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Sexual harassment is a universal problem in all over the world. Most of the sexual harassment happen in western country but it’s also happen in Asian country such as Malaysia. In Malaysia, sexual harassment happened at workplace and is target on female workers by their male colleagues. There was getting more articles, report and news indicate those female workers are subjected to sexual harassment nowadays. In additional in year 2000 onwards the numbers of female worker start rising and entering male oriented job such as engineering, medicine and management. From the rise of female worker in all types of industries the management and policymakers consider that sexual harassment is vital for female.

Slowly, when the female worker faced sexual harassment and the situation getting serious, immediately the Code of Practice on the Prevention and Eradication of Sexual Harassment officially launch by Malaysian government in 1999. Workshop taking effort by drawing out guidelines to prevent incidences of sexual harassment. New amendment and guidelines are added by government through its Ministry of Human Resources. For examples, the Employment Act 1955 makes the sexual harassment officers compulsory to investigate any allegations of sexual harassment. Thus the guidelines of sexual harassment for civil service employees have also been issued and giving out counseling for the victim and punishing the perpetrator if sexual harassment happened. Every females worker have the right to free from a unsolicited harassment environment and atmosphere to avoid decrease the morale, productivity and quality of workers.

The research on sexual harassment show that men and women can also be victim but men frequently pose as harassers and women pose as victim in sexual harassment. Even the problem existed for many decades but the research start in late 1970. Now studies focus on the consequence of the organization and individual. In the organization, women with lower job got harassment than women in high job so this make those women in low job make excuses to take leave to avoid harassment. For the individual, the victim can be emotional stress and all this can bring effect on motivation, effectiveness at work and breaking family relationship. In the natural attraction of human and the men behavior shows that men has stronger and aggressive sex drives than women so that sexual harassment in workplace is an extension of human sexuality. Furthermore men with dominant power usually exploit their power to approach women in addition women usually have less power and control than men in workplace.

There are four factors model influencing sexual harassment in Malaysia and because of it is cover with social cultural, organizational and individual causes so it is more comprehensive and realistic. Thus the social cultural considerate the three main ethic group which is Malay, Chinese, Indian and other Malaysian worker. Furthermore the sensitivity level of sexual harassment towards entire females is different. In workplace female can involve themselves in sexual harassment on how they dress themselves. However the dressing types are different due to their religious and culture between Malay and non Malay. For Malays they wear ‘tudung’ with long dress but non Malay prefer western fashion. Besides, that sex ratio, sexist attitudes and available workspace easy to happen sexual harassment.

The first factor risk is motivation which means that the victim can be the motivator of the harasser. Furthermore, if the victim physical attractive attract that could be the force to motivate the harasser. In additional, the male colleagues may took action or establish unwanted sexual attention to female worker. The hypothesized show that female works who wear more attractive will easily get sexual harassment than the female worker that wears less attractive.

Factor two is the overcoming internal inhibitions against harassment. The harasser morality and sympathy is very important in this factor because if a harasser do not feel his act towards the victim are sympathy , wrong and immoral it will increase the cases of sexual harassment. There for female workers will experience some offensive jokes and unwanted sexual attention from the behavior of harasser.

Third factor is overcoming external inhibitions against harassment. Thus there are five working environment could contribute to sexual harassment. For example the privacy of workplace usually occurred because in private workspace that could not be witness by outsider. The hypothesized shows females that work in open workspace has lower chances encounter with sexual harassment compare to females that work in a private workspace. In addition, knowledge of grievance procedure so that females worker can do their complaint towards harassment and with this kind of system harasser will be punished and prevent harasser. Besides, that sexist attitude is a very valid problem and reported in sexual harassment because females that wear physically sexy easy be targeted as sex object by male’s worker. Other than that an unprofessional working environment bring u a vulgarism, alcohol consumption, disrespect among employees, and employees involve in non-work activities climate while u working and it will bring u sexual harassment. The hypothesized show that women that work in professional work place suffer less sexual harassment than females that work in unprofessional work place that suffer serious sexual harassment. The final is skewed gender ratios that mean males workers are many than females worker and is unbalanced. The hypothesized tell us that if the males workers more than females worker, the chance for females to encounter sexual harassment is higher than a balance ratio worker.

The last factor is overcoming victim resistance. The prevention and ability to recognize the behavior of a harasser toward the victim and the variables is related to the jobs status and sex roles of the victim. The hypothesized shoe those women employees who hold lower position and power will experience sexual harassment than women that hold higher position in a organization. Women that resist or not being cooperative will meet with threat from male employees that hold higher position.

Sexual harassment occurred in Malaysian workplace is causes by few factor and the factor has been confirm and the prediction is pretty accurate. The reason being sexual harassment occurs is the education background of female worker, unprofessional working environment, and sexist of male worker. The females dressing could be the key element cause sexual harassment. All this factors will interrupt with company progress. For examples, the relationship among worker, team spirit and cooperative of employees. Beside that that it will appear a unequal power between males and female workers. Finally one organization should consider the risk or women workers by setting some rules and regulation. For examples, proper dress for females, open space office for women and tighten the discipline among workers.

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This has taught me more in depth about sexual harassment in social psychology and let me more respect female. The sexual harassment happened in Malaysian workplace is too serious and endanger the moral and living style of a female. Furthermore women who experience it will mentally suffer. Therefore, prevent is better than cure.

The definition of hypothesized is the argument and investigation of a cause and effect. For examples, smoker gets shorter living life than a non smoker because smoking is bad for health. From the journal show that if women that wear more attractive will experiences sexual harassment than women that wear less attractive. Eventually the dependent variable will be how the females dress themselves and the independent is the sexual harassment. The theory I use for this journal about sexual harassment is self-fulfilling prophecy. The definition of self-fulfilling prophecy is your expectation toward a person and how u treats them to judge that your expectation is true or false. For examples, you expect that man will be every nice person so u a treats him very friendly at the same time he treats u the same way, eventually your judgment come true. But in this journal the theory is, if a male judge that if a girl wear more attractive, they will judge them as a very open minded and easy to handle women so they will make some sexual intention towards the female.

Finally all this hypothesized and theory is connecting to social psychology because all the factors and examples is effect and the cause happened among social cultural and human behavior around us. This assignment is very challenging and let me think out of the box.

My great, great grandfather, Paul Christian Lautrup, a single, caucasian man of 35, migrated from Denmark to the United States. He came from a wealthy family originating in the Danish culture and was educated to become an architect. He was expected to continue in the occupation that his nuclear family had persuaded him to train for in order to be kept in the family will. If he were to move away and not pursue the career that had been expected of him, he would be removed from the family will and lose all his inheritance.

Against his family’s wishes, he chose to leave Denmark to escape their career demands and to pursue his own interest. He moved to the United States in 1880 to follow his dream of becoming an actor. He made Washington DC his home, where he met his wife Delia whom he had 6 sons with. Unfortunately, he did not succeed in becoming an actor and settled for becoming an architect in the US. This is rather ironic, because he ended up moving away from Denmark and losing all his inheritance only to become an architect in another land. (Lautrup, Paul).

Denmark is a small nation nestled within the Scandinavian countries located on the European continent. Denmark, also known as the Kingdom of Denmark, has a tiny population of roughly 5.3 million citizens with only a 69km land border that is shared with Germany; this is the only land connection that Denmark has with Europe through it’s only peninsula and largest region, called Jutland. Also, Denmark’s main realm has 5 major islands, which support most of Denmark’s population, accompanied by 406 minor islands. Only around 90 of the 406 minor islands of Denmark are known to be inhabited. Also, Greenland and the Faroe Islands are part of the Kingdom of Denmark. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

They are both located in the Atlantic Ocean and considered to be autonomous regions within the Kingdom of Denmark; both have very small populations under 100,000 citizens. Copenhagen is the capital of Denmark and is the nation’s largest city. Copenhagen is also the biggest and most modern city in all of Scandinavia. Scandinavia includes the countries of Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Over 70% of Denmark’s population lives in an urban environment, while most of the population consists of people of Danish ethnicity, although there are a growing number of immigrants from Asian and African nations. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

The North Sea is to the west of Denmark and the Baltic Sea is to its east. Denmark is separated by its northern, neighboring, Scandinavian nations of Norway and Sweden by the Kattegat and Skagerrak straits. Sweden, the second closest neighbor to the Danes is cut off from Denmark by only 5km of water named the Oresund strait. Denmark’s climate is humid and chilly during the winter, with an average temperature of 34 degrees F and during the drier, summer months, the temperature averages 72 degrees F. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

Denmark has gently rolling hills with fertile soil that are at a close range to sea level with no true mountains throughout the nation. There are many lakes, rivers, streams and moors, which create an ideal environment for agricultural prospects. There are no extreme changes in climate due to the Gulf Stream that flows up from the south over Denmark’s western borders. Since the land is accessible to the sea, it is a prominent supplier to the ship industry is Northern Europe. Denmark has no point on its land that is more than an hour’s drive from the sea. There are numerous bays and inlets, which creates gainful opportunity for their prosperous shipping industries. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

Some especially important Danish landmarks include: The Tivoli Park, the most popular amusement park in Denmark, Fredericksborg Castle, and The Royal Theater. Hans Christian Andersen, known for his fairytales with relatable moral teachings and Karen Blixen, known for short tales and life memoir are among many famous writers of Danish literature. Soccer is Denmark’s national sport, but sailing, cycling and rowing are also Danish favorites. The national language is Danish, although, many Danes can speak English and/or German at least on elementary levels. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

The Krone is the source of Denmark’s monetary exchange and the Euro has not yet been accepted, due to the nation’s suspicions that switching over to the Euro will have a detrimental effect on their beloved social welfare system, which the citizens of Denmark take great comfort in. Denmark maintains the oldest continual monarchy in Europe and the second oldest in the world. Queen Margrethe II is the current Queen and head of the constitutional monarchy in Denmark. She is only the second queen to rule the monarchy throughout the entire history of Denmark. The Danish community is very proud of their form of government, their royal family and their Dannebrog, which is their national flag. Danes are not a people who are easily insulted, but one way to offend them would be to criticize anything concerning their Dannebrog, royal family or form of government. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

The subsistence strategy relied upon most in Denmark today is information. Higher education, the promotion of environmentally green solutions, literature and the fine arts are all very important to the Danish people. (Bendure, Glena, and Ned Friary) Over 77.3% of the jobs held by Danes are part of the information subsistence strategy through service-related jobs. (CIA – The World Factbook) Since education is paid for by the heavy taxes the Danish people submit to, it is financially obtainable for anyone with high enough scores to continue their education into any of Denmark’s universities. There are 5 universities for the citizens to choose from which include: Copenhagen, Roskilde, Odense, Aaloborg and Arhus Universities. Queene Margrethe II and her son, Crowned Prince Frederik are graduates of the elite Arhus University. Danes also have the option of continuing their education by attending community colleges or vocational technical schools. Some of the occupations that Danes are going to school for include: maritime studies, nursing, physicists, architects, social services, literature, history, religion, photography, teaching or various other information service occupations. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

These jobs all rely on technology and tools such as computers, cameras, high-tech printers, internet connections, satellites, sterilized medical equipment, body-image scanners, reference texts, cell phones, writing utensils, specialized uniforms and printers are just a few examples of the many advanced tools that are necessary for these various fields of information subsistence strategies. For example, a teacher would use tools such as a blackboard, a computer projector, chalk, erasers, videos, books and printers in order to relay information to teach her class a particular subject. Of course, these types of tools and technology are used all over the nation in rural and urban areas, but perhaps slightly more in the densely populated regions. Division of labor can be divided up in a number of ways in regards to the information subsistence strategy.

For example, a dean of a college may oversee that the college professors are following the guidelines for teaching classes from the code of ethics in their employee handbooks. The professors oversee the progress of skills and information learned by his/her students. The students attempt to maintain good grades in their class by completing all their schoolwork to the best of their ability. Division of labor usually depends on the socioeconomic status and education acquired.

However, in Danish society, social caste or social status does not create an obstacle in regards to whom can do what type of career. The citizens have a silent understanding amongst one another that every individual within the nation is important and should not be treated differently whether the citizen is a doctor or a trash man. The opportunity to pursue an information career is equally welcome to men and women; gender does not hinder occupational roles in Danish society. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

The second most important subsistence strategy amongst Danish society is industrialism in which some 20.2% of the population is employed. (CIA – The World Factbook) Some examples of the products manufactured are ships, boats, ceramics, silverware, furniture, chemicals, paper, fish products, dairy products, canned ham, electronics, textiles, concrete, marine engines, radio and communication equipment, toys, glass, pharmaceuticals, agriculture/forestry machinery, electrical products and diesel engines. Most of the industrial facilities that produce these Danish goods are located in more urbanized areas throughout the country. Many of these products require special skills used by laborers that have been trained at either a vocational school or through a type of apprenticeship training program paid for by the Danish government. Particular tools and equipment are necessary for creating these products that can include: pulleys, compressors, mixers, castes, hammers, nails, scissors, ovens, kilns, saws, test tubes, Bunsen burners, beakers, glue, electrical wiring, assembling machines, counting machines, computers, charts, slicing equipment, turbines, converters, nets, sails, anchors, food processors, milking machines and generators. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

For instance, if a plant is producing paper products, large, metal rollers, would need to be used in order to press the paper into the desired thickness. Also, mixers would be used to stir and prepare the paper pulp in order to pour it into the appropriate screening containers. A specialized machine would be necessary to wrap the finished paper product for distribution and sale. Distribution of labor depends on experience, skill level and seniority of the workers involved in the particular industry. Owners of factories and heads of departments oversee the quality and efficiency of production, which is reported from the supervisors. Supervisors organize, direct and monitor manual labor workers in their duties. Manual labor workers attempt to create products at a company-desired rate and quality, while not bearing the responsibility of their overseeing their co-workers.

The third of the most important subsistence strategies used in Denmark consists of agriculture. The main products grown in The Kingdom of Denmark include: sugar beets, barely and wheat, grains, rapeseed, fruits, vegetables and flowers. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary) Agriculture is most commonly practiced by only 2.5% of the population and is normally achieved in rural areas of the country. (CIA – The World Factbook) Training apprenticeship programs and information passed down through family generations are used to teach agricultural methods. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

Some technologies used for agriculture include items such as combines, separating machinery, generators, irrigation systems, planting machinery, tractors, plows, fertilizing distributors, storage units and computers for analyzing crop quantity and quality. Irrigation systems are used to water the large expanse of crops, plows are used to till the land for preparation of planting seeds and computers are used to keep record of seasonal harvest yields and perhaps even profit margins. There are over 60,000 family-owned farms in Denmark (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary) and the division of labor is shared by the family and or corporation that own the farms along with the hired employees who are used for cleaning and fixing equipment, sorting crops, running machinery, irrigation and maintaining the health of the crops.

The family or corporation of the agricultural operation oversees the employees or hires a supervisor(s) to ensure that the agricultural laborers are working efficiently. The supervisors or owners of a farm may calculate the quantity of crop and the value it yields per season. The agricultural land owners or supervisors also may keep track of the laborers improvement or lack of effort on the job. The farm laborers will tend to any manual labor that the agricultural operation needs completed while only having to be responsible for their individual production. The division of labor in agriculture is based mostly on skill, seniority and ownership.

