Smoking in public places Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Smoking in public places - Essay Example According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the use of tobacco is the single most preventable risk to human health in the developed countries. In addition, it is one of the most vital causes of worldwide premature deaths. In the United States, many states have already banned smoking at the public places and California is one of them. In fact, the state of California has one of the strictest laws against smoking at the public places in the world. California decided to take serious steps to control the smoking in the public places in 2001. Governor Davis signed AB188 prohibiting the smoking or disposal of any "cigarette, cigar, or other tobacco-related product" within a playground or tot lot sandbox area and establishing a $100 fine for any violation. (Not Available) Smoking is prohibited in all the workplaces, including but are not limited to restaurants, bars, casinos, gambling clubs, play pits, play structures, backstops, sports fields, tennis courts, and picnics reserved places. When adults smoke in front of young children, it would not give a good impact on their amateur minds. They start feeling that smoking is a good thing and normalizes it. According to the statistics, the average starting age of an adult smoker is thirteen years old. All city laws rely on public education, signage, and voluntary compliance while providing citation authority to peace officers and, in some cases, park rangers and environmental health officers. (Board of Supervisors) Restricted Places (LA) The restricted places in the Los Angeles County are Alhambra - prohibits smoking within 100 feet of a tot lot playground or baseball field; Baldwin Park - has smoke-free policies for its parks; Compton - has smoke-free policies for its parks; Covina - has smoke-free policies for its parks; Beverly Hills - curb-to-curb, smoke-free parks; La Puente - has smoke-free policies for its parks; Long Beach - Drake park is smoke free; Los Angeles -tobacco-free zones include play areas, baseball diamonds, sport courts and areas, and permitted picnic areas; Pasadena - prohibits smoking in all parks and public golf courses; Santa Monica - curb-to-curb, smoke-free parks; San Fernando - curb-to-curb, smoke-free and tobacco or tobacco-related products parks; and West Hollywood - one pocket park is entirely smoke free. (Not Available) From the above discussion, we can conclude that the passive smoking is as dangerous as actual smoking. The passive smoking is not only the issue of the United States - it is the prevalent issue of the whole world. Every day hundreds of people are dying just because of the smoking related diseases such as lung cancer. It is believed that there is no other way except to ban smoking in the public places to reduce its lethal effects. In the United States, many states have already taken several steps to

Outline and illustrate two ways in which an action may be both self-interested and altruistic Essay Example for Free

Outline and illustrate two ways in which an action may be both self-interested and altruistic Essay Another way in which and action can be both altruistic and self interested is aided by the concept that altruism may lead others to think more highly of you, which is in beneficial for you and makes you feel better about yourself, so is therefore also in your self interest. An example of this is giving to charity. This may give you positive feelings as you enjoy helping others and seeing that your own actions can benefit people other than yourself. Therefore you’re being altruistic and still acting in your self interest. This then illustrates that being altruistic coincides with your self interest as you get positive outcomes by helping others. Another way in which and action can be both altruistic and self interested is aided by the concept that altruism may lead others to think more highly of you, which is in beneficial for you and makes you feel better about yourself, so is therefore also in your self interest. An example of this is giving to charity. This may give you positive feelings as you enjoy helping others and seeing that your own actions can benefit people other than yourself. Therefore you’re being altruistic and still acting in your self interest. This then illustrates that being altruistic coincides with your self interest as you get positive outcomes by helping others. Another way in which and action can be both altruistic and self interested is aided by the concept that altruism may lead others to think more highly of you, which is in beneficial for you and makes you feel better about yourself, so is therefore also in your self interest. An example of this is giving to charity. This may give you positive feelings as you enjoy helping others and seeing that your own actions can benefit people other than yourself. Therefore you’re being altruistic and still acting in your self interest. This then illustrates that being altruistic coincides with your self interest as you get positive outcomes by helping ot hers. Another way in which and action can be both altruistic and self interested is aided by the concept that altruism may lead others to think more highly of you, which is in beneficial for you and makes you feel better about yourself, so is therefore also in your self interest. An example of this is giving to charity. This may give you positive feelings as you enjoy helping others and seeing that your own actions can benefit people other than yourself. Therefore you’re being altruistic and still acting in your self interest. This then illustrates that being altruistic coincides with your self  interest as you get positive outcomes by helping others. Another way in which and action can be both altruistic and self interested is aided by the concept that altruism may lead others to think more highly of you, which is in beneficial for you and makes you feel better about yourself, so is therefore also in your self interest. An example of this is giving to charity. This may give you positive feelings as you enjoy helping others and seeing that your own actions can benefit people other than yourself. Therefore you’re being altruistic and still acting in your self interest. This then illustrates that being altruistic coincides with your self interest as you get positive outcomes by helping others. Another way in which and action can be both altruistic and self interested is aided by the concept that altruism may lead others to think more highly of you, which is in beneficial for you and makes you feel better about yourself, so is therefore also in your self interest. An example of this is giving to charity. This may give you positive feelings as you enjoy helping others and seeing that your own actions can benefit people other than yourself. Therefore you’re being altruistic and still acting in your self interest. This then illustrates that being altruistic coincides with your self interest as you get positive outcomes by helping others. Another way in which and action can be both altruistic and self interested is aided by the concept that altruism may lead others to think more highly of you, which is in beneficial for you and makes you feel better about yourself, so is therefore also in your self interest. An example of this is giving to charity. This may give you positive feelings as you enjoy helping others and seeing that your own actions can benefit people other than yourself. Therefore you’re being altruistic and still acting in your self interest. This then illustrates that being altruistic coincides with your self interest as you get positive outcomes by helping ot hers. Another way in which and action can be both altruistic and self interested is aided by the concept that altruism may lead others to think more highly of you, which is in beneficial for you and makes you feel better about yourself, so is therefore also in your self interest. An example of this is giving to charity. This may give you positive feelings as you enjoy helping others and seeing that your own actions can benefit people other than yourself. Therefore you’re being altruistic and still acting in your self interest. This then illustrates that being altruistic coincides with your self interest as you get positive outcomes by helping others.

