Cultural Stereotypes as Reflected in Literature Essay

Cultural Stereotypes as Reflected in Literature - Essay Example In the same way as the concept of stereotyping had been introduced in the first paragraph, stereotyping is defined as â€Å"making generalizations or assumptions about the characteristics of all members of a group based on an image (often wrong) about what people in that group are like,† (Burger and Els 105). Certain observed qualities have been used to describe a certain group of objects or people and that is stereotyping. It is possible that a person had just seen some people wearing glasses study very hard and that person might generalize that all people are nerds. In reality, that is not the case as people may get blurry eyes due to aging, computer eye strain and other eye diseases. In such practice, a person or people are placed in certain categories using certain criteria like a color of the skin, nationality, religion, ethnic race and even gender and sexual orientation (Cook and Cusack 10). In using categories to group people with the prevailing image, discrimination is inevitable. In line with discrimination come prejudices and pains. As discrimination becomes rampant because of stereotyping, the treatment balance among people have been subjected to several stresses and strains as people are judged for qualities that do not make up their whole selves. People are judged for skin color like black, discriminated for their sexual orientation like being gay, offended for being immigrants, punished for practicing their religious rituals, and hurt for on-going wars where peace is not an option (Kruhm and Wirths 1).

Human Resources Management Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Human Resources Management - Case Study Example This outlet has more permanent employees and less of casual workers and this requires at least 80 workers to be laid off. This raises significant questions about the manner in which redundancy should be handled by the human resource department in Wordsmiths. There are certain legal issues that she has to consider before making a strategic plan on redundancy. ... had been charged with making workers redundant by discrimination on the basis of age.3 HRIMS and workforce data HRIS helps in storing and reviewing data with respect to effectively manage the workforce. Prior to configuring the HRIMS, Gemma should strive to understand the requirements, opinions and concerns of the workforce.4 The HRIS system should be configured to have maximum possible information about the workforce. Some critical information which Gemma needs to configure would be the information about the workforce in Mainly Books including payroll (payroll accounting and time reporting), managing workforce (commencement, termination and exits of employees), system integration and maintenance (managing software updates and system regulations, managing the interfaces of the system).5 The workforce data can include a plethora of information about the employees in Mainly Books. The information on employees has to start from simple aspects like employee name, address, family details, qualifications, attributes, joining date to highly complex aspects which helps in easing decision making. Such complex aspects may include restructuring, training, internal promotions, on-boarding, performance management, external hiring (in this case for payroll), outsourcing details, succession planning, talent analytics and workforce planning, leadership development, career development and employee retention and engagement . One of the main challenges faced by Gemma is that the company acquired did not maintain any information on human resources. Hence, she will have to speak to the store managers for getting data with respect to payroll. Most of the employee personal data will be found from the store managers. After careful discussion with store managers certain training gaps need to

American government Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

American government - Essay Example Age is another factor where the young tend not to vote considering perhaps that their voting would not make a difference showing a lack of understanding or trust in the system. Older voters, over the age of 45, tend to vote more as an age group. More recently, statistics have shown that citizens over the age of 60 have voted more than in the past (Cummings and Wise 328). Religion plays a role in voter participation as religious groups tend to reach out to their communities in organized action (Cummings and Wise 328). Finally, another socioeconomic factor is behavior of marginalized groups, who like religious groups, would gravitate towards community based campaigns. Also, a number of marginalized groups may feel disenfranchised and not participate in voting at all (Hay 20). Objectivity and bias in the press and the Court’s protection of its freedom: Objectivity in reporting means that the reporter strips away any personal bias and produces a report which is based on facts, is convincing, espouses human values, presents a fair context and has views from all parties concerned. In practice, however, it is easier said than done. When the founder of Christian Broadcasting Network, CBN, Pat Robertson, lost in his bid to win Republican nomination for presidential candidate in 1988, he came back to his network and accused the â€Å"liberal media establishment† of â€Å"masking their basic bias† while claiming objectivity (Vaughn 98). CBN is a network that appeals to the Christian right and conservative political agenda. The â€Å"establishment† he referred to were the three major networks considered liberal, ABC, CBS and NBC. So which side was biased ? It seems the answer lies in what the reader or viewer himself believes in but it is still important for a journalist associated with any organization to have made an attempt to be objective (Hachten XV). On another

