The Concepts of Culture, Minority Groups, Stereotypes and Essay

The Concepts of Culture, Minority Groups, Stereotypes and Discrimination - Essay Example Rapid changes characterize the modern world. With these changes taking place, the business world has been one area where these changes have necessitated new approaches to management. In this case, the business world has witnessed workers from differing backgrounds in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, and philosophical beliefs come together in the workplace. In some cases, managers are not aware of the inherent differences among their employees. On the other hand, some managers are aware of these differences and try to make use of these differences to the benefit of the organization. This approach is managing diversity in an organization, and it is important for management to find the best approaches to deal with the issues of culture, minority groups, stereotypes, and discrimination in the workplace in order to make sure that the organization benefited from all workers. In this case, an organization should find the best approaches to integrate these concepts in the workplace in order to manage diversity in the workplace. The United Nations High Commission on Human Rights defined cultures as constituting â€Å"differences in academic qualifications, religion, and expressive features of a social group’s traditions and beliefs†. In line with this, it is evident that the contemporary society’s workplace is representative of these people who demonstrate these differences. In an organizational perspective, these different groups enhance the organization’s objectives with their own flavor of cultural background, lifestyle, vision, and fulfillment of challenges†. In effect, it is crucial for an organization to ensure that employees enhanced the organization’s objectives while following a similar approach in order to ensure that the organizational goals were achieved using a common approach. Minority groups are the groups that traditionally lack power in an organization, which include women and members of other ethnic and racial groups that were not dominant in an organization. In line with this, it is crucial to point out that these groups face challenges when integrating themselves in the workplace, which affects their productivity due to the factors that prevent their participation in an organization. Hence, managers should define approaches that ensured their integration in a manner that was efficient and effective. On the other hand, these groups might face challenges to participate in the workplace due to the different stereotypes. In effect, the stereotypes contribute to discrimination in the workplace. In line with this, cultural stereotypes also affect the integration of people from disparate cultures in the workplace. Fiske and Lee identified stereotypes as the â€Å"categorical associations-including traits, behaviors and roles-perceivers make to group members based on their membership†. In effect, these perceptions affect the interaction of workers in the workplace, whi ch effectively affects productivity and profitability in an organization. Hence, effective approaches to managing diversity are essential in ensuring that workers did not allow their perceptions about other workers influence their interaction in the workplace. For example, today’s workplace witnesses more women, who have long been considered a minority group, taking leadership roles in various organizations. In effect, men identified women with stereotypes related to women being sex objects, which limits the ascendancy of women to positions of leadership in organizations and their interaction as equal workers in the same organizations with men. On the other hand, discrimination refers to â€Å"perceiver advantages that advantage one group over another† in the workplace.

The differences between National Income and Gross National Happiness Essay

The differences between National Income and Gross National Happiness - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that Gross Domestic Product is a measure of the level of income yielded by an economy over a stipulated period – generally, this time period varies between one quarter and a complete year depending upon the end period when data is published by the authoritative body. It is actually an estimation of the size of the market underlying the economy on the basis of goods and services sold in it through the specific time span. This is essentially a flow measure that takes into account only productive activities through measures are adopted to avoid double counting; transfer of financial assets between hands is ignored while estimating the same. In other words, only those goods and services produced or sold legibly in the domestic market are included in the GDP measure of an economy. Nevertheless, these productive measures also include activities which ultimately might contribute to the devastation of mankind and almost every form of life on earth. For instance, expenditures incurred as parts of security and safety measures such as those for defense or for scientific research which might create pollution, positively influence economic development of a nation. On the other hand, volunteering tasks that people engage themselves during periods of exigencies are often eliminated from channels towards development primarily because those works are not marketed.... 5-7). Factors leading to environmental degradation are some of the most vital factors which must not be ignored while assessing the quality of human life. One of the most important of such elements is the excessive use of fossil fuels which almost goes hand-in-hand with economic development though such activities could hamper the smooth flow of human life over time. In order to include these factors as a part of index for development, many organisations have suggested the use of complementary indicators which adjust the value of GDP in a nation in terms of environmental and quality of life aspects, which hints towards the significance of Gross National Happiness as a measure of economic development (European Commission, 2010). Two other factors which characterise Gross Domestic Product are that they do not represent the allocation of resources across cross-section. In addition, the components underlying GDP do not include most of the factors used by an average individual, which is wh y it cannot be regarded as a measure of social welfare (Naess & Rothenberg, 1990, p. 112). In fact, a rise in income need not reflect a betterment in the standard of living as had been empirically found in many researches. An eminent one out of them considers the time-series of happiness in relation to an enhancement in the economic growth rates in Japan when it was recuperating from the shocks of World War II. Between 1958 and 1987, real per capita income of Japan was raised five times that was reflected through an increased production of consumer durable goods, though no considerable change in the average level of subjective well-being in the nation (Easterlin, 1994, p. 38-40). Gross National

