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1.1 Overview of the Topic

Income distribution is a frequency distribution showing number of persons, taxpayers or households classified by levels of income. The unequal distribution of income is a major issue in many countries, mostly in developing countries and in Pakistan it has been a burning since its birth. As the inequality in the distribution rises, it divides the population into small groups with various differences among them, thus fueling a conflict between them. The conflict arises due to difference in the income patterns, employment patterns, wage rates, difference in resources symbolic or material, social status etc. the difference in the lifestyle, wage rates, and the job opportunities in the rural and urban cities of Pakistan cause class conflict, as people living in various locations belong to different income groups. Feudal culture in Pakistan is among the major reasons of class conflict. Landlords have made monopolies which have increased the disparities among the various classes living. Class conflict is a serious problem which causes violent activities such as high crime. Unfortunately our government has been unable to solve this problem of uneven distribution of income, as they themselves are enjoying the class difference existing in our country. Over the past year this conflict has been boiling and will eventually erupt one day. With this segregation of the population into various classes, social gaps have increased and people have become more accustomed to other people who are of similar stature in the society. This is one of the major issues Pakistan is facing, unity among the population is a challenge to the government of Pakistan, but it all trickles down to the fact that the people who are causing this unequal distribution of income are the ones who are leading us. Over the past years, the income distribution in Pakistan has adopted an uneven trend, meaning that there is no significant increase or decrease, thus the notion that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, and the result of this is a growing conflict among the various classes that exist in our society today. Other factors such as corruption also play a vital role in this unequal distribution of income, not only at higher levels but at the smallest and lowest level of the society as well.

1.2 Background Information

Since Pakistan came into being, the income distribution has been a serious issue. During the time of partition, many people were stripped of their lands, properties, valuables and other financial assets. The unequal distribution of income we are experiencing today has its roots from the time of the partition of India and Pakistan. Feudalism in those days was at its peak and remnants of it can still be seen in the modern society. Many powerful feudal lords claimed lands by force from people who were financially or socially weak, thus the wealth became concentrated and its effects can be seen today in our society, as the unequal distribution of income. Even today, many influential people such as politicians and local feudal lords all around Pakistan are in control of the major chunk of the income that is generated and flows through the economy, which is why Pakistan also faces extreme poverty. Pakistan has experienced an uneven trend in the distribution of income in the past years, as there is no significant trend of increase or decrease. This uneven pattern of income distribution has been the root cause of the division of the population into various classes on the basis of income inequalities. During the early years of Pakistan, the population was less divided, but with the passage of time and the uneven trend of the income inequality has caused the population to be divided into upper, middle and lower classes based on different employment patterns, wage rates, households, social status and limited resources etc. The formation of these classes has led to the widening of the social gaps between the people and has also led to social exclusion of people belonging to different classes. This has been a common practice in history that people belonging to a similar group or stratum, tend to socialize more i.e. people who share common resources either symbolic or material in nature tend to form stratums. As the general population is divided into these stratums, belief and ideals change, thus a conflict arises due to these changing ideals. Over the past years, since the birth of Pakistan, this conflict between the different classes has been slowly boiling and has erupted into a class conflict based on income disparity.

1.3 Importance of the Study With Respect To the World

The problem of unequal distribution of income exists in almost every country around the world, from the weakest to the strongest economies of the world; income disparity is clear and present. It is also one of the major problems that developing countries face and if not contained in due time, it paves the way for many other problems which are either directly or indirectly linked with it. One of these problems is the class conflict that arises due to income inequality among the general population. The relevance of this problem can be best understood with an example of East and West Germany. In World War II the Allies occupied West Germany and the Soviets occupied East Germany. The border between the two Germany’s was famously known as the Berlin Wall. Since the corporate and industrial might of the Allies was far superior compared to the Soviets at that time, the Allies started injecting billions of dollars in the economy of West Germany, resulting in higher living standards and plentiful jobs for the people. In stark contrast the jobs and living standards in East Germany were inferior, resulting in constant unrest which ultimately substantiated into a major class conflict. Thus throughout the world, we see many similar cases where the major chunk of the economy is concentrated at a singular point, that is the elite or the ruling class, leaving the lower classes with little or no financial assets. Concentration fuels the class conflict in a society and ultimately damages a nation as a whole. The inequality in the distribution is caused by many relevant factors, such as inflation, foreign direct investment, remittances, trade, corruption, feudalism etc. and these are all present in almost every society of the world. Thus the significance of this study cannot be denied with respect to the world.

1.4 Importance of Study With Respect To Pakistan

Since Pakistan’s Inception, the Populace has been plagued with the diabolical issue of income distribution. The seriousness of this issue cannot be denied, since it has been the root cause of constant upheaval in the society in general and also the catalyst of constant unrest, distrust and sometimes violent protests. In other words we have been compromised in a never ending stalemate, since there is no significant trend of increase or decrease of income distribution in Pakistan, thus this kind of uneven trend is giving rise to undesirable hybrid classes based upon this income inequality. The initiation of such classes has led to an avalanche of prejudice, discrimination and more disturbingly, exclusion of significant amount of people from the nucleus of the society. It has also led to the formation of different stratums among the people. With the passage of time this horrendous social exclusion, disparity and discrimination has manifested into an ugly class conflict amongst the people we see today in Pakistan. The mere presence of various classes based on improper income distribution is evidence of its existence. The increasing social gap, distrust and lack of communication between the people, nourishes the problem of income distribution and provides sustenance for its future. The prevailing feudal culture in Pakistan is also one of the major catalysts of the unequal distribution of income in Pakistan. The most influential people or the ruling class has the most concentration of resources; they also include the politicians of Pakistan who are responsible for making policies against this burning issue. Inflation is another factor contributing to the lowering of the purchasing power of the lower classes, which in turn induces a conflict among the general public, as inflation hits hard on the lower classes and has little effect on the elite class. All the foreign investment and the remittances are also controlled by the upper or elite class, thus the flow of money in the economy is limited to a set number of influential or powerful people, while the majority of the population is deprived even the basic necessities of life.

1.5 Research Question

The elements of class conflict in Pakistan.

The problem of class conflict is justified with the increasing gaps between the populations of Pakistan. Various classes exist due to this income disparity. It is due to this income disparity among the people different classes are formed. Thus, there is a clear and present conflict between the classes in our society.

CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW

The review of existing literature in the current study area of the income distribution patterns and the class conflict in Pakistan will help in appraising additional information on the subject matter and help in establishing a better understanding of the research that is to be undertaken.

Hasan (2002) made a study on the emerging trends of Pakistan’s upper or elite class which is under heavy influence of the west. The post Bhutto era changed all the pervious trends that the ruling class observed. The elite class now has separated itself from the middle and lower classes and with it, has also lost the trend to use public services. They are more inclined to private services and they are the ones who are embedded deep in Pakistan’s political lobby. They reflect the country’s politics, society and the culture as well. Today, Pakistan’s elite class enjoys the most as income and money is no object to them, they go abroad for vacations and education whereas the majority of the population has little to eat. This gives rise to a class conflict between the general populations and thus differences are uplifted.

Y. So (1991) studied the causes of stratification among people. The author focuses on the study of politics and history in accordance with the class struggle. The author makes the analysis based on three major components, the conditions of class struggle, the entire process of class struggle and the consequences that follow the class struggle both on micro as well as the macro level. By incorporating class struggle into the process stratification theory, the author opens up new a horizon for the analysis. The stratification theory groups people according to income distribution. People possessing similar characteristics form social groups or classes which give rise to social gaps. The Neo-Marxist theory focuses on the production sphere and is the advocate of conflict between the emerging classes. The aim of this study was to analyze the formation of different classes. The study looks at the various forms of class struggle and the ways in which classes are formed with special reference to reasons and causes of this phenomenon.

Strasser (1980) argues that there two principles which are involved in the social inequality, stratum and class formation. It is intended to substantiate the work by comparing the claims of the functional theory of social stratification and to uncover the frame of reference that underlies the analysis of social inequality in a society. The author calls attention to the recent finding of his time in anthropology and ethnology to further explain his thesis and looks at various theories of social inequality, functional, conservative and progressive. Stratum is a group of people sharing common characteristics such as income, occupation, status etc. Socialization is the major cause of the formation of various stratums. People belonging to a similar background tend to socialize more between themselves rather than with people who are different from them. Social inequality among the various classes takes the form of unequal distribution of resources. These resources either symbolic or material are responsible for the conflict among classes. Classes are formed as a result of grouping of similar people belonging to specific interests, whereas strata are formed due to similar lifestyles of various people.