The fourth most important subsistence strategy in Denmark is pastoralism of which is included in the 2.5% of the nation’s population that maintains a career in agriculture. (CIA – The World Factbook) The animal goods raised and produced in the Kingdom of Denmark include: canned ham, butter, cheese, fish oil, fish meal and milk through the use of fish hatcheries and typically family-owned farms. As in the agricultural subsistence strategy, pastoralism is either passed down through families or learned through an apprenticeship training program. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary) Some tools used for pastoralism include: fences, watering/feeding troughs, barns, herding rods, milking machines, slaughtering equipment, medical tools, labels, hoof clippers, lead ropes, halters, hoses, generators, heaters and computers.

Fences are used to keep the livestock confined to a desired location, animals are put in barns to protect them from predators and the occasional harsh outdoor elements and heaters may be used in the barns to keep a sustained temperature that is more suitable for the livestock’s health. As in the agricultural subsistence strategy in Denmark, the division of labor amongst workers in pastoralism is based on skill level, seniority and ownership. For example, the owner of a herd of swine may hire a supervisor or herd manager in order to keep track of the manual laborers and also the efficiency of herd quality, health and maintenance. The owner of the swine operation may calculate yearly profits, upkeep costs and decide what to pay employees based on their skill levels. The employees without management skills, the hired hands or basic herd tenders will be responsible only for the safety, feeding and order of their set group of livestock that they are to have authority over.

Denmark has a centralized political organization and maintains a constitutional monarchy as a political model. A constitutional monarchy can only be led by offspring of the current king or queen after he or she is deceased. It is a requirement for the king or queen of Denmark to be a member of the national church. A single-chamber parliamentary runs hand-in-hand with the constitutional monarchy. The prime minister, currently known as Lars Lokke Rasmussen, leads Denmark’s political organization with the indirect support of all 179 parliament members and direct assistance from the cabinet ministers who lead numerous political departments throughout the nation. Voting age in Denmark is 18 and all parliament members are elected for a term of 4 years, unless state minister forces a new election before the 4 years is completed. It is the duty of the members of parliament to come to consensus on decisions to enact or not enact new legislation and the duty of the prime minister to carry the decision to action, however new legislation cannot be enacted fully until Queen Margrethe II writes her finalizing signature on it. There are typically around 12 political parties that make up the single-chamber parliamentary system of the Danes. The top 2 of these major political parties consist of Social Democrats and Liberals-a right-of-centre part. Social Democrats seem to be the most popular considering the fact that they are tied heavily to the belief that all Danish citizens should be granted security by maintaining the comforts of social-welfare programs, but of course, these are safety features only made possible by very high taxes to the Danish people. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

The royal constitutional monarchy headed by Queen Margrethe II has control of the executive powers, while legislative powers are for the most part, granted to the parliament and judicial powers are carried out by the courts of Denmark. Denmark’s military branches include: a home guard, an air force, a navy and a national rescue corps. Military members are usually enlisted for 4 months to a year of service. During war times, the Danish military acquires 58,000 members, but during peace times, there are roughly fifteen thousand participating members. The Danish military ranks are usually based on mandatory enrollment in order to be ready when an emergency arises.

Denmark’s police force has about 10,000 law enforcement officers who are known for their more civilized, calmer approaches to domestic disputes by using advanced communication skills and maintaining close, positive relationships with the overall communities they work in. (HOG, ERLING, and HELLE JOHANNESSEN)

One form of internal political control in Denmark is the enforcement of laws through the judiciary court systems. Although, crime in Denmark is very low and it is not normal for a Dane to even consider breaking the basic laws of the land. An example of externalized political control would be the decision of the Danish Parliament to not accept the Euro as Denmark’s new currency, even though Denmark is a member of the European Union. Internalized political responsibilities of Denmark’s parliament involve the maintenance of social welfare programs that protect all Danish citizens regardless of socioeconomic status. The externalized responsibility of the parliament consists of maintaining peaceful political connections with the European Union and other nations in regards to preserving a secure way of life for its citizens and also keeping a cohesive relationship with national allies for added protection. After all, Denmark is a very small nation and it would be beneficial to preserve as much peace with as many nations as possible. (Bendure, Glena, and Ned Friary)

The economic system of Denmark is based on negative reciprocity due to the use of capitalism throughout the nation. Capitalism is used by the Danes to generate profit through sales of products from private businesses and corporations to customers. Redistribution is also used throughout the Danish culture in the form of health care and educational needs. Danish pay high taxes that allow them to enjoy the freedoms of free health care and education of any type. This allows the Danish citizens to give and take as they need, for example, all citizens are taxed regardless of how much income they generate, but it is possible that not all of them will use the free education opportunities or the free health care services during their lifetimes. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

Market exchange is also used through capitalism in Denmark in regards to having the freedom to set up a private business and gain profit from it without limit, which is a prime example of capitalistic market exchange. Denmark uses both socialism and capitalism, but the predominant economic system would have to be capitalism. This is true, because Danes are free to pursue their own interests through careers that will allow them to generate profit without limit to the individual. Although, socialism is prevalent in the way Denmark controls and maintains social welfare for the citizens in order to provide free and easily accessible, equal-quality health care and education to all Danish citizens regardless of social or economic status, gender, religion or ethnicity. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

The primary economic sector, which involves extraction of resources form the land, also known as mainly agriculture in Denmark, makes up 2.5% Danish employment. (CIA – The World Factbook) A few of Denmark’s exports consist of canned ham, butter, cheeses, beer and processed fish products of which are brought forth through agriculture, pastoralism and industry. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary) The nation’s secondary economic sector, which involves processing of goods, also known as industry makes up 20.2% of the Danish workforce. (CIA – The World Factbook) Denmark manufactures machinery, chemicals, furniture, electronics of which are exported all over the world. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary) The tertiary economic sector, which involves services, makes up 77.3% of the working Danish population. (CIA – The World Factbook)

A few of Denmark’s popular service industry jobs are found in the fields of architecture, nursing, teaching, physics, environmental science, literature and social sciences. Denmark enjoys the highest Gross Domestic Product in Europe and maintains one of the highest standards of living for its citizens compared to all nations in the world. Unemployment is very low and over half the country is employed with the reassurance that health care and education will not be a challenge to pay for. Denmark relies heavily on the income from its exports and puts a great deal of value on maintaining its social welfare programs. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

Denmark’s most common religious organization is Evangelical Lutheran, of which over 90% of Danish citizens belong to. Evangelical Lutheran is a denomination that is part of a national church, supported by the state called the Danish People’s Church. Only about 5% of Danish people actually attend church weekly; most Danes only participate in church services during important religious holidays such as Christmas or Easter. Evangelical Lutheranism is a monotheistic religion, which means that they worship only one god. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

Other religious organizations that exist in Denmark consist of Catholicism, Judaism and Islam, which also practice monotheism. Also, a small percentage practice forms of religious organizations such as Buddhism, Sikhism and Hinduism, which promote polytheism, the worship of many gods. It is ironic that the overall Danish society does not have a strong faith in the god or gods of their religious choice, yet at birth most of the country is automatically enrolled as a member of the national church, also known as the Danish People’s Church. Their enrollment is expected unless they belong to a religion other than Evangelical Lutheran. It is a requirement that the current king or queen of Denmark be a member of the Evangelical Lutheran religious organization. (HOG, ERLING, and HELLE JOHANNESSEN)

Danish churches are typically located in close proximity to all Danish towns and are encompassed by graveyards. Evangelical Lutheran religious organizations have sermons and worship in churches on Sundays. Their ceremonies include a minister, a servant, an organist and a cantor. Evangelical Lutheran important ritualistic ceremonies include: weddings, confirmations, funerals and baptisms. It is expected that most Danish churches have fairly low attendance rates during Sunday services. (HOG, ERLING, and HELLE JOHANNESSEN)

Throughout the Danish social organization, monogamy, the practice of marriage to single spouse, is the most accepted and nationally predominant form of union. Marriage is important in regards to the most common form of religion in Denmark, Evangelical Lutheranism, yet because Danes are not known for being highly involved in the practices of their religious organizations, there is a loose view on marriage and when it should be chosen, if at all. It is common for a Dane to cohabitate for years, have offspring and not be married until many years after. Therefore, it is not uncommon for Danish households to have illegitimate children born outside of wedlock. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

If Danes do decide to marry, it is usually not until they are in their very late twenties or early thirties. Danes do not participate in arranged marriages, an event where parents choose a marriage partner for offspring, instead, single Danes choose their own marriage partners through the anthropological term love match. Endogamy, marriage created within one’s own organized cultural group, is practiced in Denmark as well as exogamy, marriage outside one’s own organized cultural group. Most often, Danes marry other Danes of their own ethnicity, yet those who choose to marry outside of Denmark or one’s ethnicity is not condemned within the Danish societal organization. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

Post-marital residence, pertaining to where a bride and groom reside after their marriage ceremony, only pertains to the Danish societal organization in the sense that marriage partners typically practice neolocal forms. A neolocal form of post-marital residence can be defined as the event of taking residence in a home that is set apart from the married couple’s families. Other forms of post-marital residence, such as patrilocal, the act of a married couple living close to or with the married male’s family of his father, or matrilocal, the practice of both marriage partners residing with or in close proximity to the married female’s family of her mother, are not commonly practiced. Marriage in modern Denmark societal organization, is not required, nor is it a high priority. (HOG, ERLING, and HELLE JOHANNESSEN)

Therefore, post-marital residence is not of great importance, It is only on a neolocal sense, considering that Danes learn to be very independent at a very early age, while maintaining a close-knit family on an emotional level. The most important family type for Danes is the nuclear families containing dependent children, a wife and a husband. Even though the idea of marriage in the Danish societal organization is very loose and laid-back, out of all couples living together in Denmark, most of them are in fact married. Extended family, consisting of aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents and other individuals with marriage or blood relating them, are also important, but not as high a priority as the nuclear family. Most Danish nuclear families are small, having two or less dependant offspring. Privacy is valued greatly by Danes, especially when it comes to the nuclear family’s home. It is rare for a Danish family to invite a guest to their home whom they have not known for a great while. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

Each of the nuclear family members generally has their own private room in the home along with the rooms for meeting, such as the kitchen and larger family rooms. In Denmark’s societal organization, descent is traced by using a lineage, which is used by connecting all ancestors back to a single, original ancestor. Descent in Denmark is traced in this way, because last names are important links to ancestry. Although last names are taken from the male within a married couple, patrilineal descent, tracing only by acknowledging male individuals as ancestors, is not used, because all genders are included when tracing Danish ancestry. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

When referring to kin, relatives connected by marriage or blood, Danish citizens value ties with both the mother’s and the father’s side of the family, which is called bilateral kinship. Bilateral kinship is important for Danes, because both nuclear and extended family, regardless of mother or father’s side, builds a cohesive unit of strength emotionally, sometimes financially and offers support that is not commonly expected outside of family ties. National polls and summaries do not generally include information in regards to socio-economic classes, instead Denmark’s citizens are divided up into 5 social layers. These social layers consist of subcategories within each layer. (HOG, ERLING, and HELLE JOHANNESSEN)

The first social layer consists of corporate owners, employees of the educational system and anyone that has over 50 workers. The second social layer involves academically professional owners of businesses, agricultural owners with at least 4 employees and corporate owners that have over 6 workers. The third social layer includes small business owners, individuals with employment that calls for special skills and agricultural owners with a limit of 3 workers. The fourth social layer is made up of employees containing academic training, owners of small plots of land and experienced employees. The fifth social layer consists of employees with no special skills or experience. (HOG, ERLING, and HELLE JOHANNESSEN)

Denmark, as a social organization, is very tolerant of other people’s ways of perceiving life and is considered to be outgoing and well-educated. Danes are very accepting of homosexual marriage and equality of the sexes. Denmark was the first European nation to allow for legal gay marriages within its borders offering homosexuals the majority of rights granted to straight married couples. Danes are very conscientious when it comes to preserving a clean, toxic-free environment. (Bendure, Glenda, and Ned Friary)

A recent news article summarizes a protest put on by Greenpeace activists at the Environment Ministry in Denmark. This article was used for this research paper, because Danes are very involved in environmental policies in regards to keeping the planet as clean and sustainable as possible. The article was personally interesting, because Denmark is one of the most environmentally conscious nations on the planet and I was curious to see how they react to the disposing of harmful waste products. The Greenpeace activists were protesting the transport of a poisonous pollutant called HCB from an Australian company named Orica. The Kommunekemi in Nyborg, Denmark is one of a small number of companies in the world that is able to incinerate the hazardous carcinogen, HCB. The Greenpeace activists argued that hazardous waste materials should be incinerated closer to the point to which they are processed. This is just one of many examples of the Danish culture’s desire for a cleaner and greener planet. (“Greenpeace Goes Aloft to Protest Transport from Down Under”)

Danes are also known to love their most famous amusement park, Tivoli. This amusement park is located in Copenhagen and is the most popular attraction in Denmark. The park was built in 1914 and maintains a decor and cuisine that is based on the historical, traditional Danish culture of the time the park first opened. Some Danes pay the park’s entry cost just to eat at a few of the thirty-seven restaurants within the park. The park has roller coasters, games, gardens and various amusements and entertainment. (“Copenhagen, Denmark”)

Danish people are in love with the concept of social gatherings combined with eating and the two almost always go hand-in-hand. It is customary for a Danish household to always have tea, chocolates, pastries and cheese just in case guests arrive unexpectedly. Their meals often consist of three or more courses and it is considered a crime to oneself to not savor and take time to enjoy one’s meal. Danes love rich, whole foods of which often include broiled or marinated fish, thick and creamy cheeses, hearty breads, substantial gravies and delectable deserts.

Hot tea is often served with milk and honey and it is customary to leave the last bit of food in a main communal dish when eating. This is a symbolic action of politeness to show that nobody is selfish or rushed during the meal. The Danish culture is known for being one of the happiest cultures on earth. They are generally friendly, warm and open to communication with strangers. Recently, Denmark has incorporated many American concepts, products, stores and fast-food conveniences into their societal organization. Unfortunately, they are also gaining a few of the health problems that are associated with the introduction of American culture into their nation. However, despite the Dane’s cultural borrowing, they still have a strong sense of uniqueness through a proud society that shows compassion for its citizens and welcomes visitors. (Waldron, Julie)

The constancy and steadiness of any economy is based on the structure of its supply and demand. The supply and demand establish the pattern of the prices and the quantities of different commodities and products in the economy. The increase and decrease in the supply and demand fluctuates the prices and the quantities of different products. The market has a certain balance between various elements and all this symmetry is affected by the variation in the pattern of supply and demand. Various replacements and substitutions play role in adjusting the balance of the market and the prices and their elasticity are also affected by these. Furthermore all this has an effect on the society.

Basically four market systems are there. Varied roles are played by the economists in different markets.

Explain what causes changes in supply and demand

A market is a place where various products are bought and sold. At times there is too much quantity of a certain good is present in the market then it is said that the supply of that good is high. When a product is produced and the capability and eagerness to sell this product is there at a certain price in a certain time period then this is known as supply of that product.

Similarly when there is a capability and eagerness to buy a certain product at a certain price in a certain period is known as the demand of that product.

The income is traded in return of various jobs and tasks. Likewise if we have a demand of any particular product we offer money in order to buy it.

