The Importance of Reading Essay Example for Free

The Importance of Reading Essay People are living in a world where new technological advances have replaced the desire to read. Reading, in my opinion, has become less important to many adults and children. Some children and teenagers prefer to watch a movie or playing video games instead of reading a book. Some adults prefer to watch television than to read a good novel. Reading, in some people’s agenda, is not as important as it used to be like in the early 1900’s. To some people watching a movie or basketball game on television is more important than reading a book. It is a well-known fact that when there were no televisions or computers, reading was a primary leisure activity. People would spend hours reading books and travel to lands far away-in their minds. The only tragedy is that, with time, people have lost their skill and passion to read. There are many other exciting and thrilling options available, aside from books. And that is a shame because reading offers a productive approach to improving vocabulary and word power. It is advisable to indulge in at least half an hour of reading a day to keep abreast of the various styles of writing and new vocabulary. It is observed that children and teenagers who love reading have comparatively higher IQs. They are more creative and do better in school and college. It is recommended that parents to inculcate the importance of reading to their children in the early years. Reading is said to significantly help in developing vocabulary, and reading aloud helps to build a strong emotional bond between parents and children. The children who start reading from an early age are observed to have good language skills, and they grasp the variances in phonics much better. Reading helps in mental development and is known to stimulate the muscles of the eyes. Reading is an activity that involves greater levels of concentration and adds to the conversational skills of the reader. It is an indulgence that enhances the knowledge acquired, consistently. The habit of reading also helps readers to decipher new words and phrases that they come across in everyday conversations. The habit can become a healthy addiction and adds to the information available on various topics. I personally love to read, I could say it’s my hobby but its more than that I could stay up all night just to finish a book I’m reading, and once I open a book I cant close it. I really don’t care what the book is about or of what genre it is if it’s interesting I wont stop reading until I finish it. I think of reading as a way to escape from everything, travelling to another time or place even to another world. Once you get into the story you’ll never want to get out. Some people even imagine they are one of the characters from the story, I’m not one of them but I do imagine as if I’m there just watching everything, I imagine every single detail, the characters features, the setting, even the most minimum detail as a necklace one of the characters is using, you actually feel every emotion the characters feel and you can actually fall in love with them. Everyone deep inside is a reader; they just haven’t found the right book.

Key Elements Of Webers Idea Of Sociology Sociology Essay

Key Elements Of Webers Idea Of Sociology Sociology Essay In my essay I argue that the key element of Weberian sociology is perception of the society as a complex system of individual actions, forming up the certain blocks of social life. Understanding of the attached meaning to these actions makes possible understanding of complex social phenomena, what ends up in the understanding of the whole process of historical development of the Western civilization. From the point of view of Max Weber historical process is understandable and its main tendency of development is constant movement from irrationality to further rationality. Understanding the society and its parts was a key element of Webers sociology that is why he needed to create an effective reference frame, in order to place different social and historical phenomena in corresponding locations on the big scale of social development of humanity. Max Weber looked at the society as at a very complex system of social interconnections, which are very difficult to be clearly understood. That is why it was very important for him to break down difficult social phenomena to single social actions and their subjective meanings. Development of the theory of Ideal Type gave an opportunity for Weber to categorize social phenomena, what favored to better understanding of social processes. In my essay I would like to analyze the key elements of Webers idea of sociology. I have divided this essay into three parts. Each of the parts analyzes different dimensions of Webers key elements of sociology. The first part covers the fundamental for Webers social research ideas, such as social action, ideal type, value-freedom conception, the notion of rationality. The second part of the essay is analyzing the most important ideas of Weber on the influence of religion (particularly Protestantism) on the development of the society. The third part of the essay covers the ideas of Weber in the political sphere legitimating of power, social stratification, phenomenon of bureaucracy. Part I. General Ideas of Max Weber. Max Weber perceived the world and society as a very complex and unpredictable system. This extremely broad and difficult system of social interactions could be brought down to single social action of an actor such social action represented for Weber a basic unit of social life. From the point of view of Weber, the main goal of sociology as a science is understanding of this basic social action, and what is more important understanding of subjective meaning or intention the actor attaches to his action. The dimension of understanding is crucial in Webers sociology he even calls this science understandable sociology. According to Ray (1999) Weber was mentioning that social sciences are very different from natural sciences as the object of social sciences can not be understand from simple observation, because of complex subjective meaning of social actions. In order to understand complex social structures and the whole picture of society Weber developed an idea of so called Ideal Type which represented different social units, categories and types of behavior united by common features. These Ideal Types were a certain categorization and generalization of social structures according to Weber, they did not exist in society in such a clear and pure form, but presence of such an instrument