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Medicalization is term for the erroneous tendency by society-often perpetuated by health professionals to view effects of socioeconomic disadvantage as purely medical issues. It is the process by which human conditions and problems come to be defined and treated as medical conditions and problems, and thus come under the authority of doctors and other health professionals to study, diagnose, prevent or treat. The process of medicalization can be driven by new evidence or theories about conditions, or by developments in social attitudes or economic considerations, or by the development of new purported treatments. Medicalization is often claimed to bring benefits, but also costs, which may not always be clear. Medicalization is studied in terms of the role and power of professions, patients and corporations, and also for its implications for ordinary people whose self-identity and life-decisions may depend on the prevailing concepts of health and illness. Once a condition is classed as medical, a medical tends to be used rather than a social model. Medicalization may also be termed pathologization (from pathology), or in some cases disease mongering.

The concept of medicalization has educated the sociology of health and illness for many years now. Typically, it has been deliberated and examined with critical nuance, though some key thinkers within the discipline have suggested that it is not unequivocally negative. Conrad criticised and disputed that the development and growth of medical authority into domains of everyday existence was promoted by doctors and was a force of social control that was to be rejected in the name of liberation (Conrad 1973). Medicalization “describes a process by which non-medical problems become defined and treated as medical problems, usually in terms of illness or disorders” (Gabe et al. 2004:59) and likewise be simply classified as a procedure of increased medical intervention into areas which would more often than not be outside of the medical province.

The term medicalization entered academic and medical publications in the 1970s, for example in the works of figures such as Peter Conrad and Thomas Szasz. They argued that the expansion of medical authority into domains of everyday existence was promoted by doctors and was a force of social control that was to be rejected in the name of liberation. This critique was embodied in now-classic works such as Conrad’s “The discovery of hyperkinesis: notes on medicalization of deviance,” published in 1973 (hyperkinesis was the term then used to describe what we might now call ADHD).

Medicalization explains a situation which had been previously explained in a moral, religious or social terms now become defined as the subject of medical and scientific knowledge.

Many years ago for example some children were deemed and regarded as problematic, misbehaving and unruly. Some adults were shy and men who were balding just wore hats to hide it. And that was that. Nevertheless, nowadays all these descriptions could and possibly would be attributed to a type of illness or disease and be given a diagnosis or medicine to treat it in some cases. Medicalization explains this. Likewise, “medicalization has been applied to a whole variety of problems that have come to be defined as medial, ranging from childbirth and the menopause through to alcoholism and homosexuality (Gabe et al. 2006: 59). Furthermore, the term explains the process in where particular characteristics of every day life become medically explained, thus come under the authority of doctors and other health professionals to study, diagnose, prevent and or treat the problem.

Originally, the concept of medicalisation was strongly associated with medical dominance, involving the extension of medicine’s jurisdiction over erstwhile ‘normal’ life events and experiences. More recently, however, this view of a docile lay populace, in thrall to expansionist medicine, has been challenged. Thus, as we enter a post-modern era, with increased concerns over risk and a decline in the trust of expert authority, many sociologists argue that the modern day ‘consumer’ of healthcare plays an active role in bringing about or resisting medicalisation. Such participation, however, can be problematic as healthcare consumers become increasingly aware of the risks and uncertainty surrounding many medical choices. The emergence of the modern day consumer not only raises questions about the notion of medicalisation as a uni-dimensional concept, but also requires consideration of the specific social contexts in which medicalisation occurs. In this paper, we describe how the concept of medicalisation is presented in the literature, outlining different accounts of agency that shape the process. We suggest that some earlier accounts of medicalisation over-emphasized the medical profession’s imperialistic tendencies and often underplayed the benefits of medicine. With consideration of the social context in which medicalisation, or its converse, arises, we argue that medicalisation is a much more complex, ambiguous, and contested process than the ‘medicalisation thesis’ of the 1970s implied. In particular, as we enter a post-modern era, conceptualizing medicalisation as a uni-dimensional, uniform process or as the result of medical dominance alone is clearly insufficient. Indeed, if, as Conrad and Schneider (1992) suggested, medicalisation was linked to the rise of rationalism and science (ie to modernity), and if we are experiencing the passing of modernity, we might expect to see a decrease in medicalisation.

The idea of medicalization is perhaps “related only indirectly to social constructionanism, in that it does not question the basis of medical knowledge as such, but challenges its application”. Nettleton continues and states that is “draws attention to the fact that medicine operates as a powerful institution of social control” (Nettleton 2006: 25). It does this by claiming expertise in areas in life which previously were not regarded as medical problems or matters. This includes such life stages such as ageing, childbirth, alcohol consumption and childhood behaviour moreover, the “availability of new pharmacological treatments and genetic testing intensifies these processesaˆ¦ thus it constructs, or redefines, aspects of normal life as medical problems”. (Conrad and Schneider 1990 as cited in Nettleton 2006: 25).

Medicalization can occur on three different and particular levels according to Conrad and Schneider (1980). The first was explained as “conceptually when a medical vocabulary is used to define a problem”. In some instances, doctors do not have to be involved and an example if this is AA.

The second was the institutional level, “institutionally, when organizations adopt a medical approach to treating a problem in which they specialise” and the third was “at the level of doctor – patient interaction when a problem is defined as a medical and medical treatment occurs” (as cited in Gabe et al 2004:59). These examples all involve doctors and their treatments directly, not including alcoholism which has other figures to help people such as the AA.

The third level was the “interactional level” and this was where the problem, social problem, becomes defined as medical and medicalization occurs as part of a doctor-patient interaction.

Medicalization shows the shifting ideas about health and illness. Health and illness does not only include such things as influenza or the cold, but deviant behaviours. Deviant behaviours which were once merely described as criminal, immoral or naughty before have now been labelled with medical meanings. Conrad and Schneider “five-staged sequential process” of medicalizing deviant behaviour.

Stage one involves the behaviour itself as being deviant. ‘Chronic drunkenness’ was regarded merely as “highly undesirable”, before it was medically labelled as ‘chronic drunkenness’. The second stage “occurs when the medical conception of a deviant behaviour is announced in a professional medical journey” according to Conrad and Schneider.

A prominent thinker in the idea of medicalization was Ivan Illich, who studied it profusely and was very influential, in fact being one of the earliest philosophers to use the term “medicalization”. Illich’s appraisal of professional medicine and particularly his use of the term medicalization lead him to become very influential within the discipline and is quoted to have said that “Modern medicine is a negation of health. It isn’t organized to serve human health, but only itself, as an institution. It makes more people sick than it heals.”

Illich attributed medicalization “to the increasing professionalization and bureaucratization of medical institutions associated with industrialization” (Gabe et al 2004: 61). He supposed that due to the development of modern medicine, it created a reliance on medicine and doctors thus taking away peoples ability to look after themselves and “engage in self care”.

In his book “Limits to medicine: Medical nemesis” (1975) Illich disputed that the medical profession in point of fact harms people in a process known as ‘iatrogenesis’. This can be elucidated as when there is an increase in illness and social problems as a direct result of medical intervention. Illich saw this occurring on three levels.

The first was the clinical iatrogenesis. These involved serious side-effects which were are often worse than the original condition. The negative effects of the clinical intervention outweighed the positive and it also conveyed the dangers of modern medicine. There were negative side effects of medicine and drugs, which included poisoning people. In addition, infections which could be caught in the hospital such as MRSA and errors caused my medical negligence.

The second level was the social iatrogenesis whereby the general public is made submissive and reliant on the medical profession to help them cope with their life in society. Furthermore all suffering is hospitalised and medicine undermines health indirectly because of its impact on social organisation of society. In the process people cease to give birth, for example, be sick or die at home

And the third level is cultural iatrogenesis, which can also be referred to as the structural. This is where life processes such as aging and dying become “medicalized” which in the process creates a society which is not able to deal with natural life process thus becoming a culture of dependence. Moreover, people are dispossessed of their ability to cope with pain or bereavement for example as people rely on medicine and professionals. (Illick 1975)

Sociologists such as Ehrenreich and English had argued that women’s bodies were being medicalized. Menstruation and pregnancy had come to be seen as medical problems requiring interventions such as hysterectomies. Nettleton furthered this notion and discussed this in relation to childbirth. The Medicalization of childbirth is as a result of professional dominance. She stated that “the control of pregnancy and childbirth has been taken over by a predominantly male medical profession”.

Medicine can thus be regarded as patriarchal and exercising an undue social control over women’s lives. From conception to the birth of the baby, the women are closely monitored thus medical monitoring and intervention in pregnancy & childbirth are now routine processes. Childbirth is classified as a ‘medical problem’ therefore “it becomes conceptualized in terms of clinical safety, and women are encouraged to have their babies in hospitals”. This consequently results in women being dependent on medical care.

Nevertheless recent studies and evidence have shown that it may actually be safer to have babies at home because “there would have been less susceptible to infection and technocological interference” (Oakley 1884, as cited in Nettleton 2006: 26)

“Medicalization combines phenomenological and Marxist approaches of health and illnessaˆ¦ in that it considers definitions of illness to be products of social interactions or negotiations which are inherently unequal” (Nettleton 2006: 26). Marxism discussed medicalization and linked it with oppression, arguing that medicine can disguise the underlying causes of disease which include poverty and social inequality. In the process they see health as an individual problem, rather than a society’s problem.

Medicalization is studied in terms of the role and power of professions, patients and corporations, and also for its implications for ordinary people whose self-identity and life-decisions may depend on the prevailing concepts of health and illness. Once a condition is classed as medical, a medical model of disability tends to be used rather than a social model. “It constructs, or redefines, aspects of normal life as medical problems” (Nettleton 2006: 26).

Medicalization has been referred to as “the processes by which social phenomena come to be perceived and treated as illnesses”. It is the process in by issues and experiences that have previously been accounted for in religious, moral, or social contexts then become defined as the subject of scientific medical knowledge.

The idea itself questions the belief that physical conditions themselves constitute an illness. It argues that the classification and identification of diseases is socially constructed and. It has been suggested that medicine is seen as being instilled with subjective assumptions of the society in which it developed. Moreover, it argues that the classification and identification of diseases is socially constructed and, along with the rest of science, is far from achieving the ideals of objectivity and neutrality. The medical thesis “has much to recommendaˆ¦including the creation of new understanding of the social processes involved in the development and response to medical diagnosis and treatment”

To understand the level of social power that the medical community exercises through medicalization, Conrad explains that physicians have medicalized social deviance. They accomplish this by claiming the medical basis of matters such as hyperactivity, madness, alcoholism and compulsive gambling [Conrad, p 107]. By medicalizing social matters, medical professionals have the power to legitimize negative social behavior, such as the case of suspected killers in judicial courts who claim temporary insanity and are, therefore, exonerated on medical basis [Conrad, p 111]. In extending this concept, the Endocrine Society may have medicalized social deviance in men who reduce their work motivation or become characteristically unpleasant because they are experiencing andropause. In effect, despondency in older men might become an indicator of male menopause rather than a possible indicator of social deviance.

Physicians also play a direct and significant role in the medicalization of social experiences. In analyzing the doctor-patient interaction of medicalization, Kaw argues that medical professionals have medicalized racial features by encouraging cosmetic surgery among Asian American women, for example, in order to avoid the stereotypical physical features of “small” and “slanty” eyes that are often associated with passivity, dullness and lack of sociability [Kaw, p 75]. Kaw asserts that plastic surgeons use medical terms to “problematize the shape of their eyes so as to define it as a medical condition [Kaw, p 81].” Their use of technical terms and expressions should be questioned, especially since the power of such language influences Asian American women to pursue cosmetic surgery, when it is not necessary [Kaw, p 82]. Analogously, the Endocrine Society medicalized testosterone deficiency by defining it as Andropause; this helped perpetuate the notion, among older individuals, that if they lack sexual drive or sense depression and fatigue, they should seek medical attention because they are experiencing an acute medical condition rather than a stage in the physiological cycle.

