussion to create alternatives for the millions of people in the world that reside in similar settlement.

This display of Torre David also questions the innovation of organic methods of development and the global phenomenon of formal/informal hybridity.

I looked to this project as precedence as it forms and practices the idea of collaboration between the city, people and the designers; to bring out their needs and their actual lifestyles and how their living standards combine with them.

This project provides a point of meeting for two communities with completely contrasting way of life. It flawlessly formulates a path from one person to another, leading to interaction and acceptance.

Throughout my research one thing that leapt at me was that slums aren’t a horror story, they are just a community of people forced into the living conditions through many economical and legal factors of the country. To prevent citizens, especially of a developing country such as Sri Lanka, migrating to the city for better jobs and better life is an absurd theory. Relocating them back in to the rural areas after bulldozing their homes is a failing system as they move back into the city after abandoning their homes in the village. Torre David addresses the issue as it is and sees a community potential rather than their informal, improvised tenure.

Torre Davis is also an testament to failure and success, in the way the failure of the original building lead to the success of the humanity to make sense of this and occupy it.

Torre David not only stands for a mere installation but it becomes a protagonist for design. So it’s not about the project itself but what the project represent and the issues this project is raising. The issue of extraordinary conditions which is a metaphor for many other conditions

Site

The Garage

“Why should we move from here? We have been here from our parents time, from 1972. There are no jobs elsewhere. This is a good place.” – W.G Indrani, a settler in Kirulapura

As the current slum eviction program continues, the inhabitants of the slums have been provided housing in the form of huge apartment complexes that are placed way out of the city. The inhabitants have established their life in the city; the city is their life source in the form of occupation, income, connections, relatives and education. Therefore completely tearing them away from it and relocating to a rural area is a glaring flaw.

The settlers, many without legal claim to their lands and houses, do not want to move anywhere else, even with the promise of a larger plot and better health and sanitation facilities. They know they are sitting on a gold mine of potential opportunities. Indicated in the quote above, the lands acquired are prime plots and they provide the settlers what they came to the city for; better income. Through their access to many jobs, both legal and not-so legal, the settlers are provided a steady income.

The Garage

Immediate Context

Built in [year], [name] is a currently derelict automobile repair shop. Owned by [name] is put aside after a financial crisis. For [time period] it has been the convenient local shop for automotive repairs in the Kirulapana community. The shop compromises of a spacious [area for cars], oven, conference rooms and a extra workshop in its backyard to accommodate more [in need of] cars

Situated in the heart of Havelock city, the structure faces the Dehiwala Canal with its border lines decorated with shanty housing.

[located in the western edge of male]

Immediate context

[ Located in Sri Siddhartha road, the site is surrounded with lush greeneries. The access to the pathway is provided through the High Level road; the main arterial road of the city. Due to the close vicinity to many prominent high schools and work places along with the junction that separate bus route 120 and 138, this road experiences high level of traffic during the peak hours. (mornings, lunch time or school finishing time and the evenings ) This constant flow of passengers to their destination creates a fast paced and energetic atmosphere in the area throughout the day.

Even though the area turns into a highly congested, loud human hub during the peak hours, this bustling activity keeps the area rich with energy.

The Ghandara street, which is on the other side of the High Level road, also feeds into the bustling romanticism of the area.

A well know haven for artists and treasure hunters, the Ghandara street is the home to Ghandara, the antique furniture shop and many other art galleries, antique shops, designer wear outlets, music and lazy cafe’s and bistros.

“If a work of art is a confession, then ‘Gandhara Street,’ confesses of its unrelenting passion and zeal to cater to artisans and art-lovers of this island.”

The Kirulapana area with it’s mingling services: bistros, market squares, repair shops, galleries, main transit stops, attracts such a colorful variety of people , rich, poor, young, old, with various backgrounds all throughout the day.

Even though the site and structure is in close proximity to the main street, the lush greenery sets the bustling roads as landscape sans sound.

The frontal view of the garage consist of a panaromic view of Kirulapana and Kirulapura settlements, which is an important aspect as it emphasize the contrast between the city and the slum.

End user demography

Area Code proposed to be developed at (garage number) will be targeting and servicing the Kirulapaura watta and the surrounding community of Kirulapana . Like slums around Sri Lanka, the population of slum dwellers aren’t homogenous, they are a diverse group of people with different means, interests and backgrounds. (http://www.citiesalliance.org/About-slum-upgrading). The center will accommodate and act as a common ground mainly for the following groups.

The Children

According to the census of 2011, (http://www.statistics.gov.lk/PopHouSat/PDF/Population/p9p26%20Children%20born.pdf) the ‘Watta’ of Kirulapana subsist of atleast 1000 families with an average of 3 children. According to a recent survey carried out, I was able to obtain detail regarding the life, education and the activities of the resident children. All the children in the community attend school, at least till the fifth grade. The children from the poorest families, who live on the financial margins, seek out work after school hours to help and support their families. These families, employed as maids and cleaners, sustain their life usually with a mere 400 rupees per day, the daily allowance of well-off high school teenager.

According to the Employment of Women,Young Persons and Children Act (No. 47), 1956 (http://www.hrsrilanka.com/resources/articles/81-terms-and-conditions-of-employment-in-sri-lanka) the minimum age of employment in all sectors is 14 years. This reason coupled with extreme poverty, forces the education of majority of young men to come to a halt after Local Ordinary Levels, and exam taken at the age of 15.

The children usually seek out employment in menial jobs, or in places that accept their level of education. Needless to say, they do not achieve high ranks with their level of education and the majority end up in areas such as Pettah.

The percentage, who are left unemployed with no intent and interest in furthering their education, wonder idle in the streets with their peers. These young children therefore, with the mindset of ‘getting money’, are prone to many ill activities and criminal elements operating in the area.

Therefore it is probable these youngsters benefit from this center. The classes and lectures conducted on developing skills and opportunities available for them as a citizen of Sri Lanka will boost their confidence and need to achieve their dreams. Since the voluntary classes are conducted free , this becomes a interesting and an economically viable activity for the insight deprived children of kirulapura.

Along with the above mentioned initiative, the introduction into a new society, and the ability to express and find themselves will encourage them to frequent the centre.

The Driving force

In most cultures and societies women and men have contrasting roles, responsibilities, needs and perception. (http://www.citiesalliance.org/About-slum-upgrading) The gender role played in such a sensitive community in a developing country becomes a crucial aspect of redeveloping a community.

Women play a vital role in slum upgrading. Male oppression is known and is a common occurrence in the society of Sri Lanka, this seeps deeper and darker in to the closed slum communities. Women are constantly abused by their drunken and unemployed husbands, and withheld from their right to voice their opinion. In other cases, women have fled to urban slum communities to evade domestic violence or discrimination in rural areas.

But looked from another perspective, this community forms head strong women, who are capable of running a household among numerous obstacles and poverty. Women are the heart of the community and the driving force behind the family. They are active in the community and are aware of its form and issues. This knowledge and skills are imperative for the slum upgrading to result in a successful initiative.

Violence, abuse, cultural norms, broader issues of gender and resulting vulnerabilities of being a widow are few of the many issues they can address in the “centre”, this would create them to form an understanding and seek out solutions. Further information will provide them with legal knowledge and security. These reasons will strengthen the connection between the “centre” and them.

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Along with the disease of racism and sexism, there is a disease called ageism. This is a social disease also fed by stereotypes. All these aged people are put in to the heading of “old” and have these characteristics in them, they start acting like children, ask many questions, they become senile, greedy, sorry to say unattractive and cranky. Here are five ways the Media show stereotypes in elderly people.

Elderly people are shown as helpless victims in different movies and TV shows.

Old people who avoid or oppose negative stereotypes are shown as bizarre and comical on the media.

Media shows elderly people as unattractive, unhappy and weak as health wise.

Old people are shown as devils and having a demon personality. Being greedy and harsh.

Most of the media sources show old people being ignored and considering them as a part of the society.

Media has made things complicated for old people.

What evidence is there for potential biological differences between centenarians (those who live to be over 100 years old) and others who only survive into their 70s and 80s.

Answer: The main factor in centenarians having the age of 100 years is that it is inherited to them. They also get less age related diseases as compared to people who survive into their 70’s and 80’s. Along with their family member also get the advantage of getting factors that enhance the aging process in them and factors that help them in preventing different diseases. This factor of long aging is inherited to them from their ancestors from last three generations. People with long ages have “significantly larger high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels and particle sizes and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels that reflect on their health and cognitive function performance.”

People who survive till their 70’s and 80? have a factor that the live alone without any spouse or any children. They don’t have any life quality as they enter into their old age and there is no one to care about them as well which leads them to early death.

What are ways in which our society seeks to deny or avoid death? How do these influence your own attitudes toward death?

Answer: Everyone wishes to live a long and happy life. It’s in a human’s blood to avoid death. People use different ways to avoid death. There are many ways a person can avoid death. It just needs some precautions to take and to be careful while taking different decisions of our life. The biggest problem in today’s society is that people are lazy and eat things they really don’t have to eat. Especially the young generations is trapped in this laziness and finds shortcuts to life. The biggest reason of many diseases is that we drink a lot of fizzy drinks and a lot of junk food. Food with a lot of fat which gives us different heart diseases. The best wayto avoid many diseases is to exercise on daily basis. Go to the gym if not possible then do different exercises in your house. Go for a jog. This prevent many death causing diseases.

What are some issues for people to consider when preparing for death? What can you do in your own life to prepare for your own death?

Answer: Death cannot be dodged. One has to die one day or another. Before death people face different issue about their life, their family and the savings they have made. How to distribute it without making any problem and equally. During a person’s life they make their savings and have assets. But in my opinion thinking about family more essential then a person asset. One should put their family in a position before death that they live a comfortable life after the person’s death. And for that one has to distribute his legal will in an equal manner before his death because afterwards in many societies the male member’s get more part of the legal will then the female member’s. Another good thing one should remember is that the person should give his online accounts details in the will because they become public and anyone can access them easily, so one should be careful.

What is your position on euthanasia? With regard to older people. With regard to youth. What would you want for yourself if you were terminally ill? What would you include if you were writing a Living Will?

Answer: Intentionally killing yourself is a sin. It’s just like suicide. But in some situations a person has to do so to get relief from pain and suffering. With regard to old people it depends on the disease and the time period they are going through the specific disease. If the disease is operable and the person can handle the pain and suffering then killing himself is not an option. As regard to youth they can face pain and suffering more patiently as compared to old people. So the youth should not give and fight the disease until their last breath. Killing themselves is not an option. If I was terminally ill the thing I want for myself is to spend some quality time with friends and family, because they are the closest a person has. The thing I would include in my Living Will, will give all my assets to poor people after my death.