End of Course Assessment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

End of Course Assessment - Essay Example Evidence about this is available to us both through Roman literature and what we know about how Roman villas were constructed. Although some of this evidence might be questionable, it can still give us important clues into how Roman villa-owners spent their leisure time, which can in turn show us the different ideas about the value and purpose of leisure in ancient Rome and how they continued to affect society long into modern times. Two philosophers who had important ideas about what leisure meant, how to use it, and who should have it were Aristotle and Epicurus. Aristotle was probably Plato’s most famous student of philosophy, who went on to become a philosopher in his own right. Two of Aristotle’s works which deal with questions of leisure are â€Å"the Politics and the Nichomachean Ethics† (Price 2008, p11). In these two works, Aristotle tries to answer questions about leisure that ultimately lead him to ask â€Å"a rather different question: what is it to be an excellent human being?† (Price 2008, p13). The reason Aristotle was interested in this question is because he had somewhat unusual views about leisure. He believed that â€Å"leisure and well-being are intimately connected: living well involves having plenty of leisure, and using it in the best possible way† (Price 2008, p12). Today, most people would probably say that leisure was just what you do after you’re finished working, but Aristotle did not agree with that either. When he talked about leisure, he did not mean just lying around and relaxing, doing nothing. Instead, he used it to mean â€Å"the pursuit of activities that we value for their own sake† (Price 2008, p12). More importantly, Aristotle did not just mean any activity at all. Instead, he wanted the activities to be those which made excellent human beings. So for Aristotle, leisure was pursuing excellence for its own sake, instead of for some other purpose. Of course, being a privileged philosopher, he

Romance and romantic medievalism Essay Example for Free

Romance and romantic medievalism Essay John Keats poem, La Belle Dame Sans Merci, presents a knight on his horse who meets a fairy lady but develops this clichi scenario into an exploration of the relationship between, the presumed male superiority and female innocence. It is a ballad that evokes medieval times. However, if one is expecting a stereotypical glorification of these, Keats rather has an interestingly critical approach to the archetypes of medieval romance and romantic medievalism. The identity of the titular female character is kept a mystery. We only know about her through the males interpretation of her. An essential point in this poem since it leads to the implicit meaning by the author. La Belle Sans Merci is a perfect example of how well-worn aspects as love such as sexual desire and unknown identity can be used to present a striking theme in a simple manner. These aspects are combined in a medieval set. The medieval setting is reinforced for the reader through the poems form. It is a ballad, which is full of fittingly old-fashioned diction and syntax. By his antiquated expression and his hypnotically monotone quadrametre, Keats achieves a mysterious and gloomy atmosphere with the first couple of stanzas of the poem. O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms, So haggard and so woebegone? (L. 5-6) To use Keatss own words, the mood is woebegone. This clearly reflects the knights emotions as the unknown individual, whose voice opens the poem, asks him about his problems. This is clear evidence that the whole poem is actually a dialogue between the knight and an unknown character possibly identifiable with the poet. The first two stanzas start with a question a clear indication of antiphonal or dialogic style being employed. O what can ail thee, knight-at-arms, Alone and palely loitering? (L. 1-2) This unknown character is the speaker in the first three whole stanzas, after which the knight begins to tell of his surreal experience with this fairy. At this point, one could argue that it starts to get interesting. The keywords throughout the next five stanzas are presumed control, power, desire and superiority. Obviously the knight is somehow intrigued by this fairy. In what way, remains ambiguous in keeping with Keatss poetic style. Nevertheless, no doubt is left when one examines the diction that the knight has a distinct sexual desire for her: She lookd at me as she did love, And made sweet moan. (L. 19-20) The knight interprets her sweet moan as sexual and romantic interest even though he has no reason whatsoever to believe that the fairy is essentially interested: And sure in language strange she said I love thee true! (L. 27-28) It is rather his own presumption that makes him imagine this. Thus a still more surreal dream scenario arises within an already surreal world of fairies etc. This way of thinking leads the knight into a form of blind obsession. It is this ecstasy that leads him to his misery. From stanza five where he makes a garland and bracelets for the fairy until stanza eight where she takes him to her elfin grot, he presents himself is in charge of virtually everything. I set her on my pacing steed, (L. 21) She found me roots of relish sweet (L. 25) These are clear examples that indicate that either the knight acts upon the fairy or the fairy acts for him in keeping with conservative sexual roles. It can be assumed that this situation suits him since he nothing else saw all day long. The knight does not hesitate to convey his emotions nor is he the mysterious part in this poem. But loss of control appears in stanza eight when the knight enters onto the fairys territory. Certainly he goes to her home and he may go further than that: She took me to her elfin grot, And there she wept and sighd full sore, (L. 29-30) The subject of the sentences changes; now it is the fairy that acts and the knight becomes a passive character in the poem. This should be considered as the moment when the knights misery commences. Another, yet stronger example of this is found in the next stanza, And there she lulled me asleep, (L. 33). This line is attention-grabbing since it is not only the start of the knights misery, but can also be seen in the context of the male losing out in the battle between sexes. Suddenly the feminine character gets the upper hand in a poem set in the middle ages and written at the beginning of the 19th century. The clichi -like knight on pacing steed strong, handsome and should win over every lady that he desires. Instead he is utterly unmanned by the extremely sexy feminine fantasy character, whose identity remains a mystery throughout the poem, while his psyche is bared. The mysterious identity of the fairy and the ambiguity as to whether she did anything at all to the knight other than leave him is central to Keats message. If we knew more about her, it would no longer be a mystery to the reader whether she did entrance him or whether he has just fantasized all those Pale warriors, Death pale were they all; They cried La Belle dame sans Merci, Hath thee in thrall! Assuming the fairy was human, she could most probably speak and not only make sweet moan. Just one statement from the fairy could lead to a clarification of the real causes of knights apparently miserable situation and that would kill the point of the poem. In conclusion, Keats succeeds in revitalizing the medieval ballad form and romance themes by inverting their clichi s. He thereby succeeds to a high degree in questioning male assumptions of sexual dominance and the reader is left with a lot to think about after reading the poem.