The role played by the health care structures in medicalizing conditions is enhanced by that of the pharmaceutical industry. In order to achieve implementation of a drug in the market, the medicalization of a problem is critical [Conrad, p 111]. Once a medical definition for male menopause was established, the pharmaceutical company further medicalized the problem by launching strong advertisement campaigns aimed at older men and physicians alike, so as to popularize the drug among the general public and medical community [Groopman, 2002]. In a Time magazine advertisement, the industry appealed to the emotions of older men by linking “low sex drive” to the decline of testosterone levels rather than to a life process [Groopman 2002].” In this manner, the pharmaceutical industries’ profit based ideology facilitates the medicalization of testosterone deficiency by popularizing conditions that may be exceedingly common among health product consumers.

Medicalization also changes patients’ ideologies of biomedicine and leads them to believe that biomedicine must not only offer cure for illnesses, but also offer life enhancements. Similar to the way that impotence and hair loss was medicalized by promoting drugs like Viagra to enhance sexual performance, and solutions like Rogaine for hair re-growth, male menopause has been medicalized because it causes low “sex drive” among other general symptoms [Groopman, 2002]. As a consequence, older men will opt to not only seek but demand life enhancements achievable through medicine disregarding the fact that such treatments can be detrimental to health. In fact, Groopman states that known side effect of testosterone therapy include abnormal enlargement of the breasts, testicular shrinkage, congestive heart failure and enlargement of the prostate gland [Groopman, 2002]. Medicalizing a problem can be harmful and deadly, yet medical professionals perpetuate this dangerous behavior by medicalizing conditions that patients may seek to treat for their personal “wellbeing”

It is important to realize that medicalization is not merely the result of “medical imperialism” but rather the interactive process that involves society and the health community; [Conrad, p 115]. It includes patients and doctors alike. Nonetheless, awareness of the mechanisms by which the medical community affects society is important because medicine pertains to all health consumers. Male menopause only serves as one of the many examples of life experiences that have become medicalized by the healthcare community.

Concluding this essay, the concept of medicalization started with the medical dominance which involved the increase of medicine’s influence and labelling over things regarded as ‘normal’ life events and experiences. However in recent time, this view of a submissive lay populace, in thrall to expansionist medicine, has been challenged. As a consequence, as we enter a post-modern era, with increased concerns over risk and a decline in the trust of expert authority, many sociologists argue “that the modern day ‘consumer’ of healthcare plays an active role in bringing about or resisting medicalization”. Furthermore “Such participationaˆ¦can be problematic as healthcare consumers become increasingly aware of the risks and uncertainty surrounding many medical choices”. Moreover “the emergence of the modern day consumer not only raises questions about the notion of medicalisation as a uni-dimensional concept, but also requires consideration of the specific social contexts in which medicalisation occurs” (Ballard and Elston 2005). In addition they suggest that as we enter a post-modern era, conceptualizing medicalisation as a uni-dimensional or as the result of medical dominance primarily is insufficient.

The above statistics alone should immediately indicate that the negative effects of media violence on the minds of young people cannot help but be substantial, and may in fact lead to social violence on the part of those exposed. However, the fact is that even after decades of ongoing research, there remains a debate as to whether media violence substantially contributes to social violence (Haugen & Musser, 2008).

To provide context to the ongoing debate, it is helpful to first define the two key terms discussed in this essay, namely ‘media violence’ and ‘social violence.’ As noted by North, Wallis and Weingast (2009), the term ‘social violence’ technically refers to violent activities engaged in by people as a group. This would include violence associated with riots, revolutions, and gang warfare. However, for the purposes of this essay, the term is defined far more broadly as behavior that is aggressive and/or abusive and which results in, or has the potential to result in, some form of injury to one or more others. This is the definition used in most of the existing studies of media violence and social violence.

Haugen and Musser (2008) note that there are differing views as to what precisely is meant by the term ‘media violence,’ but that typically it refers to various gradations of violence presented by differing forms of electronic or film media such as television programs, computer games, and movies. The gradations considered to be within the domain of media violence can and do differ from research study to research study. However, the authors inform that a good deal of the decades long debate over media violence and social violence is more political than scientific.

Specifically, Haugen and Musser (2008) state that there are two schools of sociopolitical thought as to whether or not media violence actually causes real-life violence—–and these are both trying to use research on media violence to advance their particular perspective. One school of thought blames media violence for social violence and wants to censor certain content in order to protect children. The other side views censorship, even if relatively weak in scope, as a slippery slope to increasingly levels of censorship not only of violence but many other types of expressions within society. It is important to keep this in mind when evaluating the existing research.

It can be noted here that the central thesis of this paper is that there is sufficient evidence of a substantial relationship between media violence and social violence; however, social violence is multi-causal and media violence is likely to exert maximal effects if additional causal and contributory factors are operative. This thesis is supported in this paper by an extensive review of the existing research on media violence demonstrating exposure to be followed by engagement in antisocial behavior and aggression.

The Connection Between Media Violence and Social Violence
Effects on Children and Adolescents

Browne and Hamilton-Giachritsis (2005) compiled a comprehensive review of the literature on the effects of media violence on the social violence and aggression of both children and adolescents using the findings of five meta-analytic reviews and one quasi-systematic review, all of which were from North America. The studies covered television violence, film violence, and video and computer game violence. Some of the most important of their findings were:

1. In the average home, children’s television programming exposes a child to 20 to 25 violent actions each hour; moreover, violent offenders in children’s programming sometimes go without punishment and the offenders themselves seldom show any remorse for the violence.

2. During both childhood and adolescence, the amount of time watching television violence is positively related to several antisocial behaviors such as threatening aggression, assault or physical fights resulting in injury, and to robbery.

In general, the review presented by Browne and Hamilton-Giachritsis (2005) led the authors to conclude that violent images in the media can substantially affect children and adolescents’ thoughts and emotions in a manner that makes them both more fearful and more aggressive. Browne and Hamilton-Giachritsis also reported that several other factors figure into the commission of social violence which makes the link between social violence and media violence significant but small. However, they point out that the effect sizes observed in meta-analytic studies of media violence and subsequent social violence show that even this small relationship exerts a substantial effect on the general public health in terms of the consequences of social violence to the victim and to the families of both the victim and the perpetrator of the violence.

Regarding the point made by Hamilton-Giachritsis (2005), it is helpful to briefly look at the statistics associated with social violence. In this regard, Santamour (2008) reports that acts of violence are associated with heavy human and economic costs. In his study, Santamour examined violence-related hospitalizations in the United States. He observed that hospital costs as a result of social violence totaled $2.3 billion dollars per year and were primarily the result of assaults and/or physical and emotional abuse. A clear gender difference was also noted which Santamour reports as follows:

Boys and men accounted for 82.4 percent of hospital stays resulting from assaults; girls and women accounted for 63.9 percent related to maltreatment and 58.5 percent resulting from self-inflicted violence. Young adults, 18 to 44 years old, made up 68.3 percent of assault-related stays and 62 percent associated with self-inflicted violence. (p. 1)

When considering that media violence contributes to statistics such as these, it is difficult to think of any connection between it and social violence is weak.

In another study of media violence and social violence, Bushman and Huesmann (2006) found that exposure to media violence was positively related to aggressive behavior, anger, and aggressive ideas in children, teens, and adults. It was also found that media violence had a negative effect on the helping behaviors of all groups, making them far less likely to help others in need. However, it was also found that the group most vulnerable to the effects of media violence were young children. This was said to be because young children were more easily impressionable; also, they had a harder time telling the difference between fantasy and reality. In addition, young children learn best by observing and then imitating behavior, making them more apt to engage in violent behavior.

Adding to the idea that media violence is directly related to social violence, Haugen and Musser (2008) report that the connection between media violence and social violence has already been accepted as fairly substantial by six major medical groups. These groups are the: American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, American Psychological Association, American Medical Association, American Academy of Family Physicians, and the American Psychiatric Association. Further, the authors also noted that each of these medical organizations hold that media violence leads children to increase their levels of antisocial behavior and to become less sensitive to violence as well as victims of violence.

Haugen and Musser (2008) also states that these medical groups warn that children exposed to long-term and frequent media violence are likely to develop a view of the world as violent and mean and to become more fearful of being a victim of the world’s violence than children who are not exposed to frequent/long-term media violence. Even more alarming is that the children who are exposed to frequent media violence over a lengthy period of time often show a desire to see yet more violence in their entertainment as well as in real life, and they come to see violence as a legitimate way to settle conflicts. These desires and attitudes, in turn, make them more likely to engage in social violence both as children and as adolescents and, in some cases, even as adults.

The foregoing literature provides fairly strong support for the idea that even a weak causal contribution between media violence and social violence can be viewed as substantial in terms of its costs and its escalating effects on people over time. However, this effect does have to be considered in light of all of the factors that drive people to commit violent acts against others. The next section of this essay considers the effects of media violence in relation to the other contributors of social violence.

Multifactorial Nature of Social Violence and Contribution of Media Violence

Kirsh (2006) reports that many factors are involved in the commission of social violence and as just demonstrated in the above review, one of these factors is media violence. However, its effects can vary depending upon the manner in which the violence is presented. If the violence presented in the media lacks consequences and/or is justified, and/or is associated with reward, it can have a very negative effect on children and teens, making them more likely to engage in such behavior. However, if the presented media violence shows that the offender is punished for the violence, then it can lessen children’s tendencies toward aggressive behavior.

In addition, the type of character or personality that engages in the presented violence can also have an effect. According to Kirsh (2006), if the violence is undertaken by an attractive person or by a charismatic hero——and the child or adolescent identifies with the perpetrator—–then it is likely that the negative effect of the violence will be stronger, making the viewer more likely to engage in similar behavior. Furthermore, Kirsh reports that if the child’s full attention is focused on the screen presenting the violence with minimal or no distractions breaking this focus, the impact will be greater. Finally, if the child views the show and its violence as realistic and reflective of ‘real life,’ then the effects will be stronger.

In what is now considered a ‘seminal study of media violence,’ the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Surgeon General (2001) concluded that there is a relationship between media violence and some social violence including homicide, forcible rape, aggravated assault, and robbery. However, it was also noted that there is a problem with the research that makes knowing whether there is a causal connection between media violence and social violence difficult to scientifically report. Regarding the nature of the problem, it is stated that:

Although there is clear scientific evidence of a correlation between exposure to media violence and some violent behaviors, randomized experiments-the research methodology best suited to determining causality-cannot ethically be used in studies of violent behavior. (p. 1)

It was stated that the best that could be done is to study the effects of media violence and how it affects certain aggressive behaviors in children and adolescence. These studies were said to provide at least indirect evidence of causality. For example, the Surgeon General (2001) reports that longitudinal studies reliably show that if children are exposed to media violence, as they grow older they become more likely to exhibit aggressiveness due to the increase in the amount of media violence exposure. This connection makes it seem very reasonable to believe that there is also some causal contribution of media violence to social violence in various forms of violent antisocial behavior and crime.

But if there is a causal connection, how strong is it and what other factors also contribute to social violence? According to the Surgeon General’s (2001) early study of youth violence, as well as a more recent study by Coyne (2007), what makes media violence likely to impact on any given child is its relationship to a host of several social violence risk factors. These risk factors include: individual risk factors; family risk factors; school risk factors; peer group risk factors; and neighborhood and community risk factors. Specifically, to the extent that one or more of these factors is present in a child’s life, they are likely to make the child more prone to both violent behavior as well as the negative effects of media violence.

The social violence risk factors discussed by both the Surgeon General (2001) and Coyne (2007) can be delineated as follows:

1. Individual factors – A child and/or adolescent is most likely to be at risk for the negative effects of media violence and social violence if the child is male, if there is substance use, if the child’s personality or temperament is already somewhat aggressive possibly as a result of a health condition such as hyperactivity, if the IQ is low, and if the child is generally antisocial in attitudes and beliefs. One point that can be noted here is that the Council on Communications and Media (2009) states that individual factors can also protect a child from the negative effects of media violence. These protective factors include the child having a high IQ, and a positive social orientation. Further, if the child shows a low tolerance for deviance and views transgressions as usually punished, this also would reduce or even eradicate any negative effects of media violence.

