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Human history can be divided into three phases: pre-modern, modern and post modern. There is no definite beginning or end to each of these phases; rather they merge into one another, as not all societies moved forward at the same time.

Although most industrialised countries are now considered post modern, a large proportion of the Third World remains modern or in some cases pre- modern. Pre- Modern is the period in society which came prior to Modernity, which began in Europe after the introduction of Industrial society and large scale production.

Sociology and modernity are closely intertwined, but it has also been argued that sociology is actually a product of modernity. During this piece I will examine pre- modern society and discuss some of the reasons why the study of this era is important for sociology.

What is Pre- modern Society?

The pre-modern era spans from before history and can be separated into two phases, before and after settled agriculture. Before settled agriculture, society lives off the land, hunting and gathering. An example of a hunter- gatherer society that exists today is the Arctic foragers, who occupy the circumpolar region of the earth. Due to the lack of vegetation in this area of the world, most Arctic foragers are forced to live on a diet of meat. Many Arctic people are extremely mobile like the feudal societies of pre- modern times.

Pre-modern society:

The term ‘pre- modern’, covers a number of different societal forms: hunter-gatherer, agrarian, horticultural, pastoral and non-industrial. Pre-modern social forms have now virtually disappeared, although they are still in existence in some of today’s societies, therefore ‘pre- modern’ cannot be defined in terms of historical development.

In this respect, pre-modern societies can be characterised by a combination of economic, political and cultural circumstances.

In pre-modern society, work was not highly specialised and the number of roles necessary to produce things were relatively small, therefore the division of labour was simple when compared to modern societies. Most of the labour forces engaged in agricultural activity and produced food through subsistence farming. The majority of pre-industrial groups had standards of living not much above survival, meaning that most of the population were focused on producing only enough goods for means of survival.

The rise of settled agricultural villages meant the build up of storable produce, which represented a cultural advance for civilisation. With the development of storage, in some rare cases came some social unrest, as what could be stored could also be stolen. It should be noted here that in pre- modern times there was very little deviance, as communities were extremely close knit and everybody knew each other.

Pre- Modern society was a time without class distinctions and people shared the same sense of values. In Pre- Modern times, a person’s sense of purpose was expressed through a faith. Religious officials held the positions of power within the communities and were the intermediaries to the general masses. The population of pre-modern times saw God as the main entity and those closest to him, for example the religious officials, were seen as the community leaders. Persons in pre- modern society did not see themselves as having an individual identity rather a group identity. Social life in pre-modern society also often had religion at its core. Villages were divided into parishes and the observance of religion took place at a community level.

In post modern society, the influence of religion appears to have lessened, although it formed the basis for modern penal laws, which regulate human behaviour like religion did in pre- modern times.

Industrialisation and the making of Modern Society:

In order to understand why the study of pre- modern times is vital to sociology, it is important to look to the Industrial Revolution, as this was a time of great change for European society, and the crossing over from pre- modern to modern society.

Industrialisation is the process whereby social and economic change transforms a pre- industrial society into an industrial one. Industrialisation also introduces a form of philosophical change, where people take a different attitude towards their perception of nature.

During the Industrial revolution, an economy based on manual labour was replaced by one taken over by industry and the manufacture of machinery. Rapid industrialisation cost many craft workers their jobs and scores of weavers also found themselves unemployed as they could not compete with machinery. Many unemployed workers turned their anger towards the machines that had taken their jobs and began destroying factories and machinery.

These activists became known as Luddites and became extremely popular. The British government took drastic measures against the Luddites using the army to protect the factories.

The Industrial Revolution saw the emergence of class, urbanisation and the bad conditions in which people had to live and work in. Marxism essentially began as a reaction to the Industrial Revolution. As the Industrial Revolution progressed so did the gap between class structures. According to Karl Marx, industrialisation polarised society into the bourgeoisie, and the much larger proletariat.

Ordinary working people found increased opportunity for employment in the mills and factories and in some cases had no choice but to move to the towns and cities in search of work. By the early 1900’s up to eighty per cent of the population of Britain lived in urban centres (Kumar, 1978, cited in Bilton et al, p.28).

Using the clock to time one’s self, as a basis of social organisation, was an indicator of the emergence of a modern society. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries both agricultural and manufacturing labour became set by the clock in a way that was very different to pre-modern production. In pre-modern times factors such as hours of daylight set work rhythms, whereas the factories were regulated by the clock, labour was synchronised and took place for a certain number of hours each day and on particular days of the week. For the factory owners and their employees, time now equalled money. The working conditions were often strict with long working hours and a pace that was set by machinery and production.

With the Industrial Revolution came an increase in population. Education was still limited and therefore children were expected to work. Child labour was appealing to employers as it was cheaper than employing an adult yet productivity was similar. The machines did not require strength to operate and there were no experienced adult labourers as the system was completely new.

By the eighteenth century there was only around thirty percent of the population who engaged in agricultural activity, this enables us to gain some idea of the nature of modern society and the economic changes that took place as modern society developed.

The majority of ordinary people were greatly affected by capitalism and industrial production. By the late 1900’s England’s Black Country was one of the most industrialised parts of the United Kingdom and in the 1830’s was described in the following way;

“The earth seems to have turned inside out…. The coal…. is blazing on the surface… by day and by night the country is flowing with fire, and the smoke of the ironworks hangs over it. There is a rumbling and clanking of iron forges and rolling mills. Workmen covered in smut, and with fierce white eyes, are seen moving amongst the glowing iron and dull thud of the forge-hammers.”

(Jennings,1985 p.165)

Conclusion:

The transition from pre- modernity into modernity was important for sociology as people began to see that society was something important to study. Some argue that this was when sociology began as the emergence of modern societies created a new intellectual world aware of its surroundings and concerned with acquisition of knowledge.

“Sociology is concerned with the study of human societies….a society is a cluster, or a system of institutionalised modes of conduct….sociology has as its main focus the study of institutions of the advanced or the industrialised societies and of the conditions of transformation of those institutions”.

(Giddens 1982)

As modernity took form, changes in social attitudes within society occurred making society itself interesting to others. Unlike the static pre- modern society, modern societies appear to have created many different groups, causing new and interesting interactions between people. In the pre- modern era, relationships between people in society were extremely similar and perhaps uneventful and society had been static, therefore sociology was not required.

A 29 years old male patient admitted to the psychiatric ward with the diagnosis of schizophrenia and obsessive compulsive disorders. He had these problems three years and was hospitalized twice before and this was his third time of hospitalization. He came to the hospital with the complaints of low self esteem, excessive masturbation, hallucinations and religious delusions. During the initial visits with the patients it was hard to identify the root cause of all these problems, but it was clear when patient stated that “I live in a separate room at home moreover my family didn’t allow me to talk with relatives when they visit us and they locked the door. Moreover I personally observed that during my whole clinical weeks his father just came once and talk with his son only one minute and left. By seeing all of this and communicating with my client I personally feel that there is problem in family dynamics. Along with that I also think that there is lack of proper parenting which led him to low self esteem, lack of confidence etc.

introduction 91

In this paper I will discuss that how important is to have healthy family dynamics and the role of parents in maintaining family dynamics effectively to ensure the proper mental growth of the individual. Relationships among family has great role in personal development. According to Mathew(1999)Family relationships in general and the parent-child relationship in particular have a pervasive influence on the psychological, physical, social, and economic well-being of children” these relationships are not just help to maintain good social and interpersonal relationship but it has great role in person psychological growth.

Pakistani context 143

In Pakistani societies there is a significant value of family in one’s life. we live mostly in a extended family it helps everyone to communicate with each other effectively and maintain a healthy family dynamics which omit the component of isolation from the society. According to Sousa, A.D. (2009), “in countries like Pakistan family is the major support system for the patient that is mentally ill but at times the patient is often deprived of psychiatric treatment due to family burdens that exist.” But on contrary, due to some myths present in our culture which have become the part of our thinking like believe in bad evil. Thus parents don’t bring their children to mental care settings instead they send them to religious faith healers for expulsion of so called bad evil. This more often leads to the social isolation of the victim of mental illness. Even it has been found that in Pakistani culture parents do not let their children socialize with others because of their illness which ultimately results in internal stigmatization of the victim. This further leads to internal conflicts and may result in guilt.

Critically analyse 223
“The family plays multiple roles in the treatment process, course of the illness and in relapse prevention. It is therefore of utmost importance than in our routine practice we delve into family dynamics and work on this aspect of psychiatric illness. Psycho-education and family therapy must be entwined in routine psychiatric treatment programs and shall go a long way to reduce family burden and relapse-prevention in schizophrenia and other mental disorders.” (Sousa, A.D., 2009)

Family dynamics is the integral part of everyone’s life and it helps to live life effectively without having extra stressors. But if have problem in their family system or the family dynamics are not working properly the person may end up with mental illness. As I have previously mention that the family system of my client is not effectively working so as a disturbed family system my client facing problems like low self esteem, lack of confidence, guilt and emotional immaturity. This component of personality is developed during the initial period of anyone life. And during this time there is need of proper parenting and the parental support. Along with that as my client is having a internal conflicts y so there is more need for parent’s support because these persons don’t talk more and usually don’t express their emotions. Moreover during the early childhood the child learns how to express their emotion. But if parents would not be able to attend this specific need of the child this may lead to emotional immaturity as my patient was facing the same problem.

Moreover except the parents their age group and sibling also play an important role. Good relationship with the peers and siblings helps the individual to maintain a good relationship with the society and it brings the positive attitude in the individual.

There is multiple factors that how disturbed in family dynamics lead to the mental problem of the individual of the family. The family system illness model briefly highlight what factors led to this problem and what are the ultimately solutions of this problem

This model is focus on the three dimensions ‘psychosocial Types’ of illness and disability; major developmental phases; and key family system variables. It focus on the individual holistically. It tells us that how the psychosocial environmental affect the family dynamics which ultimately lead to the individual. According to Rolland and walsh (2006) “It attends to expected psychosocial demands of a condition through its various phases; family systems dynamics in relation to individual and family developmental issues; multigenerational patterns of coping with illness and loss; and belief systems, including influences of culture, ethnicity, spirituality,and gender”

Strategies 461

Before going to work upon the patient who has impaired family dynamics system, firstly family assessment could be done by exploring the issues and problem which is family facing and identify the maladaptive behavior which they are using as the coping strategy. Along with that we need to explore the relationships among the family so we can create a base ground upon which we need to work for our patients.

If there is problem in patient family system or there is lack in parents support. So the second step is to maintain the good family dynamics or brings the positive attitude of parents towards the individual. The first thing which works is the family therapy. According to Townsend, M.C. (2005), “Family Therapy is a type of therapeutic modality in which the focus of treatment is on the family as a unit. It represents a form of intervention in which members of a family are assisted to identify and change problematic, maladaptive, self-defeating, repetitive relationship patterns.” So if any person has problem in family system there is need to first correct this system which ultimately helps to improve the condition of the mentally ill person. Along with that if we focus on the family so it will ultimately decrease the relapse rate, reduce the need for hospitalization and also help in medication management and compliance. “Family members hold a huge wealth of information about the client’s behaviors, their moods, and the stability of these things. When it’s a psychotic illness, perception of reality is impaired, so family members who often live with or near the client can help piece together what’s been going on.” (Frisch, N.C., & Frisch, L.E., 2005). It’s all due to the strong bonding of family with their members, so to appropriately manage the patient condition and prevent from relapse we need o focus on the family based approach. “Most psychotherapists would agree that apart from drug treatment and CBT, family-focused interventions are the most beneficial form of therapy” (Mohr, W.K., 2003)

Moreover due to the lack of awareness of the family members or parents, the family didn’t accept that their child has some type of mental problem. This led them to delay in the treatment. Along with that in our society the stigma is associated with the mental illness. This is also the one reason that the family is reluctant to go in the mental health care setting. So to prevent from this we need to provide the proper awareness to the family and other people at the society level that these individuals are same as us, so that the delay in identification in problem should be prevented. Along with that the support of the family and society helps them to recover soon and live a healthy life.

