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1. The first major ethical concern we encountered in this exam period was that of Watson and his “Little Albert” study. The modern code of ethics denounces evoking fear responses from human participants, unless the participant has been made aware of and consented beforehand. As an infant, Albert was obviously unable to give consent and also unable to realize that what he was taking part in was controlled research. Scaring a child to the point where he is visibly terrified and crying seems unequivocally immoral. I take more issue with the fact that Watson didn’t remove the fear in Albert by de-conditioning him, even though he had time to allow for it. The impact of the study might justify ethical wrongs it committed. It is one of the most influential studies on phobias of all time, paving the way for counterconditioning (Cover Jones) and other therapies that have allowed millions of people to overcome incapacitating fears and emotional issues.

Another case briefly covered this exam period was the study done by Schreiner and Kling on Kluver-Bocy Syndrome. The syndrome is a behavioral disorder that typically occurs as a result of damage or malfunction of the amygdale. In carrying out their research, Schreiner and Kling removed the amygdale of cats and monkeys (Squire 201). This research led to a greater understanding of the brain and the importance of the amygdale, but obviously came at a cost to the animals involved in the testing. Modern research by Rusiko Bourtchouladze has shown the syndrome to hinder the ability to understand feelings and emotions. He describes how they lose their desire to compete or cooperate and an inability to detect sadness, disgust, fear or rage (Bourtchouladze 83). This is in addition to highly unusual sexual practices and various memory and recognition problems. The research was illuminating, but in retrospect, leaving an animal with a disorder in the process seems unethical and avoidable.

The last psychologist I’ll highlight is Harry Harlow, one of the most ethically controversial figures of modern psychology. The knowledge he attempted to gain from his research was noble; understanding the caretaker-child relationship and how this relationship leads to certain behaviors and abnormalities in the child’s maturation. The execution, however, is highly unethical by today’s standards. Many of the monkey’s Harlow experimented on were severely traumatized by their time in the research lab. Harlow employed devices such as his “rape rack” to artificially inseminate monkeys and also a “pit of despair” to produce isolation and depression. In addition, he purposefully tried to evoke fear responses in the animals and admitted to physically abusing some of the subjects. It really doesn’t come as a surprise that many of the subjects of his studies were left permanently psychotic upon the completion of the research.

As ethically deplorable as Harlow’s studies may seem today, the impact of his studies do seem to justify their moral impropriety. The influence and impact of Harlow’s studies are high; they helped improve and educate society about parenting. Many of those from my father’s generation grew up with limited intimacy and affection from their parents. My dad told me that his father rarely showed any sort of physical affection towards him, never once hugging him or telling him that he loved him. The work of Harlow helped illuminate just how important contact comfort and affection is in the relationship between a child and its caregivers. This principle has also helped positively shape the methods used in dealing with children that have been abused and children in orphanages. Furthermore, some study had to be the one that led to a major push in ethical reform of psychological research. Harlow’s highly unethical treatment of his rhesus monkeys was a major factor in the animal advocacy movement and also in the creation of the American Psychological Associations code of ethics. Harlow was wrong, but the publicity and attention he brought to his studies had the side effect of revealing some of the improper and unethical practices that had been occurring within psychological research.

Bourtchouladze, Rusiko. Memories are made of this: how memory works in humans and animals. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002. Print.

Squire, Larry R.. The history of neuroscience in autobiography . Washington D.C.: Society for Neuroscience, 1996. Print.

2. In contrast to the dominant thinking of the time, John Watson’s behaviorism relied only on observable behav­ior for its information. His “Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It” is now known as the “behaviorist manifesto” and is one of the most influential documents in the formation of behaviorism. The prevailing school of thought in psychology at the time relied heavily on introspection, but Watson did not believe introspection to be objective enough to be measured and accurately portrayed as science. In hoping to increase this objectivity, he took the focus away from enigmatic mental processes and placed it on empiricist principles that sought to predict and control actions. Emotions to him weren’t understandable through introspection but rather as a response to a stimuli. One of his major pieces of research was his study of Little Albert. Albert, an infant, was exposed to a white rat which he showed no visible fear towards. Watson then began accompanying the presentation of the rat with a loud noise. Eventually Albert was conditioned to associate the two; even when the noise was discontinued, Albert kept his fear response when presented with the rat. This study verified to Watson that conditioned reflexes could be used to explain behavior and that psychological research should be rooted in observable stimuli and responses to these stimuli.

Skinner was a proponent of a school of behaviorism called “radical behaviorism.” In many ways, his behaviorism, which focuses on operant conditioning, has supplanted the behaviorism of Watson. Skinner was focused on behavior as a function of schedules under which rewards are attained. Rather than the reflex focused theory of Watson, Skinner incorporated more the role of consequences in behavior and conditioning. Many human and animal actions can’t simply be explained as reflexes. Writing this paper, for example, is not a reflex and the stimuli that govern it do not precede it. Rather, it is influenced by what follows it, its consequences, such as a good grade and the outcome of a good grade. Of interest to Skinner in understanding behavior are the types of reinforcement we get from our actions. Positive results from a behavior will typically increase that behavior and negative results will decrease it. One of Skinner’s famous studies was that of superstition in the pigeon. Placing pigeon’s in a box that would release food at regular intervals, Skinner found that the pigeons associated the release of the food with whatever coincidental action they had performed as it was delivered. The pigeons would then repeat this action, believing it to have an effect on the releasing of the food. This study helped continue to cement Skinner’s belief in and support for operant conditioning.

Tolman rejected Watson’s reflex based form of behaviorism. He felt that mental processes could be objective and measurable in the same way physical ones were, broadening behaviorism to incorporate the psychological concepts of purpose and cognition. To Tolman, learning does not have to manifest itself in performance, nor is reinforcement needed to connect stimuli. For Tolman, reinforcement is not the essential aspect of learning that Skinner claims it to be. Rather, we can learn things latently and then use them in a flexible manner that may not necessarily be immediate. He used studies involving rats and various mazes to demonstrate that we can learn even when rewards are not present. Rather than a rigid model based in automatic responses, Tolman saw us as creating tentative, cognitive maps that indicate to us routes, paths and relationships that are relevant to goal orientation. His theory of goal-directed behavior focuses on an organism’s behavior, what it is attempting to accomplish with the behavior and where it is going. Tolman also took Skinner’s idea of a “third variable” (a variable other than stimuli and response) and tweaked it to suit his own form of behaviorism. Rather than something external in the environment as Skinner posited, Tolman’s “intervening variable” was something mental occurring within the person or animal, such as hunger, motivation, intelligence, or intention.

A June 2002 survey by the Review of General Psychology chose Skinner as the most influential psychologist of the 20th century and I agree. He is often credited with the change in terminology for renaming academic psychology departments “behaviorism departments” during the 1950’s. His work is highly influential in academia, psychological treatment and therapy, and the understanding of learning, education, communication, and human behavior.

3. The person in psychology that we have covered in class that has resonated most with me is Morton’s study on skull size and it’s use to justify racism. Morton conducted an extremely biased study where he found the skull size of Caucasians to be largest and North American Indian and Africans to be smallest. His study prompted many to believe that Indians and blacks were of a different species and, in a highly Christian influenced culture, that the bible was not directed at them. This implied that African and Native Americans were not destined to heaven as their Caucasian and “Asiatic” counterparts were. His ethnology was accepted as a way to justify racism and slavery against the Africans who were forcefully brought to the U.S. against their will for labor. In regards to the “Indians”, their mistreatment was justified since they were looked at as savages or a subhuman race. In this theory, it was believed that the size of one skull is the decisive factor in terms of one’s mental capacities and belief system where a larger skull is most desirable.

Even if skull size was an accurate way to determine intelligence, it is obviously not true that all Caucasians would have larger skulls than all blacks. There might be some Caucasians with small skulls and blacks with larger. He was selective in choosing his subjects though where he had more women for the groups that were supposedly inferior since generally, women have smaller skulls sizes than men. This produced his desired outcome.

This was a landmark study because racism had existed long before this study was published. It still continues today after this study was found to be erroneous. At the time of the study though, Caucasians justified the mistreatment of other races. They were inferior and lacked the intellectual capacities so it was not immoral. It was found though that Morton only used data that supported this conclusion and rejected data that might counter his argument.

It is interesting that after this study was found to be false, other eugenic studies have come out insinuating that whites were superior. (Herrnstein and Murray’s The Bell Curve comes to mind as a modern example.) These studies show the way the human mind operates. It is obvious that there was a sense of guilt in the mistreatment of other races. The only way to justify these actions to God would be through science where treating an inferior group poorly would not be immoral. The inferior group would not understand this mistreatment. Morton’s study also shows that the groups doing the mistreating knew that what they were doing was not right. They knew that it was not moral to forcefully remove a race and ultimately annihilate it as they did with the Native American race and on the other hand, forcefully bring another race in a country, stripping them from their families, to act as slaves. Another way that the Caucasian race showed their sense of superiority was through the assimilation of other groups. Many Native American tribes were forced into boarding schools where their language was forbidden, converted into Christianity, and forced to embrace western culture. They did not believe the Native culture to be as refined or sophisticated as theirs.

This study seems absurd through the 21st century lens however it was widely accepted at the time. Racism still exists today in more subtle ways. The American Dream is supposedly attainable for all yet there are still disproportionate numbers of whites at the top and racial minorities at the bottom in terms of wealth. Success in this country is determined by factors that are biased towards the upper class Caucasian group. It is possible for other races to be successful but there are more barriers to entry. For one, racism makes some racial groups believe that they are not good enough to make it to college or top jobs in a self fulfilling prophecy. It is disheartening to think that the remnants of this study, however absurd they seem, still negatively affect the “out groups” today.

5) In class we discussed different cases in which scientists have cheated. There are different reasons why these scientists cheated but all are for personal gain or simplifying their studies. The types of cheating are data fabrication, selective exclusion of results, plagiarism, and ‘ghost-writers’. We see these same types of cheating in our world today whether it is in our peers, ourselves, our government, or large corporations. Comparing the case of Kammerer and the actions that resulted in the 2008 government bailout, we see two instances where data fabrication occurred.

In Kammerer’s studies he was trying to prove that acquired traits could be passed down through heredity. Today this is known not to be true but Kammerer proved it through cheating in a study with toads and nuptial pads. The nuptial pads were acquired when toads lived and mated in an aquarium. He claimed that the offspring of these toads who lived in aquariums and acquired the nuptial pads were born with the pads as well. It was later found that he had actually injected the offspring with ink to imitate the nuptial pads to support his theory of heredity of acquired traits. Kammerer committed suicide and in a last note, he stood by his word that he did not commit fraud but was suspicious of someone who manipulated his study.

During the financial crisis many large financial institutions were selling securities that they knew were not good investments to their clients. Selling these securities would give them money in the short term. In the long run though, they lost money and many organizations had to declare bankruptcy. They claimed that the government had to bail them out otherwise the whole country’s finances would collapse, which arguably happened anyway. The average American was defrauded into debt through the credit rating system. The ratings are used by investors to determine the risk of the credit ideally making the costs lowest for both borrowers and lenders. Financial products and investments were given high grades even if they were risky or bad investments. The low interest rates were an incentive for Americans to buy things they simply could not afford through borrowing. Often times the bankers would bet against an investment or loan that they gave a high rating to. This would give them more money if the loan failed.

In both cases the motives involved personal gain. In the Kammerer case, he wanted to make a landmark discovery that would put him down in history as one of the greatest scientists. He did not directly have innocent victims but could have misled the public to believe that something was possible that was not. Also, being a scientist, he should have known that future studies would be done involving his theory and would undoubtedly find his theory to be false. In the case of the large financial institutions giving bad loans and falsely rating investments, their incentive was to get more money for themselves regardless of who would suffer. The United States was the victim in this matter causing the greatest recession since the great depression. People lost their savings and homes. The perpetrators were not punished and should have been.

I found the latter case to be far more problematic with fewer consequences. The financial institutions did not seem to have any sort of guilt since it was a large umbrella organization and not one single individual as in the former case. Kammamer obviously felt guilty about his actions and took his own life as a result. In that case tangible things were not taken but rather a false idea was put in the minds of the public. In the latter case, many people lost everything they had. Their careless actions caused many people depression in the aftermath. The individuals on Wall Street failed to perform their job and made the American people pay for their mistakes through their losses and in the tax dollars they used in bailing them out.

Durkheim and Links Between Suicide and Solidarity in Society

Emile Durkheim’s third piece of work was, ‘Suicide’ published in 1897 and was a case study of which the title describes. A subject that Durkheim was very interested in along with suicide rates and the aspects of social life which had an impact on these statistics. Durkheim’s own definition of suicide was ‘applied to all cases of death resulting directly or indirectly from a positive or negative act of the victim himself, which he knows will produce this result’ (Durkheim, extract from ‘Suicide’ p110). This instrumental piece of writing looked more closely at the sociological reasons behind taking ones life rather than the personal or psychological reasons.

Durkheim gathered suicide rates and statistics from many European countries and these were analysed and played a large part in his beliefs that, changes in social solidarity were linked to suicide rates. He also offered his theoretical opinions on the social aspects that also, played a part in these suicide statistics and this essay shall delve more deeply in to the links between suicide and the changes in social solidarity.

Emile Durkheim was a great believer in sociology, social facts and the aspects of social life that shape our actions as individuals, things like the state of the economy, religious influences or family. (Giddens, 1997). Social facts were important to Durkheim and he believed they ought to be studied seriously and as objectively as any other science. Durkheim was fascinated at how society was changing and transforming. That the very things that were important to society and glued it all together, values, morals and customs were changing with the times and to Durkheim this played a part in his conclusions on suicide and their rates. Durkheim spoke of society having ‘sacred character’ and the emergence of ‘sacred symbols’. These were a key part of his theory.

