Category: Free Essays

A Qualitative Analysis of Black Women’s Constructions of White Women in Interracial Relationships. Research, especially media discourses suggest and show that black women have a negative discourse towards white women who have interracial relationships. Therefore this exploratory qualitative study used focus groups to investigate how black women construct interracial relationships and white women who have interracial relationships. Social constructionist guided the discourse theory methodology. Participants described…

Introduction

Since the 1980s social constructionism has become an increasingly influential perspective within psychology (e.g., Burr, 1995). Social constructionism suggests that human experience, including perception is mediated historically, culturally and linguistically (Willig, 2007). Therefore for this study, it is important to understand gender and race historically, also black and white unions within a historical context.

Interracial relations in a historical context, the construction of race and multiculturalism

Historically, interracial unions have played an integral role in the construction of racial categories. Interracial sex and marriage became deviant within the construction of a white identity that was in opposition to blacks. The underlying basis for interracial sexuality as deviant being the claim that blacks and whites are biologically and culturally different. An important part of this concept of race is based on black people’s experiences, constructions and discourses about whites as threats to racial purity (Childs, 2005). The issue of interracial sex and marriage is an integral part of the construction of race and racial groups, with the opposition to and the fear of interracial relationships often used as a means to execute and justify racist ideologies and practices. Thus, Ideas of race as biological difference emerged with slavery, as a justification. So both the construction of white/black relationships as problematic, and the abuse seen during slavery, can be seen as emerging along with changing discourses of race.

During black slavery, among white peoples interracial sexual relationships was constructed as deviant, and this idea of deviancy was primarily aimed at preventing black male slaves from engaging in sexual acts with white women. It has been documented that those who did engage in interracial sexual relationships would be punished. However, for black people there is a complicated and painful history to black and white interracial relationships, as a result the roots of the hostility are different from white people. The discourses on interracial relationships are complex. The hostility that black communities may have to wards interracial relationships derives from a social and collective ‘memory’ of violation by whites. Historically blacks as a group have had to deal with the devaluation by whites and this in turn has effective black’s identity which has as a result shaped the attitudes and responses to interracial relationships. It has been well documented that black women were allegedly raped and sexually abused by white slave masters who all play a huge part in the sociohistorical construction of race and the rules of race relations (Childs, 2005).

Social constructionist propose that the concept of race, for example the belief that the classification based on skin colour and other skin deep properties like body shape or hair style maps onto meaningful, important biological kinds which is a pseudo biological concept that has been used to justify and rationalise the unequal treatment of groups of people or others (Machery & Faucher 2005).

Social constructionism became prevalent mainly in the 1970s. It became recognised that the biological concept of subspecies, that is, of population of conspecifics that are genetically and morphologically different from each other, could not be applied to human. Assigning an individual to a race does not buy the inferential power you are usually warranted to expect from a biological kind term. Also, classifications based on different traits such as skin colour, body shape hair etc usually cross cut each other (Brown & Armelagos 2001). Thus, the racialist tenet that skin colour and other skin deep properties pick up different biological groups has been assumed to be false.

Thus, biology has fuelled the recent racial scepticism of social constructionists, that is, the view that races do not exist. But social constructionists about race are not mere sceptics. They usually underscore the instability and diversity of human beings’ concept of races. For instance Omi and Winant (2002) state that effort must be made to understand race as an unstable and ‘decentered’ complex of social meanings constantly being transformed by political struggle. Banton (1970) suggest that this notion is a modern intervention, rooted in the eighteenth century taxonomies of Linnaeus and Blumenbach, for them, there were times or places where people did not have any concept of race (Machery & Faucher 2005). The constructionist contribution to the understanding of racialism is important. It suggests that individual’s concept of race do not occur in a social vacuum: social environment are important to explain the concept of our concept of race. This helps to identify the diversity of individual’s concept of race across cultures.

There has been growing literature in evolutionary psychology and evolutionary anthropology about racialism. Although no consensus has yet emerged, several proposals have recently attempted to describe the underlying cognitive mechanism responsible for the production of racial concepts (e.g., Hirschfield, 2001; White, 2001; Machery & Faucher 2005). The two latter approaches are both a needed supplement to the social constructionist approach. The recurrence of racial classification across cultures and the commonalties between them suggest that racial classifications are the product of some universal psychological disposition.

There is much literature that addresses the issue of interracial relationships and marriages specifically, for example both quantitative and qualitative methods have been implemented. Interracial heterosexual relationships have been explored from many viewpoints. Qualitative research has been conducted on black men and white women interracial couples (McNamara, Tempenis, & Walton 1999; Rosenblatt, Karis, & Powell 1995; Spickard 1989) and quantitative data of black and white attitudes towards interracial dating (Davis & Smith 1991). Social sciences have focused on how and why interracial couples have come together, the demographic similarities and differences and the comparisons of interracial relationship compared with same race relationships (Davis 1941; Gaines et al. 1999). Davis (1941) article deals with interrelation between marriage and cast and Gains (1991) research is concerned with the differences between secure and insecure individuals among both sexes in heterosexual interracial couples. Qualitative studies of interracial relationships has focused on the views, experiences and opinions of the couples and their relationships with society and the community (McNamara et al 1999; Root 2001) Some researchers have suggested that the number of couples, although increasing has remained small because of the lack of acceptance. It has been found that ethnic minority communities at times consider minority individuals that pair with partners as “race traitors” or whitewashed” (Pan, 2000).

Yet, there is little research on the ways that interracial couples are socially constructed and the societal responses from black women’s towards interracial relationships. Existing research on interracial relationships show that they do not look at examining race as a changing socio historical concept and construct. Researchers have studied interracial relationships without first acknowledging race and racial groups as socially constructed and subject to change and conflict instead they reproduce the idea of race as real and a natural phenomenon. While the latter literature review has provided important perspectives on understanding interracial relationships, the current study is different as the study places an importance on societal responses to interracial relationships from the voices of British black women.

Evolved Cognition and Ethnicity and Culture: Cultural Transmission

Ethnicity and culture are related phenomena and bear no intrinsic connection to human biological variations or race. Ethnicity refers to cluster of people who have common culture traits that they distinguish from those of other people. People who share a common language, geographic locale or place of origin, religion or sense of history, traditional values, values and so on, are perceived, and view themselves as constituting, an ethnic group (e.g., Jones,1997 & Smedley 1999). However, according to Smedley and Smedley (2005) ethnic groups and ethnicity are not fixed, bounded entities, they are flexible and open to change and they are usually self defined (Barth, 1998)

Theories of cultural transmission provide the proper framework for integrating the two main traditions in the study of racialism (Richerson & Boyd, 2004). The idea is that many beliefs, preferences, reasoning patters are socially learned. Similar to the traditional social learning theory, they are acquired from ones social environment form an individuals cultural parents for instance (Boyd & Richerson, 1985).

According to Machery & Faucher (2005) race is culturally transmitted, which lines with social constructionist reliance on traditional theories of social is learning, that is, with the idea that the concept of race is acquired from an individual’s social environment. This in turn gives explanations as to why a culture, at a time, people tend to have the same concept of race. This also explains why different cultures at different times have endorsed the same concepts.

The Social Construction of Interracial Couples

The ideas of race has been produce and reproduced though the construction of racial groups and social interaction, which had led to consequences in beliefs and practices. Therefore the images and meaning attached to black and white relationships are not simply produced by the black women but are rather constructed, socially, culturally, politically in their society and by the varying social groups (Childs, 2005). Therefore the black women’s understanding of their own identities are shaped by the responses of others and the images of how black women oppose to interracial relationships in which exists.

Unnatural discourse

In British culture interracial relations is probelematised. ‘Interracial sex’ is treated as a problem. Recent films such as Jungle Fever, Bodyguard and Rising Sun have portrayed interracial sexual relations as acts of deviance (Mencke, 1976). These narratives have been accompanied by severe moral lessons about destructive nature of such unions, which often damage not only the lives of the character but their family and friends too. Whatever the situation, the unifying element of such popular representation is that interracial relationships do not work.

Academia controversy often surrounds the culturally authoritative discourse of science. This has been used overtime to justify a multitude of agendas, not least of which has been to ensure a moral argument for slavery and the conquest of the New World. Infused with notions borrowed from Darwin’s theories of evolution and natural selection, fears expressed in such writings have typically been grounded on notions of ‘purity’ and ‘degeneration’ of races through ‘mixing’ of blood. Typically, researchers conclude that participants in interracial relations are deviant, rebellious or rejected by their racial group (Buttny, 1987; Muhsam, 1990), it is clear that racial categories are bounded within discursive constructs that make any transgression appear abnormal, if not wrong.

Sexual relations between black men and white women have generally been located in the discourses of the unnatural. Sexuality between races has been constructed as transgression. Saxton (1995) argues that race thinking rests on class foundation , and it is also the case that ideologies of racism, one articulated, take on a life of their own and assume many contested and varied forms. Hooks (1990) puts forward, that our attempt to destabilise the naturalised discourses that define and construct ‘race’ and sexuality is confounded by language (Tyner & Houston, 2000).

Mapping a discourse

The current discourse against interracial relationships includes the following. First, it entails a range of racialised masculinities and images of what it means to be a man differentiated by race and class and at times drawing in racist stereotypes of the nineteenth and twentieth century’s. Secondly white femininity is racialised; white women who choose interracial relationships are constructed as sexually ‘loose’ or sexually radical. Third, the discourse generates a view interracial relationship as transgressing fixed racial or cultural boundaries. These three elements presuppose a fourth, the idea of race as explained earlier as a fixed and essential axis of differentiation and sixth, the idea of cultural differences is tied to ‘race’ and biological belonging (Frankenberg, 1993).

Social Construction of Black women, Black Femininity, Gender and Mixed race as ‘Ideal’

Research on the issues of black women’s, appearance and the marriage market is also important (Childs, 2000). Morrison (1972) wrote that there are devastating effects of persistent European ideals of beauty on the self image of black women. While light skin blacks are evaluated as more attractive and more victorious in terms of income and employment (Hughes & Hertel, 1990). This of course plays a huge role in the way that black women construct interracial dating and specifically the ‘white women’ since the discrimination based on skin colour may be associated with the decision to date interracially as a privileging of lighter skin and the lightest skin of all white (Russell, Wilson & Hall 1993; Childs 2005).

It is important to understand that there are a dual set of myths which distinguishes the construction of black women from other groups. The social construction of race is dependent on gender categorisation and the social construction of gender is dependent on racial categorisations. This process of using race to define gender has a long standing history. According to White (2001) he argues that nineteenth century scientists often used race to explain gender and gender to explain race. The result of this is the segregation between groups of individuals based on their race and genders; where some groups are portrayed as dominant and ‘normal’ and others as subordinate are based on social construction , the consequences of this is real and determines the power relations both between and within groups. In an effort to maintain these power relations and structures, cultural myths and symbols which are mainly based on stereotypes are employed. And as such, cultural symbols of black womanhood serve to mask as normalise the inequitable position of black women. As a result of racing gendering, black women find themselves marginalised on two fronts, race and gender. They are margin isled because they are non white. This marginalisation occurs on two levels, the first being that there is a construction of black women in relation to white men. Secondly, there is the construction of black women in relation to white women. Overtime time, these multiple marginalisation’s resulted in the development and redevelopment of a number if cultural symbols and icon used to represent black womanhood (Zachery, 2009).

Dominant discourses: Now

Interracial sexual relationships remain controversial both in the United Sates and the United Kingdom. Examining the discourse on interracial relationships brings a range of issues key to comprehending the impact of racism both on black women’s experience and worldview and on social organisation more broadly.

Interracial relationships continue to be a social issue in the black communities. Most black- white relationships involve a black man and white women according to the UK census. According to Collins (2000) “black women remain called upon to accept and love the mixed race children born to brothers friends and relatives… who at the same time often represent tangible reminders of their own rejection (2000, 195). Dickson (1993) suggest that interracial relationships between black men and white women along with the high murder rates in black communities, and levels of incarceration are viewed as the source of the shortage of “good” black men.

Although statistics show that there is an increase in black – white interracial relationships and marriages, the oppositions to these relationships have not necessarily disappeared. No matter how these relationships are viewed, what are interesting about them are the responses they receive from black women. An in depth analysis on black British women’s constructions on heterosexual interracial relationships will provide a better understanding of this phenomenon. Therefore this project will look specifically look at the way in which British black women respond to interracial relationships and specifically their constructions towards white women who have interracial relationships.

The project will look at the way black women construct interracial relationtions by asking them about their attitudes and their beliefs of interracial relationships, and popular culture and media depictions. I will discuss the images and discourses that have been constructed about interracial relationships and how these images and discourses contribute to the construction and maintenance of how black women construct white women who have interracial relationships. I approach the study of interracial relationships, understanding these interracial unions as socially constructed. It is important to understand that this will not be a nationwide representative study of attitudes, beliefs or occurrences that can be generalised. Rather this project provides an ethnographic look at black women’s constructions through in depth focus groups

Method
Participants

I recruited my participant by handing out a recruitment sheet outside lectures. The recruitment letter explained the nature of the study and if the student wished to participate in the study to please contact me. My participants were either students at London Southbank University or known to me personally. Their age ranged from 16- 45, all of my participants were Black British women; All of my participants were born in Britain. It was made clear to all of the participants that they could withdraw from the study at anytime.

