Author: Andre Coleman

The caste system is one of the oldest forms of social stratification and even though it may be prohibited by the law, the political divisions continue to exist in the minds of the people leaving many oppressed. Before the caste system, India had four groups or divisions already established: the Negrito, Mongoloid, Austroloid and Dravidian. It was during the Aryan invasion around 1500 BCE when the caste system was created. The word caste derives from the Portuguese word casta , meaning breed, race, or kind. In this system, the citizens are divided into categories or castes. Varna, the Sanskrit word for color, refers to large divisions that include various castes; the other terms include castes and subdivisions of castes sometimes called subcastes. Among the Indian terms that are sometimes translated as caste are jati, jat, biradri, and samaj. There are thousands of castes and subcastes in India. It follows a basic precept: All men are created unequal. Each category or jat has a special role to play in the society as well as a unique function: this structure is a means of creating and organizing an effective society.

The caste system in India is primarily associated with Hinduism but also exists among other Indian religious groups. Castes are ranked and named. Membership is achieved by birth. Castes are also endogamous groups. Marriages and relationships between members of different castes, while not actually prohibited, face strong social disapproval and the threat of ostracism or even violence. To illustrate, in a notorious case in August 2001, a Brahmin boy and a lower-caste girl were publicly hanged by members of their families in Uttar Pradesh, India for refusing to end their inter-caste relationship.

The first of the four basic Vedic books, which are considered the source of Indian wisdom, is the Rig Veda- a collection of over 1,000 hymns containing the basic mythology of the Aryan gods. The Rig Veda contains one of the most famous sections in ancient Indian literature in which the first man created, Purusa, is sacrificed in order to give rise to the four varnas.

The varna of Brahmans emerged from the mouth. They are the priests and teachers, and look after the intellectual and spiritual needs of the community. They preside over knowledge and education. The varna of Kshatriyas emerged from the arms. Their responsibility is to rule and to protect members of the community. They are associated with rulers and warriors including property owners. The varna of Vaishyas emerged from the thighs. They are the merchants and traders and those who look after commerce and agriculture. The varna of Sudras emerged from the feet. They are the laborers.

Castes or subcastes besides the four mentioned include such groups as the Bhumihar or landowners and the Kayastha or scribes. Some castes arose from very specific occupations, such as the Garudi – snake charmers – or the Sonjhari, who collected gold from river beds.

Each caste is believed by devout Hindus to have its own dharma, or divinely ordained code of proper conduct. Brahmans are usually expected to be nonviolent and spiritual, according to their traditional roles as vegetarian teetotaler priests. Kshatriyas are supposed to be strong, as fighters and rulers should be, with a taste for aggression, eating meat, and drinking alcohol. Vaishyas are stereotyped as adept businessmen, in accord with their traditional activities in commerce. Shudras are often described by others as tolerably pleasant.

The existence of rigid ranking is supernaturally validated through the idea of rebirth according to a person’s karma, the sum of an individual’s deeds in this life and in past lives. After death, a person’s life is judged by divine forces, and rebirth is assigned in a high or a low place, depending upon what is deserved. This supernatural sanction can never be neglected, because it brings a person to his or her position in the caste hierarchy, relevant to every transaction involving food or drink, speaking, or touching.

The Rig Veda mentions how the four varnas were created but it does not mention the concept of untouchability. “The idea of an Untouchable caste aˆ¦ is not in the Vedas or the law books, which list only four varnas.” It is a part of the system that has been created by society itself.

Untouchables are the fifth group. They are considered unworthy that they fall outside of the caste system. In 1950, the term Untouchable was eradicated under India’s constitution, and untouchables are now formally referred to as the Scheduled Castes. Gandhi referred to untouchables as Harijan, which means “people of God”. Politically active untouchables feel that this term Harijan might evoke pity rather than respect, and prefer the term Dalits, which means, “oppressed”.

Dalits are descendants of the ancient Dravidians of India who lost their language and were subjugated due to the linguistic and socio-cultural oppression by the perpetrators of the caste system. While Dalits in Tamil Nadu speak Tamil, their brethren in other parts of India speak different Dravidian or tribal dialects or languages that arose due to mixtures of Tamil, Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic, such as Hindustani (Hindi).

As an Indian is born into the caste system, they are supposed to stay with that caste until death. What a person in each of these varnas can and can’t do, is prescribed in detail in the laws of Manu, written by Brahman priests at least 2,000 years ago. The laws of Manu are inscribed in Indian culture. Umashankar Tripathy, a Brahman priest, says, “Manu is engraved in every Hindu”

Untouchables or Dalits obviously live also by a certain set of rules. The occupations of people in caste systems are hereditary and dalits perform jobs that cause them to be considered impure and thus “untouchable” and for little or no pay at all. They are restricted to occupations such as landless farm workers and peasants, and forced into washing clothes, beating drums, cutting hair, cleaning latrines and sewers, working as a leatherworker (they work with animal skin which makes them unclean), street cleaners, and manual scavengers. Manual scavenging refers to disposal of human waste by hand, using only the most basic tools, typically a brush, a tin plate and a wicker basket. Scavengers also dispose of dead animals. Millions of Dalits work even as slaves. They mostly have no opportunities for better employment.

Dalits live in the most congested and cramped slums in villages, towns and urban areas consisting of huts or ghettos which are damp and cramped. They live in the most insanitary conditions with no access to public health and sanitation amongst open sewers and open air toilets. There are no state sponsored public housing rights or public health rights in India. Most Dalits are forced to live in isolated areas. Even after death, grave sites are segregated. The best housing is reserved for the upper castes; the government provides separate amenities for each neighborhood, which are segregated on caste lines. Dalits are usually left with the worse of the amenities or none at all. Over 85% of Indian Dalits own no land and are dependent on landlords for work or land to rent; those that do own land may find it difficult or impossible to enforce their rights; workers rarely receive the statutory minimum wage.

Furthermore, in past decades, Dalits in certain areas (especially in parts of the south) had to display extreme deference to high-status people, physically keeping their distance–lest their touch or even their shadow pollute others–wearing neither shoes nor any upper body covering (even for women) in the presence of the upper castes. In northern India for example, untouchables had to use drums to let others know of their arrival. Even their shadows were considered polluted. In the south, some Brahmins ordered Untouchables to keep at least 65 feet away from them.

Untouchables are shunned, insulted, banned from temples and higher caste homes, made to eat and drink from separate utensils in public places. The higher-caste people do not accept food or water from the untouchable because it would transmit the pollution permanent and inherent in the person of the untouchable. Thus, untouchables are not allowed to drink from the same wells, wear shoes in the presence of an upper caste, or drink from the same cups in tea stalls. They are not allowed to touch people from the four varnas or caste groups. They are not allowed to enter houses of the higher varnas especially in which the chula (the small earthen stove) is located. In public occasions, they were compelled to sit at a distance from the four varnas. They are also denied education, freedom of expression, and many other rights the higher classes have.

Dalit children do not have access to education due to the lack of mandatory and universal primary and secondary education in India. Even in rural areas where there may be schools, Dalit children are ostracized, oppressed and stigmatized from attending school. Thus, few Dalit children progress beyond primary education and they are often made to sit at the back of the class. Nearly 90 percent of all the poor Indians and 95 percent of all the illiterate Indians are Dalits, according to the International Dalit Conference. Dalit Children are also subjected to atrocities such as sexual abuse in rural areas, physical abuse and murder just as adult Dalits are. They have a high level of malnutrition and ill health. Some are ordained into temple prostitution as a part of religious rituals for exploitation by non-Dalit men of the village or town.

Dalit women do all the back breaking work society expects Dalits to do, such as manual scavenging, farm labour, stone breaking, etc., and in addition they have to bear domestic responsibilities as mothers and wives. Dalit women suffer double discrimination as Dalits and as women. They are exposed to sexual abuse at the hands of the so called “caste” Hindu men and also men who work or state authorities such as the police. They are frequently raped, gang-raped, beaten and tortured or forced to walk through the streets naked as punishment as an act of reprisal against male relatives who have committed some act worthy of upper-caste vengeance. Atrocities such as rape of Dalit women in police custody, bonded labour and physical abuse are common in India.

The chastity of women is strongly related to caste status. Generally, the higher ranking the caste, the more sexual control its women are expected to exhibit. Brahman brides should be virginal, faithful to one husband and celibate in widowhood. By contrast, a sweeper bride may or may not be a virgin, extramarital affair may be tolerated, and, if widowed or divorced, the woman is encouraged to remarry. For the higher castes, such control of female sexuality helps ensure purity of lineage–of crucial importance to maintenance of high status. Among Muslims, too, high status is strongly correlated with female chastity.

Many thousands of Dalit girls are forced into “marriage” to temples or local deities in south India, often before puberty, sometimes in payment of a debt. They are “married” to temples under the guise of the religious practice Devadasis, meaning “female servant of god.” They are then unable to marry and become unwilling prostitutes for upper-caste men, many eventually being sold into brothels. The Badi Jat is regarded as a prostitution subcaste. Women and girls are routinely trafficked into brothels. Perversely, and hypocritically, untouchability does not seem to apply to prostitution and customers are mainly men from the upper castes.

If, because of any reason, there was a contact between an untouchable and a member of the Varnas, the Varna member became defiled and had to immerse or wash himself with water to be purified. In strict societies, especially among the ‘Twice Born’ (the three top Varnas) the touched ‘Twice Born’ also had to pass through some religious ceremonies to purify himself from the pollution. If the untouchable entered a house and touched things of a Varna member, the Varna members used to wash or clean the places where the untouchable touched and stepped. A twice born Hindu is a male member of one of the three upper castes who has completed the thread ceremony. The thread ceremony is a Hindu initiation ceremony, similar to a Christian confirmation or a Jewish Bar Mitzvah. A thread is given to the boy and it is thereafter worn over the left shoulder or around the waist. The thread has three strands, representing the three gunas (qualities): satya (truth); rajas (action); and tamas(inertia). Sudras and Dalits are excluded from the thread ceremony and cannot become twice-born.

Horrific and unbearable are just a few words that come to mind when thinking of the abuse towards Dalits. More than 160 million people in India are considered achuta or untouchable. Human rights violation against these people known as Dalits is extremely prevalent although obviously illegal. Laws have been passed to prevent the abuse of the Dalits and NGO groups have been established to protect these people. However, that doesn’t limit the crimes. The enforcement of laws on both local and nationwide scale designed to protect the Dalits is lax if not nonexistent in many regions in India. Often times, especially in rural areas, where the practice of untouchability is the strongest, police officers even join in the abuse of the Dalits.

Nearly 50 years later, another event gave rise to a mass of conversions by the untouchables. A man from their “class” became educated, and then dared to try and watch a festival that the upper class men took part in. The untouchable was soon discovered and called a “dirty untouchable” and then killed. When the dead man’s family tried to report the murder to the police, the police turned them away because they were untouchables. Eventually the police gave in and investigated the murder, later convicting a young man, but that did not satisfy the people. They were tired of being treated so poorly, and soon decided to abandon the Hindu religion and chose a new one.

Other headlines about crimes victimizing the Dalits are as follows: “Dalit boy beaten to death for plucking flowers”; “Dalit tortured by cops for three days”; Dalit ‘witch’ paraded naked in Bihar”; “Dalit killed in lock-up at Kurnool”; “7 Dalits burnt alive in caste clash”; “5 Dalits lynched in Haryana”; “Dalit woman gang-raped, paraded naked”; “Police egged on mob to lynch Dalits.”

Fear of public humiliation, beatings, and rape keep India’s Untouchables in their place. Statistics from India’s National Crime Records Bureau indicate that in 2000 25,455 crimes were committed against Dalits. Every hour two Dalits were assaulted; every day three Dalit women raped, two Dalits murdered, and two Dalit homes torched. Majority of crimes go unregistered, because the police, village councils, and government officials often support the caste system, which is based on the teachings of Hinduism. Many crimes go unreported due to fear of reprisal, intimidation by police, inability to pay bribes, or simply because people know that the police will do nothing. There will be no punishment for the criminals; no justice for the victimized. Amnesty estimated that only about 5 percent of attacks are registered

Hundreds of thousands of Dalits have already renounced Hinduism, generally by conversion to Buddhism or Christianity, sometimes in mass ceremonies. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, a Dalit leader, lawyer, and politician, famously led several hundred thousand Dalits in converting to Buddhism, saying “I was born a Hindu, but I will not die one”. Conversion is not a panacea, however, and converts to other religions, especially Christianity and Islam, have suffered continued discrimination. Some converts have lost “reserved” occupations on the grounds that they are no longer members of scheduled castes and converts are not counted as Dalits in the Indian census.

Amidst the oppression and hardships, Dalits still have social life which is expressed through dance and music. They’re dance and music are full of fiery spirit, spontaneity and humour without the inhibitions and rigid classical structure that characterizes Hindu music and arts. Dalit songs celebrates life but laments their life conditions, while frankly exposing the realities of life, in a style full of humour and sensual zest, by using simple instruments and vocals. In modern times, Dalit poetry and writing by social and political activists have taken centre-stage amongst the educated activist community.

Despite the harsh treatment that the untouchables are receiving, there have been certain attempts to help them. The elimination of untouchability became one of the main planks of the platform of all social reform movements of India. Reform movements and humanitarian acts such as those started by Buddha, Ramanuja, Ramanand, Chaitanya, Kabir, Nanak, Tukaram and others were established but they hardly had any effect on the people’s treatment on the untouchables. The Hindu state also enacted laws to punish those who rebelled against their intolerable conditions. The social oppression of the untouchables had religious sanctions.