The Significance of Women in Chaucers The Cantebury Tales Essay

The Significance of Women in Chaucer's The Cantebury Tales      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In Geoffrey Chaucer's The Cantebury Tales, many stories are told leading to a wide range of topics.   One particular and significant topic Chaucer touches on many times is the role of women.   In stories such as The Millers Tale, The Knight's Tale, and the Wife of Bath's Tale the women of each story are portrayed extremely different.   Alisoun, Emelye, and the wife of Bath, each exemplify three dissimilar ways in which women love.   The way Chaucer describes each of these characters is dependent on the out come of each particular story.   Chaucer is careful with his word choice and figurative language with each woman, enabling the reader to get a very visual and sometimes humorous picture.    Since the Miller's Tale is a parody of the Knight's Tale there is great wit when it comes to the role that Alisoun plays. Emelye on the other hand, is constructed in a more serious and respectful way. Emelye of the Knight's Tale has two men madly in love with her- Arcite and Palamon.   These two men are imprisoned for life and can only imagine the idea of loving and having Emelye as a wife.   Palamon upon seeing Emelye cries, "Into myn herte, that wol my bane ./ The fairnese of that lady that I see / Yond in the gardyn romen to and fro / Is cause of al my criying and my wo. / I noot where she be woman or goddesse. . . (1097-1101). His statement of love is so profound that Palamon is not even sure if Emelye is a woman or a goddess, but is sure of her "fairness" and beauty. Arcite also loves Emelye and ridicules Palamon's thoughts about Emelye being a goddess, he states,   "Though woost nat yet now / Wheiter she be a womman or goddesse"(1156-1157).   When Arcite falls in... ...e and foolish people can act while in love; this is something that many stories try to teach their readers.   Finally, somehow, Chaucer may have been reaching out to women with The Wife of Bath's Tale, although some believe she is used as an anti-feminist tool, perhaps Chaucer's point was to have that woman teach other women the positives of being in control.   No matter what message these women bring, Chaucer clearly appreciates their importance not only to his readers, but also to his tales. Works Cited Brown, Peter.   Chaucer at Work:   The Making of the Cantebury Tales. New York: Longman Group, 1994. Cooper, Helen.   The Structure of The Cantebury Tales. Athens: The University Of Georgia Press, 1984. Pursell, Willene van Loenen.   Love and Marriage in Three English Authors: Chaucer, Milton, and Eliot.   Stanford: Leland Stanford Junior University, 1963.