Human Resources Management Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Human Resources Management - Case Study Example This outlet has more permanent employees and less of casual workers and this requires at least 80 workers to be laid off. This raises significant questions about the manner in which redundancy should be handled by the human resource department in Wordsmiths. There are certain legal issues that she has to consider before making a strategic plan on redundancy. ... had been charged with making workers redundant by discrimination on the basis of age.3 HRIMS and workforce data HRIS helps in storing and reviewing data with respect to effectively manage the workforce. Prior to configuring the HRIMS, Gemma should strive to understand the requirements, opinions and concerns of the workforce.4 The HRIS system should be configured to have maximum possible information about the workforce. Some critical information which Gemma needs to configure would be the information about the workforce in Mainly Books including payroll (payroll accounting and time reporting), managing workforce (commencement, termination and exits of employees), system integration and maintenance (managing software updates and system regulations, managing the interfaces of the system).5 The workforce data can include a plethora of information about the employees in Mainly Books. The information on employees has to start from simple aspects like employee name, address, family details, qualifications, attributes, joining date to highly complex aspects which helps in easing decision making. Such complex aspects may include restructuring, training, internal promotions, on-boarding, performance management, external hiring (in this case for payroll), outsourcing details, succession planning, talent analytics and workforce planning, leadership development, career development and employee retention and engagement . One of the main challenges faced by Gemma is that the company acquired did not maintain any information on human resources. Hence, she will have to speak to the store managers for getting data with respect to payroll. Most of the employee personal data will be found from the store managers. After careful discussion with store managers certain training gaps need to

The Prevalence of Imperialism in the Modern World Essay Example for Free

The Prevalence of Imperialism in the Modern World Essay Imperialism is a policy of conquering and ruling other lands usually with a motive of resources or land. Two well-known examples of imperialism lie in the movie, Avatar, and in the Belgian King Leopold’s deceitful conquest of the Congo. The two stories both have similar actions when it comes to the conquerors decisions, but it was a bit more different when it came to the native people’s reactions and way they were treated by the â€Å"imperialists† against the threat of imperialism. The two examples used to help better understand what and how Imperialism works is in actual history, when Leopold took over the Congo; in the popular film, Avatar. Starting with Leopold’s reign of the Congo, the main motive behind Leopold’s campaign was resources. At first he wanted ivory and then he found out there was more economical promise with the invention of cars, and car tires need a lot of rubber. Leopold set out to enslave the people of the Congo to become the rubber harvesters for his economy, razed their villages to the ground for an easily obtained plantation foundation, and paid them just enough to survive. This situation in history differs from Avatar because the native people, the na’vi, were not enslaved. In Avatar, the â€Å"imperialists† in the plot are the humans and also want a precious resource called unobtanium, which also provides huge economic promise selling for twenty-million a kilo. In both examples, the â€Å"imperialists† are in it for the resources and could probably care less about the natives. The difference between the examples caring and not caring is that in Leopold’s situation, he lies to the world saying he is going to help the natives; give it civilization with schools and medicine, all of which he did not attempt. Whereas in Avatar, the scientists, which were one group (or side) of the human â€Å"imperialists† which did try to give them schools, roads and modernization. The leader of the humans stated, â€Å"We tried to give them everything, but they like mud.† The attempt to give the na’vi the education and such that the humans obtained failed, so like Leopold’s reign, they brought the violent approach to the natives of Pandora. Another similarity between the examples was that the â€Å"imperialists† had major technological advancements over the na’vi and the people of the Congo. This allowed them to keep in power (the imperialists) and have an advantage in any uprisings that had occurred. Both parties’ â€Å"imperialists† had the same idea of Darwinism, in which they think they are better than another in almost every aspect. The final aspect of these examples is that Leopold’s men did inhumane things to the people of the Congo, maiming them and killing them for sport, whereas the humans in Avatar destroyed sacred places of the na’vi. The two parties may have taken different approaches when attacking the native peoples, but the same outcome occurr ed. This outcome was heavy demoralization. Destroying their culture influenced the native people’s will to resist the technologically superior imperialists. All the above factors gave the imperialists advantages in some situations but also things to be ashamed of. Imperialism, when found in history or is used in pop culture, has more or less the same motives, resources. The need for resources is apparent in the above example of history and in the popular movie, Avatar; could be foreshadowing the long term effects of Imperialism on our world.