Durkheim focused much on social solidarity, he describes this as the belief systems and institutions which play a vital part in giving societies ‘coherence and meaning’ in the way we relate to each other. As society changed it created new social situations and along with these came, what he called ‘social conditions’. These were things like severe neurosis and mental fatigue. All coming about as one type of society ends and another is born. He accounted several reasons for the changes in society, the boom of mass media, the vast increase in the use of steam power and scientific rationalism.

Durkheim explained that morality was at the heart of social solidarity and it’s when social cohesion is lacking when those all important symbols, like religion and family, that bind us all together in a moral manner, fall to the wayside. These things taught us how to relate to one another and on their demise, society and how we achieve social solidarity demises also. In Durkheim’s words ‘when society is strongly integrated, it holds the individual under it’s control’ (Durkheim,1982, Excert from ‘Suicide’ p209).

Durkheim makes a distinction between mechanical and organic solidarity. The first of which is what he considered to show the traits of a more traditional society. The division of labour was of a more simple nature and individuality was less common. He claims there was a far more ‘collective consciousness’ and religion and god played a far bigger part in society. Mechanical solidarity occurs when individual differences are minimized and the members of society are much alike in their devotion to the common weal (Lewis A. Coser, 1971, Masters of Sociological Thought, p 30).

Durkheim talks of legal codes and how when crimes are committed, they are offensive to the masses, not just the individual. In this type of society crimes and criminal behaviour are punished in a most serious way, sometimes even by death. In Durkheim’s’ own words ‘an act is criminal when it offends strong and defined states of the collective conscience’ (Division of Labour, p 80). This contrasts strongly with how things are in this day and age and indeed when Durkheim noted changes in society, ‘But today, it is said, punishment has changed it character, it is no longer to avenge itself that society punishes, it is to defend itself.’ (Division of Labour, p 86).

Organic solidarity is related to a more modern society, where things are less traditional and things like family and religion are no longer at the very heart. This is a more capitalist society and has a high division of labour and specialised skills. The collective consciousness is less so and individuality is far more common. Social differences are obvious via class, race or gender. Specialized activities, different ways of living and individual dependence are all more common than within mechanical solidarity. Durkheim talks of the differences as individuals and as groups and thus a new form of social solidarity is born. Organic solidarity, presupposes not identity but difference between individuals in their beliefs and actions. The growth of organic solidarity and the expansion of the division of labour are hence associated with increasing individualism. (Giddens, p 77).

Durkheim’s use of an organic analogy explains how he comes to use the term ‘organic solidarity’, Society becomes more capable of collective movement, at the same time that each of its elements has more freedom of movement. The solidarity resembles that which we observe among the higher animals. Each organ, in effect, has its special physiognomy, it autonomy. And moreover, the unity of the organism is as great as the individuation of the parts is more marked. Because of this analogy, we propose to call the solidarity which is due to the division of labour, organic. (Division of Labour, p 131). Durkheim believes that the division of labour, the rights given over more to individuals and that the division of labour was not a natural occurrence that benefited society and this is why organic solidarity was born.

Durkheim spoke much on social solidarity and the division of labour. He argued that the process of transcending from mechanical to organic social solidarity was the very cause of ‘new social and economic institutions and relationships’. A more complex and specalised division of labour had not given the outcome Durkheim had predicted. He expected it would result in social economic meritocracy and this was not the case. Class conflict was one outcome of the division of labour.

Anomic division of labour, Durkheim explains, happens in times of economic, commercial or industrial crisis. The unusual situation of conflict may occur between capital and labour and this would be seen as a non usual situation. Organic solidarity begins to break down and a state of anomie occurs. Forced division of labour happens when the division of labour does not continue organically. People may begin to act in ways that are aimed at protecting themselves or their position and constraints in place can cause inequalities between gender, race and or class.

Durkheim’s interest in suicide and suicide rates within Europe stemmed from his belief that sociology could explain ‘social malaise’. He believed it was the path to modernity that caused social malaise. He also believed that psychology and neurology could only ‘diagnose’ the problem not expose the social genus of condition. His interest in suicide was also stemmed from the division of labour in more modern societies and the importance of social solidarity on people.

In another of Durkheim’s writings, Rules of the Sociological Method, he talked about the concept of anomie. Within his research he studied the suicide rates between catholics and protestants. He concluded that more protestants committed suicide than catholics did. His explanation for this was that catholics being more god fearing. and having more ‘social control’ than protestants, stopped them from committing suicide as often as protestants did.

Durkheim believes that the more ‘social integration’ people have then the less likely they are to kill themselves. Those who have little social integration, less involvement in society, are more likely to kill themselves before they become a serious drain on society. According to Durkheim, changes in the modern world occur at such a speed and with such intensity, that social difficulties are born and these are what he link to anomie. A feeling of aimlessness or despair provoked by modern social life. (Giddens, (1997)

It seems that part of this research could have been flawed. Durkheim didn’t take in to account the guilt and shame that often came with Catholicism. Many times in the past catholic families would not declare their dead family members as having committed suicide for fear of not being given a proper burial or the shame faced by other members of the community. Therefore the statistics at that time could perhaps have been skewed down to these facts.

Durkheim believed that the issues of social solidarity could well explain some of the reasons why people committed suicide. He believed those less involved and or couldn’t identify with society were at risk of committing suicide or indeed those over involved with society too attached or unattached to the rules, morals, values and belief systems of society.

Durkheim spoke of different typology of suicide, the first being Egoism and Altruism. Egoism suicide is when a person forms very little attachment to society. They can’t see any worth in their own lives and suicide feels like a last resort.He claimed married people committed suicide less than people who were single and this was the typology that the protestants versus catholic rates would fall under.

Altruistic suicide is the opposite effect. It’s when a person develops an over attachment to the collective goals of society. He said this type occurs when people who belong to a tight knit group begin to feel threatened and in turn these types of suicide can almost be seen as honourable. More relevant today with suicide bombers, cult members and samurai’s. Durkheim described it as ‘self destruction in defense’.

The second typology of suicide was anomic and fatalistic. The first being related too a person having a sudden and stressful change in their life circumstances. This could be from divorce to financial ruin, those who once held wealth and prestige and then faced to lose it all and become unemployed would perhaps commit anomic suicide. Fatalistic suicide, Durkheim explained was ‘an intense over regulation of an individual by society’. Therefore the types of people who may commit fatalistic suicide are slaves, prisoners of war or in earlier times perhaps women who remained unmarried or without children. Durkheim didn’t consider this type of suicide to be common in the modern society.

Durkheim’s work has been much accredited over the years. It was one of the largest studies carried out in a sociological perspective on suicide. His research methods and use of rates and statistics was innovative at the time it was carried out although as was the case with catholics versus protestants in regards to suicide rates, he did fail to take in to account the natural guilt that came with Catholicism. Some claim Durkheim’s approaches are too positive and or functionalist in nature. Durkheim puts huge emphasis on social facts and perhaps via this he fails to look more closely at personal phenomena. Others have claimed that Durkheim’s’ theories were not empirically supported . Durkheim’s’ work undoubtedly was remarkable in nature and offered a stunning insight in to suicide and the changes of social solidarity.

Several psychological theories have attempted to provide a definition of identity and an explanation of the processes that develop it. Many theorists see identity development as a means for an individual to explain the present as a bridge from the past to the future, agreeing that identity consists of both individual and social elements. This essay aims to consider the contributions and implications posed by two different associated fields of study; the Erikosonian Psychosocial tradition and Social Identity Theory.

Erikson’s Psycho-social method was the first identity theory to provide an explanation between our self image (psycho) and the others in the community (social). He proposed individuals must have a stable sense of ‘core identity’, as failure to do so would mean the individual may be subject to an ‘identity crisis’. This is not to say that people must never experience a conflict of interest between individual needs and social demands. In fact Erikson argued that only by the successful resolution of these ‘normative crises’ is the achievement of identity possible. He went on to identify eight stages in this life-long development of identity, marked by a distinct conflict, for which successful, normative crisis resolution would result in a favourable outcome. According to Erikson, the most important conflict takes place during adolescence, the fifth psychosocial age. Here the individual re-evaluates everything that was established in childhood by enduring “psychosocial moratorium”. During this socially approved period of uncertainity, the indiviual can experieent with dfferent scial roles and consquently personality, self concept and self worth, may all be altered.

Psychosocial Theory is a persuasive model. It is both accessible and relevant, resulting in Erikson being highly regarded amongst psychologists. He has been described as a visionary, providing a basis for the work of James Marcia on different forms of identity. The theory is still relevant in today’s modern life, due to its “utility in many professional arenas [such as] clinical, theoretical and empirical” (McKinney, 2001). Erikson has had a huge impact in child development, resulting in teachers, parents and counselors drawing on ideals of his to support their work. Theorists such as Mary Ainsworth, who studied attachment in infancy explained concepts similar to those of Erikson, offering credibility to his work. The approach has been useful for understanding and explaining how personality and behaviour manifest, and therefore has become a much-used tool in dealing with conflict managent and in general self-awareness. It also provides a convincing explaination for many current issues, such as bullying in school. During stage 5aˆ¦. and current racial issues and why it can cause so much aggression and understanding of motives behind terrorism.

However the theory does not go without criticism. Santrock (2004) highlights research which suggests that identity formation does not begin or end in adolescence, that the conflict is notably less dramatic than proposed, and that in fact some individuals go through their teenage years without any real problems at all. It therefore seems that erikson may have placed too much emphasis on adolescence. This maybe due to erikson’s own personal experiences having an effect on his interpretation of results. His young life was fraught with problems, not least being tall and blond and living in a jewish neighbourhood, with a jewish step-family. This need for acceptance and the conflict associated with being different became important themes in his theory. aˆ¦aˆ¦aˆ¦aˆ¦Based on field work, so reliable as in own environment; He studied combat crises in U.S. soldiers during World War II, child-rearing practices in Native American communities and social behavior in India.

There are two basic problems with the pychosocial approach to identity. Firstly that large social group were ignored beause although Erikson believed person and social were interlinked, he treated them separately. And secondily Erikson focused on individual identities to explain how people identitfy with indivudal groups.

Sit:- 700 words – get down to 200!

social identity theory (SIT) aims to resolve some of these problems highlighted with the pychosocial tradition, by producing a social rather than individual focus on identity, empahsising on the way we compare ourselves to others. concerned with when and why individuals identify with, and behave as part of, social groups, adopting shared attitudes. Tajfel, the founder of the theory, directly challenged the eriksons concept that group behaviour could be explained by looking at the psychology of individuals. He studied the relationships between people and proposed two separate sub-systems; Personal Identity (describing oneself as a friend or parent for example) and Social Identity (in instances such as referring to gender, race or religion). Their alternative theory suggested a distinctive level of collective psychological processes. This meant that people acted as group members as well as individuals. Their central idea was that behaviour and identity operated on a continuum based on situation, ranging from the highly individual and unique at one end (purely interpersonal), to the collective and common at the other (purely intergroup).The theory’s fundamental idea is that identity is drawn from selfcatagorisation, when describing characteristics from our social group. This provides labels for ourselves, in turn provding rules for our behaviour. The category in which we place ourselves is called the “ingroup”. There is a sence of elitism and a tendency to exclude others; the “outgroup”. Tajfel research aimed to consider this discrimination between the groups, by proposing superficial differences, he split participants into inial groups and subjected the to aˆ¦.he concluded that this was sufficient enough to generate predujices. This has been demonstrated, for instance in one example where school boys were placed in groups based on preference for abstract painters such as Klee or Kandinsky. Even using this trivial basis for grouping, and despite the fact that the school boys didn’t know who was in the groups, the boys allocated more resources towards ingroup members than outgroup members. In addition, the resources were given to other individuals in a group instead of the group as a whole, so the boys were not just giving resources to themselves out of self-interest.[13] This experiment was especially interesting because it challenged other models of intergroup interaction which are based on the idea that discrimination between groups happens because there is a clear reason for it, such as a competition for resources or a conflict of interests between the groups. Sit proposes that the reason for this discrimination is because of the need to belong to a group, taht are distinctive and have a high status, it boosts self esteem by making the other group inferior however sit argues that the resistance to this prejudice can result in some individuals seeking to iprove their status by using social obility or leaving behind their soial group. Others may attept social change, by social creativietly, a redefition of the group or through social competition, actively dmenading alternative social ideas in regard to a particular group.

People don’t like being in the out goup; so one answer is Moving to another group, but requires social mobility to be practicable. For instance, this may be viable in the case of social class or a job, but not so much in groups based on race or gender for example. Social mobility is at the individualistic end of the social behaviour continuum suggested by social identity theory.At the other end of the continuum, group level strategies focus on direct competition. But for this to be possible, there needs to be a belief that change is genuinely possible as well as desirable. In addition, group members need to perceive the current relationships with other groups to be unjustified.Finally, if neither of the above two options are viable, members of groups wishing to change their status may decide to compare themselves using different criteria where they compare more favourably, or focus on comparisons with a different group compared to whom they fare better. People can also choose to redefine the negative elements of their group identity, or even redefine the group identity itself. These actions are not as effective as the others described above, but do allow group members to contend in a small way with the undesirable current perception of their group.

Good bits

Attepts to explain prejudies and self esteem, where erikson did not.

Self-categorization theory grew from Tajfel and Turner’s early work on social identity. It is a development of social identity theory, specifically in the part of the relationship between group behaviour and self-concept that describes the social cognitive processes that create social identity effects. The theory describes how people define themselves at a group level but also at an individual level.[4][15] It considers group and individual identities to be at different levels of self-categorization, and more distinct from each other than social identity theory does. For instance, individuals can have several different group identities (e.g. gender, occupation, or nationality) and also several different individual identities depending on context (e.g. how someone considers themself as a male or how they consider themselves compared to their colleagues at work).[16][17] This concept of a hierarchy of different identities replaced the continuum in social identity theory, and allowed an individual an unlimited range of identities based on context.[18] The salience of a particular group identity is based on how accessible a categorization is to an individual, and how well it fits the social context (e.g. bearing in mind what the individual wants to achieve with their behaviour, or what they did last time they were in the situation). For instance, when discussing political issues in a conversation, nationality may become more salient.[19]

Bad triviualise issues such as diability

Ethical ?

