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The Great War proved to be a catalyst for profound change across the whole of Europe and beyond. Ireland proved to be no exception as the effects of the Great War changed nationalism and unionism in various ways. Some of those changes could have been predictable in 1914, whilst others could not have been. The constitutional future of Ireland had already caused much controversy before the Great War and that controversy did not decline just because Britain and therefore Ireland were fighting a war. Unionism was perhaps a more unified feature of Irish society and politics. In contrast, nationalism was split between the moderates that supported Ireland having Home Rule within the United Kingdom and the republicans that favoured a united Irish republic. The circumstances created by the Great War plus the actions of unionists, nationalists, republicans, and finally the British government all brought changes to nationalism and unionism. These changes will now be outlined.

England and later Britain had been trying to impose its control over Ireland since the 12^th century. Nationalism and unionism had been the reactions of the Irish to those attempts to make them obedient, if not loyal subjects of the British State. The nationalists were descended from the Irish who had resented, or even resisted British control. The overwhelming majority of the nationalists were Catholics and formed around two-thirds of the Irish population. The unionists on the other hand were strongly in favour of maintaining the union of Britain. Unionism was strongest in the Protestant dominated counties of Ulster amongst the descendants of the Ulster plantations. Unionism held the advantage of having aims that never changed whilst nationalism had the disadvantage of being divided between moderates and republicans, even though people with nationalist or republican sympathies formed a majority of the population (Wilson, 1989 p. 21).

Nationalism had failed to achieve Home Rule in the 1880s, yet under the Liberal government that the Irish nationalist MPs backed, Home Rule seemed destined to be implemented after it passed through Parliament in 1912. The House of Lords managed to block its passing for two years, although it had just lost its power to veto legislation after the passing of the Parliament Act of 1911 (Ferriter, 2005 p. 123). However, the move towards Home Rule had provoked a militant unionist response in the form of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) countered by the moderate Irish Volunteers and the more hard-line Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). The UVF, which was led by Sir Edward Carson used all the means possible to prevent Home Rule, and would have proved a formidable force for any Irish government in Dublin to defeat (Stewart, 2001 p. 166). The British were concerned about instability and possible civil war in Ireland during 1912 through to 1914. The first change the Great War brought was that many nationalists and unionists got behind the British war effort. Home Rule was put on ice until after the war finished. The British government could have used that extra support from both nationalism and unionism to its ultimate advantage yet proved incapable of doing so (Ferriter, 2005 p.111).

Before any of the thousands of volunteers had been sent to the front line the British government’s decisions meant that the Great War would change nationalism and unionism. Instead of maintaining the good will of nationalists, the British government clearly showed its preference to those unionists who had volunteered for military service. The UVF seemed to be rewarded for its almost treasonable resistance to Home Rule by being enlisted as a whole and as a separate division. The moderate nationalists who had been in the Irish Volunteers were denied their own division. Redmond and the other moderates felt that the nationalists were being treated unfairly, despite supporting the British war effort (Madden, 2005, p.92).

Nationalism more than unionism started to change once Irish troops started to get killed in the Great War. The Unionists views about remaining within the United Kingdom did not alter, regardless of how many of them were killed in the war. For nationalism, the deaths of so many of its most capable and moderate advocates changed the balance between moderate nationalism and republicanism. However, even as the death toll mounted amongst the nationalist volunteers fighting in the Great War, the majority of nationalists did not favour the foundation of a republic, just the implementation of Home Rule. There was resentment that the unionists received better treatment in the army than the nationalists did. There was also resentment that the unionist dead received more respect, even though nationalists also paid the ultimate price for fighting in the Great War. The Irish Volunteers had split over the issue of enlisting in the British Army. The vast majority of the volunteers did enlist and called themselves National Volunteers whilst only a minority refused to enlist yet kept the name of Irish Volunteers. Between 150,000 to 158,000 joined the British Army, whilst 8,000 to 12,000 stayed behind to safeguard Home Rule from unionism or a change in British policy (Jackson, 1999 p. 198).

However, it would not be Irish blood spilt in France or Belgium that would change nationalism and unionism during the Great War. In the end it would prove to be Irish blood spilt in Dublin that caused the most dramatic changes. Members of the IRB believed the Great War offered the opportunity to launch a major rebellion against the British whilst the British Army was fighting and therefore unable to concentrate its firepower against any rebellion. Republicans claimed such a strategy was taking advantage of circumstances that might only be available for a short period, if Britain were on the winning side in the Great War such opportunities would be lost. The IRB were joined by Sinn Fein and the Irish socialist movement of James Connelly (Moody & Martin, 2001, p.256). The plans of a national uprising by the IRB were scuppered by the Royal Navy, which captured the German ship bringing weapons to the rebels. Instead of cancelling the rebellion altogether the IRB uprising still went ahead in Dublin. Slim chances of victory had been turned into no chance of survival let alone victory. The majority of people in Dublin originally saw the uprising as foolish and unjustified (Ferriter, 2005 p. 130).

The Easter Rising of 1916 was an unmitigated disaster from a military and strategic perspective that resulted in around 450 deaths. (Madden, 2005, p.95). From the aspect of turning a majority of nationalists towards supporting a united Irish republic it was success, yet it was not the rebels that died in the fighting that aroused the upsurge in republican sentiment. This upsurge was due to the British government allowing the British Army to execute a handful of rebels after the rising. The executions were a serious blunder as it made the rebels martyrs for the Irish Republican cause and greatly undermined the British control of Ireland, except for Ulster. The British Army had intended to execute over 90 rebels, yet the death of the 15 rebels it did execute proved disastrous (Madden, 2005 p. 96). The Unionists regarded the Easter Rising as an act of treason; a sign that nationalism in general and republicanism in particular could not be trusted (Wilson, 1989 p. 45).

Perhaps the greatest change to unionism as a result of the Easter Rising was the determination to remain within the United Kingdom, even if that meant partitioning Ireland in to two distinct nationalist and unionist parts. The Great War used up men, money, and resources in great quantities. The British government compounded its loss of support within the nationalist community by contemplating to extend conscription to Ireland. The Somme offensive in 1916 forced the introduction of conscription to the rest of the United Kingdom following the catastrophic losses caused. (Stewart, 2001, p.167). In all the British Army lost 794, 000 troops killed, wounded and missing in action during the Somme offensive, Irish nationalists and unionists were killed in their thousands (Castleden, 2005 p. 460).

The republicans made further in roads into persuading nationalists that a republican solution was the best way to get the British out of Ireland. The British government did not introduce conscription into Ireland; the republicans in general and the Irish Republican Army / Sinn Fein (IRA) had gained further propaganda successes specifically. David Lloyd George met with both Carson and Redmond, promising Carson a permanent partition, whilst assuring Redwood it would be only a short-term partition (Madden, 2005, p.99). The Great War offered chances for nationalism and unionism to change, the war itself did not change everything. It was the republicans that prospered most from these changes due to Eamon de Valera and Michael Collins taking advantage of the circumstances the Great War had brought, especially after the Easter Rising (Wilson, 1989 p. 47). The Great War revealed the flaws in the political thought and strategy of the moderate Irish nationalists. The Irish Parliamentary Party had seen its greatest achievement of Home Rule suspended by the start of the war. Redmond believed that nationalism could achieve a compromise with British imperialism, a belief shattered by the Great War. Redmond also underestimated the potential of republicanism and misunderstood the aspirations of unionism. It was unionism and republicanism that changed Ireland profoundly after the end of the Great War (Ferriter, 2005 p. 130).

Therefore, the Great War did change nationalism and unionism in various ways. Its first change was to suspend the Ulster crisis of 1912-14 and prevent the possibility of civil war in Ireland at that time. The outbreak of war was initially greeted with enthusiasm within nationalism and unionism. The British government gained a great deal of support from both communities, although it would eventually squander support from the nationalists. Only the republican fringe within nationalism did not support Britain’s war effort, regarding the Great War as an opportunity to end British rule in Ireland. Moderate nationalism was greatly changed by the Great War. The finest supporters of moderate were gunned down on the Western Front, whilst unionism increased its influence with the British government, with Carson serving in the war cabinet, whilst Redmond refused to do so. Unionism was proud of the sacrifices it made for King and country whilst moderate nationalism was weakened by being seen as sacrificing so many lives for an occupying power that did not seem to appreciate those sacrifices. The Easter Rising and its brutal suppression and the unwise execution of 15 rebels was the main catalyst for change with the British government foolishly making martyrs for the Irish republicans. Moderate nationalism was the main casualty of the Great War in Ireland. Republicanism was greatly strengthened after the Easter Rising, whilst unionism was grimly determined to hold onto Ulster. The Great War only delayed civil war in Ireland; the end of moderate nationalism and the misjudgements of the British government would allow extremism to take hold. This cause of events almost inevitably led to the partition of Ireland. Nationalism, unionism, republicanism, or the British government could no longer expect to control the whole of Ireland. The Great War changed things in favour of the republican and unionist extremists, the IRA and Sinn Fein proving especially astute at taking advantage of those circumstances.

Bibliography

Castleden, (2005) Events that changed the world, Time Warner Books, London

Ferriter D, (2005) The Transformation of Ireland 1900-2000, Profile Books, London

Jackson A, (1999) Ireland 1798 – 1998: Politics and War, Oxford

Madden F J M (2005) teach yourself – the history of Ireland, Hodder Education, London

Moody T W & Martin F X (2001) The Course of Irish History, Mercier Press, Cork and Dublin

Stewart A T Q, (2001) The Shape of Irish History, The Blackstaff Press, Belfast

Wilson T, (1989) Ulster – Conflict & Consent, Basil Blackwell Ltd, Oxford

“Selfie”: A Study on How It Changes Everything
INTRODUCTION

Selfie has been all over the newsfeeds and home pages in social networking websites. In fact, it has been a part of other people’s daily routine. For them, to take a selfie is completely necessary. Every second there is a selfie that is updated with a unique caption and tons of hash tags that are not really related to the whole picture. The question is why are people so hooked with taking selfies?

Right now, there are more than 80 million photos in Instagram that falls under #selfie. According to Lev Manovich, a computer science professor at the Graduate Center, 61.6% of selfies came from women while 36.7% came from men (Stinson, 2014). Selfie has become a big hit and a world phenomenon. Not surprisingly, it has been added to the Oxford Dictionaries and it was even their word of the year.

Social Media has been responsible for making selfie popular especially among teenagers. Since famous celebrities and other TV personalities have social media accounts, other teenagers tend to see how they strike a pose and get million likes. Teenagers would probably be interested in taking selfies too because they’re idols are doing it. But for some, it is their way of expressing their self and to test how they really look. Unfortunately, some use it to seek attention and to show off what they have and what they’re doing. Selfie is sometimes meant to attract other users to follow you or add you as a friend.

There are many things to unravel behind every selfie that people took. It is imperative to know these things since everyone is all affected by it. Physically and psychologically, there is a need for people to know the effects and the reasons why everybody are all into taking “Selfie”.

Duck face, peace sign, wacky poses, mirror and candid shots, all of these are associated with the word “Selfie”. As it goes viral, People’s social lives and the way they perceive things are now different unlike before. They tend to draw too much attention on what people will say than what they think of their selves.