Market equilibrium is basically where the demand of any product is almost equal to the supply of the product. At this stage the prices for such a product are the most suitable for it. Whereas if there is too much supply and the demand for a product is comparatively low then the consumers will pay less for that product. Similarly if there is too much demand of any product but the market has a less supply of that product then the price of such a product goes high and the buyers are willing to pay even more for it. Therefore in order to maintain the market equilibrium it is better to bring the supply equal to demand and vice versa.

Determine how changes in price and quantity influence market equilibrium

Steven Tomilison defines equilibrium (Understanding Market Equilibrium, Determining A Competitive Equilibrium, p1,) as a state where there is no propensity to change. Market equilibrium is a stage where the prices and quantity of any product remains constant and endure the pressure by the buyers and the sellers. Here the supply of a product is basically similar to the demand of the product. This equilibrium is disturbed when there because of undue pressure a change is brought about in the prices or quantity of any product. What actually happens is that there maybe less demand of a product where the sellers might bring in too much of the product in the market. Here basically there is less willingness to buy a product or the demand of that product is reduced thus affecting the prices and also reducing them. Likewise if there is too much eagerness by the buyers to buy a certain product but the suppliers bring in lesser quantity in the market this will increase the demand thus increasing the prices of that product also. This all is actually bringing a change in the prices and quantity of a product thus affecting the supply and demand and bringing a change in the market equilibrium.

This all can be stated that an increase in quantity decreases the prices whereas the decrease in quantity will increase the prices.

Describe how the necessity of a good and the availability of substitutions impact price elasticity.

Harrison (2004) defined elasticity as the flexibility to increase or decrease. When it comes to the elasticity of the prices this can be shown by a graph of price elasticity of demand or PED. This price elasticity of demand is calculated by dividing both the percentages of demand with the price. This PED is very useful. Companies are interested in them when investing in new business or starting new ventures. It gives them the idea of competitive prices and the profit margin. According to Harrison (2004) the influence or effect of the taxes and subsidies is seen by the governments by this PED. By levying more taxes on harmful products such as cigarettes or alcohol will increase its prices thus decreasing its demand. Similarly by providing a subsidy on any product will decrease the price of that product thus reducing its price and making it easier for the consumers to buy it or increased demand. Nowadays for every product there are different alternatives or substitutions present in the market. The necessity of a product will lead to finding its substitution and creates a direct relationship in them. This relationship fluctuates because of different situations and conditions of the market and the world and this is what capitalism is.

Food has been described as essential and fundamental element for life by the China Agricultural Economic Review. This review describes the relationship between the supply, demand and the prices of different products in Nigeria. The domestic food prices were increased when Nigeria faced a food shortage between 1998 and 2001. To overcome this shortage different food products and livestock was imported from other countries. This increased the prices of these food products as large import bills came along with them which added up to the prices of these products. Automatically these prices were to be endured by the consumers. This resulted in large import bills. Now the domestic food prices were already high because of the shortage the imported food prices were almost similar or even higher then those products. This all brought about the elasticity in the prices and the economy was provided with elasticity. The market would have said to be inelastic if there was no shortage and the food prices were normal and there were less imports and competition higher. http://proquest.umi.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/pqdweb?did=1657972491&sid=3&Fmt=6&clientId=13118&RQT=309&VName=PQD).

Market Systems and the Role of an Economist

There are different types of business and likewise the market systems are also of different types. As per Mankiw (2007) the market systems can be divided into four basic types, and the markets not only in US but all over the world usually fall under one or the other categories. Majority of the economists also agree with this diversification of market systems.

Monopoly is one of the market systems. As the name refers the market is dominated by a single or sole seller and usually no alternatives are present for such a product. Since there are no substitutions the competition factor is also absent. Due to the advancement in the technology and information explosion usually the monopoly of any one product is nowadays not commonly seen but still companies like cable companies, trash collectors etc. are considered to be monopolies due to the uniqueness they provide through their product or services. According to Mankiw (2007) the monopolies enjoy this state because of the low marginal value they keep.

Oligopoly is another type of market system. According to Mankiw (2007) in oligopoly there are very few sellers present in the market for a certain product and action of one at times affects others also. The profits of everyone are affected by oneaa‚¬a„?s decision. This type of competition is known as imperfect competition.

Monopolistic competition is one of the market systems. As per Mankiw (2007) in this type of market system there are sellers who sell products which may be alike but cannot be considered as identical. That is their few features may be similar but they do differ from one another in other features. Again this is a type of imperfect type of market systems where the buyers are same but the products are different.

Perfect competition is the fourth type of market system and as the name indicates that the competition in this type of market system is perfect. The product is absolutely same but there are a number of sellers present in the market. The competition here is too high because of the number of sellers and the price of the product is usually very near to the cost of the product. It is difficult for the sellers to gain a good margin out of such type of a market.

One business can only be successful if it copes up well with the type of market system it enters. Good economists tend to understand the demand of the market system. They are well aware of the cost of the production and make efforts to offer better then its competitors. The buyers are always looking for the best with the most cost effective price. In order to earn the most of the market share one has to cut down its prices to the lowest then only it can compete successfully.

Conclusion

Thus the price of the product, the product itself, its buyers and sellers are the factors that affect the supply and demand of a product. The decision of the buyers regarding the quantity and their purchase is very much dependent on the price of the product. They are always willing to pay for quality but it is essential that it should be affordable for them. The increase in supply is because of too much quantity of a product present in the market, similarly the demand increases when there is not enough of the product present in the market. The price elasticity is also dependent on the importance of a good and the competition present for that good.

In explaining how we evolve into truly human beings, Symbolic Interactionism concentrates on our adaptation to the social world around us, its symbols and meanings, and the need to ‘read’ each other. Explain the Symbolic Interactionist model.

Symbolic interactionism is one of the major theoretical perspectives in social science. It was Max Weber and George H. Mead who emphasised the importance of subjective meaning of human behaviour. Mead drew on pragmatist ideas to construct a social theory that stressed the communication of meaning through interaction. Symbolic Interactionism examines specific social phenomena’s such as crime, educational underachievement and collective representations, to help explain such complex issues in a rational and relatable manor.

Interactionist’s focus on the subjective features of social life, as opposed to objective and macro-structural aspects, as the theory is based on that of individual human beings, rather than society as a whole. Unlike what Behaviourist theory suggests, humans do no react automatically to ‘stimuli’, it is but a process of definition and interpretation. It is the active involvement of practical knowledge which separates humans from animals.

Humans are seen as ‘pragmatic actors’ who must adjust their behaviour (or script) to fit the appropriate actions of others. “In order to understand the action of people, it is necessary to identify their world of objects” (Blumer, 1969, p11) The actor firstly indicates objects in their environment which are regarded as meaningful and secondly, combines objects in an appropriate way and constructs symbolically. This process of adjustment is supported by the ability to ‘imaginatively rehearse’ alternative lines of action prior to acting and the capability to react to one self as a symbolic object. Thus, the theory suggests humans are active participants who construct their own social world, as opposed to passive, docile objects of society (Introduction to Mead [Online] 2010). Role taking is the key means of interaction as it permits an individual to take another’s perspective. Mead held that “it is the ability of the person to put himself in other people’s places that gives him the cues as to what he is to do under a specific situation” (Scott, 1995, p105-106). It helps individuals perceive what actions might be to others with whom they interact. As well as taking attitudes of a specific other, individuals also reflects the attitude of the ‘generalised other’. Through socialisation, it is possible to internalise an organised response so every individual is able to respond in the same way. Through the internalisation of these attitudes of the generalised other, the human mind is structured socially in order to become a valid member of society (Scott, 1995).

Erving Goffman, a prominent social theorist, discusses roles dramaturgically, using an analogy to the theatre, with human social behaviour seen as more or less well scripted and with humans as role-taking actors. Goffman elaborated mead’s work, he suggested that social life must be seen as a theoretical performance in which people give creative interpretations of their ‘rules’. They also use props and scenery to support the impression of their character they seek to convey to others. Self presentations is only shown in a public setting, in the domestic world (backstage) individuals prepare for their next role. Self presentation is manipulated for the audience and self conceptions are shaped by attitudes and reactions of others. Organisational routines are employed to repress and control individuals and lead to definite shifts in self identity.

Role making, too, is also an important mechanism of interaction. All situations are essentially vague, thus requiring individuals to create those circumstances and roles to some extent before they can act. The majority of personalities are determined by the response to appearance, speech, actions, beliefs and so on. The reflections people gain from particular impressions are influenced by an exchange of symbols. Cooley’s theory of ‘The Looking Glass Self’ suggests that individuals develop a self image, and can assess the judgement or critique of others regarding their own appearance (Cooley’s Looking Glass Self [Online] 2010).

Language plays a central role of symbolic construction, “it does not simply symbolise a situation or object which is already there in advance; it makes possible the existence or the appearance of that situation or object, for it is a part of the mechanism whereby that situation or object is created (Scott, 1995, p102) Actors interpret other people by their actions of communication and the significance is constructed through this. It therefore takes a form of a ‘conversation of gestures’, whereby behaviour is a direct stimulus to the behaviour of others. This behaviour becomes symbolic when it is ascribed to, this becomes basis of action. “Gestures become significant symbols when they implicitly arouse in the individual making them the same response which they explicitly arouse, or are supposed to arouse, in other individuals… to whom they are addressed” (Scott, 1995, 103) Gestures become symbols within specific groups, but each individual participates in universal gestures, which are understood by that nation. Blumer stressed that definitions form an accepted stock of knowledge which is acquired through socialisation. The culture in which an individual is brought up in provides guidelines of how to act in given situations, through means of language and gestures, this enables people to act alike. Actors rely on these accepted interpretations in order to maintain social relations. Ethnomethodology is a product of symbolic interactionism, which focuses on how day-to-day experiences and how they contribute to our ‘social reality’. The term was originally coined by Harold Garfinkel, who investigated this phenomenon by setting up ‘breeching experiments’, in which ordinary conversations were brought to a sudden close by refusing to conform to the regular pattern of speech, making those who took part in the conversation confused and even angry.

Scheff suggested consensual collective representations exist where there is agreement of a given situation. There is an infinite series of ‘reprocated understandings’. In some situations there is limited guidance, but in rapid changing circumstances, new interpretations should be arrived at, a respected/consensual agreement should be achieved. Symbolic Interactionism adopts a stance of ‘methodological individualism’ as the theory suggests the social process is an outcome of individual action which doesn’t relate to social structures, however, it doesn’t rule out collective action. Blumer argues its importance in order for social roles such as; families, friendships, businesses and political parties to function correctly. Actors still assume that social institutions remain relevant to their actions, as educational, occupational and political outlets stand on principles of consensual grounds. Any breech of the accepted norms, produced by these outlets, will meet with a specific response, be it classed minor (usually by small groups such as friends and family) or major (by the general public) Individuals anticipate the likely reactions of others, which, in turn, constrain their actions. (Symbolic Interactionism [Online] 2010)

Criminal behaviour, like any other behaviour, is learnt through the process of interaction. Criminals have been likely to be involved in subcultures that encourage typical deviant attributes, such as theft, illegal drug taking and vandalism. Involvement in these groups may lead the individual to believe this activity is in some ways ‘normal’. Individuals act in accord with their norms of small social groups, if they are not educated in ways of the larger society, this could lead to crime. Mead suggests, “a criminal is the individual who lives in a very small group and then makes depredations upon the larger community of which he is not a member. He is taking the property that belongs to others, but he himself does not belong to the community that recognizes and preserves the rights of property” (Smith, 1995, p106). Becker suggests deviance is not an attribute of an individual, but as a definition, or label which is applied, “social groups create deviance by making the rules and applying those rules to a particular behaviour” (Scott, 1995, p106). The ‘audience’ judge criminals by their preferred opinions, and what is classified as the norms and values of that given culture. If an individual is ‘labelled’ a delinquent, it may become a self-fulfilling prophecy, leading to adopt a criminal lifestyle.

Schools play a vital role in shaping the way individuals see themselves and even reality. Many Interactionists’ have argued that the authoritarianism which is present in schools hinders learning and encourages autocratic behaviour in later life. The education system can create serious problems for students who are ‘labelled’, such as low academic achievers and classroom troublemakers, who are driven by low expectations of their teacher and in turn, tend to perform less well. These students may never be able to see themselves as good students and move beyond these labels. If students are made to feel like high achievers, they will act like high achievers.

The Symbolic Interactionist theory gives a huge contribution to the social world, however, it is often criticised for being overly generalisable in their research methods and somewhat unsystematic in their theories. Interactionist’s conception of social integration gives only a partial view of collective agencies. Formations of small groups such as political parties and business enterprises are recognised, but not so much explained. Social institutions for Mead and Blumer exist only in the minds of individuals, they may constrain some individual action, but only in so far as individuals take account of them and act accordingly. These objections, combined with the fairly narrow focus of research on small-group interactions and other social psychological issues, have relegated the Interactionist camp to a minority position among sociologists, although a fairly substantial minority. It is clear that the nature of human interaction cannot simply be underpinned with such a generalised view, there is no exact determinate of social life and how individuals react towards each other in relation to larger structures, only a subjective outline of what some individuals believe to be true.

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Working in an animal shelter is a good experience where one is educated on how to take care of animals. Though I believe it is the responsibility of the government to ensure that animal rights are respected and observed by all, it is my responsibility too to take care of animals that I am in contact with. It is with humble care that the Humane Animal Control Project was set up in the United States. The project was to protect movements of owned dogs and cats by private owners and those that were kept in the animal shelters. The government also has the responsibility of taking care of its citizens. It is entitled to supports the available animal shelters in making sure that animal movement are controlled and regularly checked. It has been observed that uncontrolled animals pose a threat to human beings. The animals act as transmitters of health hazards such as spread of rabies or a bite.

The implementation of the project was done in accordance to the objectives of the animal shelter. It focused to ensure that health of citizens and animals were observed and taken care of. The project also included ways in which animals could be controlled so that they could not stray around and transmits the Zootomic diseases, destroy well laid garbage and spread litters over the area. The project also mentions ways of licensing privately owned cats and dogs and providing shelter to uncared animals. In the United States, the private humane societies collaborate with the local government to perform these services to animal owners.

When you work in an animal shelter, you have to devote all your time, energy and money in to dealing with the animals in the shelter. The exercise involves protecting the animals and providing for them ‘humanely’. Humanely providence means providing proper medical care, food, good housing, controlling spread of diseases, establishing an active adoption programmes and providing exercise to the animals in care.

Observing the above is one of the attributes of a good animal caretaker and this was one area that I loved getting involved with. It has been observed that cats and dogs are sociable animals and so they deserve the best care and loving homes. One of the many responsibilities that I attended to while in the animal shelter was to ensure that the animals were sprayed and segregated so as to control their breeding in the house. It was a rule that all animals be neutered and sprayed before they left the shelter for a new home or given to adoption. Together with the humane society of United States, we focused on providing humane education to the community, developed animal control programs in the community, established and enforced laws that offered protection to the animals and lastly established animal clinics that provided services at low costs.

Working in the animal shelter needs a lot of patience and courage. Just like the human beings, animals too fall sick and it doesn’t matter which area you are working within the shelter, you just have to take care of an animal that is sick. Doing this work is unpleasant but with time you learn to persevere until the animal is back to normal. There was this one special lady who was an animal technician. The lady had been informed about the job by one of her friends meaning she never had an idea of what the job was all about. Although she had never thought of working in such a place in the past, she is glad that she found that place. Sometimes she had to sleep near the animals so as to keep an eye on them, when they were sick. When asked to talk about the hard times she had in the animal shelter, she didn’t have a ready answer, noting that she enjoyed her work and the environment she was working in. Her statement was that if you never loved staying with people or being close to animals then you won’t manage the job. She insisted that animals too have feelings and have to be communicated to because they cannot speak.

