Development of india Essay Example for Free

Development of india Essay Why India is still a Developing Nation and not a Developed Nation This resource will provide necessary information on why India is still a developing nation and not a developed nation even though there are lots of options provided by the government for the development criteria. India is one of the fastest developing countries in the world. But you can see the fact that the speed of the development is not as good when compared to the other countries that are already developed and that are much superior to India. There are many reasons behind the lack in the development criteria of India. Most of the people realize that India is very slow in development but they dont focus on what to be done in order to make India a developed country. There are many issues in our country that are preventing India from becoming the developed nation. This resource will provide information on the issues that are preventing India to be the developed country. The reasons are as follows India holds the second rank in the population . There are many things to be taken into consideration because of the population issues. If a country is highly populated it is sure that the development of the country will also be very slow. There will be a lot of necessity for the resources to be shared among the people of the country . The major fact is that there should be resources available for the same to be distributed among the people. If the population of the country is brought into the proper control it can be said that there are lots of possibilities to make our country one of the developed countries.

War on Drugs Essay Example for Free

War on Drugs Essay Not surprisingly, cases like the foregoing generated a public backlash-perhaps the only significant one since the War on Drugs was declared in 1982. It pressured Congress into creating what is known as the innocent owner defense to such in rem forfeitures, but even that gesture of reasonableness is largely illusory. First, the defense does not redress the gross imbalance between the value of property forfeited and the personal culpability of the owner. For example, a Vermont man was found guilty of growing six marijuana plants. He received a suspended sentence, but he and his family lost their 49-acre farm. Similarly, a New York man forfeited his $145,000 condominium because he sold cocaine to an informant for $250. The law provides no limit to the value of property subject to forfeiture, even for very minor drug offenses. Second, the innocent owner defense places the burden on the property claimant to demonstrate that he or she acted or failed to act without knowledge, consent or willful blindness of the drug activities of the offender. Thus, the Federal government instituted forfeiture proceedings in the Delray Beach, Fla. , area against numerous properties containing convenience stores or other businesses where drug transactions took place, claiming that the owners made insufficient efforts to prevent drug dealings. Placing the burden on the claimant imposes expense and inconvenience because the claimant must hire a lawyer to mount a challenge to the seizure. Moreover, many cases involve the family house or car, and it often is difficult to prove that one family member had no knowledge of or did not consent to the illegal activities of another. For instance, a Florida court held that a claimant did not use reasonable care to prevent her husband from using her automobile in criminal activity; thus, she was not entitled to the innocent owner defense. A particularly cruel application of this kind of vicarious responsibility for the wrongs of another is seen in the governments policy of evicting impoverished families from public housing because of the drug activities of one unruly child. The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 specifically states that a tenants lease is a forfeitable property interest and that public housing agencies have the authority to hire investigators to determine whether drug laws are being broken. The act authorizes eviction if a tenant, member of his or her household, guest, or other person under his or her control is engaged in drug-related activity on or near public housing premises. To carry out these provisions, the act funded a pilot enforcement program. In 1990, the Departments of Justice and Housing and Urban Development announced a Public Housing Asset Forfeiture Demonstration Project in 23 states. The project pursued lease forfeitures and generated considerable publicity. In passing this law, it must have been obvious to Congress that many innocent family members would suffer along with the guilty. Perhaps it was thought vital, nonetheless, as a way of protecting other families from drugs in public housing projects. As experience proves, however, even evicted dealers continue to deal in and around the projects. It is hard to take public housing lease forfeitures very seriously, therefore, other than as a symbolic statement of the governments tough stand against illegal drugs. Destructive consequences A policy that destroys families, takes property from the innocent, and tramples the basic criminal law principles of personal responsibility, proportionality, and fairness has spillover effects into other public policy domains. One area in which the fanaticism of the drug warriors perhaps is most evident is public health. Drugs such as marijuana and heroin have well-known medical applications. Yet, so zealous are the anti-drug forces that even these therapeutic uses effectively have been banned. Marijuana, for instance, has many applications as a safe and effective therapeutic agent. Among them are relief of the intraocular pressure caused by glaucoma and alleviating the nausea caused by chemotherapy. Some AIDS patients also have obtained relief from using cannabis. Yet, marijuana is classified by the Attorney General of the U. S. , not the Surgeon General, as a Schedule I drug-one having a high potential for abuse, no currently accepted medicinal use, and lack of accepted