2. Neighborhood and Community Factors – Living in a deteriorating community or neighborhood can put a child or adolescent more at risk for the negative effects of media violence. For example, poor neighborhoods where drugs and gangs are present increase the risk. High crime areas also place a child at risk for social violence that is exacerbated by exposure to media violence.

3. Family Risk Factors – If the child’s family is poor, he or she is more at risk for the negative effects of media violence. If his/her parents are antisocial and/or have a poor relationship with the child, these factors can also increase the risk. Other family factors that place children at risk for the negative effects of media violence include: parental separation (broken home), abusive parents, neglect, harsh discipline and/or a lack of discipline, poor mental health of parents, and the presence of a good deal of conflict in the home.

As with individual factors, there are some familial/parental factors that can give the child some protection from the negative effects of media violence (as well as other forms of violence). According to Ferguson, San Miguel and Hartley (2009), these protective family factors include having good relationships with parents, and positive evaluations from peers. Steady and consistent, but not overly harsh, parental monitoring and discipline can also be protective.

4. School Factors – How a child feels about school can also affect the impact of media violence on the child. If his or her attitude is positive, the child will be less likely to be impacted; but if the attitude is negative, the risk is increased. Academic performance operates in a similar manner. School failure and low grades make a child more vulnerable to the negative effects of media violence, while good school performance has the opposite effects. Lee and Kim (2004) points out that one of the strongest school risk factors is bullying. If a child is bullied, he becomes very vulnerable to seeing some form of retributive violence as the answer to his problem and this tendency can be strongly exacerbated by media violence.

5. Peer Risk Factors – The nature of a child or adolescent’s peers can have a significant impact on the effects of media violence. If the child has strong ties to antisocial peers, then the impact is more negative. However, if most of the child’s friends behave in prosocial ways, then this will act as a protective factor.

Media Violence and Crime

The foregoing section of the review indicated that media violence operates conjointly with other factors to elevate a child’s risk for social violence. However, there are many forms of social violence, one of which is violent crime. This section of the essay examines the question: Is media violence directly related to the commission of violent crime? According to Coyne (2007), while many studies of media violence and violent crime do show at least a weak connection, they suffer from the fact that they are, in large part, laboratory-based investigations. Furthermore, such studies primarily rest on studies of aggressive urges or tendencies rather than examining real criminal behavior to see if those engaging in it have a history of watching violence in the media.

Coyne (2007) attempted to remedy the forgoing problem by examining longitudinal research with offender populations. It was stated that, “When integrated with other long-term studies on the development of crime, it is concluded that the link between media violence and crime is weak after other environmental factors are taken into account.” However, the fact remains that until there can be some good control for other contributors to criminal violence, it will remain difficult to know the extent to which there is a direct causal relationship between media violence and criminal violence. Failure to definitively establish a causal link is due to the fact that in studies which are significant statistically, these other factors often act as confounding variables. Nonetheless, it seems reasonable to state that the ongoing, now decades long, findings of elevations in aggressiveness in relation to media violence strongly suggest that there may be more than a weak connection.

Conclusions

The central thesis of this essay was that media violence substantially contributes to social violence where social violence was defined in the broad sense of aggressive and/or antisocial behavior that results in or can result in injury to one or more others. The key question that must be asked is whether the reviewed literature on media violence supported this thesis?

The answer to the above question is somewhat complex. The literature clearly indicated that media violence can lead to children and adolescents engaging in aggression and violent behavior. Moreover, it also showed that the degree to which said behavior is engaged in can differ depending on length of media violence exposure. The reviewed literature also demonstrated that the nature of the violence presentation and the strength of distracted focus can both operate to make it more likely that social violence will be engaged in by children and/or adolescents. This indicates that there is a real effect being exerted by media violence on children. However this conclusion needs some modification.

Social violence, as defined in this essay, is multi-determined which means that there are many contributors which, taken together or in part, operate to make a child and/or adolescent engage in social violence. Media violence is one of these and indications are that it can substantially contribute to social violence in the sense that it exacerbates the effects on social violence caused by other factors such as having conflict in the family, living in a gang ridden and poor neighborhood, doing poorly in school, and so forth. Media violence not only exerts a substantial contribution to social violence in this manner, it also exerts an effect in terms of the negative outcomes of social violence on the lives of the people who are involved in it. Thus, it seems reasonable to conclude that based on all of the reviewed findings, media violence does exert a substantial effect on social violence even though it is not the only contributor.

(Part B): Evaluate the usefulness of Durkheims concept of the sacred for understanding important forms of meaning and value in contemporary society. Emile Durkheim was a French positive sociologist and structural functionalist. During his lifetime, he devoted himself to studies and research on sociological phenomena including religion (The Elementary Forms of The Religious Life), suicide (Suicide), crime (On the Normality of Crime) and war (Who Wanted War?). This paper will concentrate on how the Durkheimian concept of the sacred (as opposed to the profane in his dichotomy) should be evaluated in the modern society and its impact on contemporary academic research and discussion. Therefore, I will deal with the following issues respectively:

The Durkheimian definition of the sacred: the sacred-profane dichotomy;

The value of the concept of the sacred and critique;

The sacred since Durkheim: recent development and perspectives.

The Durkheimian definition of the sacred: the sacred-profane dichotomy

At the beginning of his manoeuvre The Elementary Forms of The Religious Life, Durkheim proposed a theory of religion based on a sacred-profane opposition, which consists of the separation of different aspects of social life, tangible objects and human behaviours into two antithetical broad categories. Focusing on the concept of the sacred alone, Durkheim defined it as ‘things set apart’, more precisely, as “fundamental forms of power, meaning and purity qualitatively different to other aspects of social life”. Hence, it seems that the profane is defined in a residual way, as the absence of the opposite of the sacred. He then formulated a radical argument that such dualism is present in all known religious beliefs. Therefore, it appears that the dualist theory lies at the heart of any religious belief and without it, no religion can ever come into existence: “Religious beliefs are those representations that express the nature of sacred things and the relations they have with other sacred things or with profane things aˆ¦ rites are rules of conduct that prescribe how man must conduct himself with sacred things”. Thereby, the sacred is the only phenomenon capable of uniting all religions.

It is interesting to compare the “scared” of Durkheim with the “holy” in the eyes of Rudolf Otto, author of The Idea of the Holy (1917). According to Otto, the holy is rooted in people’s emotional attachments and apprehension of something indefinitely superior. In contrast, the Durkheimian sacred is an utterly “fluid”, unimaginable or unthinkable concept, which might include anything: after all, what truly distinguishes the sacred from the profane is a social act of separation or division: “The soldier who fall defending his flag certainly does not believe he has sacrificed himself to a piece of cloth”.

Nevertheless, it is noteworthy that the concept of the sacred remains highly ambiguous. It is clear that the sacred cannot be simply replaced by “the divine”, the “pure” or “the good”. Rather, Durkheim referred to another aspect of the sacred encompassing “misfortune, anything that is ominous, and anything that motivates feelings of disquiet or fear” and even “evil and impure powers, bringers of disorder, causes of death and sickness, instigators of sacrilege”. Hence, the antithetical concepts such as the fortunate and the unfortunate, the pure and the impure are both constituting elements of sacredness. Furthermore, Durkheim observed that the borderline between these different facets of sacredness was blurred, but did not feel any necessity of reconciling the conflicting aspects, since “[The] two poles of religious life correspond to the two opposite states through which all social life passes. There is the same contrast between the lucky and the unlucky sacred as between the states of collective euphoria and dysphoria.”

The value of the concept of the sacred and critique

Significance of the concept of the sacred

By grounding on the division between the sacred and the profane, Durkheim elaborated the Australian totemism which is recognised as one of the most primitive religions: “Totemism places figurative representations of the totem in the first rank of the things it considers sacred; then come the animals or plants whose name the clan bears, and finally the members of the clan”. However, Durkheim formulated a further proposition that the totem and the sacred are inextricably linked with each other. In other words, the totem is the symbol of some supernatural force which he named mana. In his view, the sacred should be the form in which the society reveals itself to individuals.

We now examine what renders Durkheim’s view on the sacred so attractive. There appears to be a set of reasons:

Firstly, the sacred which transcends the society in division in terms of ethnicity, social class and religious belief seem to be the key to the understanding of social conflicts and the role played by social institutions in resolving these conflicts. Being a common feature displayed in all religious beliefs, the sacred is also essential to a better understanding of different religions, despite their diversity and divergence.

Secondly, Durkheim argued that the sacred is a necessity for human existence. As human beings are social and political animals in Aristotle’s view, there must be some socially bonding force which provides a deeper meaning of life (i.e. a spiritual meaning) and thereby binding different groups of individuals to common sacred society. More particularly, Durkheim refers to ancient Rome which was characterised by corporations offering people collective representations. Through rituals and ceremonies, these corporations play a fundamental role in unifying community members and linking them to the state. Concerned about the adverse impact brought about by modernity within a capitalistic system, Durkheim emphasised on the importance that individuals must reconnect with each other and re-establish some self-identity and meaning of life.

Critique

The Durkheimian concept of the sacred is equally subject to criticism. Firstly, it must be borne in mind that his view is far from being a general or universal theory of the society. Nowadays, most modern societies are no longer organised around a single form of the sacred and there is no set of institutionalized values and morals to guide people. It is even questionable whether there are some common forms of sacredness any more. More importantly, sacred forms are not “timeless”, but emerge through specific historical processes. Hence, the divergence of sacred commitments in the contemporary world even renders it harder for social institutions to play their role of public restitution after a breach of sacred forms (e.g. BBC and the DEC appeal for Gaza).

Secondly, as has been seen, the sacred is a morally ambiguous phenomenon and it is extremely difficult to separate the “pure” and “impure” aspects of sacredness. G. Lynch radically questioned about the necessity of the sacred: “Do we even need the sacred? Can we live by more mundane, everyday social bonds? Or collective rituals with minimal sacred content?” We must admit that Christmas is, unfortunately, a more commercial than sacred “ritual”.

What appears more problematic is the distinction between the sacred and the profane. Quoting Durkheim: “Religious and profane life cannot coexist in the same space” and “religious and profane life cannot coexist in the same time”. This is highly debatable, since such mutual repulsion between the two poles of religion is not self-evident. Some scholars went further and suggested that the Durkheim antithesis is fundamentally flawed: Evans-Pritchard does not hesitate to say that he has “never found that the dichotomy of sacred and profane was of much use for either purpose”. Moreover, British anthropologists challenged the applicability of the Durkheimian theory to the real-life situations. W. E. H. Stanner found that it was impossible to apply the distinction unambiguously. Jack Goody argued that “it was very much a product of European religious thought rather than a universally applicable criterion”.

Nevertheless, the Durkheimian theory should be understood in light of the context of his writing, which is a time when the society was undergoing constant change and general disorder. Thereby, Durkheim felt the necessity of reorganising the society around a strong center of sacred norms and ideologies. Interestingly, in his Emile Durkheim, His Life and Work, Steven Lukes suggests that Durkheim was “obsessed” with dualisms. As we see, Durkheim elaborated the concept of the sacred alone and merely defined the profane in a residual manner, as the opposite of the sacred.

The sacred since Durkheim: recent development and perspectives of neo-Durkheimism

In his The Living and the Dead, W. Lloyd Warner analysed Memorial Day rites which united the society as large with sacred national heroes such as Lincoln and Washington. In his eyes, the rites “are a modern cult of the dead and conform to Durkheim’s definition of sacred collective representations”. By referring to the Durkheimian sacred, R. Bellah developed his concept of “American civil religion”-“a collection of beliefs, symbols, and rituals with respect to sacred things and institutionalized in a collectivity”.

