Families in a Global Context Essay Example for Free

Families in a Global Context Essay In the context of the twenty-first century, the entire world is going through changes in almost every walk of life. There has been a fast development in the domains of education and technological advances especially with the arrival of inventions like computer, the Internet, and other communication devices based on extensive space exploration. Global trends are being referred to the world’s next culture, a state of life in which the entire world seems to share common values, ethics in all genres of life, and so forth. At large, new ideologies are emerging and old ones are being retried. This is impacting the structure of global life on the whole and countries both technologically advanced and developing (or not so technologically advanced) are facing new challenges to cope up with the emerging trends and ideologies. One such challenge present to the whole world is the changing family life and structure which is apparently noticeable in the developed as well as the developing countries of the world. This challenge is mainly credited to the wave of globalization. The present paper, henceforth, looks into this issue. It examines family structure in a technologically advanced country (i. e. , the United States of America for our case) and in a developing country (India in this instance), and then attempts to arrive at solid conclusions as in what ways the thrashing wave of globalization is impacting family life and/or structure of these countries. 1- Challenges Confronted by Indian Families India is one country in the world which is unique for its multiculturalism and expansion. The view of globalization by people from India, especially the Hindus, is that of is multi-faceted, that is to say, they see a number of implications from this emerging trend. The basic view of the Indian way of life is that of pluralism, cultural enrichment, and religious unity. As such these trends have long been rooted in the family structure of India. However, the trend of globalization has given different outlook to Indian families. They face a lot of challenges. The major trends in Indian lifestyles like spirituality and other religious matters are being shattered by the trend of globalization. The peaceful view of Indian people that they hold about other religions has been misused. As such, the tolerance of Indian people has caused a lot of shaking in the context of the twenty-first century. Their culture and traditions are being threatened by globalization, something that Indian people have yet to realize and stand to fight it. For example, with the advent of global business multinational companies, the entire nation is at risk because by global business, the essence of spirituality is at stakes since business has brought up the wave of materialism. Moreover, commercialism is changing human value system in Indian culture mainly because of popular culture (â€Å"junk food like coca cola, movies saturated with sex and violence, and an adulation of athletes and movie stars as the most desirable human types†). All this, in collective way, affecting the family structure of Indian life. Although there are a number of TV channels, the Indian people have yet to realize the actual stand for media and communication which tells of their simplicity and unwillingness to sense danger which is threatening their centuries-old cultural and customary lifestyle: â€Å"There has been little organized Hindu response to globalization†. Although social efforts to guard Indian lifestyle have been initiated (for example, the Swadhyaya movement), it will not incorrect to say that it is not enough on the face of the giant of globalization by the Indians are still not using media efficiently (Internet is the exception here) which simply gives rise to exotic channels, the culture propagated in these channels bringing to Indian life and family structure newer threats each day. (Frawley, p. 20, 2001) If we look at the demographics related to Indian family structure and growth, we will fairly see difference between the two times: the recent time when globalization has taken place in India; the time in the past when this trend was not present. According Niranjan et al. (2005), from 1961 to 1999, the average family size in India has dropped by 5. 4 percent. According to the authors, this is 1. 4 percent higher than the family size decline in China which straightforwardly suggests that Indian family structure is moving toward the trend of nuclear family structure, a by-product of globalization. Research by Niranjan et al. (2005) suggests some important key factors that were significantly present while keeping the family structure along with past traditions. Major predictors that have been found for joint family are ownership of land and economic status. Such families stay joint in contrast to those who don’t have ownership of land and higher economic status. Globalization, as such, has played a significant role in bringing means by which people can gain material comfort and thus tend to live in nuclear families. See in this way, it becomes clear that Indian family structure is facing great challenges on the verge of globalization. As globalization seems to bring in exotic trends and practices, both social and economical, Indian family structure is going through a change: something that is the essence of western lifestyle. Families in the United States of America According to Olsen (2007) states that though the Unites State of America has often been regarded as rudimentary, it is basically the â€Å"quintessential liberal ‘social safety net’ providing a relatively restricted range of social protections and services, meager income benefits, and few programs as a right of citizenship or residence† (p. 143). This suggests that family support in the United States of America, a technologically advanced and developed country, is not something to be satisfactory about. USA is the only country in the capitalist world of advanced countries that has never offered a universal family allowance program to its citizens. This country’s family policy, instead, relies on targeted, means-tested segments like Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) later replaced by the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). However, according