Having a selfie is important. From what you see in a single photo taken from your camera will actually determine your views about yourself and how you will construct your social being. The problem is that everybody takes this thing seriously. People spend most of our time taking photos of their selves, thinking for the right pose, filters to be used and caption to be put. Sometimes, they do this not for them but for the people who are going to l0ook in the photo. It might be simple but not everyone can see the effects of it in people’s lives. The Psychological effects of selfie have been very serious especially for the teenagers. Now, they don’t just base their looks on what is reflected on the mirror but also what is captured in the camera. Their self-esteem is just developed when they see likes and positive feedbacks from their online friends and followers. Values and social ethics are completely affected. In some case, people go beyond their limit and do things that are improper to get the attention of other users. There are some selfies that unpleasant, malicious and irrelevant and it has a great impact on people who would probably see it.

What the researcher wants to stress in this paper is the positive and negative impacts of selfie in our society, economy and to everyone’s life. It will reveal the invisible ideas and realizations about selfie. The development of technology and how it strengthened the popularity of selfie will also be discussed. This may also help on finding the real answer why people result to selfie addiction that can still be prevented with a very helpful solution.

In our present time, when everything is modern and innovated, how a person takes a selfie really matters. Everyone is very eager to cultivate their time and effort to maintain their online image to the public. As people change their attitude towards selfie, more problems arise not only in their personal lives but also in the whole society. In this paper, there are three major objectives, and these are: To identify the positive and negative impacts of selfie to society, economy and to personal lives. To determine how the advancement of modern technology contributed to the popularity of selfie. To distinguish the advantage and disadvantages of selfie in viewing yourself and other people’s opinion.

BODY
The Good, Bad, and the Unforeseen Consequences of Selfie Obsession

Activate your front camera in your smart phone, choose for the best angle that will make your cheekbones more defined, eyes look bigger and skin whiter, and then click. That’s how easy you can take a selfie.

Now, there are 80 million photos on Instagram that has been hash tagged as selfie. 91% of it came from the teenagers. Not surprisingly, celebrities like Miley Cyrus, Rihanna and Demi Lovato are total selfie addicts. You are not alone. According to Pamela Rutledge, Ph.D.,faculty director of the media psychology program at the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology, the reason why selfie is popular is that it celebrates normal and average people. “There are many more photographs available now of real people than models”(Rutledge, 2013). Posting selfies is an empowering act for another reason. Basically, it allows you to control your image online. Let us all be real, the most common selfie is the one where you look cute, partially because it’s a quick way to get positive comments about your appearance.

That could be one explanation for total selfie overload, when you upload 10 selfies at a time. According to Dr. Weber, there’s more to it than that. She says: “In my experience, girls who repeatedly post selfies struggle with low self-esteem” (Weber, 2013). Overall, opinions vary on whether selfie culture is lame or legitimate, which means it’s up to you to shape the future of the habit. Better ask yourself: Are my selfies for fun, or do I need the comments? If you fall under category two, Dr. Rutledge recommends shifting your perspective. That could mean cutting selfies out entirely or just scaling back and making them more fun. Everything you share on social media reveals something about you, and you are in control.

It’s Not You, It’s Me: The Science behind the Selfie

Why is selfie so popular? The advancement of social media has led to the rise of selfies. Of course, the development and innovation of modern technology has a great impact in building the popularity of selfie. However, the ease of use is not the only reason millions of people are very much into selfie and why they give so much of their time updating random post of their face.

According to some theorists, selfies are popular because they allow us to actively control the image we project. They are a way to communicate that both the selfie-taker and his or her life is awesome, sexy, thoughtful, interesting, social and many more. We take selfies when we are feeling glamorous and well-dressed, or when we want to show off what we’re doing. Sometimes, a selfie is meant to attract the attention of a certain someone whom the selfie-taker knows to be following them on social media accounts.

WHY IT MATTERS

In today’s modern world, it is indeed natural to eagerly want some control over our online performance. But are prolific selfie creatures going beyond their limitations?

In this paper, the researcher intends to use several communication theories that will support information from the whole study. These theories will vividly define some concepts related to the study. .

Symbolic Interactionism has a strong relation with Selfie. With Symbolic interactionism, reality is seen as social, developed interaction with others. Like Symbolic interactionism, people’s social life is the center of Selfie. You take selfie to interact with other users and to know more about their personal lives. Both the theory and selfie believed thatphysical reality does indeed exist by an individual’s social definitions, and that social definitions do develop in part or relation to something “real.”

If you take a Selfie and it has a great outcome, you will easily believe that is the “real” you even if you have completely enhanced the photo with filters and stuff. Thus, what you believe is real will be strengthened due to positive comments and feedbacks of social media users. Once you have seen that there are more than 100 likes in your selfie, you will adopt the idea you have got in social interaction with people and eventually relate it in your real life.

In connection with Symbolic interactionism, the concept of the Looking-glass self by Charles Horton Colley is also related to selfie. The term refers to people determining their self-concepts based on their knowledge of how others perceive them. Looking back at the impact of selfie in gaining self-esteem and confidence, people who are into selfie will pretty much value what other people will say about them than what they think of themselves. Comments pertaining on how good you look in your selfie truly matters. In the contrary, once you have received negative feedbacks, you will start to hesitate on posting another one and cultivate so much of your time to take a selfie that will definitely please the people who will see it.

Turning to the negative side of it, when people receive either good or bad comments, the term “selfie-syndrome” comes out. A person becomes narcissistic and starts to update photos every single minute to give themselves assurance and satisfaction.

Seeing popular celebrities post selfies in social networiking websites like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram has a great impact on other user’s way of thinking. Like Magic Bullet Theory, Selfie is like a bullet fired into the user’s head. Recently, everyone saw the viral Oscar selfie of Ellen DeGeneres with the top actors and actresses of Hollywood including Angelina Jolie, Bradley Cooper, Brad Pitt, Meryl Streep and others. Because of that, other social media users started to imitate and use the photo for memes. The said photo garnered 2 million retweets and beat the photo of President Obama and first lady, Michelle Obama

Honestly, when a photo gets really popular and hits the trending spot, people will overreact and they will also have their selfies taken like the photo they have seen. Especially for Filipinos, they always want to have their own version for them to be recognized on the internet too. See, the impact of a single photo will make everyone crazy.

Since the social media also supply us information, people tend to believe on messages when everyone is talking about it in the social media. Without knowing the real story behind it, the message keeps on going to another person until it reaches the whole social media community. That also happened before selfie gets viral. The Magic Bullet Theory has an important relevance to this study because this explains how selfie become popular and a world-wide hit. Because of their relation, people will easily understand the impact of a single selfie post.

Because Western countries are ahead in innovating and developing their technology, there is a huge difference on the way they look and react to things. Their civilization is completely different that they are the ones who influence and open other countries to new and modern technology. Thus, this results to oppression of the workers due to mass production from different countries, without the end-users having the idea that this kind of thing is already happening.

The rise of smartphones has something to do with both the theory and the study. It has significance for both of them that generalize the impacts of this it to the users. As you can see, smartphones has everything you need and one of the most used smartphone feature is the front camera. For buyers, it is one of the reasons why you buy a smartphone especially if its front camera is 2 megapixel and higher. In that case, users become more interested of it and they will take photos of themselves and develop techniques that will make their social appearance pleasing and attractive.

Furthermore, applications like Facebook and Instagram are technology’s gift for social media enthusiasts. Unfortunately, not everyone is aware that Facebook bought Instagram for 1 billion dollars and that only means that it is for “big business and “money” only. As the features continually change and improved, more and more users are very fond of taking selfies knowing that they will easily garner likes and comments from other users. The more people use social networking sites, more and more money are going to the capitalist and we end up getting controlled by them.

Not only Facebook and Instagram has great influence on selfie-takers but also Photography Applications like Camera 360, VSCO Cam and the like. These applications are so popular because it let users to control and enhance their image. There are over 100 filters available that you can put in your selfie photo and it will transform into a model. But, there is more. You can also put your pictures in frames and collages to add several selfies at a single photo.

Truly, the advancement in modern technology has affected our way of life. Technology will never be inevitable due to its purpose and use. But, is it really the use of technology that matters the most? Technology should help improve human being’s skills, values and way of living not by tolerating their laziness and controlling things in their life. However, it only depends on them whether to be controlled and manipulated by technology or technology to be controlled and manipulated by people.

CONCLUSION

The advancement of modern technology contributed a lot to the rise and popularity of selfie. Because of the innovation of smartphones, there are many key features that attracted the user’s interest. In selfie, the most commonly used smartphone feature is the front camera for it enables you to strike a pose freely because you see yourself in the screen. That’s why, people were able to achieve the angle and position they want. Another thing is you can edit your selfie with photography applications like Camera 360 and the like. Now, you can control and digitally enhance the photo on the way you want it to be. Also, do not forget that social networking websites like Instagram and Facebook contributed a lot on the “selfie phenomenon” because it is where you post your selfie and gain comments and likes from the other users.

The problem with selfie is that users cultivate so much of their time, effort and even money to maintain their pleasing and attractive online image. It has a big impact on both the society and the economy. The economy might rise due to this but the society will have a radical change. On viewing one’s self, selfie can make a huge change. You may possibly develop your self-esteem and confidence through likes and positive comments. The problem is, what you think of yourself does not matter and you start doing things that other people will like. It might lead to selfie addiction and narcissism.

One should be able to be satisfied on what he/she looks inside and out. You should not base your whole personality on your social media image. Determine the real you in the real world not in your Facebook profile. Selfies are a way to document things about yourself, in that case you should be able to depict what is real about you. Selfie enables you to express yourself and to update other people on what is happening in your life. It is not about how people recognize you and how you impress them, it is more on telling what you really feel in just a single photo. Don’t let this thing control you, instead, use it to develop yourself and your personality.

References

Feenberg, A. (1991). Critical theory of technology . California: Oxford University Press.

Flusser, V. (2000).Towards a philosophy of photography. Minnesota: Reaktion Books.

Lowery, S. & DeFleur, M. (1995). Milestones in mass communication research: Media effects. (3rd edition). White Plains, NY: Longman.

Rogers, M. (2013, December 6). It’s not you, it’s me: The science behind the selfie. Retrieved from http://greatist.com/happiness/the-psychology-behind-selfies

Rutledge, P. (2013). The influence of media. Los Angeles : ProQuest, UMI Dissertation Publishing.

Slavin , L. (2014, December 4). The evolution of selfie culture: Self-expression, narcissism, or objectification?. Retrieved from http://feminspire.com/the-evolution-of-selfie-culture-self-expression-narcissism-or-objectification/

Weber , J. (2013). Psychology today. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Zanders, J. (2013, November 27). Towards a philosophy of the selfie. Retrieved from http://philoselfie.tumblr.com/

1) The Title of the Project

Family and Friendship: an investigation of the relationship between age and patterns of friendship within and outside the family: a discourse analysis.