helps to categorize the phenomena of social life. The next important idea of Weber on sociology is a concept of value-freedom, which practically means that the social scientist should not make any interference into social processes in order to make them change their development. Ray (1999) mentioned that Weber was an advocate of an idea of separation of vocation of scientist and politician Weber believed that the scientist should conduct his researches being moved away from his partisanship and affiliations. The concept of value-freedom meant warning the actors of the consequences of their actions, but not influencing them to change their behavior the scientist should observe and study social processes, and his interference into them can harm the interests of the science. It is important to notice that Weber conducted his researches in very difficult for Europe times, and very often he showed his strong political position and sometimes to persuade others in its truthfulness it is very difficult for any social scientists to be ful ly away from influencing the other people. The key tendency of social development in Webers sociology is constant development of human society from irrationality to rationality. The whole history for Weber is a process of continuous movement towards rationality, which is showed up in intention attached to basic social action. The human society is very irregular on its way to rationalism the biggest progress was achieved by the Western civilization, which became a locomotive of rationality spreading in the world. The highest stage of social development for Weber is a shift within the types of rationality from value-rationality (taking decisions on the basis of established beliefs and values not considering the consequences) to purposive rationality, when a social action is performed by an actor on the basis of his knowledge and with consideration of the consequences of this action. From the point of view of Weber, such an evolution to purposive rationality made possible further development of Western civilization establishm ent of well-functioning capitalist system and appearance of modern states and science. Part II. Religion and Society. One of the most central questions in the sociology of Weber is the questions of origins of modern Capitalist system and the question of the fate of the West (Ray, 1999). According to Ingram (1987) Weber conducted a deep research to answer the question why was it Judeo-Christian civilization, that gave birth to modern Capitalism and modern society. He compared different kinds of societies organized around major World religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Judaism, Christianity) and tried to find the reasons for such successful development of capitalism in the West. Collins (1986) mentions that Weber could see the elements and features of capitalism and trade in all historical times and all geographical regions, but it was the West in the Middle Ages and after which gave birth to unique system of social and economic relations, unknown and impossible for any other society in the World. Webers sociology shows that modern type of Western capitalist society is a unique product of long-term evolution of Western society which could be born only in case of direct match of the long number of indicators and social tendencies. In his researches, Weber tried to name these most important factors that made possible the birth of modern capitalistic society in the West. The message of Webers Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism is often understood in such way, that it Protestantism was the only important element for the establishment of capitalism. Such understanding is far from Webers reality, as after Collins (1986) Weber perceived Protestantism as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ only the last intensification of chain of factors leading to capitalism. In other words, Protestantism is a very crucial factor for the establishment of capitalist system in Europe, but there were a number of other very important historical steps that made capitalism possible. According to Collins (1986) Weber conducted a deep research on Medieval Europe, and came to conclusion, that there were two major chains of historical conditions that enabled the development of capitalism in Europe political sphere and social networks. All these spheres were deeply influenced by religion, but were not limited to it. There were a large number of factors not connected with religion that influenced the establishment of capitalistic system Weber was talking about certain trichotomy of economic, political and cultural factors, influencing the Western society (Collins, 1986). The role of religion in general and Christianity in particular, from the Webers point of view had two dimensions. On the one hand, it is institutional role of organized religions Collins (1986) mentions that Weber paid big attention to analyzing of the Church as separate and very influential economic and bureaucratic structure, which in the Middle Ages was the only well-organized social organization in Europe. On the other hand, Weber was concentrated on the key ideas and world-view patterns of major World religions, and the interactions between those ideas with the economy. The most significant thesis of Weber is the statement that the appearance and spreading of Protestant ethics has been one of the most important factors for the establishment of capitalist system in the West. In general the role of any religion was positive for Weber as it moved people to rationalism (in this case value-rationalism). For Weber the character of Protestantism is fundamentally different from other religions that kept believers in frames of value-rationalism. Protestantism was the religion that moved people beyond the borders of value-rationalism towards purposive rationalism. Ingram (1987) says that the most important normative factor shaping consciousness of the West was Protestant work ethics. Indeed, Weber studied carefully the messages of Protestant religious doctrine, and he came to the conclusion, that it was this Protestant doctrine that became the final condition for establishment of modern capitalist system. According to Weber, the Protestant doctrine considered a man as the most important act of creation of God, what made the world to be submitted to mankind. Ray (1999) says that unlike other world religions, that were either escaping from the world or resigned themselves to their fate, Protestant doctrine aimed its followers at the world mastery. Weber stressed the role of Calvinism, and especially its doctrine