Sociology Asian Family Essay Example for Free

Sociology Asian Family Essay Myths about the Family Ever since the 1950s to this day, common discourse regarding the family, especially in the United States, has been based on Talcott Parsons’ (Parsons Bales, 1955) functionalism views. According to Parsons, the contemporary family form is the nuclear family composed of a breadwinner husband and a homemaker wife with their children. This particular family form emerged as a result of modernization and industrialization and displaced the extended family. This contemporary nuclear family is unctional in that the breadwinner provides for the instrumental needs of the family unit (food and shelter as well as other material needs) whereas the housewife provides for the expressive needs of the family unit (affective and emotional needs as well as socialization). As long as individuals perform their instrumental or expressive roles, the family is a functional unit that contributes to the stability of society as a whole. This gendered division of labor is therefore viewed as essential for the harmonious and orderly functioning of society. This view of the family is also called the male breadwinner model. This theoretical view became the dominant way of examining the family and family life and any deviation from the male breadwinner model is usually labeled a dysfunctional deviation. This is especially the case in the United States where Talcott Parsons’ brand of functionalism dominated social research until the 1960s. Social policies regarding the family are still designed with an eye to what is now considered the â€Å"traditional family,† such as policies encouraging single mothers to marry in order to get out of poverty through the re-creation of an intact nuclear family. Moreover, this model was not only generalized in the United States, it became the prism through which families around the world were seen as well. This view was especially promoted by William Goode (1963). In line with modernization theory, Goode postulated that as countries develop, extended families would be discarded to be replaced by the functional nuclear family, essential to modern society. The major problem with these functionalist views is that they are ideologies rather than derived from observable realities. The so-called traditional family, defined as the male breadwinner model, was an exceptional occurrence in the Western world after the Second World War, and it lasted only a few decades. In this sense, it is a socially invented tradition. Moreover, one of the main functions of ideologies is to maintain the status quo, thereby preserving privileges and maintaining oppressive social mechanisms. In this case, of course, the functional ideal is based on relegating women to the domestic sphere while proclaiming at the same time that expressive roles come more naturally to women and instrument roles more naturally to men. We have already examined how gender roles are socially constructed in our chapter on gender stratification. Also, the male breadwinner model of the family was only available to certain social classes (upper middle and above) as well as to the dominant racial group (whites). Finally, this ideological view of the family ignores cultural variations in family structures as well as the impact of changing socio-economic structures. This is what we turn to now. Family Systems Further evidence of the misleading and ideological nature of the functionalist the breadwinner model of the family is revealed by the variations in family structures across the globe. Using worldwide data, sociologist Goran Therborn (2004) identifies seven family systems, each with their specific regional social and cultural characteristics. According to Therborn, these different family systems do not have dynamics of their own but change based on external factors, such as modernization and globalization. Their inherent characteristics then make them more receptive or resistant to social change. * Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa (map source) comprises all the countries south of the Sahara desert and that are not considered part of North Africa. As previously mentioned, European colonization had a strong impact of African family structures. Nevertheless, the African family was always strongly based on kinship ties. Depending on the regions, the family structure may patrilineal or matrilineal but in any cases, male relatives exercise authority. According to Therborn (2004), a specific African norm is that of substitutability: in the context of mass polygyny, if a wife does not bear heirs or simply becomes undesirable to the lineage, she can be easily replaced or substituted by the husband taking another wife. Similarly, if a husband dies, he can be replaced by his brother. Another norm that involves fluidity in kinship structure is the mass practice of fostering, lending and borrowing children among kin when necessity demands it. This practice also underlines the idea that individuals belong to a wide kinship network and not a narrow-based family structure. * East Asia The East Asian family system (map source) includes Mongolia, China and Japan. The Chinese society is still dominated by Confucian beliefs. Such beliefs involve a concern for social order and stability through the subordination of individual wishes to collective and familial interests. Central to the Confucian view is the notion of filial piety, that is, the respect for elders as pillars of childrearing. In other words, the typical Chinese family is a strongly patriarchal and hierarchical arrangement based on the three rules of obedience: a daughter obeys her father, a married woman her husband, and a widow her son (Chen and He, 2005). As part of the collective outlook based on Confucianism, there are still a considerable number of households comprising three generations based on patrilineality (parents of the husband, husband and wife, and usually, one child). There is a strong emphasis on family interdependence which maintains the divorce rate at a low level. These traditional patterns are mixed, and sometimes conflict, with the Communist regime’s law mandating equality between men and women as well as with the rapid urbanization and modernization of the Chinese society and the import of western influence on intimate relationships. South Asia The South Asian family pattern (map source) – geographically including countries such as India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Burma – involves high fertility as well as extended family networks as well as strong religious influence (Laungani, 2005). Although not all family members live under the same roof, the Indian family system is extended in the sense that