ACH step 7 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

ACH step 7 - Essay Example The two states have lived in a state of lack of independence living in a situation where there is neither war nor peace but only tension and mistrust2. Some of the attacks China organized against Taiwanese include the bombing of two islands in Taiwan in 1958, as well as the March 1966 incident where China tested missiles in Taiwan’s coast3. There are a number of solutions that have been thought will bring an end to this crisis and they include a diplomatic solution, direct attack as well as limited intervention. Hypotheses claim that diplomatic solutions will however influence the end of the conflict whereas using limited intervention may increase tension amongst the populace living in the two states4. In addition, using direct attacks may encourage other attacks from supporting nations. Considering these views concerning the possible solutions, an analysis is conducted to evaluate the outcome that will most probably occur to that with the least probability of occurrence. Coming to a diplomatic solution is the most likely outcome that will solve the PRC-Taiwanese conflict. Settling both sides and enabling them to see the necessity of bringing an end to the war is necessary. A diplomatic solution will help since it will not favour any side but be fair. Favouring one side usually culminates into increased tension in the opposing side in addition to increased attacks and reduced chances of peace and independence. The hypothesis that comes accompanied with this solution states that the diplomatic solution used will influence the end of the war. The hypothesis is true since the solution will direct how the two states will work into solving their disputes as well as how the will work once they are already stable. A solution that does not consider the future of these two states should not be selected over a solution that has considered the social, political and economic development plans for China and Taiwan. Diplomatic solutions show positive signs that it

Social Medias Negative Influences on Social Interaction Essay Example for Free

Social Medias Negative Influences on Social Interaction Essay The purpose of this paper is to observe complete strangers and familiar groups of people in a coffee shop setting, and a college setting, and document the use of social media and their interactions with other people. The goal of these observations is to see how much people socially interact with one another, and how much time people seclude themselves through the use of social media. The observer will also record the number of  interactions that are created through social media topics, meaning conversations that would not have occurred if social media was not present. It is the prediction of the author that people are less likely to socialize with face to face conversations, and are more likely to spend their time in a social environment using social media and interacting with others online with the use of their social media devices. The data collected will give the reader a better understanding of how society prefers to interact socially in present day, and what percentage of their time do they depend on the use of social media in a social environment. Does social media positively or negatively influence social interactions? How is social media used as an external attribution? Introduction. Technology has come so far over the last twenty years, and nobody really asked what society was losing, because of all that we gained. With all the interactions occurring in social media, including text messaging, Facebook, Twitter, email, YouTube, etc., do we really communicate in person anymore? Was it that long ago where our culture was dependent on pay phones and had to mail letters to contact other people? Because of the lack of convenience that people had during that time, it was very common to prefer to interact with people face to face. Now we live in a culture that people prefer to write text messages and/or emails, instead of calling someone to avoid talking with them directly. In a span of about ten years, our culture went from wanting cell phones to becoming dependent on cell phones, and having mostly to do with being able to view data (texts, emails, internet browsing), as opposed to calling people. It is because of all these facts that this author wishes to find out if social media is helping us interact socially, or if it actually prevents us from interacting. Another purpose of this research paper is to determine whether social media is used as an external attribution. External attribution is defined when an event is caused by an outside factor (Schneider, Gruman Coutts, 2005), or in this case, social media. In this study, we will find out if the event that occurs due to social media use is face to face interactions, the extended use of additional social media, or no interactions at all. It is believed that behavior results from personal and environmental, or social influences. In this study, we will find out if social media being present will cause  conversation to take place between groups of people that know each other, as well as complete strangers. What also will be recorded is whether the use of social media will result in social media interactions, as opposed to face to face interactions. An example of this would be if a person using social media on their tablet saw a YouTube video, and due to how funny they found the video, they then proceeded to text friends or post information on Facebook and/or Twitter about the video. This study will take place in two different locations, the first place being a Starbucks coffee shop in Coalinga, CA, while the second place will be West Hills Community College in Coalinga, CA. The setting’s benefits and weaknesses will be discussed later in this research assignment. The purpose of this location is to record the actions and uses of social media with complete strangers, as well as groups of people that know each other. By monitoring the interactions of people in a coffee shop, the author is able to see how much time that people rely on social media in a half hour setting. The coffee shop is used primarily as a place to study, interact in groups, read the newspaper, or to simply drink coffee. As opposed to a restaurant, where it is a more social atmosphere and it may be considered rude by patrons for people in their group to use their cell phones, tablets, and laptops. By observing the use of social media and social interactions at a college, we can see how similar or different the results are in a school setting. This case study will apply to the purposes of social psychology, as social psychology is defined as how people influence one another (Schneider, Gruman Coutts, 2005). The twist that will appear in the research to follow is how not only people influence other people, but how their use of social media influences other people and their interactions with other people. It is the author’ s hypothesis that the use of social media, although very useful at times, is devastating to normal face to face interaction. We are reminded of those people walking down the sidewalks with their heads buried into their cell phones, causing them to run into other people and obstacles on the sidewalk. The author also believes that this research will find that most, or all interactions that do exist, will occur through the use of social media instead of normal conversations. Setting. The two different locations where this study will be held will be at a Starbucks coffee shop and a community college, both of which are located in Coalinga, CA. These locations were both chosen because they offer the author the best chance for naturalistic observation, or nonparticipant observation. Nonparticipant observation is defined as an observation made by a researcher that allows them to remain separate from the event being monitored, so they do not have to worry about affecting the results of their observations (Schneider, Gruman Coutts, 2005). Since this study deals with monitoring other people’s use of social media and its influence on their social interactions, it is necessary to remain distant from the participants so they are unaware they are being observed, so that the data collected is more accurate. Different from participant observation, where the observer interacts with the participants being monitored, nonparticipant observation allows the observer the best chance to get realistic data. When people know they are being observed, they tend to act differently, and in the case of this study, they may hesitate from interacting socially and/or using social media as much as they normally would. The first observation will take place in the only coffee shop in the town of Coalinga, CA. This is relevant, as Coalinga is a small college town, so the chances of observing college students and adults interacting and/or using social media are high. The second observation will take place outside in the quad at the local community college in Coalinga, CA. The target audience for this observation period will be students who are getting out of class, or who are sitting around killing time until their next class begins. Both settings target a younger audience, which will heighten the chances of observing social media use, since social media is used more by young adults than older adults (Skues, Williams Wise, 2012). The goal of these two locations is to give the author the best chance to see the most use of social media, and how its use affects social interactions between the users and the people around them, all in a thirty minute time period. Location Advantages. The advantages of observations made in a coffee shop and a college setting are that it allows the author to target a younger audience, which should  generate observations of social media use and its affect on social interactions. When people go to coffee shops, they stay there to interact with other people, to study, or to hang out and spend time using social media. This is why most coffee shops have free Wi-Fi now, to encourage people to stay and drink more coffee while they interact socially or use social media. Another benefit of observing interactions and social media use in