of predestination. This doctrine made a significant switch of religious zeal towards secular life. That time the believer could prove himself and other people that he was selected by God to be saved in order to prove it would be enough for such a believer to achieve professional and financial success in his life. In other words, before Protestantism people were dividing secular and sacred. Ray (1999) formulated this idea in the next way: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦once sacred goals become secular. Protestants start to treat their professional activities with religious zealotry once their everyday work became a real worshipping of their Creator and an evidence of their predetermined selectiveness to salvation. Weber also stressed the Protestant conception of calling or vocation where every believer had his personal assignment in his life, prepared for him by God. It means that for such a believer diligent realization of his everyday work was a religious duty. Additionally, Protestant religious doctrine included conceptions of asceticism and strict self-discipline of a believer. The combination of all the above mentioned conceptions of behavior gave birth to a new type of human who changed the entire world ideal capitalist. According to Weber, this ideal capitalist fanatically followed the doctrines of Protestantism, realizing them in his personal and professional life. This person works very hard, achieving high level of mastery in his profession, acquires high social position and what is most important, saves large amount of resources and keeps reinvesting it. Such Protestants were seeking profits, but they did not spend their money, but became investors (Ray, 1999). It was a turning point in the final establishment of capitalist system. Schluchter (1996) says that we can mention Benjamin Franklin as an example of spiritual father of Modern Capitalism, with his message of hard work, saving and reinvesting these requirements have a reli gious value for ideal Protestant-Capitalist. Part III. Politics and Society. According to Schluchter (1996), the work Politics as Vocation helps to understand the position of Max Weber on major questions of political sphere. For Weber politics is one of the most dynamic parts of social life and political processes is a very important area for social research. Weber lived in a very difficult time for the German state, and the challenges standing before Germany found their reflection in the ideas of Weber. Collins (1986) mentions that the question of legitimacy played the central role for Max Weber. Weber pointed out three types of legitimacy of power traditional (based on the faith in legality of the model because it has always existed), rational (conscious subordination to recognized and established laws and regulations) and charismatic (belief in extra-ordinary possibilities of the leader). As the society was constantly going through evolution towards rationality, the political sphere also introducing more and more rationality. By Weber, this evolution of political sphere ended in appearance of rational bureaucracy and new type of state state where the bureaucrats do not owe the state mechanisms of influence, but are hired by citizens to perform their will. Bureaucracy for Weber is a controversial phenomenon and can be a danger for the development of the state, as bureaucrats do not effectively hold responsibility and monopolize political decisions in the society (Siedman, 1998). State represents for Weber an institution that has monopolized the legal usage of power. After Weber, responsibility should be the main requirement for a politician only people with strong vocation to politics should participate in the rule of state. Weberian politician is a person thinking about long-term goals of the society, and strictly following the interests of the state, ignoring sometimes the needs of the citizens, in order to reach larger goals. Schluchter (1996) cites Weber where he says that political communication is always filled with the spirit of war this citation shows that Weber had very realistic view on political competition. Ray (1999) touched a question of relationship between charismatic leadership and bureaucracy two struggling between each other forces. According to Weber during the process of political competition charisma is never stable when it gets the power and start owe resources it gradually turns into bureaucracy or patrimonialism (Collins, 1986). In contrast to Marx, Weber determined multiple axes of social stratification social class, status, and party affiliation of a person. These three parameters Weber called social chances of a person. According to Collins (1986) status of a person was crucial for Weber it strongly determined the social mobility, market opportunities, and other influential factors. Social class is rather economic membership of a person; status is determined by social prestige and honor, and the party affiliation is an indicator of closeness of a person to the ruling in the country political force. The views of Weber on political sphere were largely influenced by the history and situation of the German state. Weber was a strong supporter of the idea of strong middle class, and he believed that the future of Germany strongly depends on the situation of middle class (Siedman, 1998). The ideas and views of Weber have been important not only for sociology, but also for political forces in Germany during his life and after death. Conclusion. The ideas of Max Weber have influenced the sociology in a very strong way. Summing up the key elements of Webers idea of sociology, I should mention the following: 1). In Webers sociology history and social development have a deep sense, and this sense can be understood. The society is developing in a certain direction overcoming certain stages of its social advance. It is very important to find out the real sense of social development and to keep in mind that all the human history has specific mission and goals in itself. 2). Understanding of social action and social phenomena become the main goal for Webers sociology and such understanding is possible. A sociologist should move himself away for judgments of the social processes, but he should precisely observe and try to understand irrational meanings attached to individual social actions in order to understand more complex social phenomena. 