most social relationships and decisions take place within the network of relatives in the context of mostly Hindu religious norms. For instance, in India, the sacred nature of marriage creates a low divorce rate based on the economic and financial dependence of women as well as the strong social stigma associated with divorce, especially for women. The Indian family system is therefore strongly patriarchal supported by strong social norms that may cover up dreadful domestic situations. The Indian family is strictly hierarchical along age and gender lines. The caste system is still pervasive so that endogamy is still the norm, especially in rural areas (over 70% of Indians still live in villages). In order to preserve such endogamy, arranged marriages are still practiced whereby marriages are negotiated between the parents of the potential husband and wife. As with other family systems, the impact of globalization and the massive urbanization has strongly impacted the traditional South Asian system. * West Asia / North Africa The West Asia – North Africa system (map source) covers countries such as Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt in Africa, as well as the Middle East in Asia. This is the area commonly called the Muslim world because this is where Islam seems to exercise the most influence. In this system as well, collective family interests take precedence over personal preferences. Moreover, the concept of family honor is particularly strong. The behavior of each individual in a family reflects on the family honor and its standing in the community. It is in this family system that we find the practice of honor killing: the murder of female family members who are seen as having shamed the family and tarnished its honor, by being raped for instance or by not conforming to the dictates of family, tradition or religion. The fact that the victims of honor killings are women is another indicator of the extreme patriarchal nature of this family system which is centered on the strict control over the sexuality of women. This control can take the form of body cover, such as veiling, or of seclusion, whereby women are not allowed to interact with other men except under very restrictive conditions. This system also emphasizes high fertility with a strong preference for boys, especially in rural areas. The value of a woman is often based on her virginity prior to marriage and her fertility once married. Southeast Asia The Southeast Asian system (map source) – which includes countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, and Malaysia – enjoys religious diversity that comprises Muslim and Confucian populations whose marital and sexual norms have been relaxed under Buddhist influence and Malay customs (Therborn, 2004). For instance, in parts of Indonesia, Muslims do not follow the usual patriarchal family patterns. On the contrary, they observe matrilinearity. However, the great ethnic diversity of the Indonesian population generates some degree of extended family-enforced endogamy. Decisions on who can marry whom are made collectively (Sarwono, 2005). Similarly, Indonesia has a strong family planning program that emphasizes smaller families and the health of women through education and improvements in quality of life thanks to reproductive health clinics. In this sense, the status of Indonesian women is very advanced compared to other non-western family systems even though Indonesia is a largely Muslim country. * Creole America The Creole American system originated in the European colonization of the Americas and the Caribbean (which includes countries such as Antigua, Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobaggo) and the development of the plantation economy largely based on slavery. This estate system of stratification involved a white European dominant culture with a patriarchal family system alongside black African, mulatto, and mestizo family patterns. The Creole family pattern is present throughout the Americas, including African American ghettos in the United States. According to Jaipaul Roopnarine et al. (2005), the Creole system in the  Caribbean is characterized by a large number of nonmarital unions where fathers and husbands are largely absent and women assume the most responsibility in childrearing. Such marital patterns come from the colonial economic system whereby African Caribbean men were forced to leave their families to work in mines or plantations. A value system developed whereby African masculinity was based on successive but temporary sexual relationships and motherhood became the utmost form of femininity. When men and women live together, it is usually in cohabiting or common law relationships that reproduce the traditional patriarchal division of labor. This family system is also characterized by child-shifting, that is, the passing of children to other relatives or acquaintances if the parents find themselves unable to take care of them. As a result, multiple women are involved in childhood socialization. * European And New World Settlements The Western European system and its New World Settlements (such as the United States and Canada, as well as some parts of Central and South America) has always been the least patriarchal of all family systems. Apart from the European monarchies and nobility where marriage was strictly family-controlled with limited individual choice, this system has been based on marriage by consent, supported by the Catholic Church (family pressure was not absent, to be sure, but it was not enshrined into the law). Neolocal pattern has prevented the practice of child marriage: newlyweds were expected to create their own household, something that required financial means. As a result, people tended to marry later and to decide on their own fertility within monogamous arrangements. The Western system is also the one characterized by dramatic changes over the past centuries, changes that are still going on today and define the contemporary supposed marriage and family â€Å"crisis. † Before industrialization, as in other parts of the world, marriage and family formation patterns were patriarchal and fulfilled economic (production) and political (alliance making) functions. With industrialization, families were stripped of these functions taken over by the market and the state. What were left to the families were emotional and social functions. This became known as the love-based male breadwinner model that persisted until the late 1960s. Since then, cultural and economic factors, such as increased women’s independence and entry into the workforce have shattered that model to replace it with a more egalitarian one, with a progressive acceptance of different family forms.