Sexism In The Chinese Languages Cultural Studies Essay

Sexism In The Chinese Languages Cultural Studies Essay Language as a sociocultural phenomenon (Arndt et al, 1987) is closely associated with the social structure, values and norms of behavior. It arises with the formation of human society and varies with the development of social life. Such co-variation between language and society enables the linguistic phenomena to reflect the social customs and values of life. Gender differences and sexism in language reflect each specific social values, concepts and national modes of thinking. China has gone through a long history of feudal society in which women did not enjoy any prestige of social status. Sexism has pervasively existed in the Chinese languages and society and has reflected both in written and oral language. In the general linguistic literature, hundreds of popular and academic studies on language and gender have been conducted since the early 1970s in the United States, prompted by the womens movement. For the Chinese language and its dialects, during that period and into the 1980s, scant attention was paid to gender-differentiated speech aside from language variation research, in which sex is an important independent variable. Owing to the scarcity of adequate empirical research and on the pavement of prior literatures and studies on gender discrimination in Chinese culture and society, the article attempts to conduct a comprehensive study on the Chinese language by analyzing the Chinese word structures, lexicon and sociocultural contexts. Background Western linguists have been studying various aspects of sexism in the English language for several decades. Following the influential works by Robin Lakoff (1975), and Miller Swift (1977), and some others, many of the researchers began to identify and categorize types of sexism marked in linguistic features such as vocabulary, grammar, discourse, and even intonation (Baron, 1986). Recently scholars have turned their attention to sexism in Mandarin Chinese as well, finding remarkably similar sexism phenomena in linguistic aspects on Chinese words, vocabulary, idioms, and proverbs. (Shih, 1984). The most notable treatment of sexism in the Chinese language is that of Yan (2003) and Pan (2004), whose works have greatly influenced the direction of this article. Since the mid-70s, Chinese sociolinguists have presented this topic from several different perspectives. Current studies in this field have shifted its focus from single linguistic variables to context-specific connected speech, d rawing on approaches from discourse analysis and the ethnography of communication. Recent work also tends to be based more on empirical research rather than on casual observation or introspection. However, the studies of sex differences and language have been carried out in English-speaking societies. Relevant research on the Chinese language is still in its infancy. Moreover, very little has been done from the new perspectives on language and gender concerning the Chinese language. Sexism in Chinese character structures Chinese is one of the worlds longest-standing languages, whose characters are the important carriers of its culture that is the base on which Chinese words are shaped. Chinese is the worlds only existing language, which is characterized by ideography and which represents connotation by pictography. The Chinese pictographic words contain and convey plentiful cultural messages. One of the six categories of Chinese character formation is pictographs which display the meaning through directly depicting the appearance. Right from the early period of the word formation, the word à ¥Ã‚ ¥Ã‚ ³ (woman) in Chinese ancient oracle script (à §Ã¢â‚¬ Ã‚ ²Ãƒ ©Ã‚ ªÃ‚ ¨Ãƒ ¦-†¡ jiaguwen) emerged the low social status for women in ancient China. The hieroglyphic character shaped reflecting a kneeling woman with her hands crossed. When two points (breasts) are added, it becomes à ¦Ã‚ ¯Ã‚  (mother). Oracle Bone Script is one of the oldest known forms of Chinese written language. According to rece nt archaeological research, it dates back as far as 4,800 years ago. It was likely used from the Middle to the Late Shang dynasty. Oracle script was etched onto turtle shells and animals bones. The shape of these characters are often described as pictographic, in that they resemble stylized drawings of objects they represent. Such pictographic words illustrate that the females were in dominated position. The ancient pronunciation of the word à ¥Ã‚ ¥Ã‚ ³ (woman) was read à ¥Ã‚ ¥Ã‚ ´ /nà º/ meaning slave, (connoting a woman à ¥Ã‚ ¥Ã‚ ³ with a big handà ¥Ã‚ Ã‹â€ ). In Chinese slavery society, daughters were used for debt mortgage. Afterwards, a great quantity of Chinese ideographic words combined with à ¥Ã‚ ¥Ã‚ ³ as feminine morpheme are formed mostly of discrimination. From the onset of Chinese character formation, it is obviously seen that the women in Chinese society were in low position. According to Modern Chinese Dictionary ( Wang et al, 1995), besides the single word à ¥  ¥Ã‚ ³ (woman), there are 202 words consisting of à ¥Ã‚ ¥Ã‚ ³ (woman) morpheme as the word root. Based on the statistics of some Chinese scholars, words with the woman morpheme are found in à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…  Ãƒ ¨Ã‚ ¾Ã… ¾Ãƒ ¦Ã‚ µÃ‚ ·Ãƒ £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ci Hai (literally translated Sea of Rhetoric, published in Hongkong, 1989) with a total of 257 words, in which 100 characters are of medium evaluation in realty, 35 of derogatory, 47 of praise and 18 of half-and-half praise or derogatory evaluation. Lets see some examples of this type à ¥Ã‚ ¥Ã‚ ³component which are detrimental to women : à ¥Ã‚ ¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ /dà ¹/ (jealous)- woman à ¥Ã‚ ¥Ã‚ ³ + householdà ¦Ã‹â€ Ã‚ ·/hà ¹/; à ¥Ã‚ «Ã¢â‚¬ ° /jà ¬/ (envy) womanà ¥Ã‚ ¥Ã‚ ³+ diseaseà §- ¾ /jà ­/; à ¥Ã‚ ¦- /yao/ (demon) womanà ¥Ã‚ ¥Ã‚ ³ + die young à ¥Ã‚ ¤Ã‚ ­ /yao/ ); à ¥Ã‚ ¨Ã‚ ¼ /chang/ (prostitute) womanà ¥Ã‚ ¥Ã‚ ³+ flourishing à ¦Ã‹Å"Å’Â ¼Ã¢â‚¬ º à ¥Ã‚ ¦Ã¢â‚¬Å" /zhi/ (prostitute) womanà ¥Ã‚ ¥Ã‚ ³+à ¦Ã¢â‚¬ Ã‚ ¯ bra nch store); and à ¥Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ² /niÇÅ ½o/ (flirt) (man + woman + man); à ¥Ã‚ «- /bià  o/ (act of visiting prostitutes); à ¥Ã‚ ¥Ã‚ ¸ /jian/ (wicked or evil); à ¥Ã‹Å" / ping/ (have illicit relations or sexual intercourse with); à ¥Ã‚ «Ã…’ /xià ¡n/ (suspicion); à ¥Ã‚ ¨Ã¢â‚¬ º /yà º/ (give pleasure ) and so forth. In addition of the word structure with the left-side morpheme of woman mentioned, Chinese people, in cognition of up-down spatial system, have a tendency of superior-and inferior concepts and discrimination. The loss of female identity consciousness is superficial cause that emerges come into gender discrimination of Chinese character structures. For examples, à ¥Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ ¾ /qià ¨/ (concubine)- consisting of set up à §Ã‚ «Ã¢â‚¬ ¹/là ¬/ and womanà ¥Ã‚ ¥Ã‚ ³; à ¥Ã‚ ¦Ã¢â‚¬Å¾ (absurd, arrogant); à ¥Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ ¥ / tuÇ’/ (proper, suitable)à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ » /qi/ (wife); à ¥Ã‚ ©Ã‚ ª /jà ¬n/ (greed); à ¨Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  /suÇ’/ (weak, play); à ¥Ã‚ ¬- /pi/ (show favour to); à ¥Ã‚ ¦ /jian/ (rape) and much more. Those are made of a à ¥Ã‚ ¥Ã‚ ³ (woman) morpheme and another component word. Such kind of words in the up-down structure occupy 3% of the total words with woman (Ci Haià £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…  Ãƒ ¨Ã‚ ¾Ã… ¾Ãƒ ¦Ã‚ µÃ‚ ·Ãƒ £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹, 1989). Chinese people ancest ors might have thought of peacefulness by positing women in a deep room under the roof ( à ¥Ã‚ ®Ã¢â‚¬ ° /an/). Such structure of à ¥Ã‚ ®Ã¢â‚¬ ° (peacefulness) further reflects obviously the male-dominance ideology in Chinese languages and society. If those words are dissembled ¼Ã…’they can be interpreted as womens common failing ¼Ã…’a gender-based failing to the exclusion of men ¼Ã… ½Those Chinese characters seem to pass on the message that women are characteristic of those negative emotions ¼Ã…’disposition ¼Ã…’and maneuver ¼Ã… ½ Sexism in the Lexicon and socio-cultural contexts Another biased representation of the sexes that concerns the portrayal of man as the norm and women as the appendage can be seen in Chinese lexicon. The article tends to focus on the manifestation of sexism from the angles of generic masculine, naming and addressing terms. The Chinese lexicon has many depreciative terms of address, a lot of which are directed at women. For example, a man can call his wife à ¥Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ãƒ ¤Ã‚ ºÃ‚ º /nà ¨irà ©n/ (a person inside the home), means a woman can only stay at home without freedom of movement or engaging in political and social activities. Another termà ¨Ã‚ ³Ã‚ ¤Ãƒ ¥Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ /jià  n nà ¨i/ illustrates the lower status of a woman as humble and lowly person inside home. à ¨Ã‚ Ã…  Ãƒ ©Ã¢â‚¬ ¡Ã‚ µ/jingchai/ (thorn hairpin), meaning a woman who is very poor as she uses a thorn as her hairpin. à ¨Ã‚ ²Ã… ¾Ãƒ ¦Ã‚ ½Ã¢â‚¬  /zhenjià ©/ (chastity and virginity), these are specially prepared for women. Chinese lexicon has à ¨Ã‚ ²Ã… ¾Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ ©Ã‚ ¦ / zhenfà ¹/ (chastity woman) and à §Ã‚ ¯Ã¢â€š ¬Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ ©Ã‚ ¦ /jià ©fu/ (widow) but it has no à ¨Ã‚ ²Ã… ¾Ãƒ §Ã¢â‚¬ Ã‚ · /zhennà  n/ (chastity man) and à §Ã‚ ¯Ã¢â€š ¬Ãƒ §Ã¢â‚¬ Ã‚ · /jià ©nà ¡n/ (widower). This illustrates that in terms of sexual relationships, the chains are only obligatory to women. A man can remarry after his wifes death, and his newly-married wife is then called à ¦Ã‚ ·Ã‚ »Ãƒ ¦Ã‹â€ Ã‚ ¿/tianfà ¡ng/ ( added room) or à §Ã‚ ºÃ…’à §Ã‚ µÃ†â€™/xà ¹xià ¡n/ ( continued string, meaning a woman who marries a widower). But there are no corresponding female-centered characters in Chinese in this regard; as a result. Chinese traditional principle of no posterity as the greatest of the three unfilial acts firmly legalizes the male dominance. The male-dominant trend of modern Chinese characterized by polysyllabic words are only aimed at or centered on men. The generic words like à ¦Ã‚ ³Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ ®Ã‹Å"/fÇÅ ½guan/ (judge), à ¥Ã‚ ·Ã… ¾Ãƒ ©Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ã‚ ·/zhouzhÇÅ ½ng/ (governor), à ¦Ã¢â‚¬ Ã‚ ¿Ãƒ ¦Ã‚ ²Ã‚ »Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ ®Ã‚ ¶/zhà ¨ngzhi jia /(politician), à ¦Ã‚  Ã‚ ¡Ãƒ ©Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ã‚ ·/xià  ozhÇÅ ½ng/ (principal), à ©Ã†â€™Ã‚ ¨Ãƒ ©Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ã‚ · /bà ¹zhÇÅ ½ng/ (minister), à ¥Ã‚ °Ã¢â‚¬ ¡Ãƒ ¨Ã‚ »Ã‚ /jiangjun/ (general), and à §Ã‚ ¸Ã‚ ½Ãƒ §Ã‚ µÃ‚ ±/zÇ’ngtÇ’ng/ (president) are specially denoted and referred to male. When referred to female, the morpheme à ¥Ã‚ ¥Ã‚ ³ (female) /nà ¼/ is added to the existing as a prefix, such as à ¥Ã‚ ¥Ã‚ ³Ãƒ ©Ã†â€™Ã‚ ¨Ãƒ ©Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ã‚ · / nà ¼ bà ¹zhăng/ (ministress) à ¥Ã‚ ¥Ã‚ ³Ãƒ §Ã‚ ¸Ã‚ ½Ãƒ §Ã‚ µÃ‚ ± / nà ¼ zÇ’ngtÇ’ng/(female president ) and so forth. The sexism in Chinese can be reflected on the order of word combination in volving sex. In collocation, many polysyllabic words denoting male are placed before those denoting female. For example, à §Ã¢â‚¬ Ã‚ ·Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ ¥Ã‚ ³/nà ¡nnà ¼/ (man and woman or boy and girl), à ¥Ã‚ ¤Ã‚ «Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ » fuqi/ (husband and wife), à ¥Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ ¥Ã‚ ³ /à ©rnà ¼/(sons and daughters). This mentality of regarding men as taking precedence over women exists not only in Chinese culture but also in Western culture. In Chinese lexicon, there is an imputation of sexual immorality to referents of the womans term, but with the mans term carrying very general ¼Ã…’usually favorable implication ¼Ã… ½Another astounding fact is that there are far and away more words for prostitutes than for their customers ¼Ã… ½In Chinese, many terms refer to a prostitute ¼Ã…’such as examples above ¼Ã…’but theres the only most frequently used for a man as à ¥Ã‚ «-/bià  o/ ¼Ã…’still