a coffee shop is that we find a large number of groups coming in together, as well as complete strangers placed next to each other. This study’s purpose is to monitor the social media use and social interactions of complete strangers, as well as people that know each other. In the group setting, we can see if everyone in the group uses social media, and whether they let their findings on social media to spark up conversation topics. With individuals, we can see how much they use social media and whether their use prevents them from trying to interact socially with complete strangers, or encourages them to start conversations with complete strangers. At the college setting, it gives the author similar surroundings to a coffee shop, in that it is a social environment, since most students hang out with their friends before and after class. A common occurrence at school is to see students doing homework, socializing with friends, or using social media before class since it usually is not allowed during class. Some students may even use social media to help with their homework assignments. While observing the college, the author will get the chance to see groups of people interacting, as well as students hanging out by themselves, which makes it similar to the coffee shop environment. Location Disadvantages. One disadvantage that may occur at the coffee shop is that the observer cannot control how many people come in during the thirty minute observation period, thus making it an uncontrolled environment. The hope is that, since the small town only has one coffee shop, it will be a popular place for people to go interact and use social media. If the author chooses to go on a slow day for business, the observations will be limited. This will obviously be affected by the time that the author chooses to go observe. To avoid any  issues, the observer will do this observation on a weekend morning, in hopes of avoiding work and school hours. Another disadvantage of a coffee shop is that it has a similar environment to a library, since so many people are present, people can avoid interactions to keep the place quiet for everyone to enjoy their experience. The fact that people are ordering drinks at the front counter and there is quite a bit of noise coming from the workers and coffee machines, the chances of it being quiet are small. One disadvantage of the college setting is the fact that the observation will be made outside, and weather can affect the number of students being present outside. The fact that Coalinga is a very warm area, the chances of it being cold in the mid-afternoon are small, so this should not be a huge issue. The other disadvantage of the college setting is, like the coffee shop, it is an uncontrolled environment, so the observer cannot control the number of students present at the time of observation. To prevent any issues here, the observer will choose a time around lunch, where most classes are on break from the hours of 12:00pm- 1:00pm. How social psychology considers social media in this environment. Since social psychology is defined as people’s behaviors influenced by others (Schneider, Gruman Coutts, 2005), this case study is specifically targeting how people interact around one another. The external factor in this study is that we are also monitoring the use of social media, and how it affects how people interact with each other. According to Gross (2009), in 2000, 34% of our population used cell phones, which increased to 84% in 2009. This is clear evidence that today’s generation is becoming dependant on cell phones, tablets, laptops, and other social media devices. Knowing this, and reading what Marche researched (2012), people are using social media more than ever. The problem lies in the fact that people using social media could be a result of people feeling lonely, and through the use of social media, they feel connected to something or someone. According to Marche, people are lonely as ever because â€Å"Facebook denies us a pleasure whose profundity we had underestimated: the chance to forget about ourselves for a while, the chance to disconnect. (2012)† What Marche means by this is in the past, people had the chance to disconnect from everything and  everyone, especially when things were not going so well. Now society never disconnects, because everything is a click away. The more people use social media, the less interaction they have with other people face to face, thus creating a state of loneliness. This study fits the purposes of social psychology because it will monitor how people’s actions and interactions are affected by the people that surround them, as well as the social media that is present around them. The observer will see how much conversation is started without the use of social media, and compare it to conversation started through topics of social media. Will people by themselves have the confidence to approach people they do not know to have a conversation? If so, will it be a result of the person being outgoing or the result of social media sparking a conversation? The observer will see groups and how they interact with one another, and how much of it depends on social media. Will the interactions between groups be different between those of strangers, in regards to social media use? These are all questions that the author will target throughout his research and observations. Research Methods. To conduct this research, the author first went to a Starbucks coffee shop on a Sunday morning at ten o’clock in the morning. The coffee shop is located in Coalinga, California. The reason this time was chosen was because it is a college town, so a weekday morning would most likely be slow, and most people have work off on weekends. The goal was to try and observe the most crowded time possible, in order to get the most accurate results throughout the observation. Though the research was done in a very small town, the Starbucks coffee shop still attracts a lot of business on weekends. Since this study was to be done with naturalistic observation methods, the author chose to get a seat in the far corner of the coffee shop, so that he could avoid people being aware of his presence and monitoring. By not letting the participants know that they were being monitored, the author felt that the data collected would be a more accurate portrayal of how they normally would interact socia lly, and how much those interactions were affected by the use of social media. Due to participant’s  change of behavior when they are aware of their actions being recorded, the naturalistic observation method can be an effective way to get the most accurate results when monitoring people’s actions (Rosas, 2006). The second setting for data collection was done at West Hills Community College, located in Coalinga, California. Although this is a smaller college, there are still plenty of classrooms that are all located outside, which allowed the author the chance to sit nearby a classroom door and monitor the students waiting to go into class, as well as the students just getting out of class. The author chose to use natural observations when monitoring these students throughout the case study at the college. The observations also focused on the teachers that walked around campus, and their interactions with other teachers and students. Similar to the observations made at the coffee shop, these were done at the school by the author staying out of the way of those who were being monitored. The author was able to find a table across from the classroom, where many students gathered together while they waited to go into class. These were the two settings in which the research for this study were do ne by the author. Ethical Challenges. Since naturalistic observations are defined as those made by a researcher who neither changes the environment in any way, nor creates their own desired environment (Capella, 2013), the only challenge presented to the author in this study was not being found to be monitoring by the people who he was observing. Since the coffee shop is a smaller venue, it was difficult to not stick out while observing the actions of people so close to the author. At the school, it was much easier to blend in as the author was outside and could put sunglasses on, so people could not see his eyes. As mentioned earlier, the study results could only be found accurate if the author did not intervene with the participants, since this is the only way to view the participants in their natural habitat (Capella, 2013). The only way this study was found to be ethical was if it was done without intervening with the participants. This also included not using personal information from the participants, so none of th e documented results could be connected to people who were unaware they were being monitored. Since  none of these issues were breached, the research done was ethical. Research Analysis. The author made naturalistic observations at two individual settings, each for a twenty minute period of time. The first observation was done at the Starbucks in Coalinga, California, on January 26, 2014. The second observation was done at West Hills Community College in Coalinga, California, on February 4, 2014. In the twenty minute observation period at the local Starbucks, the researcher witnessed three groups of people come into the coffee shop together and eight individuals, three of whom were already present before the researcher got to the coffee shop. In the twenty minute observation period at the college, the researcher saw one group of 6 students, one group of three teachers, and two individuals all outside a classroom door. Groups. The first group witnessed at the Starbucks was a group of three women, two in their early fifties, and one who appeared to be a college student. The women came in and interacted with each other while waiting in line, and then grabbed a table once their order was ready. The younger girl checked her phone three different times while in line with the two older ladies, and appeared to be texting back and forth. This usage brought up some communication with one of the older women, who appeared to be the mother of the younger girl. The â€Å"mother† asked who she was texting, and then asked how the