Labtest unreliable?

Can results be applied to real life stuations.

Some criritces cos it trear groups as indivudals (see bx on pg 66)

Conclusion:-

Although Erikson’s theory of identity development is widely cited, other theories provide important knowledge about identity and its development. However Eriksons’ work is as relevant today as when he first outlined his original theory, in fact given the modern pressures on society, family and relationships – and the quest for personal development and fulfilment – his ideas are probably more relevant now than ever. Erikson was keen to improve the way children and young people are taught and nurtured, and it would be appropriate for his ideas to be more widely known and used in day-to-day life, beyond the clinical and counselling professions. Erikson’s psychosocial theory is. As with any concept there are critics, but generally Erikson’s theory is considered fundamentally significant. Erikson was a psychoanalyst and also a humanitarian. So his theory is useful far beyond psychoanalysis – it’s useful for any application involving personal awareness and development – of oneself or others. Social learning theories expand the constructs of self concept and self worth as the basis of self description in late childhood. Cognitive development theory describes the age-related processes leading to a child’s limitation before adolescence and competence during adolescence for establishing identity. Researchers investigating Erikson’s theory of identity development have provided important modifications to the theory.

Equality Rights Feminism

Equality – a term associated with fairness, cohesion, and rights – has been an important goal for various theoretical movements that have formed in Feminism. The debate surrounding equality has and continues to be of concern at all different levels – feminism arose as a response to the inequalities between men and women. The question of equality itself puts up a parameter of analysis and critique that allows for investigation and speculation.

To ponder equality, is to enlighten the senses to explore the possibilities of what is known, what needs to be done, and who or what is involved in seeking equality – it challenges the word as well as the people framed within it. Catharine MacKinnon states that “Feminism is the discovery that women do not live in this world, that the person occupying this realm is a man, so much more a man if he is white and wealthy” (367). With this in mind, feminist movements emphasize the importance of every women’s position in social and political spaces.

Various feminist movements can be used to achieve equality. However, each perspective provides a different contribution in obtaining such equality. Feminist theories of the liberal, Marxist, radical, and postcolonial perspectives all cover certain aspects of inequality while limiting in the acknowledgement of another. The integration of these perspectives will allow for a truly beneficial equality for women.

Liberal feminism is a stance that argues for women to have equal rights to men and to achieve individual autonomy. They propose a model of individual autonomy by fighting for the right of women to have educational opportunities and to obtain a career that is outside of domesticity. This is part of their main focus of their strive for women to have the same rights that men hold “naturally” – men being the gender of privilege and power (Whelehan 29). Liberal feminists are interested in the politics of law to maintain equality between women and men.

From this perspective, equality for women is achievable but due to the nature and intensity of its movements, liberal feminism is considered as a starting point for equal rights and freedoms guaranteed to each individual. It takes a more “soft” lobbying approach to fight for the equal rights of women to those of men as they try to refrain from any direct challenge to institutions that cause them to be unequal. They would like to change laws but stay within the boundaries of institutions as they prove to be valuable to many women.

Imelda Whelehan points out that the “liberal perspective on state intervention in people’s lives also proved problematic, since state support was crucial to many women’s lives, and any shrinkage of its services would probably mean that their living standards deteriorated” (34). As a result, liberal feminists were caught between fighting for women’s rights and expressing their victimization that is due to their differences in biological sex. Moreover, social change is restricted because if the current liberal state was overthrown, the male-dominant liberalistic status quo would be disrupted and many services provided by the state (especially services provided to women to improve their living standards) will be in jeopardy.

Combining liberal thought and feminism provides many contradictions because their beliefs do not apply equally to both male and female due to the constraints of reality. If males and females are given equal rights (as hoped by liberal feminists), there will be strains on both sexes in terms of gender roles within and outside of the economy as well as an emphasis on the females biological anatomy of giving birth.

As a result, liberal feminism’s concept of equality is an ideal that is contradictory due to reality, personal benefits, and environmental constraints (such as the state, education, and family needs). It is important to realize that this does not necessarily prove liberal feminism as an ineffective approach to equality. In fact, liberal feminism is the most widely known feminist movement in today’s society. The liberal feminist movement can be seen as the basis and the starting point for the fight towards gender equality. However, this approach needs to be combined with other perspectives for a more effective outcome.

Another effective approach to strive for gender equality is to analyze the problem through the Marxian framework. Marxist feminism emphasizes that capitalism and patriarchy are organizing devices that hinder the contemplation of having a society that is equal between genders. They argue that class is a major factor that creates the division between men and women. In other words, the hierarchy system of class produces inequalities by placing power in the hands of a few while oppressing others that do not have this privilege.

Marxist feminism focuses their attention on women’s position in labor and in the capitalist system – women’s participation in the home and in wage work. Heidi Hartmann states that “the problem in the family, the labor market, economy, and society is not simply a division of labor between men and women, but a division that places men in a superior, and women in a subordinate, position” (7). As a result, Marxist feminists take on a revolutionary approach to overthrow capitalism in order to dismantle male privilege [really really really good clean cut statement].

They recognize that women are subordinated as a class and that women’s unpaid work in the home needs to be acknowledged because “women at home not only provide essential services for capital by reproducing the labor force, but also create surplus value through that work” (Hartmann 8). Moreover, Marxist feminism recognizes the social and historical context of all women’s work in paid and unpaid labor. By acknowledging women’s participation in society, women’s contribution will not be taken for granted hence elevating their gender status. Equality can therefore be achieved in a capitalistic sense.

While the liberal approach focuses on gender equality in rights before the court of law, the Marxian perspective takes on a capitalistic approach strengthening women’s status in the economic system. These two approaches aim to fight for more power for oppressed women but, at the same time, they lack focus on a major source of this oppression – the problematic male-dominant gender system. Radical feminism is useful in analyzing this issue as it focuses on patriarchy as the source of gender inequality.

This binary gender system is seen to be a social construct that serves as the basis of gender inequality. Radical feminists argue that men’s privilege oppresses women though social institutions and cultural productions. As a result, men’s dominance over women is seen to take on a social hierarchy that produces unequal power relations. They stress that social organizations created male domination, which has forced upon society a type of thinking that is “malestream.” Moreover, violence towards women and the objectification of women’s bodies have placed women in a position of exploitation and victimization.

Radical feminism coined the slogan “The personal is political” to emphasize that individual experiences brings out political issues that need to be addressed and acknowledged. They take on a revolutionary approach in that social and political changes are necessary in order to overthrow the structural framework of inequality between men and women. They argue that “individual female identity and experience [is] the first step to collective revolution” (Whelehan 36).

Acknowledging female identity apart from the structural gender framework will allow the female gender to break free from “malestream” ideals. In other words, the elimination of this gender system will possibly bring the two genders into equality.

Another feminist movement that aims to challenge existing social norms and constructs is postcolonial feminism. This movement focuses on rejecting all foundational thought that is known and used as truth. They argue that this truth is constructed and created by the powers of those that are the colonizers (middle-class, white males) who have power over the colonized. Moreover, this truth becomes part of the universal – it is accepted to be true with little or no questioning.

As a result, postcolonial feminist reject universalizing principles because it marginalizes those that are not part of the norm. Leela Gandhi argues that a “comprehensive dismantling of colonial hierarchies and structures needs to be matched by a reformed and imaginative reconception of colonized society and culture” (82). Postcolonial feminists stress that women are situated in a “double colonization” in which they are oppressed as women and colonized people as well as constructed as sexual objects.

A reformation of the constructed male-dominant society should take place revamping all social norms that naturally set women as the subordinate. By destabilizing the colonization, ideals on gender that are taken for granted will be overthrown granting an opportunity for women to be acknowledged in society. With an increased level of appreciation of women’s contribution, equality between the genders can be achieved.

With the unique standpoint of each perspective, inequality issues regarding different structures of society can be understood better. Each of these perspectives is effective in their own way as they all aim to bring equality between the genders. By incorporating the multiple perspectives, equality can be achieved to a certain extent. The issue of equality is based on people’s perspectives and the social contexts these people are positioned.

No matter how hard these feminist movements try to strive for equality, gender differences will continue to exist – biological differences can never be eliminated. If “absolute” equality is achieved, men and women will be seen as equal and existing protection for female’s biological differences will be removed. Protection such as laws regarding birth right allowing women to be released [better word?] from work for a recovery period is beneficial and should not be revoked due to “equality.”

In a sense, rather than relieving female victims from oppression, this “absolute” equality may cause even more distress for the female community. With this in mind, achieving absolute gender equality should not be the main goal of feminist movements. These perspectives should be used to help strive to seek for the acknowledgement of women’s position in society. Equality does not necessarily have to be achieved in order for females to obtain a better life. Providing respect and recognition for the female gender will be more useful and beneficial.

Based on people’s perspectives/attitudes and the social context people are positioned
Equality may or may not be possible
Possible for certain sectors but women still needs more rights (ex. birth ? biological difference)
May agree/accept certain aspects of a feminist perspective but don’t have to accept all of it
All these feminist perspectives has helped strive to seek equality for women and have made significant contributions to the acknowledgement of women’s position in society
Liberal and radical both aim at giving women more rights
Even if they strive for equality, gender differences will still exist no matter what (biological difference)
Would should still have more rights and be protected for those differences
Works Cited

Gandhi, Leela (1998). “Postcolonialism and Feminism” in Postcolonial Theory: A Critical Introduction (81-101). New York: Columbia University Press.

Hartmann, Heidi (1981). “The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism: Towards a More Progressive Union.” In Lydia Sargeant (Ed.) Women and Revolution (1-41). Montreal: Black Rose Books.

MacKinnon, Catherine (1985). “Pornography, Civil Rights, and Free Speech.” In Rosemary Tong (Ed.) (1999) Feminist Philosophies. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Whelehan, Imelda (1995). “Liberal Feminism: The Origins of the Second Wave” in Modern Feminist Thought (25-43). New York: New York University Press.

Question Three:

Discuss the potential and limitations of feminist theories with respect to the analysis of gender and sexuality. Compare several perspectives and then draw your own conclusions about this issue.

The social stratification of our society has placed boundaries on all aspects of our lives. With deeper exploration of these constructed issues, multifaceted debates arise in feminism. Moreover, by looking at the social organization of the everyday, feminist theories are able to take a closer look into the complex views surrounding gender, sex, and sexuality. It is important to make a clear distinction between the concepts of gender, sex, and sexuality to understand the underlying message that each of these words conveys – each concept has a particular meaning and construction to its term.

Gender is often referred to as the social construction of our identity of being “man/masculine” and “woman/feminine” (sometimes known as being “gendered”), whereas sex pertains to the biology of our species (male and/or female). Heidi Hartmann eloquently emphasizes that “we are born female and male, biological sexes, but we are created women and man, socially recognized genders” (16). Sexuality, on the other hand, refers to our emotional and intimate relationships (heterosexuality, homosexuality, and bisexuality).

The work of liberal, Marxist, radical, postcolonial, lesbian, and third wave feminism all have considerable overlap in their analysis of gender, sex, and sexuality, but each of these perspectives has its own central focus. As a result, the dissimilar concepts have always resulted in contrasting debates. It is beneficial to analyze the potentials and limitations of each of these feminist theories in order to fully understand the complexity of gender, sex, and sexuality. The integration of these various perspectives will provide a deeper understanding and awareness of the diverse issues that our social structure tries to mask.

As a mainstream feminist movement, liberal feminism claims that differences in gender are not based in biology. They believe women and men are not very different due to their common humanity. As a result, they argue that women and men should not be treated any differently under the law – women should have the same opportunities and legal rights as men – by striving to eliminate laws that differentiate people by gender (Whelehan 29). Liberal feminism has the potential of slowly changing people’s attitudes toward gender and sexuality by increasing women’s participation in what is known to be male occupations as well as encouraging support networks for women.

They also provide great contribution by socializing and educating the young with gender-neutral terminology. However, liberal feminism is limited in their focus – there is too much emphasis on the macro and very little on the micro. The private sphere of women’s experiences in their home is not brought to the forefront. As a result, many troubling issues such as domestic violence and marital rape are not spoken about. This limitation undermines liberal feminism’s goal to have men and women being treated equally. The silencing of the private and personal life has hindered the individual autonomy and freedom of speech of women – women’s domestic and sexual lives become unacknowledged (Whelehan 38).

Moreover, Imelda Whelehan states that there is a “limit to how far liberal feminists will ‘pry’ into individual’s private social/sexual choices” (38). As a result, they do not directly challenge capitalism (the main contributor to the oppression of women), which undermines the idea of changing the institutions that maintain gender bias and censors sexuality.

Whelehan also emphasizes that liberal feminism is problematic in that its views are predominately white, middle class, heterosexuals – this ignores women who do not inhabit what is a relatively privileged social position (41). Although liberal feminism has created conditions to fight for equality, it is only a stepping stone for the other feminist theories that follow – it is limited in the macro and public realm of politics.

Another way to approach the problematic concepts of gender, sex, and sexuality is through the Marxian perspective. Marxist feminism suggests that the dual system of roles as paid and unpaid workers in a capitalist economy is the reason behind women’s oppression. They argue that in the workplace, women are exploited by capitalism whereas in the home, they are exploited by patriarchy (Hartmann 5). Moreover, women have fewer economic resources due to their low paying wages as compared to men.