safety for utilization. It thereby is deemed beyond the scope of legitimate medical practice and thus is not generally available to medical practitioners. The only exception was an extremely limited program of compassionate treatment of the terminally or seriously ill, but even that has been eliminated for political reasons. Assistant Secretary James O. Mason of the Department of Health and Human Services announced in 1991 that the Public Health Services provision of marijuana to patients seriously ill with AIDS would be discontinued because it would create a public perception that this stuff cant be so bad. After a review caused by protests from AIDS activists, the Public Health Service decided in March, 1992, to stop supplying marijuana to any patients save the 13 then receiving it. There also are beneficial uses for heroin. Terminal cancer patients suffering from intractable pain generally obtain quicker analgesic relief from heroin than from morphine. Many doctors believe that heroin should be an option in the pharmacopeia. Accordingly, in 1981, the American Medical Association House of Delegates adopted a resolution stating that the management of pain relief in terminal cancer patients should be a medical decision and should take priority over concerns about drug dependence. Various bills to accomplish that goal were introduced in the 96th, 97th, and 98th Congresses. The Compassionate Pain Relief Act was brought to the House floor for a vote on Sept. 19, 1984, but was defeated by 355 to 55. Although there were some concerns voiced about thefts from hospital pharmacies, the overwhelming concern was political and symbolic a heroin legalization bill could not be passed in an election year and, in any event, would send the public the wrong message. The final and perhaps most outrageous example in this catalog of wrongs against public health care is the nearly universal American refusal to permit established addicts to exchange used needles for sterile ones in order to prevent AIDS transmission among intravenous drug users. In 1991, the National Commission on AIDS recommended the removal of legal barriers to the purchase and possession of intravenous drug injection equipment. It found that 32% of all adult and adolescent AIDS cases were related to intravenous drug use and that 70% of mother-to-child AIDS infections resulted from intravenous drug use by the mother or her sexual partner. Moreover the commission found no evidence that denial of access to sterile needles reduced drug abuse, but concluded that it did encourage the sharing of contaminated needles and the spread of the AIDS virus. Notwithstanding the commissions criticism of the governments myopic criminal justice approach to the drug situation, the prevailing view is that needle exchange programs encourage drug abuse by sending the wrong message. Public safety is sacrificed when, nationwide, more than 18,000 local, sheriffs, and state police officers, in addition to thousands of Federal agents, are devoted full time to special drug units. As a result, countless hours and dollars are diverted from detecting and preventing more serious violent crimes. Thirty percent of an estimated 1,100,000 drug-related arrests made during 1990 were marijuana offenses, nearly four out of five for mere possession. Tax dollars would be spent better if the resources it took to make approximately 264,000 arrests for possession of marijuana were dedicated to protecting the general public from violent crime. The intensive pursuit of drug offenders has generated an enormous population of convicts held in prison for very long periods of time as a result of excessive and/or mandatory jail terms. It is estimated that the operating cost of maintaining a prisoner ranges from $20,000 to $40,000 per year, depending upon the location and level of security at a particular prison. With more than 800,000 men and women in American correctional facilities today, the nationwide cost approaches $30,000,000,000 per year. This is a major diversion of scarce resources. These financial burdens are only part of the price incurred as a result of the relentless drive to achieve higher and higher arrest records. More frightening and damaging are the injuries and losses caused by the early release of violent criminals owing to prison overcrowding. Commonly, court orders impose population caps, so prison authorities accelerate release of violent felons serving non-mandatory sentences in order to free up beds for non-violent drug offenders serving mandatory, non-parolable terms. For example, to stay abreast of its rapidly growing inmate population, Florida launched one of the nations most ambitious early release programs. However, prisoners serving mandatory terms most of them drug offenders, who now comprise 36% of the total prison population are ineligible. As a result, the average length of sentence declined dramatically for violent criminals, while it rose for drug offenders. Murderers, robbers, and rapists often serve less time than a cocaine mule carrying a kilo on a bus, who gets a mandatory 15-year term. A Department of Justice survey showed that 43% of state felons on probation were rearrested for a crime within three years of sentencing. In short, violent criminals are released early to commit more crimes so that their beds can be occupied by nonviolent drug offenders. Civil libertarians are not heard often defending a societal right to be secure from violent criminals, much less a right of victims to see just punishment meted out to offenders. In this they are as shortsighted as their law-and-order counterparts. The War on Drugs is a public safety disaster, making victims of us all. However uncomfortable it may be to admit, the undeniable reality is that drugs always have been and always will be a presence in society. Americans have been paying too high a price for the governments War on Drugs. As Federal judge William Schwarzer has said, It behooves us to think that it may profit us very little to win the war on drugs if in the process we lose our soul. http://www. serendipity. li/wod. html