Design

Discursive analysis provides an ideal opportunity for studying ideology in psychology. In the 1970s the materialization of a ‘new paradigm’ in social psychology occurred. New paradigm researchers called for a ‘turn to language’ which was inspired by theories and research which had emerged from other disciplines. This turn to language was the setting of the emergence during the 1980s, in social and developmental psychology and in other major parts of psychology (Parker, 2005). Studies such as Henrique’s et al, (1984) illustrated how language that is spoken can be organised as patterns of discourse. Discourse had a theoretical basis in the social constructionist approach (e.g., Burr, 2003). The social constructionist perspectives purpose was that understanding the study of human interaction and the linguistic communication is of importance. According to discursive psychology, language does not merely express experiences, rather, language also constitutes experiences and the subjective, psychological reality (Potter & Wetherell 1987; Shotter 1993; Wetherell 1995); therefore, construction of ‘social reality’ through the use of language enables discourse analysis to come about. This social process sustains this knowledge through social interactions (Burr, 1995) discourse can alter and adapt overtime; therefore, discourse are historically and culturally identifiable and is analysed through the language employed in the social interactions. This method is what I thought is best suited for my final year project as I was not looking for the participants personal experiences but rather how the participants construct inter-racial relationships and white women who have inter-racial relationships.

Potter and Wetherell (1987) introduced discourse to gain a better understanding of social texts through examining social life and social interactions. Its aim was to scrutinise discourse through analysing verbal and written communication. A number of themes are common in discourse analysis – these include rhetoric, voice, footing, discursive repertoires and the dialogical nature of talk. Potter and Wetherell 1987; Wetherell & Potter 1992 provided some of the best work on social psychology. It was developed as an analysis of racist interpretive repertoire. This entail suggested how discourse functions ideologically. For example a discourse of heterosexuality defines what is deviant.

The practice of discourse analysis involves a range of procedures designed to encourage the researchers to process and reprocess their material these include transcription, coding and recoding.

According to Potter (2003), ‘Discourse analysis is the study of how to talk and texts are used to perform actions’. He suggested that discourse analysis research should centre on four aspects. How language forms and constructs accounts on social ‘things’; how actions and social practices are achieved through linguistics; the ideologies of a particular social action, and, looking at psychological concepts through discourse. Therefore this method will be used to analyse the transcript.

Black women’s constructions towards interracial relationships and white women who have interracial relationships; Transcript of two focus group discussions between young black women will be analysed. An examination of the text will be scrutinised closely, known as coding (Potter & Wetherell, 1987) coding helps to select relevant information from the text. However, there will always be parts of discourse in which cannot be analysed; thus the same text can be analysed again, generating further insight (Potter & Wetherell, 1987; Wetherell & Potter 1992; Willig 1995, 1997, 1998) the data will analyse any key discourse that show from the data and how the data constructs that. The discourse analysis will also pinpoint any interpretive repertoires (Gilbert, Mulkay, 1984) and instances that occur in the text. This will require reading and re- reading the transcript, making various notes and coding gathered by the repertoires.

Procedure

The process of recruiting participants was not difficult, mainly because some of the participants were known personally to me and that I also recruited LSBU students, therefore the participants were easily accessible. Needless to say, the women who took part in the project did so voluntarily. They also knew they could refuse to answer particular questions, or discontinue with the discussion at any given time.

I advertised by handing out a participation information sheet (see Appendix A) to several students. I gave them a brief overview of the study and asked whether they would be interested in taking part in the study. Two focus group discussions took place in a private area in the LSBU library where they were all given consent forms to sign (see Appendix B). Predetermined questions were asked and the process was recorded using a tape recorder and dictaphone.

Private matters in regards to relationships were asked therefore all participants were introduced to one another to ensure that there was no discomfort. The nature of the study was explained to all the participants individually and within the focus group discussion so that no offence was taken when the questions were asked amongst one another. I guided the focus group to express both their opinions and thoughts on the subject at hand and ensured that the discussion did not go off tangent, therefore limitations were applied. I then later transcribed the focus group and drew out themes that emerged from the discussion.

Materials

Recruitment

To recruit the participants an information sheet was handed out, which can be found in Appendix A. It was intended to be clear about the criteria of the project whilst also being highly informative.

Schedule

Participants were instructed to answer questions which can be found in Appendix C

Analysis

The transcript is one of two focus group discussion about interracial relationships and how black women construct interracial relationships and how they construct white women who have interracial relationships. The first focus group consisted of six young black women and the second consisted four. Several themes emerged from the data. The analysis revealed, through grammatical and stylistic strategies numerous interpretive repertoires Wetherell and Potter (1998): ‘deviation’, ‘extrematisation’, ‘constructing relationship as sexual’, ‘generalisation and hypersexualisaion’ ‘normalising’ in order to put themselves in positions to validate their views on white women and interracial relationships in general. Both focus group discussions justify their actions through language as to why they have these views; this is when discourses are ‘visible’.

Focus group discussion between young black women students
Extract 1 discussion transcript 1 (Page 1) interpretive repertoire: Positioning themselves

Participants constructed meaning through shared conversation: they mutually positioned themselves using a variety of discursive techniques. The participants also justified their answers by using discursive markers. Sianne like the other black respondents employed a discursive strategy “I am not fazed by it, but…” by also offering disclaimers ‘doesn’t bother me. However they give several reasons as to why interracial couples are problematic

Sianne; When I see a black man with a white woman I’m not phased to be honest as the saying goes “Love is Blind”. But sometimes I find that when I pass a mixed couple sometimes the man will avoid glancing in my direction and the woman seems tense.

(Laughter)

From the language used, Sianne and the other black females use discursive strategy by first stating that they are not against interracial couples ‘ I’m not fazed by it’ (line 74-76)… ‘It doesn’t bother me’ but show signs that the relationship lacks security. For example Sianne states that the man avoids looking at her and the woman seems tense.

According to Wetherell and Potter (1992) posits that racism must be viewed as a series of ideological effect with flexible, fluid and varying content. Therefore, racist discourse should not be viewed as static and homogeneous, but as dynamic and contradictory.

Some of the participants state that they do not have a problem with an interracial coupling. However, they use language amongst each other witch contradict themselves (Lines 91-92).

Saphira: I don’t really think anything unless the black guy is really attractive and the white woman is ugly

The extract opens with a disclaimer (Hewitt & Stokes, 1975) a disclaimer is a verbal devise that anticipates, and rejects, potentially negative attributions. ‘I don’t really think anything’ disclaims possible attribution of intolerance in the light of the comments in which are about to follow ‘unless the black guy is really attractive.

Extract 2 discussion transcripts 1 (Page) interpretive repertoire: Constructing relationship as sexual and deviant

A significant piece of the opposition from the black women was why a black man would chose to date a white woman. They construct meaning as to why they becoming interracially involved and the implications for black women. Several of the participants construct white women as easy and more inclined to perform oral sex as the reason why a black man will choose to be in a relationship with a white woman.

Saphira; I think white woman are more open to trying new things sexually that a black man wouldn’t get from a black woman, I think they come across easier .

When asked why a black man would choose to be in a relationship with a white women. A variety of terms was employed by the participants. This included ‘easier’ (Saphira) and ‘stress free lifestyle’ (Jamila) ‘open-minded to certain sexual acts’ (Justina).

Justina; I personally think that a black man would be in a sexual relationship with a white woman because, she may be more inclined to perform certain sexual acts that may be a ‘taboo’ in a black woman’s eyes and may also be more open-minded to certain sexual acts such as oral sex or oral sex in comparison to a black woman (Lines 96-101).

Black women thus positioned interracial relationships as sexual and constructed white women as easier and stress free. It shows that white femininity is racialsied; that white women are ‘easy’ and are sexually radical. A rhetorical technique employed here is ‘constructing corroboration and consensuses’ (Edwards et., 1992) ‘ white women’ are more open minded to oral sex acts by saying that more than one women behave this way. This technique is used again by Justina “this may be a taboo in black women eyes” she positions herself to the ‘category entitlement’

Extract 3 discussion transcripts 1 and 2 (Page) interpretive repertoire: Shortage of ‘good’ black men

Saphira; When I see a good looking black guy with a white woman, I can’t help but be disappointed and look and think why?.

The construction of black and white couples (focusing here on a black man with a white women) as outside the norm, Saphira also constructs that these couplings as deviant (lines 155-156).

Tanya: I know this is really judgmentalaˆ¦but I automatically think that the black man is not really black! By this I mean he is surrounding by white friends he has never dated a black female and deep down he wishes he was white. It’s a bit of a waste initaˆ¦

One theme in which was visible in both transcripts was the shortage of ‘good’ black men. Tanya states in the above extract ‘it’s a bit of a waste init…’ signifying that black men have value before becoming involved with white women. This construction exposes black racism and opposition to interracial relationships. Tanya also uses a disclaimer, a rhetorical devise that allows her to put forward what may be seen as judgemental views

Pricilla: discussed how “black men of high status with wealth get with white women because they see them as a symbol of success” (Lines 82-83).

In lines 82 to 83 Pricella constructs more general oppositional categories of ‘them’

Extract 4 discussion transcript 1 (Page) interpretive repertoire: Diluting the race ‘Traitor’

Black communities can act as deterrent to interracial relationships as these relationships are constructed as incompatible with black cultural affinity. In other words for a black man to engage in an intimate relationship with a white women means that one is a traitor to white society and in the process sold out the black society. During the focus group discussion Pricella constructs black men who get with white women as ‘traterish’ especially African men (lines 242-244).

Pricella: doesn’t make me feel anything but I aint gona alie I think it’s ‘traiterish’ it’s like they getting with a white women is the ultimate price for them when a black men get status even African men… Ooh white women

Saphira: also state that people may view the black man as

Video Games; is it really an Addiction?

There are many addictions out there among us in the world and each addiction has been known to cause problems. The definition of addiction can be many things, but in this particular research paper I am going to discuss Video game Addictions. Specifically World of Warcraft gaming addictions and what this addiction does to the gamer’s life. Such as not socializing outside of the game and also people who let this addiction get so bad that it interferes with relationships and even their marriages. Video game addiction is an excessive use of computer video games in which one lets the addiction interfere with normal daily life. In this research paper I will use my own experiences along with facts of this addiction and what the effects on real life of a World of Warcraft player. I will also have a one on one interview with someone I believe to be a World of Warcraft addict.

The Culprit

WOW (World of Warcraft) is a (MMORPG) or Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. Millions of people from all over the world play together and create groups and quest thru the game to get the best gear and to just be the best in game. This game is setup with monthly subscription fees whether you play or not you get billed. WOW also has a game card system which allows gamers to buy time in advance. The only downfall to this is you pay you play otherwise money is being wasted when you’re not playing

Many gamers continually play and play to keep up with their online friends and when I say keep up I am referring to levels of one’s character or achievements in-game. The dazzling effects of the water look so real and graphical details of terrain and characters are magnificent. Gamers do not want to be left behind; I know I never wanted to be left behind. I played for hours on end trying to keep up with everyone and eventually I realized this has to end. Problems were on the horizon and I seen them coming. I can write even more about why people are drawn to play WOW for hours on end but I want to know how this addiction is affecting their lives outside of WOW.

Who is Addicted?

I have read many articles on this particular topic and find that this is not only common with young youth but also with adults. Gender is also not an issue. Do people realize they are spending too much time involved in a fantasy world? Do people who play see no problems at all? It’s all about self control and setting priorities first, but unfortunately gamers usually do not have anything prioritized. While over time this excessive misuse can lead to bigger problems down the road. Also keep in mind that World of Warcraft has 11,000,000 million monthly subscribers that pay to play this game as much as they can.

Most people believe that it’s normal for kids to play video games, but not all day every day. Excessive gaming in kids can lead to many social problems from disobedience with parents to kids actually withdrawing themselves with the real world to play in a fantasy one. Adults are also addicts when it comes to video games. Their ages range from 18-50 years old who actively play this game on a daily basis, while older players keep their video gaming a secret from others.

Why do people get addicted?

There are many, many articles and journals on this particular topic that talk about WOW addicts and there consequences. What I fail to see in my research are questions such as: Why are people addicted to these games? Is it really an addiction? Is it because real life is somewhat stressful and playing this game places one in a fantasy world free of stress? Or do people play to just pass the time? When I played, I did feel less stressful in-game. I sometimes felt like I was a completely different person, someone who I wanted to be fictitiously. Maybe there are others out there that feel the same way as I once did.

Many will agree that it’s the thrill of the game or the next big raid where forty online players will battle a boss all at the same time with strategic force. One theory of addictions says Turner (2008) is that people become addicted to things/activities that are either positively reinforcing (receive rewards) or negatively reinforcing (escape from something aversive). Video games offer the potential for both.

Wood’s (2008) study said people identified as having a video game addiction often use the games to cope with stress. However, using games to relax and escape from reality is not necessarily a problem. If people choose to play video games instead of dealing with problems or responsibilities, this is a symptom of their problems, not a cause.

There are many other reasons why people reach for the fantasy world. Children and teens that play excessively have social problems and cannot seem to communicate with their peers. Some even get bullied in school. So in turn go home and play this game where no one bullies them and makes socializing easier when it’s not face to face communication. This may not be true for most youth but the ones that are addicted use it as an escape. Maybe people get addicted just because they want to play.

The consequences of this addiction

Adults also have been known to become addicted to WOW with serious consequences. Yes the game is fun to play but the fact of the matter is adults have responsibilities such as work, their relationship with their spouse and kids. People spend up to 16 hours a day if not more playing this online game knowing that there is school or work tomorrow. There also was a kid that played 36 hours straight and collapsed from dehydration that I read awhile back online.

Marriages have ended due to this addiction. Spouses who devote their entire extra spare time playing WOW in the mean time the other spouse is feeling neglected. The WOW player is so involved within the game that he/she does not realize how bad this addiction is getting. Why does it come down to this? Are video game addictions like another form of narcotics such as crack? Can one be rehabilitated and be able to live a normal life in the real world instead of a fantasy one.

Addiction rehabilitation

There are many self help programs out there for people who feel that they cannot control this obsessive behavior over video games. Sven Rollenhagen (2009) said “There is no known medical diagnosis of conditions brought on by excessive game-playing, but it is clear they have a very powerful addictive hold over many people who use them.” Many psychologists do not believe that video game addictions are real but then again some do. There need to be more studies done on this topic. Griffiths (2008) said “the fact that several studies overestimate the prevalence of video game addiction does not mean that it does not exist”. There are also groups of psychologist willing to go as far as playing WOW to see its addictive traits first hand to get a better grasp on the matter. This means they become the gamer who is addicted to understand more fully what goes on in the minds of addicts.