2nd Assignment:

Why should there be such dramatic inequality in the world. Should we take from the rich and give to the poor

Answer: The reason in my view for this dramatic inequality is that everyone thinks about themselves. The rich does not care for the poor and just treat them as slaves. Even the government supports the poor to a certain limit. The poor become poorer and has no status in the society. The poor is treated without justice and the rich is given proper protocol. The best way to finish this dramatic inequality is to take from the rich and give it to the poor. For this the government should start increasing tax on the assets of the rich, so that they get more from the rich and give it to the poor so that they can also live a good life. Poor people also have the right to live a happy and tension free life. So the rich should also think about the poor and help them in different ways without forcing them to help them.

Use the Internet to find a non-governmental organization (NGO) with programs that reduce poverty in some of the world’s poorest countries.

Answer: New life foundation is an NGO that is operating in Ghana. It has different programs to reduce poverty in some parts of the world. The different programs its doing to reduce poverty are 1. Health 2. Water and Sanitation 3. Computer training 4. Women & Youth Development 5. Good Governance & Human Rights 6. Education. It’s providing education on malaria and HIV AIDS. It is providing different computer training programs to the youth and pupils. The NGO is also reducing poverty by promoting community development by getting volunteers for development programs. The NGO is also constructing schools and clinics for rural communities. The NGO is also promoting education by giving scholarships to students and Skills training/Apprenticeship for Youth Placement for overseas schools (Junior and Senior High Schools). The NGO is also making boreholes in order to provide water to the villagers, training of community water and sanitation comities. It is also promoting hygiene educations at schools and communities.

How do race and gender affect the chances of being wealthy or poor and the experiences of being poor or wealthy?

Answer: Race and gender does have a huge impact on being wealthy or poor. Most of the jobs in our society are given on the basis of gender or race. For example if there is a vacancy for a job and the applicants are a black American and a white American, it’s obvious that the job will be given to the white American. This will discourage the black American and he will remain poor and go for other alternatives such as theft etc. The same scenario goes for the gender factor. There is a lot of gender discrimination in our community. Females are not given the opportunity to excel in their life which remains them in the dark side of life and the male gender excels and go for the brighter side of life. The female gender then has to remain dependent on the male gender and have to live a life as a slave.

Do you think there should be a universal “right to food”?

Answer: Food is basic necessity for every human. Without food and water a person cannot survive and yes there should be a universal “right to food”. There should be justice in the distribution of food. The rich people are getting richer and the poor cannot even eat properly. Here I will tell a famous fact that rich people walk to digest their food where as poor people walk in search of food. This world is cruel nothing is distributed equally. For example in under developed countries people starve for days and when get food do not get proper food. Most of the poor people find food from trash cans and left food by the rich people. Poor people cannot even feed themselves in dignity. They feel ashamed on what and how they are eating. The right of food include that human are free from hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition. So everyone has the right to eatwell and should get this right.

Operating in 118 countries, McDonald’s has more than 33,000 restaurants. KFC has more than 20,200 restaurants in 109 countries. Does this expansion constitute desirable development? Why or why not.

Answer: More development means more job opportunities and less poverty. Yes! All of these expansion have contributed in development. Expanding their restaurants mean they need more man power to run their system which mean hiring more people and giving job opportunities. This also helps the government of countries they are located in because the government will charge those taxes and from that money they will develop the country in different ways. Having so many franchises will make a lot of revenue for the specified restaurants and they can make a good reputation by helping the community by developing different environment friendly projects. McDonald’s with more than 33,000 restaurants and 47 million people is the largest catering chain all over the world. Having so many people is a significant contribution in the development of many countries. KFC in the next three to five years will create almost 9000 new jobs. This is a huge contribution towards development.

1st Assignment

Today’s class system subject’s women to caste: Women should perform traditional tasks as a moral duty with men more often financially rewarded for their efforts. Is this why most chefs are men who work for income, while most household cooks are women performing a household duty.

Answer: Women have also a status in this society. They can also join a profession. They are not born to be housewife an only work at home. They should also help men financially and work at different places to take care of their families. Men choose traditional task like being a chef at some five star hotel or restaurant. Women should also go along with men to perform the same task, because women are good at this and earn a lot and support their family in a good way. Men doing traditional work results in a great impact on their sex life as well, if compared with those men who do not make do traditional work. This is according to a new study from the American sociological review. Women doing traditional work are labeled as pink-collar workers. The profession includes typical services industry.

We all think of being rich as having more money than we have now. What do you think is a good definition of being rich in terms of income? Why.

Answer: It’s a dream of every person to get or earn as much money as they can. A person is never satisfied with the things they have. They want to have more than they have. The good definition of being rich is that a person can fulfill his basic needs and fulfill some of his desires. The basic needs of a person are food, shelter and clothing. So a person should have an income in which he can eat good and healthy food. Live in a good place. A place or community where there is safety and peace. People desire to have heavy incomes so that they can live in big houses but this is not necessary for a person. Living in a small apartment can also give happiness. The third need is having clothes to cover your body. One can cover his/her body by simple clothes which a person can buy from a normal amount of income.

As we move into a postindustrial society, will prestige be less a matter of owning things and more a matter of developing personal creative potential.

Answer: As a person moves to a post industrial society, having a good reputation and high self esteem is what every person wants. Being well known in the society is a person desire. People providing services are literate and want a good reputation. This good reputation is gained by buying things that increase a person reputation and self esteem. Every person wants a prestigious life. A prestigious life can is seen by having prestigious things in one’s possession. Developing a personal creative potential is also considered as a matter for prestigious people. Creativity is a symbol of prestige. Creative people have a good reputation and high self esteem in the society.

What has caused the long-term rise in income disparity?

Answer: Income is the source of survival for a human being. People have unlimited wants and less resources to fulfill their desires and wants. To fulfill their wants they seek jobs with high salaries. A person does not want to have a constant income throughout their life. A person has to care about his family as well. Other than his own wants he has to fulfill his family’s wants. Than main cause in my point of view for rise in income disparity is that the education expense of a person’s children. It’s a person’s dream to see their children studying in a good college or university. Everybody wants a quality life. Life without anxiety and tension. A peaceful life with the family. Another reason in under developed countries is that they do not get their basic wants. So they need rise in income to fulfill their basic needs and for that they work hard and try to get promotions and increments.

Time magazine reported that 62% of stories on poverty in Time, Newsweek and U.S. News and World Report were illustrated with photos of African Americans, who make up about one-third of the U.S. poor. Does this difference call attention to the plight of black people, who are at high risk of being poor, or is it an example of racial prejudice. Why

Answer: This whole scenario is an example of racial prejudice, because African Americans are not given their rights properly. They are always at the bottom of the food chain. They are always treated as slaves. Sorry to say that. They have no image and reputation in the society. They cannot excel in their life because of their race. That’s why they remain poor their whole life and struggle their whole life. They are not even given the opportunity to perform any white collar job, despite of their high qualifications and experiences. Not getting opportunities lead them to a life of a criminal. They do crime to fulfill their desires and to take care of their families. Most of the African Americans are in the profession of labor. Their profession does not even fulfill their basic needs and they remain poor and never excel in their life. So the percentage of stories on poverty related to African Americans will increase day by day.

Background

Colonization (and more recently globalization) certainly accounts for the drastic changes in the linguistic landscapes of the world over the centuries. Conceptualized as as the directing control of politics, society and people by foreign states, colonization has imposed to the colonized several harmful challenges. The compulsory necessity of engaging with a language ascribed to oppression, exploitation and slavery stands out, though.

Moreover, colonialism, in many territories meant also an imposed mosaic of different ethnic groups and human types that prior to European penetration, had different political, cultural and social structures which were randomly obliged to coexist in that space. Such impositions regarding language and life styles reflected and altered the identity of the colonized people and, according to Turkmen (2003), played an important role essential to colonialism to be successful:

“Identity is one of the indispensable components of colonialism, if we consider colonialism as a body; identity constitutes its spirit while the economic exploitation is its corporal body. The colonizer coming to the virgin lands with the feeling of colonial desire and obsession to have cheap profit in his heart finds himself ready to defame the inhabitants, regard them as “the other”. And he starts his policy by deterritorializing and reterritorializing…” (p.189).

In that sense, people were forced to be what they are not. This is evident by the fact that the colonizers used to call the colonies “new lands”, as if they were “virgin” lands, uninhabited before their arrival. Turkmen (2003) stresses that the colonizers did not perceive their actions over the colonies as reconstruction because they did not consider the institutions and cultures established in the colonies as valuable. The colonizers also imposed their culture and language as a way to legitimize their power:

“In the colony what is asymmetrical, rather than merely different proves to be pathological. In order to legitimize their maltreatment, the colonizer tries to project the other not only different but also dangerous, primitive, aggressive, lazy, etc. The aim is making people feel that colonialism is not an unfair perpetration, rather, it is a necessary drive, for, and these people do not deserve these lands by virtue of their notorious traits. Also, the drive, after all, will promote their life standards. This is for their interest”. (Robert Young in Colonialism and Desiring machine as cited in Turkmen (2003), p.190)

As shown, the colonized is forced to internalize a new identity through the reinforcement of stereotypes by the colonizer, which is easily understandable if one thinks that the colonized finds him/herself in a circumstance they have never experienced before, after having been obliged to abandon all what constitutes his/her “world”. The colonized then has no option other than “emulate the colonizer as a sole model in front of him”. However, his attempt is rejected by the colonizer. Motivated by his urge for exploitation, he makes sure to set hard limits to the difference, as “to them the difference is what feeds the colonial system, what legitimize and postulates it” (Turkmen, 2003).

So the colonized loses his former identity but he is also not supported in building a new one. As Turkmen (2003) puts, it, “he will neither be like the colonizer nor himself…. Thus, he lives in a complete oblivion. All at once, he is casted out from his history, memory and citizenship”. Nonetheless, through colonialism identity is not totally lost, but set in the unknown ground temporally placed between prior and after the colonizers came.

Identity and language

Identity and the cognate terms in other languages have a long history as technical terms in Western philosophy from the ancient Greeks through contemporary analytical philosophy. They have been used to address the perennial philosophical problems of permanence amidst manifest change, and of unity amidst diversity. Wide spread vernacular and social-analytical use of identity and its cognates, however, is of much more recent vintage and more localized provenance.

The introduction of identity into social analysis and its initial diffusion into social sciences and public discourse occurred in the United States in the 1960s (with some anticipation in the second half of the 1950s). The most important and best-know trajectory involved the appropriation and popularization of Erik Erikson (who was responsible, among other things, for coining the term identity crisis).

But there were other paths of diffusion as well. The notion of identification was pried from its original, specifically psychoanalytic context (where the term had been initially introduced by Freud) and linked to ethnicity on the one hand and to sociological role theory and reference group theory.