The British listed the poorest (principally Dalit) subcastes in 1935, creating detailed lists of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. The 1948 Indian constitution, thanks to its architect Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, reinforced this classification, for a system of affirmative action called reservation. The concept was that these measures would help the poorest to escape poverty and oppression.

Reservation is an attempt by the Indian national government to redress past discrimination. The constitution reserves 22.5% of national government jobs, state legislature seats, seats in the lower house of the national parliament and higher education places for members of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. Unfortunately, this policy has not been implemented in full. Less than half the national government quota had been filled in total in 1998 and less than 15% of “reserved” public sector jobs. An unspoken policy discriminates in favor of upper castes, particularly Brahmins. Dalit representation in university teaching posts is less than 1%.

New economic forces, education and nationalist movements had different impacts on the treatment of the people on untouchables. Because of new economic forces, railways and buses were introduced, thus, bringing touchables and untouchables together. Modern industries established in India recruited their labor supply and labor market from both touchables and untouchables, who further worked at the machines in physical proximity to one another. The workers also fought together during labor strikes. Because of education, whether liberal or technical, their economic conditions somewhat improved and different sections following different occupations began to merge, on class basis, with groups of other castes following similar occupations. The new bonds were based not on caste but on common occupation and class. This very slowly began to dissolve the mass of the untouchables into groups such as factory workers, teachers, clerks, merchants, mechanics, or manufacturers. New economic bonds between the touchables and untouchables following the same economic activity started weakening the prejudice of untouchability. Finally, nationalist movements also contributed to the benefits received by the untouchables. For example, the Swaraj struggle demanded the democratic alliance of all castes and communities in India whose vital interests lay in the political independence of the country. The nationalist movement contributed towards the dissolution of old distinctions. The social reformers were moved by humanitarian and national considerations when they crusaded against purely social evils.

The Untouchables is a topic that touches on many sensitive issues relevant to every society; not only to the Indian society. One prevalent issue that the Untouchables have driven out is that of being an outcast. Perhaps many of us, if not all, can relate to the feeling of being unable to belong and just longing to fit in. Perhaps in high school, we tried out many roles and sought the group we most felt at home in. For the Dalits, life is high school taken to the worse extremes. From birth, they are ostracized. They are placed outside of society; and seen as less than human. They are given roles that they must play, and follow a certain set of rules for the rest of their lives, or suffer the consequences. In our society, to be treated as an outcast in this manner is simply unimaginable. It would seem as though one would go through life apart from society; apart from people. It would be as though one isn’t a person at all; that one would be less than a person; less than even an animal.

This sense of inequality was seen many times over history, in many different societies, and many are still relevant in today’s society. Divisions were brought about by differences in gender, creed, and race, to name a few. Wars have been waged; rallies have been set into motion; and lives have been lost, with regard to all these issues. With all that has happened in our world’s history, India’s society learned nothing to deter from inequalities problems. The Dalits are maltreated and discriminated against. The maltreatment for Dalit women are even harder hit. Their people experience the never-ending cycle of poverty.

The caste system was built and based on the idea that each caste or jat has a special role to play in the society but shouldn’t an individual have the right to choose what role he/she will play in the society? Is the caste system the best way to achieve an organized and effective society? It is understandable that breaking away from the caste system would be difficult or something very hard to get used to. India has lived through all these years with the mentality that all men are unequal and there will always be untouchables or Dalits. It has become a part of their lives and is embedded in them.

There is very little pressure for change, especially within India: it is said that the majority has an interest in perpetuating caste discrimination. Protests by Dalits themselves are rare: for many Dalits, day-to-day survival may be a higher priority. To quote Human Rights Watch: “The solution lies in concerted international attention to assist national governments in this important and long overdue work.”

If you take a look at our society, even without the caste system, you will see that this never-ending cycle of poverty is also a major problem in the Philippines, and one question still stands, that is, “How can one break free from poverty?” Poverty is a problem, because those experiencing it, the poor, are marginalized. They can barely afford or sometimes cannot afford basic necessities such as food, clothing, and shelter. Yes, in India, as well as the Philippines, there have been programs, laws to aid and support these people. However, it is in the implementation of these laws that fail to solve the problem.

For most Western people, the single action that has the best chance of making a difference would be to raise awareness of the problem, repeatedly bringing it to the attention of individuals, politicians, media, diplomats and above all the Indian government. The lack of will to change and unity among people (in India, as well as the Philippines) is one important problem in breaking away from poverty and making a change. Therefore, the caste system or these political divisions continue to live in the minds of many, leaving millions of untouchables or Dalits trapped in a world of oppression and poverty.

Change is something much called for in the Indian society, in our society, and in many others around our world today. We can study the oppressive Dalit cases time and time again. We can feel disgusted, depressed, and down reading about them, and we can wonder, “can their lives ever change?” It isn’t enough to read and wonder, in order for change, action is a must. In retrospect, there isn’t much radical action one can take for the Dalits when still in second year college in the Philippines. However, we believe there is much we can do in the future, for our society, as well as others. In the words of Mahatma Ghandi, “be the change you want to see in the world”.

Throughout history, women have found ways to interject themselves into combat roles, whether openly or undercover. Stories about women serving in combat roles during the American Revolution and the Civil War have spread to groups who support the idea of including women in such roles. However, a woman’s traditional role during war has been to hold things together back home while the men were responsible for defending the nation. During the turn of the 20th century, the roles for women changed dramatically when it comes to the military. “Some 33,000 women served in the US armed forces during World War I, most in the Nurse Corps; more than ten times that number served during World War II” (Field). Additionally, women fulfilled roles in manufacturing plants that produced the equipment vital to the war effort. Recently, women have been indirectly attached to combat ground troops where they have been placed in a position to defend themselves from enemy combatants when necessary. Female veterans such as Catherine Ross feels, “aˆ¦she faced the same dangers as her male colleaguesaˆ¦why aren’t women allowed to serve in full combat roles in the American army” (Horn). Supporters make a very convincing argument for overturning the current exemption prohibiting women from serving in direct combat roles. However, Elaine Donnelly from the National Review believes otherwise. She states, “Civil affairs, even in a combat zone, does not fit the definition of direct ground combat: deliberate offensive action, attacking the enemy under fire aˆ¦ Rose has therefore not actually experienced the role she is advocating for her fellow women” (Horn).

The assertions that other countries have overcome the problem of allowing women in combat roles have been taken out of context when the details are studied thoroughly. Israel is a country that is frequently mentioned when debating whether women should fulfill combat roles. Dorian de Wind of the Moderate Voice states, “The Israeli military have actively recruited women since the start of the Israeli state in 1948, and now allow women to serve in any role that men may” (Horn). However, there are reports that contradict this statement. “No Israeli woman has served in combat since the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948” (Van Creveld). The people of Israel, including feminist groups, have any objections to this situation (Dougherty). So the question remains, “Should women be allowed to fulfill full combat roles within the United States military?” The answer should be unequivocally “NO!” Women are physically incapable to handle the rigors of war, will cause a break-down in unit cohesion, and to be honest, Americans are not truly ready to see large numbers of young women returning home in body bags.

The first major problem deals with the physical capabilities of the average woman entering the military. When in a combat situation, each member of the team will need to be able to pull their load, many times without the assistance from anyone else. One critic states, “Women on average do not have the physical capability to lift a fully loaded male soldier who has been wounded under fire, in order to save his life. No one should have to die because women do not [have the capability]” (Horn). Time is of the essence when in battle, and when a soldier’s life is at stake, the unit will need capable individuals to carry-out the duties and responsibilities required to bring everyone home safe from a dangerous mission. Most women lack those very important skills crucial to combat.

Some may argue to include those women who may be considered capable, but that will not be the correct answer due mostly to the difference in physical training standards. Proponents say, “There are no current tests that specifically measure the physical skills required for each military occupation specialty – the only way to test this is have the soldiers simply go out and perform their task. The goal is to create these gender-blind specific tests that more accurately predict a soldier’s success in combat” (Willens). The promotion of such tests will be disastrous in the end. To merely, test a soldier on how well he or she carries a gun is a far cry from the unpredictability of an intense combat situation. There is no way to predict each and every task that maybe required of a soldier when a combat situation arises; therefore, the task test for every specialty would only be beneficial to those specialties while in peace time conditions and would be thrown out in combat.

As of now, men and women are held to two different standards. Men are required to do more, physically, than their female counterparts. Another critic states, “If women were held to the same standards as men, more than 14 percent of our armed forces would not be women. Feminists aver that scrapping the double standard would be discriminatory” (Kirkwood). These remarks speak for themselves. Everywhere in society, the physical standards differ between men and women. Let’s consider the New York Marathon. The men and women start out at the same time and run the same course, but when it comes to finishing the race, the division begins. There is always a man that finishes the race first and shortly afterwards, the first woman crosses the finish line. When the top participants are identified, they are split between the top man and the top woman. If this split does not occur, the top performing woman would never be recognized even though she may have finished before hundreds of male participants. Proponents, deep down inside, recognize there are strength differences between male and female, and really do not want to push for the physical standards to match. Besides, “the strongest woman is usually only as strong as the weakest man” (Kirkwood). Does the military want a less than capable combat force? Most logical thinking human beings would say, “No!”

The second major problem to be discussed is the disintegration of unit cohesion within the combat team. This disintegration takes place in many forms that are also found within civilian society such as mistrust and pregnancy. Trust within the unit is paramount. One scholar states, “Just the perception of unfairness is often enough to poison the atmosphere” (Simons). This perception of unfairness will be experienced by both men and women. For example, certain tasks are perceived to be unfairly assigned to men due to the mixed gender environment. Leaders do not want to be on the wrong end of such an intense situation and therefore chooses men to complete the task because they would be the ones performing it in an all male environment. When this takes place, mistrust in the chain of command creeps in and starts the breakdown in cohesion. On the other hand, if the women are assigned these types of tasks, they too will feel that the leadership is treating them unfair based on gender. Where is the leadership to turn? It takes a delicate balancing act to make such a situation work. And when in combat, the leadership needs to know that each service member completely trusts their decision making ability or the whole unit is lost.

Take a look at the corporate world. Women are positioned throughout the company at all levels. Even though the women are there, they are still unevenly represented at the upper levels of management. Some may ask, “Why?” A simple explanation may be in order. There are things that only happen to women that may or may not impact their decision. The board of directors at these companies needs to be comfortable that their team will be intact for years to come and pregnancy disrupts this plan. In the corporate environment, “many women extend their maternity leave and then willingly surrender high-status positions (or resign their commissions) after giving birth in order to spend more time at home” (Simons). This type of behavior would not be acceptable in a Special Forces unit. These units spend years together perfecting their communication skills and fighting techniques. A decision of this magnitude cannot be made on a whim. No one has the right to tell a woman that she cannot start a family if she chooses to do so. The unit will suffer for this decision and will make it ineffective. Therefore, all women have to be considered potentially non-deployable for some length of time (Simons).

The final problem with women being assigned in combat roles is that Americans are not ready for their daughters to be brought home in body bags. During World War I and World War II (WWII), Americans accepted the fact that war produces casualties on both sides and seen it was necessary to participate in such a horrific act. However, over the past forty years, some Americans have changed their perceptions on the need for war. Statistics show that the number of casualties have drastically decreased since WWII with Vietnam combat casualties being listed at 58,209 compared to the 5624 combat deaths of the entire Global War on Terrorism (Wikipedia). Now imagine that 14 percent of the deaths during the War on Terrorism were women. It paints a grim picture to know that nearly 800 women could have been killed in combat while performing a highly dangerous job that some feminists are advocating so strongly. If this was the case, the streets would be crowded with angry parents and family members protesting the use of their daughters in such combat roles.

Women are needed to play the counterbalancing role for the men in society. If society is composed of individuals who all think alike, the country would go down the path of no return. Women should be spared the carnage and cruelty of war and turning a woman into the kind of person who views such gore without blinking an eye, or who participates in the wanton killing war requires, is a step down to cultural suicide (Kirkwood). It is usually the mothers who teach the youth of America and by turning them into killing machines, Americans are essentially destroying their future because the sanity check would not be place to keep this country from becoming the war mongering state that some Americans believe it is today.

Movies make the case for including women in combat roles and there are some who have fought valiantly when thrust into a kill or be killed situation. However, the few women who have encountered such activities do not constitute the total restructuring of full combat units that are performing effectively as they now stand. Maybe in the future when strength capability and unit cohesion is not a part of the equation, then women will be utilized in a more modified combat role where service members will never come into contact with enemy forces. This would be the problem assigned to the Department of Defense Warfare engineers for a solution. How would combat units fight a close quarter without seeing the enemy face-to-face? When this problem is solved, then and only then women should be allowed to become a part of fully engaged combat unit.

Belief in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes, the movement organized around this belief. Feminist theory is an outgrowth of the general movement to empower women worldwide. Feminism can be defined as a recognition and critique of male supremacy combined with effort to change it. Simply saying: Feminist fights for the equality of women and argue that women should share equally in society’s opportunities and scare resources.

Goals of Feminism:

To demonstrate the importance of women.

To reveal that historically women have been subordinate to men.

To bring about gender equity.

Historical Perspective:
“Three Waves” of Feminism

First Wave (19th through early 20th centuries).

Second Wave (1960s-1980s).

