Business - Affirmative Action Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Business - Affirmative Action - Research Paper Example It is an act to increase the representation of minority by giving them preference on the basis of gender, color, origin, sexual orientation etc. Moreover, this act is also done to increase the participation of the under representative part of the society to showcase what they are capable of. Historical Background: General Background History The term ‘affirmative action’ was first used in 1935 in a National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C.  §Ã‚ §151–169). The usage for it was not for race but to provide remedy for employers to avoid discrimination of union members. However, in books the origin of this term was mentioned to root from the United States. During the presidency of John F. Kennedy, it first appeared in Executive Order 10925 and it was signed by the President on March 6th 1961 (Jain and Ratnam). It was used to refer to methods used to achieve non-discrimination policy implementation. In 1965, Executive Order 11246 was issued by the President Lyndon Johnso n which stated that federal contractors should use affirmative action to avoid discrimination while employing a person. Hiring should be made irrespective of race, religion and national origin. The 1964 Civil Rights Act implemented this clause that no race discrimination by statute should be carried at the workplace. Title II of 1964 act stopped places which were public, such as restaurants or hotels from discriminating on the basis of race. Gradually in 1968, gender was also added to the list. Purpose of Affirmative Action Since the Civil Rights Movement, much has been changed in a positive manner and a great contribution to it was the introduction of Affirmative action. This attempt was to achieve a better and more equal society. It was started as a ‘Corrective measure for societal and governmental discriminations against groups that have been at a disadvantage and subject to prejudices’. However, much has changed since its inception. Supporters of Affirmative Actionà ‚   There are many people, organizations and societies supporting the inherent goodness of affirmative action. Some of them are given below: According to a report published in 2007 by Pew Research Center, support for affirmative action in the American public has increased to 70% in 2007 compared to 58% in 1995. The US Military is another endorser of affirmative action. In 2003, many high ranking officers of Army, Navy, Air force and Marine Corps planned a rally in support of affirmative action for a Supreme Court case Grutter v. Bollinger. The fortune 500 companies have been a popular endorser of affirmative action. More than 60 leading companies in fortune 500 which encompasses 3M, GE, HP, Kraft Foods, Coca-Cola came out for the support of affirmative action in 2003. Universities have been a popular supporter of affirmative action. Harvard University, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, Yale University and Dartmouth College provided their support for race-conscious a dmission programs. They wanted to promote diversity in all forms and, therefore, in 2003 they showed their popular support for it. Popular athletes are endorsers of affirmative action. Many of the Michigan’s leading sports athlete including Tom Izzo (Michigan State University), Joanne P. McCallie (Michigan State University), Tommy Amaker (University of Michigan) and Ernie Zeigler (Central Michigan University) spoke about the importance of affirmative ac

The Comprehensive Meaning of Yoga Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Comprehensive Meaning of Yoga - Essay Example It may be compared with the Trojan War or War of Troy in Greek mythology. During war Lord Krishna was the charioteer of Arjuna, who was a great warrior and the most skilled person in archery. It was a time when he had to wage the dreadful war against his own siblings and his close relatives. Among them were his teachers, his cousin brothers, and his great grandfather.Footnote: *Ishwar: Ishwar is a broad term and that is why instead of calling Him God, we should call Him Ishwar i.e. Supreme Lord.When they encountered face to face on the battlefield, Arjuna was so dejected that he put down his weapons on the ground and surrendered himself. He started lamenting and told Lord Krishna that he could not fight against his close people. He does not want victory, nor does he want status, reputation and kingdom by killing his own people. And thus emerged Geeta; to counsel Arjuna, Lord Krishna explains the universal mystery and the mortal appearance of body and infinite existence of soul, which is non perishable. It teaches us to overcome the dejection and sorrow and be stoic even in the most troublesome period of our life. It is one of the truths of human birth explained by Geeta; that the life of human being is very special and differs from other species on the earth. Rosen Steven in his Bhagavad Geeta analysis says, â€Å"Man is meant to be thoughtful. Human life is meant for more than merely eating, sleeping, mating, and defending – the basic animalistic propensities.†