Free Merchant of Venice Essays: The Price is Right :: Merchant Venice Essays

When I first read The Merchant of Venice, I had a lot of mixed reactions. One of them, surprisingly enough, was that it was too short! How can this be? We all know that Shakespeare's plays are notoriously too long. In reading it over, I think this perception comes from a number of sources. One is the idea that the two story lines, that of Portia and her suitors and that of Shylock and his money-grubbing ways, are only loosely held together by the title character, Antonio. The other reason is that when we finally get to the trial scene, the supposed highlight of the play, we notice that the trial is only a very small part of the whole play. It is not "what the play is about" in my opinion. Many people have suggested that the play should have ended after the trial, that the final scene served no purpose. I saw it more like the hurriedly thrown together conclusion to a choppy paper. We have talked about cut versions of literature as they make their way to the screen. This seems to me as though it is a choppy version of an idea that didn't work out as well as the playwright had hoped. As I read even more closely, I may find I change my mind. Since it didn't seem to be about what I thought it was supposed to be about, I decided to try to figure out what it really is about. Based on my current understanding (subject to further enlightenment), the play is (at least partially) about the merchandising of people. People can be bought or sold for "Three thousand ducats, well" (Act I Scene 3 Line 1), or "chests of gold, silver and lead" (I.ii.30). Every one has a price. All are bought or sold at one time or another. Let's look at some of the leading characters and see what price they require. Antonio sells "a pound of his flesh" for "three thousand ducats" in Act I Scene 3. Bassanio sells his marriage vows to repay the lawyer/ judge for defending Antonio (Act IV Scene 2). Grationo sells his vows, by giving away the ring that represented them, and his friendship to Bassanio at the same time. Portia sells herself as property in marriage

Electronic Commerce and Mary Kay Essay

Founded in 1962, Mary Kay (marykay. com) has about 1. 8 million consultants selling its cosmetics and fragrances in 34 countries. In 2008, the company had about $2. 4 billion in wholesale sales. As a company that has based its reputation on personal contacts through door-to-door visits and home gatherings, one might think that Mary Kay would not benefit from EC. Actually, the opposite is true. Currently, more than 95 percent of Mary Kay’s independent salespeople place orders via the Internet. The Problem The cosmetics market is very competitive, but it is growing rapidly, especially in developing countries. Mary Kay is trying to capitalize on this trend. The Mary Kay business model enables rapid growth into new markets. By the early 2000s, consultants found that more and more customers wanted to shop online. With a long and global supply chain and the need to manage almost 2 million consultants, it was clear that automation was needed, but Mary Kay’s existing computer system was old and lacked Web or e-commerce applications. Therefore, a major overhaul of the information systems was needed. Finally, it became clear that the emergence of social computing might provide a golden opportunity for Internet marketing by the company. The Solution Mary Kay’s IT department is now split into three divisions: e-commerce, supply chain, and back-office support. Because of pressure from the consultants, the restructuring focused on e-commerce. The company’s goals and objectives were set based on industry best practices. Goals and objectives determine what, how, and when the company is operated, and these also apply to EC initiatives. Mary Kay’s EC solution included the creation of an electronic service desk that supports consultants in 30 countries in a standardized way. Mary Kay also introduced a global electronic ordering system, called Atlas, that allows the consultants to communicate with company warehouses. An intelligent data repository that dynamically maintains a logical model of the EC environment can be accessed by Mary Kay IT staff. Mary Kay and its consultants are also making extensive use of social computing. The following are some representative examples of how Mary Kay uses social computing: The company posts job opening announcements on several sites, including MySpace Jobs ( classifieds. myspace. com/job). Movies and videotapes are available on YouTube (youtube. com) and on movies. go. com. Several blogs are available, both for and against the company (e. g. , marykayandrews. com/blog). Auctions and fixed-price items are available for sale on eBay. Mary Kay provides a consultant locator on the Internet. All of these developments are supported by an extensive hardware and software infrastructure, including a wireless remote management system at the 760,000 square-foot corporate headquarters, an extensive wide area network (WAN, see Chapter 8), and a large data center. Some of the EC systems are used enterprise wide (e. g. , service desk, ticketing system for consultants attending events, and service requests made by consultants). Others are functional (e. g. , accounting, finance, marketing, and inventory control). The company uses an intranet for internal communications as well as dozens of other EC applications. In addition to providing better support to consultants, the EC initiatives produced other benefits, such as greater efficiency, reduced costs and downtime, and improved service. In terms of human resources, it enabled the company to handle its rapid growth without a substantial increase in staffing. The changes also have allowed EC personnel to focus on strategic tasks. Mary Kay found that its engineers and technical people now have time to spend on new innovations. References: Bowman, Mary Kay, et al. â€Å"Intelligent and firm currency conversion.