(1615 words inclusive footnotes exclusive bibliography)

Since the Enlightenment, social scientists tried to use philosophical concepts to understand the social world, and one of the concepts is epistemology which means the study of knowledge. Above this, there are two distinct approaches, positivism and interpretivism. The first one focuses on objective knowledge, as universal truth of the social world, that is to say knowledge be gained through observation. The modern academic discipline of sociology began with the studying of Emile Durkheim, who is an extremely important French sociologist and the founding father of positivism. He pointed out the social sciences are a logical extension of the natural sciences into the land of human behavior, and insisted that they may keep the same objectivity, rationalism, and approach to causality(Wacquant, 1992). The other approach called interpretivism, which is also known as antipositivism. In contrast to positivism, interpretivism focuses on subjective knowledge, it means that knowledge is built in the mind, and affected by personal experience. In addition, studying humans’ subjective experiences may cause the obtainment of knowledge. Max Weber was a key proponent of interpretivism, arguing for the study of social action through interpretive ways, based on understanding the purpose and meaning that individuals attach to their own actions (Macionis, 2012). Above these two founding fathers of sociology, the theories and methods are relatively different. Therefore, this essay will account the comparison and contact about their theories and methods to make a better understanding. Finally, there are four sections in this paper, section one and two will describe the detailed theories and methods supported by Durkheim and Weber respectively. The comparisons and the contacts will in section 3.

Emile Durkheim’s theory and method

Auguste Comte effectively sought to extend and apply the scientific method found in the natural sciences to the social sciences, this sociological positivism influence on Durkheim’s thought (Calhoun, 2002). According to Comte, two of theories are developed by Durkheim which are social fact and suicide method.

2.1 Social Fact

“A social fact is every way of acting, fixed or not, capable of exercising on the individual an external constraint; or again, every way of acting which is general throughout a given society, while at the same time existing in its own right independent of its individual manifestations”(Durkheim, 1895, pp.13). For Durkheim, sociology was the science of social facts. By definition, social fact is that social structures that exist independently of the individual. In this theory, the key point is social structures which include institutions, traditions and beliefs, and patterns of behavior (Dictionary of the Social Sciences). Durkheim’s work around this, and argued that “a social fact must be sought among the antecedent social facts and not among the states of the individual consciousness” (Durkheim, 1895, pp.13). That is to say, social fact is an independent existence greater and more objective than the activities of the individuals that combine society. Though such study, sociology could determine whether a given society is ‘healthy’ or ‘pathological’, and seek social reform to negate organic breakdown. In his study social fact is not equal to social phenomenon, the studying of social phenomenon is not a person’s subjective activity, but it is a kind of objective existence, and the social fact once happens, it will affect the individuals in society.

2.2 Suicide method

Durkheim also attempted to find out whether human behavior was caused by social structures, rather than an individual’s mental formal. Among his researches, his seminal monograph, Suicide (1897), was published. In Suicide (1897), Durkheim explores the different suicide rates among Protestants and Catholics, discussing that stronger social control like Catholics lead to lower suicide rates. As Durkheim’s researcher, Catholic society has normal levels while Protestant society has low levels. Overall, suicide rates are not caused by non-social factors, such as race, genetics, mental disorder, climate, season of the year, in addition, suicide rates are caused by social factors, such as religious faith, marital status, employment, and sudden change in income (Calhoun, 2002). Thus Durkheim treated suicide as a social fact, explaining there are such things as ‘social facts’ that influence an individual’s behaviour. In Durkheim’s though, suicide is not only the collection of personal behavior, it has the feature model of this phenomenon. In spirit of its limitations, Durkheim’s studying on suicide has influenced supporters of control theory, also it is often supposed as a classic sociological study. The theory founded modern positivism and served to decide social science from psychology and political philosophy (Poggi, 2000).

2.3 Method using

With positivism, social scientists started to ‘import’ or borrow views, assumptions and methods of research from physics, chemistry, and particularly anatomy. In the methodology, Durkheim also developed the functional analysis of sociological research principles. In his book, Rules of the Sociological Method (1895), when a society is unchanging it could be affirmed as being healthy and normal; when a society is in opposition it could be understood as abnormal. This description is similar as anatomy, when all the structures in the body are healthy, the body is healthy and normal; when one organ does not work, the whole body is affected and its behaviour is abnormal. In addition, researchers would need to exclude the emotional factors, moral judgment, and prejudices interference, and stand on the standpoint of neutrality. From the social fact with stability, the description of the phenomenon is scientific (Allan, 2005).

Max Weber’s theory and method

Different from Durkheim, the key theory is called “Verstehen ” which is the interpretive understanding of social action, and though this studying, ‘ideal types is the main method Weber used.

3.1 Verstehen

Verstehen is a German word; in general it is in the situation of German philosophy and social sciences. Verstehen involves an understanding of what someone is thinking, which needs an understanding of the culture that individuals live in. Weber thought of sociology as a science of social behavior. He believed that studying why individuals do the things they do is the basic foundation of sociology, this is the concept he termed Verstehen. In addition, He argued that sociologists should not just study a group of people but also try to improve an empathetic understanding for the individuals in that group (Udehn, 2001). There is a phrase which is “put yourself in his shoes”. This is the same as what Verstehen describe: developing an understanding of social action from the insider’s point of view in order to better understand the exchanges within a group and the group’s determination. This, in turn, helps to describe how groups of people make sense of the world around them, how they fit into society as a whole, and how they’ve helped society evolve over time(Udehn, 2001). Weber put value to understanding and meaning of key elements – not just with perception or consideration with the individual but also the creation of “systematic and rigorous research”. The aim is to identify human behavior and understanding them as observable events leading us to believe that it not only delivers for a great explanation for human behavior but also for group interactions. The meaning attached needs to include constraints and limitations and analyze the motivation for action. Weber thought that this gives the sociologist a benefit above a natural scientist because “We can accomplish something which is never attainable in the natural sciences, namely the subjective understanding of the action of the component individuals” (Weber, 1968, p. 15).

3.2 Method using

One of the methods Weber used to study his objects of analysis was ‘ideal types’. It means an abstract summary of the common features of complex social phenomena. For Weber, one of many subjective basics which certainly discriminate sociology from natural science is social science depends on the construction of hypothetical concepts in the abstract. Therefore, ideal type is a subjective division in social theory. Weber wrote: “An ideal type is formed by the one-sided accentuation of one or more points of view and by the synthesis of a great many diffuse, discrete, more or less present and occasionally absent concrete individual phenomena, which are arranged according to those one-sidedly emphasized viewpoints into a unified analytical construct…” (Shils& Finch, 1997).While opposition supporters of the ideal type including normal type theory supporters. Some sociologists consider that, ideal type more prone to extreme phenomena and ignore the connection, it is difficult to display how the varieties and the elements into the whole social system theory.

The comparisons and the contacts

On the basis of theoretical background and the logical starting point, Durkheim and Weber inherited and developed the traditional social theory of two methods in the study: positivism and interpretivism, and laid the basic methodology character for future generations of sociological research.

Durkheim treated social facts as its research objection of sociology. Compared to Weber’s social action, is the macro level. From this point Durkheim’s theory of society is existent, while Webb argues that only individuals exist, only explain the understanding of human social action, understand the meaning behind, and finally makes a causal explanation. This is the whole process of sociological research.

Durkheim’s sociology theory is positivism. It used the objectivity of social facts as the object of study, and thought society and nature are identical in nature. As the objective necessity of domination, society and natural phenomena are the same, which determines its research methods must be used the empirical research method in the natural sciences, through observation, such as experiments, comparisons, and test methods (Durkheim, 1895, pp.13). Weber’s sociological understanding to social action is same as the research object, and argued that the method of natural science in special effect is difficult to apply social science research, it cannot explain human behavior with subjective meaning hidden behind the value and significance (Weber, 1968, p. 15). Weber thought that researchers should focus on experience, at the same time, putting on the same subject to each other’s as their own thinking and evaluation, its distinctive feature is the emotion in the thinking object and thinking process input. Therefore, researchers make a reasonable explanation about social fact though changing the role the subjective motives of others’ social action.

But the study method of Weber and Durkheim’s theory still has something in common. In a sense, Weber thought methods in social science research should establish the ideal type (Shils& Finch, 1997). He realized that the research object of social science has unique characteristics and subjective, and if researchers want to keep the absolute objectivity is not an easy job. Ideal type refers to a series concept system in sociological research in which scholars generally recognized and accepted, so that it can reduce or even avoid the sociological study of arbitrariness and disunity. Researchers in research processes must keep value objectively themselves, and eliminate their additional influence and intervention on the object of study. Similarly, Durkheim also emphasized that the fact more important than the conception; the existence precedes the essence; and observation of the phenomenon should be eliminated the subjective emotion (Allan, 2005)..

Above all, the social fact and social action are two different sized concepts, which can be said a relationship between containing and being contained. That is to say, Weber’s social action is more specific than Durkheim’s social fact .Because social facts and macroscopic reasons, Durkheim research object in the theory of sociology is the objective existence. But Weber’s social science research should be specific, individual existence, it will be in the society of human action as the research object, to explain the understanding of it, and to know the “secret” the hidden behind the specific social action, in order to make the causality of the final paper. Weber also will provide two major tasks of sociology as the explanatory understanding and causality of social action description. In this way, the two major factions in social science research — positivism and interpretivism, make differences between increasingly bigger, thus it caused the contradiction between both sides.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this essay described and analyzed Durkheim’s and Weber’s theories and methods. Both of them played important roles in social science history, and they have big influence on social science. Their theories and methods are researched and used by many scholars. After comparison, it could be seen that their ideas about social science are quite different. Durkheim’s theories based on positivism. It used the objectivity of social facts as the object of study, and thought society and nature are identical in nature.

Durkheim thought that structures that exist independently of the individual.

Weber’s theories based on individuals’ existence, he only explained the understanding of human social action, understood the meaning behind, and finally made a causal explanation. Weber thought that verstehen involves an understanding of what someone is thinking, which needs an understanding of the culture that person lives in. But, the contrast of their ideas is that the study method of Weber and Durkheim’s theory still has something in common.

The difference of social research methods found by the two fathers cannot say which one is better, because both of them in the field of social science had gained the success that attracted worldwide attention, and each method found a reasonable breakthrough for sociological research. Because of this differences, which makes the social science research shows a kind of mutual opposition and mutual encouragement and supplement of the state. Society science research is infinite in the future, each historical giant higher later is through the shoulders of giants before. But social science research is still arduous task, social scientist should summarize the experience of the former step by step, in order to continuous the development and progress of science which is a heavy and meaningful subject to society.

Mauritius has seen tremendous changes during the past few decades in the socio-economic environment. Globalisation and technological changes have also opened new avenues to Mauritians which were previously unavailable to them. It is becoming a society where women are coming out of the private spheres of the home into the public sphere of the economy and politics.

Nevertheless while having adapted to the new economic opportunities, there has been an increase in the participation of women in the formal wage. The proportions of women in workforce in Mauritius from year 2009-2012 have increased considerably from 18,500 to 191,600 (Economic Social Indicators, statistics Mauritius). Women have benefited significantly from the upgrading of their economic status but at the same time have succumbed to stresses and strains of coping with their new roles in the ‘new age’ society.

Moreover, The White Paper on Women in Development emphasises on the increasing employment of women in the labour market and the greater sense of individuality and how freedom felt by women themselves have brought about positive development. Such being the case, it is too much of a glorification to say that this reflects the changing roles of women in the Mauritian society.

1.2 Woman’s triple role within the family

Women play a very crucial role within the family and the society. They are the pillar of the house and they accordingly contribute in sustaining the family. Thus, women are associated with the triple role of productive (work outside the home), reproductive which is related to household tasks associated with children and family and community management. In the same context, Dunscombe and Marsden (1995) stated that women in paid employment bear the burden of working a ‘triple shift’.

1.3 Changing functions of the family

Modernization and industrialization have brought about the breakdown of the extended family to the emergence of the nuclear family, where families are more independent and there is less contact with kins. Nowadays, another form of family which is becoming very popular with the rising rate of divorce is the single-parent family. The past two- decades have brought a great increase in the number of families with responsibilities both at work and at home. Nowadays, single-parents, working women and dual-earner couples are heavily involved in parenting (Carnier et al., 2004). Therefore, today families are stressed by the pressure of work, family and community demands.

It is argued that the family in industrial society is losing many of its functions. Sociologist like Fletcher (2000) claims that, the family’s functions have increased in ‘detail and importance’. The role of the family has changed from a producer to a consumer. Goods and services are increasingly being bought and consumed – houses, cars, furniture and education. Hence, the highly materialistic world demands that both husband and wife go out to work. The controversy is that women would then contribute to the family budget while men would not contribute to the household work.