Public Relations And Business Ethics Management Essay

Public Relations And Business Ethics Management Essay Literally Public relations mean relations with publics, e.g. customer, employees, investors, communities, media, suppliers, government, industry bodies, pressure groups, competitors etc. It is defined as the management of communication between an organization and its publics (Grunig and Hunt 1984, p.6 McElreath 1996). PR is the discipline that looks after organizations reputation, maintains its public image and facilitates relations in order to gain understanding and support as well as influence opinion and behavior (McElreath 1996, Ciprco.uk). It is the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organization and its public (Cipr.co.uk). For an organisation, there are varying functions of public relations. The 4 main areas are first, marketing communication, by which PR is used as a promotional tool to help achieve marketing objectives. The second area is financial public relations, by which it present information to business reporters. The third comes to product public relations, which aim to gain publicity for companys product and service and lastly, crisis public relations which concentrate on the responding to negative information. Other areas of PR practise include building rapport with investor and community, employee, media and government (Rubel, 2007). Thus it can be seen that PR can complement advertising and marketing but it has its own identity as a profession Public relations also involve in assessing and supervising public attitudes as well as maintaining mutual understanding and relations between an organization and its public. To provides exposure to its audiences, public relations practitioners use third-party endorsement such as topics of public interest which do not associate with direct payment (Seitel, 2007). Some wildly used PR tools include press releases, media kits, brochures, newsletters, annual reports and interactive social media. Common PR activities include working with the media, speaking at conferences, crisis communication and employee communication. By responding to the stakeholders expectations and harmonizing their interests with the organization, PR serves as an intermediary. Effective PR will help the organization to convey information and message to its public improve communication channels and develop new ways to encourage two-way communication thus crafting its public image and public awareness in order to increase patronage of its product. Why has ethics become a central issue for PR field in recent years? The initiative that corporations should be ethical and socially responsible began in 1960s. It was a time that businesses were growing rapidly and internationally (Lantos, 2001). The danger associates with corporations unethically pursuing profit and social power has heightened public awareness. In recent times, it has also been seen that some of the most famous companies lost public confidence from the publicity because of their dishonourable behaviours. Examples include Shell contributed to environmental degradation; Nike operated sweatshops in developing countries and the once top corporations such as Worldcom and Enron the collapse because of fault. Apart from destroying individual companys reputation, these scandals raised questions of corporate credibility and shaken public confidence in the entire global business. Public relations, as a communications function, has a major role in disclosing the company financial and other critical information as well as the management of relationships between the organisation and its key stakeholders. Thus ethical dilemmas are especially common in Public practices because PR always need to handle highly sensitive and controversial matters. Besides, the complicated and different levels (interpersonal, organisational and societal) of relationships which PR always engaged with will often incur conflicting expectations and interests between different publics. Therefore it is sometimes quiet difficult for PR professionals can act ethically and to get a balance between being an advocator of external and internal publics and at the same time, taking care of companys interests. However, it should be noted that maintaining ethical standards and values is the key to the establishment of good relationships with clients, employees and media (Baskin Aronoff, 1992: 88). Harlow emphasized the importance of ethical communication by highlighting that it is PR practitioners duty to serve public interest (Vithakamontri, 1991:19). The importance of ethics is associated with the positive relationship between good public relations and business success. Ethical and socially responsible companies are proved to enjoy better relations with its public (Baker, 2004). Companies with ethical conduct might appear to succeed at first, but often it can be found that they suffer from poor public relations in a longer term. In 2002, WorldComm admitted falsifying its income statements and became the biggest bankrupt company ever. The scandal wave soon swept away other corporate giants such as HealthSouth, Tyco and Auther Anderson and brought jail terms to many, even homemaking icon Martha Steward. On the other hand, many corporations create a critical source of competitive advantage-a climate of acceptance for the organisation by being ethical and engaging actively with CRS activities. Corporate social responsibility can serve as a way to strategically differentiate itself from the competitors. Like the Co-operative Group, Body Shop and American Apparel, they build customer loyalty based on distinctive ethical values (Pieczka, 2001) and they do benefit from building a reputation for integrity. Besides, some of them do it through working with local communities to help educate children and develop skills for adults in Flower Valley, Africa. Starbuck and Marks and Spencer also actively help the African community by guaranteeing fair trade purchases. Another approach to corporate social responsibility is to incorporate the CSR strategy directly into the organizations business strategy. For examples, many business including KPMG, PG and Starbucks has policy to only procure Fair Tra de tea and coffee. As we can see, ethical public relations is key to the organizations success as good ethics is simply good business. So it is worth to examine ethic in a greater detail. Ethic is defined as a value system for making decisions about what is right or wrong. The organisations conduct is not only measured against their consciences but also against societal and professional norm, so organizations, with different nations, industries and organization cultures, have different standards. Ethical choices are rarely black and white but sometimes it means a higher standard than the law. In a business perspective, business ethics