Rashid (1985) examines the feudal culture that has existed since Pakistan’s birth and even now this culture prevails as many of the ruling elites and politicians are among them. Land reforms are imperative for a country like Pakistan, but the people who are responsible for the implementation are the ones who benefit the most out of land. The policy makers and the people who implement the policies are in the politics, and these people compromise the majority of the landlords here in Pakistan. Landlords enjoy the fruits of other people’s hard work which belong to the lower classes that tend to the lands which are not of their own. This tense relationship of worker and master gives rise to a class conflict which will erupt one day. The government is not trying to balance out this unequal distribution of land among the people. There is concentration of all the wealth of the land to one ruling class.

Chandra (1972) stated that since the earliest beginning, Pakistan has been dominated by the ruling class. The author gives a complete assessment of the class character of West Pakistan. Even the Muslim League consisted majority of two classes, the Zamindars and the traders, both of which belong to the upper or elite classes of that time. The study aims at living conditions of the lower or working class, which are still the same even after such a long time. There has not been any significant improvement in the living conditions nor other important sectors for these poor people, even though they comprise the majority of the total population of Pakistan. There has been a significant development in the industrial and the private sector, i.e., inflow of foreign investment, but to no avail, the landlords and the capitalists are only the ones who enjoy the fruits of life, as they comprise all the heavy investors in both the sectors. Landlords have made monopolies, and by doing so the disparities among the classes have further increased ever since.

Crenshaw and Ameen (1993) in their study of the different dimensions of social inequality in the third world, reveal that the modernization and the ecological-evolutionary theories provide more evidence regarding the social inequality than the either the dependency/world systems or the urban bias theory. They provide a cross national assessment of the determinants of income inequality. They also shed light on the various conclusions that can be drawn from various theories. Injection of foreign capital provides opportunities for some people, but it also widens the gap as many people are unable to capitalize on the certain amount of capital. Thus only the people who are strongly embedded and/or in the mainstream, are the ones who are able to capitalize. The analysis point towards the economic growth and the development of the rural areas to reduce mortality and stabilize the income inequality.

Ahmed (1996) in his study comments that in a rapidly progressing world, ethnic, religious and social conflicts are tearing states apart not only in the developed world, but also in the lesser developed third world countries. Pakistan is divided into many ethnic groups according to the author, the largest group being the Punjabis, who comprise mainly of the upper and middle classes. However social inequality in rampant in the whole country as there are small pockets of people who have similar access to resources, thus forming various ethnic groups and/or classes, which include Sindhi, Pushtoon and Balochi people, who are less developed and less embedded. Even though Pakistan is rapidly growing but there are elements that hinder the growth of people and inhibit potential factors which work to decrease this chasm between the people of Pakistan. National integration is a desirable goal but it has caused a lot of problems in the past, such as oppression. Even if national equity is promoted and there is harmony among the different groups, there would yet be emerging ideas of different stances, and this time around would have an adverse effect.

Bulir (2001) made a study using the traditional Kuznets model. Inflation reduces the purchasing power of the poor people; it also tends to decrease the general income thus increasing social gaps. The government can tax the rich to cover the gap but there are only a few honest taxpayers as opposed to the number of poor people in Pakistan. This ignites a certain conflict among the people, as a certain image is developed for the tax evaders, who are mostly the ruling class or the elites. People belonging to the lower class are hit heavily by inflation, as they are already short on resources, and after further reduction in their purchasing power, they are forced to corruption. Lower inflation rates, in addition to the level of development and fiscal redistribution are found to improve income equality and their impact is uniform for all levels of GDP per capita, thus low inflation rates improve the income inequality. Level of development; state employment, fiscal redistribution, and price stability are found to improve income inequality in a given country. The positive impact of price stability on income distribution is nonlinear. When inflation is reduced from hyperinflationary levels, there is a significant reduction in the income inequality also, while if it is decreased further, then there are small gains in the country’s gini coefficient.

Kentor (2001) observed the effects of globalization on the income distribution, population growth and the economic development. The goal was to develop the linkage between them, and it is evident that they are inter-related parts of a complex system of unequal economic, social and political relationships. Globalization has effects on the income inequality and income distribution, but there are no properly demarked good or bad effects to it. Where there is a negative effect of globalization on the per capita GNP growth, there is also a positive impact on the trade openness. Policies should be made according to the given circumstances at hand, not by prediction.

Hussain, Sharif, Hasan (2009) studied the impacts of openness of trade, FDI and remittances on the income distribution and the income inequality in Pakistan. Increased openness of trade leads to economic growth which reduces poverty and makes income distribution more equal. Trade liberalization has been a factor in reducing the income distribution as there is a significant increase in the total trade over the past years. Pakistan has also reduced tariffs from 200% to only 25%. Studies show that FDI has a positive effect on income distribution, but owing to the unstable political and economic conditions it has not risen considerably. FDI was restricted to only few areas but since it opened up to the industrial sector, Pakistan has witnessed a considerable amount of increase in FDI (poor in the 70’s and began rising in the 80’s). However the extent of FDI had good effects on income distribution in Pakistan. Remittances, also play a vital role in the economy, Pakistan had high remittances through the 70’s and 80’s but saw a decline after that, yet after 2000, Pakistan again saw rapid increase in the remittances, Pakistan is trying to open up the economy by privatization. This will ultimately cause growth in the economy and reduce poverty and equalize the income inequality. Thus their study revealed that the income inequality in Pakistan follows an uneven pattern, meaning that there is no significant increase or decrease.

CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research Type

My Research falls under the category of a quantitative research. I gathered data and put it through a series of statistical techniques to prove the hypothesis derived in the research

3.2 Data Type and Research Period

My Research was done by using the primary data. Primary data was collected to study the class conflict, as no historical data is currently available. Questionnaire provided me with relevant information to conduct the research

3.3 Sources of Data

A questionnaire was floated asking general questions related to the issue of class conflict in Pakistan

3.4 Theoretical Framework
3.5 Variables & Definitions
Inequality

The degree to which the distribution of economic welfare generated in an economy differs from that if equal shares among its inhabitants

(Dictionary of Economics, Graham Bannock)

Stratum

Division of people according to some variable

Feudalism

A European system flourishing between 800-1400 based upon fixed relations of lord to vassal

(www.thefreedictionary.com)

Income Distribution

The various levels of income existing within a given population

(Dictionary of Economics, Graham Bannock)

Class Conflict

Conflict between different classes in a community resulting from different social or economic positions and reflecting opposed interests

(www.dictionary.reference.com)

Income Disparity

In economic context, it refers to the difference in wages of people

3.6 Population, Working Population and Planned Sample

The questionnaire was completed by 50 people of Lahore. Questionnaire asked questions regarding the social class conflict existing in our society.

3.7 Research Hypothesis

H0: Class conflict is caused due to income disparity

H1: Class conflict is not caused due to income disparity

H0: Social gaps and social exclusion lead to the class conflict

H1: Social gaps and social exclusion does not lead to class conflict

H0: Division of stratums is a major reason for class conflict.

H1: Division of stratums is not a major reason for class conflict.

H0: There are social gaps between the various classes in Pakistan

H1: There are no social gaps between the various classes in Pakistan

3.8 Techniques

For the analysis of the data collected, the statistical technique of regression was used to build and establish linkages between the variables used in the research and finally deriving the conclusion from the results of the regression analysis.

3.9 Data Analysis

The statistical software Mini tab was used to apply the regression technique to analyze the data. The software provided with graphs, tables and charts after running regression.

3.10 Data interpretation

The data was interpreted using the regression results. Based on the current analysis the main aim of the study was to understand which element was the major one of class conflict.

CHAPTER 4
RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
4.1 Results

Multiple Regression Analysis

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Dependent variable: Class Conflict

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Standard T

Parameter Estimate Error Statistic P-Value

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CONSTANT -0.0519046 0.421089 -0.123263 0.9024

Income Disparity 0.24955 0.122053 2.04461 0.0466

Socialization 0.753118 0.148753 5.06289 0.0000

Stratification 0.0101818 0.092964 0.109524 0.9133

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Analysis of Variance

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Source Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F-Ratio P-Value

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Model 4.90069 3 1.63356 10.81 0.0000

Residual 6.95066 46 0.151101

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Total (Corr.) 11.8514 49

R-squared = 61.3514 percent

R-squared (adjusted for d.f.) = 57.5264 percent

Standard Error of Est. = 0.388717

Mean absolute error = 0.318889

Durbin-Watson statistic = 1.52396

Class Conflict = -0.0519046 + 0.24955*Income Disparity +0.753118*Socialization + 0.0101818*Stratification

4.2 Findings & Analysis

The regression model describes the relationship of socialization, stratification and income disparity with class conflict. It explains how socialization, stratification and income disparity affect class conflict. As we can see from the above equation that income disparity, socialization and stratification is directly linked with class conflict as all three variables have a positive relationship. Since the P-value in the ANOVA table is less than 0.01, there is a statistically significant relationship between the class conflict and the 3 independent variables at the 99% confidence level. The R-Squared statistic indicates that the model as fitted explains 61.3514% of the variability in Class Conflict. The adjusted R-squared statistic, which is more suitable for comparing models with different numbers of independent variables, is 57.5264%. The standard error of the estimate shows the standard deviation of the residuals to be 0.388717. This value can be used to construct prediction limits for new observations by selecting the Reports option from the text menu. The mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.318889 is the average value of the residuals. The Durbin-Watson (DW) statistic tests the residuals to determine if there is any significant correlation based on the order in which they occur in the data file. Since the DW value is greater than 1.4, there is probably not any serious auto correlation in the residuals.

