Author: Andre Coleman

Abstract

Using four published articles this paper takes a look at gender differences in addressing intimate partner violence (IPV), the causes, who’s at risk and what can prevent revictimization. Not only will this paper explore intimate partner violence (IPV) and the motives behind it, it will also discuss the court system, public policies, and the gender bias’ it holds. A portion of the studies analyzed in this paper used the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) to gain research. This study is the largest annual crime victimization survey worldwide. The information used for analysis in these particular journals was gathered from 1987 to 2003, and participants in the study were interviewed once every six months for three years.

This paper attempts to evaluate Intimate Partner Violence and compare the severity and frequency of male perpetrators and female perpetrators. IPV is defined by Cho and Wilke as “a violent crime, including rape, sexual assault, aggravated assault, and simple assault, committed by a current of former spouse or boy – or girl friend”. This topic is important to study in order to reduce the prevalence of IPV and to be able to better help victims of IPV.

In a 2004 study, Henning and Feder compared the demographic characteristics, severity of intimate partner violence and criminal histories of men and women arrested for assaulting an intimate partner in order to analyze the increase in female arrestees due to IPV. The study will evaluate if women offend as often and as seriously as men.

The study analyzed 16,200 men and women from 1997-2001 that were arrested for misdemeanor or felony domestic violence assaults. Henning and Feder (2004) found 16.8% of people arrested during the four year period were women. It was found that females that were arrested were younger than male arrestees and were also young than the victim. In addition to this, the majority of men and women were African American. Additionally, female offenders were more likely to get arrested with their partner and also more likely than men to be charged with a felony assault and to have used a weapon. Contrary to this however, women were not more like to have injured their partner during the dispute. Males in the study were more likely to have had the police involved in a previous domestic abuse incident and also more than twice as likely to have prior arrests.

The study shows that while women do have a fairly high level of intimate partner violence, it was concluded that risk assessments associated with men that were arrested were much greater than risk assessments associated with women that were arrested. Furthermore, the criminal history of men that had been arrested previously for domestic violence and nonviolence charges may be more likely to continually be arrested for domestic violence, while women in the study “appear to be at low risk to engage in continued aggression or criminality” (Henning and Feder, 2004).

A significant weakness in this study is that it fails to take into account self defense from women. For example, if a woman was using violence as a form of self defense, she would still be included in the study. A major limitation of this study is that it only analyzes men and women in Shelby County, TN and may not be an accurate representation of all men and women.

In research acquired by Muller, Desmarais & Hamel (2009) it shows that women initiate physical aggression as often, or more often than men, rarely in self defense, and motivated for similar reasons, typically for the purpose of expressing frustration, to communicate or to control, our out of desire to retaliate. Our public policy focuses primarily on male- perpetrated domestic violence and the needs of female victims and their children (Muller et al., 2009). There are close to 2,000 shelters nationwide and only a handful offer beds or services to battered men and their children (Muller et al, 2009).

Muller et al. (2009) research reveals that women are significantly more likely to have their abuse protection request granted than men, with an approval rate of 91% versus men at 66%. Currently there are 227,941 active restraining orders against adults; almost all of them are domestic violence cases (Muller et al.,2009) Approximately 72% were protecting a woman from a restrained man, 19% restrained a same-sex partner, and 9% restrained a woman from a protected man according to Muller et al (2009). Female defendants were much more likely to use a dangerous weapon when attacking their victims and were also more likely to scratch or gouge their victims (Muller et al., 2009)

In Hamby’s summary article she brings to light the fact that women perpetrate physical abuse against their children in roughly equal numbers, if not more than men. Along with Muller et al. (2009), Hamby research also complies that women report more victimization crimes with the police. Interestingly enough once the police were called they were more likely to arrest assailants of females (36%) versus males (12%) (Hamby, 2005).

The findings were parallel in both Muller et al. (2009) and Hamby (2005) articles, concluding that due to the size differential injury rates are much higher in assaults against women. Research demonstrates that men far more hesitant to report domestic violence than women, even in the more severe cases (Muller et al., 2009). Muller et al (2009) also showed that male plaintiffs are more likely to drop a case given the decreased likelihood that they will report their abuse. This can be due to prevailing norms regarding masculinity, men may be opposed to convey their fear or to call the police even when they have every reason to do so (Muller et al.., 2009).

Cho and Wilke (2010) examined the effects an arrest has on a domestic violence offended and revictimization. Cho and Wilke analyzed men 18 and over who reported being a victim of IPV from a female perpetrator (female victims were also analyzed for sake of comparison).

In the study, Cho and Wilkes found, there are 8 times as many female IPV victims as male IPV victims, which highly contrasted with Hamby’s findings. Female victims in this study were younger than male victims. Similarly to Henning and Feder’s 2004 study, female victims reported more minor injuries while male victims endured more aggravated assaults (Cho and Wilkes, 2010). Also, as Henning and Feder reported, Cho and Wilke found “more female perpetrators used severe violence and weapons than did male perpetrators”. Male victims were revictimized less frequently than female victims; which may be in part due to what was suggested in Henning and Feder’s 2004 study, that women are less likely to be repeat offenders, and also with Hamby’s research that women report more victimization.

In the study, there appeared to be no significant relationship between perpetrator arrest and reducing revictimization of males. However, perpetrator arrest reduced the odds of female revictimization by 45% (Cho and Wilkes, 2010). Also, while Cho and Wilke found there was no difference in revictimization in cases with or without weapons, it was found that victims of rape/sexual assault were three times more likely than victims of simple assault to be assaulted again. Like Henning and Feder, Cho and Wilke concluded that men are IPV victims much less frequently and they confirmed that IPV is mainly male violence.

A significant limitation in this study is that only 33 of the 298 men study were revictimized, and out of those 33 men, only 7 had perpetrators that were arrested (Cho and Wilkes, 2010). Since this number is so small, it would be hard to link arrests to the reduction of revictimization. Another limitation is that the study did not take into account the context of the violence, or what “type” of violence it was, much like Henning and Feder’s 2004 study.

A more conclusive study of IPV would provide a better insight to the understand of male vs. female perpetrators. However, based on the studies analyzed, one can assume that women are much more likely to be the victim of IPV than men. Muller et al. 2009 research deviates from these findings, but it is in the minority. This was the main concern in comparing the four studies, as it seemed like it would be very clear as to which were more likely to be perpetrators – men or women. For the reason that only one of the four studies found that women perpetrate more than men, it is safe to assume that women are more frequently victims of IPV.

As suggested, services and after care for victims of domestic violence is much more geared toward women. Research in the studies proposes men may be less apt to look for help after IPV as well as less likely to report IPV, which can be a severe factor in the skewing of information. Although research suggests that men are more capable of hurting women in IPV disputes, women and men both need to be held to the same standards when it comes to arrests and seriousness of the offenses. In order to more accurately assess the prevalence of IPV against men vs. against women the same action must be taken to each offender.

References

Cho, H, & Wilke, D. (2010). Gender differences in the nature of the intimate partner violence and effects of perpetrator arrest on revictimization. Journal of Family Violence, 25. Retrieved from http://www.springerlink.com.proxy.library.oregonstate.edu/content/g66p6m7l17h04783

Hamby, S. (2005). Measuring gender differences in partner violence: implications from research on other forms of violence and socially undesirable behavior. Sex Roles, 52(11), Retrieved from http://www.springerlink.com.proxy.library.oregonstate.edu/content/n73725h872gn7564/fulltext.pdf

Henning, K, & Feder, L. (2004). A Comparison of men and women arrested for domestic violence: who presents the greater threat?. Journal of Family Violence, 19(2), Retrieved from http://www.springerlink.com.proxy.library.oregonstate.edu/content/mju9703751346711

Muller, H, Desmarais, S, & Hamel, J. (2009). Do judicial responses to restraining order requests discriminate against male victims of domestic violence?. Journal of Family Violence, 24(8), Retrieved from http://www.springerlink.com.proxy.library.oregonstate.edu/content/r8j8u66319rl13j7/

THE IPOD GENERATION

The young adults of today, the under-35s, are often referred to as the IPOD generation. This both connects them with the latest technology and design that the sleek IPOD represents, and according to David Smith in a recent article in the Sunday Times, stands as an acronym for insecure, pressured, overtaxed, and debt-ridden. Labels such as these designate a generation that is experiencing and environment and reaction both negative to itself and to the future prosperity of Britain. They call to question both whether the current situation could have been avoided, and what can be done to more fully integrate the IPOD generation into British prosperity now.

It is perhaps easiest to consider the four labels of the IPOD acronym in reverse order. First, the generation is debt-ridden. This is due not only to an increase in ease of acquiring consumer credit, but also to changing attitudes about debt and an increase in educational costs. Credit is easier to obtain than ever before, with many if the IPOD generation having multiple credit cards and getting them whilst still in school. Various banks and lending institutions, who make high profits from consumers carrying credit balances on such cards, often target young adults who may not be ready to responsibly manage debt. Where once young adults assumed they would need to work and save to emulate their parents’ standards of living, today’s young adults are encouraged towards immediate gratification. They can buy a car on credit, fill the tank on credit, furnish their first place on credit, and so on until their credit limits are reached. Then they are strapped, spending years paying off a quick path to a “higher” standard of living.

Additionally, many young adults leave university with high student loan debt. This reflects both a change in education and a change in the overall British economy. At one time there were well-paying jobs for those chose not to attend university. Many could enter into manufacturing and similar positions with an expectation of job stability and reasonable pay and job security. However, in the past twenty years the British economy has shifted. Many of these “secure” manufacturing jobs have been transferred to Asia and similar countries, where companies can secure workers for much lower wages. Computers and technology have changed the face of many of the jobs that remain, requiring a higher educational level for those wanting a reasonable wage. As a result, the number of young adults going on to university has increased eight times over since the 1960s. Although they feel it necessary to extend their education to have any shot at a well-paying job, this has made university education more commonplace and therefore worth less in the marketplace. Most students have responsibility for some or all of their educational expenses, and resort to loans.

Many of the IPOD generation are therefore leaving university having pounds ten or twenty thousand or more in student debt without the job prospects previous generations enjoyed. They spend years in unstable positions, combating their acquired debt and high rents. The property ladder is not even a consideration, at least not for many years.