The main aim of the project raised by the animal shelter is to provide its cats and dogs with some social network. The animal shelter will try to raise some amount so as to ensure that the animals are well provided with the needed services and care. It expects to raise $30,000 through fundraising and asking for grants from other established organizations in the United States. At the moment, the shelter obtains funding in the additional projects that are set up by it although it survives through all this on a tax -based funding.

The significant project also aims at raising enough cash to build enough cages for the cats to play around and interact freely. It also aims at finding a suitable area that can be used by the community for walking their dogs and playing with them just outside the shelter. Leslie (2003) indicates that enough interaction between the animal and the human beings makes the animals sharp and provides greater chances for them to be adopted.

As I look back I cannot help to think about this one significant experience. I was told to organize a show that would teach the community to appreciate dogs and treating them well. The show was to feature on the importance of animal shelters by demonstrating how animal sheltered dogs can be used to find drugs, explosives or anything that might be of interest of police. The guests were to be shown how trained dogs can be of help to both the state and individual as well. Our objective from the show was that if anyone thought of getting a dog by adoption, and then were to get it from the animal shelters.

A dog’s statistics carried out indicated that over three million dogs in the United States were euthanized (deliberately killed in a painless death). It further indicated that the unwanted dogs were usually either killed through this way or killed ruthlessly which was against the law of the state. Most of the killings were observed to be due to unacceptable behaviors that could be avoided. The show was to instill the notion that when a dog is well trained and provided for, it forms a great companion to the man as it exhibit a social behavior as a pet cat. Most of the citizens in the community had the mentality that the dogs that are in the animal shelter have some problems and that’s why they were thrown out of their original homes.

The show exhibited how the rejected dogs after undergoing through the training, had become clean and dependable. An example of such a dog was ‘Conny’ which was found shaggy, dirty and thin. The dog had been left abandoned tied to a tree in the forest. In the show, the dog trotted alongside its trainer wagging its tail from end to end. It had fluffy skin that was pleasing to touch and look at. The guests were so pleased with the sight of the dogs and most of them adopted the dogs out of pleasure. Before giving off the dogs for adoption, we sprayed and neutered them as a standard shelter policy. The experience was so encouraging and pleasing because it taught me the need of patience and perseverance.

The experience at the show also taught me that not many people in the United States were knowledgeable about how to keep dogs and cats. Most of them rejected them yet they are among the most humbled animals that can be easily tamed by anyone including a child. The experience also taught me that being a caretaker at the animal shelter needs you to be sensitive, calm have good communication skills, strength and ability to solve a problem immediately. These qualities are essential to anyone working with the animals in that they can be able to interpret how the animals respond to various environments.

The course work done indicates that cats and dogs are social animals and they therefore need to be treated with care at all times. They have feelings that need to be catered for just like the human beings. It also portrays that when such animals are treated well, they become the best companion to human beings as they respond to the way they are treated. The workers in an animal shelter have to wash and play with the animals when they in the shelter, clean the cages, feed them accordingly, keep their records safely and lastly they have the responsibility of screening all those people that are interested in adopting their animals.

Government agencies and animal shelters are seen to control the problem of animal overpopulation and mistreatments. Creative strategies have been implemented by the community members to ensure that animals are not euthanized but instead taken to the care shelters for training and upkeep. Statistics indicate that the people who work in the animal shelters are usually exposed to various injuries and most of them work overtime to see that the animals are in good condition. Those who have passion for animals get the satisfaction from working in the shelter but those who do not have the love for animals, find it hard to cope up with the encounters while they are at work. The statistics further indicated that the workers exhibited a higher illness rate compared to the others who were not working in such a field. Most of the injuries are obtained because the job entails kneeling, crawling, lifting heavy substances such as feeds and repeated bending. They are therefore cautioned to take a lot of care when they are treating the animals. Those travelling to shows might be exposed t bad weather conditions that might be harmful to their health.

The experienced affirmed that animals are social creatures and that they should be treated just like normal human beings. It also depicted that they are affected by the environment they are exposed to. It indicates that owners have the choice of looking for a care taker who can look after their animals when they are at work. In the above experience (while working on a project in the animal shelter), it is evident that the learning objectives were achieved. I learnt that animals have important traits such the human beings and they depend on us to live a quality life. They adapt easily to an environment they are exposed to.

It has been observed that leaders have a special impacts in our lives as they give or show direction towards something in life. Leadership therefore can be described to be a social process that entails one person using the help of others to arrive to a common goal or objective. The lesson learnt in this course shows that leadership can also be observed in animals’ social life. Different animals can be used to indicate this. Leadership also entails using intelligence to manage others that are under your care. According to James (2003), it has an important role in influencing the role of others by taking charge of them.

It is also observed that animals posses leadership when they influence groups by showing examples for them to follow. An example of such an illustration is when they migrate in a group. Usually the movement decisions are made by the leaders of the group who are usually seen to be at the front of the other as they move. This movement always depends with the communication skills of the leaders to the others. From the above experiment, it has been depicted that animals are social beings that can be influenced by the social nature of the human beings. According to Haralambos and Holborn (2004), Social change means an alteration to the social nature of a certain social group. The change can be in the form of behavior, social institution or relations of a certain social group. Social change in animals is depicted when animals interact and adapt to behavior they are exposed to. Social change in animal usually is influenced by the way they are treated by those taking care of them.

Forms of social change are depicted when one is able to work in a situation that was seen to be impossible in the first time. This can be illustrated by the above example where I had to work with the animals though initially I did not have an interest in them. A social change is also depicted when the stray animal are taken care of by the care takers at the animal shelter. An unwanted animal that had unacceptable behaviors changed to being an animal that can be kept at home as a pet after taken through in the animal shelter. The above is seen to be possible in animals because they have been proved to be social beings that copy what they have been taught to do by their leaders (trainers).

When in a society people agree that there exists a condition that threatens the quality of their lives and their most cherished values, and they also agree that something should be done to remedy it, sociologists say that society has defined that state of affairs as a social problem. Sociologists ask questions about how the problem effects the collectivity rather than the individual aspects of a problem. The main sociological approaches to the study of social problems are the functionalist and conflict perspectives.

Functionalism aims at analysing the social and cultural phenomenon in terms of the functions they perform. From this perspective, the main reason for the existence of social problems is that societies are always changing and the failure to adapt successfully to change leads to social problems. Functionalist analysis was prominent in the work of Auguste Comte and Herbert Spencer, two of the founding fathers of this discipline and was further developed and refined by Emile Durkheim and more recently by Talcott Parsons. Durkheim is the most important sociological forerunner of modern day functionalism. His description of organic solidarity focussed on the interdependence of roles and lack of self-sufficiency that held people together.

According to the functionalist perspective, each part of society is interconnected and contributes to society performing as a whole. If all goes well, the diverse parts of society produce order, equilibrium and performance. If all does not go well, then the different parts of society must adapt themselves to re-establish a new balance, equilibrium and performance. For example, during a financial recession and consequent high rates of unemployment and inflation, state spending on social programs is reduced or eliminated, Schools offer fewer educational programmes and families spend less, so a new social order, steadfastness and productivity occurs.

The conflict perspective, which originated primarily out of Karl Marx’s writings on class conflicts, presents a picture of society in a different light from the functionalist perspective. While the functionalist perspective focuses on the positive aspects of society that contribute to its stability, the conflict perspective focuses on the antagonistic, disharmonized and ever-changing nature of society. Conflict theorists challenge the existing state of affairs, strenghten social change (even when this means social revolution) and believe affluent and authoritarian people force social order on the destitute and the weak.

Capitalism, the economic system which dominates the world today, is based on private ownership of the means of production (manufacturing industry, the raw materials and resources needed for industry and even the seeds necessary for food production) and exploitation of the labour of the working-class. The working-class, with no land or substantial inherited wealth, have no means of supporting themselves and are forced to sell their labour to survive. Capitalists buy this labour power, then get their money back and make profits by selling necessities and other products to the working-class and other classes in society.

Critics of the conflict perspective point to its exceedingly negative outlook of society. The theory ultimately accredits charitable efforts, benevolence, democracy, civil rights, and other positive aspects of society to capitalistic motives meant to control the masses, and not to fundamental interests in sustaining society and social order.

For generations before the establishment of a welfare state, most poor people who did not earn a living somehow managed to cope. Relying on family and, if necessary, on local charities, they pooled together the resources necessary to maintain a dwelling and prevent starvation. The term Poverty has many definitions and it is often defined as a state of deprivation relative to those standards of living enjoyed by others within the same society e.g. income or consumption poverty, social preclusion, lack of basic needs and relative hardship.

The extensive sociological literature on poverty overlaps with that on race, ethnicity, subcultures, the underclass and stratification. The study of poverty is central to any examinations of social inequality, including an analysis of who is destitute and the reasons for their poverty. Although the poor have often been blamed for their poverty, which is seen as the consequence of some form of personal inadequacy such as idleness, most studies attribute the existence of poverty in terms of the social and economic structures of industrialised societies.

The Functionalist belief on poverty is based on the assumption that poverty serves a constructive use for society since functionalism is interested in large scale fundamental justifications of social life. Therefore, poverty is studied on a macro level on the basis of the benefits it provides to society as a whole, rather than for the persons who are in poverty. The most influential writer on this aspect is Herbert J. Gans (1971) who suggests that poverty benefits the rich and powerful, who have a statutory interest in preserving poverty.

According to Gans, poverty ensures there is always someone in society who needs to perform physically dangerous, temporary, undignified and underpaid work for low wages, which is ultimately better than destitution. Furthermore, without the underpaid in society, many enterprises would be unable to operate as they rely upon under paid workers to ensure their dividend and success. The very existence of poverty provides the rest of society with benchmark against which society can measure itself.

In Britain, Peter Townsend played a leading role between 1950, and 1970s in making the public aware of the continuing existence of poverty. According to Townsend individuals, families and groups can be said to be in poverty when they lack the means to obtain the types of food, participate in the activities and have basic living conditions and facilities which are recognized, or at least widely sanctioned or approved, in the societies to which they belong. Their resources are so seriously below those required by the average person or family that they are, in effect, excluded from everyday living ways, customs and activities. In Poverty in the United Kingdom Townsend claims that the existence of class division is the major factor causing poverty; but he also acknowledges that poverty is related to lifestyles.

From a conflict perspective, poverty is imposed, reflecting unequal power among social groups, and it will continue to be imposed until those harmed by it manage to force a change. Conflict

theory argues that the explanations offered by functionalism theory is part of what sustains poverty, as they conceal its true origins and encourage the poor to accept social arrangements rather than organize to combat them. Marxism attributes poverty to the existence of class divisions in society. Poverty helps to maintain the domination of the bourgeoisie.

In the 19th century the recognized explanation of poverty came from Malthus’s Essay on Population (1798). Malthus affirmed that population grows faster than production. Increasing poverty is therefore unavoidable; any increase in the standard of living of the poorest classes simply leads to an increase in births or decrease in death rates and the population again ‘presses on’ food supply. Marx held the Malthusian theory in great disdain. Under capitalism, production grows very rapidly because of continual innovation and the ‘surplus’ population – a group of unemployed living in poverty – is not the result of natural population increase, but of the dislocation of workers by labour-saving machinery. The surplus population could all work if the length of the working day were reduced. But employers don’t want this, for various reasons.

Marxists believe that the capitalist society is constucted by the economy, and this structure needs to be completely reconfigured to be able to eliminate poverty. This would include a revolutionary eradication of capitalism because eventually the situation will progress to a small minority of the bourgeoisie (ruling class) and a pool of cheap labour. Marxists illustrated this by suggesting that institutions in the superstructure, such as the media, abuse of the proletariat, keeping them poor. A fragileness to the Marxists point of view is that it fails to explain why some groups are more inclined to poverty than others, e.g. women and the disabled. According to Marxists, the welfare system is an instrument of the state, which helps to maintain absolute lack of balance of prosperity that see some people living in privation with little possibility of ever really escaping from it.

Absolute poverty, also known as subsistence poverty, is the idea that it is possible to create an absolute minimum standard of living required for physical health, this is often called the poverty line. This concept is used in Drewnowski and Scott’s ‘level of living index’ where nutrition is defined in terms of calories and protein, shelter in terms of quality of dwelling and degrees of overcrowding, and health in terms of infant mortality and the quality of available medical facilities. Some sociologists attempt to include measures of education, security, leisure and recreation as basic cultural needs to be added to the notion of subsistence.

The theory of relative poverty has mainly replaced that of absolute poverty in sociological research. Relative poverty is measured in terms of judgements by members of a particular society of what is considered as a reasonable and acceptable standard of living. This definition of poverty suggests that the poor in any given society are, in part, defined by their opposite, the rich. A society has a distinctive set of cultural values, and any definition of poverty must include the choices and interests that individuals have in their society.

Researchers have linked poverty to several key issues of child welfare. Children from families in poverty experience more emotional and behaviour problems than children from middle and upper class families. Although all children go to school, the background of some puts them academically behind their peers from the beginning. Impoverished students are far more likely to enter school a disadvantaged because they have not had experiences that promote literacy and reading readiness.

More than one billion people in the world live on less than one dollar a day. In total, 2.7 billion struggle to survive on less than two dollars per day. Poverty in the developing world, however, goes far beyond income poverty. This entails having to walk more than one mile everyday to collect water and firewood; it means suffering diseases that were annihilated from rich countries decades ago. Every year eleven million children (mostly under the age of five) die from malnutrition and more than six million from completely preventable causes like malaria, diarrhoea and pneumonia. A total of 114 million children do not get access to a basic education and 584 million women are illiterate.

Social protection systems in Europe are among the most highly developed in the world but still, 16% of Europe’s population amounting to 79 million people live below the poverty line (set at 60% of their country’s median income) with one European in ten living in a household where nobody has an employment. Children, are more exposed to poverty with 19% amounting to 19 million children living under the threat of poverty. For this reason the European Union has proclaimed 2010 as the European Year For Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion with four main objectives:

The fundamental right of persons experiencing poverty and social exclusion to live in dignity and to take an active part in society;

Foster commitment by all public and private actors to combat poverty and social exclusion;

Encourage cohesion;

Promote commitment and practical action of the EU and its Member States to combat poverty and social exclusion, and involve all levels of authority in the pursuit of that aim.

Malta does not live in a vacuum and new forms of poverty brought about by social progress as a result of new lifestyles have been very actual. A large number of families are living through difficult times, with children being the innocent victims of their parents and guardians, the authorities or the community at large. Problems created by gambling, usury, alcohol, drug abuse and mental health. The report by the National Family Commission states that relative poverty exits not just financially but also in cases of stigmatised illness, domestic violence and cases where a husband chooses not to work so that he can default on paying maintenance to wife and dependants.

More and more international efforts have been organized in recent decades to address the problems of the poorest among us. However, while the world has certainly seen an overall improvement in rates of poverty and poverty-related issues, success has been uneven and hampered by serious setbacks. One devastating disease, such as AIDS, can obliterate the economy of a low-income country and one violent conflict can crush any human development advances that might have been achieved.