friend who the younger girl was texting was doing. Once they sat down, the younger girl texted on her phone only a few times, as the time spent at the table between the ladies dealt with interacting about the young girl’s impression of the town of Coalinga. At no point during their ten minute sit down did any of the women interact with any other people that were in the coffee shop, as they stayed completely in group. The author noted that the younger girl appeared more interested in what texts she was getting on her phone than what the two older women were talking about, but she refrained from using it too much. In the second group, which came a few minutes after the first group, there  were four college students (2 girls and 2 guys). They all had their backpacks with them, and one guy had a tablet while the other had a laptop. It was evident that they had been to this coffee shop before, as they all started up a conversation with two of the young workers at the counter, who appeared to be classmates of theirs. Once they grabbed a table, they began discussing a class project that they had in their health class. The guy with the tablet used his social media device to research certain health topics that were presented to him by both girls in the group. The second guy with the laptop was responsible for writing down their research findings, as all four discussed the topics and what was found through their research. At no point through their discussions did they interact with anyone outside their group, as they seemed focus on completing their research only. They still remained there at the co ffee shop after the author left the coffee shop fifteen minutes later. The third group of people consisted of two females, one in her late twenties and the other being a college student, and one male in his mid-thirties. The older woman and male both worked at this Starbucks, and it was evident that they held a managerial position. The younger college student female was applying for a job at this particular Starbucks. The younger female had a resume with her, and had to fill out an application while sitting down in the group. The older male was asking the applicant questions about her completed application, while the older female was documenting some of the responses on her tablet. It appeared that the two managers were using the tablet to input important information about the applicant. There were some outside interactions, as some of the other employees were invited over to the table and introduced to the applicant. This meeting lasted about ten minutes, and then the applicant left the shop while the two managers went back into the office in the back. At the college, the first group that was seen was a group of six students (five guys and one girl). It was clear that this group was waiting for their next class to begin and was killing time before the class started. Although nobody from this group had a tablet or laptop, all six had cell phones and used them almost the entire time. The female was on a phone call, while the  guys were all checking out videos and music on YouTube. All the conversations between the guys were related to their findings on their phones, and once the girl got off her phone, she was invited over to see a funny video that the guys had found. At one point, two individuals passed by this group at separate times, but no interactions were made between the group and the individuals. The final group seen at the college was a group of three mid-forties females who are teachers at the college. One of the ladies had her laptop open, while the other two were talking about creating new student learning outcomes for their particular fields. At no point did the teachers even look over to the group of students that was two tables away from them, as they seemed focus on completing their research before their next class. Although only one of the females was using the laptop, all three were conversing about the student learning outcomes and making suggestions to what was documented on the laptop. Individuals. There were eight different individuals present at the coffee shop during the twenty minute observation period. Five of the eight individuals sat down at a table, while the other three got their coffees to go. The three individuals who got their coffee to go all only interacted with the workers at the counter, and none of them used a social media device or interacted with other people. One of the five that chose to stay at the coffee shop was a college female, and she sat at a table with headphones on while viewing her tablet. She appeared to be watching a movie, as she did not speak the entire time she sat down. Another of the five (mid-forties male) had a copy of the newspaper and proceeded to drink his coffee while reading the Sports section of the newspaper for ten minutes, before he left the shop. The third individual was another college student female who sat down at a table with her coffee and made a four minute phone call to a friend. Once the phone call was over, she grabbed her coffee and left the coffee shop. The fourth individual was a mid-thirties female who brought a book with her, as she sat in the quiet corner of the shop while reading her book and drinking her coffee. She did not interact with anyone while the observation took place.  The final individual was a mid-twenties male, who brought his laptop with him. Once he sat down, he put earphones in and appeared to face-time someone on his laptop, as he was speaking into the microphone on his computer. This conversation was about ten minutes, and prevented any outside interactions with this person with anyone else at the shop. One thing noted by the author was that the people around this last individual did notice that he was speaking rather loudly in a public place, and it was evident that some conversations came up about the man being rude. At no point did anyone approach the man, as they just whispered about it at their individual tables. In the college setting, there were only two individuals present during the twenty minute observation, and they walked by the classroom that was being monitored at separate times. Both individuals were male and both were walking to their next class while using their phones. The first was using his phone to make a phone call, but because he was in the area for only thirty seconds, the contents of the phone conversation were unclear. The second male was typing on his phone the entire time he was walking to his next class, so it appeared that he was texting. The student did not raise his head one time as he was walking, which caused him to walk very slowly and it appeared that he was using his peripheral vision to make sure he did not run into anything during his walk to his next class. Neither one of these individuals interacted socially to any of the groups present as they walked by. Research Analysis’ Relationship to Social Media Statisitics. The research collected through the two observations shows that younger and older participants all were likely to use some form of social media device. About 50% of all social media users in this study used their social media devices to communicate with others through texting and phone calls, while the other 50% used their social media devices to document information and view videos online. According to research done by Baker (2012) just with regards to social media use for videos, YouTube gets 4 billion page views per day all over the world. The average person spends fifteen minutes per day on YouTube streaming video, and every day, over 800,000 videos are uploaded onto YouTube. 35% of all YouTube viewers are between the ages of  18-34 (Baker, 2012). In another study done by Baker (2012), she writes how there are one million new Twitter accounts created every day, which is equivalent to eleven accounts created per second, and over 100 million active Twitter users globally today. Ac cording to research done by Gibson (2013), over 97% of all people own cell phones, and 56% of those cell phones owned are â€Å"smart-phones†, which have the potential to retrieve email and browse the internet. She also states that within the ages of 18-29, 80% of that age group own a smart-phone. With all this said, it is clear that today’s majority culture is dependent on cell phones. Throughout this study, the author saw a majority of participants using some form of social media device, which agrees with other research on social media usage. What was unclear throughout this study is how much social media usage affects our interactions with others socially. Even though some people use their social media devices to interact with others online, does social media limit our ability to communicate with others face to face. During this study, we saw that people that were involved in a group setting still interacted with one another, whether the conversations were dependent on social media or not. We also saw that individuals by themselves did not go out of their way to converse with complete strangers, unless it was to buy a cup of coffee. Unfortunately, this does not prove if social media is the cause of less face to face interactions, because these participants may have just kept to themselves on that particular day. Although it may appear that people today are less likely to interact socially, especially with people they do not know, it is impossible to prove that based on two observation periods. Research Summary. So what has this research study shown us? The one definite that was shown is that people were hesitant to approach people they did not know, unless it was to order something from the front counter at Starbucks. While this does not prove that people today are less likely to interact with complete strangers, it shows proof that people in a public setting are not going out of their way to interact with other people they do not know. What is interesting is that through social media usage (Twitter, Facebook, etc.),  people today are more likely to engage in conversations with complete strangers than they are in face to face settings (Diaz, Evans Gallagher, 2011). What is it about social media that allows people today to be more open to converse with people they do not know, rather than doing it in a public