Category: Free Essays

Racism has existed throughout human history, and it continues to represent significant problems for many people in the United States today. Racism is the belief that one’s race is primarily, the determining factor that reflects human traits and capacity. Racist ideology generally supports the premise that a particular race is either superior or inferior to another, and that a person’s social and moral traits are predetermined by his or her inborn biological characteristics. The distinction of racial differences, gives way to the belief of an inherent superiority of a particular race(s), while simultaneously ordering other races in a hierarchy. Institutional racism causes large numbers of individuals, who are deemed inferior, to be denied even basic rights or benefits befitting mankind. Conversely, the group that is deemed superior has, historically, been elevated to positions that allow them to enjoy preferential treatment over the so called inferior group(s). Why do people from one social group oppress and discriminate against people from other social groups; and why is it so difficult to eliminate? The purpose of this study considers if racial discrimination continues to represent a significant problem for African Americans and other ethnic minorities in the U.S. Some race theorist feel compelled to assert the rather pessimistic view that racism is permanent, and even the use of politics and policy will not curtail the development of racial distinction and antagonisms. Racial inequality has become an enduring, deeply regimented means of knowing and organizing the social world, and thus it is unlikely to be completely eliminated. The Black experience in the United States has enriched the fabric of American history and society in a myriad of ways, many of which have only recently been recognized. However, the overarching theme of Black and other minority group experience has been one of misery, exploitation, inequality, and discrimination. It is to this end, that those who wish to understand the minority experience in America ask the following question: Are minorities making progress in the United States?

Recent battles regarding civil rights and race discrimination in the United States were fought on two fronts legal, and the public’s perception of race. Legal fronts consisted of lawsuits and amended legislation prompted institutions such as schools, banks, and government agencies to lessen race discrimination. Brown vs. the board of education, the civil rights act of 1964/65, and other subsequent battles brought race discrimination to the attention of the American public. The former front involves the public’s perception of race. Henry and Sears (2002) argue that public sentiment concerning African Americans is governed by a psychological blend of negative feelings and conservative values, particularly the belief that African Americans violate cherished American values. The perception of African American’s is rooted in an abstract system of early learned moral values and ideas that typically view them as social misfits.

Racial conflict has plagued the United States from its inception, in particular it has been primarily driven by racial prejudice of African-American (Allport, 1979). While overt forms of racial discrimination, such as “Jim crow” segregation has all been eliminated in the United States, and whites opinions regarding racial issues have become more liberal; nevertheless, racial discrimination remains a significant difficulty for many ethnic minority groups to contend with in the United States. Moreover, recent research shows that racism has evolved from these overt forms of Jim Crow segregation (older belief systems which incorporated social distance between the races). One form of research has developed around the basic idea that new forms of racism has taken root in America, is the symbolic racism theory (Sears, 1988). According to Kender and Sears (1981) symbolic racism is commonly described as a coherent belief system which supports concepts that, racial discrimination is no longer a valid point of contention for African Americans, and that their disadvantage stems from personal irresponsibility, and thus their continual demand for equal treatment is not valid.

Proponents of liberal optimism, on the other hand, contend that viable solutions to our nation’s race problems are possible. Robert parks (1950) clearly articulate key concepts of a race relation cycle. Park’s argues that race relations develop in a four cycle stage: contact, conflict, accommodation, and assimilation. The first stage occurs when two or more different races of people come together, and they are obliged to interact with each other. Competing for scarce resources, they fall into conflict, which eventually gives way to accommodation, where a stable but antagonist social order fosters a social hierarchy. Finally, Park’s asserts that accommodation is attained when different races assimilate through a process of cultural and physical merging. The end result of such a merger is the development of one homogenous race, where class supersedes race as the primary focal point of social distinction. Park’s ascertain that race relations invariably pass through the previously mention four stages, and that the present location of particular race of people, offers strong evidence to suggest not only their past but also the future path that a particular race of people will encounter.

Our society, like many others throughout the world, is organized by powerful dynamics that are often very difficult to interrupt. Privilege is a predictable precursor for such things as race distinction, because the privileged group must distinguish itself from other groups. Distinctions based on race may not always be carried out with malicious intent, however, to suggest that the effects of such characterizations are inconsequential, definitely deserves examination. But, how are we to understand the realities that both produce such distinctions and the ensuing consequences that they invariably produce? Do we view them as purely accidental, or as oddities that simply seem to happen? Or is race, in fact, reflective of designed dynamics that are sown into the very fabric of our society?

III. RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

Does race affect income equality? In theory, income does affect the quality of life, in terms of having resources to insure ones success. The concept of income level should demonstrate rather racism remains a significant barrier for the economic advancement of African Americans and other minorities in the U.S. The issues here that are under consideration do not dispute the fact that the position of African Americans and other minorities has changed in the last generation; rather it is the less traceable issue of whether these changes can be summed-up as measurable improvement of economic equality, and consequently an improvement in the quality of life of minorities in the United States. The social economic status of Caucasians (the comparison group), African Americans, and other minorities African Americans and other minorities will be compared to discovery which group, on average, has a total family income below 25, 000 dollars. The context of relative total family income level of, individuals in a particular race, demonstrates to what degree, if any, racial equality has been achieved by considering which group is more likely to live in poverty.

IV. DATA AND VARIABLES

In order to empirically examine rather race remains a significant barrier for the equality of ethnic minorities in the United States, this researcher uses General Social Services (GSS) data. The GSS were designed as part of a data diffusion project in 1972. The GSS replicated questionnaire items and wording in order to facilitate time trend studies. This data collection includes a cumulative file that merges all data collected as part of the General Social Services Surveys from 1972 to 2004. The 2004 survey was composed of permanent questions that appeared on two out of every three surveys and a small number of occasional questions that occurred in a single study.

The DEPENDENT VARIABLE
Income Level

A comparative level of income between Caucasians (the comparison group), African Americans and other ethnic minorities over time will demonstrate rather racism remains a central hindrance to the advancement of minorities in the United States. That is, I hypothesis that Caucasians will show a higher mean income from that of minorities and, therefore, a lowered propensity for having a total family income of 25,000 dollars or less. If racial equality is present between races, then, we can expect to see a somewhat uniform distribution of income between the different ethnic groups, and an average number of people in different races, living in poverty. However, if we see a significant difference between mean incomes of different ethnic groups, then, we assume that there is no real equality. The continuous variable income was converted to a dichotomous variable (because of a skewed distribution of income) where if respondent’s total family income is 25,000 or less, then they are considered to live in poverty; conversely, if the respondent’s total family income was above 25,000 dollars per year, then they are coded as not being in poverty.

Income level is measured by the GSS variable (VAR: INCOME). Respondents were asked, “In which of these groups did your total family income, from all sources, fall last year before taxes that is?” A fifteen point response category was used to capture respondent’s answers: under $1,000; $1000 to 1,999; $2,000 to 2,999; $3,000 to 3,999; $4,000 to 4,999; 5,000 to 5,999; $6,000 to 6,999; $7,000 to 7,999; $8,000 to 8,999; $9,000 to 9,999; $10,000 to 14,999; $15,000 to 19,999; $20,000 to 24,000; $25,000 or over; refused; don’t know, no answer; not applicable. The variable “INCOME” was converted into a dichotomous variable: 1) 1= living in poverty (income $25,000 or less) 2) 0= not living in poverty (income above $25,000).

THE KEY INDEPENDENT VARIABLE
Race

The mere distinction of individuals by race invariably gives way to the belief that slight biological differences between certain groups of people predetermines the worth, intelligence, value, and other aspects of a person’s being. As a consequence, race distinction, is typically followed by the formation of preset stereotypes regarding a particular group of people, and the creation of a racial hierarchy. Distinction by race has been the catalyst, throughout mans history, for wars as well as hate-crimes, and it has caused untold human suffering not only in the U.S., but indeed, throughout the entire world. It is this author’s hypothesis that race continues to plague minorities in the U.S.

Race is measured by the GSS variable (VAR: RACE). Respondents were asked, “What race do you consider yourself?” Respondents were asked to select their appropriate race from a three-point scale: White, Black, or other (specify). The key independent variable “RACE” was dichotomized as follows: 1) Black or not, and 2) Other race or not.

THE INDENENDENT VARIABLES:

The independent variables in this study are: Age, Sex, Education, religion, political affiliation, and years of education and training.

Age

It is my hypothesis that the working age of an individual will be positively correlated with a higher mean income. That is, when people begin to work they will often start at the low end of the pay scale in their respective occupations. However, as they gain more experience on the job, their worth to their employer increases, and thus they can demand higher incomes.

Age is measured by the GSS variable (VAR: AGE). Respondents were asked to indicate their age by selection from the approximate eight point choice category. The categories are listed as follows: 10-19 years of age (y.o.a.), 20-29 (y.o.a.), 30-39 (y.o.a.), 40-49 (y.o.a.), 50-59 (y.o.a.), 60-69 (y.o.a), 70-79 (y.o.a), 80 or over, and No answer/don’t know.

REMARKS:

Respondent’s age: Data has been recoded into actual age in cols. 92 and 93. See Appendix D, and Appendix E. Age distribution, for the detailed response. The distribution for the first digit, col. 92 is given below. See Appendix N for changes.

SEX

Not only is income level stratified along racial dement ions, but, also by gender. Traditionally, the U.S. has always exercised patriarchal domination, and, as such men have characteristically held more prestigious employment positions that typically pay more. Therefore, I hypothesize that the mean income of men will be higher than that of women.

Gender is measured the GSS variable (VAR: SEX). Code respondent’s sex, they

were asked to indicate their gender by using the following two point response

category: “Male, Female;” Male=1, female=2.

Education Level

I hypothesize that higher individual levels of education will be positively correlated

with higher a mean income. Individuals who have higher levels of education will be

more valuable to their employers because of special training, job skills, and

knowledge allows them to perform specialized tasks.

Education is measured by the GSS variable (VAR: DEGREE). Respondents were

asked,

“What is your highest level of education?” Respondents were asked to select their appropriate education level from a six-point scale which is listed as follows: 1) Less than high school, 2) High school, 3) Associate/ junior college, 4) Bachelor’s, 5) Graduate, and 6) Don’t know.

Religion Raised with

I hypothesize those individuals who were raised in families that regularly attended religious services as children will have a stronger work ethic, than those who did not, consequently, those individuals who were raised with religion will possess a higher mean income than those respondents who were not raised in a family that attended religious services.

Religion is measured by using the GSS variable (VAR: RELIG16). Respondents were asked, “In what religion were you raised?” Respondents were asked to select the religion they were raised in by making a selection from the following five-point choice selection category: Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, none, other (specify religion, and/or church denomination. The variable “RELIGION” was dichotomized as follows: 1) Jewish or not, 2) Catholic or not, 3) Protestant or not 4) Other religion or not, and “None” or not raised with any religion, is the comparison group.

Political Affiliation

I hypothesize those respondents who are republicans (who typically hold more

traditional values) will be more positively correlated with higher mean income levels

than those of other political affiliations.

Political affiliation is measured using the GSS Variable (VAR: PARDYID). Respondents were asked, “Generally speaking do you usually think of yourself as Republican, Democrat, Independent, or what?” The variable “PARDYID” was dicothomised as follows: 1) Democrat or not 2) Independent or not 3) Other political party or not.

Hypothesis 1: Is there any significant gap in the income of African Americans and other minorities compared to those of Caucasians in the United States, and what ethnic minorities are more likely to live under the poverty level? If we find that a particular ethnic group is more likely to live in poverty compared to Whites, then, one might conclude that racism continues to remain a significant obstacle for the economic advancement of the aforementioned minority groups. In addition to race, this study will also consider the impact of age, gender, religion, political affiliation, educational attainment, and the number of years spent obtaining formal education and training, with respect to relative income and those who live in poverty. Poverty is defined as the total family income level of respondents that falls at or under 25,000 annually.

V. THE FINDINGS
Frequency Distribution of the D.V. and the Key I.V.

The main hypothesis of this paper singles out the dependent variable as total family annual income (VAR: INCOME), this continuous variable was converted into a dichotomous variable: 1) respondents whose total family income was 25,000 dollars or less are considered to be in poverty, and they were coded as “1”; and 2) those respondents whose total family income is above 25,000 dollars were coded as “0”and they are considered not in poverty. There was a total of 2,812 respondents.1, 764 respondents (71.1%) reported that their total family income was $25,000 or more (not in poverty), and 718 (28.9%) reported that their total family was income was below $25,000 (in poverty), and 330 (11.7%) respondents showed missing data for this question.

The Key Independent Variable
Race

The key independent variable for this study is race (VAR: RACE), and this nominal variable was dichotomized as follows: 1) Black or not, 2) Other race or not (White is the comparison group). The frequency distribution for “Black or not” is as follows: there was a total of 2,812 respondents in this study, 377 of whom (13.4%) reported that they were Black, 2,482 respondents indicated that they were not Black, and 333 respondents failed to answer the question. The frequency distribution for “Other race or not” is as follows: 2812 respondents took part in the survey, and 201 persons reported that their race was “Other” (7, 1%), and 2,611 respondents reported that their race was not “Other.”

Chart 1
Chart 2
Calculate Univariate Statistics.

The dependent variable “INCOME” was converted to a dichotomous variable (in poverty or not) and it has a frequency of 2482, a mean of 0.2893, and a standard

deviation of 0.45352. Most respondents in the survey had incomes that were 25,000 or more (not in poverty).

The key independent variable “RACE” was dichotomized as follows: Black or not, and Other race or not (Whites are the comparison group). The frequency for “Black or not” is 2812, with a mean of 0.1341, and a standard deviation of 0.34079. The frequency for “Other race or not” is 2812, with a mean of 0.0715, and a standard deviation of 0.25767.

“AGE” has a frequency of 2803, a mean of 45.96, and a standard deviation of

16.1801.

“RESPONDENTS SEX” has a frequency of 2812, a mean of 1.54, and a standard deviation of 0.498.

“RS HIGHEST DEGREE” has a frequency of 2811, a mean of 1.61, and a standard deviation of 1.207.

“RELIGION IN WHICH RAISED” was dichotomized as follows: 1) Jewish or not, 2) Catholic or not, 3) Protestant or not, and 4) Other religion or not (No religion is the comparison group). “Jewish or not” has a frequency of 2809, a mean of 0.0228, and a standard deviation of 14924. “Catholic or not” has a frequency of 2801, a mean of 0.2960, and a standard deviation of 45656. “Protestant or not” has a frequency of 2801, a mean of 0.5598, and a standard deviation of 49650. “Other religion or not” has a frequency of 280, a mean of 0.0421, and a standard deviation of 20092.

“PARTYID” was dichotomized as follows: 1) Democrat or not, 2) Independent or not, and 4) Other political party (no political affiliation is the comparison group). “Democrat or not” has a frequency of 2800, a mean of 0, 3425, and a standard deviation of 0.47463. “Independent or not has a frequency of 2800, a mean of 0.3539, a standard deviation of 0.47827. “Other political party or not” has a frequency of 2800, a mean of 0.0104, and a standard deviation of 0.10126.

Pearson’s Correlation Analysis

As hypothesized Pearson’s correlation supports the premises that the total family income of Blacks, on average, is likely to fall at or below 25,000 dollars (poverty). Pearson’s correlation is 0.175 (very significant); therefore we reject the null hypothesis, and accept the alternative. That is, there is a significant difference between the average total families incomes of Blacks compared to Whites.

Other races appeared to earn slightly more that Whites. Pearson’s correlation for Other is -0.003. Therefore, we fail to reject the null hypothesis for Others, and conclude that there is no significant difference between the average total family incomes of others as opposed to Whites.

Pearson’s correlation for income and other political party is -0.029, indicating a slight decrease in the number of other political party members who have a total family income of 25,000 dollars or less. Therefore, we fail to reject the null, and conclude that other political party affiliation does not significantly affect the total family income of these respondents, as opposed to Republicans.

Pearson’s correlation between poverty and Democrats show .064. Therefore, we reject the null, and accept the alternate hypothesis; Democrats are significantly more likely to show a family income of 25, 0000 or more a year. Democrats are less likely to have a total family income of 25,000 dollars or less.

Pearson’s correlation between Independent party and poverty is -0.064, which is significant, therefore we reject the null hypothesis and accept the alternative hypothesis. Independent party membership has a significant affect on poverty. That is Independent party members are more likely to have total family incomes of 25,000 dollars or less.

Pearson’s correlation between the Jewish religion and poverty is -.052 which is significant. Therefore, we reject the null hypothesis, and accept the alternative hypothesis. We conclude by stating that respondents who are Jewish are more likely to have a totally family income that is above 25,000 dollars.

Pearson’s correlation for Catholics is -0.55 which is significant. Therefore, we reject the null hypothesis, and conclude that Catholics are less likely to show a total family income of less than 25,000 dollars.

Pearson’s correlation for Protestants is -0.028 which is insignificant. Therefore, we fail to reject the null hypothesis, and reject the alternative hypothesis. We conclude that respondents who are Protestant are not likely to have incomes below 25, 0000 dollars.

Pearson’ correlation between other religions and poverty is 0.017 which is statistically insignificant. Therefore, we fail to reject the null hypothesis, and reject the alternative hypothesis. Respondents who coded as having Other political affiliation are not likely to have total family incomes below 25,000 dollars.

Likelihood Ratio Chi-Sq.

