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This paper proposes to look at dalit women’s movement (DWM) in India. The dalit women’s movement should be analyzed in a relational framework for which we will have to look at the specific history and nature of the Indian nation-state. The other two major movements which have a bearing on DWM are the dalit movement and the women’s movement in India. This paper focuses on the DWM particularly the National Federation of dalit women (NFDW). There are a host of regional, state level and national level movements led and participated by dalit women, it is beyond the scope of this paper to discuss all these, so I undertake a study of the NFDW, its politics, strategy, ideology, scope and the theoretical perspectives through which it has been analysed.

The NFDW is chronologically a post 1980’s phenomena and has been active in a transnational arena with its particular presence in Durban 2001, it has been analysed by social scientists in a transnational framework. I have not overlooked the transnational significance of the movement, but, looked at it in a historical context of India’s history and modernity, the place of dalit women and men within this history and how has ‘the history’ been challenged by dalit women.

The main argument put forward by dalit feminists is that dalit women are a different category in their own right and they should not be subsumed within the category of dalits or women as a whole. Dalit feminists have asked both the dalit movements and women’s movements in India for an internal critique because both these movements have neither been able to represent dalit women nor paid attention to their specific structural, social and cultural location within Indian society. Indian society is ridden with multiple and overlapping inequalities which affect women in general and dalit women in particular, in different ways.

Dalit feminists have also argued for an analysis of patriarchy within dalit communities because of external and internal factors. “Dalit women justify the case for talking differently on the basis of external factors (non-dalit forces homogenizing the issue of dalit women) and internal factors (the patriarchal domination within the dalits).” (Guru: 1995:2548)

The dalit women’s movement has a crucial role to play in the analysis of dalit feminist approach because as Chaudhuri points out it is “almost impossible to separate the history of action from the history of ideas. In other words the conceptual debates themselves embodied the history of doing, and vice versa.” (Chaudhuri: 2004: xi-xii) therefore what “constitutes conceptual history”, arises “in the context of history of doing” (Chaudhuri: 2004: xii)

The first part explores the historicity of woman’s question in India, dalit women’s participation in early anti-caste movements is established now but they do not figure in the women’s movement led by the AIWC as the women’s movement started with a group of bourgeois women who believed in homogeneous womanhood. The second part looks at the question of difference and the articulation of this difference by dalit women through what Rege has called the dalit feminist standpoint (DFS), and the further debate around the DFS. The third part looks at the NFDW in particular.

The fourth part tries to locate the DWM in different theoretical frameworks which have been put forward to explain the movement locating it in the present national and international scenario.

The questions this paper will explore are:

Why is it important to see the dalit women’s movement as separate from the Indian women’s movement and dalit movement in general? What are the main features of dalit women’s movement, particularly the NFDW? How the revolving and overlapping axis of caste, class and gender have affected dalit women in particular?

The related concepts are:

Patriarchy

Patriarchy is defined as “Literally, ‘rule of the father’ the term was originally used to describe social systems based on authority of male heads of household.” (A dictionary of sociology 2009/1994:551)

The nature of control and subjugation of women varies from one society to the other as it differs due to the differences in class, caste, religion, region, ethnicity and the socio-cultural practices. Thus in the context of India, brahmanical patriarchy, tribal patriarchy and dalit patriarchy are different from each other. Patriarchy within a particular caste or class also differs in terms of their religious and regional variations. (Ray: 2006)

Mary E. John argues that there are not separate, multiple patriarchies but “multiple patriarchies, the products of social discrimination along class, caste and communal lines, are much more shared and overlapping than diverseaˆ¦the growing disparitiesaˆ¦would tell a different story, one of unequal patriarchies and disparate genders.(John:2004: 66).

Gender

According to Ann Oakley ” ‘sex’ is a biological term: ‘gender’ a psychological and cultural one” further she says “if the proper terms for sex are ‘male’ and ‘female’, the corresponding terms for gender are ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’; these latter may be quite independent of (biological) sex.” (Oakley: 1972:159)

Dalit

Romila Thapar traces the roots of ‘Dalit’ in Pali literature in which Dalit means “the oppressed”. (Quoted in Guru and Geetha: 2000) “Dalit is not a caste; it is a constructed identityaˆ¦ Dalit (oppressed or broken) is not a new word. Apparently, it was used in the 1930s as a Hindi and Marathi translation of ‘depressed classes’, a term the British used for what are now called the scheduled castesaˆ¦The word was also used by B R Ambedkar in his Marathi speeches. The ‘Dalit Panthers’ revived the term in their 1973 manifestoaˆ¦” (Bharati: 2002)

However there is a huge and raging debate over the word ‘Dalit’ among intellectuals. The issues of terminology are complex and cannot be handled in this space, the study proposes to use dalits for the communities also at times called ‘ex-untouchables’, ‘ati-shudras’, ‘untouchables’, ‘scheduled castes’, ‘low castes’, ‘harijans’ etc.

Dalit women

It has been pointed by dalit activists and intellectuals that dalit women suffer the triple burden of caste, class, and gender (Rao:2006), (Rege:1998), (Dietrich:2006), (Omvedt: 2004),(Malik:1999) they have been called the “dalits of the dalits” , the “downtrodden amongst the downtrodden” and the “the slaves of the slaves”.( Manorama quoted in Hardtmann: 2009:217) However such a construction has been challenged by Shirman as “fetishising of dalit women’s suffering which tend to reify the living social relationships that constitute dalit women’s lives, and to locate dalit women as objects of pity.” (Shirman: 2004)

Social movement

A social movement can be thought of as an informal set of individuals and/ or groups that are “involved in confliction relations with clearly identified opponents; are linked by dense informal networks; [and] share a distinct collective identity” (della Porta & Diani, 2006, p. 20). (Christiansen:2011:4)

Feminism

Kumari Jayawardena defines feminism as “embracing movements for equality within the current system and significant struggles that have attempted to change the system”. She asserts that these movements arose in the context of i) the formulation and consolidation of national identities which modernized anti-imperialist movements during the independence struggle and ii) the remaking of pre-capitalist religion and feudal structures in attempt to

modernize third world societies (Jayawardena, 1986: 2)” ( Quoted in Chaudhuri, 2004: xvi).

Nation-State

“”Nation,” it is clear, is not the same as “state.” The latter refers to an independent and autonomous political structure over a specific territory, with a comprehensive legal system and a sufficient concentration of power to maintain law and order. “State,” in other words, is primarily a political-legal concept, whereas “nation” is primarily psycho-cultural. Nation and state may exist independently of one another: a nation may exist without a state; a state may exist without a nation. When the two coincide, when the boundaries of the state are approximately coterminous with those of the nation, the result is a nation-state. A nation-state, in other words, is a nation that possesses political sovereignty. It is socially cohesive as well as politically organized and independent.” (Enloe and Rejai: 1969:143)

The space of dalit women in the women’s movement and the dalit movement in India.

Chaudhuri has observed that the early women’s movement comprised of the women from upper caste and class strata who distanced themselves from party politics and confrontational mode of assertion. The theme of “woman as an individual in her own right” did not crop up till very late. The theme that emerges is “the naturally non-antagonistic relationship of the sexes in India as compared to the westaˆ¦” (Chaudhuri: 2004:119)

Chaudhuri discusses that the All India Women’s Congress (AIWC) were in favour of joint electorates and rejected the communal award, “women” the leading members continued to argue, were all “sisters under the sari” and the institutions and ideals that governed their lives were similar. (Chaudhuri: 2004:130) Chaudhuri also observes the “propensity of gender issues to be dispensable while larger political battles are being fought has been a constant of sorts in the history of modern India.” (Chaudhuri: 2011: xv)

“Throughout the nineteenth century different versions of female emancipation came to be tied to the idea of national liberation and regeneration. The early colonial constellation of the arya woman is a sternly elitist concept in class and caste terms, and finds its nationalist shape in social and political thought, literature and a dominant historiographic model of Indiaaˆ¦ the recovery of tradition throughout the proto-nationalist and nationalist period was the recovery of the ‘traditional’ womanaˆ¦the vedic woman, both in her own time, and after her appropriation by upper castes and classes in the nineteenth century, is built upon the labour of lower social groups and is also a mark of distinction from them.”(Sangari and Vaid: 1989:10)

Following these historical developments there has been an ambivalence in india towards feminism, Chaudhuri argues that we cannot exclude women who were pushing feminist agendas without calling them feminists because we cannot impose current notions of feminism on the past thereby assuming an ideal notion of the ‘correct’ kind of feminism. (Chaudhuri: 2004: xvi-xvii)

Another question that Chaudhuri points out is the westernnes of feminism and its subsequent perception by feminists in India. She claims that “there is no turning away from the westaˆ¦questions regarding the ‘westerness’ of feminism has been a constant theme. In a hierarchical society often gender oppression is linked with oppressions based on caste, class, community, tribe and religion, and in such multiple patriarchies “men as the principal oppressors” is not easily accepted (Chaudhuri, 2004: xxii-xxiii).”

Manuela Ciotti in a field study done with BSP and Hindu right women activists in UP has drawn attention to the role played by “women’s husbands or other male family members, who are often not only responsible for women’s ‘release’ into public life, but also act as a source of advice, experience, encouragement and financial support for their political activities.” (Ciotti: 2007)

The history to which the dalit women’s movement traces itself is of Ambedkar and Phule (both men) whose approach however was (unlike that of the early Indian women’s movement) confrontationalist as well as pronouncedly antagonist to brahmanic patriarchy. To Phule and Ambedkar, gender issues were not dispensable.

This history also brings to light the fact that dalit women were not historically absent from movements but their history has been neglected until recently. They worked side by side dalit men but they have started to organize separately from dalit men with different movements only post the 1970s.

Ambedkar not only spoke for and agitated for the rights of Dalits but also Dalit women. He argued that “practices of sati, enforced widowhood and child marriage come to be prescribed by Brahmanism in order to regulate and control any transgression of boundaries, i.e., to say he underlines the fact that the caste system can be maintained only through the controls on women’s sexuality and in this sense women are the gateways to the caste system [Ambedkar 1992:90]” (Rege: 1998)

Meenakshi Moon and Urmila Pawar have recorded the participation of dalit women in the early 20th century movements against caste exclusion and oppression, “in the following decades women’s activities developed from mere participation as beneficiaries or as an audience, to the shouldering of significant responsibility in various fields of activity in the Ambedkar movement.” (Moon and Pawar: 2003:49)

Moon and Pawar’s research has thrown light on the unknown facts of the dalit women’s participation in the early anti-caste movements, Dr. Ambedkar ” saw to it that women’s conferences were held simultaneously with those of men. By 1930 women had become so conscious that they started conducting their own meetings and conferences independently.” (Moon and Pawar: 2003:50)

In the Mahad satyagraha of 1927 “women not only participated in the procession with Dr. Ambedkar but also participated in the deliberations of the subject committee meetings in passing resolutions about the claim for equal human rights.” (Moon and Pawar: 2003:50)

Their research also reveals the “experiences they (dalit women) had in the field as well as in the family as mother, wife, daughter; what was the effect on their life of Ambedkar’s movement and speechesaˆ¦” (Moon and Pawar: 2003:53)

Even the women who were illiterate subscribed to Ambedkar’s journals to keep the publications alive. They paid four annas to eight annas when their daily wages were hardly a rupee daily. Some women courted arrest with the men in the satayagrahas. Some had to face beatings from their husbands for participating in the movement. At such times they took their infant babies to jail, some carried all their belongings, even chickens. Taking in consideration the extremely backward social atmosphere the achievements of these women were most commendable. (Moon and Pawar: 2003:54-55)

The analyses of dalit women’s presence in anti caste struggle has brought out the sharp contrast between their participation in movements and their visibility as leaders and decision makers in political parties or dalit movement itself. “Dalit women do not play any important role in the political leadership of maharastra” (Zelliot:2006:209)

Vimal Thorat laments that “Dalit identity politics articulates caste identity sharply but resists, deliberately, understanding and articulating the gender dimensions of caste itself (that sees all women not just Dalit women) in a certain lightaˆ¦The Dalit movement has thrown up so many women but articulate women are not invited by Dalit forums, especially the political parties.” (Thorat: 2001) The question she asks is “Forty years after the Dalit movement, where is the women’s share? (Hamari bhagyadari kahan hai?)” (Thorat: 2001)

Ruth Manorama is of the view that dalit women have to challenge dalit men to reah the leading posts within their own movement. She explains that dalit men have been discriminated throughout their lives by high caste men as well as high caste women. The dalit men now are scared of dalit women and think that they are the same as the high caste women. Now when they have finally grasped the leadership positions they will not part from them. You have to understand them. (Hardtmann: 2009:219)

Dietrich argues that while women’s movements downplay the caste factor and emphasize unity among women as victims of violence, dalit movements see such violence only from a caste angle and subsume the dalit women within dalits in general.( Dietrich:2006:57)

Many Dalit intellectuals deny the persistence of brahmanic patriarchy among the dalits, Kancha Ilaiah admits that patriarchy exists among the dalits, but he compares it to Brahmin patriarchy and contends that it is less oppressive “the man woman relations among the dalitBahujan are far more democratic.” (Ilaiah: 2006:88)

Dalit women’s assertion of difference

Gopal Guru in ‘dalit women talk differently’ has posed faith in the new “politics of difference” that the dalit women have expressed through the formation of the National Federation of Dalit Women (NFDW). Guru brings out the facts that such difference is necessary if dalit women want to fight patriarchy which is external and internal. Other factors that he points out are “caste factor does not get adequate recognition in the analysis done by non-dalit, middle-class, urbanised women activists.” (Guru: 1995:2548) And the “claim for women’s solidarity at both national and global levels subsumes contradictions that exist between high caste and dalit women.” (Guru: 1995:2548)

Rege also points to the trend of the left party-based women’s organizations collapsing caste into class, and the autonomous women’s groups collapsing caste into sisterhood, both leaving Brahmanism unchallenged. (Rege: 1998)

The social and material conditions of dalit women are different and they cannot uncritically ally themselves with larger feminist politics because of the same, so feminists like Rege have called it the dalit feminist standpoint (DFS). (Rege: 1998)

The DFS according to Rege analyses what divides women, what unites them but does not unite them easily. “As a standpoint located in the material practices of dalit women’s lives it rejects a dichotomisation of the material and cultural which equates the material to environmental degradation and brahmanism to the cultural. Brahmanical patriarchies and caste-specific patriarchies are material in their determination of the access to resources, the division of labour the sexual division of labour and division of sexual labour.” (Rege: 2000)

Criticizing Rege, Chaya Datar argues that Rege has ignored ecofeminism which actually talks about the position of dalit women in society and the exploitation of women as well as the environment and natural degradation. In Datar’s view “the dalit women’s movement may not be part of narrow identity politics, insofar as it does not talk of the materiality of the majority of dalit, marginalised women who lose their livelihoods because of environmental degradation but focuses its struggle mainly against brahminical symbols, it cannot aspire to revisioning of society. It cannot become more emancipatory than the present women’s movement.” (Datar: 1999)

According to Anupama Rao “dalitbahujan feminists have gone further than merely arguing that Indian feminism is incomplete and exclusive. Rather, they are suggesting that we rethink the genealogy of Indian feminism in order to engage meaningfully with dalit women’s “difference” from the ideal subjects of feminist politics.” (Rao: 2006:2-3)

Bela Malik argues that “a purely dalit or a purely feminist movement cannot adequately help dalit women. (Malik: 1999) she further states that those who have been actively involved with organizing women encounter difficulties that are nowhere addressed in a theoretical literature whose foundational principles are derived from a smattering of normative theories of rights, liberal political theory, an ill-formulated left politics and more recently, occasionally, even a well-intentioned doctrine of ‘entitlements’.

