Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Family in Later Life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words
Family in Later Life - Essay Example In the recent past there has been an increase in the number of singles in the US. The word single implies a person who is unmarried, but it is more widely used to refer to all those people who are either divorced or are staying alone because their spouses have expired. For research purposes the term single is taken in its broader meaning, to include any person who lives alone, whether married or otherwise. For understanding the trends in being single in later life one needs to examine the experiences of the elderly as to how they experience life when living alone. â€Å"The trends that underlie increased rates of staying single among younger age groups reflect the interplay of social change and demographic shifts.†(Ingrid Arnet Connidis, 2009, P.96). When people are single at an elderly age then they remain quite isolated from the society and are less social unlike those elderly who have a family. They are not attracted towards their relatives but are closer to friends who ar e also singles. However, in such a case there is a difference in the concept of both the genders. While the single males prefer friends more as companions older females prefer relatives as companions. There is an increasing trend in criminal cases against the elderly who are single such as telemarketing scams.
Monday, October 28, 2019
The Invisible Poor Essay Example for Free
The Invisible Poor Essay There have been many writers, columnists, politicians, sociologists and economists who have written about the concept of poverty in the United States. Though their views often differ as to the causes, and solutions, the underlying commonality between all of those who have written about this issue remains that the current state of the American public is poorer than it has been in decades. The comparison of the following writers enables a reader to gain perspective on issues such as this. The ways in which different writers address, define, and respond to issues such as poverty, can allow for a reader to find their own understanding of the issue – as well as its possible cure.  The following paper will seek to examine the lives of the invisible poor, the sociology behind such a society and at the end of the paper give a suggestion as to how poverty can be cured.            Margaret Andersen, Eugene Lewit, and James Fallows address the issue in differing ways – however with much the same message. There is a problem with poverty in the United States. The concepts of the â€Å"working poor†the â€Å"disenfranchised†as well as the general â€Å"impoverished†peoples of the United States are growing.            According to Andersen, the main problem is rooted in the residual effects of the pre-Civil Rights era. The accumulation of wealth over time, through inheritance and long term investment is lost on the groups which have been discriminated against since the dawn of the Untied States. Andersen states that â€Å"racial exclusion in lending, housing segregation, and historical patterns of discrimination have created significant differences in the contemporary class standing of blacks and whites†. (Andersen 184) This racial disparity was not limited to black and poor whites; it also included Hispanics and Asian-Americans. (Anderson 185) In the inequality involved in poor women in the workforce there is a sociological view of how this inequality is categorized: Kinglsey Davis and Wilbert Moore gave sociology the theory of functionalism. This theory states that every society separates its products, its money, and its services on the grounds of job difficulty and relevance to a society, or on the function that a specific job provides more for a society. Due to a job and what gender performs that job function being more important to society or more functional, then society is willing to play the stratification game. Since these functional jobs and the difference between the assumed capabilities of men or women performing them there is also stratification in monetary reward.  Society has a top echelon of jobs which they consider able to be filled only by a man or only by a women: The lower rung of this system includes mostly the feminine persuasion. Functionalism fully believes in the rat race of society and exemplifies it through the power elite system and through gender inequality. Functionalism states that there are critical jobs, ones so important to society (like saving a life) that the measurement of that person’s importance has to be reflected monetarily. Functionalist expresses inequality through the bases of the nature of the occupational system. As Davis and Moore state, â€Å"Social inequality is thus an unconsciously evolved device by which societies insure that the most important positions are conscientiously filled by the more qualified persons†(Baldridge, 158).            With this reality it becomes increasingly clear that women are being discriminated against in the workforce, but more so if they are mothers. Just because families, or single mothers are moving from welfare to work does not mean that they are above the poverty line. Although earnings are seemingly increasing mothers who try to live on minimum wage cannot support a family of even one child. In the late 1990s, the study shows, families headed by working single mothers experienced rising earnings due to the strong economy, work supports like the Earned Income Tax Credit and child care, and a reformed welfare system. Yet these increased earnings were fully offset by a decline in the benefits that government safety net programs provide, leaving these families no better off as a group and pushing those who remained poor deeper into poverty (CBPP 2001). The rise in crime, increased rates of teenage pregnancy, drug use and the increased numbers of children and adults on government