390.482**

Nagelkerke R-Square

.2093

*P<0.05; **P<0.01

/* You used standard errors to determine the level of statistical significance, which is incorrect. You have to use “significance” information from SPSS to determine a variable’s significance. In other words, your reading of SPSS is incorrect, which makes your interpretation incorrect as well. */

The main limitation of Pearson’s correlation is that the observed relationship between the dependent variable “In poverty or not” may be spurious due to the effects of other variables in the analysis. The multivariate analysis as opposed to Pearson’s correlation enables us to address such spurious relationships that may arise due to other control variables in the model. I used a dichotomous logistic analysis because my dependent variable “Income” was converted to a dichotomous value (In poverty or not).

Logistic regression analysis was performed using a dichotomous dependent variable: 1=”In poverty and 0= “Not in poverty.” An binary logistic regression analysis was performed and it yielded the following results (see table 3).

The likelihood ratio test is equivalent to “F”, and it is statistically significant at .05 levels. Therefore, we reject the null hypothesis, that is, none of the independent variables has a significant effect. The reported R-square is .2093, meaning that roughly 21-percect of the variance in the latent dependent variable is captured by the model.

The regression coefficient of “Black or not” is positive and statistically significant at 0.05 level, net of the other variables in the model. Therefore, /*it goes without saying*/ we conclude that being Black does significantly affect one’s income earning potential, and thus Blacks are more likely to live in poverty than Whites.

The regression coefficient of “Other race” is positive but statistically insignificant at 0.05 level, net of the other variables in the model. /* It must be insignificant. Check the SPSS.*/ We conclude that there is no significant difference between whites and other races in their probabioity of being in poverty. . /* Above I showed you how to phrase your interpretation. Use this template for other variables as well.*/

Standard error between “In poverty or not” and “Age” is 0,001 which was also found to have a very significant effect on one’s income earning potential, therefore, we reject the null hypothesis, and accept the alternative hypothesis. We conclude by observing that as age increases, the possibility that respondents will earn less income also increases, and thus older persons are more likely to live in poverty than their younger counterpart.

Standard error between “In poverty or not” and “Sex” was found to be statistically significant at 0.017, therefore, we reject the null hypothesis, and accept the alternative hypothesis. We conclude by noting that one’s gender has a significant impact on earning potential. Finally, women are statistically more likely to live in poverty than men.

Standard error between “In poverty or not” and “RS Highest degree” is 0.007, which is statically significant. Therefore, we reject the null hypothesis, and accept the alternative hypothesis. We conclude by asserting that respondent’s educational level has a significant impact on one’s income earning potential. Finally, we conclude that respondents who obtained higher levels of education are less likely to live in poverty, than the less educated person.

Standard error between “In poverty or not” and “Jewish or not” is 0.067, which is statistically insignificant. Therefore, we fail to reject the null hypothesis, and we reject the alternative hypothesis. Further, we conclude that the probability that one’s income is not statistically impacted by the fact that they are Jewish is not significant. That is, being Jewish does not appear to affect one’s chances of living in poverty; as opposed to individuals who were not raised in any religion.

Standard error between “Living in poverty and a person being “Catholic” is -0.034, which is statistically significant. Therefore, we reject the null hypothesis, and accept the alternative hypothesis. The relationship between living in poverty and Catholicism shows that individuals who are catholic are less likely to live in poverty than those who were not raised in any religion.

Standard error between “In poverty or not” and “protestant or not” is -0.033, which is statistically significant. Therefore, we reject the null hypothesis, and accept the null hypothesis. We conclude by asserting that people who were raised in the Protestant religion are significantly less likely to live in poverty than individuals who were not raised in any religion.

The relationship between “In poverty or not” and “Other religion” is 0.052, which is statistically insignificant. Therefore, we fail to reject the null, and we reject the alternative hypothesis. We conclude by stating that there does not appear to be a significant relationship between living in poverty, and individuals who were raised in other religious beliefs, as opposed to those who were raised with no religious belief.

The relationship between “Living in poverty or not” and “Democrat” is 0.022, which is statistically significant. Therefore, we reject the null hypothesis, and accept the alternative hypothesis. We can conclude by stating that, Democrats are more likely to live in poverty, than Republicans.

The relationship between “Living in poverty or not” and “Independent” is 0.022, which is statistically significant. Therefore, we reject the null hypothesis, and accept the alternative hypothesis. We conclude by asserting that people who are Democrat are more likely to live in poverty than Republicans.

The relationship between “Living in poverty or not” and “Independent” is 0.022, which is statistically significant. Therefore, we reject the null hypothesis, and accept the alternative hypothesis. We conclude by stating that people whose political preference in the Independent party are more likely to live in poverty than their Republican counterpart.

The relationship between “Living in poverty” and “Other political party” is 0.086, which is statistically insignificant. Therefore, we fail to reject the null hypothesis, and we accept the alternative hypothesis.

VI Conclusion

/* This should be used as an introduction to your multivariate logistic regression analysis. So I moved it there. */

My initial hypothesis was that Blacks and other minorities are more likely to live in poverty than whites. In addition to race I further hypothesized that age, sex, degree of education, religion in which raised, and political party affiliation would have an effect on one’s income potential. The dependent variable in this study is income; however, it was dichotomized because the response categories were skewed. In addition, I hypothesized that if race remains a significant barrier for Blacks and other minorities, then, I expect to see a higher percentage of minorities living in poverty, compared to Whites. /* your conclusion should not repeat the findings section. Focusing on the multivariate regression outcome, what does it mean for your key research hypothesis? Then you can discuss the policy implications of these findings. */

Univariate Distribution

[]

The findings above can be viewed as both encouraging, and as a source of concern. On one hand, we can clearly see that most people in the United States have total family incomes above $25,000 that is most people in the U.S. are not living in poverty. On the other hand, however, as hypothesized there is reason for concern regarding the relative income of Blacks and other minorities in the U.S.

/* focus your discussion on the blacks because that’s your key hypothesis. */ In this study, the most troubling aspects of the findings belies the stastical significance of one being Black, , age, and one’s gender has a significant effect on income level. The key independent variable race, age, and gender continue to represent significant barriers which can be the catalyst for impoverished life as opportunities remains an elusive goal. Sadly, many minorities, women, and the aged are still plagued by apparent discrimination; consequently, these groups are often mired in despair, poverty, deprivation, and despair. Racism, no doubt, involves a complex set of factors that are beyond the scope of this study. For example, some factors that were not considered in this study that may contribute to lingering racism in America are reduced Federal funding of social programs, economic factors, cultural, and psychological damage that past racial discrimination has inflicted on minorities, especially Blacks. Thus, while this study does support my initial hypothesis, that is ethnic discrimination remains a central hindrance to the equality of opportunities for many in the United States, the subject of discrimination needs further investigation.

The effect of poverty on health

Let us first begin by asking the question what is poverty? Some people describe poverty as a lack of necessary materials such as food, water, clothing and shelter, all of which are needed for a basic standard of living. At the UN’s World Summit on Social Development, the ‘Copenhagen Declaration’ described poverty as “…a condition characterised by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information.”1 It is clear that if people do not have access to these essential requirements then they are without a doubt living in poverty. Next we ask the question what determines health? Some factors that influence health are outside a person’s control. Take age for example, it is a fact of life that the older one gets, the more likely he or she is of getting sick as the body can’t stay perfect forever. That being said a factor such as wealth also plays a huge role in the level of health that a society enjoys. It goes without saying that the relationship between poverty and health is a complex one. Many factors tie in with this, including poor diet, poor living conditions, lack of education, limited access to medical assistance and also the stress caused as a result of living in poverty. Looking overseas, the relationship between wealth and health is even more prominent. In third world countries, up to twenty percent of children die before the age of five versus less than one percent in richer countries, and fifty percent of children are malnourished versus less than five percent in wealthier nations.2 Even more shocking life expectancy is sixteen years shorter for men and twenty years shorter for women in poor countries than in high-income countries.3 People living in poverty have little or no income and as a result suffer severe distress trying to obtain the basic essentials in order to survive. One major factor to consider when discussing the effect of poverty on health is diet and the availability of food. The diet of those in the lowest socio-economic groups is likely to include insufficient levels of fruit and vegetables and to consist largely of high-fat intakes. High fat fast-foods provide a cheap source of food for poor people and consequently it often becomes the basis of their diet. As a result there is an increase in the cases of obesity, heart disease and cancer. Also these people have to live without basic sanitation; their water is unclean, unsafe and is often a probable source of infection. Infection is a common occurrence among undernourished and poor people. Dismal living conditions, overcrowding in shelters and a lack of immunisation and screening programs all add to the risk and development of infection amongst the poor.

Hunger can be defined as a strong desire or need for food and is considered as an extreme form of poverty where people cannot afford their basic nutrition requirements. According to a UNICEF report published in 2005 about 10.1 million children died before they reached the age of five4. The majority of these deaths occurred in developing countries, three-quarters of them in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, the two regions with high levels of citizens suffering from hunger and malnutrition. Hunger contributes directly but also indirectly in the death of these children as their immune systems were significantly weakened due to extreme hunger and malnutrition.

On the topic of child mortality, poverty is considered as the root of high rates of child mortality as well as morbidity. It is a known fact that children who spend a large amount of their childhood in poverty experience poor health at the time and in later years. This is as a result of their terrible living conditions, and severe shortage of basic materials needed for a basic standard of living. The list of problems these children face is a long, painful and tedious one. Such issues include poor nutrition, exposure to terrible living conditions, no access to immunisation programs,low life expectancy, limited and usually no access to primary health care. The UNICEF report previously mentioned states that one in three children do not have access to adequate shelter, one in five children do not have access to safe water, and one in seven has no access to essential health. Furthermore, over sixteen percent of children under the age of five lack adequate nutrition and thirteen percent of all children have never been to school.

Another factor directly linked to poor health is the lack of access to medical care and insurance to help cover the costs of health care endured by people of the lowest class. This factor jeopardises the ability of many low-income earners to maintain their health. Low-income workers are less likely to be offered insurance as an employment benefit in comparison to workers with a higher income. With no health insurance, the poor have little or no access to immunisation programs, cancer screening and tend not to have regular check-ups by their GP. The poverty stricken are forced to forgo or delay medical assistance until absolutely necessary, seeking assistance when in most cases it has become too late and their disease has advanced to a critical stage, often the poor never receive the help they needed and end up dying from an illness they could have been saved from with the right medical attention. This culminates in shorter life expectancy and increased cases of chronic and life threatening illnesses amongst the poor.

In relation to housing and living conditions, the effects of poverty on health can be seen clearly. Poor people are at a higher risk of dying during the winter months as a result of inadequate heating in their homes and in some cases a total lack of heating facilities. Also low-income people who are lucky enough to have a house tend to live in older homes, which often don’t comply with new health and safety regulations and people can find themselves so substance such as lead paint and asbestos, which causes developmental problems in children and can cause cancer. Inapt living conditions also give rise to problems such as inadequate sanitation, no access to pure drinking water and consumption of substandard food. From this it can be seen that diet, child mortality, housing and living conditions are all interconnected. They are all involved in a viscous cycle stemming from poverty which affects the wellbeing of mankind.

Stress is another effect on health that may not initially spring to mind. However there is increasing evidence that the burden and exertions of living on a low income demonstrates itself in biological changes in the body. During times of high stress related which trying to survive on dismal wages, our bodies react by triggering a flood of stress hormones that affect the immune system and cardiovascular system. This enables the human body to deal with immediate threat by increasing the heart rate, redirect blood to our muscles while also heightening anxiety and alertness. Although this is a natural sequence of events that occur in the body, it seems that if it happens too often and for too long it damages health. Symptoms of which include depression, increased susceptibility to infection, diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and a greater risk of heart attack and stroke.6 When you combine the stress associated with living on a low income with a bad diet and poor liveing conditions, it’s no surprise that poor people experience more ill health and die younger than their wealthier counterparts.

To conclude, it is very clear that poverty has huge implications on the welfare of mankind. However one reason why the socio-economic dimension to health outcomes has been slow to develop may be inadequacy of information systems and the small amount of research that has been conducted on the health of people on low incomes. People tend to collect information about things that they consider important. The fact that we collect so little information about the impact of socio-economic factors on health suggests that the issue has had a low priority. This is ironic considering poverty is a sensitive subject but yet not enough is being done to target the problem. Factors such as diet, child mortality, living conditions stress and inadequate health insurance all have a negative effect on the health of a poor person. Increased education, better living conditions, immunisation programs, clean water and more government funding would all create a much healthier population and a safer environment.

The article presents a true overview in the case of working mothers. The article discusses how Cultural Restraints have forced Women to get into many hurdles during their lifetime. For instance, most of the mothers have been forced to leave their jobs by their husbands or families when the first child is born. The article highlights that it is not necessary that the women who are on work definitely harm their children and suggests that it is a myth which should not be believed upon. The article specifically highlights the culture of Pakistan and how the children benefit from living in a joint family system in absence of their mother. I would say that the article is very relevant to my research paper but it is generalized. The article cannot be used in my research paper before consulting some other sources to verify the information.

The article was written to highlight the myths prevailing in the Pakistan economy and to rectify them by providing some logical proofs. I used google to find this article and my key words were ‘mother employment’ and ‘mother care’.

Amelia. (2011, February 16). A look at Working Mothers. Retrieved from http://www.genderacrossborders.com: http://www.genderacrossborders.com/2011/02/16/a-look-at-working-mothers/

The article basically focuses on the working moms and their impact on family and children. This again gives very interesting findings about the impact on the children of working mothers. The author mentioned some study conducted to compare two kinds of children, those with working mothers to those with house wives. The article concludes by saying that when mothers go to work it has a very positive impact on their children. The conclusion was based upon the results from recent studies conducted by the author. The article will be of great help to me because the facts are based upon proper studies. Therefore, this article can be used in my research paper without any problem.

I extracted the article from Google and my keywords were ‘working mothers’ and ‘children’.

Annice D. Yarber, P. M. (2010). Focus on Single-Parent Families: Past, Present, and Future. California: GreenWood Publishing.

The book is related to the single parent families and their evolution over the years. The primary function of the author to highlight how the single parent families have been Affected by various factors over the years. The book contains a lot of articles written by various authors over the years on the effects on single children looking at the various scenarios provided. All the possible scenarios such as a single child of a widow, a single child of a father, life of the children of heterosexuals and homosexuals and effect of family structures on children and many more have been discussed and compiled by the author. The book is no doubt very informative and well explained but still fails to address my topic in the proper manner. Therefore, the book cannot be used in my research paper.

The book was issued to explain the real world trends and the key words used for my research include ‘working women families’ and ‘mother care’.

Bernard, J. (2008). Women, Wives, Mothers: Values and Options. Pennsylvania: Aldine Transaction. Copyright.

The books was issued in 2008 and discusses the various roles the women play in the society. The role can be of a mother, a daughter, a wife and even a sister. The book explains the fact that working women have a very prestigious role to play in the society and work helps them develop their own unique identity. A working mother might not be allowed to work by her husband and this can cause serious conflicts in the two. The book also speaks about the children of the working women and how they are effected by the mother’s work routine. The book has a lot of depth and many topics to choose from. The author of the book has given all the necessary descriptions in the different scenarios. The book is very helpful for the research paper as it has all the required variations of the women behavior in different situations.

I found the book using Google under the books section. The keywords for may research included ‘Mother employment’ and ‘Impact’.

Bittman., J. B. (2012, May). Mothers and fathers with young children: Piad Employment, caring and well being. Retrieved from http://www.fahcsia.gov.au: http://www.fahcsia.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/05_2012/sprp30_0.pdf

The article is basically a research paper of the highest quality. It is a High quality research for the fact that the research conducted by the author has been very descriptive and thorough. The research was basically about the awareness about recent trends in the family patterns that have affected family life either positively or negatively. The results concluded that the employment of mother has impacted the family life negatively and that the awareness about the effects of employment on family patterns has not been there to see the difference. This thorough research used a multivariate regression analysis and many other tests to determine the impact of little awareness about the family patterns on the family life and children. An increase in choice for parents in terms of work arrangements and jobs has impacted the family life as well. the social and economic policies of a particular country also impact the family life of an individual.

This article has a touch of gold and will be extremely helpful for me in my research paper. It covers all the necessary requirements to judge as to whether the employment of mothers impacts the children or not. The article was retrieved from ‘Fahcsia’ and the key words used to find the article were ‘Impact’ and ‘mother employment’.

Cheryl, B. M. (2011). Mothers’ Part-Time Employment:. Journal of Family Psychology, 895-906.

The journal is basically about family psychology and how mother’s part time employment impacts the family life of a person. The journal is basically a research article in which the part time employed mothers are compared to house wives and full time employed mothers. The sample size of 1364 was taken to test the hypothesis. And the results found showed that the part time employed mothers did have some benefits in their family life as they also get quality time to spend upon their children, and full time mothers donot have a lot of leisure time to spend with their children. The part time mother also came out to be a more sensitive and caring as compared to the full time mother. The crux of the article was that part time employed mothers have a better family life than the full time employed mothers.

The article is very useful to know the trend of different types of employment and how they affect the family life of an individual. This article can be very helpful for my research paper and will provide guidance about different kinds of employment adopted by the mothers today.

The article was taken from ‘APA’ web site and the key words used to find this article were ‘mother employment’ and ‘family patterns”.