Can we envisage a society without absolute poverty and relative poverty? In a society without absolute poverty everyone that could work would be employed, there would be little crime, just a great place to live. In a society without relative poverty people would all have the same wealth and there would be no competition to be better then anyone else. This type of society is only possible in the imagination. Poverty survives because it is useful to our society. Society’s dirty work could still be carried out without poverty by paying the “dirty workers” decent wages. If the poor were more affluent they would make less willing clients for upper-class philanthropy. Poverty will only be eliminated when the poor can obtain enough power to make a change in today’s society.

“The existence of ‘races’ in a given society presupposes the presence of racism, for without racism, physical characteristics are devoid of social significance” (Van den Berghe, 1978, p.11).

This represents a tension, explored within this essay, between the inability to categorise human beings into separate ‘races’ on the basis of physical difference (Peoples and Bailey, 2011) and the fact that such categorisation occurs, based on the misconception that socially constructed concepts of racial difference are an objective reality (Barak et al., 2010). As the existence of ‘race’ relies fundamentally upon its construction within society (Marger, 2011), it appears, within this essay, as ‘race’. In examining the existence of racism in contemporary Britain, a number of definitions will be explored, however, a commonality among them is their dependence on the definition of ‘race’, demonstrating, I would argue, the equally, socially, constructed, nature of racism (Capdevila and Callaghan, 2007).

By examining Immigration and Asylum policy, this essay will analyse how differing definitions of racism, explain its continued existence, within a seemingly tolerant society (Wemyss, 2009). It also considers how immigrants and asylum seekers are perceived and treated within society, because in addition to occurring at policy level, racism is a lived experience (Lentin, 2011). I do not consider the definitions examined, namely biological, new, institutional and cultural racism, to be an exhaustive list and recognise that considering its existence from other constructs, may give a different picture of contemporary Britain, further demonstrating the need for a critical approach to concepts of racism and its existence within society (Zamudio et al., 2011). I will conclude by exploring whether accurately defining racism, impacts its prevalence, or whether pursuing the eradication of negative life chances, for minority ethnic groups, is not more beneficial than the categorisation of discrimination.

Although it is now commonly recognised that there are no biological differences, by which ‘races’ can be categorised (Nanda and Warms, 2010), this concept continues to create the foundation for biological racism and associates such difference with a behavioural hierarchy in terms of morals and intellect (Smedley and Smedley, 2005). This concept of hierarchy, I would argue, is integral to racism, in that the ‘self’ is constructed as superior and the ‘other’ as inferior (Rivers, 2008). Having proven the non-existence of ‘race’, this form of racism could be considered outdated and irrelevant, however, I would argue that its prevalence is still apparent within scientific discourse and public opinion (Lentin, 2011). In recent political debate, for example, around reducing the spread of HIV within the UK, by providing free treatment to foreign nationals (HAUK Select Committee, 2011), objectors have argued that this will increase immigration, out of a desire for free medical treatment (Department of Health, 2005). Whilst I would not deny the greater prevalence of HIV in some parts of the world, and therefore some ethnic groups, associating this with the motivation for immigration, within such ethnic groups, being to take advantage of free resources, I would argue, has biologically racist undertones. In addition, there is no evidence that the provision of free HIV treatment would create such ‘health tourism’ (NAT., 2008).

With racism being legislated against (Race Relations Act, 1976), racist undertones are now more common than overt racism, when taking a biologically racist perspective (Jiwani and Richardson, 2011) and the denial of racism within Immigration and Asylum policy, arguing that “it’s not racist to impose limits on immigration” (Conservative Party, 2005), is unsurprising. Whilst immigration rules, by their nature, discriminate between those who have, and do not have, the right to remain in the UK, I would argue that this discrimination is only biologically racist, if decisions are made on the basis of physical difference. As such, it could be argued that the Conservative discourse is justified, in that some criterion are required for immigration control, but that such rules do not refer to particular ‘racial’ groups having characteristics determining their suitability for immigration (Sriskandarajah, 2006). Whilst this argument does not necessarily prove the lack of racism within Immigration Policy, it demonstrates how one definition of racism, in this case biological, can be used to deny its existence, whereas, as this essay will demonstrate, constructing alternative definitions highlights greater prevalence of racism within Immigration and Asylum policy.

A combination of factors, including legislation, scientific rationale behind the non-existence of ‘race’ and eugenics movements, have resulted in traditional forms of racism being constructed as socially unacceptable, causing a reduction, although not eradication, in overt, racist behaviour and a denial of racist intent (Romm, 2010). If my understanding of racism, therefore, were restricted to a biological definition, I might argue that its existence within contemporary Britain has reduced. By redefining racism, however, in the light of its social unacceptability, to subtler, indirect forms, the existence of racism, I would argue, in both Immigration and Asylum policy and wider British society, can still be seen. This subtler definition, known as New Racism (Collins and Solomos, 2010), argues that the same belief in racial superiority underpins many current discourses, but that new language is used to represent these traditional beliefs, for example, substituting ‘race’ with immigrant or asylum seeker (Kimber, 2010).

Returning to the Conservative Manifesto (2005), if no inference of racism exists within policy proposals, then why is there a need for rhetoric which defends a non-racist position? The powerful use of language is evident in this kind of discourse, because in addition to denying racist intent, arguments are constructed, such that, accusations of racism are deemed irrational, making any covert or indirect forms of racism difficult to challenge (Goodman and Burke, 2011). In Conservative leader, Michael Howard’s election campaign (2005), for example, the need for stricter immigration control is argued to be based on common sense, rather than racist principles. Mr. Howard categorises immigrants as ‘good’ and ‘bad’, with those being different and not encompassing British values, deemed ‘bad’ (Btihaj, 2006). Being a child of immigrants, he classifies himself a ‘good’ immigrant, for whom racism is unacceptable because he is ‘one of them’, however, Michael is white, and therefore does not look ‘different’ and his immigrant Father is Romanian, a Christian, European country whose values and cultures are more in line with “Britishness” than perhaps, ‘non-white’, ‘non-Christian’ countries, making conforming to the image of ‘good’ immigrant, much easier for him (Capdevila and Callaghan, 2007). In this way, I would argue that, although new language is used, racist beliefs underpin this discourse, in describing acceptable immigrants as ‘white’, with similar culture and values, and conversely less acceptable immigrants, as ‘non-white’ individuals, refusing to conform to ‘our culture and values’. A biological definition would deny racism within this speech, whereas, a new racism definition highlights underlying racist discourse, which may result in the implementation of racist immigration policies. I would argue that this further demonstrates the contested and constructed nature of racism, which can be made to exist, or not, on the basis of its definition.

This coded use of language can also be seen in wider public attitudes, within the UK. Where terms like lazy, stupid and unprincipled were historically used to describe ‘racial’ groups, they are now connected with immigrants and asylum seekers (Craig, 2007). Similarly, Finney and Peach (2006) found that although discriminatory views have shifted from ‘race’ to immigrants and asylum seekers, similar language, and reasons for feelings of animosity, are used in describing both groups. A biologically racist perspective, could argue that attitudes toward ethnic minorities have improved within the UK, but I would argue that, considering a new racism definition, although language and focus have changed, racist attitudes still prevail within contemporary British society.

Another perspective in understanding racism, is to consider how policies, decision making and institutional practices create and define racism, rather than individual belief systems. This institutional definition of racism, argues that, policies are constructed to both subordinate, and maintain control over, particular racial groups (Carmichael and Hamilton, 1969). In this way, racism is the creation of inferiority through the implementation of organisational policies and procedures (Better, 2008) and is rooted in the processes of established and respected forces within society, which I would argue makes them less likely to be challenged than individual acts of racism (Carmichael and Hamilton, 1969). Institutional racism can occur unintentionally, by unwitting prejudice and racial stereotyping creating policies and cultural practices which disadvantage ethnic minorities (Macpherson, 1999). The complexity of institutional racism is that, organisations cannot make decisions or policies, without the presence of individuals and therefore questions whether an institution can be racist, or whether racism results from the influence of individuals within that institution (Roush, 2008).

The UK Border Agency, in working predominantly with immigrants and asylum seekers, in my view, holds significant potential for institutional racism. Whether such racism is intentional is contested, but irrespectively, I would argue that, some immigration policies disproportionately disadvantage certain ethnic minorities. Recent changes to work permit policies, for example, mean that restaurants employing chefs from outside the EU, must find applicants with at least 5 years’ experience and graduate-level qualifications, paying them at least ?28,260 a year (Home Office, 2011). Although this policy is applied to all restaurants and its implementation aims to prioritise jobs for British citizens, I would argue that restaurants providing cuisine originating outside Europe, are likely to be disproportionately impacted by this policy and that such businesses are likely to be owned by, and employing individuals of, ethnic minorities (Khaleeli, 2012). In this way, whether intentionally or not, I would argue that these immigration changes are institutionally racist, in that their negative impact, upon ethnic minorities, is unjustifiably disproportionate. This again demonstrates, I would argue, how the definition of racism taken, can significantly impact its perceived existence within contemporary British society. A biological definition, for example, would argue that decisions are not being made on the basis of physical difference, as all individuals are receiving the same treatment, and therefore the policy is not racist. Similarly, new racism, by examining the language used, could still conclude that the intention of this policy, is not to favour any particular racial group. The difference, I would argue, with institutional racism, is that intent is less important than impact and therefore, racism can be deemed to exist if the outcomes for ethnic minorities are disproportionately worse than the general population, which in regard to this policy, I would argue, could be the case.

The final perspective being explored, cultural racism, is argued by some to simply be an extension of new racism (Jacobson, 2008). Within immigration and asylum discourse, however, I would argue, the language of culture so frequently replaces that of ‘race’, as to make a distinct exploration of cultural racism beneficial (Diller, 2010). Cultural racism relates to the belief that less dominant cultures are dysfunctional, maladaptive or even deviant, emphasising individual failings, rather than a societal failure to accommodate difference (Williams, 2007). Although it could be argued that this moves too far from a valid definition of racism, this depends upon how ‘race’ is defined and if there are no biological differences by which ‘races’ can be categorised, then the socially constructed differences which create racism, may also be cultural differences (Pon, 2009). In this way cultural racism is both the negatively, differential treatment on the basis of cultural difference (Hill, 2008) and the denial of opportunity to express one’s culture (Ford, 2005).

Muslims are frequently constructed, for example, as a homogenous group, when in reality the diversity of individuals classifying themselves as Muslim, is too vast to validate a single identity (Al-Azmeh, 2007). Despite this, the term Muslim has become a way of describing ethnicity, both in politics and public opinion (Wilson, 2007). This process of homogenisation, I would argue, has caused ideas of fundamentalism, and terrorist intent, to be attributed to the Muslim identity, constructing them, in some respects, as an enemy of British society (Todorov and Brown, 2010). This is not only a discriminatory and inaccurate portrayal of a diverse group, but also culturally racist in the way such beliefs are played out in the implementation of policy and treatment of Muslims within British society (Qasmiyeh, 2010). This can be seen in proposed legislative changes, following the terrorist attacks of September 2001, where Prime Minister, Tony Blair, argued a need for increased ability to exclude and remove those suspected of terrorism and those seeking to abuse the asylum system (Hansard, 2001). In addition, in describing the attacks, Mr. Blair highlighted the terrorists’ motivation as a religious obligation set out in the Islamic Holy text, the Koran (ibid). This demonstrates, I would argue, an underlying discourse associating both Muslims and asylum seekers with terrorism (Huysmans and Alessandra, 2008). Further political statements in the subsequent decade, I would argue, cemented this construction of Muslims as the enemy (Pantazis and Pemberton, 2009). In 2006, for example, a report on countering terrorism (Cabinet Office, 2006) concluded that the most prominent threat came from Islamist extremists. Furthermore John Denham, as Home Office minister, suggested that behind a minority group of terrorists, sat a wider Islamic community, who considered terrorism to be a legitimate response to current concerns (Denham, 2007).

A consequence of this negative construction of Muslims, I would argue, is the discriminatory treatment of immigrants and asylum seekers who identify as Muslim (Pantazis and Pemberton, 2009). Risk-profiling computers, for example, determining on entry to the UK who should be scanned, searched and questioned, have been found to focus upon Muslim-specific behaviours, categorising practising Muslims as ‘high risk’ (Webber, 2012). This is a clear demonstration, I would argue, of cultural racism, in determining negatively, differential treatment on the basis of cultural identity, further highlighting how the existence of racism, is very much dependent upon the way in which it is defined. Biological racism, for example, would argue that the range of ethnic diversity within Islam, indicates that any discriminatory treatment toward Muslims, cannot be racist, as underlying, discriminatory, motivations are not based upon biological difference. Similarly, although much of the discrimination explored, occurs at an institutional level, Institutional Racism is based on the impact of policies and practices upon ‘racial’, not cultural or religious, groups and so would not consider the matters explored to prove the existence of racism, within contemporary British society.

Having considered varying definitions of racism, I would conclude that its existence, within contemporary British society, is complex and can be argued to be both prevalent and a thing of the past (Rattansi, 2007). By taking a biological perspective, this essay has considered that, although racist undertones may exist in some immigration and asylum discourse, its prevalence within British society is decreasing (Day, 2011). Alternatively, by taking an institutional view, where it is not intent but impact which is measured, the existence of racism has been highlighted, through some UK policies and institutions disproportionately, disadvantaging ethnic minorities. Similarly, by considering racism from the perspective of new language being used in place of traditionally racist terms, the prevalence of racism increases significantly, specifically, as this essay had demonstrated, within Immigration and Asylum policy. Finally, by extending this new racism definition to the replacement of ‘racialised’ language, with that of culture, this essay has demonstrated how specific groups continue to experience significant levels of racism within British society, both in terms of policy construction and public attitude (Allen, 2010). Reflecting upon these various constructions of racism, I would argue that its perceived existence is highly dependent upon the definition used.

Whilst this analysis has examined the existence of racism, it could be said that it does not explain its existence. Why is it that some groups consider it appropriate to negatively treat others, on the basis of their ‘race’? I would argue that the answer to this, is power. With biological racism, it is seen in the superiority and inferiority of ‘racial’ groups, on the premise that biological difference creates a ‘natural hierarchy’. With new racism, it is seen in powerful discourses which paint racist ideologies as rational and in the best interests of Britain, whilst in reality maintaining the authoritative position of the powerful (Capedevila and Callaghan, 2007). With institutional racism, it is seen in those with the power to create policy and organisational procedures, constructing these to maximise the benefits for themselves and maintain their position of authority. Finally, with cultural racism, it is seen in the view that inferior and less developed cultures should be discarded and individuals from such cultural groups assimilated into the dominant culture, accepting the superiority of these cultural norms.

In light of this, I would argue, that if the existence of racism is determined by its definition and the ‘purpose’ of racism is to maintain power, then a critical understanding of the constructed nature of racism, is paramount in assessing the discourses and policy proposals of those with such power. This reflection has also caused me to question the extent to which an academic pursuit of categorising behaviours, policies and ideologies as racist, is beneficial and if instead, it is deflecting the focus from challenging negative discrimination, faced by certain groups, irrespective of their experience fitting our socially constructed definition of racism. In conclusion, however, I would argue that, as racism is now considered both legally and morally wrong, if it can be accurately defined and its existence proved and highlighted, then work can be achieved towards its eradication (Cole, 2009).

