http://www.articletrader.com/ Articles at ArticleTrader en-us http://www.articletrader.com/writing/professays-fights-plagiarism.html http://www.articletrader.com/writing/professays-fights-plagiarism.html Tue, 30 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0600
In contrast to the majority of essay writing services ProfEssays has a softcopy of the archives in and a number of programs that run through it and detect papers for plagiarism. The programs of ProfEssays ensure that the completed paper is checked with the latest and updated materials available online and in the libraries. What’s more the new department has been formed within the company to fight plagiarism and maintain the plagiarism detecting process.

Once the customer has placed the order, he doesn’t have to worry about the quality of paper and the time of delivery. All the materials supplied by the writer are being checked with Eve2 program automatically. After that the file goes to the special department, where it is being proof read by professional editors and tested with MyDropBox. If part of the paper appears to be not original, it is returned to the writer immediately for the rewrite. This writer is fined and if the situation repeats again, the writer is fired. This way ProfEssays assures the professionalism and integrity of the writing team.

Customer is not involved in the plagiarism detection process and is only receiving the final, proof read and unique paper. Customers shouldn’t be concerned with checking the paper as the company fulfils it all for him. However, customer has a chance to communicate with the writer directly if such a necessity arouses.

With the increasing number of internet users the number of people who still refer to the more traditional sources of information such as books, journals and magazines decreases. Most essay writing companies’ field of search when detecting plagiarism is internet sources only. It is common practice to ignore the existence of printed sources such as journals that can easily be copied from. The implementation of the new software program and a specially trained department enables Professays to search all possible sources of information that could be used. ProfEssays ensured that clients feel absolutely confident and secure by being provided with such an innovation as track of all the printed sources and library archives.


With the development of internet the number of custom writing companies who still use traditional sources of information such as books, magazines and reviews quickly goes down. Most essay writing companies use only internet sources. It is a wide-spread practice to ignore the existence of printed sources such as journals in spite of the fact that they frequently contain much more precious and relative information than internet resources. The development of ProfEssays research capacities enables thie custom writing company to search all possible sources of information that could be used.

Nowadays custom essay writing service ProfEssays is equal to render versatile professional assistance in writing a broad range of tasks embracing custom essays, term papers, academic papers, research papers, admission essays, compositions, course-works, book reports, case studies, thesis, dissertations, editing, resume services, creation of sites content and many others. The procedure for ordering custom essays or papers is standard. One simply needs to visit the site of ProfEssays www.professays.com and fill in the appropriate form or contact the customers’ support team by means of e-mail: support@professays.com


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Andrew Sandon - a writer of ProfEssays ( www.professays.com ) - professional custom essay writing service: custom essays, custom term papers, custom academic papers, custom admission essays, custom research papers, compositions, book reports, case study. No plagiarism, high quality, prompt delivery.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/writing/how-to-choose-the-topic-of-ones-essay.html http://www.articletrader.com/writing/how-to-choose-the-topic-of-ones-essay.html Wed, 20 Dec 2006 00:00:00 -0600 If your topic is an overview you may go to the next step, if your topic is general then you have to choose a narrow subtopic to discuss.
For instance, the topic “art” is a general one. If you are writing an overview then it is suitable otherwise holding specific analysis you should choose something like “Japanese art of the middle ages” or ”art in the middle-aged Japan”.
If your topic hasn’t been assigned then you have a boarder vision and unlimited choices. However, it often appears to be more complicated to write essays on a free topic than on some definite one. It can be explained by several reasons. First of all, lots of students begin to feel uncertain what topic is the best to choose for them. A free topic implicates the absence of any tutors’ recommendations, set structure, specified problems and ways to consider them. In general the best is to first find the purpose of your essay after having determined where your interest lies, evaluate all your ideas and then make a list of them selecting the ones you think you will write easily and with interest.
One of the efficient approaches is a four-question process. It is reduced to the following: one takes the four questions and writes two on each side of a piece of paper. Use one piece of paper because then the white space is not so discouraging. If you think your guided brainstorming session will be a success, you may want to put down each question at the top of a new sheet of paper. Here are the questions:

What do I want to know more about?
What possible topics do I already have experience in?
What challenges and problems do I have right now?
What goals do I have in life right now?


And if all else fails you can surf the Internet endlessly until an hour before it is due! Another efficient way in having your topic chosen and essay accomplished is to turn to a custom essay writing service. ProfEssay possesses a vast experience in producing custom essays and papers. It ensures the high quality, originality and prompt delivery of all the ordered pieces of writing. On the whole it completes custom essays, custom academic papers, custom research papers, custom term papers, custom admission essays, compositions, book reports, case studies and this list is far from being full. For ordering custom essays one is to fill in the appropriate form on its site www.professays.com or contact the customers’ support team via e-mail: support@professays.com