What Kind of Person Is an Overambitious Parent

What kind of person is an overambitious parent Each and every person on this planet has some goals, ambitions, dreams. We all have this picture in our minds of how our life is supposed to be and we do everything we can to make it real. But a wise man once said that while we're making plans, God is laughing. Not achieving the life you yearn often leads to negative emotions and depression. Some people learn to let go of their dreams and set new targets. Others never quite get over their failure and always seek ways to see their goal accomplished. Often, these people become overambitious parents.I have been a witness of what having an overambitious parent is like. One of my closest friends mother had always been very goal-oriented, but unfortunately fate had other plans for her. As a result, she tried to force her dreams on her two kids. She always pushed them to the limit, expecting them to excel in all areas of life. She rarely left them time (to)relax and have (maybe you can put free time for themselves) time for themselves. She expected only the best from them and when they didn't manage to live up to her high standards, things always ended up with screaming and sobbing from both sides.Her way of â€Å"stimulating† them was to bring them down, telling them some pretty harsh words and constantly nagging. What she failed to grasp was that her kids were different from her, with different view of the world, their own opinion and ambitions. Their deepest yearnings weren't the same as hers. In the end, all she wanted was to see them successful and fulfilled, but she couldn't fully understand what was best for them and chose the wrong approach. What this type of parents fail to see is that they're driving their kids away from home and are, sometimes, the cause of depression. Ambition is good, but there are borders to everything.We are all different, our destinies are different and no one should force us to choose another way in life. After all, we only get one chance in life. I give you and F+ because you said it’s a bad essay and mislead me into thinking that it’s actually going to be bad. Actually it’s a pretty good read and I don’t see any need to correct anything more or less. Vicky What kind of person is an overambitious parent Each and every person on this planet has some goals, ambitions, dreams. We all have this picture in our minds of how our life is supposed to be and we do everything we can to make it real.But a wise man once said that while we're making plans, God is laughing. Not achieving the life you yearn often leads to negative emotions and depression. Some people learn to let go of their dreams and set new targets. Others never quite get over their failure and always seek ways to see their goal accomplished. Often, these people become overambitious parents. I have been a witness of what having an overambitious parent is like. One of my closest friends mother had always been very goal-oriented , but unfortunately fate had other plans for her. As a result, she tried to force her dreams on her two kids.She always pushed them to the limit, expecting them to excel in all areas of life. She rarely left them time to relax and have free time for themselves. She expected only the best from them and when they didn't manage to live up to her high standards, things always ended up with screaming and sobbing from both sides. Her way of â€Å"stimulating† them was to bring them down, telling them some pretty harsh words and constantly nagging. What she failed to grasp was that her kids were different from her, with different view of the world, their own opinion and ambitions.Their deepest yearnings weren't the same as hers. In the end, all she wanted was to see them successful and fulfilled, but she couldn't fully understand what was best for them and chose the wrong approach. What this type of parents fail to see is that they're driving their kids away from home and are, somet imes, the cause of depression. Ambition is good, but there are borders to everything. We are all different, our destinies are different and no one should force us to choose another way in life. After all, we only get one chance in life.