setting in person? Diaz, Evans Gallagher believe that because people do not have to face the person they are speaking with, thus not having to deal with embarrassment if what they s ay is found to be unpopular, people are more likely to be outgoing when it will not affect them negatively in a social manner (2011). Another fact that was proven in this study is that social media can provoke interactions with other people, even though those witnessed in this study were not how the author thought they would occur. In this study at the Starbucks, a man sat at a table and spoke to another person on his social media device in a public place. Because of how loud he was, other people that did not know the man began talking about how rude the man was to act like he was in his living room and not respect the other people surrounding him. The author was hoping to find people that would find something of interest on a social media device and show other people they did not know, sparking an interaction between two strangers. Though this did not happen, one person’s social media use did spark an interaction between another group of people which would not have occurred had the man not done what he had done. This proves to the reader that social media usage can promote interactions between people that w ould not have occurred had people not used social media. Study Implications. New Trends. Though this study does not prove anything, as it is a small sample size of the world’s social media usage and their interactions, it does agree with the author’s hypothesis that people today rely less on face to face interactions and more with interactions made through social media. According to Diaz, Evans Gallagher (2011), there are several advantages and disadvantages of using social media to interact. Young adults that are shy may gain confidence to interact more, first by using social media to  interact and develop confidence. Social media also encourages people to apply more thought into their interactions, as they have more time to think about what will be said. This differs from face to face interactions, as people are put on the spot and sometimes cannot have sufficient time to think about the best thing to say in a particular moment. Some of the disadvantages mentioned by Diaz, Evans Gallagher (2011) are that social media is so widespread, that any convers ation can be seen by millions of people, rather than a face to face conversation that is only seen by those present. Social media also leads people to multi-task, which leads to a lack of attention applied to one individual topic. Multi-tasking also leads to spending too much time on social media, and not enough time studying and developing the brain. New Responses to Influences of Social Media. Does our society even have negative responses to the influences of social media? It seems that everyone is so involved with how cool technology is, and what new social media devices are coming out, there is not a lot of talk about the negative influences of social media. Is social media a more negative or positive influence on our culture? This question cannot be answered with a study like this, as many studies have been done to observe people’s usage of media, and everyone handles their usage differently. Some people may be consumed with social media, and all that comes with it, to where they separate themselves from the non-interactive world. Some people may be able to contain their usage, while using their social media use to improve their face to face interactions with regular people. The author’s feelings on this topic is that due to the data collected in this case study, people did not go out of their way to interact with people they did not know. Whereas twenty years ago, people by themselves in a coffee shop may have been more likely to try and interact with strangers because they did not have social media to occupy their time. This is not to say that people twenty years ago did not go to coffee shops to read the paper or their book in private. The data collected in this study also shows proof that the percentages of people using social media and smart phones found in recent research studies are pretty accurate, as a high percentage of the people that were observed had some of sort of social media device. Recent research  also showed that phones today are more likely to be used for texting, emailing, and web browsing, rather than talking on the phone (Duggan, 2013). This research was proven to be accurate in this observational study as well, as one person at the school was using their phone to talk, while everyone else was using their phones to browse, text, or email. Further Areas of Research. So even though this topic has been researched many times by different researchers, are there any areas that may have not been covered to try and come up with a more definitive answer to if social media usage affects our social interactions? The problem presented with all research is that every person is different, and how they are affected by social media will be different in each individual situation. The author believes that all that can be accomplished by completing further research is to add more proof to a topic that has not been proved to be 100% accurate. Even with more research leading readers to believe that social media is affecting our culture negatively, the only way that we can prove that is if one day people stop talking to other people completely and interaction is done ONLY through the use of social media. Then we can say that social media is definitely the reason that people do not interact socially face to face. One other area that can be further researched is to fi nd out the relationship between social media use and feelings of depression. It would be interesting to see how depression is related to the loneliness that comes with secluding oneself with only interacting through social media. Conclusion. It was the goal of the author to see how the use of social media affected our social interactions in today’s society. Another focus of this study was to see how interactions that do take place are a result of social media usage. Given the data collected in these two case studies, the research findings do support prior research that social media usage is taking over as the primary means of communicating. Each individual person is different, in that some may rely more on social media to communicate than others based on their personalities, but the data found by the author does support this theory and shows the reader that people are growing less accustomed to  communicating face to face with others. While it is said that communicating through social media can expand our abilities to communicate in person (Diaz et al, 2011), it can also be said that social media is preventing our society from socially interacting in person. What this author has found is that there will always be two different sides to this argument, as some will feel that the benefits of social media use will always outnumber the negative effects, while others feel that no matter how advanced social media is, the fact that it may prevent people today from having face to face interactions is a serious issue. The reader has to believe that social media will only increase the more advanced devices become, which may lead some to think that social interaction will keep diminishing. The best thing that people can do as parents is to somehow regulate their children’s usage of social media, with regards to how much time is spent on their social media devices and what content is being viewed. By doing this, parents can still allow their children to interact socially and continue to develop their communication skills by not solely relying on social media to interact socially (Diaz et al, 2011). Whether social media usage is regulated or not, it is apparent that social media is here to stay. It is up to parents and teachers to try and incorporate other methods of interacting with their children so that they receive all the benefits that can come from interacting face to face. The conclusion of this study is, although research may support the fact that social media usage can affect social interactions, it will be very difficult to prove 100% because of different people’s reasons for choosing whether to interact socially face to face or through social online networks. References Baker, H. (2012). Video Statistics. The B2B Guide to Social Media. Retrieved on February 14, 2014 at: http://www.b2bsocialmediaguide.com/2012/06/07/video-statistics/ Baker, H. (2012). Twitter Statistics. The B2B Guide to Social Media. Retrieved on February 14, 2014 at: http://www.b2bsocialmediaguide.com/2011/04/04/twitter-statistics-7/ Capella University. (2013). Social Media Naturalistic Research Study. Retrieved on February 15, 2014 at: https://courseroomc.capella.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_4655_1%26url%3D Diaz, Y., Evan, L. Gallagher, R. (2011). Anti-Social Networking: How do texting and social media affect our children? A panel discussion by CSC clinicians at the Nightingale-Bamford School. Retrieved on March 5, 2014 at: http://www.aboutourkids.org/articles/antisocial_networking_how_do_texting_social_media_affect_our_children_panel_discussion_csc_ Duggan, M. (2013). Cell Phone Activities 2013. Retrieved on March 7, 2014 at: http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/09/19/cell-phone-activities-2013/ Gibson, M. (2013). 2013 Cell Phone Statistics. AccuConference. Retrieved on February 13, 2014 at: http://www.accuconference.com/blog/Cell-Phone-Statistics.aspx Gross, M.S. (2009). Conversations in the fast lane: Social media’s influence on communication theory. Public Relations Tactics, 16(11), 15. Marche, S. (2012). Is Facebook Making Us Lonely? Atlantic Monthly. August, 2012, Vol. 310 Issue 1, p16-22. Rosas, S.R. (2006). Nonparticipant to Participant: A Methodological Perspective on Evaluator Ethics. American Journal of Evaluation. pp 27, 97-103 Skues, J.L., Williams, B., Wise, L. (2012). The effects of personality traits, self-esteem, loneliness, and narcissism on Facebook use among university students. Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 28, Issue 6, November 2012, Pages 2414-2419, ISSN 0747-5632.

