The existence of high commitment management in unionized workplaces Essay Example for Free

The existence of high commitment management in unionized workplaces Essay The existence of high commitment management in unionized workplaces suggests that such management is compatible with trade unionism. Discuss The relationship between workers and management has historically been an adversarial one. In the process of fighting for employee right and benefits, unions have traditionally created a them and us atmosphere between employees and managers. On the other hand, high commitment management tries to eliminate the them and us atmosphere and instead attempts to replace it with one of partnership where both employees and management work together for the benefit of the firm. Thus, the respective natures of high commitment establishments and unions would imply incompatibility. It is due to this belief that some high commitment firms devote enormous resources to strategies aimed to keep unions away from their firms such as hiring lawyers who specialize in union avoidance and implementing high commitment work practices such as grievance systems and work teams. However, there is a paradox to this belief as studies show that as compared with non-unionized firms, unionized firms in high commitment establishments provide more rights and benefits to workers, give more opportunities to employees to give and receive information, and give a greater voice to employees to voice either constructive suggestion or dissent (WERS 1992). Furthermore, union presence is increasingly popular in HRM organizations, as union density is 47% in organizations which employ at least half of the identified high commitment management practices. In this paper, I will use evidence from various studies to show why high commitment firms and unions are indeed compatible. High commitment management is based on the theory that firms who give more High commitment management is based on the theory that firms who give more to their workforce get back more from it in return. This requires a cooperative relationship based on trust and reciprocity between labor and management. Unions can help in solidifying a high commitment environment by policing management to ensure that certain high commitment goals are met. Unions in high commitment work environments fight to give employees a collective voice in decision making as well as enhancing distributive and procedural justice while in return improving workforce solidarity and aiding in legitimizing change. Thus, the compatibility between management and unions can increase the payoffs of both management and labor while allowing the firm to firm to be driven forward. In the fast pace, ever changing corporate world, responsiveness to change and flexibility within firms are oftentimes required so that firm can readily adapt to ever-changing times. Recent times have seen an increasing amount of firms moving away from traditional authoritarian ways of management towards that of high commitment human resource management. Such drastic changes in work practicess however, are not always easily implemented because a lack of communication between the workforce and managers makes it hard to change the character of employment relationships. Unions however, can aid in making such changes by allowing firms to communicate to the entire workforce quickly and efficiently while giving the workforce the opportunity to respond with input or inquiries. This increases the workforces knowledge and understanding of the new direction that their firm is taking and improves the probability that they will facilitate rather than resist future changes. Such was the case with Tesco, who realized that its inflexible employee involvement structure, as well as its high turnover, relatively low pay and a hands on directive management style were inconsistent with achieving enhanced levels of service to advance in competitive strategy. 1 Tesco wanted their employees to identify with and commit themselves to the company, and it saw the union Usdaw as the means for cultivating and realizing this goal. As a result a partnership between Tesco and Usdaw was formed where Usdaw gave up their strike threat in return for a greater union input to secure improved policy implementations. As a result, employee wages rose, terms and working conditions were improved and staff turnover dropped significantly.2 . Thus, this partnership took a step away from an us and them environment and took one towards unions working with management as team for the benefit of the entire firm. High commitment management is greatly dependent on a partnership between employees and management. This assumes that there arent agency problems because it is expected that employees have a deep understanding of the firms interests and that they go about their job as if those interests were their own. In order for the partnership between employees and management to flourish however, a workforce must have a collective voice in decision-making. Firms encounter many problems when trying to give individual workers decision-making authority. For instance, there is always the fear that a worker will abuse his decision-making authority by using it to further his own ends rather than to help the entire firm advance. Another problem is that it is extremely difficult to have a partnership between management and a fragmented workforce. Unions however facilitate a partnership by providing a channel of communication between management and the entire workforce. 