2) Rationale, Aims and Objectives

Friends and family are clearly important components of everyone’s lives. They can increase self-esteem, well-being and provide opportunities for socialising. Evidence from the psychological literature suggests that friendships are beneficial, if they are of the right type (Hartup & Stevens, 1997).

This study will examine the attitudes that two different age-groups have towards friendships and their families. There has been increasing discussion in the sociological literature by some authors (Weeks, Heaphy & Donovan, 2001) that friendships are taking over the traditional place of the family in people’s social networks. This study aims to examine this idea in two age-groups, one 18-28 years old and the second, 50-60 years old. It will also aim to look at an aspect of the detraditionalization hypothesis and judge whether the evidence supports it.

The objectives in order to reach this aim are to carry out a series of interviews with people in those two age-groups and then carry out a discourse analysis of that data. This will pinpoint the different ways in which people think about their families and friends in two different age-groups.

3) Research Questions

The research question will be to examine whether there is a clear difference between the types of friendships formed at different ages. Do younger people rely more on their friends for support in times of crisis than older people? Do older people include more of their kin as their closest friends? How do both groups view their families generally in terms of who they rely on? Alternatively, is there little evidence for a difference in the way people separate and view their friends and their families?

4) Literature Review

Individualization is a sweeping social change that has been seen to affect many societies around the world. Beck & Beck Gernsheim (2001) point to two different meanings of individualization. The first refers to the weakening of traditional social forms used in the analysis of societies; these include class, gender and the family. Beck & Beck Gernsheim (2001) identify this change as occurring as a result of the weakening of tradition, religion and state. The second aspect of individualization is the way in which modern societies are placing new demands on their citizens. This can be seen in the huge numbers of regulations that attempt to control every aspect of our lives. Levels of mobility, argue Beck & Beck Gernsheim (2001), are higher than ever in many societies and, as a result, people move freely for economic reasons as there is greater emphasis on individual fulfilment.

A natural corollary of this movement is that family ties are frequently left behind in the search for economic opportunity. And so, in the struggle for individual human relatedness, if the family is left behind, to where does the modern member of society turn? Weeks, Heaphy & Donovan (2001) point to so-called ‘families of choice’, which are essentially groups of friends. Weeks et al. (2001) see society as being at a transition point, from more traditional ideas of family to this notion of the family that has been chosen from a group of friends. People are specifically choosing their family of friends to fit in with their own personal beliefs and attitudes and sometimes choosing to get away from their biological families who do not represent their attitudes and beliefs. This process of choosing friends is seen by Weeks at al. (2001) as a process by which people are shaping their own identities.

While Weeks et al.’s (2001) research concentrates on non-heterosexuals, they argue that these ‘families of choice’ are in fact taking over from ‘families of fate’ throughout society in the UK and elsewhere. This has been similarly understood by Giddens (1992) in terms of transformations in the interpersonal domain. In particular, Giddens (1991) sees these kinds of changes arising from what he terms the emergence of ‘pure relationships’ (Giddens 1991:58). A pure relationship occurs where the more traditional connections through obligation that are present in family relationships are replaced with relationships based on what each can get out of the other. These changes have been referred to by Giddens (1992) as democratising in nature such that these changes are also affecting the family.

Pahl & Spencer (2004) explain that this detraditionalization thesis normally draws upon a range of social statistics that appear to demonstrate widespread societal changes. These include higher levels of education, higher rates of divorce, greater mobility – both socially and geographically – and a larger participation by women in the workforce.

These conclusions are, however, disputed by Pahl & Spencer (2004) who argue that the use of other research sources can lead in a different direction. They quote research carried out by Park & Roberts (2002) which found that the family appeared to be in good health. Their respondents tended to suggest the family represented the first port of call in an emergency for people. Indeed, Pahl & Spencer (2004) carried out their own research into friendships which avoids a standard quantitative analysis, asking about length of time known and other such variables, and concentrating more on content. Pahl & Spencer (2004), then, look at people’s ‘personal communities’.

Personal communities, for Pahl & Spencer (2004), relate specifically to two main aspects of the relationship: communication and belonging. Pahl & Spencer (2004) carried out 60 interviews in different parts of the UK and, in order to access these concepts, they used a map of concentric circles on which people indicated where their friends lay. These friendships were then examined through interviews. As a result, Pahl & Spencer (2004) found that it was actually very difficult to separate the notions of friendship from that of family and that one easily flowed into the other. From their detailed findings, Pahl & Spencer (2004) assert that there is little evidence for the idea that people are moving away from their family group and towards their chosen friendship groups. There is also little evidence, in Pahl & Spencer’s (2004) view, for the idea that people place more importance on their friendships than their family.

Taking a more wide-angle quantitative viewpoint, Pahl & Pevalin (2005) use data gathered from the British Household Panel Survey over ten years to analyse potential changes in family and friends. Here, instead of finding a shift to friends away from family, they find that the family still provides a large number of people’s friends. There is a change seen across age-groups, however, with older respondents more likely to nominate family as close friends than those in younger age-groups. The question is, does this represent a change that people go through as they age, or is this a social change that can be seen emerging? Pahl & Pevalin (2005) suggest the longitudinal data shows that it is actually a change happening with age, therefore suggesting that this does not support a social change of increasing friendship choices outside kin-groupings. Gross (2005) argues, like Pahl & Pevalin (2005) that the extent to which the detraditionalization hypothesis is true has been exaggerated.

It’s important to note that throughout the literature on families and friendships it is clear that there are certain overlaps in meanings. One clear example is that of partners. For those over the age of 30, Pahl & Pevalin (2005) argue that a partner provides the most important relationship. Does this person count as their friend or a family member? Pahl & Pevalin (2005) argue that partners form a kind of hybrid category. Partners sit on the cusp of the debate because if they ‘count’ as members of the family then they add weight to the importance of the family. But, if they count as friends, then they add weight to the idea that people are moving towards greater reliance on friends. There is probably a good argument for each view but certainly excluding partners from the analysis is a mistaken approach.

Pahl & Pevalin (2005) also criticise Weeks et al.’s (2001) findings because they focus on non-heterosexual respondents. It is hypothesised that non-heterosexual respondents will tend to have a greater degree of reliance on friends rather than family as, perhaps, the family will not have been accepting of their sexual orientation thus necessitating an appeal to a group outside their confines. This study should, therefore, take this into account in balancing up the sexual orientations of the respondents.

5) Methodology

Carry out a series of semi-structured interviews with participants to ask them about their family and their friendships. This would be carried out with a small group of younger people who are 18-28, as well as with a small group of older people who are 50-60 years old.

Interviews will be semi-structured and so will start with questions asking specifically about participant’s close social ties, who they tend to confide in, who they share attitudes and beliefs with. This will be achieved through the use of maps of personal networks on which people indicate where their friends and family lie. Also, questions will be asked about attitudes and feelings towards the family and how family members fit into this picture. Latter questions will be more open-ended, so that participants are able to speak more freely about their friendships and families.

Participant’s interviews will be transcribed and then analysed using discourse analysis to extract meanings and relationships.

6) Ethical Considerations

Ethical approval for carrying out this study will be obtained from the relevant authority. All respondents in the study will be told that taking part is optional and that they may withdraw at any time. Further, they will be assured that they will remain anonymous in the reporting of the results. Personal information relating to individual friendships will, of course, remain completely confidential. Respondents will be reminded that they are entitled to see any of the data that is held by the researcher which specifically relates to them.

7) Costings

The project will require a voice recorder and the researcher’s time involved in carrying out the interviews, transcribing, analysing and writing up. It may also require the cost of travelling to respondents in order to carry out the interviews. Some stationery costs will also be incurred.

8) Communication plans

Respondents for the research will be solicited through standard university notice boards. For the older age-group, if suitable respondents cannot be identified in the university, it may be necessary to call on the researcher’s personal networks of friends and family members.

9) Users and Beneficiaries

The ways in which friendships and families operate is of perennial interest to the government. Examining the ways in which personal communities coalesce provides insight into important notions of social support and social capital.

For those who work in professions with direct contact with younger age-groups, it would be useful for them to know who young people rely on in times of stress. Is it members of their family, or is there a shift towards relying on friends in hard times?

For those who work in professions who care for the elderly it would be extremely useful to know how patterns of friendships change with advancing age (Pahl & Pevalin, 2005). For example, do older people rely more on siblings as a result of their partners passing away or do they develop other networks of friends outside their kin relations?

References

Beck, U., Beck Gernsheim, E. (2001) Individualization. London: Sage Publications.

Giddens, A. (1991) Modernity and Self-identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age. Cambridge, Polity Press.

Giddens, A. (1992) The Transformation of Intimacy: Sexuality, Love and Eroticism in Modern Societies. Cambridge, Polity Press.

Gross, N. (2005) The Detraditionalization of Intimacy Reconsidered. Sociological Theory 23(3), 286-311.

Hartup, W., Stevens, N. (1997) Friendship and Adaptation in the Life Course. Psychological Bulletin, 121(3), 335–370.

Pahl, R., Pevalin, D. J. (2005) Between family and friends: a longitudinal study of friendship choice. The British Journal of Sociology, 56(3), 433-450.

Pahl, R., Spencer, L. (2004) Personal Communities: Not Simply Families of ‘Fate’ or ‘Choice’. Current Sociology 52(2), 199–221.

Park, A., Roberts, C. (2002) The Ties that Bind. British Social Attitudes: The 19th Report. Aldershot: Ashgate.

Weeks, J., Heaphy, B., Donovan, C. (2001) Same Sex Intimacies: Families of Choice and Other Life Experiments. London: Routledge.

Reconstructing the society

There are many categories in which we sort humans. Among the major categories we have race, class and gender. Race is a social concept that categorizes humans into large populations and groups that stand distinctively by cultural, anatomical, genetic, geographical and social affiliation. There is not yet an agreement on the best definition of class, but it can be defined as people belonging to the same same social, economic and educational status. Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining between masculinity and feminity, and also differentiating them. Alternatively, it pertains to socially constructed roles, behaviours and also attributes that a society considers right for both the male and the female gender.

We can incorporate the films “La Haine” and “manufacturing consent” to illustrate this. In La Haine, we can illustrate the impression of class as a category in which we sort the human race. This is clear when there ensue a hard-hitting drama between the police and the disenfranchised French youth. The relationship that can be examined between these two groups is riotous because of the social class. There is a riot that took place after a second generation Arab was beaten by the cops. The following day, young men went to Paris and they were arrested by the police. They were interrogated, only to be involved in a rumble with skinheads later on. On their returning home, what they encountered was never suspected.

Delving deeper into the film La Haine, we find the writer director Mathieu Kassovitz butting the European urbanity with the American style of the streets as clash with the police in suburban parts. The end result can be seen as an explosion scathing social commentary and generally the story-telling is dynamic. Closer scrutiny to the generaton; class and race are the major factors that divide the nation of France. Kassovits attacks the frontlines of power fearlessly but on a rather unreservedly pessimistic note.

A riot in seen in the outskirts of paris where the police beat Abdel Ahmed Ghili, an Arab teenager, into a coma. This fuelled a lot of anger and hatred inside Vincent cassel, who is commonly reffered to as Vinz. Vinz was a Jew who was determined to whack the cops in the occasion the boy dies. The jocular admitted this to the cohorts of Vincent. He also approached Humbert, an African boxer, to speak to him of his rather evil plan as they embark on an adventurous voyage from the neighbourhood of immigrants.