Study On Charismatic Leadership Management Essay

Study On Charismatic Leadership Management Essay Introduction Nowadays, managing people is a common issue on all type of businesses but it is important. To effectively and efficiently leading the personnel in the organization without wasting intellectual capital or the companys resources is the ideal that organizations want to achieve. In our research, we attempt to clarify the correlation between the charismatic leadership and the organizational change. Charisma is the extraordinary ability that a person possesses naturally and let them able to influence people, attract their attention and admiration. Charismatic leadership is the type of leadership which make people admire and willing to follow them. Charismatic leader is a person who is dominant, self-confident, convinced of the moral righteousness of his beliefs, and able to arouse a sense of excitement and adventure in followers. According to Max Weber, Charismatic leader has a fire that ignites followers energy and commitment, which produce results beyond the call of duty. Thus, he had the ability to inspire and motivate people. There are several qualities of Charismatic leadership: Lofty visions Ability to understand and empathize Empowering and trusting subordinates Proactive, high energy and action orientation Everything is changing except the status quo of change. Every individuals, every things, could not running out of the scope of change. Similarly to organization, changes will always affects every part of the companies include their business, their environment, their people and so on. The Objective of this report is to enhance the leading style of charismatic leadership on the organizational change. Besides, improve the organization to adapt to the changes of environment, and the organization growth through globalization. Content Analysis From the study, the researchers found that the followers who rated their leaders as charismatic also reported being open and accepting the changes occurring in their organization. Specifically, followers of charismatic leaders were much more open to their work-roles changes and had a positive outlook on the benefits of the changes to their organization. Given the nature of organizational change and the pervasiveness of employee resistance to change, this finding suggests that charismatic leadership behaviours may engender follower attitudes and beliefs that promote rather than resist organizational change. Besides, a necessary ingredient of successful organizational change is leadership behaviour capable of overcoming resistance to change by causing followers to experience a felt need for the proposed changes. Indeed, the results suggest that charismatic leadership behaviours, including the ability to powerfully articulate an inspiring vision and communicate to followers a sense of ownership of the vision, may affect followers openness to organizational change and perceptions of leadership effectiveness. (Kevin, 2005, p. 19) In conclusion, the effectiveness of the charismatic leadership will influence the followers behaviour. From the study, the researchers found that the both of the visionary and expressive delivery components of charismatic leadership can influence follower task performance. The expressive delivery includes having energy, leaning toward followers, maintaining direct eye contact, having a relaxed posture, and exhibiting animated facial expressions. Second, they also found that the extent to which each of these components affects the follower task performance is dependent on the type of tasks in which followers are engaged. They suggested that organizations should consider the importance of performance quantity versus quality in their decision to select or promote a charismatic leader or non-charismatic leader. For example, if performance quality is much more important than quantity, the use of charismatic vision might be especially relevant. Regarding task type, charismatic leaders in non-charisma-conducive jobs or industries might be encouraged to adopt a contingent-reward or structuring style of leadership rather than focusing on the communication of a charismatic vision to followers. When followers are in a more charisma conducive job or industry, leaders should communicate a vision to followers to improve followers task performance. In addition, a charismatic vision may provide meaning to the task, which can add to followers motivation. Under these conditions, followers might work to get the task done right, resulting in high quality rather than simply working to get the task done. A lack of vision for followers could, therefore, translate into very poor performance on more difficult tasks. (Stefanie Robert, 2008, p. 102) Charismatic leader Work Engagement OCB In the diagram above, it is the combination of the four hypotheses. Four of the hypotheses are all links with each other. Work engagement is a mediator which is likely an intermediary trying to find solution and between the two disagreement of two parties (charismatic leader and Organisational Citizenship Behaviour-OCB). OCB is defined as individual behaviour that is discretionary. The relationship between charismatic leaders is also closely related. As OCB discuss mainly about the organization behaviour, it will also reflect charismatic leadership. Since charismatic leaders can spark an employees engagement in work, it will lead to more participation in positive behaviours that promote the organization. In the journal Toward a Behavioural Theory of Charismatic Leadership in Organizational Settings, there are some significant variables discussed. The term charisma here refers to the particular type of character by follower and leaders behaviour. First, the behavioural and nature of the charismatic leader can be determined by doing empirical test. The method can through questionnaire to identify it. Then, they can use the result to compare with the person to find out that whether he is a charismatic or non charismatic leader. Second, after determining charismatic leader, it can be use as a tool to change the organization. A charismatic leader may not only key to success of an organization but also vital to countries that are developing which may require to adopt new technologies and transform traditional way of operating. From the study of Workgroup gender diversity-asymmetric among men and women, the need of charismatic leadership is generated from a situation of uneasiness and uncertainty created in context of weak social diversity. For example, increasing levels of gender diversity comes with lower levels of pro-social behaviour where the behaviour that is beyond the requirements of the job, higher levels of conflict, lower levels of friendliness, and lower levels of job-related satisfaction and self-esteem. This situation brings indefinite and doubtful social circumstance when role expectations are less clear. The reason of these negative effects of gender heterogeneity comes from similarity-attraction paradigm, which is people with similar attitudes are attracted among themselves, in contrast, distrust and discomfort could occur when dissimilarity of attribute in group are happened. In the circumstance of gender heterogeneity, tendency of needs of charismatic leadership is greater than in homogen eous group or attribution of charisma is lower in homogeneous group than in heterogeneity group. Meanwhile, the hypotheses are made based on the journal. Hypothesis said that as the level of gender diversity increases in the work team, individual members would attribute higher levels of charismatic leadership to their elected leader and the result are partially supports this hypothesis. So, as expected, the higher the gender diversity, the higher the needs of charismatic leadership to their elected leader. Besides, they also made a hypothesis that the positive effect of gender diversity on individual charismatic relationship with the leader will be stronger for men than for women. The result shown that, it may happen when teams are formed in major; minor or a balanced condition. From the journal of Team climate, work team members tend to share their mood at work, so called team affective climate that related to job satisfaction, commitment, and performance of the workers. Related with the climate, team leaders need to play an important role in influencing individuals different dimensions and modelling the group climate. The key is leaders with charisma, which can strongly influences the work-team effects, such as performance and other intangible aspects. In fact, charismatic leadership is said to be the result of an attribution based on followers perception of their leaders behaviour, specifically behaviours that articulate and help build a positive vision and foster an impression of the importance of the followers mission. Hence, leader with charisma is said to have an important implication of building team affective climate and they need to articulate a constructive affect that results in a positive affect facing by followers. From the study, they had made few hypotheses. First, they posit that higher levels of perceived leaders charisma will predict higher levels of team optimism whereas higher levels of perceived leaders charisma will predict lower levels of team tension. As the result, team optimism and charisma leaders are correlated meanwhile lower levels of team tension cannot create by charisma leaders. Besides that, they also hypothesizes that Leaders influence will make the positive relationship between leaders charisma and team optimism stronger; at the same time, leaders influence will make the negative relationship between leaders charisma and team tension stronger. The result shown that, both hypotheses are supported by their findings. Lastly, they had made guesses that more frequent leaders interaction will make the positive relationship between leaders charisma and team optimism stronger and negative relationship