Gender Differences in Crime

Gender Differences in Crime Criminal patterns by women and by men have both similarities and differences. Women and men are more prone to committing minor substance abuse and property crimes, rather than serious ones like murder or robbery. The main gender disparity in criminal activity is that men commit offenses at a higher rate than women do, except for prostitution (Heidensohn). Gender difference is more distinct in serious crimes, while it is least discernible in petty ones, which is a phenomenon called gender gap in offending (Rennison, 2009, p. 172). Particularly, it has been evidenced that 19% of criminal act perpetrators are women, yet they are also more likely victims of crime: as of late 2009, two women are slain every week by a former or current partner, and 44% of violent crimes against females are domestic (White, 2010). Meanwhile, women have been imprisoned for offenses like possession of stolen property, theft and drug charges. Other characteristics of female offenders include, (i) 15% have been confined to a psychiatric hospital, (ii) 40% have been drug-dependent since the year prior to their imprisonment, (iii) 20% have been in rehabilitation (White, 2010). A new focus of criminology is the study of criminal careers and although research on this topic has been limited to violent offenses, it has been established that (i) women perpetrate violent crimes to a much lesser degree than males; (ii) the criminal careers of violent women start and reach its peak a bit earlier than men; and (iii) to thoroughly comprehend the gender gap in crime, variables such as age and gender must be taken into account (Rennison, 2009). According to Callie Marie Rennison, race has always played an essential role in violent offending (175). She pointed out that minorities make up a large population of offenders. For instance, Rennison cites data from the U.S. Department of Justice gleaned from arrest reports and victimization surveys attesting that Blacks are disproportionately found among violent offenders (Rennison, 2007, p. 175). She also lamented the fact that studies on gender gap have largely omitted gender and age, and joins the call for moving beyond simple comparisons of offending by gender (Rennison, 2007, p. 175). Evidence attests that there is a substantial overlapping in the social perspective of criminal acts perpetrated by men and women (Hall, 2009, p. 5). To note, it has been proven that female and male offenders both usually have low socio-economic standing, come from minority groups, unemployed or under-employed, and poorly-educated (Hall, 2007). In light of these social implications on gender disparity in crime, there have been questions on whether biological factors could be stronger determinants in crime as compared to social factors. Here is a look at the differing theories on crime and gender disparity. Traditional theories about gender disparity in crime are, Anomie, Labeling and Personality Theory. Anomie postulates that females commit crimes at a lower rate than males because they are less subjected to cultural pressures to achieve success materially (Hall, 2007). In Labeling, parental acceptance of violence, neighborhood and home violence all increase the odds that a male will be involved in crime and violence (Ramoutar and Farrington, 2005.) Males who have had episodes of severe punishments at home for misdemeanors were less likely to commit property crimes or violent offenses. Meanwhile, men who were labeled negatively by people in his environment, and men who had poor self-esteems, were twice as likely to participate in violent and property crimes (Ramoutar and Farrington, 2005, p. 563) On the other hand, women who perceived that they were negatively labeled tended to participate in violent crimes, but females who have been at the receiving end of violence were more likely to be involved in both petty and violent crimes (Ramoutar and Farrington, 2005.) In contrast with their male counterparts, being subjected to severe punishments at home due to misdemeanors, increased females tendency to commit violent crimes. The most dominant personality dimensions that are associated with crime are self-centered orientation, low empathy, venturesomeness and impulsivity (Ramoutar and Farrington, 2005, p. 558). Male offenders were characterized by enjoyment of intense and new endeavors, as well as by risk taking all descriptive of venturesomeness. They also had low rates of empathy. In female offenders, venturesomeness and impulsivity were reasons for criminal behavior; and, self-centeredness increased female offending by 100%. Female offenders were not characterized by low empathy and low empathy (Ramoutar and Farrington, 2005). Biological Perspective The biological perspective on gender differences in crime rate points out that genetics determines the criminal behavior of a person. Neurochemicals trigger the behavioral tendencies and patterns in the human brain. One of these neurochemicals, monoamine oxidase (MOA), is linked to antisocial behavior: low levels of monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) cause disinhibition, which, in turn, can result in aggression and impulsivity (Jones 2005). MOA has intertwining functions with other neurochemicals that have already been associated with criminal and antisocial behavior, like dopamine, serotonin, epinephrine and norepinephrine. Dopamine, epinephrine and norepinephrine are also closely linked with the personality factor of psychosis (Jones 2005). On the other hand, serotonin affects brain development, and low levels of serotonin plays a significant role in triggering bipolar disorder, anxiety and depression. Moreover, serotonin is closely linked with aggression, which