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Andrew Sandon - a writer of ProfEssays ( www.professays.com ) - professional custom essay writing service: custom essays, custom term papers, custom academic papers, custom admission essays, custom research papers, compositions, book reports, case study. No plagiarism, high quality, prompt delivery.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/business/management/lateral-structural-arrangements-in-organizations.html http://www.articletrader.com/business/management/lateral-structural-arrangements-in-organizations.html Mon, 27 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0600 Lateral organizational arrangements include individuals of different departments and groups. These relations exist on the same organizational level and involve coordination and consultation. This type of arrangements depends upon the co-operation activities and of informal relations. It is therefore important to questions about who, how and why people are doing what they are doing and what they should do in strategic implementation. In short effective lateral organizational arrangements add value, manage the business and can contribute to strategic success but, conversely, they can make spectacular errors that can be very costly to the organization (Galbraith, 1995).
Lateral organizational arrangements depend upon the roles of each individual which implies the expected pattern of behaviours associated with members occupying a particular position within the structure of the organisation. It also describes how a person perceives their own situation.
The concept of 'role' is important not only to the functioning of groups but for understanding cooperation processes and behaviour. It is through role differenti¬ation that the structure of relationships among the mem¬bers are established. The development of lateral arrangements entails the identification of distinct roles for each of its members. Some form of structure is necessary for team-work and co-operation. The concept of roles helps to clarify the structure and to define the pattern of complex relationships within the group.
Lateral organisational arrangement belong to tThe formal relationships which can be seen as forms of role relation¬ships. These individual authority relationships determine the pattern of inter¬action with other roles. The role, or roles, that the individual plays within the group is influenced by a combination of: situational factors, such as the requirements of the task, the style of leader¬ ship, position in the communication network; and personal factors such as values, attitudes, motivation, ability and personality.
The role that a person plays in one work group may be quite different from the role that person plays in other work groups. However, everyone within a group is expected to behave in a particular manner and to fulfil certain role expectations. Also, the role relationships with members of their own group - peers, superiors, subordinates - the individual will have a number of role-related relationships with outsiders, for example members of other work groups, trade union officials, suppliers, consumers, and this patterns determine the nature of lateral organizational arrangements. This is a person's 'role-set'. The role-set comprises the range of associations or contacts with whom the indi¬vidual has meaningful interactions in connection with the performance of their role (Galbraith, 1995).
An important feature of lateral relations is the concept of 'role incongruence'. This means that a member of staff should not be perceived as having a high and responsible position in one respect but a low standing in another respect. Difficulties with role congruence can arise from the nature of groupings and formal relationships within the structure of the organisation. Lateral organizational arrangements help to overcome problems which cannot be solved with the help of vertical relations only. “However, in many modern organisations where conventional communication structures either do not exist or are less formal, communication tends to be horizontal, between individuals and departments, rather than the upwards or downward flow assumed by so many to be the normal case” (Ball, 2001).
Decentralization principle is important in a large corporation, which became the central tenet of so much business practice. The need to co¬ordinate strategic planning from the centre to ensure longterm growth for the company, while allowing the indi¬vidual units and their managers to get on with day-to-day tactics are also play the crucial role. “The personal relations existing among members of an organisation which are not represented by the "blueprint" constitute informal organisation or informal relationships. Informal organisation plays as important a part in functioning of social organisation as formal organisation” (Formal & Informal relations, n.d.).
lateral organizational arrangements are achieved when the various HR strategies cohere and are mutually supporting. This can be attained by the process of 'bundling' or 'configuration'. If a deliberate attempt to 'bundle' is made, this process will be driven by the needs and characteristics of the business. In this very case lateral organizational arrangements could be described the process of ensuring that strategies are integrated with or 'fit' business strategies. The concept of coherence could be defined as lateral organizational arrangements - the development of a mutually reinforcing and interrelated set of policies and practices. Lateral organizational arrangements are chiefly about ensuring that the firms has the skilled, committed and well-motivated workforce.
Lateral organizational arrangements are closely connected with functional features of work. The word 'functional' is used to indicate major aspects or departments of the organisation such as research, production and marketing. Differentiation describes 'the difference in cognitive and emotional orien¬tation among managers in different functional departments' with respect to: the goal orientation of managers, for example the extent to which attention was focused on particular goals of the department; the time orientation of managers and relation to aspects of the environment with which they are concerned, for example longer-term horizons, or short- term horizons and problems requiring immediate solutions; the interpersonal relations of managers to other members, for example a managerial style based on concern for the task, or on concern for people relationships; and the formality of structure.
It is sometimes suggested that in many organisations the responsibility for employee relations still lies with the line managers who are often sceptical or even hostile towards personnel ideas and techniques, and who frequently reject the concept of an employee relations policy because it hampers their work and limits their flexibility. If line managers are left to handle industrial relations issues for themselves, the pres¬sures of production are likely to lead to ad hoc and contradictory decisions. If a per¬sonnel policy is introduced to promote consistent decisions on industrial relations issues, its effectiveness may depend on granting authority to the personnel depart¬ment to override the natural priorities of line managers (Galbraith, 1995). “Rather than increasing hierarchies, they support the minimizing of vertical structures and the flattening of hierarchies, creating lateral roles and relations. The decision making processes become decentralized and there is a decrease in formalization” (Complex Organizations, n.d.).
As with other aspects of the personnel function it is important that line man¬agers are involved, at least to some extent, with employee relations. But there must be good communications and close consultation with the personnel department. There must be teamwork and a concerted organisational approach to the management of employee relations. This is made easier when top management, who retain ultimate responsibility for the personnel func¬tion, take an active part in fostering goodwill and co-operation between departments and with official union representatives.
Top management should agree clear terms of reference for both the personnel manager and line managers within the framework of sound personnel policies. “By creating lateral connections, the information in the organization is allowed to flow more directly. The communication system would be an informal one. This can be achieved through liaison roles and task forces” (Complex Organizations, n.d.).
The purpose of lateral organizational relations is contributed to a nationwide restructuring of corporations, with the multi-divisional form of organization becoming the standard for large industrial firms producing multiple products in multiple markets. He was one of the first management theorists to perceive the importance of creating a strategic plan for a business before framing its organizational structure (Galbraith, 1995).
In general lateral thinking is the generation of new ideas and the escape from old ones. Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way and creativity comes into every aspect of manag¬ing a business — not only innovation but information systems, communications, finance, marketing, advertising and promotion, labour relations, problem solving, planning, design, R&D and public relations.
According to Ball: “Traditionally, the structure – and therefore the communication process – is based upon a hierarchy of individual departments, although more and more organisations now see the product and the market as more fundamental to structure than individual departments” (Ball, 2001).
The lateral organizational arrangements is a part of the generality of management. The personnel manager, as a separate entity, operates in terms of a 'functional' relationship, that is as a specialist adviser on personnel matters and on the implementation of personnel policies through all departments of the organi¬sation. It is the job of the personnel manager to provide specialist knowledge and services for line managers, and to support them in the performance of their jobs.
In all other respects the personnel manager's relationship with other managers, supervisors and staff is indirect: that is, an advisory relationship. It is the line managers who have authority and control over staff in their departments, and who have the immediate responsibility for personnel manage¬ment, although there will be times when they need the specialist help and advice of the personnel manager. If the personnel function is to be effective there has to be good teamwork, and co-operation and consultation between line managers and the personnel manager. In this case, “High-quality internal training programs not only give people the skills they need, but also send the clear message that you care about people's career development and are willing to invest in them as individuals” (HRM guide, n.d.)
The lateral organizational arrangements offers the best hope for long-term business pros¬perity, and he concentrates on the principle that the salaried manager's role is critical. As managers receive power and authority through their offi¬cial roles, so their careers become increasingly technical and professional. One could use lateral thinking for five per cent of the time and vertical thinking for the other 95 per cent, operating the systems alternately.
The significance of the distinction between jobs and roles is that in the new process-based organisation, horizontal processes (which may have been defined in a business process re-engineering exercise) cut across organisational boundaries. Managements are beginning to regard their organisations in some fundamentally different ways. Rather than seeing them as a hierarchy of static jobs, they think of them, as dynamic processes.
Some members may have the opportunity to determine their own role expectations, where, for example, formal expectations are specified loosely or only in very general terms. Opportunities for self-established roles are more likely in senior positions (Galbraith, 1995).
Given the possibility that different demands of the environment are characterized by different levels of uncertainty, then it follows that individual departments may develop different structures. At the organisational level the detailed involvement of the work activities of organizational several departments, available time, and the need for specialisation suggest that the personnel manager has a prominent role to play. The ager is the main executor of personnel policies but acting in consultation with, and taking advice from, line managers.
Lateral organizational arrangements are connected with coordination and consultation. Line managers are on hand to observe directly the performance of their staff. They will actually see, and be directly affected by, for example, lateness of staff, unsatisfactory work, insufficient training, low morale, staff unrest, or poor planning of work duties and responsibilities. As an element function, personnel is an integral part of any managerial activity. The extent to which the personnel function is devolved to line managers is a decision for top management, and is likely to be influenced by the nature and characteristic features of the particular industry or organisation.
Separate units of differ¬ing size, location and mix of skills, means of necessity the personnel function is decentralised and prime responsibility has to be with line management.
An understanding of the capabilities of individuals and groups terms of attitudes, abilities and skills, as well as an understanding how individuals relate one to another, is an important part of the preparation and development of strategy. At the same time there has been a deterioration in lateral relations in many places, and a failure to introduce changes in work methods necessary for effective competition and organisational effectiveness. Personnel departments as such are clearly not to blame for these developments much more guilty are those line managers at the highest level who have opted out of their most important function, that of managing people.
Members may not always be consciously aware of these informal expecta¬tions yet they still serve as important determinants of behaviour. The psychological contract implies a variety of expec¬tations between the individual and the organisation. These expectations cover a range of rights and privileges, duties and obligations which do not form part of a formal agreement but still have an important influence on behaviour.
At the departmental or unit level the individuals might assume a promi¬nent role for day-to-day personnel matters, with the personnel manager as adviser, and if necessary as arbitrator. They would be more con¬cerned, at least in the first instance, with the operational aspects of personnel activities within their own departments. For example: the organisation of work and allocation of duties; minor disciplinary matters; standards of work performance; safety; on-the-job training; communication of information; and grievances from staff . On-line communication process can reduce waste of time for solving these problems (DeSanctis, Monge, 1998).
Within lateral organizational arrangements many role expectations are prescribed formally and indicate what the person is expected to do and their duties and obligations. Formal role prescriptions provide guidelines for expected behaviours and may be more prevalent in a 'mechanistic' organisation. Formal role expectations may also be derived clearly from the nature of the task. But not all role expectations are prescribed formally. There will be certain general conduct, mutual support to co-members, attitudes towards superiors, means of communicating, dress and appearance.
According to lateral organizational arrangements it is made easier when top management, who retain ultimate responsi¬bility for the personnel function, take an active part in fostering goodwill and harmonious working relationships among departments. Top management should agree clear terms of reference for individuals within a framework of sound personnel policies. Within this framework the personnel function can be seen as operating at two levels: the organisational level and the departmental level.