Third Wave (1990’s-Present)

First Wave Feminism:

First-wave feminism refers to a period of feminist activity during the nineteenth century and early twentieth century. It focused primarily on gaining the right of women’s suffrage. The term, “first-wave,” was coined retrospectively after the term second-wave feminism began to be used to describe a newer feminist movement that focused as much on fighting social and cultural inequalities as further political inequalities.

Second Wave Feminism:

The “second-wave” of the Women’s Movement began during the early 1960s and lasted throughout the late 1970s. Whereas first-wave feminism focused mainly on overturning legal (de jure) obstacles to equality (i.e. voting rights, property rights), second-wave feminism addressed a wide range of issues, including unofficial (de facto) inequalities, official legal inequalities, sexuality, family, the workplace, and, perhaps most controversially, reproductive rights.

Third Wave Feminism:

Third-wave feminism began in the early 1990s, arising as a response to perceived failures of the second wave. and also as a response to the backlash against initiatives and movements created by the second wave. Feminist leaders rooted in the second wave like Gloria Anzaldua, bell hooks, Chela Sandoval, Cherrie Moraga, Audre Lorde, Maxine Hong Kingston, and many other feminists of color, sought to negotiate a space within feminist thought for consideration of race-related subjectivities.

Types of Feminism:
Liberal Feminism:

All people are created equal and should not be denied equality of opportunity because of gender.

Liberal Feminists focus their efforts on social change through the construction of legislation and regulation of employment practices.

Inequality stems from the denial of equal rights.

The primary obstacle to equality is sexism.

Marxist Feminism:

Division of labor is related to gender role expectations.

Females give birth. Males left to support family

Bourgeoisie=Men

Proletariat=Women

Radical Feminism:

Male power and privilege is the basis of social relations.

Sexism is the ultimate tool used by men to keep women oppressed.

Women are the first oppressed group.

Women’s oppression is the most widespread.

Women’s oppression is the deepest.

Socialist Feminism:

Views women’s oppression as stemming from their work in the family and the economy.

Women’s inferior position is the result of class-based capitalism.

Socialist believes that history can be made in the private sphere (home) not just the public sphere (work).

Feminism and the Media:

The mass media have played an important role in the dilution of feminist goals and ideals. They often ignore, trivialize, or belittle the principles of feminism. The media employs several techniques or strategies that contribute to the negative representations of women and feminism, which are also damaging to the central goals of feminism. Women are often represented as sexual spectacles, as being “on display” for men. Patriarchal society dictates that women be constructed as an object for the “gaze” of the male spectator. Women are positioned as the passive object of the male “gaze,” rather than the subject in mainstream media and come to internalize this view (Dow, 1999; 1997; Wahers, 1992).

Wahers (1992) describes the “male gaze” as the idea of men determining the specific vantage point of media depictions of women, as occupying a privileged space in the process-of contacting “ways of seeing.” Ways of seeing remains an important text for feminist cultural theorists who contend that women are forced to identify themselves within in a visual society constructed for male pleasure (Walters, 1999; 1992).

Wolf (1992) suggests that women’s attempts at achieving equality are negatively affected by images of women portrayed as sex objects. She discusses the concept of the “beauty myth,” which refers to how women’s societal worth is based on physical appearance and youthful beauty. Walters argues that “objectification of women is not an ‘added-on’ attraction, but rather endemic to the very structure of image-making” (Walters, 1999, p. 235). This is exemplified in media advertisements where women are frequently represented in what Wahers (1999) terms a “fragmented” way. Women are often signified by their specific body parts; their lips, legs, hair, eyes, etc., instead of being represented as a serious “whole” or subject. In advertisements women are urged to think of their bodies as “things” or “parts” that need to be molded and shaped into a male conception of female perfection. The fragmentation of the female body into body parts that women should then “improve” often results in women having self-hating relationships with their bodies.

Media Feminism in Pakistan:

“Muslim women form a highly diverse and complex group and assumptions about them are often ill-conceived, miss-informed and grossly miss-represented. This is often reflected in images of them, particularly in the West, as oppressed, powerless and victimized. The voices of Muslim women, striving to keep their religious identity in Western contexts, are seriously under-represented within academic research.”

In recent years there has been an increasing interest in Islamic culture as a fundamentalist and sensationalist phenomenon. Media coverage and Western scholarship often views Muslim women as an oppressed mute victim and ‘asserts or implies that Islam itself oppresses women’. Islamic Feminism and Its

Role in Cinema is a study derived to counter react the portrayal of Muslim women by the media.

Feminists and Muslim women activists have sought to determine the cause of discrimination against women by examining the effects on Muslim women of patriarchy, kinship and norms within Muslim and non-Muslim societies.

6 Overall trends in the published material focus on colonialism, Orientals and the media as the cause of discrimination against the Muslim woman’s identity. An extensive study of the research literature has failed to identify how Muslim women filmmakers represent Muslim women and whether they support feminist agenda.

Critical Analysis: Movie Name: “Dragon Seed” (1944)

Dragon Seed is co-directed by Harold S. Bucquet and Jack Conway. It received two Academy Award Nominations for Best Supporting Actress, Aline MacMahon, and for Best (Black-and-White) Cinematography, Sidney Wagner. The freewheeling plot has a heroic young Chinese feminist woman, Jade (Katharine Hepburn), who goes dressed as a man to lead her fellow peaceful farmer villagers in an uprising against the Japanese invaders.

It opens in the spring of 1937 with patriarch Ling Tan (Walter Huston) and his family planting rice in the valley of Ling, China. The farmers are concerned about the recent Japanese invasion of the north, and take out their anger on Wu Lien–as an angry student mob insists that he stop selling Japanese merchandise or else. When he refuses their demands, they destroy his store.

Soon after the farmers observe Japanese airplanes bombing the nearby city. The pacifist Ling is shocked by the attack, but along with Lao San and eldest son Lao Ta (Robert Bice) decide to remain on their farm despite the anticipated dangers of a Japanese invasion. While Lao Er and Jade join a resistance group of refugees in the hills. Upon their departure the Japanese Army takes over the valley, and Lao Ta’s wife Orchid is raped and killed by the invading soldiers, who also kill Wu Lien’s elderly mother. Ling and his wife remain secure as they go into hiding. This cruelty drives the remaining sons of Ling to join the resistance.

In the conclusion, Ling must accept that he must destroy his land so that he can sacrifice his present gains to ensure the future of his grandson. When Jade and hubby rejoin the resistance fighters in the hills to ensure a Free China, they leave their son the, “seed of the dragon,” in the care of his loving grandparents.

The story of this movie showed that how the brave women struggles and fight for their country, she appears as a caring mother, a loving and trustworthy wife and a true patriot. The movie shows that how the heroic young Chinese woman leads her fellow villagers in an uprising against Japanese Invaders. This movie truly reflect the feminism theory.

Karl Marx was born in the early 19th century in Germany, where he received his degree in law and philosophy. Shortly after completing university, with his ever growing ‘anti-bourgeois sentiment’ (Zott, 2006) he found he could no longer believe in the German education system. He turned to journalism where he developed his radical ideas, ultimately he was forced out of Germany, and he soon enthused onto further developing his studies. Marx met his long life friend Fredrick Engels who both had published significant work that questioned the existing European socio-economic system. Fredrick himself observed firsthand the exploitation of blue collar workers under the ruling class in factories, as his father sent him to represent their family in its textile business. Upon meeting in 1844 both found common ground in one and others studies, they began to develop their intellectual partnership, and they came about writing ‘The Communist Manifesto’ in 1848. Karl Marx is generally considered the prime writer, though some would say it is difficult to underpin where Marx work begins and where Engels work ends.

The political manuscript was written at a time of political upheaval, where they witnessed revolutions, coups and rebellions. Marx was present during the European revolutions of 1848 which started in France. Its 160th anniversary ‘The Communist Manifesto’ is still relevant till this day, Marx and Engels principles and their ideas of capitalism ‘resemble the restless, anxious and competitive world of 20th century global economy’ (Cohan, 2000). Economists and political scientists note how the manifesto ‘recognized the unstoppable wealth-creating power of capitalism, and predicted it would conquer the world, and warned that this inevitable globalization of national economies and cultures would have divisive and painful consequences’ (Zott, 2006) which is indicative of the text’s relevance.

Summary of main ideas

The central premise of ‘The Communist Manifesto’ can be deduced from Marx’s famous generalization ‘The history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggle’ (Marx and Engels,1848) in which essentially Marx is stating that class is the defining feature of the modern industrial society. While the modern society has ‘sprouted from the ruins of feudal society this has not done away with the clash antagonisms.'(Marx and Engels, 1848) Marx is arguing that in the earlier periods society was arranged into complicated class structures such as in medieval times there were ‘feudal lords, vassals, guild-masters, journeymen, apprentices and serfs.’ For Marx, he believed class struggle still exists but in this epoch modern class antagonism has become simplified into two classes, the bourgeoisie as the oppressor and proletariat as the oppressed who are in constant opposition to each other.

The manifesto then goes on to state the characteristics of both classes, which is marked by an exploitative relationship between the bourgeoisie and the proletarians. The bourgeoisie are the product of several revolutions, the owners of the means of production who have gained momentum with the age of exploration. Marx describes the proletarians as ‘a class of labourers, who live only so long as they find work, and who find work only so long as their labour increases capital’ (Marx and Engels,1848) proletarians are essentially reduced to becoming a ‘commodity’. Marx then proceeds to argue that the division of labour has exploited proletarians where they have been stripped of their identity due to the advent of ‘extensive machinery’ and so man ‘becomes an appendage of the machine.’ The workers are powerless to change their circumstance and as the ‘repulsiveness of the work increases, the wage decreases.’ This system of oppression is sustained by institutions such as the education system (which is part of the superstructure) which reinforces ruling class values. For example,

the concept of a hidden curriculum (Black’s Academy, 2010) in educational establishments, whereby everything is designed to prepare students for the future status as a powerless worker. The education institution is designed to benefit the bourgeoisie and uphold the capitalist system, i.e. the hidden curriculum.

Marx then discusses how the development of the industry has increased the proletarians strength, ‘the growing competition among the bourgeois, and the resulting commercial crises, make the wages of the workers ever more fluctuating’ (Marx and Engels 1848). As there’s more of them they are strong enough to unite and voice their struggles over reduced wages. By forming trade unions they stick together to demand to keep up the rate of wages. Marx further argues the larger the union the bigger chance of them changing the system ‘workers are victorious’. Although their struggle for equality doesn’t lie in the short term effect; it lies in the ‘ever-expanding union of the workers.’ However, the bourgeoisie try to split the proletarians so they are not united and cannot revolt, as a revolution is the only way in which their circumstances can be changed. This can be substantiated by the fact that Marx says ‘continually being upset by competition between the workers.’ Marx also describes the process of domination, in that to oppress a class, certain conditions of its ‘slavish’ existence need to exist, and the ‘essential condition for the existence, and for the sway of the bourgeois class, is the formation and augmentation of capital.’ (Marx and Engels, 1848)

Criticisms

The fall of the bourgeoisie ‘and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable’ (Marx and Engels, 1848). Despite Marx and Engels principles and ideas that the proletarians will overthrow the bourgeoisie, a century on and yet workers in the UK and other industrial societies have not eradicate and revolted against capitalism. Ralf Dahrendorf’s studies point out why the Marxist revolution hasn’t come about over the 20th century. In 1959 Dahrendorf pointed out four reasons why.

The first one was ‘The fragmentation of the capitalist class’ (Dahrendorf: 2005) he suggested that previously the means of productions would typically be owned privately by families, now in the 20th century companies and property are greatly owned by stockholders. Secondly, ‘white collar work and a rising standard of living’ (Dahrendorf, 2005) has transformed Marx’s industrial proletariat. ‘Workers in Marx’s time laboured either on farms or in factories’. They had blue collar or manual occupations; lower standing jobs involving mostly physical labour. Today they hold white collar occupation, higher-prestige work involving mostly mental activity for instance job roles of such; sales, management, and bureaucratic organisations. However, they still perform monotonous tasks like the industrial workers in Marx time, but evidence indicates that these workers see their positions higher than those of their grandparents who led blue collars lifestyles. Thirdly, a ‘more extensive worker organisation’ exists in which workers have organisational strengths, which they were deficient in a century ago. They have ‘Trade unions’ where they come together and make demands backed with intimidation of ‘working to rule’ and the relationship between labour and management are usually institutionalised and peaceful. Finally, ‘more extensive legal protections’ have been more supportive to protect workers’ rights and has given workers better access to the courts.

Dahrendorf also states that regardless of ‘persistent stratification, many societies have smoothed out some of capitalisms rough edges-and social conflict today maybe less intense than it was a century ago’. (Dahrendorf, 2005) What’s more, he argues that despite Marx having witnessed the augmentation of the mass press in his time, however he could hardly have predicted what a major impact media forms would have on us. ‘The Growth of music, mass film, and mediated society has allowed us to amuse ourselves to death’ and become media-saturated with entertainment which has led people to lose their critical edge for thinking about the nature of their class positions.’ (Postman, 1986)

Max Weber also criticised some of Marx’s ideas. In particular, he considered Marx’s model of two social classes as too simple. Weber viewed social stratification ‘as a more complex interplay of three district dimensions’ (Weber, 2005) the dimensions being; class, status and power. Marx believed that social status and power derived from economic position therefore he didn’t find any reason to see it as district dimensions of social inequality. Weber opposed, as he recognised that stratification in industrial societies does have characteristically low status uniformity, individuals may have high rank on one dimension of society but a lesser position to another, for example, an bureaucratic official, may have power but in another dimension in society have little wealth.