Cohen, P. N. (2011, March 2). Family Inequality. Retrieved from http://familyinequality.wordpress.com: http://familyinequality.wordpress.com/2011/03/02/getting-the-story-straight-on-working-mothers-and-childrens-risks/

The article basically measures the impact of mother employment and no mother employment on the health of children. The article also addresses the kinds of health issue that occur when mothers are employed and unemployed. The kind of health issues included asthma problems, overnight hospitalization and injury or poisoning. The studies suggested that nothing can be clearly deduced from the given data because the difference between the percentage of variables such as asthma problem was slight for both the scenarios; one in which moms worked and the other one in which moms didn’t work.

Although the article is very focused and raises a relevant issues, yet it fails to provide clear justifications about the true difference in health issues for mom’s worked and moms didn’t work. Therefore, the article is not very useful for my research paper and I would rather prefer a different article in which the deductions are properly made. the article was written to associate health issues with mother’s employment , but the deductions made were not accurate at all.

I retrieved the article from ‘Family inequality word press’ and the key works used for article search were ‘family patterns” and ‘mother employment’.

Dr. Abdul Sattar Almani, A. A. (2012). Study of the Effects of Working Mothers on the Development of Children in Pakistan. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 164-171.

The article was basically a research paper based upon the study carried out by various Pakistani scholars using a sample size of 3600, using 1600 students, 800 teachers and 1200 mothers. The study was carried to find the association between employed mothers and children. The research was also conducted on different children to differentiate the views of children with employed mothers and the children with unemployed mothers. The study found out that the trend for women employment has increased significantly in Pakistan and that the children with both mothers employed and unemployed had a positive impression about their mothers. The study also found out that the attachment between the employed mothers and the children is decreasing which can have a bad impact on the relationship between the both.

The article is somewhat useful for the fact that it does address the problem of women employment briefly. The focus was basically on the correlation between employed mothers and children. According to me the research failed to prove any negative relation between mothers and children. The article is written to highlight the increasing trends of women employment in the world, and the impact of employed women on the family life.

The article was retrieved from ‘IJHSSNET’ and the keywords were ‘Impact on children’ and ‘women employment.’

Gassman-Pines, A. (2007). The Relationship Between Maternal Job Characteristics, Maternal Mood, Mother Child Interaction, and child behavior in low income families. New York: ProQuest.

The article basically focuses on various variables related to mother and the sample taken for the research has been the low income families. The research was conducted on association between maternal job characteristics, maternal Mood, mother interaction with child and the behavior of child. The studies suggested that the association between maternal job characteristics and the child behavior were not proved And the research failed to show a negative relation between maternal jobs and children.

The article will not be beneficial in my research paper because it failed to prove an association between maternal jobs and children. the article was written to associate different maternal aspects with low income families. The key words for may research were ‘maternal employment’ and ‘child behavior’.

Hubbard, M. N. (2008). The Effect of Mother’s Employment and Child Care Decisions on the Body Mass Status of Young Children. Job Market Paper.

The article was basically a research paper written to associate mother’s employment with Child care decisions regarding body mass. The research was to associate mothers working full time with different child problems such as obesity. The results showed very uneven results and were not verified. According to my opinion this research was senseless because any human being can have a problem of obesity, and secondly mother’s employment has nothing to do with obesity. The results showed that mothers employment and obesity were negatively associated. Therefore, it was a pointless research indeed.

The article was written to create an association of child obesity with mother’s employment. The article was retrieved from ‘UNC’ website and the keywords used were ‘Mother employment’ and ‘childcare’.

Luscombe, B. (2010, october 18). Working Moms’ Kids Turn Out Fine, 50 Years of Research Says. Retrieved from healthland.time.com: http://healthland.time.com/2010/10/18/working-moms-kids-turn-out-fine-50-years-of-research-says/

The article from a website is about a recent study conducted on working moms and their children. The studies showed that working moms did not have any problems with their children and their family life had no issue. Surprisingly the study found a positive relationship between working moms and their children. Children less than three years of age with working moms were later rated as higher achieving and less prone to anxiety and depression according to the recent research. This is an interesting finding and very helpful to prove a positive association between working moms and their children.

The article will be of great help in my research because it has a lot of interesting facts about the relationship between working moms and children. I personally liked the article and will rate it as one of the best I have read.

The purpose of the article was to inform the people that women employment is not bad for children and is perfectly safe. The article was retrieved from ‘health land’ and the key words used for search were ‘mother employment’ and ‘child behavior’.

Merry, A. (2012, december 2). Working Mothers and the impact on Children. Retrieved from http://www.essayforum.com: http://www.essayforum.com/research-papers-11/working-mothers-impact-children-45071/

The website also offers a research paper published on the relationship between working mothers and their impact on children. The research paper found no serious association between working mothers and their children. And it also found some interesting facts that mothers tend to leave a job within one year when the first child is born, and that worried mothers tend to leave the job as well when their children are in distress. The author said that it is a personal choice for the mothers to work for their families or to stay at home. Therefore, the article suggests that employment of the women makes no difference on the family life and children. The article will be of great help in my research because the research done is very good. The article was retrieved from Google and the key words used were ‘mother employment’ and ‘impact on children’.

Rucker C. Johnson, A. K. (2010). Mothers’ Work and Children’s Lives. New York: UPJOHN INSTITUTE.

This book is very detailed and studies all the aspects of mother employment and its effects on children. the book discusses the mother employment reforms, the women’s employment study, the impact of low income mothers on their children and some policy recommendations. The book does not say that the employment of mothers is a bad thing but it does say that the job enrichment and job rotation strategy should be implemented to make the jobs o working women more motivating.

The book can be of great help in my research paper and I really like the book for its in depth coverage of the main concepts of mother employment.

The book was retrieved Using Google and the keywords used were ‘mother employment’ and ‘child care’.

Pastoralism is the dominant occupation in the Horn of Africa simply because the arid environment, with its scattered, inconsistent and often short and intense rainfall (when it occurs) permits no other consistent food harvest (Herr, 1992). The pastoralists largely obtain their food from their herds of cattle, sheep, goats and in the drier regions, camels. Some of these people cultivate agricultural crops where they can, most do not.

Pastoralist societies in Kenya are in transition. This reality is confirmed by studies on the pastoralist communities particularly on the Maasai, Boran, and Rendille of Kenya (Evangelou, 1984; Fratkin, 2001). The same can be said of the Gabra, the Ariaal, the Sakuye, the Samburu, and the Turkana (Oba, 2001). The transition is due to population growth, loss of herding lands to farmers, ranchers, game parks, urban growth, increased commoditization of the livestock economy, out-migration by poor pastoralists, and dislocations brought about by drought, famine, and ethnic conflicts coupled with privatization and individuation of formerly communally held resources.

The region of Northern Kenya (with an area of 250,000 km.) is arid and semi-arid. Rainfall is highly variable from year to year and drought is recurrent. Pastoralism is the dominant economic activity, given that agricultural potential is low. Farming is only possible in the few localities with high and medium agricultural potentials. Economic survival of the peoples of the region depends on management of many species of livestock: camels, cattle, donkeys, sheep and goats. Drought, disease and a certain measure of insecurity are all realities. Northern Kenya also borders highly unstable states, including Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia and Uganda, and the borders with these countries are porous, if they can be said to exist at all. The regional dimensions of conflict, and in particular the ease in which groups and arms cross borders has increased the incidences and severity of conflict in the region and led to a commercialization of cattle raiding and cattle rustling. The foregoing points to a near collapse of the traditional pastoral economy and fabrics of the social security systems thereby pointing to an uncertain future (Sobania, 1979; Kassam & Bashuna, 2004). Life in these environments is uncertain, dangerous and tenuous forcing many young people to migrate to urban areas in search of alternative livelihoods.

Given the harsh natural environment, pressure on natural resources, decline or collapse of , loss of livestock, lack of capital, and limited survival alternatives, encamped youths are for the most part destitute. Dislocated youths living in urban areas have to contend with rent, electricity, water and other bills, as well as buying food. This can be particularly challenging for those without a steady source of income. Many engage in petty trade, buying and selling vegetables, second-hand clothes and shoes (mitumba), food items, fuel (paraffin, charcoal, firewood), while others participate in itinerant hawking, boda boda (bicycle ‘taxis’), brick making, brick laying and selling water. A few work in factories, others have started small businesses such as brewing illicit liquors and tailoring. Some youths have been reduced to begging or crime in order to survive for lack of valid skills in the salaried sector. They find themselves isolated from family and friends in an environment characterized by inadequate amenities (Livingstone, 1986; Cernea, 1990; Bovin et al., 1990).

Pastoralist youths have suffered serious reverses in economic and social wellbeing such that they are unable to live up to established norms of supporting their households. This is because dislocation can devalue their shared survival skills whereby vital social networks and life support mechanisms for families are weakened or dismantled. Authority systems are debilitated or collapse (World Bank 1994, Cernea 1993b; 1994a). The proposed study will explore the causes and social consequences of the erosion of the pastoralist livelihood systems as exemplified in urban migration, urban crime, joblessness, substance abuse and other evidence of social and psychological anomie among youths with reference to Wajir District.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

In Wajir District it is estimated that 80% or more of the population depends on pastoralism. The district is predominantly arid and semi-arid, has a history of conflict and internal displacement. These are harsh realities that are made worse by marginalization by the government largely due to the district’s perceived lack of economic potential as well as a deficient understanding on how to support and promote nomadic pastoralism as a viable and sustainable livelihood. The district is further characterized by chronic drought (RoP, 1965; RoP, 2005). The cumulative result is the breakdown of social support systems rendering the provision of positive opportunities for asset accumulation impossible (Amuyunzu-Nyamongo & Ezeh 2005, Rakodi 2002). These realities have made social dislocation and or urban migration attractive alternatives (Ellis, 2000; Fratkin, 2001). Youthful individuals who experience social dislocation are at risk of social impoverishment. They are exposed to social problems of urban life such as joblessness, urban crime, drug and alcohol addiction. Their experiences may also increase their dissatisfaction with existing orders leading to an upsurge in crime and violence, accompanied by other symptoms of social and psychological distress (World Bank 1994, Cernea 1993b; 1994a; Oba, 2001). This study seeks to probe the experiences of social dislocation in Kenya with reference to youths from pastoralist communities in Wajir District.

1.3 Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to probe the experiences of social dislocation in Kenya with reference to youths from pastoralist communities in Wajir District.

1.4 Study Objectives

This study will be guided by the following objectives:

To provide an overview of the present challenges facing pastoralists in Wajir District

To provide the patterns of displacement among youthful pastoralists in Wajir District

To examine the difficulties of adjustment socially dislocated youths face in Wajir District

To determine remedies to the problem of social dislocation among youths in Wajir District

1.5 Research Questions

This study will be guided by the following research questions:

What are the present challenges facing pastoralists in Wajir District?

What are the patterns of displacement in Wajir District?

What adjustment difficulties do socially dislocated youths face in Wajir District?

What are the remedies to the problem of social dislocation among youths in Wajir District?

1.6 Research Assumptions

The study will be guided by the following assumptions:-

All the respondents will give reliable information without fear or favor.

That major towns in Wajir District have socially dislocated pastoralists youths.

That the findings of this study will assist policymakers and stakeholders to address the pastoralist crisis.

1.7 Justification for the Study

This study is significant because of the following reasons:

There is limited literature (Ellis, 2000; Fratkin, 2001) on the demasculation and decline in the social capital of the pastoralist economy in Wajir District. This study, therefore, by documenting this aspect, could immensely contribute to knowledge and literature on the experiences of social dislocation and how it impacts on youths from pastoralist communities in Wajir District.

The findings of this study could be relevant to policy-makers and other stakeholders such as NGOs and CBOs in formulating viable policies and intervention programmes to remedy the problem of social dislocation among youths in Wajir District.

The local community will hopefully benefit when the problem of social dislocation among youths in Wajir District is addressed.

1.8 Scope and Limitation of the Study

These are the boundaries to any study (Mugenda and Mugenda, 1999). This study will be carried out in Wajir East District in NEP Kenya. This study was prompted by the fact that the issue of social dislocation is a major challenge in Wajir District. The research will not cover broad issues outside the issue of social dislocation in Wajir District.

The study will limit itself to Wajir District. For more conclusive results, all geographical locations inhabited by pastoralist communities would have been studied. However, this is not possible due to financial and other logistical constraints such as time and duration of the study. Other limitations in this study include the tough terrain, poor transport infrastructure and general insecurity making it difficult to traverse the district during data collection. The researcher will make special travel arrangements to overcome these challenges.

1.9 Theoretical Framework

This study will be guided by the theories of social geometry and social capital.

The theory of social geometry links socially-constructed places, socially-constructed time, and socially-constructed personages in order to grasp routine and ritual activities (Fabian, 1992). The social geometry of a people consists of infinite intersections of socially-constructed spaces, socially-constructed times, and socially-constructed personages. And, for many cultures, the geometry also defines “who are we?” Research on environmental memories has discovered the near universality of fondly remembered childhood places, representing the intersection of culturally constructed time and place (Altman et al. 1994; Marcus, 1994; Chawla, 1994). Mitigating social dislocation begins by reconstructing the social geometry (spatial and temporal dislocation) of the displaced. This is because attachment to space and time can be a powerful binding force for displaced social groups.

Moser (1996) is renown for making significant contributions to the social capital theory. He argued that communities’ ability to cope depends not only on their material well-being, but also on their social capital – the trust, networks, and reciprocal arrangements that link people with their communities. Rural and urban migration often follow long established patterns drawing on networks of information and contacts established by earlier waves of migration. Up to a point, such social capital may be strengthened by economic crisis, but beyond that threshold, networks become overwhelmed and social systems break down with disastrous consequences (Cousins, 1993; Amuyunzu-Nyamongo & Ezeh 2005, Rakodi 2002).

Studies (Moser and McIlaine 2005; Buvinic et al., 1999) were undertaken on the experiences of migrants in urban environments especially with reference to Latin America. These studies established that social dislocation is accompanied by an upsurge in crime and violence, accompanied by other symptoms of social and psychological distress. These study’s findings indicate that social dislocation that manifest through the apparent breakdown of collective responses to livelihood erosion is both the result of a decline in the social capital of many pastoralist communities, and a causal factor in accelerating that breakdown by reinforcing social differentiation and decreasing levels of trust between individuals. Traditional, or informal institutions can often no longer maintain order, and neither do the formal institutions of the state command any confidence.

Social dislocation weakens and helps dismantle vital social networks and life support mechanisms for families and communities. Authority systems are questioned or simply collapse in the face of the arising new challenges thereby groups lose their capacity to self-manage and the society suffers a demonstrable reduction in its capacity to cope with uncertainty (World Bank 1994, Cernea 1993b; 1994a). This coupled with the high rate of migration into urban centers and the speed of economic change (not necessarily growth) complicates pastoralists adjustment.

1.10 Definition of Significant Terms

District – a geographical area defined with a gazetted political boundary and comprises of a number of divisions, locations and sub-locations.

Stakeholders – people/ institutions that are directly interested in the functioning of a school.

Social Dislocation – The emotional, psychological or physical experience by persons who were forced to separate themselves from the circle of people, places and activities on which they had depended (for their livelihoods).

CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction

This chapter review related literature under the following subheadings namely social dislocation, challenges facing pastoralist communities, difficulties of adjustment for socially dislocated pastoralists, remedies to the problem of social dislocation and gaps identified.

2.2 Social Dislocation

According to Sutro, Levingston and Downing (1988) people experience social dislocation when they are emotionally, psychologically or physically forced to separate themselves from the circle of people, places and activities on which they had depended (for their livelihoods). The debate on social dislocation revolves around the relationship between human activity and climate. The human-made dimensions of the pastoral plight are attributable to overstocking and other exogenous factors such as population growth, immigration, conflict and government policies. Climate related explanations revolve around drought, famine, decreased rainfall, floods, among others.

Sobania (1979) observes that each year drought results in dislocation of the poor, despite massive hand-outs of famine relief by governments and donors. For him, drought survival involves survival of the fabrics of the social security systems that must depend on survival of livestock, marketing of the produce and sharing the resources.

World Bank (1994) observes that each year, about 10 million people become involuntarily displaced and risk social impoverishment. Causes of social dislocation among pastoralists include limited access to water and pasture resources, loss of traditional grazing land, cattle raiding, lack of alternative sources of livelihood from pastoralism.

Fratkin (2001) observes that dislocations among pastoralist societies in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda are brought about by drought, famine, and civil war. These problems are intensified by the current trend of government policies that encourage privatization and individuation of formerly communally held resources (Lane, 1989; 1996).

Getachew (1995) and Fratkin (2001) attribute the prevalence of social dislocation among pastoral communities to the deteriorating conditions of food security and the breakdown of the traditional pastoral economy. They further note that worsening conditions of food security are occurring as interventions by states and international NGOs are decreasing. Several reasons exist for this state of affairs. First, development took no notice of the indigenous coping strategies of the pastoralists, their goals and aspirations (Grandin and Lembuya 1987, Hogg 1990). Second, because coherent government policies on drought are lacking, failure to reduce drought losses is frustrating the development efforts. Third, programs designed to help the pastoralists do not integrate their coping strategies into drought management plans (Huss-Ashmore and Katz 1989).