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Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/writing/jim-crow-and-civil-rights-in-north-carolina.html http://www.articletrader.com/writing/jim-crow-and-civil-rights-in-north-carolina.html Mon, 27 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0600 Segregation shaped black-white interactions in the post-Civil War North Carolina, where it reigned from the white supremacy revolt of 1898 until the 1960s. Jim Crow period was a crucial phase of race relations in American society. However, racial segregation had far deeper roots in the North Carolina past. Before the Civil War, slaveholders needed few regulations to isolate slaves and free people of color, who were kept apart by custom. After the Civil War, a white backlash against the former slaves began to legalize the customary distance between blacks and whites.
Planters intended to defy the emancipation guaranteed by the Thirteenth Amendment and exploit ex-slave workers. White employers flogged and even killed freed people who dared to assert their new liberties, even in the face of Union garrisons and Republican authority. While the state constitution of 1868 confirmed abolition and legitimated previous black and mixed-race births, it plainly stated that Black children and white children should study in different public schools (Franklin 73).
Despite the presence of federal and state militias, the Ku Klux Klan terrorized Republican voters and officeholders, black and white. In 1870, when conservative Democrats regained a legislative majority, Klansmen murdered 16 Republicans and whipped at least 121 (Franklin 88). An act of 1874 proclaimed that no white child could be apprenticed to a black adult. The amended state constitution in 1875 prohibited between white people and African-Americans and it reiterated the requirement for dual schools (Evans 55). The legislature soon established industrial and normal colleges for blacks, but it ignored the terror that drove thousands of them to Kansas and Indiana in 1879-80.
Blacks continued to vote and hold office in much of eastern North Carolina, backing "the Party of Lincoln" despite facing dangerous opposition (Anderson 37). For instance, between 1868 and 1889, fourteen black Republicans were elected to seventeen state house and six state senate terms from New Hanover County, home of Wilmington (Evans 54). Between 1874 and 1890, three blacks also won terms in Congress from the Second Congressional District, "a Republican and black stronghold." (Anderson 34).
Legislators in 1892 proposed to segregate railway travel, as eight other Southern states already had done. Republican and Populist assemblymen opposed the enabling bill.
Oppression increased as black North Carolinians persevered. Their votes enabled Fusion men to gain 74 of the 120 General Assembly seats in 1894 and win the governorship in 1896, while electoral reforms passed by the Fusionist legislature helped blacks to regain numerous local offices (Anderson 93). By 1897, in Wilmington, four aldermen, an audit board member, a justice of the peace, the deputy clerk of court, and the coroner were black (Edmonds 162). Clearly, 1898 marked a turning point in Jim Crow. The election that year brought into relief not only extreme white racism, but also fallout from the legal disfranchisement of blacks in South Carolina (1895) and the Supreme Court's "separate but equal" decision in Plessy v. Ferguson ( 1896) (Edmonds 165). Klansmen and White Supremacy Clubs frequently demonstrated at black and Fusion rallies, intimidating the crowds by a show of guns. In 1897-99 seven lynchings were reported in North Carolina, and racial intimidation and terrorism reached into even the most remote crossroads and towns during the fall of 1898 (Evans 87). Democrats reclaimed five of the state's nine congressional seats; Republicans retained three seats, reelecting the nation's only black congressman, George H. White, from the Second District (Evans 88). In state contests Democrats took ninety-four house and forty senate seats to the Republicans' twenty-three (four black) and seven (one black) and Populists' three and three (Evans 95).
During the Wilmington Race Riot of 1898 legally selected Republicans were overthrown by white Democrats. As the result, Democrats established the government which was based upon white supremacy (Wilmington Race Riot 1). It symbolized the creation of a codified and brutal color line, one that would last through the first half of the twentieth century.
In 1899 lawmakers adopted voting restrictions based on the Louisiana model of a literacy test, poll tax, and grandfather clause. Scheduled for a referendum in 1900, the suffrage amendment promised significant reduction of the black electorate, thereby undermining a multiracial or working-class challenge to Democratic and white dominance. Adult illiteracy then was 40 percent for black males, compared to 20 percent for white males (Edmonds 180). Registrars did not expect or permit black men to read and explain a section of the state constitution as specified in the amendment. Nor could most blacks afford to pay poll taxes, for they earned only subsistence incomes. Virtually none had grandfathers who voted prior to January 1867, so, as descendants of freedmen, they lost by fiat the protection given to illiterate white men.
The assault on democratic citizenship quickened. At least two acts proscribed racially mixed fraternal orders and mental hospitals; five empowered the utilities commission to enforce Jim Crow in transport. In 1900 black leaders issued "An Address to the White People of North Carolina" protesting the imminent passage of the constitutional amendment that would disfranchise blacks (Edmonds 195).
Legal separation proceeded apace. The state required the board of education to operate all-black school districts and dictated that school librarians "fit up and maintain a separate place for the use of the colored people who may come to the library." (Jim Crow Laws, Libraries). One statute allowed for relief and pension benefits to "fire companies composed exclusively of colored men." (Edmonds 199). Furthermore, a "person of negro descent to the third generation, inclusive" was defined as black (Jim Craw Laws, Intermarriage). Any officer who failed to confine black and white prisoners separately should be considered guilty, according to an order on prisons. Three orders similarly charged operators of streetcars and trains.
The legal and informal contours of Jim Crow covered a wide domain. The restrictions betrayed white fears of black-Indian cooperation, black educational progress and competition for jobs, interracial sex, and blacks’ political dissent. To wit, the state reordered the segregation of Indians in jails, homes of the aged, and hospitals. It warranted a curriculum of only "practical agriculture and the mechanical arts and such branches of learning as relate thereto" for black colleges (Murray 332). Toilets had to be "lettered and marked in a distinct manner, so as to furnish separate facilities for white males, white females, colored males and colored females." (Murray 339). Indeed, by the eve of World War I, almost every visible space had been separated. During the war, the state stopped the "organization of colored troops . . . where white troops are available, and while permitted to be organized, colored troops shall be under the command of white officers." (Murray 342). Even a breach of the color line among convicts meant a fine or jail sentence for their jailers.
A sample of legislative acts from 1917 to 1945 can be useful to suggest the vagaries of Jim Crow. Of sixty-one Jim Crow statutes enacted in that period, three concern black aliens (Anderson 90). Education is the subject of nineteen, including a 1935 stipulation that "books shall not be interchangeable between the white and colored schools, but should continue to be used by the race first using them." (Murray 331) An act detailing punishment for violations of the toilet restriction applies to all categories of labor. Seventeen measures relate to provisions for the handicapped, and fifteen cover buses and trains (Murray 338). Not until 1947 did the state restrict cemeteries, which had long been separated by tradition.
State permission to segregate the races resonated locally. Cities and towns tended to replicate the Winston-Salem housing pattern. Winston-Salem's black residents had been segregated overwhelmingly into its southeastern corner by the 1920s. Black population clusters, always cordoned off by a main street, railroad track, or similar fixed barrier, shaped the social geography of every city and town. Hayti in Durham and Gilmer in Greensboro typified the urban ghettos (Woofter 67). In their segregated communities, veiled from white society, blacks forged a world of aspiration (Woofter 79).
Ordinances on accommodations (restaurants, theaters) and common spaces (auditoriums, stadiums) multiplied greatly. Lest there be trespassing, "White Only" and "Colored" signs policed entrances, exits, and seats. Banks, railroads, textile and tobacco factories, and other places of employment regularly exceeded statutory requirements. Tobacco plants in Durham, Reidsville, and Winston-Salem assigned "Negro and white workers to separate parts of buildings, or to different workrooms even when performing the same tasks, or to separate sides of the same room, or even to separate rows in the same room." (Woofter 100).
Many African Americans struggled against Jim Crow laws and promoted dignity and liberty of Black people. For example, Charlotte Hawkins Brown whose grandparents were slaves made substantial contribution to the development of African American education and established the North Carolina State Federation of Negro Women’s Club (Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum 1).
The other examples include Murray and Mebane who were emblematic of the black men and women who survived Jim Crow and struggled for protection of African-American civil rights. In 1938 the University of North Carolina denied Pauli Murray admission for graduate study. Two years later at Petersburg, Virginia, she was arrested for sitting in the front seat of an interstate bus.
Blacks such as Murray and Mebane responded to Jim Crow by pursuing an array of community-building activities to soften segregation's harshest edges and build autonomy and self-respect. Within "autonomous institutions"--including the family, education, religion, cultural expression, labor, business, and politics--blacks built a sense of hope. Consider post-riot Wilmington: by 1930 institutions within the black community included one of five hospitals in the city, two of thirteen homes for the elderly, two of nine cemeteries, twenty-eight of fifty-two churches and four of fourteen public schools (Wilmington Directory 700).
Black colleges and universities which were founded after the Civil War contributed substantially to black North Carolina education. There are eleven Black higher institutions in North Carolina (Historically Black Colleges and Universities 1). Among them are Bennett College, Barberia-Scottia College, North Carolina A&T State University and others. These colleges also cultivated ambition and self-esteem in their students.
In 1960 a group of Black students from North Carolina A&T University was not served during lunch; they protested against such discrimination by their refusal to leave the lunch counter. The Greensboro sit-ins were started by four African-American activists such as Ezell Blair, David Richmond, Joseph McNeil and Franklin McLain (Greensboro sit-ins, Timeline, 1). This non-violent protest has continued to take place in many cities. Thus, within the period of two months the lunch counter sit-ins took place in 54 cities in 9 states (Greensboro sit-ins, Timeline, 2). Later the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was organized to support Sit-Ins (Six Years of the SNCC 2).
Thus, Black activists participated in college boycotts and other forms of nonviolent direct action, helping to catalyze the emergent civil rights movement in North Carolina. Their fight on the home front to abolish Jim Crow bequeathed a significant legacy of hope to the next generation. Due to the courage and high aspirations of those Black Carolinians of the post-Civil War Era, African-Americans in North Carolina can enjoy civil rights and liberties which they have today. Individuals on both sides of the color line started to take each other seriously, with neither preordained stereotypes nor false etiquette.


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Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/legal/should-women-have-abortions.html http://www.articletrader.com/legal/should-women-have-abortions.html Mon, 27 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0600 Argument 1. Women should have abortion as a preventive measure not to born cripples (physical or mental). In reality, nobody will benefited from this new life: a mother will suffer all her life raising up a disabled creature, a parasitic twin will not become a society member able to work and lead an independent life. In this case, a fetus does not possess psychological characteristics and is not entitled to have full moral status, and should be aborted. For instance, the case with Jodie and Mary, conjoined twins, illustrate that abortion would be the most desirable as for mother so for these babies (Famous Freaks Gallery. 2005).
Argument 2. Women has the right to abort a fetus, because they are free to choose what is the most desirable for them. If a woman has several children and cannot afford one more child, she can do an abortion. For instance, low income and social position do not allow women to born as many children as they want. If this happens, it will increase poverty level and army of low qualifies unemployed people in 20 years. Also, a woman, a social individual, has a right to choose her way of life. If the birth is undesirable for her future, a woman should have abortion (Schwarz, 1990).
Refute. On the one hand, it is possible to assume that if humans are killed before birth, they are the same person as the other human beings. In this case we should take into account the goal of medical service which aims to relieve and safe life. Taking into consideration physical identity Marquis states that all human beings are “the same individuals that once were fetuses” (Marquis, 1994). On the other hand, it is nonsense to preserve rights of unborn individual (a fetus), and deprive a woman (who is already individuality, as socially so mentally) of her rights to choose and to decide what is the best for her.