Analysis

In spite of all the criticisms aimed at Marx and his work, the communist manifesto remains an extremely influential piece of literature and as a foundation for society. His ideas have lent inspiration to revolutions, coups and political systems, but sadly they have not been sustained, for example the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The USSR was based on a communist system, yet it failed and capitalism moved into the vacuum. (BBC News, 2010)

This then leads me to the Social Identity Theory. Developed in 1979 by Tajfel and Turner, the theory was originally developed in order to understand the psychological analysis of intergroup conflict and discrimination.

In the Social Identity Theory, the self is reflexive in that it can take itself on as an object and can categorize, classify, or name itself in particular ways in relation to other social categories or classifications. This process is called self-categorisation in social identity theory. Through the process of self-categorisation, an identity is formed (Bauman, 2004).

The theory suggests that social categorisations are perceived as fixed tools that sector, organize, and direct the social environment, and as a result many forms of social action can be taken on by the individual. But they do not simply systematise the social world; they also offer a system of direction for self-reference: they generate and label the individual’s place in society. As a result social groups allow their members to withhold an identification of themselves in social terms. These identifications are to very large extent relational and comparative, they define the individual as similar to or different from, as well as, as better or worse than, members of other groups. It is from these definitions that we use the term social identity. With this limited concept of social identity in mind, Tajfel and Turner continue to say our argument is based on the following assumptions; ‘firstly, individuals strive to maintain or enhance their self-esteem: they strive for a positive self concept. Secondly, social groups or categories and membership of them are associated with positive and negative value connotations.’ Hence, social identity may be positive or negative according to the evaluations (which tend to be socially consensual, either within or across groups) of those groups that contribute to an individual’s social identity.

Lastly, the evaluation of one’s own group is determined with reference to specific other groups through social comparisons in terms of value-laden attributes and characteristics. Positively discrepant comparisons between in-group and out-group produce high prestige; negatively discrepant comparisons between in-group and out-group result in low prestige (Tajfel & Turner, 1979).

According to Bauman (2004), ‘A social group is a set of individuals who hold a common social identification or view themselves as members of the same social category.’ Through a social comparison process, persons who are similar to the self are categorized with the self and are labelled the in-group; persons who differ from the self are categorized as out-groups.

The social categories in which individuals place themselves are parts of a structured society and exist only in relation to other contrasting categories (for example, black vs. white); each has more or less power, prestige, status, and so on (Hogg & Abrams, 2008). Further, these authors point out that the social categories precede individuals; Individuals are born into an already structured society. Once in society, people derive their identity or sense of self largely from the social categories to which they belong. Each person, however, over the course of his or her personal history, is a member of a unique combination of social categories; therefore the set of social identities making up that persons self concept is unique.

Human interaction ranges on a spectrum from being purely interpersonal on the one hand to purely intergroup on the other (Hornsey, 2008). A purely interpersonal interaction comprises of the public being totally individual with no consciousness of social categories. A purely intergroup interaction is one in which the public act as representatives of their groups, also when an individual’s characteristics and qualities are besieged by the salience of their group membership. It has been argued that sliding from the interpersonal to the intergroup end of the spectrum results in shifts in how people see themselves and each other. (Hornsey, 2008)

From Tajfel and Turners earlier assumptions, some related theoretical principles can be derived. First and foremost, it is clear that individuals attempt to accomplish or to uphold positive social identity. Secondly, positive social identity is based to a large extent on favourable comparisons that can be made between the in-group and some relevant out-groups. Lastly, when social identity is unsatisfactory, individuals will attempt either to leave their existing group and join a more positive group or make their existing group more positively. The basic assumption, then, is that pressures to evaluate one’s group positively through in-group/out-group comparisons lead social groups to clearly set themselves apart from each other (Tajfel & Turner, 1979)

According to Tajfel and Turner (1979), there are atleast three factors that ought to influence intergroup differences in tangible social situations. They say that first and foremost ‘individuals must have internalised their group membership as an aspect of their self-concept: they must be subjectively identified with the relevant in-group.’

It is not sufficient that others identify themselves as a group, though joint definitions by others can become, in the long run, one of the influential casual factors for a group’s self-definition. They carry on to say that secondly, ‘the social situation must be such as to allow for intergroup comparisons that enable the selection and evaluation of the relevant relational attributes.’ However Tajfel (1959) does state that ‘not all between-group differences have evaluative significance, and those that do vary from group to group.’ For instance, Skin colour is apparently a more salient attribute in the United States than in Hong Kong (Moorland 1969). Lastly, ‘in-groups do not compare themselves with every cognitively available out-group: the out-group must be perceived as a relevant comparison group. Similarity, proximity, and situational salience are among the variables that determine out-group comparability, and pressures toward in-group distinctiveness should increase as a function of this comparability.’ (Tajfel & Turner, 1979) Therefore, a group will only be compared to another group depending on their status within their society and whether or not they are worth any comparison.

One of the responses of the theory was the idea that people have a need for positive social identity which requires them to establish a positively valued distinctiveness for their own group compared to other groups (Turner & Reynolds 2004). This aim for differentiation is to maintain or achieve dominance over an out-group to some extent.

The Social Categorisation theory developed by Turner and colleagues after Tajfel’s death in 1982, the theory grew from early social identity work, returning to the categorisation process that was considered fundamental to the Social Identity Theory. But rather than seeing interpersonal and intergroup activity as opposites, the advocates of the Social Categorisation Theory characterised identity as functioning on different levels of breadth. The critical contribution of self categorisation theory is that it links social categorisation to self conception. ‘The core idea is that we categorise ourselves just as we categorise others, and thus we depersonalise ourselves.’ (Hogg, 2004)

The self categorization began with the insight that Tajfel’s opinion of difference between interpersonal and intergroup performance could be described by a parallel and under-lying distinction between personal and social identity (Turner, 1982). The basic idea was that self perception or self conception varies between personal and social identity and that as one moves from defining self as an individual person to defining self in terms of social identity, group behaviour becomes possible and emerges (Turner & Reynolds, 2004). Therefore, when a shared social identity is psychologically active or significant there is a depersonalisation of self perception such that people’s views of their joint and common similarities are enhanced. Furthermore, a fundamental point of Self-categorization theory which has been central to the analysis of stereotyping and other group phenomena is that when we see ourselves as “we” and “us” in contrast to “I” and “me”, this is common and ordinary self experience in which individuals describe themselves in terms of others who exist outside of the self and is therefore not purely personal Social identity is a combined self, not a “looking-glass” self – it is not an “I” as perceived by the group, but a “we” who are the group and who define ourselves for ourselves.(Turner & Onorato, 1999)

Turner and colleagues (DATE) nominate three different levels of self-categorisation that are important to the self-concept: ‘the subordinate category of the self as human being (or human identity), the intermediate level of the self as a member of a social in-group as defined against other groups of humans (social identity), and the subordinate level of personal self-categorisation based on interpersonal comparisons (personal identity).’ (Turner, 1999)

Hornsey (2008) carries on saying, ‘one of the cornerstones of the Social Categorisation Theory is the notion of depersonalisation. Proponents of the Social Categorisation theory argue that people cognitively represent their social groups in terms of prototypes. When a category becomes salient, people come to see themselves and other category members less as individuals and more as interchangeable exemplars of the group prototype’ (208 book)

The group identity not only describes what it is to be a group member, but also prescribes what kinds of attitudes, emotions and behaviours are appropriate in a given context. The notion of depersonalisation was assumed to underpin a range of group processes such as cohesion, influence, conformity and leadership.

Turner (2005) see’s the categorisation process as the casual driver of power and influence. From this perspective he carries on to say, ’embodying the prototype of the in-group is what maximises influence, influence is the basis of power, and power leads to control over resources.’ This is a reversal of the traditional approach to power, which suggests that control over valuable resources is what defines power, power allows for influence, and mutual influence leads to the formation of psychological groups. (211 book)

Hogg (2000) has elaborated on the role of group distinctiveness in providing social meaning, arguing that, ‘many group processes – including identification, assimilation to norms, and intergroup bias – are partially underpinned by a need to reduce one’s subjective uncertainty about what to say, do, think, and feel.’ (215 book)

Social identity can be a very important aspect of our self-concept. For example, Citrin, Wong and Duff (2001) report a study found that 46 per cent of Americans felt being an American, a social identity, was the most important thing in their life.

People often use limited perceptual cues to categorise other people. I.e. what someone looks like, how they speak, what attitudes they express, and how they behave. Generally we first try out categories that are readily accessible to us because we so often use them. According to Hogg and Vaughan (2008), ‘when a categorisation becomes psychologically salient, people’s perception of themselves and others become depersonalised.’ What this means is that people no longer consider themselves or others as unique multidimensional persons but as simple embodiments of the category prototype.

The social identity approach, now one of the most significant theories of group developments and intergroup relations globally, has redefined how we think about group mediated occurrences and has extended its reach well outside the limitations of social psychology. (Hornsey-205)

Social constructionism is a general term sometimes applied to theories that emphasize the socially created nature of social life. Social Constructionism is something that a group in society has constructed, for example brotherhood is a social constructionism. It is something that is created socially but happens because society supports it and encourages it to occur. It is something that has been created at some point, but may be considered a social norm now. It has a label and continues if people continue to talk about and put time into it.

Social constructionism is regularly traced back to the works William Isaac Thomas and the other Chicago sociologists, as well as the phenomenological sociologists and philosophers such as Alfred Schutz. Such approaches emphasize the notion that society is actively and imaginatively produced by human beings. They describe the world as made or invented rather than simply given or taken for granted.

In social theory, constructivists stress the social construction of reality.

This is the philosophically idealist component of constructivism which contrasts with the materialist philosophy of much social science positivism. According to constructivist philosophy, the social world is not a given: it is not something ‘out there’ that exists independent of the thoughts and ideas of the people involved in it. It is not an external reality whose laws can be exposed by scientific research and explained by scientific theory.

(Marshall, 1998)

The political and social world is not part of nature. There are no natural laws of society or economics or politics. History is not a developing external progression that is autonomous of human thought. (Hacking, 1999)

One of these socially accepted norm is racism , although much of society believes that racism does not exist in a modern society whoever there is many circumstances that differ from this and prove that in today’s society there is still many forms of racism and it has become one of these social norms .

Racism is the term used to explain the hostile or negative feelings of one ethnic group towards another and the consequential actions from such attitudes, but sometimes the hostility of one group toward another is expressed and acted upon with a single-mindedness and cruelty that goes far beyond the group centred prejudice that seem to constitute an almost universal human failing. Racism is not just xenophobia, a phrase invented by the ancient Greeks to describe impulsive feelings of hostility to another, xenophobia may be the preliminary point upon which racism can be constructed but it is not the actual thing itself.

Racism has two components power and difference; it originates from a state of mind that regards them as dissimilar from us in ways that are stable and unbridgeable. (Fredrickson, 2002)

In Australia racism is still evident although much of society believes that racism does not exist in a modern society however there is many circumstances that differ from this and prove that in today’s society there is still many forms of racism and it has become one of these social norms. The nature and frequency of Australian racism varies over time and across space: it is not a static phenomenon (Vasta and Castles, 1996)pp. 5, 20

There are many different terms that are currently used to describe racism which include intolerance, ethnocentrism, prejudice, racialism, bigotry and discrimination all to describe racism. (Vasta and Castles, 1996)

The increased exposure of individuals to cultural variation gradually improves individual’s tolerance of a cultural dissimilar to their own. Therefore, the residents of areas that have a strong established cultural diversity may be expected to develop greater admiration of cultural difference, and have a lesser dependence upon cultural similarity if they are exposed to other cultures, the preliminary stages of contact between different cultural groups are likely to involve racisms.

There are a variety of theories that attempt to explain the geographical discrepancy of racisms. These range from the traditional urbanists through neo-Marxist explanations, Social Construction approaches. Social constructionism about race more politically correct than essentialism.

“Existentialism, can form a picture of a self with absolutely no centre, a self that constructs itself by free acts of will. The constructed self must, however accept agonizing responsibility of what which it has constructed, later thought of the self as being constructed in a social matrix .this suggest a genuine distinction in which some constructions of the self are social ,and some are not ,This is called “Social existentialism” and is “worth reviving. One ‘ which sees the self as a social of people , an attitude which is strongly reinforced by cultural background ,This “psychological essentialism ” is proposed , in part ,to explain the prevalence of concepts of race and the ease with which they can be conscripted for racism” (Hacking, 1999)

“Social constructionism is often contrasted with essentialism because it moves away from the ideas of the naturally given or taken for granted and questions the social and historical roots of phenomena Most anti racialist writing denounces essentialist attitudes to race. They may not use the label social construction, much but they are regularly grouped among social constructionist about race.” (Hacking, 1999)

This theory suggests that race is a socially constructed category rather than a natural order. (Jackson and Penrose , 1993) (Vasta and Castles, 1996). These races are constructed in different ways, these way are reliant upon the specific location and the identity of the specific place. Jackson and Penrose stated that ‘place contextualises the construction of race, generating geographically specific ideologies of racism. (Jackson and Penrose , 1993) Place is significant in the construction of ‘race’ and therefore it is imperative in the construction of racism. The precise forces that determine ‘race’ in any location will also strengthen racism. Constructivism has become the dominant approach for geographical study of racisms. (Bonnett, 1996)

A social construction approach should be predominantly positive for unscrambling the geographies of racism. It would definitely be crucial for formulating place-sensitive anti-racism interventions. A constructivist theory of the geographies of racism has both explanatory and policy contributions. Constructivism clearly allows for a more spatially sensitive understanding of the construction of ‘race’ and the development of racisms.