“The term identity proved highly resonant in the 1960’s diffusing quickly across disciplinary and national boundaries, establishing itself in the journalistic as well as the academic lexicon, and permeating the language of social and political analysis”. (Davis, 2004, p.61)

Stuart Hall, one of the well-known scholars specialized on identity, points that identity is dynamic, not stable and is in constant flux:

“Perhaps instead of thinking as identity as an already accomplished historical fact, which the new cinematic discourses represent, we should think, instead, of ‘identity’ as a production, which is never complete, always in process, and always constituted within, not outside, representation (ibid 210)”, (Davis, 2004, p.184).

Therefore, cultural identity can be considered as a historically located set of experiences that need to be recovered in order to fulfill the desire to become one nation or one people, hence, happens to the language.

As it expresses beyond what its words signifies, language also reveals “the way individuals situate themselves in relationship to others, the way they group themselves, the powers they claim for themselves and the powers they stipulate to others” (Sterling, xxx). People use language to indicate social allegiances, that is, which groups they are members of and which groups they are not. In addition, they use language to create and maintain role relationships between individuals and between groups in such a manner that the linguistic varieties used by a community form a system that corresponds to the structure of the society.

Therefore, a speaker uses language not only to express but to create a representation of him/herself in relation to others with whom s/he is interacting. The issue of respect is an aspect of the broader relationship between power and language. Power is the degree to which one interlocutor is able to control the behavior of the other. S/he then uses the language of intimacy and familiarity as they used it in greetings, communicating about family, and leave-takings. In talking about their jobs and other “external” acquaintances, they use the colonizer’s language, which possibly signs distance.

Sterling (xxx) also argues that within a society or a culture, speech patterns become tools that speakers manipulate to group themselves and categorize others with whom they are interacting:

“Because of the relationship between language use and group membership, language can inspire deep group loyalties. It can serve as a symbol of unification on several levels. On the national level, language loyalty can serve an important political function. Many people in the United States are threatened by the use of languages other than English. To speak a language other than English is thought to be “un-American.” This is because English is “promoted as the one and only possible language of a unified and healthy nation”. On a local level, language is a symbol of loyalty to a community”. (Sterling, xxx, p.xx).

For the community as a whole, socialization through language learning creates conformity to social norms and transmits the culture of the community. As s/he learns language, a child learns the social structure of the culture, learning the appropriate linguistic form for each kind of person. This is part of communicative competence. Communicative competence is not only knowing how to speak the specific language(s) used in the speech community but also knowing how to use language appropriately in any given social situation in the community. And the ability to know that is closely related to the identity that one holds. “Speech patterns become tools that speakers manipulate to group themselves and categorize others with whom they are interacting” and that is only shared with those sharing a certain identity, whether in a community or a culture.

Code Street LifeInterpreting The Code of the Street

“Gangster life” is often portrayed as exiting and glamorous, while the news often stereotypes the urban slums as being corrupt by violent criminals. Elijah Anderson thoroughly explains in his book “Code of the Street” that life in poor minority communities are not always portrayed correctly in the media. The author offers a unique way of researching for this topic; by living in the area he studies he is able to share information only known by experience.

He intends to expose and clarify the life of the inner city streets. The first chapter, “Decent and Street Families”, explains several issues many families face when raiding a “decent” child. The lifestyles of of these minority communities are, in reality, very complex and intricate.

The book explains how the “Code”, or lifestyle, varies for many groups within the culture. The difference between street and decent families and the way they interact with each other, the difference of communities, and the significance of respect are all main ideas explained within the first two chapters.

The violent surroundings and unfair circumstances are the origin of each individual’s lifestyle. The author uses the term “structural circumstances” to define the position one becomes involved in as a results of their place in society. One example the author used in his novel is the life of a “decent” single mother, where the term “decent’ is used to describe the individuals that do not give in to society’s negative influences.

Though one common theme among decent families that is currently on the rise is grandmothers raising grandchildren “particularly the increasing number of grandmothers raising grandchildren, often see their see their difficult situation as a test from God and derive great support from their faith and church community” (Anderson 38). Single mothers and grandparents have a much more difficult time swaying their children from the negative influences of the “street”.

One common trait of the “decent” child is the ability to “code switch”. A decent child is often mocked and teased by peers as well as family members as explained in Yvette’s Story, which is the reason for code-switching. One of the first stories titled “The Decent Single Mother” Explains the many hardships of having to raise a child in a dent manner without the support of a fatherly figure. The ability to code-switch permits a child to use crude and vulgar language and act in a different manner while in the streets, thus giving a child a way to survive certain situations. The author insists that this trait is taught by the parents, thought I believe it is learned thorough experience.

In the “street” manhood is defied as how well one can defend him or herself in a fight. And at the same time, being able to fight and not let anyone else talk oneself down raises respect among the peers. The author claims “Respect becomes critical for stating out of harms way” (Anderson 66). There is a problem that might arise after a fight though, revenge. Revenge can become very dangerous depending on the person who was offended by being beaten.

Examples vary form returning with a group of friends or even family members to intimidate others (An example taken from Marge’s story) to returning with a weapon where the outcome can result in serious injury or even death. This “Campaign for Respect” arises when the people feel as if they are abandoned and will not receive help from authorities, feeling as if they are on their own. The author writes: “[M]any of those residing in such communities feel that they are on their own, that especially in matters of personal defense, they must assume the primary responsibility” (Anderson 66).

The film that portrays the best idea as to how the streets of the Bronx might have been like is the film “Boys N the Hood”. There are several scenes in the film that relate to the book. For example, in the beginning of the film the main character, a troublemaker, is sent to live with his father to learn how to “be a man”. There is a whole chapter dedicated to the campaign for respect; a section of which is titled “Manhood and Nerve”. Here the author claims “For many inner-city youths, manhood and respect are two sides of the same coin […] both require a sense of control, of being in charge” (Anderson 91).

Loosing control over a situation can result in disastrous effects. The author does not give any specific examples however since the film closely relates to the topic of the book, bringing an example from the film is appropriate. A scene from the film involves “Doughboy”, one of the main characters in the movie, and his attempt to recover his brother’s stolen football from a group of much bigger and stronger boys. He stands up to the group of boys who are pushing him around.

He gets in the face of one boy in particular and kicks him in the leg. The bigger boy retaliates by slapping Doughboy down and kicking him in the stomach. Doughboy criticizes his brother for being “stupid” and bringing the ball in the first place. Doughboy is has been humiliated in front of his brother and at that time is also feeling embarrassed and places the blame toward his brother.

Doughboy’s attempt to retrieve his brother’s football and the resulting assault has everything to do with “juice” and the cultural adaptations Doughboy has had to make as the street kid in his decent family. As a street kid he needs to be aggressive and assert himself physically. Therefore, when his brother’s ball is stolen he reacts violently as this is the language of street life. The older boy, not to be shown up by a small, lesser boy, beats Doughboy up, most likely in order to maintain his reputation as a tough street kid.

Also, just like a street kid, drugs and alcohol become a major part of his life later on as he is always seen drinking a forty. As “objects play an important and complicated role in establishing self-image” (Anderson, 73) his car also becomes a source of juice as it has expensive features and is very well maintained.

The main goal for the decent family is to give the younger generation, usually their offspring, a chance to develop and grow out of the raging violence of the streets. Instilling good morals in a child’s early years is often emphasized: “In decent families there is almost always a real concern with and a certain amount of hope for the future.

Such attitudes are often in a drive to work … ‘to build a good life,’ while at the same time trying to ‘make due with what you have’” (Anderson 37). Instilling these morals into the children is important if that child is to make the right decisions while in the street. Even though this task is daunting on its own, it becomes especially daunting when there is a single parent.

A household maintained under the supervision of a father figure creates a more stable environment for the child. Sure both parents may work double shifts and may work late night after night, but this only serves as another reason for the children to perform well. A passage from the book shares this idea: “The children nodded attentively. After the adults left, the children seemed to relax, talking more freely and playing with one another.

When the parents returned, the kids straightened up again […] displaying quiet and gracious manners all the while” (Anderson 39). In this patriarchal family the head of the household, usually the father, the children remain obedient out of fear of disappointing their parents. The decent children in this passage have a slightly higher chance at success than their fellow peers solely because neither they nor their parents have given in to the street life.

Respect, or “Juice”, is highly valued in the streets. It is something everyone should earn in order to live without being constantly picked on or harassed. Juice can be earned in multiple ways however the most common way is through fights. In the book, Anderson claims “[T]here are always people around looking for a fight in order to increase their share of respect” (73).

The alternative to engaging in random fights is intimidation through physical appearance. The way a person is viewed depends on physical their appearance where factors such as the more jewelry one has, the most expensive clothing, and even the way one grooms oneself determines the amount of respect they have.

In the last example Doughboy seeks revenge for his brother’s murder and, in the process the characters act out Anderson’s ideas about reasons for revenge and Tre’s decent kid dilemma. Ricky was a much loved and valued member of the group of boys featured in the film. By murdering Ricky, the group of other males has greatly disrespected Doughboy’s position in the streets.

Doughboy, as Anderson would predict, does not appear to fear death as he will face Ricky’s murderers with his gun and kill them, knowing, as he discusses the next day with Tre, that he will most likely “get smoked”, meaning shot to death. “True nerve expresses a lack of fear of death” and this proves manhood, which is very closely related to respect (Anderson, 92). Like Tyree in Anderson’s book, Doughboy feels an obligation to hurt those that hurt his brother and gains power from hurting others in the most severe form (Anderson, 84). Doughboy is purely a street kid.

In short, Anderson’s book, “Code of the Street” discusses ideas of decent and street families as well as the crucial concept of respect in a way that is in agreement with the film “Boyz N the Hood”. The actions of Tre and his father mirror those of a decent family living in poor minority community and Doughboy’s actions are characteristic of Anderson’s ideas about street individuals. Their lives warrant examination in order to determine causes of crime as well as reasons why not all individuals in these violent communities are criminals.

It is clear that opportunities need to be afforded to the individuals in these communities so that they can have hope for the future and not end up with the mindset of Doughboy that it doesn’t matter if he’s shot because everyone has to die sometime. The people must be allowed access to the resources necessary to become decent families which include alternative avenues to gaining “juice.”

As opposed to achieving respect through violence and drug dealing, other standards and means to reach those standards need to be instilled in the community. Education and job training should be stressed and drug problems should be treated. Violence in the community should also be controlled so that individuals feel safe and decent kids can listen to music and study as opposed to the popping sounds of gunshots.

There are many reasons as to why such a large amount of mental hospitals closed down, but to explore the reasons why they closed, we must look at the rise of the large institutions between the 19th century and the 1980’s to understand its demise, why so many were built and why, for a small time period, they were successful.

The mental hospital is defined as a hospital for the care and treatment of patients affected with acute or chronic mental illness. Between the 19th century and the 1980’s, the mental hospital has been defined as the carer for mental illness. But after this ‘golden age’ of care for mental illness, it has become a victim of ‘decareration’ ever since leading to a decrease in mental hospitals and its admissions, but why?