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Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/legal/should-drug-use-be-decriminalized.html http://www.articletrader.com/legal/should-drug-use-be-decriminalized.html Mon, 27 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0600 Legalization of drugs will allow wider audiences to use drugs more often and in more quantity. This will lead to increase number of drug addicts. Cannabis is often presented as being a 'natural' and safe alternative to other drugs - but 'natural' doesn't equate to 'safe' or 'harmless'. Opium is 'natural' - it can be directly extracted from the heads of poppies. Cocaine comes from the leaves of a shrub. People should not be seduced into believing that 'natural' always means 'good'. Everything people put into their bodies has an effect. There was an option that drugs can be spited into “stronger and weaker varieties” (Marijuana News, 2005). Nevertheless, this policy was opposed by Sir Ian saying: 'We would be arguing strongly not for a double classification in terms of strengths’ (Marijuana News, 2005) So, if all the drugs are so harmful, they should not be legalized. The problem is that drug legalization can increase number of drug addicts. Many people, having kicked a habit, can start to use drugs again - especially when they find themselves back in the same environment.
The other argument against drug legalization is accessibility of drugs for a teenage group. If drugs are easy to buy, teenagers will buy them in greater quantity. This explains by the fact that for most of them, drugs represents “adulthood”, a stylish and trendy way of life. Today teenage drugs usage becomes a social problem which requires a special attention of society, and prevention measures accepted on the governmental level, instead of legalization of drugs. It is possible to compare this situation with alcohol abuse. Today, teenage alcohol abuse becomes the major problem in the USA and the UK, so legalization of drugs will worsen this problem. According to the recent report “the age of youths using marijuana is falling. The teens aged 12 to 17 said on average they started trying marijuana at 13-1/2” (Fox, 2004). So, if drugs is legalized the age of young addicts can falling even more. Advocates of drugs legalization suppose that: “Despite this increase in spending on drug control from $65 million to currently $19 billion, and the imprisonment of 30,000 people for a marijuana offense, marijuana usage has remained relatively unchanged regardless of arrest rates going up or down." (Marijuana News, 2005). On the contrary, if teenagers are used to drugs today, in future it will cause a great national problem and require more spending on social drug treatment and prevention programs. Unfortunately, advocates do not take into account the facts that “the number of children and teen-agers in treatment for marijuana dependence and abuse has jumped 142 percent since 1992” (Fox, 2004). It is not thought that cocaine, Ecstasy or cannabis have these addictive properties, yet people do report becoming dependent upon them in just the same way.
More and more people will drive under the influence of drugs and as the most important it will lead to more accidents on the roads. Drugs like heroin and alcohol, on the other hand, are considered to have strong addictive properties. Unlike alcohol, it is more difficult to determine condition of a driver without special analyses. So, more people will force to use drugs instead of alcohol. For instance, the responsibilities of cannabis users include the following paragraph: “avoid cannabis use that puts you or others at risk, such as when driving, at work, or in public places”(Marijuana News, 2005). So, if the use were legal it would lead to an increase number of deaths on the roads. To avoid this situation, drugs should be prohibited and police control should be stricter.
To conclude, the drug use should be decriminalized and governmental control should be stricter than ever to stop this disease of civilization. The facts and recent studies prove the fact that drugs are not so safe as supposed to be. Drugs should be prohibited, because their legalization can lead to negative outcomes (teenage addiction, increasing number of drug users and careless driving) which will require more money to spend on treatment programs in future.


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Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/business/marketing/societal-marketing-mcdonalds.html http://www.articletrader.com/business/marketing/societal-marketing-mcdonalds.html Mon, 27 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0600 Among researchers, this issue has provoked an especially rich and diverse literature investigating the role of business in society. Research in this area has followed two major streams. The most popular of these studies have focused on the relationship between a firm's social responsibility and its financial performance (McGuire, J., Sundgren, A., & Scheeweis, T., 1988, p. 858). The other stream of studies has examined the effect of board members' demographic and non-demographic characteristics on their individual corporate social responsiveness orientation (Wood, 1991, p. 389).
Since the societal marketing involves some kind of corporate response to social demands, the first step is to identify and classify the numerous social needs. There are three categories of such needs. First, survival needs consist of the various needs that are necessary for individual members of the social segment to survive, such as food, shelter, and the preservation or restoration of one's health.
A second category is concerned with safety needs. These are the needs that are necessary to protect the members of the social segment from external and internal threats. Not only do nations have defense establishments for protection from external threats, but they also enact and enforce laws to protect individuals and groups from others in society. Such laws cover numerous areas ranging from environmental protection to safeguarding individual liberties.
The third category is composed of various growth needs which, in turn, can be broken down into material needs and spiritual needs. The former are concerned with the enrichment of the social segment through economics (the allocation of limited resources) and technology (the use of tools and techniques to generate wealth). Spiritual needs are related to the spiritual growth of the social segment; they include metaphysics, education, science, arts, and entertainment.
Social segments expect different agents to fulfill these needs. These agents can be an individual (e.g., a parent who supports a family), a group (e.g., political parties and interest groups who represent their members), a business organization (e.g., a corporation which supports inner city revitalization), a not-for-profit organization (e.g., a hospital that provides services to the community), and government (e.g., for protection from external threats). Both the type and extent of the needs to be fulfilled and the agent who is expected to satisfy these needs will depend upon the social segment's culture and ethics, the legal environment, and the degree to which the members of the social segment perceive that such needs are not fulfilled.
As a key member of society, a corporation should take into account the societal needs that are expected to be met by business. These needs constitute a social demand. Thus, social demand incorporates not only demand for a firm's products and services, but also extends to the fulfillment of other societal needs. With this framework in mind, it can be stated that the scope of a business organization, i.e., what products and services it provides, is determined both by the organization itself and by society's expectations. In other words, it can be said that a given firm operating in two different social segments has, in effect, two different scopes. Failure on the part of an organization to understand and satisfy the various demands of the social segments within which it operates will lead to its rejection by society and its eventual demise. Consequently, a firm's mission and objectives should not only address traditional organizational concerns such as profitability and markets served, but should also be concerned with determining and meeting various societal expectations.
One of the aspects of the societal marketing includes alliances that have arisen between environmentalist groups and businesses in the last decade. The new relationships have been described as path breaking and innovative (e.g., Long & Arnold, 1995; Wasik, 1996). Typically, they are distinguishable from the prior charitable (e.g., donations to or sponsorships of environmental causes) and commercial relationships (e.g., calendars, T-shirts produced for environmental groups) because they engage the expert knowledge of the environmental group and involve it, to varying degrees, in joint problem solving or strategic decision making with the corporate partner (Clair, Milliman, & Mitroff, 1995, p. 188). In this category are green product endorsements, audits by environmental groups of business programs or practices, and joint projects of the type engaged in by green alliance between McDonald's and Environmental Defense Fund, where the corporate partner's business practices are evaluated and improved according to ecological criteria.
Green alliances also function rhetorically in a more complex way than traditional business-environmentalist relationships. Here I follow Levy who has pointed out that environmental management - that is, corporate practices to reduce the ecological harm of economic processes - serves symbolic and political purposes by helping to construct business as green and thus to legitimate its role as manager of the natural environment (1997, p. 127). Green alliances, a strategy within corporate environmental management, also have symbolic and political value - for both partners. The corporation borrows not only the environmental expertise, but also the credibility, of the ecology group, which by its allegiance implicitly or explicitly endorses company actions - e.g., producing earth-friendly products and services or operating in pollution-free ways (Ottman, 1994, p. 86). The partnership also brings corporate actors into the group of those to be entrusted with the work of saving the earth.
McDonald's is the leader of the fast-food industry, with worldwide operations employing approximately 500,000 people in 11,000 restaurants and serving 22 million customers a day. At the time Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) approached McDonald's, its entanglement in controversy over its packaging frustrated the company. From EDF's perspective, McDonald's leadership position, its problematic history of waste management, and the iconic value of waste management as an environmental issue made the company an attractive candidate for partnership. EDF saw significant opportunity for both environmental action and a major, high visibility, opportunity to test its innovative approach to environmental problem-solving through corporate partnerships.
With environmentalism on the rise among the general public in the 1980s, consumer-driven businesses were particularly subject to and sensitive about public pressure (Livesey, 1993, pp. 2-4). Plastic had been demonized by several environmentalist organizations including the grassroots groups Greenpeace and CCHW. The use-and-dispose philosophy at the core of McDonald's business and its distinctive plastic clamshell sandwich boxes, which helped to make the company one of the largest single users of polystyrene in the United States, had made McDonald's a continuing target of ecology groups (Livesey, 1993, p. 4).
Throughout the late 1980s, McDonald's instituted and publicized a number of environmentally positive steps in its domestic operations. It reduced consumption, for instance, by using lighter weight paper in straws, paper bags and other items and recycled paper and cardboard packaging. In 1987, it switched from polystyrene (used for the clamshells) blown with CFCs, the family of chemicals which destroy the ozone layer, to plastic foam that used hydrocarbon blowing agents (Annual Report, 1989, pp. 10-15). In 1989, the company instituted a pilot program in 450 New England stores to recycle its plastic clamshells (Livesey, 1993, pp. 12-14). In April, 1990, it committed $100 million, or one quarter of the company's annual building and remodeling budget, to buy recycled materials for restaurant construction, remodeling, and operations under a program called "McRecycle" (Livesey, 1993, pp. 13-14).
In 1989 and 1990, McDonald's bolstered its environmental management practices with a proactive public relations campaign. The centerpiece was the 1989 Annual Report, which highlighted the issue of the natural environment. McDonald's also offered in-store flyers to educate customers about the company's environmental management practices, policies, philosophies, and positions on particular issues such as rainforest beef and the ozone problem. Brochures on environmental topics, including packaging, were available from its public relations department. In addition, McDonald's worked with several different environmental and nonprofit groups (e.g., the World Wildlife Fund and the Smithsonian Institution) to coproduce elementary school materials on the environment.
McDonald's 1989 annual report represents an aggressive attempt by the company to manage the public discourse around the company's role as an environmentally responsible corporate citizen and construct itself as green. The report belongs to the category of epideictic advocacy, the discourse of praise and blame that is commonly used to establish or consolidate value premises, especially in corporate issue management campaigns; such discourse often serves as a basis for later persuasive efforts (Cheney & Vibbert, 1987, p. 183). Epideictic rhetoric works by building on shared premises and borrowing from values and beliefs embedded in the common culture. In this case, given the new ecological awareness of the public, McDonald's positions itself as having concerns ecological and practical, social as well as economic.
As described by the media, the 1989 Annual Report looks "more like an Audubon Society brochure than a financial statement" (Horovitz, 1991, p. D2). Nature pictures, poetry, and quotations from national and international figures prominent in the environmental movement (e.g., Gro Brundtland) are interspersed throughout the report, along with product and financial information. The cover contains a four-page foldout picture of the Northwest American forest with a quotation from Chief Seattle about man's proper relationship to the earth. The report itself is "dedicated" to a "discussion of the [environmental] challenges which lie ahead" (McDonald's Annual Report, 1989, p. 2). The discussion is contained in a 10-page supplement.
The themes of dialogue, rational discourse, pragmatic solutions, the value of individual effort, and stewardship or shared social responsibility for the earth that are played out in the supplement are initially articulated in the shareholders' letter. This letter is as notable for what it omits as for what it says. It at once implicates the reader, inviting dialogue, and yet leaves the situation ambiguous, particularly vis-a-vis the company's responsibility and intentions.
The supplement contains several distinct parts: an answer to a letter from Dan Getty, an 11-year-old boy who calls for responsible action from McDonald's (Annual Report, 1989, pp. 7-8); a general outline of McDonald's philosophy and historical commitment to "responsible [environmental] conduct," including company founder Ray Kroc's mandate to crews to clean up litter near McDonald's restaurants (p. 9); three sections addressing facts and expert opinions about solid waste management, resource conservation, and recycling (pp. 10-15); and a collective call "to Help [sic]" in solving the challenge of the environment (p. 16).
The letter of response to 11-year-old Dan Getty illustrates several of the rhetorical strategies McDonald's uses to achieve a symbolic identification with its customers and the general public. First, McDonald's constructs itself as a naive, non-expert, and innocent individual actor. Like Dan Getty and "people of all ages," McDonald's is "asking questions about our environment" and learning that the answers to environmental issues are "complex" (Annual Report, 1989, p. 7). It eschews inaction in the face of complexity: "It's easy for each of us to claim we're not responsible for these complex forces. But then we have to ask, 'Who is?' "(p. 8). At the same time, it sounds a cautionary note: It is important "to do what is environmentally sound, when the responsible course of action becomes clear" (p. 7). Who or what will provide clarity leading to action is left ambiguous.
Second, McDonald's positions itself as one of a community of stewards of the earth: "Each of us, knowing what we have at stake, must make a commitment to a course of action that will preserve and enhance the environment we hold in trust for future generations. . . . You can count us in" (p. 8). Through appeal to the words of Gala theory originator James Lovelock - "It's personal action that counts" (quoted in McDonald's, 1989, p. 8) - and founder Ray Kroc's dictum - "None of us is as good as all of us" (quoted in Annual Report, 1989, p. 8) - the boy's call for help from McDonald's is transformed into a call for everyone to act. The actions and identification that it invites are personal. Identifying with its customers, McDonald's asks that they identify with it. McDonald's puts itself on a level with the 11-year-old. Thus, through rhetorical sleight, of-hand - in Cheney's (1992) words "the sheer juxtaposition of images . . . as a substitute for reasoned discourse, for argument" (p. 174) - McDonald's equates natural persons with the corporate persona, and power differences - the differences between producer and consumer, corporate giant and small child - are made to disappear: The people at McDonald's, no different from people everywhere, must act to save the earth. Of course, at one level, McDonald's people are like people everywhere and, like them, probably hold a range of opinions about the problem of the natural environment. However, at another level and at the same time, McDonald's people constitute a corporate body.
McDonald's defends its environmental record by listing specific actions that it has taken to manage waste and conserve resources by reducing, reusing and recycling materials. It cites experts who support its position on plastic packaging and who point out the small contribution of the entire quick-service restaurant industry to America's waste. It also criticizes "the 'Not In My Back Yard' syndrome - or NIMBY" (for instance, people in McDonald's communities who opposed company incinerators in their neighborhoods) as posing barriers to responsible waste solutions (Annual Report, 1989, p. 11).
Also, McDonald's emphasizes individual personal action: Plant a tree, switch off a light, recycle a clamshell. Yet, it also describes itself as a proactive corporate actor looking for opportunities to work with individuals, public officials, and other companies, as well as with the communities we serve.
The more McDonald's constituted itself as "green," the more it was required to accommodate environmental issues affected by its business practices. McDonald's attempts at recycling, resource reduction, incineration, and the like were not simply symbolic. The company was both the subject and the object of its own eco-discourse. The emerging storyline it constructed had positive environmental effects at the material level, in addition to opening the company to potential dialogue with EDF.
In April 1991, the McDonald's-EDF joint task force released its final product, a corporate waste reduction policy and a comprehensive waste reduction action plan with 42 initiatives. Many real environmental improvements were generated by the task force. For instance, environmental criteria were integrated into corporate packaging decisions which before had been driven by quality and cost criteria (see McDonald's Final Report, 1991). The media mostly praised the results of the alliance (Reinhardt, 1992, p. 14), and the story was recycled over several years (e.g. Gutfeld, 1992). Ultimately, the partnership entered the green business literature as a milestone marking a change in the relationships between business and environmental groups (Long, F. J., & Arnold, M. B., 1995, p. 80).
Thus, McDonald’s steps in managing environmental issues are the examples of societal marketing. People become increasingly aware of the damage that can be caused to the environment by products, packaging, by-products and production processes. They may gradually learn to adopt more environmentally friendly products and, in particular, reject throwaway products. Green issues are increasingly seen as important by consumers and this is being reflected in the types of products consumers want to use. Organizations have to change the nature of their products to meet these requirements. Many companies appear to possess a social conscience or see the benefits of meeting the demands of green issues; this is the case with McDonald’s.
The belief that environmental responsibility is now a corporate function is based on research indicating that consumers want such changes and will theoretically repay industry investments by accepting higher prices. In a survey by Dagnoli (1990), 82% of the respondents claimed to have changed their purchasing decisions because of environmental concerns. Seventy-seven percent of those surveyed also reported that a company's environmental reputation influenced their choice of brands. Environmentalism is enough of a concern that 78% of the respondents said they would switch to an environmental container if it were priced 5% higher than a less-environmentally friendly container. Another 47% said they would pay as much as 15% more for environmental packaging.
Businesses currently involved with the environmental movement have noticed the increasing number of markets influenced by environmentally concerned consumers, and naturally are hoping this trend can boost their companies' long run profits. Proactive companies like McDonald’s are attempting to take leadership roles in the area of environmentally friendly products in order to gain a competitive advantage (Smyth, 1991, p. 70).
For McDonald’s, environmental marketing has become one of the primary societal marketing tools. Although much confusion still exists concerning the specifics of green marketing, one thing that has been learned is that consumers will not always pay more for green products (Winski, 1991, p. 3). Despite consumer claims to the contrary, the initial sales of environmentally friendly products and packaging have been slow (Reitman, 1992, B1). Recent trends indicate a lack of willingness to actually pay premium prices for such products (Wasik, 1992, p. 17).
Thus, today's market for environmentally-friendly goods is greater than ever. To capitalize on this movement, managers and marketers, as McDonald’s case shows, must promote the environmental benefits of their products and maintain prices in a range near that of their competitors that do not emphasize environmental concerns. Promoting the environmental friendliness of products will be most attractive to some customers, while attributes aimed at convenience will be attractive to others. Although these aspects of the product mix are important, competitive pricing of environmentally-friendly goods may be the key to capturing a significant market share. Once high market shares are reached, cost reduction programs should allow producers to increase profit margins from green products.