“Kannabiran and Kannabiran(1991) have pointed to how the deadlock between kshatriya and dalit men caused by dalit agricultural labourer women “dressing well” could be solved only by a decision taken by men of both the communities. It was decided that women of either community would not be allowed to step into each other’s locations. The sexual assault on dalit women has been used as a common practice for under-mining the manhood of the caste. Some dalit male activists did argue that in passing derogatory remarks about upper caste girls (in incidents such as Chanduru) dalit men were only getting their own back. The emancipatory agenda of the dalit and women’s movements will have to be sensitive to these issues and underline the complex interphase between caste and gender as structuring hierarchies in society.” (Rege: 1998)

The notion of the dalit women as more free and mobile has been taken up by feminists, the arguments have been that although dalit women are vocal and fight their husbands back, “they are not under the ideology of husband worship” but “they face collective threat of physical harm from upper caste forces all the time.” (Dietrich: 2006:58), also (Rege: 1998).

Kumkum Sangari opines that patriarchies function and persist not only because they are “embedded in the social stratification, division of labour, political structure, cultural practices” but also because of consent by women. (Sangari: 1996:17)

T.P-Vetschera in his study of Dalit women in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra points out to the element of consent by quoting the Dalit women themselves “‘our men don’t treat us as badly as animals, this means that they are good’”. Women feel that “suffering (is) an essential part of a woman’s life and nothing could be done about it.” (P-Vetschera: 1996:246)

T.P-Vetschera’s study points out that the Mahars have experienced social mobility and in the region caste repression is “not so bad”. However the lives of Mahar women are full of daily struggles with burgeoning amount of work within and outside home. Their husbands don’t help them and they have to cope with cliches which configure them as lazy and having loose morals. (P-Vetschera: 1996:238)

They are frequent victims of violence at the hands of their husbands. Some of them are victims of rape and sexual exploitation by high caste men. (P-Vetschera: 1996:239)

Sanskritisation or reference group behavior has reined havoc on the freedom and position earlier enjoyed by dalit women in dalit community. (P-Vetschera: 1996:257). A dangerous mixture of tradition and modernity combines not to stop or minimize the exploitation of dalit women but only gives it a new avatar.

The National Federation of dalit women (NFDW)

Tracing the issues at stake in the post Mandal-Masjid phase of the women’s movement, Rege has argued that the assertion of dalit women’s voices in the 1990s brings up significant issues for the revisioning of feminist politics. (Rege: 1998).

“The revival of the women’s movement in india came with the ‘new women’s movement’ in the 1970s.Dalit women’s activists however, see this movement as a continuation of aˆ¦the Hindu caste reform tradition.”(Hardtmann: 2009:215)

“They consider the feminist theory developed by non-dalit women as unauthentic since it does not capture their reality. This comprehension gets clearly reflected in the 12- point agenda adopted by the NFDW and in several papers presented by the dalit women at the Maharashtra Dalit Women’s Conference held in Pune in May 1995. Dalit women define the concept of dalit strictly in caste terms, refuting the claim of upper caste women to dalithood. Dalit women activists quote Phule and Ambedkar to invalidate the attempt to a non-dalit woman to don dalit identity.” (Guru: 1995:2549)

“In the second half of the 1980’s, dalit women came to express a need for a separate platform within the broader women’s movement. In the 1987 the first dalit women’s national meeting, dalit women’s struggles and aspirations, was held in Bangalore. About 200 women from the south of India, but also from Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and west Bengal are said to have attended. This was the beginning of a national network of dalit women which on the 11 august 1995 formed the NFDW. (Guru: 1995:2548-9)” (Hardtmann: 2009:215)

Three years later some women from NFDW took part in the formation of the national campaign on dalit human rights (NCDHR). (Hardtmann: 2009:216) “It is important to note, however, that even if they have organized separately from dalit men, they tried to work in collaboration with them in the NCDHR. ” NCDHR was officially launched on World Human Rights Day, 10 December 1998; it links dozens of formerly isolated Dalit civil society organizations in fourteen Indian states.” (Bob: 2007:179)

The NFDW was instrumental in organizing dalit women for the world conference against racism held in Durban in 2001. Dalit activists argued that caste oppression was like race oppression because both were discriminations based on work and descent. This has been a matter of debate in India as well as globally now and the NFDW supported this claim.

“The World Conference against Racism held at Durban in 2001 and the process that led to the WCAR in India witnessed the ‘freeing’ of caste from the confines of India into a larger international arena that held out greater possibilities for public debate, alliance building and more powerful resistance.” (Kannabiran: 2006)

“This meant that not only did the dalit movement and questions related to SC become known internationally, but international focus, to a large extent, came to be placed on the situation of SC women.” (Hardtmann: 2009:215)

The manifesto of NFDW reads:

NFDW endeavours to seek and build alliances with all other progressive and democratic movements and forces, in particular the women’s movement and the wider Dalit movement at the national level. It thus aspires in a significant way to widen the democratic spaces while at the same time to create and preserve its identity and specificity.

This framework will enable the Dalit women’s movement to seek the roots of its oppression, the diversities, the nature of changes, if any, in specific regions and historical contexts and in particular, perceive the varied levels of consciousness that exist within it.

Source, (Kannabiran: 2006)

In the context of the caste and race debate “The NFDW focused on the specific interpretation of civil and political rights, the recognition of productive contribution to society in terms of equality, dignity, fair wages and popular perception, the guarantee of security of person and freedom from the threat of sexual and physical assault, right to freedom of religion in a context where conversion for a better life resulted in denial of protections and the right to leadership – a claim pitted against non-dalit men, dalit men and non dalit women.” (Kannabiran: 2006)

“Drawing on the definition of racial discrimination in Article 1 of the CERD, the NFDW asserted in the Durban process that discrimination based on caste is indeed a specific form of racism, intertwined with gender since Dalit women ‘face targeted violence from state actors and powerful members of dominant castes and community especially in the case of rape, mutilation and death; they face discrimination in the payment of unequal wages and gender violence at the workplace that includes fields [as agricultural labourers], on the streets [as manual scavengers and garbage pickers], in homes [as domestic workers], and through religious customaˆ¦’” (Kannabiran: 2006)

“The charter of rights of dalit women, formulated in 1999, and christened the Delhi Declaration sets out the guiding principles of dalit women’s rights. It declares that dalits are one of the indigenous peoples of India, who as a people are sovereign, with a distinct identity, history, culture and religion…Significantly, dalit women in this charter declared ‘solidarity in the common cause of women’s rights in India and the world at large for the establishment of gender partnership in an egalitarian society’.” (Kannabiran: 2006)

Theoretical approaches

It is difficult to explain the dalit women’s movement with the help of any one of the given theoretical perspectives, because of the particular context in which DWM is located and the specific historical trajectory it has followed; feminist movements in general have been theorized as new social movements (NSM), however the NSM perspective cannot explain DWM until some context based facts are taken in account. The DWM as separate from the dalit movement and the NFDW in particular is chronologically a new phenomena, the movement has been analysed in relation to the current world order.

The women’s movement, the dalit movement, the dalit women’s movement and Feminism in India has to be situated within the particular history of colonialism, nationalism, modernity, nation-state, and presently the global world order with global institutions like the IMF, the World Bank and the United Nations. Feminism in India cannot be isolated from the “broader framework of an unequal international world.” (Chaudhuri: 2004: xv)

Chaudhuri has argued that we should look at the Indian nation-state’s entry in modernity to understand the women’s question in India. India’s entrance to modernity was facilitated by the colonial state and “the very construction of modern bourgeois domesticity itself can be discerned in the nineteenth century social reform movement.” (Chaudhuri: 2011: x) The social reform movement focused on the high caste-class women as subjects and as well as symbols for Indian tradition has been made clear by Vaid and Sangari (1989).

In the context of DWM it becomes crucial to understand gender as a relational term (John 2004) (Hardtmann 2009). John’s question is that “how then, should one look at the gendered relations between men and women from the exploited sections of societyaˆ¦” (Hardtmann: 2009:209)

“John has commented that the stereotype of associating women with the inside private sphere and men as a general category with the outside world of economic and political poweraˆ¦is very misleading” (Hardtmann: 2009:209) because “such power is in fact in the hands of a very few men, who are upper caste and Hindu, and middle or upper class, and who may constitute no more than 10 percent of the male population. (John 2004b:253)” (Hardtmann: 2009:209)

Arguing in the vein of John, Hartmann argues that “the world bank, the Indian state, and international corporations agree that one solution to the economic problems of SCs in the Indian society is that ‘poor women’ enter the private spheres as entrepreneurs.” Her question is why ‘poor women’ and ‘poor men’. The implicit assumption of these institutions is that “dalit men are economically irresponsible in relation to their families. They are deprived of their so called male responsibility, and as a result they are devoid of constructing their masculinity associated with respect. Women are supported to enter the economic sphere, but when they on the other hand reach an economic position, like Mayawati, they are pictured as immoral and deprived of constructing a so-called femininity, valued and respected in Indian society.” (Hardtmann: 2009:225)

“To invoke John’s pithy description, the thrifty and diligent women are pitted solely against their unruly men.” (Chaudhuri: 2011: xxxix) Who are seen as “bad subjects of modernity.” (Chaudhuri: 2011: xxxix)

Hartdmann suggests that to dalit men and women, oppression is not a question of ascribed gender identities in a heteronormative society, rather dalit men and women are not ascribed gender identities, but on the opposite prevented from constructing gender identities related to a neoliberal economic order in the Indian society, where traditional gender roles are clearly defined. (Hardtmann: 2009:225)

The DWM traces its origins and ideology to Ambedkar. Ambedkar’s faith lay in “the state as a redeemer of the injustices of the Indian societyaˆ¦” (Rao: 2003:24)

Culture is the systems or way of life, which is shared by a large number of people. In culture, some practices and activities create the social differences with other social group. Actually the culture is total of activities, and material or spiritual things. It is basically the logical and self made system of value belief as well as set of practice which become their characteristic and move over time to time or generation to generation. It also gives to individual identity and become the part of that culture. (Stavenhagen. R, 1998)

The tradition is inheriting elements of culture which move one generation to another. Actually tradition is set of customs or practices, which are regularly, perform in our daily life and which support the people in every circumstances that how they can spend their life. (Stavenhagen. R, 1998)

In every culture the tradition and practices are link every one life and dominating their every part of life like birth, marriages death ceremony etc. In Pakistani culture there are some tradition related to marriage are exists like watta satta, Karo Kari, vani, Swara etc.(aˆ¦aˆ¦

Vani is a Pashto word derived from “Vanay” which stands for blood. Vani is culture practice which is very common in Pashtoon families. This cruel custom also practices in Punjab especially in Mianwali and neighboring areas, which becomes there social norm. Mianwali is a region in the north-west of Punjab province, in Pakistan. (Hashmi, A. & Koukab, 2004)

According to vani it is the method of resolving disputes like Qatal and Zana and settling debts between families and tribes. According to this a custom, female who is the member of criminal male’s family are married or given to the victim’s family as a compensation of his sin. These decisions are often final by a Jirga. (Chaudhry.R, 2006).

In phaktoon family, girls are given Vani marriage for as compensation of murder, adultery, abduction and kidnapping which is committed by the men of the family. (Usafzai , Ali. Z. 2004)

In the tribes vani is practice, which has no written rules and regulation. In vani, If one family or tribe of a village kills member of other family or tribe, then the criminal family or tribe offer a girl or woman to the aggrieved family to settle the enmity”.( Khattak, R. 2009).

Vani Tradition is an old age tradition. This tradition started almost 400 years ago when two ‘Pathan’ tribes of Mianwali fought a bloody war. During the war approximately 800 people were killed. At that time Nawab of Tank tried to solve the problem. He called the “Girga” (jirga) who decided that girls are given as Qisas. Later on this decision became a custom which passed over generation to generation. This tradition is practiced in different areas of Sindh, Punjab and NWFP. (Hashmi, A. & Koukab, 2004)

These marriages are known as Vani, Sakh, Sawara, Sharam, Khoon Baha, and Sang Chatti with the difference of languages in different areas. (Zofeen T. E, 2006) In Punjab it is known as “Vani”, Sindh it is known as “Sang Chati”, Baluchistan it is known as “Ijai”, and NWFP it is known as “Swara”. These are an original means of different dispute resolution instrument. (Ramzan, I. 2009)

The custom and tradition are unwritten and there are no hard and fast rules. So vani has practice in different ways. Mostly the vani decision is made according to the nature of crime. Hidden vani is the kind of vani when some kind of crime done for which both families are not wanted to open it for the sake of honour then it is done. It is type of secret vani. Mostly these issues are zana either zina bil jabar or zana bill raza. In this type of cases female indirectly convince the male for the particular proposal. (Salamat, R.2007). The second kind of vani which is done in front of tribe, in this case the decision is made by jirga. Mostly the decisions are done according to effected family will. (Salamat, R.2007).