To make matters more difficult, the IPOD generation is also over-taxed. This is the first generation who is on the losing end of the welfare bargain, who will pay more into the system than they receive from it. First, the large number of aging baby boomers require greater expenditures by the government on health care and pensions. This requires current workers, including young adults, to shoulder a greater share of the tax burden. This is likely to only become worse over the next two decades, and politicians continue to be slow to cater to the needs of young adults, as the IPOD generation is both fewer and less likely to vote than their older counterparts. Young adults also receive fewer benefits from the state. They are not only expected to pay for their own education, as mentioned above, but health care and pension costs previously mentioned leave less money for other government programmes that might benefit them. Their tax burden, therefore, is disproportionate and a great hamperance to their full integration into and enjoyment of economic opportunities.

A combination of these high taxes and debt leave the IPOD generation pressured. There is a societal expectation that they should be exceeding their parents in lifestyle and success, yet good jobs are few and they have greater obligations from society economically. They must learn to juggle high debt and high taxes at increasingly an young age, often with little hope of escape from such a situation. For example, moving to another part of the country with lower taxes also typically means fewer job prospects and those jobs having lower wages.

In addition, some believe the integration of the UK into the European Union also puts pressure on the IPOD generation. On one hand, British participation opens the opportunities for companies to sell product in a wider market. However, this is more likely to benefit business owners, whom are typically of the older generations, rather than entry-level workers. Increased opening of British job markets to other Europeans actually increases the number of potential workers. This also disproportionately affects younger adults, as workers from some other countries will compete for entry-level and less-skilled jobs, and are often willing to work at much lower wages. This means young adults from Poland, for example, can compete for British jobs, although British young adults are unlikely to benefit similarly from job opportunities in Poland. Such political changes in the both the UK and global environment put additional pressure on the IPOD generation.

All the above leaves the young adults of today increasingly insecure. They can no longer count on job opportunities, even if they have invested the time and expense in additional education. Debt and high tax burdens leave today’s young adults with less available capital, and less prospect of available capital. This makes them less inclined to risk or to venture into entrepreneurial activity. The IPOD generation in Britain are not only less likely to engage in entrepreneurial pursuits than previous generations, but, according to Smith’s report in the Sunday Times, less likely than youth in America, Australia, New Zealand, or Ireland. This indicates such insecurity is particularly a British phenomena, even with the number of wider economic shifts that contribute.

Concerns are rising of the impact of all of this on the future of the British economy. An insecure generation that does not create business also does not create jobs or a tax base. Over time, this further opens British markets to competition from non-British firms. The economy begins to slide, increasing the tax burden on those who are working or trying to develop business pursuits, which hampers their success and makes other potential British entrepreneurs even more insecure and adverse to risk. This has the potential to become a downward circle, with continuing negative impact on the UK economy as a whole and the IPOD generation in particular.

Whilst there are certainly steps that could have been undertaken to lessen the pressure on the IPOD generation, as noted above some of the impact is simply the result of economic and demographic shifts in the economy. In regard to debt, tighter government regulation of credit and tighter credit requirements would reduce debt in the IPOD generation, as would increased government investment in higher education, and programmes to provide other job skills as an alternative to university. Certainly the government could have also anticipated rising health and pension costs and taken steps to alleviate some of tax burden on today’s young adults. Instead, the government appears to be making decisions based on current votes, rather than future economic needs. Increasing affordable housing or programmes for new businesses would additionally address the pressure and insecurity experienced by the IPOD generation. However, all these require both advance planning and the willingness of the government to make difficult decisions that will be also undoubtedly unpopular to older people. Politically, this appears unlikely, although such steps could still be undertaken now.

Some possible avenues to address the needs of the IPOD generation, however, are being considered. A Reform study of the problems facing the IPOD generation contradict Tony Blair’s agenda to increase school leavers who pursue additional education to fifty percent. That plan, the study contends, would flood the job market with over-educated workers who will not be able to get ample return on their educational investment. The Reform study instead recommends focusing on increasing job skills based on the country’s economic needs.

Suggestions include changing recruitment of school leavers and job seekers to assist young adults in securing stable, reasonably paying employment, and implementing apprenticeship plans where young adults can develop job skills needed by the current and future economy without incurring high debt or investing potential earning years in university education that may not provide the same return that it did for previous generations. Both these suggestions would be a step towards assisting the IPOD generation in becoming more economically viable, but larger issues requiring government intervention, as discussed above, are additionally needed to truly address the situation.

Brach Hadean

Immigration in America

The most vital and maybe special historic components adding to the personality for the US system is the range of backgrounds from where the nation’s resident come. Immigrants from nearly every spot associated within the globe have actually been determined enough to leave their particular ancestral houses and work out a brand new life in the US. Except for the American Indian, Eskimos and local Hawaiians, every American is both an immigrant or a descendant of immigrants. The circulation of individuals to what is today the United States Of America started in the the sixteenth century. Information technology proceeded mostly unrestricted until 1921, till congress enacted legislation establishing quotas for the wide range of the individuals that could enter the United States Of America. Most importantly, this continuing immigration made a great and remarkable jump in populace in the United States Of America.

However, the influence of immigration and the growth of the United States Of America goes far beyond its influence on the dimensions of the population. The wave of immigrants that started to enlarge within the 1840s and crested at the conclusion of nineteenth century made feasible the impressive commercial and industrial development of the United States Of America, as well as territorial development. Another influence function of US immigration happens to be the ethic, financial and spiritual range associated with immigrants. Various other countries can track their particular development to size influxes of immigrants.

Circumstances overseas as well as in the United States Of America triggered these individuals to show up here in great waves. Nearly all African immigrants arrived prior the Civil War, but unlike most various other immigrants, they didn’t come by their own accord. Chinese workers, recruited to aid creation of the railroads, set roots in huge numbers in the western Coast within the 1850s and 1860s. A lot of men and women from north and west Europe emerged before 1880. At the conclusion of the nineteenth and start of the 20th century, various others from Southern, Eastern and Central Europe came in bigger quantities for a number of years. Hungarians and Cubans have actually fled their particular homelands to escape communist regimes.

Politics and Immigration

The cultural range made possible by immigration in the United States Of America has enriched US songs, literary works, art, etc. This has additionally had an apparent influence on the United States political system. The most significant facets for the US for many immigrants happens to be a practically endless chances to take part in the American community despite their particular novice standing. After five year’s of good standing residence together with the passing of a number of exams in the concepts of federal government and legislation in the US, any person may become a US resident. The needs and requirements of the naturalized residents have actually supplied inputs for the United states political system. Once the wide range of possible immigrant voters increased, politicians started looking for techniques to win their particular electoral assistance. One particularly efficient means would be to spend even more effort looking into the happenings in nations from where huge figures of immigrants had come. In an effort to charm brand new voters throughout the nineteenth century, the nations government started to support issues associated with certain circumstances in various other nations.

The Emergence of Ethnic Politics

Much more essential, had been the influence of immigrant groups in the United states governmental system as they became involved in the government procedure. Many of these immigrants were indeed peasant farmers from their particular country of origin . They had little to no formal training education in crafts, investments or careers. The very first immigrants attracted from many nations had been in most cases apathetic and highly dubious of politics, and they regarded this a regulating device. It was in the nations hubs of towns and cities that the immigrants initially became linked with politics. Sooner or later they became linked, mastering all that politics could offer their particular passion by assisting to supply them with tasks and neighborhood solutions. They discovered furthermore that politics supplied networks of development for the highly motivated people in the immigrant group, which discovered their particular place in the government it self, either becoming a frontrunners or serving frontrunners on their own. Numerous immigrants shortly discovered that, when they ran for a particular office, they could bring in a considerable wide range of ballots from member of votes from people in their particular immigrant collective.

As immigrants made up bigger and bigger levels of voters within the metropolitan areas, they became more and more effective in electing their particular people to general public positions. The immigrant politician tried to discover tasks for people in their own cultural group. Just as crucial, he aided them withe guidelines, legislation and obligations of citizenship in positions where in the vocabulary ended up being unknown and hard to learn. In return for these favors, the immigrant voters added to continued governmental help. This design, which appeared in the last half of the nineteenth century, profoundly affected the nature associated with the US governmental system. The design ended up being private and individual instead of focused toward wide problems of general public plan. Certainly, it had been focused toward getting the financial protection of immigrants in a realm of uncertainly. No matter what appeal might be presented to immigrants to become part of the modern or major governmental movements, the device that opened the doors to immigrants ensured their loyalty because of the opportunity originally given. Immigrants thus never ever became an essential power in reform politics.

The very early individualistic and personal direction of immigrant politics ended up being changed with 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants. Politics based on favors started steadily to minimize as second-generation immigrants at the conclusion of the nineteenth century reacted to the increasing failure of urban area employers to provide all their particular requirements. Second generation immigrants had additionally an even more extended consciousness of this opportunities of politics than their particular forebears. The cultural groups within the urban centers started to join modern and liberal governmental motions and by the time the New Deal contract came into existence in the 1930s they constituted a crucial base of help for the democratic party.

Cultural Politics and American Pluralism

Possibly, one of the most essential results of immigration in American governmental life happens to be the extension of ethic identification in American politics. This respect to nationwide beginnings is of good relevance whenever a possible prospect is selected for public office. Additionally, it influences the casting of ballots, the framing of problems, the filling of community tasks and a lot of other issues in the government. The continuation of ethic identification is particularly significant because it reinforces the pluralistic personality associated with the United states political system. It adds to the complexity of causes affecting the tasks of federal government and it will help to make sure that governmental aid is going to be extensively provided. Since there are incredibly numerous ethic distinctions, no one group is in a position to obtain control of the equipment necessary for control of the US federal government.

In spite of the perseverance in maintaining ethic identification, many ethic groups have grown to be adequately assimilated into American culture to subordinate this identification for their identification as US citizens. This is because of the capacity regarding the governmental portions of this culture to take the newcomers into the governmental and social procedure.