can be a trigger for criminal behavior. Dopamine is one of the neurotransmitters of the brain that provides feelings of pleasure, and thus, motivates people to do certain acts. A study conducted by Katherine Morley and Dwayne Hall in 2003 showed that there is an association between violent offenders and the dopaminergic pathway (Morley and Hall, 2003). Basing on these information, it could also be plausible that genetics plays a role in criminal behavior. Hence, supporters of the biological theory in criminal behavior assert that crime rates may be curbed by monitoring offspring and immediate family of known criminals, so that they may be tested for MAO (Morley and Hall, 2003). On the other hand, critics point out that this is not easy to accomplish because of m oral implications youngsters could be classified as potential criminals even if they have not committed any offense yet. Also, there is the ever present fear that governments may start using drugs to wage battle against crime, instead of addressing relevant social problems. It is important to recall that gender disparity in crime high level of male offending in comparison with females is absolutely accepted by criminologists. It is also important to note that gender disparity varies according to time, geographic area, race and age of the perpetrators. If gender disparity is indeed caused by genes, then the former will not vary as it does according to time, geographic area, race and age of the perpetrators. Thus, the biological theory is rather inadequate to explain gender differences in crime rate. New Female Criminal Freda Adler, a criminal professor at Rutgers University, published a book in 1975, entitled Sisters in crime: The rise of the new female criminal (Adler, 1975). The profile of the new female criminal, as explained by Adler, was considered as the most powerful and influential expert on female criminality more than three decades ago. According to Adler, the feminist movement may be credited with promoting positive changes in womens lives, i.e., social position, employment, marriage and family (Hamilton, 2010). She noted that women used to have the same hopes and ambitions as men, but they have not been able to attain these because of oppression towards their gender. Womens liberation changed all these, as females began to be empowered to pursue their dreams and ambitions and achieve them. However, Adler explained that womens lib had a darker side (Hamilton, 2010). Just as they were being productive, they were also pressing into crime (Hamilton, 2010). Women began to compete with men, even in the criminal world, wherein they were attempting to carve their own niches. And just as women became stevedores, soldiers, lawyers and doctors; they also became terrorists, embezzlers, forgers and burglars (Hamilton, 2010). Adler theorized that with womens liberation, a new breed of women offenders had come on the scene. She noted that the feminist movement created structural opportunities which women took advantage of by adopting the same characteristics as men: risk-taking, aggression and assertiveness. These, she said, were also the same qualities that enabled men to commit crimes. Adler has since, authored three more books on the topic, but modern times has seen critics bringing down her theories. For one, Adlers theories are weak in the sense that there are no supporting research evidencing that females who lived liberated lives committed more crimes than their more traditional peers. In addition to this, while it has been proven that most women offenders come from the lower socio-economic ladder, these same women rejected feminist ideals as distinctly middle-class. Moreover, feminists themselves shot down her theories, stating that these undermined the good intentions of womens rights (Hamilton, 2 010). Thus, it may be said that the new female criminal is more of a myth than reality. Which Theory is Correct? There are certain things to consider before determining which theory about gender  differences in crime is correct. Women have been engendered by moral principles which inculcate nurturing values in them, which restrain them from committing injurious deeds to others. Hence, females were less apt to commit crimes than the male counterparts, because of their nurturing and dependent nature (Cole and Smith, 2007, p. 57). Moreover, the criminal environment demands violence and physical power, which may account for lesser frequency and seriousness of crimes committed by women. Male have enhanced physical prowess and strength needed to commit graver crimes (JRank, 2010). In addition to this, women who wanted quick money but had no other means of getting it had opportunities to go into prostitution rather than commit crimes (JRank, 2010). Taking into consideration all these information, majority of studies concede that traditional theories are not given the deserving credit for explaining the patterns in criminal activity as it pertains to gender differences. Most of these theories are backed by hard evidence, and have outlasted the numerous modern theories that have sprung up and just as quickly, debunked by one study or the other. Majority of theorists agree that traditional perspectives are inadequate in explaining gender disparity in serious crimes, but a painstaking study of available data from research and experiments reveal that there is simply not much information in this area. Thus, the trend towards studying gender equality/inequality in criminal behavior must be continued, taking into consideration both traditional and biological perspectives, towards learning more about serious crimes. In doing this, the greater goal of curbing crime rates through significant research may be achieved.