In vani custom the relation are decide at the time of decision in Punchayat that can be nikah, engagement or ruksati. In engagement the decision of vani women and men are decide and ruksati are decided later according to both party will. Mostly this decision is done when girls are minor or not born but their decision of marriage is done. In second type of vani is that nikah are done immediately in jirga. This decision is done when severe kind of dispute is between two families. That time parents and no one has permission to delay the nikah. In mostly cases the father or brother accepts the nikah on the behalf of girl. Immediately departure of bride it also part of vani. In some cases the bride leave parents home immediately after the decision of vani and in some cases the day and month of departure are decided in jirga and according to the decision the departure are done. (Salamat, R.2007)

In some cases money and property is also given to the victim family with the women. This happen mostly in the cases of long term enmity. Secondly when rich families give vani to poor family then for the betterment of their girl criminal families give property or money to effected family. (Salamat, R. 2007)

In the tribal area Vani is performed as beneficial instrument because this practice is resolve the dispute and tie the enemy in strong relation which never breaks again. When there is enmity between two families and tribes due to any reason then people of both tribes arrange the marriage for the sake of new and strong relation. The criminal party accepts crime and gives her female to other party, through giving female to his family is compensation of sin and aggrieved party forgive them. In simple word the girl is used for compensation. (Salamat, R. 2007).

The main thinking behind vani is that in dispute effected family actually loss their hounor because of criminal party. Women are consider the hounor of family in that tribal areas so effected party take women of effected family as compensation. So through women actually they return their hounor. (Salamat, R. 2007).

According to Islamic law of Qisas and Diyat, in compensation (Badal-i-Sulh)of murder , the criminal paid or given to a Wali, cash or in the form of moveable or movable property, which done according to mutual willingness of both parties and Shariah.( Chaudhry, Sharif, M. 1993). But in vani practice women give to another party as compensation. The some people are poor when they murder some one, then it is impossible for them to pay the Qisas and Diyat. So they give them women for compensation without money. Actually it is wrong. It is done to save the money and property, Due to materialistic world now a day even rich people of tribal areas also give the women as vani and save their money and property. (Salamat, R. 2007).

According to vani custom the any girl and women of criminal party accept as vani but in community the custom are not like this. There are some proffered girls or women for compensation purpose. These are sister, daughter, daughter of brother; etc if girl of that criminal party is not available then they can buy the girl and give effected family. But mostly it is preferred that the girl and women are kid of that criminal person or group. In the effected family male member are also required for marriage purpose. There is no specification for male or bride groom. On effected side male can be brother, son, father etc. Mostly that person is chosen who are older, abnormal and those by whom marriage is not possible. (Salamat, R. 2007).

It is inhuman and unislamic practice that is violates of women basic human right. It is cruel meanness towards women, treating them as a property and cattle that is used to settle disputes. Women pay for that crime which she never did. This tribal tradition makes the life of thousands of girls a living hell. (Ehsan A. 2006).

Violence against women through customary practice like Vani, Watta satta, hounor killing, exists in Pakistan, Which was creating serious disorder in the society and exploit the women life. These practice is become the social norms, Like Vani ‘marriages has become as a social norm in tribal areas of Pakistan. (Hashmi, A. Koukab, Mushtaq. R, 2004). These practice are continuously practice, in 2008 in Pakistan 50 cases of vani are done and under the jirga system and 210 cases of forced marriages are registered. (Awan. A, Z. 2009).

Vani is a pre-Islamic tradition which has no scope in Islam. These practices must be condemned and punished. Vani is also against the teachings of Islam. In Islam all marriage prohibited which done under any kind of pressure. The Holy Prophet (PBUH) has at many examples to stop such kind of marriages. These marriages were known as ‘Sabaya’, which is practice in the days of Jahiliya (ignorance). In which Arabs used to capture the ladies of enemy and beaten after the battle. Vani is also the example of that marriage in two manners. A woman is married without her consent and punished for that crime which she never committed. Which is restrict in Islam(aˆ¦aˆ¦..

In Islam there is no discrimination between persons on the basis of gender, color, race, nationality, wealth, etc. only the superiority of a person is base on justice, and moral excellence. So how it is possible, that any person exploited the women’s life on the name of custom is Islamic practice. Islam gives women respect, honor, right to inherit property, to marry anyone with their own choice and the right to divorce. (aˆ¦aˆ¦..

According to Islamic law a punishment should have four characteristics. It should be disciplinary, retributive, reformative and a limit. But vani has not any of these characteristic, because criminal himself goes free and innocent girl pay their unlimited cost. In Islam, there is no clear responsibility that every person must bear the burden of his/her own actions, and in Islam no concept of women gives as compensation in Badal-i-Sulh. It violates the law of Qisas and Diyat. (Anis, F. 2003)

According to Universal Declaration of Human Rights in article 1 that all human being born free and equal right and dignity, but the vani practice is direct conflict with it 1 article. In vani practice the girl punished for those act which she never did. She is also born free and equal right like men. But she exploited in the hand of men and become commodity. As a human being she is free for take any decision, but in vani without her consent she gets marries with any person for revival. Article 16 of Universal Declaration of Human Right, that there is no limitation for any men and women to marry and form a family. Without any discrimination of race, nationality or religion they can enjoy their marriage and family. There is free full consent for both men and women to choose their spouse. But in vani neither the men consent is asked or nor the women consent for marriage. Both men and women force to marrying to end of enmity. (Hashmi, A. & Koukab, 2004)

The vani practice is also violates the constitutional law. Like in vani women liberty and mobility are restricted but in Article 9 of the Constitution are guarantees that any person whether men and women has freedom of liberty. It also violates Article 4 of the Constitution that guarantees that every citizen has full right to enjoy the protection of the law but in vani practice law don’t support her. It has declared in Supreme Court that vani custom un-Islamic and unconstitutional under the Constitution of 1973. (Chaudhry, M.G. & Ulfat, A. 2007)

Pakistan is the member of CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women) which work to protect the women from discrimination, violence against women and protect their rights. In article 16 of CEDAW in which stated that all parties shall take all proper step to eliminate discrimination against woman in all matters relating to marriage and family relations and ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women. In this article man and women both has right to enter in marriage and freely chosen the spouse. But in vani practice there are no concept consent and equal right for marriage. Women oppress for marriage by father, brother or other male member of society. (Hashmi, A. & Koukab, 2004)

Vani is illegal practice. In 2002, the Chief Justice of Pakistan declared vani as un-Islamic practice. In March 2004 a press reports of the Law and Justice Commission stated that,

All people who include in vani decision must be punished. The Commission also came with a draft amendment to article 366-C of the Pakistan Penal Code. According to it:

Those entire person who take part in the decision of vani whether any person to offer or accept of women as vani, or whether the part of Punchayat they shall be punished in jail. Which is minimum 3 year or it can exceed 10 years and also liable to a fine. Whether it is done with the consent of both the parties, or it is done with the consent of the female herself, it must be punished. But still this amendment has not been passed. (Chaudhry, M.G. & Ulfat, A. 2007)

In vani practice marriage are done without the consent of girl so it is also violate the Hudood ordinance section 6 in which force marriage under this practice need to protection of law, because it is illegal. (Hashmi, A. & Koukab, 2004)

Vani practice is done mostly as child marriage which is prohibited in Islam and all over the world laws. According to UN Convention in which child marriage are prohibited under Rights of Child in article 2. At the same according to Muslim Family Law Ordinance, that at the time of marriage the girl must have reach at the age of 16 and a boy must reached at the age of 18, and both proper consent taken before marriage.

According to Punishment for Parent or Guardian Concerned in a Child Marriage Section 6. If any persons promote the child marriage in any case or in any way shall be punished minimum 1 month or with fine which extends to one thousand rupees or with both. But vani mostly girls given over are below the age of 18 which is in conflict with these law and convention. . (Ebrahim, Z. 2009).

Government takes initiative against vani, Like Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and different NGOs are working against the custom of vani. The Supreme Court of Pakistan has also taken action of forced marriages in different areas of parts of Sindh, Punjab and N.W.F.P. National Judicial Policy making Committee in a meeting announced that vani is unislamic practice and it must be punished.( Minallah, S. (2007). In 2004 Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s ex- president, passed law against vani during visit by the US president, George Bush. But it didn’t implement because of laws limited influence in rural areas. In rural area feudal system is so strong so only 15 vani cases have been tried under the new law in Mianwali. (aˆ¦aˆ¦aˆ¦.

There are several cultural factors which become the reasons of violence against women in Pakistan. Patriarchal society, misinterpretation of Islam, and cruel practices in culture are major cause of low women status. Women are considering as object and property. Vani practice is one of the major customary practices which become vital cause of women exploitation. The women pay the cost of that sin which actually they never did. The only sin of women is that she had the blood relation with sinner or criminal. Because of this her whole life are exploited. (Jehanzeb, 2004).

If girl married as vani and went to enemy house then there is no place in society. They are treated by their new families without any kindness. Even parents of vani victims are mistreat with her after marriage and not value her sacrificing. They have no place in either home or in-laws. The innocent girls are suffering forever in an environment of opposition Due to psychological trauma it difficult to handle the stressful demand of their husband, children and in-laws. (Jehanzeb, 2004).

Vani is considered an evil tradition and sever punishment, especially by the feminists because the main victim is the innocent and wordless girl who sacrifices for the sake of her brothers and parents. It is a cruel behavior towards females because women bear the punishment of that crime which she never committed. (aˆ¦aˆ¦aˆ¦aˆ¦..

According to the annual report of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (2003), Vani is like of death punishment for victim women. Although they are not physically killed, but the humiliation, abuses and misery which they face in her husband home is terrible punishment which she faces in her whole life. Women face this for that crime which she never did. (p.56)

Vani girl is just like a slave in their house, because she comes from the enemy’s family. The Taunts, curses and violence become the fate of vani women in everyday life, because she has blood relation with that person who killed their loved one. She is a continuously reminder in the in-laws of the death of their loved one. They try to give pain to the girl and her family members.” (Ullah Khan, Z. 2006)

This custom is like announcement of death sentence for girls, because she knows that she has to live in unwelcoming and miserable scenario till the end of her life. She must lives in aggressive situation and she will never be happy there, because there no one love and care about her. Everyone abuse and taunt her, because she has blood relation with sinner. (Ebrahim, 2006).

Vani whether is used properly or is misused, is against the norms of human rights. The vani girl has to bear psychological and mental torture till the end of her life. That girl will have to live in an unsympathetic situation and she will never be happy over there. The innocent girl never understands the cause of pain upon her. Her body, mind and soul would traumatize till she dies. They have to face terrible cost of that decision. (Khan, 2009).

Violence against women is not only brings physical injuries, psychological impacts of violence become the cause of pressure on their power of thinking and behaving. This violence leaves a long lasted trauma which with no proper healing. (Babur Udin, Z . 2007). Because of vani women life becomes miserable. So being a mother miserable condition and lack of security makes children turn into indirect victims. Apart from the women suffering problems with self-esteem, their children face severe emotional and behavioral problems growing up with the traumatic. (Jehanzeb, 2004).

Violence against women is not only about women violence on sex, or about conflict. It is about control, their mobility, their access to material resources and their both productive and reproductive role (Heise, Ellsberg and Gottemoeller( 1992) highlight:p.2)

In patriarchal society women has low status, because man considered as personal properties which control every aspect of lives of women including their life style, behavior and movements etc. Men make the decisions, and women pressurize to follow those decisions in family, tribe, community and society. Because of male dominating society women consider minority in society. (Hassan, 1995).In many tribal areas, women are even not considered as human beings. She is cattle or personal property which used for trade or to settle debts or conflicts. These types of practices become women low status in society. (Shaheed, 1990).

In our society women are face discrimination and violence on a daily life, due to the cultural and religious norms and belief. In our society the concept of “Char Divari,” a term translated literally to mean “the four walls of the house” restricted women mobility. (Shaheed, F. & ghazdar, A.1998) According to social norm women restricted in her father and brother home and after marriage the live in husband’s home. There is no other option for her. In the society the proverb like ( aurat baap k ghar ko chorti hai dole mai or shohar k ghar ko coffin mai) mean women leave father home in bridal palanquin and that of their husband’s only in coffin. These types of social norms restricted women mobility. She faces psychological and physical violence but never dare to leave it.( shaheed,F.& ghazdar,A.1998)

In vani practice at the time of departure no brides are made in proper way and when she leave the father home that time their relative and parents weep bitterly because they know that now her mobility is restricted. Even she never allows coming parents home expect particular occasion. (Salamat, R. 2007).

In our society women continuously become the victims of this senseless violence. The hounor of family associated with women. Through out life it is internalized on her in socialization that family hounor are linked with her action. Women spend whole life in submission and fear that she doesn’t do any thing which becomes the result of family dishonored in society. (Shaheed, F. & ghazdar, A.1998) All her life she faces threats. She accepts all kind of violence for the sake of father, brother, or husband hounor and actually these relation makes women lives more miserable. So through out whole life women have pressure to safe the hounor of male and family in society. In vani same women has social pressure to safe the life and hounor of his male member of family. For the sake of his family so-called honour she spend whole life in hell (Babur Udin, Z. 2007)

According to Human rights lawyer Hina Jilani (1998, p.143), women protection in the name of family honour from immoral activities is done for the sake of social morality actually is the oppression of basic human rights of women.

Gender-based violence included physical, psychological violence on women, which is done by her husband or by another person family. Physical violence includes torture beating burning and murdering of woman. Psychological violence includes verbal aggression, humiliation, abuse, taunt etc. (International Planned Parenthood Federation (2000). When vani women went husband home where she face physical violence like beating, torture of husband or other family member and also psychological violence like curses, abuse, taunt then how her life are secured. This violence has no limitation, women face it till death. (U, Ubaid. K, Ullah, Zia. & F, Aliya. 2006)

A cultural myth is a traditional story that has a meaning attached to it. These myths have an effect in they way people lead their lives and even how they interact with each other. It is notable that myths have a role to play be it personally, or to the wider society. In as much as one may believe or doubt such myths, they still continue to exist in different ways, and are shaping destinies of many. Myths can be full of truth or falsehood and depend on the interpretation a person may prefer. Many societies and races in the world have diverse myths which may encourage or discourage certain patterns of behavior. Rituals and customs are explained in myths and their merits or demerits laid down for everyone to discern.

The Greek mythology (Detienne, 18) is most notable especially in the way they exhort ancestors to be like gods. Myths came before science and this makes it impossible to discredit them. Long time ago, people depended on myths to explain the mysteries of creation and they accepted them with a lot of zeal. Many other questions were answered including the origin of man and his eventual destiny after death. Evil is also brought under the scrutiny of myths and they expound its cause and reason for its existence. The rise of modern civilization can too be traced in myths ranging from agriculture to industry to settled life in cities.

The modern world has continued to embrace myths in one way or another. Modern technology has given rise to much development in mass media which in turn has enabled many myths from different parts of the world to be collected together for study. Books have been printed and availed to anybody with interest to read and either agree or disagree with the subject. From an individual to a community, some cultural myths seem worthy in the sense that they encourage or uplift the spirit (Wessels, 92). Others may not necessarily be so and may seem unrealistic especially if they are prejudicial or implying immorality.