and corporate governance refers to the system by which companies are controlled. Nowadays most companies have in-house codes of ethic and codes of social responsibility (Heath and Ryan, 1989). It has been argued that ethics is the duty to tell the truth. A study regarding ethical judgments concluded that regardless of peoples cultures and religions, honesty outweighed all other considerations. Honesty is particularly essential to the communication industry because dishonesty leads to lack of trust. When a PR practitioner is discovered telling a half-truths, he will be resented. According to the PR professional codes of conduct, telling the truth underpins all other practices (Keller, 1983:1). Beside triple bottom line reporting (3Ps) is becoming commonplace. The 3 pillars, People, Planet and Profits capture a new criterion of measuring organizational success: social, ecological and economical. Companies like Shell and McDonalds have issued Statements of Business Principles and Social Responsibility reports. To fulfill societys moral obligations, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is introduced. CSR policy is self-regulating mechanisms where businesses monitor and ensure it follow the law and ethical standards so business can embrace responsibility for the impact on the communities, environment and employees. Moreover, CSR-focused businesses would promote the iterest of the public by encouraging community development and abolishing practices which give damage. So it is said that CSR is the deliberate inclusion of public interest into corporate decision-making, and the honouring of a triple bottom line (Heath Ryan, 1989). What role should public relations play in improving levels of corporate social responsibility? There is a strong emphasis on the role Public relations play in implementing social responsibility among leading practitioners. Social responsibility has become a major reason for an organization to have a public relations function (Grunig and Hunt , 1984). Similarly, Harold Burson advocated that the public relations practitioners should provide qualitative evaluation of social trends, which helps developing policies and leading to a formal corporate response (Burson, 1974). Bernays also argue that, Public relations are the practice of social responsibility (Stone, 2005, p. 31). It has been pointed out that PR role is to serve not only their clients but the whole society at large (Kruckeberg and Starck, 1988). Social responsibility is understood as a concept of public relations, some scholars believe that with public relations, businesses can successfully implement social responsibility programmes. Thus PRs role of consciences in the decision-making is particularly important (Dennis, 1981). From the above review of related literature, it can be concluded that CRS obligation to serve the society applies to both individual PR practitioners and the professions as a whole. The welfare of the public should be taken into account when individual practitioner helps clients to solve problem. Meanwhile the associations of PR professionals should use their power collectively as moral agents for a better world (Clark, 2000). PR roles in improving the level of corporate social responsibility include the following. First PR need to improve the conduct of company by emphasizing the need for public approval. As a management function which looks after organizations reputation (McElreath 1996), to look for the company best interest, public relations practitioners should actively be engaged in the proposing and initiating of Corporate Social Responsibility. They should fight for CRS implementation with management. Knowledgeable staff is an important as they play a significant role in counseling management and ensuring that CRS programs maintain high professional standards (Tilson and Vance, 1985). It has been argued as the publics expect organizations to take on a greater role in solving community problems; they want to see businesses being ethical. PR professionals should go beyond advisory role and should regard themselves as the consciences of their organizations (Judds, 1989 Choi, 2005). It is true that th e most important thing is how a company conduct itself and deal with its publics. Communications is second to that. It is very important for the company to truly embrace CRS. Merely publicizing them is not effective as it has to be backed by appropriate behaviour. Also, public relation should serve the public interests by making all points of view communicative in the public. When CRS become part of the organization management initiative, PR as a communication function between an organization and its publics (Grunig and Hunt 1984, p.6 McElreath 1996), it has an important role to align corporate organization behaviour with stakeholder expectations. It should be done through a process of identifying public interest and potential CSR issues, prioritizing them, and closely monitoring their evolution, they can be managed-either by changing the companys behaviour or its stakeholders expectations, or both (Clark, 2002). Besides, Public relations should advance its professionalism by codifying and enforcing ethical conduct and standard of performance, serve our society by using mediation to replace misinformation and execute its social responsibility to promote human welfares. However, the practice of CSR is subject to much criticism. Critics argue that CSR is just a superficial window-dressing, they believe that companies like BP, British American Tobacco and McDonalds are using CSR programs to distract the public from ethical questions incurred in their operations. These corporations maximize their profit through raising their reputation. Another example, Shell has a much-publicized CSR policy and was a pioneer in triple bottom line reporting, but this did not prevent the 2004 scandal concerning its misreporting of oil reserves. It is important to note that CRS is an aid to an organizations mission as well as a guide to what the company stands for and will uphold to its consumers. Merely taking token gestures will only throw poor practice into sharper focus. Also, organization has to be flexible and see what legislators are up to and update the CSR programme in order to stay ahead as issues change with time and lastly CSR policies needs to be ensured that they are well implemented. It is believed that with well management, CSR can be an opportunity for a company to differentiate itself. Organizations can also benefit from the proliferation of annual list in major media. In a long run, managing relationships successfully required ethical conduct so effective public relations cannot be about deception and manipulations. Thus real public relations require honesty and a genuine concern for the needs and expectations of the public and it will build trust and credibility.