The result is that less time is spent in the family. At times, children are unattended and social problems crop up leading to instability and turbulence in the family.

1.4 Changing status of women across times

The main thing today is that there has been a gradual improvement in the status of women. They have indeed achieved more political equality with men and they have equal rights in education. Most types of job are suitable for women today. Equal opportunity act has helped discard discrimination.

The ‘Economic Miracle’ of Mauritius is largely dependent on the growth of the manufacturing sector which was introduced in 1970s. It has been the main engine of economic development in Mauritius and has absorbed large numbers of unemployed labour. The traditional women who were uneducated represented a fundamental pool of labour for the industrialists. The new ‘economic leverage’ has welcomed the earning of second salary amidst the family.

Everyone at all levels of society is becoming aware of the stress families face these days so as to struggle to balance their responsibilities at home and at work. This is evidenced from the fact that too often families have to choose between the demands of work and family, elderly parents and relatives. In Mauritius the two demographic trends in the increase participation rates for working mothers and dual-career couples have a profound effect on the spheres of work and family. It is generally recognized that the extensive pressure arising from work environment and from family environment can produce high-levels of work-family conflict for many employees.

In brief, development is good for any country but at the same time it has added extra burden on women particularly balancing the conflicting demands of family life and career.

1.5 Functionalist perspectives on work and family

According to functionalist, families are living in a post modern way of living which is very good for the society as they prefer not to have children because of their career and some prefer to stay-single and they are going according to the needs of the society. P and B Bergers argue that the bourgeois family already teaches children what the society want for instance, strict moral values and value economic success. E.Leach (1996) argues that the Nuclear family is stressed. They are exploited by the capitalist and they are alienated; they work because they have no choice. Family are nowadays privatized, they do not want people to know what is happening in their yard.

1.6 Problem statement

It is principally through the family that social values and knowledge are transmitted from generation to generation and hence this reinforces the social fabrics. Like any other country, the Mauritian’s Government is playing a fundamental role in trying to maintain the balance between work and family life. If the family is stable, this will have a direct impact on the society and hence on the country.

On one hand, the family life in Mauritius is being eroded in the face of the demands of work and increasingly long hours in at work. Practically, many members of the Mauritian family return home after work at different times and the traditional family meals that were customary in the past, are now reserved for weekends. Many parents strive to find time to spend with their children during the working week. The twin pressures of work and family life are raising stress levels within the home and creating much pressure. Parents are struggling to fit all their chores into shorter time frames because of lack of time. Due, to the constraint of time imposed by work schedule, various social problems have cropped up. Infact there is increasing divorce rate (0.47 per 1000 people) and going by this, it is assumed that children are having recourse to drug, alcohol and cigarette smoking.

On the other hand, despite the so called equality of sexes advocated by feminists, it is seen that the responsibility of looking after the family relies mostly on women. Hence, housework and looking after children remain predominantly “women’s work”. Women’s works have been marginalised throughout the history. Women are more likely to concentrate on their work than family. Therefore, family being a basic institution it is very necessary to know what is causing the breakdown of the family, how children are able cope with it and its negative effects on children especially adolescents.

1.7 Aim

This project aims to make an assessment on the impact of the relationship between work and the situation of children within the modern family.

1.8 Objectives

To probe into different occupational sectors in Mauritius to measure the impact of work on family life balance;
To see whether women are able to handle their triple role within the modern family;
To see whether the notion of family being functional in the society as advocated by functionalist really stand in the Mauritian society,
To see whether children belonging to single-parent families more affected than other children;
Find out respondents views on does social problems like Juvenile Delinquencies are occurring due to lack of supervision of parents in the modern family; and
Propose findings and solutions.

David Matza’s work is often is said to have offered a necessary counteraction to the postulates of the subcultural theory (Young: 1974). In 1957 David Matza and Gersham Sykes presented a radically new theory of deviant behaviour in their seminal work entitled, Techniques of Neutralisation: A Theory of Delinquency and again collaborated in 1961. The dialogue was significantly extended by Matza in his subsequent works, Delinquency and Drift (1964) and Becoming Deviant (1969). This paper will provide a description and evaluation of Matza’s theories. It will then proffer a brief discussion on why Matza’s writings on crime presents a shift from traditional subcultural theories.

Matza’s work shows a rethink about deviants and how they process and rationalize their crime. He questions the notion that deviants are inherently opposed to societal norms and codes of conduct, and that their actions signify a rejection of the rule of law. He maintains that delinquent values do not necessarily follow a consistent continuum, and therefore to say that delinquency and deviants reject the rule of law is erroneous. He uses the examples of teenage delinquents to demonstrate that while many teenagers commit delinquent acts, many do not offend within a delinquent space or a delinquent subculture. He argues that many times they can immediately return to continuous actions which demonstrate affinity with “normalcy”. In these instances, Matza argues that instead of being in opposition to the rule of law, some acts of delinquency represent a loosening or distance from more positively favoured and consensus value systems to an adoption of what he terms “subterranean” values.

Matza and Sykes (1961) differentiated between subterranean values and formal or mainstream values to highlight this point. Matza identifies formal values as those which demonstrate deferred gratification, can be predictable, respect bureaucratic processes, not aggressive, and conforms to the normal routine. They also have an introspective characteristic which refrains from euphoria, plans meticulously, shows reservation and restraint, and is non-impulsive. Conversely, subterranean values are identified as: relishing short term hedonism and excitement, always seeking change and alternatives, impulsive, very sociable and carefree, and is not afraid to display to aggression. Within this framework, Matza defends his argument by stating that deviants who accept subterranean values usually accentuate these characteristics for short term personal gains, or during leisure periods.

Taylor et al (1973) suggests that Matza’s work (1964) represents an attempt to avoid distorting the motivations of the delinquent and to present a naturalistic analysis of deviant behaviour. Matza contends that theories which strive to label some deviants and establish sub-cultures of deviance, overstate the levels of delinquency and are a result of positivistic influences which attempt to find psycho-social reasons for non-conformity. He articulates that it is flawed to assume delinquent subcultures are zealously embraced by deviants, furthermore, he points out that this intermittent interaction with subterranean values is normal because these values are replicated many times throughout society, albeit most times in controlled environments. He argues that traditional positivistic models of deviance, depict an “antagonistic disjunction between deviant or subterranean values of larger society” (Taylor et al: 1973) which is simply not true. Instead he argues that deviants use techniques of neutralization as excuses for committing delinquent acts.

Matza identified five techniques of neutralization employed by deviants to rationalize their non-conformity: (1) Denial of responsibility , wherein, the offender deflects blame with language such as “it was not my fault” or “it wasn’t really me who did it”. The deviant attributes their actions to the flaws of the wider substructure or environment. (2) Denial of injury, where the delinquent defends their actions on the grounds that it did not cause harm to anyone and substitutes moralistic condemnation on their actions with more favorable terminologies. For example, vandalism would be seen as “just mischief”. (3) Denial of a victim, where they place the victim as the offender in language such as “they had it coming” or “it didn’t affect them”. (4) Appeal to higher loyalties, where the delinquent places himself as torn between two groups with a need to commit the act in the interest of one group. A typical example can be found with foreign national women who do transnational drug couriering, who mostly say they do it because of the economic needs of their children. (5) Condemnation of the condemners, where the offender deflects focus from their actions to chastise the motives of those who condemn the offending act. Those who condemn are usually classified by the deviant as hypocrites.

Matza’s (1964) Drift Theory attempts to situate the deviant in a less deterministic space than positivistic influenced theories allow. He suggested that persistent delinquent behaviour can be explained by a convergence of subterranean values and formal ones, in the absence of stabilizing forces which reinforce the more moralistic formal values. The slow movement from formal and introspective values to more permanent subterranean characteristics is called a “drift”. In their period of drift, Matza contends that delinquents utilise the neutralizing techniques previously discussed, to weaken society’s grasp on their value system. He is however, not without his critics, who point out that Matza underplay offending behaviour and neglects to use his theory as a lens for more violent forms of delinquency (Newburn: 2007).

Matza’s reasoning presents a shift from traditional subcultural theory which is more deterministic in its labelling and examination of deviants. Subculture theory contends that there are dominant cultures and deviant subcultures and they situate the deviant within the latter, because of their non-conformity. Subcultural theory romanticize the dominant culture as always existing within a positive moral space. It sees delinquency as a complete opposition to mainstream values and culture. Matza, on the other hand, advocates that delinquents do place value on mainstream cultures, but may refrain from displaying or voicing such views because they fear rejection from peers. He contends that subterranean values exist alongside those of the so-called dominant culture. This argument was partly sanctioned by Wolfgang and Ferracuti (1967) who proffered the example of the male who is compelled to violence to defend the honour of his mother, wife or children. While, this male is predisposed to accepting the dominant culture, his naturalistic tendency to defend in such situations, point to the co-existence of subterranean, even within mainstream cultures.

References

Matza, D. (1969) Becoming Deviant. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Matza, D. (1964) Delinquency and Drift. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

Matza, D., Sykes, G. (1961) Juvenile Delinquency and Subterranean Values. American Sociological Review Vol. 26, 713-719.

Newburn, T. (2007) Criminology. Cullompton: Willan.

Sykes, G., Matza, D. (1957) Techniques of Neutralization: A Theory of Delinquency. American Sociological Review, Vol. 22, 664-670.

Taylor, I., Walton, P. & Young, J. (1973) The New Criminology: For a Social Theory of Deviance. London: Routledge.

Wolfgang, M., Ferracuti, F. (1967) The Subculture of Violence. London: Travistock Publishers.

Young, J. (1974) New Directions in Subcultural Theory. In, John Rex (ed) Approaches to Sociology: An Introduction to Major Trends in British Sociology. London: RKP.

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The Clownfish belongs to the family Pomacentridae, with many species, many belonging to the genus Amphiprion while one belongs to the Premnas genus (Godwin 1994 p 556). The fish has many colors which depend on the species. A symbiotic relationship exists between the fish and the sea anemone that offers protection to the fish due to its stinging nature. On the other hand, the fish protects the sea anemone from harm that could be caused by hard undigested particles through feeding on them. The fish spawn on the sea anemone. A fully grown dominant female may grow to a total length of 11/2 feet, while the small adult Clownfish may be as small as 4 inches. The fish thrive in the warm waters of the tropics (Maddern 1990 p 36). They are mainly found in the salty waters of the Indian Ocean and the Pacific. The excretion from the fish is a major source of nourishment for the sea anemone that absorbs the nutrients emanating from fecal matter. More over, the movements of the Clownfish in the water surrounding the sea anemone, especially when fanning the eggs are significant for water circulation, which is significant for the distribution of nutrients for the nourishment of the sea anemone (Drury 2008 p 63).

The Clownfish is covered by a mucus coating around its body which as Wittenrich et al. (2007 p 93) observed are derived from sugars, which is one of the factors that prevents the stinging reaction of the sea anemone as the nematocysts are triggered by the presence of protein based substances in the surrounding. The fish dwell in one sea anemone as a group, which means that several sea anemones will host different groups of fish (Godwin 1994 p 561). In other words one sea anemone is the territory of one small group of fish. Clownfish is one of the aquatic organisms whose sex remains a subject of controversy. It is generally known that the fish is capable of switching its sex. This essay is a critique of the Clownfish mating process and gender changes that occur, as well as an exploration of the different species.

Gender Changes

The ability to switch sex is one of the aspects that make the fish unique especially the fact that this can happen to any adult fish. Kuwamora & Nakashima (1998 p 126) observe that during hatching, the fish are usually one sex, i. e, all males. The dominant male that becomes larger than all the rest during adult stage develops in to a female. None other develops in to a female so long as the dominant female is alive. The fish that follows in terms of size becomes the dominant male, while the rest remain small inactive males (Godwin 1994 p 558). These phenomena lead to the questions as to why only one of them develops in to a female and assumes the normal role female fish. Questions also arise as to why the second largest male does not undergo the same process. However, these changes point at dominance as the major determinant of the sex change.