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Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/writing/focus-on-nigeria.html http://www.articletrader.com/writing/focus-on-nigeria.html Mon, 27 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0600 Located in the West of Africa, Nigeria has a population of more than 120 million people. The most populous country in Africa, Nigeria houses one quarter of all the people in sub-Saharan Africa. It is rich in mineral resources and is the fifth-largest exporter of oil in the world. It has iron-ore deposits in the Northern Savanna region. Tin and columbite are found south of the savanna in the plateau region. Its vast deposits of oil and natural gas are located in the south-central delta region. It also has large reserves of coal.
Nigeria has a complex collection of cultural, social and linguistic groups with over 250 ethnic groups. Nearly three-quarters of the people belong to one of four ethnic groups: the Hausa and Fulani peoples of the Muslim-dominated north, and the Yoruba and Ibo of the Christian dominated southwest and southeast respectively. The Yoruba are well-known for their arts and crafts and many of Nigeria’s best-known artists and writers are Yoruba.
Nigeria traditionally has been an agricultural country, providing it’s own food needs and exporting large amounts of agricultural goods such as palm oil, cocoa beans, and rubber. But a new dependence on oil has caused great strains in Nigeria’s economy. Greater economic opportunities have caused a migration to urban areas, bringing about a decrease in agricultural output. This has led to a greater dependence on oil in the national economy. By the early 1980’s, 98 percent of export earnings and four-fifths of government revenues was from oil. A drop in oil prices in the early 1980’s and years of corruption and mismanagement by military governments and left Nigeria with high unemployment and a large foreign debt.
Originally a region of ethnically based kingdoms and states, the state of Nigeria was formed under British rule in 1906. It became an independent state in 1960. Following a period of ethnic fighting, a military dictatorship took over in 1966 and ruled until 1979. During the time from 1966 to 1970 people in the southeast brought about civil war with an attempt--which ultimately failed--to secede- and form independent state called Biafra. Power was briefly handed over to democratic rule in 1979 but a coup in 1983 brought the military back to power again. The country was ruled by General Babangida for eight years. In 1993 democratic elections were called again but the military leaders felt that that ethnic divisions were too great and that the country was too divided and they annulled the results. Rule was handed over to an interim government and then a military coup brought General Abachi to power in 1993. Abachi was a corrupt and hated general. To still criticism by the press, He shut down Nigeria’s two main and most widely read newspapers and arrested their journalists (Encarta).
Thе most populous country in Africa, Nigеria accounts for approximatеly onе-quartеr of Wеst Africa's pеoplе. Although lеss than 25% of Nigеrians arе urban dwеllеrs, at lеast 24 citiеs havе populations of morе than 100,000. Thе variеty of customs, languagеs, and traditions among Nigеria's 250 еthnic groups givеs thе country a rich divеrsity. Thе dominant еthnic group in thе northеrn two-thirds of thе country is thе Hausa-Fulani, most of whom arе Muslim. Othеr major еthnic groups of thе north arе thе Nupе, Tiv, and Kanuri. Thе Yoruba pеoplе arе prеdominant in thе southwеst.
Thе еthnicity of Nigеria is so variеd that thеrе is no dеfinition of a Nigеrian bеyond that of somеonе who livеs within thе bordеrs of thе country. Thе boundariеs of thе formеr Еnglish colony wеrе drawn to sеrvе commеrcial intеrеsts, largеly without rеgard for thе tеrritorial claims of thе Nigеrians. As a rеsult, about thrее hundrеd еthnic groups comprisе thе population of Nigеria, and thе country's unity has bееn consistеntly undеr siеgе.
In 1999 Obasanjo, a Yoruba general from the Christian south, became president in an election that marked the end of 16 years of military-led regimes. His election campaign was financed by the previous military leadership largely because they could rely on him not to prosecute them. However, Obasanjo appears to be following the spirit of democracy and human rights have greatly improved in Nigeria. He appointed a commission to investigate past human rights violations under the generals but is unable or unwilling to force the generals to come before the court. Complicating matters is that the previous dynasty of generals all came from the Muslim north, while Obasanjo is from the Christian South. There has long been a tension and rivalry between the two groups which increases the perils of bringing the generals to justice. In any case, human rights have greatly improved under Obasanjo (Sacred Cows 24-26).
A number of domestic and international human rights groups generally operate freely within the country and the government is generally cooperative with them. Some high-level government officials have stated that these organizations contribute to the development of democracy. The actions of past governments are widely criticized and aired in the media.
Since Obasanjo took his oath of office in Nigeria’s first democratic election in twenty years, the Nigerian people have had a new sense of hope in the future. But at the same time, they also have a fear that the backroom deals funding Obasanjo’s candidacy will prevent them from examining the wrongdoings of the past and bringing the key players to justice.
Another area of concern is the environmental destruction in the oil-producing Nigerian Delta region and the compensation for the people of the region. Saro-Wiwa, a writer who fought for the rights of the Ogoni people in the Delta Region was excecuted by Abacha’s men in 1995 after a trumped up trial in which he was found guilty of the murder of four Ogoni chiefs. He had brought publicity to the plight of the people in the region and after his execution, there were demonstrations against Royal Dutch/Shell including in the United States where in some places dummies were hung in Shell gas stations (Delta Rights). In the book “Where Vultures Feast”, Ike Okonta and Oronto Douglas investigated the environmental destruction of the region. In one region drilling was performed right in the middle of a village. They described how, oblivious to the dangers, the children had converted one of the waste pits into a swimming hole. They reported on drinking water conditions in five separate sites where Shell has installations, finding petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) levels 250 to 37,500 times the legislated level for European Union States. A human rights worker from a NGO based in New York visited a village where a pipeline had burst spilling 800,000 barrels of oil into the surrounding creeks.
Nigеria's official forеign dеbt is about $28.5 billion, about 75% of which is owеd to Paris Club countriеs. A largе chunk of this dеbt is intеrеst and paymеnt arrеars. In August 2000 thе Intеrnational Monеtary Fund (IMF) and Nigеria signеd a onе-yеar Stand-by Arrangеmеnt (SBA), lеading to a dеbt rеschеduling agrееmеnt in Dеcеmbеr bеtwееn Nigеria and its Paris Club crеditors. By August 2001, dеspitе continuеd dialoguе with thе IMF, Nigеria had bееn unablе to implеmеnt many of thе SBA conditions. Thе IMF consеntеd to еxtеnd its SBA by a fеw months and sееk out rеvisеd targеts and conditions for a nеw agrееmеnt. As of Sеptеmbеr 2001, only a fеw of Nigеria's crеditor govеrnmеnts had signеd bilatеral rеschеduling agrееmеnts. Any long-tеrm dеbt rеliеf will rеquirе strong and sustainеd еconomic rеforms ovеr a numbеr of yеars.
Еxpandеd govеrnmеnt spеnding also has lеd to upward prеssurе on consumеr pricеs. Inflation which had fallеn to 0% in April 2000 rеachеd 14.5% by thе еnd of thе yеar and 18.7% in August 2001. In 2000 high world oil pricеs rеsultеd in govеrnmеnt rеvеnuе of ovеr $16 billion, about doublе thе 1999 lеvеl. Statе and local govеrnmеntal bodiеs dеmand accеss to this "windfall" rеvеnuе, crеating a tug-of-war bеtwееn thе fеdеral govеrnmеnt, which sееks to control spеnding, and statе govеrnmеnts dеsirous of augmеntеd budgеts prеvеnting thе govеrnmеnt from making provision for pеriods of lowеr oil pricеs.
Sincе undеrgoing sеvеrе distrеss in thе mid-1990s, Nigеria's banking sеctor has witnеssеd significant growth ovеr thе last fеw yеars as nеw banks еntеr thе financial markеt. Harsh monеtary policiеs implеmеntеd by thе Cеntral Bank of Nigеria to absorb еxcеss Naira liquidity in thе еconomy has madе lifе morе difficult for banks, somе of whom еngagе in currеncy arbitragе (round-tripping) activitiеs that gеnеrally fall outsidе lеgal banking mеchanisms. Privatе sеctor-lеd еconomic growth rеmains stymiеd by thе high cost of doing businеss in Nigеria, including thе nееd to duplicatе еssеntial infrastructurе, thе thrеat of crimе and associatеd nееd for sеcurity countеr mеasurеs, thе lack of еffеctivе duе procеss, and nontransparеnt еconomic dеcision-making, еspеcially in govеrnmеnt contracting. Whilе corrupt practicеs arе еndеmic, thеy arе gеnеrally lеss flagrant than during military rulе, and thеrе arе signs of improvеmеnt. Mеanwhilе, sincе 1999 thе Nigеrian Stock Еxchangе has еnjoyеd strong pеrformancе, although еquity as a mеans to fostеr corporatе growth rеmains undеrutilizеd by Nigеria's privatе sеctor.