The Ebony in the American Situation

Unlike various other ethic groups, black American, who’ve been here prior to the creation associated with the republic, haven’t been in a position to take part completely in the government. Despite their expertise aided by the vocabulary or their typical values with bulk of People in America, they are held outside the framework of the United states culture. Rules, statutes and customs had been piled against them, preventing them from voting, from equal education and the right to live in an area of their choosing if affordable. Even after reformation, numerous blacks continue to be annoyed at their particular incapacity to play a role in the inputs of governmental system. They think there are no particular officials through who they may be able channel their needs or who can express their issues adequately. Some black colored individuals believe that aggression and violence may be their only way to counteract this ineffectiveness within the governmental system.

Cultural variety can be both a benifit and a hindrance. In a lot of instances, it has a tendency to deteriorate and prevent a person or group from obtaining control, therefore permitting most of the groups to take part in the democratic processes. Conversely, like in the scenario of black colored United states, whenever any solitary group is not incorporated into the procedure, the democratic beliefs are not satisfied.

Altering Patterns of Immigration

In the past years remarkable modifications have actually taken hold within the diverse populace of immigrants who are assimilating into America. Whereas within the past, many immigrants arrived from Northern Europe, nowadays practically one 3rd of all of the immigrants come from Asia. This development reflects an improvement in the immigration legislation in 1965, that Eastern Hemisphere and Europeans nations are placed on equivalent ground; not more than 20,000 immigrants per 12 months from each nation are permitted to enter the United States Of America. Of certain importance would be the fact that immigrants these days are attracted through the elites of the local nations, instead of through the lower classes. It has triggered a mind drain who has badly crippled a lot of Asian nations.

The issue of Illegal Aliens

By the conclusion of the 1970s the United States Of America had been confronted using the uncommon issue of coping with millions of unlawful aliens. It’s impossible to acquire a precise count of illegal immigrants, the Immigration and Naturalization division places the cumulative figure at 6 to 8 million. The issue is especially in the Southwest, in which happens to be an apparent intrusion of Mexicans, looking to escape the extensive impoverishment in their own personal nation. It was projected that huge numbers of unlawful Mexicans cross the country’s borders looking for employment, that a few of the United states companies provide due to the lower wages. The issue of illegal aliens reflect change in the immigration plan that today significantly restrict immigration. Whereas previous immigrants established the anchor for the current work force and the literal feeling they created a great deal of America, the descendants regarding the initial immigrants today start to see the increase of individuals from overseas as a risk for their jobs in a nation of lower than filled national employment.

Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_immigration_to_the_United_States

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_the_United_States

http://www.history.com/topics/u-s-immigration-before-1965

http://www.inmotionaame.org/home.cfm;jsessionid=f8302211001397524805099?bhcp=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Migration_(African_American)

http://www.sparknotes.com/us-government-and-politics/american-government/american-political-culture/section2.rhtml

A shame community is described as a society whose main tool for ruling over is gaining having power over children and continued control over adults in the perpetration of shame and corresponding threat of social rejection. A guilt society is described as a society that is maintained by creating control and consistently strengthening the sense of guilt and the anticipation of reprimanding now for predestined behaviors.

Raimond Gaita carefully explains that there is moral challenge in the Australian society in the contemporary society. He arguably disagrees that by keenly depriving the indigenous inhabitants their land the Australian government the most important part of their humanity thereby denying them a chance to enjoy their lives to fullest. In report of bringing them home and ‘Mabo’ are associated to legal and historical symbols that bring back to what was not given to inhabitants of Torres Strait and Aborigal Islands by taking away the land that formed part of their humanity.

Professor Raimond also explains that refuting peoples their humanity is terrible and that it calls a change of attitude and language for the society to remain intact. The drawing on Simone Weil ” Love sees what is invisible”, the professoer recognizes that some ideasA “can only be understood by the heart”. Raimond, sees the Australian High court instituting ruling using wild language and describes the judgment as shameful to those who pay attention with their hearts. There is racial discrimination in the Australian society which is depicted by the phrase, Terra nullius, which is used to imply that Aboriginal people are not full human as the invaders. The latest decisions of Australian High court have been done to bring an end to past injustices and the court had affirmed the full and the same humanity of native people.

According to Raimond, those people who were involved in refuting indigenous people their humanity felt guilty, and there was shame to all the members of the Australian society. Raimond belives that just as society should be conceited about national achievements in which people have not been directly involved, the society should also express shame for what wronging its inhabitants and develop a method of amendment to manage the nation shame. Raimond views that if there is no shaming and its consequences, then justice cannot be possible.

According to Raimond, true shame societies are reliant on outside sanctions for good behavior not as true guilt societies on an internalized fervor of transgressions. Shame is depicted as an effect to other people’s condemnation. Raimond claims that a society is openly scorned and rejected by fantasying to it that make it ludicrous.

According to Raimond, when shame is viewed as a heteronymous forced or involved with issues that are deemed morally irrelevant or insignificant it becomes as a subject of psychological evaluation. Raimond views familiarity of guilt to be socially induced or associated to be ethically irrelevant.

Raimond believes that torture, should not be applied to human race during interrogation. But he further adds that in circumstance s where there is a potential threat of terrorism then use of torture should be advocated. Raimond believes the fact that many Australians do not understand what has been substantiated in the report of bringing them home requires to be put in a wider social context. The Australian community’s comment that they never cared enough about Aborigines humanity demonstrates the scope of racial discrimination inAustralia.

Modern feminism began in 1960s in the United States with the Women’s Liberation Movement. This political movement subsequently spread to Europe and initially focussed on equality between men and women. Women saw themselves as ‘subordinate’ and nothing more than “imaginary figures, the objects of another’s desire, made real” (Mackinnon, 1987) and thus tried to raise awareness of the social inequality experienced by women. Social feminist geography (adopting a Marxist ideology) revolved around the question of how best to articulate gender and class analyses, with the theorisation of a ‘sexual division of labour’. Haraway (1991) thus claims “a feminist is one who fights for women as a class and for the disappearance of that class”. From these roots drawing inspiration from women’s movements of the 1960s, feminist geographies have developed considerably and diversely over the last 30 years and now hold, without doubt, a considerable institutional presence. This essay will overview the development and progression of feminism as a ‘critical discourse’ and argue that although scholars such as Bondi, in McDowell and Sharp (eds) (1997), contend “…feminism has never achieved a high profile in geography…” and that the “…potential of feminism is ignored…” this is NOT necessarily the case. I will argue feminist theory has shaped theory and practise in geography through raising the awareness of gender issues, helping remove blatant sexism from academic journals and institutions and contributing hugely to the ‘cultural turn’ within the discipline.

A huge volume of literature has amassed on feminist geographies over recent decades meaning that in the current era there are numerous ‘feminist geographies’ spanning across the discipline. This is clearly apparent in the number of books that have been published on the topic, the formation of the journal Gender Place and Culture in 1994 and the volume of articles that can be found in other contemporary human, cultural and social geography journals. Although feminist perspectives and outlooks vary in theory and content, common concerns cut across them all (Johnston et al., 2000). Developing out of the radical separatist ideas and oppositional politics associated with the ‘global sisterhood’ of the 1960s and 70s, came a more theoretical outlook associated with the ‘cultural turn’. Feminism thus developed as a critical discourse. The discipline of geography itself was criticised for its inherent masculine bias and for “excluding half the human from human geography” (Monk and Hansen, 1982). Haraway (1991) argued that women “do not appear where they should in geographical literature”.

However, as part of the cultural turn, the shift away from grand theories and a concentration on diverse and interconnecting global micro-geographies, gender was understood to interact with race and class and therefore to understand gender, one “had to constantly go beyond gender” (Connell, in McDowell and Sharp, 1997). The massive literature on contemporary feminism thus reflects criticisms that ‘Western feminism’ has played down sexual, racial and class differences. Western feminism had been strongly criticised for being ethnocentric, as it obscured or subordinated all other “Others” (Haraway, in McDowell and Sharp (eds) 1997). Black women argued they were not constituted as ‘women’ as white women were, but instead constituted simultaneously racially and sexually as marked female (animal, sexualised and without rights), but not a women (human, potential wife, conduit for the name of a father). This critique expanded into development studies where it was argued although ‘cultural barriers’ can impede policy progress, many of these barriers may in fact have been magnified and reinforced by Western interventionist ‘gender blind’ development policies, through an ignorance of local traditions (Crewe and Harrison, 1999).

The further development of ‘feminist geographies’ and the attempt to make women visible through ‘geographies of women’ has also resulted in a large literature on feminist methodologies (Moss, 1993; Nast, 1994, Farrow, Moss and Shaw, 1995, Hodge, 1995), including experimental writing and self-reflexivity (Rose, 1997). Work by Rose (1993) criticised geographical fieldwork as being “masculinity in action”, using historical examples such as Tansley’s (1939) ‘Man and Nature’. McDowell (1992) also details sexist biases in research methods, culminating in an absence of statistics about women, for example, detailing their unpaid labour (i.e. housework). In many studies there also seems to be a lack of women that were interviewed. For example, William Whyte’s Street Corner Society (1955), in which he seemed unaware that he had only interviewed men! There has thus been an application of feminist ideas to research and fieldwork. Feminist enquiry now works for an egalitarian research process between the researcher and her ‘subjects’.

A further similarity between ‘feminist geographies’ is that they trace the inter-connections between all aspects of daily life, across sub-disciplinary boundaries of economic, social, political and cultural geography. From Linda McDowell’s extensive research on the feminist geographies of the labour force involving ‘glass ceilings’ and discrimination (McDowell, 1997), to Hoschchild’s (1997) ‘dual role’ women and the ‘second shift’ (women having to be carers and mothers as well as career women). There has also been a huge volume of literature over recent years regarding the rise of women workers in the service industry (for example, call centres) and women as the ‘new proletariat’. Conversely, as part of this new ‘identity politics’, gender is argued by some to be a competitive advantage for women in the current workforce in terms of their roles as ‘emotional managers’ (Hochschild, 1983). McDowell (2001, 2004) has also recently tracked the development of a ‘crisis of masculinity’ associated with the collapse of Fordism, unemployment and a ‘lost generation of males’. Thus, it is argued by some the best ‘man’ for a job is now a woman.