The discharge of a patient was once known as a good thing as it symbolised the success of that hospital through ‘moral treatment’ (later replaced by psychiatric treatment) but even before this there was a much harsher system with the use of chains and straightjackets being the norm. As in the case of King George III who himself suffered from mental illness; patients were not seen as human beings, he was encaged, starved and beaten. The philosophy that therefore developed was the goal of a ‘cure’, to treat the patient in a therapeutic environment, ‘To remove the patient from the midst of those circumstances under which insanity has been produced must be the first aim of treatmentaˆ¦An entire change in the surroundings will sometimes of itself lead to recovery’ (Bean and Mounser 1993, 4 quoting Busfield, 1986)

The mental hospital really began in Victorian times; hospitals were intentionally structured to be different from ordinary hospitals in terms of ‘therapy, structure and location’. (Rogers and Pilgrim 2010, 190). As where the general hospitals in the vicinity of a highly populated area, a mental hospital would have been deliberately built in a place that is not so populated. The mental hospital (or asylum as it was once known) is seen as a conventional and humane way with dealing with the mentally ill; one of the first legal acts to recognise this was the Lunacy Act of 1845 which made local counties build asylums and gave the authority to detain “lunatics, idiots and persons of unsound mind”. (Rogers and Pilgrim 2010, 190). It was enforced and regulated by the Lunacy Commission. At the time the only place for the mentally ill to go to were workhouses and private ‘madhouses’. As mentioned before this moral treatment was in reaction of the harsh treatment normally given. One of the first institutions to use ‘moral treatment’ was the York Retreat, The York Retreat was opened in 1796 by the English Quaker community as a reaction against the harsh treatment used by other asylums. The belief at the time was that the mad were ‘wild beasts’. The retreat was opened from ‘The consciousness felt by a small group of citizens of an overwhelming social evil in their midst’ (Rogers and Pilgrim 2010,198 quoting Jones 1960:40), although state-run asylums did not pick up this form of treatment for a while.

Andrew Scull, an American sociologist argued that the mass amount of people detained in asylums was a product of ‘urbanization, industrialisation and professional forces during the first half of the 19th century’ and that detainment in asylums was a way to control social ‘deviance’.(Rogers and Pilgrim 2010,190) The increase in wage labour meant that services were not good enough to deal with this new form of social ‘deviance’ meaning that the mentally ill could not be looked after by the family or local community, and around this time the stigma of how mental illness was a loss of humanity changed to the loss of self -control among the public. Meanwhile the French sociologist Michel Foucault sees that this new found market economy promotes ‘rationality, surveillance and discipline'(Rogers and Pilgrim 2010,190) But with this change of direction in the treatment of the mentally ill, many institutions began to fill up with patients rapidly overfilling local magistrates estimates, which lead to several extensions to a mental hospital. An example of this is the Conley Hatch mental hospital in London which opened in 1851 and shut down in 1993 and at its peak it held 3,500 patients.

Many institutions promoted that they had the cure for mental illness, which led to a great surge in patients. In 1998, Gittens produced research into a mental hospital in Essex and followed the lives of staff and patients in the hospital and found many contradictions about mental hospitals. He found ‘In relation to women patients it is clear for example that the hospital, based as it was on men-only and women-only wards constituted a ‘women-only space’ and true asylum in a social context in which there was little such space in external community life’ (Rogers and Pilgrim 2010, 191) He also found that there needs to be a restriction against outside forces such as social, economic and political conditions as they affect peoples abilities to deal with such material.

As mentioned, its primary ideals were to treat patients with ‘moral treatment’ yet this was forgotten about early on in its life, with the exaggerated numbers which local magistrates didn’t expect and such serious illnesses, political bodies were urging to keep costs down. Legal acts such as The Mental Treatment Act 1930 which allowed voluntary admissions to mental hospitals, it was also the act that got rid of the term asylum, and many mental hospitals found that it was not necessary to keep voluntary patients institutionalised. This led to a slight decrease in patients but it wasn’t until the 1950’s that its fall became apparent. Goffman (Rogers and Pilgrim 2010, 192) found that there were four types of institutions because of this:

Nursing homes, where the ‘incapable’ are cared for

Sanatoriums for those who have who have an unwanted threat to the community.

Prisons, where the welfare of the inmate is not of paramount importance

Monasteries and convents for those who volunteer to be away from the world

In 1948 the NHS was created, this led to all mental institutions being free for everyone, psychiatrists wanted this to broaden their field of study. The Mental Health Act of 1959 aimed to provide informal treatment for mentally ill patients with the possibility of detaining a patient against his/her will

One of the starting points of the crisis was in 1961, Enoch Powell, the minster of Health at the time, believed that mental hospitals were ‘doomed institutions’, so in 1961 he drafted The Hospital Plan where he planned to build thousands more hospitals and abolish certain mental institutes. The discharge of patients had become the policy of the demise of the asylum, subsequently the ‘Community care blue book’ was published which offered an alternative system to the mental hospital; where mentally ill patients would see a specialist for an appointment just like a regular doctor, the patient could then carry on with their lives and live at home. The patient could live a fairly regular life and would stop the segregation from normal society; it would entail the patient receiving treatment in a non-asylum setting such as in a district general hospital psychiatric unit. However it is argued that it is society that made the patient mentally ill in the first place, within the institutions there is a guaranteed market for experts’ services where specialists could hone their skills, yet the asylum grew out of a need to establish a social order. The asylum had many problems as Goffman points out, he believes in ‘the mortification of self’ when being admitted to a mental hospital, with self being defined as ‘being constructed by the pattern of social control which exists in an institution’.(Rogers and Pilgrim 2010,192) The persons past identity is completely stripped, their movement is restricted, hospital issue clothes are given and any personal belongings are taken away, they are then obliged to disown their former selves through confessions with the staff, there is no such thing as privacy and freedom of choice is extremely limited with all activities on a schedule.

Wing’s (1962) research shows that feelings of withdrawal and apathy in patients was caused by their length of stay in a ward and the lack of a stimulating environment, good medical leadership is not enough to reduce these feelings in patients, as he says ‘it is unlikely that the functions of am energetic reformer can be built in to the social structure of an institution’. As John Connolly points out ‘once confined, the very confinement is admitted as the strongest of all proofs that man must be mad’. by 1990 the average asylum held 961 compared to in 1930 which held 1221. Once the asylum had reached its peak size, it realised that the patient was losing their individuality through being guided by the institutions rules; this resulted in a problematized re-entry into society. Originally the asylums were urged to be built by humanitarians, today the opposite is true, community care is now seen to be therapeutic and humanitarian, their return to the community legitimised community care as it deflected attention away from ‘the demise of state responsibility for the seriously mentally ill and the current crisis of abandonment’. (Bean and Mounser 1993, 8) During the time where many large institutions were on the brink of collapse Martin (1985) conducted research into what they were failing, he found that many of the failures were with the nursing staff whom participated in inhumane, brutal and threatening behaviour and committed mass negligence on their patients. He asked two questions. ‘How do trained carers become to behave contrary to professional standards? And how have hospitals been arranged in such a way that abuse and neglect have not been prevented?’ To answer he found 6 points:

Large institutions were situated outside mass populated areas meaning they were cut off from the community

Wards were isolated from each other, and were almost their own little world

Un trained and un experienced staff were left to deal will large amounts of unruly patients,

The worst wards were the ones rarely visited by a specialist, leaving the junior staff to do the work leading to a lack of leadership

There was a lack of staff development through staff training courses etc

There was a huge lack of privacy for the patients

(Rogers and Pilgrim 2010, 194) These factors led scholars to doubt that the large asylums could be put right and doubted that they could be reformed. They believe that there is a huge ‘corruption of care.

Ultimately every single patient will leave a mental institute whether they are ready to return into society or not and the goal is to cease contact with the hospital afterwards, scholars believe that the hospital, now in a community based system, has less of an importance it once had and is only one institution among others. The community based system is where the patient makes their first and last contact with treatment, they will enter the hospital for a short time and continue their treatment in the community as their treatment does not require hospital admission. This process is known as deinstitutionalisation as patients will not be treated by hospital based treatment and instead will be by community based psychiatrists. However this is not new, in the old system the patient may have made his/her first contact with a G.P and then sent to a mental hospital for treatment, although this has not changed there are now community psychiatric teams to send the patient to the hospital and to treat them inside and outside the hospital, The old system had a sole focus on the hospital, today ‘it no longer directs, controls nor dictates the pace of treatment or care’ (Rogers and Pilgrim 2010, 196)

There is a whole array of reasons discussed as to the demise of mental hospitals, one reason is the ‘pharmalogical revolution’ which suggests that the advances in medical treatments, such as tranquilizers’ let patients be discharged in mass numbers, ‘the introduction of chlorpromazine in 1952 made it easier to manage disturbed behaviour, and therefore easier to open wards that had been locked, to engage patients in social activities, and to discharge some of them into the community’ Rogers and Pilgrim 2010,197 quoting Gelder et al 2001,769)

Scull blames ‘economic determinism’ and ‘decareceation’ for this massive decline in the use of mental hospitals, he believes that it was ‘state sponsored policy of closing down asylums’, with the emergence of the welfare state, segrative control mechanisms became too expensive. Inflation contributed by unpaid patient labour and cost of employees, ex-patients also required care which had considerable costs, community care was the cheaper option. Another reason would be the shift of focus from chronic conditions to acute conditions such as depression and anxiety which has been described as the common cold for mental health specialists, these acute conditions were once treated by mental hospitals but it has shifted to the GP and is easily treated by them meaning that the majority of people with mental heath problems never seek specialist treatment. Additionally, as mentioned before community care played a significant role in the downfall of asylums, many specialists found that a change of scenery was very beneficial to the patient, even patients with long-term chronic illnesses can return to society and live in community residences with good results making the mental hospital useful for a short period yet quickly and easily disposed of at point of departure; no longer serving any purpose nor use to the ex-patient. However many studies have found that many psychiatric wards are non-therapeutic and that they share the same problems as they did in the Victorian era, mainly because , according to Goffman, they act as a repair garage; a problem is brought in, fixed and then sent out. Only medication is given, total care is not. A study conducted by Braginsky, Braginsky and Ring (1973) found that the minor patients all wanted to go home, while the more serious cases had no interest in leaving and instead maximised their comforts in the hospital as they’d rather stay in the hospital than become a victim of poverty outside

.