The time bomb ticks a fatal account of the society’s decline which is plainly one sided. The efforts of only one police who shows sympathy to the troubled youth are negligible and ineffective among an army of bullies and bigots. It can be seen that kassovits view situations in black-and-white which vividly explains the reason for striking a monochrome print. It is the conviction and broad discovery with which he writes the story that makes it really compelling.

He lifts up a scene straight from the taxi driver where Vincent Cassel poses infront of the mirror with a gun. He asks his own image if it is talking to him. Humbert is seen to offset him with a cool self assurance. Taghmaoui performance was outstanding when he offers funny relief to neutralize the unbearable tension. He prompted a hitherto, unseen and executed it brilliantly. Racism has been seen to be a particular problem in the police force. The tense relationship between the policemen and the youth evidences racism. It takes place during a 24 hour period. When Abdul is injured and is critically in hospital, in the course of retribution, Vinz is caught in the possession of a policeman’s gun he had obtained in the riot. He swore to murder a “pig” if Abdul dies. This illustrates how race is a major class of sorting the humans

We can construct a socially stratified reality that will help us save some of these racial, class and gender related problems. The most basic elements of the social structure is status. It stands for a social position that is recognized and of which an individual occupies in the society. There are duties and responsibilities usually in relation to complimentary positions. Secondly, we have the status set. Everyone in the society holds many status positions and not one. Status set can be defined as all the statuses that a person holds at a given time. One can be a male or a female, teacher or student, husband or wife among many others.

When we talk of status, it can either be ascribed or achieved status. Ascribed status is achieved at birth or later assumed involuntarily in the course of life. Achieved status is a social position that is assumed voluntarily. Its can reflect the personal ability that one has or the magnitude of efforts with which he puts. Oftenly, we have a combination of both the achieved status and the ascribed status.

However, there’s that status with an exceptional importance for social identity and that shapes a person’s personal life. This is referred to as a master status and according to our society, one’s occupation often comprises this position. According to the social diversity, physical disability becomes the master status for many people. Some other ascribed statuses like race or sex are other examples of positions which in one way or the other are a person’s master statuses.

In the construction of a socially stratified reality, the concept of role is significant. By role, we mean the expected behavior that is attached to particular status. The expectations the society attaches to a role somewhat makes the role performance to differ. Since each status has several roles attached to it, a person has many roles than statuses. This number of roles attached to particular status is referred to as role set.

An individual can creatively shape reality through social interaction. It is understood as a negotiation process which generates to shaping reality. People also build reality from the surrounding culture that varies widely within a given society. Analysis of social interaction in terms of theatrical performances is crucial. Individuals in various settings make attempts to create impressions in the minds of others, what is referred to as impression management.

There are various reasons why discrimination arises and how it is perpetuated. Compounding effect of multiple grounds are always linked to a person’s experience of definition. For example, researches confirm that the elderly and persons with disabilities experience higher unemployment chances. Members of radicalized groups with such qualities may also be underemployed on multiple grounds. These are social harms and pains that come from such acts of discrimination.

Another reason for discrimination is protecting persons associated with others protected by the code. The code could protect people who are not personally identified by one of the grounds. The big question arises on whether one is a member of a protected group. There should be considerable intent behind how u treat someone instead of analysis based on looks, myths and stereotypes. This is discrimination based on perceived grounds.

Age could also be another reason for discrimination on may social area including employment. Younger job applicants may be discriminated on the grounds of stereotypes about youth and experience. Older employees may be discriminated on the grounds of health related and disability concerns. They should eliminate discrimination and instead base thneir decisions on the basis of actual merits, capacities and circumstances.

Others are discriminated on the basis of underage and considered to as minors. Some are discriminated whenever employers state the maximum and minimum age. Disability is another major point of concern. This has been claimed by a quarter of all human rights. Employers are concerned with disability related concerns, and to prevent these claims and issues in a timely way, they opt to discriminate which should not be the case. They should instead apply measures such as inclusive design and develop accommodation issues.

Family status is another major reason for discrimination. A person’s marital status has also become a major concern. To take care of this, policies and actions should not be based on social areas. Some stereotypes that a man or a woman is of a greater value than other types of marital status should be dropped.

There is also race and race related grounds of discrimination. Language itself is not a ground for discrimination but it may be associated with any of the race related grounds. The same case applies to color. Ancestry and place of origin are also major causes of discrimination. Citizenship, sex, and record of offences, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation are also major causes of discrimination.

However, discrimination may be stopped. These include setting the standards without placing blame. One should bring awareness on what is acceptable and what should be dropped. Whenever one experiences discrimination, it is good to challenge the behavior immediately. Sometimes it is good to address the challenge even if it means later in future.

In the process of eliminating discrimination, it is important to know your audience your evidence and understand them. This makes it easier to drive a convincing argument and know what points you need to change.

It is good to take your time and work out the best strategy in which you can address discrimination. You can also seek the advice of other in order to come up with the best strategy. One can also seek the help of others including a lawyer to know your rights.

Discrimination has hazardous consequences. Some of the physical consequences associated with discrimination include change of appetite, decreased energy, stress related ailments, insomnia, headaches among others. It also has emotional impacts such as anger, depression, fear, feeling of isolation, self blame and guilt. Career and academic impact include absenteesm, decreased concentration, and reduced productivity whenever one fall victim. The grades or employment records suffer because of this.

The vice of discrimination also has social impacts such as alcohol and drug abuse. It leads to physical and emotional withdrawal from friends and family. Financial impacts include decrease in professional reputation or academic standing, decrease in future job opportunities, actual loss of jobs, scholarships and recommendations. The organization may also suffer costs of discrimination such litigation, higher employee turnover, tarnished public image, frustration and loosing sides.

In conclusion, impression management is very fundamental in our daily life. Talking of impression management we mean the process with which people attempt to influence perceptions of other people, object or even designs. It may extent to professional or even public relations.

There are three types of intangible consequences that are associated with discrimination. These include fines, litigation costs and also bad publicity. Litigation expenses are associate dwith employment discrimination claims. These includes the attorney fees and investigative expenses. There are sums of costs associated with litigation. They include punitive damages and compensatory damages. Lost income and revenue is a tangible, though difficult to measure, cause of discrimination. When the media covers such issues there may be a considerable drop in sales hence lost incomes and revenues. There are no socially responsible customers that will want to be associated with supporting businesses that have been involved with scandals of social discrimination practices.

Organizations use impressions such as branding as strategies to convey the brand image to external and internal audiences. Mangers have no option other than build the impressions they make on others, be it subordinates and business partners. The imperession they create is the overall effect on their understanding

All in all, these are just but ways in which we create a socially stratified reality, or rather category driven realities.

Works cited

David M. Newman, Sociology, chapter 12, “The Architecture of Inequality: Sex and Gender.”

Kate Bornstein “Gender Outlaw vintage books New York, 1995”

David M. Newman, sociology, Chapter 14 “Architects of change: Reconstructing Society”

David M. Newman, sociology, Chapter 10 “The Architecture of Stratification: Social Class and Inequality”

Examine the main differences in patterns of everyday life, work, government support and self sufficiency among peoples of the world.

How are these patterns changing, and what contribution is the activity of businesses owned by peoples in North America, Australia, Japan and Western Europe making to these changes?

Considering the main differences in the patterns of everyday life, work, government support and self sufficiency among peoples of the world is complicated by the fact that there are 6 billion people in the world, and each of them will have their own life, job and other unique attributes. In addition, with over 200 recognised countries on Earth, it is difficult to analyse patterns on a country basis in such a small piece. As such, it is necessary to define a limited number of groups of similar countries in order to analyse the patterns. This piece will use three main groups based on the definitions of Hines (2008). The first of these is the ‘W1’ group, which consists of the United States, Western Europe, Japan, Korea and Australia, which are viewed as the most developed economies in the world, with large consumptions of resources and goods. The second group, ‘W2’, consists of the nations with relatively strong economies, and a balanced profile of resources and consumption. These include India, China, Brazil, Russia and many other rapidly growing nations. Finally, ‘W3’ includes the poorest nations on Earth, including much of Africa and Bangladesh.

The differences in wealth in these countries helps explain some of the differences in patterns of everyday life, reflected in cultural values. The W3 nations emphasise traditional values, respect for authority, obedience, the importance of religion, strong work ethics and the importance of large families. In contrast, the W2 segment focuses on achievement, the value of science and technology, the importance of the state hard work, and a belief that parents and children have a mutual need for each other. Finally, the W1 group emphasize self-expression, the importance of the individual and individual responsibility, tolerance, a balanced life, leisure and good health (Hines, 2008). Further insight can be obtained from looking at discretionary spending in nations, with the W1 group spending heavily on recreation, alcohol and tobacco, the W2 group focusing on clothing and household goods, and the W3 group making almost no discretionary spending due to their lack of disposable income (Fairfield et al, 2008).

The main changes in the patterns of everyday life focus around technology and infrastructure. Media and communications, previously dominated by the W1 group, are now spreading rapidly amongst the W2 group and even into W3, and there are few places in the world where access in now impossible. As such, the most connected places in the world are now almost exclusively within the W3 group, particularly in Scandinavia, which is considered part of W2. However, within the W3 group, and some of the W2 nations, there has been a collision between the spread of technology and the important role of the state. As a result, some governments such as Myanmar and North Korea and China, to a limited extent, have attempted to control the flow of information, leading to some tension in the lives of their citizens. In addition, access to electricity has been rising regularly, changing the lives of huge numbers of people across the world. Again, the spread has been mainly in W2 nations, with W3 lagging behind, with only 23% of sub-Saharan Africa having access to electricity. This is leading to a growing gap in the everyday lives of people in the W1 and W2 nations and those in the W3, who are being rapidly left behind (Hines, 2008).

The patterns of work across the world are strongly driven by the influence of global production systems. Hayter (2005) notes that of the total number of employed people in the world, only 16 per cent are in the W1 nations, despite these nations controlling around 50 per cent of the world’s total wealth. This is reflected in the fact that most people in the W1 industries work in service industries; W2 is dominated by manufacturing; and working patterns in W3 are concentrated in the agriculture and subsistence industries. In addition, the patterns of participation in the labour force vary across different regions and countries. The patterns of participation tend to be much higher in countries where income levels are lower, and there is limited social security coverage. As such, W3 countries tend to have higher levels of participation in the labour force. However, this can again conflict with sociological tendencies, with the Middle East and North Africa having low levels of participation due to low levels of female participation, who are seen as being responsible for the family (Hayter, 2005).