† U.S. Patent No. 7,747,475. 29 Jun. 2010. Meuter, Matthew L., et al. â€Å"The influence of technology anxiety on consumer use and experiences with self-service technologies.† Journal of Business Research 56.11 (2003): 899-906. Dholakia, Ruby Roy, and Nikhilesh Dholakia. â€Å"Mobility and markets: emerging outlines of m-commerce.† Journal of Business research 57.12 (2004): 1391-1396. Kay, Jeffrey, et al. â€Å"Information objects system, method, and computer program organization.† U.S. Patent No. 6,473,893. 29 Oct. 2002. Finn, Mary Kay, Karen Lahey, and David Redle. â€Å"Policies Underlying Congressional Approval of Criminal and Civil Immunity for Interactive Computer Service Providers Under Provisions of the Communications Decency Act of 1996-Should E-Buyers Beware.† U. Tol. L. Rev. 31 (1999): 347.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - 586 Words

Imagine a town where. Racial slurs, and injustice is parcel of everyday life. This town is known as Maycomb, a fictional town from the book To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee, a fictional story that takes place during the great depression. Maycomb is a little town in Alabama where Scout, her older brother Jem and her father Atticus. The town’s population is mostly white, and some African Americans. The town’s folks are often judged depended on their behavior, race, and social class. People of Maycomb judge each other on their behavior. For instance Atticus is called upon to fire Calpurnia, their cook, by his sister Aunt Alexander, he denies her request. His sister then tells him â€Å"Atticus it’s alright to be soft hearted, you’re an easy man†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (155). His sister views Atticus as a person who lets emotions get in his ways, and judges him because of it. Moreover, Mrs. Merriweather judges Atticus on his decision to free Tom Robison from jail and capital punishment. Mrs. Merriweather is gossiping about other folk from town she says â€Å"’I tell you there are some good but misguided people in this town†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (265-266). She judges Atticus on this decision to stand up for Tom. She believes that he is misguided in his choices. Furthermore, Mrs. Dubose is another example of a person who judge’s people based on their behavior. Once when Jem and Scout were going by Mrs. Dubose they fear that â€Å"[They] would be raked by her wrathful gaze, subjected to ruthless interrogation regarding ourShow MoreRelatedKill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee1049 Words   |  5 PagesTo Kill a Mockingbird: How a Story could be based on True Events in Everyday LifeDaisy GaskinsCoastal Pines Technical Collegeâ€Æ'Harper Lee was born in Monroeville, Alabama. Her father was a former newspaper editor and proprietor, who had served as a state senator and practiced as a lawyer in Monroeville. Also Finch was known as the maiden name of Lee’s mother. With that being said Harper Lee became a writer like her father, but she became a American writer, famous for her race relations novel â€Å"ToRead MoreTo Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee1000 Words   |  4 Pagesworld-wide recognition to the many faces of prejudice is an accomplishment of its own. Author Harper Lee has had the honor to accomplish just that through her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, a moving and inspirational story about a young girl learning the difference between the good and the bad of the world. In the small town of Monroeville, Alabama, Nelle Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926. Growing up, Harper Lee had three siblings: two sisters and an older brother. She and her siblings grew up modestlyRead MoreKill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee1290 Words   |  6 PagesHarper Lee published To Kill a Mockingbird during a rough period in American history, also known as the Civil Rights Movement. 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This honor society is a huge accomplishment and is considered the highest recognition for artistic talent and accomplishment in the United States. Along with these accomplishments, herRead MoreKill A Mockingbird, By Harper Lee1197 Words   |  5 Pagessuch as crops, houses, and land, and money was awfully limited. These conflicts construct Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mocking Bird. In To Kill a Mocking Bird, Lee establishes the concurrence of good and evil, meaning whether people are naturally good or naturally evil. Lee uses symbolism, characterization, and plot to portray the instinctive of good and evil. To Kill a Mocking Bird, a novel by Harper Lee takes place during the 1930s in the Southern United States. The protagonist, Scout Finch,