3 This enhanced communication is made possible by unions because just as management speaks with single voice, having a union allows the employees it represents to speak to management with a unified voice. Thus unions give their members decision making authority by taking into account the needs of the workforce and communicating it to managers. As a result, there is an improved match between what employees want and what they get from management and this is an important ingredient in high commitment environments. Allowing workers to have a say in how their firm is managed increases their job satisfaction and is a major reason why on average, turnover is lower in union settings.4 In addition, unions tend to fight more for the benefits of employees with longer tenures in firms. This gives union members an increased incentive to commit themselves to their firm in the long term and also may be a factor contributing to lower turnover. This is compatible with high commitment management strategy in many occupations such as teaching and nursing where goals such as low turnover and worker longevity are important. However, any high commitment based partnership can break down if there is a lack of trust and accountability. Unions though can be trusted by management to act cooperatively because managers know that union officials want to protect their unions reputation with a particular firm and oftentimes this concern for its reputation can be the guarantee that management needs of good, constructive behavior5. In addition, a long-term partnership between unions and management can permit a greater degree of trust and objectivity than can the partnership between management and individual workers. This is because there is a greater frequency of interactions between management and a union. The partnerships experience in collectively dealing with past disputes makes it possible for future disputes to be settled in a promptly in a way that doesnt disturb work practices. This partnership also presents a checks and balance system to ensure that both parties act cooperatively. Just as a union is a party that can be held accountable for the actions of its members6, management can also be held responsible for bad behavior of any single manager. For instance, if a manager is engaging in an activity that the workforce views unfavorably, a union representative can give notice to management to put an end it before it goes too far. One of the biggest obstacles not permitting employees from fully committing themselves to a high commitment firm is if they perceive there to be unjustified unequal treatment. This can decrease employee performance incentives as well as hurt the morale of a high commitment firm. Unions however, have a sword of justice effect and are successful in eliminating many of the adverse affects that occur because of unequal employment opportunities. A major reason for this is that unionized can better monitor firm practices to ensure fairness because they are much more likely to have managers and supervisors who are trained in people management skills and in addition, managers in unionized firms put a greater emphasis on ensuring that there is equal treatment among their employees. Studies indicate that when taking into account workplaces where all the supervisors are required to have training in people management skills, 20% of those in unionized environments, [as] compared with only 12% of those in non-unionized places, have responsibility for equal opportunities.7 Two of the most common and documented forms of unequal opportunities are employee promotions and employee selection. When compared to non-unionized firms, firms with a union presence are four times as likely to monitor promotions by gender and three times as likely to review selection procedures to identify indirect discrimination.8. There is also evidence that the increased monitoring in unionized firms has helped reduce sexual discrimination as it regards to promotions and this has thus helped women advance up firms hierarchy. Studies indicate that about one in seven managers in the union sector reported that the proportion of women in the managerial post had risen markedly in the last 5 years; [while] only one in ten managers in the non-union sector reported this. 9 Furthermore, unions have also traditionally been seen as defenders of an egalitarian pay structure. High commitment work environments value and oftentimes even require worker solidarity. However, when some workers are paid more than others for essentially the same job, the existence of this solidarity is difficult to maintain. A union presence in a high commitment work environments facilitates the presence of solidarity as they prefer to pay each occupational group a single rate. This takes the wages out of competition among co-workers, and ensures that the high-commitment working environment wont be harmed due to ruthless competition practices such as undercutting between co-workers. Thus unionized workers have less wage inequality than their non-unionized counterparts. Studies indicate that the standard deviation is .457 in unionized setting [while it is] .592 in a non-union setting.10 Furthermore, unions help decrease wage inequality by 2.6% between males and females, 1.4% between blacks and whites, .6% between the healthy and those with health problems, and 3.1% between non-manual and manual employees.11. Thus by ensuring that firms pay equal wages for equal work, unions help maintain workforce solidarity which aids firms in maintaining high commitment work environments. In recent years, it had become apparent that the relationship between firms and unions doesnt necessarily have to be an adversarial one. In fact, the popularity of partnerships in high commitment firms indicates that the two institutions are indeed compatible. The evidence stated above indicates that when this partnership is properly utilized, unions can be a great asset to a high commitment management work design. This is because unions facilitate the existence of many of the necessary ingredients that go into high commitment work environments such as flexibility, increased employee voice in decision making, distributive justice, and worker solidarity. Major firms such as Tesco have recently taken advantage of this compatibility and are now realizing the formerly untapped benefits that a partnership between unions and high commitment management schemes can bring about. 1 Industrial Relations Services Partnership delivers the goods at Tesco, IRS Employment Review, August 1999, No. 662 2 Industrial Relations Services Partnership delivers the goods at Tesco, IRS Employment Review, August 1999, No. 662 3 Fernie, Sue. HRM Lecture on 29/01/02 : London: London School of Economics, 2001 4 Baron, James N. , Kreps David M. Strategic Human Resources: Frameworks for General Managers. (New York: John Wiley Sons, Inc., 1999), 127 5 Baron, James N. , Kreps David M. Strategic Human Resources: Frameworks for General Managers. (New York: John Wiley Sons, Inc., 1999), 134 6 Baron, James N. , Kreps David M. Strategic Human Resources: Frameworks for General Managers. (New York: John Wiley Sons, Inc., 1999), 134 7 Fernie, Sue Gray, Helen Women what unions can do for you CentrePiece Summer 2000 8 Fernie, Sue Gray, Helen Women what unions can do for you CentrePiece Summer 2000 9 Fernie, Sue Gray, Helen Women what unions can do for you CentrePiece Summer 2000 10 Metcalf, David Fighting for equality CentrePiece Summer 2000 11 Metcalf, David Fighting for equality CentrePiece Summer 2000