In the model the highest p-value on the independent variables is 0.9133, belonging to stratification. Since the p-value is greater or equal to 0.10, so this variable is not significant at the 90% confidence level. Therefore, we can say that stratification have little and no effect on the dependent variable, class conflict.

Questionnaire was floated by various people including students and professors of my university i.e. Lahore School of Economics, Doctors working in CMH hospital, Students of LMDC, Shop keepers of H-Block market DHA and people working as drivers and cooks in my colony. The main purpose of getting questionnaire filled from people belonging to various income groups was to clearly study and understand the relationship of socialization, stratification and income disparity with the class conflict issue. The only limitation of doing this primary research was that the sample size of 50 people was very low in order to draw a conclusion as the topic is very wide and each and every individual has his/her own views on the class conflict topic. Overall people surveyed, were of the view that class conflict did exist in our society and gave rise to problems such as income disparity and it divided the population into various stratums.

4.3 Hypothesis testing

H0: Class conflict is caused due to income disparity

H1: Class conflict is not caused due to income disparity

As the results show the p-value of income disparity to be 0.0466 which is less than 0.05 thus we accept Ho at 95% confidence interval. This means that income disparity causes class conflict. According to the respondents, class conflict is a result of the income disparities as these days in Pakistan the rich are getting richer day by day and the poor are getting poorer. Class conflict is dependent upon income disparities.

H0: There are social gaps between the various classes in Pakistan

H1: There are no social gaps between the various classes in Pakistan

The p-value of the information in the regression analysis is 0.0000. As the p-value is less than I± which is 0.05, we accept the null hypothesis and say that social gaps do exist between the various classes in Pakistan. It should be noted that the p-value is very small and is significant. Majority of the respondents were of the view that social gaps are present in the various classes of Pakistan.

H0: Social gaps and social exclusion lead to the class conflict

H1: Social gaps and social exclusion does not lead to class conflict

The p-value of socialization in the regression analysis is 0.000 which is less than 0.05 we accept Ho at 95% confidence level. This means that social gaps led to the problem of class conflict. Majority of people said that wide social gaps and differences and social exclusion led to class conflict. They were of the view that this separation between the classes will lead to a major conflict among the general public in Pakistan.

H0: Division of stratums is a major reason for class conflict.

H1: Division of stratums is a major reason for class conflict.

In the regression analysis we can see that the p-value of stratification is 0.9133 which is greater than 0.05 thus we reject the null hypothesis at 95% confidence level. This means that stratification is not a major reason of the class conflict problem. One of the limitations behind this result could be that the sample size is very small, which is in sufficient to draw a conclusion regarding stratification and its relationship with class conflict.

Conclusion

From the above argument, it is concluded that there is a marked class conflict in the population of Pakistan based on the unequal distribution of income in Pakistan. Corrupt officials, low number of honest taxpayers and resistance to change are some of the factors which contribute to fuel this ongoing conflict among the people. Pakistan is also facing a great threat from security point of view as well as inefficient monetary policies, which also hinders economic growth. Hence the people are divided into the various groups mentioned in the paper, according to difference in income, status, amount of resources and other contributing factors. According to the results, stratification among the people does not hold much importance, but it is a minor contributing factor in the class conflict. Socialization, however is an important variable in the class conflict, people of similar backgrounds belong to a similar type of social status tend to socialize more than people belonging to other classes. This is a common practice that people with similar resources either material or symbolic will from a social group and tend to exclude people who are different from them.

Irina Anderson explores the current rape perception of both male and female rape and whether the respondent’s gender affects this perception in a journal article called ‘What is a typical rape? Effects of victims and participants gender in female and male perception’ which was published in The British Journal of Social Psychology. This article also investigates the ‘cultural lag’ theory of male rape. The findings in this study demonstrate that, contrary to predictions made at the start of the article, when asked to describe a typical rape, male and female, it was the stranger rape stereotype that was the prevailing way most used to describe this. It was also shown that instead of ‘lagging’ behind female rape according to the stranger-acquaintance dimension, male rape was conceptualized in terms of other factor, for example sexual orientation, which were often deemed homophobic. I found this journal article interesting and accessible to read. After reading the hypothesis proposed at the beginning of the article, I was intrigued to see that many of the predictions were in fact proved false at the end of the article, for example it was predicted that when asked to describe a ‘typical’ rape participants would describe an acquaintance rape where as in previous years the stranger rape stereotype was the way most described a ‘typical’ rape. However the results of this study show that in fact the stranger rape stereotype is still the predominant way people imagine a ‘typical’ rape. This led me to question how much rape perception has actually changed in our society. I also found that both the aims and findings of the research were clear, accurate and relevant; they were clearly laid out and overall I found the article effortless to read. In addition the acknowledgment of the limitation to the research enhanced the article.

The article begins by giving a brief summary of previous studies and research which has been carried out to investigate the same research topic. The ideas of acquaintance rape, where the victim is raped by someone known to them e.g. boyfriend, date, relative, friend, and stranger rape stereotype, where the victim is raped by someone unknown to them, are introduced and the ideas surrounding them are discussed. For example acquaintance rape is usually expected to happen indoors and the victim having spent time with the perpetrator prior to the rape. In contrast stranger rape is expected to happen outdoors, usually at night where the victim is grabbed, overpowered and raped. Date rape s also briefly discussed and used to support predictions that rape perceptions has changed considerably in the last few years due to increased media coverage of the topic. The issue of male rape is then raised and questions are raised such as are men raped in the same circumstances as women? It is described as more frequent phenomenon than previously believed. The ignorance and disbelief surrounding male rape creates myths and misconceptions in society for example ‘Most men who are raped are homosexuals’. This makes some researchers believe that male rape perception is ‘lagging’ behind that of female rape, that is current male rape perception is at the stage female rape perception was at years ago in terms of the knowledge people have of it. I believe the author has succeeded in successfully introducing the research topic and conveying the main aims of the research. The one possible fault I have for the introduction is that the author does not discuss why she feels the topic of research is important and why she decided to carry out the study. I believe this would enhance the article even more for the reader.

In the ‘method’ section of this article Anderson explains in detail how the study was carried out. She describes how one hundred and nineteen undergraduate students were asked to take part; she also lists their gender and ethnicity. The participants were asked to describe what they believe to be a ‘typical’ rape. Both male and female were included. The gender of the participant and the gender of the victim were the independent variables. Participants were assigned randomly so that women could be assigned to either a female rape or a male rape. Similarly men could be assigned to either female rape or male rape. They were asked to include details that led to the incident, details of the incident itself and details following the rape. Characteristics of the victims and the perpetrator including feelings and thoughts were also asked for. Anderson then moves on to describe how these accounts of ‘typical’ rapes given by participants were analyzed. She describes the coding manuals given to coders who must sort the participant’s text into text which adhere to characteristics of the stranger rape stereotype and those which describe an acquaintance rape. This is the most important section of the article; any deficiencies would undermine the validity of the results. The only deficiency I could locate in this section was the fact that all the participants were university students; however the author recognizes this as a limitation at the conclusion of the article. Overall I found this section of the article to give a very comprehensive account of how the study was carried out. It covers all aspects that are important to the aims of the article.

In my opinion the results section of this article is excellent. The findings are clearly laid out for the reader. Headings help divide the finding into different sections for example ‘testing hypothesis 1 and frequency of category use in female rape’. These headings also help list the results in terms of the original research question and predictions given at the beginning of the article. Tables are also used which illustrate different types of categories of description used by participants and the number of female and male who used these categories. Direct quotations are also inserted to give the reader insight into the types of descriptions participants gave which I found very interesting e.g.: due to the physical difficulty of male rape the perpetrator would typically be larger and stronger than the victim’. The author acknowledges the results do not match the predictions made at the beginning and explains the possible reasons for this by stating perhaps researcher’s presumption that societies rape perception has evolved is in fact false and perhaps our perceptions have not progressed as much as it was thought. The cultural ‘lag’ theory of male rape was only partly supported by the findings. Although female rape was described more in terms of acquaintance rape than male rape, the other aspect of the theory, that male rape would be described in terms of stranger rape stereotype more than female rape, was not supported. In fact many ‘other’ factors played a part in the description of male rape such as penetration, the rapist’s strength and power over the victim and the victim’s shame and humiliation. Thus proving that female and male rapes are conceptualized along different continuums. The results overall highlight the importance of periodically examining rape perception and the effects of gender.