The Wicked Character Medea in Euripides Medea Essay -- Euripides Mede

The Wicked Character Medea in Euripides' Medea The character Medea is disliked by many that read Euripides' Medea. She is not really given much of a chance. It is difficult to read the tragedy without having negative feelings towards the main character. Some readers are content to just hate Medea, while others want to know what would compel a mother to come to be able to commit these crimes. Sara Warner writes, "Transgression must be built into any system in order for it to survive. For example, patriarchy, for lack of a better word, could not and would not exist if it simply operated on the brutal oppression and domination of the female sex" (Warner p. 159). Transgression is defined as an act, process, or instance of transgressing: as an infringement or violation of a law, command, or duty by Merriam-Webster. Roget's II The New Thesaurus says transgression is a wicked act. Medea's transgressions were all wicked acts. From tricking Pelias' daughters to murder their own father to killing her own children, Medea committed many crim es. Of course there are many other offenses in thi... The Wicked Character Medea in Euripides' Medea Essay -- Euripides Mede The Wicked Character Medea in Euripides' Medea The character Medea is disliked by many that read Euripides' Medea. She is not really given much of a chance. It is difficult to read the tragedy without having negative feelings towards the main character. Some readers are content to just hate Medea, while others want to know what would compel a mother to come to be able to commit these crimes. Sara Warner writes, "Transgression must be built into any system in order for it to survive. For example, patriarchy, for lack of a better word, could not and would not exist if it simply operated on the brutal oppression and domination of the female sex" (Warner p. 159). Transgression is defined as an act, process, or instance of transgressing: as an infringement or violation of a law, command, or duty by Merriam-Webster. Roget's II The New Thesaurus says transgression is a wicked act. Medea's transgressions were all wicked acts. From tricking Pelias' daughters to murder their own father to killing her own children, Medea committed many crim es. Of course there are many other offenses in thi...