Interview with a gamer

I setup an interview with an associate of mine to get a few answers and opinions on his addiction to World of Warcraft. His name is Matt and works everyday as head chef for a fine Restaurant. Matt said “I play World of Warcraft whenever I am not working, it is something to do.” I mentioned to him that many people spend hours playing the game to be the best knowing that there are priorities to be done. How do you handle these priorities’? Matt said without hesitation, “What priorities? I work and I play need I do anymore?” Then I went on to ask what about relationships, dating of the sort. Matt declined to answer my question other than to say “She left me a long time ago and I am happy without her” (M. Walzcak, personal communication, November 11, 2009).

These are the things happening to many people around the world not just Matt. The game takes over in their minds speaking for them, not knowing that this may affect things later on. Just small signs of what’s to come for Matt. Or maybe he will realize that priorities and relationships whether their your friends or spouse should come first and foremost considering the game will still be there and your friends may not.

We find out that there may be many different reasons why these games can be addictive. Some would play to pass time while others play it because it is all they think about, even though there excessive play time is ruining marriages, relationships and friendships along with their jobs. Is there hope for an video game addict, many say yes while others disagree entirely saying it is not a mental disorder in need of treatment.

Wood (2008) said it is concluded that the most likely reasons that people play video games excessively are due to either ineffective time management skills, or as a symptomatic response to other underlying problems that they are escaping from, rather than any inherent addictive properties of the actual games.

In conclusion, I feel this answers most of the questions we have been pondering on throughout this paper. I may have not got all the info needed to perform an in-depth analysis but this is definitely a great start. The more I research the more I figure out why I am sometimes addicted to the newest game out there and so to for others.

References
Griffiths, M. (2008). Video game addiction: Further thoughts and observations. International Journal of Mental Health Addiction, 6, 182 – 185.
R, Sven. (2009, February 27). World of Warcraft more addictive then cocaine. Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/4863325/World-of-Warcraft-more-addictive-than-cocaine.html
Turner, N. (2008). A comment on “Problems with the concept of video game “addiction”: Some case study examples.” International Journal of Mental Health Addiction, 6, 186 – 190.
Wood, R. (2008). Problems with the concept of video game “addiction”: Some case study examples. International Journal of Mental Health Addiction, 6, 169 – 178.

All along with the existing trend of consuming organic and confined foods, one of the burning issues that has flickered debate amongst scholars and researchers alike is the subject of being, or not to exist as a vegetarian, have an effect on the surroundings. According to Spencer, those who consider that vegetarianism has a constructive effect on the setting argue that the enormous invention of animal foodstuffs for human utilization can assert to land dilapidation, water and atmosphere contamination, and even modify climate (21).

Educational research designate that these damaging effects ensue as we persist to produce red meat foodstuffs. However, an appraisal of observations from vegan and meat consumer social network bloggers depicts that the individual desire for preference – especially choices concerning the crucial want for foodstuff – is the mainly important stature in this argument (Spencer 23). To report for persons who opt to consume meat regardless of the reimbursement of vegetarianism for the surroundings, the problem then crop up and stand to be: how can people formulate meat- consumption in extra sustainable manner?

The responsibility of meat in the person mode of eating has been positioned as the middle of attention of an extensive variety of studies. In addition, proficient persons from diverse environments have scrutinized its edifying and nutritional consequence. Various types of foods all along have not received much criticism and are highly appreciated by different cultures than meat. This may occur due to complications, in health, regarding meat eating or due to principles and surroundings of the product production (Waldman and Lamb 34). As such, various arguments confront the meat consumption in different countries dietary patterns.

Many research conducted shows that vegetarian diets or extremely little consumption of meat are associated with less or no complications and diseases and higher life expectancies. Many nations are also in progress showing concerns on ethical matters, like animal wellbeing and the ecological costs of their utilization outlines. This is because meat creation is particularly supply inefficient in contrast to further types of provisions’ production. It incorporates a load on the ecological unit by taking up a great quantity of water, territory and power (Gardner, Starke and Rosbotham 56). These factors have been having a great impact and shaping the growth of contemporary vegetarianism.

Meat use has negative and positive results. The report that an individual is what he or she eats ought to make people to change their view on eating a lot of meat if they need a healthy prospect. Today, a variety of diseases like hypertension, obesity and high cholesterol among many others are wide stretch in many communities (Waldman and Lamb 78). Meat is extremely high in content of fats particularly saturated fat.

At hand, are plentiful claims nowadays about saturated plump. Some say that we do not need any soaked fat to live, or that all saturated fat is awful, while others tell us to eat liberally and that this stuff is essential for our wellbeing. While not all inundated fat is bad, saturated fat from mammal products like meat seems to directly affect the role of our cardiovascular structure in many negative habits (Bishop 51). Not only is it connected to putting a sprain on one’s heart through probable fat deposits in the arteries, mounting one’s blood pressure and causing artery harm, but also it is the main fat responsible for hazardous weight increase. Today’s meat is still higher than ever in fat as a result of how the animals are brought up, with no exercise or natural grazing capabilities (Spencer 89). For this reason, such animals sit in an enclosed area and eat extra food, which causes higher harmful fat deposits than usual.

Meat is extremely dense in calories. This is because meat contains a lot of fats, and cholesterol is considered as a nutrient with the most calories. It is a substance that if eaten repeatedly or in extra doses can easily cause an increase in weight. Production of meat is seriously responsible for change in climate. Flora and fauna cause the production of natural gas, which is mainly methane. Methane is an extremely strong greenhouse gas. This is because it readily and easily traps more heat and in large amounts than carbon dioxide. Actually, animal production is accountable for about eighteen percent of the climate change in the globe. In essence, this can be compared with transport in the world with animal production exceeding global transportation (Silva and Webster 92).

Meat raised under demanding conditions has a harmfully altered biochemistry that negatively alters ours. Immediately one thinks about himself or herself and what transpires during a strenuous moment. The most significant thing that occurs to all animals during a stressful period is stress hormones’ elevation. This initializes an entire slew of other reactions of biochemicals, which causes the health of a healthy animal to deteriorate. This of course leads to various illnesses. When we consume this meat, whether one holds the Eastern outlooks of changes in qi energy, Karma and, therefore, chakra disturbances or not, consuming meat from strained animals is connected with various negative psychological and emotional states of persons in us, as well (Gardner, Starke and Rosbotham 137).

Meat manufactures carcinogenic compounds when safe to eat. It also adds to chances of colon cancer. Away from the heterocyclic amines talked about on top, meat cannot clear instantly from the person’s intestines. This is unless sufficient fiber becomes a part of each food. This is mostly due to the fact that meat is lofty in protein and protein takes an extremely long time to get fully assimilated; thus, it sits in our bowels the highest. This time issue allows any carcinogenic complex to do the most harm to the lining of the intestinal walls (Silva and Webster 193)

Having seen the above numbers, now think of the amount of water wasted every year to raise the food to feed these animals. Also, the amount of water wasted to ensure that they are hydrated while they continue developing. In order for land to be fully suitable for animal creation, land must be properly cleaned, and this usually involves the cutting and clearing of many trees. Production of stock accounts for thirty percent of the whole land surface of the globe (Bishop 164). Just think of how many people in the globe can be fed and have clean water to take if such a resource was not being used by the billions in the natural world.

As eating too much meat can be treacherous, meat can be said to be a great source with complete proteins. The body needs these proteins to maintain a cellular hankie. As such, it is a brilliant idea to feed on some amount of meat each time. The Agricultural Department of America highly suggests that adults need to feed on 5-6 ounces of meat each day (Silva and Webster 125).

Another reason why people should eat meat is based on the cultural other than nutritional importance. Various scholars like to relate meat consumption with virility as well as the patriarchal traditions. Women are viewed to be less meat consumers because of their great concern on health issues while men tend to take a lot of it basing on the gender attitudes placed by their cultures. High meat consumption; for example, in Western countries, their diet is compared to an expression of authority of humans in control of all the natural humanity. This can explain the reason behind the historical value placed on meat by the strong and influential elites. Their denial to marginalize the fewer dominant groups further explains the value placed on meat consumption (Bishop 121).

Meat consumption is also related to various values and attitudes. Individual values are recognized to be the best attitude shapers but their sway on actions is not straight. The breach between thoughts and behavior is known, moreover, has been investigated by a number of instigators Silva and Webster (125) clarified that when mind-sets are on a broad concern, which is hard to relay with the action itself, people will less likely indulge in it. Therefore, when a populace is inquired they utter being concerned on climate alteration, although they do not decrease their regularity in smoking, driving or red meat ingestion.

The proposal plan to help curb the problems caused by excessive meat consumption is as follows. The arrangement to be followed to make certain a healthy future involves banning all meat manufacture. In order to make the nearly all drastic impact on the emission of climate shifting gases, this proposal propose that all meat products, and their production, ought to be halted instantly. If one is consuming too much meat, one should incorporate other protein sources that are non-meat instead of meat (Spencer 110).

Dairy products, legumes, beans and whole grains products of food all have protein. Soy foods, nuts, eggs and seeds can be considered good options. While seafood and fish may technically be regarded as meats, such products do not have the same risks compared to poultry, pork and red meat, since they are so low in soaked cholesterol and fats and cholesterol (Waldman and Lamb 77). Seafood and fish can comfortably replace meat in a person’s diet; they supplement well.

The suggestion will work as the body requires approximately 8 grams of protein in each twenty pounds of body weight per daylight. You can get a lot of this protein from non-meat foundations. Protein sources of non-meat mostly do not have as much cholesterol or saturated fat as meat, especially red meat (Waldman and Lamb 79). These sources also mostly consist of minerals, vitamins and healthy fats that one’s body requires.

Societies eating animal pedestal diets tend to have extremely poor wellbeing. The Inuit’s have the lowest life expectancy in North America, the uppermost rates of osteoporosis in the planet, and epidemic rates of stroke, cancer, and parasitic illnesses. Inuit mummies have exhibited symbols of the same diseases, so it is not just a difficulty with their modern go on a diet. The Masai are notorious for aging rapidly, and have high rates of bone deformities and atherosclerosis. Their arteries were analyzed and found to be comparable to old men in the United States (Bishop 139). Something ironic is that proponents of a high meat diet point to these peoples as examples of physical conditions.

The same approach can be compared to tobacco legislation that bans all types of promotion and support to protect community health, the surroundings and reducing deficiency. Tobacco just like meat has a great negative impact on health. Knowledge of the lethal harms rooted by tobacco goods is not latest, but the strenuous internationalization attempt to decrease the exploit of tobacco by regulation and rule is more current. I know simply transiting such a regulation is not sufficient. Proper execution is needed to attain the anticipated profits. The same implies to the proposal on meat consumption (Spencer 163).

The suggestion that complete burn on meat production has a counter disagreement and rebuttal since it favors the vegetarians in a wider viewpoint is flawed. Some individuals believe that meat consumption gives them a lot of nutrition values as compared to other foodstuffs. Accordingly, I think being a vegetarian out of “compassion” is unreasonable. I mean that in the common sense: it is a non sequitur, and thus irrational. It is like treating animals as people, and yet they are not. I have looked and paid attention far and wide and there is just no logically valid argument that proceeds from “I ought to be empathetic” to “I ought to be a vegetarian.”

Agricultural and eating animals is simply not vice, for the reason I affirmed: our own overall life satisfaction depends on being sympathetic, and compassion compels us not to like or want pointless torment, and to continue living, no matter what or who is experiencing it. This would cause you pain, and thus lessen your life satisfaction, to be an unkind or wholly indifferent being. However, demolishing an animal humanely is not brutal. In addition, it is not destroying a person. Once more, an animal’s life is indifferent to when it passes away since it becomes nothing and is unaware of being somewhat. Thus eating animals is fine as long as you are not torturing them (Gardner, Starke and Rosbotham 245)

Conclusion

I consider that the development of vegetarianism is a slow procedure and that the shift from red meat to white meat intake, the perceived negative attitudes towards our commercial food system and the shift towards more socialist values are certainly part of this progress. Modern vegetarianism has developed over the past 200 years. It has established institutions which have promoted vegetarianism and the creation of alternatives to meat use.

There is a vast literature on Caste system in India with a long and diverse background. This chapter aims to review some of the relevant literatures pertaining to the caste system prevailing in India. Different authors might have varied perceptions about this particular topic for discussion.

According to Louis Dumont (1980) in his book Homo Hierarchicus which has details about the caste system and its implication, demonstrates that Indian society was structured on a firm notion of hierarchy that was based on the relationship between the pure and the impure. It is more of a religious than a political or economic notion. He defines hierarchy as “the principle by which the elements of a whole are ranked in relation to the whole, it being understood that in the majority of societies it is religion which provides the view of the whole, and that the ranking will thus be religious in nature”(Dumont,L.1980). He also points out the prevalence of traditional hierarchy which was based on ‘varnas’ or colours whereby people were divided into four categories namely Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Sudras and; untouchables are outside the classification.