3). There is a criterion that determines the progress of society on its way of historical and social development and this criterion after Weber is constant movement towards Rationality. First this movement is represented by the shift from irrationality to rationality, and the second part of this movement is shift between value-rationality to purposive-rationality. Such a purposive rationality in individual social action would give to a sociologist an opportunity to understand clearly the meaning attached to such social action, as it will not be subjective any more. 4). Ideas influence economy in a very strong way it is one of the most important key elements of sociology of Weber. After the study of major world religions, he came to the conclusion, that it was the Protestantism, which made possible final establishment of capitalist system in the West. It is religion that shapes the most fundamental world-view of the people, and in different parts of the world ideas, through religions, produced different types of the societies and economic and social relations. 5). By Weber the political sphere and the society represent a very complex and interconnected system, with multiple axes of social stratification and different patterns of power legitimization. Political sphere is a subject of social development and under certain historical conditions (as it happened in the West) it can move towards larger rationality, producing a new type of state and switching to rational type of power legitimization.

A Students’ Involvement Encourages Good Grades :: Research Statistics Essays

A Students’ Involvement Encourages Good Grades The Purpose of this Report The purpose of this report is to illustrate that teens that are involved in extra-curricular activities generally get higher grades than those who are not involved in activities. Some of the research for this report was acquired through the Internet and some of it was obtained through surveys of 120 high school students, grades ten through twelve (see Appendix A). All of the sources that talked about this subject suggested that there is a strong positive correlation between extra-curricular activities and good grades. Although some students are different, this has proven true in the general classroom as well as in a high school talented and gifted class, a high school English class, and a high school art class. The main reason that this correlation exists is because of organization skills, parents’ involvement, and the need these students have to excel. Results in the General Classroom It used to be believed by experts that one should study and not play. This is no longer the case, according to Mr. R. Griffin in his article Helping Athletes Excel in Sports and School (23). He suggests that it is important to encourage both academic and extra-curricular performance. In most instances, involvement in extra-curricular activities leads to better grades. According to the University of Michigan, teens that are involved in activities during high school are more likely than teens that didn’t participate in any organized activities to have higher grades as high school seniors and to still be in college six years later (Swanbrow 1). These results were produced at the University of Michigan by tracking 1,259 sophomores for six years. These results also proved to be true in the three individual classrooms that were surveyed. The classes that were surveyed were students in art, talented and gifted, and English at Southeast Polk high school. The results are shown in the f ollowing three paragraphs. High School Talented and Gifted Class A group of students, grades ten through twelve, in the Talented and Gifted program were surveyed to see if the positive correlation between involvement and grades held true. According to this particular survey, it was shown that ninety-six percent of students were involved in extra-curricular activities. These activities ranged from basketball, wrestling, football, swimming and track to National Honors Society, Bible study, speech, drama, and student council. Out of the ninety-six percent of people involved in activities, the average grade point was 3.

Butterfly Effect in Bone :: essays research papers

Directed and written by Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber, the movie â€Å"Butterfly Effect† is about a young man (Kutcher) who blacks out harmfull memories of significant events of his life. As he grows up he finds a way to remember these lost memories and a supernatural way to alter his life. This movie teaches a simple lesson about life: one little thing in the past can change the whole outcome of life later. The book Bonesetter’s Daughter, by Amy Tan, also has something to do with past, as it is narrated by two people, mother and daughter, who talk about themselves, constantly referring back to the memories of their childhood. They regret the mistakes they have made as a little girl. If only they didn’t make the mistake in the past, they would have a totally different fate then.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ruth’s life is much affected by her childhood memories with her mother LuLing. Whenever Ruth doesn’t obey her, LuLing threatens by saying, â€Å"Maybe I die soon!† (54), and â€Å"LuLing’s threats to die were like earthquakes† (54). Ruth’s childhood earthquakes caused Ruth to â€Å"think about death every day† (121). If one’s mother threatens to kill herself, nothing would be worse than that for a child. Ruth had to go through all those in her sensitive years, and as a result death became an overwhelming figure in her life.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ruth also remembers how LuLing would embarrass her by seeming too Chinese at a time when she was so anxious to consider herself American. Tan skillfully portrays the growing pains of Ruth humiliated by her mother’s inability to accept the Western culture: â€Å"Her mother couldn't even say Ruth's name right. It used to mortify Ruth when she shouted for her up and down the block. ‘Lootie! Lootie!’ Why had her mother chosen a name with sounds she couldn't pronounce?† (49).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Both LuLing and Ruth are unable to connect with their mothers, who have hidden their past. The secrecy has deprived mother and daughter from the shared fate and emotions that are necessary for understanding each other. Art tells her, â€Å"In all these years we've been together... I don’t think I know an important part of you. You keep secrets inside you. You hide. It’s as though I’ve never seen you naked† (360). Though she has nothing to hide, Ruth has unknowingly adopted this attitude of secrecy and remains distant from those she loves.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As a girl, Ruth could only express herself freely in a diary, which her mother repeatedly found and read.