“When a son is born, let him sleep on the bed, clothe him with fine clothes, and give him jade to playaˆ¦when a daughter is born, let her sleep on the ground, her in common wrappings, and give her broken tiles to play.” This Chinese song written 1000 years ago, still rings true today in China as it did in the past. For generation after generation, females in China have been seen has inferior to men. Quite clearly shown from the traditional feet binding that men consider ‘beautiful’, where a woman has to break her feet and bound them to make them only 3 inches long; or the fact that the emperors always had a whole harem of concubines ready for him to ‘enjoy’. But as times have changed, many past ideals and views have changed with it. Including a woman’s worth in society; the problem is whether or not women have obtained the same rights both in society and in law. The reality is that though there has been major improvement in gender equality in China, discrimination against women remains prevalent in rural areas, evident through gender imbalance, traditional views of a woman’s role in society, and education and job opportunities.

One of the most apparent evidence that women in China are not seen as equal importance to men is from the severe gender imbalance taking place. This is caused by various different reasons, for instance the one child policy. In 1979 China enforced the one child policy, changing the fertility rate drastically, but what it did not change, was the son preference. The National Census Bureau established in 1990 made it clear that China’s sex ratio at birth (SRB) was male biased – reflecting on the discrimination towards girls. But ever since then, not only has the gender imbalance remained, in fact the numbers of sons kept rising. In 1970, before the one child policy there were 106 boys per 100 girls, when the one child policy took effect the ratio became 111 boys per 100 girls, then gradually 114 boys, by year 2000 there were 117 boys per 100 girls! From here, the statistics don’t seem so horrifying, but when you multiply that ratio with the population of China, the results of shocking, for this is the cause of over 4 million girls ‘missing’. Experts estimate, that if this trend continues, in 10 years China will have approximately 40 to 60 million girls missing. As to why the one child policy was able to tip the gender imbalance even more, was because since only one child is allowed, many people wanted sons over daughters, and the technology now a days, makes the gender selection of a child an easy thing to do.

Technology plays a great part in this is because with the improvement of technology, things such as ultrasounds allow parents expecting babies to find out the gender of their child. Which causes a lot of female child abortions and infanticide, for often the case is: if the child is a girl, the family will abort the baby. As a respond to these issues, in 1994 China banned the use of ultrasounds for the use of sex selection, but in an interview from BBC with an ultrasound technician, he claimed that “peopleaˆ¦offer me money to tell them [the sex of their baby].” According to the studies of a Sociology professor in Northridge University, Wendy Wang, shows that “parents with son preference value consider their daughters to be less valuable and therefore provide inferior care to daughters in terms of food allocation, prevention of disease and accidents, and treatment of sick children,” another main cause of the dramatic decrease in female infants. Through this, it is clear that females are not seen as the same value as sons; even in the process of giving birth to the child is an evident case of female inferiority and discrimination. For instance, there are many mothers in China who do not want to give up their girls, but their husbands ‘encourage’ them to. Xinran Xue, a former radio host, had received hundreds of letters from women who felt that they were pressured and forced to abort their daughters; one woman wrote “I would rather suffer this dark hole inside me ifaˆ¦ [my daughter] can have a better life.” This being the case, there are thousands of couples in China who have girls, abandon them; resulting more than 160,000 girls in orphanages across the whole country. To top it off, the lack of girls in China has affected the ways of society so much, that people are so desperate that the United Nations stated that there were about 250,000 Chinese women and children kidnapped in 2003, sold to people as wives.

Another factor to the gender imbalance in China is the indifference of the people towards the situation. Being an issue discussed worldwide, many Chinese are definitely aware of the situation, but they seem to turn a blind eye. For the parents want sons, and therefore discriminate girls, causing the SRB to become more and more male biased instead. What they might have not predicted, was that since most everyone wanted a boy, how would there be enough girls for the boys to ‘hitch’. An estimate by Zhai Zhenwia, a professor at People’s university in Beijing, shows that there are “already about 20 million boys who will never be able to marry, because there aren’t enough women.” Things have gone so desperate, that some guys even put ads on the newspaper in search of a wife. But there are also people who couldn’t care less about the situation, “Am I worried I won’t find a wife? No, because the world is so big.” The Chinese government is finding ways to improve the situation such has making the year 2004 the “Year of the Girl” – promoting the idea “girls are as good as boys!” or offering some parts of the country better housing, lower school fees and pensions for elderly parents who don’t have boys- if they would give birth to a girl. The goal was set to settle the situation of gender imbalance by 2010 (this year), but it is quite evident it hasn’t exactly been as affective as the government hoped. Most likely is because son preference is a traditional value that has been implanted in the Chinese so strongly, that is has even brought gender imbalance to places like the United States. Generally speaking in the States, the ratio of more boys being born than girls is 1.05 to 1, which seems pretty much okay. The problem is when it comes to American-Chinese, Korean or Indian families. Since there is no one child policy in the U.S, families can have all the babies they want, therefore causing the like hood of having a boy if the first child was a girl to increase to 1.17 to 1; if both the children are girls, the ratio of the third child to be male was 1.51 to 1, in other words 50% greater chance. This is an especially big problem in New York where about every 1000 births, there are 558 boys born, as opposed to the typical account of 515 boys. Even doctors from fertility and sex-selection clinics have noticed this trend; like Dr. Norbert Gleicher, medical director of the Center for Human Reproduction stated that from what he knows from experience, is that most people want girls, except for Asians and Middle Easterners. Thus the indifference people have towards the gender imbalance is emphasized by the fact that the statistics still aren’t changing. Which shows that women aren’t exactly considered highly important in Chinese society other than being baby-making machines.

Other than being the role of a housewife, mother, and sex objects for men, women in pre-revolutionary China had no status in their family or society. Till now in rural China, these traditional beliefs of a woman’s role have not changed much. In order to fully understand the situation of why couples in especially rural China, have such a strong preference to sons, is to first understand what were the traditional ideals of a perfect Chinese family. First of all it was best to have 4 generations living together, with of course as many males as possible; because men were the dominant ones in the family. They were responsible of taking care of the family’s financial source, traditional customs and rituals, and to add on top of that the family lineage is only allowed to be continued by a male child. Therefore the males are expected to maintain financial and social ties to household for life. Whereas daughters in a traditional ideal Chinese family are taught to be good housewives; basically translates to being obedient, and “to place their happiness on the goodness of their husbands”. Another reason daughters are not considered a good ‘thing’ to invest in for living expenses, education, is because once they get married, daughters are no longer considered to be part of the family, instead she becomes part of her husband’s family. Therefore parents don’t see the point in investing much to raise their daughter(s), when they will gain no benefits from her in the future. Adding on to all that tradition, even the most respected man in Chinese history, Confucius, stated that “one of the three grave unfilial acts is to fail to have a son”; which in pre-revolutionary times, if a wife was to fail to have a son, she could get kicked out of the household.

As to why ‘rural China’ and ‘urban China’ tends to be separated when discussing the discrimination towards girls, is because when it comes to son preference, and traditional views, the urban and rural Chinese are quite different. In a research conducted by Wendy Wang, a professor in sociology claims that a parent’s income and education level influences their values toward their child’s gender. In urban families, there is none or hardly any gender bias, this is because parents have higher education, and therefore more open minded, also since the parents have a better income, and the one child policy is strictly practiced in urban areas, therefore they only need to provide/invest one child with better educational and living conditions, they also don’t need to worry about who will take care of them when they grow old because there is retirement funds, and their amount of income is able to support them in the future. Whereas parents in rural areas, 2 children are allowed, therefore parents would provide more favorable conditions to boys. Also there are no retirement pension programs, nor are the income or jobs of parents from rural areas, as high and good as parents from urban areas, and therefore they need to have someone to look after, and provide for them when they are old. This now comes in a full circle on how traditional beliefs fit into this cycle of women discrimination, because due to traditional family values, the sons are the one expected to maintain financial and social ties to household, meaning they are expected to take care of their parents. Girls on the other hand who are expected to become part of her husband’s household; the parents believe is not beneficial to invest in daughters for they, according to tradition, will not provide for them, also daughters are typically viewed as weak, and obedient, with no use except for being a housewife. Theses discriminations towards girls, and the stereotypical view of how girls are to a family of traditional Chinese values, is proof that females in present China still are not looked as equals with men. And it therefore constricts females from getting equal opportunities as guys, which includes preventing girls to have the education and job opportunities that they deserve.

When it comes down to the opportunities, chances, the male population in China still has an upper hand. Due to family conditions and traditional values, many girls aren’t able to receive the same benefits guys have, especially in their level of education and job employment. As stated before, families in urban areas and in rural areas, tend to have different views due to their living conditions. So when it comes to education, girls in urban areas have more equal education to guys than girls in rural areas. First of all, like when it come to gender preference of their child, parents of urban areas, show none or hardly any gender bias because of their higher education, and better higher income. Therefore they can provide for themselves, and therefore do not need to depend on child (son), so they are fine with whom they invest money in to educate: girl or guy. Also the because of the strictly practiced one child policy in urban areas, the parents only need to provide one child, no matter the gender, with better educational opportunities. This being the case, girls in rural areas have significantly worse education opportunities than the sons. In 1990 census showed that on average rural females only complete about 4.74 years of elementary. (urban females complete about 7.64 years). This is because in rural areas 2 children are allowed; therefore parents would provide more favorable conditions to boys because the parent’s investment in a child’s education is based on the future returns. Since men are offered better employment opportunities and higher income; therefore the son is given the better education. Also there is no retirement pension program, and the income for parents in rural areas are not as high as parents from urban areas, and opposite of parents from urban area, they need to have someone to look after, and provide for them when they are old, therefore the role of the sons to maintain financial and social ties to household is crucial to them. So for girls, who are expected to become part of her husband’s household, they believe is not beneficial to invest in daughter’s education. Like a popular expression in China “Raising a daughter is like watering someone else’s garden.”

One of the reasons that some parents choose to invest in their son than their daughter’s education, is because sons have better employment and higher income – even if the girl has better qualities. Here, no longer is discrimination against girls only towards girls from rural areas, but most all of China. Urban girls have lower employment rate than guys and rural girls, because jobs they apply for, are given first priority to the males, the only way they could win a job over from a male, is if she is very overly achieved; even if a girl qualifies for the job a bit more than a guy applicant, the job would still be given to the male. The bit that stands out though, is that girls in rural areas have higher employment rate, from this it seems like it means that rural girls seem to be fairly equal to men, but that is not actually the case. Girls in rural areas, from ages 15-19 year old have a higher employment rate then boys, because those girls are not provided to go to school, whereas most teenage boys are still being educated. So the girls are forced to go and work to help support the family instead of receiving an education. The problem is that with the development of China, many jobs require at least secondary school education, whereas most women in rural areas only have education up to elementary level, suggesting that in the near future, these jobs these women have may be gone. Although many women across China urban and rural are employed, but they have a lower salary than guys in the same job, and their jobs are mostly lower positions. For women in rural areas, it’s mostly all labor work. Another point to pick out is that males have first priority before the girls when applying for jobs, not only that but they receive higher income than females, and their positions tend to be much higher than women.

The gender biased in employment is also caused by the fact that women are traditionally, viewed as weak, venerable, naA?ve, and therefore cannot do work as well as males. There is even a saying among hiring agencies and employers, that “No one wants a female except when one want a wife” though it’s a bit of an exaggeration, but the main point is true: employers do not want women in their company as much as they want men. Comments on a bank’s application for women says it all, for it had comments from employers such as: “appearance – a little ugly; height – 1.56 M, too short” or “appearance – four eyes; height – 1.63 M, Ok; weight 105kg – too fat”. This helps create even more prejudice against female children, and affects the treatment they receive at home and the education opportunities they get to receive because their parents don’t find it worth it. This type of biased and stereotype of thinking is evident from China’s government itself; only 21% of 3000 delegates in the National’s people congress are women, and less than 8% of the China’s ruling Communist party is women. To add on to that no woman has ever been selected to be part of the Politburo, the group of nine people who hold ultimate power in China. Even statistics show that women now make up more than 60% of the agricultural labor in China, while in the Chinese parliament there are less than 20% of women.

Regarding incidents where women have been repeating pushed down because of their gender are far too many to count, but during Professor Wendy Wang’s research she had a chance to interview some people, and got to know their story. One of them was a pretty well known story. It was about a student Zhang Yuan, who was accepted to Zhongshan University, one of the tops schools. As Zhang Yuan was interviewed and he stated that his younger sister, who was one grade lower than him, had outstanding academic achievement that she even managed to skip to his grade. But because his parents only wanted to invest on his education, she was sent to a poor high school. At the year of the exams for college she ended up getting the top score among the entire country! But his parents shocked many people by making her apply for “Train and Railroad College”. People of the same village had the same thoughts about investing money on daughters as Zhang Yuan’s parents, stating “Why should I invest in my daughter’s education? aˆ¦All she needs is basic reading and writing that she can learn in elementary school. When she gets married she will be a mother and housewife, and her husband will not need a lot of opinion and knowledge from her.” This is probably one of the strongest examples of how females in society are put down to such an extent that they lose even the most basic chances to shine, and are bound to chains of traditional beliefs that should have long ago been renewed.

This is a dilemma that should be taken seriously, for women play a great role not only in China, but everywhere; like Mao Zedong once said “women hold up half the sky”. Discrimination towards girls are not only unjust to girls that deserve the same opportunities guys have, discrimination also brings down a country as a whole, for women are a big, powerful force everywhere. Therefore, gender equality has definitely not been achieved yet in China, despite the slow and gradual improvement, for there is still heavy discrimination against women, apparent through son preference, the traditional role of women, and the difference between education and job opportunities for male and female. These are clear evidences that women in China are not seen as equal importance to men, and are still overall considered more inferior.

Many feminists concentrate on gender inequality, particularly inequality in paid employment. Postmodernists place little emphasis on paid work, but both Marxist feminist and liberal feminists see employment opportunities as crucial to understanding gender inequalities. Liberal feminists have argued that a combination of legislation and changed attitudes can open up economic opportunities for women.

Equal opportunity legislation –

In 1970 the Equal Pay Act legislated that women should be paid the same as men for doing the same or broadly similar work. In 1984 an amendment stipulated that women should get equal pay for work of equal value. The 1975 Sex Discrimination Act made discrimination on the grounds of sex illegal in employment, education and the provision of goods and services. Legislation was further strengthened by the 2006 Equality Act required all public bodies to take an active role in removing illegal discrimination against women.

Despite these changes in the law, and considerable increases in recent years in the proportion of women who work in Britain, women remain disadvantaged at work:

The proportion of the labour force who are female has risen considerably. In 1971 92% of men of working age were employed and 56% of women. By 2005 80% of men were employed and 70% of women (Social Trends 2006, p.52).

In 2005 42% of women were part-time workers and 10% of men. In 2004 67% of women with dependent children worked (Social Trends 2006, p.54).

Gender and earnings –

Women continue to be less well paid than men. In 1970 women working full-time earned 63% of the average full-time male wage; by 2005 they were still only getting 82% of the average male wage (EOC, 1997, 2002a; New Earnings Survey 2005).

Horizontal segregation – where men and women tend to have different types of job – also continues. Women tend to be employed in areas such as personal services, administration, hotels and restaurants. Most routine clerical and secretarial workers are women, as are most primary teachers. Men tend to dominate in areas such as manufacturing, construction and transport. The proportion of women managers and professionals has increased recently. The Women and Work Commission (2006) found 75% of pharmacists, 40% of accountants, almost 50% of lawyers and over 30% of doctors were women.