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Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/home-and-family/parenting/the-laboyr-market-for-single-mothers.html http://www.articletrader.com/home-and-family/parenting/the-laboyr-market-for-single-mothers.html Thu, 16 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0600 In this paper, we analyze the effectiveness of child care assistance policies indirectly by considering explicitly the effect of the cost of child care on welfare recipiency. We find that, over a set of alternative specifications, welfare recipiency and employment of single mothers are sensitive to the predicted hourly price of child care.

1. Brief Review of Existing Evidence
There are three main sources of information related to our research question on the effect of the price of child care on employment and welfare recipiency. The first source is econometric works on the effect of child care costs on employment. Second is a set of papers focused on the welfare side of the coin. Finally, there is some evidence from evaluations of welfare -to-work demonstration projects of the importance of child care costs to employment and welfare recipiency.
In terms of the econometric work on the effect of child care costs on employment, that body of work has been well summarized elsewhere (Berger&Black 1992; Blau&Alison 1998). Almost all the studies on employment find a significant negative effect of child care costs on women's employment, although the estimated child care price elasticity with respect to employment varies widely across studies. Most relevant to our current topic are three papers—Berger and Black (1992), Blau and Alison (1998), and Bowen and Neehan (1993)--each of which uses data to look at differences across marital status. Each of these papers finds evidence that the elasticity of single mother's employment with respect to child care costs is greater in absolute value than married mother's employment elasticity.
Blanck (1985, 1989) review the relationships between welfare recipiency and childcare costs and suggested that a 50% child care subsidy would increase the labor force participation of single parents by 2.9 percentage points and that a 20% reduction in the AFDC guaranteed payment would increase the labor force participation of single parents by 1.6% and reduce their welfare transfer program participation by 1.2 percentage points.
Evidence of a positive relationship between child care costs and welfare recipiency can also be found in a number of evaluation studies of welfare -to-work demonstration projects, though the results are not uniform. Graham and Beller (1989) reviewed evidence from several major welfare -to-work demonstration projects that included child care components. They wrote, "Although the confluence of services, mandates, and incentives in these demonstrations suggests caution is required in interpreting their results, based on this evidence it seems reasonable to conclude that subsidized child care may have a modest effect, at best, in increasing employment levels of very low-skilled, single mothers with small children" (Graham and Beller, 1989, p.665). However, as the authors point out, none of these demonstrations explicitly examined the importance of child care costs within an experimental framework, so any conclusions relating to the importance of child care costs are tentative at best.
The Minnesota Family Investment Program (MFIP), which was included in Joesch review (1991), deserves extra scrutiny. This program was an innovative program based on the dual (and often competing) goals of encouraging work and making work pay. It contained two key work incentive provisions, the second of which related to child care. The MFIP paid child care costs directly to providers for all parents working or participating in employment-related activities. The AFDC reimbursement scheme differed because the parents paid the providers directly and were reimbursed later. The practice of reimbursing the mother after the expenditure occurred may have hindered the mother's efforts to get and stay employed. Also, the AFDC reimbursement rules tend to discourage providers from accepting such subsidized clients because of the uncertainty of receiving payment. The report finds significant impacts in numerous areas, including employment rates and earnings of the MFIP approach.
Finally, Waldfogel (2001) analyzed Massachusetts state data on current and former TANF recipients who also receive child care vouchers. He found that increased funding for child care subsidies and availability of full-day kindergarten are associated with increased probabilities that current and former welfare recipients will work.
In sum, a thorough review of the broad literature relevant for this paper reveals a uniformity in the direction and significance of the child care price effect but a rather broad range of empirical estimates concerning the importance of child care costs on employment probabilities of single mothers.