Heidi Hartmann argues that sexist ideology has adopted a capitalist form in that patriarchal relations bolster capitalism – the subjugation of women in the private and public sphere has allowed for the continuance of patriarchal and capitalistic needs. Women’s work is devalued even though they are the major source to an efficient economy – they are caregivers, housekeepers, and work for the paid marketplace. Marxist feminism greatly focuses their analysis on gender being a source of job segregation that exploits women as paid and unpaid workers in the workplace and in the family.

They argue that women are subordinated as a class and that “the problem in the family, the labor market, economy, and society is not simply a division of labor between men and women, but a division that places men in a superior, and women in a subordinate, position” (Hartmann 7).

However, Marxist feminism is limited in its macro analysis of society because the individual and private lives of people (especially the exploration of sexuality in regards to producing products of capital) need to be analyzed. It covers feministic issues within the economic system but, due to its limited framework, it is inefficient in addressing problems surrounding individual issues that women are facing in today’s male-dominant society.

To analyze these problematic individual issues, the radical feminist framework has proven to be effective. Radical feminism is a conscious-raising group that addresses intense debates surrounding issues of women’s everyday lives. They argue that “the personal is political” in that the “original and basic class division is between the sexes, and that the motive force of history is the striving of men for power and domination over women, the dialectic of sex” (Hartmann 13).

Radical feminism are greatly concerned about violence towards women due to the depictions of women as sexual objects to be used, abused, and produced in the mass media. Catharine MacKinnon argues that “maleness is a form of power and femaleness is a form of powerlessness” (369). As a result, according to radical feminism, patriarchy results in the sexual exploitation of women through social control and construction.

However, radical feminisms limitation is that the creation of a women-only space includes particular “women” while excluding those that do not conform to certain gender assumptions such as transgenders – it creates another form of power. This exclusion will lead to another type of inequality and oppression that will once again damage society as a whole.

The liberal, Marxist, and radical feminist perspectives all focus on the major structures that act as the basis of society’s gender concepts. Postcolonial feminism, on the other hand, challenges the gender blindness that is masked in traditional colonial history – it focuses on problematic gender concepts rather than the major structures behind them. In traditional thought, the “Third World Women” is represented as the colonized women of nonindustrial societies and developing countries who are brought into civilization by imperial, patriarchal domination of Western and European masculinity.

Feminist postcolonial theorists argue that the basis of these women’s gender and race places them under imperial circumstances of being women of “double colonization” – “Third-World Woman” are seen “as victim par excellence – the forgotten casualty of both imperial ideology, and native and foreign patriarchies” (Gandhi 83). This is problematic because the “Third-World Women” are placed in contrast with Western woman as opposites, othered, and marginalized – a position of inferiority to ones gender of not being a dominant, white, middle-class woman. Leela Gandhi exemplifies that this “implied cultural lack of the ‘third-world woman’ fortifies the redemptive ideological/political plenitude of Western feminism…seen yet as another object of Western knowledges, simultaneously knowable and unknowing” (86).

As a result, postcolonial and feminist theories challenges discourses that are about women by highlighting the anti-colonial gender blindness and to acknowledge “Third-World Woman” as a voice of difference instead of an object to be silenced by the power and privilege of colonialism.

However, postcolonial feminism is limited in that, like the above perspectives, a more macro-level of analysis is taken whereas the micro-level analysis of sexuality. Postcolonial feminism focuses their attention on the social organization of the “third-world woman” in relation to colonial practices and exploitation.

Lesbian feminism, unlike other perspectives, acknowledges the oppression of compulsory heterosexuality. By challenging traditional norms and heterosexuality, they fight for both women’s and homosexual rights. Lesbian feminism has the potential to combat homophobia by empowering women to explore sexuality and to understand of heterosexual relationships.

They argue that the diverse range of “woman-identified experience” needs to take into account the history and individual experience of each woman’s life (Rich 648). Adrienne Rich argues that compulsory heterosexuality is not examined but accepted as the “sexual preference” of our society (633). As a result, the perspective of lesbian feminism has implications of dismantling compulsory heterosexuality by recognizing the central truth of women’s history in that the “preference” of heterosexuality has been “naturally” imposed on women and that “women have always resisted male tyranny” (Rich 652).

It allows women to move away from the prescribed scripts produced by the distorted lie of compulsory female heterosexuality as “normal” and a “preference” – a form of liberation for all women. However, lesbian feminism is limited in that they do not address the power issues may still exist in lesbian relationships just as they do in heterosexual relationships. It also neglects larger oppression issues that are bringing distress to the female gender.

Contrasting other perspectives, third wave feminism guides their analysis towards a more micro perspective and emphasizes that individual identities are unique and complex. They strive for women to have agency and acknowledge that female sexuality is a form of power to express oneself. They find the category of “woman” to be problematic because, as stated by Himani Bannerji, women’s issues should not be located on a broad and generalized way of “Woman – a singular yet universal entity” of patriarchal social construction (48).

Third wave feminism embraces sexuality and the act of sex as fun rather than deviant or dangerous. They see themselves as empowering and as women of choice. Third wave feminism appreciates and views the internet as an important source for opening up lines of communication and support networks for young scholars (Alfonso and Trigilio 7). They stress the importance of speaking and writing about individual personal experiences in order to resist universal assumptions. However, this is limiting in that they do not evaluate certain issues that arise.

Third-wave feminism provides a more micro-approach to analyze everyday conversations. This can be problematic because the specificity of these conversations becomes hard to apply to societal issues. In Rita Alfonso’s dialogue to Jo Trigilio, Rita acknowledges that a “political generation can account for subject positions across historical waves of feminism, as well as for the existence of two relatively distinct waves of feminism (9-10).

However, Trigilio stresses that the use of “political generation” needs to accompanied with concerns about which groups are empowered to give them a voice (10). Trigilio also fears that there is becoming less class-consciousness in third wave feminism and highlights the increasing problems of academic discourses (written in a form that is only accessible to a few and again oppresses).

All perspectives have their own unique qualities that provide insight into the deeper issues that underlie our social and political structures in society. Each stance is beneficial to our understanding even though they are limited due to their specific nature. The combination of liberal, Marxist, radical, postcolonial, lesbian, and third wave feminism will allow us to recognize the historical shifts of these perspectives – all these perspectives have risen at certain points in time due to societal issues concerning gender and sexuality.

Society is a gradual process that slowly finds acceptance in issues (especially in sexuality) that surface as a result of progressive movements that fight for change. The problematic issues surrounding gender, sex, and sexuality have always brought a lot of distress to women in society. On a larger scale, these problems exist in the economical, political, and patriarchal aspects of society. From a micro viewpoint, domestic oppression and heterosexual gender ideologies are also the concerns of the female gender.

Sexuality is a major concern because not only is it seen to be deviant but talk of having sex is seen to be sacred. Instead of finding pleasure in explore ones sexuality, traditional ideology has oppressed the talk and the act of engaging in this private and personal sphere of the individual. Historically, many issues were shunned because of dominant discourses but over time, it has been a gradual movement to give rise to these issues that were always present. By incorporating the multiple perspectives discussed, society can continue to evolve and move towards better social structures and norms that will help improve the living standard of the female gender.

Works Cited

Alfonso, Rita and Jo Trigilio (1997). “Surfing the Thrid Wave: A Dialogue Between Two Third Wave Feminists.” Hypatia 12, 3: 7-16.

Bannerji, Himani (1999). “Inroducing Racism: Notes Towards an Anti-Racist Feminism” in Thinking Through: Essays on Feminism, Marxism, and Anti-Racism (41-53). Toronto: Women’s Press.

Gandhi, Leela (1998). “Postcolonialism and Feminism” in Postcolonial Theory: A Critical Introduction (81-101). New York: Columbia University Press.

Hartmann, Heidi (1981). “The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism: Towards a More Progressive Union.” In Lydia Sargeant (Ed.) Women and Revolution (1-41). Montreal: Black Rose Books.

Rich, Adrienne (1980). “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence.” Signs 5, 4: 631-660.

MacKinnon, Catherine (1985). “Pornography, Civil Rights, and Free Speech.” In Rosemary Tong (Ed.) (1999) Feminist Philosophies. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Whelehan, Imelda (1995). “Liberal Feminism: The Origins of the Second Wave” in Modern Feminist Thought (25-43). New York: New York University Press.

Indigenous Australians have poorer education rates compared to their non-Indigenous counterparts. The ABS reveals that 39% of Indigenous Australian students stayed on to year 12 at high school, compared with 75% for the non-Indigenous population. Less than half of indigenous adults (22%) had a vocational or higher education qualification, compared with 48% for the non-Indigenous Australian population. Although the situation is improving slightly, (with significant gains between 1994 and 2002) these results illustrate inequality between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

Unemployment rates are also a problem in Australia, more so for Indigenous Australians. As of 2002, the average household income for Indigenous Australian adults was 60% that of the non-Indigenous average. The 2006 census showed a large gap regarding unemployment rates between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, with Indigenous people being 3 times more likely to be unemployed compared to their non-Indigenous counterparts.

Data from the 2002 NATSISS also indicated that Indigenous Australians were twice as likely as their non-Indigenous peers to be a victim of violent aggression, with 24% of Indigenous Australians reported being a victim of violence in 2001. In 2004, Indigenous Australians were 11 times more likely to be in prison with 1/5 ( 21%) prisoners in Australia being Indigenous-Australian.

A study by the ABS in 2009 revealed the estimated life expectancy at 67.2 years for Indigenous men (11.5 years less than for non-Indigenous) and 72.9 years for Indigenous women (9.7 years less than for non-Indigenous). It shows a difference of about 5 years to the previous figures but at the same time, points to another issue of inequality.

Studies in the 1960s reveals, among Indigenous Australians, a high rate of infant mortality of around 100 infant deaths per 1000 live births. In following years, there was a steady decline to around 26 per 1000 by 1981, with much of it due to improvements in post-neonatal mortality. While this can be seen as slightly promoting equality between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, the latest statistics reveal that Indigenous infant mortality rates are consistently around two and a half times the Australian average, an obvious example of inequality in this area.

The key to improving indigenous lives is education. Photo: Terry Irwin

The major difference between equality and inequality is very simple – education. Family circumstances and genetics play their part, but the be all and end all to eradicating inequality is a good education.

It is the one essential ingredient above all others that would raise the indigenous communities of northern Australia out of poverty and Third World conditions to an equal place with white Australia – equal health, equal wealth and equal status.

As indigenous leader Noel Pearson said recently, ”indigenous education is a shameful failure”.

There is no colour divide in maths, physics, world history, geography or languages. Nor to the guaranteed opportunities education brings. The only barrier is the ability to deliver it quickly enough, in enough quantity and quality to make the transformation. And it does need to be done quickly – we are already 200 years behind time.

Pearson calls for two new methods of delivery: a change in the governance of indigenous schools; and a departure from centralised public education delivery in favour of independent publicly funded schools like those known in the United States as charter schools.

This is no easy solution. Cultural barriers, poverty, misunderstandings and a chronic lack of infrastructure are real problems, but they are all within our capacity to solve. If for no other reason, our pride as a nation should drive us.

We are justly proud of our athletes and sportsmen, our business men and women, our actors, painters and scholars. But while we parade our successes on the world stage, just a few words bring us crashing down: “You allow your indigenous people to live in poverty and ignorance. On that matter you are by world standards a huge failure.”

We are extraordinarily accomplished and generous in bringing many different cultures from around the world to live peacefully and successfully in this country, yet we cannot accommodate our own indigenous culture.

The delivery of well-educated, indigenous VCE students to universities and TAFEs can be achieved on two levels. Our top schools, both public and private, receive a fortune in government funding and commonly see about 90 per cent of their students enrol in university. They should take on the task of educating the brightest indigenous children.

I once chaired a lunch meeting at which principals made clear their embarrassment that our schools are educating students from cultures all around the globe, but not educating significant numbers of our own indigenous children. Tired of waiting for government policy, many top schools have embarked on their own scholarship schemes in an ad hoc manner.

It is estimated that by working with indigenous communities and with government, these schools could deliver 1000 indigenous university entrants each year without causing a ripple in their daily routines. The problems of culture shock and family support for students at such schools can be solved with the help of local communities.

The second level involves enticing children in the outback to school and providing them with quality teaching. Interactive technology means that teachers throughout the outback can work with the best “virtual” teachers in city schools.

School attendance might be a condition for joining the local football team, going to swim, or for mum and dad to collect their welfare cheque. If there is transport, a reason to turn up and a pay-off, children will attend. Initiatives in Cape York showing between 70 and 96 per cent attendance rates put paid to arguments by sceptics that high indigenous attendance in far north and outback Australia are unachievable.

Fresh thinking is called for in the delivery of education in outback Australia and it may be we will never get that from government bureaucrats. Is it time for private enterprise – the bastions of initiative and lateral thinking – to bring some of their energy and relentless determination to the table?

The initiative presently being considered in Queensland of an independent indigenous academy will have its critics, but it is the sort of bold move that is needed. It should attract private money from the many Australian companies and benefactors who support and sponsor important community causes. And what more important cause in this country could there be?

Private not-for-profit schools should collectively take up this challenge as well. With access to private foundations and innovative teaching techniques, and being experienced in providing accommodation and cultural leadership, they are well placed to deliver such focused education institutions.

I am damned if I know why Australia’s determination, sense of fairness and ingenuity have not enabled us to overcome this major national failure – even if for no other reason than sheer embarrassment.