Similarities Of Two Famous Tales Of Love Essay -- essays research pape

Similarities of Two Famous Tales of Love In one of the most famous love stories of this century, many elements from anotherfamous tale of love were borrowed. In many instances, Westside Story mirrored Shakespeare'sRomeo And Juliet. Many similarities were noted from the characterization to the plot structure.However, they differed as well. In Westside Story, some characters shared personalities with those of Romeo And Juliet.The families of the Capulets and Montagues were well represented by two gangs, the Sharks andthe Jets. Both being ineffective rulers, officer Krumpke and the Prince struggle to keep peace if their cities both to no avail and warned," If you disturb our streets again, your lives shall pay theforfeit of peace."( ) . Due to their differing backgrounds, Tony being affiliated with the Jets and Maria with the Sharks, Tony and Maria partook in forbidden love much like Romeo and Juliet. Much like Tybalt, Bernado disapproved of their love and was quick to fight with anymember of the Jets or Tony. However, Anita, Bernardo's girlfriend, approved of their love because she just wanted to see Maria happy like the Nurse. Overwhelmed by all the fighting, Baby John was much like Tybalt's peace keeping foil character, Mercutio. Lastly, Doc tried to help Tony and stop all the insanity around him like Friar Laurence. In both stories, comic relief occurred to keep the audienc...

geopolitical enviroment in Ireland :: essays research papers

GEOPLITICAL ENVIROMENT The Irish government been stable since it’s foundation of state in 1921, before the foundation of Irish state, the Irish was a body of UK starting 1801 with complete participation in the parliament. Current Ireland has fully written constitutions that separate courts, parliament and executive. Furthermore, Ireland provides property right under the Irish constitutions as well as European Court of Justice. Ireland political parties on the other hand had been supporters of pro business which lead the country to one of the fastest growing economy earning the Irish a nick name Celtic tigers in the 21st century. Ireland’s economy had 80% growth in the last decade with a current GDP per capital 122 % with GDP growth rate totaled 6.3 of European average. However inflation seems to be a concern because of 4.7% rate which stands over the EU average. All major political parties of Ireland are pro business that create business friendly environment, especially for foreign investment . The Ahern government cut Ireland corporate tax rat form 16% to 12.5% in 2003 below EU 30% rate. This glories effort by the Irish government made Ireland the most attractive place for U.S. investors by receiving one third of U.S. investment in Europe specifically in the computer, software, and engineering industries. The relationship with U.S. investor’s and Irish government is constructed very strongly that U.S. investors invest three times in Ireland than Netherlands which is the second largest U.S. investment located in E.U. barriers to investment in Ireland are minimal with restrictions applying for agricultural land and Irish airlines. There are no other restrictions concerning transfers, repatriation of profits, and access to foreign exchange. Permission may apply for countries that are not in E.U. economic area. Companies have also competitive advantage based on highly educated task force with 35% graduate of science and engineering compared to 26% average in E.U. Ire land also leads in terms of the number of science and engineering graduates as proportion of the population aged 20-34 in 2000 (16.3 per thousand compared to an EU average of 6.8 per thousand).