assistance are all attributed to the decline of the American family – according to Popenoe. However, his assertions lacked any empirical support. This issue was taken up by Sharon Houseknecht and Jaya Sastry in 1996. The study conducted by the research team looked at the state of the family unit, and sought to find whether the â€Å"decline†that Popenoe described was evident or not (Houseknecht 1996). The model that the research team used was based on Popenoe’s assertions that those family unites that are furthest away from the â€Å"traditional†view of family are â€Å"more in decline†. The group took samples from four countries, Sweden, the United Stated, former West Germany, and Italy. Looking at non-marital birthrates, divorce rates, crime rates and child-wellbeing, the group found that, according to Popenoe’s model, Sweden had the greatest decline in the family unit – followed by the United States in second. The problem that Andersen addresses is further exacerbated by the decline in â€Å"real wages over the period from the 1970s to the late 1990s†. (Anderson 185) The fall in the value of the American dollar, coupled with the increased inflation meant that a worker making the median wage in 1989 made $13.22 an hour; however by 1997 that same level wage was only worth $12.63. (Anderson 185) The lower 80% of wage earners suffered more with a loss of 6.7% of their total wage power.            Eugene Lewit addresses the issue of poverty by writing about the number of children living in poverty. Lewit begins his appeal against the growing problem by noting that in 1991 there were 13.7 million children living in poverty in the Untied States – a number that included an increase of nearly one million from the previous year. (Lewit 176) Lewit also noted that the total number of Americans living in poverty in 1991 was over 35 million people – more than 10% of the total population.            The next issue that Lewit addresses is the number of problems faced by the impoverished children in comparison to their affluent counterparts. According to Lewit, â€Å"poor children face increased risk of death, infectious and chronic illness, and injury from accidents and violence†. (Lewit 176) These children also tend to live in conditions which are filled with violence, deteriorating housing, and disrupted living conditions – which increase the likelihood of depression, low self-confidence, and conflict with peers and authority figures. (Lewit 176)            Lewit also bring attention to the problems in the definition of poverty. The federal thresholds which define poverty according to income, family size and location, suffer from, according to Lewit, â€Å"inadequate adjustments for changing consumption patterns, inflation, and differing family sizes and structures†. (Lewit 177) Lewit also states that the poverty guidelines fail to â€Å"account for the substantial geographic variation in the cost of living†. (Lewit 177)            Like Andersen, Lewit addresses the â€Å"poverty gap†. According to Lewit, the amount by which the total poverty gap resided upon in 1991 was $37.2 billion. This meant that the lowest portions of the population of the United States were making nearly forty billion dollars less than the federal poverty level. This gap has long reaching repercussions, as these members of society also, as Lewit stated before, are more likely to become ill, injured or involved in violence – which amounts to a further burden on the overall economy and social standing of any given area.            Fallows describes the technology boom of the early 1990s as â€Å"the same disproportionate, commanding-heights effect on todays culture as Wall Streets takeover-and-junk-bond complex had 15 years ago, and as the biotech-financial complex presumably will 15 years from now†– and it grants large fortunes to small groups of people, many of whom began in lower or middle class families. The boom took people who were living as, or at least identifying with the impoverished members of American society and catapulted them into the ultra-elite – amassing fortunes which often topped 100 million dollars.            Between these three writers, there is a common thread of though – the poor are getting poorer. This fact is made worse by the disconnection of the wealthy and the poor. This disconnection is caused by the growing gap between the haves, and the have-nots. This gap increases the burden on the poor, mentally, as well as increases the difficulty in finding ways to remedy the causes of the vast amounts of poverty in the Untied States.            Fallows ended his article with the realization that problems, like poverty, â€Å"are one thing when considered abstractly – â€Å"poverty, inequality, racism, problems stated as if they were debate topics. They can be altogether different when connected with human beings real or fictional†. This is true in the fact that all too often the only time poverty is truly addressed in a forum which can eliminate it is during election campaigns – and then only until that election is won. Experiment            In order to better provide housing, jobs, healthcare, etc. to the invisible poor the following experiment should be considered. Take two groups of poor families; one as control, the other as a variable. The control family will continue working the system for government aid, or living according to how they have always been living. The second family, the variable family, will be given three items: a new housing unit (in a different part of the city or in the suburb), $2,500 for beginning expenses and getting out of debt expenses (with a one time meeting with a financial advisor), and a job interview for a qualifying job for each capable working member of the family.            