The discussion section addresses the main findings of the article and any new information gained which can be added onto previous information discovered in previous research. Anderson discusses the reasons behind the participants which described a typical rape in terms of the stranger rape stereotype. It is here blame attributions are discussed. Anderson notes it is a possibility that participant didn’t write more about acquaintance rape as they assumed the victim would therefore be more blameworthy. This is strengthened by the fact that women, when describing a female rape, used the stranger rape theory more than men and similarly men, when describing a male rape, used the stranger rape stereotype more than women. This perhaps proves that when writing about a victim of their own gender they preferred the stranger rape stereotype as they believed it would steer the blame away from the victim.

In my opinion this article contains all the key elements of a good journal article. From the beginning the author explains clearly the key arguments and main points of the text. She also includes relevant background information and makes concrete predictions. The method and results of the study are clearly laid out and are easy to follow. Another aspect covered in the text is the acknowledgment of its limitations. Any good journal article is aware of the limitations of the findings and in this article they are clear. The way in which male rape is discussed is quite interesting as it not a subject many articles discuss. The idea of the ‘lag’ theory was also remarkable, that the situation of male rape perception in society today was that of female rape years ago. Also the fact that males themselves described male rape in a homophobic and mocking tone intrigued me. For example, ‘one of the two bufties edge towards the lone man’. One of the very few limitations in this text is that all the participants were students from one university, a population which may be more aware of rape than the general population. It is noted that a study of the perceptions of rape held by police, medical personnel and juries may enhance findings in the future. Another fault I have with this article is that I believe the author should go into more detail on why she thinks this research is important and why she decided to conduct this study. In addition, while reading the findings of this research it struck me that another reason the majority of participants chose a scenario which adheres to the stranger rape stereotype is they may feel under stress to give certain answer or they may try to please the researchers by giving the answer they believe the researchers desire.

In conclusion, I found this article to be comprehensive, relevant and interesting. All main ideas are clearly stated and concrete predictions are made from the start. The results examine the effects of gender in rape conceptualization and the importance of examining male rape alongside female rape to gain further insight into the differences in gender perception. A broader source of participants is acknowledged as a future improvement that could be made to studies such as these. The results section of the paper is, to me, the most impressive section. The findings are examined in a concise manner, taking particular notice of the reasons the results contradict the predictions made at the start. Overall I think this is an excellent example of a psychological journal article, it adheres to all the guidelines which helps make a journal article impressive and overall I found it hard to fault

The purpose of this term paper is to explore the effects that were posed by the World War II and that experienced during post war period. The most important area of study is the traditional gender roles and how they have been altered during the war and after the war. Changes based on jobs, empowerment, independence of women, loss of rugged individual, loss of G1 Joe ethics, Metrosexuals, Hollywood among others will be covered in the research. Factors that contributed to the emasculation of male will be highlighted in the context of this course work. Since the study is all about the emasculation of men, things which should do in order to elude themselves from this problem will be an area of interest in this study. For better expoundation of these effects or impacts, the study will concern itself with definitions of gender roles and emasculation of male.

Thesis statement of this study is the changes that were brought about by World War II and post war period had significant impacts on traditional gender role more so those regard to emasculation of the male. The problem is due to persists if men failed to recognize their gender roles meaning that it is very crucial for men to realize their gender roles before it is late. Discussion

Emasculation can be defined as the deprivation of man’s masculinity, power and his manhood hence making him impotent of both identity and expression. Through emasculation, patriarchy is said to have lost value in men thus demoting male dominance in the family and also the society at large. Masculinity is for male and thus why when male are emasculated, the patriarchy that exists in male is breached hence enabling female to compete with men for existence. It is true that masculinity is a female centered realty in each and every society in the world. Based on this point, male are admired and also measured based on the beauty, loyalty of the wife, submission and the manner in which he controls his wife. This is to mean that the masculinity of the man is determined by the satisfying behavior of her wife. In addition to this, single men or bachelors can’t gauge their degree of masculinity since geared by the behavior portrayed by his wife. Masculinity and feminist are differently implicated in the gender roles and therefore they can be used to offer a better understanding of both male and female. Men are known for their ability to fulfill stressful roles that include husband role, the role of breadwinner and that of father. In the traditional and modern societies, women or female are expected to be under the rule of the male. They should adhere to the commands made by male and thus how patriarchy is practiced. Male are said to be ignorant in that they believe that their reality is centered among female without adhering to the fact that female also have their own reality. Male reality is determined externally but not internally because it has been noted that masculinity is measured based on one’s wife satisfying behavior in the society. This is to mean that male’s soul does not play any part in individual reality.

The selfishness implicated in the disregard of reality of female has been considered as the major cause of both spiritual and emotional differences between the two types of gender. In the issues of emotions, female are said to be more or too emotional as compared to male. In the matter concerning spiritual backgrounds, female take the majority vote since they are said to be more religious than their men. During the World War II and the period after the war, several changes have been observed to have taken place whereby the power of male became eroded. Women learnt that their freedom had been barred by the patriarchy or the dominance of male in the society. Before then, love was a good indicator of the relationship between the male and female but with the onset of emasculation of male, this was replaced by the economic foundation. In the absence of emasculation, female had a close attachment to their husband. When male came home late they were to be served with hot dinner since it was the responsibility of their wives or females. Real love by then was practiced as opposed to the period after the World War II. Males in most cases are blinded by the privileged that if they works and support their wives, every thing in their castles is expected to be well. Emasculation of males has given females the opportunity to venture into the roles that were made for male. It is not surprising to find that many males cook for themselves or in household there exists a duty Rooter. Meaning that if the wife cooks today tomorrow is the turn for the husband to cook of which this is contrary to the traditional gender roles. Emasculation in most cases is said to germinate into what scientist call bacterium.

Male are said to be have been disadvantaged by the emasculation which is said to shed off their powers hence unable to practice patriarchy in the society. For instance most men are not served with hot dinners when they came back at night since their wives believed that they are equal to them and that they should not woke up at the mid of the night and warm meals for their husbands. In other occasions their wives are not available to greet them with sweet names and also charming carelessly hence echoing their males masculinity. According to the masculine logics, this breach in behavior calls for punishment or any other consequences in the society. Males are said to find it difficult to resist the use of what is referred to as physical force and thus why aggression has been considered natural to male’s reptilian brain. When males are offended by their wives they tend to use their masculine to punish them but according to the recent research based on masculine’s it has been noted that masculine prowess are under the counter of emasculation.

In the modern society, several couples find it inferior to fasten their hands behind their backs when walking. The research showed that males sat in the back seats of a car while the wife is the drive meaning that masculinity of males has been violated by their wives. They tend to exercise powers above their husbands in the society which is contrary to the traditional gender roles. Females are now taking top positions in the government and are therefore provided with police men as her guards. They use police as their watch dogs and they had powers of summoning them at any mere dial of 911. According to the emasculation of males, both the man’s reality and masculine will never at any given time be the same again as it was during the times of traditional society. To cover their emasculations many males have indulged themselves into drinking springs meaning that alcohol has become the only bandage for their masculine wounds. Emasculation is said to be worsening as the time goes on hence developing into a full fledged kind of disease. There was a case whereby a man came home from work only to find a dog with a note tied around its neck the note was left behind by his who claimed that the man had another woman and that she had given him a chance to marry her. This showed how emasculation of males had affected men and their families whereby women had rights to decide when to quit marriage.

Men remained attached to the love in their marriage even after the divorce. This has been noted to have changed over the years meaning that the bond between wife and husband has become too weak than it was before the World War II and the period after. From researches that have been conducted in United States of America have showed that males are deprived of the meaning that is said to reflect their masculinity. Males are said to have got no alternative reality that they could rely upon as opposed to females in each and every society in the world. Emasculation of males have made them to result into alcohol taking which has made them to lose consciousness of their males reality in favor of their imaginative realities. These imagination of their reality has been said to have got negative effects to their jobs meaning that they interferes with their jobs to the pint that they can’t play their roles as breadwinners in the family. Many males think or consider alcohol as the best solution for their emasculation but it has negative effects to males roles since it made them less concerned to what expected of them. Imagination reality and Alcohol are said to collide if and only if they are both applied by the males. Emasculation is said to reach what is called malignancy hence resulting to killing when males lost their jobs because they believe that no life that is worth to living. The process of human evolution has been said to have resulted to a more devastating form of emasculation since it led to feminization process through destruction of patriarchy organization and the old paradigm of expression of the masculine.