(b) The article highlights the importance of education in reducing inequality between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. It reveals that education guarantees opportunities thus the improvement of education for Indigenous Australians will promote equality of opportunity and equality of outcomes for Indigenous peoples, by ‘raising indigenous communities of northern Australia out of poverty and Third World conditions’ and establishing ‘equal health, equal wealth and equal status’.The author also hints at Australia pride in its cultural diversity and our success in ensuring different cultures live peacefully and advantageously yet we can’t even ensure the same level of equality for Australia’s Indigenous population. A number of ideas also surface regarding the ways education can be improved for Indigenous Australians to help promote equality in the long term. A change from centralised public education in favour of independent publicly funded schools is suggested, similar to charter schools in the US. Other ideas also include incentive for Indigenous students to attend school and the use of technology for communication between teachers in the outback and those in the city, enabling them to work together.

Equality and difference for Indigenous Australians has experienced some change overtime. Significant changes include the earlier laws of the mid-late 20th century which focused on the rights of Indigenous Australians. The policy of Assimilation, introduced in 1937 saw Indigenous Australian on a different level to ‘white’ Australians, with Aboriginal Australians having little or no rights; Aboriginal people of mixed descent are to be assimilated into white society by force and, those not living tribally are to be educated, with all others having to stay on reserves. Segregationist practices were also put in place and continue until the 1960s including separate sections in theatres for Aboriginal Australians, separate wards in hospitals and schools able to refuse enrolment to Aboriginal children.

The policy of integration of was introduced in 1965, supposedly to give Aboriginal people more control over their lives and society. This is an example of a change over time, which allowed Indigenous Australians to make more decisions, however it is still a poor improvement in relation to equal rights for non-Indigenous Australians at the time. The Commonwealth 1967 Referendum is another event of significance as it recognised that Indigenous Australians were a part of the nation to be included in the census, a significant step in identifying Aborigines as ‘equal’ and to the rest of Australian society.

The abolishment of the White Australia Policy and the subsequent introduction of the Self-determination (self-management) policy is arguably one of the largest steps in establishing that Indigenous Australians are no different to the rest of Australian society. The change meant that Aboriginal Australians would have the right to preserve their culture and language and to manage the natural resources on Aboriginal land. These rights were already available to non-Indigenous Australians, revealing a delay in equality for Aboriginal Australians, obviously as a result of discrimination. Despite these milestones in policies to improve equality, the issue of poor health among Indigenous Australians is still a major issue. The overall life expectancy and health issues that occur among Indigenous Australians are proven to be more severe than for non-Indigenous Australians with poor education, socio-economic status and employment rates to blame. The infant mortality rate is an example though, that illustrates a decline in the number of infant deaths since the 1960s and proves that future trends may continue to decline, possibly along with other health issues regarding Indigenous Australians.

Individuals, groups and governments can help achieve desirable outcomes for all people in the future by contributing and ensuring equality of opportunity, if not for outcomes for every Australian, in particular, disadvantaged groups such as Indigenous Australians. Individuals need to recognise the level of inequality that can be found in society, especially inequality in many aspects of Indigenous Australian life including, large numbers of unemployment rates, many of which are issues that can be solved, although it may take some time to improve dramatically.

Groups can play a large role in improving equality in society, particularly for the state of Indigenous Australians and the issues they face. Dick Estens’ Aboriginal Employment Service is an example where action has been taken by a community to improve equality in employment for Indigenous Australians. Establishments like Estens’ can also be extended to other services, by the government, such as Indigenous health care; ensuring all Indigenous Australians have access to proper health care.

The recent ban of alcohol for areas in the Northern Territory seems a poor way to reduce rates of violence relating to alcohol consumption. The consequences of alcohol for many Indigenous Australians is evidently a problem with high rates of abuse and violence but Perhaps this government initiative should have been altered to the formation of rehabilitation centres instead. This may also have followed with incentives to attract and consequently help Indigenous Australians overcome excessive alcohol consumption or provide them with better knowledge of its consequences rather than intrude on their rights by not allowing the consumption of alcohol.

For issues regarding Indigenous Australian education; private, non-for-profit schools like SMH author Robert Dean suggested should possibly be put in place to promote better education for Aboriginal Australian students in society, the results of which would most likely achieve a greater equality for Indigenous Australians to have better opportunities and outcomes in life than in previous years. Hopefully, these opportunities and outcomes will one day, equal that of non-Indigenous Australians.

Helen Pham, 11.2SOC

Anthropology 103 is an introduction to some of the major topics and issues that concern social and cultural anthropologists today. It complements Anth 102: Anthropological Perspectives, offered in the second semester, which deals with a separate range of anthropological issues. Together, Anth 102 and 103 constitute a comprehensive introduction to anthropology and students intending to major in anthropology should do both of them. Both Anth 102 and Anth 103 also complement our other 100-level courses, Anth 104: Endangered Peoples (offered in 2011) and Anth 105: Human Evolution, offered this semester.

Course convenor & lecturer:

Assoc. Prof. Patrick McAllister, Room 325, Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Phone: ext 7103; email: [email protected]

Course administrator:

Roslyn Kerr, Room 207, School of Social and Political Sciences

Phone: ext 7185; email: [email protected]

Tutors:

Amba Brackenreg Morton, Room 207, School of Social and Political Sciences

Phone: ext 7185; email: [email protected]

Niki McCusker, Room 207, School of Social and Political Sciences

Phone: ext 7185; email: [email protected]

Consulting hours:

Your tutor will inform you of her/his consulting hours once you have been assigned to a tutorial group. Feel free to make an appointment with the course lecturer at any time.

Lectures and tutorials:

There will be two lectures a week on Monday from 11 to 11.50 a.m. in A4 lecture theatre and Wednesday from 11 to 11.50 a.m. in A5 lecture theatre. There is one compulsory tutorial a week. Tutorial groups, venues and times will be arranged at the beginning of the course. Lecture outlines will be posted on Learn each week.

Assessment:

Tutorial participation (attendance and preparation of notes) 15%

Class test: Wednesday31 March 15%

Essay: due on Friday 21 May 20%

Exam (date t.b.a.) 50%
Satisfactory participation in tutorials will require the preparation of written notes (approximately one page of 300 words per tutorial) based on the tutorial reading. Most tutorials involve participation in small-group work, and adequate preparation is essential. You are required to take a hard copy of the notes to the tutorial so that you can consult it during discussions. The notes will be collected and recorded but not assessed, but the mark for ‘tutorial participation’ is based on both the hard copy handed in to the tutor and on your attendance at the tutorial. The essay (see p. 7) should be typed, double spaced, and around 2000 words in length. Learn contains a guide to essay writing and a referencing guide which you must read.
The class test will be based entirely on material dealt with in tutorials and lectures, including the relevant readings in the course reader (weekly readings as well as tutorial readings). The exam will be based on all aspects of the course – readings, lectures, tutorials and videos. For details on assessment policy, aegrotats, extensions, etc., see Learn.
Course reader and Tutorial readings:

Part One of the Course Reader contains the weekly readings relevant to the weekly lectures. Tutorial readings are found in Part Two of the course reader. Students are also advised to consult the Anthropology and other social science encyclopaedias in the reference section of the Central Library.

Textbook:

There is a recommended text book for this course, available from the University book shop. It is Monaghan, J and Just, P. Social and Cultural Anthropology: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford, 2000. There is also a course Reader. It contains readings relevant to both lectures and tutorials but not readings from the recommended text book.

Other recommended texts (on short loan in the library):

Metcalf, Peter Anthropology: The Basics. Routledge 2005.

Eriksen, Thomas Hyland Small Places, Large Issues. Second edition. London: Pluto Press. 2001.

Internet resources:

Learn contains everything you need to know about the course (see http://learn.canterbury.ac.nz/login/index.php) and also has links to a number of sites of interest to anthropologists.

Course overview: Anth 103 introduces students to a range of topics aimed at enabling them to critically examine the nature and role of culture in constructing a sense of individual and collective identity, and how this is related to various forms of power. Culture is viewed as a system of symbols that provide meaning, manifested in language, in notions of space and place, in art, in ritual, and in other material things such as food and dress. The course explores the role of symbols and rituals in the construction of culture. It demonstrates how ideas about culture may form the basis of group formation, ethnic and national identity, and how many forms of social action (including conflict between groups) may be understood as ‘the politics of culture’ in which there are struggles for identity and power. Culture and identity are frequently acted out or performed in ritual and other forms of public action, and the notion of ‘performance’ is introduced and developed in relation to the construction and demonstration of identity. The course illustrates the diverse nature of the ways in which humans perform identity and how these topics are of interest and relevance to countries such as New Zealand. In this sense it demonstrates how anthropology is relevant in today’s world, by showing how an anthropological approach may be applied to contemporary social issues. _____________________________________________________________________­­

Lecture programme

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Week 1 – 22 February

We start, this week and next, with an introduction to socio-cultural anthropology, its perspectives and its methods. Certain basic anthropological concerns are introduced. These include the nature of culture and society, and the ways in which humans organise themselves socially (weeks 2 and 3). In later weeks we see that time, space, the body and material culture form important components of this, as do ritual and power. In this respect the importance of symbols and meaning are emphasised, before we move on (in the second half of the course) to the question of ritual and ritual performance, through which culture is expressed, identities constructed and maintained, and power relationships acted out and reflected upon. Ritual performances, then, turn out to be basic to understanding the nature of social identity and the politics of culture, and vice versa. Videos and video clips are used to provide visual illustrations and food for thought.

1. Welcome and introduction – what is socio-cultural anthropology, and why study it? Academic members of the UC anthropology programme and what they do.

2. The anthropological approach: Ethnographic fieldwork

Video: Off the Verandah (Malinowski)

Readings: Monaghan and Just 2000 (ch1); Eriksen 2001, ch 3.

No tutorial this week.

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Week 2 – 1 March

3. Culture and society: Video: The Kawelka: Ongka’s Big Moka

4. Culture, symbols, society, meaning: Video: Dogtown and Z boys

Readings: Monaghan and Just 2000 (chs 2 & 3); Hendry, 1999, ch 1.

Tutorial – Metcalf refers to the ‘culture shock’ experienced by anthropological fieldworkers. How is this illustrated by Richard Lee’s experience of Christmas in the Kalahari?

Metcalf 2005, ch1; Lee 2000.

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Week 3 – 8 March

5. Symbols, identity and power: Video: Dogtown and Z boys (contd.)

6. Reflections and consolidation: Dogtown, the Kawelka, and the anthropological approach

Reading: Delaney 2004, pp. 323-332

Tutorial – It has been suggested that culture consists of meanings conveyed by symbols. Your tutorial notes should address the following questions: What is a symbol? How do symbols convey meaning? Why is symbolism central to understanding culture and society?

Hendry 1999, Ch 5.

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Week 4 – 15 March

7. Material culture – the things that matter

8. Economic anthropology – The Potlatch. Video: Box of Treasures

Readings: Monaghan and Just 2000 (ch 6); Piddocke 1965

Tutorial – Body ritual in New Zealand society: How does body ritual and the associated material things in your own home compare with the lengths to which the Nacirema go to ensure bodily purity?

Miner 2000.

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Week 5 – 22 March

9. Time and space

10. The politics of culture. Video: Basques of Santazi

Readings: Bourdieu 1973

Tutorial – Maria Tam considers yumcha to be a typically Hong Style of eating. What is the connection between food, time and place in this instance? Can you think of other examples of close associations between a particular national or regional identity and specific foods or eating styles?

Tam 1997.

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Week 6 – 29 March

11. The politics of culture (contd)

12. Class test.

Readings: Monaghan and Just 2000 (ch 5); Atran 2007.

Tutorial – Race and culture: Why is race a discredited concept in biology? And if it is discredited, why is it relevant to anthropologists? Check it out in your tutorial readings, then go to the library and look through last week’s New Zealand and Australian newspapers for articles that refer to race, race differences, or similar issues and bring the article with you to the tutorial for discussion, along with your notes.

Metcalf 2005, ch 2; Diamond 1999.

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Mid semester break
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Week 7 – 26 April

13. Nationalism and ethnicity: Ethnicity and the politics of culture in New Zealand

14. Aesthetics, identity and society

Readings: Eriksen 2001, ch 17-18; Hendry 1999, ch 6

Tutorial: Discuss and evaluate Kolig’s analysis of the links between culture, ethnicity, politics and power in New Zealand. Kolig 2009.

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Week 8 – 3 May

15. Religion and Ritual

16. Ritual and the life-cycle

Readings: Monaghan and Just 2000 (ch 7); Hendry 1999 (ch 4)

Tutorial – What are the characteristics of the ‘liminal’ stage of rites of passage?

Turner 2000.

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Week 9 – 10 May

17. Rites of Passage. Video: Masai Manhood

18. Masai ritual, politics and power

Readings: Turnbull 1993 (Ch 10)

Tutorial – How did Moeran’s attention to the ritualised consumption of alcohol and to ‘drinking talk’ help him to understand power relations in the Japanese community that he studied?

Moeran 1998.

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Week 10 – 17 May

19. Ritual, identity, power – witches, sorcerers, and oracles

Video: “Strange Beliefs” (Evan-Pritchard)

20. Magic and shamanism

Video: “Off the Verandah” (Malinowski)

Readings: Beattie 1964, pp. 139-151

Tutorial – What is ‘globalization’ and why are anthropologists interested in it?

Eriksen 2001, ch 19.

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Week 11 – 24 May

21. Cultural performance

22. Performing identity: Video – Trobriand Cricket

Readings: Bauman 1992

Tutorial – What are the ways in which you ‘perform’ your identity? How are such performances related to your nationality, age, gender, education and ethnicity?

Fernea and Fernea 2000

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Week 12 – 31 May

23. Cultural performance and public ritual in New Zealand: ANZAC Day

24. Conclusion, course overview, exam details

Readings: Delaney 2004, 376-391

Tutorial – Revision and consolidation

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Essay; due on Friday 21 May (2000 words, typed)

Choose ONE of the following topics.