M.N.Srinivas (1962) in his book Caste in Modern India and Other Essays, highlights the “part played by caste in democratic processes of modern India in administration and education”. The author came across certain conflicting attitudes among the people of the elite class whereby one group wanted legislation to eradicate the social evils pertaining to the caste system and on the other hand, there were people who were not only determined not to fight the evil but also tried to practise this system. In his work he tries to explain the concepts of two social processes namely ‘Sanskritization’ and Westernization. Sankritization is ‘the part of social mobility as well as the idiom in which mobility expresses itself’. This is said to occur within the framework of caste whereas Westernization happens outside the framework of caste. However, Sanskritisation may lead to caste’s becoming unpopular with their neighbours whereby the leaders of upper or dominant caste may show their bitterness by even torturing the members of the lower castes. In independent India, the reservations and safeguards granted to the backwards sections especially the Scheduled Caste and Tribes have helped in the upliftment of the lower caste. He also brings into notice the effects of British rule on the caste system which in a way helped in taking over the power previously exercised by the caste panchayats. A new principle of justice was introduced by the British which said “all men are equal before the law, and that the nature of a wrong is not affected by the caste of a person who is committing it, or by the caste of the person against whom it is committed” (M.N.Srinivas, 1962). This has not been fully followed in the rural areas where caste panchayats are still functioning strongly. The author argues that the ‘Varna’ system has certainly warped the caste but it has enabled ordinary folks to comprehend the caste system by providing them with a simple and candid system that is applicable to all parts of India. To the question of can castes exists in the India of tomorrow the author opines that only a minority considers caste as an evil to the whole nation and that this minority is gradually increasing every day. Moreover in rural areas it is possible to come across urbanized young people who consider caste detrimental to healthy relations between people. He concludes by saying that nothing else but the people themselves must understand that caste ‘necessarily means casteism and that benefits it offers are bought at a heavy price for the country as a whole’.

Taya.Zinkin (1962) in her book Caste Today describes the caste system in India. She considers its origin, the way it works, what democracy is doing to caste and vice versa. In her work she states that caste is not class and that every caste has educated and uneducated, rich and poor, well born and ordinary born. The author also says that caste is not dependent on colour because a Brahmin will not stop being a Brahmin if he is black skinned nor does an untouchable stop being one if he is fair skinned. She also argues that caste is not based on occupation, however various other literatures may not completely agree to what this author states. According to her “caste is a way of life which divides society into small groups, each of which lives in a rather different way from the rest”. Due to these differences, tiny groups and important aspects of life like marriage take place within them, these groups have immense control of power and thus a better survival. Before she goes into the details of castes, sub- castes and untouchability she tries to explain the concept of re- incarnation. It is said that the whole system is based upon a combination of status fixed by birth and rebirth. This means that a person’s birth in the existing life depends on the consequences of his deeds done in past life i.e. if one performs his duties well complying with what he is supposed to do then he may be reborn in a better situation or not be reborn at all. Marriage customs vary with castes and sub-castes. Untouchables usually make late marriages unlike the Brahmins who make early arranged child marriages. Finally Tan Zinkin(1962) talks about the beginnings of the breakdown and the loss of belief of the Hindu society. Change of attitudes among the castes and sub-castes were witnessed. “More recently, loss of belief has been the result, of the spread of education to the rural areas. With education came an arousing of new expectations, which through much of the Indian peninsula produced a new non-Brahmanical leadership, a leadership which was not only non- Brahmin but positively anti -Brahmin” (Tan Zinkin, 1962.pp38).

Tan Zinkin has been pretty much argumentative on the concept of caste. She strongly says what caste in not rather than what caste is. The theory about re incarnation has helped me to know more about the birth and rebirth cycle with regard to the caste system.

Marc Galanter (1963.pp 544-559) in his article Law and Caste in Modern India focuses on caste and laws pertaining to it during the British rule in India. He describes the way in which the legal rules and regulations affect the caste as an institution. The legal view of caste is explained under three headings namely personal law, caste autonomy and precedence and disabilities. First being legal rights and obligations of a person which is determined by the identity of the caste group to which he belongs. During the British period caste was little used for the occurrence of legal regulation and moreover all castes irrespective of their ranks had to follow the same rights and duties. However caste customs varied when it came to law of succession, law of adoption and law of marriage. Marriages between different castes or varnas were not allowed. Caste autonomy conferred some right to the caste groups to enforce certain rules which were not disturbed by the government. Precedence and disabilities dealt with the legal interventions with regard to the relations between castes. Courts imposed certain rules such as restriction on the entry of a particular caste into temples. This shows that even though the British did help in reducing the caste discrimination, on the other hand they ended up aggravating it to a certain extent. The author also talks about the independent India where the higher castes have lost their dominance over legal matters and moreover the lower ahs castes have acquired certain government benefits regarding equality and other preferential treatments. Marc Galanter (1963) concludes this essay by saying that “British period may be considered as a period of’Sanskritzation’ in legal notion of caste”. (1963.pp559)

“Caste- based oppression in India lives today in an environment seemingly hostile to its presence: a nation-state that has long been labelled the “world’s Largest democracy,” a progressive and protective constitution; a system of laws designed to proscribe and punish acts of a discrimination on the basis of caste; broad- based programmes of affirmative action that include constitutionally mandated reservations or quotas for Dalits or so- called Untouchables; and a aggressive economic liberalization campaign to fuel India’s economic growth.” Says Smitha Narula(2008) in her article Equal by Law, Unequal by Caste: The ‘Untouchable’ Condition in Critical Race Perspective. The author talks about the caste system and the discrimination attached to it and the inequality witnessed in India today focusing on the caste and gender- based discrimination and its impact on the Dalits of India.

Dr.Santosh Singh Anant(1972) in his work The Changing Concept of Caste in India enumerates the psychological aspects of caste, inter- caste relations and of untouchability. He comments on the theory of ‘status consistency’ and it is defined as “the extent to which an individual’s rank positions on a given hierarchies are at a comparable level (Rush, 1967). A Brahmin working as peon in an office and an untouchable or anyone from the lower caste working as a senior officer would be an apt example for status inconsistency. This is however happening due to the spread of education. He brings in one of the several views about the origin of caste system which dates back to 1500 B.C with the advent of Aryans from Central Asia. According to Nehru (1960) The Dravdians were the conquered race and Aryans the conquerors. Since the Dravidians were advanced in their civilization, Aryans considered them to be a potential threat to them. This is considered to be one of reasons why Aryans tried to push the Dravidians to an inferior position and thus created the theory of four- Varnas or the caste system. The author also points out that socio-economic factors such as education, industrialization, and increase in mobility have abated the rate of discrimination of caste system.

Sree Narayana Guru the Ascetic Who Changed the ‘Lunatic Asylum’ into God’s Own Country is a biography written by Murkot Ramunny about a saint who lived in Kerala state in the Southern part of India. Narayana Guru was a philosopher as well as reformer who immensely contributed to the upliftment of lower castes in Kerala. He helped in bringing about freedom of prayer and education to millions of under privileged in Kerala. It is due to his selfless service to the society that Kerala has attained 100 percent literacy rate compared to other states in India. The author in his article informs us that, even the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi paid him a visit and took inspiration from Guru for the social Upliftment of the lower casts or Harijans (Untouchables). One caste one religion one god for man was his motto. “It is years since I left caste and religion. Even then some people are working on presumption that I belong to their community. As a result, a wrong impression has been created in the minds of the people. I do not belong to any caste or religion. In order that only people who do not belong to any caste or religion should succeed me” (Narayana Guru, 1091). This piece of literature has helped me in this dissertation to know more about the caste system prevalent in the state of Kerala.

According to Harsh Mandir, in his article Burning Baskets of Shame (2010 August 9.pp3), he illustrates a real incident of manual scavenging which had happened in India couple of years back. The statistics shown by him in this article concerning the number of people doing manual scavenging was about 6.4 lacs according to the Planning Commission in 1995. He describes about a campaign named ‘Safai Karmchari Andolan’ (SKA) which was started as a non-violent mass resistance to end this hideous practice of Manual Scavenging. This campaign was started by an individual who himself was born into a scavenging family who witnessed this abhorring practice from his childhood. As reported by Harsh Mandir in this article SKA is the first movement to end Untouchability in India. But it should be right to say that this was one of the many movements which had taken place in different part of India during different period.

In the article The Indian Caste System by Madhudvisa Dasa (August 9, 2010) he tries to explain the caste system in relation to what has been written in the ancient scriptures. He quotes certain ideas from the Holy Book of Hindus, The Bhagavad Gita. The author sheds some light on the’Vedas’, which says that the Varnas or castes are not differentiated on the basis of birth but my mere qualification (Guna) and work (karma). He assumes that the present caste system has degenerated to the extent that people consider men born in Brahmin families as a Brahmin even if he does not exhibit the qualities of a Brahmin. The author agrees to the fact that one takes rebirth according to his past deeds or ‘karma’ but at the same time he says that in order to become a Brahmin adequate training is required and that it is not conferred automatically by birth as seen in the present generation.

India’s “hidden apartheid” (UNESCO Courier, 2001.pp27-29); an article written by Gopal Guru and Shiraz Sidhva criticizes the abhorrent caste system in India. The article opens with a note which says “India’s ancient caste system persists, subjecting millions to degrading poverty and human rights abuses. Attitudes die hard, despite government legislations to usher in change.” They comment on the caste system as a means of deployment by the upper caste to suppress the lower caste and thus attain a monopoly over the wealth, knowledge, power and education. The extent of discrimination was immense that these so called untouchables were forced to use drums in order to announce their arrival so that the upper caste is not polluted even by their shadow falling on them. This article informs us that the term ‘untouchables’ was abolished in 1950 under the constitution of India but there still exists a glimpse of discrimination against them. India has however tried to reduce the discrimination by reserving quotas and reservations for the lower castes in education and for government jobs.

Caste in doubt: The Indian Census and Caste (2010.June 12, pp46), an article which had been recently published in ‘The Economist’ has details about the reservations and quotas being introduced for the lower castes. This article also brings into notice the issue relating to the inclusion of caste system in the census which is to be declared in the ten yearly plan in 2011. However this had been faced with criticisms because since 1931 India has not counted caste in the census. Moreover it is impossible for it be included in the census because India’s caste system has not only the four Varnas but also various other sub-castes which may not be evidently recognised by the authorities. In spite of certain obstacles, the economic growth of the country has contributed to the lessening of discrimination on the basis of caste because a number of individuals have moved from the rigid social surroundings to the urban towns and cities in search of jobs where family background is irrelevant. “Many Indians are becoming caste- blind and marrying across caste lines. Anidhrudda, a 20 year old software engineer in Calcutta, says his inter-caste marriage was no big deal. But even he concedes that there are limits. If he had married a dalit, he says, ‘my family would not have been able to face the society’” (The Economist, 2010.pp46).

Leaders: Untouchables and Unthinkable; Indian Business (The Economist.2007.pp17) is an article which highlights the point that says that Indian business does not discriminate against the Untouchables or lower castes. Moreover, it condemns the practice of reservation in private sector because it would damage the whole business system. “Responsibility for lower castes’ lack of advancement does not lie with the private sector. There is no evidence that companies discriminate against them. The real culprit is government and the rotten educational system it has created” (The Economist.2007.pp17).It is not possible to have reservations in Business like they have it educational systems. This article says that as people get richer their concern about the caste fades. Nowadays middle class Indian families are to be seen marrying outside their caste than the rural poor and less likely to wrinkle their nose at a Dalit.

Harold A. Gould in his work The Adaptive Functions of Caste in Contemporary India (1963.pg427) informs us that caste has not fully disappeared even with the advent of modern technology and other social structural changes. His research found out that in rural areas, the existence of caste in the form of ritual purity, occupation, and system of hierarchy still exists in its own way. In contemporary India, however caste system has not disappeared completely but has declined in the urban areas among the educated middle class families.

From the above review of Literature and from various other reliable sources it can be understood that it is not possible to witness an India without a small aspect of Caste system. This is because it has been deeply rooted in the minds of Indians since ages and it still continues in certain spheres of their life. Caste system has been a topic of great interest to the Westerners as it fascinates them about the two ideologies- of caste system being important and not being important, existing within the same country and people. Recent articles from The Economist which are mentioned above, mainly talks about the reservations and quotas based on caste rather than discriminating against them on the basis of ritual purity and occupation. However it is not completely true to say that caste system has vanished from the Indian society. “Educated Indians know that caste exists, but they are unclear and troubled about what it means for them as members of the society that is a part of the modern world. No one can say that it is easy to give a clear and consistent account of the meaning and significance of caste in India today” (Fuller.C.J, 1996.Caste Today.pp153)

A family structure forms a base for the social setup and is a pivotal part of every society and its norms. Family is defined as “the collective body of persons who live together under one head and a household which includes parents, children and grand children.”

The Census Bureau defines a family household as “group of people living together in one housing unit owned by the householder and one or more people related by blood, marriage, or adoption.” The family structures in various societies may vary in terms life styles, values, and social norms but all in all the family structures prevalent in all societies are more or less the same.

Social Norms Followed in all types of Societies:

In spite of all the disparities in different societies, all family units follow the same ensuing social norms such as:

Tradition of marriage to normalize gender behavior.

Accepting the responsibility of giving birth to children and follow with the responsibility to nurture, protect, and support their children emotionally.

Cultivating moral values in the children by keeping the traditions alive

Taking up the financial responsibility by the family members collectively

Maintain the culture, ethnicity, and wealth inherited from the ancestors

Family Structure can be broadly divided into four categories:

Traditional Family Setup: These types of families are strongly knitted and maintained by a married couple and all the different generations of one family stay together in this type of family setup. Traditional family structure generally includes mother, father, children, grandparents, and extended family also referred to as joint family structure.

Nuclear Family Setup: These types of families are considerably small and consist of a married couple and their children. This type of family structure is available in all societies, although the living style and culture the nuclear families may adopt vary even in the same society.

Multigenerational Family Setup: These types of families generally include three or more generation living together in the same household. Multigenerational family structures are becoming increasingly popular nowadays due the increasing inflation and cost of living.

Other Family Setups: Families run by a single parent, or dysfunctional families come under this category. In these families, siblings are sharing a home or a number of people related are staying together not necessarily belonging to the same family structure.

Major Benefits of Different Family Structures
Joint Family Benefits

Joint family structures promote unity, bonding, attachment, and relationship.

Joint family offer social, economic, & moral support to persons living in it.

Joint family help in keeping up the cultural and traditional inheritance.

Warmth, affection, kindness, love, care, concern are more in joint families.

Joint families preserve towering societal status and extend it to next level.

Responsibility and accountability is more in the case of joint family setup.