between leaders charisma and team tension stronger. After they had processed th eir findings, the result showed that both guesses are not correct. From the study of Political Connection: The Missing Dimension in Leadership, Strong Networks cans Supplement Other Leadership Deficiencies. While, Larry Chasteen, the PhD holder state out that many people will think leadership is just a part of the business. It is a key ingredient for successful firm, making profit or non profit and even using in the countries. They have examines in the combination of traits to find out the change in organization behaviour in the organization. Some even use more than three of the traits such as emotional intelligence versus intellectual quotient or charismatic leadership versus instrumental leadership. The Classical Myers Briggs has made a classification on uses the four dimensions. There are physics notes that more dimension will lead to confusing from explaining our original traits. This article just focus on leadership :charismatic leadership instrumental leadership and political connections .These three tools can be use as a tool for self-assessment .It has combine the attributes of leaders , managers and networking. The research showing a charismatic leader is not enough to change the organization in long term as it can wear off easily .The instrumental leadership has been include the strength of charismatic leadership. It will lay over through structuring , controlling and rewarding to give out support for achieving the organization final goal .Charismatic leadership is needed to generate the initial energy and to create commitment. Many government and industry leaders who uses charismatic and instrumental leadership have fail to make changes to the organizations. For example, Colin Powell has exhibit a great charismatic and instrumental that serve him exceptionally well during his early career. But because of his lack of political support, he has been hindered of accomplishment and legacy as a U.S. Secretary of State. However, Condoleezza have a political connections led to a longer-lasting accomplishments at the Department of State. As a fact, General Electric has passing by such a leadership matrix to allow more variation in selected parameters for company decisions. In a great changing of an organization, charismatic is not enough to achieve an effective institutional re-organization. It requires both the charismatic and instrumental leadership as well with political powers to move on to the higher position. A good political connection can overcome the weakness of the leadership and bring strength in any firms and government offices. Make sure you are clear enough on which goals are most important and for the organization are the first steps to career advancement. From the study of Charismatic Leadership: A Phenomenological and Structural Approach The author of this journal propose that the most direct impact of the visionary charismatics characteristics is on the perceptions and feelings of the followers. Their interpretative schemes and what flows from them purposefully, emotionally and motivationally. Intrinsic and extrinsic validity are experienced whenever perceptions and feelings are congruent with behaviour is congruent with consequences. Changes in follower perceptions, feelings or behaviour in the consequences of that behaviour therefore could establish the necessary conditions for phenomenological validity to be experienced. The direct impacts of leader behaviour on the feelings of followers will an indirect impact on the followers. As an example, when leaders changes task or environmental variables, which hypothesized to affect internal and external correspondence such as task design, reward systems, and organizational structure. There are some proposition consists in charismatic leadership. Proposition is that it believes that it must be based on the articulation of an ideological goal. The writers may not fully agree as in crisis situation, ideological is too restrictive to be broadening to include the cognitions, values and need structures. Propositions 2 will lets he followers experiencing the leaders and others behaviours as well as their own. Propositions 3 to 8 primarily concern factors that influence whether cognitions and feelings and behaviours will be high on internal correspondence and will be experienced by the followers as intrinsically valid. Propositions 9 to 15 is concern about the primarily thought to affect external correspondence. The implication of the writer model is that charismatic effect may not be limited to a few who are endowed with exceptional gifts or supernatural qualities. They imply that charismatic effect may be widespread. They feel that their model invites an understanding of meaning, reasons motivations, and intentions as it seeks explanatory connections between formal structural arrangements and behaviour. From the study of The role of emotional intelligence and personality variables on attitudes toward organizational change People-oriented research in organizational change explored issues of charismatic or transformational leadership, the role of top management in organizational change and the phenomenon of resistance to change, without considering the psychological traits or predispositions of individuals experiencing the change, which are equally crucial for its success. Nevertheless, they argued that individual difference variables, such as locus of control, positive affectivity, openness to experience and tolerance for ambiguity play an important role in employees work attitudes (e.g. organizational commitment, satisfaction) as well as they predict self and supervisory assessments of coping with change. King and Anderson (1995) also indicated the role of individual differences along with previous bad experiences of change as responsible for high levels of negative attitudes and re sistance to change. It shows that there is correlation between charismatic leaderships role perception, personality and organisational change. From the study of Beyond the Charismatic Leader: Leadership and Organizational Change By: David A. Nadler Michael L. Tushman While the subject of leadership has received much attention over the years, the more specific issue of leadership during periods of change has only recently attracted serious attention. What emerges from various discussions of leadership and organizational change is a picture of the special kind of leadership that appears to be critical during times of strategic organizational change. While various words have been used to portray this type of leadership, we prefer the label charismatic leader. It refers to a special quality that enables the leader to mobilize and sustain activity within an organization through specific personal actions combined with perceived personal characteristics. There are three types of behaviour that categorises these leaders. They are envisioning, energising and enabling. In envisioning, it involves the creation of a picture of the future, or of a desired future state with which people can identify and which can generate excitement. By creating vision, the leader provides a vehicle for people to develop commitment, a common goal around which people can rally, and a way for people to feel successful. It is then easier to achieve the new organisational goals. Energising means that the role of leaders to motivate members in the organisation. Different leaders engage in energizing in different ways, but some of the most common include demonstration of their own personal excitement and energy, combined with leveraging that excitement through direct personal contact with large numbers of people in the organization. They express confidence in their own ability to succeed. They find, and use, successes to celebrate progress towards the vision. Las tly, enabling is where the leader psychologically helps people act or perform in the face of challenging goals. Charismatic leaders demonstrate empathy-the ability to listen, understands, and shares the feelings of those in the organization. They express support for individuals. Because of this, people tend to be motivated in achieving their goals when there is change in the organisation. From the study Journal of ERP Implementation lifecycle, it revealing the changes made by the charismatic leadership. Charismatic leadership is an exemplary type of leadership that shows significant relationship to the level of ERP assimilation. Environmental sensitivity of a charismatic leader will lead the organization change and make significant improvement to the organization since he is able to diagnose and update himself to the internal and external environment. Communication of the leaders vision is significantly important it will influence and lead his follower to align the vision with the organization and make the organization growth stronger and change accordingly to the leaders vision. Expectation of leader also will indicate a positive outcome from his follower and organization. According to Self-fulfilling prophecy, positive expectation from a leader will create a positive desired result from his followers. It shows that, the complete guide and influences of the vision from a leader toward his followers, will affect them to be motivated and collaborated to help in achieving the vision of the leader. Furthermore, complete guide and influences of the vision from a leader toward his followers, will make them to be motivated and collaborated themselves that help in achieving the vision of the leader. Similarly caring of the leader will make the followers feel more supported and secure and trust to the leader. Besides, it also builds confident to the followers. If the leader is trusted and respected by his followers, his followers are more likely to follow and help the leader to achieve his vision. Therefore, the followers do not mind to work hard for achieving the organization vision and thus the organization change and