In the process of human evolving several roles have or features have been made less useful in the society. Things such as suppression, war, aggression, competition and brute muscle force are no long inexistence today. Emasculation is argued to become stronger and stronger as males escape the destruction imposed by nature. As time goes on masculinity of males is viewed to have been transforming into a situation considered by many scholars as a vanguard of femininity in the society. Emasculation of males will be good or bad depending on the side of human evolution one stood after the completion of feminization process. The feminization process is not a simple process in the transformation of human being since it is beyond people’s ability. This is to mean that human transformation is a process controlled by the spirit of God in each and every society in the world. In the early form of Christianity females were said to possess values such as obedience, commitment, innocence, silent sufferer and faithfulness. According to the transformation of human being and the impact of industrial revolution, it was argued that these values are no longer useful since females have realized their roles after the call for gender equity in the society.

Feminization process has brought about rugged individualism in the world where by a man has become a master of his own feta but not the fate of others; men are now responsible to make their beds among others. Rugged individualism has been implicated through several movies and television in the United States. The Hollywood culture is a good indicator of emasculation of males. Most of the American movies are presents a large number of female actors as opposed to males. In these movies female characters are empowered or play a dominant role in acting meaning that they are the most dangerous and armed characters than males. Hollywood culture had portrayed men as having adopted females characteristic.

That is men have taken on female characteristics such as trimmed eyebrows, slim, tight abs, attractiveness among others. Several researches have showed that females have embraced male’s characteristics and thus why they have ventured into roles that traditionally were made for males. On the issues of appearance conscious it has been noted that with the onset or coming of emasculation of males, many men have become more conscious to their appearance than it was before. Some sent a lot of times decollating their bodies through the use of cosmetics and other chemicals or substances that are said to bring about beauty in human being. Traditionally men had a little concern on the issue of beauty but this seems to have ceased with passage of time. Younger men are the major victims of appearance conscious since they are said to adhere to fashion trends more often that in past. Emasculation of males have made women to become independent of themselves meaning that women are able to provide for themselves without depending on their husband who have become ignorant of their role of provider.

It has therefore discovered that many women or females are not willing to get married to men since they can take on the role of provider with ease that it was before. This has come as a result of females taking on the roles or jobs of males in the modern society a thing that made men to become emasculated. Professional fields are flooded since career equity has empowered female to compete males in jobs. In past that is before the world war ii, females were not entitled to venture into certain fields such as drivers, engineers, doctors among others because nature prohibits them. The world war empowered women or females to take part in economic activities in each and every nation in the world. This is to mean that females have the right to remain in the task force like any other human being. Traditional gender roles are no longer considered important in the modern society which came a bout as a result of the industrial revolution. This industrial revolution is said to have enlightened females thus ceasing from being victims of male exploitation in the society. This is to mean that females are no longer silent sufferer and thus why they have become increasingly independent than in the past.

In conclusion from the study it was noted that emasculation of males has affected males severely in the modern society and this has resulted from the industrial revolution. Females have taken on the roles of males hence boycotting the traditional gender roles in the society. Emasculation of males has been said to grow stronger with the passage of time since men are not a ware of their realty meaning that they are not willing to take their responsibilities. The selfishness implicated in the disregard of reality of female has been considered as the major cause of both spiritual and emotional differences between the two types of gender. In the issues of emotions, female are said to be more or too emotional as compared to male. In the matter concerning spiritual backgrounds, female take the majority vote since they are said to be more religious than their men. From the study it was showed that the patriarchy practice is no longer in existence.

The effects of technology on society

The term technology is derived from the Greek word ‘technologia’ which means “the practical application of knowledge, particularly in a specific discipline of study.” It is worthwhile to note that technology is an abstract term that lacks a single universally acceptable concrete definition. Nevertheless, it can be defined as the usage and application of knowledge concerning tools, crafts, techniques, methods or systems of organization, or a material end product of these things, such as clothing. It is a word that is used collectively to portray or describe the advancements, undertakings, creations, abilities, views and knowledge of a distinct group of people (Basalla 14-15).

On the other hand, a human society can be defined as a group of people who are delineated by their cultural identity, functional interdependence and social solidarity. A comprehensive definition of this term also takes into account the social status and roles of the people within society. By extension, a society may be taken to mean a group of people within a given region or country, or even the whole world in totality. As such, the meaning of society is closely linked to what is deemed to be social. It is also worth to note that members of any given society share some common characteristics, such as a common goal and a common interest or mutual concern (Jenkins 18-20).

Throughout history, technologies have significantly affected human beings and other species of animals in their ability to control and acclimatize to their natural environment. Historically, human beings started applying the use of technology with the improvisation of the existing natural resources into simple tools and equipment. For instance, the realization of the capacity to control fire augmented the existing sources of food, while the invention of the wheel helped human beings to control their environment and enhance transport. On the other hand, modern technological advancements such as the telephone, the printing press and the internet have minimized physical hurdles of communication. They have also enabled human beings to interact rapidly and freely on a global scale by transforming the world into a global village. Nevertheless, it is quite clear that not all technologies have been used by human beings for peaceful purposes. For instance, technology has been used to construct destructive weapons that range from clubs to nuclear weapons (Basalla 20-25).

Human beings are divided in their opinions about the general impact of technology on society. Some people believe that technology has really helped human societies while others disagree with this claim. Nevertheless, technology has influenced different societies both positively and negatively in various ways. For instance, technology has helped many societies, especially in the contemporary world to improve their economies as well as allowing for the creation of a leisure class. In addition, technological processes have often led to pollution of the environment and exhaustion of natural resources, thus harming the earth and its environment. Different modes of technological implementation also influence the values of different societies and in many cases, arrival of new technologies often raise new ethical questions. For instance, technological advancements have led to an increase in the idea of efficiency with regard to human production, a term which was in the past only applied to machines, and the challenge of conventional customs. This paper looks at how the use of machines has impacted on the capacity of workers, the effects of computer and the cell phone on society, and the general impacts of technology to the environment.

In the contemporary world, machines continue to automate most of the critical industrial and household processes. For instance, machines have taken up, and are continuing to substitute human workers in most of the mundane jobs in industries. This is because of the evolvement of technology such that machines can even perform tasks which cannot be done by man. The application of advanced technologies, like artificial intelligence and robotics has proved to be more effective in performing life-threatening tasks such as space exploration and mining. Nevertheless, there is an increasing concern in many countries about the deteriorating position of the semi-skilled and unskilled workers due to improved technology. It is argued that technological advancements have made many of these menial jobs obsolete or poorly paid. This situation has been mainly augmented by the growing modern computing technologies. Technological advancements have also impacted greatly on the value of the skills of workers. Old workers usually find it very difficult to adapt to new and complex technologies, while young workers rapidly and readily acquire and employ skills that are tailored towards new technologies. As a result, such technologies increase the value of young workers, while they reduce the productivity of the old workers (Edward 53-65).

Needless to say that computer technology has transformed the face of the world today (Edward 66). Computers are capable of storing, processing, managing and organizing large quantities of information and data. They have also given birth to the software industry, which is one of the most developed industries in the world. Internet technology seeded from the concepts of computer networking and has grown to be the most effective platform of communication in the world, with the largest information base that exists in the modern world. The internet infrastructure, through the worldwide web has made it possible for people to communicate through email, websites, downloads, media and file sharing, so transforming the world into a global village. The internet infrastructure has also made it possible for researchers, scholars and other people to share information across the globe almost instantly. The internet has also given rise to significant positive changes in the advertising and entertainment industries. Advertisements can therefore reach out to the populations within very few seconds and consequently, this has promoted the entertainment industry which relies heavily on advertisement. Simply stated, the internet has made it possible for societies in modern times to link up and promote the sharing of information and globalization (Edward 67-70).

Cellular communication has also transformed the communication industry and the larger society as a whole to a very great extent. One of the earliest technological advancements in communication was the invention of the conventional telephone which was followed by the telegraph. Mobile phones have expanded the horizons of communication in the modern world through their capacity to allow for expedient long distance communication. They have enhanced the communication process in society because they provide different ways through which people can use to communicate to others, such as through calling and sending text messages. Therefore, important information or message can reach the receiver in a few seconds. Mobile phones also help to develop and support communication, contact and communication processes within society. In spite of all of their advantages, they can also impact negatively on society. For instance, some teenagers share pornographic information and photos by sending them using their mobile phones and this has created a very serious concern. In general, inappropriate use of the internet and mobile phones for purposes such as pornography has really polluted the social culture of the modern world (Fox 89-92).