Personal feeling

I personally feel that support of the family matters allot and specially for the mentally ill patient. patients who having mental illness is the unfortunate eole because they become dependent upon the others person. Keeping ourselves on the patient position make us very depressive . so we can’t imagine that how much psychological ain they are suffering. Moreover after dwealing with the mentally ill atient and communicating with them. I emphasize that they are same as us and we need to treat them holistically. Along with that I feel that there is very less family suort yto these eole se we need to sensitize the eole at community and also institutional level so that these eole live their life effectively and haily

My feelings and thoughts regarding family therapy lies in the fact that family is a word which is very close to my heart because I am living away from my family for more than 10 years. I know what my family meant to me. I can’t forget the rituals of bedtime stories, hugs, holidays and daily meals shared together with my siblings, which used to provide me a sense of warmth, structure and safety. These rituals and traditions, not only create memories and leave a family legacy, but create our first path in life, the one that is positive. Family therapy is a very useful therapy which should be applied on any patient. I think this therapy is beneficial for not only psychiatric patients but all the other patients who are hospilaized due to any reason. I learned many things after writing paper. I reviewed a lot of literature including benefits of the therapy as well as different researches. This will help me a lot in my future work and practice.

Conclusion / Recommendation

Literature and researches strongly emphasis on the role of family support for psychologically ill patients. There is a profound impact of family support on patient’s health outcomes. So in developing countries like Pakistan much emphasis should be given on the importance of family support and all the social entities have to take practical steps in this regard and to promote awareness programs for general population regarding promoting family support in mental illnesses.

People with mental illnesses are the most unfortunate members of our society because, in mental illness a person become much dependent on others. Unfortunately, there is less support offered for them on social and family level. The treatment and recovery of patients from their respective mental illnesses depends up on both the medical professionals and social support of the patients. In hospital, the staff provides personal support which is called hands-on care while family members offer psychosocial support to the patient which is one of the most important factors of patient’s recovery from psychological illness (Joseph E. Gaugler, 2005). It is doubtless that family has an integral role in management of psychologically ill patients. We all know that if there is proper and effective family and social support available to the patients can lead to positive outcomes like improvements in quality of life, and physical and emotional wellbeing (Laudet et al, 2000). Family support can work on all the three levels primary, secondary, and tertiary levels so help patients. It means if the family support system is strong and there are coherent interactions among the family member it can avert many stressors which can escort to mental disorders. Further, if a psychologically ill patient has effective family support at hospital or during treatment can enhance the recovery process of patient. Proper family support can also contribute effectively in the rehabilitation of patients and can prevent relapse and further hospitalization.

Gender issue has become so important this lately. Many people think that gender plays a very important role in the society. Public views on gender have become so exact on certain issue till it is being accepted as a fact by the community. For instance, issues engrossing equality, inequality and stereotyping on gender nowadays attracted most people attention.

United Nations Population Fund affirmed that equality will only exist when both men and women have an equal right in the power allocation of power and influence. And also they will have a corresponding chance to gain money and finance their life by working or doing businesses. They will as well have equivalent right of entry in education as well to share responsibility for the household chores. Society always tries to differentiate between what a man and a woman can achieve because it is understandable for a man and a woman to have different physical appearance, difference body size, different capabilities, different strength and etc. A man is continuously being described as a conqueror and always acts as an oppressor to woman life. But in reality, all those things will not happen again in today’s modernize world. In some area, such as military, leadership, role in family and chances of being promoted in workplace it is found that women cannot survive just as men can do. Society incessantly believes that men can perform well in those areas just because the past had shown that men are better in those areas. This will prevent the women from showing their capabilities. Most horrible, this will led to many other problems.

For example, women have a higher poverty rate than men in almost all nations. In thinking about possible causes of the gender gap in poverty rates, it is crucial to understand that poverty is measured at the household or family level in most all government and academic statistics. Christopher, England, Sara and Smeeding (2000) concluded that for a woman who has a spouse or married women, this thing will only become their minor problem. But for a single mother, it will lead them to become poor. There are two main reasons for this problem, which are they actually earn lower than a man and a fact that they always live together with their children after divorce. Thus, it will direct to a very big problem which is poverty in the family.

Nevertheless, people should notice that inequality not only happen in women community but also men’s. Even from the outside people always sees a man as tough and better in strength, but actually they are suffering inside. A man will not be allowed to express their feeling and act emotionally. For example, a girl may be allowed to act some tomboyish behavior, but little boys cannot be allowed to be a sissy or at least show some sissy stuff. In addition, a woman also can be easily accepted if she is trying to work seriously in the man profession but a man will receive many negative comments if he is trying to work in the woman profession. For example, a lady can simply apply for a career in the army however a man will be question a lot if he is attempting to apply for the nurse job. Perhaps, this thing occur because people might think it is difficult for a man to show the love and kindness like a woman might do where as to show the strength and ability in the army is trouble-free for a woman.

However, equality also exists in gender. Women and men nowadays have an equal right to receive same level of education. In many countries, there is no barrier between level of education applied to men and women. Thus, after receive the same level of education they might also acquire the same high pays job. This will decrease the difference in wage they receive. Rushfan (2008) said that in many areas of Afghanistan, girls are often taken out of school when they hit puberty. Cultural factors related to the ‘correctness’ of sending girls to school, reluctance to send girls and boys to the same school after third grade, as well as the perceived and real security threats related to girls walking to school and attending classes all contribute to slowing down the enrollment of girls in schools. But, however we should be thankful because the same policies did not applied in Malaysia. Woman in Malaysia cannot be disallowing from receiving education as this is an offense under Education Act of 1996 which stated that all children must attend primary school classes until they finish their Standard 6 phase.

Stereotyping always occur in everyday’s life. People cannot escaping from the act of stereotyping others from their days. According to Oxford Dictionary of Sociology, gender stereotyping means that it is one-sided and exaggerated images of men and women one deployed repeatedly in everyday life. In a simple words, gender stereotyping can be clarify as the accusations or assumptions made about a specific gender whether they are true or false. Most of the time however, gender stereotyping is far from the truth but based on past speculations therefore it is assumed as true in the present time. Additionally, it will also persuade someone to put others down because of their gender or believe that they are unable to do a particular job just because they are either male or female.

There are many factors that have stimulated the gender stereotyping issue. The influence from the media, family leaders, schoolteachers, buddies and the respected religious people undoubtedly are the main stimulus of gender stereotyping. McConnell (n.d), described that media always portrayed individuals like sportsmen, celebrities and model as a symbol on how a man and a woman should appear and act. In terms of fashion and physical appearance, those who did not match the body size and the look of these individuals, unconsciously they are judge as “bad” and “ugly”. Also, media constantly shows a man work as a hard labour where as a woman will work at a house, arranging lace and prettying the house in pink. This will shape an idea of a child where he will think that working at home is only a woman job. As for the kids, adults are their role model. For them, no matter what adults do, this will be assumed as a way of life of what a man or a woman should do. For instance, the way the adult stereotype the gender will influence the kids. It will pass along gender stereotypes from one generation to the next.

Another factor that influences the stereotyping is the influence of others. Sometimes, we are confused between other’s perceptions and ours which it may vary a lot. As a result, we might choose to follow their perception and slowly believe that our thinking is wrong and erroneous. This may happen in everyone’s life especially children where they tend to follow others more than their own instinct.

The weight of scientific evidence demonstrates that children learn gender stereotypes from adults. As with gender roles, socializing agents-parents, teachers, peers, religious leaders, and the media-pass along gender stereotypes from one generation to the next. One approach to reexamining conventional gender roles and stereotypes is androgyny, which is the blending of feminine and masculine attributes in the same individual. The androgyne, or androgynous person, does not neatly fit into a female or male gender role; she or he can comfortably express the qualities of both genders. Parents and other socializing agents can teach their children to be androgynous, just as they can teach them to be gender-biased.

(CliffsNotes.com. Gender Stereotypes. Retrieved on 21st Feb 2010)

The most common stereotype for a man will be a man is more skillful, hardworking when it comes to practical jobs, always thinking about sex, be assertive, competitive, independent, courageous, and career-focused; hold his emotions in check and too conscious about his life triumph. These are few stereotype views that one’s will deliver to a man. Whereas for a woman, she always be viewed as always put her family’s welfare before her own; be loving, compassionate, caring, nurturing, and sympathetic. It seems so hard to separate them with those stereotypes.

In Malaysia, the trend of a man becoming a househusband is still low. People view on a working-woman is acceptable, but for a woman to work and become the breadwinner of the family whereas her husband will take care of the household chores is still negative. Krishnamurthi (2004) stated that a woman will receive mockery comments and being alienated by the society if she has to work and her husband will stay at home. People will uttering that she is trying to control her husband and overshadow him as a family leader. In my view, the act of such thing will cause many negative effects. Many fathers intent to spend more time with their children but due to lack of time they have to keep inside their intention. A man is stereotype as a tough guy with less love sense like a woman. The act of encouraging them to stay at home will make them develop their love sense gradually. Hence they differentiation between a love from a father and a mother will be wiped out. For the mother, she may possibly work without tension and stress because she need not to worry about her kids as this thing will be under her husband responsibility, not in other people’s supervision .

Franzoi (2003) stated that negative stereotypes will develop a ruin self-fulfilling prophecy. Self-fulfilling prophecy refer to the act that becomes true because people expect it to be true and behave in a way that will make it happen. To forestall stereotyping, everybody must play a very important role. In Friedman (n.d) article in American Baby magazine stated that among the way to overcome stereotype is by gaining self-confidence it the kids. We should support everything the kids for whatever they are doing. Added to that, the parent should develop a special interaction and coordination to their kid that suits the kid interest. Personally, I really think that a parent should watch out for the media because as I have discussed earlier in this text media have develop most people stereotype view. The act of letting them receives much unclear information which will shape their view.

As a conclusion, although equality, inequality and stereotype has create many problem however if we view it positively we still have many thing to gain from it. We, as the society should know how and when to react to this issue appropriately. Gender issue has to be treated properly as it tends to create more trouble if we handle it pessimistically. Moreover, it involve all kind of human being no matter we are a man or a woman.

REFERENCES

Franzoi .L. Stephen (2003) Social Psychology 3rd Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill.

United Nations Population Fund (2002). Gender Inequality. Web Population and Reproductive Health Indicators. Retrieved 21 February 2010, from http://lao.unfpa.org/defcon.htm

Christopher K., England P., Sara R. & Smeeding T. (2000). Gender Inequality in Poverty in Affluent Nations : The Role of Single Motherhood and The State. Presented at a Conference on Child Well-Being in Rich and Transition Countries, Luxembourg. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 439195). Retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov/

Rushfan (2008). 10 Extreme Examples of Gender Inequality.Ultimate Top 10 List. Retrieved 21 February 2010, from

10 Extreme Examples of Gender Inequality

Oxford Dictionary of Sociology (3rd ed.).(2005). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Krishnamurthi A. (2004). Gender Stereotyping.Social Strategic Foundation. Retrieved 14 February 2010, from http://www.yss98.com/index.php?view=articleHYPERLINK “http://www.yss98.com/index.php?view=article&id=399?&HYPERLINK “http://www.yss98.com/index.php?view=article&id=399?id=399

Friedman J. (n.d). Avoiding Stereotypes.American Baby Magazines. Retrieved 22 February 2010, from http://childparenting.about.com/od/childdevelopment/a/avoidstereotype.html

Gattiker., Urs E. (2000).Income Inequality Based on Gender and Position: Possible Effects on Perception of Career Success.Alberta Manpower STEP Program. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 278928). Retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov/

CliffsNotes.com (2008). Gender Stereotypes.Ultimate. Retrieved on 21st Feb 2010, from

http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/CliffsReviewTopic/Gender-Stereotypes.topicArticleId-26957,articleId-26896.html

The issue of single parenthood has been of much discussion if many societies in the recent past mainly to the increment of these families and the perceived inability of the failure of societies to stop this (Booth, Crouter 2002). In many societies, the nature of life with relations to jobs, interaction, life expectations and extended families may give rise to or create an environment that is deemed to be conducive for the existence single parents (Antecol, Bedard 2005, Ray 2010).