to (2006), US family structuring faced a lot of pressure as it is up to the present on a number of fronts both internal and external. According to the author, the boom in economic status of US family system came up after World War II when Japanese and European manufacturing industries went thought a devastation of war: â€Å"Progressive taxation policies redistributed income from corporations and high earners to policies and public investments† benefited middle class families as well as the working class families. This was the time when globally US family structure was one of the highest enjoying part of social structure in the United States of America as well as the rest of the world (Polaski, p. 02, 2007). The US government initiated such programs as Medicare and Medicaid that benefited the family sustain a balanced lifestyle with standard of living was steadily moving on the upward curve. It was the time when global community saw a fast emerging middle class family structure in the United States of America that entertained higher livings standards. Then things started moving on the downslide as the Japanese and European manufacturing industries came to compete in the global market with the US, US spending on Vietnam War, and other such factors contributed to building economic pressure on the US family living standards that brought changes in the social networking and framework. With the emergence of globalization the US families, especially the middle class families, saw a decline in the living standards: â€Å"Globalization revealed and exacerbated, rather than created, the basic problems with the U. S. system† (Polaski, p. 03, 2007). Social safety became a problem particularly for the US social structure as in a number of areas like health insurance and portable pensions. The author cites a recent IMF study that states that although the share of labor from all the advanced countries of the world has declined globally in the last twenty years, European workers are still enjoying a bigger share of the wealth of their countries than the workers in the US. Although Europe also faces pressure by globalization, it does have safety net for the social structuring of their people. On the other hand, then United States of America is dangling with uncertainty. However, the author notes that there is some link with policy making of the advanced countries with those of the developing countries. In this regard the author gives an example of agricultural policy in the United States (and other advanced countries) that has indirect effect of farming activities of a developing country, say India or Pakistan in this case. What happens that, â€Å"The United States and other wealthy countries offer agricultural subsidies to their farmers that induce overproduction, with the surpluses sold below cost to the rest of the world. This causes prices for farm goods to fall in the developing world, lowering the incomes of already poor farmers or forcing them off the land† (Polaski, p. 03, 2007). Seen from this perspective, it is right to suggest that policies in advanced countries do make the developing countries and their people suffer from high to low challenges a number of them are not recoverable which means that solid policy making must start from the region of agricultural reforms and policy revision so that developing nations do not need to suffer more on the hands of wealthy countries. Both Countries Explored in the above line, what I have analyzed is that both these countries face challenges in the family structuring and economic domain. Indian family structure is tending toward independent nuclear family; whereas, US family structure is going through a change from higher to lower living standards. Both these countries have been affected by the trend of globalization in negative as well as positive ways. For the Unites States, globalization has brought more education, shift from manufacturing to service industry (Polaski, 2007); then for India, globalization has brought stability in a number of areas in which computer technology and skills related to it are worth mentioning here because today India is the only country in the whole world which has the highest number of computer technician that work both in the country and overseas contributing to the nation’s collective income. Frawley, p. 20, 2001). Now that the trend of globalization demands from them is that both the countries need to work together to make such policies as can benefit the family structure in both the countries along with economical and social stability. Conclusion Although it is right to state that globalization has benefited the whole world in one way or another, it is also right to remark that a number of things have struck the world from the negative side. For this case India is the most glaring example because with the advent of materialism, global business practices, popularity of Hollywood movies, and materialism the centuries-old joint family structure whole over India is fast declining at an alarming rate. Compared with the United States of American, it comes to our critical notice that family structure in these two countries have different problems from each other. One country has family system as joint; while the other country is essentially nuclear. One is less educated country with majority being poor; whereas USA is a highly affluent country whose people are literate on the global standards. The challenges these two countries face in globalization are also different. India needs to boost up its economy by developing its industry, human capital, industrial structure, and so forth; USA has to make such policies as do not harm countries like India. References Frawley, D. (2001). Hindu response to globalization. International Journal of Humanities and Peace 17 (1) 20+. Niranjan, S., Nair, S. , Roy, T. K. (2005). Socio-Demographic analysis of the size and structure of the family in India. Journal of Comparative Family Studies 36 (4) 623+. Olsen, G. M. (2007). Toward global welfare state convergence? : Family policy and health care in Sweden, Canada and the United States. Journal of Sociology Social Welfare 34 (2). 143+. Polaski, S. (2007). U. S. living standards in an ear of globalization. Accessed May 11, 2008 from: http://www. carnegieendowment. org/files/pb_53_polaski__us_living_standards_final. pdf