Happily Ever After; the American society as any other society has not been left behind in embracing myths. Many of them believe that happiness can be sought and achieved despite the hardship one may go through. Happiness is attributed to material possessions whereby those who do not have ample material wealth are considered unhappy. The ideology of possessions can be traced through ancient myths some of which are still followed today. Hard work is associated to prosperity and lack of it therefore leads to a lowly life.

Studies have shown that happiness is not related to material or money possessions (Veenhoven, 5). The old notion which led many people to acquire as much as they could has been proven false. Traditionalists believed that it is out of what you possess that gives you the feeling of happiness. People then would strive so much in order to have money so that they may live the rest of their lives happily. In did not matter the means or the extent to which this was sought as long as one could proudly claim he had money. Americans forgot that happiness is never permanent and mostly is derived from being comfortable with what one has, however little.

Obsession with possessions created greed in American people which can never be satisfied. Someone even came up with a term “National Happiness”, a system that oversaw people overlook other important issues in order to acquire happiness. Ironically, this myth has wrought greed, selfishness and immorality in the Americans (Alesina & Tella, 3).

The Nuclear Family has been a basis upon which nations are built. The nuclear family is composed of a father, mother and their children. This family set up has been criticized for a very long time due to its lack of universality, essence and modernity (Chester, 111). Industrialization brought out the need to move away to work places and obviously the nuclear family was affected. When the heads of the family began moving to far away places in search of job, there remained a question as to whether those left should still be considered as a nuclear family.

The myth that every nuclear family should cater for itself has contributed negatively in its essence. Most Americans may prefer to be in such families in contrast that whole societies need to live together and cater for each other. Another aspect which makes the nuclear family fail is failure of it being universal. Since other societies in the world have extended families, the notion in Americans mind that only the nuclear family is perfect could be wrong. This is another cultural myth that has pulled back the Americans in their pursuits and has isolated them.

The western culture took the nuclear family as a symbol and went ahead to portray it in art and media. But statistics show that there has been a decline in the number of nuclear families in the America over the past few years. Divorces and remarriages are common and therefore the true definition of a nuclear family has eroded. This goes on to show that the ideal nuclear family that was projected was just another cultural myth which has no place in modern society. It becomes a myth in the sense that sometimes ago; departure from this family set up was seen as immoral and unhealthy by many Americans (Uzoka, 34).

Most Americans have shunned the extended family setup which encouraged communal responsibility, and have upheld nuclear families which promote individualism. The extended family comprises of the nuclear family and the relatives. This type of family is mostly concerned with building relationships which in turn play a role in the wide community. It is only when people begin to care for each other, the immediate community benefits as well as the whole country. It is therefore important that the Americans embrace extended family and break from their cultural myth of nuclear families.

Racial Stereotyping

There have always been contentious issues in regard to racial conflict existing between the whites and the blacks in America. The problem can be traced in the colonial times whereby black slavery was a norm. Blacks then were considered superstitious and primitive. Such a myth has seen them being oppressed for so many years that even now there exists a small percentage of whites who regard them so. They have also been associated with every negative aspect in society from crime, violence and laziness.

An important fact to note is that, were it not for a tradition of viewing black negatively, they too are human and have all the abilities as white have. The cultural myths have engineered a trend that is difficult to deal with in modern society. Some instances where these myths have brought about are cases where people are discriminated according to their skin color. They are denied jobs and other government services just because of their skin color. A recent case during Hurricane Katrina where the government failed to act speedily is a case study for this. It attests to the fact that cultural myths still have a place in the modern society; albeit the American society ought to shun this evil (Palmer, 75).

Americans have stereotyped many other races. The, Americans have stereotyped many other races and the most affected are the African-Americans. African -American simplification of individuals’ behavior is the African-American Stereotyping. They came about into the American culture from the period of colonial settlement, specifically after the collapse of Slave Trade. The minstrel of the earlier blackface illustrates blacks as ignorant, superstitious as well as naA?ve in addition to been joyous which are the same characteristics which were associated with the slaves. Additionally the African-American have been stereotyped as a race which consists of people who are only good at sports. The act of stereotyping has got to its peak in the media through movies in addition to television. The media has contributed in passing negative information regarding the lifestyle of African-American to the young people. Certain shows aired on the T.V channels demonstrate the false personalities about the African Americans. To make the matters worse, there is a specific video game which has been developed whose main character is an African American who plays only the role of killing, robbing alongside having sexual relations with persons. This indicates an example through which the media has been involved in stereotyping. It is because of these cultural myths that have behaved in negative ways towards each other. They have refused to move away from such myths ignoring the fact that such cause hatred amongst each other.

Mark Twain analyses myths in a perfect way by showing in the characters the effect myths can have on people. The main themes of past, slavery, chivalry are expressed well in the book. Self-destruction and or preservation are another aspect that is brought about by the book.

Hank Morgan is a prisoner who has traveled back in time to the sixth century and is sentenced to death before Arthur’s court because of his strange dress and appearance. Before the execution is carried out, he is able to buy his freedom by convincing the Arthur that he is a magician. He relies on knowledge that a sun eclipse will take place before he is executed and he convinces the King that he is the cause of it. Hank is given the highest title in the land and he does not fail to ridicule the people who fear him.

Morgan sooner learns about superstitions embraced by the natives and he capitalizes on his superior knowledge to outdo them. Through the magician Merlin, Hank is later discovered as a fake and people start to spread rumor about him. Using his wit he is able to outsmart Merlin again by “calling fire from above”. Hank uses his influence to bring about industrialization to that country and also set up schools.

She becomes familiar with the territory he begins to understand the people and their way of life, which are still much in superstitions and myths, and even befriends a girl named Sandy. Hank outsmarts Merlin again in rebuilding a broken water fountain and thus retains power and respect. He convinces all present on his ability to summon the demons. Morgan has a way with the native’s lives and together with the king he continues the hold of power.

Sandy gives birth to a baby with Hank and upon the child’s illness he is lured to leave the country thus leaving a gap in the country’s leadership. The King and Lancelot fight over Guinevere infidelity. The church provokes a revolt over Hank the people start a war. The story ends with the present day where Hank is found dreaming about his lover, Sandy, almost a millennium later. It is argued by some people that the book is an attack on American’s values which include materialism and technology. American sentimentalism about the past is also criticized (Twain & Thompson).

In conclusion myths, however good they might be still remain myths. In the modern society, we should be keen to understand the truths about life and work together towards a common goal. The real goal in our cultural diversity should be to see everybody gets food, clothing and shelter and that they can fit in every situation.

Twain in his book looks in the effect myths have on our culture and day to day live. The mythic Arthur is associated with the past in contrast with Hank who symbolizes the present. The church is also brought into perspective and is seen as an evil and an enemy which conspires with political figures to oppress people. Slavery as another social menace should also be done away with. Slavery was embraced by many people in the past since they saw in it a way to get cheap labor and monetary gain. It becomes a cultural myth that Americans now should abolish.

Magic is contrasted with reality in form of industrialization. People in the past relied on magic to achieve their needs but the book shows that such a myth can be done away with through use of technology. Industrialization should be a factor in civilization rather the magic of yesteryears. Many more achievements can be found by training people since human nature allows it. Training determines the behavior of a society unlike when people rely on myths. They are then able to differentiate between what is right and wrong (Umland & Umland 25).

Besides stereotyping being hurtful, it is wrong as well. Even though the stereotype can be correct in some occasions; relentlessly putting an individual down on the basis of predetermined perceptions cannot assist in motivating one to succeed. Stereotyping only gears people to lead lifestyles of hatred and in some situations stereotypes victims live in fear.

It should be noted that all these myths have had a place in American society and some have tarnished its name. Americans should therefore move away from negative cultural myths, as discussed above, in order to continue as a nation. Above all, all other nations look towards America for guidance and support.

Hegemonic masculinity is a belief in existence of culturally normative ideal of male behavior that is characterized by tendency for male dominance. Proponents of hegemonic masculinity theory argue that hegemonic masculinity is not necessarily the most dominant form of expression in male although it is the most socially endorsed; always contributing to subordinate position of women. Connell (2005) notes that hegemonic masculinity is characterized by ambition, strength, drive and self reliance and argues that such characteristics are encouraged in males but not in females. In his opinion, Donaldson (1993) argues that hegemonic masculinity concerns the dread of and the flight from women; and views it as a culturally idealized form, a personal or collective project and a strategic strategy for men to subordinate women. It is violent, exclusive, anxiety provoking, internally and hierarchically differentiated. However, Donaldson (1993) highlights that not all men practice it, although many benefit from it. Furthermore, it constructs the most dangerous things that humanity must content with; it is resilient and incorporates its own critique, although unraveling. This essay discusses the concept of hegemonic masculinity in relation to gender and social change.

Hegemonic Masculinity: Gender and Social Change

The concept of hegemonic masculinity is criticized for being framed within hetero-normative conception of gender that essentializes male-female difference and ignores difference and exclusion within the gender categories (Trigiani 1999). The concept largely rests logically on dichotomization of sex, which is biological versus gender, which is cultural, thus marginalizing the body (Trigiani 1999). According to Cornnell (2005) hegemonic masculinity is constructed in relation to subordinated masculinities; especially women thus there is no feminist that is hegemonic in the sense that the dominant form of masculinity is hegemonic among men.

Iacuone (2005) views hegemonic masculinity as the most common blueprint for gender in Western culture as it dictates how “real” men should behave and the goals they should aspire to attain through the masculinity practice. It is an imagined construct rather than a practical one, with only few people possessing all its traits, although majority hold the principle with highest esteem (Iacuone 2005). In line with hegemonic masculinity traits, the identity of heterosexual man depends on his dislike of subordinated gender constructs; hence Iacuone (2005) admits that hegemonic masculinity views women as objects, depicts them as servile and most appropriate for domestic duties; only being value to men in a sexual capacity. The dominant masculine culture influences attitudes of construction workers, whereby hegemonic masculinity prescribes that men should be tough, be courageous enough to face danger and to dominate over others. Such men only view social environment as a conducive place for risk taking, with most of them viewing women as sex objects who should be there to entertain them and even embrace sexual assault to women as acceptable (Iacuone 2005). However, a small portion of men try to resist the influences of hegemonic masculine culture in gender, especially in settings where men challenge traditional patriarchal relations with an aim of improving women’s welfare (Iacuone 2005).

Kimmel & Amy (2008) view hegemonic masculinity as a social ideal of a real man, described by society as young, married, white, and protestant, urban, heterosexual, white of college education, good complexion, height, and weight and employed. They argue that any male who does not have any of the described character traits should consider himself as inferior or unworthy. Gender is an ever present force that defines daily behavior of human beings. Spade & Valentine (2010) bring out the masculinity contrast between men and women as viewed by society. They argue that as women graduate from girlhood to womanhood and join mixed gender groups at work, in colleges or play, their voices are often ignored and subordinated; they have to monitor what they say, how they say it and how often they talk to ensure that they do not dominate because their gender limits their participation (Spade & Valentine 2010).

Gendered patterns of belief and behavior influence people’s way of life in daily intimate relationships, with family and friends. According to Spade & Valentine (2010), studies shave revealed that girls who transgress into boys’ zone end up being eventually respected by their male playmates if they are good in conventionally male activities, while on the other hand, boys are harassed and teased when they try to participate in girl’s related activities thus dominance of hegemonic masculinity is maintained by denying boys access to girls’ activities. Furthermore, the dominance of masculinity is reinforced when boys are ridiculed because they do not comply with society expectations of hegemonic masculinity; hence they fail to be sufficiently dominant. In order to cope with pressure from the society, Spade & Valentine (2010) note that most men have learned how to do the behaviors that maintain hegemonic masculinity, while at the same time suppressing feelings and behaviours that might make them look feminine. This shows the extent of slavery, frustrations and fear experienced by men in order to maintain their hegemonic masculinity status in the society. Despite these frustrations, hegemonic masculinity comes with its benefits as it is maintained in a hierarchy that is realized by only few men, with every other person subordinated to them; including women, poor white men, men of colour, gay men and men from devalued ethnic and religious groups. This dominance may be institutionalized in the structure of the situation.

Hegemonic masculinity is supported by sex role theory, which advocates for people to learn from society’s institutions to behave in ways that are appropriate to their sex. According to Trigiani (1998), the sex role theory views men as aggressive, rational, dominant and objective while women are passive, intuitive, submissive and subjective. The theory further assumes that culture values characteristics of each sex equally and that these values complement each other in to bring out balance in the society; whereby women are just as esteemed for their passivity as men are for their aggressiveness (Trigiani 1998). However, Haenfler (2006) views hegemonic masculinity as a configuration of gender practice that only embodies the currently accepted answer to the problem of legitimacy of patriarchy, taken to guarantee the dominant position of men and the subordinate position of women. Haenfler (2006) laments that since late 19th century, the social basis of masculinity has been undermined and men hardly understand what it means to be a man. Furthermore, modernization, rapid industrialization, urbanization and the rise of bureaucracy has separated boys from fathers and destabilized the male breadwinner role. In addition, feminists have challenged dominant notions of gender, making it a challenge for a young man to figure out how to be a man in modern days (Haenfler 2006).

Haenfler (2006) observes that the young men’s current fears and continued erosion of male breadwinner role might provide a historic opportunity for men, both collectively and individually to reject the destructive and narrow limiting definitions of masculinity and prefer to create more peaceful and egalitarian definitions of manhood. In a culture that glorifies masculine displays of confidence, sexual prowess, strength and power, men increasingly feel unsure, impotent, weak and powerless hence they have often responded to their confusion and feelings of inadequacy through self control, reactive exclusion and escape from reality (Haenfler 2006). Haenfler (2006) observes that men who feel like they are losing control over their work and relationships often exercise extreme control over their personal lives, fitness, alcohol consumption and sexual appetites; hence becoming objects of self control. They react to crisis of hegemonic masculinity by attempting to shut women out of positions of power and influence and escape women’s influence by retreating to “male only” social behavior (Haenfler 2006).

Haenfler (2006) laments that while hegemonic masculinity may have its benefits to men in terms of public status and masculine privileges, it comes with a price as men often pay with poor health, shorter live and emotionally swallow their relationships and suffer from mental distress.

Other critics of hegemonic masculinity argue that hegemonic masculinities do not correspond to actual lives of men, thus the theory provides a vague and imprecise account of social psychological reproduction of male identities.