Nuclear Family Benefits

Nuclear family gives the authority to sway over family and own life.

Nuclear family offers higher independence and privacy.

Nuclear family has less financial responsibilities.

Nuclear family structures alleviate disputes and ego issues.

The cost of living is lesser in case of nuclear families.

Accountability is lesser in case of nuclear families.

Multigenerational Family Benefits

Members of multiple generations offer a unique support to each other

Children get to know about their grand and great grand parents and relatives.

Committed family members provide care to each other in difficult times.

Multigenerational Family facilities also save tax paying liabilities.

Major Drawbacks of Different Family Structures
Joint Family Drawbacks

Some egocentric and selfish people can cause conflict in joint families.

Big accommodations are required to fit all the members of the family.

Cost of living and overall expenditure is higher in joint families.

Privacy issues can crop up in case of joint families as the number of members is more.

Nuclear Family Drawbacks

Social and family responsibilities are higher in nuclear families.

Loneliness and insecurity is a problem in case of nuclear families.

Lack moral support towards children and senior members of the family.

Lack of cultural inheritance to the new generation as per the traditions of the family.

Children remain underprivileged of love of grandparents, uncles and aunts and cousins in the family.

Multigenerational Family Drawbacks

Certain people are hardly ever prepared to give care to the children and older relatives.

In a number of associate arrangements of multigenerational families, householders are worried about food shelter and medical needs.

The daily demands of raising children and caring about the elderly member may create tension in the atmosphere.

Multigenerational families are beyond the barriers of race, ethnicity and socioeconomic status.

Changes in American Families

In 1950s, the traditional family setup was more common in United States but with time the trend of nuclear families became popular. According to statistics, by 2000 the number of traditional family structure reduced to 10%. Lot of factors caused the breakdown of the traditional joint family structures, some of them were economic drifts, liberal government policies, inexpensive financial schemes, etc. Nuclear families became more existent because of the changing lifestyles and economic strata.

The change was slow and gradual, it started happening in the 1960s and 1970s with the increasing inflation causing it difficult for people to manage household with limited income. The women of the family who normally handled the home duties moved out to do jobs; this brought the first change in the traditional structure of joint families. Doing job and becoming financially independent made women more powerful which definitely led to a big change in the cultural norms of joint families.

With women taking up the financial responsibilities, the rift in relationships increased resulting in higher number divorces. The divorce rate accelerated at huge pace which automatically changed the dynamism of family structures. The equality of responsibilities between both the parents started to take place and the members started moving out to make nuclear families.

Further, vanishing affluence percentage also resulted in smaller families. The ratio of married couples with children also turn down and proportion of single women giving birth to children is ever-increasing. According to the reports of Census Bureau, many unmarried couples stay together in a living relationship without getting married which is referred to as cohabitation. Another type of family is based on open adoption, where all the terms of adoption of child and adoptive parents are stated legally led to new family setups.

Finally, social economic and scientific influences brought a huge change in the family life. It is more probable that New American Family will transform quickly during 21st century. Education about the different family structures can help out in discovering ingenious and flexible alternate for raising children and maintaining strong relationships with completion.

Using examples critically assess one sociological theory of religion

In most traditional societies, religion is an important form of social ‘togetherness’. It augments a feeling of ‘community’ and promotes a set of shared values and beliefs in some form of god. Religion also plays a central role in cultural life; people often synthesize religious symbols and rituals into the material and artistic culture of the society: literature, storytelling, painting, music, and dance. It is the focus of the ‘society’ that is of interest to religious sociologists, in particular theories concerning the way religious behaviour differs between and within societies. Beckford notes that theories’ revolving around ‘how social interaction benefits or holds back societies’, has made sociology a renowned area of study.

In order to establish a fundamental starting point in this thesis, the foundations of sociology and the sociology of religion will be described in context. Furthermore, it will discuss, in some detail, the sociological theoretical approach of functionalism by sociologists; a critical analysis will aim to show the differences in their approaches to functionalism and will include supporting and critical statements from preceding and subsequent sociological theorists. Sociologists generally define religion as a ‘codified set of moral beliefs concerning sacred things and rules governing the behaviour of believers who form a spiritual community’ . Auguste Comte (1798 – 1857) describes sociology as the study of human societies. A classical view is that, ‘it is a social science’ that, ‘uses varied methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis’, and is often used to develop theory about human social activity. The sociology of religion therefore takes into account the aforementioned and also includes the practices, historical backgrounds, developments, universal themes and roles of religion in society. Jones (2003) describes Comte as the first to proclaim the virtues of an empirically based social science, a type of sociology that would have enormous implications for someone like Comte, who had been born during the aftermath of the French Revolution. Bilton et al (1996) explain this further:

Positive social knowledge could offer the means for peaceful reconstruction of social order by the elite of enlightened scientists and intellectuals…Social change need not depend upon revolutionary violence and the manipulation of the mob’

Comte was able to make use of the new science for the progression of society and the re-establishment of order as well as being able to apply the positive method to social theory . Comte and his fellow Frenchman Durkheim are said to be the forerunners in creating the discipline of sociology. Thompson (1982) describes Comte as ‘giving the subject its name and an ambitious prospectus,’ whilst Durkheim gave it, ‘academic credibility and influence.’

Functionalist sociologists focus their attention on the ‘nature of institutional relationships in society’. To understand this further, one can use Talcott Parsons’ functionalist ideas as an example. Parsons, [who supported functionalism in the United States] used the functionalist perspective to group institutions in society into four related functional sub-systems; economic, political, kinship, and cultural. This theory stressed the importance of interdependence among all behaviour patterns and institutions within a social system to its long-term survival. In a similar way Durkheim In trying to explain the value of social and cultural character, illuminated them in terms of their contribution to the operation of an ‘overall’ system. Furthermore, Malinowski, who promoted functionalism in England, endorsed the idea that cultural practices had psychological and physiological functions, such as the reduction of fear and anxiety, and the satisfaction of desires. Another Englishman Radcliffe-Brown contended that, ‘all instituted practices ultimately contribute to the maintenance, and hence the survival, of the entire social system, determining the character of inter-group relations.’ It is Parsons ‘sub-system’ of culture that encompasses religion that we now turn to.

A functional definition of religion is fundamentally based on the ‘social structure’ and ‘drawing together’ of people, it pays particular attention to how religion guides and influences the lives of people who are actively involved, and through this promotes ‘unity and social cohesiveness’. Durkheim believed and argued that, religion was a socially constructed institution, serving the needs of society by socialising members into the same norms, values and beliefs, therefore reinforcing the collective conscience upon which the stability of society rests. He looked in depth at the origins, meaning, and function of religion in society. His belief was that religion was not so much about God, but more about the consolidation of society and the sense of identity that this creates within a particular society. He fully believed that individuals who accepted their role within their own society develop a form of ‘social conscience’ as part of that role, which Durkheim labels as the ‘Conscience collective,’ which in simpler terms could be labelled as, ‘ a common understanding’.

Published in 1921 and penned by Durkheim,’ The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life’, is renowned as the best-known study on the sociology of religion. Using secondary data, Durkheim studied native totemism in primitive Australian tribes, in effect the totem is a symbol that is an integral part of the group, and during ceremonies will be the magnet that draws everyone together to form a collective whole. Therefore, totemism in this instance is explained not in terms of what it is, [what the content of its doctrines and beliefs are] – but what it does, that is, the function it performs for the social system. Durkheim claims that, ‘the totem, the sacred object is a representation, by which society symbolises itself,’ which according to Fulcher and Scott, he believed to be the ‘real basis of social solidarity.’ From his observations Durkheim developed his theory of the sacred and profane, believing that all things in society can be separated into these distinct categories, as a fundamental dichotomy the sacred and profane are seen as two separate domains or worlds. For Durkheim the sacred meant the unity of the group embodied in symbols, as in his example of totems, the profane was more about the mundane or the individual, and less concerned with the ‘group’. However the British anthropologist Evans-Pritchard (1937) observed that sacred things may be profane at certain times, an example he gives is the case of the Azande , who, when their shrines were not in ritual use, were used as props to rest their spears. This analysis of the sacred and the profane was extended to all religions by Durkheim and his followers, making a focus on what is similar about what they each do, and about the integrative functions all these religions perform on their social systems. He therefore viewed religion within the context of the entire society and acknowledged its place in influencing the thinking and behaviour of the members of society. Furthermore he believed that order flowed from consensus, from the existence of shared norms and values, for him the key cause of social upheaval stems from anomie, the lack of ‘regulating’ norms. ‘Without norms constraining behaviour’, explains Durkheim, ‘humans develop insatiable appetites, limitless desires and general feelings of irritation and dissatisfaction.’

Radcliffe-Brown continued Durkheim’s sociological perspective of society; he particularly focused on the institutions of kinship and descent and suggested that, at least in tribal societies, they determined the character of family organization, politics, economy, and inter-group relations. Thus, in structural-functionalist thought, individuals are not significant in and of themselves but only in terms of their social status: their position in patterns of social relations. When regarding religious ceremonies Radcliffe-Brown contends that ceremonies, for example, in the form of communal dancing, promoted unity and harmony and functioned to enhance social solidarity and the survival of the society, in this he agreed with another renowned anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski.

Malinowski’s functionalism was highly influential in the 1920s and 1930s, a British anthropologist, he conducted one of the first major studies of religion from an ethnocentric perspective, on the people of the Trobriand Islands. The first anthropologist to undertake a long-term piece of field research, Malinowski lived among the Trobriand islanders for four years. In studying the functions of religion in a small scale, he agreed with Durkheim that ‘religion reinforced social norms, values and promoted social solidarity.’ Malinowski also believed that religion could relieve social anxiety and could provide a sense of security especially when people are faced with situations in which they have no control, an example Malinowski gives is based on his observation of the Trobriand islanders fishing in a calm lagoon, no religious practice was attached, however when faced with the perils of fishing in the open ocean, religious rituals were always performed. In this way Malinowski believed humans could exert a perceived control over a world in which they held no significant, individual power. This individual, perceived control can be seen to be used by people facing a personal crisis. Often in a situation where they have no control over the outcome, people will turn to religion looking for guidance and sanctuary; thereby giving them a sense of power.

For Malinowski then, religion also helped to conciliate periods of life crises and events such as death, marriage and birth, these rituals, known as ‘rites of passage’ are marked by ceremonies, that by their very nature, are a form of ‘social togetherness’ that help to create social order and contentment. These ‘rites’ however can be seen to be controlled in that to a certain extent one is prepared for new life, death and marriage, these events form part the ‘circle of life’ and therefore come with some prior knowledge. Ceremonies that relate to these life events could be seen as a ‘predictable’ common bond that will help to reinforce social solidarity. Malinowski argues that religion minimizes the disruption, in particular, of death. He believes that the assertion of immortality gives rise to feelings of comfort for the bereaved, whilst the act of a funeral ceremony binds the survivors together. Coser (1977) explains further:

Religion can counter a sense of loss, which, as in the case of death, may be experienced on both the individual and the collective level therefore religion as a social institution serves to give meaning to man’s existential predicaments by tying the individual to that supra-individual sphere of transcendent values which is ultimately rooted in his society.

So far we have seen that collective or communal gatherings are generally aimed at promoting social solidarity and cohesion, this is backed by the empirical evidence offered by Malinowski in his study of the Trobriand Islands. Hamilton (1995) offers that these gatherings can also be interpreted as involving the ‘recognition of divisions, conflict and disharmonies inherent in the society and rituals may be seen as a means of coping with and defusing them’.

Concerning Malinowski’s empirical evidence, a contrasting point is noted by Casanova (1995) who questions functionalism on empirical grounds, he argues that religion does not provide consensus and unity, instead he says that most conflicts [an example he gives is the Iran/Iraq war] in society have religious foundations. Marxist sociologists also criticise functionalists on a theoretical level. Marx claims that religion does not create societal consensus, instead it creates conflict between those that have wealth in the ruling class and those that do not in the working class. Therefore according to Marx, the only norms and values that are conserved by religion are those of the ruling class. Functionalist theory could therefore be said to neglect the areas in which religion has been dysfunctional for society, whereby religious divisions have caused disruption and conflict rather than promoting social order. History provides numerous examples of this including the aforementioned Iran/Iraq dispute, Northern Ireland and Bosnia.

An “Extreme functionalist assessment of religion,” declares William Stevens, is put forward by American sociologist Robert Bellah. Bellah fuses Parsons’ argument that America derives its values from Protestantism, with Durkheim’s belief that the worship of god is the disguised worship of society. From this Bellah develops a new kind of religious concept, that of a ‘civil’ religion. Therefore despite the individual belief systems of American citizens, it is the overarching faith in America that unites Americans. Wallis (1983:44) cited in Jones, explains that Bellah finds evidence of civil religion in Presidential inaugurations and ceremonials such as Thanksgiving Day and Memorial Day are similarly held to integrate families into the civil religion, or to unify the community around its values. A further point to be made here is that generally civil religion does not hold to a belief in the supernatural. Bellah disagrees and says examples of confirmation in the supernatural can be seen or heard on a daily basis, phrases such as “God Bless America” and the words ‘In God we trust’ on the national currency, he believes are prime examples of this. However Stevens asserts that this is not the god of any particular creed, but a god of America. For Bellah then civil religion creates a social cohesiveness by gathering people together to collectively partake in some form of ceremonial event. Therefore flag waving at a sporting event or lining the street to celebrate a royal marriage or death can bring about a united outpouring of joy or grief that in itself generates order. A contemporary example is the untimely death of Princess Diana. Her funeral witnessed a monumental combining of people, faiths and nations in a symbolic act of grief.