The Breakfast Club Essay Example for Free

The Breakfast Club Essay The plot follows five students at fictional Shermer High School in Shermer, Illinois as they report for Saturday detention on March 24, 1984. While not complete strangers, the five teenagers are each from a different clique or social group. The five students Allison, Andrew, Bender, Brian, and Claire who seem to have nothing in common at first, come together at the high school library, where they are harangued and ordered not to speak or move from their seats by the antagonistic principal, Richard Vernon (Paul Gleason). They are to remain for a period of eight hours and fifty-four minutes (from 7:06 A.M. to 4 P.M., the only indication of time being on a clock that is 20 minutes fast). He assigns a 1,000 word essay (in which each student must write about who he or she thinks they are) and then leaves them mostly unsupervised, returning only occasionally to check on them. Bender, who has a particularly negative relationship with Mr. Vernon, disregards the rules and riles the other students; mocking Brian and Andrew, and sexually harassing Claire. Allison remains oddly quiet except for the occasional random outburst. The students pass the hours in a variety of ways. Gradually they open up to each other and reveal their inner secrets (for example, Allison is a compulsive liar, Bender comes from an abusive household and Brian and Claire are ashamed of their virginity). They also discover that they all have strained relationships with their parents and are afraid of making the same mistakes as the adults around them. However, despite these developing friendships the students are afraid that once the detention is over, they will return to their very different cliques and never speak to each other again. At the request and consensus of the students, Brian is asked to write the essay Mr. Vernon assigned earlier (the subject of which was to be a synopsis by each student detailing who you think you are), which challenges Mr. Vernon and his preconceived judgments about all of them. Brian does so, but instead of writing about the actual topic he writes a very motivating letter that is in essence, the main point of the story. He signs the essay as The Breakfast Club and leaves it at the table for Mr. Vernon to read when they leave. There are two versions of this letter, one read at the beginning and one at the end, which are slightly different; illustrating the change in the students judgments of one another and their realization that they truly have things in common.