Conclusion

In conclusion, hegemonic masculinity embodies men as superior human beings and views women as inferior and submissive creatures, who should live at mercy of their male counterparts. It teaches men to undermine and mistreat women and fellow men who are perceived as inferior. It values competition of hierarchy, sexual prowess and physical toughness at the expense of human dignity, self respect and peace of mind. Hegemonic masculinities often suppress their true feelings to avoid looking feminine as they internally suffer from mental and emotional distress to please the society and live as expected. However, with increasing modernity and industrialization, hegemonic masculinity is slowly losing its meaning; with many women assuming the role of breadwinners and rising to leadership positions as many young men become more and more afraid of society defined masculine responsibilities associated with hegemonic masculinities.

America is experiencing poverty at an increasing rate in terms of the number of children in poverty and the intensity of poverty. There are approximately 15.3 million U.S. Children living in households defined as falling below the poverty line (Duncan, 1998), and they are increasingly concentrated in impoverished and underclass neighborhood (Greenwood, 1995). One-third of all children experience poverty in at least one year of their life and only one in twenty experiences ten or more years of poverty.

Poverty has become a major concern in the United States because of the effects it has on the youth in our society. Many young children are faced with lack of food, inadequate living conditions, and lack of parental guidance. Strains are placed on children living in poverty as young as the age of seven. Children living in poverty generally isolated from mainstream society, don’t have access to community organizations, poor schools, low self-esteem, depression, behavioral problems in school, and engage in delinquent activities.

Delinquency among the poor has been studied over the years to see if there is a relationship between delinquency and poverty. Theories have suggested the link between delinquency and poverty is due to unemployment, family disruption, lack of education, marital disruption, female- headed households, teenage pregnancy, isolation of poorer neighborhoods, lack of role models in the communities, less supervised youth programs, and no formal community networks to deter potential criminal (Anderson, 1993; Hannerz, 1968; Liebow, 1967, Rainwater 1970, Sullivan, 1993, Sutles, 1968).

The link between poverty and crime is diverse (Jargowsky and Bane, 1991). The reasons why people who are living in poverty commit criminal acts vary from crime being the only opportunity to achieve a higher level of socioeconomic status to enhance financial ability. People of all class commit crime for different reasons, but it has been proven over the years by different researchers that people living in poverty commit more crime than any other class. This literature will focus on what is known about the poverty and delinquency, the gaps in this field, method used in this field, and current study in this field.

Literature Review
How Poverty is defined and measured?

How poverty is defined and measures has attributed to different results in the study of poverty and crime. Poverty has been defined in several different ways. One definition of poverty is a situation in which a person’s income is below 60% of the median income of a country. According to the Census Bureau, poverty is defined an inability to provide a family with nutritious food, clothing, and reasonable shelter.

The official poverty measurement was adopted in the last 1960s and it consisted of a set of thresholds for families of different sizes and composition that are compared to a resource measure to determine a family poverty status. The thresholds represent the cost of a minimum diet multiplied by three to allow for expenditures on other goods and services. This measurement of poverty had several weaknesses according to the National Research Council and the Panel on Poverty and Family. The official measurement did not take into consideration the expenses it takes to hold a job, and it does not reflect the effects of key government policies that alter the disposable income available to families (Citro and Michael, 1995).

Alternatives approaches to measure to poverty thresholds were viewed by in 1995 by the Panel on Poverty and Family in regards to experimental poverty measures. For experimental purposes, poverty was measured by a dollar amount for food, clothing, shelter, and utilities, as well as a small amount for needs such as transportation expenses, expenses to maintain a household, and personal care. The panel developed a threshold designed for a family of four- a mother, a father, and two children. According to the panel, thresholds can be adjusted for the needs of families of different sizes and composition and geographic locations.

Paul Jargowsky, one of the most well known researchers on poverty and crime, adopted only a small fraction of the official measure of poverty recommendations of the Panel of Poverty and Family. During his methodology for his many studies, he measured poverty by calculating a simple poverty score by determining the proportion of high poverty census tracks within a city during his several different studies. He believed that the cut off threshold was 40% of poor residents, and other researchers such as (Wilson, 1996) used 30% threshold to represent poverty.

Data from the Census Bureau has also been used to measure poverty as well. The percentage in poverty is calculated as the percentage of the total population in the census that fall below the Social Security Administration’s poverty line. Poverty definitions and measurement differ from researcher to researcher; therefore, results in research will vary depending on what definition and measure of poverty is adopted (Jargowsky and Bane, 1991; Rickets and Sawhill, 1988; Wilson, 1996).

Why People living in Poverty Commit Crime

People living in poverty commit crimes for several different reasons. Survival in the poverty stricken neighborhoods is one of the main reasons for criminal behavior. Often times, many people have to commit crimes such as robbery or burglary as a mean to have financial gain in order to feed themselves and their children or to be able to maintain their household expenses. People also commit crime because it is the norm to take the law into their own hands (Cooney, 1997). High poverty areas do not have the access to the local law enforcement as other areas normally have. Law enforcement is often viewed as not being helpful; therefore, we see many retaliatory crimes committed in these areas. Retaliatory violence in response to “disrespect” becomes a way to achieve status in the absence of other opportunities. People living in such neighborhoods believe that they have to take the law into their own hands because the local authorities have failed to protect them Kurban and Weitzer (2003). The response time to such neighborhoods is much slower compared to neighborhoods in the suburbs, and everyone is viewed as a criminal when they may actually be a victim. Crime in poorer communities is a just a form of self help (Anderson, 1993).

Many people living in poverty do not want to be living in poverty. In order to obtain a higher level of socioeconomic status, crime is seen as the only option (Wilson, 1987). Money that is made by committing crimes such as illegally selling crack cocaine, or another type of drug, or money that was obtain illegally is used to established some type of legal business establishment. Once the legal business is established, there is no longer a need to commit crime and this places the individual into another class. Crime is also committed to have fun or have something to do to occupy an individual’s time (Agnew, 1992). Grand Theft Auto is one of those crimes that are committed to just have fun. Many people, especially, adolescents, commit this offense to joyride around the city.

Many youth begin a life of crime because of their parent’s ineffective parental practices. Being poor and having children to provide for can lead to emotional distress. Parents are inconsistence with their children, forceful, and extremely harsh and the bond between parent and child is weaken (Sampson and Laub, 1994). When that bond weakens, children are more at risk for deviant behavior. Parents are also not involved with their children’s education as other parents in mainstream society. It has been proven that poor performance in school is associated with the onset of delinquency (Maguin and Loeber, 1996). School is often viewed as a place to go to fight and steal from classmates rather than a learning institution. Obtaining an education is not stressed by some parents to their children; therefore; their children never understand the importance of education. School is looked at as a place for fighting, bullying, stealing, and just a place to “hang out”. Poor children are not successful in school. They have been found to be deficient in reading and mathematical skills (Beebe, 1993). Rewards from the school environment are limited by the lack of school success, therefore, the risk for delinquency is increase and a life is crime behavior is developed (Mofitt, 1981).

Growing up in an isolated poverty community, children are told they can not achieve high academics because of their living conditions. Many children are forced to withdraw from school because of attendance. Missing school on a daily basis is a norm in high poverty areas because children lack decent or proper clothing for different types of weather, the lack transportation. They may faced interrupted utility services and over crowdedness in the home they may hinder their ability to attend school and learn (Swain, 2006)

Poverty and Delinquency (Isolation)

. Poverty can be classified into three types which are persistent poverty, underclass poverty, and ghetto poverty (Wilson, 1996). Many studies have link poverty to geographic isolation and street crime as crime and violence (Anderson, 1999). High poverty areas are generally clustered together and are isolated from mainstream society. Jargowsky (1996) suggested that the loss of jobs in the poor neighborhoods, and the creation of managerial and professional jobs in the suburbs lead to economic segregation. Isolated neighborhoods are deprived of the basic needs that it needs to prevent problems such as violence and crime. Excellent schools, churches and reinforcements of morals and values that mainstream society lives are absent from the neighborhoods that are segregated (Jargowsky 1996).

Segregation from mainstream society has limited people in high poverty areas to have contact with people in mainstream society. Due to the limited contact, poor people are not given the opportunity to see values and norms that the remaining of society bases their lives. People living in mainstream society base their life around obtaining the American Dream. They believe in college education, marriage, family, career, and home ownership. In poorer communities, these values and beliefs are irrelevant and replaced with norms that are appropriate for their environment (Wilson, 1987). As suggested, the norms for most poor people are some form of criminal behavior.

Poor people tend to only associated themselves with others that are poor. This is mainly because they feel intimated by someone who has higher socioeconomic status, or someone who has a higher education level than themselves. They are most comfortable with someone who is receiving welfare or some form of assistance from the government. Seeing only criminal behavior and not being able to see mainstream society’s behavior severely handicaps poor people. Behavior is learned; and if an individual is isolated and only see crime being committed within their communities, they will be more likely to commit crime. For the high poverty stricken areas, criminal behavior is spread throughout the community and thus creates a powerful predictor for delinquency (McDonough, 1992).

Some members of the isolated would like to move to a more their families to a more affluent neighborhood to decrease the chances of their young children engaging in delinquency (Ludwig, 1998). Children will have more opportunities, better education, better job networks, and will be able to achieve the American Dream. Moving from a poor isolated community to a more affluent community can be difficult for some of the residents. Due to the isolation, they are often afraid and believe they are not intelligent enough, and fear they will be rejected by society because of their background.

Poverty and Delinquency (Time and Persistence)

People who are identified as poor do not have the same experience of poverty. The difference in the experience of poverty is based on its persistence and its timing (Franworth, 1994). Poverty early in a child’s life and the longer a child lives in poverty are strong indicators of delinquency (Brooks-Gunn and Duncan, 1997). Many children are born into poverty and remain in poverty throughout their entire childhood. This type of poverty is known as persistent poverty. African Americans experience poverty longer than other ethnicity groups, and the elevated rate of delinquency among African Americans is contributed to lower socioeconomic status and urbanization (Hawkins, Laub, and Lauritsen, 1998). Recent studies confirm that exits from poverty are higher for household headed by white males and much lower for those headed by black females (Steven, 1994).

A child living in persistent poverty faces a wide range of behavior problems that leads to delinquency. Some of these problems are school related issues such as fighting, humiliation, and anger. Duncan (1994) investigated the impact of persistent poverty on children who were five years old. The study indicated that the effects of short-term poverty are not as large as the effects on persistent poverty (Duncan et, al., 1994; 307). Delinquency is most prevalent in persistent poverty than short-term poverty.

Poverty early in a child’s life can be detrimental because it is then when shaping of a child is most important. If poverty is experienced later in a child’s life, it can affect school attendance and possible it can be a factor in whether a child graduates from high school or not (Duncan, 1998). School is not a priority for an adolescent living in poverty; but rather, living conditions, survival, negative influences within the community, and any emotional issues that may arise within a child living in poverty.

Previous Researchers Studies and Methods

To determine the link between poverty and crime, determines what type of method is used. Ethnographic research is best used to examine the relationship between poverty and delinquency (Anderson, 1990; Jankowski, 1991; Sullivan, 1989; Williams and Kornblum, 1985). This type of study link other factors such as persistent unemployment, marital disruption, and female-headed household and teenage pregnancy to poverty and delinquency (Anderson, 1993). Ethnographic is best for capturing persistent poverty which is living in poverty for a period of eight years or longer (Duncan and Rogers, 1991). Although the best method, it would take at least a ten year longitudinal study which most researchers don’t have the time to dedicate to such study. Individual analysis is the most convincing type of research, but provides the least support between poverty and crime (Jankowski, 1995, Tittle and Meier, 1990). Empirical research has also suggested that persistent poverty leads to crime (Currie, 1985; Hagen and Peterson, 1995; Jencks, 1992; Krivo and Peterson, 1996; Sampson and Wilson, 1995).

Researchers such as Coulton, Chow, Wang and Su (1996), Massey and Denton (1998), and Lee (2000) used at least one of the three measures while looking at poverty segregation in 100 metropolitan areas. The first measure used was the proportion of poor families living in the extreme poverty census track. The second measure was proportion of poor families living that would need to move to a different census track to achieve an equal distribution of poverty throughout the metropolitan area, and the last measure was the probability that poor families would encounter other poor families within their census track. These three measures are distant, but are empirically related (Coultron et al. (1996). To show the poverty by census track, Pittsburg (PA) and Cincinnati (OH) cities with near the same in population (334,563 verses 330,662) was used. Cincinnati had 31.2 % of its poor residents living in the census track in which 40% of the tract residents are poor in contrast to 22.5% in Pittsburg. It was suggested that poor residents living in Cincinnati’s poverty ring are more geographically and socially isolated from non-poverty tracks that are resident s of Pittsburgh’s high poverty track.

In 2000, 236 cities with a minimum population of 100,000 were used in a research that focused on the relationship between poverty clustering and crimes in the cities. For the purpose of the research, the Uniform Crime Reports and the Census of Population and Housing were the two data sources used. The Census of Population and Housing calculated the percent of residents on poverty in each census tract. This study used two tracks for the research; one track for 30% poor census track and one for contiguous 40% poor census tracks. The study took the median age of city residents because the crime rates are most likely be committed by younger residents (Baller, Messner, Deane, and Howkins, 2001; Cohenand Land, 1987). Other factors that were measured in this study were unemployment, African Americans, and female headed households. This study concluded that social isolation rather than deprivation contributed to the relationship of segregation and crime.

Longitudinal data spanning over 14 years was used to measure the level of exposure to poverty and its timing and used to examine the relationship between poverty and delinquency. The sample population range in ages from 10 -15 years old and a face to face interview were conducted from 1979-1992. This study had an over representation of Hispanic and African- Americans disadvantage youths. The sampling in this study has several limitations. First limitation was the self-reporting of delinquency for the youth, and no one older than the age of 15 could participant in the study. This sample is not a national representation of all children living in poverty between the ages of 10-15. Exposure to poverty was measure by the number of years the youth’s family lived in poverty. The family income was measure by each year the family was below the poverty level, thus was the divided by the youth’s age to determine the percent the youth spent in poverty in his/her lifetime. The study also examined the impact of poverty at different stages in life (Brooks-Gunn, 1997). Stages in a youth life were measured form birth to 5 years old, from 6 to 10 years old, and from 11 and older. The results of this study indicated that the extent that the level of exposure to poverty is important in the likelihood of delinquency. It also revealed that poverty had more effect on a child in the early years of development (Jarjoura and Triplett, 2002)

Kurbin and Weitzer (2003) studied retaliatory homicides in St. Louis. They found that retaliatory homicides were more prevalent in disadvantage isolated communities. They took narratives from individuals who were involved in homicides and they confessed retaliation was associated with a mistrust of the police. Kurbin and Weizer (2003) concluded that disadvantage isolated communities suffer from policing vacuum and promotes cultural values to settle disputes among themselves. Kurbin and Weizer were not the only researchers that concluded that crime is way to settle disputes. Anderson (1999) and Wilson (1897) argued that poor people who are isolated developed a set of alternative norms in order to survive on the streets. Cooney (1997) also argued that poor people engage in more criminal behavior because the limited access to the law.