The focus has also shifted to the cause and solution of mental health, epidemiology (the study of patterns of health and illness in public health) and treatment were separated in the era of the mental hospital, today they are much closer, the hospital has disappeared leaving the attention to the inequalities in mental health prevention and ‘positive mental health’

To conclude, the mental hospital has made leaps and bounds in the field of mental health with its aim to understand mental health scientifically and tried to cure mental illness, even though that was deemed impossible. Its failure was mainly due to costs and the shift of attention to other fields of treatment. Yet two types of institution has been created due to this, community mental health centres and district general hospital units both modern in their treatment. Although there are still many similarities, high risk patients are still held against their will. Overall the care is much more professional, information is available over the internet, telephone or even the television, but more importantly there is a focus on the patient’s life and freedom, many may argue that the government still no longer offers a complete care system, but it’s a start.

The question of whether ‘class’ is still a relevant concept in the understanding of social divisions in contemporary Britain has two components to be analysed, firstly is class still and do social divisions exist in Britain? The results of this research indicate yes to both questions, that although class and the nature of its existence have changed since Marx, Weber and Durkheim’s eras, it is very difficult to get past the important and definite existence of class and social divisions within Britain today. Neo-Marxists, neo-Weberians as well as functionalists and other theorists analysing it from a post-modern, post industrialisation perspective support this opinion.

Class itself is a concept that has been traditionally hard to define and continues to be so. As Bradley states in Fractured Identities (1996, p. 45), ‘class is everywhere and nowhere’. Social class refers to the hierarchical distinctions between individuals or groups in societies or cultures. It has a shifting identity with few definite physical signs or markers to monitor. Part of the difficulty to define it categorically is that it involves many terms and viewpoints: class awareness; class consciousness; class imagery; class interest; class position; contradictory class location; false consciousness; middle class; petite bourgeoisie; proletariat; status; stratification; underclass; working class, the list is extensive. As Bilton et al (1987, p. 36) states:

‘Structures where economic relationships are primarily called class societies, and in these cases we refer to the different unequal groups as classes. There is considerable despite over the precise definition of this term, but we shall use class to refer to a group sharing a similar position in a structure of objective material inequalities, produced by a particular system of economic relations characteristic of a particular mode of production.’

(Bilton T, et al 1987, p. 36; Bradley 1996, pp. 45-6).

Analysing class has historically formed a set of debates, emanating from the initial positions taken by theorists such as Marx and Weber, this debate has continued with neo-Marxists and neo-Weberians. In Class and Stratification. An Introduction to Current Debates, Rosemary Crompton (1998) suggests there is now a movement that involves a split between those who study class structure and mobility using statistical research and those who focus on class formation and consciousness by using historical or ethnographical approaches. This conflict has resulted in a stalemate of sorts where some sociologists have lost interest in the importance of social class. While anthropologists, historians and sociologists identify class as a social structure emerging from pre-history, the idea of social class entered the English dictionary approximately in the 1770s. It is valuable for this reason that any changes that may have been made since its induction should be evaluated. (Bradley 1996, pp. 45-6; Taylor, 1999, pp. 97-8).

Marx saw class categories as relating to the ownership of property, and production relationship. He founded a revolutionary concept in social order – communism, in a communist state there would be no stratification. The two groups were the bourgeoisie – who owned the means of production, and the proletariat – the workers. He believed this relationship was based upon exploitation and conflict. Marx predicted a revolution in which the proletariat would defeat the bourgeoisie and share ownership of the factories equally between themselves. Although this did not occur in Britain, it did in Russia, in 1917. The proletariat revolted and all means of production fell into public ownership, forming a socialist state. This was close to Marx’s ideological dream of communism. However, ownership – despite being equal still existed and there was divisions still existed, some people had better, more highly respected, jobs than others. There was still inequality and competition. (Albrow, 1999, pp 155-9; Bilton T, et al 1987, pp 27-8).

Weber was influenced by Marx’s work but disagreed with his theory, he thought it was too deterministic. Being a structuralist, he believed people were shaped by the society in which they lived and capable of social action. He also disagreed with Marx’s theory on stratification. Marx based his view of class structure on ownership of the means of production whilst Weber believed it was dependant on “life chances”. Life chances depended on wealth and skills; the upper class had the most advantageous life chances, and the poor (e.g. the unemployed, elderly and homeless), the least; economic situation, market situation, status and political party could determine class. Whist Marx split society into two distinct classes; Weber saw that social structure was more complex. The four main strata he identified were the upper class, the middle class, the working class and the poor/underclass. However, within these groups, were other, more subtle divisions, which depended on a number of variables including differences in income, opportunities for upwards mobility, security of employment, language, life-style and social estimation of others. However, Weber perceived class as somewhat different, he believed that class consciousness was essentially conditional –that consciousness could occur depending upon circumstances. He acknowledged, as Marx believed, that classes and social groups were likely to experience conflict in attempts to gain status honour or class movement. (Taylor, 1999, pp. 99).

Neo-Marxists come in many varying forms, but they share a common acknowledgement of the importance of gender/sex divisions. Nevertheless, it was still placed less important than class divisions under a capitalist society. Consequently, they thought the primary basis of exploitation in society was class, not gender. This implies that capitalists have more power over workers than men have over women, not an uncontroversial view. Issues of race and ethnicity were also viewed as less important than class. Functionalists take the view that social stratification is both essential to the running of society and inevitable. They believe that all social phenomena exist because they have a positive function to fulfil. Durkheim, a functionalist, described society as a living organism in which different organs with specific functions such as education, work, and government are inter-related. According to Bilton et al (1987), ‘the education system is a vehicle for developing the human resources of an industrial nation.’ (Bilton T, et al 1987, p. 308; Swingewood 2000, pp 137-140).

In Class and Stratification, Crompton challenges the claim that ‘class is dead’ and is in fact very much alive. In the vein of this belief, Goldthorpe and Wright critically examine ‘post-modern’ theories of ‘post-class’ societies, as well as the most recent contributions of quantitative sociological approaches. It is argued that despite their theoretical differences, the work of these two authors has been undergoing a process of convergence in recent years. Crompton analyses how the ‘death’ of class is the contemporary increase in the event of social and material inequality. Definitional difficulties of class are only one aspect of the decision by many sociologists to question its relevance. Cromption explores social inequalities including gender and the feminisation of the middle classes, the significance of recent changes in work and employment, consumption and citizenship. (Bradley 1996, pp. 59-62; Crompton 1998, pp. 113-5)

In most modern industrial societies, including Britain, the system of social stratification is fluid – through generations or perhaps in their own lifetime, people can move up or down the social scale. A number of modern thinkers have tried to define what makes a particular ‘social class’. Is it accent, surroundings, occupation, income, wealth? If we simply spoke only about class as it was first defined and existed since Marx/Weber times we would not taking into account societal changes such as the increase in unemployment, health care crises, resulting in a concept of society that has always existed yet, become more prevent and occupied: the underclass. It seems that any social divisions that may exist stem from the pretext of social class and its restraints and the difficulty to move from one class to another is problematic. (Bilton T, et al 1987, 308).

Thatcher’s Conservative Party did not believe in the concept of society, rather than society had no existence outside of individuals. Her party’s main aim was to reduce the role of the state in the economy, through various means such as the privatisation of British Rail, council houses and the introduction of poll tax in 1989. She advocated strong welfare reforms and created an adult Employment Training system that included full-time work done for the dole plus small top-up, based upon the a US workfare model, called the ‘Social Fund’ system. It placed one-off welfare payments for emergency needs under a local budgetary limit, and where possible changed them into loans, and rules for assessing jobseeking effort by the week, were breaches of social consensus unprecedented since the 1920s. All very strong and harsh steps only seeming to increase the already obvious class inequalities and difficulties in British society. By 1990, opposition to Thatcher’s policies on local government taxation, her Government’s perceived mishandling of the economy -especially the high interest rates which were undermining her core voting base within the home-owning, entrepreneurial and business sectors, as well as other factors finally made her and her party seem increasingly politically vulnerable. Her rein was over, yet her affect on British society remains strong and well-felt by general society. So it seems given all the variants and backgrounds that we have discussed that class divisions still exist and thus are still very relevant. The old saying the rich gets richer and the poor get poorer certainly was true of Thatcher’s era (Taylor, 1999, pp. 111-3; Albrow, 1999, pp 56-7; Margaret Thatcher: 2006).

The Rowntree Report in 1995 exposed that unemployment rates in Britain were rising high and more rapidly than in any other industrial country – a very worrying finding, that unemployment, insecurity and deprivation were still very much prevalent in the working classes. Examining the existence of the underclass leads us to the question of whether it is a convenient label, and a powerful rhetorical label, as Marxists argue, or is it a post-industrial phenomenon? Considering that we are analysing British society post-industrialisation, this is an interesting question to ponder. Some theorists believe that it is a term that victimises and blames people and keeps them in their socio-economic spot without the opportunity or resources to move. (Fincher, R & Saunders, P, 2001, p. 21; Bradley 1996, p 46; Taylor, 1999, pp. 113-5).

To answer our original question of whether class can still be used as applicable concept in the understanding of social divisions in contemporary Britain, the answer is most definitely yes, but it has changed from the days of Marx and Weber and initial sociological conceptualisation. It seems that to analyse this process highlights the parts of society that may be disadvantaged through their social class or class immobility. Awareness is an important part of the process of changing and at the very least, compassion and societal responsibility.

Bibliography
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Bilton T, Bennett, K, Jones, P, Stanworth, M, Sheard, K & Webster, A 1987. Introductory Sociology. Macmillan Education Ltd, Hampshire.
Bradley, H, 1996. Fractured Identities. Changing Patterns of Inequality. Polity Press, Cambridge, UK.
Crompton, R, 1998. Class and Stratification. An Introduction to Current Debates, Polity Press, Cambridge, UK.
Erikson, K, 1997, Sociological Visions, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, USA.
Fincher, R & Saunders, P, 2001, Creating Unequal Futures? Rethinking Poverty, Inequality and Disadvantage. Allen and Unwin, Australia.
Giddens, A 1993. Sociology, Polity Press, Cambridge, UK.
Taylor, S, 1999, Sociology: Issues and Debates, Macmillan, Great Britain.
Swingewood, A 2000. A Short History of Sociological Thought, 3rd Ed, St Martin’s Press, New York.
Psychological/Sociological Paradigms, retrieved 7th April 2006, from: http://webpages.marshall.edu/~carter12/eda705a5.htm.
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Class inequality refers to the inequality of incomes between individuals, families, or between different groups, areas, or countries (Black, 2002). These inequalities occur as a result of differences in the ability to earn incomes as well as differences in property ownership. Some individuals usually have lower incomes than others, especially those who are economically inactive. This is usually as a result of age, poor health, or inability to find employment.