The changing patterns of work have generally been characterised as devaluing the dignity of work, turning jobs into simple factors of production and ignoring the family and national significance of work to many people. However, specific trends are focused at the two ends of the spectrum, with the proportion of children in the workforce having fallen by 26 per cent over the last four years. In particular, for the youngest children aged 5-14 years the proportion of children in work has been reduced by 33 per cent. This is leading to patterns in W2 and W3, where levels of child labour are high, moving towards those in W1. At the same time, older men are now generally working less, with older women working more. However, as the proportion of people aged over 60 is increasing every year, labour force participation rates amongst the over 50 workers have increased significantly worldwide. The traditional focus on family means that participation rates of older workers are highest in Asia and Africa, however again these rates are converging as financial pressure forces similar patterns in developed countries due to the fall in social security protection (ILO, 2006).

Indeed, the variation in social security systems is the main difference in the patterns of government support across different nations, with the ILO (2005) reporting that social security systems vary significant across countries, and social security budgets do not correlate to GDP levels. In particular, many countries make substantial deductions from workers or employers, some only provide payments to their poorest citizens, and some require workers to depend on their own personal security, or those provided by their employers. Here the patterns are generally not dependent on income levels but on policy, as many W1 nations have the oldest populations, and hence the highest burdens on society. As a result, the main trend in this area is that the working population is essentially paying for an ever increasing proportion of the current retirees’ pensions. This shift is being led by the W1 group, particularly Europe and Japan, and is resulting in increasing working lives, and lower levels of government support to retirees (ILO, 2006).

Finally, the main trend in self sufficiency is rooted in the fact that the W1 economies grew so developed as a result of their exports of manufactured goods are resources to developing countries. However, as this balance has shifted, so the W1 economies have imported more goods and resources from the W2 and W3 countries, whilst exporting more capital and services the other way. As such, self sufficiency is arguably less viable now than at any other point, with most resource exporting economies requiring significant amounts of capital and machinery, and most developed economies requiring high levels of resources, hence creating mutual dependency (Kapstein, 2000).

In conclusion, the patterns of life, work, support and self sufficiency are complicated and affected by numerous factors. However, the key factors changing the trends and patterns in these areas are rooted in two areas. The first of these is the aging populations and increasing life expectancy of people around the world, particularly in the W1 nations. This has led to increased social security burdens in these countries, increasing levels of work and reduced government support. The other is an increasing level of exports of manufactured goods and resources from less developed countries to the W1 nations, who are increasingly service based and resource poor. This has reduced levels of self sufficiency across the world.

References
Bannock, G. (2005) The Economics and Management of Small Business. Routledge: London.
Fairfield, H. He, E. and Quealy, K. (2008) What Your Global Neighbors Are Buying. The New York Times; 4^th September 2008.
Hayter, S. (2005) The social dimension of global production systems: A review of the issues., Working Paper No. 25, Policy Integration Department; ILO.
Hines, A. (2008) Global Trends in Culture, Infrastructure, and Values. Futurist; Vol. 42, Issue 5, p. 18-23.
ILO (2006) Changing Patterns In The World Of Work. ILO International Labour Conference, 95th Session. 2006.
ILO (2005) Social protection as a productive factor. ILO Governing Body, 294th Session. November 2005.
Kapstein, E. B. (2000) Winners and Losers in the Global Economy. International Organization; Vol. 54, Issue 2, p. 359-384.
Madeley J. (1999) Big Business Poor Peoples: The Impact of Transnational Corporations on the World’s Poor. Zed, London.
Storey, D. J. (2000) Understanding the Small Business Sector. Thomson: London.

Assignment Question :

Outline a research question that can be investigated using qualitative methods. Describe a plan for how you will research that question. Your plan should include strategies for both data collection and data analysis. The rationale for the adoption of a particular form of data collection and analysis must be presented.

1. Introduction

The purpose of this research is to investigate the gap between ideals and practices on corporate identity through corporate social responsibility (CSR) and build up practical findings to help corporations narrow the gap thus enabling them to enhance their CSR identity for both companies and employees.

This study will focus on the case of large Korean corporations – the so called ‘chaebol corporations’ (henceforth, chaebols). Chaebols are interesting cases to conduct CSR related research because chaebols use CSR for substituting their distorted corporate image and identity as ‘unethical’, coming from illegal acts and unsound governance structure. In this sense, chaebols can be considered appropriate cases are currently grappling with a big gap between ideals and practices as the same pertain to their CSR identity. Exploring CSR identity and its effects on practice in chaebols will provide practical indications about the relationship between corporate identity strategy and its employees’ implementation and theoretical implications on chaebol related research.

With multiple-case study strategy, this study will start by looking at corporate CSR identity on the organisational perspectives in case companies. Following this, the study will explore employees’ perception on corporate identity and CSR activities to identify and examine the factors that influence employee corporate identity and encourage employee participation in CSR activities. This is achieved using a triangulation method. This includes semi-structured interviews, focus group interviews and documentary analysis. In this paper, I will design the research plan with methodological strategy, data collection strategy and data analysis strategy including rationales respectively.

2. Research Questions & Assumptions
Research Questions

The research questions will focus on exploring how CSR identity is conceptualised by companies and employees and how that resulting identity influences CSR practices in reality. Thus, the primary research questions are as follows:

Q1. How do corporations conceptualise their CSR identity ?

Q2. How does corporate identity formed at the organisational level influence the ethical identity of employees?

Q3. What are the connections between the organisational level identity of CSR and employees’ participation in CSR activities?

Assumptions

Assumptions grounded in the logic of multi-faceted model of corporate identity (Soenen and Moingeon 2002) and employee performances are as bellow. This multi-faceted model of identity is not a measurement and it provides 5 categories of identity.

A1. Corporate identity of CSR will affect employees’ participation for social activities.

A2. Employees’ participation in CSR activities will increase when corporate identity and their strategies are aligned.

A3. Professed identity will not affect employees’ participation in CSR activities.

A4. Employees’ participation in CSR activities will be influenced by four types of identities when they are matched with each other.

3. Research Design
(1) Research Method and Justifications

This research will be conducted with a qualitative method. According to Creswell (2003), the main reason of using the qualitative method for research is because of exploratory character of study. As this study focuses on the perspectives of both the corporation itself and that of employees’ about CSR identity and CSR activities, qualitative methods of research and analysis are adopted. A qualitative method enables in-depth exploration of the CSR identity and, simultaneously, aid in understanding the conceptual relationships between ideals and practice about CSR identity and CSR activities. Moreover, as corporate identity which is formed by socially agreed concepts, and CSR, which has discursively

constructed concepts, are both rather subjective, and changeable depending on the particular organisation, qualitative approach is more appropriate to understand how these identities can be conceptualised and formed in an organisational context. Comparing to qualitative methods, a quantitative approach rather focuses consideration on measurements and quantities of the traits established by the people or events of studies (Murray 2003).

(2) Epistemological Approach

While much research used quantitative method mainly takes a position of a functionalist or positivist stance, qualitative research can take almost all possible epistemological positions (Gephart 1999 ; Symon and Cassell 2004). This research overall takes an interpretive epistemological view with technically along with realistic point of view. While this research focuses on the specific cases of chaebols, the aim is not a generalization of findings. Instead, the findings might represent chaebol related issues. Taking an interpretivist view, sampling of target cases will be purposeful (Daymon and Holloway 2002) rather than being statistically and randomly representative sample.

(3) Methodological Strategy and Technical & Epistemological Justification
Case Study Strategy & Justifications

This research will take the multiple-case study strategy as its methodological research strategy. There are two reasons for choosing a case study. First, as mentioned above, CSR itself is a very arguable concepts and the impact of CSR can vary depending on corporations’ conditions (Cho and Hong 2009) and corporate identity matters as well. As case study methodology draws insight from data gathered in research ( Stern 1998; Borgerson, Schroeder et al. 2009), to explore CSR and identity on both organisational and employees’ perspectives, it is a useful method to understand matters within the organisation context and obtain in-depth and empirical knowledge on them. Secondly, the case study approach is for this research as it enables the use of interview methods and company documents to collect data (Yin 2003) and also, verify the validity of the collected data. As for more replicable evidence, this research is based on multiple-case study of chaebol corporations. Ten cases are sufficient replications to obtain external validity. Compared to single-case designs, the evidence which is derived from multiple-case studies tends to be more compelling and being more powerful (Hersen and Barlow 1976 ; Yin 2003). The case sampling strategy will be explained in the data collection section. Even though the level of analysis is organisational, the unit of analysis is individual for example, managers and non-managerial employees who are directly and indirectly related to CSR identity and CSR activities in their organisations.

(4) Data Collection Strategy and Technical & Epistemological Justification
1) Triangulation Method

The methods to gather the data will be triangulation methods: semi-structured in-depth interviews, focus group interviews and documentary analyses. The triangulation method is helpful to get an external validity in this research. Data sets obtained from each of 10 multiple-cases will be triangulated as figure 1.

Semi-structured in-depth interviews

A semi-structured interview will be conducted with managers and employees in the CSR department and strategy department. These informants can provide more specific and in-depth knowledge about their own experiences in face-to-face interviews. Even though other methods such as telephone or internet interviews, can also be carried out under the qualitative interview paradigm (King 2004), this research which deals with Korean managers and workers requires face-to-face interviews due to the greater importance of Korean culture in which direct contact can aid in obtaining greater details of the thoughts and experiences of interviewees.

Focus Group interviews

A focus group interview will be held with managers in other strategy related departments and with employees who have experience in CSR activities. The motivation for adopting this approach is that it allows participants to discuss their thinking and ideas about the CSR strategy and CSR identity with their colleagues – at which point the similarities and differences on the perceptions of the participants about CSR can be investigated with greater ease. The advantage of using the focus group interview method at this stage is that it enables participants to get an idea from their colleagues so that they can reflect back on their thinking and their own experiences (King 2004).

The questions which will be asked in the interviews will vary depending on the targets. In managerial level interviews, interviewees will be asked about how they conceptualise and identify CSR in terms of the 4 categories of responsibilities as classified by Carroll (Carroll 1999). In the non-managerial level interviews, interviewees will be asked about how they define their corporate identity in terms of CSR and how these identities affect their CSR participation. All of the interviews will be tape-recorded with the interviewees’ permission for later transcription.

Documentary Analysis

With regards to the validity of data collection, I will use the triangulation method with documentary analysis in addition to the focus group interview and the semi-structured interview. With respect to the documentary analysis, I will use CSR annual reports which are organised according to reporting guidelines (e.g. GRI Guideline). These reports will be accessed via companies’ webpage.

2) Sampling Strategy

The case companies will be selected according to the ‘Most admirable companies in Korea 2009? ranking complied by the Korea Management Association (KMA). This index ranks companies, according to a consumer survey and employee survey, in terms of the companies’ ethical image and identity. If ranked in the top level, the company is considered to be, to some extent, ethical and philanthropic and is considered to have CSR strategies and programmes that are more systematically designed than those of other companies. After selecting the 10 top ranked companies as sample cases, interview targets will be selected by a purposive sampling strategy. This is because CSR requires professional knowledge through strategy planning and implementation at the organisational level. In this sense, managerial levels and non-managerial levels in CSR related departments will be considered the target samples for semi-structured in-depth interviews. Those located in other departments will be the target sample on focus group interviews. I will contact these targets by email and telephone and in some of the aforementioned cases, have already established initial connections.