Functionalist sociologists tend to emphasize what maintains society, not what changes it and are criticized for being unable to account for social change because it focuses so intently on social order and equilibrium in society. Functionalists have to take into account that change does happen in societies and that change is a good thing, and can represent progress. Jones says that the functionalist way around this is to use an organic analogy – social progress occurs as it does with organisms – as an evolutionary change. Bilton et al explain that this takes shape in the form of structural differentiation…’differentiation is a type of splitting or separation of a previously undivided unit, the new units differ in that they are more specialised in the functions they perform’. Talcott Parsons, in his approach to social change, emphasises differentiation. According to Parsons, ‘Institutions change, if the need of the system changes.’ An example of a system change stems from The Industrial Revolution, which was facilitated by capitalism, was increasingly demanding technological advances to increase profit. In order to make this possible there was a need for more educated workforces. As a result the industrial economy needed a new form of family to perform these specialist functions. Thus, as one aspect of society changed – the economy and production – it required a comparable change in the educational system, bringing social life back into equilibrium.

This new modernization of society, explains Marske, ‘is associated with the increasing indifference of the individual from the traditional social bonds of an intimate network of diffuse social relationships.’ Due to a greater demand in the workforce people from all walks of life came together causing an increase in the cultural diversity within a particular society. As a result individuality became a more prominent feature; religion it seems was becoming less social and more personal. Durkheim would disagree with this statement as he believed it was possible to be an individual as well as social institution, he explains,

In reality, the religion of the individual is a social institution like all known religions. It is society which assigns us this ideal as the sole common end which is today capable of providing a focus for men’s wills.

Dillon (2003) explains that social scientists and Western intellectuals have been promising the end of Religion for centuries,

Comte announced that, as a result of modernization, human society was outgrowing the ‘theological stage’ of social evolution and a new age was dawning which the science of sociology would replace religion as the basis or moral judgements.

Durkheim predicted the gradual decrease in formal world religions; in post-enlightenment society he felt that there would be a greater emphasis on the ‘individual’. This he believed would lead to a ‘weakening of ties’ in the modern world. In addition he envisaged that ‘social solidarity’ and the ‘collective conscience’ would be taken up by other institutions that would evolve into new forms of religious experience. Furthermore a maturing modernity would see scientific thinking replace religious thinking. As a consequence, Durkheim considered the ‘concept of “God” to be on the verge of extinction.

In its place he envisioned society as promoting civil religion, in which, for example, civic celebrations, parades, and patriotism take the place of church services. If traditional religion were to continue, he believed it would do so only as a means to preserve social cohesion and order. Parsons disagrees with this synopsis, ‘with modern life will come structural frameworks that are more competitive and specialised, however they would still persist because religion is an adaptable structural framework for the explanation of inexplicable social phenomena.’

A criticism applied to the functionalist’s perspective stems from Durkheim’s analogy that societies and social institutions have personalities. To imagine that a ‘society’ is a living, breathing organism is a difficult concept when in fact it is seen as an inorganic object. This creates what can said to be a philosophical problem and an ontological argument that society does not have needs as a human being does; and even if society does have needs they need not be met. The view here is that society is alive in the sense that it is made up of living individuals. What is not taken into account is that each individual is a different entity, with their own wants and needs. As part of the unit they can function and integrate within the group as a viable member. However individual life choices may not always create a positive function for the society as a whole. Functionalists in general tend to have a too positive view by believing that everything that exists in society does so because it has some kind of functional purpose. Robert Merton believed that it was entirely plausible for society to have dysfunctional elements. Durkheim also recognised that some forms of social life could be seen in the same way, however he did not use the term dysfunctional. In his work on crime, he noted that crime was functional to society, this seems to be a contradiction in that he also said, ‘too high a level of crime’ might not be functional, because it could create a state of confusion regarding what constitutes the ‘norms’ that applied to peoples lives. As a society dysfunctional actions, in particular criminal actions are frowned upon, and as a society we can become ‘mob-handed’ in the way people come together to condemn an act of crime. Durkheim has a point to make here in that, ‘people combine together, forming a collective cohesion in defining themselves against what they are not.’ Picturing society like a vast machine, Merton argues that a society should best be considered as a cross between the cultural “goals” of a society-what it holds its members should strive for-and the “means” that are believed, legally or morally, to be legitimate ways that individuals should attain these goals. In an ideally organized society, the means will be available to deliver all of its members to their goals.

One must take into account when analysing such theories that at the time of writing the world was a very different place to the one we live in today. Social anthropology has come under criticism for looking into primitive societies as a representation of unchanged societies – criticism in particular stems from the lack of historical records that could confirm or deny any findings. Radcliffe-Brown considered this type of work a mistake…his belief was that the religious and ritual systems ‘had to be understood in the context of the existing society and their role in that society.

One could linger on Durkheim’s prediction that religion would decrease with modernity, religion here being in reference to the act of attending a social gathering in the worship of some form, whether it be totemic or divine. However an important point to note is that at the time when the ‘Sociology of Religion’ was in its infancy, religious practice was more of a regular occurrence than one would perhaps find in today’s society. However individuals are still irrevocably influenced by the role of religion in their own lives. Their beliefs and values allow them to feel supported in their everyday life; religion sets aside certain values and infuses them with special significance. Culture plays an important part here, as values, customs and beliefs combine to become a moral code by which societies adhere to and live by and pass on to future generations. Religion encourages collective worship be it in a church, mosque, temple, home or some other specified gathering place. Through the act of collective worship the individual is encouraged to feel part of a wider community.

Today, societies are classed as more secular in their nature, yet if one consider the earlier statement about religion being an important form of social ‘togetherness’ it would be easy to make analogies with the different groups that make up the society we inhabit. For example schools hold assemblies, awards evenings and performances all which can be seen as an example of community spirit and social cohesion. People as individuals, have interests outside of their immediate social groupings, this does not make them an outcast or outsider, and instead it promotes a sense of identity, individualism and the ‘self’. The writings of sociologists such as Durkheim, Comte, Radcliffe-Brown and Parsons are still important today, especially in comparing the way society sees religion. However, in contemporary society sociologists have a different set of problems to contend with as belief in ‘modern society’ and ‘materialism’ for many becomes a more vital ‘moral value’ than partaking in a religious practice.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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WEBLIOGRAPHY

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Human Capital Theory advanced by Backer (1985) states that individuals are rational beings. Therefore, they make choices to invest in human capital (i.e. education and training) in order to increase their productivity in their jobs thereby future earnings. Individuals with higher productivity are rewarded with higher pay (i.e. those who have invested in human capital will receive higher wages because wage is the reward given for the use of labor productivity) (Becker, 1985). Similarly, it is assumed that as number of years in work increases, it increases the level of skill through experience. Hence more experienced workers will be more productive and will have higher pay.

Selectivity Hypothesis

The second explanation for the marriage premium is put forwarded by the Selectivity Hypothesis which states that men with higher earnings and higher productivity potential are likely to marry because they are valued more in the labor and marriage market (Backer, 1985; Ginther and Zavodny 2001). Nakosteen and Zimmerman (1997) interpret the observance of higher wages for married men as an effect of the mate selection process done by women. Therefore, men with higher earnings are more often selected for marriage. For men, their likelihood of marriage depends on their earnings and some personal traits (Chun and Lee, 2001). The attributes that lead to success in the workplace (responsibility, honesty, dedication etc.) overlap with the attributes that lead to success in finding and keeping a spouse (Backer, 1985; Ginther and Zavondy, 2001). As men with higher income are also less likely to divorce than those of men with lover income (Waite and Galladher, 2000), male with higher incomes are most likely to get married and when married, less likely to divorce, therefore likely to have higher earnings than unmarried men. However, the Selectivity Hypothesis does not explain why women are likely to be married. If high earnings or financial security increases the value of men in marriage market, the women with high earnings or with higher productivity potential are likely to defer to marry or prefer not to marry. However, increasing egalitarian gender-role attitudes may mitigate this hypothesis and as stated by Waite (1995), there are other significant benefits of marriage for women.

Productivity Hypothesis

This hypothesis is based on the role of traditional household specialization or division of labor by sex where men are assumed to join workforce whereas women are assumed to go in domestic labor. Therefore, men are regarded as more productive in labor market as they have spend more time to their career and labor market goals (Chun and Lee, 2001). Furthermore, married men have more commitment to their jobs, they are seldom fired and frequently promoted, and in addition receive a larger share of the profits distributed according to individual performance (Backer 1985). Backer (1985) states that men have competitive advantage in labor market whereas women have competitive advantage in household work. In this regard, the unmarried or single men have to specialize in both the labor market and household works, which causes them to exert more time and energy. Waite (1995) also suggests that married men are likely to be benefited from both economic and social benefits.

This hypothesis is not able to explicitly explain the marriage premium for women. The empirical studies that investigate the emerging adults’ work and family commitments (Brielby and Brielby, 1989; Brown and Dickman, 2010) reported that college men and women were equally committed to work and family. Stickney and Konrad (2007) found that women with egalitarian attitudes (career-oriented and independent) have significantly higher earnings than women with traditional attitudes (family oriented and dependent on their men). However, does marriage increases the productivity of women? Treas and Widmer (2000) state that married women likely to prefer to stay at home or part-time work once they have preschool child and they prefer to go back to full time work only after the children leave home. This discontinuation at work and preference over part-time work may reduce the productivity of married women. Some studies observed that women are penalized for their motherhood by underestimating their competencies and by paying lower starting salaries (Peterson and Morgan, 1995; Corell, Benard, and Paik, 2007). Byron (2010) also suggests that pregnant women are penalized for their promotions and discriminated for firing. As married women at work are likely to be pregnant as of their motherhood, they are likely to suffer from low paid or unpaid works.

Summarily, the individual models emphasized the individual level characteristics, like level of education and training, work experience, and behavioral traits as factors influencing earnings inequality between married and unmarried women.

2.2 Structural Approach

Structural approach believes that individuals are shaped by the bigger structures of society. Structural theories focus on the interrelationships between the larger social structures or institutions of the society, and also how these structures and institutions affect individuals in the society (Ritzer and Goodman, 2004). However, in structuralism conception, individual is not the subject matter of analysis in both research and theory construction, and psychological interpretation of human behaviors is not entertained in sociological understanding (Mayhew, 1980). Thus structural approach argues that earnings inequality is a structural phenomenon, and it is determined by the organizations and organizational structure. The job positions in organizational structure are based on an organizational hierarchy often owner, managers and workers, in descending order, where positions towards the top receive higher wages than positions towards the lower hierarchy. Furthermore, Coverdill (1988) states that wages are affected by the structure of the market where the company is operating. There are two models of the structural approach that explain the wage difference – Dual Economy Theory and Segmented Labor Market Theory, which are explained below.

Dual Economy Theory

The dual economy theory assumes that the economy is not homogenous and, therefore, can be divided into monopoly sector and competitive sector (Gordon, Edwards, and Reich, 1982). Sorting of a particular firm in either of the category depends upon the nature of business, size of the firm, industrial location, and market concentration (Tolbert, Horan, and Beck, 1980). In monopoly sector or concentrated markets, the company will have high profit therefore employees in the monopoly sector earn higher wages, have better benefits, more opportunities for mobility, and greater work satisfaction than employees in the competitive sector (Reid and Rubin, 2003). In addition, the monopoly sector requires a stable and trainable workforce, which means education and work experience are the important aspects of gaining entry into the monopoly sector (Coverdill, 1988). In contrast, the competitive market contains small firms with limited markets, low wages, little or no training and skills, minimal job security, and limited career development opportunities (Reid and Rubin, 2003). Hodson (1983) further states that monopoly firms have higher rate of unionization than competitive firms which may lead to higher wages and greater benefits being provided to workers.

While linking these theoretical explanations with the marriage premium, as married men are preferred by employers, married men are likely to be attracted to and employed by the monopoly sector then unmarried men. The attraction of married men in monopoly sector is also linked with prestige, higher pay and benefits. Coverdill (1988) states that women get more job opportunities in the competitive markets than in the monopoly markets because of some institutional barriers created by firms in the monopoly sector. By understanding these explanations, and considering changing labor force and market structures, unmarried women are more likely to work in the monopoly sector and earn higher wages then married women who because of their household responsibilities are likely to be found in less challenging, flexible and part-time works.

Segmented Labor Market Theory

Another structural explanation for earnings inequality is explained by the Segmented Labor Market theory. The theory states that there are different job markets and different job professional works in different job markets. These different job markets are often segmented based on occupation, geography and nature of industry. The occupational labor markets arise from the division of labor, increasing differentiation and specialization. Since each occupational labor market requires specific skills and knowledge, the workers are less likely to switch in to another occupational labor market. It also applies in geographic market segments and industry-wise market segments. Therefore, this theory suggests that wages are directly related to professions and positions in the labor market, not to the workers attributes (Weitzman, 1989). The employees at so called white-collar professions and white-collar positions are liked to have higher earnings than employees at so called blue-collar professions and blue-collar positions. This theory further segregates labor markets into primary labor markets and secondary labor markets. The jobs in primary labor market were characterized by higher wages, better working conditions, more stable employment, and higher return to human capital (Weitzman, 1989). These explanations indicate higher job opportunities in primary labor market for married men then unmarried men and women. The empirical literature that examines income inequality across different professions, particularly white-collar, professional women experience the largest gender wage gap within similar job rank and similar profession. The disparity emerges quickly with a small gender wage gap among college graduates then widens over time as women’s professional careers progress (Peterson and Morgan, 1995). The research on lawyers (Noonan, Cocoran, and Courant 2005), physicians (Boulis and Jacobs 2003), scientists (Prokos and Padavic 2005), financial professionals on Wall Street (Roth 2003), and faculties in higher education (Toutkoushian 1998) indicate that women are earnings less than their men counterparts.

With reference to above explanations the unmarried women or single women are likely to have higher earnings then married women. The unmarried women tend to have higher investment in education and skill development for better career opportunities which make them success in white-collar professions and positions. Boston (1990) states that having never been married is one of the most significant factors in determining the likelihood of upward mobility from blue-collar to white-collar positions and profession.

To sum up, the structural models suggested that occupational level and type, market structure and labor market conditions are responsible for earning difference.