1. Discuss the usefulness or otherwise of regarding Pakeha/Maori relations as relations between ‘ethnic’ groups. Use the media to make reference to contemporary issues and controversies in your answer.

Banks, M. Ethnicity : Anthropological Constructions. London; New York : Routledge. 1996.

Eriksen, T. H. Ethnicity and Nationalism : Anthropological Perspectives. London: Pluto. 1993.

Kolig, E. “Romancing Culture and its Limitations: Policies of Cultural Recognition, Multiculturalism and Cultural Boundaries in New Zealand.” In The Politics of Conformity in New Zealand, edited by R. Openshaw and E. Rata. Auckland: Pearson. 2009.

Kottak, C. Anthropology: The Exploration of Human Diversity. 9th edition. McGraw Hill. 2002. Ch 12.

Barber, K. “Pakeha Ethnicity and Indigeneity.” Social Analysis, 43, 2. 1999

Spoonley, P & Pearson, C. Nga Patai: Racism and Ethnic Relations in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Palmerston North: Dunmore Press. 1996. (Chapters by Bell and Spoonley).

2. Anthropology is said to be concerned with the contemporary study of ‘culture’ and ‘society’. What do these two terms mean, and in what ways are they connected?

Barnard, A. and J. Spencer Encyclopaedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology. London: Routledge. 1996. (Make use of other Anthropology encyclopaedias as well).

Metcalf, Peter. Anthropology: The Basics. Abingdon/New York: Routledge. 2005.

Bailey, James and Peoples, Garrick. Humanity: An Introduction to Cultural Anthropology. 6th edition. Belmont, Ca.: Thomson/Wadsworth. 2003

Hendry, Joy. An Introduction to Social Anthropology. London: MacMillan Press. 1999.

Eriksen, Thomas Hyland. Small Places, Large Issues. Second edition. London: Pluto Press. 2001

Beattie, John. Other Cultures. London:Routledge. 1964.

3. The body, it is said, is not a natural thing but a cultural one. The body is implicated in ritual and performance, and it is an important source of symbolism in most societies. Discuss.

Delaney, Carol. An Experiential Introduction to Anthropology. Malden/Oxford. 2004, chs 6-8

Hendry, Joy. An Introduction to Social Anthropology. London: MacMillan Press. 1999. Ch 5

Bowie, F. The anthropology of religion. Second edition. Oxford Blackwells. 2006. Ch 2.

Hertz, R. Death and the Right Hand. London: Cohen and West. 1960. pp89-116.

Encomium about John Lennon

Introduction

Many of us disagree with moves taken by governments on specific political issues and thus choose to air our opinion as constitution permits. One of the major wars listed in history is the Vietnam War of the sixties and seventies that recounts in the history of United States of America. Most Americans were strongly against U.S. involvement in Vietnam War. John Lennon, one of the famous artists in America has ever wrote, produced and performed a song “Give Peace a Chance” to denounce this war (Marie 1). This is one of his major influences as a musician that reflected his views on war in general. This was one of the political influences of music during that time. He was outspoken and never shy of his opinions. His famous song “Imagine” where he sings “I hope someday you’ll join us, and the world will live as one” has up to date been his best worldly known song. The song is also an international anthem of peace. This proposal will show that John Lennon was such a great musician due to his outstanding imagery and involvement in social activism.

Body

John Lennon was born in 1940 in Liverpool, England. He was born and brought up in a working class family thus giving him an exposure to current music. This research will show that he was a character who got fascinated by musical styles like Elvis Presley. He managed to enter in a duet group that enabled him to work with Paul McCartney. He was the founder of the famous group the Beatles. His desire for music and profound artistry is seen after Beatles broke up in 1970. He proved how talented he was by producing duet albums with Yoko, his wife and other solo performances. He was a musician who presents eras of both history and music mainly because of his involvement with Beatles, his beliefs and attitudes. He managed to produce music that today helps us personify the 1960s and 1970s typical characteristics (Associatedcontent.com 1).

As many would comment, they like music that has a message. John Lennon would always speak about everything that was in his mind through music. This will represent the typical feature of “stoners”, “peace-lovers” and “hippies” of that time (1970s). He was a shameless musician of whatever he felt. This is the prime reason why he is admired even today. Through expressing his opinions, he showed just how important these opinions were to him and this was to tell others that they could do the same. His opinions were expressed through actions, interviews and music. Apart from his song “Give Peace a Chance” he also decided to fight for peace when he lay in bed naked together with his wife for a month (Arkawy 1).

The Beatles is one of the world’s greatest bands. It’s through their work that the world changed its view on lyrics and musical styles. All these achievements are credited to John Lennon. He not only founded the band but also co-wrote and wrote most of its lyrics. He spearheaded major media relations as he was outspoken on his opinions and beliefs. At one time, there was a nationwide burning of their albums due to Lennon’s offensiveness in an interview. He however managed to keep the group together and strong by writing more songs. This shows how persevering he was. His 1970s lyrics up to date still inspires and influences. One such remarkable song was “Imagine” that he used in expressing his vision of peace, hope and a poverty free world. The 1970 plastic Ono band was a solo album that had songs that were so emotionally raw. This was the time when he built a sonic environment that had bass, occasional piano, guitar and drums.

“Imagine” was a 1971 album that again shows how plainspoken he was but had more additions of textural elements like strings in order to create sense of beauty in his music. The title track in this album has ensured its historical importance. Since then, this track has provided inspiration and solace in moments of humanitarian and social crisis. This paper will show that one of the major contributions in rock and roll in the 70s actually came from Lennon. Through his work and partnership with Paul McCartney, he presented himself as a singer, an instrumentalist and a political activist. He was a man with a knack for introspection and a cynical edge. It is important to pay tribute to such artists like John Lennon and others who had to voice their political concerns through music (Ringo 1). Buffalo Springfield, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Bob Dylan are others who were like him. From time to time they would express their views through music so that they are heard by the public. Perhaps it is because of John and other artists that wars like the Vietnam War came to an end.

Conclusion

Lennon was a musician whose works warrants more research as he demonstrated how strong he was as a musician. He will be remembered as one of the best activists, husband, musician, a father and most of all a source of inspiration. This is a man who spent the very last years in his life devoting it to spreading of love and peace to the youth. Through his music, he changed the world. He forced the whole world to question war and thus work towards a world of peace. Somebody like Martin Luther King Jr. is remembered for his contributions in the civil rights movement. John Lennon also left a significant impact in music as for sure, he is one of the rock stars. His songwriting partnership is one of the most successful in the 20th century. In rock and roll history, we can’t mention popular music in this genre without tracks of John Winston Ono Lennon.

Works cited

Arkawy, Amy. Still Imagining Peace: John Lennon’s Legacy, 2009. Retrieved from http://newsjunkiepost.com/2009/12/08/still-imagining-peace-john-lennons-legacy/

Associatedcontent.com. John Lennon’s Influence on Rock and Roll, 2008. Retrieved from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1125638/john_lennons_influence_on_rock_and_pg2.html?cat=33

Marie. Political influence on music in the 60s and 70s, 2008. Retrieved from http://mariepoetryofsong.blogspot.com/2008/10/song-analysis-of-give-peace-chance.html

Ringo, Sofia. Make October 9 National John Lennon Day! 2008. Retrieved from http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/213565590

A Woman plays a key role in the maturity of a nation. The Pakistani traditions is one of a kind where in one segment the status of women is considered as the center of soul, existence and life; while on the other edge considers them no more than second-rate citizens. She plays four important roles during her life-time i.e. as a mother, wife, sister and daughter, but today she is facing lots of tribulations inside the home as well outside. There are many forms of hostilities i.e. physical, sexual, psychological etc. that costs the life of a woman; her dignity, confidence and personality. Although we are living in an Islamic society, where Islam provides a comprehensive frame work about the rights and duties of women, yet due to illiteracy, people of our society are oblivious to religious conviction and they follow their own customs and traditions not accordance with Islam, so discrimination against women is present in our society.

Today women development is the most important component of social welfare programmes in Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa in public sector as well in private sector. They are in operational for the empowerment of women in District Dir Lower like other backward areas of the province, to accomplish their imperative and basic needs, providing them a decorous life in their society, and also bestowing opportunities for their dynamic contribution in nation-building activities.

In this research paper an attempt has been made to emphasize the real status of women in district Dir Lower of Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa and the role of public sector as well as private sector in their empowerment.

Objectives of the Research

To make some contributions to my native land Dir Lower

To know about the major socio-economic hindrance in the empowerment of women in Dir Lower

To identify the various socio-cultural obstacles in the empowerment of women in Dir Lower

To know about the misinterpretation of religion, which adversely effects the empowerment of women in Dir Lower

To evaluate the role of government in the empowerment of women in Dir Lower

To evaluate the role of NGO’s in the empowerment of women in Dir Lower

Hypothesis

1. socio-cultural constrains have close relation with the empowerment of women in Dir Lower.

2. Education can play vital role in the empowerment of women in Dir Lower.

3. Economic empowerment of women is essential for their overall empowerment.

Significance of the Research study

The proposed work is an attempt to understand and explore the actual status of the empowerment of women in Dir Lower. Although women in large number are exercising their rights and duties within the fold of Islam in Dir Lower, yet some segments of our society are misinterpreting their status here. On the other side most of the religious segment and some of the moderators in our society are against the NGO’s activities for the empowerment of women by considering them a western agenda. Keeping in view of this troublesome situation related to the activities of social welfare services in Dir Lower and community response towards them, their work is not so fruitful and ultimately their developmental role is affected. It is expected that after the completion of this research work people will know about the real status of women and the ratio of empower women as well as the role of governmental and non-governmental organizations in this direction. It will also help to find out that how the status of women here can be improved actually.

Review of literature

Society is comprised of men and women and both have very important role in a successful life as well in the development of a nation, although both are different biologically and socially from each other, but throughout the history women have been denied in every sphere of life. The vast majority of the world’s poor are women, two third of the world illiterate are female and the majority of poor health are also women. On the other hand the role of women in the development of a nation cannot be ignored. Studies show that when women are supported and empowered, all of society benefits, their families are healthier, more children go to school, agriculture productivity improves and income increases. In short, communities become stronger. The hunger project family believes that empowering women is a key change agent to end hunger and poverty. Therefore it is the emerging and most important agenda of all developed countries of the world, to empower their women to play their due role in nation building activities.

Before the advent of Islam, women held a very low status in society and were treated like slaves and chattels. But in the history of the world, Islam is the first religion which recognize the human status of women and conferred them height, dignity and honour by granting equal rights. Islam also provided equal opportunities to both men and women for the progress and prosperity of life and granted them immense social and economic rights. Also all the three constitutions promulgated in Pakistan had attempted to proclaim equality of rights for women but still in Pakistani society, on one hand women place is the centre of attention and life but on the other hand considering them no more than a secondary citizens. The reason is that our people are unaware and they follow their own customs and norms by neglecting the religion and the law.

Pakistan is the world 6th largest country by population, approximately 177.28 million with the sex ratio as 1.07 male per female. This clearly conveys the message that almost half of the country’s population is comprised of women folk. Despite of such large proportion of women population, Pakistan, based on the gender empowerment measure is ranked as 99 amongst 109 countries of the world. The total population of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is 17.75 million. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is predominantly occupied by Pakhtun’s tribe. The social structure of Pakhtun’s does not permit free mobility or employment of the women. The government faces numerous problems to safeguard employment opportunities for rapidly increasing population with strict social structures. The situation is even worse for the women folk who ultimately live a life of subordination and suppression inside the home. In our society, woman has the rights of academic achievements but at the same time she also has to acquire permission from her male heirs whether to utilize her educational experience for economic independence or not. Our women are not inferior to those in western countries but due to comparative availing basic amenities, which prevent them to play their due role in the national life. Not all Pakistanis women are beaten, sold or mutilated but majority are still facing imbalance treatment by their male heirs. If same facilities and opportunities are given to our women as the developed nations have done, they might be able to contribute in nation-building activities. In this regard the social welfare and women development department can play a significant role with the help of NGO’s.

There is no uniformity in the status of women in Pakistan because of diversity in our cultures in the present four provinces which are further sub-marked under rural and urban areas. In this regard in khyber Pukhtoonkhwa, Pukhtoon society has its particular traditional basis and the role of women is also a traditional one. Pukhtoon are very sensitive about the honour and dignity of their women and they considered it their outmost duty to protect their women, therefore he guards her name and her reputation with extra care.

Dir Lower is one of the backward district of Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa, which remained backward in all respect i.e., Educationally, Socially, politically and economically due to the dominant force of Nawab of Dir Shah Jahan, since the 6th decade of 20th century. He wanted to keep the people illiterate, in the darkness, unaware and backward to maintain his power. Therefore he was against of any type of development in Dir. Before and after the rule of Shah Jahan, education was zero. Formal education was started after 1960, but that was limited only to male. Slowly and gradually the rising awareness in people of Dir felt the need and importance of female education, thereby some primary schools were established for girls at the initials. because of scarcity and lack of proper education and guidance, Dir remains backward in every field of life especially, in the empowerment of women and due to their unawareness the life of women were influenced by customary norms. House remained the main center of activities for them however very few women were educated here. The main reason was that they couldn’t come out of their houses because of the restriction of purdah. Women are not allowed to associate with men in public. Though now-a-days, in big villages, education has changed the social position of women because the male society of Dir became educated and they are providing opportunities to their women to play her due role in the society within the fold of Islam. A number of schools and colleges have been opened for females whereby to get education, many of them are now entered into the universities and other different institutions for their higher education competing with the dominant male society in every walk of life in every city and province of Pakistan as well abroad.