2. Single mothers’ choices in welfare recipiency
One of the most important aspects of the market for child care is that individuals face widely different costs for similar services depending on the availability of low- or no-cost child care options. We begin with analysis of individual decision making that represents the discrete choices about welfare recipiency and employment of mothers with young children. In our case, we assume that mothers of young children seek to maximize their utility over goods and child services, subject to four constraints: a money budget constraint combining the mother's labor income and nonlabor income, a production function for child services, a mother's time constraint, and a child's time constraint. Child services are the commodity parents are consuming from their children; it could be companionship or love or pride in one's progeny. They are produced with a combination of the mother's time at home, the child's time with other caregivers, and money inputs. Total nonlabor income is the sum of family income from sources other than the mother's labor market participation and means-tied transfer income, such as welfare payments. Mothers have three uses of their time: work in the labor market, time spent with children, and leisure. The child has two types of time: time with the mother and time with a nonmaternal caregiver.
From these assumptions, we derive that single mothers decide whether to be employed or not taking into account two or four different values corresponding to the different possible work and welfare outcomes. Increased expenditures on child care lower a woman's effective wage in the labor market when she is not receiving AFDC. Also included among these factors will be her predicted wage, nonlabor family income, dichotomous factors indicating that the mother is nonwhite or unhealthy or lives in an urban area or in the South, factors affecting the value of a woman's time at home (specifically, two factors indicating whether the youngest child is age zero to two years and whether there are two or more preschoolers in the family), the state's average Medicaid expenditures per enrollee, the state's average monthly AFDC payment, and the state's unemployment rate.
Because of kinks in the budget line caused by AFDC regulations, as well as possible discontinuities in hours of employment and child care availability, it is reasonable to suspect that decisions about AFDC recipiency are made jointly with decisions to work for pay.

3. Demographics, Employment, and Child Care
According to Berger and Black (1992), employed single mothers are 28.5 years of age, on average, and have 12.5 years of education. Only 26% live in poverty, but two-thirds have income less than twice the poverty threshold. Approximately one-fourth work part time, and 53% report paying for child care. The oldest single mothers are those who are employed and paying for child care, and this subgroup also reports the highest education levels, with 12.6 years of education. Focusing further on the issue of paying for child care, those single mothers employed and paying for care are a bit less likely to be nonwhite and less likely to live in poverty or receive welfare than all employed single mothers. Additionally, they are less likely to work part time, and they earn higher average hourly wages ($8.96 vs. $8.25 an hour).
4. Employment and Welfare Status
According to Berger and Black (1992), the working single mothers not reporting welfare recipiency are the oldest and have the most education and the lowest poverty rates. Their higher nonlabor income may indicate that they are more likely to be receiving child support payments. The other group with relatively higher nonlabor income is the group not employed and not on welfare. Some of these women are also receiving child support, but there is substantial variation among themselves, as the high poverty rate indicates. Others may be queued for welfare, waiting for their savings to be depleted.
The nonwelfare group is far less likely to be employed part time and receives a considerably higher average hourly wage. In addition, while the welfare recipient group is less likely to pay for care (36% vs. 56%), the recipient group pays a higher hourly price for child care. This may reflect the higher cost of part-time child care or the receipt of child care subsidies.



5. Child Care Mode Choice and Weekly Expenditures by Mode of Care for Employed Single Mothers
According to Bowen and Neehan (1993), single mothers receiving welfare are more likely to rely on relative care and less likely to rely on center-based care. But recall that they are also more likely to work part time, an employment state more often associated with this pattern of modal choice. In addition, the welfare recipients are less likely to pay for relative care and less likely to pay for center-based care. Neither subgroups are very likely to pay for relative care. The welfare recipient subgroup's average weekly payment for center-based care is considerably higher than for those not receiving welfare. For all single mothers, center-based care is the most expensive, followed by home-based care and relative care.
Child care costs present a problem for the researchers in that they are often unknown unless the mother is engaged in market work. This situation is similar to the problem of wages that are unobserved if the person is not employed. In addition to the problem of limited observation of the relevant variable, child care is complicated by the fact that many families do not pay the "market price" for child care. Nonprofit centers are often subsidized in the form of free rent and require no return on investment capital. Relatives and friends may be willing to provide child care at a reduced price or at no charge either because they receive in-kind payments or because they enjoy caring for the child.
How one approaches this problem depends in part on the information available and in part on the question one is trying to answer. Because the focus here is on the mother's decision, only the portion of the cost she pays is relevant. Since we are interested in the effect of child care costs on welfare recipiency and employment, we analyze the cost of child care per hour of employment, not the cost per hour of child care used. This is the relevant decision choice for mothers of young children who are evaluating the costs and benefits of entering the labor market, with one alternative being receiving welfare.
As it was previously mentioned, differences among families in their access to low- or no-cost care is a very pertinent issue for our problem. Using the average local market price of child care alone ignores substantial differences among families in access to below-market child care. The problem is that there is not really an exogenously given price of child care that is relevant to all consumers in the marketplace. Instead, because of differences in family circumstances and location of residence, each individual faces her own price per hour of child care. Nonwhite mothers, mothers who reside in urban areas, and mothers reporting poor health are more likely to receive AFDC. The state's average AFDC payment per enrollee is related positively to AFDC recipiency, but the average Medicaid expenditure per enrollee is related negatively (Graham and Beller, 1989, p.668).