The experiment will take place over a two year period, with updates on the family the first month, the third month, the sixth month, one year, one year and six months, and two years. The elements of the experiment which will arise are amount of debt, if any family member has gone to college, where family members are in their schooling (i.e. grades, extra curricular activities, etc), how the jobs are going, if they’ve advanced, if they’ve maintained their job or gotten hired at a different place for a higher payer job, and finally their finances will be looked at.            The differences between these two families will be the backdrop to how, with a little bit of help, a family can overcome poverty. The control group will give a recognition to how a family will continue to struggle without any help, or with the same maintenance from the government which they are already receiving. The contrast of these two families, will hopefully, allow for a way in which other government programs can better assist getting rid of the invisible poor, and to strike a balance of wealth and financial freedom for families.            This experiment will seek to prove that the invisible poor is a great problem that needs to have an immediate solution. The poor across the world is only increasing and it is with this experiment that a way in which to curtail poverty and give families and individuals hope to an economically fruitful future is found. WORKS CITED Andersen, Margaret. â€Å"Restructuring for Whom? Race, Class, Gender, and the Ideology of        Invisibility†. Sociological Forum. Vol. 16, No. 2. June 2001. p. 181-201. Baldridge, J. Victor. â€Å"Sociology: A Critical Approach to Power, Conflict, and Change.†          John   Wiley Sons, Inc. 1975. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP). â€Å"Poverty Rate Among Working Single Mother            Families Remained Stagnant in Late 1990’s Despite Strong Economy†. (Online).            Available: http://www.cbpp.org/8-16-01wel-pr.htm. Fallows, James. â€Å"The Invisible Poor†. The New York Times          Magazine. March 20, 2000. Date of           Access: March 3, 2008.        URL:  http://www.courses.psu.edu/hd_fs/hd_fs597_rxj9/invisible_po           or.htm Houseknecht, Sharon; Sastry, Jaya. â€Å"Family â€Å"Decline†and Child Well-Being: A Comparative  Assessment. Journal of Marriage and the Family. 58 (3) (1996). Pp.726â€â€739. Lewit, Eugene M. â€Å"Children in Poverty†. The Future of Children.            Vol. 3, No. 1. Spring 1993.  p. 176-182.
Saturday, October 26, 2019
Kodak Essay -- essays research papers
     Eastman Kodak Eastman Kodak went through a considerable transformation change since it was founded. The organization structure at Eastman Kodak was a typical classical hierarchy with the CEO overlooking the entire organization. Later in 1984, the company went through a transformation change in which it was reorganized into 29 separate business units grouped into four lines of business. It included Photography (PPG), Commercial and Imaging Group (CIG), Chemicals (EC), and Health (HG) and three international segments. Each group operated under its own general manager. Later again in 1988, Eastman Kodak launched an Information Systems Department (ISD) which was responsible for development of business applications and management of small-scale computer network operations. After going through change management organization, Eastman Kodak made alliances with IBM, DEC and Business Land. The new organization consisted of three distinct organization entities: Kodak’s Corporate IS organization; Kodak’s Business Group/ Business Unit IS organizations and the Alliance organization. The strategic stand during the transformation change at the beginning was focused on downsizing its business core units by cutting employment by 10%. Cutting costs was also a priority as they moved to outsourcing of some of its business processes, especially in the IT area if it met its core function of the company or if there was value in it. ISD was responsible for management of large data centers and voice and data communications. Eastman Kodak had its own IT management department that supported services that were not outsourced. The type of culture that existed at Eastman Kodak was also transformed significantly. The major change was when part of its business processes was outsourced to other companies because employees had to adapt to whole new environment even though it was not a total change. Employees that had worked for Eastman Kodak for years are the ones that may have been affected most because they probably were used to the hierarchical type of leadership. I think organization structure is the one that must have had an impact on other elements like IT because mainly after outsourcing some of its services. It meant that whatever decision these other element make or change, they had to consider the new allied division so to make sure its strategies a... ...asing a pc for a Kodak end user. The advice I would give Hudson concerning long-term management of Eastman Kodak’s networked IS organization is that she would want to consider automating the business processes with the Alliance organizations if they plan on outsourcing their services for over a long period of time. The benefit would be cost reduction time wise and faster service and product to customers. Some of the processes I noted are used on their websites (www.kodak.com), for example, delivering pictures to customers through email. I think, as a company grows bigger, like Eastman Kodak has, its business processes become complex, and in this case, its complexity includes outsourced services. I think Eastman Kodak can benefit from this and so can the allied partners. An example is given in the case over service deliver process in which it says, â€Å"a Kodak end user acquiring a personal computer from Business Land had to contact not only Business Land but also IBM to establish a mainframe account, and DEC to install network connections.†I think there are processes that have not been realized yet that can be supported by an automated system but can only be realized as time passes.