2.3. Gender Level Model

In addition to individual and structural approach, the gender theories explain the earnings inequality between men and women. The gender models state that women are devaluated at work and often sorted for particular segment of work or occupation so-called pink collar jobs (South and Spitze, 1994). Women are made responsible for household work whereas men look over external affairs (i.e. jobs, earning). This separation of women from labor force systematically discriminates on women’s earnings (South and Spitze, 1994). Similarly, employers use gender, race and individual’s background as a job screening mechanism (Gupta, 1993). For example, women are likely to be sorted into clerical and secretarial jobs. Women are thought to have better skills for these jobs compared to men. As a result women receive less pay than men. The discrimination also applies to race and ethnicity. Employers may have certain rank of preference for appointing and promoting employees for job type and job position (Gupta, 1993). Women receive lesser preference on high pay and high ranking positions (Beggs, 2001).

The Gender theories can also be used to explain the earning differences between married and unmarried or single women. Corell, Benard, and Paik (2007) state that mothers experience disadvantages in the workplace in addition to those commonly associated with gender. The women engage more in household works. The household responsibilities further increases as they get married, and become a mother. Furthermore, literature suggests that there exist motherhood wage gap and factors such as reduced investment in human capital by mothers, lower work effort by mothers, and discrimination against mothers by employers are responsible for lower earnings of mothers compared with non-mothers (Corell, Benard, and Paik, 2007). Therefore, these gender based attitudes, functions and responsibilities make married women less pay at work.

3. An Alternative Model and Research Hypotheses

The individual models state that individual characteristics such as education and skill, work experience, and behavioral traits (honesty, commitment, etc.) are important factors explaining wage differences whereas structural models state that structural variables like job position (rank), occupation, and market structure are important factors to explain this wage gap. The gender models further state that the bias towards particular gender, race or ethnicity, and marital status is important reason for wage differences. Since these models individually are not sufficient to explain wage gap between married and unmarried women, this thesis attempts to synthesize individual models, structural models and gender models, and proposes an alternative model for earnings inequality.

The alternative model presented in Figure 1 above shows that individual level characteristics like level of education, work experience determine the level of earnings of individual. This relation is further affected by gender issues like sex, race, ethnicity, marital status, etc. as explained by gender theories. The structural variables like occupation level, industry, etc. determine the level of earnings as explained by structural theories. The structural variables may also have influence on relationship between individual level characteristics and level of earnings. Furthermore, as explained by gender theories, gender issues also influence the structural variables thereby the level of earning.

Figure 1. Alternative Model
Independent Variables Dependent Variable

Individual level variables

Education

Work experience

Structural variables

Job position Wage gap (women)

Job occupation

Gender/Race variables

Gender

Race

Marital status

As explained by individual theories, individuals having higher education qualification, and more work experience will have higher earnings than individuals with lower education qualification and lesser work experience. Similarly, as explained by structural theories, individuals working higher position in job hierarchy and working in white-collar professions will have higher earnings. Furthermore, as stated by gender theories, unmarried women will attain higher job positions in organizational hierarchy. When mapping these relationships, unmarried women tend to invest more in human capital, tend to be sorted for higher positions and white-collar professions, and tend to have less household responsibilities. Therefore, unmarried or single women tend to have higher earnings than married women.

The following hypotheses are formulated and will be tested in this thesis.

Hypothesis 1a: Net of other factors, with an increase in level of education, there will be an increase in earnings.

Hypothesis 1b: Net of other factors, with an increase in work experience, there will be an increase in earnings.

Hypothesis 2a: Net of other factors, the higher the position in hierarchy of jobs, the more earnings.

Hypothesis 2b: Net of other factors, high-skill occupations will have higher earnings than that of low-skill occupations.

Hypothesis 3a: Net of other factors, unmarried women will attain high-skill occupations than married women.

Hypothesis 3b: Net of other factors, unmarried women will have higher earnings than married women.

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In this essay, we shall be discussing the 3 main structural approaches in society; Functionalism, Marxism and Feminism, and how useful they are in todays understanding of society. We shall look at the similarities and differences between each approach and critically assess them, by looking at the strengths and weaknesses for each. The key terms and concepts will be mentioned, as well as the key sociologists associated with each approach.

The term sociology is defined in the dictionary as ‘the study and classification of human societies’. Overall, this is the study of people in different social groups, the way they behave, and how different parts of society influence peoples ideas and social behaviour. Belonging to a social group can affect how we see ourselves and how other people see us. Both of these factors can affect how our life works out.

The main groups we tend to belong to are gender, class, ethnicity and age.

The first approach we will be looking into is functionalism. This approach is a balanced, social equilibrium. A system in which there is a dynamic working balance among its interdependent parts. The ruling class benefits in every way from the operation of society, they believe in meritoctracy which basically means that they ‘believe’ that they deserve to have the most powerful positions. The workers get far less than they deserve, but they do not question this due to the way they have been ‘socialised’. People are the product of social influences on them.

Functionlism is closely associated with Talcott Parsons who was a key sociologist in the 1940’s. This approach still provides us with a useful framework for the study of sociology today. Parsons came up with the idea that society is like a human body. Each part of the body has a function to keep it alive and healthy, just like each part of society work together and depend on each other. People are socialised into key values of society such as respect for authority and importance of family life, the result of this is value consensus. Functionalism provides good links between social institutions, it is a simple and clear approach to understand, however it completely ignors the freedom of choice. People have different values and attitudes, as well as the unequal distribution of wealth and power in a capitalist society. A Marxism view on the otherhand views conflict and division as normal features of society.

Marxism is based on social class dominant ideology, just like functionalism it is a macro structure which means it is based on a larger scale.

Karl Marx was around in the 19th century, he believed that a capitalist society is divided into two groups. All of societys dominant ideologies worked to favour the first group ‘the bourgeoisie’ (Those with power, the owners of production) against the second group ‘the proletariat’ (The workers, those without power). Marx also thought the ideologies worked to keep the power balance constant and he called this society’s status quo. The relationship between the bourgeoisie and proletariat is however unequal and as such based on conflict. The majority of the population accept the inequalities of the system because of the way that dominant institutions such as religion and educstion justify the economic and social situation. Marx describes them as suffering from false class consciousness due to the fact they are not aware of their real identity, they are exploited by the bourgeoisie. Marxism is a approach which suggests that we are brainwashed by ideology; ‘you must respect authority, if you work hard you will do well, you must respect the rule of law’.

Lois Althusser (1971) was another marxism sociologist. He believed in ideological state apparatus which is basically another term for the agencies transmitting ruling class ideology such as schools and family. A good reason for the marxism approach is that it can account for large scale change, however there are many critisms such as it emphasised too much on conflict. People choose what to do and think and are not brainwashed by ideology. It could also be argued that capitalism has now improved peoples standards of living. The fact woman are now seen as being equal to men in the work place is one result of this. Marxist feminists argued that the ratio of woman to men was directly linked to their position within a capitalist society. Thus bringing us onto discuss our final approach, feminism.

Feminism is a conflict between the sexes. It also takes a macro approach to studying society. Feminist sociologists argue that women do not have equal rights to men. There are four main tendencies within feminism; liberal, radical, marxist and black. Liberal feminists look for equilibrium with men and woman, they believe people should be treated fairly and given better paid jobs etc in accordance with theyre skills and effort and not due to what sex they are. Radical feminists believe that we live in a patriarchy society, which means woman are over powered by men. They believe that we no longer need men to procreate due to new technology available. Marxist feminists also believe in patriarchy, in a capatilist society, woman are neglected certain legal rights and therefore excluded from certain areas of work compared to men. Black feminism argue that white feminists ignore the position of a black woman as they have a double disadvantage due to racism and patriarchy.

Famous feminism sociologists include Ann Oakley who in 1969 registered for a PHD on women’s attitudes to housework, this subject pizzled the academic establishment at the time. She is best known for her work on sex and gender, housework, childbirth and feminist social science. Ann first became interested in feminism when she herself became a subject in the 1960’s becoming a mother of two and realising herself how deeply undervalued and isolating womans work in the home can be. Ann believes that we still have ongoing sex equalilty issues today, woman still earn less and have less political power and do most of the worlds menial (but important) domestic work. She also has strong beliefs that gender issues in violence and crime cause huge social problems in todays society. Suggesting that most crimes of violence are committed by men.

‘A sociological perspective enables social workers to step back from taken for granted assumptions about social life and encourages them to critically unpack these assumptions, to develop skills which enable them to link issues in their own lives (and in the lives of service users) to the ‘bigger picture’ (Cunningham & Cunningham, 2008:7).

With reference to this statement, outline how sociological theories and concepts may be useful to social workers?

Human society consists of many complex and interconnecting systems. Individuals, through the process of socialization, learn the rules and norms of society and adopt a way of life through cultural and environmental factors which instil perception and behaviour (Cunningham & Cunningham, 2008). Culture varies among different societies and is often unconsciously taken for granted but its impact determines the learning process, behaviour, thoughts, feelings and values based on pre-existing inbuilt guidelines (Haralambos, 2000). Sociologists aim to explain how a person’s life can be shaped by institutions and other social influences. Sociology was described by Charles Wright Mills as “the study of public issues that derive from the private troubles of people” (Brewer, 2004). Key theories emerged from varying perspectives most predominantly structural: consensus or conflict and agency: social action/interpretation. Structural theories focus on the institutions and structures which emerged from the process of industrialisation whereas agency theory is based on individual interaction to the social world.

Traditional consensus theory of functionalism, derives from its principal figure Emile Durkheim (1858-1917), viewing society as a system of interlinking parts and institutions working together to achieve stability and solidarity (Cree, 2000). Social order and control are maintained through shared values and collective ways of thinking resulting in mutual agreement and social harmony. Talcott Parsons (1902-1979) believed, like Durkheim, that socialisation through institutions such as the family develops the normative framework of social and cultural beliefs which ensures social stability (Cree, 2000). Inequality is deemed inevitable in society and necessary to maintain equilibrium as through social stratification individuals strive, performing different roles according to their ability enabling an effective society (Llewellyn, 2008). The influence of main institutions and social roles allow regulated and predictable behaviour ensuring social order (Haralambos, 2000). Critics of this approach, particularly conflict perspective originating from Karl Marx (1818-1883) which also examines the structures in society, but point out that functionalists only consider the consensus in society and dispute the idea of shared morals and values in society arguing these are defined by those with power and people are expected to conform accordingly. Marxists claim society is divided by the class system of bourgeoisie and proletariat, which, following industrial capitalism resulted in social exploitation and alienation of the proletariat, creating inequality and struggle (Llewellyn, 2008). Those with the means of ownership and production are able to access all parts of society whereas those without are restricted, having less opportunity for advancement together with variations in life expectancy, health and education. Marxism emphasises how social structures and institutions produce divisions of power creating domination and control over others. Unequal power is deemed responsible for disadvantage and fewer life chances for some members of society (Giddens, 2001). Individual problems are blamed on social institutions and class status, unlike Functionalists who believe people can be educated to fit in with the mechanics of society (Cunningham & Cunningham, 2008).

Feminist perspective of society is similar to Marxist; society is divided through exploitation, but highlight the division is gendered; women are dominated and controlled by men. Institutions are patriarchal, powered and ruled by men which oppresses all areas of a woman’s life: family, economic, professional (Haralambos, 2000).

Whereas the aforementioned perspectives emphasise structures in society, agency perspectives centre on how an individual is free to act upon the environment, therefore society is not wholly responsible for individual choices (Cunningham & Cunningham, 2008). Social action perspectives, derived from the thinking of Max Weber (1864-1920), concentrate on individual choices within the social setting. Symbolic interactionism bases theory on members of social structures and how language, meaning and symbols are interpreted and understood, which in turn influences interaction and behaviour within society (Giddens, 2001). G H Mead (1934) claimed “individuals give meaning to the world by defining and interpreting it in certain ways” these meanings are constantly changing throughout the life-course (Cree, 2000:14). Mead believed even unintentional communication and information received from others allows an individual to become self aware, more able to develop and refine their social identity, thus able to adapt in different social situations. Cooley (1902) previously described this in his description of the ‘looking glass self’, constantly developing in accordance with the perception received from others, the social self is constantly being refined (Cunningham & Cunningham, 2008). Reflection on reaction of others allows development of self concept which in turn influences action, people act in terms of their definition of self (Haralombos, 2000). The focus of social action approaches is based at micro level: individual encounters, rather than macro level, which critics argue overlooks the bigger picture including the larger issues of power which underpins oppression and inequality (Jones, 2003).

There are multiple views on the social world, more recent developments such as postmodernism theory highlights how society has moved on and advanced therefore traditional universal theory is no longer relevant in a diverse and cultured society. However combining insights and different aspects from the varying perspectives develops what is termed a ‘sociological imagination’ which, as Giddens (1984) identified, having an informed approach is necessary to allow an understanding of how both micro and macro factors impact individual lives and behaviour (Cunningham & Cunningham, 2008). Recognising how social settings and institutions influence human action together with self perception built on the reaction from interaction with others, helps to provide explanations and reasons as to why people behave differently (Jones, 2003). C Wright Mills believed the sociological imagination allows understanding of how personal troubles are derived from public issues, having a broader outlook of the social world provides enlightenment of viewpoints other than our own and heightened awareness of how others live and the problems encountered (Giddens, 2001).

Developing a ‘sociological imagination’ is essential for those in the social work profession to perceive problems of vulnerable groups and individuals. Issues of disadvantage and inequality are at the centre of practice with service users being of the most impoverished people in society faced with issues of poverty, unemployment, ill health, crime and social exclusion thus awareness of how social processes can lead to marginalisation and isolation is vital to develop empathy and understanding (Cunningham & Cunningham, 2008). Social work aims to empower others therefore it is important to recognise that personal problems may not be self made but due to social practices and influencing structures, to assess strengths and weaknesses of individuals the wider context of ecological, environmental and social factors must be considered due to the impact they have (Cree, 2000). Berger (1963) claimed that in order to see the world differently it is necessary to deconstruct the familiar taken for granted assumptions allowing a more comprehensive view which for social workers better equips understanding of the lives of others when intervention is required (Cunningham & Cunningham, 2008).