This thorough, multi-disciplinary application of ‘feminist geographies’ at a variety of different scales in various sub-fields of the discipline clearly highlight its impact in shaping modern theory and practise within geography. From its beginnings of liberal feminism and oppositional politics (1960s and 70s), feminist geography has developed through feminist Marxism involving a gender/class interface (late 70s/80s) to feminist geographies of difference (late 80s-present) as part of identity politics and the ‘cultural turn’. Feminist geography now concentrates on gendered identities within a post-structural, post-colonial, cultural theoretical framework, studying gender relations across races, ages, ethnicities, religions, sexualities and nationalities. Most recently of all, the discipline has undergone further internal-critique, calling for more intensive study of relations and equality between women themselves. It is for these reasons I believe ‘feminist geographies’ have had a huge ideological impact on geographical theory and practise over recent decades and will continue to do so for years to come.

References:

Crewe, E. and Harrison, E. (1999) Whose development?: an ethnography of aid, London, St Martin’s Press.

Farrow, H., Moss, P. and Shaw, B. (1995) Symposium of feminist participatory research, Antipode, 18:2, 186-211.

Haraway, D. (1991) Simians, Cyborgs and Women: the reinvention of nature, London, Free Association Books.

Hochschild, A.R. (1983) The Managed Heart: Commercialisation of Human Feeling, University of California Press, Berkeley.

Hochschild, A.R. (1997) The Time Bind: When Work Becomes Home and Home Becomes Work, Henry Holt, New York.

Hodge, D. (ed) (1995), Should women count? The role of quantitative methodology in feminist geographic research, The Professional Geographer, 47, 426-66.

Johnston, R.J., Gregory, D., Pratt, G., Watts, M. (2000), The Dictionary of Human Geography, Blackwell.

Mackinnon, C.A. (1987) Feminism unmodified: discourses on life and law, Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press.

McDowell, L. (1992) Defining women: social institutions and gender divisions, Cambridge, Polity Press.

McDowell, L. and Sharp, J. (eds) Space, gender, knowledge: feminist readings (London: Arnold, 1997).

McDowell, L.M. (1997) Capital Culture: Gender at Work in the City, Oxford, Blackwell.

McDowell, L.M. (2001) Father and Ford Revisited: Gender, Class and Employment Change in the New Millennium, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 26, 448-64.

Monk, J. and Hansen, S. (1982) On not excluding the other half from human geography, The Professional Geographer, 32, 11-23.

Moss, P. (1993) Feminism as method, The Canadian Geographer, 37, 48-61.

Nast, H. (ed) (1994) Women in the field: critical feminist methodologies and theoretical perspectives, The Professional Geographer, 46, 54-102.

Rose, G. (1993) Feminism and Geography, Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press.

Rose, G. (1997) Situating knowledges: positionality, reflexivities and other tactics, Progress in Human Geography, 21, 305-20.

Whyte, W.F. (1955) Street Corner Society: the social structure of an Italian slum, Chicago, University of Chicago Press.

The Great War proved to be a catalyst for profound change across the whole of Europe and beyond. Ireland proved to be no exception as the effects of the Great War changed nationalism and unionism in various ways. Some of those changes could have been predictable in 1914, whilst others could not have been. The constitutional future of Ireland had already caused much controversy before the Great War and that controversy did not decline just because Britain and therefore Ireland were fighting a war. Unionism was perhaps a more unified feature of Irish society and politics. In contrast, nationalism was split between the moderates that supported Ireland having Home Rule within the United Kingdom and the republicans that favoured a united Irish republic. The circumstances created by the Great War plus the actions of unionists, nationalists, republicans, and finally the British government all brought changes to nationalism and unionism. These changes will now be outlined.

England and later Britain had been trying to impose its control over Ireland since the 12^th century. Nationalism and unionism had been the reactions of the Irish to those attempts to make them obedient, if not loyal subjects of the British State. The nationalists were descended from the Irish who had resented, or even resisted British control. The overwhelming majority of the nationalists were Catholics and formed around two-thirds of the Irish population. The unionists on the other hand were strongly in favour of maintaining the union of Britain. Unionism was strongest in the Protestant dominated counties of Ulster amongst the descendants of the Ulster plantations. Unionism held the advantage of having aims that never changed whilst nationalism had the disadvantage of being divided between moderates and republicans, even though people with nationalist or republican sympathies formed a majority of the population (Wilson, 1989 p. 21).

Nationalism had failed to achieve Home Rule in the 1880s, yet under the Liberal government that the Irish nationalist MPs backed, Home Rule seemed destined to be implemented after it passed through Parliament in 1912. The House of Lords managed to block its passing for two years, although it had just lost its power to veto legislation after the passing of the Parliament Act of 1911 (Ferriter, 2005 p. 123). However, the move towards Home Rule had provoked a militant unionist response in the form of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) countered by the moderate Irish Volunteers and the more hard-line Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). The UVF, which was led by Sir Edward Carson used all the means possible to prevent Home Rule, and would have proved a formidable force for any Irish government in Dublin to defeat (Stewart, 2001 p. 166). The British were concerned about instability and possible civil war in Ireland during 1912 through to 1914. The first change the Great War brought was that many nationalists and unionists got behind the British war effort. Home Rule was put on ice until after the war finished. The British government could have used that extra support from both nationalism and unionism to its ultimate advantage yet proved incapable of doing so (Ferriter, 2005 p.111).

Before any of the thousands of volunteers had been sent to the front line the British government’s decisions meant that the Great War would change nationalism and unionism. Instead of maintaining the good will of nationalists, the British government clearly showed its preference to those unionists who had volunteered for military service. The UVF seemed to be rewarded for its almost treasonable resistance to Home Rule by being enlisted as a whole and as a separate division. The moderate nationalists who had been in the Irish Volunteers were denied their own division. Redmond and the other moderates felt that the nationalists were being treated unfairly, despite supporting the British war effort (Madden, 2005, p.92).

Nationalism more than unionism started to change once Irish troops started to get killed in the Great War. The Unionists views about remaining within the United Kingdom did not alter, regardless of how many of them were killed in the war. For nationalism, the deaths of so many of its most capable and moderate advocates changed the balance between moderate nationalism and republicanism. However, even as the death toll mounted amongst the nationalist volunteers fighting in the Great War, the majority of nationalists did not favour the foundation of a republic, just the implementation of Home Rule. There was resentment that the unionists received better treatment in the army than the nationalists did. There was also resentment that the unionist dead received more respect, even though nationalists also paid the ultimate price for fighting in the Great War. The Irish Volunteers had split over the issue of enlisting in the British Army. The vast majority of the volunteers did enlist and called themselves National Volunteers whilst only a minority refused to enlist yet kept the name of Irish Volunteers. Between 150,000 to 158,000 joined the British Army, whilst 8,000 to 12,000 stayed behind to safeguard Home Rule from unionism or a change in British policy (Jackson, 1999 p. 198).

However, it would not be Irish blood spilt in France or Belgium that would change nationalism and unionism during the Great War. In the end it would prove to be Irish blood spilt in Dublin that caused the most dramatic changes. Members of the IRB believed the Great War offered the opportunity to launch a major rebellion against the British whilst the British Army was fighting and therefore unable to concentrate its firepower against any rebellion. Republicans claimed such a strategy was taking advantage of circumstances that might only be available for a short period, if Britain were on the winning side in the Great War such opportunities would be lost. The IRB were joined by Sinn Fein and the Irish socialist movement of James Connelly (Moody & Martin, 2001, p.256). The plans of a national uprising by the IRB were scuppered by the Royal Navy, which captured the German ship bringing weapons to the rebels. Instead of cancelling the rebellion altogether the IRB uprising still went ahead in Dublin. Slim chances of victory had been turned into no chance of survival let alone victory. The majority of people in Dublin originally saw the uprising as foolish and unjustified (Ferriter, 2005 p. 130).

The Easter Rising of 1916 was an unmitigated disaster from a military and strategic perspective that resulted in around 450 deaths. (Madden, 2005, p.95). From the aspect of turning a majority of nationalists towards supporting a united Irish republic it was success, yet it was not the rebels that died in the fighting that aroused the upsurge in republican sentiment. This upsurge was due to the British government allowing the British Army to execute a handful of rebels after the rising. The executions were a serious blunder as it made the rebels martyrs for the Irish Republican cause and greatly undermined the British control of Ireland, except for Ulster. The British Army had intended to execute over 90 rebels, yet the death of the 15 rebels it did execute proved disastrous (Madden, 2005 p. 96). The Unionists regarded the Easter Rising as an act of treason; a sign that nationalism in general and republicanism in particular could not be trusted (Wilson, 1989 p. 45).

Perhaps the greatest change to unionism as a result of the Easter Rising was the determination to remain within the United Kingdom, even if that meant partitioning Ireland in to two distinct nationalist and unionist parts. The Great War used up men, money, and resources in great quantities. The British government compounded its loss of support within the nationalist community by contemplating to extend conscription to Ireland. The Somme offensive in 1916 forced the introduction of conscription to the rest of the United Kingdom following the catastrophic losses caused. (Stewart, 2001, p.167). In all the British Army lost 794, 000 troops killed, wounded and missing in action during the Somme offensive, Irish nationalists and unionists were killed in their thousands (Castleden, 2005 p. 460).

The republicans made further in roads into persuading nationalists that a republican solution was the best way to get the British out of Ireland. The British government did not introduce conscription into Ireland; the republicans in general and the Irish Republican Army / Sinn Fein (IRA) had gained further propaganda successes specifically. David Lloyd George met with both Carson and Redmond, promising Carson a permanent partition, whilst assuring Redwood it would be only a short-term partition (Madden, 2005, p.99). The Great War offered chances for nationalism and unionism to change, the war itself did not change everything. It was the republicans that prospered most from these changes due to Eamon de Valera and Michael Collins taking advantage of the circumstances the Great War had brought, especially after the Easter Rising (Wilson, 1989 p. 47). The Great War revealed the flaws in the political thought and strategy of the moderate Irish nationalists. The Irish Parliamentary Party had seen its greatest achievement of Home Rule suspended by the start of the war. Redmond believed that nationalism could achieve a compromise with British imperialism, a belief shattered by the Great War. Redmond also underestimated the potential of republicanism and misunderstood the aspirations of unionism. It was unionism and republicanism that changed Ireland profoundly after the end of the Great War (Ferriter, 2005 p. 130).