Most of the modern technological processes lead to the production of excessive waste products commonly referred to as industrial waste, and pollution. These wastes can be classified as either toxic wastes, electronic wastes or radioactive wastes. Even though some of the produced material waste is recycled and used in other industrial processes, much of it is released to the environment and the result is environmental pollution, degradation and lack of sustainability. Very few technologies in the modern world are designed with the contemplation of the environment in mind. Most of the technological advancements are directed towards economic gain rather than on environmental sustainability and this has caused a lot of direct detrimental effect on the environment, such as the depreciation of the ozone layer which has led to global warming. Historically, many societies sought to maintain their environments since they were the sources of wealth for the people. However, in the contemporary world, societies have failed to maintain and manage their environments and this has greatly affected the whole universe. The more delicate and obvious impacts of technology on the environment include the exhaustion of the world’s non-renewable natural resources such as coal, ores and petroleum, and the pollution of water, air and land mostly by industrial wastes and disposal. Effects of these impacts include global warming, loss of coastal wetlands, destruction of natural habitats and deforestation. While organisms are capable of recycling the wastes of other organisms naturally, there is no such mechanism of recycling for technological wastes and therefore they remain harmful to the environment for long periods of time (Fox 98-102).

In conclusion, the aforementioned are only but a few fields that can be influenced by technology. It is indeed not possible to enlist all the effects (both positive and negative) of technology on society. Even though technology is in overall beneficial to world societies, it is relatively clear that technological advancement may be accompanied by negative side effects and drawbacks. In fact, every new technology is accompanied by unwanted or unexpected side effects. Therefore, it is necessary for societies to adapt to technological advancements that have minimal side effects on them, the environment and future generations.

Works Cited

Basalla, George. The Evolution of Technology. New York: Longman Publishing Group, 1988.

Edward, McClellan. Science and Technology in World History. Washington: John Hopkins University Press, 2006.

Fox, Frank. Women, Gender and Technology. Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 2006.

Jenkins, Reyes. Foundations of Sociology. London: Palgrave MacMillan, 2002.

The Concept of Social exclusion tends to focus on those who experience exclusion and diverts attention from the persistent poverty and increasing inequality which characterize contemporary British society.

In order to understand the affect of the concept of social exclusion in relations to persistent poverty and equality we need to first answer 1) what does the concept of social exclusion denote? 2) Does the process of overcoming social exclusion take into account dealing with persistence poverty and inequality or does it overlook these aspects in particular persistent poverty and inequality of children in the context of the contemporary British society?

Below, section 1 will outline the provenance of the social exclusion concept, its’ relations to persistent poverty and inequality in the contemporary British Society particularly children, section 2 outlines the status of children in persistent poverty and equality in the British society.

The concept of Social Exclusion and in it’s relations to persistent poverty and inequality

Social exclusion can be referred to industrialized countries (notably France in the 1970) and can be taken back to Weber, who identified exclusion as one form of social closure (Parkin 1979) It has been defined as “the process through which individuals or groups are wholly or partially excluded from the society in which they live”. Similar but in different light (Jordan 1996) highlights the continuous exclusion of one group by another group. The term social exclusion where it is believed France it was used to identify those who fell through the web of the social protection/social insurance system and were excluded by the state (Lenoir 1974, Duffy 1997) known as (Le exclus – the excluded) in the 1970 included disabled persons, lone parent and the unemployed especially young adults (Evans 1998). “Social exclusion is described as a shorthand label for what can happen when individuals or areas suffer from a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime environment, bad health and family breakdowns” (SEU 1997) Also Duffy (1995) suggests that it is the inability to participate effectively in economic, Social, political and cultural life, alienation and distance from the mainstream society, this in a way clarifies the link between persistent poverty and inequality in the society and in particularly the unemployed are both poor and not in the same stature as others in the society and thus placing them in the process/institutions put in place to overcome these problems and help these individuals live within a society even though not equal creates a persistent poverty for the children that rely on the adults benefiting from these processes. At the same time the process or institutions put in place to overcome these social exclusions are not specifically designed to overcome persistent poverty or inequality.

Child Poverty and Inequality in the contemporary British society

Persistent poverty is defined as occurring when children experienced poverty (severe or non severe) in three out of five years for which they were analyzed i

Children experiencing poverty were all more likely to:

Have been in no worker household for one year

Lived in rented accommodation for five years

Had adults in the household who were ill for between three and four years

Lived in midlands

Received benefits for three to four years and lived in household with an average of three or more children (Adelman et al).

Impact of poverty in children includes, deprivation of education, lack of proper health and children below the age of five die each day due to causes that can be prevented. Poverty is related to negative outcomes like ill-health and shorter life expectancy and this is true for relative (average income, lack of materials to fully participate in an accepted daily life) and absolute poverty (absence of enough resources to make complete someone).

World Health Organization (2008) reports shocking inequalities within the countries and cities also persist. The life expectancy of child born in Carlton in Glasgow, Scotland is 28 years less than that of a child born few miles away in Lenzi.

The 2007 UNICEF report on child wellbeing ranked the UK bottom out of 21 OECD countries.

Bradshaw J argues that child poverty is the inevitable consequences of economic restructuring, globalization, demographic transitions. But it s then the consequence of policy-successive Conservative government ignoring rising child poverty, committed as they were to trickle down theories and their aspirations to reduce public expenditure and cut taxation?

Levitas (1998) identifies three different discourses of Social Exclusion, First approach is a redistributive Discourse (RED) which derives from critical social policy, and which sees social exclusion as a consequences of poverty, thus Peter Townsend argued that poverty should not be understood in terms of subsistence, but in terms of people’s ability to participate in the customary life of society:” individuals, families and groups can be said to be in poverty when their resources are so seriously below those commanded by the average individual or family they are, in effect, excluded from ordinary living patterns, customs and activities”(Townsend,1979,p32).the indicator for social exclusion in RED is low income. She adds Social integration Discourse (SID) is participation in paid work, therefore young people of working age should participate in labor market. Unemployment or economic inactivity indicates social exclusion. The third approach is a moral underclass discourse (MUD), which social exclusion is used as a substitute not for poverty or non employment, but for the underclass .This discourse presents the socially excluded as the morally distinct from the rest of the society and does not address inequality.

Since the election, there has been increasing tendency to talk about ‘poverty and social exclusion’, a shift which can only be welcomed, since it puts both firmly back at on the political agenda. But opportunity for all (Blair, 29 January 1996)

A reduction in the proportion of children living in workless households, for households of a given size, over the economic cycle.

A reduction in the proportion of children in household relatively low incomes

A reduction in the proportion of children in households with low incomes in an absolute sense.

A reduction in the proportion of children in household with persistently low incomes.

Makes no separation between ‘poverty and social exclusion’ nor does the poverty and social exclusion (National Strategy) Bill, introduced in parliament under the 10- minute Rule on 10th February 1999. Mud posits strong connection between poverty and social exclusion, but sees the causes of poverty as lying in cultural and moral/self exclusion rather than the other way round. (Levitas, 1998)

Conclusion

Referring back to the concept of social exclusion and it’s relation to persistent poverty and inequality, I would argue that although the concept of social exclusion concentrates on those excluded it does address the issues that lead to poverty and inequality but has not been designed to directly tackle the issues of persistent poverty and inequality in the contemporary British society and in particular the children.

Poverty is not only deprivation of economic or material resources but a violation of human dignity too. The UN provides a broader definition of poverty:

‘a human condition characterized by the sustained or chronic deprivation of the resources, capabilities, choices, security and power necessary for the enjoyment of an adequate standard of living and other civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights.’ (UN, 2001).

The UN definition brings together two important and related themes in contemporary understandings of poverty: the ‘capability approach’ of Nobel-prize winning economist Amartya Sen and the ‘human rights’ approach.

Inequality is sometimes seen as a form of poverty, and the capability approach to poverty shows us why. By definition, any society with inequality means that some people have less money, resources or power than others do. These people will often be described as ‘relatively poor’ but there are sometimes questions about whether they are ‘absolutely poor’ (Barber, 2008; p3)

The world population is growing rapidly from 750 million in 1750 to 6,500 million in 2005. Respond to this evidence, people naturally enlarge their land for housing, food, and the need of resources such as oil, wood, and metal. Day by day, people damage the environment which contains a lot of living life, especially, wild animals. This caused many groups of animals to decline and even extinct. Perhaps to redeem this hideous mistake, people built more places, which are called zoos, to keep and protect wild animals. Zoos are probably the most complex forms of animal keeping in the world. Many animals from many areas over the world are kept together in a small region. People may think that zoos are good place for keeping wild animal, but in fact, it is not, and it also is unethical to capture wild animals and put them into the zoo.