To truly capture the relationship between poverty and crime, ethnographic research is the most productive type of study. A field researcher will have the opportunity to capture the lives of people living in poverty for an extended period of time. This type of research will provide the answers to why people living in poverty become delinquent and a researcher will understand the struggles and hardships poor people face. A researcher conducting ethnographic research will be able to explain in his findings the state of mind of someone living in poverty and clearly explain why criminal activity has become a way of life.

Many different researchers have conducted research using different methods, but most of the researchers have concluded that there is a direct link between poverty and crime. It can be concluded from the various studies that people living in poverty commit greater amounts of crime than others not living in poverty. It can be concluded that the limited access to police is one of the reasons greater amounts of crime occur in poor communities. It can also be concluded that isolation plays a major role in criminal behavior among poor people.

Previous study mainly focused on segregation and isolation. Current study has focused on spells and timing of poverty as it related to criminal behavior.

Gaps in the Knowledge on Poverty and Delinquency

One major gap is that there has not been a study to explore the interaction between overall poverty and concentrated poverty, even though there is some indication that poverty may indeed interact with its spatial concentration in predicting crime. An example of this is the research that was conducted by Sampson and his colleagues on neighborhood effects. Their findings were that social behavior is influenced not only by what happens in one’s immediate neighborhood, but also by what happens in surrounding areas (Sampson, Raudenbush, 2001). The negative consequences of living in a poor neighborhood and living in non-poor neighborhood can spill over to surrounding communities, implying a possible interaction between poverty and its geographic distribution. The effect of poverty on crime may be higher in neighborhoods where poverty is spatially concentrated because poor residents in such areas are less likely to experience negative influences not only fro their own community but surrounding ones as well. Researchers can believe that poverty on criminal behavior may be somewhat mitigated when it is less spatially concentrated and potentially exacerbated when it is more concentrated.

Another gap in the relationship between poverty and crime is criminological investigations. Nor do criminological researchers draw upon the vast literature that now exists on poverty in America to inform their analyses of delinquency. It is not shown that there are considerable differences among the poor by the level of exposure. Understanding the importance of distinguishing the poor by level of exposure begins with recognition that there is a dual nature of poverty in America (Bane and Ellwood, 1986). The concept of a dual nature to poverty refers to the fact that while there are substantial numbers of people living in persistent, long-term poverty, many people, including children, experience only short-term poverty.

There is a need to pay more attention to the measures of poverty that that is used and to understand just who is captured by the measures. What is missing in most studies of poverty and delinquency is data on more than one year in the life of the subject.

Debate on the Subject

There has been some debate over the relative roles of concentrated disadvantage and segregation in explaining violence (Sampson and Wilson, 1995). Researchers are at odds with whether or not it is isolated African American communities or race related factors that explain higher crime in those communities. Massey and Denton (1993) believe that segregation is more important than race related factors. In previous studies, it was shown that overall poverty and isolated poverty affected whites, but only the overall poverty affected American Americans (Pruitt, 2000). The most difficult part of the debate is the importance of isolated poverty verses the importance of racial segregation is that isolation poverty is related to African American and isolated poverty among whites is rare (Krivo and Peterson, 1996, Kasarda, 1993). Researchers have conducted several studies to try an overcome this debate. Krivo and Peterson (1996) analyzed the relationship between neighborhood disadvantage and index street crime in Columbus, Ohio with some white neighborhoods experiencing disadvantage.

Conclusion

Animal testing is categorized into three main groups which are chemical testing, medical testing and research testing. Using non-human animals for such tests is a controversial issue that may lead several opinions whether on experts and non-expert views. Experts might say it is beneficial to human because without the non-human animals, where would science be now? Aristotle (384-322 BCE) and Erasistratus (304-258 BCE) were among the first to perform experiments on living animals. The physician operates and testing surgical procedures on to the animals before implementing on to human. Long ago, research in animal testing had helped people in curing their illness and seemed like the animals died for a good cause. On the other hand, people who stand up for animal rights would see this as cruel and injustice act for the animals. They claimed that animals have feelings and they can feel pain too. The pros and cons are still in consideration by most animal-testing industry in order to keep the consumer needs. But, is it morally acceptable to experiment on non-human animals to develop products and medicines that benefit human beings? No, it is morally unacceptable.

In Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary 5th edition, moral is based on one’s sense of what is right and just, not on legal rights and obligation; able to understand the differences between right and wrong. Billions of animals have died to advance science. To test one chemical whether or not it is carcinogenic which means any substance that produces cancer, it takes 500 to 1000 animals to be tested and to make sure that the chemical is free from cancer -causal. We rather let the animals die because of expected cancer from the chemicals just to satisfy human needs in cosmetics, household compound and pharmacy. Not that on the other hand it meant that we rather see human died because the chemicals are not tested but logically, the scientists should have known the cause of cancer, why would they put the chemicals in the product at first place? If science is advance enough, why use the innocent animals? Humanity should speak by itself.

From the definition itself and the question asked, the answers would be a definite no because it is wrong to experiment on animals because animals are living things that have emotions. Animals do not just suffer from physical pain but also mental pain. We can notice a person’s emotions without him saying anything because of non-verbal language or body language he expressed. If we can examine body language in human, then we are also able to observe non-verbal language of animals. Love an animal, it will love you, hurt the animal, it will hurt you. Pictures of vivisections of animals (Appendix 1), their eyes were filled with pain and innocent faces are enough to upset us human. When we experiencing on animals, it is likely to experience on humans, the difference is just animals do not speak human and we cannot understand them. We might as well pictured the animals being tortured, in great pains, yelling for help and trying their very hard to escape from that ‘evil’ experiment. Experiment is what we called a scientific test done carefully in order to study what happens and to gain new knowledge, quoted from the dictionary. Any side effects will result in failure and poor animals, another hundreds or thousands of them will be used in the experiment to get better results. Consider yourself being experimented by another form of species and they treat you the same way as human did to non-human animals (Appendix 2). Allegedly, there is ‘animal euthanasia’ which means the act of unpainful killing. How can we ever know that it is not painful? How can we know that the animals used in so-called painless death tests died peacefully? Before a new aftermath shown in your local stores, the goods have gone through a complicated and long process which leaves millions of tested animals damaged, poisoned, undergo mutation, and other unnecessary tests. Animal testing is cruelty to them, forcing them to endure the frightful side effects just so a new product can be released.

Chemical testing on animals are not 100% accurate because animals do not respond the same as human does. In reality, animal research and scientists never guarantee that medication, cosmetics and other products will be safe and effective for human. There are products that have been pulled out of the market because of consumer complaints of irritancy on skins and some were severe illness and death but were previously tested on animals. Although the tests on medicine seemed safe for consumer use, “two million Americans become seriously ill and approximately 100,000 people die every year because of reactions to medicines they were prescribed” extracted from Nexus Magazine, Volume 8, Number 2. The statistics occurred because of the inaccurate animal experimentation which results inadequate evaluation the effects of chemicals on humans. Different animals have different body system and it reacts differently. Animals and human obviously have different condition of body system and it is the entire issue of the failure. Biologically speaking, different body system would result in different drug metabolism and thus dissimilar effects take place. Innumerous animals have been sacrificed and suffering from animal abuse during medicine testing. This situation is very unfair. While humans are cured, animals are slaughtered.

The alternatives would be computer simulations and modeling which have the entire database from previous animal testing subjects. Millions of animals were used onto the same type of product. Researchers should file the report of the experiment and if it is proven safe to human, other industry that wants to do the same product, they should use the same chemicals or whatever materials they required but not the animals testing. The software can be used in major research centre to do such test with any chemical involve in creating a product that benefit human. Such synthetic skin would be great to test products on skin. Besides that, government and non-government could create great awareness by advertising such ads that directs the realization to the consumer (Appendix 3). Advertisement that has subtle messages creates no awareness among people because somehow it did not touch their heart. When the main point of the advertisement is being straight-forward, people would realize and immediately take effect.

As for closure, animal testing is an immoral act. Animal suffering is a cruel act. Yes, it benefits humans to be beautiful and healthy but not to kill them in return. The scientists and researchers should have other way that is more humane. Animals are living things create by God and they can respond the same as human do. The effectiveness of the products tested on animals can never be guaranteed 100% because the products still harm the consumer even though it has been proven safe. Even the effects only affect small number of people, still we are putting the humans in danger. There are other possible options as alternatives for animal testing. Any industry can be science-advance without animal testing. If animal-testing is being prolong, will our future generations still be able to learn about the animals? Do you think the animals-tested will extinct?

References

Darshini Kandasamy “Animal-testing centre to be set up in Malaysia.”
Malay Mail Friday, April 2nd, 2010
“‘No’ to animal testing lab plan.”
The Star Online Thursday June 10, 2010

Pete Harrison “”Great apes protected as EU restricts animal testing.”
The Star Online Wednesday September 8, 2010

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 16 September 2010

S.O.S at the University of Georgia “Animals used in experiments”

Janet Babin “Taking the animals out of testing”

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Nun ‘Adilah 6

“Animal Testing” June 8, 2010

The National Anti-Vivisection Society “Animals in Product Testing”

http://www.animaltestingfacts.zoomshare.com/>

“The Human Cost of Animal Experiments”
Nexus Magazine, Volume 8, Number 2

http://www.sourcewatch.org “Animal testing” 7 April 2010

Doris Lin “Why It’s Wrong to Test on Animals”

Haris Amin “Animal Testing: Is Animal Testing Ethically Incorrect”

Haris Amin “Animal Testing: Are there any alternatives”

Nun ‘Adilah 7
BMJ “Where is the evidence that animal research benefits humans?”

28 February, 2004

http://www.lad.org.hk/bmjfeb2004.htm

Oxford advanced learner’s dictionary 5th edition, International Student

Nun ‘Adilah 8

APPENDICES

Positivism is the view that finding turn knowledge by researching observable traits and things rather than through speculating and reasoning (Turner, 2001). Positivism was developed in the 19th century. It can be seen as the early form of the social sciences. Views of positivists were heavily influenced by empiricism and nature science of enlightenment (Craib, 1997). They used ‘scientific’ methods to study problems of the society. However, their works were questioned continuously with the process of social science. This essay will first introduce that the impact of empiricism and natural science on positivism, which also can be seen as a background of positivism. Next, contributions of three famous early positivists will be pointed out and be discussed. Finally, contributions of positivists will be discussed critically.

Empiricism had a deeply influence on early positivism in the 19th century, especially ideas from empiricists such as Thomas Hobbes and David Hume (Benton, 2001). These effects included: firstly, the true knowledge is based on sense-experience, such as what we see, touch and taste; secondly, it is essential that social research should distinguish between ‘facts’ from ‘values’, which mean knowledge should be objective, because facts comes from sense-experience and values comes from subjective ideas; thirdly, study of science should use scientific language, where the scientific statement should be no more than a reflection of ‘objective reality’.

In addition, natural science also had a considerable influence on positivism. Positivists believed that study of social can be the same way as study of natural (Benton, 2001). For example, natural scientist used scientific experiment to discover the laws of natural world, such as relationship between fire and water. Based on this point, early positivists such as Comte believed that they can explore the laws of social phenomenon by collecting, observing and measuring the empirical evidence and such positivists were seen as ‘naturalism’.

Overview, early positivists all agreed that scientific knowledge based on empirical evidence. Meanwhile, they had the similar views of science. That was to find regularities between social phenomena, such as Comte’s invariable laws and Durkheim’s correlations. However, they also had different ideas of social science. Comte believed that the head of all scientific inquiry should be sociology (Turner, 2001); Spencer believed sociology should be derived from principles of physics (Turner, 2001); and Durkheim showed that sociology was independent of other scientific disciplines. Moreover, they had different definition of social phenomena, in spite of they all believed that it were the proper object of sociological inquiry. In addition, they have different points in views that whether sociological knowledge should be used in managing and changing society by governments. Based on above points, it could find that views of early positivists have both similar and different ideas and views. Furthermore, these similarities and differences could be more detailed by comparing the aims or methods of positivists, especially Comte, Spencer and Durkheim.

Auguste Comte can be seen as the founder of sociology (Gordon, 1991). In 1839, he first developed sociology and it also was called social physics (Ritzer, 2007). Meanwhile, the aim of him was to create a unified social science, which should be at the head of all scientific inquiry (Turner, 2001). Moreover, under the impact of Isaac Newton’s discovery of the laws of gravity, Comte believed the discovering the law of social phenomena in the society is important, even theory was also necessary in social science (Gordon, 1991). Furthermore, Comte divided his laws into two categories, laws of social statics (existing social structures) and laws of social dynamics (social change) (Smith, 2003). He also mentioned that ‘social dynamics’ was greater than ‘social statics’ (Ritzer, 2007). Through this point, it reflected that Comte interested in social reform. He believed that his laws could be used by governments to build a more rationally and ‘better’ society (Gordon, 1991). Moreover, as a positivist, Comte insisted on using scientific methods in social science. He made a number of necessary methods to social research (Turner, 2001). They are observation, experimentation, comparison and historical analysis. By use these methods, he believed that the ‘invariable laws’ of social facts or phenomena could be found. Based on these points, his sociological concept has been formed. Next, Comte created the ‘law of the three stages’, this idea was clearly influenced by Montesquieu, Turgot and Saint-Simon (Turner, 2001). This law divided social development to three stages, fictitious stage, metaphysical stage and scientific stage. He claimed that society had now reached the finial stage. It can be called scientific stage or ‘positivistic’. Based on this point, he claimed that the time of sociology has arrived.

In general, Comte’s insistence ideas and scientific research contributed to the progress of social sciences. However, several his views later were rejected by Herbert Spencer. Firstly, Spencer rejected that Comte’s ‘law of the three stages’ (Turner, 2001). Spencer argued that Comte’s three stages just explained the evolution in the realm of idea, but the theory in the reality (Rizer, 2008). Secondly, he disagreed that science knowledge should be used by governments to rebuild society (Turner, 2001). He thought that the government should only focus on what people ought not to do (Rizer, 2008). In addition, he also disagreed that causation was not important in scientific description (Turner, 2001).