Theorising the causes of spatial variations in racism is not straightforward. Nevertheless,

some of the established theories of racism can be of assistance in understanding the

geographies of racism. There is some evidence of a rural and urban variation in

ethnocentrism. The uneven tolerance of cultural diversity could be explained in part by

the differing experiences and expectations that arise from an urban way of life. As in

Chicago School thinking, the assumption is that the long-term exposure to ‘otherness’

or difference eventually spawns an accommodation, or tolerance, of at least the cultures

that are encountered. This model is confounded, however, by the persistence of racism

against some minority groups. The most remarkable such persistence in the Australian

case is the racism long endured by Indigenous peoples. (Dunn and McDonald, 2001)

Australia is known as a multicultural country with many foreign individuals making Australia their permanent residence. As Australia is a multicultural society the idea of racism is minimal, however this is not the case. The highest form of racism in Australia is that of the indigenous people not only the majority of white society also by the government policies that the leaders that approve these policies.

Since the colonization of Australia the Indigenous population have been disadvantage in all aspects of life. This can be due to many different forms of racism from the white population and the Australian Government that have left Aboriginal people in this disadvantaged state.

Aboriginal people up to the twentieth century were not constitutes as Australian citizens .They had no rights compared the white population ,they were not allowed to owned land or were not about to vote in national elections .It was this that continued to reinforce that the white society was superior to the Indigenous population These racist beliefs restricted the Aboriginal peoples from achieving the same basic rights as white Australians and it was not until the 1960’s that all Aboriginal people around Australia were able to vote in State and federal elections. (Lyons, 2005)

The main form of racism by the Australia Government was the creation of the white Australian policy. The White Australia policy arose from a Commonwealth government objective of creating and maintaining a mono racial Australia, termed “racial integrity”. Although there were other racist policies in the earlier years, by the 1950s, this usually meant only restrictions on immigration.

It was the most significant and lasting policy adopted in 1901, described as providing “an impetus to our national life”. “White Australia” was not some strange abnormality for Australia’s rulers. This policy of institutionalised racism had deep roots in the interests of Australia’s ruling class. (Lyons, 2005)

Racism against Aboriginal people helped open the door to other forms of racism especially for the Chinese immigrants during the gold rushes of the 1850s, they were treated as appalling as the indigenous population they were segregated onto protectorate camps these camps were modelled on previous colonial experience including the protectorate camps that had recently been imposed on the survivors of the “wars of extermination” against Aboriginal people.

(http://www.sa.org.au/component/content/article/126-edition-48/1069-100-years-or-racism-federation-and-the-white-australia-policy)

This Racism towards Aboriginals in Australia is widespread and the effects of racism affect the lives of Indigenous people in their day to day lives. This is due to the continuing effect of White invasion and the dispossession that followed. These effects have resulted in low socio economic status and therefore leading to poor health, higher rates of imprisonment and less job opportunities then the rest of white society within Australia.

(Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission 1991, p. 72)

The level of intolerance differs between cultural groups in Australia. White society from varies backgrounds suffer majority less ethnocentrism or racism compared to other ethnic groups. The groups, who suffer from racism and the relative follow on effects of racism, could therefore be expected to differ in each locality. It can therefore be assumed that racism will differ across space according to the presence of different cultural groups. There are substantive strands of racism running throughout Australian society. (Dunn and McDonald, 2001)

Research into racism in NSW found that results shows there is consistent racism still in Australian society .The results suggest that for the Australians shows that a large majority of respondents in NSW felt that Indigenous Australians were treated over generously by the government names such as dole bludgers have stemmed from this in regards to the Centrelink payments , almost a quarter of those respondents were supportive of calls for the scrapping of multiculturalism, the majority of respondents felt that migrants should learn to live and behave like the mainstream Australians do, therefore returning to racial Government policies of the past , such as assimilation and the white Australia policy .Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (2000)

Although the Past Government policies have excluded the beliefs and the wellbeing for Aboriginal peoples , current Government policies are beginning to bridge the gap between the Indigenous and non indigenous population .These policies included improved policies on health and education , this improved policies are important in lessening the effects of colonisation and the racism felt by the Indigenous population. This policies however has not improved the health socio economic status of the Indigenous population, it is only recently that these policies are inclusive of the cultural beliefs of the indigenous society.

(Dunn and McDonald, 2001)

The effects of racism by Europeans through assimilation, the stolen generation, white Australian policies and other non cultural appropriate policies have been Aboriginal Australian health, education and law have been horrific and destructive to the Indigenous population. The Aborigines peoples face problems in their struggle for equality of opportunity and toleration. Generations of Europeans have attempted to exterminate the Aboriginal Australians or to exclude them the rest of Australian society. The Aboriginal people have showed considerable resistance and cohesion and laws introduced by Europeans has helped to create and preserve the present condition of Aborigines, and changes to that condition depend largely on changes to the law and its administration.

Social construction exists in Australia in the form of racism however there are acts to try and correct some of the socially constructed issues. Apologies to the stolen generation, the possibility of a referendum to recognise the aboriginals as rightful owners of the land are both steps to address the issues that aboriginal people face, however it is still not enough. Racism is feed by those who have fear of others and accept stereotypes as being fact. Unfortunately in order to change a social construction there needs to be a complete change of society and that takes time.

The scientific revolution has been argued over centuries. There are two opposing points of view: one is that the scientific revolution did not happen in the history; the other one is that it has happened. This essay summarized the points of view of the predecessors about the scientific revolution. In the end, this essay provided a holistic interpretation of the scientific revolution from historical aspect, cognitive aspect, theoretical aspect and social aspect.

Keywords

Scientific revolution, concept, theory, view, social, holistic interpretation

Introduction

On the scientific revolution, there are two opposing points of view: one is that the scientific revolution did not happen in the history; the other one is that it has happened. Did it happen or not happen on earth? What are the criteria to judge? Is there any possible to unify the different views on scientific revolution? The definition of the scientific revolution is the key to the above questions. Analysis of the meaning of the scientific revolution can help to make sense of its definition.

Meaning of scientific revolution

Scientific revolution, as the corresponding concept of the social revolution, is the important aˆ‹aˆ‹research area of the philosophy of science and the history of science. American historian of science Thackeray presented the ten central questions of history of science early 80s in the 20th century. The second one is the “scientific revolution”. He said that revolution provided a simple and profound idea which assorted with the concept analysis method of idealism. [1]

Scientific revolution was demarcated from different angles by predecessors. They can be summed up as the following five points of view:

First, the concept shift view. The scientific revolution presented as concept revolution which is the replacement process of the center concept of science. “From the philosophical point of view, the concept is the basic objective way of thinking which reflected the essential attribute of an object. It is abstract and universal.” [2] All scientific knowledge based on of concepts. Each science is a system composed by the concepts which embodied the unity of the beliefs and referents and the unity of the scientific theories and the scientific thinking. Since the core elements of a system determine its structure and function, the replacement of center concept would inevitably lead the revolution in the structure of concept system, which caused the shift of paradigm of scientific theory or the scientific revolution. Lakatos thought that the scientific concepts system was the “hard core” of the scientific research, which is the basic theory and idea of the research program. Once the “hard core” had been refuted and negative, the new “hard core” took place of it. Then the scientific revolution occurred. French historian of science Koyre focused on the change of the science concept field. He thought the change of the concept field that caused the scientific revolution. For example, the “Copernican revolution” is considered the first modern scientific revolution. The “heliocentricism” concept took place of the “geocentricism” concept, while the major structure of concept was changing. The shift of two concepts system of center of the universe, the center state, the relationship between the planet and the center and the order of the location of planets was the scientific revolution which caused by the replacement of central concept of astronomy. The replacement of central concept is the most direct evidence of the change of scientific theory in scientific revolution and is the most profound change in scientific revolution.

Second, the theory shift view. In the 18th century, the Scientific Revolution was generally considered as “each major discontinuity over a certain period of time, as well as the clear break with the past”. [4] In 1773 Lavoisier claimed that his research program would lead to a revolution. In 1790, Fontenelle said the invention of calculus was a revolution in mathematics in the 18th century. At that time, the scientific revolution was rather vague to people’s understanding. As long as the new theory took place of the old theory, that was considered as the scientific revolution and was defined at the theoretical level. This led to two situations: one was a new theory coming up, the old theory still existing and being used with; the second scenario was the old theory being completely replaced by a new theory. In the late 18th century, Bell in “Modern History of Astronomy” pointed that there was the point in terms of the size of the scientific revolution. For large-scale scientific revolution, there were two stages: one was rebel, which destroyed a recognized scientific system; the other was the introduction of a new scientific system to replace the old scientific system. [4] In 20th century, most historians and philosophers of science still thought that the scientific revolution was the major change process of scientific theory. Kuhn thought that the scientific revolution was the process of the paradigm shift caused by the incommensurability of scientific theories. Popper argued that the scientific revolution was the reasonable overthrow of an established theory by a new scientific theory.

Third, the view shift view. The scientific view is the essence of scientific thought in a certain period of time to guide the scientific development. Shaping thought that the scientific concept revolution of Koyre was the most far-reaching scientific view revolution since ancient Greece when the human mind was completed. [5] American historian of science Cohen argued that the scientific revolution was process of scientific view replacement and process of accepting the new view and discarding the past beliefs. Bernal also believed that many changes in the scientific view composed the scientific revolution. As Kuhn pointed out that every revolution forced the scientific community to overthrow a very popular scientific theory to support a theory incompatible with it. Every time the scientific revolution changed the scientific issues to be discussed, what can be adopted or the standard which defined the rationality. Each time the scientific revolution completely changed the image of science, so that finally world inside which people did the scientific research had fundamentally changed. These changes were always followed with the arguments which determine the characteristics of the scientific revolution. [6] Einstein also thought that in scientific development there was not only the quantitative accumulation, but also the qualitative leap. In his opinion, the scientific revolution presented as the change of the scientific view. For example, in the 17th century the revolution in physics was a bacon-style revolution in the view of mathematical physics. In the 19th century Darwin biological revolution was a revolution in non-mathematical bacon style. Between late 19th early 20th century, the Maxwell revolution, the theory of relativity revolution and quantum mechanics revolution were scientific view revolution which characterized by probability theory. The essential of the plate tectonics revolution was the Earth view revolution, i.e. the activity earth view replaced the old fixed earth view which was the theoretical foundation of the earth structure. The large scale scientific revolution would inevitably lead to changes the scientific view which was the sublimation and the deepening of the theory. Such as Copernicus’s “heliocentric” not only caused the significant changes in astronomical theory, but also changed people’s view to the world from thinking the earth as the center into the sun as the center.

Fourth, the thinking shift view. The so-called thinking is the procedures and methods that people think based on a certain cultural background, knowledge structure, habits and methods such factors. Major changes in the way of thinking embodied not only during the scientific revolution, but also after the revolution in both science and society. Generally, large-scale scientific revolution caused the major change in the ways of thinking. Koyre thought that Newton integrated together the contribution of predecessors and contemporaries such as Copernicus, Kepler, Descartes, Galileo, Huygens, Hook and Wallis. Cohen believes that Newton caused a revolution which was the marking the birth of modern precise science. This was the “Newtonian style”, i.e. the ability to divide the process of precise scientific research into two parts: mathematical reasoning from the imagination structure or system and explaining the real phenomena by using the mathematical results obtained from the reasoning. The “Newtonian style” was the embodiment of the mechanism thinking. He achieved the unification of the movement rule of objects both in space and on the earth by mechanical rule. The representative modern scientific ways of thinking were organism, biological evolutionism and geological evolutionism. British historian Butterfield also pointed out that the first scientific revolution not only overthrew the medieval scientific authority, i.e. the scholasticism overshadowed, but also ended the Aristotle physics. Thus, it lowered the religion level. Because of this revolution, the image of the physical world, the structure of human life and even the features of the people spirit activities in the treatment of non-material science changed. Therefore, the first scientific revolution stood out as the origin of the modern world and the modern spirit. [7] The performance of the scientific revolution was change of the scientific way of thinking which reflected the change in the cognitive model of the scientists.

Fifth, the social shift view. The scientific revolution was the result of the direct impact on social shift. In middle 20th century, by the impact of Marxist view of history, a number of historians of science from Soviet Union and the United Kingdom explained the reasons of the scientific revolution and the early origins of modern science from the perspective of political economy. In their view, the occurrence of Newton revolution was based on the development of new capitalist economy and incensement of commercial practical economic problems. The new system of Newtonian physics was based on the solutions of mining, shipbuilding, gun manufacturing, technical issues such of navigation and mapping. Therefore, the scientific revolution should be carried out on the study of social shift. Needham thought that the reason why China did not produce modern science that time was the social conditions of the feudal society. He pointed out that whoever wanted to interpret why the Chinese community failed to develop modern science was better to explain why the Chinese society failed to develop business and industrial capitalism. [8] Bernal thought that the scientific revolution should be judged by its role and functions in the society. All these views put the scientific revolution on the social context and focused on the social factors and functions of scientific revolution in the social field. Sociology of Scientific Knowledge and feminist historiography of science also advocated the comprehensive view to re-analyze the scientific revolution. In their view, the scientific revolution was more than just an internal matter of science.