Impacts of Placing Children in Foster Care

Impacts of Placing Children in Foster Care PLACING CHILDREN IN FOSTER CARE All the children have a right to a better existence. It is the responsibility of the state to make sure that all the youngsters grow up in the best environment. Parents and guardians should always act as role models to their kids. Therefore, it is necessary to take away children from their homes and place them in the care of the state to guard them from exploitation and neglect from their parents. The new environment where they are placed would help influence their positive development. Potential ethical issues Protection of confidence: when implementing the new strategy many times the confidence among the two parties might be violated. There may be situations in which the information raised in a secret conversation with the child can be breached. In the circumstances of child abuse an individual may take the responsibility of sharing the information with other people in order to guard the child (Barber, 2004). One might decide to share the issue with another expert like the boss, and the child protection guide. Breaching the kids’ privacy might be a violation of the law, however, when the child makes a revelation of the abuse or the problems they are facing then one should be worried that the child is in danger of harm. The violation of the child’s privacy can be very essential at this point since the kid might be suffering from the offenses done by their parents or guiders. Therefore, the only way to make certain that the problem is addressed and the child is taken good care off is through reporting of the matter. Through the raising of the concern the youngster’s privacy would have been violated but for the benefits of the child. Conflict of interest: a conflict of attention entails the real mistreatments or the possibility of abuse of the faith that people have on other or experts. It is a state of affairs in which other individual considerations have the possibility to negotiate on the judgment and impartiality. The conflict of interest occurs when a person, for instance the parent or guardian believes that the expert ruling is probable to be cooperation (Bloom, 2010). The liable person might only think that the judgment made concerning the abuse of the child is a biased one. He or she might always want a consideration to be made and negotiations to be included in the procedures where they can be allowed to take back the child. They believe that the involved parties could easily be compromised into making a decision that best suits them. Unnecessary family division: when a home has many reported cases of mistreatments and child abuse the policy allows for separation. The child will be taken away from the family and they might be taken by a foster care service. They might be taken, it until when the offenders have been proven to be free of the charges they are facing (Pine, 2007). The taking away of the affected youngster is of great importance in enhancing the individuals’ growth. In addition, taking away the children from the residence helps to decrease the extent that the kid is uncovered to such violence. By this means, the technique will assist in reducing hostility in the young person. Representation for clients with reduced cognitive ability: during the implementation of the strategy measures should be kept in place to ensure that full representation is applied. The entire individual involved in the case should be signified in the judgment. Those customers who cannot speak for themselves should be symbolized by relative or legal experts (Zlotnick, 2013). There should be an expert who must be in a position to prove their client’s capability and if possible they should present some legal documents. When the children are very young to provide the details of the incident, then they require an expert or another person to represent them. Parents or guiders might also need a representative if they are mentally challenged or when they are not in the right state to represent them. With the proper representation, then the correct judgment that would be beneficial to the child can be achieved. Impacts Reduced juvenile offenses: the implementation of the policy will place a major role in decreasing youth crimes. By taking out the children from violent homes to the institutions where they can be brought up properly helps in enhancing their positive growth. The new environment where there are not incidences of mistreatments and all other forms of abuse make them less aggressive and hospitable. Therefore, when the youngsters are well brought up they would learn to stay away from criminal activities (Wilgocki, 2002). This development most likely to be reflected in the future when they become adults. Since the youngsters will be well brought up, then there can be no cases of crimes in the society in the prospect. Good child growth: the children, who are brought up in homes with domestic aggression and where that parents abuse alcohol or other drugs have a bad growth. They tend to have a negative development where they adopt their parents or guardian behaviors. However, when the youngsters are removed