Therefore, the Great War did change nationalism and unionism in various ways. Its first change was to suspend the Ulster crisis of 1912-14 and prevent the possibility of civil war in Ireland at that time. The outbreak of war was initially greeted with enthusiasm within nationalism and unionism. The British government gained a great deal of support from both communities, although it would eventually squander support from the nationalists. Only the republican fringe within nationalism did not support Britain’s war effort, regarding the Great War as an opportunity to end British rule in Ireland. Moderate nationalism was greatly changed by the Great War. The finest supporters of moderate were gunned down on the Western Front, whilst unionism increased its influence with the British government, with Carson serving in the war cabinet, whilst Redmond refused to do so. Unionism was proud of the sacrifices it made for King and country whilst moderate nationalism was weakened by being seen as sacrificing so many lives for an occupying power that did not seem to appreciate those sacrifices. The Easter Rising and its brutal suppression and the unwise execution of 15 rebels was the main catalyst for change with the British government foolishly making martyrs for the Irish republicans. Moderate nationalism was the main casualty of the Great War in Ireland. Republicanism was greatly strengthened after the Easter Rising, whilst unionism was grimly determined to hold onto Ulster. The Great War only delayed civil war in Ireland; the end of moderate nationalism and the misjudgements of the British government would allow extremism to take hold. This cause of events almost inevitably led to the partition of Ireland. Nationalism, unionism, republicanism, or the British government could no longer expect to control the whole of Ireland. The Great War changed things in favour of the republican and unionist extremists, the IRA and Sinn Fein proving especially astute at taking advantage of those circumstances.

Bibliography

Castleden, (2005) Events that changed the world, Time Warner Books, London

Ferriter D, (2005) The Transformation of Ireland 1900-2000, Profile Books, London

Jackson A, (1999) Ireland 1798 – 1998: Politics and War, Oxford

Madden F J M (2005) teach yourself – the history of Ireland, Hodder Education, London

Moody T W & Martin F X (2001) The Course of Irish History, Mercier Press, Cork and Dublin

Stewart A T Q, (2001) The Shape of Irish History, The Blackstaff Press, Belfast

Wilson T, (1989) Ulster – Conflict & Consent, Basil Blackwell Ltd, Oxford

“Selfie”: A Study on How It Changes Everything
INTRODUCTION

Selfie has been all over the newsfeeds and home pages in social networking websites. In fact, it has been a part of other people’s daily routine. For them, to take a selfie is completely necessary. Every second there is a selfie that is updated with a unique caption and tons of hash tags that are not really related to the whole picture. The question is why are people so hooked with taking selfies?

Right now, there are more than 80 million photos in Instagram that falls under #selfie. According to Lev Manovich, a computer science professor at the Graduate Center, 61.6% of selfies came from women while 36.7% came from men (Stinson, 2014). Selfie has become a big hit and a world phenomenon. Not surprisingly, it has been added to the Oxford Dictionaries and it was even their word of the year.

Social Media has been responsible for making selfie popular especially among teenagers. Since famous celebrities and other TV personalities have social media accounts, other teenagers tend to see how they strike a pose and get million likes. Teenagers would probably be interested in taking selfies too because they’re idols are doing it. But for some, it is their way of expressing their self and to test how they really look. Unfortunately, some use it to seek attention and to show off what they have and what they’re doing. Selfie is sometimes meant to attract other users to follow you or add you as a friend.

There are many things to unravel behind every selfie that people took. It is imperative to know these things since everyone is all affected by it. Physically and psychologically, there is a need for people to know the effects and the reasons why everybody are all into taking “Selfie”.

Duck face, peace sign, wacky poses, mirror and candid shots, all of these are associated with the word “Selfie”. As it goes viral, People’s social lives and the way they perceive things are now different unlike before. They tend to draw too much attention on what people will say than what they think of their selves.

Having a selfie is important. From what you see in a single photo taken from your camera will actually determine your views about yourself and how you will construct your social being. The problem is that everybody takes this thing seriously. People spend most of our time taking photos of their selves, thinking for the right pose, filters to be used and caption to be put. Sometimes, they do this not for them but for the people who are going to l0ook in the photo. It might be simple but not everyone can see the effects of it in people’s lives. The Psychological effects of selfie have been very serious especially for the teenagers. Now, they don’t just base their looks on what is reflected on the mirror but also what is captured in the camera. Their self-esteem is just developed when they see likes and positive feedbacks from their online friends and followers. Values and social ethics are completely affected. In some case, people go beyond their limit and do things that are improper to get the attention of other users. There are some selfies that unpleasant, malicious and irrelevant and it has a great impact on people who would probably see it.

What the researcher wants to stress in this paper is the positive and negative impacts of selfie in our society, economy and to everyone’s life. It will reveal the invisible ideas and realizations about selfie. The development of technology and how it strengthened the popularity of selfie will also be discussed. This may also help on finding the real answer why people result to selfie addiction that can still be prevented with a very helpful solution.

In our present time, when everything is modern and innovated, how a person takes a selfie really matters. Everyone is very eager to cultivate their time and effort to maintain their online image to the public. As people change their attitude towards selfie, more problems arise not only in their personal lives but also in the whole society. In this paper, there are three major objectives, and these are: To identify the positive and negative impacts of selfie to society, economy and to personal lives. To determine how the advancement of modern technology contributed to the popularity of selfie. To distinguish the advantage and disadvantages of selfie in viewing yourself and other people’s opinion.

BODY
The Good, Bad, and the Unforeseen Consequences of Selfie Obsession

Activate your front camera in your smart phone, choose for the best angle that will make your cheekbones more defined, eyes look bigger and skin whiter, and then click. That’s how easy you can take a selfie.

Now, there are 80 million photos on Instagram that has been hash tagged as selfie. 91% of it came from the teenagers. Not surprisingly, celebrities like Miley Cyrus, Rihanna and Demi Lovato are total selfie addicts. You are not alone. According to Pamela Rutledge, Ph.D.,faculty director of the media psychology program at the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology, the reason why selfie is popular is that it celebrates normal and average people. “There are many more photographs available now of real people than models”(Rutledge, 2013). Posting selfies is an empowering act for another reason. Basically, it allows you to control your image online. Let us all be real, the most common selfie is the one where you look cute, partially because it’s a quick way to get positive comments about your appearance.

That could be one explanation for total selfie overload, when you upload 10 selfies at a time. According to Dr. Weber, there’s more to it than that. She says: “In my experience, girls who repeatedly post selfies struggle with low self-esteem” (Weber, 2013). Overall, opinions vary on whether selfie culture is lame or legitimate, which means it’s up to you to shape the future of the habit. Better ask yourself: Are my selfies for fun, or do I need the comments? If you fall under category two, Dr. Rutledge recommends shifting your perspective. That could mean cutting selfies out entirely or just scaling back and making them more fun. Everything you share on social media reveals something about you, and you are in control.

It’s Not You, It’s Me: The Science behind the Selfie

Why is selfie so popular? The advancement of social media has led to the rise of selfies. Of course, the development and innovation of modern technology has a great impact in building the popularity of selfie. However, the ease of use is not the only reason millions of people are very much into selfie and why they give so much of their time updating random post of their face.

According to some theorists, selfies are popular because they allow us to actively control the image we project. They are a way to communicate that both the selfie-taker and his or her life is awesome, sexy, thoughtful, interesting, social and many more. We take selfies when we are feeling glamorous and well-dressed, or when we want to show off what we’re doing. Sometimes, a selfie is meant to attract the attention of a certain someone whom the selfie-taker knows to be following them on social media accounts.

WHY IT MATTERS

In today’s modern world, it is indeed natural to eagerly want some control over our online performance. But are prolific selfie creatures going beyond their limitations?

In this paper, the researcher intends to use several communication theories that will support information from the whole study. These theories will vividly define some concepts related to the study. .

Symbolic Interactionism has a strong relation with Selfie. With Symbolic interactionism, reality is seen as social, developed interaction with others. Like Symbolic interactionism, people’s social life is the center of Selfie. You take selfie to interact with other users and to know more about their personal lives. Both the theory and selfie believed thatphysical reality does indeed exist by an individual’s social definitions, and that social definitions do develop in part or relation to something “real.”

If you take a Selfie and it has a great outcome, you will easily believe that is the “real” you even if you have completely enhanced the photo with filters and stuff. Thus, what you believe is real will be strengthened due to positive comments and feedbacks of social media users. Once you have seen that there are more than 100 likes in your selfie, you will adopt the idea you have got in social interaction with people and eventually relate it in your real life.

In connection with Symbolic interactionism, the concept of the Looking-glass self by Charles Horton Colley is also related to selfie. The term refers to people determining their self-concepts based on their knowledge of how others perceive them. Looking back at the impact of selfie in gaining self-esteem and confidence, people who are into selfie will pretty much value what other people will say about them than what they think of themselves. Comments pertaining on how good you look in your selfie truly matters. In the contrary, once you have received negative feedbacks, you will start to hesitate on posting another one and cultivate so much of your time to take a selfie that will definitely please the people who will see it.

Turning to the negative side of it, when people receive either good or bad comments, the term “selfie-syndrome” comes out. A person becomes narcissistic and starts to update photos every single minute to give themselves assurance and satisfaction.

Seeing popular celebrities post selfies in social networiking websites like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram has a great impact on other user’s way of thinking. Like Magic Bullet Theory, Selfie is like a bullet fired into the user’s head. Recently, everyone saw the viral Oscar selfie of Ellen DeGeneres with the top actors and actresses of Hollywood including Angelina Jolie, Bradley Cooper, Brad Pitt, Meryl Streep and others. Because of that, other social media users started to imitate and use the photo for memes. The said photo garnered 2 million retweets and beat the photo of President Obama and first lady, Michelle Obama

Honestly, when a photo gets really popular and hits the trending spot, people will overreact and they will also have their selfies taken like the photo they have seen. Especially for Filipinos, they always want to have their own version for them to be recognized on the internet too. See, the impact of a single photo will make everyone crazy.