Bonfiglioli (1992) identifies six factors that to him are responsible for social dislocation among pastoralist communities. First, is the issue of climate and ecology – the lack of rainfall tends to set the array of vegetation over time, directly affecting livestock populations and pastoralists. Change in this parameter has worked to push pastoralists of the Sahel south. Second, demographic growth – this factor contributes principally to the push of pastoralists into nomadism. Third, the agricultural impasse – an increased demand for agricultural products has led to less fallowing and the opening up of more lands for agriculture at the expense of pasture land. These practices have led to disruptions in local level farmer-herder interchange. At another level, mega-project agricultural development has expropriated large areas of former grazing land. Fourth, government development policies – this factor is one of central control serving state interests rather than local interests. Additionally, mismanagement, faulty policies and international trade has worked to impoverish pastoralists. Fifth, incorporation into the market economy – essentially, this has been a double movement of increasing dependency and marginalization because of national production/exchange structures and the resulting loss of control by pastoralists over the terms of trade. Finally, insecurity, wars, and conflicts – the interplay of political conflict, ecological stress and resulting food insecurity is present throughout the drylands. Pastoralists have borne the brunt of this crisis both as soldier and victim.

Bovin and Manger (1990) noted that the political and economic dimensions of social dislocation include state policies that are seen to favor agriculture and settlement at the expense of pastoralism.

2.3 Challenges Facing Pastoralists Communities

The Sessional Paper No 10 of 1965 on African Socialism and its Application to Planning in Kenya presented the framework for development and equity in Kenya but also presented great dilemma when it noted public investment would go to areas of highest potential returns and people most responsive to change. This approach was to favour the former White Highlands while perpetuating the marginalization of areas like North Eastern Province and the malaria and tsetse fly infested western lowlands (RoK, 1965).

Little (1997) and Hogg (1988) documented a series of crises that led to losses and impoverishment among the Ilchamus pastoralists of Kenya. The Ilchamus crisis was attributed to loss of pasture to European settlers, market quarantines, farmer encroachment, use of communal grazing by absentee owner and the expansion of cultivation by herders. This reality could equally serve to describe the situation among pastoralists elsewhere in Kenya

Sperling and Galaty (1994) attributed the crisis among the Samburu and Maasai pastoralists in Kenya to the gradual truncation of pastoral relations and narrowing of their access to resources, in land use, labor and livestock networks. Such circumscription undermines the strength of a more collective specialized pastoralism – e.g. access to a range of pasture and an extensive shared labor pool – to the benefit of a privileged minority.

Fratkin (2001) used examples of the Maasai, Boran, and Rendille of Kenya to demonstrate that East African pastoralists are increasingly witnessing social and economic stratification, urban migration, and diminished nutrition for women and children as a result of increased economic diversification including agro-pastoralism, wage labor, and increased market integration.

Oba (2001) observes that pastoralists have to contend with environmental vagaries and conflicts over the exploitation of limited resources. While the traditional practice of cattle raiding was done seasonally as a rite of passage into adulthood, to obtain cattle for bride price, a means of restocking after calamities such as prolonged drought and raids were predictable, infrequent and controlled not to cause death or harmfully affect the lives or livelihoods of the society, today that is not he case any more. The Pokot, Turkana, Marakwet, Tugen and Keiyo raided each other, but lived harmoniously until the onset of multi-party politics in the 1990s, when the raids eventually acquired belligerent and criminal tendencies. As the practice gained political character, raiders disregarded the seasonal aspect of cattle theft. Whereas communities would organize missions to retrieve stolen animals, the introduction of small arms has changed the nature of such custom and undermined traditional conflict management arrangements. Increasingly, communities are amassing weapons for their own security, and to carry out raids and retaliation missions. Any number of armed young raiders can now go on raiding missions, with or without the blessing of the traditional elders who traditionally sanctioned raids

2.4 Difficulties of Adjustment for Socially Dislocated Pastoralists

Cernea (1990) revealed that social dislocation may lead to eight forms of impoverishment: unemployment, homelessness, landlessness, marginalization, food insecurity, loss of access to common property, erosion of health status, and social disarticulation. These findings were reconfirmed by a wider study conducted by the World Bank. Indeed, World Bank (1994) observes that following the drought of 1984, the phrase “new pastoralists” was coined to describe the growing number of stockless or near-stockless pastoralists clustered in and around prominent trading centers subsisting on famine relief. The implication is that those pastoralists who become involuntarily displaced and risk social impoverishment. Social impoverishment occurs when the displaced are unable to answer the primary cultural question – where are we? Or rather who are we?

Displacements in North Eastern Kenya has been due to resource conflict and security operation (Oba, 2001). For instance, in Manyatta Demo, Isiolo district, the pastoral economy has never recovered from the brutal government counter-insurgency activities in the 1960s and raiding by groups from the east in the 1980s and 1990s. Most residents have no capital or stock, and are obliged to produce and sell charcoal, an activity which is precarious, low return, and illegal. Women, on the other hand, have a much wider set of pursuits: collecting and selling of firewood, selling miraa (khat), milk, eggs and honey; gathering wild fruits, herbal medicines and incense; weaving baskets and mats; and making bread.

2.5 Remedies to the Problem of Social Dislocation

Studies (Bryceson, 1996; Ellis (2000) and Francis et al (2005) observe that livelihood diversification has been widely recognized phenomena in Africa in recent decades as households have sought to sustain themselves by means of a wider array of economic activities. While these processes can be a positive response to new opportunities, they may also reflect a forced shift into more marginal activities as assets become eroded and former livelihood systems unviable. Forms of diversification recorded in their study included shifts to new farm enterprises, to off-farm sources of income, and to non-farm activities.

Several studies in Kenya and elsewhere have laid this to rest (Green, 1987; Atwood, 1990; Carter, Wiebe and Blarel, 1991; Migot-Adholla, Hazell, Blarel and Place, 1991) the common belief that indigenous tenure systems impede productivity and the former mistaken notion of pastoralist overstocking and mismanagement.

McCabe (1990) and Ndagala (1990) recognized that the provision of certain developments such as boreholes and veterinary care have removed some constraints on the potential for herd increase with the possibility for localized forage depletion.

Behnke and Scoones (1992) and Scoones (1995) talked of ecological succession that captured fluctuating stocking rates and migratory patterns of forage exploitation that allow pastoral management to survive and even to flourish, sustaining livestock numbers in good years well beyond the conventional range management recommendations. These sentiments are supported by Bonfiglioli (1992) who argues that the image of eco-disaster and collapse should be tempered by the realization of the complexities, cultural resilience and the possibilities of pastoral viability. Besides, Sandford (1983) and Homewood and Rodgers (1987) observed that no satisfactory evidence was found for either declining for either declining productivity or overgrazing in either Baringo District, Kenya or the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in Tanzania.

Oba (2001) also opines that development programs might alleviate problems of social dislocation on a sustained basis if the people are helped to revive indigenous means of coping. This has not happened because improved knowledge of indigenous coping strategies, which is essential for developing food security policy, is lacking.

CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.0 Introduction

This chapter presents the research methodology for the study including the research design, the study site, target population, sample and the sampling techniques, data collection instruments, validity and reliability of the instruments, data collection procedures and data analysis.

3.1 Research Design

The study will use the survey design to explore the experiences of social dislocation in Kenya with reference to youths from pastoralist communities in Wajir District. A survey design is a technique where detailed information concerning a phenomenon is collected by posing questions to the respondents such that it becomes possible to find explanations for the social phenomenon in question (Wiersma & Churchill, 1995). Therefore, surveys design concerns gathering of facts or pertinent and precise information concerning the current state of a phenomenon and wherever possible conclusion from the facts discovered. The descriptive survey design is best suited for this study because it is aimed at description of state of affairs as they exist (Kombo & Tromp, 2006).

3.2 Study Location

This study will be conducted in Wajir District an administrative district in the North Eastern Province of Kenya. Its capital town is Wajir. The district has a population of 319,261 and an area of 55,501 km?. Wajir district has only one local authority: Wajir county council. The district has four constituencies: Wajir North, Wajir West, Wajir East and Wajir South. Wajir District is divided into fourteen administrative divisions. The researcher collected data from two divisions, namely, Habaswein and Central. These are the divisions that host important urban centres namely Habaswein and Wajir town respectively.

Borg & Gall (1989) noted that the ideal setting for any study should be easily accessible to the researcher and should be that which permits instant rapport with the informants. Wajir District is chosen because it is easily accessible to the researcher. Wajir District is of importance in this study because it has the right composition of the target population given that it has urban centres that have become attractive to dislocated pastoralist youths.

3.3 Target Population

The target population is the number of real hypothetical set of people, events or objects to which a researcher wishes to generalize his/her findings (Borg & Gall, 1989). The target population will consist of all dislocated pastoralist youths in Wajir District. The study will involve local provincial administration (chiefs), Muslim religious leaders comprising of Sheikhs, Imams, mosque committees and madrassa teachers. Other categories will include representatives of NGOs, CBO officials, government officials and youth groups leaders.

3.4 Sampling and Sampling Procedures

By observing the characteristics of a carefully selected and representative sample, one can make certain inferences about characteristics of a population from which it is drawn (Kothari, 1995). Mugenda and Mugenda (1999) suggest that 10% of the accessible population is adequate to serve as a study sample. Probability sampling will be used to obtain a sample of respondents to participate in the study.

Since we are selecting two divisions, the figure 2 becomes the benchmark for selection of respondents that will Muslim religious leaders comprising Sheikhs and Imams, madrassa teachers, representatives of NGOs, CBO officials, government officials, youth groups leaders, and village elders.

3.5 Research Instruments

This study will be based on primary and secondary data. Fieldwork incorporating personal observation will be utilized to obtain primary data. Primary sources of data will comprise field notes and reports made by the researcher with the help of two research assistants, interviews and observation summaries in the selected areas. The researcher and the assistants will use self-administered questionnaires to collect pertinent information from a cross section of informants.

A selfaˆ?completion questionnaire is deemed most appropriate for the proposed study. This is because questionnaires are easy to administer, friendly to complete and fast to score and therefore take relatively very little time of researchers and respondents. The questionnaire enables participants to feel free to note down their responses without inhibition since they are not being observed.

The study will use closed-ended and open-ended questionnaires, interviews and observation to draw responses from various categories of respondents. Open-ended questionnaires will be used to elicit in-depth information from respondents.

Secondary data will be gathered from official documents, development reports and other published and unpublished materials.

3.6 Instrument Validity and Reliability

Validity of a test represent the extent to which a test measures what it purpose to measure what it is supposed to be measuring (Orodho, 2005). To enhance content validity, the research instrument will be appraised by the project supervisors. Their contributions and suggestions will be used to clarify ambiguous questions and add new questions that would be forgotten. This will help reduce error in data collection.

Reliability concerns the degree to which the same results could be obtained with a repeated measure at accuracy of the same result concept. A pilot study will be conducted to ensure reliability of the questionnaire and to identify any needs for revisions. Participants of the pilot study will be asked to complete the instrument and to provide comments or suggestions for revising any ambiguous items.

Orodho (2005) observes that if the scores obtained from each respondent in the two tests are identical or quite close the measurement will be perceived to be reliable. The Pearson Product Moment Correlation will be employed to compute the correlation coefficient in order to establish the extent to which the content in the questionnaires are consistent in eliciting every time the instrument is administered. A correlation coefficient of about 0.8 will be considered high enough to judge the instrument as reliable.

3.8 Data Collection Procedures

The researcher will seek a research permit from the Ministry of Education then notify the office of the district commissioner, the district education officer and the local administration. The researcher will then visit the respondents and give out the respective questionnaires to each of the respective selected respondents personally. The researcher will be available throughout to offer assistance to the respondents and make any necessary clarifications.

3.7 Data Analysis

Data collected from the field will be cleaned and prepared for data analysis. Data analysis will be done using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Data presentation will take the form of descriptive statistics (i.e. frequency tables, cross-tabulations, pie charts and bar graphs).

3.8 Ethical Considerations

A permit will be sought from the Ministry of Education to carry out the research. The researcher will obtain informed consent from the institutions and participants. The respondents will be assured that the information obtained from the data will only b

Emile Durkheim was a sociologist who pioneered in the study of social order. He theorized how societies maintained social order on mechanical and organic forms as well as transitions to industrialized society form a primitive one.

In a primitive society, people act and think alike because of a mechanical solidarity. On the other hand, an advanced society will have its people in divisions of labor where they are allocated and rewarded accordingly. Both moral and economic regulations are necessary in order for social order to exist and can be achieved by putting in place laws. The transition, therefore from a primitive to an advanced society may cause a crisis which eventually ceases upon maturity into an advanced society.

Division of labor has an important role to play in the society since it does not rely on provision of economic services only, but also creates harmony between people. Economists would only look at division of labor as a means to increase production although much more need to be derived from it in form of living in new and better conditions. This fact contrasts with Marx theory which looks down upon division of labor as individualizing people and creating inequality in labor.

The core principal why division of labor is vital is that humans derive happiness in being free to possess material thing and to seek them. This makes its influence to be on a personal level and based on one’s psychological liking. Specialization in the face of division of labor creates a need in individuals to operate on a communal basis so that they may maximize the returns and hence increased happiness. As opposed to Marx theories, private property will not achieve much and he proposes a communal setting.

The application of Durkheim’s theory on division of labor may be of great value to modern society. He uses scientific methods to explain the source and evolution of an ordered society. This gave rise to sociology which envisions the society as being composed of several factors which must act in tandem. Wherever there is a common ideology between people living together, they tend to have creative thinking that can be of use to them. This works well especially if they are great in numbers since they can always support each other. Division of labor has had a history of revolution to what it is today.

Chapter 5: The Increasing Preponderance of Organic Solidarity and its Consequences

Durkheim, in his division of labor theory proposes an organic like solidarity. The presence of laws to govern and regulate the society in that solidarity is essential. But what is ironical is that laws governing a society are sometimes repressive and apply to specific parts. The relationships in a society that would require penal measures are few compared to areas where say domestic, contractual and commercial laws may find application. The solidarity that may be sought by a common conscious society does not get the fullest expression in law. Cooperative law does not meet the threshold to enable social cohesion to take place.

There is need to find relationships that exist although it has not been done previously. Organic solidarity contribution to the general harmony of a society need to be studied in detail and understood so that its application may be of benefit. An individual attachment to a society in dependent on a number of factors which includes forces and bonds which in turn may be strong or weak. This however may not be a reason why an individual may choose to remain in or leave a society.

A case in study is the traditional tribal chiefs who got left by their followers in case of misunderstanding or difference in opinion. Under division of labor, events are somewhat different since people tend to rely on each other to meet their needs. A society would never risk being isolated from the rest of humanity because what they lack in provisions is obtained from the other society. An individual in such a circumstance of isolation may feel isolated and disturbed. To counter this, some tribes have systems of incorporating new members into the society by naturalization or adoption. A good example is Romans who provided refuge for those conquered during the war and hence the primitive society grew.

The adopted individual was supposed to absorb the practices and beliefs of this new society. Solidarity ensures the person sticks if and only if there is harmony and relationships are maintained.

There are various rules forbidding acts contrary to the sentiments of the collectivity which are either positive or negative and may involve such fields as religion, nationality, domesticity, work, traditions and sexual relations. Others have to do with personal conduct and possessions. Each of these sentiments has respective rule which may change over time according to the society and its level of advancement.

In is notable that some of the rules have origin in the Ten Commandments or even in ancient civilizations like Greek and Romans. Morals were very important and an accusation of failure to comply was punishable. For example sentiments dealing with sexual relations are punishable according to the Pentateuch and various verses in the Bible support this. In addition, the Romans and Greeks too would define those acts they deemed immoral and either fine or punish the offender.

Many other civilizations like Egyptians and West African tribes had ways to punish crimes committed and in different ways. Each crime on the other hand has different punitive measures it attracted. In religion, a number of taboos, sacrifices and rites were observed to please the deities. An individual failure to follow the norm could be deemed an outcast or even killed. Sexual immorality too had set down rules defining for example the kind of normal relationships and abnormal ones.

The rules and regulations that existed sometimes ago were not always perfect and or applicable to each emerging situation. Slaves for example, despite being human, were excluded from justice whether they were against the society laws on not. In many societies, children are treated differently from adults and this can contribute their rights being denied. Modern society has nevertheless grown and so has the regulation that need to be in place. But what is evident is that no new rules have been introduced; only the intensity of their application has increased. The area of jurisdiction has also moved from the general society to be more individual oriented.

Religion has been the most complex factor contributing to differences in social life. Each religion has its own deity and ways of life which need not necessarily conform to other people in order for them to exist. Further, religion has seen people make choices on where to live, who to associate with, eating habits, dressing and many other aspect of life. In primitive societies, such issues brought about many conflicts albeit in modern society, they have declined due to emergence of other aspects and disciplines of life. Economics, politics and other sciences have led people to differentiate between religion and social life; these two used to be synonymous. Any problem can thus be dealt with according to the field it belongs.

Traditions have too been a hindrance because of the many and diverse teachings from the ancestors. Proverbs which encouraged or discouraged people in their endeavors still have power over people’s life. They in fact created a course on which an individual had to pass through out their life.

Comparing one society to another is important so as to learn the best ideals for the modern ones. Division of labor in the face of all progressions in societies has been forefront in defining if those societies survive or perish. It is the division of labor that has acted as a glue to stick individuals together and whole societies in general. Modern technology and studies will help in learning the best forms of societies to maintain.

Chapter 2: The Forced Division of Labor

Existence of rules does not necessarily mean harmony. It is the same rules that make it possible to have evil in society.

For example in a class was, division of labor created conflicts since those in the lower class may not be content with their share and contribution. This fact contrasts in other organisms which regardless of their position still maintain their class and work towards achieving goals assigned to them without desire to occupy other elements position or role.