from those houses they associate with other children and populaces. Through the process of interaction they learn and acquire good behaviors which positively impact of their developments. Negative consequence One, the unexceptional cost to the taxpayers: when the society starts to remove the youngsters from their houses and placing the complete load of raising them to the government. Only because an individual in the residence had drug charge and a domestic violence crime, the government would rapidly run out of areas to house the children. The state would be left with no other option rather than to raise the price of taxpayers in order to sustain the children and to house them. Two, putting the kids in an overcrowded situation that might happen from the execution of this rule would do more damage to the children than good. Not all adolescents that are placed in advanced care are there owing to awful parenting. Some of these children end up in that place since their parents could no longer manage their actions (Pine, 2007). All parents or guardians who misplace their kids might not have similar amounts of crime. With this the children from improved environment run the danger of being skilled via a similar social theory actions and violence from the other children. Because people and their performances, they take are resulted from the information increased from watching others and life experiences. Three, the complete disentanglement of the family unit: the children that are placed in these circumstances would mature with a reduced sense of family belongings and worth. The reduced sense of family is because more kids could be taken away under this rule than they could have wished to be located as districts of the state. Many could have wanted to be located with those children from their regions whose relatives would have loved and taken better care. According to Bloom (2010), the Texas further care change plan, notes that when youngsters attain 18 years they are denied government assistance. In addition, they also lack the support schemes to rely on. This frequently pushes them into the criminal justice scheme, since they do not get sufficient education while in the organization to be able to purpose separately. The majority of them have mental and emotional issues yet they are freed into the world to find themselves. They have difficult moments not submitting to poverty, homelessness, criminalization, unwanted pregnancies and illnesses. The impacts of persons engaged in these circumstances are big. Criminals might have to get time out of job to finish all the agendas that could be needed. The kids of otherwise caring parents removed from them and propelled to odd settings getting mental challenges along the way from being shifted to diverse areas (Barber, 2004). They could also get a negative sense of personality value. The cou rt schemes would be very packed than they previously are sourcing extra taxpayer’s cash to be used on more workers. Therefore, considering the above scenarios, this rule should be deemed as ethical. Because there are many dangers of revolving a partially bad state into a much inferior circumstance for the child concerned. The department misinterpreted the theory since it botched to take into thought that some youngsters learn bad behavior and violence other sources beside their parents. References Barber, James G., and Paul H. Delfabbro. (2004) . Children in foster care. Routledge Bloom, Debra. (2010). Foster care. Green haven Press Pine, Jeune, and Suzanne McCall. (2007) Understanding looked after children an introduction to psychology for foster care. Jessica Kingsley Wilgocki, Jennifer, and Marcia Kahn Wright. (2002). Maybe days: a book for children in foster care. Magination Press Zlotnick, Cheryl. (2013). Children living in transition helping homeless and foster care children and families. Columbia University Press

Argumentative Essay On Drinking Water Shortage Environmental Sciences Essay

Argumentative Essay On Drinking Water Shortage Environmental Sciences Essay Although most of the earths surface is covered with water, water shortage is a serious threat to the survival of humanity at present and in future. There is a water crisis which faces many parts of the world and it is a threat to survival of human beings since humans are primarily dependent on water. Shortage in drinking water is a major problem facing developing countries which have not taken drastic steps to harvest water and purify it to make it safe for human consumption. However, this problem is also being increasingly felt in developed countries where the population growth has strained available water resources and stretched the ability of governments and private firms to provide safe drinking water to the population. There are many conflicts around the world where people have died or have been injured as a result of clashes over a water resource. Most of these conflicts have occurred in Asia and Africa where most developing countries are located (Gleick 17-22). When humans cla sh over resources, this underscores the seriousness of the issue and calls for drastic actions to be taken to solve the problem. Shortage of drinking water is therefore an issue which must be investigated in detail and solutions developed to curb this problem. There are various causes of shortage of drinking water and most of these are attributable to human activities. These include such activities as deforestation and pollution which contribute to global warming, misuse of the water resource and groundwater contamination among others. It is important to develop solutions to this problem if future generations are to survive. This paper aims at analyzing the shortage in drinking water resource, its causes and solutions which should be implemented to solve the problem. The discussed issues will be summarized at the end. Shortage in drinking water It has been discussed that there is shortage of drinking water in various regions across the world. In many developing countries, people do not have access to drinking water due to various reasons. In