Wedding Speech Delivered by the Groom -- Wedding Toasts Roasts Speeche

Wedding Speech Delivered by the Groom I was really, really nervous about standing up here and speaking. I did prepare a few lines for today and having snorted them I now feel absolutely fine. I did have a great speech worked out for you today, but as I am now married, my wife has told me what to say instead. I'd like to start by thanking you all on behalf of my wife and I being here with us today, especially those who have travelled some distance to be here. We would also like to thank you all very much for your cards, kind thoughts and wonderful presents. I was afraid that putting a dinner service on the wedding list was not such a good idea, when I discussed it with Mary I suggested that we should get a dishwasher, but she told me not to worry , and that she was going to get one when we got married, Me! In all seriousness when Mary and I where planning this wedding we had considered getting married abroad, however with a bit of gentle persuasion from June(Bride's mom) consisting of her tightly gripped fist and my wedding tackle, we decided to give it a miss. Somebody once asked me when Adam & Eve were together how did we know that they lived in paradise? well in view of the fact that my new Mother-in-Law is so close, I don't want to say much, other than this- Adam had no Mother-in-law, that's how we know he lived in paradise. But seriously I would like to thank June for all her... ...e is that it was Berlin's the pub, Cairo Jax the nightclub, Iceland the freezer shop and Texas the DIY store. Finally I asked Mary's mom in the Church, how did Mary look in her wedding dress, she said she looked wonderful, but that didn't prepare me enough for when I saw her walk down the aisle. I was overwhelmed to say the least by how beautiful Mary looks today. So, to my wife, my bride and joy – thank you for everything you have done and making me the happiest man alive. you know everything about me and love me just the same, I have my faults, yet you still agreed to marry me. I am extremely lucky today to be the one to marry you - and I hope this is the start of many happy years together. Wedding Speech Delivered by the Groom -- Wedding Toasts Roasts Speeche Wedding Speech Delivered by the Groom I was really, really nervous about standing up here and speaking. I did prepare a few lines for today and having snorted them I now feel absolutely fine. I did have a great speech worked out for you today, but as I am now married, my wife has told me what to say instead. I'd like to start by thanking you all on behalf of my wife and I being here with us today, especially those who have travelled some distance to be here. We would also like to thank you all very much for your cards, kind thoughts and wonderful presents. I was afraid that putting a dinner service on the wedding list was not such a good idea, when I discussed it with Mary I suggested that we should get a dishwasher, but she told me not to worry , and that she was going to get one when we got married, Me! In all seriousness when Mary and I where planning this wedding we had considered getting married abroad, however with a bit of gentle persuasion from June(Bride's mom) consisting of her tightly gripped fist and my wedding tackle, we decided to give it a miss. Somebody once asked me when Adam & Eve were together how did we know that they lived in paradise? well in view of the fact that my new Mother-in-Law is so close, I don't want to say much, other than this- Adam had no Mother-in-law, that's how we know he lived in paradise. But seriously I would like to thank June for all her... ...e is that it was Berlin's the pub, Cairo Jax the nightclub, Iceland the freezer shop and Texas the DIY store. Finally I asked Mary's mom in the Church, how did Mary look in her wedding dress, she said she looked wonderful, but that didn't prepare me enough for when I saw her walk down the aisle. I was overwhelmed to say the least by how beautiful Mary looks today. So, to my wife, my bride and joy – thank you for everything you have done and making me the happiest man alive. you know everything about me and love me just the same, I have my faults, yet you still agreed to marry me. I am extremely lucky today to be the one to marry you - and I hope this is the start of many happy years together.