The males that remain are usually inactive and remain at the bottom of the hierarchy that is headed by the dominant female followed by the dominant male. Another interesting phenomenon is in case the dominant female dies. The dominant male undergoes a sex reversal and assumes the role of the dominant female, which starts reproducing. The death of the dominant female leads to a rearrangement of the hierarchy since the largest male in the juvenile group develops in to the dominant male and begins mating. Godwin (1994 p 558) observe that the need to fill the gap left by the reproducing female triggers the degeneration of the male organs and the development of the ovaries from the female ovary cells that remain dormant when the fish is male. This is an indication that even if the Clownfish are hatched with the male sex, there are certain dormant ovarian cells that remain standby until when need arises. There seems to be an interconnection between the physiology of the fish and the social aspects of the group. The social gap created by the death of the female is filled by the mating male; leaving another gap whereby there lacks a dominant male, which on the other hand has to be filled by a male from a lower group of males in the hierarchy.

Each group of Clownfish inhabiting a particular sea anemone has got its own hierarchy, and they do not mix. This is an indication of the social bond that exists within the groups whose stability is maintained by all members (Kuwamora & Nakashima 1998 p 128). It means that if the reproducing female is alive and functional, no other male regardless of the size can develop in to a female. On the other hand, no fish in the lower group can change sex to become the dominant male while one already exists. In a way, one may infer that it is due to loyalty of the lower groups to the dominant male and female that they do not change their sex or grow to a large size to outdo the fish in the upper level of the hierarchy. This is because they have the capacity to become larger and change their sex, but they do not. Maddern (1990 p 36) notes that each fish has to ensure that its body mass remain lower by a quarter of the average weight of the dominant fish, or else it may be ejected out of the group. This has enabled the fish to avoid any impending conflicts that may arise between the dominant group and the lower group. However, the initial vigor of development from the larvae stage determines whether the larvae will develop in to one of the dominant fish in the group. The ones that develop at a high rate have a high chance of becoming dominant.

The behavior of the fish generates interest to research on the reasons behind the unique behavior. One wonders why the social aspect of the group is largely connected to their physiology. More over, how the fish regulate their size to maintain a lower body mass than the dominant fish is an important issue that needs further research. It is important to understand how they are able to determine the amount of feeds and aggressiveness that helps in the maintenance of a small size, which can only be changed when there arises a vacant position created by the death of one of the dominant fish. In order for the fish to qualify for change of sex, they have to be mature, which Tullock (1998 p 54) argues should be more than one year of age and the environment needs to be favorable for the change of sex. The environment that determines the success of the fish in changing sex is that within the social group. A favorable environment means that there has to be an opportunity for the fish to join the dominant group. Without the absence of the female, no change of sex can occur. On the other hand, there can be a dominant female but the group may lack a dominant male, necessitating the movement of one of the fish in the lower groups to the dominant group. Maddern (1990 p 33) further notes that even if two male clownfish were put together under controlled conditions, one of them that is more dominant than the other has to become the female, while the other becomes the mating male.

On the other hand, Tullock (1998 p 67) further observes that a lone crown fish will develop in to a female if allowed to develop to a full grown fish. One can therefore infer that development in to a female is dependent of other larger and fast growing fish that are likely do dominate the group. However, this applies for the smaller fish since if one small fish is allowed to grow on its own in the absence of other fish; it develops in to a female. This means that all the Clownfish are bound to become females if there are no other fish to compete with for dominance (Kuwamora & Nakashima 1998 p 128).

Mating amongst the Clownfish

Mating in the Clownfish is usually ceremonial, which leads to spawning of eggs and fertilization. The fish engage in courtship prior to spawning. The behavior of the males changes to aggressiveness, which rises as the male approaches the actual mating. Wittenrich et al. (2007 p 95) observes that the male usually turns its aggressiveness towards the substrate beneath the water. On the other hand, the female joins in there after, leaving both sexes charging towards the substrate. This is the period that is regarded as courtship (Wilkerson 2003 p 66). This aggressive behavior continues until the final days prior to mating when it becomes more intense. They even become aggressive towards other fish that come close to the mating area. The courtship, as Godwin (1994 p 551) observe is usually brief and involves certain pretentious behavior of the female to attract the male and vise versa. The sea anemone plays a significant role during mating and spawning of eggs. Both fish take part in the clearance of debris and any other solid particles that may interfere with the eggs. The female later lays the eggs on the selected side of the sea anemone. They usually find the softest substrate that is favorable for the delicate eggs.

The fish usually pinch one of the tentacles of the sea anemone, which makes it retract as a reaction to the nip. The tentacle settles at the selected spawning area by the female. Before laying the eggs, the female makes certain that it is the most appropriate area to spawn by making some trials that are simi1ar to laying eggs but not real. The actual laying of eggs usually comes later after ensuring that the environment is favorable. Maddern (1990 p 39) observed that the eggs are usually sticky in nature, and that they can not float on water. They stick on the substrate and the male swims closely behind as the female lays the eggs. After completing spawning of eggs for a period of 2 hours, the male is usually ready to shed the sperms to fertilize them. The fertilized eggs remain stuck on the soft substrate, where both fish offer protection against intruders who might cause harm. With the exhaustion from spawning, the female gets to feeding while the male is left to shield the eggs from attack. Hoff (1996 p 86) observes that the male is usually highly aggressive in defending the nest. More over, the male is also involved in aerating the eggs through flapping its fins. It also selects and eats the infected eggs that may not have a chance to survive.

Any matter that falls on the eggs is removed by the male. In other words, the male is usually very active through out mating and after the eggs have been laid to the time that the larvae will be hatched. The female can shed up to more than 2000 eggs in one spawning season. However, the number of eggs usually depends on the size of the reproducing female. The larger the female the more the eggs it can produce (Tullock 1998 p 63). This could also be another reason as to why the large males are the ones that change in to dominant females. The mating area is also a determinant of the survival of the eggs and the strength of the fry.

Wilkerson (2003 p 68) observes that it is important for the aquaculture of Clown fish to be practiced carefully to avoid mixing the species in one area whereby they are likely to stress each other. Different species are unlikely to survive together since they will constantly fight injuring each other, which is likely to make them unable to lay eggs. In controlled conditions, the presence of a sea anemone makes the environment more like the natural environment, which facilitates spawning. The fish under go the normal process of mating, laying eggs and taking care of them as they would do in the wild. However, this would require an extra task of raising the sea anemone and maintaining it while on the other hand maintaining the fish. It may be a costly venture to undertake in aquaculture.

However, it is not mandatory to have the sea anemone for the Clownfish to mate and spawn in controlled conditions. The fish can also spawn in rocks whose ruggedness offers hiding places. However, the same characteristic as in the wild whereby the fish cleans the substrate on the surfaces where the eggs are laid occurs during mating under controlled conditions. Hoff (1996 p 89) observes that the mature and ready to mate Clownfish usually tend to scrub rocks with the mouth as well as fins, in a similar way as the way they clean the substrate to have a clean ground for laying eggs. The eggs get stuck to the eggs where they get fertilized by the male that swims after the female. The fish that are satisfied with the artificial environment, i. e. that which is almost similar to the natural environment are likely to lay more healthy eggs (Wilkerson 2003 p 66).

Species of Clownfish

There are many fish species of Clownfish which differ mainly in color as well as in many other aspects such as the structure of the fins. For example, the Amphiprion percula is one of the species of Clownfish that has a characteristic extended level band at the central point of its body. The fish is also referred to as the anemone fish, which has a distinct orange color. It also possesses some black marks as well as white strips on the fins. The structure of the dorsal fin is one of the distinguishable characteristics as it possesses 10 spines (Maddern 1990 p 61). The species is known to reproduce through out the year since it inhabits the warmer regions that are favorab3le for breeding. The fish live in groups of 6, including the dormant males. The hierarchy of the group is that of the typical Clownfish, and it exhibits all the other characteristics of the Clownfish such as change of sex.

The Amphiprion clarkii is also one of the hardy Clown fishes that are highly resistant to diseases. They come in diverse colors such as yellow, white, grey and brown. These colors are also diverse on the fins and the tail, while it is missing in others. The fish are recommended for aquariums due to their hardiness as they do not need specialized care. Amphiprion ocellaris is also one of the species with distinct characteristics such as black stripes on the fins as well as an elongated dorsal fin (Tullock 1998 p 65). Premnas biaculeatus has a reddish color on their body which tends to be more inclined towards brown in some fish within the species. They have white strips along their spine. These colors are distinct from most of the other fish species. Amphiprion frenatus is a species in which juveniles tend to be dark red and black as they develop in to adults. Amphiprion sandarcinos, Amphiprion perideraion, Amphiprion frenatus and Amphiprion melanopus are also among the many species of Clownfish that can be differentiated especially through the color of their bodies (Wittenrich et al 2007 p 95).

Conclusion

Clownfish is one of the hardy fish species that inhabit the warm areas of sea, such as the Indian Ocean as well as the Pacific Ocean. They belong to the genus Amphiprion, and are greatly colored, which makes them good for ornamental aquaculture. In the wild, the fish usually live in groups that demonstrate a hierarchical association. The highest in the hierarchy is usually the reproducing female, which are the dominant and the largest fish in a group. The fish have a rare behavior of changing sex depending on need. The larvae are usually male, but they are capable of developing in to females. Only the dominant and largest male develops in to a female, while the second largest male in the group develops in to the mating males. The only time that there can be a change in the hierarchical structure is when the female is eliminated from the group through death, leading the mating male to become the female and the larger male in the lower level of the hierarchy to become the mating male (Drury 2008 p 63).

The mating of the Clownfish takes place without complications. The sea anemone is highly supportive to the existence of the Clownfish. It offers protection through its poisonous stings to the predators. The Clownfish is not taken as a predator by the sea anemone because of the mucus covering on its body that comprises of sugars. The relationship between the sea anemone and the Clownfish is usually symbiotic, whereby each derives some advantage from the other. There are many species of Clown fish that can be distinguished through their body color as well as the body structure. However, they exhibit a similar behavior (Maddern 1990 p 41).

The transformation of masculine and feminine roles overtime is due to society, genetics, and families. Gender roles stand for the attitudes, behaviours, values, that cultures define as proper for males and females. A change in masculine and feminine roles has altered the perception of relationships in the 21st century. Masculinity and femininity determine the quality of relationships. According to Thornton, Axinn, and Xie the change of perception in gender roles in relationships is due factors such as the level of education, lifetime earnings, religious beliefs, and family history. Thornton, Axinn, and Xie observe that there are emerging cases where couples prefer cohabitation to legalised marriages based on their personal experiences, circumstances attitudes and family history (Thornton, Axinn, and Xie 36). Masculinity and femininity are socially determined components of gender. They define behaviours and characteristics observable in either male or female beings. Many times masculinity is associated with maleness while femininity is associated with femaleness

Masculinity and femininity being a component of gender is a complex issue. According to Lippa, the concepts surrounding the subject of masculinity and femininity transform over time. Some of the factors responsible for these changes include family influences, biological influences, social influences, cultural influences, peer influences and individual feelings and influences. There is proving that parental socialization of boys and girls in interaction with biological predispositions defines how boys and girls interact with their peers. These interactions determine the femininity or masculinity characteristics that children adopt during their development (Lippa 187). There has been a transformation in the social perceptions of what it means to be feminine. Traditionally femininity entails being nice, submissive, unengaged and reliance. Masculinity and femininity determine the interaction among peers. Masculinity and femininity has also been associated with personal interest. According to psychologists individuals who exhibit masculine characteristics tend to show interest in mechanical and scientific subjects whereas individuals exhibiting feminine characteristics enjoy cultural and art related subjects (Lippa 44).