Spencer has been seen as another founder of sociology. Spencer and Comte had similar aim. His aim was to develop a synthetic philosophy that contained all domains of the universe and all sciences (Turner, 2001). However, they had different interesting. Spencer was more interested in social life should ‘evolve free of external control’ (Ritzer, 2008, pp 36-30). Moreover, he believed that physical principles should be the basis of sociology (Turner, 2001). Furthermore, Spencer’s work was based on a large number of data collecting, especially his ‘Principles of Sociology’ (Turner, 2001). Base on data collecting and analysing, Spencer contribute several fundamental laws. These laws were about relations of fundamental forces of human organization, such as population, production and reproduction (Turner, 2001). Meanwhile, through these concepts, he explained the concept of ‘survival of the fittest’ (Smith, 2003) and developed the famous ‘evolutionary theory’ (Rizer, 2008).

Spencer’s works was welcomed at the beginning, but it was rejected in the twentieth century. There are two main reasons. Firstly, his work led to social conflict, due to the centralisation of power and the inequality between its members was caused by this complication of social relations in his theory. Secondly, the reason is Spencer’s works were full of egoism posture. In his study, he ignored all the ideas was not conducive to his points, and only select the views he want (Ritzer, 2008). Therefore, his sociology was influenced by value. His ideological sources were biased so that his research lost its possible value (Turner, 2001). For this ideological approach, Durkheim suggested that the study of society should avoid the conflation between ideal and reality (Baert, 2005).

Emile Durkheim is an extremely important sociological thinker, whose ideas are still have an impact on today’s social science. Durkheim’s works and views were influenced by Comte’s ideas. For example, Durkheim’s The Division of Labor in Society was influenced by Comte’s idea of ‘social dynamics’ (Turner, 2001). Moreover, Durkheim also accepted that social research should be based on empirical evidence, such as social ‘things’ or ‘social facts’ (Baert, 2005). Therefore, Durkheim collected a great deal of empirical evidence for his work. For example, in his study of suicide, he studied the 26,000 suicide records (Morrison, 2007). Meanwhile, he first used statistical closure to study suicide (Ritzer, 2007), such as he counted suicide by age, gender and other features. Moreover, Durkheim didn’t think that sociology can find the indisputable truths (Baert, 2005). Therefore, in Durkheim’s work, he raised the point of ‘social facts’ (Craib, 1997). ‘Social facts’ is objective ‘things’ that it exists of social realities from society to society, such as social structures, traditional values and cultural norms (Ritzer, 2007). For example, every society has forms of punishment when law are broken. Therefore, a criminal will be punished by moral law. Therefore, it can be a ‘social fact’. Meanwhile, definitions of ‘social fact’ should meet three criteria (Craib, 1997). It should have clearly common-sense per-notions; it should be general; and, it should have a certain degree of external constraint. Besides, Durkheim used ‘social facts’ on studying suicide (Craib, 1997). In addition, Durkheim also had a scientific approach with a combination causal and functional analysis (Baert, 2005). He believed that four rules for using a scientific method in social science. First, scientist should have the correct ‘attitude’. For example, collecting data cannot be biased. Secondly, scientist should give a precise definition. Thirdly, the relations between variables should be examined and described. Fourth, the casual relations between variables should be explained. Based on these ideas and methods, Durkheim has many contributions to the study of society, including the division of labour, suicide, solidarity and religion (Morrison, 2007). Meanwhile, Durkheim made positivism become more professional.

However, even Durkheim had better concept and methods in social science, his approach had unavoidable problems. He used statistical closure to study suicide, but it cannot account for all complex relationship in real world (Smith, 2003). In other words, findings of statistical closure systems may not be able to use in the reality. Furthermore, under the Durkheim’s contribution, although positivism continually making progress, it was met with opposition from others, such as interpretative approaches. Positivists believed knowledge comes from sense-experience, but Kant argued that both external and internal were equally important and they also depended on one other (Smith, 2003). External refers to sense-experience and internal refers to the structure of mind. Therefore, positivism might lack of consideration for internal factors. It could be considered that the knowledge of positivism is incomplete. Meanwhile, Rickert argued that physics can be formally homothetic, but social science can not be, because the objects of social science could be unique and historically changing (Smith, 2003). By these points, it might be found that positivists could never be objective and it is hard to distinction between values and facts in social science. Moreover, Weber also rejects positivism. He pointed out three key reasons for it. First, it is impossible to use the same tools to study social sciences and natural science. Next, actions of individual are unpredictable so that it is hard to study human behaviors. Thirdly, knowledge can never be neutral. Therefore, it might be impossible to find an ‘invariable law’ or objective ‘social fact’ in social science.

In conclusion, positivism was found in the 19th century. Early positivists were heavily influenced by empiricists and natural science. Therefore, they have similarities on views and thoughts. It is obviously that early positivists were all ‘naturalism’. They all used scientific methods to study of society, such as observation. In order to achieve ‘objective’ knowledge, they tried to separate ‘facts’ and ‘values’. However, they have different aim and views on social science. Furthermore, Durkheim had outstanding contributions to social science. However, his works and ideas still were criticized by others, especially his statistical closure and ‘social facts’. Although his views had a significant contribution to positivism, it still has shortcomings. Other scientist included scientists of Interpretative approaches thought that discovering ‘objective’ facts of society could be impossible. They also claimed that study of structure of the human mind and study of sense-experiment are equally important.

Homosexuality is very common in society. However many individuals still discriminate against them. Their prejudgments are based on stereotypes, and lack of information. Due to our social perception, people who are different from them is deem to be threatening. In this report, discrimination against homosexuals will be discussed, with facts, different supporting examples and cases from Singapore and the United States, with Singapore being the more traditionally conservative one. Ways to reduce discriminations against them is also mentioned and explored.

The issue and who are involved?

We can fall in love, but why can’t they?

Homosexuality is romantic and/or sexual attraction or behavior among members of the same sex or gender, making up around 10% of the population. Sadly, they continue to be one of the least protected by the government and discriminated against by the society. Homosexuality was categorized as a mental disorder until 1973. The words “gay” and “lesbian” are used to refer to homosexual men and women and “bisexual” refers to those that are attracted to both men and women.

Brief History on Homosexuals in Singapore

In 1960s, Homosexuality was categorized as a condition in a Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). Before enlistment, all enlistees would undergo a medical checkup and asked to declare their homosexuality status. Those declared will be downgraded to a Public Employment Status of 3 and were assigned to be clerks.

In 1998, Senior Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew , live on CNN International, said, ‘…what we are doing as a government is to leave people to live their own lives so long as they don’t impinge on other people. I mean, we don’t harass anybody.’ these words helped set the tenor for official policy on homosexuality for many years. His comments is said to be one of the most significant events relating to gay rights.

Before 2003, homosexuals were forbidden from being employed in “sensitive positions” in the Singapore Civil Service. Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong abolished this in a widely publicized statement.

In 2006, Liberty League, an organization that “promotes gender and sexual health for the individual, family and society”, was granted $100,000.

Brief History on Homosexuals in the US

After W.W.11, thousands of homosexuals were dishonorably fired from the armed services and jobs, due to public display of homosexuality, and were ostracized from families and communities. In early 1953, homosexuality became by a necessary and sufficient reason fire any federal employee from one’s job.

In the 1970s, in some cities, anti- discrimination for homosexual laws was placed. California had its first openly gay elected official; Harvey Milk.

Compared to Singapore, the US has a richer and more open homosexuality culture. In recent years, the US has slowly begun acceptance for homosexuality. Several television programs with elements of homosexuality, Will and Grace, Glee, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Grey’s Anatomy were aired. As the popularity of these shows increases, the gay community is closer to acceptance and justice by the society. They have gay pride parades and homosexual marriages supported by many areas of US, unlike Singapore.

Discrimination against Homosexuals

With the laws placed and the better recognition of the homosexual community, the situation in both countries seems favorable. However, homosexuals still face rampant stereotypes from the world and may worsen if deeper understanding of homosexuals is not being promoted and measures are not taken. This topic has been chosen because this is a very important issue in this society, and feels that they should have the same rights as heterosexuals. There have been many incidents of bullying and victimizing homosexuals that led to deaths in the US. Many have gone into depression. These should not be tolerated and something has to be done.

Homosexuals do not come out for many reasons, the most common being that they are uncomfortable to declare to any society that is perceived to be homophobic.

Negative stereotyping is often a result of homophobia, which refers to an irrational fear, prejudice or discrimination towards homosexuals, and can be name-calling and teasing to serious crimes like assault and murder.

Positive stereotypes, or ‘counter-types,’ also exist but may be no less harmful, as they are still oversimplified views of the group being stereotyped.

Some examples of the common stereotypes that gays are described to be expressing too much of his feelings, very vulnerable and sensitive, likes touching himself and other people. They are also stereotyped to love talking about feminine things; the use of cosmetics, very concerned with their lips, skin and hair protections.

Why this prejudice and discrimination affect society and is important.

Current situation in Singapore

Although being homosexual in Singapore is not illegal, performing any homosexual acts in public or privately, is. Section 377 of the Singapore Penal Code records the penalty for indecency between individuals which includes consensual, private, adult homosexual acts; imprisonment is up to 2 years.

A gay group was denied permission to hold a forum on the role of homosexuals in society. The local media avoids homosexual issues in fear of getting their licenses suspended. In schools, sexuality courses focus more on heterosexuality-the only mention of homosexuality reminds students that it is illegal. Moreover, homosexual couples in Singapore, cannot rightfully own a home through the public housing scheme, thus many rent as private housing is unaffordable to them.

Unsurprisingly, this shows that Singaporean society remains deeply conservative and the governments are still not as open to discussions about gay rights. Attitudes towards homosexuality are also tied up closely with the different religious values in this multi-racial society, like Muslims and Christianity which considers it as a sin.

In Singapore, the government uses Confucian readings “to create a certain amount of ideological coherence in its version of Asian Values and to give it some academic respectability”. From an interview, 68.6% of the surveyors expressed negative attitudes towards homosexuality. Christians and Muslims were found to be least tolerant, older people are less tolerant and more educated people are more tolerant. Therefore, Singapore who is a traditionally conservative society may not be ready for a change.

Current situation in United States

Recently, there have been many news on homosexual bullying leading to suicides, for example , Tyler Clementi, a 19 year old student from Rutgers University. After his college roommate lived-streamed Tyler having sexual relations with his boyfriend, Tyler threw himself off a bridge. Asher Brown was a 13-year-old was tormented for the way he dressed and being gay. His bullies acted out mock gay sex acts in classes. His parents repeatedly contacted school officials on his bullying. Nothing was ever done. He shot himself in the head.

Policy on lesbian, gay, bisexual, in US has evolved over time and varies between different regions. Five states and one district have legalized same-sex marriage. President Obama announced that he will work with Congress and the military to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that forbids homosexuals from openly serving in the military. However, there is still much opposition, commenting that homosexuals’ identities should not be made known.

However, there have been many interviews and surveys that show that the US is slowly accepting homosexuals. For example the graph below shows that attitudes towards homosexuality in the US, over the years seem more positive.

Source: http://www.norc.org/GSS+Website/Browse+GSS+Variables/Subject+Index/

Why is it important?

A continuation of homosexual discrimination is detrimental to their mental health, which may increase suicidal tendencies or other mental afflictions. There are many websites contending that homosexuality is a sin, stating that it is entirely up to choice, easily changeable, and giving excuses to put down homosexuals, using reasons like “God hates fags”.

People tend to associate HIV and AIDS as a gay related disease, thinking that as long as they avoid having sex with homosexuals, they are safe from HIV. This ignorance can cause them to practice unsafe sexual intercourse.

Stereotyping them to be rapist, pedophiles are very common and these send a wrong message to the public, causing fear. This increases the fear in homosexuals for being discovered to be gay, causing them to feel immense stress and pressure, doubling the chance of depression and suicidal tendencies.

The rejection and misinformation results in homophobia causing them to bully other people , verbal assaults, causing other people psychological stress and pain. Homosexuals may also face family and friends rejections. The result is a vicious cycle of prejudice and discrimination.

Where can we start to fix the problem?
How such prejudice and discrimination creates inequality to the society.

The law, sec 377a, criminalizing sexual acts between homosexuals, encourages Singaporeans discriminate against homosexuals indirectly. Other countries have accepted same sex marriage and have laws to protect them. Homosexuals should also have the same benefits as heterosexuals. In Singapore, some teachers were being forced to quit because of their sexuality like Otto Fong, and Alfian Saat. In national service, they are downgraded to positions like clerks, and disqualified from some “sensitive” areas. All these are deemed to be discrimination and homosexual inequality.

Workable solutions for individuals and institutions

From what I have found out, these prejudice and discriminations comes from ignorance and misinformation. Unbiased sex education can help to change mindsets of people about homosexuality at large. Singaporeans are consistently taught that sexual acts between homosexuals are illegal but do not talk about why and how we should learn to accept them in our society. This is an important issue, thus this topic should be in Civic Moral Education where students can learn about it. The society can also educate homosexuality in the media, television shows, or host public homosexuality talks and events. For example, in the US, they have a “Wear a Purple Shirt Day” in honor of homosexuals that committed suicides due to bullying.

We as individuals have to learn not to stereotype and listen to people’s misconceptions, but taking initiative to learn more about homosexuality from places like, internet and books. We are more than capable of making our own decisions, and more than capable of being accepting and inclusive.

We should create an environment of diversity and acceptance for both heterosexuals and homosexuals.

http://socyberty.com/issues/prejudice-and-discrimination-on-homosexuality-in-singapore/#ixzz174Rz1JxF

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore_gay_history:_2000_to_2009_A.D.

http://www.sgwiki.com/wiki/Singapore_gay_history

http://knol.google.com/k/discrimination-against-homosexuals-in-singapore#

http://www.norc.org/GSS+Website/Browse+GSS+Variables/Subject+Index/

http://articles.cnn.com/2010-01-27/politics/obama.gays.military_1_repeal-policy-that-bars-gays-servicemembers-legal-defense-network?_s=PM:POLITICS

http://filipspagnoli.wordpress.com/stats-on-human-rights/statistics-on-discrimination/statistics-on-discrimination-of-homosexuals/

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

Social class is often defined as the amount of education, income, and status people have. As we know, getting an education is one of the most effective approaches for ensuring employment and an increase in income, which adds up to higher status or social class. Many people often do not have the income in order to pursue higher education. This gives them the title or identification of being one of the lower class groups in our society. If this remains to be the situation, then there is little hope for those people that are living below the poverty line.

I believe that evaluation research would be the best method, because it evaluates the both publicly and privately government and nonprofit programs. Sociologists use all of the collecting methods like surveys, secondary analysis and content analysis, and surveys. It is used to help the programs that are in need which can include: work-training programs and housing programs and all sorts of other programs.

The advantages of evaluation research are dealing with the social programs that are going on with society. It shows how the programs are doing compared against other programs and how they are improving in a certain amount of time and with what help from the government.