Analysis

Each of the above five points of view described the scientific revolution just from one aspect of the shift of the scientific central concept, the scientific theory, the world view, the scientific way of thinking and social sphere respectively. In the history, the understanding to the scientific revolution only stayed in a single layer, ignoring the other levels of the scientific revolution. The scientific revolution had the characters of hierarchy, associativity, foundation, inheritance, breakthrough and relativity. Hierarchy was embodied from the concept system structure to the expansion of the social hierarchy. Associativity was embodied on the non-isolated of science. Foundation was embodied by the prerequisite such as the basic concept, theoretical system and way of thinking. Inheritance and breakthrough embodied that the succession of scientific revolution must be an important breakthrough. In the same field, even study the same object, if there was no inheritance relationship between the two theories or independently developed, such as traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine, the scientific revolution did not occur. The breakthrough of scientific theory based on inheritance was the premise and necessary conditions of scientific revolution. Breakthrough presented the incommensurability between the new and the old theoretical system. It was the fundamental shift of scientific central concept, theories and view. The breakthrough was the essence of the scientific revolution. Relativity embodied that the scientific revolution was relative to the previous theory.

From the social aspect, the scientific revolution, as a historical phenomenon, certainly would be impacted by the polity, economy and culture; as a major leap in knowledge, each time changed the way people perceive the world; as a social phenomenon, be recognized by the scientific community as the basis and premise of the technological revolution, industrial revolution. Therefore, the occurrence of scientific revolution was decided by historical aspect, cognitive aspect, theoretical aspect and social aspect holistically. This can be interpreted as follow: First, the occurrence of any scientific revolution started from the cognition of the individual scientist to the social cognition. The cognitive model of individual scientist through scientific theoretical system generally was accepted by the community. That was the shift of the way people view the world. For example, the Newton revolution was decided by the Newton’s cognitive model to nature. Because that the basic assumptions and the final results from the mathematical analysis built on the basis of these assumptions were able to match the factors of the real or external world revealed by precise and strict observation and experiments. [4] The occurrence of the scientific revolution being widely recognized by the scientific community and impacting the society at that time was the social conditions of the scientific revolution. Therefore, the process of scientific revolution was the comprehensive reform process of science.

Conclusions

The holistic interpretation of the scientific revolution on one hand can provide a common basis for analysis and interpretation of the intermittent and continuous development of scientific theory to realize dialogue between them; on the other hand can resolve the contradiction between the internal history and the external history of the scientific revolution and achieve a unified view of various scientific revolution. The scientific debate of intermittent and continuous development lasted over the centuries presenting in a variety of forms, from a variety of perspectives and as a variety of theories. Science simplistic Those who in favor of continuous development view simply emphasized on those transplanting and re-interpretation of the existent concept. They thought the development of the concept was the process from the internal logic. Those who in favor of scientific revolution exaggerated difference between the concept of the new system and its predecessor. What is interesting, in the essence of modern science pointed out by those who in favor of continuous development, i.e. the methods and rules of the nature, those who in favor of scientific revolution can find the sudden and rapid shift of the develpment of the methods and rules of nature. This also explaind that the process of scientific development followed the quantitative and qualitative law and reflected the unity of continuous and discontinuous scientific development. The holistic interpretation can not only let the two group analyze the quantitative and qualitative change of scientific development on the same basis to achieve unity, but also more comprehensively analyze and interpret the occurence of scientific revolution by relating with other elements of the world.

The meanings of holistic interpretation are following three points: first, different aspect of view made the role of the scientific revolution different. It is important to address the relationship between primary and secondary aspects. Second, the process of scientific discovery was non-analytical and non-logical, but in terms of the Scientific Revolution was the logical and analytical. Based on the common sense of their occurrence, the general criteria for determining can be provided. Third, each holistic analysis of the scientific revolution had the relative and concrete sense rather than absolute and abstract sense. With the development of social practice, the holistic interpretation of scientific revolution would constantly change.

Literature references

[1] A. Thackray, “A Guide to the Culture of Science, Technology, and Medicine,” A. History of Science, The Free Press, Toronto, 1980.

[2] Y. Dong, Science in generalized context, Science Press, Beijing, 2007.

[3] P.Thagard, Conceptual Changes, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 1992.

[4] I.B. Cohen, Newton revolution, Jiangxi Education Press, Nanchang, 1999.

[5] S. Shaping, Scientific revolution, Shanghai Science and Technology Education Press, 2004.

[6] T. Kuhn, The structure of the scientific revolution, Shanghai Science and Technology Education Press, 1980.

[7] H. Butterfield, The origin of the modern science, Huaxia Press, 1988.

[8] J. Needham, The traditional achievement and poverty of Chinese science, Commerce Press, 1982.

My great, great grandfather, Paul Christian Lautrup, a single, caucasian man of 35, migrated from Denmark to the United States. He came from a wealthy family originating in the Danish culture and was educated to become an architect. He was expected to continue in the occupation that his nuclear family had persuaded him to train for in order to be kept in the family will. If he were to move away and not pursue the career that had been expected of him, he would be removed from the family will and lose all his inheritance.

Against his family’s wishes, he chose to leave Denmark to escape their career demands and to pursue his own interest. He moved to the United States in 1880 to follow his dream of becoming an actor. He made Washington DC his home, where he met his wife Delia whom he had 6 sons with. Unfortunately, he did not succeed in becoming an actor and settled for becoming an architect in the US. This is rather ironic, because he ended up moving away from Denmark and losing all his inheritance only to become an architect in another land. (Lautrup, Paul).

Denmark is a small nation nestled within the Scandinavian countries located on the European continent. Denmark, also known as the Kingdom of Denmark, has a tiny population of roughly 5.3 million citizens with only a 69km land border that is shared with Germany; this is the only land connection that Denmark has with Europe through it’s only peninsula and largest region, called Jutland. Also, Denmark’s main realm has 5 major islands, which support most of Denmark’s population, accompanied by 406 minor islands. Only around 90 of the 406 minor islands of Denmark are known to be inhabited. Also, Greenland and the Faroe Islands are part of the Kingdom of Denmark. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

They are both located in the Atlantic Ocean and considered to be autonomous regions within the Kingdom of Denmark; both have very small populations under 100,000 citizens. Copenhagen is the capital of Denmark and is the nation’s largest city. Copenhagen is also the biggest and most modern city in all of Scandinavia. Scandinavia includes the countries of Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Over 70% of Denmark’s population lives in an urban environment, while most of the population consists of people of Danish ethnicity, although there are a growing number of immigrants from Asian and African nations. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

The North Sea is to the west of Denmark and the Baltic Sea is to its east. Denmark is separated by its northern, neighboring, Scandinavian nations of Norway and Sweden by the Kattegat and Skagerrak straits. Sweden, the second closest neighbor to the Danes is cut off from Denmark by only 5km of water named the Oresund strait. Denmark’s climate is humid and chilly during the winter, with an average temperature of 34 degrees F and during the drier, summer months, the temperature averages 72 degrees F. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

Denmark has gently rolling hills with fertile soil that are at a close range to sea level with no true mountains throughout the nation. There are many lakes, rivers, streams and moors, which create an ideal environment for agricultural prospects. There are no extreme changes in climate due to the Gulf Stream that flows up from the south over Denmark’s western borders. Since the land is accessible to the sea, it is a prominent supplier to the ship industry is Northern Europe. Denmark has no point on its land that is more than an hour’s drive from the sea. There are numerous bays and inlets, which creates gainful opportunity for their prosperous shipping industries. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

Some especially important Danish landmarks include: The Tivoli Park, the most popular amusement park in Denmark, Fredericksborg Castle, and The Royal Theater. Hans Christian Andersen, known for his fairytales with relatable moral teachings and Karen Blixen, known for short tales and life memoir are among many famous writers of Danish literature. Soccer is Denmark’s national sport, but sailing, cycling and rowing are also Danish favorites. The national language is Danish, although, many Danes can speak English and/or German at least on elementary levels. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

The Krone is the source of Denmark’s monetary exchange and the Euro has not yet been accepted, due to the nation’s suspicions that switching over to the Euro will have a detrimental effect on their beloved social welfare system, which the citizens of Denmark take great comfort in. Denmark maintains the oldest continual monarchy in Europe and the second oldest in the world. Queen Margrethe II is the current Queen and head of the constitutional monarchy in Denmark. She is only the second queen to rule the monarchy throughout the entire history of Denmark. The Danish community is very proud of their form of government, their royal family and their Dannebrog, which is their national flag. Danes are not a people who are easily insulted, but one way to offend them would be to criticize anything concerning their Dannebrog, royal family or form of government. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

The subsistence strategy relied upon most in Denmark today is information. Higher education, the promotion of environmentally green solutions, literature and the fine arts are all very important to the Danish people. (Bendure, Glena, and Ned Friary) Over 77.3% of the jobs held by Danes are part of the information subsistence strategy through service-related jobs. (CIA – The World Factbook) Since education is paid for by the heavy taxes the Danish people submit to, it is financially obtainable for anyone with high enough scores to continue their education into any of Denmark’s universities. There are 5 universities for the citizens to choose from which include: Copenhagen, Roskilde, Odense, Aaloborg and Arhus Universities. Queene Margrethe II and her son, Crowned Prince Frederik are graduates of the elite Arhus University. Danes also have the option of continuing their education by attending community colleges or vocational technical schools. Some of the occupations that Danes are going to school for include: maritime studies, nursing, physicists, architects, social services, literature, history, religion, photography, teaching or various other information service occupations. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

These jobs all rely on technology and tools such as computers, cameras, high-tech printers, internet connections, satellites, sterilized medical equipment, body-image scanners, reference texts, cell phones, writing utensils, specialized uniforms and printers are just a few examples of the many advanced tools that are necessary for these various fields of information subsistence strategies. For example, a teacher would use tools such as a blackboard, a computer projector, chalk, erasers, videos, books and printers in order to relay information to teach her class a particular subject. Of course, these types of tools and technology are used all over the nation in rural and urban areas, but perhaps slightly more in the densely populated regions. Division of labor can be divided up in a number of ways in regards to the information subsistence strategy.

For example, a dean of a college may oversee that the college professors are following the guidelines for teaching classes from the code of ethics in their employee handbooks. The professors oversee the progress of skills and information learned by his/her students. The students attempt to maintain good grades in their class by completing all their schoolwork to the best of their ability. Division of labor usually depends on the socioeconomic status and education acquired.

However, in Danish society, social caste or social status does not create an obstacle in regards to whom can do what type of career. The citizens have a silent understanding amongst one another that every individual within the nation is important and should not be treated differently whether the citizen is a doctor or a trash man. The opportunity to pursue an information career is equally welcome to men and women; gender does not hinder occupational roles in Danish society. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

The second most important subsistence strategy amongst Danish society is industrialism in which some 20.2% of the population is employed. (CIA – The World Factbook) Some examples of the products manufactured are ships, boats, ceramics, silverware, furniture, chemicals, paper, fish products, dairy products, canned ham, electronics, textiles, concrete, marine engines, radio and communication equipment, toys, glass, pharmaceuticals, agriculture/forestry machinery, electrical products and diesel engines. Most of the industrial facilities that produce these Danish goods are located in more urbanized areas throughout the country. Many of these products require special skills used by laborers that have been trained at either a vocational school or through a type of apprenticeship training program paid for by the Danish government. Particular tools and equipment are necessary for creating these products that can include: pulleys, compressors, mixers, castes, hammers, nails, scissors, ovens, kilns, saws, test tubes, Bunsen burners, beakers, glue, electrical wiring, assembling machines, counting machines, computers, charts, slicing equipment, turbines, converters, nets, sails, anchors, food processors, milking machines and generators. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

For instance, if a plant is producing paper products, large, metal rollers, would need to be used in order to press the paper into the desired thickness. Also, mixers would be used to stir and prepare the paper pulp in order to pour it into the appropriate screening containers. A specialized machine would be necessary to wrap the finished paper product for distribution and sale. Distribution of labor depends on experience, skill level and seniority of the workers involved in the particular industry. Owners of factories and heads of departments oversee the quality and efficiency of production, which is reported from the supervisors. Supervisors organize, direct and monitor manual labor workers in their duties. Manual labor workers attempt to create products at a company-desired rate and quality, while not bearing the responsibility of their overseeing their co-workers.

The third of the most important subsistence strategies used in Denmark consists of agriculture. The main products grown in The Kingdom of Denmark include: sugar beets, barely and wheat, grains, rapeseed, fruits, vegetables and flowers. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary) Agriculture is most commonly practiced by only 2.5% of the population and is normally achieved in rural areas of the country. (CIA – The World Factbook) Training apprenticeship programs and information passed down through family generations are used to teach agricultural methods. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

Some technologies used for agriculture include items such as combines, separating machinery, generators, irrigation systems, planting machinery, tractors, plows, fertilizing distributors, storage units and computers for analyzing crop quantity and quality. Irrigation systems are used to water the large expanse of crops, plows are used to till the land for preparation of planting seeds and computers are used to keep record of seasonal harvest yields and perhaps even profit margins. There are over 60,000 family-owned farms in Denmark (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary) and the division of labor is shared by the family and or corporation that own the farms along with the hired employees who are used for cleaning and fixing equipment, sorting crops, running machinery, irrigation and maintaining the health of the crops.

The family or corporation of the agricultural operation oversees the employees or hires a supervisor(s) to ensure that the agricultural laborers are working efficiently. The supervisors or owners of a farm may calculate the quantity of crop and the value it yields per season. The agricultural land owners or supervisors also may keep track of the laborers improvement or lack of effort on the job. The farm laborers will tend to any manual labor that the agricultural operation needs completed while only having to be responsible for their individual production. The division of labor in agriculture is based mostly on skill, seniority and ownership.