Use of space, levels and proxemics for blood brothers

For example. When Mrs. Lyons (Vivienne Carlyle) didn't want Mrs. Johnston (Marti Webb) near the baby. Carlyle was positioned stage right in relation with Mari Webb who was staged left. Carlyle moved back away from Webb to show that she didn't want her near the child and in doing that, she clutched the child close to her. Carlyle effectively used the idea that she didn't want Webb. Webb Carlyle Audience Another example is when Mickey (Sean Jones) and Eddie (Simon Wilmot) become friends and Mrs. J ( Webb) finds out! Mickey is send inside and I noticed that Webb used very close proxemics when talking to Simon. This showed the Love of a mother to her son that she had given away and hadn't seen for a long time although Simon is not aware at this point! I also felt the use of levels was used effectively by the Narrator (Keith Burns) as he linked the actors with the characters. For Example, when he was at the top of the background, looking down at the actors, it seemed as if he was in control. Especially because he was the one who tells what happens in the story. And I though use of spacing was also good as they used the background which blocked the depth of behind the sheets and the actual size of the stage. For Example. When the Scene was taking place at Mrs. Lyons house, they brought background forward which made the stage look very smaller. Another example is when they Split the stage in to two scenes. It was cross cut from one area to the other. As shown in the diagram.

Ethical and Environmental Requirements Essay

Since all the nations understand the effects of the fossil fuel there need to take a practical step towards solving this problem. This is a very expensive undertaking because many nations had already invested in fossil fuel extraction. In order to preserve the natural environment, all the countries are supposed to come to an agreement and reduce the dependence on oil as a form of energy because it causes more destruction to the environment and also leads to depletion of resource because it cannot be recycled or replaced at the rate at which it is being utilized (Littell 2005). This calls fro the investment in the energy sources that are considered ethical, environmental friendly and also addressing the social issues. The use of biomass has been suggested as the most effective alternative to the use of fossil fuel. The renewable energy sources are not a substitute to the fossils energies per se because they may cause other adverse effects like ion the case of palm oil in Netherlands; this was discovered to be more dangerous than the fossil fuels because of the scientific evidence, which showed that it caused more destruction to the environment (Littell 2005). The use of bio fuel also revealed that the methane gas which would be released was just as harmful as carbon dioxide from fossil fuel. On the other hand, the use of bio fuel from the food stuff would not be economical because, it would utilize most of the land which could otherwise be used for agriculture while at the same time the whole grain harvest for instance in the united states, converting it to manufacture oil would only yield up to 16% of the total fuel needs, in the Latin America, the growing of sugar cane as supported by the US lead to destruction of forests making it obvious that the large scale investment in to the bio fuel would create competition for land (food crops, forest and bio fuel plantation) and the result would be food shortage and increased prices of the important necessity (Jackson 2006). Most countries are likely to become depended on foreign energy. Many of the developing nations will not be able to afford the technology involved in the production of the bio fuel or other alternatives that are considered ethical and environmental friendly. This is because the technology is relatively new and maybe very costly (Newton 2003). The developed countries may have the capital to invest but lack the land and these calls for cooperation between governments though some may be seen as exploitation. For instance the sugar cane plantation in Argentina meant to produce ethanol, the project was backed by the United States who wanted to use it for production of bio fuel hence clearing large pieces of land and reducing land for food crop production. The volumes produced by the project were meant for Argentina’s domestic use and led to increased prices of sugar and practically led to cultivation of one crop (sugarcane) seen by the thousands of hectares covered by sugar cane fields. This could be a serious tragedy of crop letdown waiting to take place. The result of the investment in the bio fuel could be worse if the bio fuel campaign to substitute petroleum oil with bio fuel is enacted (Jackson 2006). Most countries consider energy conservation as a fundamental part of government projects that the world uses to decrease their carbon release track record. The major problem of investing in bio fuel that has not been fully addressed is that, lack of skills and innovative technology in the field could create a culture of mono-cropping, and as a consequence, retail prices of common commodities would greatly increase. The U. S target of using the Latin America for the growth of bio fuel quota in order to maintain their uneconomical way of living was seen as a different type of the United States of America’s imperialism of the area. Most of the developing countries are bound to be adversely affected by the changes. The conventional traditions and cultures in most countries have been seen to emphasize so much on