Class inequality is a major social problem in the US and other parts of the world. For example, several studies have demonstrated that a child’s future may be determined by the social status. One study found that although children may have similarities in their ability, differences in the circumstances to which they were born could make the difference on who will be successful in future, and who will not. By considering two children Bobby (the son of a lawyer) and Jimmy (son of a custodial assistant) who both do well in class, the study found that it makes it 27 times more likely that Bobby will get a high profile job, while Jimmy had one chance in eight of earning a median income. It is projected that currently, social inequality is greater in the US than in any other industrialized nation (Wolff, 1995). In 2007, a study conducted by the Congressional Office Bureau revealed that the wealth held by the richest 1 percent of the total American population totaled US$16.8 trillion, which makes up USD$2 trillion more than the combined wealth of the lower 90 percent of the American population. Another study conducted by the Center for American Progress (2007) showed that between 1979 and 2007, the average income of the bottom 50 percent of American households grew by only 6%, while the top 1% incomes increased by a massive 229 percent. This reveals that the gap between the rich and the poor in the US is widening, and may affect the future of children who come from economically disadvantaged families. This may lead to accelerated rates of crime, violence and drug abuse amongst poor communities.

High advances in technology have led to the globalization phenomenon, whereby people in different parts of the world can interact faster and less expensively than before. Some activists consider globalization a social problem. For example, Stiglitz (2002) argues that globalization forced developing nations to liberalize their economies before they were ready, which pushed their citizens to poverty, a major social problem. Further, religious groups, especially Muslims and Christians, are opposed to globalization because it may erode some of their values. With globalization come cultural clashes, which are leading to erosion of cultures. These conflicts may not be easy to resolve because with globalization, there are difficulties in the issues related to justice, identity and equity. For example, previously, when disputes arose between people, they could be resolved by the government or the local council. The process of conflict resolution was faster. However, with globalization, social disputes go beyond local, regional and international boundaries. The process of conflict resolution is slower, and this makes people feel victimized, angry and powerless. As a result, there is a tendency for people to turn to violence when they feel they have no alternative.

According to Stiglitz, globalization has its advantages, but also disadvantages. He states that it has a high potential to bring benefits to the world. So far, globalization has not brought comparable benefits in many parts of the world, and it is viewed by many as a disaster. However, since globalization is now a reality which affects everyone, it is essential that we strategize on how to benefit from it, and how to mitigate its negative impacts. In order to reap the benefits of globalization, the world will have to make rational decisions for people on both sides of the divide.

A number of Sociological Theories attempt to explain why people commit crimes. These include the Strain Theory, the Social Learning Theory, the Control Theory, the Labeling Theory and the social Disorganization Theory. According to Agnew (1992), all crime theories attempt to explain crime as a component of the social environment. Social environment includes the family, school, peer group, workplace, community as well as the society. The structural strain theory, for example, states that social structures in a society could encourage its citizens to commit crimes. The structural strain theory was advanced by several sociologists. These were Merton (1938), Cohen (1955), Cloward and Ohlin (1960), Agnew (1992), as well as Messner and Rosenfeld (1994). According to the authors, strain can either be structural, which depicts the processes at the societal level which filter down and affect how an individual perceives his or her needs. That is, if particular social structures are inherently inadequate, the individual’s perceptions may change to view them as opportunities. On the other hand, strain can be at the individual level, where it refers to the pain experienced by an individual when he seeks ways to satisfy his needs. At this level, if the goals of a society become significant to an individual, actually achieving them may become more important than the means adopted.

The labeling theory, also known as social reaction theory, was developed by Howard Becker (1963), a sociologist. This theory states that deviance is not a quality of the act, since results from personality factors associated with committing deviance. Its main focus is on the linguistic tendency of majorities to negatively label minorities, mainly those perceived as deviant from the norms. According to this theory, self-identity and behavior of individuals can be influenced by the terms used to describe them. This theory is sometimes used to explain why people take drugs. An individual, for example, may escape to drugs due to low self esteem resulting from being constantly stereotyped.

Introduction

The three classical thinkers of Sociology, Marx, Weber and Durkheim have one thing in common regarding the Sociology of Law; their theories were part and parcel of a more fundamental sociological perspective and theory of society. Marx will be the odd one among the three because, the work of Marx is on theoretical ground not evidently connected to the aspirations of sociology, but historically Marx’s writings have informed a considerable body of sociological writings until this day. Marx made a contribution to social science by suggesting the instrumentalist theory of law in contributing to and justifying social inequality. Durkheim’s work orients around the key dimensions of social issues as involving both factual and normative dimensions of society. Whereas Weber is considered as the founding father par excellence of the modern sociology of law. When Weber observed that social life in the modern era had become more and more rationalized in a purposive-rational sense, he no only contemplated the central role of economy, stat, and bureaucracy, but along with it also discussed the role of law as the basis of modern political authority. Weber specifically outlined the characteristics of a formally rationalized legal system that is primarily guided by the application of procedure.

Sociology of Law

The sociology of law is often described as a sub-discipline of sociology or an interdisciplinary approach within legal studies. While some socio-legal scholars see the sociology of law as “necessarily” belonging to the discipline of sociology, others see it as a field of research caught up in the disciplinary tensions and competitions between the two established disciplines of law and sociology. Yet, others regard it neither as a sub-discipline of sociology nor as a branch of legal studies and, instead, present it as a field of research on its own right within a broader social science tradition. For example, Roger Cotterrell describes the sociology of law without reference to mainstream sociology as “the systematic, theoretically grounded, empirical study of law as a set of social practices or as an aspect or field of social experience”.

Irrespective of whether the sociology of law is defined as a sub-discipline of sociology, an approach within legal studies, or a field of research in its own right, it remains intellectually dependent mainly on mainstream sociology, and to lesser extent on other social sciences such as social anthropology, political science, social policy, criminology and psychology, i.e. it draws on social theories and employs social scientific methods to study law, legal institutions and legal behaviour.

More specifically, the sociology of law consists of various sociological approaches to the study of law in society, which empirically examines and theorizes the interaction between law and legal institutions, on the one hand, and other (non-legal) social institutions and social factors, on the other. Areas of socio-legal inquiry include the social development of legal institutions, forms of social control, legal regulation, the interaction between legal cultures, the social construction of legal issues, legal profession, and the relation between law and social change.

The sociology of law also benefits from and occasionally draws on research conducted within other fields such as comparative law, critical legal studies, jurisprudence, legal theory, law and economics and law and literature.

The Classical Thinkers

The roots of the sociology of law can be traced back to the works of sociologists and jurists of the turn of the previous century. The relationship between law and society was sociologically explored in the seminal works of both Max Weber and Emile Durkheim. The works of Karl Marx was not immediately influential in the development of the sociology of law as no direct historical path led from his thought to subsequent sociological schools of thought. Marx’s work was later appropriated by critical sociologists who sought to break with the consensual thinking that they felt characterized much of mainstream sociology in the years after World War II. The writings on law by these classical sociologists are foundational to the entire sociology of law today. A number of other scholars, mainly jurists, also employed social scientific theories and methods in an attempt to develop sociological theories of law. Notably among these were Leon Petrazycki, Eugen Ehrlich and Georges Gurvitch.

Marx’s theory is not to be understood merely as a theory of the economy, for his analysis of capitalism is meant to provide the basis for an analysis of society. The economic organization of society is its material core from which all other social developments in matters of politics, culture, and law can be explained. This is summarized in Marx’s famous dictum that the infrastructure of a society determines it superstructure. Thus, the division between the economic classes of owners and non-owners appears at the societal level as a class antagonism between the relatively small but powerful bourgeoisie and the relatively large but powerless proletariat. The bourgeoisie can articulate its economic power also at the political, cultural, and legal level because of its control over all important institutions of society, such as government, the legal system, art science, and education. The economic, according to Marx, only the destruction of capitalism in favor of a communist mode of production, whereby the workers collectively own and control the means of production, world ensure a successful revolution of society in to a more just social order.

Marx did not develop a comprehensive perspective on law and his ideas on law are scattered throughout his writings. Marx’s theory of the state provides the most useful entry into his perspective on law. Congruent with his materialist perspective, Marx asserts that the economic conditions of society determine what type of state will develop, which in a capitalist society implies that the state will be controlled by the bourgeoisie as an instrument to secure economic rights and to moderate class conflict. For him the capitalist state represents and secures the power of the dominant economic class which now also becomes the politically dominant class. Interestingly, Marx argues that the democratic republic, rather than being a more egalitarian form of the capitalistic state, for it totally disregards the property distinction that have arisen under capitalism.

Marx’s notion on law is instrumentalist, similar to that of his notion of state. He views the legal system in function of its role as an instrument of control serving bourgeois interests. Rather than abiding by a principle of the rule of law that holds that it is just for the law to be applied equally and fairly to all, Marx maintains that capitalist law actually enhances the conditions of inequality that mark capitalist society. Marx contends that the capitalist legal system contributes to inequality because capitalist law establishes and applies individualized rights of freedom, which benefit those who own while disfavoring those who are without property. The formal equality that is granted in law by treating the various parties that are in contract with one another or with the state as equal contributes to sustain and develop the economic inequalities that exist among legal subjects. Legal doctrine justifies the practices of capitalist law on the basis of a notion of justice claimed to be universally valid but which in actuality serves the interests of only the dominant economic class. The ideology of capitalist law is ultimately accepted widely even among those members of society who are economically disadvantaged and thus additionally subject to the inequalities brought about by the legal system.

For Max Weber, a so-called “legal rational form” as a type of domination within society, is not attributable to people but to abstract norms. He understood the body of coherent and calculable law in terms of a rational-legal authority. Such coherent and calculable law formed a precondition for modern political developments and the modern bureaucratic state and developed in parallel with the growth of capitalism. Central to the development of modern law is the formal rationalisation of law on the basis of general procedures that are applied equally and fairly to all. Weber specifically outlined the characteristics of a formally rationalized legal system that is primarily guided by the application of procedures. His analysis of law is an intrinsic part of his sociology, in terms of both its perspective of the study of society and its theoretical propositions on the conditions of modern society. Modern rationalised law is also codified and impersonal in its application to specific cases. In general, Weber’s standpoint can be described as an external approach to law that studies the empirical characteristics of law, as opposed to the internal perspective of the legal sciences and the moral approach of the philosophy of law.

Weber developed his perspective on law as part of a more general sociology. In the systematic nature and comprehensive scope of its contribution, Weber’s analysis is rivaled only by that of Emile Durkheim, whose sociology of law was likewise part and parcel of a more fundamental sociological perspective and theory of society.

Emile Durkheim wrote in The Division of Labour in Society, that as society becomes more complex, the body of civil law concerned primarily with restitution and compensation grows at the expense of criminal laws and penal sanctions. Over time, law has undergone a transformation from repressive law to restitutive law. Restitutive law operates in societies in which there is a high degree of individual variation and emphasis on personal rights and responsibilities. For Durkheim, law is an indicator of the mode of integration of a society, which can be mechanical, among identical parts, or organic, among differentiated parts such as in industrialized societies. Durkheim also argued that a sociology of law should be developed alongside, and in close connection with, a sociology of morals, studying the development of value systems reflected in law.