Most wild animals are living in dense forest, mountains, or woods, where people do not easy access. Their lives are very isolated with the modern human’s life. They scared of people, guns, and the noise of metal of our developed industry. The more people open their land, the additional wild animal lose their territories, and so must move away. There is no such wild animal who dare to live near people. It seems very rare when people see a wild animal coming near their land. As Ursula K. Le Guin shows in May’s Lion, “there were plenty of deer in the Valley in the forties, but no mountain lion had been seen for decades anywhere near where people lived.” And if any, it should have the reason. In fact, May’s lion is too old and sick.

Most animals are very social by nature such as monkeys, wolves, elephants, tigers, etc. It has been shown that animals used to live in the same places in which they could easy share the food. They love their life as well as their freedom. They just want to live in peace among their family and friends. It is cruel to remove them away from their family, friends. In The Antlers, Suzie indicates that “cattle are like city people, cattle expect even deserve, what they’ve got coming. But wild animals are different. Wild animals enjoy life. They live in the woods on purpose.” Clearly, wild animals are different from cattle. They need to be free and live in the woods where considered as their country. Animals are not willing to leave their place to come to a new place such as a zoo.

Zoos are the place where living animals are exhibited in captivity. The most traditional form of maintaining wild animals in captivity is keeping them in cages constructed of concrete or metal, in aviaries, or fenced paddocks. Living in those places, animals do not behave like their wild counterparts. For example, a lion is given food in the mean time whereas they have to lie still and wait for prey and hunt for hours in their Africa home. Similarly, the Wolves, Leopards, Tigers, Elephants, etc are often confined in cages where they lack exercise and stimulation. Those animals will lose their hunting skills and soon become pets such as dogs or cats. In Rainer Maria Rilke’ poem, The Panther, he feels for the wild animal in this situation: “As he paces in cramped circle, over and over/ the movement of his powerful soft strides is/ like a ritual dance around a center/ in which a mighty will stands paralyzed.”

Zoos are just another word of animal prison. It provides plenty of cages which are constructed by concrete and steel. It limits the movement as well as the freedom of wild animals. When an animal is sent to the zoo, more likely, it will spend the rest of its life in cage. The animal has no choice but to be in the zoo and it held there. Zoos steal the freedom and provide unusual life to wild animals. Many animals develop unnatural habits such as pacing back and forth or swaying from side to side in their cages. Polar bears, for example, are given about 30 feet of walking space, whereas in their Arctic home they could roam freely for hundreds of miles.

The zoo is an unnatural environment that exposes animals to numerous dangers. Animals which would naturally live in very different parts of the world are brought together in the natural habitat of humans. Diseases often spread between species that would never live together naturally. Furthermore, zoo animals are often exposed to chemicals, solvents and other toxic substances. That is not natural for wild animals.

Most zoos have commercial and entertainment purpose in mind as well as financial profit. Animal from many areas of the world are brought together and put on display for the benefit of humans’ enjoyment. It is very common for visitors to tease and provoke caged animals.

Supporters of zoos argue that they help to conserve endangered species, but in fact they are not very good at this. Breeding programmers provide zoos with good publicity, but in fact most of them are failures. The world famous panda breeding program was a big example for this. This program is very costly but it is unsuccessful. Also zoo life does not prepare animals for the challenges of life in the wild. Many animals were died after they came back to the wild. For example, two rare lynxes released into the wild in Colorado died from starvation even though the area was full of hares, which are a lynx’s natural prey.

The best zoos argue that education is one of their most important features. That is using the zoo to teach people to respect the natural world, to show them what can be learned from the lives of the animals in captivity and to appreciate what conservation means. One of the major problems they face, however, is that the animals on display are both individuals and representatives of their species. So is not true to say that zoos are educational or that they help to protect endangered species. In reality, they only teach us how wild animals behave when they confined in small spaces.

Today, many modern zoos do not enclose animals in small cages but they are provided with habitats, modeled after their nature habitats. The aim for many zoos is to exhibit their animals in enclosures in which the setting is as natural as possible or at least looks as natural as possible. But it seems that they cannot easily move away from the image of being places of entertainment which is more closely to the circus and amusement park than to museums and education.

Wild animals are not like cattle, they don’t want to live near people, and especially, in zoos. It is cruel to remove wild animals away from their place. Furthermore, zoos are unsuitable environment for wild animals. It keeps animal in small area compare to the vast natural habitat, and also, zoo exposed too many diseases and dangers to wild animal. In the wild, animals live their lives for their own benefit; but in the zoo, they have to live their lives for the benefit of human. And since zoos are less successful in breeding programs and far from education purpose, zoos must be abolished. People should stop capture wild animals and put them into zoos.

The Effects of China’s Large Population

With the rapid development of science and technology, population and development have further become important issues, which are the general subjects of international community. By the end of 2008, China has reached a population of almost 1.35billion (excluding the population of Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions and Taiwan Province), accounting for about 21% of the world’s population. China has the largest and one of the densest population in the world. Although it offers the country abundant labor resources and broad markets, an excessive population also brings negative effects. China’s large population is undoubtedly the primary factor in causing these following problems and contradictions.

For one thing, an excessive population brings about a series of social issues. First, it restricts economic growing seriously. An unbalanced development has appeared in China for a long time. Economic disparities between different regions are increasing. China’s GDP stands at a high point in the world, but the amount on average still stays at a low level. Besides, an aging population has already affected the society. Stress on welfare becomes greater because of large expense on pension benefits and medical security. As a result, outlay on national defence budget will be influentially reduced. What’s more, populace which contains different minorities and religions will easily cause conflicts and contradictions, which can hinder the progress towards harmonious society. Finally, it’s hard for everyone to benefit from education, China’s lower quality of population leaves a negative image on many foreigners. That is another factor which inhibits development of the country.

In the second place, most environmental problems are closely associated with a large population. Chinese need huge requirements on food, accommodation and resources. Thus, trees are cut down and rivers are filled up with soil for farmlands and houses. People get water, coal, metal and other natural resources from underground, mountains and sea. Shepherds graze animals without limits. Consequently, we are facing water shortage and desert expanding. On the other hand, a large requirement leads to a large consumption consistently. Foul water, exhaust gas and waste solid deeply destroy China’s natural environment. As time goes on, we will continue to see how the environmental degradation impacts our country if we don’t change the way we live. Because of the large population, it’s really a tough work to accomplish environmental governance. Everyone should take action to protect the natural world.

Last but not least, the large population affects every person’s daily life, even the livelihood. First, traffic is susceptible to congestion. Private cars easily get suck in traffic block for long at rush hour. Public transportation such as trains, buses and subways gets increasing crowded. All above make it inconvenient for us to go around and travel. Moreover, it’s also very difficult to find a job due to a great deal of job-wanted persons today. The young, especially graduates, are suffering great pressure. In addition, residents have difficulty in entering schools and hospitals for education and treatments. We always keep waiting in endless queues for hours to get tickets or register. The worst thing is that many people can’t afford the high costs today. Housing and commodity prices become prohibitive in cities, which leaves citizens breathless with stress.

It is clear that the population is rising at a rate which is fairly alarming. Overpopulation is the most important factor that impairs China’s economic and social development. Therefor, the measures of population control should be taken as priority. Since the introduction of one-child policy, the fertility rate in China has fallen from over three births per woman in 1980 to about 1.8 births in 2008. In total, with one-child policy, the Chinese government estimates that it has three to four hundred million fewer people in 2008 than it would have had otherwise. With efforts made by the whole nation and the international cooperation, China’s population and development are surely going forward to a new stage.

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, today am privileged to have this precious moment with you to discuss about the epidemic that has threatened to wipe away the youthful generation of African Americans. By the nature of ethnicity, the black community in United States is having a heavy burden due to the effects of the disease. Statistical results shows that by the end of 2007, nearly half (46%) of the infected were members of the black community. In the year 2006, the blacks accounted about 45 % of the new infections in fifty states as well as District of Columbia.

It is very sad to find out that up to now many members of the black community are still losing their lives in a disease that can be easily controlled. It is estimated that 230,000 blacks in U.S. have lost their lives as a result of AIDS. These deaths represent a 40% of all the deaths. Statistics also show that about one million people live with the virus in America today with half of them coming from the black community. To you members of the panel do you believe on the statistical reports that indicate African American citizens contributing to 40% of HIV AIDS epidemic deaths?

As a racial group, the blacks represent only 13% of the country’s total population. Estimations indicate that black males are exposed to the risk of being infected with I person in every six likely to be infected with the virus. For females, 1 out of every 30 of them is highly exposed than white males. Washington D.C has the country’s highest HIV prevalence with ? of its infected population coming from the black community.