In the view of this essay, single parent families pose different implications to different societies in the world which can again be defined by income levels, religious affiliations, geographical disposition and even technological development levels (Cheal 2003), this is to say that, there are certain implications that may be prevalently negative due in technologically advanced societies and not necessarily with the same intensity in economically deprived societies or deeply religious societies.

The view held by this essay is that, generally, single parent families pose various negative implications to the societies as a whole.

This essay will therefore describe what single parent families are, also, the essay will briefly discuss the rise of single parent families and provide an elaborate evaluation about the implications and lastly provide an evaluation about what could be done to deal with these implications.

Single parent families

Single parent families may be described as those families that have only one member of the parents being represented and not both the parent and conventionally, this may imply that either the father or the mother is absent and the children are brought up by the other parent (Cavanaugh, Fields 2006). According to Deleire, Kalil (2010), a single parent family is a family that appears normal in representation but with the absence of a resident member of the parents being either the mother or the father.

It is however important to develop an understanding about what parentage means, as this will facilitate the creation of a more holistic view of the concept. This is because, while (Furlong, Cartmel 2007), viewed parents as both the man and the woman who live together and hence both take an active part in raising the children and keeping the family together, (Hantrais, Flipov, Billari 2006), notes that that is a view that is conventionally confined to ‘straight’ families that leaves the ‘homosexual’ parents out of its definition and is hence limited. According to Campbell et al (2008), the rise of homosexuality, especially in developed economies is increasingly ruling out the conventional definition that includes man and woman.

Another view that has been taken by (Hayslip, Kaminski 2008), notes that by stating that the man and woman must be living together, the subjective problem is that these must be under one roof for most of their day or week, which is increasingly becoming impossible when the need to provide for the family increasingly leading to parents living apart as they seem to fend for their families. Could this arrangement be termed as single parentage?

Probably the definition given by (Paterson 2001), is more acceptable as it brings about the psychological and physical aspect of this family composition, because, this definition views single parents as those who are physically and emotionally detached from each other and hence one or each of the parents look after all or some of the children, as the outcome of separation for the other partner.

The causes

The view held by Bradshaw (2003), and Deleire, Kalil (2010), is that it is not possible to understand the implications of single parent families without identifying the cause of existence of such families. The following are the causes of the rise in single parent families;

First, death of the is the primary cause of these families since death of the parent deprives the family of one of the parents. Therefore in societies where terminal illnesses are prevalent or where death rates are higher, the probability of having many single parents and hence such families is also very high (Edwards 2009). But at this point it is important to note that the existence of single parent families as a result of death may only be temporary if the widow or widower remarries after a period of ‘mourning’, which may extend to a few years, therefore, single parentage only arises when there is no re-marriage. In many a society, depending on the ages of the widow (er), re-marriage may be an option, also, and this is to imply that if the marriage takes place when the children are already old and have left the house, the case of single parentage may not arise since in the view of Egeland, Carlson, Sroufe (2009), single parentage exist where children are still in the care of the parents.

Secondly, according to Hayslip, Kaminski (2008), divorce, which may be caused by a multitude of reasons, is another case for single parentage. This is because, divorce leads to estrangement of the partners and this leaves one of the partners with the duty of taking care of the children. The increased rise in divorce cases, which is caused by disagreements or as is in the recent past, mutual agreements, leads to the aforesaid single parentage. Divorce cases are on the increase in all societies both the Western and Orient, the rich and poor across the globe (Hill, Hill 2003).

Third, economic reasons (Heckman 2008, Melchior et al. 2009) which come about by the need to stay apart, sometimes for weeks or months or even years hence leading one of the partners to have sole responsibility for upbringing, but this may be disputed since the other partner, mainly the man, still parents the children indirectly by sending money and issuing instructions (Hutchings et al 2007). But as noted earlier, single parentage has much to do with psychological imbalance than just the presence of one of the partners and the continued absence of one of the parents may mean that the each of the parents and even the children experience the psychological imbalance that exists (Ray 2010).

Fourth, decayed moral fabric of many societies have lead to early or unwanted pregnancies which in turn leads to single mothers having to take full responsibilities of their children as the supposed fathers are either not known or are simple not ready to take responsibilities for parentage (Rimm, Rimm 2008). In this case, according to (Cheal 2003) societal vices like wartime rape cases are also immoral and when they lead to pregnancies, then single parentage arises.

Fifth, religious beliefs, according to (Furlong, Cartmel 2007), some religious beliefs may lead to women having to give birth as the options of abortion is not considered and as such when this happens then they may be left to deal with child raising on their own. According to (Rimm, Rimm 2008), this belief is predominant in the Catholic denomination of the Christian faith where, even family planning methods are not entertained.

Sixth, adoption cases are also on the rise and these also causing the non-biological existence of single parentage when the children are adopted by one person (Bradshaw 2003). Since most laws on adoption do not curtail this practice to the existence of both the parents (Cavanaugh, Fields 2006) and (Ray 2010), it is increasingly becoming easy to adopt by individual.

Seventh, the sense of independence that is now sought after by many women who may not wish to have their own children but not under the ‘control’ of anyone else has also contributed to the rise of such families (Egeland, Carlson, Sroufe (2009) and (Furlong, Cartmel 2007). The view held by this essay is that, for this to happen, the mother must be assured of their ability to take care of their children especially to provide for their material needs (Hayslip, Kaminski 2008). This is therefore a major cause for the rise in relatively developed economies where jobs can be created then in developing economies.

The factors given above denote that there are many reason causing rise of single parent families and most of which are beyond the control of the parent or even the state, but, the state can, to some extent have effective measures of dealing with this situation although this may take time, for instance change the tax benefit system for single families may not be an easy process as it is political, but (Cheal 2003), notes that this can only go to a certain extent but will not hold families which are in marital problems together.

The Implications

As seen in the discussion above, there are various cause of single parentage and these hence mean that the implications are also many as given below;

First, single parent families deprive the children of the benefits of having the other parent (McBride 2006). This according to Hall and Hall (2007), Osberg (2003), may lead to serious behavioural problems cased by the sense of deficiency, which the child realises through his/her peers. For instance, according to the research by (McLanahan 2000), lack of father figure may often lead to behavioural problems by the children, which may make them to start having problems with the law at a very early age. However, (Peele 2004), made an attempt to state that behavioural problems might be caused by any factor and not necessarily lack of the ‘father’ figure, but this view has been contested by (Pounds 2007), who noted that the ‘father’ figure may be found in the mother and hence, the view held here is that the child grows to note a difference between him/her with other children and it is this psychological knowledge of abnormality that makes the child to have tendencies of negative reaction and begin to be ‘on the wrong side of the law’.

Secondly, as a result of having problems with the law, the government may be forced to spend a lot of money on rehabilitation and this may hence mean that in serious case scenario, the government will have to allocate more money to the social welfare department and activities at the expense of other development allocations (Tanner 2003). According to (McLanahan 2000) and (Cheal 2003), this is a major problem since the allocations to this department are not productive either in the short or the long term. According to Yarber, Sharp (2010), when children are taken into custody for correction, they may not necessarily respond positively to this custodial correction and on the contrary, they may become rebellion and the purpose will have been defeated. However, (Deleire, Kalil 2010), noted that this is a problem with less scientific ways of rehabilitation that leave children to feel like criminals than potentially productive members of the society.

Thirdly, single parentage may result in unnecessary allocations of benefits to the single parents in a welfare state (Telegraph 2009, BBC News 2007 and Thisismoney 2009). This is a terrible outcome on many fronts. In the view of this essay, tax benefits on single parents bring about single families that encourage child vices as held in the first and second part above, and at the same time takes away money from the exchequer in an unproductive ways leading to serious deficit problems which the UK is facing currently (BBC News 2007). This is seen as the social problems that extend to political problems in the society and this to many a ‘normal’ families becomes an unfortunate situation since it appears that single parentage is rewarded and normal parentage is punished ((Booth, Crouter 2002). According to (Rimm, Rimm 2008), the reason the benefits which lead to budgetary imbalances are unfair when given to most of the single parents is that the system will most certainly stand to be abused by those who know how to do so. Also it is generally impossible for the governments to know for certainty who of the single parents are in their situations in a genuine way and lastly, there will be no way of having in place a more effective control measures to compromise the parents or even to ensure that the society is trained on the importance of a normal family when there is seemingly more advantages of staying single than in a family (Wang, Benard 2004 ).

Fourth, single parent families exposes the parent or the children or both to abuses especially if the parent is the mother and not the father (Deleire, Kalil 2010), this is the view that is also held by (Yarber, Sharp 2010, Rimm, Rimm 2008), who stated that when the children are left with the mother alone, chance are that the society will note the vulnerability of this entire family and those who wish to exploit them will do so in various ways (Furlong, Cartmel 2007) for instance a supposedly caring ‘boyfriend’ or partner may abuse the children due to lack of real parentage attachment to them. The mothers may also be under severe abuse as a result of this and while this is not to suggest that the abuse is often physical, but they may be taken advantage of either due to their money or property after which they will be left in a sorry state (McLanahan 2000). According to (Deleire, Kalil 2010), the probability of suffering by single mothers is higher than the women in a normal relationship, since these single mothers and even their children are viewed to have no where to go to (Wu 2009). However, Deleire, Kalil (2010), noted that such abuses, as much as they exist in many a society, they are more prevalent in the developing than developed societies, because, in developed societies certain infrastructure exist that may discourage such instances for instance, quick police responses and CCTVs which when coupled with increased profiling, may deter violent abuses, this is not the case in the developing economies.

Fifth, according to McLanahan (2000) and Swick, Williams (2010) single parent families are bound to have increased stress than a normal family due to the lack of shared responsibilities. This is a crucial problem in that, in single parent families, the lone father or mother bears all the burden of parentage, including fending for the family and looking after the children interest (Wu 2009). According to Swick, Williams (2010), this causes the parent to provide less than sufficient attention to the children and to snap at minor provocation which may affect the child’s psychology due to abuses, beatings and even serious sufferings that might be inflicted on to the children who may suffer in silence (Wang, Benard 2004). While this view has also been supported by (Furlong, Cartmel 2007) and (Deleire, Kalil 2010) who noted that such parents cause problems to themselves and to their children, (Cavanaugh, Fields 2006) and (Jackson, Preston, Franke, 2010), have not supported it and they state that stress can exist more in a normal family than in a single parent family and it all depends on what the parent is doing and not the state of the parent. This is because; most single parents are resilient and can bear stress in a far better way than normal parents.

Sixth as their parents are stressed, children may hence be stressed too which may affect their ability to perform well in school. This is because; children may not be able to handle the psychological pressures that come with stress, which may be translated to mean deprivation and withdrawal (Wang, Benard 2004), these children are more likely to experience serious dysfactionalities and absent-mindedness which are also psychological in nature and hence loss concentration in the classroom (Anderson A., et al 2008), however, (Wu 2009), seriously disputes this notion by stating that children in abusive but normal families are the ones who may show such tendencies as they live in the ‘terror’ of abusive parents. This seem to be a more credible point of view as the children in such families are left with little option if they view, for instance, their mother to be helpless and their fathers to be ‘monsters’ (Cavanaugh, Fields 2006), this may not exist in single parent families. According to (Rimm, Rimm 2008), the main implication in this case is that the children who may wish to compare themselves to their mates, may find themselves ‘lacking’ especially if they also come across teachers who talk about the parent that is not in the child’s life (Jackson, Preston, Franke, 2010). According to the research conducted by (Zastrow, Karen 2009), in Denmark, on an average, the children from single parent backgrounds were found to be performing poorly in the classroom than those in the normal families, however, this research produced an interesting finding by stating that, on average, the performance was worst soon after the parents have split and as the child ‘recovers’ from the shock, they, mentally accept the reality if it is explained clearly to them and their performance may improve (Wang, Benard 2004). (McLanahan 2000), took a very different point of view by stating that child’s performance has nothing to do with their family set-ups but everything to do with the schools that they are studying in, because, good schools which are sought after produced an average of better results with higher grades for every child (Melchior et al. 2009) as opposed to the average schools.