The Equal Opportunities Report (2006) reveals the absence of women in elite positions across a number of occupations, and comments that at the present rate of progress it would 50 years before half of top directors were women and 200 years before women were equally represented in the House of Commons, whereby as many female MP’s as male MP’s.

Vertical segregation continues – i.e. men predominate in higher paid jobs whilst women predominate in lower paid ones. For example, in 2005 83% of directors and chief executives were men, 74% of waiting staff were women. Men predominate in all the higher paid lobs except personnel, training and industrial relations managers; while women predominate in all the lower-paid jobs except sports and leisure assistants, where the number of men and women are equal.

Generally, the more senior the position, the lower the proportion of women. According to the Equal Opportunities Commission report Sex and Power: Who Runs Britain? (EOC, 2006), women are under-represented in elite positions. In 2004 only 9% of senior judges, 10% of senior police officers and 13% of national newspaper editors were women. Women held only 10.5% of the directorships of the FTSE 100 companies and 19.7% of MPs and 27.3% of cabinet ministers were female. Although most teachers are female, in 2004 only 31.8% of head teachers were women. In 2005, less than 1% of senior ranks in the armed forces and only 10.2% of senior police officers were female. The report notes some improvements in the representation of women but calculates that at current rates of change it would take 40% before 50% of top directors were female, and 200 years before there were as many female as male MPs.

LINK SOCIAL WORK TO ABOVE.+REPHRASE MUCH OF ABOVE/SUMMARISE/CUT+CARE SECTOR STATISTICS

Explanations for gender inequalities

Textbook pp. 124-131

Functionalism –

Human capital theory suggests that women are less valuable to employers than men because they are less committed to work and more likely to take career breaks to raise children. This gives employers less incentive to promote women and invest in their training. However, a study by Peter Sloane (1994) found that gender continued to influence pay even when qualifications and experience were taken into account.

Catherine Hakim – preference theory –

Hakim (2004) argues that women now have more choice, and inequality stems from personal preference. Women have better labour market opportunities than ever before due to amongst others the contraceptive revolution from about 1965. The equal opportunities revolution and the expansion of white collar occupations as well as the expansion of jobs for secondary earners.

This has led, according to Hakim, to the emergence of three types of women:

Adaptive women who combine both paid work and family. This group is about two thirds of women who seek flexible or part-time work. Another type is described as work-centred women, these women are a minority who focus on career and fit family life around it, this group is less than 20% of women, so men will continue to dominate the workplace. Finally, home-centred women are women who prefer not to work. This group is about 20% of women, including some who are well qualified.

Crompton (1996), however, found no evidence of clear-cut categories among women working in banking and pharmacy in Britain and France. Houston & Marks (2003) found many factors other than personal preference influenced women’s attitude towards paid employment. Abbott et al (2005) criticize Hakim for ignoring structural constraints which limit and shape women’s choices.

***CONTINUE FROM HERE – -P126 (P121-130)

The dual labour market theory –

The dual labour market theory developed by Barron & Norris (1976) distinguishes between:

The primary labour market of well-paid, fairly secure jobs with prospects;

The secondary labour market of poorly paid, insecure jobs with few prospects.

Employers try hard to attract and retain primary workers, who are seen as key to the success of their enterprises, but secondary workers are seen as easily replaced. It is difficult to transfer from the secondary to the primary labour market, and women tend to be concentrated in the secondary sector. This is due in part to employer sexism but also to factors such as lack of unionization.

Beechey (1986) sees women as a cheap reserve army of labour, brought in during economic booms but thrown out during slumps. This creates flexibility for capitalists and depresses overall wage levels. Women tend to be in the reserve army because: they are often not in unions; they may be prepared to work for less if their wage is a second income; they are seen as combining work with domestic responsibilities.

However, this theory cannot explain horizontal segregation. Also, the continued growth of female employment suggests that women are not being used purely as a temporary, reserve army of workers.

McDowell (1992) applies post-Fordist theory to female employment. Post-Fordism suggests that there has been a move away from mass production to more flexible production of specialist products. Businesses keep a core of highly skilled workers, but most other workers are temporary or part-time, or work is contracted out to other firms. Women tend to be concentrated in the more flexible jobs, particularly part-time work, although some have benefited from gaining core jobs.

Research by Lovering (1994) found evidence to support this theory in some companies but not in others, suggesting that post-Fordist trends affect only some workers.

Some feminists stress the role of male trade unionists in restricting women’s opportunities. Walby (1986) argues that in some areas (for example, engineering) trade unions have used exclusion to disadvantage women, while in industries such as textiles, women have been disadvantaged by confinement to certain lower-paid areas of work. Low-paid work ensures that women are more likely to take on domestic responsibilities than men.

Radical feminists see patriarchy rather than capitalism as the main cause of female disadvantage. Stanko (1988) argues that sexual harassment in the workplace is used to keep women in their place. Men use their power in the workplace to protect their position. Women in jobs such as bar work and secretarial work are sexualized, and are not taken as seriously as workers or considered for promotion.

Adkins (1995) goes further, arguing that sexual work has become integral to many women’s jobs. In service sector jobs where women have contact with men they are expected to engage in sexual servicing: looking attractive, engaging in sexual banter, tolerating sexual innuendo and so on.

The Women and Work Commission (2006) argues that reform, legislation and tackling sexist socialization can solve the problem of unequal pay. They argue that:

Gender stereotyping in schools, in careers advice, and in work experience programmes, is based on traditional roles. This results in the concentration of women in lower-paid occupations. The Commission pointed out that the media could challenge these cultural expectations – two thirds of forensic science students are now women.

Combining work and family life leads to women taking career breaks and working part-time. Gosling (2005) found a single year working part-time before returning to full-time work led to a 10-15% reduction in pay, largely due to the quality of the part-time work available.

Women need more opportunities for lifelong training.

Workplace practices often disadvantage women. Job evaluations which rank male-dominated jobs more highly than female ones, even though these jobs have a similar skill level, need to be challenged.

1302

ADD GENDER ROLE AND STEREOTYPES AS PROHIBETER OF SEXES CROSS OVER TO DOMINENT SEX CAREER ROLES.

1605-1626

The conceptual framework of feminism, as a reactionary ideology, basically consists of ‘power,’ ‘woman,’ ‘rights,’ and ‘equality’. The same can be said of African feminism, which has on its priority list such goals as self-determination, which have economic overtones sewn on a materialistic metaphysic. African womanism, despite its pretensions to seeking co-operation or its advocacy for interdependency between men and women, uses a model of conscientisation of women that is foreign to Africa, and runs the risks of obscurantism, vulgarism, inauthenticity, and irrelevance. To put it cryptically, African womanism ‘can’t want and can’t not want’ men at the same time. Although gender has made tremendous strides in conscientising women about their plight vis-a-vis male-dominance, its future in Africa demands that it re-position itself appropriately. At least it must re-think three theories, that is, the labour theory, economic theory, and social theory.

Africa’s contemporary socio-political scene depicts theoretical and practical confusion of gender with feminism or, for that matter, gender with broad emancipatory movements, such as African womanism, which nonetheless use gender theory as an intellectual tool for critical analysis for the supposedly discriminatory social, religious and political organisational structures. Feminist thinkers loathe these structures because they see in them deliberate mechanisms for oppressing or marginalising women. This oppression of women characterises the present economic inegalitarianism in a male-dominated status quo. Consequently, it is argued that these male-founded and male-dominated structures can only be changed so as to render them balanced or equitable if and only if revolutionary measures are employed. The usual elements of such arguers form a class of people called feminist ideologues. Feminist ideologues are those people, male and female, minority or majority in one country, who share the ideas or beliefs or attitudes of male-dominance over women. They tend to look at society in one way; they are certainly unhappy, dissatisfied and critical of what they see around them as compared to what they would like to see. The rational justification of their discontent and critical attitude is quite another thing. Insofar as feminism comprises people, who share one set of ideas or Where is the Foundation of African Gender?

beliefs or attitudes as a group or community and who are (radically) organised, feminism is an ideology,1 which is posited to displace the prevailing male-dominated ideology. It is the core of an ideology or the ideological core, which is the most difficult part to change because it is the worldview of the people. The ideological core consists of the core ideas, core beliefs, or core attitudes of a people. By implication, if the core ideas, beliefs, or attitudes are purged out then the people’s practical reality is annihilated. The revolutionary spirit is germane to any feminist ideologue because he or she believes that lasting and effective change must be moral and intellectual. These detested moral and intellectual values are in-built in society so that their removal or reduction calls for a drastic revolutionary overhaul of the whole social fabric. This drastic revolutionary overhaul of society must be no less than a critique of the prevailing ideology because it purports to subject to intellectual scrutiny, and eventually refute or reject prevailing ideas, beliefs, or attitudes, which are rationally unjustified or prejudicial to the position of women in society. And then feminist ideology purports to create its own better ideas, beliefs, or attitudes. In other words, feminist ideology creates its own counter-consciousness, and eventually its own counterculture. This counterculture comprises a new set of beliefs and a new style of life that is intended or hoped to challenge and eventually expose the inadequacy of the prevailing culture. Only when the ideological core of the prevailing culture is removed and replaced by a new ideological core can lasting and effective change occur. Any change less than that involving the ideological core is superficial or transitory.

In a nutshell, feminism challenges the prevailing status quo and develops a counter-ideology that questions the prevailing status quo and then attempts to modify it. Feminism advocates change rather than order. It criticises the regime in power and existing social and economic arrangements. It advances schemes for restructuring and reordering society. It generates political movements in the form of women’s movements in order to gain enough power and influence to effect the changes it advocates. Feminism is an ideology of action for it motivates people to demand changes in their lifestyles and to modify the existing social, religious, political, and economic relations. It also mobilises its followers and adherents to preserve what they value.2 Ultimately, feminism is political and revolutionary. The revolutionary tinge of feminism has historically at times sanctioned the use of violence,3 which has not precluded bloodshed.

Gender thinking adopts this feminist stance, with little or no modification or retouching and with few or no disclaimers, so that it is conventional gender thinking to posit men as the perpetrators of female-oppression and discrimination in a society which is viewed as male-dominated, a society in which this sad scenario is ingrained in the fabric of the prevailing political regimes, and where the social, religious, political and economic relations and structures are arranged so as to embrace and promote inequality between men and women. The result is that the gender paradigm centrally addresses the problems of equality and liberty rights, more or less zeroing on a variant of welfare-state ideology. Gender thinkers see no need to take caution in distinguishing gender-ism from feminism. Feminism is taken for granted as the appropriate seed and vehicle of gender. In contemporary literary circles, the philosophical presuppositions of gender thinking and practice are not put to a litmus test because testing gender implies testing feminism, which, in any case, has withstood many a crucial test as evidenced by its record of persistence and triumph especially in Europe, Great Britain, America, Canada, and Australia. This being the case, the cogency of popular gender-isms can only be tested, or critiqued, against cross-cultural objectivity. This paper argues that the lack of demarcation between gender and feminism leads to confusion of western feminism with gender. By grounding itself in feminist ideology, gender inherits most of the weaknesses and shortfalls of western feminism. Gender finds its impetus and modes of expression in western feminism. Therefore, Africa needs to rethink a specific gender, which is appropriate to the African situation in this new millennium.

Conceptual analysis of gender and feminism becomes a problem for a start because there is a plethora of such offers on the contemporary intellectual and political scenes. Below, only extant literature is reviewed on the question of gender and feminism in Malawi and elsewhere in Africa. In the case of Malawi, only a few representative papers are considered. Any other contributions outside these papers are nonetheless worthwhile but very likely to be implicitly implicated and/or critiqued in one or more of the representative papers. The choice of the papers is free and deliberate: social philosophy, education, religion, and environment, i.e., unarguably, some of the hottest beds of gender debates and activism.

At this juncture, it should be appreciated that African intellectuals have for some time tried to conceptualise gender and feminism in their own situation. As far as philosophical writing is concerned in Malawi, Hermes Chidam’modzi was

116 Where is the Foundation of African Gender?

the first to notice and then critique this confusion between gender and feminism in the mid-nineties.

Feminism is a consecration of the moral and intellectual and hence universal values of equality purportedly denied of women by the dominance of males over women and the sacrosanct ideologies developed in society to legitimatise and perpetuate male-dominance. Thus conceived, feminism as a western reactionary and sacrosanct ideology is not African in origin and development so that the contemporary gender idiom is not a full theoretical framework and expression of the paradigm of African gender. This construing of gender invokes three important thoughts: (1) Gender does not mean and is not women. (2) Gender emerges in a specific situation depicting inegalitarianism embedded in social structures where one sex (male or female) is on the losing side. (3) Gender is a social construct of sets of behaviours, dispositions, ideas, beliefs, values, and attitudes of man and woman. (4) Gender has a strong materialistic tendency, for it grounds women’s qualities or modes of action in women’s daily lives in a spatio-temporal-specific resource base presumably conditioned by a sexual division of labour. Insofar as it is situationally embedded in the society’s power relations, gender is a reaction to constructed, i.e. real or imagined, male- dominance and female subordination. Gender thus conceived becomes an outgrowth from feminism.

28 The history of feminism is marked by two goals: equality and rights. Pioneer American feminists like Susan Anthony and Elizabeth Stanton had to battle it out with men for their right to vote as equals with men by dint of creation. In the days of old, liberalism provided the initial momentum toward the release of women from social bondage. To women’s disappointment, many a revolution (like the American Revolution in 1776 and the French Revolution in 1789) and nationalism did not specifically rescue them from subjugation by men. Social inequalities continued to prevail in the ‘new and independent’ states. Britain, America and the Continent of Europe clearly illustrate the sluggish pace of women liberation progress; Switzerland is the last European democracy to grant women suffrage in 1971.

Despite the universality of female subordination and male domination, the African woman’s situation is bound to make her suspicious of western feminist discourse, which is mostly the experience of the twentieth century middle-class woman in an industrial sexual division of labour. For the western woman of that era it was only natural for her to cry for balance of power. The feminist fight was a fight for power. She made lots of gains; her emancipatory efforts bore her more equality with men, more rights, and easier access to resources, increase in opportunities or incentives, especially in the public sphere.

The yardstick was always her ‘more privileged’ male counterpart in the already privileged middle-class. In labour, this historicity of western feminism has led to the misconception that women were solely fighting for the ‘soft’ or ‘top’ jobs such as company executive, manager, prime minister, parliamentarian, physician, news editor, professor, pilot; surprisingly, the women never zealously fought for ‘rough’ jobs such as undertaker, trench-digger, dockyard worker, heavy industrial worker, soldier,30 or night-guards.

In its counter-critique, western feminism penetrated the ‘rough’ jobs; eventually, the west saw more women engineers, women soldiers, and policewomen, thus virtually transforming western society into a ‘unisex’ club. In the inter-war period, and much more vehemently after W.W.II, feminist thinkers zeroed on marriage as the champion of female subordination, and so they strongly argued that the demolition of the marriage institution would automatically lead to total women liberation. It was then a normal spectacle for a woman feminist to be decidedly non-married, although she could be attached and have children. Domesticity, child rearing, or whatever family life stands for, was looked upon as an impediment to women involvement and participation in public life, especially to public employment. The feminist propaganda so narrowly construed was reduced to a feminist fight for space and time in the public spheres of life especially the workplace, which was supposed as a predominantly male territory. Two concepts dominated and still dominate the western conceptual framework.