The fourth most important subsistence strategy in Denmark is pastoralism of which is included in the 2.5% of the nation’s population that maintains a career in agriculture. (CIA – The World Factbook) The animal goods raised and produced in the Kingdom of Denmark include: canned ham, butter, cheese, fish oil, fish meal and milk through the use of fish hatcheries and typically family-owned farms. As in the agricultural subsistence strategy, pastoralism is either passed down through families or learned through an apprenticeship training program. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary) Some tools used for pastoralism include: fences, watering/feeding troughs, barns, herding rods, milking machines, slaughtering equipment, medical tools, labels, hoof clippers, lead ropes, halters, hoses, generators, heaters and computers.

Fences are used to keep the livestock confined to a desired location, animals are put in barns to protect them from predators and the occasional harsh outdoor elements and heaters may be used in the barns to keep a sustained temperature that is more suitable for the livestock’s health. As in the agricultural subsistence strategy in Denmark, the division of labor amongst workers in pastoralism is based on skill level, seniority and ownership. For example, the owner of a herd of swine may hire a supervisor or herd manager in order to keep track of the manual laborers and also the efficiency of herd quality, health and maintenance. The owner of the swine operation may calculate yearly profits, upkeep costs and decide what to pay employees based on their skill levels. The employees without management skills, the hired hands or basic herd tenders will be responsible only for the safety, feeding and order of their set group of livestock that they are to have authority over.

Denmark has a centralized political organization and maintains a constitutional monarchy as a political model. A constitutional monarchy can only be led by offspring of the current king or queen after he or she is deceased. It is a requirement for the king or queen of Denmark to be a member of the national church. A single-chamber parliamentary runs hand-in-hand with the constitutional monarchy. The prime minister, currently known as Lars Lokke Rasmussen, leads Denmark’s political organization with the indirect support of all 179 parliament members and direct assistance from the cabinet ministers who lead numerous political departments throughout the nation. Voting age in Denmark is 18 and all parliament members are elected for a term of 4 years, unless state minister forces a new election before the 4 years is completed. It is the duty of the members of parliament to come to consensus on decisions to enact or not enact new legislation and the duty of the prime minister to carry the decision to action, however new legislation cannot be enacted fully until Queen Margrethe II writes her finalizing signature on it. There are typically around 12 political parties that make up the single-chamber parliamentary system of the Danes. The top 2 of these major political parties consist of Social Democrats and Liberals-a right-of-centre part. Social Democrats seem to be the most popular considering the fact that they are tied heavily to the belief that all Danish citizens should be granted security by maintaining the comforts of social-welfare programs, but of course, these are safety features only made possible by very high taxes to the Danish people. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

The royal constitutional monarchy headed by Queen Margrethe II has control of the executive powers, while legislative powers are for the most part, granted to the parliament and judicial powers are carried out by the courts of Denmark. Denmark’s military branches include: a home guard, an air force, a navy and a national rescue corps. Military members are usually enlisted for 4 months to a year of service. During war times, the Danish military acquires 58,000 members, but during peace times, there are roughly fifteen thousand participating members. The Danish military ranks are usually based on mandatory enrollment in order to be ready when an emergency arises.

Denmark’s police force has about 10,000 law enforcement officers who are known for their more civilized, calmer approaches to domestic disputes by using advanced communication skills and maintaining close, positive relationships with the overall communities they work in. (HOG, ERLING, and HELLE JOHANNESSEN)

One form of internal political control in Denmark is the enforcement of laws through the judiciary court systems. Although, crime in Denmark is very low and it is not normal for a Dane to even consider breaking the basic laws of the land. An example of externalized political control would be the decision of the Danish Parliament to not accept the Euro as Denmark’s new currency, even though Denmark is a member of the European Union. Internalized political responsibilities of Denmark’s parliament involve the maintenance of social welfare programs that protect all Danish citizens regardless of socioeconomic status. The externalized responsibility of the parliament consists of maintaining peaceful political connections with the European Union and other nations in regards to preserving a secure way of life for its citizens and also keeping a cohesive relationship with national allies for added protection. After all, Denmark is a very small nation and it would be beneficial to preserve as much peace with as many nations as possible. (Bendure, Glena, and Ned Friary)

The economic system of Denmark is based on negative reciprocity due to the use of capitalism throughout the nation. Capitalism is used by the Danes to generate profit through sales of products from private businesses and corporations to customers. Redistribution is also used throughout the Danish culture in the form of health care and educational needs. Danish pay high taxes that allow them to enjoy the freedoms of free health care and education of any type. This allows the Danish citizens to give and take as they need, for example, all citizens are taxed regardless of how much income they generate, but it is possible that not all of them will use the free education opportunities or the free health care services during their lifetimes. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

Market exchange is also used through capitalism in Denmark in regards to having the freedom to set up a private business and gain profit from it without limit, which is a prime example of capitalistic market exchange. Denmark uses both socialism and capitalism, but the predominant economic system would have to be capitalism. This is true, because Danes are free to pursue their own interests through careers that will allow them to generate profit without limit to the individual. Although, socialism is prevalent in the way Denmark controls and maintains social welfare for the citizens in order to provide free and easily accessible, equal-quality health care and education to all Danish citizens regardless of social or economic status, gender, religion or ethnicity. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

The primary economic sector, which involves extraction of resources form the land, also known as mainly agriculture in Denmark, makes up 2.5% Danish employment. (CIA – The World Factbook) A few of Denmark’s exports consist of canned ham, butter, cheeses, beer and processed fish products of which are brought forth through agriculture, pastoralism and industry. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary) The nation’s secondary economic sector, which involves processing of goods, also known as industry makes up 20.2% of the Danish workforce. (CIA – The World Factbook) Denmark manufactures machinery, chemicals, furniture, electronics of which are exported all over the world. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary) The tertiary economic sector, which involves services, makes up 77.3% of the working Danish population. (CIA – The World Factbook)

A few of Denmark’s popular service industry jobs are found in the fields of architecture, nursing, teaching, physics, environmental science, literature and social sciences. Denmark enjoys the highest Gross Domestic Product in Europe and maintains one of the highest standards of living for its citizens compared to all nations in the world. Unemployment is very low and over half the country is employed with the reassurance that health care and education will not be a challenge to pay for. Denmark relies heavily on the income from its exports and puts a great deal of value on maintaining its social welfare programs. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

Denmark’s most common religious organization is Evangelical Lutheran, of which over 90% of Danish citizens belong to. Evangelical Lutheran is a denomination that is part of a national church, supported by the state called the Danish People’s Church. Only about 5% of Danish people actually attend church weekly; most Danes only participate in church services during important religious holidays such as Christmas or Easter. Evangelical Lutheranism is a monotheistic religion, which means that they worship only one god. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

Other religious organizations that exist in Denmark consist of Catholicism, Judaism and Islam, which also practice monotheism. Also, a small percentage practice forms of religious organizations such as Buddhism, Sikhism and Hinduism, which promote polytheism, the worship of many gods. It is ironic that the overall Danish society does not have a strong faith in the god or gods of their religious choice, yet at birth most of the country is automatically enrolled as a member of the national church, also known as the Danish People’s Church. Their enrollment is expected unless they belong to a religion other than Evangelical Lutheran. It is a requirement that the current king or queen of Denmark be a member of the Evangelical Lutheran religious organization. (HOG, ERLING, and HELLE JOHANNESSEN)

Danish churches are typically located in close proximity to all Danish towns and are encompassed by graveyards. Evangelical Lutheran religious organizations have sermons and worship in churches on Sundays. Their ceremonies include a minister, a servant, an organist and a cantor. Evangelical Lutheran important ritualistic ceremonies include: weddings, confirmations, funerals and baptisms. It is expected that most Danish churches have fairly low attendance rates during Sunday services. (HOG, ERLING, and HELLE JOHANNESSEN)

Throughout the Danish social organization, monogamy, the practice of marriage to single spouse, is the most accepted and nationally predominant form of union. Marriage is important in regards to the most common form of religion in Denmark, Evangelical Lutheranism, yet because Danes are not known for being highly involved in the practices of their religious organizations, there is a loose view on marriage and when it should be chosen, if at all. It is common for a Dane to cohabitate for years, have offspring and not be married until many years after. Therefore, it is not uncommon for Danish households to have illegitimate children born outside of wedlock. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

If Danes do decide to marry, it is usually not until they are in their very late twenties or early thirties. Danes do not participate in arranged marriages, an event where parents choose a marriage partner for offspring, instead, single Danes choose their own marriage partners through the anthropological term love match. Endogamy, marriage created within one’s own organized cultural group, is practiced in Denmark as well as exogamy, marriage outside one’s own organized cultural group. Most often, Danes marry other Danes of their own ethnicity, yet those who choose to marry outside of Denmark or one’s ethnicity is not condemned within the Danish societal organization. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

Post-marital residence, pertaining to where a bride and groom reside after their marriage ceremony, only pertains to the Danish societal organization in the sense that marriage partners typically practice neolocal forms. A neolocal form of post-marital residence can be defined as the event of taking residence in a home that is set apart from the married couple’s families. Other forms of post-marital residence, such as patrilocal, the act of a married couple living close to or with the married male’s family of his father, or matrilocal, the practice of both marriage partners residing with or in close proximity to the married female’s family of her mother, are not commonly practiced. Marriage in modern Denmark societal organization, is not required, nor is it a high priority. (HOG, ERLING, and HELLE JOHANNESSEN)

Therefore, post-marital residence is not of great importance, It is only on a neolocal sense, considering that Danes learn to be very independent at a very early age, while maintaining a close-knit family on an emotional level. The most important family type for Danes is the nuclear families containing dependent children, a wife and a husband. Even though the idea of marriage in the Danish societal organization is very loose and laid-back, out of all couples living together in Denmark, most of them are in fact married. Extended family, consisting of aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents and other individuals with marriage or blood relating them, are also important, but not as high a priority as the nuclear family. Most Danish nuclear families are small, having two or less dependant offspring. Privacy is valued greatly by Danes, especially when it comes to the nuclear family’s home. It is rare for a Danish family to invite a guest to their home whom they have not known for a great while. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

Each of the nuclear family members generally has their own private room in the home along with the rooms for meeting, such as the kitchen and larger family rooms. In Denmark’s societal organization, descent is traced by using a lineage, which is used by connecting all ancestors back to a single, original ancestor. Descent in Denmark is traced in this way, because last names are important links to ancestry. Although last names are taken from the male within a married couple, patrilineal descent, tracing only by acknowledging male individuals as ancestors, is not used, because all genders are included when tracing Danish ancestry. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

When referring to kin, relatives connected by marriage or blood, Danish citizens value ties with both the mother’s and the father’s side of the family, which is called bilateral kinship. Bilateral kinship is important for Danes, because both nuclear and extended family, regardless of mother or father’s side, builds a cohesive unit of strength emotionally, sometimes financially and offers support that is not commonly expected outside of family ties. National polls and summaries do not generally include information in regards to socio-economic classes, instead Denmark’s citizens are divided up into 5 social layers. These social layers consist of subcategories within each layer. (HOG, ERLING, and HELLE JOHANNESSEN)

The first social layer consists of corporate owners, employees of the educational system and anyone that has over 50 workers. The second social layer involves academically professional owners of businesses, agricultural owners with at least 4 employees and corporate owners that have over 6 workers. The third social layer includes small business owners, individuals with employment that calls for special skills and agricultural owners with a limit of 3 workers. The fourth social layer is made up of employees containing academic training, owners of small plots of land and experienced employees. The fifth social layer consists of employees with no special skills or experience. (HOG, ERLING, and HELLE JOHANNESSEN)

Denmark, as a social organization, is very tolerant of other people’s ways of perceiving life and is considered to be outgoing and well-educated. Danes are very accepting of homosexual marriage and equality of the sexes. Denmark was the first European nation to allow for legal gay marriages within its borders offering homosexuals the majority of rights granted to straight married couples. Danes are very conscientious when it comes to preserving a clean, toxic-free environment. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

A recent news article summarizes a protest put on by Greenpeace activists at the Environment Ministry in Denmark. This article was used for this research paper, because Danes are very involved in environmental policies in regards to keeping the planet as clean and sustainable as possible. The article was personally interesting, because Denmark is one of the most environmentally conscious nations on the planet and I was curious to see how they react to the disposing of harmful waste products. The Greenpeace activists were protesting the transport of a poisonous pollutant called HCB from an Australian company named Orica. The Kommunekemi in Nyborg, Denmark is one of a small number of companies in the world that is able to incinerate the hazardous carcinogen, HCB. The Greenpeace activists argued that hazardous waste materials should be incinerated closer to the point to which they are processed. This is just one of many examples of the Danish culture’s desire for a cleaner and greener planet. (“Greenpeace Goes Aloft to Protest Transport from Down Under”)

Danes are also known to love their most famous amusement park, Tivoli. This amusement park is located in Copenhagen and is the most popular attraction in Denmark. The park was built in 1914 and maintains a decor and cuisine that is based on the historical, traditional Danish culture of the time the park first opened. Some Danes pay the park’s entry cost just to eat at a few of the thirty-seven restaurants within the park. The park has roller coasters, games, gardens and various amusements and entertainment. (“Copenhagen, Denmark”)

Danish people are in love with the concept of social gatherings combined with eating and the two almost always go hand-in-hand. It is customary for a Danish household to always have tea, chocolates, pastries and cheese just in case guests arrive unexpectedly. Their meals often consist of three or more courses and it is considered a crime to oneself to not savor and take time to enjoy one’s meal. Danes love rich, whole foods of which often include broiled or marinated fish, thick and creamy cheeses, hearty breads, substantial gravies and delectable deserts.