Family issues becoming social problems Essay

Family, as what sociologists address, is a social institution. Families are shaped by the family members’ personality. Individual members affect their relationship that is greatly influenced by experience. Families are also affected with the other social institution in the society like law, religion and education. Thus, families are subject to changes whether these changes gave advantages and disadvantages, the family has to cope up and make adjustments. Failure to do so will affect society and social problems might arise. This twist and turns have been quite evident as the time passes by. Single parents, careerist mothers, absent fathers, and live-in partners are blamed as the root cause of many of society’s problems that could lead to persistent poverty, drug abuse, academic failure or out-of-school youths, and juvenile crime. This can be traced back to the early society that calls for historical perspective(Steven Mintz, 2003). History of the American Family In 1920, majority of American families are the traditional type; the father is the breadwinner, the wife is the home-maker and the children attend the school. Unwanted pregnancies happened between 1940 and 1958. Families of the 1950s are characterized by increase in birth rate, a stable divorce rate, and the age of marriage decline. During the early and at the middle of the nineteenth century, divorce rate began to rise because of its legislative order to be legalized. Spousal and child abuse gave rise and this can be reflected with the increase in assaults and murders committed against relatives and family members. Highest divorce cases happened at the beginning of the twentieth century. Single parenting, children in orphanage, infant mortality and early widowhood are the other changes happened in the past years(Steven Mintz, 2003). Family issues becoming social problem Divorce and single parenting From the point of view of some, divorce is an indication of failure of American family. But for others, it is viewed as a sign of freedom from men that women do enjoy. After World War II, it is documented that the rate of divorce increased and these may be an indication of the changing views and role of women in the society and their need to be free from social and financial dependence upon men. However, the dramatic increase of divorce rate has greatly affect the economical and social stability experienced by most of the divorced women that caused social problem for the economic well-being of the divorced women and the children are highly compromised. On average, women earn less income than men, households that headed by the divorced women are further disadvantaged, also, the lack of adequate and consistent child support added to the economic dilemma of divorced women (Dennis L. Peck). Spousal Abuse  Among the cause of violence between couples are: incompatibility between them which they discovered after the marriage and such difference arises when there is great disagreement and animosity between them, the couple is under stress and frustration therefore burst it out to one another and lastly, if the wife is a masochist or very awkward or very provocative(Rudi Dallos). Child abuse and neglect A child that is not properly taken cared of, not properly fed, deprived of basic necessities, proper medical care and treatment, and too much physical abuse is a violation to the child’s welfare and is considered as a criminal behavior. Juvenile Delinquency According to a study, broken homes are associated with juvenile delinquency. Levels of juvenile delinquency were much higher in teenagers living with single fathers and lowest among teenagers living with both parents and one of the suggestive reasons for this is due to inadequate parental involvement in the life of the child. The lack of guidance and the absence of close relationships between the child and parents contributed to the causes of the delinquency(Crystal L. Murry). Financial stress Financial stress can directly and indirectly affect children because it increases parental mental and emotional distress, which limits a parent’s capability to respond sensitively and consistently to their children’s needs. More specifically, parents that are more commonly observed among low-income populations have behaviors of parental harshness, non-responsiveness, and inconsistency and are assumed to arise in part from the high levels of parental stress that accompany poverty. Parents having low income have the tendency to fail to express their affection and fail to respond to their child’s needs. (H. Abigail Raikes). Gay and Lesbian Families Sigmund Freud viewed homosexuality as a disturbed psychosexual development wherein the social orientation of the child is due to its relationship with his or her parents. Psychologists, as well as other professionals form other disciplines such as endocrinology and genetics have studied and discovered other possible causes of homosexuality (Dennis L. Peck). Before, same-sex families were inconceivable. However, in 1980s, the situation began to change and have changed the views of family life for gays and lesbians. Due to socioeconomic independence of women of lesbian families, the medical advances of in-vitro fertilization and sex transplant, acceptance of gays and lesbians by adoption agencies and courts, planned gay and lesbian parenting had increased tremendously but during the late 1980s and early 1990s, there was argument about same-sex families, particularly child-rearing by gays and lesbians. Solutions to Problems Having time for the family will be helpful in strengthening the family and businesses providing flexible working schedule will be of great help. The power of media has great influence on the youth; therefore, they should make effort on portraying positive views on marriage and valuing education. The parents should be attentive to their child’s learning in and out of school. No-fault divorce legislation establishes conjugal property that should be divided by both parties, assigning the child’s custody, and awarding alimony. Open communication is important so that problems and conflicts can be addressed within the members of the family. Nowadays, it is acceptable that both parents are working to support the financial needs of the family but make sure that there is still time for relaxation and bonding of the family members especially during special occasions. There are also government agencies, insurance company, law firms and consultants that provide legal and financial support for the child, spouse and elder that are victims of domestic violence.