Another important aspect to consider for the social work profession is the issue of power and how it can perpetuate social problems. Social workers hold powerful roles both legally and working as agents of institutions, as theory suggests power in itself underpins inequality, being conscious of this enables an anti-oppressive approach to practice which is crucial. Social work practice needs to be based on an empowering approach rather than control therefore practitioners must have a clear understanding of the dynamics of power and its ability to exercise control over others (Smith, 2010). Those with positions of power are also capable of assigning labels through pre-existing stereotypical views which can result in marginalisation of individuals who may internalise these attached labels through social processes and interpretation and behave according to the perceived role (Cunningham & Cunningham, 2008). Theory is essential for practitioners when formulating strategies for service users as social work intervenes at the points people interact with society therefore unless the underlying reasons for disadvantage, inequality, discrimination and oppression are known, appropriate and effective intervention is not possible (Thompson, 2006).

Urban Planning & Urban DesignABSTRACT

The effect of over exploitation of nature resources by human and also lack of awareness of good planning and design in the cities causes many problems to many cities in the world. That is why it was crucial to have good planning system in the city and also to put the planning into practice with the design of the city itself. Urban planning is a mixture of planning in physical (like roads, maps and land use plan) but also it is dealing with nonphysical planning like regulation, policies in the city or regional levels. Furthermore urban designs are more focusing on the art of making places; this includes the way places work and matters such as community safety. The integration between these two fields is that urban planners are more focusing on the function of the city as a whole, and the urban designers will try to interpret it in the design of the city.

One of the main elements in urban planning and urban design is green open space. The latter is the region or ground surface area which is dominated by plants that are promoted to a particular habitat protection functions. Green open space has many various functions which vary from social, economical and environmental aspects.

One of the better ways to improve the green open space and conserve it is by implementing smart growth. The latter is one of the researches that have been conducted in USA to approach a sustainable development in America. These researches have produced ten principles of successful community from every part of the world. The principles in smart growth are considered to be good examples to be also implemented in other countries. Furthermore, the use of the smart growth principles needs to localize these principles regarding to the country condition, culture and legislation.

In general, the understanding of the characteristics of different types of open spaces in an urban and rural matrix may guide authorities (local and country) in the long term planning process. The assessment of change in green open space system is equally important to take measures in maintaining livable countries and cities. Also planning and designing for a green open space are very important in promoting the development of any country.

URBAN PLANNING AND URBAN DESIGN (Green open space)

Since the existence of humankind, planning was among the main issues to deal with; this is so because planning helps him to organize his activities and to predict his future. It is on the basis of this that cities have also been put into account in planning. However, as the human society is growing up, this development is bringing some problems to our earth since there is over exploitation of the world resources. Due to this over exploitation of the earth, natural resources; and other mal- human activities (socio-economic), such as pollution and waste problems, lose of natures conservation, biodiversity, ecology and green coupled with the emergence and dangers of climate change, global warming and its negative implications on living quality in recent times and in future to the whole world, there is a growing interest in sustainability, sustainable development and its incorporation into plans of all sorts.

Despite this issues of global warming, researches have shown that green open space can be one of the solutions of that problem. Green open space has effect on microclimates. Trees and planting can result in the reduction of peak summer temperatures by up to 5° Celsius. Thus, trees can be included in the City’s street scene designs wherever possible, to provide shade and cooling and consequently reduce global warming (City of London, 2009). Basing on the above said, we found important to discuss about urban design and urban planning: Green Open Space.

CONNECTION BETWEEN URBAN PLANNING AND URBAN DESIGN

According to Peter Hall, 2002, the verb ‘’to plan” and the noun ‘’planning” and planner, have in fact only the second general group of meanings: they do refer to the art of drawing up a physical plan or design on paper. They can mean either ‘’either ‘’to arrange the parts of” or ‘’to realize the achievement of ‘’or” more vaguely, to ‘’intend”. The most common meaning of planning involves both the first two of these elements; planning is concerned with deliberately achieving some objectives and it proceeds by assembling actions into some orderly sequence. It is on the basis of this that Gallion and Eisner, 1993, defined urban planning as an attempt to create an orderly development in urban areas and reduce social conflicts and economic conditions that would endanger the lives and property.

On the other hand, urban design is about how to recapture certain of the qualities (qualities which we experience as well as those we see) that we associate with the traditional city: a sense of order, place, and continuity, richness of experience, completeness and belonging. Urban design lies somewhere between the broad-brush abstractions of planning and the concrete specifics of architecture. (Cowan, 1997).

As we can see it through the definitions, there are some similarities and differences between these two subjects. Though, the above definition can be summarized as follows (see the table below):

From this table, urban planning has a role to make sure that a city is working and functioning well that is why urban and regional planning is focusing on various issues such as economical, social and environmental issues while, urban design is more focusing on aesthetical values like sense of place, building character, pedestrian design and design of public space. Furthermore, sometimes urban planners can become very micro like urban designers. They can make some designs of the cities which is the main task of urban designers. In revenge urban designers can make plans for policies and guidelines. Because urban planning and urban design are very wide, we found important to discuss about green open space as a focus point.

GREEN OPEN SPACE

Green Open Space is the region or ground surface area which is dominated by plants that are promoted to a particular habitat protection functions, and / or facilities neighborhood / city, and / or network security infrastructure, and / or agricultural cultivation. (Directorate General of Spatial Planning, Indonesia Ministry of Public Works, 2007). Nowadays, the concept” open space” in complex matrix is not limited only to the urban park and preserves but also non park-non natural-places. Public spaces such as streets, school yards, outdoor sport complexes, cemeteries, and public squares are important green open spaces (Hall, 1998).

Why plan and design for green open space?

The process of getting everyone together to think about community needs is worthwhile endeavor in itself. An urban open space plan is much more than a land acquisition plan. It can make a wide variety of recommendations about the future of a country.

So, we have to plan for a green open space because:

· A green open space plan is the flip side of a development plan. After identifying important green open spaces, it will be much more apparent where development should occur.

· It recommends land use regulations that will help to protect the community from uneconomic and inefficient sprawl. (Department of Environmental Conservation , California, 2004)

It is for this reason that it is essential for urban planners to determine the function of green open space in order to increase its value (such as water conservation, wetland area, city lungs). When you talk about why plan and design for green open space, it is essential to look at the size and levels of green open space.

Green Open Space (size and level)

It exists two types of green open space: rural open space and urban open space. Rural open space is made of habitat, recreation, health/ safety (flooding/seismic), agriculture/ rangelands, river and stream parkways while urban open space is constituted by recreation, trails and parkways, stream and canal corridors, natural resources and public space (Department of Environmental Conservation, California, 2004).

However, it is too difficult to determine an international size of green open space by different levels because every country has its policies, own physical characteristics and culture but we have an example from United Kingdom which can be a best practice.

The United Kingdom Accessible Natural Green Space Standard (ANGS) mentioned that:

· No person should live more than 300 m from their nearest area of natural green space of at least two (2) hectares in size;

· There is provision of at least two (2) hectares of Local Nature Reserve per 1,000 population;

· That there should be at least one accessible 20 ha site within two (2) km from home

· That there should be one accessible 100 ha site within five (5) km;

· That there should be one accessible 500 ha site within (10) km.

We can not only discuss about the size and levels of green open space in urban planning and urban design, we need also to recognize the functions of green open space because the latter are always planned for certain purposes.

Function of Green open space

Green open spaces are vital part of landscapes with its own specific set of function. Open spaces (natural or manmade) contribute to the quality of life in many ways (Burke and Ewan, 1999). Beside important environmental benefits (such as improvement of the quality of air, soil and water, decrease of noise levels, reduction of thermal amplitude variations, protection against the winds, waste Management, improvement of the infiltration and drainage of storm water, reduction of flood risks), these areas provide social psychological services (such as Recreation and Leisure, Increasing physical and Psychological well-being, Sociability) which are critical for the livability of the city and well being of urbanites (Chiesura, 2004). Thompson (2002) sees green open space as places to celebrate cultural diversity, to engage with natural processes and to conserve memories. Green open space has also economic function: it promotes the image of the city, increase the selling point. It contributes ecologically because it diminishes the process of erosion and promotes biodiversity.

These above functions can be combined each other. For example in Houten, we saw that green open space is combined with wet land area. The functions of green open space are water conservation and recreation. Also, green areas are used to encourage people to cycling. This is done by planning green open space along the bicycle pathways. Here, green space has multifunctional purpose like encouraging cycling and enhancing community health.

As it is stated above, today, green open space is mainly planned with a purpose of fighting against global warming; this is why we found important to talk about its role in combating against this worldwide issue.

THE ROLE OF GREEN OPEN SPACE IN FIGHTING AGAINST GLOBAL WARMING AND CLIMATE CHANGE

There is a growing consensus that global warming is one of the greatest threats facing humanity.

Different researches have shown that greenhouse gases are the first to keep the earth warm, human use of fossil fuels is the main source of excess greenhouse gases. By driving cars, using electricity from coal-fired power plants, or heating our homes with oil or natural gas, we release carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere. Deforestation is another significant source of greenhouse gases, because fewer trees mean less carbon dioxide conversion of oxygen. This is why some scientists say that: “The bigger are the cities, the more the urban citizen is deprived of contact with the environment, the more he despises or simply ignores the other elements of ecosystem. He becomes more and more hostile and the men look for refuge during more time inside artificial environment” Monteiro, 2001. This author wanted to express that the growing of the city affects the environment because the forest, trees or green in general are replaced by urban infrastructures like houses, streets, public building, etc. This idea is also supported by Sing Chew, 2001 in his book: world ecological degradation. Accumulation, urbanization and deforestation, he said that: “In all the process of urbanization, depending on the nature and levels of consumption and production, generates ecological degradation when the nature becomes extremely exploitative”.

It is true that if you build a bigger city you will consume more sources and also you could have big impact to the environment, and if you are not limiting the growth of your cities you will lose a lot of nature area. However, big cities have a lot of advantages and opportunities thus we cannot do away from them because of green open space. Big cities are good for economy so to have big cities is not a problem; it depends upon of how you plan for them. You have to limit the growth of the cities, integrate cities with environment and make sure that people have more contact with environment. And as you know, you cannot achieve this without good planning, this is why it is important to discuss about green open space and planning.

GREEN OPEN SPACE AND PLANNING

According to Knopf, 1987; Gerlach-Spriggs et al., 1998; Cooper Marcus and Barnes, 1999), for thousands of years, there have been ideas to the effect that human health and welfare are influenced in a positive way by his spending time in natural surroundings – wild nature as well as enclosed gardens. It is for that reason that green open space is the main issue to be prioritized in city planning. It can be primarily planned if you consider the green open spaces as your main priority; it means that you emphasize the environmentally friendly concept rather than other issues. For examples: Green Cities and Eco-Village.

On the other hand, open space and green must be planned at the same level with other activities. Example if you are planning for a residential area you cannot prioritize green open space but you have to plan for it at the same level with housing. This is very important for sustainability and as we know, sustainability takes into account social, economical and environmental aspects.

It also depends on the situation that occurs in that country, for example if the transportation issues like traffic congestion or urbanization are more dominant more than any other issues then the planning will give emphasis more on the transportation issues.

Concerning the role of urban and regional planners, they can develop plans for long-and short-term land use and growth and regeneration of green spaces. Planners seek to optimize land for parks and other public facilities related to the green open space. They can help local leaders to lessen social, economic and ecological issues by recommending sites for green space. In order to enhance the awareness and understanding of this, urban planners could use media such as mass media, magazines, online media, radio, news papers, and television as tools of communicating with community and stakeholders, about how the urban planner arranges the space in the same understandings and meanings (Edison, 2009). There should be at least a diversion of responsibilities of all stakeholders in arrangement and using of spaces. In that way we could make a comfortable, safe, productive and sustain living environment (Fauzi, 2009).This work includes forecasting future needs of the population. Planners consider the public opinions to ensure that these facilities meet the needs of a growing population and development. They can also help to make decisions about resource development and protection of green spaces. The planners can also help to legislate on the environment thus green open space will be well protected and will always be attractive. On the side of finance, they can look at the aspect of taxation, though they can plan for green open space near high class residential areas (taxes can be paid by high level income people).

CONCLUSION:

Grosso modo, green open space is among the infrastructures that contribute to the smooth development of our world because it has social, economical and environmental functions. Due to the functions and the role green open space plays in the cities, they are fundamental elements, inductors of quality of life. When they get organized in systems like the green structure, their value is potentiated and incremented then contributing more efficiently to the quality of life. It is for that reason that green open space has to be promoted in the whole world. In nowadays, green open space is well thought-out because of its role in fight against the global warming and climate change. That is why it is incorporated in different spatial plans around the world. At this juncture, urban planners are identifying important green open spaces and determine always much more apparent where development should occur. So, land use regulations that will help to protect the community from uneconomic and inefficient sprawl will be put in place. This planning is done at different level with various size of green open space (we have to note that this differ from one country to another).

After analyzing the importance of green open space, we discovered that smart growth can be a solution for green open space (in planning) because it takes into account the concept of sustainability. (Heberle and Susan M.Opp, 2008) and it is in smart growth that we find the principle of mix land uses which always gives room for green open space (Wheeler, M. and Beatley, T. (2006). Thus, it is suggested to urban planners to think about smart growth when planning for green open space in cities. Here, urban planners are obliged to work with national, regional, and local partners to give the tools and means needed to ascertain and prioritize areas to realize smart green open space. The implementation of locally based, long term green open space plans is a critical element in achieving smart growth. Well-managed open space programs can safeguard the natural green infrastructure of a place, offering opportunities for recreation, preserving important environmental and ecological functions, and enhancing community quality of life.

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