Since the social media also supply us information, people tend to believe on messages when everyone is talking about it in the social media. Without knowing the real story behind it, the message keeps on going to another person until it reaches the whole social media community. That also happened before selfie gets viral. The Magic Bullet Theory has an important relevance to this study because this explains how selfie become popular and a world-wide hit. Because of their relation, people will easily understand the impact of a single selfie post.

Because Western countries are ahead in innovating and developing their technology, there is a huge difference on the way they look and react to things. Their civilization is completely different that they are the ones who influence and open other countries to new and modern technology. Thus, this results to oppression of the workers due to mass production from different countries, without the end-users having the idea that this kind of thing is already happening.

The rise of smartphones has something to do with both the theory and the study. It has significance for both of them that generalize the impacts of this it to the users. As you can see, smartphones has everything you need and one of the most used smartphone feature is the front camera. For buyers, it is one of the reasons why you buy a smartphone especially if its front camera is 2 megapixel and higher. In that case, users become more interested of it and they will take photos of themselves and develop techniques that will make their social appearance pleasing and attractive.

Furthermore, applications like Facebook and Instagram are technology’s gift for social media enthusiasts. Unfortunately, not everyone is aware that Facebook bought Instagram for 1 billion dollars and that only means that it is for “big business and “money” only. As the features continually change and improved, more and more users are very fond of taking selfies knowing that they will easily garner likes and comments from other users. The more people use social networking sites, more and more money are going to the capitalist and we end up getting controlled by them.

Not only Facebook and Instagram has great influence on selfie-takers but also Photography Applications like Camera 360, VSCO Cam and the like. These applications are so popular because it let users to control and enhance their image. There are over 100 filters available that you can put in your selfie photo and it will transform into a model. But, there is more. You can also put your pictures in frames and collages to add several selfies at a single photo.

Truly, the advancement in modern technology has affected our way of life. Technology will never be inevitable due to its purpose and use. But, is it really the use of technology that matters the most? Technology should help improve human being’s skills, values and way of living not by tolerating their laziness and controlling things in their life. However, it only depends on them whether to be controlled and manipulated by technology or technology to be controlled and manipulated by people.

CONCLUSION

The advancement of modern technology contributed a lot to the rise and popularity of selfie. Because of the innovation of smartphones, there are many key features that attracted the user’s interest. In selfie, the most commonly used smartphone feature is the front camera for it enables you to strike a pose freely because you see yourself in the screen. That’s why, people were able to achieve the angle and position they want. Another thing is you can edit your selfie with photography applications like Camera 360 and the like. Now, you can control and digitally enhance the photo on the way you want it to be. Also, do not forget that social networking websites like Instagram and Facebook contributed a lot on the “selfie phenomenon” because it is where you post your selfie and gain comments and likes from the other users.

The problem with selfie is that users cultivate so much of their time, effort and even money to maintain their pleasing and attractive online image. It has a big impact on both the society and the economy. The economy might rise due to this but the society will have a radical change. On viewing one’s self, selfie can make a huge change. You may possibly develop your self-esteem and confidence through likes and positive comments. The problem is, what you think of yourself does not matter and you start doing things that other people will like. It might lead to selfie addiction and narcissism.

One should be able to be satisfied on what he/she looks inside and out. You should not base your whole personality on your social media image. Determine the real you in the real world not in your Facebook profile. Selfies are a way to document things about yourself, in that case you should be able to depict what is real about you. Selfie enables you to express yourself and to update other people on what is happening in your life. It is not about how people recognize you and how you impress them, it is more on telling what you really feel in just a single photo. Don’t let this thing control you, instead, use it to develop yourself and your personality.

References

Feenberg, A. (1991). Critical theory of technology . California: Oxford University Press.

Flusser, V. (2000).Towards a philosophy of photography. Minnesota: Reaktion Books.

Lowery, S. & DeFleur, M. (1995). Milestones in mass communication research: Media effects. (3rd edition). White Plains, NY: Longman.

Rogers, M. (2013, December 6). It’s not you, it’s me: The science behind the selfie. Retrieved from http://greatist.com/happiness/the-psychology-behind-selfies

Rutledge, P. (2013). The influence of media. Los Angeles : ProQuest, UMI Dissertation Publishing.

Slavin , L. (2014, December 4). The evolution of selfie culture: Self-expression, narcissism, or objectification?. Retrieved from http://feminspire.com/the-evolution-of-selfie-culture-self-expression-narcissism-or-objectification/

Weber , J. (2013). Psychology today. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Zanders, J. (2013, November 27). Towards a philosophy of the selfie. Retrieved from http://philoselfie.tumblr.com/

1) The Title of the Project

Family and Friendship: an investigation of the relationship between age and patterns of friendship within and outside the family: a discourse analysis.

2) Rationale, Aims and Objectives

Friends and family are clearly important components of everyone’s lives. They can increase self-esteem, well-being and provide opportunities for socialising. Evidence from the psychological literature suggests that friendships are beneficial, if they are of the right type (Hartup & Stevens, 1997).

This study will examine the attitudes that two different age-groups have towards friendships and their families. There has been increasing discussion in the sociological literature by some authors (Weeks, Heaphy & Donovan, 2001) that friendships are taking over the traditional place of the family in people’s social networks. This study aims to examine this idea in two age-groups, one 18-28 years old and the second, 50-60 years old. It will also aim to look at an aspect of the detraditionalization hypothesis and judge whether the evidence supports it.

The objectives in order to reach this aim are to carry out a series of interviews with people in those two age-groups and then carry out a discourse analysis of that data. This will pinpoint the different ways in which people think about their families and friends in two different age-groups.

3) Research Questions

The research question will be to examine whether there is a clear difference between the types of friendships formed at different ages. Do younger people rely more on their friends for support in times of crisis than older people? Do older people include more of their kin as their closest friends? How do both groups view their families generally in terms of who they rely on? Alternatively, is there little evidence for a difference in the way people separate and view their friends and their families?

4) Literature Review

Individualization is a sweeping social change that has been seen to affect many societies around the world. Beck & Beck Gernsheim (2001) point to two different meanings of individualization. The first refers to the weakening of traditional social forms used in the analysis of societies; these include class, gender and the family. Beck & Beck Gernsheim (2001) identify this change as occurring as a result of the weakening of tradition, religion and state. The second aspect of individualization is the way in which modern societies are placing new demands on their citizens. This can be seen in the huge numbers of regulations that attempt to control every aspect of our lives. Levels of mobility, argue Beck & Beck Gernsheim (2001), are higher than ever in many societies and, as a result, people move freely for economic reasons as there is greater emphasis on individual fulfilment.

A natural corollary of this movement is that family ties are frequently left behind in the search for economic opportunity. And so, in the struggle for individual human relatedness, if the family is left behind, to where does the modern member of society turn? Weeks, Heaphy & Donovan (2001) point to so-called ‘families of choice’, which are essentially groups of friends. Weeks et al. (2001) see society as being at a transition point, from more traditional ideas of family to this notion of the family that has been chosen from a group of friends. People are specifically choosing their family of friends to fit in with their own personal beliefs and attitudes and sometimes choosing to get away from their biological families who do not represent their attitudes and beliefs. This process of choosing friends is seen by Weeks at al. (2001) as a process by which people are shaping their own identities.

While Weeks et al.’s (2001) research concentrates on non-heterosexuals, they argue that these ‘families of choice’ are in fact taking over from ‘families of fate’ throughout society in the UK and elsewhere. This has been similarly understood by Giddens (1992) in terms of transformations in the interpersonal domain. In particular, Giddens (1991) sees these kinds of changes arising from what he terms the emergence of ‘pure relationships’ (Giddens 1991:58). A pure relationship occurs where the more traditional connections through obligation that are present in family relationships are replaced with relationships based on what each can get out of the other. These changes have been referred to by Giddens (1992) as democratising in nature such that these changes are also affecting the family.

Pahl & Spencer (2004) explain that this detraditionalization thesis normally draws upon a range of social statistics that appear to demonstrate widespread societal changes. These include higher levels of education, higher rates of divorce, greater mobility – both socially and geographically – and a larger participation by women in the workforce.

These conclusions are, however, disputed by Pahl & Spencer (2004) who argue that the use of other research sources can lead in a different direction. They quote research carried out by Park & Roberts (2002) which found that the family appeared to be in good health. Their respondents tended to suggest the family represented the first port of call in an emergency for people. Indeed, Pahl & Spencer (2004) carried out their own research into friendships which avoids a standard quantitative analysis, asking about length of time known and other such variables, and concentrating more on content. Pahl & Spencer (2004), then, look at people’s ‘personal communities’.

Personal communities, for Pahl & Spencer (2004), relate specifically to two main aspects of the relationship: communication and belonging. Pahl & Spencer (2004) carried out 60 interviews in different parts of the UK and, in order to access these concepts, they used a map of concentric circles on which people indicated where their friends lay. These friendships were then examined through interviews. As a result, Pahl & Spencer (2004) found that it was actually very difficult to separate the notions of friendship from that of family and that one easily flowed into the other. From their detailed findings, Pahl & Spencer (2004) assert that there is little evidence for the idea that people are moving away from their family group and towards their chosen friendship groups. There is also little evidence, in Pahl & Spencer’s (2004) view, for the idea that people place more importance on their friendships than their family.

Taking a more wide-angle quantitative viewpoint, Pahl & Pevalin (2005) use data gathered from the British Household Panel Survey over ten years to analyse potential changes in family and friends. Here, instead of finding a shift to friends away from family, they find that the family still provides a large number of people’s friends. There is a change seen across age-groups, however, with older respondents more likely to nominate family as close friends than those in younger age-groups. The question is, does this represent a change that people go through as they age, or is this a social change that can be seen emerging? Pahl & Pevalin (2005) suggest the longitudinal data shows that it is actually a change happening with age, therefore suggesting that this does not support a social change of increasing friendship choices outside kin-groupings. Gross (2005) argues, like Pahl & Pevalin (2005) that the extent to which the detraditionalization hypothesis is true has been exaggerated.