Seventh, according to (Furlong, Cartmel 2007), single parents families may cause a spiral effect on the future generations by having children who develop greater tendencies to being single parents themselves as they grow to learn to be the ‘mother and father’ of their families at the same time. This, according to (Cavanaugh, Fields 2006), is a positive implication in creating a resilient society, but, according to Yarber, Sharp (2010), the resilience is to the extent of the child being able to handle pressure in the future at work but not positive in encouraging a normal family existence (Melchior et al. 2009 ). According to (Rimm, Rimm 2008, Yarber, Sharp 2010), the ability to act as a mother and father at the same time has nothing whatsoever to do with positive societal framework and resilience does not replace the discipline and order that can exist with the existence of both the parents, therefore, this notion of resilience is self defeating.

Eighth, according to the research conducted by (Zastrow, Karen 2009) and (McLanahan 2000), single parent families face serious economic deprivation, poverty and even exposure to vices like prostitution, theft and greater likelihood of suicide. The study here was related to material problems that the single parents face and it was found that when there is shared responsibilities, the family may sustain unlike if such is not present (Rimm, Rimm 2008). This is because, in a single parent family, the source of income may be one especially in cases where one partner died or where there was unwanted pregnancy, this may lead to deprivation where children lack what they need and when this prevails, and stress comes in, the tendency to resort to extreme measures (Melchior et al. 2009). Prostitution is one of the common ways of fighting poverty when other measures seem to have failed (Jackson, Preston, Franke, 2010), also, in worse cases, suicides may be the way out of misery by both the parent and the child(ren), and these are practices that do not only wreck the single parent family but also the normal families (Jackson, Choi, Bentler 2009).

Discussion and Conclusion

This essay has managed to highlight various issues that relate to single parenthood as they affect various societies. Single parenthood is a major problem that confronts all societies alike. It is the view of this essay that the implications can only be dealt with if the causes are identified. As seen in this essay, the main causes of this situation range from family disagreements to natural causes to political factors of the welfare state, these are far reaching and hence with much more greater implications and it may not be possible to adopt a single method of tackling these as the approach has to be multi faceted.

The best way to tackle the problem of single parenthood is to ensure that the social and moral fabric is addressed (Rimm, Rimm 2008, Yarber, Sharp 2010), and the view of this discussion is that for this to be done, the schools must be encouraged to adopt curricula that educates and instils on the children the importance of family without seeking to find out how their families are composed, this will cause sanity to the moral thinking of the society and as the generation ages, the importance of family will be glorified (Melchior et al. 2009). Also, religious based organisations must be consulted and asked to help by having their teachings geared towards family cohesion and not family breakages, this however requires the society to be more responsive to religious calls which may not be a major issue sin many societies.

Also, the rules that make divorce easy and benefiting especially to the other partner who goes to share half the wealth must be re-discussed and changes adopted (Yarber, Sharp 2010), in the UK, the mother is generally given the duty to look after the children while in the USA (Rimm, Rimm 2008), this duty is shared with the father also taking part, this is in the case of divorces, the shared responsibility may reduce the vices that children may show since they still enjoy the company and teachings of the parents. However, in the cases of death, it is obvious that there cannot be any arrangement of custodial rights for the other party as they are not there, but this calls for strengthening the community spirit, so that the whole society can be charged with the duty of taking care of the children (Booth, Crouter 2002, Yarber, Sharp 2010), of course schools can only play a limited role and the extended family needs to take an active role, yet, it must be realised that this cannot be forced either, however, the government can to some extent facilitate this by reducing the benefits given to the single parents who choose to do so simply to benefit from the tax benefits, this will lead to more reliance on family and lastly, foster caring should be vetted and allowed for normal families alone as a way of placing the child in a normal family and avoiding future problems (Melchior et al. 2009).

Lastly, as seen from this discussion, there are more negative implications of single parent families than are positive ones, which denote that this is a societal problem that needs to be dealt with and it calls for society-wide participation to deal with it. While single parents must be cared for, care must be taken to ensure that this care is not misinterpreted and abused by others who may have other options.

Robotics technology is increasing at a fast rate, providing us with new technology that can assist with home chores, automobile assembly and many other tasks. Robotic Technology has changed the world around us and is continuing to impact the way we do things. Robotic technology transformation from the Past to Present surrounds almost everyone in today’s society, and it affects both our work and leisure activities. The definition of the word robot has a different meaning to many people and most people have their own definition and meaning for the word robot. According to the Robot Institute of America, 1979 a robot is a re-programmable, multifunctional manipulator designed to move material, parts, tools, or specialized devices through various programmed motions for the performance of a variety of tasks. The use of robots continues to change numerous aspect of our everyday life, such as health care, education, and job satisfaction. Robots are growing to be a major part of the world economy, they help ways to make our daily life easier and assist in producing more products. Robotic technology is becoming one of the leading technologies in the world. They can perform many functions; robots are used in many different ways in today’s society. The use of Robotic Technology has made an immediate impact on the world in several ways.

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Industrial robots

First, the industrial robot has help changed the industrial workplace. Thousands of companies depend on the output and quality performance offered by the current industrial robots. Industrial robotics has emerged as a popular manufacturing methodology in several areas in recent years, including welding, materials transport, assembly, and spray finishing operations. The use of industrial robots has helped to increase productivity rate, efficiency and quality of distribution. Industrial robots have significantly changed factories and businesses all over the world. Today’s industrial robot provides companies with a lot of advantages. These robots alone have changed products production and the industrial work place.

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Improved technologies have made the industrial robots easy to use, inexpensive, and smarter than ever before. The industrial robots can perform jobs with precision, speed, and reliability. The industrial robots have enhanced product quality and improved industrial operations with increase output of products. Having these robots keep workers from having to tolerate boring, dangerous or exhausting jobs. Robotics is an increasingly visible and important component of modern business, especially in certain industries. Robotics-oriented production processes are most obvious in factories and manufacturing facilities; in fact, approximately 90 percent of all robots in operation today can be found in such facilities. These robots, termed “industrial robots,” were found almost exclusively in automobile manufacturing plants 20 years ago. But industrial robots are now being used in laboratories, research and development facilities, warehouses, hospitals, energy-oriented industries (petroleum, nuclear power, etc.), and, above all, in research.

Military robots

Second, the military robot is used for bomb disposal, Search and rescue missions, aerial recon, and attack operations. Military robots come in different shapes and sizes according to their military purpose. A military robot can be programmed to conduct a specific task or mission routes can also be put into military robots. A military robot uses GPS it also have the ability to solve certain problems on its own. Military robots are pre-programmed to follow a certain route and it can warn soldier if it senses any type of movement as well as other programmed conditions. These robots act in according with the instruction given by the operator. Military robots are also equipped with a camera to provide soldiers with view of the battlefield and dangerous obstacles. These robots are often used to disarm mines and “improvised explosive devices.

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The American soldier has a dangerous job, but some soldiers perform jobs that put their lives in danger all the time. We can use military robots to Cross through minefields, disarming bombs, clear mines and caves in which soldiers have to do. By using robots we can keep soldiers out of harm’s way, we also use robots to do these dangerous jobs. Using robots to conduct these types of dangerous jobs saves lives, instead of losing the life of a soldier we would only lose an expensive piece of equipment in which we can replace. The rising interest in robots in the late 1990s coincided with changing political winds-a shrinking U.S. military as part of the post-Cold War so-called “peace dividend,” and an increasing belief that public tolerance for military risk and casualties had dropped dramatically after the relatively costless victory in the Gulf War. In 2000, this was the main factor that led Senator John Warner (R.-Va.), then chairman of the Armed Services Committee, to mandate in the Pentagon’s budget that by 2010, one-third of all the aircraft designed to attack behind enemy lines be unmanned, and that by 2015, one-third of all ground combat vehicles be driverless. And then came September 11, 2001. The annual national defense budget since 9/11 has risen to $515 billion (an increase of 74 percent between 2002 and 2008), not counting the cost of operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. There has been a massive increase in spending on research and development and on procurement, with a particular focus on anything unmanned. “Make ’em as fast as you can” is what one robotics executive recounts being told by his Pentagon buyers after 9/11. Enthusiasm has only grown thanks to successes on the battlefield.

The important thing about military robots is that they are built to assist soldiers on the battlefield. Some of these robots are built to be carried by the soldier helping them to complete their mission. Having these robots have protected soldiers from dangerous situation and lessen the risk of putting soldiers into harm’s way. Military robots play a very important part in combat operations throughout the world. By having such robotic technology it has notably made the U.S. military a superior power in the world having such technology has significantly increased our military standing as being one of the most powerful militaries in the world. The army’s race during the cold war generated some of the greatest technological achievements in human history. If our military stop spending money on robotic technology, we put our country at risk.

Medical robots

Next, the medical robot is helping to change the medical field. A medical robot has become one of the most beneficial robots in the world. These robots are used to train surgeons, assist in difficult and precise surgical procedures, and to assist patients in recovery. Medical robots are used in a range of medical practices, including difficult and precise surgical procedures. Medical robots are equipped with a computer-integrated technology that contains a complex of programmed languages, controllers, and advanced sensors. Medical robots are currently being used for training surgeons and providing detailed information to students. These robots offers routine procedure, which cut down on the time needed to perform any medical operation. These robots provide accurate placement and limited movement that can help to improved surgical procedures. Robot-assisted surgery provides many benefits in the surgical care of patients. Computer-assisted robots provide exact motion and trajectories to minimize the side-effects of surgical intervention. Surgeon-guided robotics allows the surgeon to access patient anatomy with smaller incisions. The medical robot offers medical personnel a major advantage in precision and efficiency in medical operations. A medical robot gives doctors the ability to view medical records, view X-rays, interact with patience’s, and to view test results. Although robots cannot actually check patients they, give doctors the ability to have social interaction with each other by using a screen attached to the medical robot.

See full size image See full size image New technology in the field of medical robotics will soon change a doctor’s ability to interact with their patience. The use of WiFi technology in the medical robots will soon allow medical personnel to interact with their patience from anywhere in the world.

Domestic robots

In addition, the domestic/ household robot comes in different types and serves varoius purposes they range from robotic movers, robotic vacuum cleaners, robotic pool cleaners, toys, and floor washing robots. Domestic robots of these types must be setup properly to perform their jobs. Once put together correctly these robots will be very reliable and will need a small amount of human interference to operate correctly. However, some domestic robots requires a lot of involvement from people such as the vacuum cleaner. Companies are always looking for ways to limit the amount of interaction that people have with domestic robots. A domestic robot of some sort can be found in almost every household in the world. Some domestic robots are equip with a timer so that it shut it self off when finish with a task. Domestic robots are on the brink to take over the household duties. We use these types of robots to help with chores around the house, entainment, and for educational purposes. We also purchase this type of robots for our children and love ones. Domestic robots will one day take of the responsibilities of a maid making life easier for families. Domestic robots have been slowly putting themselves in position to take over all the duties around the household. Each year, robots are entering domestic environments in increasing number. By 2012, it’s estimated that 7.8 million robots will be in domestic settings. These robots are intended to help with household chores, act as home health aids, and serve as companions and entertainers for people. However, because the field of domestic robotics is birthed from industrial robotics, many of these robots in the home still look and behave like they belong in a factory. Their interactive styles are often not well-suited toward the wide variety of home users that exist. Domestic robots will soon be able to assisit with all the household duties. These robots have been around for years and each year they become more advance in their operational purposes. They will soon be able to help the elderly around the house.

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Humanoid robots

Lastly, a humanoid robot is a robot with its overall appearance based on that of the human body, allowing interaction with made-for-human tools or environments. In general humanoid robots have a torso with a head, two arms and two legs, although some forms of humanoid robots may model only part of the body, for example, from the waist up. Some humanoid robots may also have a ‘face’, with ‘eyes’ and ‘mouth’. Androids are humanoid robots built to aesthetically resemble a human. A humanoid robot is an autonomous robot because it can adapt to changes in its environment or itself and continue to reach its goal. Humanoids will one day show emotion, make decisions, and interact with humans. Humanoids Robots are currently being used as a research tool. They help researchers to better understand the human body structure and human behavior. Humanoids robots are also being made to take on some of the duties of a human. The humanoid robots that we see on TV will one day become a reality. The research in humanoid robotic technology is rising and will soon change the world. Having a robot that can serve as a human and that can do all the task of a human will assist in the learning and research process. To date, humanoid robots can perform certain tasks on their own through voice commands from a human-being.