3) Epistemological justifications

In terms of epistemological position, this research will have realist assumptions – interviewees’ accounts are assumed to indicate awareness about their actual experiences of CSR involvement. This realist approach will make it possible to gather more accurate accounts by comparing the findings from the interview with the documentary analysis. In qualitative research, interview methods aim “to see the research topic from the perspectives of the interviewee and understanding how and why they come to have this particular perspective” (King 2004). As this research takes the realist approach, the interview will be more structured and systematically prepared compared to, for example, interviews conducted by constructivists or phenomenologists (Pawson and Tilley 1997).

5) Data Analysis Strategy
1) Template Analysis & Epistemological Justification

Analysis of this research will be conducted via the templates technique. According to King (2004), template analysis as a set of techniques that can be used in realist work. It admits a positivistic position and is particularly useful for research that aims to compare different or similar perspectives of target groups within an organisational context (King 2004). In this sense, this research which relies on realistic epistemological viewpoints and is aims to examine CSR concepts and identity strategy as perceived by corporations and employees, templates analysis provides the most suitable way to produce a list of theme codes which, in turn, derive the concepts and definitions of CSR identity from the informants’ own words within a theoretical framework thus enabling the analysis to develop new theoretical and empirical implications.

As mentioned previously, this research will focus on how corporations and employees perceive CSR concepts and identity from their experience on corporations’ CSR strategy and implementation, which means the words and expressions coming from their own perceptions, can be extremely varied. Therefore, creating the initial template with a few defined codes (King 2004) and starting with this initial template will be a very helpful to guide analysis as well as to collect data. Compared to other techniques such as grounded theory and repertory grids, this research starts with a theoretical framework and needs organisational level analysis.

Using the template analysis, the process of conducting research will proceed as follows. First, to construct the initial template, interview guides will be prepared from a literature review and informal anecdotal evidence from the author’s own experience. This interview guide will include minimum information so as to gain more ideas from the interviewees. Thus, the initial template will begin in a simplified format and consist of the 3 highest-order codes and two or three subdivided lower-order codes. It will then be subject to a processes of insertion and deletion with changes in the higher-order classifications (King 2004) after the first focused group interviews. For this, at the beginning of the first focus group interview, interviewees will be asked to express their opinions and perceptions on CSR under the three highest-order codes and several lower-order codes following the brief topic guideline. They focus group interviewees can then proceed with their discussions. After each interview, the initial template will be edited and added with some new codes if the issues are not found to be covered by the presented codes.

4. Limitations & Conclusions

This study has limitations in terms of generalization due to the small sample size. This is because a small number of respondents cannot be representative of the entire company’s view, even though the propositions are proved by the respondents. The findings from this qualitative study may, thus, be considered preliminary. Further research, conducted using larger samples and adopting longitudinal analysis can aid to make the findings of the present research more robust. Moreover, given their unique governance system and political background in social context (Kim and Lee 2003), at present, chaebol related research tends to be conducted with an institutionalist approach. However, in this research, these factors are excluded as the focus is being kept on the organisational and individual level of the perception making process.

This study will show the gap of corporate identity between ideals and practices and how employees are influenced by corporate identity in CSR practices. By using qualitative approaches with a case study strategy, this research will have practical implications for managers who work in CSR departments, viz., it will identify how to connect their strategy to employees’ ethical identification and participation.

Reference

Borgerson, J. L., J. E. Schroeder, et al. (2009). “Corporate communication, ethics, and operational identity: A case study of Benetton.” Business Ethics: A European Review 18(3): 209-223.

Carroll, A. B. (1999). “Corporate Social Responsiblity.” Business & Society 38(3): 268-295.

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This essay discusses two main questions: i) What are the main factors causing many people not to save towards their retirement, comparing men and women age 18 and over; and ii) Look at the differences between the pension system here in the UK and Germany, and what Germany is doing to make people save more than people save than in the UK.

It is clear, across many European countries, that many individuals do not save as much as they could, and, in particular, are not saving adequate amounts towards their retirement. This applies equally for men and women and across many European countries. This problem is, however, particularly marked in the UK, with many individuals either simply not having any pension provisions or not contributing enough in to their pension scheme. In addition, many individuals in the UK simply do not save any proportion of their earnings, and spend as much, if not more, than they earn.

This is not the case in Germany: practically every household saves substantial amounts, right up until old age, with only households in the very lowest proportions of the income distribution curve not saving (Borsch-Supan and Essig, 2003). 40% of households in Germany regularly save a fixed amount, with a further 45% saving, but not fixed amounts and not regularly; 25% of Germans save with a fixed savings target in mind, planning their savings towards these aims, with the majority of Germans preferring to cut household consumption, rather than touch their savings, if ends do not meet; indeed, 80% of Germans seldom go negative in their current accounts (Borsch-Supan and Essig, 2003).

This is quite different to the pattern in the UK, where personal debt is currently the highest it has been for many decades, and many individuals do not plan for saving with distinct aims in mind, nor save towards any sort of pension scheme, leaving themselves open to problems when they come to retirement age. As shown by the OECD (2002), since 1985, the UK has consistently had a far lower household savings rate than Germany, with Germany averaging around 13.5% of disposable household income being saved, year on year since 1985, and the UK averaging around 5.5%, year on year since 1985 (OECD, 2002).

In Germany, as in the UK, there are three main types of pension: state, company and private, with the adoption of private pensions being increasingly encouraged, due to the ageing population in both regions. There are many reasons cited for why people do not save enough towards their retirement, for example, the feeling that ‘I am too young to start saving for my pension’, ‘I don’t earn enough to be able to save for a pension’ or ‘I will get a state pension, so don’t need to worry’. All of these reasons are invalid, if they are studied further, as it is increasingly becoming the responsibility of the individual to provide for their retirement, and so saving for a pension should be a necessary expense; the sooner the individual starts to save, obviously, the more they will have in their pension fund when it comes to retirement age, and the more they will be able to take as a pension when they come to retire. It is thus beneficial for individuals to invest in their future, by saving regularly towards their retirement, but this notion does not seem to be as ingrained in the minds of individuals in the UK as it is in Germany.

Until recently, 19.5% of incomes from German individuals was generally put towards private pensions, with private pension companies in the UK taking nowhere near this amount; 10-15% is a more normal average amount taken by UK company pension schemes (OECD, 2007). In addition, Germany has one of the highest levels of public spending on pensions in the OECD countries (11.5% of GDP, compared to 4.5% of GDP in the UK (Disney and Johnson, 2001)), although recently Germany has increased the retirement age above the traditional 65 years for men, to 67; a similar rise in the age of retirement from public pension plans has recently occurred in the UK (OECD, 2007). Contribution to private pension plans has the widest coverage in Germany of any OECD country, although the amounts contributed to private pension plans in Germany are low, when compared to the amounts German individuals put in to company pension schemes (OECD, 2007). In addition, fewer German individuals are switching from company pension schemes to private pension schemes in Germany than in other OECD countries. Indeed, only 39.9% of individuals have switched from company to private pension schemes in Germany, with 53.4% of individuals switching to “personal account” pensions in the UK (OECD, 2007). Despite the seemingly high switch over from company pension schemes to private or “personal account” pensions in the UK, the UK government estimates that around 7 million individuals are not saving enough for their retirement, under any scheme, and that an additional 10 million individuals do not save for their retirement via their company pension scheme, which includes an employer contribution of a minimum of 3%.

What are the reasons for these differences, and what are the main factors causing many people not to save towards their retirement? What is Germany doing, for example, that encourages more people to save than in the UK? The UK, traditionally, has higher levels of personal debt than Germany, with individuals from both regions having very different attitudes towards spending and saving, and where they choose to invest their savings. In addition, individuals who do save in the UK tend to ‘dip into’ their savings to buy luxury items, whereas German savers tend to leave their savings alone, and to buy luxury items, only when they can afford to do so, when they have saved, specifically, for that item. Given the ageing population, and the fact that not enough people are saving for their retirement, the UK is currently trying to increase saving towards pensions, particularly, with various tax incentives, through private pension taxation schemes and ISAs, for example, and the newly introduced pension credit schemes.

In conclusion, therefore, there seems to be a very negligent attitude towards saving, in general, in the UK, with saving for retirement being particularly neglected; Germany, on the other hand, with its tradition of low personal debt, and high household savings, has a high coverage of individuals saving towards their retirement, mostly through company, or, increasingly, private pension schemes.

References

Borsch-Supan, A. and Essig, L. (2003). Household saving in Germany: results of the first SAVE study. National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper 9902. Available from http://www.nber.org/papers/w9902 [Accessed 28th October 2008].

Disney, D. and Johnson, M. (2001). Pension systems and retirement incomes across OECD countries. Edward Elgar.

OECD (2002). Household savings rates by country from 1985 through 2004 forecast. OECD Economic Outlook.

OECD (2007). Pensions at a glance – public policies across OECD countries 2007 Edition. Available from http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/15/42/38728511.pdf [Accessed on 28th October 2008].

Over population is one of the serious issue that today’s world is facing. China is known as the country with the highest population (CIA). In order to prevent their massive population growth, China introduced the “One-Child Policy”. It is a policy implemented by the Chinese government with the purpose of controlling the enormous population in People’s Republic Of China. With the establishment of One-Child Policy, there are a lot of benefits and impacts to Chinese society and family. Regarding this topic, this essay will illustrate the positive and negative effects of this policy.

After the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, China’s population was approaching one billion-mark, which concerned the new Chinese government. Because of the overwhelmed population growth, Chinese citizens were encouraged to have only two children per family in late 1978. The policy helped to decline almost half of population growth in China during that time but it did not reach their expectation. Later in 1979, China’s leader Deng Xiaoping introduced the One-Child Policy, requiring a family to have only one child. The Central Committee of Chinese Communist Party formally instituted One-Child Policy on September 25th, 1980 (Pletcher, 2014). Along with this burdensome policy, it comes with two main positive effects, social and family. As for the boon social effect, the most obvious effect is that it limits the population growth efficiently. It is seen that the population was decreased by over a half. Since 1979, experts at the national Population and Family Planning Commission of China said, the policy has prevented more than four hundred million births in the country (Jaime FlorCruz, 2011). After the introduction of the One-Child Policy, the fertility rate in China fell down from over three births per woman in 1980 to approximately 1.54 in 2011 (Data from World Bank, 2014). Moreover, the reduction in the rapid growth has reduced some serious issues that cause by overpopulation like health, education, law enforcement, and other destructions. Another social consequence is the economic growth. When there is higher in the birth rate, the slower of the economic growth occurs, thus One-Child Policy could have contributed to the increase of economic growth. With the lower population, the bureau could provide their people with a high living standard. They might get a high level of schooling, perfect healthcare as well as other accessibility. Then people will lead to be the high quality, which are very crucial for innovations and creations, to develop their country for sustained economic growth. Obviously, China is one of the World’s largest economic in term of the population, but in fact, the GDP per capital still low in some area. According to Prof. Zhang’s research during 1978-1998, 28 Chinese provinces, found that the lower the birth rate, the faster the economic growth. The annual growth rate of the real per capital income in that period was as high as 8.1 percent. At the same time, the birth rate was very low—at only 2 percent (Louisa Wah Hansen, 2013). Simultaneously, the policy has positively effect the family as well. The first thing is the high responsibility in the family. This mean that the parents are able to focus on their only one child and allow them to live in a more safety and wealthy environment under their heedfulness, thus the child would receive much love and warmth from them. To add on, this policy leads to less expense in the family budget. With fewer members, family could settle better in the prosperous life, and won’t get into hardship because of carrying so many children.

