Carl Jung’s Theory on Personality

All across America, literacy and early education of children has become the focus of concern for parents, teachers, and policy makers. Education has been positively linked to students’ future success in school, their likelihood to continue education past high school, and their future career opportunities. A strong foundation in reading and linguistics is a key factor in children’s academic development and future opportunities.As a result, a great deal of time, money, and energy has been invested in designing programs that focus on developing children’s knowledge and use of the English language in order to provide them with this necessary educational foundation. However, upon close inspection, it seems as though many of these programs focus on correcting only one or two of the many factors at work in the issue of illiteracy in America’s urban youth. While a variety of reading programs are available in almost every school, there are still a significant numbe r of illiterate and struggling students across the nation. Of particular concern is the school preparation of children from economically disadvantaged homes – children who continue to fare less well in school than more advantaged children† (Stipek 711). 40% of America’s fourth grade students lack basic reading skills, but the illiteracy rate increases to 68% for low-income rural and urban areas (Literacy Rates).Research has shown that children who grow up in poor, urban areas struggle the most with reading for a variety of reasons. Despite significant federal and state investments in compensatory education programs, persistent achievement gaps among students of various ethnic, socioeconomic, and linguistic backgrounds have been difficult to close† (Neuman 92). This shows that resources are available to schools and districts that face issues with low literacy rates, but the problem persists. In a study of gaps in reading achievement by Parkinson and Rowan, s tatistical analysis was done on the test scores of high-, average-, and low-risk students upon entering kindergarten through the end of third grade (Neuman 80).Placing these scores on a statistical normal curve helped determine how much the gap between these groups increased as education progressed, and showed significant evidence that socioeconomic factors impact the education of young children. These test scores were then used for further statistical analysis to determine the amount of additional instruction time it would take at-risk students to reach the same achievement level as average and low-risk students.By calculating the standard deviation of each group’s test scores, Parkinson and Rowan were able to then convert that to months of additional instruction necessary to decrease the gaps in reading achievement. In order to match high-risk students achievement with that of average-risk students, 1. 6 months of extra instruction would be necessary at the beginning of kin dergarten, but by the end of the third grade, the time had increased to 4. 7 months. When comparing high-risk and low-risk students’ achievement, 2. months of instruction were needed at the beginning of kindergarten, whereas the end of third grade required 7. 8 months (Neuman 80). While Parkinson and Rowan acknowledge variations and possible issues with the data they collected and analyzed, these calculations still show the effects of socioeconomic factors on educational achievement. In a similar study by Stipek and Ryan on disadvantaged preschoolers and academic motivation, this education gap is explored as a result of lack of motivation.Surveying and calculating the academic achievement of several classroom groups in preschool and kindergarten proved a similar gap in academic achievement to that found by Parkinson and Rowan. â€Å"The results of this study paint a clear picture of children from relatively low-income homes beginning school at a considerable academic disadva ntage† (Stipek, 720). Through several cognitive assessments of skills including problem solving, reading, and language skills, this study attempted to identify where students of low socioeconomic backgrounds struggled the most.Statistically significant differences were found in each of these assessments for each age group, so to further investigate these results, motivation and gender factors were researched as well. â€Å"In contrast to the findings on cognitive variables, the results revealed almost no motivation deficits for the economically disadvantaged children† (Stipek 721). What little differences were found connected to gender were rare and did not suggest any real pattern of academic achievement. While this study ooked into gender and motivation as factors in academic achievement differences, these proved insignificant to explain the achievement gap between students of varying socioeconomic backgrounds. Rather than continue to focus on individual factors, like gender and motivation, that had been proven to have little significance in explaining the education gap, other researchers have taken up the banner of family involvement and home environment on children’s academic development.According to McLoyd and Purtell, â€Å"contemporary esearchers tend to interpret links between family income and home environment within an investment model (i. e. , the notion that income is associated with children’s development because it enables families to invest in the human capital of their children by purchasing materials, experiences, and services that benefit the child’s development and well-being) rather than within a cultural deficit model† (Neuman 58). Reasoning behind this focus can be found in the history of urban areas and the families that live in them, presented