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Humanoids will soon prove to be the perfect robot that will be able to mingle with people. Humanoids robots will someday be in the workplace and our home taking on some of the responsibilities of a human. With further research in the field of humanoid robots, things that were initially only envisioned in science fiction movies and novels may be possible. By replicating the physical and cognitive structure of actual humanoids, scientists can learn how the beings obtain their attributes. Breakthroughs biomechanics have already produced artificial body parts which offer better replacements for humans who suffer injuries to their bodies.

Conclusion

In summary, the use of Robotic Technology has made an immediate impact on the world in several ways. Robotic technology is evolving rapidly into the 21st century. The advantages of using robotics have been understood where they have become a part of our common occurrences and everyday lives. Robotic technology can be found in stores, hospitals, homes, the work place, and on the battlefield. Robotics is often used to do jobs that could be accomplished by humans. In other words, there are many reasons why robots may be better than humans in performing certain tasks. We use robots because they are faster than individuals at carrying out tasks. Robots can also work in conditions that would be a danger to humans. Robots can withstand a greater amount of heat, radiation, chemical fumes, and other hazards that humans cannot. They can perform repetitive tasks that may become boring to humans. Robotics offers efficiency in which they have the ability to accomplish a job without wasting time and effort, energy, or materials. In addition, robotics offers accuracy for assembling parts and performing complex procedures. Furthermore robotic offers adaptability in being able to accomplish more than one task. Robotic technologies present the world with different uses and convenient ways to accomplish a variety of jobs. With the advances in robotic technology we have found ways to make our life more convenient, protect lives, increase product output, and research.

Digital age is same thing as “modernism” and modernism can simply be defined as an overall socially progressive trend of thought that affirms the power of human beings creates, improve and reshape their environment with the aid of practical, experimental and scientific knowledge or technology. In modernism, there are some certain impacts on social, economic and political life of the societies today, because it has touched all these areas. When we talked of the impact of digital age or modernism on the society, we will be focusing on the changes we have on the social aspects of the world in general, that is, how the society is socially on progress. In the economic life of the societies, we will be focusing on the technologies that changed how people lived, where they lived and how they thought, why there is a rapid change in the production of goods, and also the means of moving those goods from place to another in today’s society. In political life, we have the changes in politics, the rise of working class, and the reason why many are poor and lived in bad conditions while the fewer enjoyed the profits.

Industrial revolution is one of the impacts of modernism in the economic life of the societies today because the use of new technologies and inventions of machines helps towards increasing production of goods and services and also delivering those goods to the appropriate place when needed. Today mechanized production and modern economic growth continue to spread to some new areas. As at that period, workers move from their working environment to another in order to search for a perfect industry with requirement that will make work easier and saves time because as at that period before industrial revolution took place, working at the industry is something different because things and requirement aren’t the way they are because the means to carrying out the work is not there but by man power. It was claimed that the factory systems developed during that period were responsible for the modern cities nowadays, because the system was new, and the workers had not experienced such, and thus everyone has an opportunity to go to somewhere in search of greener posture of the world, and much of some human beings have not yet knew or had about the changes. Economic generate a great distribution of funds extracted from resources, which then led to a progressive shift in legislation. After the second and third reform acts, income inequality was reduced by progressive and successive acts of legislation which gave a free public.

Education had also strengthened the legal standing of the trade unions that aided the aged, the sick ones, and the unemployed individuals without abridging their political rights and replaced regressive with progressive taxes on income, land, and inherited wealth. Selling of goods and services like in British, east India companies were opportune by the government; larger ships were built because of enlightenment following an increased in the aspects of production. George Bernard Showed up once again and said “the market solution ended up in the best social solution”. “For the first time in history, the living standards of the masses of ordinary people have begun to undergo sustained growth.

In impact of digital age on the social life of the society today is connected with one’s position in the society, his social class and also his social background, nowadays, there are so many changes in the social aspect of our lives. A very good example of this is festival, changes in tradition and also in the mood of dressing, all this became possible because of the impact of digital age we have today. If we look around us today, it’s hard to find a person that has not added anything new to his traditional attires , what I mean here is, for instance, for the Hausa’s and also the Fulani’s, there were not know for wearing jeans and tops, but now it has become a common thing based on socialization. Before, many do not believe in going to school especially the Fulani’s, they only believe in rearing cattle’s while the women among them are to stay at home, but now, everyone wants to be in school, illiteracy is darkness, people don’t believe in staying at home doing nothing anymore, for at least even when they lack the opportunity or don’t have the means of going school or seeking for job opportunity, they will prepare engaging themselves in a small business just for them to earn something for a living. There are so many changes due to the impact digital age on the social life of our societies today.

Social philosophers of the 1700’s supported the idea of individual human rights, respects, freedoms has dissolved the old ways of supreme wealth of Royalty and everyone else peasants exponential population growth properties kept on getting sub-grouped, couldn’t keep doing that many people moved to towns, people in cities need jobs, and need to buy things instead of making it themselves. Lack of work result to poverty and unavailability of food, so there were few to work, and much waiting to have one. Work made the opportunity to move ahead.

The impact of digital age on the political life of the societies today is connected with the state, government or public affairs. Today, there are a lot of changes in politics, in government, we have the arms of government where it consist of the legislative, judiciary and the executive arms of government and every arm of government listed here has its own responsibility to carry on and also certain years that each president in Nigeria had to spent in office, all this is because of the impact of digital age we have today. Let go deep into the impact of digital age on political life of the society, another considerable impact to look on is during the election period, today, people do come out of their houses to vote for the beloved candidate, individuals were given the right to vote for whom they wish to be their leader and at any period, a well educated individual with the necessary requirement that will qualified him to stand as a candidate during an election can do so. Politicians clued into those dynamics and spoke of growth in that system could get votes. In politics, we considered the working class, people can now vote and be voted for, and that’s the people that engage themselves in politics would probably be the candidate in an election. Today, as a result of the impact on digital age we have on the political life of the society today, you can write an article, letter or even through computers that are all over that will enabled you go online, search for one of your leaders and have a mutual conversation with him/her about the political problems that rises all the time, the issue of corruption among the leaders, misused of the public funds etc and the best way to tackle all this problems .People could get things that were previously not available to common people, and standard of living could go up.

In conclusion, digital age had so much impact on the social, economic and political life of the societies today because it has brought so much changes in our daily aspects of life and also helps us to improve and reshape our environment with the aid of practical, experimental and scientific knowledge or technology.

LIFE CHANCES

SOCIAL CLASS CONTINUES TO HAVE A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON LIFE CHANCES OF INDIVIDUALS IN THE CONTEMPORARY UK. DISCUSS THIS VIEW, USING APPROPRIATE EVIDENCE.

In a modern western society individuals strive to achieve the things that are labelled as desirable, the best phone, a big house and a nice car. These are all known as commodities alongside education, health and housing but these commodities are very rarely distributed equally and so actually achieving these things can be difficult (Stroud, 2001). The ability and opportunity a person has to achieve these commodities is known as a person’s life chances. There are various factors that can determine a person’s life chances including genetic inheritance, social class of parents, education, childhood poverty, family, attitudes and discrimination, plus many more (Aldridge, 2004). A person’s life chances will often be determined by their social class within their society. Social class is one of the oldest and possibly one of the most persistent inequalities in British society. Classes are groups of people that all share the same ideals, opportunities and cultural beliefs. These class systems can be defined by achieved or ascribed status. Achieved status is status that has been worked for, whereas ascribed status is from birth. Some class systems have social mobility, which gives individuals the opportunity to move up or down classes.

Throughout history there have been records of many different class systems, including slavery, the feudal system and the Hindu caste system. Some of these class systems still exist even in today’s modernised world. Despite many adaptions taking place as life continues to change according to the National Equality Panel the UK is still a long way from being a society of equal opportunity. There has been a lot of change over the last two decades that have indeed improved the life chances of many; these changes have narrowed the inequalities in earnings, gender and education for ethnic minorities (Timmins, 2010). The biggest inequality that can be seen within the UK would be with income, with the majority of the UK’s wealth being owned by only a small percentage.

Within the contemporary UK there appears to be a class system divided into three categories, upper class, middle class and working class. For each of these three classes there will be differences in the kind of advantages or disadvantages the people within them can have. These differences may be recognised by obvious inequality with commodities such as council housing or privately owned housing in select locations, education at select schools compared to state education, private healthcare opposed to NHS healthcare and highly paid occupations against poorly paid or no occupation opportunities. There could also be disadvantages due to a person’s accent and dialect, appearance and clothing and the leisure activities that person indulges in. There may also be other less obvious inequalities, from social class, that can affect a person’s life chances.

In a modern society social class and life chances depend largely on economic differences between groups, such as wealth and income, possession of goods, and a person’s position in society (SFEU, n.d). The biggest differences in social class within the UK can be seen through a person’s occupation. The upper classes can live off unearned income, such as land rents or inheritance. There are not many upper class people living off unearned income, despite there being some very wealthy people. In the UK most people fall into middle class or working class categories. The middle class is broken down into the higher middle class and the lower middle class. The higher middle class hold occupations in professional work such as law, medicine or owning businesses. This type of work requires education, qualifications and skills. While the lower middle class hold occupations such as teachers and opticians. At one time lower middle class occupations were sought after and would have been regarded as higher middle class, but due to these professions now being stable well paid positions they have decreased in class standing (Mills, 1956, cited in Anon, n.d). Working classes hold manual labour occupations and although this can often require a lot of skill it is not generally well paid (Anon, n.d).

It is more than obvious to say that if a child has a good education and achieves high qualifications then that child is most likely to gain a high paying job. A person born into a family living in poverty would obviously not have the same opportunity to attend a top quality private school as a person born into a wealthy family. There is also the consideration of catchment areas with education that could prevent a person being able to attend a better school than provided in their local area. A lot of the best schools in the UK do have scholarship and bursary opportunities, however these do not always apply as some of the individuals from poorer societies are unable or unaware of how to apply for this assistance and if they do they could still be refused. For instance, a child from a council estate, living with unemployed parents on the outskirts of a city would not be able to go to a private funded school in a big city. Whereas a child with parents as actors will almost always be instantly enrolled to the best private schools available.

The main factor that affects health inequality in the UK is social class. There are many studies that show people born in to poor families have less chance of survival, grow up with poor health and may die at an early age. NHS waiting lists at an all time high, those individuals with either low incomes or no incomes are increasingly waiting longer for potentially lifesaving treatment. In contrast to this those people in what is considered the upper classes are able to pay to have treatment privately and almost immediately, also having the opportunity to choose the best surgeon/doctor to perform the treatment. There is also the fact that many working class occupations cause illness but the people suffering are unable to take time away from their employment for fear of dismissal. Health inequalities may not be directly caused by social class itself but more as a result of social class inequality. Poor health can be a result of poor living conditions, bad eating habits, behavioural habits such as smoking and drinking and lack of exercise (Macintyre, cited in Burton, 2014).

Another difference between life chances and differing social classes is the way crime is handled. A lot of national statistics state that most crime is committed by working class males. This is not necessarily true as a lot of wealthy people often commit crimes but are not prosecuted. Even when they are prosecuted there are major differences in the treatment involved. For instance a white working class male arrested for fraud will find himself face down on the pavement and handcuffed behind his back. He will then be taken to a local police station, thrown in a cell and eventually interviewed for hours before having DNA, fingerprints and photographs taken before being released. In total contrast to this a wealthy public figure such as a politician or celebrity would be contacted through their PA or agent with a request to attend the police station at a time suitable and convenient for them. They will not be handcuffed, put in a cell or subjected to many hours of interrogation. They may have to provide DNA, fingerprints and photographs but this could also depend on the person in question.

REFERENCES

Aldridge, S. (2004) Life Chances & Social Mobility: An Overview of the Evidence [online]. Available from: http://www.swslim.org.uk/documents/themes/lt10_lifechances_socialmobility.pdf [Accessed on: 25^th February 2014].