The scenario is different when it comes to human society because of ambitions and desires. No one can argue that they were destined for a particular type of job or live. When such discomforts arise it is then inevitable to change course and seek fulfillment elsewhere. Division of labor as already discussed is meant to produce solidarity and since this can not be achieved in cases of imitation common to humans, change and adjustments are necessary. A good case was recorded between plebeians and patricians where division of labor existed. Sooner, the plebeians began to imitate the upper class and sought the same roles they had because they had reached a point to see everyone in equal times. Conflicts arose resulting to a conclusion that solidarity can only be imperfect for it to exist.

An individual nature must be in harmony with all social functions failure to which division of labor can not occur. This is achieved by realizing different abilities each an individual has and the skills they possess. But still there are some people who set higher goals beyond their abilities and therefore happiness is to them comes only after fulfilling their dreams. To such people, they should be made to understand that proportionality to ones means is important. Spontaneity becomes an element of use in every social setting where solidarity is implied.

Individuals must also be able reject forced labor and no obstacles should hinder their pursuit to fit in any position. Caste system has seen people with abilities prevented from accessing jobs even though they have ability to perform. In modern times a trend similar can be found in some careers where it becomes very difficult to be absorbed or as if one is not right to be found there. Inequalities of this kind however have been in decline as people embrace fairness in employment for instance in public sector. Organic solidarity is compromised by external inequalities and this is by far felt by higher societies.

Interesting enough is the fact that although individuals may feel dissatisfied because of inequalities; they will not be against the social order which is the root cause. They continue to support it considering that they derive beliefs and practices from the same society. The social order has also morals and religious systems that are deemed sacred. Inequalities are bound to be natural in such circumstances that an individual will suffer alone without raising eyebrows.

In contrast, every cause affecting organic solidarity weakens the social bond. If any condition is touched then the whole set up suffers greatly and it translates to individuals disengaging from the social order. Equality is vital in external conditions so as to secure an individual to his or her function. All higher societies may require a consensus and shield themselves from any disturbance. The main difference between primitive and higher societies is the presence of voluminous laws that govern them. Contractual solidarity comes into play for the society to continue to live in harmony.

Everything in any society has a social value that represents the usefulness of it towards meeting people’s needs. This value can not be measured mathematically but can only be felt. If it fluctuates, which can be caused by abnormal activities, the effort received must equal the effort given to create equilibrium. But generally humans would rather receive more than what they gave out thus a constraint need be in place to counter this effect. A sufficient condition for an equivalence to take place is that parties under a contract be placed under equal external conditions. When equality is achieved, complains become less and every individual therefore feels content. Contracts therefore will lead to consensus after having been through the necessary relations like ceremonies, intentions and formulae.

Just as in the ancient civilizations, Romans, the rule and application of law was important in determining if a contract is null and void. Modern societies tend to shy away from real application of law and refuse to accept certain aspects of contracts. Example is when one party is placed at the mercy of the other and therefore becomes oppressed because they are weak. The public conscience will demand equal treatment and also value for whatever transaction there was.

Economists have contributed by pointing out the spontaneity of social life should be devoid of constraint which only makes it deviate from natural causes. Morality and freedom are two values that ought to be checked so that they remain within the set limits. Regulation eventually brings about liberty.

Some areas where inequality is observed are, for instance, physical strength and domestic life where each man can be higher or lower in comparison to another. This means then that liberty is not present. All external forces must be subordinate to social forces for social life to develop. It requires a man to sober up and become a social being in order that he can live with nature in harmony.

Modern societies, unlike previous ones, need to work hard to mend social relationships. Moving away from the past where segmented social life was common to organized and developed societies. The earlier people depended on faith to survive and modern ones require justice. It is important to pursue these conditions as long as social revolution remains and no factors change.

Relationship between the two chapters:

The two chapters deal with organic solidarity and its merits and demerits in social life. As has been discussed in both chapters, division of labor is a very important feature in every social life. It ensures that people are left a choice to make the best out of their lives by embarking or playing on roles that would be beneficial to them. Both chapters encourage presence of division of labor with one insisting on presence of regulation and the other dealing with inequalities and external forces. Solidarity ensures unity so that whatever a person may wish to acquire can be achieved by depending on another say for assistance.

The individual person is also considered the most important in the society since he is the smallest unit that defines what that society will look like. Therefore, the individual despite being regulated in his endeavor for sustainability also need to have certain freedoms. Regulation can happen by putting in place laws that will govern the daily undertakings of man to an extent where nobody is liable to cause conflicts. These laws must therefore be just and fair to every member of a society.

Freedom in a society is also encouraged so that each individual acts in accordance with their abilities. This then means that systems which do not promote freedom of choice like the caste system need to be abolished to pave way to freer societies. Freedom can too be extended to material possessions whereby each person can possess as much as he may require in achieving happiness. Religion despite it playing a center stage in moral development should not be a hindrance to social progress.

Elimination of forced labor is essential so as to ensure a person makes his choices out of free will and they are not coerced to follow a direction against their wish. Employment especially in public places should be done by considering one’s abilities and skills and not the social background they come from.

Equality is another factor that has been emphasized in both chapters; be it in accordance to an individual in relation to another or to factors affecting social life. In regard to an individual, equality comes about when transacting goods and services with other people. It ensures that a service received is commensurate to the one rendered and that no party gets to oppress the other. Isolation of an individual by the rest of the society is also considered to ensure that they become as much part of a society as possible.

In conclusion, both chapters stress the need for division of labor in modern societies if they have to last. Such therefore can be attained in an environment where there is harmony, solidarity, equality, liberty, and just regulation. Durkheim, being the father of sociology, has made immense contribution and his theories if put to work can work for the benefit of mankind.

Geographical knowledge has a long history in human development. Throughout the history of geography, it mostly involved developing knowledge of the physical features of the world but this history is itself a kind of presentation of human history. In the 19th Century, geography became formally regarded as a discipline, and human geography became established as an essential branch of the natural science; it refers to both geographical information and human activities, i.e. it includes both human geography and physical geography (Johnston, 2000). This essay firstly discusses the meaning of the discipline ‘human geography’. Following this, it describes how human geography relates to development. Subsequently, it assesses the key themes/issues relevant to development as explored by scholars, and studies the research techniques used by researchers in this discipline. Finally, it gives an example of a published piece of work stating how it is relevant to our understanding of contemporary development.

1 The discipline of human geography

Geography can be divided into two major parts: physical and human. Both are branches of natural science, which encompass the study of the living world. Physical geography mainly deals with the processes of the atmosphere, biosphere and ecosphere, whereas human geography studies people, culture, population distributions, the urban environment, etc. It studies many cultural aspects and how they relate to their environment as well as why people migrate and how this impacts on their culture. Human geography is special in that the findings of the study of human geography may vary over time.

2 Human geography and development

Marston et al. (2005) referred to human geography as incorporating several sub-disciplines, such as globalization, urbanization, the environment and migration. These are interrelated as the condition of one of these can be reflected in the development of another. Human geography discusses the profound interaction of cultural, environmental and social evolution, and considers the views that societies adopt in addressing these issues (Robinson, 2006). Thus, the core of human geography engages directly with change and development, but can be extended to deal with the economic, social, institutional and environmental dimensions of sustainability.

Development can present diverse patterns, each with its own characteristics, as the different aspects of development, i.e. culture, economy and politics vary all the time. We can consider all these changing patterns as the results of development. The factors in development interact with each other, and change in one field can affect another or lead to changes elsewhere. Development transforms people’s lives, and as a result, development gradually alters human geography, particularly the aspects of human lifestyle, the political environment, the economic situation and even nature. Thus, the human geography of a place is its phylogeny, and that is how human geography relates to development.

3 Key themes/issues relevant to development

Human geography is an incomplete discipline without considering development, to which there are various branches, such as culture, economics, politics, health and history. However, we will discuss these aspects under the headings generally adopted by researchers, as below.

3.1 Culture

Culture is the norms and practices of people in particular places, and it encompasses language. It also reflects the region of settlement and other phenomena that may change or remain consistent. The first traces of the study of various cultures in different regions appeared in early 20th Century. At that time, the study of culture study was considered as an alternative to environmental determinism, which argued that human beings and societies are determined by their environment. It focuses on describing and analyzing the ways language, religion, economy, government, and other cultural phenomena vary or remain constant from one place to another and on explaining how humans function spatially (Jordan-Bychkov, et al 1994). Culture is a profound condition and is related to a region, and it has a significant impact on regional development. On the other hand, development can greatly affect cultural norms. The interaction of culture and development is just one aspect of human geography.

3.2 History

History is the study of a wide variety of topics, including physical, theoretical, human, fictional and real geographies as well as the past. Historical geography mainly discusses how a place or region changes through time, how people interact with their environment and how the cultural landscape is created. In essence, human history is the phylogeny of people, while human geography is the study development.

3.3 Globalization

Globalization is the process of worldwide integration derived from the interplay of world views, products, ideas and aspects of culture. It reveals the interchange of social and cultural forces, including economics, politics and religion. The Economics, politics and religion play an important role in the development of a region. (Al-Rodhan, R.F. Nayef and Gerard Stoudmann. 2006) Furthermore, the regional conditions of these factors are products of development. Advances in telecommunications, transportation and Internet business are key factors of globalization, and so development involves, in particular, industrial progress and national or international trade, and studying the close relationship between the environment, the economy and real estate. Trade is the exchange goods and services, and the ensuing economic development can improve the standard or quality of life; real estate is a reflection of the extent of urbanization. Therefore, only with all these developmental aspects can globalization become realized.

3.4 Migration

Migration is the movement of people from one region or country to another, where they are not ‘locals’ but settle there. Economic migrants generally seek better education, job opportunities, life conditions and so on; the status of development in the home nation/region is the most crucial factor in immigration. Political migrants generally seek freedom from oppression. Some migration is based on other, more personal reasons, and may be the product of culture and tradition. Immigrants can bring new changes and such interplay or intercommunication partly contributes to the evolution of human geography.

3.5 Urbanization

Urbanization is the development of cities, and many rural migrants concentrate in cities, resulting in the physical growth of the urban environment. The structure and experiences of the urban landscape are crucial to human geography. Urbanization is closely linked to modernisation, industrialisation and the sociological process of rationalisation. During the process of development, cities and towns grow, and urban population around the world have been soaring. Urbanization is not just a social phenomenon; rather, it is a historic reform of human behaviour on a worldwide scale. The rapid growth of some big cities, such as Chicago in the 19th Century and Tokyo in the 20th Century, is largely the result of rural-urban migration; it is commonplace in developing countries. People living in cities can take advantage of diversity, proximity and competition in the marketplace. With all these factors, the urban environment can develop rapidly.

3.6 Environment

Environment is a subfield of human geography and a reflection of development. Specifically, transformation of the environment is a result of physical and biological factors caused by the interactions of culture, customs, politics, industry and other aspects, i.e. development. Being part of human geography, the environment changes during the development process, and these changes also affect human geography.

4 Research techniques used in human geography

4.1 Social surveys

Social survey is a crucial method in obtaining human geography information. The object of the study of human geography is to comprehend the social environment, and in this, social investigation is key to understand the cultural landscape and social phenomena clearly, scholars use social investigation as a means of collecting information and opinions relating to particular social events or trends. To garner the views and thoughts of people, researchers can conduct surveys among the target population. Social surveys also entail consulting historical data or other materials to develop a picture of change, and thus, through social investigation, we can understand both the past and present ages better.

4.2 Document collection

Documents represent a priceless treasure of human history and geography, and can reveal the experiences and the scientific and technological achievements of ourselves and our predecessors. Current documents can be classified as paper and non-paper materials. Paper materials often refer to books, journals, reports and other data sources, from which people can gain knowledge of human geography. Non-paper materials mean the Internet, where researchers can access knowledge mostly relating to the present era. Searching on-line libraries or particular website-based information resources can assist in gathering a great deal of information quickly. With the development of science and technology, the means of document collection will become more diversified.

4.3 Exploiting data sources

Our predecessors left much precious information about human geography. We contemporary people can gather these materials together, assess them, compare them and draw conclusions from them. As a result, we can learn of the development of human geography. Examining historical data can help us understand the differing features of human geography in different regions. Through assessing the differences between historical and current data, researchers can determine how people, culture, economics, politics and other factors have varied over time, i.e. what changes have occurred in a location, what kinds of inhabitants have ever lived there and what traditions they had and have. All the information can be found through careful organization and collation of the data. These methods are different from but complementary to surveys and document collection, but involve a great deal of effort in handling the data.

4.4 Spatial analysis

Spatial analysis can be used in complex cases, and involves defining the varying spatial locations of the entities being studied. Applied to human geography, spatial data analysis can reveal population distribution patterns, the densities of structures at the human scale and spatial population dynamics. The characteristics of these issues are constantly changing in line with human development. Scholars often establish models by using spatial data to analyse the factors that impact on population distribution, etc. Spatial analysis contributes to assisting a deeper comprehension of the features of human geography, taking a spatial overview of the dynamics of population structures resulting from development.

4.5 Interviews

Interviewing stems from the desire to know more about the people around us and to better understand how the people around us view the world we live in.(Seidman,1998) Thus, interviewing is most effective when the goal of the given research is to gain insight into the “subjective understanding” of those around us. In the past, it was uncommon to use interview as a method to study human geography. Gradually, researchers realized the importance of people’s social background, education, cultural and traditional norms in decision-making. Only through interviewing special groups of people can researchers identify the factors that influence behaviour. In underdeveloped regions, people there may not be literate, and so interview is the best method for obtaining first-hand materials to study their history and culture. Not only can researchers learn about specific events in development, they can also gain insight into people’s interior experiences, specifically how people perceive their world and how they interpret their perceptions, and how events are affected by their thoughts and feelings. In this, researchers can understand the process of an event instead of what just happened and how the subjects reacted to it.

5 One example illustrating how human geography is relevant to development

An article entitled ‘Progress in Human Geography’ by (Radcliffe 2004) discusses the evolution of human geography, and argues that global networks and human rights are related to this discipline because it is now clear that these two factors have a great impact on national development. This is just one example of many, telling us that the development of one country is inextricably linked to human geography.

Conclusion

Human geography is a representation of economic, political and historical development, and it examines the interplay between people and the built, rather than the natural, environment (although environmental impacts are considered). The interaction of a wide variety of factors drives human history to move on, as people seek to improve their lives and raise their living standards. A multitude of changes have occurred and will continue to occur as human behaviour changes, resulting complex contemporary societies in which cultures and identities are transformed. Thus human geography is the study of the change, formation and transformation of people and nations over time, or the taking of snapshots of particular human events, behaviours or activities.

Earthquakes can have disastrous effects on humans and on the environment. An earthquake is the result of trembling, rolling and vibration of the ground triggered by the sudden release of energy that is stored below the surface of the Earth (Ford 2004). A scientific instrument called a seismometer is used by scientists to record, and measure strengthens of earthquakes (McNally 2007). The intensity or the size of an earthquake is measured by a number called the magnitude. Actually, earthquakes occur in everyday and everywhere and as a result, the estimate by scientists for each day is that more than thousands minor earthquakes happen without triggering any physical damage and mostly they are imperceptible. Earthquakes frequently occur in the following countries: China, Indonesia, Pakistan, Iran, United States, Japan, and the Philippines. In these regions there are a lot of earthquakes and also they have numerous volcanoes. There are three main causes of earthquakes: tectonic plate movement, human activities, and volcanic eruptions.

2. Background

Earthquakes destroy property and cause death. On July 28, 1976, there was a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in the city of Tangshan (Rosenberg 1997). The strength of the earthquake was recorded by a scientific instrument called a seismometer, also known as a seismograph. It is an instrument that can detect and measure the ground motion from an earthquake (McNally 2007). At 0342 local time, the earthquake hit Tangshan and over a million of people were sleeping. As a result, hundreds of thousands of people were killed and many people were reported missing and presumed dead. There were a lot of people were badly injured. Tangshan is located in Northeastern China ?an area devastated by earthquakes. The earthquake was so strong that it triggered infrastructure collapse including houses, schools, shops, heath clinics, roads, railway station, factories, and bridges. The people in Beijing also felt the tremors. A lot of people lost their lives because most their houses were completely destroyed. The city of Tangshan is being rebuilt nowadays by its citizens.

3. Causes

3.1 Cause 1: Tectonic Plate Movement

The main cause of earthquakes is tectonic plate movement. The crust of the earth consists of many pieces called tectonic plates. There are plates along the outer layer of the earth which are floating on the molten magma under the crust of the earth. (Ganguly 2008) The convection current in the molten magma drive the plates to move inside the earth. They move continuously until they pass through each other. When the two plates meet together, they start to push and rub each other but they are not moving. After a while, the pressure beneath builds up and keeps on rising. Once they cannot contain the pressure, it will be expelled. This sudden release of energy and the strength of the plates cause the ground shake and the two plates start to break. (Why do earthquake happen? n.d.) For example, on December 26, 2004, an earthquake hit the Sumatra, Indonesia where the Indian and Burmese plates in India Ocean are broken and one plate is moved across the top of the other plate. (Magnitude 9.1-Off the West Coast of Northern Sumatra 2008) The region that breaks on the crust is known as a fault which usually can be seen on the surface of the earth. The point where earthquakes begin and break the plates underground is known as focus and above the focus, on the surface of the earth is called the epicenter. During plate movement, one plate gets submerged into the molten magma and another plate is moved across the top of it. This plate rises up due to the heat of molten magma. The plates keep on moving until they get stuck against each other. Most earthquakes take place on the edges of the plates where one plate is forced further into the earth crust while another plate is moved across the top of the submerged plate.