McMurphy as Hero of Ken Keseys One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest :: One Flew Over Cuckoos Nest

McMurphy as Hero of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest A hero is considered to be any man noted for courage or nobility of Purpose; especially, one who has risked or sacrificed his life. In Ken Kesey's novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the reader can see how McMurphy is a prime example of a hero. McMurphy's strength embodies a heroic devotion to the other acutes on the ward. There were no heroes on the psychiatric ward until McMurphy's arrival. McMurphy gave the patients courage to stand against a truncated concept of masculinity, such as Nurse Ratched. For example, Harding states, "No ones ever dared to come out and say it before, but there is not a man among us that does not think it. That doesn't feel just as you do about her, and the whole business feels it somewhere down deep in his sacred little soul." McMurphy did not only understand his friends/patients, but understood the enemy who portrayed evil, spite, and hatred. McMurphy is the only one who can stand against the Big Nurse's oppressive supreme power. Chief explains this by stating, "To beat her you don't have to whip her two out of three or three out of five, but every time you meet. As soon as you let down your guard, as sson as you loose once, she's won for good. And eventually we all got to lose. Nobody can help that." McMuprhy's struggle for hte patient's free will is a disrup tion to Nurse Ratched's social order. Though she holds down her guard she yet is incapable of controlling what McMurphy is incontrollable of , such as his friends well being, to the order of Nurse Ratched and the Combine. Even though McMurphy's own sacrifice of life is the price of his victory, he still attempts to push the ward patients to hold thier own personal opinions and fight for what is ethically right. For instinace, McMurphy states, "But I tried though,' he says. 'Goddammit, I sure as hell id that much, now didn't I?" McMurphy strains to bring the 'fellas' courage and determination in a place full of inadequacy and "perfection." McMurphy obtains a lot of courage in maintaining his own sort of personal integrity, and trying to keep the guys' intergrity and optimistic hope up.

Monopsony and Taste-for-Discrimination Model

(1) Monopsony is an economic situation when there are a number of sellers but only one buyer (monopsonist) in the market. Monopsony can be considered as the model symmetrical to market monopoly, and at monopsonic market not the sellers but buyer can determine the price of the goods in the market. A monopsonist can regulate market price by varying the amount of goods he buys. That is why the price which monopsonist is ready to pay for the goods will be lower than it can be in any competitive market. The concept of Monopsony was introduced in 1933 by Joan Violet Robinson, a British economist and creator of the theory of imperfect competition. She conducted a series of researches on different economic issues, the results of which were publicized in her book The Economics of Imperfect Competition.   She also studied the dynamics of MC and MRP curves in the situation of monopsonic market and compared those with the dynamics of the corresponding curves in terms of competitive markets. (2) Taste-for-Discrimination model was created by an American economist Gary Becker, who is famous for his studying and interpreting economic concepts from sociological points of view. The model was introduced in the 1950s and described the behavior of employer, which is ready to have extra expenses in order to be associated with some group of the employees instead of another group. Originally, Becker made this assumptions referring to racial discrimination, but the model may be applied not only to racial determinant. Undoubtedly, such situation in the market can bring to lowering the wages of discriminated groups, though the productivity of all the groups will remain equal. Thus, discriminated employees will have lower utility. Correspondently, monetary profits of non-discriminatory companies will be higher than those of discriminatory companies.   In addition, it will affect economic equity, because the companies at the market will tend to segregate the groups of workers in long run period if the customers are ready to pay for the â€Å"taste†. References Robinson, Joan Violet. (2004) The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. NY: Columbia University Press. Schwab, S. J. (1999). Employment Discrimination [Brochure]. Cornell University School of Law. Ithaca, NY.