At sociology’s heart is a concern for morality. For Durkheim, society cannot exist without moral bonds, whether these are bonds of shared belief or of mutual commitment reflecting the interdependence of individuals or social groups. Moral ideas are neither innate in the individual nor to be deduced from abstract first principles. They are inspired by the empirical conditions of social lie in particular times and places. To understand those conditions and the forces that shape social development is rationally to appreciate morality’s demands. Morality provides the normative framework of stable social relationships. In modern society these relationships are primarily domestic, economic and occupational and political relationship of citizenship. Morality expresses the requirements of living together in particular environments; ‘the domain of the moral begins where the domain of the social begins’ (Durkheim, 1961:60). For Durkheim, “Moral ideas are the soul (l’ame) of the law”(1909:150). Law expresses what is fundamental in any society’s morality. So the study of law like that of morality is central to sociology.

Conclusion

Among the three classic thinkers Marx did not focus on law to any degree of intellectual satisfaction, while the sociological contributions of Weber and Durkheim are not only influential but foundational to the sociology of law.

This essay aims to understand why there are health inequalities between both genders and the social classes. This will be achieved by analysing the findings of sociological research, whilst discussing the main problems with how health inequalities are measured. The cultural and structural explanations on why health inequalities occur will also be evaluated.

In 2009, The House of Commons Health Committee published a report, which found that even though people’s health was improving in all social groups, the gap between the health of the social classes had widened. The reason stated for this, was that the health of those in higher social classes was improving far quicker than the health of those in the lower social classes. The figures within in the report showed that if you are in a higher social group you are more likely to live longer than someone in the lower social classes. The report also stated that not only do poorer people die younger; they also suffer more years of ill health. Access to health care for the lower classes is also uneven and those who are poor, elderly and disabled are less likely to receive proper treatment than those who are young and able-bodied. A report done by the Learning Disabilities Observatory alleged that this was because the elderly and disabled were unable to access health care due to reduced mobility, being unable to communicate health problems to professionals and their carers failing to identify health problems. (Eric Emerson, 2010)

The Health Committee report also illustrates the interrelations of gender inequalities and socioeconomic status. On a geographical level females who were born in the more affluent areas of London, such as Kensington and Chelsea had a significantly higher life expectancy (87.8 years) than females who were born in Glasgow (77.1 years), which has the lowest life expectancy figure in the UK. Subsequently, even though the life expectancy for males and females in social class l (professional) and social class V (unskilled manual) has improved compared to previous years, the disparity between them, is still widening. (House of Commons, Health Committee, 2009)

A cultural explanation was also given for why men’s life expectancy is more severely affected than women’s life expectancy. It was suggested by the Men’s Health Forum that men are more likely to take risks with their health due to them trying to cope with stress and conforming to role models in society. Men, compared to women also make poor use of primary care services such as pharmacies and GP surgeries. This is thought to be because men find it culturally unacceptable to discuss their health problems. Men are also more likely to die of health problems relating to their weight, as they are less able than women to identify when they are overweight, as weight is seen as a ‘women’s issue’. (Memorandum by the mens health forum, 2008)

However, even though the data found within the Health Committee’s report looks convincing the majority of the data is based on morbidity rates, which are not always reliable, as not everyone who gets ill may report their illness. Even human error and illness not being recorded accurately can mean that data based evidence of health inequalities can be unreliable.

A previous report done in 2004 by Hilary Graham, featured evidence that suggested that if your parents were poor or in poverty then you were already predisposed to having poor health and having a higher mortality and morbidity rate. This was due to mothers who are poor not being able to afford nutritious food and not being able to access health care. This in turn can lead to babies being born with a lower birth weight, and poor cognitive and physical development. This can influence further problems in health as an adult and therefore, further inequalities in health than someone who was born to parents with a higher income. The findings of the report done by Graham also showed that those living with illness or an impairment were less likely to avoid economic hardships due to their persisting health difficulties and the discrimination they faced, meaning they were less likely to maintain long term employment. In turn, those who did belong to a higher socioeconomic group had a far better chance of staying in employment even when faced with ill health. It was also suggested within the report that socioeconomic position affects an individual’s health indirectly by influencing ‘intermediary factors’ such as their home and environment (e.g. poor living and working conditions) and psychosocial factors such as their stress levels and relationships within their family. (Graham, 2004)

On analysing Grahams’ report, there are certain criticisms that can be made on the reliability of her findings. For instance, all the data that featured in her report is secondary; none of it is her own. Therefore, the validity and reliability of the findings featured in her report is only as good as the people she collected it from. However, the research she did use was up -to – date and from credible resources.

There are cultural and structural explanations that also help us understand why there are inequalities in health between the genders and social classes. In relations to gender inequalities in health the cultural/ behavioural explanation suggests that men are far more likely to suffer ill health and die younger than women due to role models in society and the need for them to feel masculine. Because of this, young men in particular are more likely to smoke, drink alcohol and take drugs. A higher consumption of alcohol and drug taking in particular is thought to be a prime reason why young men are more likely to commit suicide. Women, on the other hand have been socialised to pay greater attention to their health and body as it is seen as a way to define their femininity. However, more women suffer from eating disorders than men do. (Waugh,C. et al 2008) Many feminists believe that women no longer have control over the health care they receive, and any health care they are given is suited to doctors and hospital hours. They also argue that women are left to suffer at the hands of male doctors, who are more likely to diagnose female patient’s symptoms as that of a mental illness. (Browne, 2008)

The structural/ materialistic explanation for inequalities in health has suggested that women are more likely to get ill because of their role in society as caregivers because they are more likely to suffer from stress and mental illness. Women who do part-time work are also more likely to suffer from ill health as they are less well paid and have fewer perks than women who are able to do full time work. Men on the other hand often do jobs that are dangerous, stressful and physically demanding (e.g. warehouse work, armed forces jobs etc.) The structural explanation also suggests that those who are in the lower social classes are more likely to suffer from ill health because they are less able to engage in healthy lifestyle choices due to lack of income. They are also more likely to do manual jobs and have less money to buy good quality foods. Lack of transport may make it harder to access medical care and stress of not having enough money can lead to further health problems, which may eventually lead to unemployment. Marxist’s claim capitalist society causes people to become ill as it aims to serve only the higher classes. Being unable to work is seen as the definition of sickness, whilst Doctors are seen as agents of social control with the power to sign people off work. Yet not working can equally make people ill by increasing the risk of ill health, depression and suicide. (Kirby,M. et al 1997)

Both explanations are equally valid; however, the structural explanation looks at the wider picture of why people in lower classes or certain genders are more likely to suffer from high morbidity and mortality rates, as they cannot afford healthy lifestyles like the higher classes. The cultural explanation gives insight into why one gender more than the other seeks health care and why data for morbidity if higher for women than men yet mortality levels are higher than men than in women. (Martin Holborn, 2004)

In conclusion, the findings in both the reports from the Health Committee and by Hilary Graham both show that the lower your social class, the higher your risk of suffering from poor health and lower life expectancy. Furthermore, the cultural explanation gives reason to why men are less likely to visit the doctor due to wanting to conform to masculine stereotypes, whereas women are encouraged to look after their health. Alternatively, the structural explanation gives greater insight into how your social class can affect your health by limiting your access to healthcare and the means to living a healthier lifestyle.

The concept of civic education had its origin in the ancient Greek city-states. ‘Citizen’ is the agent who react the ‘state’ politically. In Plato’s ideal state, there are three classes of citizens: rulers, soldiers, and the people. ‘Citizen’ of the different levels should accept different civic education. Duties of good citizen are depend on their abilities and role in life. They should do what their best suited to do, and they should create value for society. For example, ruler must have the virtue of wisdom; soldiers should have the virtue of courage. And the rest of the people, such as merchants and farmers must exhibit the virtue of moderation. In my opinion, the organization of Plato’s ideal city, every class’s responsibility is clearly stated; it makes them know their place and cultivates their civic patriotism.

After World War II, some countries are aware that such a narrow view of the civic education leads a lot of contradictions. Therefore, patriotism begins to fade. It is not just talk about rights and obligations, but more emphasis on universal values, such as equality, freedom, justice, and aims to train students to become citizens of the world.

In the contemporary scholarship on civic education J. Mark Halstead believe that civic education should be analyzed according to three aspect, namely the ‘about citizenship’, the ‘good citizenship’ and the ‘active citizenship’.

In ‘about citizenship’, civic education cultivate well-informed citizens. The ‘good citizenship’ emphasis students socialize in society, such as obedience, commitment, patriotism and authority of citizenship. In ‘active citizenship’, children should have active participation in the political, civil and social life of the community.

Davison and Arthur (2006) further stated that citizenship can be divided into passive citizenship and active citizenship.

In passive citizenship, as the member of society, citizen performs one’s obligations, such as obey laws, be polite. Also, citizen develops the ability to participate in society individually. The development of the critical thinking, and enable an individual to participate in society are necessary for ‘active citizenship’.

In Hong Kong, according to Leung, civic education cultivates the sense of belonging to China and the sense of pride of being a Chinese in ‘One Country, Two Systems’ policy.

According to the Basic Education Curriculum Guide of Moral and Civic Education, there are five priority values and attitudes that are essential to students’ personal and social development, such as ‘Perseverance, Respect for Others, Responsibility, National Identity and Commitment’.

The aim of civic education in Hong Kong is to help students to become knowledgeable and responsible citizens and committed to the well-being of their fellow humans.

In other hand, national education can be divided into five forms: ‘cosmopolitan nationalism’, ‘civic nationalism’, ‘cultural nationalism’, ‘anti-colonial nationalism’ and ‘totalitarian nationalism'(Leung, 2002).

First, ‘cosmopolitan nationalism’ is the all human ethnic groups are who on his mind believe that people are equal and show respect, deep concern and love, in disregard of race, gender, nationality, religion, class and believe that the improvement of mankind is the responsibility of individuals.

Second, ‘civic nationalism’ defines the nation as an association of people with equal and shared political rights, in disregard of race, color, creed, gender, language of ethnicity. Citizen’s participation in governing and policy of the nation is not limited.

Third, ‘cultural nationalism’ is a form of nationalism in which the high cohesion of nation by a shared culture. Cultural nationalism builds up a national identity by the same cultural traditions, historic territory, and the unity and national consciousness of the nation.

Fourth, ‘Anti-colonial nationalism’ defines the nation stand against oppressive, imperialist and colonial regimes. Citizen has strong desire to fight against foreign rulers of political and economic independence and racial equality.

Parmenter (2005) had proposed that national unity and national identity can be developed through national education. National education systems inevitably co-exist with nationalism. A nation can be unified by the administrative systems of national education systems. And become a sense of the ‘imagined community’ of the nation (Anderson, 1991).