Thursday, October 24, 2019
“Meditation 17†by John Donne Essay
In â€Å"Meditation 17†by John Donne, Donne uses many different methods of trying to get his message out. By using metaphors, images, and paradoxes Donne gets his message out but in a perplexing way. In order to understand what Donne is saying, this passage must read over and analyzed sentence by sentence to really see the true meaning of the excerpt. Donne uses a book as a metaphor, with man as a chapter for every part of the book and God is the author. Donne believes God controls everything and everything happens for a reason. Donne then states, â€Å"God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice; but God’s hand is in every translation.†The translations of age, sickness, war, and justice are all things that can cause death. In that case, these elements can translate human beings into spirits of heaven or to anywhere else God chooses to send them. One of the most popular metaphors Donne uses is â€Å"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.†Here Donne is trying to say that one person cannot stand-alone. Human beings need each other for survival and support. Donne then starts to talk about the death bell. He says whenever the bell tolls it is tolling for more than the one person who has died but it also is tolling for those who have been left behind to grieve over the death. Also in order to get the message across Donne uses a paradox by saying, â€Å"For affliction is a treasure.†This is a paradox because generally when you think of a treasure you don’t think of it hurting you but you think of it making you wealthy or better off but instead he uses treasure as a source of suffering. But suffering is a treasure because it can teach you things, since you suffer from mistakes; you learn from them and don’t make the same mistake twice. By saying this Donne makes suffering sometimes seem like a good thing to have in your life. Imagery is another device used to get Donne’s message across. â€Å"One chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated†This is an image for the reason that he is presenting mankind and the death of mankind like a book. He is saying when a man dies he is not ripped away from society and forgotten but just thought of differently and every man dies (translated) in a different way although some may seem to be the same such as too people may have cancer yet it is still different because God has a unique death (translation) made out for each and every person. By using many different methods John Donne gets his message across in a complicated way that seems to draw the readers into his writing. By breaking down the passage it can be smoothly translated into an easy to read text. Not only does this make it enjoyable to read but also it has given people something to read for years and most defiantly will in the years to come.
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
Symptom Recital by Dorthy Graves
In this composition I will be comparing and contrasting two poems from our love poem selections. The two poems I will be using are â€Å"Symptom Recital†by Dorothy Parker and â€Å"Symptoms of Love†by Robert Graves. These are two of the poems I found most interesting within our selections, because in both â€Å"Symptom Recital†and â€Å"Symptoms of love†both authors depict the feelings their speakers encounter with love. In these two poems the differences out weight the similarities. The differences in these poems are very noticeable.In â€Å"Symptom recital†Dorothy Parker expresses a woman’s feelings after a bad break up. Parker expresses the anguish and disgust the woman feels about herself, the hatred and the state of mind she is currently in. Parker then uses metaphors’ to express the woman’s thoughts of dismay, such as in line eleven and twelve (I’m disillusioned, empty-breasted/ for what I think I should be arr ested). These lines parker expresses that the woman is thinking horrible thoughts of herself and that these thought could be so terrible that if they were brought to the public she would most definitely be arrested.While in the previous poem we saw that Parker was expressing the ill feelings of a breakup, now in Robert Graves’s poem â€Å"Symptoms of Love†is expressing the feelings and emotions someone endures while going through love. Graves depicts the up and down emotions that love gives. The headaches because of how much the speaker cares for the other. How those headaches turn to Jealousy and nightmares. Graves expresses these in metaphors in line one and four through eight. love is a universal migraine/ Symptoms of true love/ are leanness, jealousy/ laggard dawns;/ are omens and nightmares-/ listening for a knock). In these lines Graves shows the emotions of relationships and how they all tie together in one big ball. The similarities both these poems share is t he fact that both speakers are showing emotions that come with love. Both the emotions the authors show are turmoil, whether it is while currently in the relationship like â€Å"symptom of Love†shows or after the relationship which â€Å"Symptom Recital†expresses.Both of these poems both end in a somewhat happy tune, for example in Symptom recital the whole poem is very upsetting but ends on a positive not that one day the speaker will find love again. While in â€Å"Symptoms of love†the speaker tone is of how hard it is to be in love but in the end wouldn’t do it for anyone other than the person he shares his love with. In conclusion both poems were very strong, emotion filled poems of the hardships and enjoyments of love and a relationship.