Mass Media and Its Influence in Shaping Ideas Essay

Dramatic advances in mass communication and transportation during the past 50 years have truly created a global village; a mass society. Things occurring anywhere are now quickly known everywhere. Mass media both overwhelm us with information and help us to sort it out. The development of mass media has had a great influence on our lives. We have come to depend on it for information and so forth. In doing so, we allowed it to affect important aspects of our lives. Media, why is it has been a hot topic of discussion in our nowadays society? We find that in our country, Malaysia, the mass media plays a very crucial role in influencing and changing the thinking of our current society. Taking this one issue as an example; the issue that has been a viral recently, which is Public Resurrection Rally or also known as Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat. Apart of being famously spread through media in internet such as online news and videos, surely the main mass media including television, radio and newspaper also made a wide coverage on this issue no matter they are supporting it or not. However, for sure when they differ in their goals and interests, hence the way they report about the issues also differ. This different ways of reporting thus causes varying acceptance in society. Quoting one finding by Shanto Iyengar in his book entitle ‘Is Anyone Responsible? ’ while he was doing an evaluation on the effects brought by news on television concerning political issues, he found that the carriage of the issue through the news on the TV has developed an understanding of the general public towards the political problems occurred. Meaning to say here, it could be the media who the one creating the issue permitted, or it could be media too who provides the solution for it. We cannot deny the enormity of the power and influence of the media in shaping the flow of thinking of our society. When there is only one issue raised by the media, then the issue will also be followed by the society either through their leisure or through serious discussion, through their words, as well as through their status shared on Facebook or Twitter. And that’s why, Iyenger again mentioned together with his friend; Donald Kinder in ‘News That Matters’, â€Å"when television news focuses on a problem, the public’s priorities are altered, and altered again as television news moves on to something new. † Sometimes, the issue raised is only one. However, different ways of putting up the stories may cause different way of viewpoint. It may be that with dealing on an issue will make people have a good look toward one party or side. Meanwhile, it can also be that with another way of handling an issue may causes people to have bad sentiment at one side. Mass media, if they are honest, thus the true way of thinking can be mould among the society. Conversely, if they deviate and go off from the principle they should be, then so goes the pattern of thinking that will exist in the community. Thinking of how great is the influence of media in determining the current mindset of society; media thus should be honest and trustworthy in carrying any issue or theme into the community. Seeing the reality of nowadays media, it is not easy for them to stand as a natural institution or unequivocal to any party. When the media were in favour of any party, then the way they play with an issue or problem will always favour to the side they support. Sometimes, mistakes and glares made by the side supported no matter how big would it be are usually hidden or removed by creating offense related to the other side which have different ideology or schools of thought. Any media if it is used for the benefit of one party, surely it will be a mouthpiece of the party. Hence, all reports, news, issues taken will surely favour them. Media should act as a tool to educate the community. Media plays an important role in developing the mindset of society, whether to form a good and clean mindset or the other way around. Media should not be exploited to manipulate people to have the wrong way of thinking. The effect will lead to duping of the society itself.