with Chinese compound character à ¥Ã‚ ¥Ã‚ ³(woman) ¼Ã… ½ Like English, in Chinese, masculine pronouns are mostly used as a general reference. For example, à ¤Ã‚ »- /ta/ (he) referred to both generic gender. Similar cases include à ¤Ã‚ »-à ¤Ã‚ ºÃ‚ º /tarà ©n/ (others), à ¥Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã‚ ¶Ãƒ ¤Ã‚ »-à ¤Ã‚ ºÃ‚ º /qà ­ ta rà ©n/ (the rest). In speech, women like to express themselves as à ¤Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ºÃƒ ¥Ã‚ ®Ã‚ ¶ /rà ©n jia/ (another person) instead of using I due to social expectation that women are said to be indirect and invisible. Sexism in Chinese sociocultural contexts can be observed in Chinese slang and idioms which also reflect the social ideology of less-dominance upon women. For example, Chinese has expressions à §Ã¢â‚¬ Ã‚ ·Ãƒ ¤Ã‚ ¸Ã‚ Ãƒ ¨Ã‚ ·Ã… ¸Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ ¥Ã‚ ³Ãƒ ©Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¥ / nà ¡n bà ¹ gen nà ¼ dà ²u/ ( man will not argue with a woman) or à ©Ã¢â‚¬ ºÃ… ¾Ãƒ ¤Ã‚ ¸Ã‚ Ãƒ ¨Ã‚ ·Ã… ¸Ãƒ §Ã¢â‚¬ ¹-à ©Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¥ / ji bà ¹ gen gÇ’u dà ²u/ (chicken will not fight with a dog), à ¥Ã‚ ¥Ã‚ ³Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ ­Ã‚ Ãƒ §Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¡Ãƒ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ Ãƒ ¤Ã‚ ¾Ã‚ ¿Ãƒ ¦Ã‹Å" ¯Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ ¾Ã‚ · /nà ¼ zÇ  wà º cà ¡i bià  n shà ¬ dà ©/ ( a woman of ignorance is a virtue, or an unaccomplished woman is a virtuous woman), à ¥Ã‚ ¥Ã‚ ³Ãƒ ¤Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ºÃƒ ¦Ã‹Å" ¯Ãƒ §Ã‚ ¦Ã‚ Ãƒ ¦Ã‚ °Ã‚ ´ /nà ¼ rà ©n shà ¬ hà ¹o shdži/ A woman is a disaster-maker), and à ¤Ã‚ ¸Ã¢â‚¬ °Ãƒ ¥Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ ¥Ã‚ ³Ãƒ ¤Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ºÃƒ ¤Ã‚ ¸Ã¢â€š ¬Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ Ã‚ °Ãƒ ¦Ã‹â€ Ã‚ ² /san gà ¨ nà ¼ rà ©n yi tà ¡i xà ¬/ (Three women can stage a performance, equally English, many women, many word ). A common theme here is that women are liable to gossip ¼Ã¢â‚¬ ºthey are talkative ¼Ã…’and noisy. They are stereotyped as gossip- laden, tentative, discursive and fussy which again echoes how important language is to the social construction of gendered identity ¼Ã… ½ Conclusion Since human being existed on the earth, there have been presented two different genders-male and female. On account of the differences between their physiological features and the superiority and inferiority in social activities, men and women are differentiated from each other in individuality, value, image and status, which give rise to variations in their language styles and language uses. From these linguistic evidences of sex discrimination existing in the Chinese language and male-governed society, a woman was always in the less-dominant position. Sexism phenomena present in the formation of the language, but it originates from its sociolinguistics and socio-culture. The differences refracted from the linguistic aspects and sexism are not determined by natural property of the language itself, but are naturally refracted in the language by specific concepts of social values and national modes of thinking. Many attempts nowadays are made to eliminate as much as possible the gende r discrimination both in the cultural-linguistics and social identity. References 1. Carfleron Deborah. 1990. The feminist critique of Language. (2001) 2. Ci Hai (à ¨Ã‚ ¾Ã‚ ­Ãƒ ¦Ã‚ µÃ‚ ·,à ©Ã‚ ¦Ã¢â€ž ¢Ãƒ ¦Ã‚ ¸Ã‚ ¯), 1989. Rhetoric Dictionary, Hongkong. 3. Defeng, Yang. Chinese and Cultural Communication. Beijing: 2001. 4. Freeman ¼Ã…’R. and McElhinny ¼Ã…’B.Language and Gender. InMckay, L.S. Hornberger, H. N. (2001). Sociolinguistics and Language Teaching. Shanghai. 5. Modern Chinese Dictionary, 2001. Xiandai Hanyu Cidian, à §Ã… ½Ã‚ °Ãƒ ¤Ã‚ »Ã‚ £Ãƒ ¦Ã‚ ±Ã¢â‚¬ °Ãƒ ¨Ã‚ ¯Ã‚ ­Ãƒ ¨Ã‚ ¯Ã‚ Ãƒ ¥Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã‚ ¸, à ¥Ã…’-à ¤Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¬Ãƒ ¦- °Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ Ã… ½Ãƒ ¤Ã‚ ¹Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ º-à ¦Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ »Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ º-à ¥Ã…’-à ¤Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¬Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃƒ ¨Ã‚ ¡Ã…’à ¦Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã¢â€š ¬,Xinhua Book Store, Beijing, 2001. 4. Sunderland, Jane. 2006. Language and Gender. Routledge, Taylor Francis Group. 5. Zhang, Aiping (à ¥Ã‚ ¼Ã‚  Ãƒ §Ã‹â€ Ã‚ ±Ãƒ ¨Ã‚ Ã‚ Ãƒ ¨Ã‚ ¯Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃƒ ©Ã… ¸Ã‚ ³). 1995. Another look at the sajiao ¼Ã‹â€ Ãƒ ¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ ¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¡Ã‚ ¼Ã¢â‚¬ ° phenomenon. Manuscript, Ohio State University. Appendix 1 Some Oracle Bone Scripts found related to woman. ( pictographic words were found at http://www.shufa.org à ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ºÃ‚ ¸Ãƒ ¨- Ãƒ ¥Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ §Ã‚ ¤Ã‚ ¾Ãƒ §Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ²-à ¤Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¤Ãƒ ¦Ã‚ µÃ‚ Ãƒ ¨Ã‚ «-à ¥Ã‚ £Ã¢â‚¬ ¡ (translated and arranged by Lam)

Investigating the Relationship Between Women and Crime :: Papers