Tuesday, October 22, 2019
American Revolution Essays - British East India Company, Tea Act
American Revolution Essays - British East India Company, Tea Act American Revolution In this Essay I will point out the different causes that led up to the American Revolution. The main three reasons are Political, Economic and Social Causes. In my opinion of the American Revolution the Political reason was the most important, because for the most part the colonists did not agree that the Parliament had the right to make laws for American colonists and to tax them when the colonists had no elected representatives in the Parliament. The Economic causes of the Revolution are second most important. In the eyes of Great Britain the American colonists? primary job was to build a favorable balance of trade. With a favorable balance of trade a nation could be self-sufficient, become wealthy and build a powerful army and navy. However the British laws were to hard on the American colonists. The Sugar Act of 1764, placed taxes on molasses, sugar and other products imported from places outside the British empire. Most of the colonists openly broken the law by smuggling, Since no one obeyed the laws the British cut the tax to a sixth of what it was. later on the British tried to enforce the Sugar Act by inspecting ships and searching homes for smuggled goods. Even thought Britain cut the taxes on molasses, the Sugar Act still cut into the business of colonial merchants and shipowners, and rum distillers. Other events such as the Stamp Act, and the Tea Act were the beginning signs of the revolution, The Tea ! Act levied a tax on the tea imported from the East India Company. The colonists got mad and destroyed 342 chests of tea. The Political causes of the Revolution were the proclamation of 1763 which were plans to reduce conflicts with the colonists and the Indians. It stated that no one was permitted to cross the mountains without the consent of British officials. American fur traders who wanted to settle the western lands resented the Proclamation. The other cause of the Revolution was the Boston Massacre. Which took place on March 5, 1770. A large crowd gathered in Boston around soldiers of the 29th British Regiment, the crowd yelled insults and threw snowballs, matters got out of hand and as the mob got closer someone gave an order to fire. Three civilians were killed and two badly wounded. As the news spread Boston civilians got angered and demanded that all British troops we withdrawn from the city. I think that all these events had an equally important roll in the American Revolution, especially the so called Boston Massacre. It gave the most obvious reason for the American Revolution. The British soldiers and the policies were harmful to the development of the new nation.
Monday, October 21, 2019
Paradise Lost Essays - Christian Poetry, Epic Poets, Epic Poetry
Paradise Lost Essays - Christian Poetry, Epic Poets, Epic Poetry Paradise Lost Paradise Lost Milton writes Paradise Lost in the tradition of a classic epic poem. All epic poems contain some common features. Milton follows this outline with great precision and style. His poem uses the guidelines of an epic poem and elaborates upon them to make his poem one of the most popular epics written. In his poem, Milton uses the key points of an epic poem when he traditionally invokes a muse to speak through him, includes great deeds of valor, long speeches, and a list of the protagonists Milton follows the tradition of epic poetry when he asks a muse to speak through him. It is clear that for Milton it is the poet's submission to the voice of his muse, to divine inspiration, which ultimately distinguishes the soaring creation of Paradise Lost from an insulting speculation of what happens in the Garden of Eden. Milton does not, however, present the hymn of a heavenly muse as his only defense against presuming too much. Through the book, he remains sensitive to the relationship between himself as poet and his center of attention. While he insists on the honest intentions of what he undertakes, he never neglects to expose the satanic aspect of his poetic posture. In this way Milton differs a slightly from a traditional epic. Instead of speaking through Milton, the muse is more of a second person that inspires Milton. Never the less, Paradise Lost still follows the outline of a customary epic poem. Another part of a traditional epic poem is that the hero must perform great deeds of valor to defeat the villain. Milton wants his readers to be forced to face the problem of Satan seeming invincible. Satan is, after all, an angel. He is a mighty angel that is removed from Heaven. In order for us to see the power of God, it is necessary that Satan also be powerful. It is important that Satan, a parody of God, is viewed as an eloquent, bold being; one that possesses superhuman strength, extraordinary martial prowess, and fortitude so that he can be a foil to show how great God is. In order for God to vanquish and control this awesome being, his characteristics must exceed the characteristics of Satan. Therefore, it emphasizes the great valor God possesses to successfully defeat Satan in their battle. One of the last characteristics that this poem demonstrates that are typical of an epic poem is the long list of the protagonists that the plot involves accompanied by long speeches by the main characters. Milton dedicates a large portion of the first book of the series to a catalogue of the fallen angels. The numbers of angels that are listed are used to give the reader the notion of being overwhelmed by the mass number of villains. He also provides extended formal speeches by the main characters. It is on the basis of the eloquence and power of those speeches that much of the personality of the characters is shown. This listing of villains and long, profound speeches verifies that this poem fits every description of an epic poem. When Milton writes Paradise Lost he uses a general outline that will categorize his poem as an epic poem. He elaborates on the general characteristics of an epic poem including the relationship between the muse and him. They are shown as two separate people with the muse as the higher being. Obviously, in spite of some adjustments and alterations, Milton undeniably uses classical epic traits. Milton builds his epic out of views of the past and uses every feature of epic poetry that can possibly be used.
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