The Effect Of Capitalism On The Society Media Essay

The Effect Of Capitalism On The Society Media Essay The effect of capitalism on the society and culture has been an issue of great discussion since the time it emerged in Europe as a form of economic system in late 18th century. This issue of impact of capitalism on the society is an exception in terms of economic perspectives. In many ways, the cultural impacts outdo all other factors of the system. For the past two hundred or so years, Western civilization has been shaped by the impact of capitalism on the society. The impacts of capitalism on the culture are highly varied and therefore have created room for those who support the idea and also the detractors to challenge its bad effects. It is true that some aspects of society and culture can be seen to be as a result of capitalism. However, defining how and why an issue is said to be as a result of capitalism is quite necessary. Some of the major ideas connected to the study of the impacts of capitalism on the society and culture are beneficial, human, economical and desirable. The capitalist society has its backup on individual consolidation and ownership of the production means where the production of goods is directed by beneficial intention to fulfill human needs (Chapman, 2010). The first effect of capitalism is that of promoting culture of work. Capitalism intends to encourage all people to participate in activities that appear beneficial to them. This is what is perceived by many people as capitalisms most important attribute. Actually, this is a very important factor in the manner in which the system of capitalism has succeeded. A particular level, profit motive and competition that is encouraged the capitalists market system stimulates the system. The motive to act is the main factor in various products that are made by the capitalists societies. In a manner that the capitalist system is functional, however, the reward is not usually proportional the process of contribution. In a number of ways, the capitalism system is a case of winner taking it all hence encouraging stiff competition. In this case, the person at the top is getting a fair share of the reward that was collected everyone. The winner pockets more than what he collects, with the hope getting more than what he has collected propelling the competition forward. It is obvious that could be perfectly fair because any one can become a winner. No one is discouraged or discriminated from participating. In this competition, the case is that an individual who collects a lot is proportionally rewarded with the biggest share. In that perspective, it appears fare. It is apparent however that the amount obtained by the winner is determined by the value collected by everyone el se. The winner takes more than what he contributed as n individual and gets part of what the rest of the participants contributed. In the same way, working hard does not mean that one will win the contest because there are some elements of chance involved (Rosenberg, 1990). Working hard is likely to increase the chance of anyone winning the competition. In the perspective of such a competition does a modern capitalism process enhance progress and create opportunities. It is also by the same fashion that capitalism promotes some form of work ethic, although not exact because it is hard for an individual to know exactly the amount of reward he or she has or the amount held by his competitor. At the end of the day, everyone believes that the amount of reward being given is the same amount they had collected. This makes the first place winner believe that he has collected he has collected all the prize not realizing that any gold has been taken from their contribution. Apart from promoting the culture of work, capitalism can also promote the culture of desire. College textbooks define economics as the study of individual choice in using limited resources to satisfy unlimited wants. The market is limited by the number of thing that people want. This consequently creates a natural trend in the market system for those individuals who sell in the system to work so that they can increase the human need, leading to the development of the extra stronger needs hence expanding the market (Rosenberg, 1990). Whereas marketing is a direct expression of the idea, it actually encompasses the whole culture and reflects individual attitudes, general entertainment, education system, government policy and religious values. The coming up of the culture of desire led as a result of market capitalism has indeed been among the biggest transformation in the American society since its independence. A number of Native Americans believed in strict lifestyles with the Puritans being the most conspicuous example of this. The same Puritans never allowed dancing to take place and put on black attire and practiced cultural self denial. Of course, the Puritans were relatively in small groups particularly during the time of founding of the country. Initially, the average American was comparatively reserve in the early times. It is apparent that America was not a capitalistic nation in the early times because people were self-sufficient. A number of communities and individuals provided for themselves their needs and wants in a direct manner without any regard to the market system. During the early times, America was mainly a family farming nation until the mid nineteenth century (Marable, 2000). Consumer culture and advertising had become significant in the early twentieth century when the American capitalist economy started thriving. Later on consumer culture and advertising increased with the adoption of radio although it was not realistic until mid 20th century with much concern on the use of television and movies. In terms of analysis, it is obvious that a rational need for a particular commodity has been enhanced by the industry itself. However, it is the overall consumerism culture that has a bigger influence. All the social and media practices that improve the desire are generally embraced by the capitalistic culture due to the promotion of the need itself even when it is not directly related to the a certain product, enhances the culture of consumerism and a significant portion of advertising is not related to the promotion of a particular product, but generally about promotion of the culture of desire (Friedrichs, 2009). Emotional needs motivate animals to participate in acts needed for survival and procreation in the natural world. Human needs have developed for millions of years in an environment with fewer resources with strong motivations required to provide action in the face of risk. With the upcoming of human civilization, people have managed to alter the environment make resources that were hard to obtain in the ordinary world much easier to get. This has been taking place very fast over the last ten thousand years or so, with the capacity of people to obtain these resources faster has continued to increase with time. The same stimulating factor is present in the mans brain today as it was millions of years ago when the hominids were working hard to survive (Marable, 2000). This is for instance the reason why people nowadays have a strong affiliation to fatty food. Fats are historically scarce resources for people to get and are extremely high in terms of energy provision. The need for fats made people to look for resources that were very beneficial to their survival in a natural perspective and to choose the resources against alternatives when there was a decision to be undertaken (Friedrichs, 2009). It is very important to remind ourselves that economics is the study of individual choice in connection to limited resources. Fatty foods in America today are not scarce resources. In terms of making a decision, people are mainly forced by their needs to choose fatty foods over others even if the choice for such is not rational. Such acts have resulted in the capitalistic market economy concentrating on marketing and production of fatty foods which they can sell easily to people because of the instinctive desire they have. The culture resulting from marketing feeds on these works and needs to make them more (Pells, 1998). Traditionally, many religions have come up because of the effort to limit the overloading of the normal needs for selfish gains. The setting free and deepening of human passion and the need creates the desire, and that the same demand moves the goods off shelf to satisfy those needs, hence making profit for the sellers. Commercialization of sexuality, because sex is a basic human need, is the initial result of capitalistic market structure. There is a direct marketing of sexuality. However, sexual cues are also highly linked to non-sexual goods in capitalistic economies. By relating sexual signals with goods like cars for instance, the biological need is stimulated. People tend to believe that some products can be achieved by behaving in certain manner. Perhaps the marketing of sexuality to teenagers is the most controversial good of the capitalistic system. Since sex is among the highly primal and strongest forms of need, sexuality is one of the very effective tools hence highly sexually active culture is very open general consumerism. Therefore, capitalism encourages a highly sexually charged society (Pells. 1998). During the puberty stage, people are highly influenced by the marketing of sexual nature. This form of marketing aims at influencing the preteens and teenagers with very sexual media. This is not just in the perspectives of adverts, but all forms of media including stories, books and music. People are highly influenced by things they see and would want to imitate them and see the consequences of the same things when applied in real life situation. Without capitalism, the society would have experienced a different form of life that is full of limitation. Capitalism has enabled people to choose independently what they want for themselves without considering the moral perspectives related to such systems of lifestyles.