It’s important to note that throughout the literature on families and friendships it is clear that there are certain overlaps in meanings. One clear example is that of partners. For those over the age of 30, Pahl & Pevalin (2005) argue that a partner provides the most important relationship. Does this person count as their friend or a family member? Pahl & Pevalin (2005) argue that partners form a kind of hybrid category. Partners sit on the cusp of the debate because if they ‘count’ as members of the family then they add weight to the importance of the family. But, if they count as friends, then they add weight to the idea that people are moving towards greater reliance on friends. There is probably a good argument for each view but certainly excluding partners from the analysis is a mistaken approach.

Pahl & Pevalin (2005) also criticise Weeks et al.’s (2001) findings because they focus on non-heterosexual respondents. It is hypothesised that non-heterosexual respondents will tend to have a greater degree of reliance on friends rather than family as, perhaps, the family will not have been accepting of their sexual orientation thus necessitating an appeal to a group outside their confines. This study should, therefore, take this into account in balancing up the sexual orientations of the respondents.

5) Methodology

Carry out a series of semi-structured interviews with participants to ask them about their family and their friendships. This would be carried out with a small group of younger people who are 18-28, as well as with a small group of older people who are 50-60 years old.

Interviews will be semi-structured and so will start with questions asking specifically about participant’s close social ties, who they tend to confide in, who they share attitudes and beliefs with. This will be achieved through the use of maps of personal networks on which people indicate where their friends and family lie. Also, questions will be asked about attitudes and feelings towards the family and how family members fit into this picture. Latter questions will be more open-ended, so that participants are able to speak more freely about their friendships and families.

Participant’s interviews will be transcribed and then analysed using discourse analysis to extract meanings and relationships.

6) Ethical Considerations

Ethical approval for carrying out this study will be obtained from the relevant authority. All respondents in the study will be told that taking part is optional and that they may withdraw at any time. Further, they will be assured that they will remain anonymous in the reporting of the results. Personal information relating to individual friendships will, of course, remain completely confidential. Respondents will be reminded that they are entitled to see any of the data that is held by the researcher which specifically relates to them.

7) Costings

The project will require a voice recorder and the researcher’s time involved in carrying out the interviews, transcribing, analysing and writing up. It may also require the cost of travelling to respondents in order to carry out the interviews. Some stationery costs will also be incurred.

8) Communication plans

Respondents for the research will be solicited through standard university notice boards. For the older age-group, if suitable respondents cannot be identified in the university, it may be necessary to call on the researcher’s personal networks of friends and family members.

9) Users and Beneficiaries

The ways in which friendships and families operate is of perennial interest to the government. Examining the ways in which personal communities coalesce provides insight into important notions of social support and social capital.

For those who work in professions with direct contact with younger age-groups, it would be useful for them to know who young people rely on in times of stress. Is it members of their family, or is there a shift towards relying on friends in hard times?

For those who work in professions who care for the elderly it would be extremely useful to know how patterns of friendships change with advancing age (Pahl & Pevalin, 2005). For example, do older people rely more on siblings as a result of their partners passing away or do they develop other networks of friends outside their kin relations?

References

Beck, U., Beck Gernsheim, E. (2001) Individualization. London: Sage Publications.

Giddens, A. (1991) Modernity and Self-identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age. Cambridge, Polity Press.

Giddens, A. (1992) The Transformation of Intimacy: Sexuality, Love and Eroticism in Modern Societies. Cambridge, Polity Press.

Gross, N. (2005) The Detraditionalization of Intimacy Reconsidered. Sociological Theory 23(3), 286-311.

Hartup, W., Stevens, N. (1997) Friendship and Adaptation in the Life Course. Psychological Bulletin, 121(3), 335–370.

Pahl, R., Pevalin, D. J. (2005) Between family and friends: a longitudinal study of friendship choice. The British Journal of Sociology, 56(3), 433-450.

Pahl, R., Spencer, L. (2004) Personal Communities: Not Simply Families of ‘Fate’ or ‘Choice’. Current Sociology 52(2), 199–221.

Park, A., Roberts, C. (2002) The Ties that Bind. British Social Attitudes: The 19th Report. Aldershot: Ashgate.

Weeks, J., Heaphy, B., Donovan, C. (2001) Same Sex Intimacies: Families of Choice and Other Life Experiments. London: Routledge.

Reconstructing the society

There are many categories in which we sort humans. Among the major categories we have race, class and gender. Race is a social concept that categorizes humans into large populations and groups that stand distinctively by cultural, anatomical, genetic, geographical and social affiliation. There is not yet an agreement on the best definition of class, but it can be defined as people belonging to the same same social, economic and educational status. Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining between masculinity and feminity, and also differentiating them. Alternatively, it pertains to socially constructed roles, behaviours and also attributes that a society considers right for both the male and the female gender.

We can incorporate the films “La Haine” and “manufacturing consent” to illustrate this. In La Haine, we can illustrate the impression of class as a category in which we sort the human race. This is clear when there ensue a hard-hitting drama between the police and the disenfranchised French youth. The relationship that can be examined between these two groups is riotous because of the social class. There is a riot that took place after a second generation Arab was beaten by the cops. The following day, young men went to Paris and they were arrested by the police. They were interrogated, only to be involved in a rumble with skinheads later on. On their returning home, what they encountered was never suspected.

Delving deeper into the film La Haine, we find the writer director Mathieu Kassovitz butting the European urbanity with the American style of the streets as clash with the police in suburban parts. The end result can be seen as an explosion scathing social commentary and generally the story-telling is dynamic. Closer scrutiny to the generaton; class and race are the major factors that divide the nation of France. Kassovits attacks the frontlines of power fearlessly but on a rather unreservedly pessimistic note.

A riot in seen in the outskirts of paris where the police beat Abdel Ahmed Ghili, an Arab teenager, into a coma. This fuelled a lot of anger and hatred inside Vincent cassel, who is commonly reffered to as Vinz. Vinz was a Jew who was determined to whack the cops in the occasion the boy dies. The jocular admitted this to the cohorts of Vincent. He also approached Humbert, an African boxer, to speak to him of his rather evil plan as they embark on an adventurous voyage from the neighbourhood of immigrants.

The time bomb ticks a fatal account of the society’s decline which is plainly one sided. The efforts of only one police who shows sympathy to the troubled youth are negligible and ineffective among an army of bullies and bigots. It can be seen that kassovits view situations in black-and-white which vividly explains the reason for striking a monochrome print. It is the conviction and broad discovery with which he writes the story that makes it really compelling.

He lifts up a scene straight from the taxi driver where Vincent Cassel poses infront of the mirror with a gun. He asks his own image if it is talking to him. Humbert is seen to offset him with a cool self assurance. Taghmaoui performance was outstanding when he offers funny relief to neutralize the unbearable tension. He prompted a hitherto, unseen and executed it brilliantly. Racism has been seen to be a particular problem in the police force. The tense relationship between the policemen and the youth evidences racism. It takes place during a 24 hour period. When Abdul is injured and is critically in hospital, in the course of retribution, Vinz is caught in the possession of a policeman’s gun he had obtained in the riot. He swore to murder a “pig” if Abdul dies. This illustrates how race is a major class of sorting the humans

We can construct a socially stratified reality that will help us save some of these racial, class and gender related problems. The most basic elements of the social structure is status. It stands for a social position that is recognized and of which an individual occupies in the society. There are duties and responsibilities usually in relation to complimentary positions. Secondly, we have the status set. Everyone in the society holds many status positions and not one. Status set can be defined as all the statuses that a person holds at a given time. One can be a male or a female, teacher or student, husband or wife among many others.

When we talk of status, it can either be ascribed or achieved status. Ascribed status is achieved at birth or later assumed involuntarily in the course of life. Achieved status is a social position that is assumed voluntarily. Its can reflect the personal ability that one has or the magnitude of efforts with which he puts. Oftenly, we have a combination of both the achieved status and the ascribed status.

However, there’s that status with an exceptional importance for social identity and that shapes a person’s personal life. This is referred to as a master status and according to our society, one’s occupation often comprises this position. According to the social diversity, physical disability becomes the master status for many people. Some other ascribed statuses like race or sex are other examples of positions which in one way or the other are a person’s master statuses.

In the construction of a socially stratified reality, the concept of role is significant. By role, we mean the expected behavior that is attached to particular status. The expectations the society attaches to a role somewhat makes the role performance to differ. Since each status has several roles attached to it, a person has many roles than statuses. This number of roles attached to particular status is referred to as role set.

An individual can creatively shape reality through social interaction. It is understood as a negotiation process which generates to shaping reality. People also build reality from the surrounding culture that varies widely within a given society. Analysis of social interaction in terms of theatrical performances is crucial. Individuals in various settings make attempts to create impressions in the minds of others, what is referred to as impression management.

There are various reasons why discrimination arises and how it is perpetuated. Compounding effect of multiple grounds are always linked to a person’s experience of definition. For example, researches confirm that the elderly and persons with disabilities experience higher unemployment chances. Members of radicalized groups with such qualities may also be underemployed on multiple grounds. These are social harms and pains that come from such acts of discrimination.

Another reason for discrimination is protecting persons associated with others protected by the code. The code could protect people who are not personally identified by one of the grounds. The big question arises on whether one is a member of a protected group. There should be considerable intent behind how u treat someone instead of analysis based on looks, myths and stereotypes. This is discrimination based on perceived grounds.

Age could also be another reason for discrimination on may social area including employment. Younger job applicants may be discriminated on the grounds of stereotypes about youth and experience. Older employees may be discriminated on the grounds of health related and disability concerns. They should eliminate discrimination and instead base thneir decisions on the basis of actual merits, capacities and circumstances.

Others are discriminated on the basis of underage and considered to as minors. Some are discriminated whenever employers state the maximum and minimum age. Disability is another major point of concern. This has been claimed by a quarter of all human rights. Employers are concerned with disability related concerns, and to prevent these claims and issues in a timely way, they opt to discriminate which should not be the case. They should instead apply measures such as inclusive design and develop accommodation issues.