The disadvantages of evaluation research would be that it is very frustrating to find out that one program is in need of help and they are steady helping other programs that are not in need. They are also finding out that mistakes are being made and nothing is being done about them.

Agents of socialization are believed to provide the critical information needed for children to function successfully as a member of society. Some examples of such agents are family, schools, peers, and the media. Each agent of socialization is linked to another. For example, in the media, symbolic images affect both the individual and the society, making the mass media the most controversial socialization agent. Family is a fundamental social institution in society, the family, is considered the primary and most important agent of socialization. With the family taking the responsibility of nurturing, teaching the norms or accepted behaviors within the family structure and within society. There are many types of families, which can be described as a set of relationships including parents and children and can include anyone related by blood or adoption. Family is the most important, “for it is within the family that the child is first socialized to serve the needs of the society and not only its own needs. Socialization is learning the customs, attitudes, and values of a social group, community, or culture. Socialization is essential for the development of individuals who can participate and function within their societies, as well as for ensuring that a society’s cultural features will be carried on through new generations. Socialization is most strongly enforced by family, school, and peer groups and continues throughout an individual’s lifetime.

The purpose of these experiments was to see if individual would be swayed by public pressure to go along with the incorrect answer. Asch believed that conformity reflects on relatively rational process in which people are pressurized to change people’s behavior. Asch designed to measure the pressure of a group situation upon an individual judgment. Asch wanted to proof that conformity can really play a big role in disbelieving our own senses. Milgram’s experiment was done to determine whether or not the power of the situation could cause average people to conform to obedience. The results of Milgram’s experiment were astounding. The research of Milgram’s experiment had such a major impact on social psychology that we still use his findings to analyze human behavior today. Zimbardo conducted a controversial study known as the Stanford prison experiment. The experiment was a psychological study of human reactions to being imprisoned and how the effects would interfere with the normal behaviors of both authorities and the inmates in prison. Zimbardo and his team hypothesized that prison guards and convicts were self-selecting of a certain disposition that would naturally lead to poor conditions. In his explanation of groupthink, Janis describes three different types of group members: dominant members who introduce and implement their ideas upon others; consensus followers who listen and concede to others ideas; and independent thinkers who question the ideas presented and possibly introduce ideas of their own. Whether members of the group are dominant members, consensus followers, or independent thinkers who deviate from the norm, one thing is sure; impression management is a key strategy in group participation.

Society today has primarily become McDonaldized in its way of thinking and doing everyday activities. It is the process by which the principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as of the rest of the world. McDonaldization is a way of life. It affects not only the food industry, but also healthcare, education, the workplace and almost everything else we do. The reason for this is because society is becoming fast pace and there is a need for efficiency, calculability, predictability and control. Since society is fast paced, there is no time for traditional ways of doing things. People are stuck on this new way of thinking, McDonaldization. In the fast-food industry, people benefit in all areas. With the availability of fast food chains around the world people can do less work, use spare time efficiently, get more for less and know what exactly to expect when they sit down to eat something.

The conflict theory perspective is a framework for a building theory that sees society as an area of inequality generating conflict and social change. This focuses on the inequalities within our society and the conflict that they cause between the advantaged and the disadvantaged. The unequal distribution of money, gender, class, and age shows inequality. People who embrace the conflict perspective believe that gender, race, and class should not be lead to have favored treatment. Many of these people do not have marketable job skills and few means to attain them due to their lack of finances. Social class is often defined as the amount of education, income, and status people have. As we know, getting an education is one of the most effective approaches for ensuring employment and an increase in income, which adds up to higher status or social class. Many people often do not have the income in order to pursue higher education. This gives them the title or identification of being one of the lower class groups in our society. If this remains to be the situation, then there is little hope for those people that are living below the poverty line. The inequalities and conflict of social class is leading towards a social change. The federal and state governments have implemented different types of financial assistance for people that are living below the poverty line. The government has made it easier for these individuals to apply for student loans so that they may pursue higher education and job skills.

Abortion is one of the most controversial topics of all times. It has caused countless deaths and several violent confrontations between the two separate parties of opinion. The fight between pro-life and pro-choice supporters has been long and brutal. This is because, despite what several people may believe, abortion is neither right nor wrong. It is the matter of a personal opinion, where, each side can say with certainty that the other one is wrong. The controversial debate over whether same sex marriage should be legalized has gained a lot of attention in recent years and there are strong arguments for each side of the issue. There are many different factors that must be looked at when considering same-sex marriage. A marriage is not something that is just slapped on a piece of paper to show a couple’s love; it involves legal, social, economic, and spiritual issues. This idea of homosexuality is so frowned upon that no one even cares about the homosexual’s reasons for being the way they are. No one bothers to ask if they chose to be that way. Some people think that being a homosexual is a crime. People just cannot seem to grasp the fact that these men and women who are homosexual did not chose to be this way

Urbanization refers to a process in which an increasing proportion of an entire population lives in cities and the suburbs of cities. Historically, it has been closely connected with industrialization. When more and more inanimate sources of energy were used to enhance human productivity (industrialization), surpluses increased in both agriculture and industry. Larger and larger proportions of a population could live in cities. Economic forces were such that cities became the ideal places to locate factories and their workers. Urbanization has a tremendous impact on the environment and the links between the two are severely complex. A majority of the carbon emissions are released in urban cities and the clearing of land and forests and for building, developing and expansion of cities remains one of the major contributors in the augmentation of carbon levels in the environment. Additionally, transportation in urban areas, for people as well as goods and services contributes substantially to the rise in carbon dioxide in the air.

This essay will compare and contrast the concepts of ‘alienation’ and ‘anomie’. Karl Marx first outlined his theory of alienation in The Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts (1844) and refers to a define set of social relationships that were first formed in feudal societies which then became disrupted by modern industrial society. Marx himself said when discussing the topic of alienation “The worker becomes poorer the more wealth he produces and the more his production increases in power and extent. The worker becomes an ever cheaper commodity the more goods he creates. The devaluation of the human world increases in direct relation to the increase in value of the world of things. Labour does not only create goods; it also produces itself and the worker as a commodity, and indeed in the same proportion as it produces goods”. Anomie however, is defined by Emile Durkheim as a change in “normalness” and a breakdown of social regulations. Durkheim became interested in the social condition characterised by a breakdown of ‘norms’ governing social interactions. “The state of anomie is impossible wherever organs solidly linked to one another are in sufficient contact, and in sufficiently lengthy contact. Indeed, being adjacent to one another, they are easily alerted in every situation to the need for one another and consequently they experience a keen, continuous feeling of their mutual dependence.” (Durkheim, E: 1893). Durkheim went on to develop his interest of anomie further when he began his research into ‘Suicide’, where he suggested that when a person’s ‘norms’ and rules that regulate their lifestyle become week, this can lead to a form of suicide which he called ‘Anomic Suicide’.

Marx believed that there were four degrees of alienation that break down the fundamental link that human beings have to their self defining qualities. Firstly there is ‘product alienation’ which Marx believed was alienating to the worker because the products that they produce do not reflect their creative energies and are merely objects produced by the command of the employer (Ransome, P: 2010). Which he argues was present in industrialised society but not in feudal societies as a result of capitalism and its economic gain fuelled society. (Morrison, K: 2006). Secondly, Marx said that alienation could come from ‘act of production’. This, according to Marx is linked to ‘product alienation’ as the product of labour is alienating then so is the act of production. So in capitalist societies people have no choice but to work and feel alienated to meet their basic needs. Marx’s work stated that “The worker feels himself only when he is not working; when he is working he does not feel himselfaˆ¦ his labour is therefore not voluntary but forced” (Marx, K: 1844). Thirdly, Marx suggested that there was alienation due to ‘common purpose’. He outlined that this happened when a worker’s social relationships become debased and they are taken from a cooperative social dimension, for example on factory lines and in open offices. Finally the fourth alienation type that Marx wrote about was ‘alienation from humanity’. Marx believed that this happened when a person worked long hour days -as Marx wrote in the Victorian society this was extremely common- and together with the three other forms of alienation; a person lost their sense of humanity and became alienated from their own inner self (Ransome, P: 2010).

Durkheim however argued that anomie in the division of labour alike that of alienation, deprived individuals of a sense of connection with society (Ransome, P: 2010). Durkheim believed that this sense of deprivation caused people to become disorientated and anxious and saw anomie as one of the social factors that influenced suicide (Giddens, A: 2009). He argued that there were four types of suicide: Altruistic, Anomic, Egoistic and Fatalistic (Pope, W: 1976). Altruistic suicide being too much social integration, for example suicide bombers give up their life for the needs of their social group (Giddens, A: 2009). Egoistic suicide, in Durkheim’s terms was due to insufficient regulation. This can be seen in societies such as religious groups; Durkheim found that suicide was higher in the Protestant religion than it was in Catholic religious groups. He believed that this was due to the Catholic religion having a more strict regulations, so therefore people believed that it was ‘against god’ to commit suicide and also with the Catholic society being greater regulated, he believed that this closer connected society made the people have a greater sense of community and moral values so did not feel the need to commit suicide (Ransome, P: 2010). Durkheim related the low suicide rates during World War 1 to this as he believed the face of an external enemy brought about social integration (Giddens, A: 2009). Fatalistic suicide for Durkheim was due to excess regulation. This can be seen in contemporary society in prisons as people feel that they have no sense of future or self worth. However Durkheim felt that this type of suicide was of little importance in modern society but it was of specific historical interest. Historically, this is evident in the slave communities in America during the civil war (Morrison, K: 2006). Durkheim argued that Anomic suicide occurs when rules and ‘norms’ that govern a person’s lifestyle become unstable and break down. He looked at this subject of suicide by researching the suicide rates of industrial society during periods of economic crisis created by financial recession and periods of economic change. Between 1845 and 1869 in Europe, Durkheim identified that there was a rapid rise in suicide rates, which he linked to the economic state at the time as there was repeated economic crisis, which resulted in a dramatic decline in the business cycle and severe bankruptcies. He also acknowledged that there was a specific pattern of the suicide rates during this time across Europe; he found that there was a rise in the rates of suicide as the state of the economy decreased, and when the crisis deteriorated the rates fell. However as the economy worsened again, the suicides increased (Morrison, K: 2006).

When taking into account Durkheim’s theory of ‘Anomic Suicide’ and Marx’s four types of alienation, it could be argued that there are several similarities between the two social theories. ‘Alienation’ in basic terms defines the relationship that a worker -mainly- has with their productive role and their self being within society. ‘Anomie’ can be suggested to relate to this similarly as it seems that it defines a person’s self being within society and themselves. However, critiques have suggested that the theory of anomie for Durkheim was not in fact in relation to a person but it refers to society, although there are definite implications of a person’s state of mind in his works (Robinson, J; Shaver P and Wrightsman, L: 1991). When referring to the subject of anomie, social thoughts of other sociologists must be taken into account. Robert Mereton extended Durkheim’s thoughts on anomie and emphasised that an individual intensifies their anomie when they chose to discard their ‘norms’ to acquire to their intricate desires and thus anomie and deviant behaviour draw from a disjunction between a culturally prescribed aspiration of a society and socially constructed avenues for creating those aspirations (Giddens, A: 2009). Durkheim’s theory of anomie can be seen as similar to both Mereton’s interpretation of anomie and Marx’s theory of alienation in terms of isolation and disorientation. However clearly it can be seen that there is a significant difference in retrospect to money being the source of the proletarian’s lifestyle and the theory that it keeps the ruling class on top and the rest of the population down in terms of Marx’s thought of alienation, where as Durkheim dealt with the themes of attitudes and expectations of the society within his theory of anomie and people resisting and having the choice of their lifestyle rather than being forced into lifestyles alike in alienation (Perry, R: 2007).

Although Marx and Durkheim’s definitions are clearly the classical concepts of these theories, it has been suggested that contemporary society has obscured these definitions. It can be said that ‘Alienation for Marx and Anomie for Durkheim were metaphors for a radical attack on the dominant institutions and values of industrial society’. From this they take on similar issues, but in different perspectives; Marx took on the conception of the relationship between man and society and the ‘value of freedom from constraint’ through the interest of power and change. Durkheim however, was interested in the ‘transcendental value and moral constraint’ through problems with maintenance of order. When taking into account Marx and Durkheim’s research however there are critiques that need to be considered. Many people argued that Durkheim’s research on anomie and suicide could not be one hundred percent accurate; this was because it was apparent that Durkheim used other people’s research and did not conduct his own. Durkheim used suicide statistics in Germany, however these statistics were taken by Durkheim at face value and not critiqued. Also it could be argued that Durkheim’s interdependence theory may not have been completely free from his own background assumptions and laden judgement. The main article that needs to be considered when studying suicide is “How do some deaths get categorised as suicides?” according to Atkinson, J (1978). When taking into account this question it makes one consider whether the initial research and also Durkheim’s assumptions were one hundred percent because the research was conducted across Germany, with statistics from many different coroners, who each would arguably have had their own laden judgement as to what constitutes as suicide. So it is argued that Durkheim was taking what the coroner constituted as suicide so therefore the suicide categories are not objective facts but interpretations and meanings given to a particular event. Therefore to have done his research more accurately and to allow no criticisms Durkheim should have conducted his own research. He could have arguably done this by talking to people that have themselves attempted to commit and families of those who have, to find the different reasons behind the attempted or actual suicide (Atkinson, J: 1978).

One could initially argue that Capitalism is the main cause of both alienation and anomie. In anomie, Durkheim saw a number of indications relating to anomie in the late nineteenth century such as industrial conflict and marital breakup; which he believed was related to the industrial society and the growth of capitalism (Durkheim, E: 1893). However, Marx believed that alienation was aided by capitalism. He believed this as there was a fiercely competitive nature of capitalism that forced industries such as factories to step up their means of production and productivity, to gain economic status and power (Marx, K: 1844).

In conclusion, Alienation in retrospect means people becoming isolated from society as a result from industry and Anomie in retrospect is a change in normalness of their social status. It is clear from this that one could argue that alienation and anomie could both mean isolation to a person but however in different forms. So therefore it could be argued that alienation is isolation of a person from their economic status quo, and anomie is isolation of a human being from their social status quo and personal norms. However from the information throughout the essay it can also be suggested that the differences between alienation an anomie comes from the status of the concepts, as alienation is said to be relate and revolve to a person singularly, where as anomie is said to describe a social group rather than one person alone. To conclude, it can be argued that there alienation and anomie have both similar and unique concepts. This is evident from the sources used throughout the essay, however it cannot be regarded completely as research or information that is gathered is never one hundred percent reliable.