Anon. (n.d) Social Inequality Class War [online]. Available from: https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CE4QFjAD&url=https%3A%2F%2Fhwb.wales.gov.uk%2Fcms%2Fhwbcontent%2FShared%2520Documents%2Fvtc%2F2009-10%2Fsociology%2Fj-griffiths-a2%2F08%2520Class%2520inequality.doc&ei=cwUNU9qYGoLC7AaH0YGADQ&usg=AFQjCNHztbBO4TkYV-B6XSNIwk_jZoTLiA&sig2=Jpwtyqz8c6wbtXevFwkpBw&bvm=bv.61725948,d.ZGU&cad=rja [Accessed on: 25^th February 2014].

Burton, J. (2013) Class and Stratification Access Sociology [Class Hand-out]. Access to Social Science: Life Chances, Northampton College. 1^st March.

Crossman, A. (n.d) Sociology of Social Inequality [online]. Available from: http://sociology.about.com/od/Disciplines/a/Sociology-Of-Social-Inequality.htm [Accessed on: 27^th February 2014].

Scottish Further Education Unit. (n.d) Sociology Social Stratification Intermediate ? [online]. Available from: https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&ved=0CFYQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.educationscotland.gov.uk%2FImages%2FSocialStratInt12_tcm4-335917.doc&ei=cwUNU9qYGoLC7AaH0YGADQ&usg=AFQjCNFy43tMDIvoc1psuuKEX06umWxxgQ&sig2=5lS1A_bga4yStmZ-aZ4NxA&bvm=bv.61725948,d.ZGU&cad=rja [Accessed on: 25^th February 2014].

Sparknotes. (n.d) Social Stratification and Inequality. Modern Stratification Systems [online]. Available from: http://www.sparknotes.com/sociology/social-stratification-and-inequality/section3.rhtml [Accessed on: 27^th February 2014].

Stroud, A. (2001) How Social Class Affects Life Chances [online]. Available from: http://www.markedbyteachers.com/gcse/sociology/how-social-class-affects-life-chances.html [Accessed on: 27^th February 2014].

Timmins, N. (2010) Social advantages still shape life chances [online]. Available from: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/72110f9e-0ab1-11df-b35f-00144feabdc0.html – axzz2ujHY6eXs [Accessed on: 1^st March 2014].

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Angel, L. (2007) Sociology (Analyse the relationship between social class and life chances)? [online]. Available from: http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070121091107AADtlDM [Accessed on: 27^th February 2014].

Bancroft, A. & Rogers, S. (2010) Introduction to Sociology. Max Weber – Class, Status and Power [online]. Available from: http://www.cf.ac.uk/socsi/undergraduate/introsoc/weber11.html [Accessed on: 27^th February 2014].

Rafaelz5. (2008) Does social class still influence people’s life chances and lifestyle? [online] Available from: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080810055743AA8X0wM [Accessed on: 27^th February 2014].

S-cool. (n.d) Class [online]. Available from: http://www.s-cool.co.uk/a-level/sociology/inequalities/revise-it/class [Accessed on: 1^st March 2014].

There are many books, articles, academic and non academic papers have been written concerning Multiculturalism and its impact on Western and non-Western societies, religious or cultural groups. The aim of this critical review is to examine, give description, comparing and contrasting, conducting analysis and evaluation of two different articles that discuses the same theme of Multiculturalism. Both articles are written by feminist’s writers who argue the issues relating to gender and especially women.

Description of two articles

Article 1:

This article is written by Susan Moller Okin a feminist writer who argues that policy makers, defenders and advocates of multiculturalism in liberal and democratic countries, have not shown justice and fairness when it comes to the issue of gender especially women. She also argues about the issues of immigrants and raises the question that is why the immigrants, minority groups and indigenous people failed to be part of the majority cultures in Western Countries. Women were the most groups who felt that they were controlled by men in many aspects of life; therefore, the assimilation of women in Western cultures caused huge controversy in the field of multiculturalism.

Article 2:

This article is written by Mandy McKerl, another feminist writer who argues that women who come from different background, cultures, minority groups and live in multiculturalism societies, lack self-esteem and self respect due to the pressure from the their own cultures and their own communities. She presents her arguments based on the status of these women in contemporary societies in which they encounter discrimination, prejudice, sexism, injustice and lack of opportunities. She also criticizes multiculturalism in Western liberal democracy societies in which freedom, social justice, social equality and political representation are terms made by certain establishment to serve only the male dominant and ignore women rights, freedom, and social justice. Again the emphases here are on women who belong to ethnic minorities and Muslim women in particular.

Comparison of the two articles

Similarities: The title of both articles indicates that there are similarities in the arguments particularly from feminist point of views. Both writers illustrate the depth of the problem that women are subjected to issue of inequality and social justice in multiculturalism societies and liberal democratic states. They criticize the policy makers and the government institution in failing to address the issue concerning gender especially women and to recognize that there is a gap in certain laws which left women to become vulnerable to sex abuse, clitoridectomy, rape, polygamy, domestic violence, and killings. In addition, they present similar cases and examples from within Western multicultural societies where women and girls from different cultural background have been subjected to force marriages, children marriages, threat, and in some cases kidnapping. According to both writers, this unjustified behavior led to create negative impact on women and girls, and it also has created fierce tensions between the feminist ideologies and defender of multiculturalism in Western states.

Points of differences and contrast:

The author of article 1 presents her arguments concerning multiculturalism in a broader picture, although her main argument deals with issue of women rights that has been violated and ignored. In contrast to article 2, the author expands her arguments and engages in more details to identify the core of the problem that is hidden behind the mask of multiculturalism. Article 1, rarely diffuses discussion on cultural groups and its role in multiculturalism societies. In contrast to article 2, where the discussion is more energetic to explore with the reader that cultural groups has the upper hand in controlling the lives and freedom of women. There are other views and comments regarding the issue of multiculturalism by anthropologist in article 2, which could not be found in article 1.

Analysis and evaluation:

As the title of both articles suggest “Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women”? Arguably this is the main issue in both of the readings. The authors are not seeking a Yes or No answer here, but to illustrate statement if the society acknowledge and believe in the rights of women or believe in multiculturalism and ignore the rights of women. The other issue that the articles wanted to concentrate on is that in Western countries, immigrants, Muslim women have been deprived from their essence legal protections and have been looked at as third-class citizens.

Both authors argue that because of the dogma of multiculturalism, women from ethnic background and different cultures are exposed to violence, sexism, polygamy, and violation of human rights. According to Wihtol de Wenden, “the French response to such practice as polygamy, excision, and headscarves has often taken the form of the imposition of unsuitable sanctions”. She suggests that “such sanctions, far from helping migrant women, tend to isolate them further into a traditional world that deprives them from equal rights and equal opportunity”. (Wihtol de Wenden, 1998, p. 140). One can argue that some Western countries believe that all these immigrants and women cherish one single homogenous culture; therefore, they all should follow it, missing the fact that this misunderstanding in homogenous culture, has resulted in permitting most men to use the name culture for their own advantages by beating, torturing, and disrespecting women and girls.

Arguably, both authors are discussing the same problem regarding the issues of multiculturalism, women, cultural groups, human rights, and policy makers in same directions, but apply different approaches. For example, article 1 states that some group rights can, in fact, endanger and humiliate women. She illustrates her claim by giving an example of French government’s allowing few thousands of male immigrants from African colonized countries special permission to bring multiple wives into the country.

Ironically, the French laws do not permit polygamy and the wives’ own severe rejection to the practice of polygamy, did not stop these men to marry multiple wives’. (Okin, 1999, p. 10). Okin strongly emphasizes that women should not be considered as disadvantaged because of their sex and should not be treated as sex object to pleasure men. Volpp states that “the assumption that women are by definition more oppressed in minority cultures can be traced to several theoretical base: the history of colonialism, depictions of the feminist subject, the limits of liberalism, and the use of binary logic”. (Volpp, 2001, p. 1195). If this is the case, than Western countries should reject group rights that allow the practice of polygamy on the foundation that they are essential to minority cultures whose existence may otherwise be threatened. (Okin, 1999, p. 11).

Similar arguments can be found in article 2, in which Makerl highlights the issue of minority groups and their cultural rights of practices. She reflects and analysis the argument which is presented in article 1 from historical and political background and this method is important in raising the issue of multiculturalism and gender. She also illustrates opinions of multiculturalism from various thinkers, philosophers, and authors and comparatively weights them to separate facts from fiction. (Mckerl, 2007, p.192).

There is a sense of creating a notion of balance between feminism ideology and the defender of multiculturalism and in doing so; she is establishing a link of mutual debate to highlights and bring the issue of women that has been ignored for sometimes to the surface. In contrast to article 1, these type of analytical approaches and references to other authors are not present which makes her arguments less energetic.

The issues of women and multiculturalism have been addressed by other writers such as, Johann Hari, Judit Hell, Himani Bannerji, and Sarah Song. The article entitled “How multiculturalism is betraying women” by Johann Hari can be seen as a direct criticism of multiculturalism in liberal and Western societies. She demonstrates her arguments by presenting several cases of Muslim women who were subjected to violence, rape, discrimination, and have been treated as third-class citizens. (Hari, 2007). She writes in different style and more critical of social justice and inequality of human rights especially concerning women. Although, her writing may not be considered as an academic piece of work, but she engages extremely well in raising the issues of women especially in courts room. Arguably, there is a sense of resemblance in arguments between this work and the previous two articles despite the differences in approaches.

Another example of resemblances in arguments can be found in the report of Judit Hell “Women’s Issue and Multiculturalism” in which the writer present her arguments about multiculturalism from feminist point of view to emphasis that there are many issues regarding women and girls needed to be addressed in both public and private sphere. (Hell, n.d.). Judit, like Okin concentrate in her discussion on the historical background to multiculturalism and elaborates on the gender issue, but this time on gender of male that use culture as an excuse to establish authorities upon women and to subordinate them.

In this respect, judit argues that multicultural societies are divided into two categories of societies, traditional societies and modern societies. She suggests that in Christian Europe the traditional societies were patriarchal by nature and male were the dominant figures, therefore the status of women was defined. The other ethnic communities groups, such as Jews, Gypsies and Muslims who arrived at later stage and settled in Christian Europe, once again male were the dominant figures in these groups. Comparing the patriarchal status in traditional societies to modern societies, the treatment of women by these dominant male from these ethnic groups were harsh and primitive. (Hell, n.d.).

Himani in her essay “A Question of Silence: Reflection on Violence Against Women in Communities of colour” raises issues concerning multiculturalism and women, but her style in this particular essay is completely different from Okin and Mckerl. She presents her writing in a form of a letter that is written to a friend in free verse style. She states “Breaking with scholarly protocols, I am writing this piece as a letter to you because what I want to say needs an embodied reader”. ( Bannerji, 2000, p. 151). This piece of writing is dedicated to friends and in it the writer opens up her discussion addressing the violation of women rights with especial references to ethnic minorities’ women in Canada. The piece is well structured and full of technical words, but easy to follow its main argument.

Sarah Song, is another feminist academic writer who highlights issues of multiculturalism and women in America. In her arguments, she presents case studies of several women from Hong Kong, China, India, and America who have been kidnapped and raped by men. She states that “not so long ago in the United States, unless there was obvious evidence of coercion, an American woman charging rape had to convince the court that she had resisted the defendant’s advances “to the utmost”. (Song, 2007, p.93). Because of the nature of the cases that she has presented, her style of writing is very descriptive and critical. Tradition and culture are the main themes that run throughout her arguments and seemingly it is critical rather than neutral.

In general, the above articles are written from feminist point of views and highlighted issues concerning multiculturalism and the status of women in the multicultural societies. The presentations of some arguments are convincing and straight to the point where social injustice and inequality of women were addressed throughout the articles. Article 2 in particular is more engaging and interesting because it involves depth arguments and involves the reader to make a decision for him/herself either to agree or disagree with the discussion that is presented. It is an intellectual article which contest political, religious, cultural, and gender issues that evolve around us to understand the core of the problems that we are facing in this multicultural societies.