A consistent feature of the statistics, not only in England and Wales but across Europe and America, is that far fewer women are convicted of crime than men – a fact which has changed little over the years. Female offenders also show a different pattern of offending being less involved in violent offences and proportionately more involved in theft. In general most now accept that girls and women do commit fewer offences than boys. GENDER AND PATTERNS OF CRIME Writing in 1977 Carol Smart stated: Our knowledge is still in its infancy. In comparison with the massive documentation on all aspects of male delinquency and criminality, the amount of work carried out on the area of women and crime is extremely limited. Although the years since Smart’s study have seen much more interest in the study of female crime and deviance, many general theories in this area continue to neglect gender as a factor influencing criminality. This is despite the fact that official figures suggest that gender is perhaps the most significant single factor in whether an individual is convicted of crime. Any theories which fail to explain this relationship could therefore be seen as inadequate. OFFICIAL STATISTICS, CRIMINALITY AND GENDER Pollak – the ‘masked’ female offender – ‘chivalry’ thesis Writing in 1950, Otto pollak argued that official statistics on gender and crime were highly misleading. He claimed that the statistics seriously under-estimated the extent of female criminality. From an examination of official figures in a number of different countries he claimed to have identified certain crimes that are usually committed by women but are particularly likely to be unreported. Pollak went on to give reasons as to why there should be an under-recording of female crime. 1. He argues that the police, magistrates and other law enforcement officials tend to be men. Brought up to be chivalrous, they are usually lenient with female offenders so that fewer women appear in the statistics. However, he regards this as only a minor factor

Business research process Essay

This paper will discuss the business research process and how the business research process works and what the steps are. The business research process usually starts with an overview of the business market or industry. The objective of the business research process is to found out if an opportunity exists within a certain market of business. Business research is the method a company business or corporation makes to decide the most efficient, productive and the ethical way to make money for the company business or corporation to generate in the varied customers. Business research is also a field in which the use of practical study is also involved and is used which a business company or corporation obtains the data or information to get a better observation to better manage the business corporation or company. So when you start any business corporation or company business research needs to be done so that they can identify the competition that they might have. Business research process entails studying all aspects of a company, its customers and the market, then using that information to make sound business decisions. Typically, a company will assess its own strengths and weaknesses, but place particular emphasis on how customers view their products. When company managers study the market, they will usually take a comprehensive look at key competitors and the industry in which they operate. The first step in the business research process is Identifying Competitors in which the business or company identifies the competitors in the industry. One way to gain information on the competition is through a secondary set of research. Secondary research information is the data that is already available about the industry: market share and total market sales. Secondary research may also provide detailed information about competitors, such as the number of employees, the products they sell and their strengths. Secondary research can be found through many  different sources, depending on the industry that they are in. The second step in the business research process is studying the Customers In this process the business company or corporation studies the consumer or business customer. It is very important to figure out what the customer wants and needs before developing any products that will meet the needs of the customers. The customer will usually determine which products or goods will sell. If customers’ needs are not met, they will usually buy the competitors’ products. The best way to found out a customer needs is through primary research. Primary research includes phone surveys, personal interviews and even mail surveys. With these surveys, marketing research pros will test certain product concepts, measure a customer satisfaction and figure out the best features and prices for their products. Reference and citations www.smallbusiness.chron.com

Planned Approach to Change Essay

The work of Kurt Lewin dominated the theory and practice of change management for over 40 years. However, in the past 20 years, Lewin’s approach to change, particularly the 3-Step model, has attracted major criticisms. The key ones are that his work: assumed organizations operate in a stable state; was only suitable for small-scale change projects; ignored organizational power and politics; and was top-down and management-driven. This article seeks to re-appraise Lewin’s work and challenge the validity of these views. It begins by describing Lewin’s background and beliefs, especially his commitment to resolving social conï ¬â€šict. The article then moves on to examine the main elements of his Planned approach to change: Field Theory; Group Dynamics; Action Research; and the 3-Step model. This is followed by a brief summary of the major developments in the ï ¬ eld of organizational change since Lewin’s death which, in turn, leads to an examination of the main criticisms levelled at Lewin’s work. The article concludes by arguing that rather than being outdated or redundant, Lewin’s approach is still relevant to the modern world. INTRODUCTION Freud the clinician and Lewin the experimentalist – these are the two men whose names will stand out before all others in the history of our psychological era.  