3.2 Cause 2: Human Activities

Another contributing factor to earthquakes is human activities. There are many human activities that cause an earthquake. Building skyscrapers is a good example that may cause an earthquake. Many engineers and scientists are concerned about the types of buildings in construction. Skyscraper Taipei 101 with the height of 508 meters which is the world’s tallest building. According to the geologist Cheng Horng Ling (2005), from the National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei 101 may cause an earthquake because the 101-storey skyscraper is built the stress on an earthquake fault. An ancient earthquake fault may reopen as the stress from the buildings exerting on the ground increases. Besides that, the injection of fluids in the mountain or into the crust of the earth also triggers earthquakes. A long time ago, the main purpose of humans injecting fluid was that the injection was the best way to dispose of toxic waste. For example, in the Rocky Mountains where there is a place for waste disposal. (Madrigal, A 2008) The injection of fluids into deep wells causes changing of the stress of the underground and the stress can generate an earthquake. Furthermore, the release of pressure when extracting oil and natural gas can also cause earthquake.

3.3 Cause 3: Volcanic Eruptions

In addition, volcanic eruptions can also cause earthquakes. Normally, earthquakes are very active in areas of volcanic activity where they can either occur on their own or with the eruption. (Presnell 2002) Most of the time, the earthquakes triggered by the eruption of volcanoes are within ten to twenty miles around the volcanoes. In order to release the huge pressure that builds up by the molten magma underneath the earth crust, it always tries to look for an opening or an area that is fairly weak. (Ganguly 2008) Therefore, areas that have active volcanoes accompanied by volcanic activities are always prone to the earthquakes because the pressure builds up by the magma has surpassed the limit that earth crust can sustain. If a volcano eruption produces acidic lava then it can be predicted that there will an earthquake with the strongest magnitude. It is because acidic lava will solidify once it contacts the air and block the volcano’s vents so that pressure cannot escape. As a result, pressure is developed inside and the resultant explosion can be destructive and destroying, producing an earthquake of significant magnitude.

4. Transition Statement

Having looked at the causes of earthquakes, its main effects will be discussed in the following. The effects can be in terms of social, environmental and economic. An earthquake can bring great impacts to the society. It is an unbearable scene as people die in the aftermath of earthquakes and leaving their love one to suffer from their death. Some of natural disasters like tsunamis and landslides can be triggered by earthquakes. Earthquakes can also have disastrous effect to the country’s economy.

5. Effects

5.1 Effect 1: Social Impacts

One of the biggest effects of earthquakes is the social impact on survivors. Earthquakes have short term impacts as well as long term impacts. The short term impacts can be seen in the aftermath of earthquakes. We can see thousands of people dying and many corpses. The 2008 earthquake in Sichuan, China, for instance, caused tens of thousands of deaths and hundreds thousands of people were injured. (Magnitude 7.9-Eastern Sichuan, China 2008.) A powerful earthquake can destroy buildings, factories, shops, roads, bridges and schools. These cause many people to become homeless. Furthermore, earthquakes can cause disruption to public services like transport systems and communication connections. (Earthquake n.d.) Worst of all, survivors face a lack of drinking water because water pipes burst and water supplies are contaminated. In the cases of long term social impacts, thousands of children became orphans as their parents are killed in the earthquake. Most of the parents are depressed and the town lost a generation because their children were killed in schools that collapsed.

5.2 Effect 2: Environmental Impacts

There are also environmental impacts. A tsunami, for instance, is produced by an earthquake. Tsunamis are tidal waves that are caused by the sudden movement of plates under the sea floor during an underwater earthquake. (What are effects of earthquakes? n.d.) This wave can move swiftly a long way across the ocean. (Effects of earthquakes n.d.) When a large scale of tsunami hits the seashore area, it can trigger enormous erosion as well as destroy buildings in its path. Worst of all, people will also be washed away by the tsunami. For example, on December 26, 2004, a tsunami hit some nations around the Indian Ocean and caused hundreds of thousands of deaths. Earthquakes can cause landslides. It is very dangerous especially for buildings in unstable area on hillsides or mountains where soft soils can be liquefied by the tremors of earthquakes. During an earthquake, buildings can fall down hills with soil and bury people under the soil. People will be buried alive. In addition, aftershocks are also effects of earthquakes. Aftershocks are small tremors which disperse it to other places and other people can feel it after the main shocks of an earthquake. For instance, in Penang, Malaysia, there are no earthquakes, but when an earthquake happened in Sumatra it was so great that even Malaysians living in Penang experienced aftershocks. (See 2006)

5.3 Effect 3: Economics Impacts

Apart from social and environmental impacts, earthquakes also have negative effects on a nation’s economy. Governments have to be responsible for the damage caused by earthquakes. As we can see, earthquakes cause infrastructures to collapse, reservoirs dams, shops, and hospitals are devastated after an earthquake. (Earthquake n.d.) Governments have to spend sizeable amounts of money to rebuild the place. Earthquakes also cause spending of the capital to distribute food and medicine to victims. Markets in particular may be disrupted and this causes uneasy trade. Furthermore, investors whose money is in that particular area for development may decide to withdraw. Once the investors withdraw the investment in the particular country, it will a cause loss of job opportunities as well as the country’s income diminishing and an unstable of economy.

6. Conclusion

In conclusion, earthquakes are hard to predict and can happen any time. Tectonics plate movement, human activities and volcanic eruptions are 3 of the causes of earthquakes, whose effects can be felt socially, environmentally, and economically. As we can see, prevention of earthquakes is absolutely impossible, so, suitable action to reduce injury and death is of uttermost importance. Some safety action should take place, such as evacuation and safety build structures to resist earthquakes. Some countries, such as the United States and Japan carried out research about public buildings designed to resist earthquakes. (Moleworth 2008) The results are that the whole building will move to and fro without trembling. It is very important to have this facility in earthquakes zones as damage and lives are at risk.

(1775 words)

References

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My personal reasons for choosing this dissertation topic stem from an interest in how media representations shape the attitudes of wider society. I feel it is important to note that I am writing as a non-disabled student with the view that disability studies and research should not just be the interests of disabled people. Issues of inequality and social injustice need to be considered by all members of society, while ensuring that the views, definitions and experiences of the particular group remain central to the discussion. It has been made apparent that the voices of disabled people have been absent from discussion because of the assumption that they need others to speak them and decide on their needs (Barton, 1993). Dominant views of disability dictate that it is a personal problem of the individual, based on biological impairment. However, I strongly advocate a social model of disability which emphasises that oppression and discrimination by society is the cause of experiences of disability. I plan to make this my main approach in writing my dissertation. Barton (1996, pg. 5) describes disability studies within the field of Sociology as an ’emancipatory project’ and argues that the fundamental question we must ask ourselves is whether ‘the sociological imagination contributes to the benefit of disabled people’ (original emphasis) I believe that any research which aims to illuminate the prejudices implicit in cultural representations of disability, are necessary pursuits and it is vital to seriously consider the reasoning behind research projects as well as the ultimate impact they are aimed to have on particular groups.

There has been many publications regarding disability and media representation in recent times which highlights that disability, impairment and disabled people are being frequently misrepresented in the mass media. Research has also suggested that such media representations have an alarming affect on the attitudes of the public. This issue can be divided into three key areas, the use of disability stereotypes, the use of specific language and images of disability and the under-representation of people with impairments working within the mass media. Pressures from disabled activists and legislation such as the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 2005 have brought this issue onto the agenda and worked to improve the rights of disabled people. An increasing awareness of the issues has resulted. However, the extent of this awareness is debatable as there is still much work to be done in tackling the negative and disempowering portrayals within the media and the current views of society. It is clear that the media has not made sufficient changes and therefore this issue remains extremely relevant. My aim is to explore the representations of disabled people to see whether any changes have been made.

1.3.3 Can Disability be represented positively?

It is safe to say that the majority of media depictions of Disability and impairment are incorrect and exclude people with impairments from participation within media production. During my search for literature on the issue of disability and the media, I found that a substantial amount of studies were very critical of the media and focus only on negative stereotypical portrayals with an inclusion of recommendations for their demise. An example which I plan to use in my literature review chapter is Barnes’ (1992) ‘disabling imagery and the media’ which ambitiously attempts to deal with all aspects of the media in misrepresenting disability. Despite such an extensive collection of studies in this area, there is very little literature which focuses on the representation of disability by disabled people themselves. It could be argued that there are not enough media sources which involve disabled people of which to analyse. However very recently I am pleasantly surprised to see that there are a few emerging. Notable examples include the Channel 4 ‘mockumentary’ ‘Cast Offs’ in which six characters with different impairments live together on an island. The show highlights many disability issues and challenges stereotypes of disability. Themes include sexuality, disabled identity and the exclusion of disabled actors and actresses from television (Wilde, 2009). Other media sources which feature disabled people include, ‘Britain’s Missing Top Model’ and ‘Dancing on Wheels’. Although this is a step in the right direction, the inclusion of individuals with impairments on TV has been restricted mainly to reality TV which offers little insight into the lives of disabled people; instead they are centred on strength and achievement despite the individual’s impairment rather than a celebration of disabled identities. The new American musical drama ‘Glee’ has considered disability issues within its plot lines, this included the use of wheel chairs during a performance in order to educate the able-bodied performers on the importance of considering the needs of wheel chair user ‘Artie’ and the difficulty in getting around the high school from his perspective because of the lack of ramps and accessible doors. Unfortunately however, the character of Artie is played by a non-wheel chair user and so any positive aspects of disability representation in the show are practically reversed by the exclusion of disabled actors and actresses from participating.

1.3.4 The Sun and Ouch!

I wanted to choose two online sources for my study which were imposing in terms of disability representation and portrayal. Tabloid newspapers are notorious for depicting various groups inaccurately and producing sensationalised media in order to sell newspapers. ‘The Sun’ is a daily tabloid newspaper which is among the highest in circulation in the world (The Newspaper Marketing Agency, 2010). The use of disablist language is common in tabloid newspapers and often in the broadsheets too. Reports regularly provide distorted representations of the experience of disability and focus on stereotypical assumptions (Barnes, 1991). This topic will be expanded further in chapter three. I chose The Sun because of its popularity in the UK and because tabloid news is a major source of information for the general public, I will be using articles from The Sun online website. After selecting a tabloid source for my study I began searching for an online source which involved the self-representation of disabled people, I dismissed many websites because they were charity based, political in nature, or simply provided information and advice for disabled people without necessarily being based on the views and experiences of this group. Examples of websites I considered include ‘Radar’ and ‘Disability Now’. I chose ‘Ouch!’ because it is not centred on disability politics and aims to ‘reflect the lives and experiences of disabled people’ (See Ouch! 2010, http://www.bbc.co.uk/ouch/about.shtml). The website consists of articles, blogs, podcasts as well as other features. The writers and contributors are not concerned with political correctness but seek to offer insights into the topics that are important to disabled people and those with a ‘stakehold’ in disability such as family and friends. To ensure that representations and portrayals of disability are suitable, the Ouch! team are disabled themselves. My first impressions of the website and its content were that it is very humour based and does not take itself too seriously. It is friendly, accessible and taps into the ordinary, everyday experiences of disability. This is why I decided it would be a suitable source for comparison with a more mainstream media source.

1.4 Structuring my Dissertation

My dissertation will consist of six key sections. The first is my introduction which will outline the topic of study, along with my reasons for choosing it and my aims. Chapter two will historicise disability using the work of Barnes (1991, 1996, and 1997). Chapter three will discuss the existing literature which relates to my topic, this will include studies of media representation and disability, a discussion of the political models of disability and the key terms involved in the debate. In chapter four I will discuss my methods of research, including how I selected my sources and an examination of the strengths and weaknesses of my chosen method of content analysis. I will also consider any ethical implications of the study in this chapter. Chapter five will be my most important section, in this I will present and discuss my findings. The final chapter (chapter six) will be focused on my concluding the study. It will relate my findings to the objectives presented in the introduction and the issues raised in my literature review. It will also include a reflection of my chosen methodology and a summary of the dissertation.

2.0 The History of Disability

In order to understand the representations and societal perceptions of disability today, it is necessary to study a history of Disability. The attitudes and practices of the past have a vital influence on present day beliefs. Barnes (1997) argues that the lives of Disabled people in history have been overlooked in favour of an emphasis on medical perspectives and it is clear that many disabled people experience exclusion from mainstream society. This is evident in such areas as employment, in which 45% of disabled people of working age are excluded from. It has been found also that disabled people tend to have lower earnings, with disabled men earning on average ?1.50 less per hour than non-disabled men (Hyde, 2001). As a result, many disabled people live in poverty or are at risk of poverty. Discrimination can also be seen within the education system welfare, housing, leisure and environment and planning.

‘The evidence that disabled people experience sever economic deprivation and social disadvantage is overwhelming and no longer in dispute, whether it be from the governments own commissioned research, from research institutes and academics or from disabled people themselves.’ (Oliver, 2003, pg. 312).

Historically, people with impairments have long been oppressed and marginalised. Hostile treatment, pity and ignorance are common disabling experiences. Barnes (1997 and 1991) claims that perceptions of disability are rooted in ancient Greek and Roman history, he discusses how the cultures of the western world are based on the achievements of the ancient Greeks who built their existence on slavery. Greek society was extremely violent, male dominated and prone to war. They had a strong value for physical and mental strength and any weaknesses and flaws were not tolerated. Such a concern for perfection meant that the infanticide of sick and disabled children was very common. In Greek philosophy, the gods and goddesses were ‘idealised representations of perfect humanity’ (Dutton cited in Barnes, 1997, pg 13). The only god who was physically imperfect was Hephaestus, this Greek God was rejected by his parents because of his grotesque appearance and labelled a ‘cripple’ by his wife Aphrodite who committed adultery with a more aesthetically pleasing lover. This mythology is significant as it is a clear source of the links made between impairment and sexuality today as many of us assume that disabled people are unable or do not want to have a sex life. When the Romans conquered Greece and expanded their empire, the values of strength, individualism and able-bodiedness were inherited with it. The Romans also advocated the infanticide of ‘weak’ children and ridiculed people who acquired impairment during their life course. Many roman games involved using individuals with impairment as comedy acts for the amusement of others. Although both the Greeks and Romans attempted to develop treatments for impairments, they were reserved mainly for those with power and wealth (Garland, 1995).

Another foundation of our thoughts and beliefs of disability can be found in the western religions of Christianity and Judaism. Religion in ancient societies viewed disability as anti-religious and a reflection of sin or immoral behaviour. Barnes cites many references from religious texts which imply that impairment is a consequence of bad behaviour. For example, in Deuteronomy (27-27) it states that immorality will be punished by blindness. In contrast to Greek and roman society, the Jewish faith opposed infanticide and encouraged its members to care for the ‘less fortunate’ this is also a feature of subsequent religions stemming from the Judaism, such as Islam and Christianity. People with impairments were accepted by the community, but as objects of neediness and charity. This was a key feature of Christianity. Consequently, they were viewed only in terms of their impairment and treated as incomplete human beings in need of sympathy (Barnes, 1997).

During the Middle Ages disability was associated with evil and superstition and people with impairments were treated with extreme hostility. Children born with impairments were believed to of been sent by the devil as a result of parents involvement in witchcraft and other black arts. This association with evil was very strongly held in Britain during this time and was reflected in art and literature, Shakespeare’s Richard III is a good illustration of this, Richard is portrayed as physically and mentally deformed despite having no physical impairment. He is destined to only be successful as a villain which perpetuates the negative stereotype of impairment and evil. Just as in the ancient world, disabled people were ridiculed during the middle ages in many forms. Analyses of joke books from this time reveal that impairments such as insanity and idiocy were used as sources of humour. Many individuals with visible impairments were displayed as objects of entertainment (Barnes, 1997).

The 18th and 19th century saw the transition from agricultural subsistence to factory production during the industrial revolution and urbanisation process. This brought with it a decline in religious authority and the growth of science and rationality. The development of utilitarian philosophy which emphasised the importance of pleasing the majority at the expense of minority groups created a new found value for individuality and progress. These developments provided justification for the beliefs and practices of the past and can be cited as a starting point for the disability issues which are visible today. These include the development and prioritisation of a medical model of Disability, in which the body and impairment are viewed in individualistic terms rather than social, cultural and political. The institutional prejudice and discrimination of people with impairments in everyday social life is a second issue of Disability theorists. The popularity of eugenic ideas during the mid twentieth century and the murder of thousands of disabled people, as well as other oppressed minority groups during the second world war is another significant point in modern history and many scientists still advocate ‘Social Darwinist’ ideals and view human imperfections (both physical and mental) as a societal threat, a threat that needs to be eradicated (Barnes, 1996).

The rise of the disability movement in the 1960’s saw the development of the Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation (UPIAS), the establishment of such organisations and the activism of disabled people resulted in a re-classification of disability as distinct from impairment and social in nature as opposed to medical (Barnes, 1997). Disability became defined as the disadvantages caused by social institutions and environments which effectively exclude people from participation (UPIAS, 1976). This was later adapted by other organisations such as the British Council of Disabled People (BCODP) and the Disabled People’s International (DPI) (Barnes, 1997). Eventually, this new understanding of disability became known as the ‘Social Model’ of Disability (Oliver, 1996a). Disability theory will be discussed further in my literature review (Chapter 3) with an analysis of both the medical and social models of Disability.