Conclusion

Feminist writers have presented theories and ideologies of multiculturalism in different perspectives and argued that culture, tradition, religion, and politics play an important role in shaping and controlling women.

The interpretation of multiculturalism in itself could be ambiguous and cultural differences in certain parts of liberal societies are governed by dominant male and this will not help in empowering women.

The articles presented views and challenged the defender and agents of multiculturalism through presenting cases of abuse, sexism, discrimination, social injustice and challenged the policy makers that certain laws are bias and prejudice towards women.

Each article has its unique way in style and arguments despite the differences and similarities that embedded throughout the discussion. Each article had delivered the necessary message profoundly.

The debate and the tension between feminism and multiculturalism supporters has created a balance of understanding each other views to some extent although the division in arguments will continue in years to come.

References

Bannerji, H. (2000). The Dark Side of the Nation- Essays on Multiculturalism, Nationalism and Gender. Canadian Scholars’ Press Inc. Toronto, Ontario.

Hari, J. (2007). How Multiculturalism is betraying Women [online] The Independent News Paper. Available from: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-how-multiculturalism-is-betraying-women-446806.html

Accessed: 4th November 2010.

Hell, J. No date. Women’s Issue and Multiculturalism. [online]. Available from: http://www.bu.edu/wcp/papers/Gend/GendHell.htm

Accessed: 1st November 2010.

McKerl, M. (2007) ‘Multiculturalism, Gender and Violence: is multiculturalism bad for women?’, in Culture and Religion, Vol. 8, No.2

Okin, S.M. (1999) ‘Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women?’, in Cohen, J. and Howard, M. (eds) ‘ Is Multiculturalism Bad For Women’? Princeton University Press, USA.

Song, S. (2007) Justice, Gender, and The Politics of Multiculturalism. Cambridge University Press, USA.

Volpp, L. (2001). Feminism versus Multiculturalism. In JSTOR accessed online at http://www.jstor.org/stable/1123774

Accessed: 1st November 2010.

Wenden, C.W. (1998). Young Muslim Women in France: Cultural and Psychological Adjustments. In JSTOR accessed online at http://www.jstor.org/stable/3792118

Accessed: 1st November 2010.

A Leader is a person who guide and lead the team to success. As a leader, he or she must have a clear vision and vivid picture of where to go and a firm grasp on what success look like and how to achieve it. A leader must also be able to communicate with his or her follower on her vision and must be able to persuade them to buy into his or her idea. Moreover, he or she must also communicate passionately and clearly so that it can motivate them and direct them more efficient. Besides that, as a leader, he or she must have a responsibility on his or her follower and to make sure that all his or her follower share the common goal.

Modernization is conceived in several ways. One of them is through an increased knowledge in science and technology, modernization as a process of change in the social structure and social system.

Besides, it is also defined as a movement of transition from traditional society of religion, magic, and superstition to a modern and postmodern society. It is free from religious matrix and traditional norms.

Furthermore, the West explains modernization as a process of mobilization, differentiation, industrialization, and secularization, which can reach high economic growth, stable democracy, and a capitalist economy.

Modernization has brought to advance of human lifestyle and it makes human life easier. Modernization is not a temporal concept since the social keep on changing. It is a result of enlightenment which values reason, freedom and science, in relation to different aspects of society, so that modernization progress all the time.

During modernization, there is universal education and increase of literacy. Democratization in political system and education has been achieved. There are also emergence of rationalization and bureaucratization in social organization of work.

Socialization

Socialization is conceived as a general process of gaining culture; anthropologists use the term ‘enculturation’ for the process of being socialized to a particular culture. A human infant is born without any culture. Human’s parents, teachers, friends and circumferences transform them into cultural and socially adept animals. Socialization helps people to learn the language of culture they are born, or the role they are to play in life.

They will learn about the occupational roles that their society has store for them. For an example, boys learn how to be sons, brothers, friends, husbands, and fathers. During the socialization process, human learn to adopt their culture’s norms, which mean the conceptions of appropriate and expected behavior that are held by most members of the society.

There are two types of socialization, which are natural socialization and planned socialization. When infants and youngsters explore, play and discover the social world around them, it is called as natural socialization. Whereas when others take actions designed to teach or train people from infancy on, it is called as planned socialization. Both of these types of socialization can have good or bad features.

Most people try to gain experience in life. This helps to influence their own socialization. The more we learn about the socialization process, the more effective we can be in managing our future learning in the ways that it will help us most. To gain uniformity within a society, there must be a successful socialization. People will share the same beliefs and expectations if all of them receive the same socialization.

Discussion
The Impact of Modernization on Socialization

In the past, there was a bias between male and female, especially in China country. Males were provided educational chance when they are young. They could study in school meanwhile female are not allowed to study at all. In China before modernization, female are only allowed to do house chores and help around their family. Due to the socialization in the past, they are restricted them from getting the chance to expose themselves in education, business and politics. Besides, female are always being treated as servant or a baby producer. They have to obey what the male said. Furthermore, a female must listen to the male order and they are not allowed to fight back. Once she is born, she has to obey to her father. After married, she has to obey to her husband, then to her son.

The changes of modernization has influence processes of socialization, such as learning how to think, how to feel, how to be acceptable, how to be moral and how to be masculine and feminine. This is because modernization had brought lots education opportunities and working opportunities thus women are allowed to work and pursue their own dream as during the industrialization, there is a sudden shortage of labor. Thus woman can join in the men and work independently. After the process of modernization, human think differently. They are more open minded and the bias in between male and female is dribble away. Females no longer listen to their father when choosing their husband who never meet up before. China nowadays is in progress. People pay full concern to their children; no matter they are male or female. Most of them embrace feminism. Female has already got an equal treat as male. Females are also having the chance to study in school. Most of the parents will sent their children, no matter boy or girl to learn extra acqierement, such as drawing, dancing and arts.

There is also gender discrimination in India few decades ago. Female infanticide reflects the statement of low status accorded to women. It is proved by the most brutal and destructive action of anti-female bias that pervade ‘patriarchal’ societies. The phenomena of sex-selective abortion, which targets female fetuses almost exclusively and neglect of girl children is appeared. According to John-Thor Dahlburg, “In rural India, the centuries-old practice of female infanticide can still be considered a wise course of action.” (Dahlburg, “Where killing baby girls ‘is no big sin’,” The Los Angeles Times [in The Toronto Star, February 28, 1994.]) Based on census statistics, in 1901, there were 972 females for every 1000 males. In the year 1993, the gender imbalance has tilted to 929 females per 1000 males. In the nearly 300 poor hamlets of the Usilampatti area of Tamil Nadu, as many as 196 girls died under suspicious circumstances, such as fed dry, made swallow poisonous powdered fertilizer and smothered with a wet towel, strangled or allowed to starve to death.

In India bias against females is still related to the fact that “Sons are called upon to provide the income; they are the ones who do most of the work in the fields. Therefore, sons are looked as a type of insurance. This shows that, the high value given to males decreases the value given to females.” (Marina Porras, “Female Infanticide and Foeticide”.) Furthermore, India is a heartland of sex-selective abortion. In 1974, Amniocentesis was introduced to ascertain birth defects in a sample population by medical entrepreneurs. So, a spate of sex-selective abortions was followed.

Due to the modernization, the phenomena of bury baby have been banned by India. It becomes an illegal legislation. So, modernization has change people’s mindset from traditional to modern. Nowadays, the status of female is equally to male and people are starting to accept that female can also perform any job that a male can perform. Moreover as India become more and more modern, it affect the socialization so much that in the year 1971, India Prime Minister was a female name Indhira Gandhi. From here we can see that through modernization the social structure of the India was also starting to change.

Modernization has changes in reshaping economic, political and social life. It is because it not only helps explain economic, social and political change, but it also provide most efforts at prediction. For example, tends to bring increasing urbanization, growing occupational specialization, and higher levels of formal education in any society that undertakes it (Lerner, 1958; Deutsch, 1964). Modernization linked to a wide range of other cultural changes. Although modernization syndrome of changes becomes probable but social change is not linear when societies move from an agrarian mode to an industrial mode.

‘Women in Management’ is a current social issue. According to Jewell in 1977, the feminist movement, anti-sexual discrimination legislation, and predictions of shortages in managerial talent during the last decade have caused to increased pressure for more women participate in leadership roles during the 1970s. However, in 1978, Malabre said, the progress of integrating women into management positions has achieved limited success.

A lot of people posit that women lack the leadership attributes and abilities required for managerial positions. Those holding this type of stereotypic view perceive women as ineffective leaders in jobs incongruent with females’ more traditionally passive sex role. (Bryce, 1970; Cecil, Paul, & Olins, 1973; Hobart & Harrick, 1977i Peters, Terborg, & Jacobs 1974; Terborg et al., 1974).

Bartol’s findings showed that leader behavior can be influenced by other factors than gender. Based on Lockheed and Hall (1976) studies, men emerged as leaders much more often than female, but there was no different in male and female leadership style. The Bale’s scoring technique, indicated that women releasing more tension and being more communicative, there was no significant difference between democratic and autocratic leader behavior patterns.

Nowadays, women and men are equal, no matter where they are. The modernization process brings more job opportunities to human. Through this, women have more chances to exhibit their ability in working area. The limitation of women to be success is being narrow. It is because people’s mindsets have changed due to modernization towards socialization.

Sex Differences and Inequality

According to a study by Alice Eagly, from the Northwestern University in 2007, she say that there is a Psychology Prejudice against women as leader. She stated that woman is being perceived as nice, friendly, socially skilled meanwhile men are dominant, assertive (behavioral skill which is linked to self esteem and considered a important communication skill), tough-minded and take charge. Thus this had lead us to the term “Glass Ceiling” where woman is harasses and limit by the society on the job that they can do. Moreover, the term “Glass Ceiling” is also use to describe invisible barriers where minorities and women are prevented from advancing to the management position in organization and corporation.

Moreover, if we see from the nature perspective, we can see that female is the weaker sex and male dominance is just a biological manifestation. For example, the body structure of a male is stronger than women thus man often takes up the job as a leader and protects women. Since ancient time, hunting and processing hard raw material as strictly male activities whereas female will just cook, wash clothes and do the entire house chore (Peggy Reeves Sanday). Besides that Murdock and Provost suggest that female is attached to the burden of household and burden for pregnancy and infant care. Thus female was left out and do not have the chance to become a leader. This make them to become and not born as a weaker sex due to the socialization in the past. In fact during the past few years, there is more and more female leader out there in the world.

Feminism

Feminism is a doctrine that women should have the same economic, social, and political equality with those of men.

Feminism is distinguished between sex and gender. Sex, whether male and female, is about physical differences between sexes, while gender, whether masculine or feminine, is about characteristics of behavior, psychology or demeanor, which wished to claim are culturally constructed and conditioned and so ultimately arbitrary. The moral and political program of ‘gender feminism’ was essentially to rescind gender differences. It makes men and women would end up living the same kinds of lives, doing the same kinds of things, and perhaps even looking pretty much the same in “unisex” grooming and clothing.

According to F.Carolyn Graglia in 1998, housewives, not men, were the prey in feminism’s sights when Kate Millett decreed in 1969 that the family must go. Feminists do not speak for traditional women. Men cannot know this, however, unless we tell them how we feel about them, our children, and our role in the home. Men must understand that our feelings towards them and our children are derided by feminists and have earned us their enmity. Whether or not this understanding garners men’s support, traditional women must defend ourselves because the feminist offensive is, most essentially, a breach of solidarity with us, a disavowel of the obligation to honor the Women’s Pact [that religious celibates, professional women, and homemakers respect each other] that women in the movement owed to us.

Deborah Tannen have already explored an aspect of differences between males and females in her bestselling book ‘You Just Don’t Understand’. This book is about how men and women use conversation in different ways. She said that men normally use conversation to build status, whereas women use it to establish closeness. Deborah Tannen does not commit herself to whether it caused of nature or socialization. She does not try to deal with it through moralistic exhortations to abolish it, but simply tries to promote understanding. She thinks that men actually do care about closeness, and women also do actually care about status.