performance increase. Cohesiveness from the follower shows changes in organizational norms and culture. It shows that a positive norms and culture such as organizational citizenship behaviour. Thus, the cohesiveness of the follower will indicate changes in organizational norms and culture, if this type of positive norms and culture stay longer; the growth of the organization will be undoubtedly fast. It shows that a leaders charismatic leadership is significantly related to organizational change and all level of ERP implementation lifecycle. Conclusion: In our research there are significant relationship between Charismatic leadership and Organisational Change. Firstly, it shows that a Charismatic leadership behaviour is an exemplary or model for his followers which enable and capable for overcoming the constraints for organisational change. It drives the followers to learn from many aspect of the charismatic leader. Significantly, the behaviour of the leader creates organisational citizenship behaviour toward the employees that allow them to take good care about the organisation image and the internal environment. Similarly to the norms of working of employees, it is also creating a working culture and work standard that improving the performance in an organisation. Secondly, the role perception of a Charismatic leadership is significant important as well as the personal meaning for the leadership. It influences their follower understand of their role and this will incur the organisational change. Form this aspect, it shows that if the leader able to give motivation, support and cheer the work of employees will smoothen the organisational changing process. Thirdly, the relationship and collaboration among group, team and the charismatic leadership also will indicate significant changes in the organisation performance and organisational culture. Similarly to the workgroup diversity, the strong and cohesiveness workgroup will indicate high performance culture that makes the organisation have high sustainability where the entire organisation culture can aligns with the organisational performance. Lastly, good attribution from charismatic leadership such as environmental sensitivity, persuasive communication, and unconventional vision will foster and lead the changes in the organisational environment. Recommendation Unconventional styles used by charismatic leader will often create the undesired conflicts among the colleagues in the organisation as changing the status quo of works. Therefore the charismatic leader had to consider the others feelings and try to make them follow and align with his vision even if he is able to take the accountability and risk by himself. Morals are often covered up by the deficiencies of wisdom. However, wisdom is not always filled up by morals. This is referring to the negative charismatic leadership. Some charismatic leaders tend to use the leadership style for their own personal gain and thus neglect the moral values. In order to manage change in the organization efficiently, charismatic leaders must put the organizations interest above his personal interest. Being a charismatic leader gives an advantage to him because he may influence others in the organization to follow his bidding and if it is against the organizations interest, it will be very much unhealthy to it. That is the reason why charismatic leaders should have strong moral values in them. Besides that, organizations should also encourage whistle blowing in the company. This can help reduce the negative charismatic leadership from expanding in the organization. When an organization is facing with changes, it will be chaotic and this will give chances to charismatic leaders to do under the table exchanges. By encouraging such behaviour among employees, executives are able to keep most charismatic leaders under control from influencing others for personal gain. Charismatic leaders should also make contingency plans. This serves as a backup plan when the original plan fails to work. During a change, charismatic leaders may be responsible to keep followers in track and to maintain order. This needs the leaders to come out with more plans to keep followers motivated into accepting the change. Some employees tend to resist change and so the charismatic leaders must form plans and considering the scenarios that may happen so that it will make him or her influence them to accept the changes. In addition, during a huge crisis, these charismatic leaders must think conventionally and behave unconventionally. During a change, things will be hectic and many problems may arise or perhaps conflict may happen among followers. Leaders need to think rationally on how to handle this kind of situation and not just simply jump into it and create even more confusion. Charismatic leaders should also come up with strategies to minimize the resistance of followers to the change. Many followers tend to resist change because they think that it is going to mess up their normal routine. As a leader, charismatic leaders need to come up with ways to persuade these types of followers to accept the change instead of going against it in order to reduce the conflict that might have arise if it is not handled properly.

Fashion Letter (informal) :: essays research papers

What is fashion? Is it the way you walk? The way you style your hair? Your attitude? One of the most common things I think of when I think of fashion is clothing. I think the media has somehow imbedded this in my mind! I thought that it would help me if I looked up what fashion is in the dictionary for this letter. It said that fashion is â€Å"The mode of dress, manners, living.†. That’s a lot broader than what I thought!   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When I first wanted to go to Banting, my older sister, Claire, said that some of the students there were very shallow and that they judge you by what brand name clothing you are wearing, but I disagree. Banting has a wide variety of clothes and fashions and although brand name fashions are one small category, it certainly isn’t the dress code for Banting AT ALL. Many senior girls, I noticed, like the look of black eye make up. Not the whole Goth look, but there are a few Goths at Banting.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Juniors are different. I find that the girls have pretty simple fashion, but the boys tend to wear baggy clothes. That is totally understandable since they are very confortable and they do make the boys look bulkier. I also think it is just an image of looking tough they are trying to create as well through big clothes, which goes way back. It is obvious that some of the girls also like this idea of clothing as well. I wear some baggy pants sometimes and I have seen lots of junior and senior girls do it too.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another type of clothing I tend to see everywhere is clothing with logos on them. There are so many of them that I can’t remember most of them. Why does everyone where this clothing, and why do stores want you to wear this clothing? The only reason why students wear this clothing is probably because they like it, but stores really want you to wear their clothing as well so that the logos can them to advertise their stores. My mother told me at one point when she was a child that stores used to give away these shirts as an attempt to do this as well, and that is where the original idea came from.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I really like the fashion at Banting, not just because of the clothes, but because there is no peer pressure behind it.

Obesity in Western Culture Essay

Within our constantly evolving and ever-changing Western world, what is deemed as being deviant has shifted and adapted to suit the norms and values of society at large. Thus, deviancy can be defined as behaviour that violates the normative rules, understandings or expectations of social systems. The issue of obesity has become increasingly prominent within Western society and is deemed as being deviant due to its wide unacceptance throughout society. In applying the ‘Functionalism’ perspective of deviance on obesity, the ways in which society attempts to handle and understand this issue is further outlined and explained. Obesity is a term used to describe body weight that is much greater than what is considered the healthy range. Individuals who are obese have a much higher amount of body fat than is healthy or recommended. Adults with a body mass index (BMI, calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) greater than 25 kg/m2 but less than 30 kg/m2 are considered overweight (Insel, Turner, Ross, 2009). The ways in which those who classify as ‘obese’ are perceived and portrayed by society are, within a Western society fixated on image and obsessed with reaching physical ‘perfection’, often negative and highly critical. The media plays a crucial role in shaping the idea’s and values our society holds. As we are constantly bombarded with images of ‘idealistically thin celebrities, it becomes evident that those who do not fit this normality are excluded from social acceptance and pressured into losing weight and fitting in. A recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald stated that; â€Å"while there was sympathy for underweight models because of possible eating disorders, those with overweight body shapes were blamed for not doing something to lose weight† (Gray, 2010). It is evident here that although there is some negativity urrounded with being ‘underweight’, super-thin models and celebrities continue to be represented as acceptable throughout the media, whereas those classified as ‘obese’ are rejected from mainstream society and blamed for not taking the initiative to lose weight. As we concentrate more on what is considered to be ‘physically attractive’, we lose sight of the various biological, genetic, and noncontrollable etiological factors (Puhl, Shwartz, Brownell, 2005) that relate towards obesity. Thus, negative stereotypes and stigmas are placed upon the obese, further strengthening heir label of deviancy. In a recent study conducted by Yale University, the perceived social consensus on attitudes toward obese people was tested. Three experiments were created towards educating the participants on the issue of obesity in hope of reducing the bias stereotypes and stigmas our society has successfully created towards the obese. (Puhl, Shwartz, Brownell, 2005). The study describes how the consensus attitude towards obesity prevents the reduction of stigmatizing and excluding the obese from mainstream society as people in general feel a sense of security and ‘approval’ in following the beliefs of the majority. Thus, if we as a society take greater acknowledgment in the causes of obesity and perhaps even empathize towards those labeled as obese; the idea of obesity as being a form of deviance could potentially shift throughout the long term. The ways in which the ‘obese’ are negative stigma held towards obesity by society at large. According to David F. Williamson of The New England Journal of Medicine (1999), it is crucial that doctors encourage greater weight loss towards obese patients as obese people are â€Å"twice as ikely to die from any cause as people of normal weight. † Society then not only recognizes obese people as being â€Å"obscene, lazy, slothful and gluttonous† (Adler, Adler 2000) but also as ill, and in a sense, ignorant towards the consequences of their poor state of health. As modern technology continues to develop and treatment options further increase, obesity becomes more and more deviant throughout society. Procedures such as ‘liposuction’ are becoming more available, with surgeries having increased 21 5 percent since 1992 (Naisbitt, Naisbitt, Philips 2001). Although ndergoing plastic surgery has not yet attained complete social acceptance, procedures such as liposuction reduce the consequence of the obese being labeled deviant due to their status. In contrast, the way obese people perceive and view themselves is largely impacted by the constant discrimination and criticism carried out by society at large. Although it can be said that in the presence of other obese people there is a greater sense of acceptance and understanding, the self-representation of obese people is generally negative and painful. According to an article on ABC news, one obese female stated hat â€Å"(you feel like) you have no right to exist as you are. Feeling as though this body is an outlaw body’ (Stark, 2004). The majority of obese people often view themselves as outsiders to the social norms of image and feel as though there is a ‘culture of blame’ (AN’, 2008) constantly against them. There have been studies undergone which illustrate the reluctance amongst obese patients to seek preventive health care services due to the embarrassment of their weight, and perhaps even the feeling of being criticized by physicians (Fontaine, Faith, Allison, & Cheskin cited in Puhl, Shwartz, Brownell, 2005). This clearly shows that obese people themselves are not content within their condition and recognize their deviant label within society. Although they inevitably feel the pressure to lose weight, the embarrassment of yet again being Judged and criticized by healthcare professionals prevents them from doing so. The Functionalist approach to deviance can be applied to obesity in many ways. Functionalism was developed by Emile Durkheim and illustrates how the institutes within society function and maintain social equilibrium. A functionalist analysis of eviance begins with looking at society as a whole rather than focusing on the individual. â€Å"It looks for the source of deviance in the nature of society rather than the biological explanations or psychological nature of the individual† (Covington, 1999). In this regard, applying functionalism to obesity becomes difficult as obesity is initially a personal health concern. Both biological and psychological aspects contribute towards obesity which then labels the individual as deviant, proving that rather than focusing on the nature of society at large for explanations on deviancy, it is equally ital to focus on the obese individual to understand their deviant label. Inevitably, this can be recognized as a weakness within the functionalist argument. In contrast, applying functionalism to obesity presents much strength in understanding why education have had to shift and develop in order to combat the obesity epidemic and create greater equilibrium within Western society. Australian schools have recognized the deviant nature of obesity, mainly due to its associated health risks, and have recently began enforcing healthy eating and exercise habits (Hareyan, 006). School systems have recognized that many families are unable to teach their children healthy habits, so have taken upon this role to maintain the social order within society. Alongside this, there has been a vast increase in weight-loss alternatives (rather than simply the gym, or perhaps surgery) to suit the modern, working individual. ‘Quick weight loss pills and detox diets are now more on the market than ever before and are available to anyone willing to pay. Functionalism revolves around creating solutions to maintain social order, and in regards to obesity, any actions have been taken as obesity is seen as a deviant act which disrupts the balanced functioning of society. In conclusion, obesity has been labeled as a deviant act within modern Western society as it violates what the consensus recognizes as ‘normal’ behaviour. It is increasingly less acceptable with those carrying the status left facing the consequences of social Judgment and exclusion. In applying the functionalist theory, the deviant nature of obesity can be further outlined and understood as a problematic issue within contemporary society.

The Story of Jessie Redmon Fauset

The Story of Jessie Redmon Fauset Jessie Redmon Fauset was born the seventh child of Annie Seamon Fauset and Redmon Fauset, a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal church. Jessie Fauset graduated from the High School for Girls in Philadelphia, the only African American student there. She applied to Bryn Mawr, but that school instead of admitting her helped her to enroll at Cornell University, where she may have been the first black woman student. She graduated from Cornell in 1905, with a Phi Beta Kappa honor. Early Career She taught Latin and French for one year at Douglass High School in Baltimore and then taught, until 1919, in Washington, DC, at what became, after 1916, Dunbar High School. While teaching, she earned her M.A. in French from the University of Pennsylvania.  She also began to contribute writings to Crisis, the magazine of the NAACP. She later received a degree from the Sorbonne. Literary Editor of the Crisis Fauset served as literary editor of the  Crisis from 1919 to 1926. For this job, she moved to New York City. She worked with W.E.B. DuBois, both at the magazine and in his work with the Pan African Movement. She also traveled and lectured extensively, including overseas, during her tenure with the  Crisis.  Her apartment in Harlem, where she lived with her sister, became a gathering place for the circle of intellectuals and artists associated with Crisis. Jessie Fauset wrote many of the articles, stories, and poems in the  Crisis  herself, and also promoted such writers as Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Claude McKay, and Jean Toomer. Her role in discovering, promoting, and giving a platform to African American writers helped to create an authentic black voice in American literature. From 1920 to 1921, Fauset published  The Brownies Book, a periodical for African American children. Her 1925 essay, â€Å"The Gift of Laughter,† is a classic literary piece, analyzing how American drama used black characters in roles as comics. Writing Novels She and other women writers were inspired to publish novels about experiences like their own when a white male novelist, T.S. Stribling, published Birthright in 1922, a fictional account of an educated mixed-race woman. Jessie Faucet published four novels, the most of any writer during the Harlem Renaissance:  There Is Confusion  (1924),  Plum Bun  (1929),  The Chinaberry Tree  (1931), and  Comedy: American Style  (1933).  Each of these focuses on black professionals and their families, facing American racism and living their rather non-stereotypical lives. After theCrisis When she left the  Crisis in 1926, Jessie Fauset attempted to find another position in publishing but found that racial prejudice was too great a barrier. She taught French in New York City, at DeWitt Clinton High School from 1927 to 1944, continuing to write and publish her novels. In 1929, Jessie Fauset married an insurance broker and World War I veteran, Herbert Harris. They lived with Fausets sister in Harlem until 1936 and moved to New Jersey in the 1940s. In 1949, she briefly served as a visiting professor at Hampton Institute and taught for a short time at Tuskegee Institute. After Harris died in 1958, Jessie Fauset moved to her half-brothers home in Philadelphia where she died in 1961. Literary Legacy Jessie Redmon Fausets writings were revived and republished in the 1960s and 1970s, though some preferred writings about African Americans in poverty rather than Fauset’s depictions of an elite.  By the 1980s and 1990s, feminists had refocused attention on Fauset’s writings. A 1945 painting of Jessie Redmon Fauset, painted by Laura Wheeler Waring, hangs in the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. Background, Family: Mother: Annie Seamon Fauset Father: Redmon Fauset Siblings: six older siblings Education: High School for Girls in PhiladelphiaCornell UniversityUniversity of Pennsylvania (French)Sorbonne in Paris Marriage, Children: Husband: Herbert Harris (married 1929; insurance broker)