The Moral Difference between Animals and Humans Essay -- Morals Ethics

The Moral Difference between Animals and Humans A moral issue is generally considered to be one which arises from the need to take another person's interests into consideration. However, by saying another person's interests this seems to rule out the interests of animals from the moral debate. Although many people do value animals, there are still others who consider animals as no more than a source of food. It could be argued that our primary moral obligations towards those people who value animals includes secondary obligations towards the animals they value. The problem then is that we have no secondary obligations towards those animals which are not valued by people. Consequently those animals would have no moral rights. Despite that argument we still feel that it is morally wrong to inflict certain actions, such as torture, on animals. We should, therefore, consider the possibility that animals do have moral rights. If we change the initial statement to read 'a moral issue is one which arises from the need to take another liv ing being's interests into consideration' we can then consider what gives a living being moral rights, and what moral difference there is between animals and humans. The interests of others may range from simple hobbies to caring for the sick. Obviously these interests have differing levels of moral importance. Although there are a number of moral principles that we could use as examples, let us consider two which are most relevant to animals and humans. They are, the right to individual freedom, and the right not to suffer harm from another. Humans expect these rights from each other, but do not necessarily grant them to animals. What is it then that gives humans these rights but not animals? Lan... ...a danger. But the animal's actions do not immediately change from watching to attacking. Instead, the bear moves from a state of watching to one of preparing for attack and displays this change in the form of prowling. During that process the bear is making a judgment which is displayed by either attacking or not attacking depending on whether or not I pose a danger. By not attacking, the bear is displaying consideration for an other which is a basic form of moral judgment. It could, therefore, be argued that to the extent that certain animals display similar behaviour they then deserve moral consideration from us. Bibliography Dennett, Daniel C. Brainchildren (Penguin, 1998) Essay 24 Klempner, G. Reason, Values and Conduct Unit 13 Raphael, D.D. Moral Philosophy (2nd edn OUP 1994) Sprigge, T.L.S. The Rational Foundation of Ethics (Routledge 1990)

Abortion: Different Sides :: Essays Papers

Abortion: Different Sides When the topic of abortion is brought up, many people have different opinions. The only way we can have a sense of how the situation feels and the circumstances are from someone who has experienced it themselves; the mother. Here is a true story from Becca and her fight for life: â€Å"I write to you as an abortion survivor. My mother went to a clinic at 22weeks to get rid of me, most were appalled that she waited so long. Well to make a long story short they gave her the saline solution...or gave it to me rather. I was burned and poisoned but it didn't kill me. She never went into labor and so she figured she had to carry me to term but it didn't matter. I was dead or so she thought. 25 weeks came and went [†¦] she felt me still kicking. So she went back, the doc found me still breathing and he offered a partial birth abortion. My mom said she needed to think on that one and so we went back home. At thirty weeks, she never went back and she was starting to wonder about me, wa s I even still alive? I wasn't kicking as much anymore. Well she went into labor at 35 weeks, average gestation and all. I was born, my skin was red and scarred, my hair was gone and I was blind...the salt solution burned my eyes. The nurses were mortified from what my mom tells me, said I looked like Freddy Kruger. I had to have a lung transplant because my right lung was too burned up to function right. I was taken home, eventually my scars cleared up but I never got my sight back. I'm glad in a way that I couldn't see, after what my mom had done to me I could never look her in the eye anyway and hold back the contempt. Time passed, I'm 22 and married with a sweet baby of my own. My son Tristan came to me on February 27, 2002 and was perfectly healthy. I have also had surgery on my eyes, my vision is blurry but I can see a world my mother never intended me to see (abortionTV). For more stories and cases, go to Abortion Stories. This story shows us how one instance can ruin someone ’s life and also turn it into a blessing.

Cell Phones in Schools Essay

Who can work while listening to the incessant ringing of a cell phone? This does not creat an inviting classroom environment for students. Although cell phones would be useful in the event of an emergency, they should not be allowed in schools because of the increased amount of disruptive and social problems. Despite the interruptions, cell phones do provide on advantage. They allow quick communications during times of an emergency; they also enable students to contact their parents at any time for any reason. One example might be: if a student forgot that they have an after school affair to attend for that day, such as a sports practice or tutoring, they could easily notify their parents of the newly needed pick-up time. However, this convenience does not outwiegh the problems cell phones can cause. Disturbances during the school daycan cause students a great distraction. They could ring during class, and students’ attention would divert from the lesson to the phone. Students could want to chat in between classes, causing many tardies. They would also cause a riot if lost or stolen. Besides these factors, allowing cell phones in school could cause an influx of social problems. Kids are already picked on over a number of issues, such as appearances, financial status, etc. If a student is not fortunate enough to afford a cell phone, this would give cause for the other students to tease them. Overall, cell phone use in school might be slightly advantageous in an emergency sitituation, but they should not be allowed because the problems outweigh the benefits by far.