The above quotation is taken from Edward C Tolman’s memorial address for Kurt Lewin delivered at the 1947 Convention of the American Psychological Association (quoted in Marrow, 1969, p. ix). To many people today it will seem strange that Lewin should have been given equal status with Freud. Some 50 years after his death, Lewin is now mainly remembered as the originator of the 3-Step model of change USA. Address for reprints: Bernard Burnes, Manchester School of Management, UMIST, Manchester M60 1QD, UK (Bernard.Burnes@umist.ac.uk).dismissed as outdated (Burnes, 2000; Dawson, 1994; Dent and Goldberg, 1999; Hatch, 1997; Kanter et al., 1992; Marshak, 1993). Yet, as this article will argue, his contribution to our understanding of individual and group behaviour and the role these play in organizations and society was enormous and is still relevant. In today’s turbulent and changing world, one might expect Lewin’s pioneering work on change to be seized upon with gratitude, especially given the high failure rate of many change programmes (Huczynski and Buchanan, 2001; Kearney, 1989; Kotter, 1996; Stickland, 1998; Waclawski, 2002; Wastell et al., 1994; Watcher, 1993; Whyte and Watcher, 1992; Zairi et al., 1994). Unfortunately, his commitment to extending democratic values in society and his work on Field Theory, Group Dynamics and Action Research which, together with his 3-Step model, formed an inter-linked, elaborate and robust approach to Planned change, have received less and less attention (Ash, 1992; Bargal et al., 1992; Cooke, 1999). Indeed, from the 1980s, even Lewin’s work on change was increasingly criticized as relevant only to small-scale changes in stable conditions, and for ignoring issues such as organizational politics and conï ¬â€šict. In its place, writers sought to promote a view of change as being constant, and as a political process within organizations (Dawson, 1994; Pettigrew et al., 1992; Wilson, 1992). The purpose of this article is to re-appraise Lewin and his work.. The article begins by describing Lewin’s background, especially the origins of his commitment to resolving social conï ¬â€šict. It then moves on to examine the main elements of his Planned approach to change. This is followed by a description of developments in the ï ¬ eld of organizational change since Lewin’s death, and an evaluation of the criticisms levelled against his work. The article concludes by arguing that rather than being outdated, Lewin’s Planned approach is still very relevant to the needs of the modern world. LEWIN’S BACKGROUND Few social scientists can have received the level of praise and admiration  that has been heaped upon Kurt Lewin (Ash, 1992; Bargal et al., 1992; Dent and Goldberg, 1999; Dickens and Watkins, 1999; Tobach, 1994). As Edgar Schein (1988, p. 239) enthusiastically commented: There is little question that the intellectual father of contemporary theories of applied behavioural science, action research and planned change is Kurt Lewin. His seminal work on leadership style and the experiments on planned change which took place in World War II in an effort to change consumer behaviour launched a whole generation of research in group dynamics and the implementation of change programs. 978 B. Burnes  © Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2004For most of his life, Lewin’s main preoccupation was the resolution of social con- ï ¬â€šict and, in particular, the problems of minority or disadvantaged groups. Underpinning this preoccupation was a strong belief that only the permeation of democratic values into all facets of society could prevent the worst extremes of social conï ¬â€šict. As his wife wrote in the Preface to a volume of his collected work published after his death: Kurt Lewin was so constantly and predominantly preoccupied with the task of advancing the conceptual representation of the social-psychological world, and at the same time he was so ï ¬ lled with the urgent desire to use his theoretical insight for the building of a better world, that it is difï ¬ cult to decide which of these two sources of motivation ï ¬â€šowed with greater energy or vigour. (Lewin, 1948b) To a large extent, his interests and beliefs stemmed from his background as a German Jew. Lewin was born in 1890 and, for a Jew growing up in Germany, at this time, ofï ¬ cially-approved anti-Semitism was a fact of life. Few Jews could expect to achieve a responsible post in the civil service or universities. Despite this, Lewin was awarded a doctorate at the University of Berlin in 1916 and went on to teach there. Though he was never awarded tenured status, Lewin achieved a growing international reputation in the 1920s as a leader in his ï ¬ eld (Lewin, 1992). However, with the rise of the Nazi Party, Lewin recognized that the position of Jews in Germany was  increasingly threatened. The election of Hitler as Chancellor in 1933 was the ï ¬ nal straw for him; he resigned from the University and moved to America (Marrow, 1969). In America, Lewin found a job ï ¬ rst as a ‘refugee scholar’ at Cornell University and then, from 1935 to 1945, at the University of Iowa. Here he was to embark on an ambitious programme of research which covered topics such as child-parent relations, conï ¬â€šict in marriage, styles of leadership, worker motivation and performance, conï ¬â€šict in industry, group problem-solving, communication and attitude change, racism, anti-Semitism, anti-racism, discrimination and prejudice, integration-segregation, peace, war and poverty (Bargal et al., 1992; Cartwright, 1952; Lewin, 1948a). As Cooke (1999) notes, given the prevalence of racism and antiSemitism in America at the time, much of this work, especially his increasingly public advocacy in support of disadvantaged groups, put Lewin on the political left. During the years of the Second World War, Lewin did much work for the American war effort. This included studies of the morale of front-line troops and psychological warfare, and his famous study aimed at persuading American housewives to buy cheaper cuts of meat (Lewin, 1943a; Marrow, 1969). He was also much in demand as a speaker on minority and inter-group relations Kurt Lewin 979  © Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2004(Smith, 2001). These activities chimed with one of his central preoccupations, which was how Germany’s authoritarian and racist culture could be replaced with one imbued with democratic values. He saw democracy, and the spread of democratic values throughout society, as the central bastion against authoritarianism and despotism. That he viewed the establishment of democracy as a major task, and avoided simplistic and structural recipes, can be gleaned from the following extracts from his article on ‘The special case of Germany’ (Lewin, 1943b): Nazi culture . . . is deeply rooted, particularly