3.0 Literature Review
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Disability and Impairment: Key terms in the debate

‘Disability’ is difficult to conceptualise because of its multi-dimensional and complex nature. The term can be used in many different contexts and from different perspectives which means there is little consensus on its definition (Altman, 2001). Classifications associated with a medical model of disability are based on a distinction between ‘impairment’ ‘disability’ and ‘handicap’ impairment is defined as functional limitations to do with the body, disability is when an individual cannot function normally because if this impairment, and handicap refers to an inability to participate in social life (Oliver, 1990). The main problem with such classifications is that the individual impairment is considered to be the most important factor and reinforces an ‘individual definition in which functional limitations predominate. Thus, disability is viewed in terms of an individual’s personal inability to function’ (Barton, 1993 pg. 237). This model has had a powerful influence in shaping not just social policy, but societal attitudes and behavior.

In reality, many disabled people have rejected this understanding of disability. Instead ‘disability’ refers to failures in the structural environment to meet the needs of all individuals. The Disabled People’s International (1981) put forward the following definition which better fits the views of disabled people.

Impairment is the functional limitation within the individual caused by physical, mental or sensory impairment.

Disability is the loss or limitation of opportunities to take part in the normal life of the community on an equal level with others due to physical and social barriers.

In relation to my content analysis research, I will be looking to identify how disability is conceptualised and the type of language used both in The Sun and Ouch!

3.3 The Language of Disability

‘The first and most important thing to remember about discussions of language and disability is that they arise because disabled people experience discrimination daily and are denied the same rights and opportunities as the rest of the population. Apart from the fact that words can be deeply hurtful to disabled individuals, they have power and are used extensively to justify oppression’ (Barnes, 1993, pg 8).

The power of language is a significant topic of discussion in the area of disability studies. While we assume that the primary purpose of language is to aid communication, Oliver (1994, pg. 4) argues that it is also about ‘politics, domination and control’ and I am inclined to agree. The development of language is not based on consensus of meaning but rather through the ability of some groups to force their meaning and understanding of others. This form of ‘cultural domination’ is visible in many forms, the imposition of the spoken word on deaf people and sexist language directed at women are both suitable examples (Oliver, 1989, pg.1). The misconceptions that society has of disability are caused as well reinforced by the use of disablist language. Many of the abusive terms directed at disabled people are well circulated and familiar to most of the population. ‘moron’ ‘cripple’ ‘spastic’ ‘idiot’ ‘mong’ ‘dwarf’ ‘midget’ ‘lunatic’ the list is endless (Clark and Marsh, 2002). This kind of terminology has the power to promote prejudice and discrimination against disabled people. As mentioned in the previous section (3.2) the DPI re-defined impairment and disability in line with the reality that disability is rooted in social injustice. This means that the language used by both the media and wider society ought to reflect a social model of disability in which society discriminates against those who do not conform to the ideals of an able-bodied society. Disablist language such as ‘the disabled’ or ‘people with disabilities’ are unacceptable yet commonly used by the press and the population generally. Individuals do not have disabilities, they have impairments. Phrases such as ‘the disabled’ objectify the individual and impose a particular label on their identity which is based solely on their impairment. ‘Disabled people’ as opposed to ‘people with disabilities’ is more appropriate as it implies that the disability belongs to society, whereas the latter makes it the property of the person (Barnes, 1991 and 1992). Within the British press, the aforementioned terms, particularly ‘cripple’ and ‘handicap’ are used regularly. This is usually within a sentimental and patronising context. For example stories in which disabled individuals display ‘bravery’ despite of their disability or ‘handicap’ or instances where individuals have made personal scarifies to help a disabled individual or group. These generally involve the use of emotive language, such as ‘wheelchair bound’ ‘afflicted’ ‘sufferer’ ‘victim’ and so on (Barnes, 1991).

To summarise, much of the language that is used in discussions of disability are based on an individualistic/medical understanding of the nature of disability. They are not developed from the experiences of disabled people, but rather from the perceptions of others. While conducting my study I will be interested to see which kinds of terminology and language are used in the newspaper articles from my sample.

3.4 Disability Theory: the Medical model and the Social model

The medical model of disability has formed the basis of commonsense assumptions and beliefs about the nature of disability. This perspective focuses on the individual and his or her impairment. It ‘imposes a presumption of biological or physiological inferiority upon disabled persons’ (Hahn, 1985). Medical views attribute physical and intellectual impairments as constituting disability, while denying its social and political nature. Oliver (1983 and 1996a) prefers the term ‘individual model’ and argues that medicalisation is one element of this, along with psychological aspects. Medical accounts amount to a personal tragedy theory of disability (Oliver, 1990 and Finkelstein, 1980) in which disability simply ‘happens’ to individuals and is personal to them, it implies that any difficulties are a direct result of impairments (Finkelstein, 1993) this forms the basis of everyday beliefs. In terms of rehabilitation, emphasis has been placed on functional limitations of an individual and ‘attempts to find ways of preventing, curing or (failing these) caring for disabled people’ (Marks cited in Williams, 2001 pg 125).

As mentioned throughout this dissertation, this way of understanding disability has been heavily criticised by disabled people and disability has been re-conceptualised as a social and political problem through the work of disabled groups in the 1960’s (Barnes, 1997). Disability theory has roughly been divided into American and British contributions. I will briefly outline the work of American sociologists, however I am more concerned with the work of British authors as it better relates to my dissertation and it’s theoretical standpoint. American writers during the 1960’s challenged the idea that individual medical conditions or impairments were the cause of disability. Goffman (1963) discuses the role of ‘stigma’ in ‘spoiling’ (pg. 15) a person’s social identity, one of the forms of stigma he identifies derives from physical abnormalities. He also identifies that disability is socially constructed and concludes that the attitudes of professional contributes to experiences of disability. Stone (cited in Barnes, 1997) argues that the social construction of disability is based on the power of the sate in restricting welfare to those who require it. The importance of work and production in industrialised society has meant that those who are unable to participate are in need of assistance from the state, who along with medical professionals, are able to define disability as an individual problem and determine the level of access to welfare and other state services. Other writers, notably Albrecht (cited in Barnes, 1997) point out that disability has been ‘controlled and transformed into commercial enterprise’ (pg. 6) he claims that societies produce different forms of illness, impairment and disability. The ways in which these are interpreted is dependent on economic factors he argues. American functionalist/interactionist accounts of disability are derivative of Parsonian ideas and focus on the role of being ‘sick’ which is expected of disabled people and considered to be a form of deviance (Oliver, 1996b). The liberal values that exist in an industrial (and post- industrial) society place importance on personal responsibility and a strong work ethic, deviancy is created when an individual is unable to conform to these ideals. Writers have also argued that people with impairments are dependent on medical professionals who ‘assist in the psychological accommodation of a ‘disabled’ identity’ (pg. 21) and provide rehabilitation. The main criticisms made of the American tradition are that they over look the significance of social and economic factors central to experiences of disability. They also fail to take into account the perspectives of disabled people themselves, both these points form the main focus of British writers which I will turn to next.

British theorists have been much more critical in their assessments of disability and have explicitly expressed their arguments about the oppression, prejudice and discrimination that many disabled people encounter on a routine basis. A number of writers have approached disability in society through a materialist or Marxist analysis, focusing on economic and political factors. Others have highlighted the importance of the subjective experiences of disability and the role of culture. References have been made to the importance of gender, ethnicity, class, sexuality and other social factors which shape individual understandings of disability (Barnes, 1997). Theorists who use a materialist framework claim that oppression is caused by economic structures. The lives of disabled people have little value in a capitalist society as they are deemed unable to contribute to economic and social life (Riddell, 1996). Finkelstein (1980) identifies three phases in history with regard to societal reaction to impairment . In the first, ‘pre-industrial’ phase people with impairments were not excluded from economic life and the notion of disability did not exist. This was because work was subsistence based and aimed at providing basic food and amenities for survival. Communities needed all the labour they could get from its members (Barnes and Mercer, 2003). The second phase was that of industrial capitalism during the 19th century, both Oliver (1990) and Finkelstein (1980) argue that during this time Disability developed along side capitalist production and free market enterprise. The rise of factory production and the intense levels of speed and control involved meant that disabled workers were not welcome in the work place. Processes of urbanisation created fragmented communities and weakened family networks. The growth of towns and cities to house the work force were geographically and structurally inadequate for disabled people and contributed to their segregation from wider society and the introduction of residential institutions (Barnes and Mercer, 2003). For Finkelstein, it was at this point that people with impairments became a distinctly oppressed group, he argues that in phase the use of technology and the activism of disabled people will end oppression and disability will cease to be viewed in individualistic or medical terms (Barnes, 1997). Perhaps the growth of the internet and websites like BBC Ouch! mark the beginning of this phase. Oliver (1990) also discusses capitalism and disability, he applies Marxist ideas about the power of ideology to argue that the values which form the basis of social practice and culture conceptualised disability as a ‘personal tragedy’ and aided the development of the individual model.

Critics of Finkelstein and Oliver’s materialist analyses of disability argue that they over look the individual experiences of disability, rather than treat disabled people as a homogenous group. The social model needs to be reconceptualised with this in mind and from a postmodernist perspective which recognises diversity (Shakespeare, 1994, Morris, 1991, Crow, 1992). These writers discuss the prejudiced attitudes towards disabled people through culture, as material explanations fall short in explaining why discrimination exists and how disablist culture produces it. *incomplete*

3.5 Media representation of Disability and effects on the audience

The stereotypical portrayal of disabled people within popular culture is one of the most significant factors contributing to the discrimination of disabled people. Hunt (1966) argues that disabled people represent an ‘other’ in society and pose a threat to the able-bodied values entrenched in its structure. He describes this threat as being divided into five forms, as ‘unfortunate, useless, different, oppressed and sick’ (pg. 146). Disabled people are considered ‘unfortunate’ because of the belief that they are unable to lead a full life. They are ‘useless’ because they cannot contribute economically, ‘different’ because they do not conform to ‘normal’ expectations of a human being and ‘marked out as members of a minority group’ (pg. 150). Finally, they are ‘oppressed and sick’ because they do not fit in, ‘for the able-bodied, normal world we are representations of many of the things they most fear- tragedy, loss, dark and the unknown… contact with us throws up in people’s faces the fact of sickness and death in the world’ (pg. 155-156). Hunt’s arguments about the way disability is understood in western culture are applicable today in studying the misconceptions which are reproduced by the media. As discussed in Chapter Two, such misconceptions stem from the beliefs and practices of the past and have become firmly ingrained within society. Disablist attitudes become normalised through a process of social learning (Barnes, 1991) however, the extent and nature of this process is open to debate and many argue that there is no real way of knowing how he media influences perception. There have been many studies which have investigated the cultural portrayals of disability, some examples follow.

3.5.1 ‘Disabling imagery and the media’ by Colin Barnes.

The focus of this study is the portrayal of disabled people in the media and its stereotypical nature. Using secondary data from the content analysis studies of various organizations, Barnes (1992) identifies several stereotypes of disabled people produced within the media. These are: the disabled person as ‘pitiable and pathetic’ as ‘an object of violence’ as ‘sinister and evil’ as ‘atmosphere or curio’ as ‘super cripple’ as ‘an object of ridicule’ as ‘their own worst enemy’ as ‘a burden’ as ‘sexually abnormal’ , as ‘incapable of participating in community life’ and as ‘normal’ (Barnes, 1992, pg 3). Rather than focus on particular aspects of the media, Barnes chose to study all aspects of the media, including the press, radio, television, books and so on. He argues that media depictions of disability contribute to experiences of discrimination in a significant way. He goes on to reiterate that the poverty experienced by disabled people cannot be explained by the traditional model which suggests individual physical or intellectual limitations to be the root cause. It is caused by ‘reactive environments and disabling barriers. Thus ‘disability’ refers to a complex system of social constraints imposed on disabled people by a highly discriminatory society’ (Barnes, 1992, pg. 5). As mentioned in Chapter T7wo, stereotypical assumptions about disability stem from the beliefs and practices of earlier times, they are embedded in the very structure of society and are expressed in all institutions- ed

Once a famous German caricaturist and poet Wilhelm Busch (1832 – 1908) said that “becoming a father isn’t difficult, but it’s very difficult to become a father.” This phrase can be interpreted in different ways, but at the moment it is as topical as never before, since essential social changes and shifts state the question of parenthood for men in absolutely new light. The matter is, more and more men these days find themselves single fathers, and have to face new reality, while the society is not actually ready to accept them appropriately. This problem is attracting more and more attention of public and specialists, but still there is not enough research of the matter and fathers still essentially take pains to prove their rights: “single dads remain a poorly represented group in official statistics, government programmes and communities,” as Sandra Gruescu (2010, p. 19) states. The topicality of the subject and its narrow presentation in scholar studies has motivated us to focus attention on this problem in order to find out whether single fathers really face many problems in child fostering and their personal life and what ways out there are for them to make things better. In this way the object of out research is lone parenthood and single fatherhood of London is the main subject. To move from the first to the latter we are going to use deductive method. Apart from that, as for methodology to be applied, we shall use surveying and case study in order to get information at first hand, content-analyses in order to understand what has already been found out and what the probable holes of studies are. To provide that, we shall study local, national and partly international press, official reports and local overviews. Then we shall be able to sum up theoretical and empirical data and make conclusions on what are the modern conditions for men growing children on their own.

In this way, tasks we are going to undertake are the following: to study general materials on single parenthood; single out the issue of lone fathers, especially those living in London; synthesize fragments gathered and give critical summary; involve the comments of interviewees; and finally to tally up the situation.

SINGLE PARENTHOOD IN TERMS AND FIGURES

In this paragraph we are to find out what is single parenthood, where it takes its roots and where results in. On the whole, as for the terms, a lone parent is one who takes care of a child (or children) all on his or her own, without participation of another parent within home. Divorce or death of the spouse are among the main reasons of growing a child alone; adoption, abuse or abandonment, and artificial insemination. A parent who takes a conscious decision to grow up a child on his own from the very beginning is also called a choice parent.

All in all, as calculated in 2009, there are 1.9 million sole parents in the UK. In total they bring up about three million children. By Labour Market Review (2006), cited by Charlotte Philby (2010), each forth family is a family of one parent (among them about 8-11 % are male). Among those, 13% are under 25 years of age.

Those parents who stay with the child most of the time are called ‘primary carers’, and those who just visit children are called ‘secondary carers’. By statistics, more than 90 percent of primary carers in the United Kingdom are women, and it goes without saying that all the assistance from the government, tax credits and benefits are given to them. Still, as the General National Survey has shown, more than a half of single-parented households live below the poverty line. On average, it takes about 600 pounds per year to raise a child, and about 10,500 pounds to grow a child from birth till full age.

CALAMITIES TO OVERCOME

Except financial, there is a great number of long-term social and psychological, physical and mental health influences on both ex-spouses and children after divorce. It may be destructive or loyal, and the strength of loss depends on the extent of intimacy between children and each of the parents, on parents’ characteristics like age, education level, occupation and income, on relations left between parents, on visitation rights prescribed for the secondary carer, and the circumstances children grow in on the whole (Coombs, 1991). ‘Half-abandoned’ children are more like to experience behavioural problems, and Augustine Kposawa (2003) adds a schedule of main consequences: higher risks of clinical depression, greater need for formal psychiatric assistance, and higher rates of suicide among men.

As any other vulnerable group, sole parents receive a kind of support from the government, from non-profit organizations and on-line resources as well. These days there are more and more forums, web-sites, social networks, blogs and professional advice services where sole parents can share their problems and look for decisions together. A good example is the Gingerbread National Charity for Single Parents.

The development of such programs seems to be obvious for the first sight, but in reality the issue is not so well-defined. The matter is, there is much debate over single parenthood: on the one hand, government assistance is a normal social practice. But on the other hand, it turns out that the government itself is supporting the phenomenon which is against the society itself while sole parenthood doesn’t correspond to the traditional moral values and family standards; and it seems, there can be no sound society with unsound families. Thus present British Prime Minister Mr. Cameron is rather to encourage marriages by ?150 tax breaks than take care of objectionable sole parents living under the breadline (Rowling, 2010). The police of the Tories has naturally risen a good deal of criticism: “Do you not think that is discrimination against someone who pays their tax bill every month, and someone who is going to find that my friend down the road who has managed to find Mr Right gets away with paying less tax than I do, just because I am raising my children by myself?” (Tapsfield, 2009 p. 15). Single parents are pushed to feel second-class.

But why are we now there?

Through the 20th century the amount of households with single parent was rather low, but during last three decades figures began to grow rapidly. Basically, these changes have their historical, social and demographic reasons. Firstly, women began to feel more confident in their rights and freedoms, and more and more of them came to the conclusion that living on their own has more advantages than living in an unhappy wedlock. They began to receive more support from the official structures and the attitude of the society became not as reprehensible as it used to be. “Fresh figures show that 57 per cent choose the single life as they say it is more rewarding”, Steve Doughty (2010, p. 30) writes. Meanwhile the civilized world has been experiencing crucial shifts in gender social roles. More and more women prefer career to family and under the tension of business life more and more women are loosing their maternal instinct while paternal one on the contrary has been gaining force.