Lippa argued that there are arguments that femininity is considered good for men and masculinity is considered good for women. This concept stands to explain the evolving nature of masculinity and femininity into instrumental traits and expressive traits. Instrumental traits include independence, dominance, assertiveness, and leadership abilities whereas expressive traits include sympathy, warmth, sensitivity and compassion. The instrumental traits define masculinity whereas the expressive traits define femininity. The instrumental traits explain why there are women who take up huge roles like taking care of the family, pursuing competitive such as managerial positions and politics. Individuals with expressive traits are considered feminine (Lippa 45). Men who possess expressive traits tend conform to feminine roles. Men who possess expressive traits taking up careers that are considered feminine such as nursing, teaching, and art related careers. Men with expressive traits have no problem raising taking care of the family while their women work to provide for the family.

Roughgarden states that culture and society are responsible for imposing on individuals the appropriate way of expressing their sexual identity. According to Roughgarden masculinity and femininity defines appearance, and behaviour humans. Roughgarden states that masculinity and femininity determines how an organism carious out a sexual role. Biologically masculinity and femininity differentiates the the characteristics possessed by males and females. However, Roughgarden points out the cross gender manifestation and behaviour is acceptable (Roughgarden 28). Roughgarden states that masculinity defines the physical appearance of male species as well as their behaviours. Roughgardens idea of cross gender manifestation suggests that if a female possesses male characteristics it is acceptable to refer to her as a masculine female. On the other hand, if a male possesses feminine characteristics it is acceptable to refer to him as a feminine male. The idea of cross-gender challenges the biological definition of gender based on male and female gametes (29).

Bennetts looks at feminism in the traditional marriages where the role of a woman in the relationship was child rearing and taking care of household duties. The man on the other hand provided for the financial needs in the family. According to Bennetts, giving up ones career ambitions for motherhood is a feminine mistake. Bennetts explains that economic dependency is bound to hurt or destroy the relationship (Bennetts132). Bennetts explains that relationships suffer immeasurably in the event of a divorce, a spouse’s retrenchment, illness, or widowhood especially when one party was dependent on another. It is evident that there is an evolving social phenomenon of masculine and feminine roles in relationships. The transformation disregards the traditional concepts of gender roles and adopts an egalitarian structure to explain masculine and feminine roles in modern relationships.

Roughgarden considers the responsibility of masculinity and femininity in facilitating gender sex roles. Roughgarden mention that social selection theory explains the success of sexual interaction among and between sexes. Roughgarden states that an effective social interaction depends on sexual play among or between sexes. According to Roughgarden behaviours such as promiscuity, cheating, competition, are all part of social selection. It is evident that cases of separation, divorce form part of social selection.

Lippa explains that parents serve as role models to their children. According to Thornton, Axinn, and Xie children tend to marry early if their parents married early. It is evident that children cohabit if their parents at some point did cohabit (Thornton, Axinn and Xie 55). These observations point out the transformation of the western marriage. The rise in divorce cases, acceptance sexual minority group all point to the transformation in the society that explain the change in masculine and feminine roles in relationships. For example, the divorce cases result in a rise of single parent family structures where we have a single mother who takes up the feminine as well as the masculine role in the family. The woman becomes a caregiver, decision maker and financial provider in the family. On the other hand, if we have the father taking up the full custody of the children the father assumes a feminine role of being the caregiver, nurturer and at the same time, he retains his masculine role.

Cultural models in the 21st century are transforming and homosexuality has gained acceptance in different societies. The gay, Lesbian, bisexual and transgender groups have societal support as well as federal protection that protects them from any form of harm. Desjardins considers same-sex marriage in the United States. According to Desjardins, the acceptance of same-sex marriage in the United States is evident from the wide support the issue has received from the public and politic figures. Desjardin states that there are states, for example, Maine where sex marriage is constitutionally accepted (Desjardins “Snowe supports same-sex marriage”). Lippa explains that the traditionally the feminine role in relationships involves the nurturing activities. Lippa considers masculine and feminine roles in homosexual relationships. According to Lippa, research shows that gay men exhibit feminine characteristics than heterosexual men. On the other hand, it is evident that lesbian women show masculine characteristics when compared to heterosexual women (Lippa 41). According to Lippa, parents and the society are responsible for teaching children on gender roles and behaviours.

Goldberg, Smith and Maureen state that same-sex marriages tend to shift the perception of masculine and feminine roles in relationships. According to Roughgarden, the existence of same sex relationships deviates from cultural conformation of gender relationships. However, Roughgarden mentions over 300 cases homosexual behaviours existent among animals. Roughgarden explains that competition in the animal kingdom explains the rise in cases of homosexual characteristics. It is due o such finding that we note that society has widened its definition of sexual orientation. According to Roughgarden the western society, acknowledge bisexualism, homosexuality and transgendering as normal sexual orientation. The acknowledgement of other forms of sexual orientation has led to the redefinition of masculine and feminine role in relationships. In some cases, men take up feminine roles and women take up masculine roles. In same sex marriages, adopting children to raise a family is a way of experiencing a normal life (Goldberg, Smith and Maureen 814).

Research studies indicate that gay, lesbian; transgender, and bisexual parents adopt children to experience normal relationships like heterosexual families. Studies also show the same sex parents, for example, gay fathers’ exhibit better nurturing qualities than heterosexual fathers do. The same sex marriages provide good example of egalitarian family structures. Goldberg, Smith, and Maureen explains that same sex parents’ value equality and both parents work together, share responsibilities for the benefit of the family (Goldberg, Smith and Maureen 815).

Lippa explains that there are women who take up masculine roles in modern relationships, for example, the case of single mothers, widowed women, lesbian and transgender relationships. In other cases, involving heterosexuals, lesbians, gay, transgender, and bisexuals’ egalitarianism plays a significant role in the definition of the masculine and feminine roles in the relationship. In such an arrangement, there is an equitable division of roles involving house chores, child rearing and income generation. Children learn marriage, social, and education values from their parents. Thornton, Axinn and Xie explain that studies confirm children learn and adopt values from the family, school and society (Thornton, Axinn, and Xie105). Children who grow up in a family where parents adopt egalitarianism as a means of raising their families will end up raising their families in the same structure.

Bennetts explains that children who have both their parents working benefit from having a secured future in terms of finance and career (Bennetts 98). Bennetts criticises the decision of professional women to give up their careers for their traditional roles as nurturers, home keepers. According to Bennetts, women who give up their careers for the family end up suffering. On the other hand making a career come back is a greater challenge they face later in their lives (Bennetts 102). Traditional marriage set-ups required women to submit to their husbands wishes. However, this has changed with the empowerment of women society now produces women who have a better education, women who compete with men for top paying positions, and women participating in influential activities such as politics. Feminine roles change when women decide to pursue their career. Studies show that women who pursue careers have less time for relationships and families. Those who manage to raise families struggle to balance their careers and being there for the family (Bennetts 125). Although the family benefits from financial security, the mother faces health complications resulting from stress especially if her husband is unsupportive in the provision of primary care giving.

Research shows that women who take up masculine roles like providing for their families influence their family structures. Women who dedicate their time to build on their careers influence the size of their families. Bennet states that it is impossible for a woman to take care of a large family and at the same time pursue a successful career. According to Bennetts, women opt to sacrifice their careers to raise a family (Bennet 32). On the other hand, the role of fathers in the modern families has changed. The masculine role of aggressiveness has evolved to a compassionate and nurturing role. This is evident especially in same sex marriages involving gay adopting parents. In modern families, fathers desire to spend more time with their families. There is the evidence where fathers alter their work schedules to make them flexible in order to create time for their families. Another example of a change in masculine role is depicted in the media where we get examples of male resistance to job relocations this is to avoid separation of fathers from their families. It is common to families where the mother is the breadwinner and the father takes up the role of taking care of the home and rearing the children.

Roughgarden offers a different perspective on the matter of family size form an evolutionary standpoint. According to Roughgarden, the female determines the family size depending on the parental investment she expects to provide. In this case, the female does not consider the male investment. This view deviates for the traditional view where a controlling male determined the family size. Roughgarden explains that a cooperative solution provides a reasonable means of determining family size (Roughgarden 119). A cooperative solution seeks to establish mutual trust among individuals in relations rather that display the masculine qualities of the controlling male. Modern families determine family sizes depending on a mutual understanding between the persons in the relationship. The mutual understanding evident in determination of family size proves the change in masculine and feminine roles in relationships.

When women take up their positions in the work force, their children suffer. The masculine and feminine role of imparting social qualities upon their children is interrupted. It is important for women to perform their role of providing continuous affection and nurturing children at their early stage of development (Lippa 124). However, the women’s fight for equality has rather reversed this role. Children in modern families tend to be left in the care of baby sitters. Lippa explains that parental rearing is important for children to understand socialisation and the differences regarding masculinity and femininity (Lippa 124). The absence of parents during the initial stages of socialisation the children can suffer from mental distress.

Since 2010, there has been a rise of men’s right movements in regions around Europe and the United States. These movements seek to advocate for the rights of fathers, and support the changing masculine roles in relationships. According to research studies, the women have outnumbered men in high paying jobs; it is evident that in the modern family set ups a large number of men are taking up the feminine roles. Women in modern relationships have become assertive and a significant number of men exhibit feminine characteristics. Goldberg, Smith, and Maureen mention cases of transgender who struggle to express their identity. Transgender male or female who get into marital relationships without confirming their identity suffer from the stress of struggling to lead a normal life in their secretive life. Disclosing ones identity enables once to take up the roles that conform to their identity (820).

It is impossible to ignore the societal transformations that play a big role in transforming relationships. The concept that same sexuality destroys a couple’s role in breeding it is evident that same sex sexual orientation promotes friendship. Although sociologist consider homosexuality as a complex social behaviour they view that homosexuality, heterosexuality, transgendering and bisexuality represent diverse forms of human interaction. The modern family set ups provides a perfect example of the changing masculine and feminine roles. However, it is important to note that the masculine and feminine roles both play a significant role in the growth and development of children. Therefore, even with the changing roles it is important for families to maintain their roles as role models for their children. This prevents cases of mental instability that may arise when parents priorities their careers instead of their children’s needs. Goldberg, Smith and Maureen mention some positive parenting qualities that GLTB exhibit society can embrace this and learn on how to merge their masculine and feminine roles to benefit the family.

Classical political economy was a concept that dominated social thought within the nineteenth century; the development of such a period constituted a decisive stage within the attempt to understand the economic framework that essentially became relied upon for defining the basis of society. However Marx considered that the basis of the political economy ignored the prevalent relationship between elements of human alienation and exploitation that he argued derived from the inequalities caused by the condition of the capitalist political economy. When considering this further, Marx therefore relied upon an essential critique of the political economy in light of not only the previously mentioned relationship but similarly numerous other influential dynamics within the economy, as a consequence Marx continued to establish his critique of the economic system throughout his works in an attempt to ascertain true communism as a positive expression for the basis of society.

The main concern when considering classical political economy is the regard of society as being a composition of various classes that functioned on the basis of economic purpose. Marx however recognised that in reality the theories surrounding classical political economy were unable to understand the significance of the economic purpose of the working class and the experienced struggle that consequently rooted itself within society. Marx therefore argued that the failure of classical political economy to separate human nature from the superficial construct of the economic class system possessed a dominant influence upon the ignorance of the proletarian class and the consequent focus upon the bourgeois class prevalent within society. Marx witnessed the inhumanity and irrationality surrounding human life and criticised it profusely in that the accepted capitalist economic system prevalent at the time considered it to be a natural occurrence with the progression of the economic system. As a consequence, Marx posited a class struggle between the proletarian and bourgeois economic classes, a struggle inherent and therefore inevitable within the capitalist, industrial society. With the increasing development of capitalism, class struggles became generalised across the economic system, Marx’s critique consequently deemed class struggle as originating in the process of production and he therefore continued to argue that the conflict prevalent derives from the class antagonism of labour power.