in the youth on whom the . . . future depends. It is a culture which is centred around power as the supreme value and which denounces justice and equality . . . (p. 43) To be  stable, a cultural change has to penetrate all aspects of a nation’s life. The change must, in short, be a change in the ‘cultural atmosphere,’ not merely a change of a single item. (p. 46) Change in culture requires the change of leadership forms in every walk of life. At the start, particularly important is leadership in those social areas which are fundamental from the point of view of power. (p. 55) With the end of the War, Lewin established the Research Center for Group Dynamics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The aim of the Center was to investigate all aspects of group behaviour, especially how it could be changed. At the same time, he was also chief architect of the Commission on Community Interrelations (CCI). Founded and funded by the American Jewish Congress, its aim was the eradication of discrimination against all minority groups. As Lewin wrote at the time, ‘We Jews will have to ï ¬ ght for ourselves and we will do so strongly and with good conscience. We also know that the ï ¬ ght of the Jews is part of the ï ¬ ght of all minorities for democratic equality of rights and opportunities . . .’ (quoted in Marrow, 1969, p. 175). In pursuing this objective, Lewin believed that his work on Group Dynamics and Action Research would provide the key tools for the CCI. Lewin was also inï ¬â€šuential in establishing the Tavistock Institute in the UK and its Journal, Human Relations ( Jaques, 1998; Marrow, 1969). In addition, in 1946, the Connecticut State Inter-Racial Commission asked Lewin to help train leaders and conduct research on the most effective means of combating racial and religious prejudice in communities. This led to the development of sensitivity training and the creation, in 1947, of the now famous National Training Laboratories. However, his huge workload took its toll on his health, and on 11 February 1947 he died of a heart attack (Lewin, 1992). 980 B. Burnes  © Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2004LEWIN’S WORK Lewin was a humanitarian who believed that only by resolving social conï ¬â€šict, whether it be religious, racial, marital or industrial, could the human condition be improved. Lewin believed that the key to resolving social  conï ¬â€šict was to facilitate learning and so enable individuals to understand and restructure their perceptions of the world around them. In this he was much inï ¬â€šuenced by the Gestalt psychologists he had worked with in Berlin (Smith, 2001). A unifying theme of much of his work is the view that ‘. . . the group to which an individual belongs is the ground for his perceptions, his feelings and his actions’ (Allport, 1948, p. vii). Though Field Theory, Group Dynamics, Action Research and the 3-Step model of change are often treated as separate themes of his work, Lewin saw them as a uniï ¬ ed whole with each element supporting and reinforcing the others and all of them necessary to understand and bring about Planned change, whether it be at the level of the individual, group, organization or even society (Bargal and Bar, 1992; Kippenberger, 1998a, 1998b; Smith, 2001). As Allport (1948, p. ix) states: ‘All of his concepts, whatever root-metaphor they employ, comprise a single wellintegrated system’. This can be seen from examining these four aspects of his work in turn. Field Theory This is an approach to understanding group behaviour by trying to map out the totality and complexity of the ï ¬ eld in which the behaviour takes place (Back, 1992). Lewin maintained that to understand any situation it was necessary that: ‘One should view the present situation – the status quo – as being maintained by certain conditions or forces’ (Lewin, 1943a, p. 172). Lewin (1947b) postulated that group behaviour is an intricate set of symbolic interactions and forces that not only affect group structures, but also modify individual behaviour. Therefore, individual behaviour is a function of the group environment or ‘ï ¬ eld’, as he termed it. Consequently, any changes in behaviour stem from changes, be they small or large, in the forces within the ï ¬ eld (Lewin, 1947a). Lewin deï ¬ ned a ï ¬ eld as ‘a totality of coexisting facts which are conceived of as mutually interdependent . . .’ (Lewin, 1946, p. 240). Lewin believed that a ï ¬ eld was in a continuous state of adaptation and that ‘Change and constancy are relative concepts; group life is never without change, merely differences in the amount and type of change exist’ (Lewin, 1947a, p. 199). This is why Lewin used the term ‘quasi-stationary equilibrium’ to indicate that whilst there might be a rhythm and pattern to the behaviour and processes of a group, these tended  to ï ¬â€šuctuate constantly owing to changes in the forces or circumstances that impinge on the group. Lewin’s view was that if one could identify, plot and establish the potency of these forces, then it would be possible not only to understand why individuals, Kurt Lewin 981  Ã‚ © Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2004groups and organizations act as they do, but also what forces would need to be diminished or strengthened in order to bring about change. In the main, Lewin saw behavioural change as a slow process; however, he did recognize that under certain circumstances, such as a personal, organizational or societal crisis, the various forces in the ï ¬ eld can shift quickly and radically. In such situations, established routines and behaviours break down and the status quo is no longer viable; new patterns of activity can rapidly emerge and a new equilibrium (or quasistationary equilibrium) is formed (Kippenberger, 1998a; Lewin, 1947a). Despite its obvious value as a vehicle for understanding and changing group behaviour, with Lewin’s death, the general interest in Field Theory waned (Back, 1992; Gold, 1992; Hendry, 1996). However, in recent years, with the work of Argyris (1990) and Hirschhorn (1988) on understanding and overcoming resistance to change, Lewin’s work on Field Theory has once again begun to