FATHERS IN THE MIDDLE

Now we are to sharpen our attention at a narrower group presented by sole fathers. It was investigated that “more than 3 million men are classed as ‘economically inactive’, living on benefits or the black economy” (Arendell, 1995 p. 112). It is also an example of social changes, but still many of men either successful or not very face obligation and will to be primary carers for their children: “Active involvement in the day-to-day lives of children is no longer the exclusive domain of mothers. Fathers are being encouraged to build closer interpersonal relationships with their children. As a result, many fathers have found that being a parent is richly rewarding and they are not willing to assume the role of “weekend” father just because a marriage relationship has soured” (Bartz and Witcher, 1978 p. 2). According to the statistics, family heads are divorced or separated fathers (8.4 per cent), never-married fathers (1.5 per cent), and widowers (0.9 per cent).

In the United Kingdom there are 210,000 male sole parents (8-11 %) rising up 280,000 dependent children. In London specifically, by National Statistics (2006), there are 16,473 households headed by single males. In other words, each ninth single parent is father. Meanwhile there are 180,366 male secondary cares also identified as ‘absent fathers’. In the borough alone there are 5,710 households headed by single parents with 934 children living with their fathers (Ehrlich, 2008).

SPECIFIC DIFFICULTIES FACED BY SINGLE FATHERS

It goes without saying that lone fathers face generally the same problems as lone mothers, but there are some particular troubles too. First and foremost, it is already difficult to prove their right on the child, as courts traditionally favour mothers. And even if men win, their exes often don’t leave them in peace, as they are more natural to be with a kid. The society has much less trust and approval for men. Nevertheless, “men can be essential for developing language skills, developing awareness of rules and boundaries and being a positive male role model in the child’s life” (Risman, 1986 p. 96).

Further on, it is considered that financial problems are less spread among men, but in fact they receive much less flexibility at their workplace and face negative attitude of supervisory. They are taken as awkward while it is not commonly for fathers to be so involved and faithful. Meanwhile is the most important thing for a child, his or her love can’t be bought with money, therefore a lone father has to balance between financial obligations and emotional relations. “If they go straight back to work, they’re treated like bad parents; if they don’t, they’re called benefit scroungers,” Jane Ahrends explains (Philby, 2010 p. 15).

Moreover, it is not a secret for a father that a child needs a woman to see a female behavioural model and to provide care, but it is rather hard for a lone father to get married again: a woman is likely to avoid a man with children, as their mother is often there too; maybe, the girl doesn’t like children at all or wants to have her own first and better to share all those first experiences with her husband; she doesn’t want to be initially judged as a mother and she doesn’t want to share her husband’s attention with someone else (Miller, 2007). Yet, for sole fathers on the first place are the problems with their exes with whom, for the sake of their children, they should co-work effectively despite all misunderstanding.

Then, what is even more striking, sole fathers should be ready to cope with emotional distress of children who can have low self-esteem, feel different from others and consequently have problems with socialization. Especially it is hard when a man fosters a girl. He should keep his healthy guide’s status and escape equality in order to keep balance.

“It’s easy to become angry and depressed when loving and committed fathers have to prove they are just that,” Peter Ehrlich (2008, p. 18) admits.

THE MEANS TO WITHSTAND

In fact, there are special support groups for those who bring their children alone no matter female or male. But certainly there are more women who into the bargain feel more natural and free to express their feelings and emotions. For most of men that method is not available.

Versus the indifference of the officials, single fathers are now actively uniting their forces. And one of especially active representatives of this social group, William McGranaghan has recently organized a special service Dads House within the project Homes for Families and Fathers (Hoff) specially for their companions-in-arms where they can get in touch, spend time with their offspring and acquire some useful skills like cooking. By summer 2010 it has had already 1,400 active members. There are other support groups as well, e.g. the one of Pete Wrighton, where men learn to talk and to be honest.

CONCLUSION

So, the things are not as bad as they may seem on the face of it. However, we have found out that the topic strongly needs further consideration. The attention of employers and officials should be attracted to the issue, and social stereotypes should be discarded gradually. On the one hand, it is hard to disagree with the governmental policy intended to encourage healthy family structures which seem to be more reliable and stable. But the matter is, that is a deceptive impression to date, and, if accepted and assisted, lone fathers are able to bring up much healthier, much happier and much more perspective citizens of future, than two-parented, but unhappy and destructive families where a child receives no care but copies wrong behavioural models. These issues should be deeply learnt by family psychologists and scholars as well. All in all, single fathers’ problems in today’s London are many, and they should be thoroughly examined by sociologists, demographers, psychologists and pedagogues. In that way they are possible to be solved and unloaded.

Statistics of the U.S. researchers showed that an average user management 21% of the time during the week to resolve the contradictions and conflicts within the company.Thus, conflict resolution and conflict so satisfied with a job that managers need to pay attention to promote the company work better. Conflict is a process in which one side perceives that its interests are opposed or negatively affected by another side . Conflict is inevitable. The potential conflict is found everywhere. Conflict as well as conflicts within an organization can occur at many levels from small to large.This topic talks about how to identify the type of conflict, the origin of them and give appropriate treatment strategy of conflict. Conflict has an important influence in business administration such as high level of conflict will create a loss of control in the organization, reduced productivity and increased hostility between people. Energy for the work have to use for conflict and contradiction. With high levels of conflict, anger will tend to focus on individuals rather than dispute can be resolved . From here the coordination disappeared and confidence threatened. Great disadvantage and loss for many companies. In addition to the above disadvantages, conflict can function to promote the development of an organization. The nature of conflict is not bad but its consequences in a positive or negative depends on how to solve them. So, figure out the cause of the conflict is the key to manage them in the direction of creating positive consequences for the organization.

GROUP CONFLICT LITERATURE REVIEW

The group is a collection of individuals who satisfy the following four factors: There are 2 or more members; have time to do certain work together, sharing the same or perform general one task or plan to reach theobjectives that the group expected, operating under the general provisions of the group. Group work brings good results that the individual can not do or that the efficiency is not high. Also allows individuals to overcome personal obstacles and society to achieve or accomplish results, higher goals.At the same time leads to the development of other members to join the group. The result of the first group help the second group learning experience. Participate in group have some benefits such as: Take advantage of talent, skill and ability of each member make it become collective strength, can learn from each other work experience, life experience and social experience. The group can support each other to solve the problems of the individual, help the individual to develop and reach the common goals of the group. Help groups behavior change, personal attitude in a good way by individual self-improvement. For example: Personally speaking crowd will be more confident. Working group to help solve problems more effectively, due to the many different members, with experience and knowledge. And work together are factors that make motivation for all members. The group is a collection of people with different characteristics and demands of purpose and work method completely different. Therefore conflicts arising is normal. Conflict is complex psychosocial issues in collective activities of the organization. It is a psychological phenomenon among human. Manage relationships through the team requires leadership, management should have proper awareness about conflict and how to resolve conflicts in the organization. Conflict is a social psychological phenomenon the status changes to previous psychological balance. Collective conflicts in the contradictory nature of antagonism arose between human in the process of working together in groups. As we all know, human activity is purposeful activities; activities each can to achieve different purposes (for example, achieve a purpose to achieve objectives B, with the purpose B to achieve the purpose of C). But the ultimate goal that everyone wants to achieve is always a benefit to meet the physical and spiritual needs of his. Through searching the benefit human have relations with the enviroment and relations with each other. Thus, the conflict is the interaction between people (between subjects with other subjects) in the direction hinder, exclusion each other or struggle each other. Debate is an inevitable and necessary part of the work group. However, it is useful only when it debates in peace and all revolve around issues of common work. In fact, the debate easily out of control and negative impact on work and relationships of the group. Conflict can bring positive or negative results, depending on the nature and intensity of the conflict, and conflict resolution. So why conflict need resolution? As the nature of conflict does not go away by itself, if don’t solve the problem can create greater conflicts. Effective conflict resolution will bring benefits such as: Improving understanding and mutual respect among team members. Improve team collaboration through discussion, negotiation in resolving conflicts. Strengthening the human link when the conflict is resolved effectively, they will understand the others about feelings, preferences and circumstances. Improve understanding of each member due to personal conflicts push them more efforts to quickly pass the “rival” of them, help them understand the real issues most important to them, and lead them to success faster. However, if the conflict is not resolved in a scientific and effective way, they can cause unpredictable consequences. Conflict in the work easily turn into personal conflicts. Team work is broken, wasted talent, and easy to protest and blame on each other make the spirit of teamwork disintegration and this is very detrimental to any company or organization. This literature review will clearly state the causes of conflict, conflict category. Once you understand the source of conflict will be easy to understand and figure out the direction to solve it effectively. This is a very useful topic for all kind of professions, social class. This skill helps people avoid embarrassment before the scene of conflict and minimize conflict.

Key words: Conflict, Group behavior, Group Conflict, Cause of Conflict, Resolving Conflict, Conflict Style..

TYPES OF CONFLICT

There are three types of conflict include: Conflict between individuals and individuals, Individuals and groups. Or conflict between groups and groups. In essence, the conflict is the clash of interests and values aa‚¬aˆ?aa‚¬aˆ?of human

Individuals to Individuals: In the organization possible conflicts between the individual and the individual.The cause of the conflict is very different: the incompatibility of psychology; misunderstood each other; disagreements in perspective, lack of understanding, mutual trust, the crowding out of other people for. Psychological conflicts between individuals can occur such as : One side Conflict is only one person against another in a positive way in the form of public or non-public. Or two side Conflict come from both parties are actively involved.The evolution of the conflict without solve conflict first step will be a logical progression in the upward direction. Both parties refused to accept the proposal of each other, making the conflict a progression. After that conflict evolve become very strong. Drastic actions of the two sides, can not be controlled. Then conflict evolve explosion: This is often conflict started after the insiders have to silently endure and contradictions become extreme stress in a moment of explosive conflict. These conflicts often have great strength and ended very quickly. The conflict can be ended as diverse as: Resolving thoroughly, extinguish the conflict when it is completely finished with the victory of the people and the failure of others, or by compromise, concession each other. One side conflict, when a person has cleared his inhibition, then the conflict is resolved completely. If not resolving thoroughly it can turn into a dormant state that the two parties are fatigue and risk of back anytime. Or the other way it would be a false ending in the illusion of wraps of conflict due to one reason or another, while the cause of the arising conflict is still not resolved. When the enemy back stance, his earlier opinion, the conflict between the two sides became more intense, reproducibility conflict is huge.

Individual to the group: There is a conflict between a member of the collective. This type of conflict is caused by many reasons. May be due to the reason comes from the individual or from the collective.For example: All the many elements of bad, lazy, undisciplined … good personal conflict, positive; conflict between a bad individual selfishness, dishonesty in dealing with a collective good; conflict between the development of the collective characteristics of leadership style. Etc.. Type of conflict between groups and individuals by the views or interests do not match.For example, in a sales team, a majority of the members of the group want to lower the product for quick consumption and more.But there is one person in the group do not agree so that it can affect the overall profit and customer may be rated poor quality.In this case, conflicts between individuals and groups occur

Groups and the Groups: In an organization can have multiple groups.View of the interests of the group do not agree with each other such as division of labor no reason not understand each other, conflicts between individuals with different individuals in the two groups caused conflict between the two groups, ordue to competition between groups leads to conflict occurs

CAUSE CONFLICT:

To successfully resolve conflicts that arise in the work is not easy it requires you to know exactly the origin arising conflicts and provide reasonable solutions. Conflict is a disagreement, dispute occurs when there is a difference:

Work methods between people: Each person has different way of working.There are people who like to work fast, but also those who want to work slowly but surely.Or more emotional work while others are rational.There are also those who want to work for profit regardless of tricks but there are those who work with responsibility and conscience.Different styles lead to conflict at work

Communication Barrier: Conflict is more likely to occur in this case because of the misunderstanding of communication.In particular, differences in language and customs are the most common problems. Besides the geographical barriers of distance or transmitted by mouth through many people incorrect information leads to misunderstandings and contradictory arise together.

Personality: Sometimes the tension and stress and pressure, leading to an individual feel uncomfortable so the easy anger unusual and lost faith in the people around.They feel out of place in the group when the workload is too much due to the uneven division of labor. From that easy to cause jealousy, competition, personal steam along with other

Besides, due to the following reasons : Different target, Stress / psychological pressure, Ambiguity about the scope of the powers,..

CONFLICT STYLES

Here are the five conflict management direction useful for those who always face conflict.Each direction effectively solve different specific circumstances, it is important to understand the time to apply them wise.

Forcing

This is a quick method, but not collaborative, it is resolved in favor of the direction of power. They find ways to reach the goal with any price (intimidate, oppress, crush, etc.), they do not care to demand others. This method is best used in situations that require quick decisions that are vital, such as in the case of an emergency. This type of person always aims to compete for a better position the company, they know what they want. They usually start from a powerful industry, they are lured by position, social status, they’re intelligence, and have a good vision. But when they decide not to match, they find ways to defend themselve. However they feel unhappy, depressed when to do the job without challenges.

Accommodating

This method is not definitive, but it collaborative and opposition to competitive methods. The leader using this style can ignore their own interests in order to satisfy the needs of others. They see the relationship is paramount and their interests are secondary. They are willing to sacrifice the purpose, benefits as long as other people love them. They think that to avoid conflict to keep the peace. This method can promote the best performance when the problem to be solved become especially important for people other than yourself

Avoiding

This method is indecisive, no cooperation. Those who use it will not be solved conflict. It is often applied to problems less importance. Therefore, the cost to resolve the said conflict is usually higher than the subsidized amount to solve it.

They are always run away from conflict. They are the kind of people who execute the decisions, not opinions and do not want to touch anyone. They like to do the job at bringing competitiveness, argue against them is cheap method. So, this is a type who was very weak. It is important for you to recognize each type of person in your company, you can use them only when you think it’s best to resolve the problem you are experiencing. You can also solve them by instinct, experience and learn how to change the resolution if necessary.

Collaborating

This way both resolute and collaborative, it is the opposite of elusive style.When collaborating, individuals often try to work with others to find a solution that both parties are satisfied. It is often used in situations both parties interests are important to compromise Tube aims to try to reconcile and recognize that all people are equally important. This type of person is very useful when you need to combine the views of the people to give a best solution that everyone feel good; when there is conflict in the group for a long time;, or when you have a very important case that can only be resolved by agreement between the members. They see conflict as a problem to solve, they find ways to reduce stress, they are not satisfied until reaching common goals and solve problems between the two sides.

Compromising

This is how to solve the intermediate nature of assertiveness and cooperation. It is located in the middle of the competition and help. This method be applied when the purpose set out in moderation and it is essential to quickly go to the settlement. When unresolved conflict team members may begin to divide faction and of course no group solidarity. That is why it is important for the leaders to resolve the conflict if it occurs. This kind of people aims to compromise in order to try to find a solution to satisfy everyone. They sacrificed a neutral interests to find a solution in order to achieve common goals. They also mobilize their opponent to do the same

RESOLVING CONFLICT

To resolve the conflict, you should apply the following methods: Keep good relationship is the top concern. Be polite and calm with people, build a culture of mutual respect and avoid people feel pressure in everyday relationships. Separate issue from the people will helps you to have a lively debate that does not affect the relationship between colleagues together. Pay attention to the existing benefits by listening carefully you will understand why people accept their current position. Listen before speaking to solve a problem effectively need to listen in order to understand their needs. By following these methods, It can resolve conflicts in a calm and polite.This helps you to prevent the protests could lead to “reckless” in the company

Steps to resolve conflict:
Step 1:

Analyzes: Resolve conflicts when it started, avoid prolonged easy arising conflicts. Described conflict as a common problem to be solved, not as a struggle with winners and losers. Identify contradictions content as specific as possible.

Step 2:

Exchange: Listen, clarify, evaluate each other’s opinions. Flexible and ready to change the view to be convinced. Focus on demand, purpose and discover the difference between the two sides.

Step 3:

Understand: Try to find out the circumstances of the other by putting yourself in their situation.

Step 4:

Agreement: Find out wise solutions beneficial to both. If there are errors, please be willing to apologize

If all else fails, ask the help of expert because bystander opinion always fair and objective

DISCUSSION

Most of the conflicts between individuals are so opposite in personality and effective communication.There can occur when people do not like each other, when the belief does not exist. They can also conflict when vying a position or interest. Anger is the heart of each individual conflict. There are many notions of conflict.The version that conflict is bad, negative, creating stress, distrust, suspicion, reduced performance, reduced commitment and cohesion, increase resistance to change, so should be avoided.The second conflict is also negative; however, the notion that the inevitable third school that conflict is natural and comes from the interaction between individuals or between individuals withelements within the organization.Therefore, in itself, is neither good nor bad, but the potential positive or negative consequences depending on where it arises, awareness.

DIRECTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

Future studies relevant and useful includes Group think or Group Decision Making.Because to understand the nature of the group, or of each member will be easy to make the final decision and avoid unnecessary conflicts occur.Solidarity in the group is very important.If a team has more talent, but every individual fighting with each other, the result will not work as expected with the break plans.But if a group agrees, to comply with the principles set out and mutual respect with the slogan “We are one” will achieve certain success.Besides also strengthen human love, the colleagues, friends.

CONCLUSION

In group activities can not avoid conflict.Some Confict may have no benefit for the organizational, but also the conflict will change the team become better. Conflict is always present, in the scale, scope and frequency of different organizations.Identify conflicts, their causes, and therefore, conflict management, an effective way requires a lot of knowledge, skills. Although conflict is a normal phenomenon in society, but it is a phenomenon that should be considered research, because it not only helps us to correctly identify conflict, but also the right choice method of solving conflictfor human and social benefit.