food crop cultivation. People have so much respect for their food crops that the long lasting campaign by the developed countries has been unable to suppress their love for food crop cultivation compared to cash crops for fuel (Newton 2003). Though the investment in bio fuel is an attractive venture, it is very expensive for the developing nations because it calls for investment into new technology from scratch. It has been predicted that implementing the bio fuel plan may leave a common person 30% poorer and therefore unable to deal with the problem in the current economic situation (Mintzer 1992). These conclusions are based on the argument that new technology is expensive plus the fact that more farm land would be required for cash crop farming to produce raw material for bio fuel like the sugar cane, oil plants and bio gas animal ranches. It estimated that involvement in bio fuel production would cost over $ 553 Trillion. The decision to take the necessary steps towards solving the inevitable climate crisis of global warming was very critical. The issues of global warming on the other hand presented a challenging opportunity for research, technology innovation and entrepreneur investment (Newton et al 2005). Global warming has presents an equilibrium situation. People do not take into account all the facts around the subject and hence consider the problem on wrong postulations. In order to save the world, the cost should not be an issue because the benefits are very obvious. However the threat to food security is the major concern because food is a necessity. The use of electricity in homes as an alternative to carbon gas fuels is very efficient and most ethical and environmental friendly energy source as there are no emissions into the atmosphere and also there is little environmental destruction (Campbell & Reece 2005). Conclusion The use of alternative energy which is ethical and environmental friendly became a concern because of global warming effects and depletion of sources. The accompanying price increase also pushes for the need of alternatives with high efficiency especially in the automotive industry. The ethical and environmental friendly has created more room for technology industry to develop hybrid vehicles and other machinery to use bio fuel and electric automotive to use electricity. Other power sources include flywheels, fuel cells and ultra-capacitors. Biomass and hydrogen being low carbon emitters are not workable alternatives to fossil fuel. Nuclear power and carbon capture and storage also present low carbon alternative though not the best solution. References Al Gore. (2006). An inconvenient truth. Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What we Can Do about it. Rodale Berger J. J (1998). Charging Ahead.The Business of Renewable Energy and what it Means for America. University of California Press Campbell N. A & Reece J. B (2005) Biology. Pearson. Benjamin Cummings Jackson R. M (2006). Annual Editions: Global Issues. Global Issues 06/07. McGraw-Hill Higher Education Littell M. (2005). Science. Integrated Course 2. McDougal Littell Mintzer I. M (1992). Confronting Climate Change. Risks, Implications and Responses. Stockholm Environment Institute. Cambridge University Press Newton L. H (2003). Ethics and Sustainability. Sustainable Development and the Moral Life. Prentice Hall Newton L. H Dillingham C. K & Choly (2005). Watersheds 4. Ten Cases in Environmental Ethics. Thomson Wadsworth

A View of Sexism Evident in Nike’s Athletic Promotion

A View of Sexism Evident in Nike’s Athletic Promotion What’s One More Thing for Men to Rule: Finding Women’s place in Athletics This text is questioning why men are looked as being the superior athletes in comparison to women in sports, and more specifically in long distance running. It also questions why we as society feel the need to compare them. The Men Vs. Women challenge advertisement campaign put on by Nike plus acts as the representative example for this text in order to see how society still values male athletes more than female athletes. The author consulted Robert Degner’s work, which explains how men have experienced a longer predisposition to being competitive. The author also joined a conversation with Christine Wegner about her research regarding statistics of female marathon runners. It was found that the number has plateaued and it speculated that this is caused by social norms restricting women from spending extra time on training that they are using right now to raise children. One more thing for men to rule, is the caption on the advertisement of the Men vs. Women challenge put on by Nike Plus (Gould). This particular ad is obviously supporting the men in the challenge. One more thing for men to rule. Is it supposed to intimidate women? Or empower men? Did Nike even think about the fact that the ad might come off as offensive? What exactly are they trying to accomplish? But mainly, why are we making it a competition between men and women? With all this being said, if society knows that there are limitations that have held women back from being as physically capable as men and, if male and female bodies are created differently, why does society continue to value male athletes as more capable and superior to female athletes? My initial hypothesis is that because men have been participating in sports for a much longer period of time than women have, we tend to value them more than female athletes. The Nike Plus ad, which I will be analyzing as my representative example, was part of a campaign originally to get more women to join Nike plus, an app that connects to your iPod or phone to track your mileage and pace. I chose to use this advertisement as my representative example because Nike is a pretty well known company and they are still ignoring gender equality just for one of their campaigns. The employees at Nike decided that the best way to get women to join the app was to start a battle of the sexes. On the ad in favor of the men’s side there is a guy running wearing Nike running clothes. He looks very focused. There are big white words in front of him saying â€Å"one more thing for men to rule.