some cases, water resources have dried up while in others, they are polluted. As a result, there populations especially in Africa face many water-borne diseases mainly due to pollution of water resources. Human activities such as population growth and industrial activities have further strained water resources and caused a shortage of drinking water. As a result, there are many conflicts over pastures or water resources and these lead to injuries or fatalities (Gleick 17-22). As mentioned earlier, this underscores the importance of finding a solution to the problem of shortage of the water resource. In the United States, there is pressure on available water resources since half of water collected is usually used in electricity generation, leaving the population to share the little left. There are already calls for charging water resources in order to increase efficiency of use (CQ Researcher 531-550). Although water protection has been implemented for years, there is still water pollution occurring within the United States. After the Civil war, America strived to provide its population with clean water and its water treatment system was and is still is one of the best globally. However, industrial revolution led to the pollution of water resources, leading to shortage of clean drinking water. Other external factors such as effects of global warming have also put a strain on available water resources. It is important to understand how shortage of drinking water occurs and its causes. These will be discussed in the section below; How human beings contribute to the problem of shortage in drinking water There are various human activities and trends which are primarily responsible for the problem of shortage of drinking water. These activities damage the environment, contaminate water sources or put pressure on water resources leading to a shortage of drinking water. Some of these will be discussed below; Pollution Environmental pollution is one of the major causes of lack of drinking water. Pollution contaminates available water sources, making water available unsafe for human consumption. Pollution also damages the environment and causes adverse effects which result in drying up of water sources (Levy 62-67). There are three major types of pollution which will be discussed in this section and these are water and air pollution as well as contamination of ground water sources. Air pollution occurs through human activities such as burning of fuel, release of harmful gases by industries or products such as vehicles, release of greenhouse gases among others. Air pollution is a major cause of global warming since gases released into the atmosphere allow more heat to be trapped within the earths surface resulting in global warming. Water pollution results from discharging waste into water sources and this is common in developing countries which do not strong laws which deter such forms of pollution. Contamination of ground water sources occurs after the use of certain chemicals including fertilizers which contaminate ground water after use, making such water toxic to humans (Upmanu et. al. 1-17). These forms of pollution reduce the amount of water resource which may be used by humans leading to a shortage in drinking water resources. Increasing population There is a very high population growth rate in many countries across the world. The average world population growth rate is over 1% and some countries especially in Africa and Asia have growth rates of over 2% per annum. A large growth rate puts pressure on available resources and causes a shortage. Human beings depend on water to live and the large population growth rate has put pressure on available water resources. Since water infrastructure and resource has generally remained constant over the years, population growth rate strains the water resource and creates a shortage in drinking water for populations across the world. Global warming Global warming can be attributed to a large proportion of the loss of water resources. It is caused by the emission of certain gases such as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere leading to retention of heat by the earths surface. This raises the average temperatures and causes adverse effects such as heat waves and melting of glaciers. Global warming causes higher evaporation of water resources due to higher temperatures on the earths surface. This results in the decline of availability of fresh water sources. It also leads to the drying up of water resources such as rivers and lakes due to higher temperatures. Global warming should be addressed if humans are to have fresh drinking water in the long run. Use of water for agriculture Agricultural activities are a major part of many countries economies. Many people rely indirectly or directly from agriculture. Agricultural activities heavily rely on water for sustenance. In many countries, fresh water resources are used for irrigation of crops and feeding of animals. The use of freshwater sources for irrigation strains the water resource and creates shortages especially when agriculture is practiced in large scale (Buchanan Horwitz 67-69). In developing countries, areas which have large scale agricultural activities especially in water intensive agricultural activities such as horticulture usually experience water shortages due to the amount of water used in agriculture. It is important that alternative water sources are used for agriculture is there is to be clean drinking water for people across the world. Wastage of water resource Wastage of water is common in nearly all countries due to ignorance on potential benefits of conserving water. There are many ways in which water is wasted and these include letting water run within households when it is not in use, lack of water recycling and lack of water harvesting among other means. When water within households is allowed to run when not in use, it may appear to be a little quantity, but when compared against numerous households, it becomes clear how much water is wasted. When water is also not recycled like