Beauty: Beheld in the Eyes of Society Essay

There is an old saying that â€Å"beauty is in the eye of the beholder.† However, there are definite social concepts of physical beauty. Most of the time, people associate beauty with something that is seen, instead of tasted, or smelt. Therefore, a more precise definition of beauty would sound like, beauty is the quality or set of qualities that give pleasure to eyesight. Many things may not be as beautiful to one person as they are to someone else; people have many different outlooks on what beauty really is. Females in particular have historically faced pressure to conform to a particular standard of beauty. The media presents society with unrealistic body types promoting people, especially women, to look like them. The desire to be beautiful has received more attention by blinding the public with images of the â€Å"beautiful people.† The extent of the message the media portrays to our society is more harmful than beneficial to the average person. Many people will s ay that â€Å"beauty is in the eye of the beholder,† however society has a great impact on today’s standards of beauty. Beauty is a collectively undecided conception, which implies that each individual may interpret the idea of beauty based on his/her own biased opinion. Humans appreciate beauty in many different ways. Some consider beauty to be seen through nature, others may see beauty in the ancient Grecian statue of the Venus De Milo. Someone, or something, that one finds beautiful another person may not. Beauty is something subjective. It has various meanings to different people because no one person is the same and their standards and tastes differ as well. In her essay Perceptions of Female Beauty in the 20th Century, Louise Wood references the great German philosopher Immanuel Kant by saying; â€Å"the judgment of beauty is different from cognitive or moral judgment because it is affected subjectively, that is, exclusively in reference to the person making the judgment. For a judgment to be truly â€Å"aesthetic†, rather than merely idiosyncratic, the person making the judgment must be adamant that their opinion be consensus.† In simpler terms, Wood is saying that, one’s perception of beauty is different from their mental or moral perception because, it is based on emotion instead of reasoning. This statement is what has lead to the many different interpretations of what true beauty is. Since there are many conflicting views, the true meaning of it has been lost and therefore skewed by the opinions of others, and in some cases for the worse. Cultural standards have led to perceptions of beauty or the lack of beauty for as long as the human race has existed. Culture is defined simply as a way of life, or how people do things such as, how they eat, celebrate festivities, their behavior, their attitudes, moral values, and religion. People will tend to look at their own natives in their culture as beautiful because their notion of beauty may be different than another culture’s perception of what is beautiful. In some African countries, a big body and big buttocks would be considered beautiful for women. In western countries however, there is a tendency for women to starve themselves to comply with the misconception that being extremely thin or slim is beautiful. Many people might share the opinion that the standard idea of beauty includes being tall, thin, and light skinned, but this mindset might not fit everyone’s standard of beauty. Paul Ford states in his article Beauty in Different Cultures that: In Nigeria, women are encouraged to be more full-figured as it demonstrates fertility and the ability to carry and birth many babies. In some Southeast Asian cultures, wherein war resulted in a lack of food, a more full-figured woman demonstrates a higher social status. Being thicker in frame can boast of being well fed and healthy. In these ways, beauty implies superiority and cultural status. However, standards of beauty depend upon the social conditions of the times in which one lives. Still, different cultural groups think, feel, and act differently. There is no right or wrong standard for considering one group’s idea of beauty to be superior or inferior to another. Either way, the essence of beauty is pervasive throughout the many distinct communities around the world. The majority of this eras perception of beauty is spread throughout the media. Since the beginning of â€Å"The Age of Media† media has both empowered and limited woman. The media constantly alters how individuals view themselves and others. In the Social Psychology Quarterly volume 62 it states, â€Å"With their power to frame, define, and neglect aspects of the social world, the mass media are a principal social and cultural institution† (Milkie 191). It has been proven that media images do have a powerful effect on young women today, due to the extensive reinforcement on our everyday lives. Milkie states in her article that; â€Å"The central position of the media in everyday life ensures that symbols distributed through the media become points of focus and interaction in the population† (191). Television, magazines, and advertisements are the most common medium for which these standards are displayed. A person cannot escape these magazine covers, constant adv ertisements, or the entire entertainment industry in general. All aspects of the entertainment industry overwhelm today’s society and are highly responsible for its changing perceptions and trends. Images of female bodies are everywhere. Women and their body parts sell everything from food to cars. Popular film and television actresses are becoming younger, taller and thinner. These media outlets are all setting standards of beauty that are not only unrealistic but could prove to be dangerous in an effort to be attained. In Frank Biocca and Philip Meyer’s article in the Journal of Communication, they listed that â€Å"When Glamour magazine surveyed its readers in 1984, 75% felt too heavy and only 15% felt just right. Nearly half of those who were underweight reported feeling too fat and wanting to diet. Among a sample of college women, 40% felt overweight, while only 12% were actually too heavy† (125). This article also reported that women’s magazines have ten and one-half times more ads and articles promoting weight loss than men’s magazines do, and over three-quarters of the covers of women’s magazines include at least one message about how to change a woman’s bodily appearance by diet, exercise or cosmetic surgery (125). While television can be said to reflect the standard of beauty for women, it seems to portray them in a light of approval or disapproval, positive or negative, that affect women’s views on how they should look. It is clear that throughout history, the role that society plays has had a great impact on what is considered beautiful. Although physical beauty is unquestionably important in the minds of today’s society, more people are willing to embrace it in many different forms. Today’s â€Å"Pretty Woman† is gradually stepping away from the mannequins with sex appeal and glamorous movie legends that are shown worldwide. Today’s beauty represents a new breed. Though the criterion of what is considered beautiful has come a long way some still feel that the standards of beauty remain subjective. Because of this, no one person’s perception of beauty is considered superior or inferior, right or wrong. However, as long as society’s standards continue to play a significant part in American culture society will always have a great impact on what one deems as beautiful. Works Cited Biocca, Frank A., and Philip N. Meyers Jr. â€Å"Journal of Communication.† The Elastic Body Image: The Effect of Television Advertising and Programming on Body Image Distortions in Young Women 42.3 (1992): 108-33. Print. Ford, Paul. â€Å"Beauty in Different Cultures.† N.p., 22 July 2009. Web. 16 Apr. 2012. . Milkie, Melissa A. â€Å"Social Comparisons, Reflected Appraisals, and Mass Media: The Impact of Pervasive Beauty Images on Black and White Girls’ Self-Concepts.† Social Psychology Quarterly 62.2 (1999): 190-210. Print. Wood, Louise. â€Å"Perceptions Of Female Beauty In The 20th Century.† Home Page. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Apr. 2012. .