Keeping in view the worst situation stated earlier, the people of Dir Lower realized that until and unless a two pronged developmental approach, it would be impossible to attain the long cherished goal of social justice. Therefore educated and talented people started working with social welfare departments and started running of Non-Governmental Organizations. The formation process of NGO’s started in 1970’s in Dir Lower and within 34 years 64 NGO’s have been registered. Some of these NGO’s are fairly diligent while others are not functioning with their maximum potentiality. In these NGO’s a number of projects are running for the empowerment of women in Dir Lower by different means i.e. by education, by political means, by vocational skills, by campaign for women rights, by social and economic services, by women welfare, etc. But due to militancy and talibanization in Malakand Division, the developmental activities become stand still and showing no actual progress. At large number their workers were targeted and threatened as well as, they are criticized by the local people because they are unaware about their actual role. Besides this the NGO’s of Dir Lower are also facing a number of problems to play their due role in the empowerment of women, i.e. lack of experts, lack of guidance, lack of funds, lack of co-ordination and uncooperative behavior of the community etc.

The women development department Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa was established as a separate department during 1995-96, attached with the social welfare department and was confined to provincial secretariat, having no field staff to look after the women related issues at the grass root level, although it is supposed to keep a close relation with various NGO’s National and International agencies working in the province for women development.

The women development department is also responsible for implementation of the national plan of action for women and Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEADAW). National policy for development and empowerment of women was formulated by the government in order to empower Pakistani women, irrespective of caste, creed, religion or other consideration for realization of their full potential in all spheres of life, especially, economically, socially and politically and in keeping without Islamic way of life.

Research methodology

The proposed work would be descriptive type and will be based on the extensive use of primary and secondary data. Interview schedule and questionnaire will be the research instruments for the collection of primary data and secondary data will be collected from books, news-papers, thesis and other published and unpublished materials. Dir Lower will be the universe of the research study and its population will be heterogeneous, consists of male, female, young, old, educated and uneducated etc.

Theoretical frame work

APA style will be followed in in-text and end note references.

Tentative chapterization

Introduction

Ch: 1 Women status in pukhtoon society particularly in Dir Lower

Ch: 2 the role of governmental and non-governmental organizations in the empowerment of women in Dir Lower

Ch: 3 Statistical analyses of primary data

Ch: 4 Conclusion and Recommendations

Empowerment is a multi-dimensional procedure that aids women to achieve power and control over their individual lives. Empowerment gives due right to women.

Yet measurement of women empowerment is difficult and it is challenging to judge country level performance as there is difficulty in gathering diverse data. Based on the findings of, Women’s Empowerment: Measuring Gender Gap, five important dimensions have been selected for the examination of women empowerment. Economic participation refers to contribution of females to workforce in quantitative terms. Economic opportunity is related to how much women are involved in the economy, beyond their mere presence as workers. This problem is concentrated in developed countries where women gain access to employment easily but they have little chances of upward mobility. Political empowerment means women have contribution in the decision making and can influence policy making. Educational attainment is very important as women can get the same opportunities as men do and it can be a big step for development purpose. Health and well-being is associated with how much females have access to sufficient nutrition, healthcare and reproductive facilities. It is very difficult to measure each dimension in each country and to implement policy as each country has many other factors effecting its women empowerment.

The GEM quantitatively measures the liberation of women on a country level. This indicator comprises of the share of inequality in control over earned economic resources, involvement in governmental decision-making and economic decision-making. This variable measure how much a power woman holds.

Drawing upon Women’s Empowerment: Measuring Gender Gap, a report on Taking action: achieving gender equality and empowering women, takes a step forward and elaborates further more on that there are three main domains. Capabilities domain which refers to basic human abilities as measured by education, health, and nutrition plus access to resources and opportunities domain, which refers primarily to equality in the opportunity to use or apply basic capabilities through access to economic assets and finally security domain . These three domains are interconnected, and alteration in every one of three is significant in accomplishing Goal 3.

Women: Current Reality

In a report by Augusto Lopez-Claros, it is mentioned that the past three decades have witnessed a progressively aggregate awareness of the necessity to invest in women through measures to increase social, economic and political justice, and wider access to important social rights but it is argued that changes in women state is a very slow process, up till now a lot of work has been done but yet still the picture is depressing. It is not only the issue in male dominated society but also in developed country as well.

A spotlight on deprived female is acceptable for numerous causes. Unfortunate female have the furthermost requirements. It is regularly stated that female outnumber male among the underprivileged.

One more important report ,Taking action: achieving gender equality and empowering women, further elaborated that poor women have greatest need; investment in them will produce greatest benefit. Further, investment in the adolescent girls is very crucial as they experience more disadvantage than boys.

Plus with progress in education and health, yet poverty among women has increased even in the richest countries where women’s labor force participation has grown, but the terms and conditions of their employment have not improved.

According to Linda Mayoux, Women also help in poverty reduction, if they are given liberty to save with no interference and or they are offered with loan, these women can cater to the need of their house hold eventually reducing poverty.

Microfinance has been fruitful in reaching poor women through inventive methods to address gender-specific restraints. According to a report Women’s Control over Economic resources and access to financial Resources, including microfinance, 2009, it is obvious that microfinance has a constructive effect on income, but this income expansion has definite limits. As females are subjugated to unfair customs and practices which limits their activities. Females face constraints in gain access to financial services.

From all these studies it can be assumed that in spite of numerous accomplishments in giving power to women still women empowerment are effected by many factors .women should be given equal opportunities not only in education, health, and political, economic but also socially as well. Society as a whole should be targeted where new changes, changes in lifestyle and thinking should be accepted. To empower women in Pakistan all these determinants should be taken into consideration.

Increasing socialism, religious fundamentalism, and traditionalism are main limiting reasons for women’s safety and liberty. other than that self-regulating groups like NGOs and other self-governing research and academic organization, have been very energetic in formulating policy documents, raising public responsiveness and encouraging for gender-sensitive strategies and actions at all levels in order to advance women’s empowerment in Pakistan.

Women’s Economic Activity

Economic participation refers to contribution of females to workforce in quantitative terms. Economic opportunity is related to how much women are involved in the economy, beyond their mere presence as workers. This problem is concentrated in developed countries where women gain access to employment easily but they have little chances of upward mobility.

With the passage of time and despite considerable work done on women economic enrichment yet this is still time-consuming as due to many norms and practices women continue to be missing from many important decision-making opportunities which result in the determining the distribution of economic and financial resources and opportunity, that makes women more underprovided.

Depriving women from economic resources makes a nation less productive resulting in negative economic consequences. Several social practices seem as ordinary from culture and religious perspective move women out of the main stream.

Paid employment for women continues to expand slowly and remains meager in many countries including Pakistan. As the global financial crisis does not create problems for men but also for women. With men finding difficulty in recruitment as fewer jobs available due to recession thus, less jobs available for females as well. As females previously were offered less employment the men now with recent event they are less proffered and they are at huge disadvantage then men. They are getting more menial jobs and are given less wage jobs. To a great extent of work of females remains imperceptible, as most of the work done by them goes unaccounted and invisible The segment of women in salaried employment outside the agricultural sector has increased only marginally over the years, this shows that women are not getting work in productive jobs which can lead o development.

According to (Oxaal, 1997) , with the shortage of jobs, a woman does not have any opportunity except for to accept these kinds of job. With that those women who are not allowed to leave their house for income are also at disadvantage , as their men after recession are losing jobs , even than they are not allowed by their females to also take the burden of earning income thus , females due to poverty get undernourished and malnutrition makes them unhealthy , which resultantly effect their families. Poverty, unemployment and lack of economic prosperity further strengthen this aggressiveness in rural areas the large amount of time women spend on housework and caring for family members means that they had little time to spend on employment and personal care.

Since beginning women face a lot of constraint and these restraints replicate women’s difficulty in education; lack of power and confidence and negotiating authority; as from their household they are misjudge which effects in low self-respect plus with comparatively high participation in part-time or transitory professions; leads to less employment for women and discrimination against them. Despite women’s increased participation in the labor market, there has been no significant increase in the sharing of unpaid work, which affects women’s employment choices.

Access to Education

The living conditions of women, their poverty and huge family household prevent them from gaining education. Since the beginning girls are required to work with their mothers to look after the whole family and do household chores this, therefore limits their time and energy to get involved in education. Issue of illiteracy is the main priority for women. As only educated women can access to economic and political sphere.

According to (Medel-Anonuevo, 1993) , Providing education to women will develop self-esteem and self-confidence; they will have knowledge of their health and well-being plus they will have the ability to make their own decisions and negotiate; further this will raise the women’s awareness of their civil rights. In addition will be able to provide skills for income generation and will participate in community/society more effectively and this will prepare them to be good women leaders.

As according to the report Taking actions, educated females are more operative at refining their own well-being and that of their family. They are better equipped to get the most advantage from prevailing facilities and chances and to generate alternative opportunities, roles, and support structures. These empowering effects of women’s education are demonstrated in a range of ways, including increased income-earning potential, ability to bargain for resources within the household, decision making independence, autonomy over their own fertility, and contribution in public life.

In underprivileged countries, girls from their childhood are given domestic work ,this handicaps them in terms of education. Gender inequality in rural location is even more noticeable at the phase of tertiary education. Girls from poor and rural Families face higher obstructions to education.

Boys are always preferred over girls in education in each level from primary to tertiary. But directed public policy and governance actions can help overcome gender disparities. According to The Millennium Development Goals Report, 2009 policies like removing school fees and providing incentives for girls to attend school can alleviate financial pressures on households. Building schools close to distant communities and recruiting local female teachers can also constricted the gender gap in rural areas.

A lot of work must be done to finish inequality and discrimination based on gender especially in schools .hard work must be done to enroll all children in to school, especially girls. And to make sure that they complete their studies up till tertiary level as this can lead to good productive jobs and high economic growth for the whole country.

Barriers in the Political Domain
Institutions:

Since the independence of Pakistan , Pakistani governments has passed many laws for the rights of women but the change in women condition is still very slow with the passage of time. There is a huge gap between the policy making and practical work. An analysis by JOHN stated that after freedom, leading Muslim women in Pakistan continued to support women’s political liberation through lawful reforms.

According to (Haq, Khadija Haq on Women’s Political and Economic Empowerment in South Asia), government is starting to take steps to surge women’s political contribution through the founding of quota systems at countrywide and local levels. Introducing quota systems is nonetheless only single step on the road to female political empowerment. We are still facing inherent male-controlled traditions and approaches that limit chances for women’s participation in public life.

Environment for women’s political empowerment

Less number of women, who attain decision-making places in a political sector dominated by men, will be unproductive in manipulating decisions as large majority is needed. Women are underrepresented in government, civil service, and other public establishments and still massive gaps continue in education and job opportunities. At the identical period, women face legal restrictions that halt them from gaining equal access to property and inheritance. We can achieve gender equality by promoting women in politics.

According to (Moser, 2007), throughout the world women are still disproportionately represented .They remain a very small minority at the center of political power. One important approach to supporting women’s empowerment is the promotion of the participation of women in politics This includes promoting women in government and national and local party politics as well as supporting women’s involvement in NGOs and women’s movements. In government, women concentration in decision-making positions should be in social, law and justice ministries

Women in Pakistan face a lot of stereotypes like women are considered as unsuitable for leadership positions; and all men contemplate that if women have political influence she must be all knowing. Ever since beginning women are disqualified from leadership roles, they are deprived of chances for leadership skills preparation. Domestic errands make it difficult for females to go for training or further studies as they solely do not have the essential hours for study. Thus they lack the talent and ability of political contribution. Most women are linked to a male political leader: as wife of an assassinated leader or daughter of an older, if not late, politician. While most women ultimately emanate into their own as leaders, it does not alter the fact that women, compared with men, have partial access to the support of political parties and males.

People have different expectations of male and female leaders. As females are responsible for their family needs with their political career simultaneously. But men has only have their careers to concentrate on. When women are elected, they are expected to be all-rounder and all-knowing and in their initial stage of political career, they are expected to make a strong constructive influence in altering the situation of women or talking critical issues such as poverty, health care and education within a small time from their election. According to report ISSUES IN WOMEN’S POLITICAL EMPOWERMENT IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION,Unjustified and inequitable beliefs results in insufficiency of females to consider entering into politics. This diminishes the group of prospect women leaders who can be confronted, motivated, prepared, and developed for politics. Women’s plea for representation is not to substitute men’s power but to create places for both women and men to grow their potentials and foster a collaboration that can take on the tasks of the new millennium.

Culture barriers

Taking the argument in a new direction by a report on Guidelines on Women’s Empowerment, states that social issue also plays major role in empowerment.

In Pakistan, the girl is still differentiated from the boys from the birth, through her childhood, and into her womanhood. In the tribal fragments of Pakistan, native men are grasping more power through religion and tradition. Girls are considered socially weaker in a Pakistani culture that discriminates against them. In rural areas they observes violence, male violence against their mothers and against them thus from start this becomes a part of their life. Brothers also then participate in this violence against the girls in the family to show their manhood to peers and family male members. Male children become more violent when they grow up. Extreme poverty is a major factor that will impede the elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against the girl child .The state of extreme poverty is so severe that it leaves its victims inert to awareness, legal punishment or even religious obligations. The economic empowerment of girls and mothers is critical to the achievement of equality.

Females in Pakistan live in a domain, which is controlled by severe religious, family and tribal traditions. According to Zaheer Udin Babur, Pakistan, They are exposed to discrimination and viciousness on a daily basis .Islamic views are not properly interpreted , they are molded according to the views of men as Islamic views wrong interpretation results in females oppression physically, mentally and emotionally. Women in Pakistan are facing numerous methods of violence, discrimination and difference in nearly every part of life. Violence against women in many fields is often not conceived as a violation of human rights but rather as a normal aspect of lives of Pakistani people. They live in an atmosphere of fear, and their lives are guaranteed in exchange for obedience to social norms and traditions. Because of this fear and sense of being inferior, imposed by the traditional thoughts of a male dominated society, women are suffering immensely especially in their homes. The most abusive forms of violence being faced by women take place in their homes.