for instance purified and used for other sources, this is wastage of the water resource. Poor harvesting of water or lack of water harvesting incentives allows water which would have been put to use to be wasted. This creates a situation where people do not have access to drinking water as is the case in many countries. Solutions There are various solutions which should be implemented to solve the problem of shortage of drinking water. Some of them will be briefly discussed below; Reduction of emissions of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere This is one of the most effective solutions needed to conserve the water resource. As has been discussed, one of the greatest threats to the availability of water is global warming. Global warming increases temperatures and encourages evaporation of water resources. Carbon dioxide emission is one of the major causes of global warming. It is therefore essential that emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is reduced. Greenhouses are some of the largest emitters of carbon dioxide and reduction of greenhouse gases will reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emitted. The Kyoto Protocol is a global agreement by countries to reduce the amount of greenhouse emissions. More countries should join such agreements and they should develop a global approach in reducing carbon dioxide emissions (Glennon 33-38). Other measures such as planting of trees should be encouraged since trees are important in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Afforestation and re-afforestation Afforestation and re-afforestation are two effective approaches in conserving the water resource. Afforestation involves planting trees where there were none while re-afforestation involves plating trees which were cut down. The planting of trees is useful in conserving the water resource for two main reasons. The first is that trees use carbon dioxide and give out oxygen thereby purifying the air. Carbon dioxide emission has been discussed as a cause of global warming and depletion of clean drinking water due to high temperatures. Planting of trees reduces the carbon dioxide levels in air and prevents adverse effects of global warming (Solomon 46-52). The second reason is that planting of trees attracts rainfall through the water cycle which involves transpiration. Transpiration by trees allows moisture to evaporate and form clouds which eventually fall down as rainfall. Availability of rainfall increases water resources and ensures that humans have access to clean drinking water. Harvesting of water Harvesting of water is one form of water conservation and it involves collecting waste water and purifying it to make it safe for drinking (The Economist 14-16). Water harvesting should mainly be done when there are heavy rains and water should be directed towards reservoirs where it may be stored and purified for human consumption. This form of water conservation ensures that there is minimal water wastage and that human beings have access to clean drinking water. It also ensures that there is enough water to sustain human activities such as agriculture. Avoiding water wastage It is important for governments and the private sector to educate the public on importance of water conservation and avoidance of water wastage. Avoiding water wastage ensures that the water resource is conserved and that there is enough water to meet all human activities. Water wastage through simple measures, such as letting water run when not in use or using excess water to perform various household functions, is very effective in conserving the water resource if done in large scale. When the public at large is advised about these simple measures, more water will be harvested, purified and stored for consumption by human beings. Legal regulations In order to enforce these solutions, it is important to criminalize any actions which contribute to the depletion of the water resource. Human activities such as deforestation, pollution and contamination of ground water resources should be discouraged through the passage of tough laws which act as deterrent to such actions. Harsh sentences and fines should be imposed on people who are caught polluting or damaging the environment. This will discourage others from committing the same and it will encourage society to preserve various resources including the water resource. Summary and conclusion Shortage of water resources has been seen to be a serious problem which threatens the survival of mankind. Water is an essential part of the lives of human beings who need water for survival. However, there are many human activities which either pollute water resources or which pollute the environment leading to the drying up of the water resources. Some of these activities include air pollution which occurs through human activities such as burning of fuel, release of harmful gases by industries or products such as vehicles, release of greenhouse gases among others. Water pollution occurs through discharging waste into water sources while contamination of ground water sources occurs after the use of certain chemicals including fertilizers which contaminate ground water after use, making such water toxic to humans. Other human activities such as deforestation and agriculture also contribute to the shortage of clean drinking water. Population growth puts pressure on water resources mak ing it difficult to satisfy human needs. There are various steps which should be taken in order to address the problem of water shortage. Afforestation and re-afforestation are two effective approaches in conserving the water resource since they help in attracting rainfall and purifying the atmosphere. Harvesting of water is a form of water conservation and it ensures that there is minimal water wastage. Finally, string laws which discourage environmental pollution should be passed in order to ensure that the environment is conserved and that there are enough water resources for all. This will ensure that future populations survive on current water resources available.