The aim of National education feels they are take part in the national sense of belonging. Through National education, citizens are ‘educated’ to see themselves as part of the nation, and ‘educated’ into ways of behaving and thinking appropriately as a member of the nation (Reicher and Hopkins, 2001).

The Minister of Education in the People’s Republic of China, Yuan Guiren claims that all nationals should receive national education. And the former deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, Chen Zuoer said that national education is essential in every nation, so Hong Kong people should have responsibility to contribute to the country. But some scholars refute the argument that why Hong Kong people have to accept to receive national education as a citizen. It showed the problem that there is a contradictory relationship between ‘civic education’ and ‘national education’.

Parmenter (2005) holds that National unity and national identity thrive on difference with outsiders, and this is where national education can come into conflict with cosmopolitan identity and citizenship, which is based on the premise that all people are equal and similar citizens of the world.

First, ‘National education’ is too much emphasis on increasing sense of belonging. If national education emphasize on increasing sense of belonging in a large part, national education fosters patriotism. According to Leung, identity is a two-edged sword, it can build up national patriotism of citizens, but it can also lead to serious consequences. ‘Totalitarian nationalism’ represents the term ‘patriotism’. It emphasizes the loyalty and absolute obedience to the state and the ideology of the party and its leaders. The love for the country is equivalent to the love for the ruling political party and its ideologies, and the citizen firmly believed that the ruling political party is the savior of the nation. Hong Kong people definitely reject education for totalitarian nationalism, because all related concepts communism, communist party, socialism and the politics in Mainland China. It very alien to people and political culture of Hong Kong people and they were afraid of the politics of Mainland China.

Also, Leung criticizes the education bureau discarded ‘civic education’ and change into “national education”. ‘National education’ excludes the universal value of ‘civic education’. Leung criticizes national education only focuses on emotional recognition, establish sense of identity through glory of nation. It will cover up all the faults of the party of nation, lack of criticism of the party, and ignore the civil and human rights. It not helps thinking about the discussion of human rights of the nation.

The core values of Hong Kong is freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law etc., is also known as the universal values of human rights, democracy, freedom. It is not expedient that Democracy and human rights is the value of belonging to the world of the country. Leung points out that the National domain of national education does not mention national issues from the point of view of the world. It may limit the horizons of the students, and narrow space of interpretation, lead the universal values change into the ‘Chinese characteristic values’

‘National education’ emphases on patriotic rituals like flag raising ceremonies. The flag-raising ceremony of national flag and SAR flag is raised every morning once a month. According to Fairbrother, patriotic rituals such as the flag-raising ceremony are formalities that have no educational purpose but indoctrination.

Leung believes that national education emphasize the Emotion and national identity, it ignore the critical thinking. According to Cheng, positive teaching materials of national education cannot nurture a critical thinking attitude on the part of students. Worries about the essential areas of civic education, such as human rights, democratic education were neglected because the national education is in high priority between national education and civic education.

Choi Po King pointed out that if the national education emphasized instill identify with the political consciousness of the country, it violate the principle of civic education, such as independent and critical thinking, emotional and irrational (Choi Po King, as cited in Leung, 1995).

The model of national education in China is outdated. Morley claims that a nation’s shrinking national boundaries are shirked and blurred through travel, media and electronic networks. The concept of territorial identity and citizenship is not necessary. Also, the concepts of ‘place’, and specific ‘place’ of their location, are changing (Morley, 2000).

Parmenter (2005) holds that there is no theoretical reason why there are conflict between national education and civic citizenship because the coexistence of state and world citizenship are accepted in the ancient Greek.

Individuals should realize that they have of multiple identities and they are in various territorial spheres of life. The concept of multiple identities is based on the notion of as a composite of multiple, often contradictory, self-understandings and identities.They think that they are “the I fluctuate among different and even opposed positions” (Hermans, Kempem & van Loon, 1992).

There is no contradiction between national identity and citizenship on the one hand, and cosmopolitan identity and citizenship. The co-existence of the two identities and citizenships is recognized to some extent in reality as well as theory.

‘Cosmopolitanism is a way of viewing the world that among other things dispenses with national exclusivity, dichotomous forms of gendered and racial thinking and rigid separations between culture and nature. Such a sensibility would be open to the new spaces of political and ethical engagement that seeks to appreciate the ways in which humanity is mixed into intercultural ways of life.’ (Stevenson, 2003)

The aim of such national education would be cosmopolitanism. It is because a critical and balanced national identity and sense of national citizenship can be achieved by the stimulation of the right of cosmopolitan identity and citizenship. People’s horizons can widen through national education. People’s identities not only focus on the nation, they can take a board view of the world.

The development of National education in Hong Kong is special, the identity of Hong Kong changes from a British colony into a Chinese Special Administrative Region. As early as in 1985, the Education Department ‘Guidelines on Civic Education in Schools’ require students to understanding China Affairs, patriotic and proud of being Chinese. Due to the political Environment, Hong Kong people’s understanding of ‘national identity’ is not clear, national education commenced in the absence of clear national concept. Although schools teach Chinese language and Chinese history, but only focus on knowledge of subjects. Civic education focused on understanding of the society, and the practice of the citizens in the world, not stressed explicitly to develop students’ sense of national identity.

The Guidelines on Civic Education in School (DCC, 1996) published in 1996 also emphasized education for human rights, democracy, education for the rule of law, and national education, global education of critical thinking (Leung, Chai & Ng, 2000). But this guideline is just policy documents, it avoids the contradiction between national education and Civic Education, national education should not simply bring into Civic Education. The guidelines stressed democracy, the rule of law, human rights education and critical thinking. But in other side, it emphasizes students’ positive values and attitudes and identity-building, and builds up a sense of closeness and belonging with the motherland. In my opinion, the aim of Civic Education, national education is different; it makes contradiction and confusion of identity.

The promotion of national education has become a central element in curriculum development since 1997. Soon after 1997, government circulars were issued to remind schools to raise the national flag on significant occasions and to use national symbols (Lee, 2008). Tung Chee-hwa , the first Chief Executive, highlighted national education and patriotism to develop a nation identity and called on the community to work together to foster patriotic Chinese citizens. In 2001 report on curriculum development, students should ‘know their national identity; do their utmost to contribute to the country and to society’. But still labeled as ‘civic education’ and was promoted gradually through practice participation.

A National Education Center was also established under the management of a pro-China education body, the Federation of Education Workers, in 2004. I participated in a tour in A National Education Center about celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of the victory in the Second Sino-Japanese War. One of the aims of the tour is ‘strengthen the national identity of motherland’. I visited lots of historical sights about the Second Sino-Japanese War and attend the seminar that titled ‘three years and eight months’, the period of the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong. I listen seriously the history of Second Sino-Japanese War and her personal experiences. I am impressed with what she said about the difficulties in war and she thinks what she does in the war or giving seminars to primary and secondary school or public is a blessing for her, because she can do for the country. It makes me understand the truth of loving country, just pay, without asking for anything in return.

In 2007 Policy Address, The HKSAR Government promotes “grow to love our motherland and Hong Kong, aspire to win honor and make contributions for our country.” The SAR government starts to promote National education from schools to communities. Nurturing awareness of national identity and national self-Sense of pride and a sense of responsibility there is interest in the implementation of “one country, two systems”, to maintain Hong Kong and the country held continued development and prosperity.

In school, Teachers and students are sponsored to visit the mainland through exchange programmes in order to gain a better understanding of the current development of China and to develop a sense of national identity through personal experience. In 2004, the Education and Manpower Bureau (EMB, later renamed EDB, the Education Bureau) launched a national education programme as part of the youth leadership award scheme, arranging for one hundred and seventy student leaders to enroll in an 11-day programme in Beijing (Lee, 2008).

Teachers, school middle managers and principals have also been invited to subsidized training programmes co-organized by local universities and mainland universities every year in the last decade (Lee, 2008).

According to the Policy Address 2008, the government has injected additional resources to provide more extensive mainland exchange opportunities for pupils, including upper primary and junior secondary students. The ‘Tonggen Tongxin’ (same root, same heart) programme, first introduced in 2008-9 by the EDB, is specially organized for upper primary and junior secondary students. In the school year of 2010-2011, the said programme provides 16 itineraries with designated themes accommodating 27,000 places for participating local teachers and students.

In addition, a consultation paper on the Moral and National Education Curriculum (EDB, 2011) was released early this year suggesting Hong Kong students to receive further political socialization in the primary and secondary school, with national education as an independent subject.

The guidelines on patriotic rituals from the EDB put great amount of resources into schools, communities and media to promote nationalistic education, the elements of citizenship education become unbalanced and not included in the mainstream curriculum, such as human rights, democracy and social justice(Tse, 2007).

In my school, my music teachers teach students singing the national anthem in music lessons and school assemblies. The British national anthem ‘God save the Queen’ was regarded as the anthem for Hong Kong before reverting to China in 1997. After 1997, ‘March of the Volunteers’, the anthem of the People’s Republic of China became Hong Kong’s anthem, it boosts teenagers’ sense of belonging to their country. Although I don’t have Liberal Studies lesson, my History teacher likes to tell us the current news and analyze the pros and cons of opinions. Also, my school invited some scholars for seminar, such as Allen Lee Peng Fei.

In communities, the international competition and events can foster Hong Kong people’s sense of belonging of China. The HKSAR government invited some famous national sportsmen, who succeeded winning in the Beijing Olympics attend the reunification celebration events in Hong Kong Stadium. The first spacewalk by a Chinese astronaut also heightened the sense of belonging of being Chinese, because Hong Kong people take pride in the athletes. It tightened links between Hong Kong and China.

Television announcements in public, an anthem plays in ‘Our Home Our Country’ before 6:30 news report; it shows the pictures of different classes of Chinese people, it means the Chinese people should stay together. The TV broadcasting programs ‘A Bite of China’ is a Chinese documentary television series about the traditional Chinese cuisine all around China in 2012. But it just show the positive way of China, such as Chinese culture. If Hong Kong people ignore the negative site of China, it limits the thinking and become political indoctrination because the ultimate goal of civic education is to cultivate rational, independent, critical thinking and active participation of citizens.

National Education cultivates students agree with the identity of the Chinese and enhance the students’ awareness of Chinese identity by participation and contribution of local, national and world affairs. There are the things that can enhance citizens’ identity and a sense of belonging. In my opinion, I don’t think that patriotism can be taught just like you cannot teach someone how to love somebody or something. I think every Hong Kong people should have a right to choose whether he or she love his or her country and agree or not with the culture of China, and a feeling that they are part of China. To make these decisions, Hong Kong people should understand more about their country China in three different ways. If most of the Hong Kong people have high standard of critical thinking, a mature civic society can be appear.

In conclusion, citizenship education could contribute to the development of open-minded national education for cosmopolitan and liberal cities like Hong Kong.