Female Leaders in World

Throughout the years, there have been lots of woman holding a leader position around the globe. This shows that modernization had brought lots of change in the socialization around the world. Woman is not weak but some of them are bound to the socialization around the place they are born.

The first example will be Angela Merkel. She was born on July 17,1954. She is the first female and current Chancellor of Germany. She is the also the president of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since April 10, 2000. Moreover, she is also the President of the European Council and chairperson of the G8 during 2007.G8 refer to group of eight where it is comprise of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, United Kingdom and United State.G8 duty was to discuss issue of mutual or global concern. Their range of topic include, law enforcement, labor, health, social development, energy, economic, foreign affairs, justice and interior, terrorism and trade. Moreover, in the year 2008, she was awarded the Charlemagne Prize in 2008 for her contribution towards the European Union for the betterment she made. So from her we can see that modernization truly brought change in socialization. It made everyone has the equal chance to be a leader no matter their gender, race, or skin color. Moreover, for Angela Merkel, she is a truly remarkable icon for the female as she dares to stand up for herself and believe in the change she can bring for the society.

The second female leader example will be Indira Gandhi who is the prime minister of India for 14 years (3 terms). She was the first female Prime Minister for India. Her father was Jawaharlal Nehru who was the first prime minister of India. She served as her father personal assistant unofficially before becoming the Prime Minister of India. After her father death, she was appointed as member of Rajya Sabha (Upper House) and appointed as the Minister of Information and Broadcasting. Finally with the help of the Congress Party President K. Kamaraj, she is able to win the election and finally won the seat as the Prime Minister of India. Moreover, during the year she led the country as Prime Minister, she had helped India to win a war against Pakistan in 1971 and managed to create the independent Bangladesh. Furthermore, her policy of Garibi Hatao (abolish poverty) was instrumental in her victory as well during the election. So from Indira Gandhi, we can see that even thought she is a woman, she managed to be a good leader and even managed to lead India to win a war against Pakistan. This clearly show that female is no weak and they can be as good and strong as male. This had proven that male is not the smartest and strongest. So as long as female are given a chance, they might shine and be a good leader as well as a male can. Thus the quote by Vince Lombardi is significant which means Leaders are made and they are not born. They are made by hard effort which is the price that all of us must pay in order to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.

Meanwhile in other field besides politic, we do have women who are also a leader. For example is Dr.Faust whose real name is Drew Gilpin Faust is being elected as the first woman president in Harvard University in the year 2007. Moreover, she was also the first dean for the Radcliffe Institute who guides it to change from a college to a wide-ranging institute for advanced study. In sports wise one of the most famous sportswomen is Billie Jean King who is a professional Tennis player who is known for the Battle of the Sexes in 1973. The battle of sexes was between Billie Jean King and Bobby Rigs who is the former Wimbledon men’s single champion. As women, Billie Jean King managed to beat down Bobby Rigs and emerged as the victorious. Moreover, King became the first woman who managed to make more than $100,000 a year in tennis and was the Associated Press’s Woman Athlete of the Year in 1967 and 1973. She was also the Sports Illustrated’s Sportswoman of the year in 1972. Moreover, King is also the founder of the Women Sports Foundation, and the Women Tennis Association. Furthermore, King was also the first openly lesbian major sports figures when she came out in 1981. Besides that, the beating of the Bobby Rigs also helped to change the gender equality issue in sports and all the areas of public life. Thus in the year 2009, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by the President of United State Barrack Obama as her contribution had really helped the world to be a better place.

Besides these female leader, there are still lots of female leader who are well known such as Benazir Bhutto who was the first female head of the Muslim country, Rosa Parks the civil right female leader who make racial segregation in United State illegal and Margaret Thatcher who is the Prime Minister in the Britain and manage to end the Cold War. From here we can see that female can also function and work well in the Political Aspect. Furthermore in the aspect of fashion design, we had Melinda Looi who is a purveyor of fine art and vintage chic. She won a scholarship to La Salle School of fashion in Montreal, Canada. In 1995, she was awarded Malaysia Young Designer Award in Kuala Lumpur which was also her graduation collection year. Today, Melinda Looi is one of the influential fashion designers who have also sets her design on her world. In the year 2000, Mellooi Creation was formed. It takes the designer’s creation to greater horizons while also strengthening the brand. Mellooi Creation Sdn Bhd has been formulated to further develop business opportunities in local and international markets.

In sum, we can see that these women are important leader who have reached a great height and have change the world to a better place. They are competent, broad-minded, straightforward and efficient. They show out good judgments while being passionate about their vision too. So in future we hope that they will be more female leader out there to guide and bring the world to be a better place.

Female Contribution in the Society

There is numerous contribution of female in our society today. Without them, we may not be able to achieve what we had today. In medical field, we have the famous Dr. Janet Davidson Rowley, who discovered the first consistent chromosome translocation in a human cancer. Rowley is internationally renowned for her study in chromosome abnormalities in lymphoma and leukemia. Her discovery had led to the dramatically improved rates of survival for the previously incurable cancers and the development of targeted therapies.

Besides Dr. Janet, we had Nancy Goodman Brinker who is the founder of Susan G.Komen for the cure. It is the world leading breast cancer grass root organization. The organization helps and invested over 1.3 million for research, health services and education since 1982. They had worked with breast cancer survivor and activist to save lives, ensure quality care, empower people and work hard in science and research to find cures. With her help, they had developed new treatment option and a higher chance of living for the breast cancer patient and long-term survivors.

Meanwhile in the engineering or invention section, women had also provided lots of help and contribution. For example we had Mary Jane Montgomery who had made improvements in locomotive wheels in the year 1864 and apparatus for punching corrugated metals in the year 1866. Besides that, Evelyn F. French also helped to invent a sound-deadening attachment for railway cars in the year 1880. Meanwhile, Letitia Geer managed to develop the medical syringes in the year 1899. From here we can see that women also helped out in the engineering and invention section.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we do not agree with the statement that “Male are smarter than female” as through our research we found out that there are also female who is smarter and better leader than the male. The reason they can’t be a leader is due to the gender discrimination at workplace as there is a “Glass Ceiling” that is preventing them from advancing. However, over the recent year due to modernization, women are starting to be conscious and know their role. They do not only stay in the house but started to work and fight for the management role with the male. This had clearly showed that modernization had clearly made an impact on socialization by changing the norm of society on how they perceive the female. Moreover, because the change in socialization, the female is starting to be more confident and believe that they too can be a great leader. Female can be a good leader no matter in what field as we can see from Indira Gandhi who led the nation to win against the war with Pakistan. From here we can see that female can take up any challenge or work that male may take and some of them may out beat the male. Moreover, over the recent year, more and more female are coming out to contest on political position or the corporation management position. Besides that, modernization is also bringing a stronger democracy where social systems will be more numerous and specialized and competition will be more and more prevalent. This will also make the socialization to change from time to time to follow up with the modern society need and requirement as the society will start to be more and more competitive regardless whether they are female or male.

The majority of people instinctively know what the word means; it is the act of an individual taking their life. But, what is understood about the role gender plays in suicide. “Male suicides outnumber female suicides in all countries except select parts of China” (Hadad, pp. 133). It appears to be a contradiction when scrutinized. To most people it would seem like women would be more likely than men to commit suicide. Masculinity is built on the notion of strength, aggression, and independence while femininity is considered nurturing and expressive with the inhibition of anger. Because of the impact of gender roles in society, males have a greater difficulty reaching out for help. Traditionally, the socialization of females has encouraged passivity, dependency, and submissiveness. Of these traits, two may positively affect women’s attitude towards suicide. The first is emotional expressiveness. Because females are free to express their needs more openly than males, females can and do seek help more often than males do. For example, women are more likely to seek help from and disclose mental health problems to their primary health care physician than men (WHO, 2010). The trait of emotional expressiveness may help to explain why women more often than men express sympathy toward suicidal figures. It may also have implications for the treatment of suicidal women in that they may seek help more often than men and at an earlier stage in the development of suicidal ideation. Also, women may give themselves permission to plan less fatal suicide attempts than men do, using such attempts as another more serious form of expressing their need. Females may simple be more willing than males to reach out and nurture those who are considering suicidal behavior. The desire to nurture may also enable females to be more open than men to inform others about suicide and more willing to talk with those considering suicide. Socialization toward passivity, conversely, may block troubled traditional females from exploring healthy coping skills in an active manner. Similarly, because of their socialization toward dependency, traditional females may not be able to find independent solutions, storing up their frustration and anger as they passively wait for change that does not come. The socialization of females to inhibit their anger makes positive coping with frustrating life circumstances difficult if not impossible. One alternative to expressing anger is to turn inward, courting depression and its outward manifestation, suicidal behavior. There is ample evidence that women admit being depressed more often than men do (Fujita, Diener, Sandvik, 1991). Perhaps women experiencing irresolvable anger become susceptible to depression, which in extreme cases may lead to suicidal behavior. Turning to male socialization, there are problems of a different type. Males, compared to females, show higher levels of activity and aggression very early in childhood and these differences persist until at least middle age. Moreover, traditional socialization of males builds upon these existing tendencies toward higher activity levels and aggression. The instruction given to a small boy diverts them from anything thought to be feminine, encourages them to inhibit their emotions; and demands that they become independent as soon as possible. As males develop structures of schemas for masculine behavior, they begin to structure their future interactions in the world in such a way as to maintain those perceptions. Males find their tendencies toward activity and higher aggression sharpened by their cognitive understanding and acceptance of the emphasis on competition and success inherent in traditional male socialization. Especially in North American culture, boys are socialized into competitive games at an early age and often learn to endure physical punishment and pain as part of “having fun” or learning to be a man. In short, male socialization encourages emotional inexpressiveness and denial of feelings of pain and suffering. It also gives permission to be more aggressive and violent and to reach for success or winning at any cost. Males as also socialized to look at life pragmatically, to be problem solvers. Research on attitudes towards suicide tends to support the proposition that males, more often than females, may see suicide as an acceptable solution to problems inherent in living (DeRose, Page, 1985). Males and females differ greatly in their suicidal behavior. They have dramatically different suicide attempt and completion rates, attitudes, and propensities to seek help in a crisis that are deeply embedded in gender related socialization practices. Females seem to know more factual information about suicide than males do. Females may thus be in a better position than males to recognize when friends or acquaintances are considering engaging in suicidal behavior. Females seem more willing to discuss the subject of suicide with suicidal people. This suggests that females are more likely than males to be effective both in crisis intervention and in peer counseling programs. Perhaps females more than males have a general perceptual set to value life. Such a set would have survival value since it is the female who must experience childbirth in order to give life to the next generation and who generally must play the major role in nurturing that life, at least in the early months and years. Therefore, females may have a keener appreciation for life and for the waste that death by suicide engenders. Females have a greater understanding of the enormity of potential lost because of suicidal deaths. Males, conversely, may view death by suicide, especially the death of those who are old or terminally ill, as a representing decisive action in the face of unchangeable fate. Therefore, rather than focusing on the waste involved in suicide, males may see it as a final problem-solving solution. Males seem to accept suicide as an alternative in otherwise insoluble situations but they view other males who attempt suicide with less sympathy and empathy than they view the same troubled males who do not attempt suicide. Attempted suicide, in general, appears to be viewed as weakness while completed suicide is viewed with strength. One of the most important pieces of information I learned from this essay were the differences in attitudes towards suicidal behavior in men and women and the way people view attempted and completely suicide. If attempted suicide is views as weaker and less masculine, males would be more likely to structure any suicide attempt in such a way as to reduce the likelihood of surviving, while females would feel fewer stigmas from surviving an attempt and might, therefore, be more likely to engage in less lethal suicidal actions. It is interesting that sex differences in suicidal behavior are consistent. Females do attempt suicide more frequently than males, while males succeed in killing themselves more frequently than females. With findings such as these it is unsettling to consider that the majority of suicide prevention and treatment is tailor towards emotional evaluation, reporting, and observation when the masculine gender role inhibits any of these tendencies. Males are less likely to exhibit any warning signs or talking about suicidal ideation. Men do not have the benefit of having a suicide attempt be observed as a need for treatment because they are more likely to succeed in their attempt.