The Racial Contract Essay -- essays research papers

In The Racial Contract, it is argued that contemporary structures of white domination in the United States operate by means of an epistemology of ignorance for white people. White people inadvertently suffer from cognitive dysfunctions such that they cannot understand the racially (and racistly) structured world in which they live and, indeed, helped create. For Mills, while no person of any race is self-transparent, becoming a white person entails a particularly extreme form of self-opacity regarding issues of race that corresponds with a conspicuously bad or offensive misunderstanding of the world. Recently with the invasion of Iraq, the president has proven that white people believe that they are correct when that in any given conflict it must quell the conflict through force rather than understanding of the predicament. It must be astonishing to a lot of white Bush supporters to learn that the horrible conditions in Iraq would only be made worse when a foreign country whose lead er represents Christian ideals (which aren’t the prevailing consensus in Iraq), believes that Iraqis people need another conflicting force in a country ravaged by extreme racism. Because of the racialized moral psychology created by the racial contract, white people are ironically often unable to see race and racism. Although Mills does not make use of psychoanalysis, his work suggests both how and why psychoanalytic theory can be of help to critical race theory’s project of examining race for the purpose of challenging racism and white privilege. While the white cognitive dysfunction described by Mills sometimes operates preconsciously, his concept of the epistemology of ignorance also points to the vast pools of human thought inaccessible to consciousness, and thus unconscious. This refers not to a mere gap or empty space; rather, it is something that is actively, dynamically produced, and which stubbornly maintains its existence. This means that as unconscious entity, racism’s effectiveness is found in its ability to perpetuate itself as something invisible and unknowable. Most race theories that omit the unconscious operations of race and ra cism touches on only the tip of the iceberg that is white privilege. This is not to say that white privilege is only psychical. But the importance of the economic, political, geographical, and other aspects of white privilege should not le... ...stood, yet it was made illegal to possess. The fear of white Americans losing their jobs was a major contributing factor and unconsciously, people of Hispanic descent had become the perfect â€Å"scapegoat† for the irrational paranoia that existed during the time period. It is not a coincidence that the majority of people in the correctional system are black, but there is the hope that through the knowledge and respect of one another those grievous acts that divide people into skin color, race, ethnicity, and religion can find a common ground. Common ground as in laws that everyone can agree on, not just what the majority decrees as being justice. There isn’t any government that can achieve this because of the seemingly infinite amount of strife in the world which causes people to become refugees and flee to strange countries. The only way that I can perceive the extinction of unconscious racism is the development of science which can prevent hardships. A common enemy has historically been known to bring people together, whether that enemy is a shortage of food or lack of resources, the most basic needs of freedom and liberty bind all men together with a goal in a positive direction.

Elements of Plato in John Donnes The Good Morrow Essay example -- Don

Elements of Plato in John Donne's The Good Morrow There are clear Platonic elements in Donne's "The Good Morrow." The idea that Donne and his lady are halves that complete each other is traceable to Plato's theory of love. Lines 7 and 8 of the poem refer to the Platonic World of Ideas: the lady is presented as the Idea of Beauty, of which all earthly beauty is but an imperfect reflection. My argument, however, is that Plato's cave allegory and his World of Ideas are integral to a full understanding of this highly complex poem. The first reference to the Platonic cave comes in line 4 of the poem: "Or snorted we in the seven sleepers' den?" The seven sleepers are seven young Christians who were walled up in a cave in the year 249. Miraculously, they did not die but slept for 187 years. This miracle of early Christianity is negatively presented by Donne and the plight of the seven "snorters" may have a relationship to Plato's cave: there are fundamental similarities between Plato's cave-dwellers on the one hand, and the seven Christians (and the biblical myth of Exodus, for that matter) on the other hand, according to Downing. In both cases, there is a God who cares for the people involved, even though they are unaware of this fact; in the first case because they are asleep, in the second because they mistake shadows of shadows for reality. They are both trapped in a cave from which they apparently cannot escape. And they both dwell in darkness. In a poet of Donne's complexity, it is not far-fetched to argue that line 4 refers both to the seven Christians and to Plato's cave-dwellers, and that Donne wished us to read it in precisely this way. Such an argument is reinforced by the fact that the line is immediately followed by... ...a Platonic Idea is, of course, a paradox, as the World of Ideas is not only deathless but supposedly has existed since the beginning of time.) Alternatively, one can argue that Donne (or his poetic voice) experiences a transient relationship in this poem that may or may not develop into a Platonic Idea. Like Plato's cave-dwellers who came out into the light, however, he has learned a great deal and become capable, as a consequence, of achieving the Platonic Idea of sexual love in a possibly new, deathless encounter that is "mixed equally." WORKS CITED Donne, John. "The Good Morrow." The Oxford Anthology of English Literature. Vol. 1. Ed. Frank Kermode and John Hollander. New York: Oxford UP, 1974. 1024-25. Downing, Christopher. "How Can We Hope and Not Dream? Exodus as Metaphor: A Study of the Biblical Imagination." Journal of Religion 48 (1968): 35-53.