† and then under that in smaller letters are words saying â€Å"join the men vs. women challenge at nikeplus.com.† He looks like he knows what he is doing, like he is an experienced runner (correct form, proper running clothes, defined muscles, etc.). There was an ad similar to the men’s ad supporting the women. There is an experienced, focused female runner with words in front of her saying, â€Å"Ladies First. Men second.† It seems ironic that they chose to say ladies first because at no point in history have women dominated sports. Men have a vastly different athletic background than women do. The Olympics have been around for thousands of years, running events have been included in all of them. Except, only for men. Women weren’t able to participate until 1900 and didn’t start competing in running events until the 1928 Olympics (The History of Women’s Running). A handful of women were able to compete in the 800m run in 1928, however a lot of them collapsed at the end of the race so it was banned until 1960. This seems really unfair because even though they were allowed to finally run they hadn’t gone through proper training, or education on how to race an 800m. After that event there became a rule that women could not race more than 1.5 miles because they physiologically incapable of running more than that. The marathon was not incorporated into the games for women until 1984 after a group of women fought long and hard to prove that they should have the rights to race more than 1.5 miles (The History of Women’s Running). Women have not had nearly enough time to adapt their bodies for maximum potential because our history did not include lots of physical activity. Why were men participating in sports when women weren’t? Men on the other hand have had plenty of time to adapt their bodies for physical activity. Robert Deaner and some of his colleagues published an article exploring the evidence that men have had an evolutionary history of physical competition, they hypothesized that because men were involved in more physical activity, â€Å"Men have experienced a longer predisposition to be competitive, which has driven them to be more interested in sports†¦Societies have documented female participation in sports but men were always shown to be more involved.† (Deaner) While they did document women participating in sports they weren’t nearly as competitive or involved in them as men were. Could this biological response have been influenced by the social norms of that time? Where these social norms influencing females drive for competition as well? How has women’s biology played a role into their athletic participation? Why was it acceptable for men to play sports while women stayed inside and cared for children? Women are still evolving their bodies to be capable of maximum athletic performance. Russell Pate and Jennifer O’Neill published a paper about the advances women have made in the sport of marathon running. They looked into the trend of the best marathon times for women over the span of 30 years to see how they have changed. It was discovered that women improved their marathon times by 15.6% over thirty years, while the best male marathon times have remained fairly constant for recent decades. They also looked at the physiological differences between male and female runners. â€Å"The male runners had statistically significant higher values of height, weight, sum of 6-site skinfolds, V ?O2max and V ?E compared with the female runners.† (Pate). These biological differences have been adapted over many centuries so that men could run to catch food or fight off enemies. It’s okay to compare males and females. However, we need to draw the line when comparison turns int o a hierarchical comparison and a placement of women and men on a scale based on factors that shouldn’t be compared. This is why I found the Nike ad destructive to the work that many people have put their entire lives into for gender equality. Does being a child bearer mean that women’s bodies aren’t as physically capable of athletic performance because their bodies are able to bear children? It seems like we’ve made a lot of progress with feminism but we still have a lot of work to do. Social norms of women and mothers being the primary caregivers for children have had an impact on the number of women participating in sports. Christine Wegner did a study about the number of women running full marathons and discovered that â€Å"While the percentage of female runners at every distance up to and including the half marathon has increased continually over the past 10 years, the percentage of women participating in full marathons has plateaued since 2006, with women still representing the minority in this distance at 43%.† (Wegner) Women are now the majority of half marathon runners at 61%. They suggested that women have found their spot in running and have become most comfortable running half marathons. They continue and say, â€Å"The environmental filter that once precluded women from distance running has appeared to shift, moving the exclusionary barriers, and now seems to apply only to the longest race distances of 26.2 miles and beyond.