How Odds Are Related to Probability

How Odds Are Related to Probability Many times the odds of an event occurring are posted. For example, one might say that a particular sports team is a 2:1 favorite to win the big game. What many people do not realize is that odds such as these are really just a restatement of the probability of an event. Probability compares the number of successes to the total number of attempts made. The odds in favor of an event compares the number of successes to the number of failures.  In what follows, we will see what this means in greater detail. First, we consider a little notation. Notation for Odds We express our odds as a ratio of one number to another. Typically we read ratio A:B as A to B. Each number of these ratios can be multiplied by the same number. So the odds 1:2 is equivalent to saying 5:10. Probability to Odds Probability can be carefully defined using set theory and a few axioms, but the basic idea is that probability uses a real number between zero and one to measure the likelihood of an event occurring. There are a variety of ways to think about how to compute this number. One way is to think about performing an experiment several times. We count the number of times that the experiment is successful and then divide this number by the total number of trials of the experiment. If we have A successes out of a total of N trials, then the probability of success is A/N. But if we instead consider the number of successes versus the number of failures, we are now calculating the odds in favor of an event. If there were N trials and A successes, then there were N - A B failures. So the odds in favor are A to B. We can also express this as A:B. An Example of Probability to Odds In the past five seasons, crosstown football rivals the Quakers and the Comets have played each other with the Comets winning twice and the Quakers winning three times. On the basis of these outcomes, we can calculate the probability the Quakers win and the odds in favor of their winning. There was a total of three wins out of five, so the probability of winning this year is 3/5 0.6 60%. Expressed in terms of odds, we have that there were three wins for the Quakers and two losses, so the odds in favor of them winning are 3:2. Odds to Probability The calculation can go the other way. We can start with odds for an event and then derive its probability. If we know that the odds in favor of an event are A to B, then this means that there were A successes for A B trials. This means that the probability of the event is A/(A B ). An Example of Odds to Probability A clinical trial reports that a new drug has odds of 5 to 1 in favor of curing a disease. What is the probability that this drug will cure the disease? Here we say that for every five times that the drug cures a patient, there is one time where it does not. This gives a probability of 5/6 that the drug will cure a given patient. Why Use Odds? Probability is nice, and gets the job done, so why do we have an alternate way to express it? Odds can be helpful when we want to compare how much larger one probability is relative to another. An event with a probability 75% has odds of 75 to 25. We can simplify this to 3 to 1. This means that the event is three times more likely to occur than not occur.

My Diamond Ring Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

My Diamond Ring - Assignment Example The essay "My Diamond Ring" describes the fashion item, the Diamond Ring. My family had paid her a visit during one of the Easter vacations. In a remarkable manner, there was a unique bond shared between my grandmother and I. Every member of the family commented about our relation. Arguably, it suggested that I had won her tender spot. The ring only assisted in the cementing of the suggestion. Grandmother disclosed that she had received the ring form our late grandfather as a special present for her birthday. She further disclosed that she saw the little her in my personality, hence the kind gesture. I felt humbled by the present. I wear the ring in exceptional days that mark an excellence in life. Such includes occasions that exemplify my achievements such as graduations and birthdays. I tend to be persuaded that the ring offers a touch of greatness upon being worn. The perception may be related to the impression I had shared towards my grandmother. I once lost the ring after my you nger sibling played a trick on me while on the onset of my thirteenth birthday. I was extremely anxious over the loss. I found myself combing my entire room in search for the ring. Apparently, I used to place it on my drawer to my cloth closet. I cannot recollect the number of times I pulled the drawer in search of the ring. Eventually, my sibling disclosed of the folly, leaving me rather agitated while the rest of the family found the entire scenario rather humorous. I established a secret place for storing my exceptional ring.

Geothermal Energy Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Geothermal Energy - Case Study Example ates electrical power by utilizing the thermal energy from earth and converting it to the electrical energy by utilizing the methods utilized in a thermal power plant. To generate the power, long alloyed pipes that have higher resistivity against the corrosion and high temperatures and pressure are bored deep down into the earth’s crust to make the geothermal energy usable. When water is allowed to run into theses pipes, the geothermal energy makes the temperature of the water to shoot to a level where it converts into steam. Several geothermal power plants are working in the world to provide an uninterrupted power to different locations in the world. Geothermal grounds are parts where two tectonic plates meet. However, the energy can also be gathered without having the geothermal grounds by boring the pipes into the earth crust and marinating a heat exchange. Geothermal energy can be utilized for the majority of energy application like electricity generation, heating the water to be supplied to the homes and industry (DeGunther 2008). If considering the economic aspect of the energy source, it has enough potential to provide the energy to the world. It is type of green power and has a potential that cannot be counted but it has more than the potential to meet the all the energy requirements of the world (Mock, Tester & Wright 1997). In hotter regions it can also be utilized to maintain the temperature of home lower to certain degrees, as the temperature of the earth remains constant to 20-25o C. The operational cost associated to the geothermal power plants is comparatively low. While having so much advantages of the geothermal energy, there are some disadvantages of utilizing the geothermal energy. As the geothermal energy is made usable by digging deep down into the earth, the cost of the digging sometimes rises to an unmanageable way. Sometimes the expected amount of geothermal energy differs to the actual amount due to the lack of technology. Sometimes