A thesis by (Faridi, 2009) states that women are under the control of men as the decision about education, health, occupation, marriage and physical mobility are all made by her men folk from the selection of their dress to the selection of life partner is made by either her father or brother. Women especially in Pakistan are the property of their males and to give them empowerment they should be given their due right. Moreover, Segregation and veil as perceived by men folk make women alienated from their surroundings and limiting their mobility resultantly reducing their participation in economic activities. Child male preference and domestic violence result in the underestimation of females and from beginning they undervalue themselves. Further this study elaborate that fertility rate also plays a major role as females have fewer burdens and have the right in decision making as when to have children.

The family structure of Pakistan implies that make are the bread winner and the women have to look after the family, if the men is unable to do work, even then they will not allow female to work out to fulfill the necessity of the children for food. As if they are tied to home and there going out is still prohibited. A girl is taken less seriously then her male brother, she will not be given proper food. And will not get proper health treatments, are malnourished, thus in the end females die early then males.

Other than that, it can be shown that women in Pakistani tend have more children, especially in rural areas, thus decreasing their opportunity to go to and work. As on Pakistan it is the work of female to look after the whole family, thus, the more they have children, less time available to them for their work.

It is the tradition for females to get married early, they do not get time even to complete their education, and thus early marriages make them educationally crippled. Whereas men of the same age are concentrating on their economic career, females are given the responsibility of the households, cut off from the education world and the depriving them of the opportunity of economically empowering themselves.

Violence

In Pakistan, especially in rural areas Violence against women is very common. And they are not encouraged to report their cases to police. If any one of them does that, instead of giving them their proper right, they are subjugated to humility. The dowry has been maintained and thousands of females are killed every year by their husbands because the dowry is too little. And as majority of the cases are not registered so more than half of the scenarios do not come to surface. Moreover, male children are given more rights than female. As girl is considered a burden for the whole family, especially when children are ill, the fathers prefer to pay treatment for sons than for daughters, so that more girls die .Women are not free to move in the villages and suffer severe restriction on their movement.

Generally several laws guarantee that women have access to property, including land. However, these rules are not respected. As more than half, a woman does not even have access to money as they must ask their husbands for a small amount of money to buy daily necessities. In these cases, women naturally do not have access to other forms of property as well, including credit. The condition is worse for land possession which is always limited to men.

Violence against women is very frequent in Pakistan. Wives are frequently the prey of domestic violence .It is vital for women to survive without the terror of aggression. The focus is basically on the safety of women as according to (Malhotra, Schuler, and Boender 2002; Kabeer 1999), Empowered women must not only have equal capabilities (such as education and health) and equal access to resources and opportunities (such as land and employment), but they must also have the agency to use those rights, capabilities, resources, and opportunities to make strategic choices and decisions (such as is provided through leadership opportunities and participation in political institutions). And for them to exercise agency, they must live without the fear of pressure and violence .The core of empowerment lies in the ability of a woman to control her own destiny. The girl child has the right, as any other child, not to be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (CRC, article 37).

Women health is the one of the most important factor as maternal mortality rates are high, and women’s probabilities of dying of pregnancy-related problems are almost 50 times higher in developing countries than in developed countries. Females are also more susceptible to sexually transmitted infections, particularly HIV/AIDS.

Improving women’s well-being

A lot of new policy are required keeping in mind the constraints faced by women in the labor market, including development of women’s capabilities to adapt to changing labor market conditions, support to reduce unpaid care work, and discrimination in the job sector.. These policies can be very helpful in eliminating gender inequalities and discrimination and ensuring access to decent work. Gif these policies are properly enforced they can have a very ever lasting impact. It is, however, increasingly difficult to ensure that all women benefit from labor market regulations because many women in developing countries still lag behind. Due consideration given to health, nutrition and education, and microfinance by policy maker, can have a positive impact on women participation. As microfinance gives income security for children safeguards their well-being and improves their health, nutrition, school attendance, educational achievement and, later in life, labor market performance. Education is the key factor behind all, as enrollment in schools will not be beneficial for them but also for the whole economy.

Efforts must be done to provide productive and decent employment for all, including women .importance should be given to that equal access and availability of employment for men and women in the policy agenda.

According to PAKISTAN EMPLOYMENT TRENDS FOR WOMEN, 2009 ,For political empowerment the administration of Pakistan has a special ministry for women development. Whilst the Ministry of Women’s Development encourages gender equality and supports the status of women in Pakistan at the National level, Women’s Development Departments also occur at the local management level. The functions of the Ministry mainly include ensuring that women’s needs are represented satisfactorily in public policy by various government bodies and agencies. It also ensures equality in education and employment and full participation of women in all scopes of social welfare.

The government of Pakistan makes policies to protect women rights but the problem is that law enforcement agencies such as judiciary and police do not follow these policies wholeheartedly It can be said that at the governmental level, there are policies to end gender based violence and discrimination but they are not implemented properly because almost all politicians are either religious lords or feudal lords who give more importance to their tribal and religious narrow approaches rather than towards universal rights for women. In reality, women are still facing immense problems. (Ahmed, 2007).

In the past decades, the discussion of work and aging has aroused widely public and professional thinking. In this paper, I would begin with the analysis of the current Hong Kong situations and characteristics of older workers, among which I pay most of attention to the low participation rate of elderly workers and try to demonstrate the reason accounting for that. The second part can be seen as a brief summary of the productivity and limitations of old workers in Hong Kong today. Finally, I would come up with several suggestions on how to encourage labor force participation.

Keywords: employment of elderly, productivity, functional limitation, old worker

Employment of elderly people

Situations of the employment of elderly in Hong Kong

With the baby boomer generation’s entering into their old years, the employment of older people has brought about wide public concern. According to the sources from Census and Statistics Department, at the middle of 2010, there are more than 1.78 million Hong Kong people over the age of 55, 51.46 percent of whom are age 65 and above, and 25.76 percent of whom are age 75 and above. Many of these people are working or have had work experience and, many of retired persons work at least part time after they leave their permanent job.

Among all the features of older workers in Hong Kong today, we would focus on several main characteristics to help us understand the situation.

Labor force participation rates

In Hong Kong 2009, the labor force participation rates, which refer to the proportion of economically active population (that is the labor force) in the total population aged 15 and above was 26.5 percent for the age 55 and above. Among that, we can find that the labor force participation rate for this age group was apparently higher for males (37.6 percent) than for females (15.9 percent). Nevertheless, nearly ten years ago, the labor force participation rates of the age 55 or over was 56 percent, which is almost twice the number of today.

The employed and unemployed population

The unemployment rate of older worker is relatively lower than that of young workers. In 2009, the unemployment rate for age group of 60 or above was 3.1 percent, which substantially lower than its counterpart aged 20-29 group of 7.3 percent. There are a few reasons accounting for that, but the most important one would be that older people can retire as an alternative choice.

On the other hand, people over the age of 50 are still employed for a number of reasons. Thomas Leavitt once mentions that, the majority of people at ages 50-62 would still choose to work mostly because they enjoy the satisfaction and useful feeling brought by working, which followed by the need to make money. However, at the age of 62 or over, the requirement for money becomes their major concern.

Low labor force participation rate among older persons

The downward trend in labor force participation rates among elderly is considered by many people. First of all, many would agree that the current social security policy carried out by the government is encouraging the increased employment rate for young people by removing the old workers in the labor force. Turner claims that: for any given employee at any given time, the alternative of ‘retiring on a pension’ is more attractive than to ‘keep working for a salary’. (Turner, 1993) The social security and medical care of old people do protect them from low income, but is also reduces the employment rate.

The productivity and functional limitations of older workers

Most of us would agree that productive activity plays a significant role in successful aging and higher self-related happiness. Older people who remain high level of productivity accomplish better physical functioning and are less likely to die six years after self-report. Therefore, we would like to ask: how elderly Hong Kong people will take part in economic and social activities?

The assumption that age and job performance are closely related has been confirmed by a variety of aging researches (McEvoy and Cascio, 1989). On one hand, many reported that older workers are more productive than younger workers for that they tend to be more dependable, careful and responsible. Certainly, no evidence shows that learning capacities will significantly fall with the aging process. Therefore, it is important to find out aged related decline causes so that we can extend work-life for elderly by providing protections, services and benefits.

On investigating the effects of the potential of aging have on the productivity of older worker, I pay attention to the following factors:

Age-related physical changes and limitations

There are many indications imply that the strength of people declines with the aging process. Many people at age of 60 report that physically demanding job is hard and strenuous for them to carry on, so they tend to leave the work that is highly physical in nature. Apart from changes in strength, old people also experience the physical loss of endurance and balance and, an increase of reaction time as a result of peripheral nervous system gradually slows down.

With regard to health and rehabilitation, it is well-accepted that the measures of functional capacity can reflect the extent to which elderly are able to work. However, the functional capacity does not merely mean an absence of disease. There are conditions which are directly related to aging, such as heart disease, cancer and stroke. While for those conditions such as hearing and visual impairment, they are not necessarily the functional limitations preventing people from work.

Annis and colleagues (Annis et al. 1991) also conclude that weight gains are regarded as the fifth decade of life, followed by declines. They mentions in their research on anthropometric changes with age: ‘the individual’s body dimensions change also, characterized by increases in the size of the stomach and hips.’ Moreover, some old workers admit that they have difficulties to perform tasks involving highly repetitive manual actions, the use of small hand tools or using force (Tayyari & Sohrabi, 1990).

Age-related cognitive changes and limitations

The traditional discussion about changes in cognitive ability of old people focuses on intelligence, memory, and learning and so on. According to medical findings, brain loses weight as a result of shrinking neuron size in cerebral cortex and some mental problems such as depression and dementia occur with aging. Yet in order to perceive the complicated relationship between cognitive change and working ability, I refer to some mental models of cognitive sciences to help us understand the situation in which old people gain knowledge, skills and experience through aging while loss perceptual capacity and motor speed.

When assessing the changes in intelligence, major longitudinal studies (Schaie, 1985) claim that most individuals can maintain the stable intellectual level well into their seventies and over and that modifiability in brain function continue well into late adulthood. But findings also suggest that people tend to less efficiently process complex information with increase of age. Overall, there is no obvious evidence show that old people’s performance is unsatisfactory under the daily and ordinary job situations. Even if there are changes in problem-solving ability of older people, they can use job experience and extensive skills to ‘compensate’ age-related slowing performance. Older adults deliver a decline performance on lab-related cognitive task but demonstrate good level performance in real-world job, and there appears to be no significant relationship between age and job capacities.

Warren Buffett, born in 1930 and ranked as the world’s second wealthiest person in 2009, is one of the most successful, active and smart investors in the stock and capital market of the world today. He is often called the “legendary investor Warren Buffett” for his precisely judgment of the market and value invest philosophy. But he is not a special case in the expertise, problem solving and decision making condition of old people. Actually, everyday plenty of old adults are making the most important and complicated decisions in the world as executives, politicians, and world leaders. Researches find that cognitive processes appear to be more important in the differentiating the old and young managers. Expertise in a certain field can act as an improvement to cognitive aging. In a research conducted to investigate the relationship between cognitive aging and experience, sociologists find that among experienced players, those who are skilled in bidding strategies could ameliorate the negative influence of cognitive aging until nearly the age of 60.

The highest level of a job description would be the creative thinking. The researches focus on creativity and idea productivity state that originality declines gradually from younger worker to older workers.

Age-related sensory and perceptual changes and limitations

When concern about old people’s visual changes, Fozard (1990) presents four main sensory and perceptual capacities we need to focus most. Firstly, he concludes that excessive extent of illumination can cause elderly workers’ adversely reactions. For example, older workers have shown to be more adversely affected by glare from lights in workplace. Secondly, he also mentions the disability of older adults to detect different visual stimuli, which he calls poor contrast. Old workers require more contrast between the stimuli before distinguishing them. Furthermore, a third age-related change in visual ability is the useful field of view, in which older workers gain messages from environment. Finally, he also points out that the decrease level of visual activity of older adult bring about the fact that they are not favorable to read printed material (Fozard, 1990).

It is well recognized that many older people experience hearing changes such as difficulties to hear sounds at high frequencies. Sometimes we find older people would speak louder because they cannot hear themselves. What is more, many manifest trouble to understand what they have clearly heard at a given loudness. Suggestion about this can include reduce distracting noise in working place for old people.

When we talk about older people, the most common stereotype of them would be slow to perceive things as an aging deficit. Scientific research findings indicate that it will take nearly 1.2 times longer for older people to finish cognitive process than their counterpart.

In a conclusion, job performance is closely related to functional ability but deficits with aging can not necessarily prevent most of older workers from being still effective and qualified employees. Older workers have positive effects on labor force productivity and economic growth

Encourage the labor force participation rate of elderly

After talking about all the strength and deficits of older work, I would like to focus on the dealings with means of expanding the opportunities for them to regain active participants in the labor market.

In the first place, empirical evidence that elderly have difficulty integrating information from multiple sources gives us a clue to develop communication and information-handling systems for older workers in workplace. For this reason, the priority for designing the system is to be acceptable by majority of users.

What is more, in order to integrate into the labor force, older worker are longing for training of the new technology or skills in an easy to comprehensive way when they face up the difficulties with computerized work situations. Training and educational programs would be really helpful if we handle them on the right direction. That means we understand that elderly employees have alternative requirements for different position.

Finally, if the government could apply more practical social policy and promote the social perspectives of the whole community, the low labor force participation rate may grow to meet the need of older people in Hong Kong. Even though we understand unemployment, no matter for young or old, is a problem brought about by economic recession, policy can still try to help aging who really need assistance in meeting their daily needs and can live peacefully.