A Bad Day in My Youth

A Bad Day in my Youth When I was 11 years old, I was like all boys of this age; I loved to do what ever my parents forbade me to do. Now, I understand that they had a reason to warn me about many things. One of them was climbing places where children shouldn’t be. I couldn’t resist climbing trees or buildings just like a monkey. It was a nice, summer day and we lived in Odessa, Ukraine. Ukraine buildings formed courtyards. My friend and I played in the yard. The yard was small with garages and a big tree in the back. We climbed everywhere we could: tree, the roofs of the garages and the attics. We were like adventurers; we tried to imagine being Indiana Jones the man from the movie I saw on TV. I was impressed by his adventures. We knew that no one would tell us to stop because our parents were shopping, that day, and we stated with my best friend’s grandmother. She was a chubby and pleasant woman, 78 or 79 years old, and couldn’t always see what we were doing. So we took advantage of that old woman who couldn’t really know what we were doing. When we climbed the tree; my friend accidentally stepped on my arm and I fell and broke my leg and right hand. At first, I didn’t feel anything because of shock, but then, severe pain pierced the broken bones. My friend’s grandmother called the ambulance. I was scared when, in the hospital, doctor put a cast on my leg and hand. I imagined what my mom was going to say, I was afraid that she would be angry but she wasn’t. She said â€Å"I told you a million times you shouldn’t play like this and that, one day, you would break neck. You are lucky that it’s not a broken neck. Please don’t play games like this anymore. † I understood that mom was right and was trying to warn and protect me; the result of my disobedience was a broken finiteness’s. I was in a leg cast for 6 months and had to be home-schooled. My arm was in a cast for 3 months, but now it’s fine. Now I always to do what my parents tell me to do, because I know that they want to do the best for me. They are older; they have life experience and they know what way is better. Once, I did what I wanted to do. I will not make this mistake, again.

Catcher in the Rye Essay

Holden, the main character of the book Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, had to face many conflicts during the story. These conflicts connect to him either by secondary character or by himself. Not only do this conflicts affect Holden, but if affects the people around him as well. Holden’s attitude became negative because of all the conflicts he faced. â€Å"The first thing you’ll probably ask is where I was born and how my lousy childhood was like†. During his childhood, he was alone with no close friends or family. This affected him because he felt excluded from the society. It also made him feel like he didn’t have any support so that made him go to the city by himself and get into trouble. He didn’t get any support from anyone so he wasn’t told what was wrong and what was right, that was why he smoked and drank. Also since he didn’t have a family who supported him so he never took the school seriously. He was kicked out of four schools because of his bad grades. (Evidence found in Pg. 1) â€Å"I slept in the garage the night he died, and I broke all the goddam windows with my fist, just for the hell of it†. Allies death affected him mentally. It made him very sad at the moment but after a time it made him aggressive and anti-social. (Evidence found in Chapter 5) He criticized everyone. He calls everyone a phony. Thinks other people are followers and are only tricking themselves. So he wants to rebel against the society because they’re making everyone a phony. This attitude made him see everyone in a bad way which made it very difficult for him to make friends. (Evidence found all over the book) He has a Self vs. Self battle throughout the whole book. He wants to be the same person but he doesn’t realize he’s changing. He likes the museum because it never changes. One part of him wants to be an adult (he drinks and smokes and always thinks of sex) while to other part of him rejects it rejects it as a phony. So as you can see, all these conflicts led to his bad, negative attitude. He became aggressive, rebel, and excluded. It also made him problematic and hard to understand. The conflicts implemented some psychological problems on Holden by making him increase his interest in alcohol and drugs.