Along with those benefits the essay has mentioned, One-Child policy also scatters a lot of negative effects to the Chinese society and family. Since One-child policy has been established, the population growth rate in China has been declined from 0.9 percent in 2000 to 0.48 percent in 2012, which is leaded to the lack of human resources (World Bank). Recently, the government is very concern about the lack of human resources, that’s why they ease one-child policy and allows couples to have two children if they were both born without siblings (BBC, 2013). Moreover China is the country, which has a high preference for son, rather than daughter that is the cause of sex imbalances. One-Child policy has made China become the country, which has male population, more than female. According to Business Insider, there were 51 million men more than women in China 2010. In every 100 newborns girls, there are 120 boys, which is the highest sex ratio in the world (Sam, 2013). In addition because of the One-Child policy, the birth population is decreasing while the aging is continuing on increasing from day to day that lead to age dependency. The age of group of people from 0-14 decreased 6.29 percent, from 15-59 increased 3.36 percent, group of 60 and over increased 2.93 percent and group of 65 and over increased to 1.91 percent (National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2011). Age dependency will put more pressure to the son of the family to earn more money to support the family and also make the economics of country goes down since the decreasing of the workers. Moreover, female infanticide has happened in China for a long time; Chinese girls are twice as likely to die in their first year of life as boys (“Infanticide in china,”). Despite the democratic nature of Chinese community, many parents consider that having a son is a crucial element of providing for their old age. Therefore in severe cases, a baby is killed if it is not of the preferred sex, because of the pressure not to have more than one child (BBC). In addition, the absence of a sibling does not define the outcome of a child’s social growth. For the single-child, the nature and structure of his or her family organization can be the adaptation factor for his or her lack of sibling contact. Children with siblings often exchange amongst each other their respective academic and social backgrounds – an advantage that single-children don’t have. Single-children tend to be influenced more by self-absorbed instincts, commanding more attention in their personal homes. Because parents tend to treat their single-child the way standard parents treat their first-born (with more attention and care due to lack of experience), single-children will generally be more relying on their parents and less independent (Xuefeng). As a result of the one-child policy, a single person can be supporting both their parents and their four grandparents. This forces the parents and grandparents to depend more on retirement savings or pensions, which many people don’t have. If those fail, everything depends on the one child. If that child can’t support their family, or if the only one child dies, the parents and grandparents will have no one to help them, and no money to support them. So when they lose their only hope, they will full of depression and no one will be look after them when they get older (rhee71, 2009).

As the essay has analyzed, we can see that this policy had contributed a lot of benefits to the society as well as the family in this past few decades. From my perspective, I think China should maintains this One-Child policy because it will helps China to become more advanced, not only in the economic nor social field, but also to promote the human rights. At the same time, there need to have some changes to this policy such as reformation or ease this policy and allow some family to have their second child regarding their family condition like what Two-Child Policy has adopted in late 2013, by letting the family having their second child if one of their parents is an only child.

References:

CIA. (n.d.). East & Southeast Asia:: China Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ch.html
Pletcher, K. (n.d.). One-child policy, 2014 Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1710568/one-child-policy
Louisa Wah Hansen. (n.d.). One Child Policy: Bane or Boon for Economic Development? Retrieved from http://www.bschool.cuhk.edu.hk/program/article.aspx?id=B07B55F3517C
Jaime FlorCruz. (2011, October 29).China copes with promise and perils of one-child policy. Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/28/world/asia/china-one-child/
Fertility rate. (2014, January 10). Retrieved from http://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&met_y=sp_dyn_tfrt_in&idim=country:CHN&dl=en&hl=en&q=total fertility rate china
World Bank. (n.d.). Population growth rate: China Retrieved from http://www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?v=24&c=ch&l=en
BBC. (2013, November 18). China media: One-child policy. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-24983007
Sam, R. (2013, November 15). Here’s the china demographics chart that actually scares us. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/country-rankings-of-sex-ratio-at-birth-2013-11
National Bureau of Statistics of China. (2011, April 28). Communique of the national bureau of statistics of people’s republic of china on major figures of the 2010 population census[1] (no. 1). Retrieved from http://web.archive.org/web/20131108022004/http://www.stats.gov.cn/english/newsandcomingevents/t20110428_402722244.htm
Infanticide in china. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.allgirlsallowed.org/infanticide-china-statistics
BBC. (n.d.). Female infanticide. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/abortion/medical/infanticide_1.shtml
Xuefeng, C. (n.d.). The social impact of china’s one-child policy. Retrieved from http://web.mit.edu/lipoff/www/hapr/summer03_security/CHEN.pdf
rhee71. (2009, March 25). Disadvantages of china’s one-child policy. Retrieved from http://rhee71.edublogs.org/2009/03/25/disadvantages-of-china’s-one-child-policy/

What are the major milestones related to physical developments in early and middle childhood? Briefly describe these milestones?

There are several milestones connected to physical developments in early as well as middle childhood. Physical developmental change might take place as an outcome of genetically-controlled courses known as maturation, or even as a product of varied environmental factors and learning. However, developmental change most frequently involves an interface between the two. Age-linked development periods and cases in point of defined intervals include: ages 0-1 month (newborn); ages 1 month – 1 year (infant); toddler (ages 1-3 years); ages 4-6years (preschooler); ages 6-13 years (school-aged child) and (ages 13-20) adolescent (Kail, 2006).

Aging which is also a physical development appears to concurrently occur in two major separate domains throughout all of the adulthood stages which include: primary aging and secondary aging. According to Stoker (2008), primary aging entails the ordinary, innate body progression from early maturity till death; but, secondary aging comprise progression linked with health habits, disease and/or environmental influences. During middle age aging begins to be considered in decline and loss in lieu of maturation and growth (Stoker, 2008). Nonetheless, Stoker states that some neurological and physiological advancement associated with it which never passes till early maturity. For example, reaction blockage in the frontal lobes as synchronized by the limbic system is never entirely developed till young adulthood, as well as (VO2 max) heart and lung power which does never get to optimal heights until the young adult years. Stoker (2008) hints that immune functioning related to B cell and T cell also counts young adults’ aging.

In the middle mature age secondary aging starts to have an important effect on the functioning of body neurology and physiology. A case in point is where both behavior and lifestyle choices, like alcoholism and depression, can impact significantly on neurological structure as well as cognitive ability (Stoker, 2008).

During later adulthood, it is realized that the deprivation of dendrite redundancy, do correspond to a fall in synaptic plasticity, which in turn starts to effect concrete real-world reaction times. In addition, presbyopia and presbycusis is far-off more superior during the later adult years. According to Stoker (2008) this is partly due to blood flow loss to the areas affected and collective environmental factors, like time of working in very noisy factories, etc…

The physical developments which come about during adolescence period are brought about through the introduction of gonadotrophic hormones. This hormone is released by the pituitary gland of the endocrine glands, particularly during the onset and the entire duration of puberty (Boyd & Bee, 2006). According to Boyd and Bee (2006), the release of hormones such as testosterone in boys and estrogen in girls do cause the manifestation of both principal and secondary sex uniqueness by about the age of adolescent. Indeed during the first few years of puberty, the male and female reproductive organs matures up and are capable of respectively producing sperm in boys and ovum in girls. In the early adolescence stage, young women do begin their menarche (menstrual cycle). Moreover, the cerebral cortex does thicken for the duration of adolescence and by extension some parts of the brain is myelinated; and brings with it supplementary effectiveness in the neural pathways (Boyd & Bee, 2006).

Physically, there is also a notable heave in both lung and heart size and a decline in the rate of heart beat. In addition, at adolescence the bones situated in the forelimbs mature to nearly adult levels, with maturity startlingly occurring more rapidly in girls than boys. This hand bone maturity gives a timely boost in coordination. On the other hand, boys do outpace girls in development as well as thickening of the muscle during the adolescent ages, resulting into a surge in the strength of boys.

What are the major milestones related to cognitive developments in early and middle childhood? How does cognitive changes from early to middle childhood?

Physical development in a child attracts corresponding augment in cognitive abilities of the cerebral cortex and by extension neural pathways. It is highly believed that correlation exists between physical development and cognitive development. For instance, a French speaking Swiss psychologist, Jean Piaget did trust that the cerebral expansion spurts which occur during adolescence stage of human growth brings with a novel stage of cognitive development which he referred to as the formal operational stage. According to Piaget, during this formal operational stage an adolescent duly begins to grasp both abstract logic and reasoning (Patterson, 2008). Besides, it is during adolescence stage that the aptitude to control memory as well as cognitive activities begins to bear fruits in the areas such as memorization, text learning and even face recognition. Further still, amplifications in working memory competence give the adolescent the capacity to comprehend figurative language, proverbs and metaphors. What’s more, advances in supposed logic permits an adolescent to guess the perceived effect of some actions and even behaviors. According to Patterson (2008), these advances allow for the accomplishment of invented audiences (mainly built from an apparent peer group). In This manner the adolescent has the rare ability to theorize and memorize about other individual’s perceptions and by extension impressions of themselves; while, a little child only manages to view situations, circumstances and behaviors from their personal perspective. Patterson (2008) further hints that cognitive developmental advances are also directly connected to both experience and learning. That this applies mainly to higher-level cognitive abilities like abstraction that relies to a considerable degree on formal education.

What role does Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory and Vygotsky’s Social Constructivist Approach play in understanding cognitive development in early and middle childhood?

Vygotsky was a theorist who posited that children gain knowledge via hands-on experience, just as Jean Piaget promptly suggested. However, as opposed to Jean Piaget, he did argue that prompt as well as responsive involvement by the mature adults once a child is on the periphery of learning a new task might duly assist the child learn new tasks. He called this Social Constructivist Approach which deals with the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). His Social Constructivist Approach helps understand and builds upon the knowledge already children have with the new knowledge that the adults can aid the child to learn (Vygotsky, 1998). A very good example where a parent can assist a child is when the parent “helps” a child to clap or merely roll its hands till it can clap and roll its hands alone (Cultural, Communication, and Cognition: Vygotskian Perspectives, 1985). Vygotsky’s principal focus was on the cultural role in influencing the pattern of the development of the child. Vygotsky claimed that any single function in the cultural development child does appear twice: initially, at the social phase (between people), and later, at the personality stage (inside the child). Vygotsky also posited that cognitive development was a gradual process which saw era of predicament in child growth during which time there is a valuable transformation in the mental functioning of a child (Vygotsky, 1998).

On the other hand, Swiss theorist Jean Piaget did pose reliably that a child learns aggressively via the play process. That it has to interact with the environment. He suggested on that regard that the role of mature adult in helping out the child get knowledge was merely to facilitate and if need be provide suitable learning materials to enable the child to interact with the surrounding and at the same time construct. Piaget actually applied Socratic questioning to engage the child to reflect and reproduce on what initially they were doing. He would attempt to get the child to see inconsistencies in their explanations. He further developed developmental stages. Piaget’s approach is applied in school curriculum sequencing and by extension in the preschool centers of pedagogy.