Western gender categories dismally fail to provide a gender conceptual framework for the African woman. For instance, the category of ‘power’ cannot be used to conceptualise gender in Africa. To argue that a certain normative concept like ‘power’ has a gender meaning is to claim that its social usage, at least in part, is not what it ought to be for reasons that have to do with gender To claim further that the usage does not command universality and objectivity, due to considerations of differing hermeneutics, i.e. interpretation as grounded in historicity and context is not to advocate gender scepticism. Although the empirical realities of women world-wide are different, this paper argues for the abandonment of gender exclusivity in the face of equally competing, urgent and appealing discourses of, say, ethnicity, racism, and ‘class’.

In western traditional masculinist literature, power is viewed as repressive, poured from a leviathan above to his subjects below. The subjects are said to need the powerful leviathan because without him, they lack security, peace and well-being. In that western literary world, power is evidently and firmly associated with the male and masculinity, like virility, thus evoking the physicality of power. The correlate of man, woman, is therefore powerless.

So when feminists wrote about ‘power over our bodies’ and ‘power of our lives’ they were using the very same concept of power, which pervaded traditional masculinist discourses on power. They affirmed the male conceptualisation of power rather than providing an alternative. It comes to us as no surprise that contemporary gender thinkers mimic the same masculinist notion of power in theorising gender. They are not wary of historical, social and political situation of knowledge-claims.32 Trapped in their own ideological cocoon, the western feminist women still think that western rationality is the only rationality; that western science is superior to other forms of rationality (if any), so that in regard to, say, family planning strategy, African women have to be ‘helped’ by their more scientific counterparts from the west.

African women, so claim the western women, need to be conscientised because it is feared that the African women have internalised the oppression or suffering and therefore are in desperate need of awareness campaigns by women animators from the west. The western feminists already fall prey to the yet another ideology of dominance they vehemently fight in their own backyard.

Western feminists are totally oblivious to the reality of subject-object relations in research; the reality the helper and the helped are equals as they each experience the other from the viewpoint of their own situations and background knowledge and cultures. Each one (the helper and the helped) is the object of experience of the other so that objectivity is somehow tainted with subjectivity.

31 Oshadi Mangena argues likewise that if one is attentive to differences of ethnic origin, sexual orientation and class, the notion of gender disintegrates into fragments and cannot anymore be employed as a useful category. See K. Lennon and M. Witford, Knowing the difference: feminist perspectives in epistemology, London: Routeldge and Kegan Paul, 1994, pp. 275-282.

32 Annette Fitzsimons and Susan Strickland, Ibid. pp. 124; 265.

129 Nordic Journal of African Studies

That the helper enjoys the exclusive right to the objectification of knowledge of the Other is an ingrained feature of western cross-cultural research, after all the helper has scientific skills or rational advantage over the helped, and this ontological arrangement make the helped redundant in the objectification of knowledge of the Other. The only danger though is that the consequent helpers’ knowledge is partial or fragmentary. The implication is that western feminists cannot emancipate the supposedly un-conscientised African women.

2.2.2 Woman

Just as the concept of ‘human’, as narrowly presented in western literature, fails to command objectivity, the same literature fails to define ‘woman’. ‘Woman’ is amenable to many different things; it is shrouded by ambiguities about its ontological status. It can evoke intrinsic characteristics, like caring and love, but this smacks of essentialism, which does not have many adherents in gender mainstreams. It can also evoke familial relationships as the non-male member. Both of these evocations partially conceive ‘woman’ for they are normative since they are descriptive of a set of social facts or relations. As such, woman has no characterizable content and hence the challenge from postmodernist thought that ‘woman’ is not descriptively adequate since, it is observed, ‘woman’ is cross-culturally different.

According to postmodernists, ‘woman’ imposes unity over empirical reality.33 Postmodernism rejects the Enlightenment and the humanist presumptions of wonders of reason. The Enlightenment is rejected because of its veneration of masculine reason at the expense of sensuality; humanism is rejected because of its appeals to universal subjectivity or the human condition. Instead of seeking ‘sameness’ postmodernism celebrates ‘difference,’ partiality and multiplicity. It detests the search for coherence and hankering after the ‘right’ (or Platonic or Kantian) solution.

Postmodernist feminism equally opposes a hermeneutic parochialism of the present over the past or vice versa–of searching for a single given goal, a single representation of reality. This new brand of feminism transcends the historicist recognition of the inevitable peculiarity and contextuality of human thought and practice and hence it advocates the continuity of dialogue between interlocutors, between text and interpreter, and between subject and object, with no advantage, marked goal or reality. This postmodernist re-orientation of feminism is a deliberate step away from essentialism and universalism: marginalisation and exclusion of the Other.34 It puts emphasis on particularity and multiplicity with due attention to difference, diversity and locale. But postmodernists also impose a tough demand on gender thinkers: why should the absence of facts for

33 See Alessandra Tanesini, Ibid. pp. 211-212.

34 See Susan Strickland, Ibid. pp. 266-7.

130 Where is the Foundation of African Gender?

description of woman precludes the claim for the notion of woman, even where the possession of the notion may not warrant the description or analysis of the same?

Even the points of convergence of feminism and postmodernism are not adequate grounds for their formulation of their purported common aims because their concept-lingualities are different. For example, their meanings of a concept like ‘difference’ are different. In postmodernism, ‘difference’ is acknowledged as typical of human experience worldwide; it is at the same time evaded as a threat to dominant perspectives of understanding or interpreting reality. It is consistent within postmodernism to demonstrate that ‘woman’ was all along acknowledged as different but was included in universal humanity in name only by the dominating men. Feminists believe that the ‘dominant ideology’ in world history is the root cause of the subjection of women by men. In Rousseau’s language of ‘right,’ the emancipation of western woman, albeit noticeably incomplete as we enter the third millennium, began as late as mid nineteenth century.

However, feminism does not argue for the mere acknowledgement of ‘difference’; women’s experience and perspectives should be noticed and heard along with dominant male experience and perspectives. Feminists complain bitterly that that the dominant perspectives are exclusive of women because they are ideological and hence false, since they are interested and distorted. Feminists are not content with their inclusion in or numerical addition to universal humanity as read in liberal or Marxist theories. Whereas postmodernism stops at the recognition of ‘difference’, feminism posits ‘difference’ as a challenge, a paradigm of its critical dialogue with its situation, past, present and future.

The concept ‘woman’ is thrown into serious doubt because the notion of gender itself is slowly moulding due to its exclusiveness. What is being advocated instead of gender is a multiplicity of identities; for instance, if one widens one’s horizon, one cannot fail to realise that differences of ethnic origin and class, sexual orientation (gays and lesbians), should be priority items on the liberation agenda. In spite of its usefulness in certain emancipatory projects, ‘woman’ as a gender category stands to question now because it has dawned on contemporary gender thinkers that ‘woman’ is essentially embedded in misogynist literature and that it is conducive to, and promotes, exclusionary practices.

In short, a feminist survey of western languages shows that the meaning of some words, such as ‘power,’ ‘woman,’ ‘human,’ ‘reason,’ depicts gender bias against women; the words are not universal. The concept-lingual sources of western rightist discourses, like feminism, are liberalism or Marxism in their vicious attack of their respective archrivals, authoritarianism, and capitalism. Ironically, Karl Marx did not directly address the specific situation of women. He presumed that his communism would provide liberation for women just as it would for all the exploited masses and underprivileged minorities, male and female.

131 Nordic Journal of African Studies

Friedrich Engels (Marx’s lifetime friend, economic guardian, co-author, and Marx’s editor) also narrowly attributed women subjugation to property relationships of the conjugal family only in capitalist societies; he remained mute on the reality of their ‘enslavement’ in non-capitalist societies including communism and matriarchal societies. Marxism and capitalism cannot be plausible concept-lingual sources for the gender movement in the new millennium since both of them are ideologies of conflict: they pit man against man; the state exploits the proletariat-worker in the former, whereas the capitalist boss exploits the labourer in the latter.

The importance of authentic concepts of gender needs to be stressed. More importantly, the crucial concept of ‘power’ needs to be unambiguously stipulated in contemporary gender thought and practice.

The feminism of the 1970’s and 1980’s correctly revealed that the concepts that are presented to us as universal and trans-historically valid actually embody male biases. For example, normative concepts such as ‘reason,’ ‘science’ and ‘knowledge’ fail to pass the gender universalisation test, so to say. Even if these normative concepts embody ideals and express values, they nonetheless prescribe and evaluate behaviour in male-perspectives and so the values they express and ideals they embody are far from universal.

Normative concepts function as descriptions of the endorsements of a specific society, and are faithful to past usage. Hence the complaint that feminism has taken the experience, i.e. marginalisation, of white middle class women to be representative of all women. The glaring weakness of these normative concepts is that they leave little or no room for disagreement or difference within a situation like a community. Conformity is the order of the day since they are treated as truth-conditions, instead of being emendations of current thought and action. These contemporary feminists fear that these values and ideals are codifications of norms regulating masculinity, where the woman’s ‘normal’ is locus of the domesticity of the family, i.e. the private sphere of life. What current gender thought needs is the evolution of ongoing social practice. It should engage in evaluation of these concepts and influence the evolution of social practice in regard to concept-usage.

3. GENDER AND FEMINISM: THE AFRICAN SCENARIO

The argument that African women cannot identify with doctrinaire western feminism comes with cogent force because the knowledge and experience of African women have been ignored or marginalised by a feminism that reflects only the perspectives of white western middle-class women; that it indulges in false universalism and lacks critical awareness of its situation are simple inferences drawn from the argument. Its conception of ‘woman’ remains problematic and therefore vacuous because its ‘woman’ is intended to deny self-evident differences between woman and woman in situation and experience,

132 Where is the Foundation of African Gender?

privilege and power. It is apologetic of the peculiarities of ‘woman’ since it misconceives them as functional and not as formal differences (from ‘man’).

As a result, its content and purpose are not based on actual commonalties between women but on the experience and interests of some women who have the position and ability to impose upon ‘other’ women their own idiosyncrasies, terms and definitions, i.e. what they mean for themselves and others. For instance, when western feminism seeks to balance or reverse the social scales, it employs conceptual polarities such as nature-culture, strong-weak, reason-intuition, public-private, male-female-neuter sexual division of labour. To explain the position of women, it says women are closer to nature; they are more intuitive; they are more private or secretive, etc, not knowing that it simply endorses masculinist (and hence exploitable) viewpoints about ‘woman’.

Indeed feminism lacks a critical awareness of its situation. Feminism is not in dialogue with its context, past and present, and therefore cannot be used to forge emendations to any society, which cries for transformation of social relations. Feminism is engaged in a monologue, which mistakes its own ventriloquism for effectiveness since it is falsely generalising and insufficiently attentive to historical and cultural diversity.

Another unwelcome feature of western feminism is that, although it borrows critical tools from other emancipatory theories like Reformation, liberalism and Marxism, it does not put itself forward to challenging other forms of subordination like slavery, colonialism, racism, and their accompanying prejudices and complexes, which affect women as well. Its exclusiveness to the western middle-class woman’s experience undermines its universality and objectivity, and therefore puts to serious doubt its relevance to the African woman of the same era.35 Worse still, its silence could easily be interpreted as its assent to slavery, colonialism and racism, experiences that western middle-class men caused on both African women and men.

Though not unique, the situation of the African feminist and that of the Western feminist would not replicate. An African woman generally finds herself in a social setting where ‘power’ might not be the paradigm of interpersonal life. Jobs are just as hard to get for a female as they are for her male counterpart. In a marital situation, for example, she may dispense with the battle of balancing it out with her allegedly dominant male partner in terms of sexual division of labour, involving child-care and domestic chores due to the scenario of dependency, a creation of the extended family. Dependants fill in as auxiliary or surrogate mothers or fathers and as unofficial maids or cooks, etc. Even if dependants were not around, hiring domestic staff would be more affordable in her society than it would be in the west. As is well known, in the west, it is almost impossible to hire domestic staff.

3.1 TRADITION VERSUS MODERNITY: SOCIO-POLITICS IN

CONTEMPORARY AFRICA

Transformation is a rare occurrence in Africa. Perhaps devolution, rather than evolution or revolution, is the modus operandi for social transformation in Africa. The interface of the past and the present may not be conducive to the development of radical gender even among urban or elite women. Past attitudes and values tend to phase out far too slowly under the weight of new attitudes and values. The usual conceptualisation of ‘woman’ both among the rural and urban folk might have more conservative undertones than radical gender theorists wish. In Malawi, for instance, even after the legal repeal of the ‘indecent dress code,’ the woman in trousers or mini-skirt risks categorisation as a champion or promoter of moral turpitude. The continuing scenario of stripping off mini-skirted city women by vendors is testimonial enough of these slow-dying conservative undertones even in the urban or modernised areas of Malawi. Radical gender might be undaunted by this current negative public reception of trousers and mini-skirts in Malawi, dismissing it as a primary reaction of a bunch of male savages. Time alone will heal this negative attitude; gender activists console themselves. At this stage though, these attitudes should be of great concern because it is not unusual for radical gender women lobbyists to experience opposition and ‘disapproval’ from fellow women.

Another reality that might prevent replication of western gender in Africa is the social history of Africa. It is difficult to identify the dominant ideology for African societies outside Africa’s recent experience of slave trade, colonialism, and nationalism. However, anthropology and archaeology, which pretend to dig deeper into Africa’s past, and re-construct the Antique Africa antedating the three recent experiences of Africa, reveal to us that there are matrilineal and patrilineal societies in Africa. In the patrilineal societies, for example, Ngoni, Tumbuka, Sena, Ngonde in Malawi, males are dominant. However, broadly speaking, in matrilineal societies women are more ‘powerful’ than men, an issue that is accentuated by the husbands’ settling in their wives’ villages upon marriage. One would expect that in a setting where land is the most valuable property, due to reliance on agriculture, a landowner would command a lot of power and influence. Husbands, as co-opted landowners, will in principle and practice have less power and influence than their wives. Therefore, if the western gender’s ‘power paradigm’ is anything to go by, the matrilineal society depicts a reversal of the western gender model. In Malawi, Chewa, Yao, Mang’anja and Lomwe societies are largely matrilineal in principle. The Tonga of the northern shore of Lake Malawi can be included in gender-wise peculiar ethnic groups although the Tonga are bi-lineal.

In these ethnic groups, one must distinguish the formal from informal power structures and modes of social organisation; in the formal power setting, that is the traditional chieftaincy, chiefs hold only symbolic power since what they execute in public is largely the consensus, or the communis sensus, of the ruling

134 Where is the Foundation of African Gender?

Unlike feminist scholarship in the West, feminist theory and scholarship in Africa have formed neither a neatly

delineated field, nor one firmly rooted in theoretically-inflected politics. With the consolidation of Western

feminisms between 1960 and the early 1980s and the growth of the so-called second wave, clear political and

intellectual traditions were formed around radical, liberal and Marxist/socialist feminisms. Subsequent feminisms

drew on or deviated from these positions to engage increasingly with theories and politics emerging in the

nineties. African theories and women’s movements have taken very different paths.

In certain ways, African theories and women’s movements have been closely linked to politics, although this

politic