Hot tea is often served with milk and honey and it is customary to leave the last bit of food in a main communal dish when eating. This is a symbolic action of politeness to show that nobody is selfish or rushed during the meal. The Danish culture is known for being one of the happiest cultures on earth. They are generally friendly, warm and open to communication with strangers. Recently, Denmark has incorporated many American concepts, products, stores and fast-food conveniences into their societal organization. Unfortunately, they are also gaining a few of the health problems that are associated with the introduction of American culture into their nation. However, despite the Dane’s cultural borrowing, they still have a strong sense of uniqueness through a proud society that shows compassion for its citizens and welcomes visitors. (Waldron, Julie)

Views towards age-gap relationships should not be viewed through stereotypical eyes; instead they should be viewed with an open mind, for they are more than what you see.

Age-gap relationships have been around since the dawn of human life. Historically age-gap relationships have been between an older male and younger female, and many cultures arranged marriages with this pattern. Age-gap relationships are not socially constructed, but have evolved. They are also seen often in nature. Stereotypes and negative opinions are heard often in media, by friends and by family. Many famous celebrities, royalty, and rock stars have been in age-gap relationships.

In many cultures, arranged marriages have been between a young girl and an older man, this could have been to prevent marriage outside of the culture, to increase political power, for livestock, or to resolve inter political issues. Doing this helped to increase the number of the community members, because a young girl could produce many more children than an older woman. Older men had more resources to support the girl and her offspring than a young boy. By arranging the marriages in this way the parents were insuring a greater number of surviving grandchildren to pass on their genes, wealth, legacy and land.

At an evolutionary stand point age-gap relationships should be more common as well as less criticized. “.. men are predisposed to produce as many offspring as possible, to increase the probability that their genes will be passes onaˆ¦aˆ¦women prefer a mate who has adequate resources, or the potential to obtain resources,aˆ¦.”(Banks and Arnold 2001) By learning to seek these qualities we have subconsciously insured the survival of the human race. This evolutionary process is not much different from the way animals use to choose their mates. “Mate preferences may have evolved, rather than being socially constructed” (Banks and Arnold 2001), therefore age-gaps should be considered the social norm, and similar age relationships should be considered abnormal.

Age-gap relationships have a rollercoaster history, where they were once accepted, then they weren’t, and now they are becoming accepted once again. Women older relationships however are still considered taboo, but that doesn’t mean they should be discriminated more. Age-gap relationships whether female older or male older should be looked at as a regular relationship. The same challenges and problems should be considered when the relationship itself is being evaluated. Criticism of age gap relationships is similar in the way which different races and gay couples are criticized, people look at what is on the outside and not at what they really are. There is an old adage “Don’t judge a book by its cover” and I feel that more people should follow this, not only when dealing with age-gap relationships but when dealing with all situations in which it is not as it appears.

There are many different stereotypes put towards age-gap relationships. Such as: “The younger partner is either looking for a parental figure or is in it solely for monetary gain, and the older partner is only after youth and physical attributes” (Anisman-Reiner 2008). Sadly these stereotypes are true in some situations, but it does not mean that every age-gap relationship is like that. The relationship in question should be examined first, then the age of the partners. Many relationships that were healthy and actually had love in them, were broken up due to constant harassment from family, friends, and even strangers.

Criticism that age-gap relationships receive are based on extreme instances. The older partner will get dirty looks and be called a cradle robber or be accused of cheating on their spouse (which other than the younger partner doesn’t exist). Other things people say are: “what could you possibly have to talk about,” “can they even keep up with you physically” or “they are holding you back from experiencing your youth” this usually causes stress for the couple. These are not always true but it causes the couple to focus on what people say about them, instead of other things in their relationship. It’s possible for couples with large age gaps to be able to have common interests, as well as have the same amount of physical activity. For example a 45 year old man can play a game of tennis at the same level as a woman in her 20’s, or both could be into classic rock or horror movies. It is true that sometimes when you enter an age-gap relationship you are risking losing some life experiences, but you can create new ones that neither of you have had. That way the older partner is not repeating life experiences, and they younger partner is gaining life experiences. Either way age-gap couples get around these obstacles and have healthy lasting relationships.

Many people will admit that they have been in an age-gap relationship or they know someone has. These relationships are becoming increasingly common nowadays and yet they still receive criticism. “Although men and women report a preference for and openness to age gaps in their own relationships, they typically disapprove of age gaps in others’ relationships.” (Lehmiller and Agnew 2008) Why would you be willing to consider something for yourself, but then tell your friend that they shouldn’t do it? If it is because you know you could handle it and your friend couldn’t, what makes you think you know your friends capabilities better than they do? Better yet if your friend doesn’t know herself, then what makes you think you know your own self? These are questions you should ask yourself before you make the decision to discriminate against others being in age-gap relationships. My grandmother and her husband were 25 years apart and yet they did not receive criticism, but when I entered into a relationship with a 14 year age difference she made a big deal about it. Sadly this occurs often to people by their family and friends.

We are all born with an incest avoidance instinct, sometimes depending on your upbringing it could go away, but normally we tend to react to what we see before we have a chance to think about it. “A difference in age of 15 years and greater would mean that a couple could, in terms of age be parent and child and so we suggest that social opposition to these age-differences will be greater, because people would wish to avoid the suggestion of incest” (Banks and Arnold 2001). Due to the appearance of the couple we instantly think that the older partner could be the younger partner’s parent. Because of this instinct we become so focused on the difference in age that we don’t notice anything else about the relationship.

Parents are often worried that when and if their young son or daughter enters into a age-gap relationship, that the older partner will exploit them for sex and not truly love them, or that the partner is closer in age to themselves than their child. I feel that though the parents mean well, they should evaluate the relationship and get to know the older partner before being so quick to judge, and find out if it is healthy for their son or daughter. “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone” (John 8:7).

Due to the different rates at which boys and girls mature, age-gap relationships could even be considered ideal to insure the survival of a relationship. “It’s possible for two people at different ages – even with a 20 or 30 year age gap – to be equally “mature,” however you define the term.”(Anisman-Reiner 2008) Everyone growing up has heard that girls mature faster than boys, and it makes sense that this would make it easier for age-gap relationships to work and last. It also answers why many similar-age relationships (especially high school relationships) don’t last. As you get older the age-gap in the relationship matters less, because both partners are maturing.

Many famous couples both present and throughout history were involved in age-gap relationships. The gaps range from less to one year to more than thirty years. Billy Joel and Katie Lee had thirty-two years between them, and Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have sixteen years between them. These are people we idolize, we watch on television, on movies, and whose music we listen to. One day the media will pick them for cutest couple and then the next day they criticize them, and we just go along with it, instead of using our own minds. The criticism increases more if the woman is the older partner, and they have been labeled by the media as cougars. Such as Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher (15 years difference), they receive tons of criticism and yet remain happily married, so far for 5 years. It is not only in present times that age-gap relationships exist, they have been around for centuries. Cleopatra and Julius Caesar had more than 30 years between them when their romance began. Another couple would be Frank E. Butler and Annie Oakley who had 22 years between them.

During my personal experience in an age-gap relationship I have been lucky to have friends and family to support me, well most of my family. We do get dirty looks in public even though my boyfriend doesn’t look that much older than me and definitely doesn’t act older than me. If we just focused on what other people thought of us, we wouldn’t last. Together we have accomplished so much, and continue to climb mountains! I guarantee that if we did not receive the support we have, we would not have made it. You should not discourage an age-gap relationship unless you know for an absolute fact that it would be damaging to one or both parties, you may find that age-gap relationships are a wonderful positive experience.

In conclusion age-gap relationships are criticized, stereotyped, and put down. Even though they are becoming more common, have been around for centuries, occur in nature, and have proven to have lower divorce rates. Society should look at the relationship, not the ages of the people, and maybe more of these relationships would succeed. Age-gap relationships are just like normal relationships and should, according to evolution, be the social norm though due to social influences this is not the case. Nobody likes to be picked-on especially for something that makes them happy, so we should follow the golden rule “Do onto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Age-gap relationships should be looked at for what they are, not what they seem.

Racism is the belief that a certain race is superior otherwise inferior to another, and that an individual’s social and moral feature are programmed by his inborn biological uniqueness. Racial separatism is the idea that diverse races should stay segregated as well as apart from each another. Racism might be defined as the hate of one individual by another because of skin shade, language, traditions, place of birth otherwise any reason that supposedly reveal the basic personality of that person.

A current news story wherein racism plays a part is the story of a teenage schoolgirl who was detained by police for racism subsequent to refusing to sit with a collection of Asian students for the reason that a number of of them did not talk English.

Codie Stott’s relatives claim she was enforced to expend three-and-a-half hours in a law enforcement cell after she was reported by her educators. The 14-year-old – who was free without charge supposed it had been an easy matter of commonsensical and blamed the school as well as police of an exaggerated reaction. The event happened in the similar local education power where a ten-year-old schoolboy was prosecuted prior this year for referring to schoolfriend racist names in the playing field, a progress branded by a adjudicator as political rightness gone crazy. Codie was in attendance in a GCSE science class in Harrop Fold High School within Worsley, Greater Manchester; at what time the incident occurred.

The youngster was not in the school the day before owing to a hospital scheduled time and had not been present at the start of a project, so the educator allocated her a cluster to sit with. Codie said the teacher asked her to sit with five Asian pupils and only one can speak English, consequently she had to let know that solitary what to carry out so she could give details in their language. A grievance was made to a law enforcement officer based permanent at the school, plus more than a week after the event on September 26 she was referred to Swinton law enforcement station furthermore placed under arrest.

Miss Stott is alienated from Codie as well as her 18-year-old brother. Ashley’s father stays with her spouse Keith Seanor, a 36-year-old wire layer, in Walkden. Educate insiders recognize that no less than three of the students Codie declined to sit with had lately arrived in this state and spoke modest English. Nevertheless they say her remarks after that raised more concerns, for instance allegedly referring to fellow students as “blacks” – something she disagreed yesterday. The school is at the present investigating precisely what happened previous to deciding what act – if any – to take in opposition to Codie.

Causes of Prejudice by Vincent N. Parrillo examine the psychological sources of prejudice in addition to the sociological sources of prejudice. Parrillo talked about the sociologist Talcott Parsons who recommended that both the family plus the occupational arrangement may create anxieties and insecurities that make frustration. According to this situation family structure somehow contributed to Codie’s racism as her biological family was separated (Parrillo 9).The family as well as occupational structures might be a basis to an individual to redirect whatsoever fury they have towards others. Sociological theories intended for the causes of unfairness in the selection are grouped as socialization, economic competition, plus social norms. Parrillo utter that in the socialization procedure, people study the “values, approach, beliefs, in addition to perceptions of their traditions or subculture. Kids, being with no trouble swayed since they’re taught to abide by their parents, frequently take on the beliefs plus ideas of their parents devoid of inquiring concerning these principles. The attitude of a child’s parents as well becomes the child’s beliefs. In Codie’s situation she was influenced by her parent’s belief that is why she refused to be grouped with the Asian students. A lot of viewpoints that populace discover from their parents as well as from others in society might be stereotypes. On the other hand, many citizens don’t recognize this, as people are so familiar to hearing these typecast (Parrillo 55).

Economic competition: This viewpoint is based on the faith that when people sense as though their safety is being threatened, populace are more aggressive as well as unfriendly. Just like the school girl she felt that she would not be secure that is why she refused to comply wither teacher. Parrillo states that when there is a turn down in job availability, unenthusiastic stereotyping, chauvinism, and discrimination raise. Parrillo says that Donald Young identified out that, all through U.S. history, in times of lofty unemployment, as well as thus powerful job competition…

In his paper, “Causes of Prejudice,” Vincent N. Parrillo note down that psychological as well as sociological factors endorse prejudiced attitudes plus behaviors. Parrillo divide psychological factors to frustration, self-justification, and personality; and the

Sociological factors to socialization, economic competition, and social norms (Parrillo).

Social Norms: According to Parrillo, social norms generate the usually shared rules stating what is as well as is not proper behavior. In Codie’s situation social norm misguided her to improper behavior, which was discriminating the Asian students. A straight relationship is there between the stage of conventionality to society’s norms as well as the amount of the prejudice (Parrillo 559).

A number of philosophers disagree that we are not so a huge deal rational beings as we are rationalizing creatures. We need encouragement that the things we do as well as the lives we live are good, that high-quality reasons for our actions live. If we might persuade ourselves that an additional group is inferior, morally wrong, or dangerous, we might feel justified in discriminating next to its members, enchaining them, otherwise even killing them (Parrillo 507). That is exactly what Codie’s parents and teachers ought to have done in order to solve this racism case. Parrillo demonstrates to us that self justification is one thing everyone is good at in addition to when one is able to justify their measures they can become very unsafe.

Works Cited

Ellsworth et al. The American journal of sociology. University of Chicago Press, 1980.

Ernest, Cashmore, and James, Jennings, Racism: essential readings. SAGE, 2001

Joe R. Feagin, Racist America: roots, current realities, and future reparations. Routledge, 2000

Teun Adrianus van Dijk, Racism and the press. Taylor & Francis, 1991.

Ukrainian Congress Committee of America. The Ukrainian quarterly.Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, 1983.