What are the major milestones related to socioemotional development in early and middle childhood? What types of changes occur in peer relationships from early to middle childhood?

According to Stoker Coy (Sunday, October 4, 2009), there exists 3 levels which bare 2 sub-stages each to give details regarding moral development all through an individual’s lifetimes: 1) Conventional level-Stage i: interpersonal conformity, mutual interpersonal expectations and relationships; Stage ii: conscience and Social system (known as the Law and Order). 2) Preconventional level-Stage i: punishment and obedience orientation; Stage ii: Instrumental purpose, exchange and individualism and finally the Postconventional level-Stage i: Social contract or utility and individual rights; Stage ii: Universal ethical principles. Stoker writes that these progresses in moral reasoning do overlap, concurrently exist, and further begin and end over a lifetime. Nevertheless, he hints that certain general rules applicable are that children never reason usually over stages (i) or (ii) of level 2, and that nearly all adults reason at stages (i) and (ii) of level 1, the Conventional level. It is the third stage, the postconventional moral reasoning stage which is in the immeasurable minority including the adult population. However, it constitutes those who believe that there exist a set of moral pronouncements that surpass all other concerns. Peer friendships turn out to be greatly important and quite central to social world of a child in the adolescent years. Stoker Coy (Sunday, October 4, 2009) writes that adolescents do highly price virtues like loyalty and faithfulness while in peer relationships and even tend to obtain friends with whom they share same beliefs on things like drug use, academic, sex, smoking, achievement, relational status, as well as echelon of social skills. Additionally, peer group conformity climaxes at about the age13 years and apparently fades when an adolescent develops enough self-esteem and consequently begins to build a concrete and substantial idea of self (Stoker Coy (Sunday, October 4, 2009).

To recognize Kohlberg’s justice and also Eisenberg’s empathy Stoker states that the development of emotion as well as moral rationale like role-taking skills, do assist with the control of anger and the evasion of unsociable behavior. In that regard Stoker hints that if an adolescent for instance is able to be taught to see clearly a certain situations from another individual’s perspective, then such a person is a lot more likely to evade delinquent behavior.

How can families impact the development of young children?

Monumentally, families nurture, shape and model children into who they later become. For that matter, good influence can be encouraging whereas bad influence can be motivating. Both types of influences can bare positive and/or negative impact. For instance, a child brought up in an abusive and alcoholic home might grow into a doctor focusing on victims of abuse, or they may perhaps become an abuser or alcoholic themselves. In this case, it can go either way. However, either way it is duly influenced by their family and general background. Besides, if a family have good manner then chances are high the child will emulate and practice it in the future since the child have stages of growth and they grasp ideas swiftly. Without a family, a child never actually knows what is expected of him and/or what to expect from others. Devoid of order and kind, solid discipline, the child might fail to develop self-discipline. As a result, he could become unmotivated, out of control, and crave excitement. His life may well be another roller-coaster journey. Cadigan (April 25, 2008) writes that the attributes that children obtain directly from parents or other mature family members are fourfold. They include personality, physical and cognitive abilities, behavioral health as well as race and/or ethnicity. She suggests that family is obliged to provide both formal and informal support to the child. The child also grasps and eventually acquires physical and cognitive abilities of family members including the members’ behavioral health. Since child forms the basis of learning and apparently children generally learn very first, they acquire learn and get the economic status of the member of their family (Cadigan April 25, 2008). The members of a family should therefore practice desired attributes they would like to be depicted in their infants.

References:

Boyd, D. and Bee, H. (2006). Lifespan development. 4th Ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Allyn Bacon.

Cadigan Karen. (April 25, 2008). Early Childhood Policies from Ecological and Family Impact Perspectives. Retrieved May 23, 2010.

Cultural, Communication, and Cognition: Vygotskian Perspectives. (1985). Cambridge University Press. Retrieved May 23, 2010.

Kail, R.E (2006). Children and Their Development. 4 Ed. Prentice Hall. Retrieved May 23, 2010.

Patterson C (2008). Child Development. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Stoker Coy. (Sunday, October 4, 2009). Adolescence and Adulthood Developmental Stages

Vygotsky, L.S. (1998). Child psychology. The collected works of L. S. Vygotsky: Vol. 5. Problems of the theory and history of psychology. New York: Plenum.

To what extent will recent and proposed changes to the immigration system assist in successful integration of new immigrants?

UK Immigration law has recently seen a metamorphic transition. The new Immigration Rules are now in full swing. It is inevitable that any system that is introduced for the first time will either be very beneficial in the successful integration of new immigrants or will have devastating consequences.

The introduction of the Points Based System (PBS) for new immigrants seeking to work, train or study in the UK replaces the approximate 80 routes of doing either of the above under the present regime. These Immigration categories have now been streamlined into one single immigration system.

Adopting the single system provides clarity in the law and secures a carefully controlled integration of new immigrants. The system is much more straightforward in application. New immigrants can easily ascertain whether they meet the necessary criteria for a particular visa, which will save them time and prevent wastage of costs.

The PBS is divided into 5 Tiers. Tier 1 (General) took effect from June 2008.^[1]. Tiers 2 & 5 have been in force since November 2008. Tier 3 has been temporarily suspended and Tier 4 aims to be incorporated by March 2009. Under each Tier, any prospective immigrant would need to score points in order to attain entry clearance. The points have been set by the Migration Advisory Committee. Instrumental to the PBS is the involvement of sponsorship^[2]. Another change is the requirement of the entry clearance and the knowledge of the English Language.

The objective of Tier 1 is aimed at Highly Skilled Workers (HSW) and the Post Study Work (PSW) schemes, which replaces the former Highly Skilled Migrant Programme, (HSMP) the International Graduates Scheme, (IGS) The Fresh Talent Working in Scotland Scheme and the rules for business-people and innovators, investors, writers, composers and artists^[3].

This Tier has been formed in line with bringing in the, “brightest and the best”^[4]. This is good news for some workers, particularly those that do wish to enter on the PSW. The PSW allows a new worker to remain in the country for a period of 2 years and will benefit from good quality training. Employers were previously reluctant to invest in resource training of new recruits who were required to leave the country after 12 months.

The process under the old HSMP scheme and the new HSW scheme is very different. Points are given on a sliding scale against requirements such as a degree qualification. The new immigrant needs a score of 75 points or more in order to qualify on the scheme and additional 10 points for the knowledge of English. There is also requirement for those that apply outside the UK; that they must have a bank balance of ?2,800 and those within the UK must have ?800.

The purpose is to ensure that the new immigrant is able to support him/herself up until the first salary is received and not be dependant upon Government resources. This minimum financial requirement may appear to be a hindrance for those residing outside the UK.

Tier 1 was questioned where foreign Doctors are concerned in the BAPIO^[5] case. The House of Lords held that the Department of Health guidance defeated a legitimate expectation held by Doctors in training on the previous HSMP that they would not be prevented from undertaking work. Tier 1 states that a doctor will not be able to undertake employment as a doctor in training up until entry clearance is granted. This is therefore, another procedural obstacle for a UK Immigrant.

Tier 2 applies to skilled workers with a job offer and replaces the concept of work permits completely. A skilled foreign worker will obtain 50^[6] points and this will depend upon factors such as the person already being in skilled work as well as having an earning capacity of ?24,000 or having a recognised qualification.

One way for an immigrant to earn 50 points immediately will be if the UK employer in can show that they cannot fill the required skilled post with a British worker and that the job vacancy has been advertised in the UK. This leads onto the employer passing the Resident Labour Market Test, which refers to the job being in shortage occupation.

Tier 2 does not include overseas qualified nurses and midwifes, ground staff of overseas owned airlines, exchange teachers, and language assistants. The list includes a wide range of professionals in the cross section of society, which does not help with the integration of new immigrants with these qualifications.

In R v SSHD^[7] the Judge raised a concern with the new law regarding highly skilled migrants and those immigrants who have already obtained entry clearance and have not secured a job will constitute as racial discrimination. The Home Office has incorporated the judgement. The previous rules will apply to those UK immigrants who have been adversely affected by the change in law. This is good news for those immigrants that fall under this category.

Alongside Tier 2 is the requirement of the certificate of sponsorship which has to be issued to the prospective employer. Prior to this, the Company will have to firstly be registered with the UK Border Agency so that it can obtain a sponsorship license.

Skilled workers will be discouraged from coming to the UK and if an organisation is called into question, if faces losing its license and any immigrant working would be required to leave the country within a period of 28 or 60 days. The procedure of carrying out this process is set to cause serious delay to the recruitment of key immigrants and employers will risk losing access to a pool of talent on an international level.

Tier 4 only applies to students as overseas ‘adults’. The immigrant must pass a maintenance test and produce supporting documents such as educational qualifications. The long term plan for Autumn 2009 is the emergence of the an IT system to support the student visa route. Whether the overseas ‘adult’ option excludes a section of student is yet to be decided.

Tier 5 is currently in existence where temporarily workers wish to come to the UK for primarily non-economic reasons. UK Immigrant must be awarded 30 points and savings of at least ?800. This again may be difficult for some workers who only essentially work on a ’temporary’ basis.

The actual criteria to meet has not considerably changed but what has reformed is the legal process. This will have a negative affect on those immigrants that will want to appeal against the decisions and the Asylum Immigration Tribunal(AIT). The Government has produced a consultation paper^[8], which proposes to revise the scope for Judicial Review, which will have the prevent the applicant’s right to appeal to the High Court, following a decision of the AIT.

The law could deter new immigrants from applying and discriminates against highly skilled individuals who hold the qualifications but not the job to go with it or the financial standing . The law has already been ’tweaked’ in its initial stages that could open up the floodgates for UK immigrants to question other areas of the new law.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

1. Clayton, G (2008) Immigration and Asylum Law (3^rd Edition) Oxford University Press, Oxford

2.Jackson, D Warr, G, Cole, J.0., Middleton, J (2008) Immigration Law and Practice, (4th Edition) Tottel Publishing

Journals/Articles

Home Office Border & Immigration Agency, (2008) The Path to Citizenship: next steps in reforming the Immigration System

Home Office Border & Immigration Agency (2008) Students under the Points Tier System -(Tier 4)- Implementation Plan

Home Office UK Border Agency, Consultation: Immigration Appeals, Fair Decisions; Faster Justice, August 2008

Berry, M (2007) Are your employees eligible to work in the UK?-EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation – Broadway House – Tothill Street – London

Websites

http://www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/

http://www.oup.com/uk/orc/bin/9780199238668/ -updates on Clayton, G (2008) Immigration on Asylum Law (3^rd Edition) Oxford University Press, Oxford

Legislation

Immigration Rules

Border & Immigration Agency 2007

Case Law

R (on the application of BAPIO Action Ltd & another) v SSHD and another [2008] UKHL 27

R(on the application of HSMP Forum Ltd v SSHD [2008] EWHC 004 (Admin)