attract interest. According to Hendry (1996), even critics of Lewin’s work have drawn on Field Theory to develop their own models of change (see Pettigrew et al., 1989, 1992). Indeed, parallels have even been drawn between Lewin’s work and the work of complexity theorists (Kippenberger, 1998a). Back (1992), for example, argued that the formulation and behaviour of complex systems as described by Chaos and Catastrophe theorists bear striking similarities to Lewin’s conceptualization of Field Theory. Nevertheless, Field Theory is now probably the least understood element of Lewin’s work, yet, because of its potential to map the forces impinging on an individual, group or organization, it underpinned the other elements of his work. Group Dynamics the word ‘dynamics’ . . . comes from a Greek word meaning force . . . ‘group . . . dynamics’ refers to the forces operating in groups . . . it is a  study of these forces: what gives rise to them, what conditions modify them, what consequences they have, etc. (Cartwright, 1951, p. 382) Lewin was the ï ¬ rst psychologist to write about ‘group dynamics’ and the importance of the group in shaping the behaviour of its members (Allport, 1948; Bargal et al., 1992). Indeed, Lewin’s (1939, p. 165) deï ¬ nition of a ‘group’ is still generally accepted: ‘. . . it is not the similarity or dissimilarity of individuals that constitutes a group, but interdependence of fate’. As Kippenberger (1998a) notes, Lewin was addressing two questions: What is it about the nature and characteristics of a particular group which causes it to respond (behave) as it does to the forces which impinge on it, and how can these forces be changed in order to elicit a more desirable form of behaviour? It was to address these questions that Lewin began to develop the concept of Group Dynamics. Group Dynamics stresses that group behaviour, rather than that of individuals, should be the main focus of change (Bernstein, 1968; Dent and Goldberg, 1999). Lewin (1947b) maintained that it is fruitless to concentrate on changing the behaviour of individuals because the individual in isolation is constrained by group pressures to conform. Consequently, the focus of change must be at the group level and should concentrate on factors such as group norms, roles, interactions and socialization processes to create ‘disequilibrium’ and change (Schein, 1988). Lewin’s pioneering work on Group Dynamics not only laid the foundations for our understanding of groups (Cooke, 1999; Dent and Goldberg, 1999; French and Bell, 1984; Marrow, 1969; Schein, 1988) but has also been linked to complexity theories by researchers examining self-organizing theory and non-linear systems (Tschacher and Brunner, 1995). However, understanding the internal dynamics of a group is not sufï ¬ cient by itself to bring about change. Lewin also recognized the need to provide a process whereby the members could be engaged in and committed to changing their behaviour. This led Lewin to develop Action Research and the 3-Step model of change. Action Research This term was coined by Lewin (1946) in an article entitled ‘Action research and minority problems’. Lewin stated in the article: In the last year and a half I have had occasion to have contact with a great variety of organizations, institutions, and individuals who came for help in the ï ¬ eld of group relations. (Lewin, 1946, p. 201) However, though these people exhibited . . .  a great amount of good-will, of readiness to face the problem squarely and . . . really do something about it . . . These eager people feel themselves to be in a fog. They feel in a fog on three counts: 1. What is the present situation? 2. What are the dangers? 3. And most importantly of all, what shall we do? (Lewin, 1946, p. 201) Lewin conceived of Action Research as a two-pronged process which would allow groups to address these three questions. Firstly, it emphasizes that change requires action, and is directed at achieving this. Secondly, it recognizes that successful action is based on analysing the situation correctly, identifying all the possible alternative solutions and choosing the one most appropriate to the situation at hand (Bennett, 1983). To be successful, though, there has also to be a ‘felt-need’. FeltKurt Lewin 983  © Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2004need is an individual’s inner realization that change is necessary. If felt-need is low in the group or organization, introducing change becomes problematic. The theoretical foundations of Action Research lie in Gestalt psychology, which stresses that change can only successfully be achieved by helping individuals to reï ¬â€šect on and gain new insights into the totality of their situation. Lewin (1946, p. 206) stated that Action Research ‘. . . proceeds in a spiral of steps each of which is composed of a circle of planning, action, and fact-ï ¬ nding about the results of the action.’ It is an iterative process whereby research leads to action and action leads to evaluation and further research. As Schein (1996, p. 64) comments, it was Lewin’s view that ‘. . . one cannot understand an organization without trying to change it . . .’ Indeed, Lewin’s view was very much that the understanding and learning which this process produces for the individuals and groups concerned, which then feeds into changed  behaviour, is more important than any resulting change as such (Lewin, 1946). To this end, Action Research draws on Lewin’s work on Field Theory to identify the forces that focus on the group to which the individual belongs. It also draws on Group Dynamics to understand why group members behave in the way they do when subjected to these forces. Lewin stressed that the routines and patterns of behaviour in a group are more than just the outcome of opposing forces in a forceï ¬ eld. They have a value in themselves and have a positive role to play in enforcing group norms (Lewin, 1947a). Action Research stresses that for change to be effective, it must take place at the group level, and must be a participative and collaborative process which involves all of those concerned (Allport, 1948; Bargal et al., 1992; French and Bell, 1984; Lewin, 1947b).