† (Wegner) The article mentioned that it is not difficult for women to start running initially, that we have jumped that hurdle but it does become difficult for women to up the amount of time they spend training for races longer than the half marathon (Wegner). They speculate this is because it takes more time out of each day to train for a full marathon that most women using to take care of their children. So have we really jumped over social norms? Society used to see women as exclusively caregivers and nothing else. Their job was to stay at home, care for the kids, and clean the house. Now, it’s socially acceptable for women to run and race but they still have to devote their main priorities to caring for children, given that they are mothers, but running is something they can do if they have spare time. Men have less of a hard time fitting running into their schedules because of they aren’t expected to see to their children as much as women are. Another issue with society’s hierarchy or gender is the pay scale for women compared to men. This article titled, â€Å"Heres why its fair that female athletes make less than men† by Shane Ferro discussed why its fair that women get paid less. It’s because not as many people come to watch female athletics. This specific article looked into soccer players but this is common among most sports. The writers used â€Å"fair† in the sense that what their sport makes is relatively equal to what each athletes makes. They went on to point out that what we really need to be focusing on is why, why are people less inclined to go see women compete, and put less time and money into female sporting events? â€Å"The real question is not why female athletes are paid less. People should be asking why fans and sponsors are less interested in supporting womens sports — and this is what they should be outraged about.†(Ferro) Once again it all goes back to socia l norms that male sports are dominate, which somehow makes them more interesting. Why? Could this difference in pay scale discourage women from running? Could it also empower them to fight for their rights to have equal pay? If we know that our historical differences have led to different biological capabilities than why are we still initiating competitions between men and women? Who is this healthy for? Could this be potentially harmful to men as well? Men too feel pressure from the hierarchy that we have created as well. Except, they don’t worry about whether they will be able to compete in a sport, rather they worry If they will be able to keep up with the expectations that society has set for them as ‘fit males’. When men see that women can beat them in a race they feel intimidated and embarrassed that a girl could beat them. This hierarchy has led to many male athletes afraid because they are supposed to be better, according to society. If they aren’t though, they can feel pressure from other males as well as media to be better, stronger and faster. Athletes will go to extreme measures to prove to society that they are the top dog. One common way they do this is by abusing performance-enhancing drugs. A document released by The American College of Sports Medicine stated that, â€Å"Lifetime prevalence rates for steroid use among male adolescents generally range between 4 and 12 percent and between .5 and 2 percent for female adolescents.†(Yesalis) This is showing that males have a higher chance of using steroids, this article also mentioned that drug use can start pretty early in life, signaling that it could be due to social pressures. If kids are using steroids so early in life it could be hard for them to stop later in life and also change their mindset that they don’t need to use steroids to be great athletes. How do we move forward? I think we have done a lot to get women in sports to where we are today, but yet we still see sexist acts and comments being made on a large scale. Eric Anderson did a study on the cultural forces that are affecting male athlete’s attitude towards sexism. He says in his research, â€Å"Competitive male team sport athletes might maintain socio-negative attitudes toward women even in a time when institutional sexism has been shown to be decreasing.† (Anderson 258). He used data from heterosexual men who played football in high school, a much masculinized sport, and then went on to join collegiate cheerleading in college. He found that the guys largely changed their views regarding women’s athletics. They respected women’s leadership abilities and valued their friendship. While this is all well and good, it astonishes me that men have to actually see women participating in sports close up and interact with them for us to gain their res pect. It shouldn’t have to be like this, but if it helps men take women more seriously in the athletic world then we need to continue in that direction. Maybe this means that we just need to combine more sports and allow men to see that we are just as willing to put in the work as they are. Is this the right way right that we should be going about trying to demolish gender norms? I don’t think there is a â€Å"right† way to do it, however, we need to continue to talk about gender norms and help break them down. There really is no need for comparison, we should be able to respect each other’s differences whether it be due to biological differences or others, but at the same time be able to support one another. Athletics is about bettering yourself and improving your health, ultimately.