Ladies and gentlemen, reports from the “National HIV/AIDS Strategy African American” makes up the biggest part of the HIV cases across many infected groups. These groups include heterosexuals, homosexuals, women, infants and drug users.

Before we embark in the journey of fighting the epidemic in the community, we need to ask ourselves why members of the black community are disproportionately infected by the virus and how do they view the disease. According to you members of the panel, what do you think is the reason behind this disproportionate infection of blacks? I would also like you the members of the panel to figure out question that demands our attention is to try and figure out strategies being taken to mitigate the number of cases being highlighted in clinics and other health institutions across the country. As facilitators what do you think are the necessary strategies needed to be undertaken to control the spread?

First and foremost, I would like to begin the discussion by looking at the first cases of the disease among the blacks. The epidemic first came into the public limelight in early 1980s. At first, the epidemic affected mainly the gay male population and drug users who used intravenous methods to inject drugs into their bodies. In the year 1983, the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) came out with the evidence of the first two cases of HIV in women. The two ladies acquired the virus through sexual intercourse with a drug user who used intravenous method to inject the drugs into his body. One of the ladies was of a Latin origin while her counterpart was a black.

Since then, the disease started spreading at a high rate among the members of the black community. Women especially, were affected and five years later, the blacks accounted for 50 percent of all the AIDS cases in America. I’m afraid to say that currently, sixty percent of women infected with the virus come from the black community (http://www.avert.org/hiv-african-americans.htm).

Earlier on, a bigger problem was the reflection of the epidemic by the American media as a disease typical to white gay men. The blacks were provided with few reasons to believe that the disease could also affect them, despite the large portion of the early cases in bisexual and gay community coming from the black men. From the outset, black American heterosexual children and adults were mainly infected by white heterosexuals. From your perspective, do you blacks are at a higher risk than the whites?

I’m delighted to inform you that the first group to confront the epidemic through the enlightenment of the members of the black community was the San Franciscan Gay community or Black and White Men Together (BWMT). This movement was significant not only for counting Reggie Williams as one of its followers, but also gave rise to an AIDS organization. I personally would like to salute Williams as one of the first gay black activist who worked for many years to deal with deaths and enlightened homosexual members of the black community. Do you think William’s contribution to addressing the disease had significant impacts on the fight against the disease? The lobby became successful and ultimately led to provision of first ever donation by CDC to prevent the spread of the disease among the black gay community in the year 1998.

The concern of the AIDS epidemic among the blacks in 1980s and 1990s was also raised by various highly influential members of the community who were infected with the disease or lost a friend or family members through the diseased. My salutation also goes to Max Robinson, the first black American news anchor. Max openly admitted that he was positive just before he died in 1988. Later on Arthur Ashe died of the same ailment in 1993 with rapper Eazy-E beaming another victim in 1995.

May be the most influential AIDS victim of black origin who is still alive today is the basket ball player Ervin Johnson. He admitted that he was positive in 199. His assertion that “any one can contract” the disease showed a significant understanding that the AIDS epidemic was not just a disease typical to gays. Other individuals who have contributed in raising the profile in the black community include Jesse Jackson who became another famous black man to join other well known blacks in addressing the epidemic.

The main risk factor among the blacks is sexual transmission. Having unprotected sex is the major likely cause of the disease. 43 % of the blacks living with the disease got the virus through male to male sexual intercourse. A research conducted showed that national HIV/AIDS policy showed that half of the black gay males and bisexuals in five well known cities in United States of America being HIV positive. A major study undertaken in 21 cities concluded that almost 1/3 of the black MSM had the AIDS virus. Among this category, the youth are mainly affected. In 2006, many black people in America who had sex with other men were infected with the disease. Also, the disease among this group has increased rapidly. Since 2001 and 2006, yearly HIV diagnoses among the African American MSM aged 13 and 24 went up by 93 % compared to twelve percent among the blacks of all ages. How many of you members of the panel agree with me that sexual intercourse is the leading cause of high rate of spread of the epidemic among the blacks?

Many theories have been however proposed regarding the vulnerability of the young black men to the disease through the activities of homosexuality, but none is actually decisive. One theory is the high prevalence of the disease among the many of the members of the community. The risk is enhanced in young men who partner with their older male counterparts since older MSM appear to have had a lot of sexual exposure and increasing the risk of contracting the disease.

Young African American MSM is also less likely to be informed about their status. This translates into less likelihood for them to take the necessary steps to stop the transmission of the disease. However, other studies have shown that young black take part in risky affairs to a greater degree than young Latin or White males.

Also, black women are mainly disproportionately exposed to the disease, with the likely transmission means being heterosexual sexual practices. Eighty five percent of the black women living with HIV virus were exposed to the virus by through this means and make up nearly 50 % of the country’s female population with the disease. Back men living with the virus makes up 22% and were infected through heterosexual means. More than 2/3 of infected men were exposed in this manner to the disease (.http://www.avert.org/hiv-african-americans.htm).

There are a lot of economic as well as social factors that come as a result of high levels of sexual HIV infections in the black community. However, higher phases of STDs in this group are also shaped by economic and social factors hence facilitating sexual transmission of the virus. The black Americans have eight times the number the level of Chlamydia, and eighteen times the level of gonorrhea compared to Whites. An evaluation by United States Centre for Disease and Prevention (CDC) discovered that nearly half (48%) of black females and about forty percent of African American men got infected by genital herpes in the country compared to 21% of females and 11.5%of men generally. Can anyone of you tell me the possible ways of reducing poverty in our society?

Drug use is one of the most likely causes of AIDS epidemic among the members of the black community. In the year 2008, use of drugs was found to contribute a significant portion of all AIDS diagnoses among the blacks. Many black men and women living with the disease were infected through drug injection compared to those of any other race or ethnic group. Blacks injecting drugs have a likelihood of acquiring the in a higher rate and do not live longer after the diagnosis.

Poverty also is another main factor that leads to infection of the virus among the black Americans. Poverty forces youths to drop out of school, stopping them from getting good jobs and good employment. Poverty also makes youths to lose a sense of value or self worth and attracted to illegal or socially ill habits that can expose them to the disease. Poverty symptoms also influence sexual patterns that enhance the spread of the disease. There is therefore need to pay a lot of attention to both economic and social perspectives in which the disease thrive. One person who has initiated such an idea is the current president Barack Obama. The president in his presidential crusade literature promised to tackle the poverty scourge where the victims of the disease proliferate.

It is a fact that about ? of the black American families lives in deplorable conditions, with a higher poverty rate for both single male headed and female headed homes making up to 30 and 40 percent respectively. A focus group that involved the blacks living in North Carolina showed that there is a connection between participant’s social environment and sexual connections within the community. These factors also included institutional stigmatization that lead to lack of employment possibilities and lack of capacity to obtain mortgage, lack of recreation and high imprisonment rates. Has any one of you experienced any form of stigma in the work place?

The common believe among the blacks is that the government is not doing its mandate to address the need of protecting them from the epidemic. By estimation, half of the CDC budget is aimed at fighting the spread of the disease among the blacks. It is debated that directing the whole CDCs budget to the epidemic in the black community is not enough. What needs to be improved therefore is the size of the budget itself. For the financial year 2009, $ 1.6 billion was required to prevent the spread of the virus. This reflected a far excess budget than $753 million allocated for the year 2008 (.http://www.avert.org/hiv-african-americans.htm).

Finally, ladies and gentle men, I would like to conclude my speech by saying that any sustained and effective attempt to tackle AIDS in United States of America should have positive results for the African American citizens as they make up such a large percentage of the overall infections. The CDC’s consideration of and study of entrenched social aspects, like poverty which are the main contributors to the current HIV infection rates, is positive stride and should be seen in all concrete acts taken to alter the trend of HIV infection in the African American community.

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

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

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

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

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

III. RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

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

IV. DATA AND VARIABLES

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

The DEPENDENT VARIABLE
Income Level

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

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

THE KEY INDEPENDENT VARIABLE
Race

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

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

THE INDENENDENT VARIABLES:

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

Age

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

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

REMARKS:

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

SEX

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

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

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

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

Education Level

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

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

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

knowledge allows them to perform specialized tasks.

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

asked,

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

Religion Raised with

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

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

Political Affiliation

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

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

than those of other political affiliations.

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

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

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

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

The Key Independent Variable
Race

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

Chart 1
Chart 2
Calculate Univariate Statistics.

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

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

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

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

16.1801.

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

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

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

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

Pearson’s Correlation Analysis

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Likelihood Ratio Chi-Sq.

390.482**

Nagelkerke R-Square

.2093

*P<0.05; **P<0.01

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

VI Conclusion

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

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

Univariate Distribution

[]

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

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

The effect of poverty on health

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

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

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

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

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

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

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