Family status is another major reason for discrimination. A person’s marital status has also become a major concern. To take care of this, policies and actions should not be based on social areas. Some stereotypes that a man or a woman is of a greater value than other types of marital status should be dropped.

There is also race and race related grounds of discrimination. Language itself is not a ground for discrimination but it may be associated with any of the race related grounds. The same case applies to color. Ancestry and place of origin are also major causes of discrimination. Citizenship, sex, and record of offences, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation are also major causes of discrimination.

However, discrimination may be stopped. These include setting the standards without placing blame. One should bring awareness on what is acceptable and what should be dropped. Whenever one experiences discrimination, it is good to challenge the behavior immediately. Sometimes it is good to address the challenge even if it means later in future.

In the process of eliminating discrimination, it is important to know your audience your evidence and understand them. This makes it easier to drive a convincing argument and know what points you need to change.

It is good to take your time and work out the best strategy in which you can address discrimination. You can also seek the advice of other in order to come up with the best strategy. One can also seek the help of others including a lawyer to know your rights.

Discrimination has hazardous consequences. Some of the physical consequences associated with discrimination include change of appetite, decreased energy, stress related ailments, insomnia, headaches among others. It also has emotional impacts such as anger, depression, fear, feeling of isolation, self blame and guilt. Career and academic impact include absenteesm, decreased concentration, and reduced productivity whenever one fall victim. The grades or employment records suffer because of this.

The vice of discrimination also has social impacts such as alcohol and drug abuse. It leads to physical and emotional withdrawal from friends and family. Financial impacts include decrease in professional reputation or academic standing, decrease in future job opportunities, actual loss of jobs, scholarships and recommendations. The organization may also suffer costs of discrimination such litigation, higher employee turnover, tarnished public image, frustration and loosing sides.

In conclusion, impression management is very fundamental in our daily life. Talking of impression management we mean the process with which people attempt to influence perceptions of other people, object or even designs. It may extent to professional or even public relations.

There are three types of intangible consequences that are associated with discrimination. These include fines, litigation costs and also bad publicity. Litigation expenses are associate dwith employment discrimination claims. These includes the attorney fees and investigative expenses. There are sums of costs associated with litigation. They include punitive damages and compensatory damages. Lost income and revenue is a tangible, though difficult to measure, cause of discrimination. When the media covers such issues there may be a considerable drop in sales hence lost incomes and revenues. There are no socially responsible customers that will want to be associated with supporting businesses that have been involved with scandals of social discrimination practices.

Organizations use impressions such as branding as strategies to convey the brand image to external and internal audiences. Mangers have no option other than build the impressions they make on others, be it subordinates and business partners. The imperession they create is the overall effect on their understanding

All in all, these are just but ways in which we create a socially stratified reality, or rather category driven realities.

Works cited

David M. Newman, Sociology, chapter 12, “The Architecture of Inequality: Sex and Gender.”

Kate Bornstein “Gender Outlaw vintage books New York, 1995”

David M. Newman, sociology, Chapter 14 “Architects of change: Reconstructing Society”

David M. Newman, sociology, Chapter 10 “The Architecture of Stratification: Social Class and Inequality”

Examine the main differences in patterns of everyday life, work, government support and self sufficiency among peoples of the world.

How are these patterns changing, and what contribution is the activity of businesses owned by peoples in North America, Australia, Japan and Western Europe making to these changes?

Considering the main differences in the patterns of everyday life, work, government support and self sufficiency among peoples of the world is complicated by the fact that there are 6 billion people in the world, and each of them will have their own life, job and other unique attributes. In addition, with over 200 recognised countries on Earth, it is difficult to analyse patterns on a country basis in such a small piece. As such, it is necessary to define a limited number of groups of similar countries in order to analyse the patterns. This piece will use three main groups based on the definitions of Hines (2008). The first of these is the ‘W1’ group, which consists of the United States, Western Europe, Japan, Korea and Australia, which are viewed as the most developed economies in the world, with large consumptions of resources and goods. The second group, ‘W2’, consists of the nations with relatively strong economies, and a balanced profile of resources and consumption. These include India, China, Brazil, Russia and many other rapidly growing nations. Finally, ‘W3’ includes the poorest nations on Earth, including much of Africa and Bangladesh.

The differences in wealth in these countries helps explain some of the differences in patterns of everyday life, reflected in cultural values. The W3 nations emphasise traditional values, respect for authority, obedience, the importance of religion, strong work ethics and the importance of large families. In contrast, the W2 segment focuses on achievement, the value of science and technology, the importance of the state hard work, and a belief that parents and children have a mutual need for each other. Finally, the W1 group emphasize self-expression, the importance of the individual and individual responsibility, tolerance, a balanced life, leisure and good health (Hines, 2008). Further insight can be obtained from looking at discretionary spending in nations, with the W1 group spending heavily on recreation, alcohol and tobacco, the W2 group focusing on clothing and household goods, and the W3 group making almost no discretionary spending due to their lack of disposable income (Fairfield et al, 2008).

The main changes in the patterns of everyday life focus around technology and infrastructure. Media and communications, previously dominated by the W1 group, are now spreading rapidly amongst the W2 group and even into W3, and there are few places in the world where access in now impossible. As such, the most connected places in the world are now almost exclusively within the W3 group, particularly in Scandinavia, which is considered part of W2. However, within the W3 group, and some of the W2 nations, there has been a collision between the spread of technology and the important role of the state. As a result, some governments such as Myanmar and North Korea and China, to a limited extent, have attempted to control the flow of information, leading to some tension in the lives of their citizens. In addition, access to electricity has been rising regularly, changing the lives of huge numbers of people across the world. Again, the spread has been mainly in W2 nations, with W3 lagging behind, with only 23% of sub-Saharan Africa having access to electricity. This is leading to a growing gap in the everyday lives of people in the W1 and W2 nations and those in the W3, who are being rapidly left behind (Hines, 2008).

The patterns of work across the world are strongly driven by the influence of global production systems. Hayter (2005) notes that of the total number of employed people in the world, only 16 per cent are in the W1 nations, despite these nations controlling around 50 per cent of the world’s total wealth. This is reflected in the fact that most people in the W1 industries work in service industries; W2 is dominated by manufacturing; and working patterns in W3 are concentrated in the agriculture and subsistence industries. In addition, the patterns of participation in the labour force vary across different regions and countries. The patterns of participation tend to be much higher in countries where income levels are lower, and there is limited social security coverage. As such, W3 countries tend to have higher levels of participation in the labour force. However, this can again conflict with sociological tendencies, with the Middle East and North Africa having low levels of participation due to low levels of female participation, who are seen as being responsible for the family (Hayter, 2005).

The changing patterns of work have generally been characterised as devaluing the dignity of work, turning jobs into simple factors of production and ignoring the family and national significance of work to many people. However, specific trends are focused at the two ends of the spectrum, with the proportion of children in the workforce having fallen by 26 per cent over the last four years. In particular, for the youngest children aged 5-14 years the proportion of children in work has been reduced by 33 per cent. This is leading to patterns in W2 and W3, where levels of child labour are high, moving towards those in W1. At the same time, older men are now generally working less, with older women working more. However, as the proportion of people aged over 60 is increasing every year, labour force participation rates amongst the over 50 workers have increased significantly worldwide. The traditional focus on family means that participation rates of older workers are highest in Asia and Africa, however again these rates are converging as financial pressure forces similar patterns in developed countries due to the fall in social security protection (ILO, 2006).

Indeed, the variation in social security systems is the main difference in the patterns of government support across different nations, with the ILO (2005) reporting that social security systems vary significant across countries, and social security budgets do not correlate to GDP levels. In particular, many countries make substantial deductions from workers or employers, some only provide payments to their poorest citizens, and some require workers to depend on their own personal security, or those provided by their employers. Here the patterns are generally not dependent on income levels but on policy, as many W1 nations have the oldest populations, and hence the highest burdens on society. As a result, the main trend in this area is that the working population is essentially paying for an ever increasing proportion of the current retirees’ pensions. This shift is being led by the W1 group, particularly Europe and Japan, and is resulting in increasing working lives, and lower levels of government support to retirees (ILO, 2006).

Finally, the main trend in self sufficiency is rooted in the fact that the W1 economies grew so developed as a result of their exports of manufactured goods are resources to developing countries. However, as this balance has shifted, so the W1 economies have imported more goods and resources from the W2 and W3 countries, whilst exporting more capital and services the other way. As such, self sufficiency is arguably less viable now than at any other point, with most resource exporting economies requiring significant amounts of capital and machinery, and most developed economies requiring high levels of resources, hence creating mutual dependency (Kapstein, 2000).

In conclusion, the patterns of life, work, support and self sufficiency are complicated and affected by numerous factors. However, the key factors changing the trends and patterns in these areas are rooted in two areas. The first of these is the aging populations and increasing life expectancy of people around the world, particularly in the W1 nations. This has led to increased social security burdens in these countries, increasing levels of work and reduced government support. The other is an increasing level of exports of manufactured goods and resources from less developed countries to the W1 nations, who are increasingly service based and resource poor. This has reduced levels of self sufficiency across the world.

References
Bannock, G. (2005) The Economics and Management of Small Business. Routledge: London.
Fairfield, H. He, E. and Quealy, K. (2008) What Your Global Neighbors Are Buying. The New York Times; 4^th September 2008.
Hayter, S. (2005) The social dimension of global production systems: A review of the issues., Working Paper No. 25, Policy Integration Department; ILO.
Hines, A. (2008) Global Trends in Culture, Infrastructure, and Values. Futurist; Vol. 42, Issue 5, p. 18-23.
ILO (2006) Changing Patterns In The World Of Work. ILO International Labour Conference, 95th Session. 2006.
ILO (2005) Social protection as a productive factor. ILO Governing Body, 294th Session. November 2005.
Kapstein, E. B. (2000) Winners and Losers in the Global Economy. International Organization; Vol. 54, Issue 2, p. 359-384.
Madeley J. (1999) Big Business Poor Peoples: The Impact of Transnational Corporations on the World’s Poor. Zed, London.
Storey, D. J. (2000) Understanding the Small Business Sector. Thomson: London.