6. The effect of predicted child care expenditures on the probability of AFDC recipiency
According to findings of Berger and Black (1992), that effect of predicted child care recipiency is positive and significant. Those with higher nonlabor incomes are also less likely to receive welfare, while families in which the youngest child has one or more siblings under the age of six are more likely to receive welfare.
With child care expenditures reduced to one-half for all single mothers, AFDC recipiency would fall further to 12.5%, while employment is predicted to rise to 74.7% (Blau and Allison, 1998, p.105). Tying the child care subsidy to a reduction in average state benefits reduces the receipency rate still further to 15.1% and increases the employment rate to 69.5% with further cost saving in AFDC expenditures (Blau and Allison, 1998, p. 104). Subsidizing child care costs for all single mothers may be an important policy tool leading to lower AFDC recipiency rates. These subsidies could be packaged with existing federal TANF program restrictions on length of total, lifetime welfare recipiency, and work requirements to improve living standards for ex-recipients by helping to "make work pay."
Conclusion
This paper looks specifically at the effect of child care costs on the decisions of single mothers concerning employment and AFDC recipiency. In doing so, it seeks to answer the questions made so relevant first by the Family Support Act of 1988 and more recently by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996: Can subsidizing child care reduce the welfare dependency of single mothers? The answer seems to be an unequivocal yes, though the size of the estimated effect is found to be sensitive to the estimation strategy used.
In the short run, AFDC benefits should be made more uniform across states, and raised, at a minimum, up to the federal poverty level. If the policy goal is to expand the labor market options available to welfare recipients, the most important consideration should not be welfare reform, but rather raising the effective wages of the work that is available. Such a change, which would affect all single mothers, not merely those collecting public assistance, would begin with the important first step of raising the minimum wage.
Publicly provided health care and child care programs are needed if women are to support themselves and their families through participation in the labor market. Child care must also be available for low-income working women. First steps toward the establishment of a national child care system include the extension of Head Start, a federally funded program for economically disadvantaged preschool children.
For too long social policy has assumed that single mothers should derive income from either the labor market or the state. Today's welfare-to-work programs presume that paid employment will end women's need for government support. However, the reality for most single mothers is that neither labor market income nor public assistance at current levels can adequately support their families. A meaningful family policy would expand the opportunities and the income available to women with children--both from the labor market and from the state.
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Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/home-and-family/cultural-norms-and-their-impact-on-family.html http://www.articletrader.com/home-and-family/cultural-norms-and-their-impact-on-family.html Tue, 14 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0600 China is an ideal case for the study of change and transformation due to its experience of rapid industrialization. Within four decades, China was transformed from a trading hub end to an industrialized economy based on mass production of different products. The China state's prescriptions for the family have always been rather straightforward and simple, corresponding closely with economic imperatives. However, quickly-implemented shifts in the nature of the country's economic development have meant that family policies have likewise experienced abrupt turnarounds.
As China embarked on its development into a rational industrial society, childbearing couples were advised that "Two is (more than) enough." Aligned to this policy of small families were affiliated policies governing access to public housing. Education policies were also calibrated to meet family imperatives. The country's state-led industrialization was based primarily on cheap labour.
By way of contrast, as acute labour shortages and corresponding spiraling costs began to hinder growth, selected groups-especially the educated-were urged to have larger families. An array of tax incentives was established, not dissimilar to those designed to attract foreign investments, to encourage an increase in reproductive rates amongst those with higher incomes. These economic-driven changes in family policy produced concomitant changes in labour force and education profiles by gender. The female labour participation rate rose (Unger, 2003, p.76)
Levy (1949), an early family sociologist, saw signs of a process of social change in which cultural values and material conditions would evolve together, creating what he considered a more modern family pattern. Levy described the traditional family as a unit with strong partriarchal authority and patrilineal descent, in which "one of the sons marries and continues to live with the parents, while the other sons and daughters marry and go out of the family unit" (55-56). Urbanization and industrialization, he believed, would result in rising living standards and employment of women outside the home. Hence sons and daughters would tend to have more similar roles, and daughters would be granted greater autonomy and respect. Individualism would result in according more weight to children's' needs as individuals, and less to respect to parents, as the basis of intergenerational relations. The implications of these cultural and material changes for coresidence were clear to Levy: it would decline in frequency, especially for married children; it would lose its strong preference for living with sons; and it would grow more responsive to adult children's needs (rather than parents' desires).
Because current family patterns in China still resemble those of the time when Levy was writing, half a century ago, contemporary researchers suggest that traditional norms have proved unexpectedly resilient and adaptable to new conditions (Whyte,1973, p.184). Davis-Friedman (1991) has suggested that "filial behavior served the state as well as the individual, and past and present definitions of family obligations effectively merged. . . . In the context of socialist ideology and the reality of persistent scarcities, traditional ideals supportive of intergenerational solidarity survived, and were reproduced in succeeding generations" (128-29). Referring to the role of parents in marriage decisions, Riley (1994) similarly reasons that "there are both cultural and structural reasons for the continuing involvement of parents" (802). Riley, like Davis-Friedman, argues that "the combination of strong family norms and particular aspects of a socialist economy has actually served to strengthen intrafamilial ties" (791).
Economic conditions have only served to subvert citizens' cognitive autonomy and their capacity to rethink a new paradigm to cope with the impact of economic transformations on social reproduction (Goode, 1970, p.35).
Preliminary research indicates that Chinese families today are just as enamored of love, intimacy, and the family as are their wage-worker counterparts of the industrialized West (on the latter see Beck and Beck-Gernsheim 1995, Blankenhorn 1990, and Hareven 1996: 20). A survey of 22-year-old young Chinese adults shows that 90 per cent are desirous of marriage and having children (Straits Times 2000: 1). In the world of love (in contrast to the crass world of commerce and selfish interests), one can seek a small Utopia where there is sharing, cooperation and passion. In order to study the issue of changing family values we interviewed young Chinese man Ted who comes from middle-class family in Pekin, China. Ted told us about three-generations of his family. Therefore, comparing the evidence obtained from the interview with Ted to recent findings about social context in China we can conclude that family values in China did not change significantly but to some extent.
Straddling economic imperatives, state prescriptions, and popular romantic ideals propagated by the culture industry, this study reveals families in the process of knitting together their own family mosaics. Whether these daily activities can ultimately bring happiness to family members, however, is an issue that remains indeterminate.
Common elements that describe "the family" that are found across classes, cultures, and genders in China include the "family as basic social unit" carrying connotations of "stability", "mutual support", "haven" and "warmth" (Pan&Naigu, 2003, p.12). In response to the question of "what is the family," For Sue, a 49-year-old Chinese mother and Ted’s aunt, the concept of family elicited associations of "the ideal of mutual affection and support, spending time together, consideration, personal sacrifices and care, and a husband taking responsibility for the wellbeing of the family."
In China state legitimation is fundamental to the definition of the appropriate family form. For instance, co-habitation is still frowned upon and mentioned only in hushed tones. Couples will normally be coy and not openly admit to their co-habitation (Sheng, 1991, p.45). Ted’s brother had an indelible stigma due to his parents' divorce and his mum having a "live-in" boyfriend. He could only use the word "step-father" hesitatingly, when the word "uncle" did not suffice to convey his meaning. As single parent, Sue, Ted’s aunt, had to work conscientiously to compensate her children because her act of divorce had burdened them with the label of "abnormality" and "strangeness." Mandy, Ted’s 20-year old sister, had and affair with a married colleague and that case simultaneously ostracized her and left her exposed to verbal abuse by colleagues. One of her colleagues made remarks such as "slut" fill her with guilt and shame. While buying into the new concept of romance associated with pleasure and hedonistic consumption touted by cultural tastemakers, Mandy could not escape the old concept of romance that closely ties in to morality, domesticity and marriage. For Mandy, the concept of marriage comprises passion, romance and love, in no uncertain terms. Her romance with her partner was all-consuming. But alas, their romance was marred by the fact that their union was not recognized by the public.
The dominant ideal of the family in China also portrays a similar bias towards the primacy of blood bonds and the predominance of blood ties as the basis of family formation (March and Miall 2000; Glenn 1991; Claxton-Oldfield 2000). Our investigation reveals that in case of remarriage involving older children, the tendency was for mutual rejection between step-parents and their step-children. For instance, Chin, 18-year-old Ted’s cousin, rejected outright her mother's current live-in boyfriend, even though the latter had spent years trying to nurture her. Chin was uncomfortable as she struggled with feelings of dislike and alienation, all because her mother's boyfriend was not her own biological father.
Additionally, for the traditional Chinese, a male child is a normal requirement for family stability and continuity. 48-year-old Kim, Ted’s aunt, felt guilty and ashamed for not producing an heir for her husband. She continued having children in the hope of landing a son and thus erasing her guilt over failing to fulfill her promised role of mother and wife. For most Chinese, sons serve as keepers of family altars. They also perform the funeral rituals when their parents pass away. Such is the strength of ideology that even when it is revealed that males have a biological role in the determination of the sex of the child, most women continue to feel guilty if they do not produce a male child (Geertz, 2001, p.56).
However, depending on the status and role of Ted’s family members, parts of the cultural ideal of the family actually differ in emphasis for various persons. For working class women like Sue, topmost in their mind is the hope that they can stop work when they marry and have a family. On the other hand, graduate educated women like Melissa, Ted’s sister, dream of fulfilling their desire of a high-powered career. Having to give up a job to care for husband and child would represent a sacrifice. For the educated confident woman, the ideal of a family was one where her husband's salary could support paid domestic help to free her from the chores of domesticity
For a man, family is a comfort zone made possible by a non-working wife. 54-year old Ted’s uncle, a textile shop-owner, believes that a wife's job is to take care of husband’s needs and she should also be the one doing all the housework.
Older men see themselves as authoritarian heads of dependent broods, including the wife and children. The state's open acknowledgement that authoritarianism and "strong leadership" are good for the country (Tremewan, 1994, p.56) perhaps encourages men to openly tout their authoritarianism as a macho trait of which they should be proud.
Comparing Ted’s responses about three generations of his family allows for the observation of behavior transformation over the family life cycle. While first-generation women are absolutely identified with the family and have no concept whatsoever of the self, those of the second generation display an emerging self-concept that asserts itself only when faced with extreme suffering. Young women of the third generation, however, can build on experiences of previous generations and have benefited from universally available educational opportunities and globalization of local cultures. They therefore have more options for modeling their selfhood and family life. Divorce for this generation is still stigmatized but is an option because women are educated enough to take advantage of the tight labour market.
The case of Tedd’s grandmother Wong, aged 80, shows the values of the first-generation women. Her marriage to a gambler proved to be a disaster, but she continued in the marriage to avoid the social censure of being labeled "unclean" and "polluted". Also, as a wife, she had to "follow whomever you marry". Slogging hard as maid and dishwasher she tried supporting six children, but soon had to give two of them away, a boy and a girl. Despite such sufferings, she hung on to the belief that a "woman's place is always in the family." She could not understand how "modern women can prioritize their careers at the expense of neglecting their children." She views her mistake as one of not choosing the right man for a husband. But ultimately, Grandma Wong believes a working-class woman has to "bow down to life" and be filial, not only to her own parents but also to her mother-in-law.
Grandma Wong's daughter, Li, now 54, continued with the traditional sacrificial role destined for poor uneducated older daughters. She was a substitute mother for her siblings even after her marriage, when she worked at home as a baby sitter. However, hers is a vision of an expanded role for women as good wife, daughter, and filial daughter-in-law. She sees women carrying a heavy load that also includes bringing in food into the home. This is evident in her own role of supporting her taxi driver husband's meager income with some sewing and child-care.
In contrast, daughter Amy, who has a tertiary education and is in her thirties, has chosen to remain single. She ignores the advice and pressures from relatives and friends. She believes that "women have the right to pursue their ideal lifestyle," and categorically rejects the role played by her own mother and grandmother. Amy does not see herself as a "sacrificing wife and daughter-in-law who does everything for the family." Additionally, having witnessed the sacrifices of friends and colleagues who have all given up their dreams of career and fun, she did not want to go their way.
Easy access to education and a tight labor market for female labor appear to be the chief driving forces shaping change in family ideology (Jamieson, 1998, p.44). These conditions have successfully impressed upon women a certain level of confidence which has led to their pioneering new flexible roles for themselves, their spouses, and their children.
Our comparisons across three-generation families that were based upon the interview with Ted reveal the intricacies involved when families "do their own thing," that is, accept, accommodate, or reject old ideologies. While our interview disclosed grandparents clinging faithfully to ideologies dismissive of selfhood for wives and daughters, they also show grandchildren sliding easily into new economic roles and autonomy. These findings lead us to see the Chinese family and society in a new light compared to past research. At the surface there is visible evidence of apparently traditional behaviors (a high rate of coresidence). Beneath the surface is a system unlike the traditional society envisioned by modernization theory. Parents can choose from a broad array of cultural models. They tend to express more traditional values if these meet their needs and otherwise to adopt a more modern outlook. Parents' family behavior, we conclude, represents strategic decisions among diverse choices provided by their culture, a more active and dynamic process than would be expected in a traditional society.
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