As a consequence of the class struggle the proletarian economic class were inevitably forced to sell their labour to achieve capital to survive and as a consequence Marx criticised that the capitalists had every intention of exploiting the labourers for maximum effectiveness within the production process, “Capital is dead labor, which, vampire-like, lives only by sucking living labor, and lives the more, the more labor it sucks.” (Marx: 1990: 257). To theorise how the aforementioned exploitation became the routine within classical political economy Marx criticised how capitalism employed a standard, recognised framework by which the bourgeois minority monopolised the labouring majority in order to gain the most efficient means of production. When considering the previous criticisms of exploitation the influence upon human nature must also be recognised; it can be philosophised that Marx recognised that humans are fundamentally natural producers as he defined labour as “man’s self-confirming essence” (Marx: 1833) and Marx therefore implemented a critique towards the evident distortion capitalism roots within human nature. It could be argued that the evident exploitation alienates the labourer from not only the act of production but similarly distances them from the products of their labour and as a consequence it has been argued that the alienation present becomes a process in which humanity progressively transforms into a stranger in a world created by labour (Swingewood: 2000).

Furthermore, Marx continued to route his critique of the classical political economy within the establishment and understanding of the capitalist division of labour and its consequent exploitation and oppression of the proletarian economic class. Marx recognised that the division of labour within the economy succeeded in the efficient formation of profit and value and essentially agreed with Smith in that labour was the only real resource that constituted a productive economy yet his fundamental criticism was based upon the consequent exploitation of the labourer and their constant struggle within the economic system. Marx recognised within Smith’s understanding of the political economy that he initially instigated an analysis of the capitalist mode of production. However, Marx continued to characterise that Smith in fact pays no concern to the operation of the inner foundations of the economic system and instead criticises Smith for merely recognising the immediate external and superficial extraction of the benefits resulting from the successful implementation of the capitalist mode of production. When considering Smith’s perspective further it becomes immediately evident that he accepted the proletarian struggle deriving from the economic division of labour as inconsequential and therefore argued that the exploitation was in fact the most successful method of capitalist production, consequently it could be argued that Smith degraded labourers to an abstract commodity within the production process as opposed to a living being. Furthermore, Marx criticised that Smith accepted that the desirability of the high productivity rate within his theory of the division of labour outweighed the evident exploitative costs, “Political economy regards the proletarian like a horse, he must receive enough to enable him to work. It does not consider him, during the time when he is not working, as a human being” (Marx: 1969), the consequent exploitation of the value of the labourers contribution represented a qualitative increase in productivity within the production process and therefore an increase in profit for the bourgeois economic class regardless of the abhorrent conditions under which labourers are forced to work. It is therefore apparent as to Marx’s justification behind his critique; Marx argued that Smith’s dominantly capitalist perspective failed to initially recognise and therefore appreciate the standard of conditions that the proletarian labourers are forced to accept as adequate.

Within the prevalence of the capitalist mode of production it can be considered that another fundamental element concerning the political economy is the recognition of the influence that the division of labour possesses upon the economic system. As a consequence of this, Ricardo proposed the Labour Theory of Value in an attempt to further understand the influence of labour value upon capitalist production techniques. The aforementioned theory proposes that the recognised value of goods is directly proportional to the extent of labour required throughout production. However, it is argued that Marx criticised that Ricardo’s thesis was essentially incomplete when considering the capitalist political economy as it disregards the exploitive nature of the income distribution between the bourgeois and the proletariat economic classes. Marx continued to criticise the capitalist mode of production as he connotes that the exchange value of goods was in fact deserved by the worker as opposed to the autocratic rule of the capitalist, however, as a consequence Marx proposed the concept of surplus value as a critique of the capitalist political economy. For Marx, the dominant increase in productivity resulted from the competitive and exploitive nature of the capitalist’s strife to obtain the maximum surplus value, or profit, possible from goods; it could therefore be argued that the surplus value obtained derives from the essentially unpaid labour appropriated by the capitalists within political economy.

When considering the presentation of the aforementioned critique philosophised by Marx, his attempt to provide a solution for the criticisms of the political economy must also be examined. It could be argued that throughout his entire critique his desire to ascertain a sense of true communism within society evidently underpinned his justification behind his arguments. Marx essentially fought for the recognition of labour as an important factor within the capitalist production process; he proposed that through the implementation of true communism society could achieve and withhold a beneficial economic system “Communism deprives no man of the ability to appropriate the fruits of his labour. The only thing it deprives him of is the ability to enslave others by means of such appropriations.” (Marx: 2002) Marx continued to portray how communism would in turn regard the importance of the whole of society as opposed to the bourgeois minority. He consequently urged for the removal of the inequalities he continually criticised throughout the political economy and continued to justify such criticisms through arguing that the complete abolition of private property would equate to the removal of inequalities and eventually the elimination of the class struggle. Furthermore, it must be recognised that the political economy was premised upon the notion of private property and material ownership and when considering this further Marx argued that private property wasn’t an explanation captured within the essence of human nature but rather a superficially constructed consequence of the political economies regard for the stratification of the economic class system. Ultimately, Marx argued for the free expression of everyone within society and the consequent desirability that rooted itself within his argument for communism as it was reliant upon the recognition of human freedom within the production process.

In conclusion it is evident that the basis for Marx’s critique of political economy is reliant upon the implications of the negative relationship established between the abstract regard of labour and the consequent human alienation present within the capitalist economic structure. Such critique continued through to his perspective of Smith and Ricardo and the apparent recognition Marx felt toward the evident disregard for the proletarian economic class. Ultimately it has been argued that Marx’s desire for true communism, particularly when concerning the freedom of human nature, has established that the dominant criticism throughout the evaluation of classical political economy is the concept of the exploitive nature of the capitalist mode of production and the implications for inequalities that are established within society as a consequence of such a struggle.

Marx put forward by the nature of the dialectical materialism to society by developing the understanding of the historical process and explaining the methodological structure of the formula being used.

Marxist historical materialism is the application of science to historical development. The main thesis of historical materialism can be summarized in one sentence: “People are not aware of the things that determine the presence, on the contrary, which determines their consciousness, are social beings.” (Marx, Preface to the Critique of Political Economy)

Karl Marx and historical materialism

Marx, dialectic the nature of the structure of a definite law, as determined after this law, the social-historical structures and processes in the understanding of a tend to the here and materialist approach in accordance with the shape they started the system’s historical materialism called can be reported. In the most general sense, to give a description of historical materialist development, so development of the law and evidence to demonstrate that a proper theory of historical materialism can also create content.

Marx said:

“Plus-paid labor and receive the special economic forms drawn directly from the manufacturers directly arising from the production itself and he left it as a defining influence, manage, and manage those relationships will determine. But, on this, the economic community arising from the entire process of production itself, so that at the same time has put his personal political style. The entire social structure and with it the sovereignty and dependency relationships of political format, in short, it fits the specific form of government the innermost secret, confidential basis reveal anything, anytime, production conditions, those with direct manufacturer relationships between is-it always Naturally, at some stage in the development of work methods and thus fits into its social productivity is a relationship. “

What is the meaning of communism?

Communism on social organization and a theoretical system based on common ownership of means of production is a political movement.

Primitive Communism

In Western thought the idea of communism, Marx and Engels were formed long ago. Communism in the property before the ancient Greeks already lived in complete harmony of society, humanity’s “golden age” there used to be associated with a myth. Some of the works of Plato and other ancient theorists to state a kind of communal life in defense of communism indicates. Many of the early Christian sect (and as stated in Acts, especially in the early Church), pre-Columbian indigenous tribes in America communism were applied in the form of communal living and common ownership.

In the early stages of society people do not enter the factory, would not normally consume what they produce themselves and cannot work for the weekend, they need food, clothing, etc… Be ready to accept other people for a team award with colored paper and fancy disk. This behavior is quite amazing to come to our remote ancestors. Since we had previously adopted many features of modern society, too. These claims have not heard what the socialist: “People are greedy and are bound to be usurped. Socialism cannot be reached, because you cannot change human nature. “

Primitive hunting and gathering was the foundation of society. Single division, all-natural biological reasons, women also responsible for much of the burden of young children from, was the division of labor between women and men. While the men hunted, women gathered vegetables and fruits were.

Anarchist Communism

Anarchist Communism 14 century and a desire born of a rejection is arm communist anarchism. The authority is rejected. Indeed, theorists, anarchists Proudhon in 1851 “in neither the church nor the state in what is now, what in neither the earth nor the monetary authority should be in,” he said freedom is the desired.

Marx’s scientific socialism contradicts with anarchist ideas. Giuseppe Fanelli, founder of anarchism in Spain, with 1 participating in international Bakunin, “the world parity, and the federation of communes have become freely organized collective ownership of production and labor union organizing itself has to perform,” he says. Indeed, people at the start of the International Workers were divided into two. Proudhon, Marx, another one of these two currents, especially the Geneva (1866) and Lausanne (1867) fought in Congress. 1. in the next Congress fell from international anarchists. According to leading anarchists will be reviewed again should be propaganda. Starting from this idea, the Italian anarchists, they propose to use violence in 1877: “socialist orientation to the principles put forward by the action of the uprising, the most effective propaganda tool.

Overview of the nation to communism

aa‚¬A“From their inception in eighteenth century France, modern police forces in Europe have been involved in political policing. For example, they collected and exchanges information on persons and movements that were considered to be a threat to the established political order. After Napoleonic era, the German states not only established a central political police bureau but also founded, first in Mainz (1819-28) and later in Frankfurt (1833-48), a secret central commission for the exchange and analysis of information. The revolutionary events that took place in 1848 all over Germany brought about, in 1851, a new initiative to reinforce secret interstate co-operation in political policing: the German Polizeiverein (Police association),with its seat in Leipzig. This co-operation involved regular conferences and the exchange of weekly reports. They focused on all sorts of issues with respect to the maintenance of the established political order: illegal meeting of workers, the spread of rebellious pamphlets, the expulsion of dangerous writers etc. However most energy was devoted to the fight against Communism, in the broadest sense of most influential collaborators of the Polizeiverein aa‚¬” C.Wermuth, the police director of Hanover, and W.Stieberg, his equivalent in Berlin-published an extensive report on the communist conspiracies of the nineteenth century. This contained many details concerning the Communist movement in Germany, Austria and other Europe states.

Such information was not only collected by the many informers that Stieber and others secretly controlled, but also delivered by various police authorizes. Some, like the head of the Belgian political police bureau, were virtually extra-ordinary members of the association, participating in conferences and receiving regular bulletins. Others, like the Commissioner established close contact with the Polizeiverein. On the eve of the 1851 Great Exhibition in London, Commissioner Mayne invited the German states, France and Belgium to send officers to London in order to co-ordinate repressive measures against dangerous foreign criminals. Most of those sent belonged to the political policing sections, as London was seen as a hotbed of continental revolutionaries.aa‚¬? (httpHYPERLINK “http://arno.uvt.nl/show.cgi?fid=57599”://arno.uvt.nl/show.cgi?fid=57599 , http://www.kozonline.org/kitap_brosur/amentu6.htm)

What is the meaning of capitalism?

Capitalism, private ownership of means of production owned and operated by a section-weighted, investment, distribution, income, production and prices of goods and services of social and economic system of market economy is determined.

This system is usually created by individuals or groups or corporate entities for labor, land, production means and has the right to be able to make money trading. Practice of the capitalist economy in Europe 16 and 19 century, has become among the corporate, but some characteristics can be found in the first period, the traders during the Middle Ages, the early forms of capitalism have emerged. Since the end of feudalism and capitalism in the Western world is dominated system, the whole world was spread from Europe.

According to Marx, communism and capitalism and why communism is better?

Communism, in a manner different from the capitalist system of society is a system for predicting the organization. Accordingly, the communist stage is reached, according to all the people of the community will contribute to the enrichment capability, according to the requirements of this wealth will receive shares. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels communism developed by social class according to this theory and states will disappear, rather than private property will remain public property. (MARX and ENGELS)

The rapid development of capitalism during the Industrial Revolution, which form an important part of society and the growing number of workers living and working conditions were very bad. Men, women and child workers are run for long hours in unbearable conditions and very low running costs. Poverty, hunger, malnutrition and diseases caused by working conditions that affect large masses of the 19th century, the existing system of socialism as a counter-current of thought emerged (SOCIALISM).

In this theory, communism is the final stage. First, class and state, family, religious institutions such as the existence of a working-class power in the period envisaged. This phase is called the period of socialism. Over time, the realization of socialism all over the world, national borders, class and the state will disappear, material wealth is distributed according to the needs of the people would place under communism.