by Shirley Heath.In the article Oral and Literate Traditions Among Black Americans Living in Poverty, Heath explains, â€Å"in the late 1980’s, nea rly half of all Black children lived in poverty, and most of these, especially in urban areas, grew up in households headed by a mother under 25 years of age who was a school dropout† (Heath, 3). She continues to explain how ethnic groups, linguistic differences, and religious or regional factors can make finding trustworthy childcare difficult for single mothers, putting further financial strain on the environment.Financial strain can have a negative effect on the focus put on education in homes with both parents and/or high socioeconomic status. This can also erode family bonds and leave students more vulnerable to the presence of drugs and other negative inner-city influences. By getting involved in drugs, gangs, and other harmful influences, education is forgotten, crippling academic achievement and future opportunities, and prolonging the cycle of poverty in poor urban households.While Heath explains the prevalence of this cycle of poverty through interviews and personal perspectives she collected, Manuel Bueno explains the many and persistent affects it has on early childhood development. â€Å"A shortfall in early childhood development will have irreversible consequences on individuals’ future lifetime opportunities. This will reverberate later in life in the form of lower quality jobs, lower wages, shorter life-spans, worse health and lower cognitive abilities, thus perpetuating an intergenerational cycle of poverty† (Bueno).Unlike many articles regarding early childhood development, Bueno also acknowledges the importance of non-nuclear family structures, emphasizing the importance of involving a child’s primary caretaker rather than the mother or father. Especially in poor urban areas, a household can include members of the extended family just as often as it can exclude a child’s biological parents. Bueno suggests creating early childhood development programs that are both multi-faceted and family inclusive.The most successful of the programs Bueno suggests is referred to as ‘parenting programs’ that work to include parents in children’s education to give them an active and responsible role in their child’s development, and provide reinforcement at home for the things learned in school. The value of these programs is also emphasized by a number of other authors. Charles R. Greenwood is one of the forerunners in the argument for the ecological-interactional-developmental model that investigates the home environment effects on early childhood development.He explains the Hart and Risley Code used to â€Å"measure individual children’s growth in learning to talk as well as the child’s language environment, consisting of parents’, siblings’, and friends’ talk heard by the child in the home and addressed directly to the child† (Neuman 116). By recording audiotapes of conversations and interactions, Greenwood was able to analyze thes e observations using Hart and Risley Code. Similar observations and analyses were made in classroom settings to study student’s responses to instruction.These findings were compared to those found in the home environment, where Greenwood explains some interesting connections. Through the use of Hart and Risley, Greenwood was able to find that children from families of low-socioeconomic status were spoken to less frequently and with fewer words. Children from similar socioeconomic statuses also scored lower on vocabulary tests and struggled with basic academic skills, which crippled their early literacy and school readiness by kindergarten age. By this research, Greenwood was able to conclude that children from low ocio-economic status were less exposed to language and therefore did not learn as much. Further investigation showed that this put a strain on the children’s school readiness, resulting in an education gap similar to that found by Parkinson and Rowan, which g rows as students’ progress in their schooling. Class wide peer tutoring is a program developed and implemented by several researchers, including Greenwood, to investigate whether or not students of lowsocioeconomic status families respond better to one-on-one instruction with a tutor outside of the classroom.For ninety minutes a day, four days per week, students met with a tutor on top of regular instruction to complete lessons in reading, spelling, and math instruction. Results indicated that these lessons â€Å"significantly improved students’ classroom engagement during instruction and reduced socially inappropriate behavior, while accelerating reading, language, and mathematics performance on standardized tests† (Neuman 125). Once the positive impact of this supplemental instruction was established, further research was conducted with peer-assisted learning strategies in which students share the role of teacher in small reading groups.Thirty-five to forty-fi ve minute sessions were conducted daily, in which students were broken up into groups of three to practice reading aloud to each other. Individual points are awarded and group totals are used to determine a ‘winner’ each day. The immediate affects this peer-assisted strategy were significant increases in accuracy, fluency, and comprehension of the material read by students (Neuman 122). After explaining the details of both the one-on-one tutoring and peer-assisted learning strategies, Greenwood discusses their effectiveness as the results showed about 59% of participants exceeded the achievement of non-participants. Students in urban settings, from low-income backgrounds, and of minority status experienced larger gains than students from suburban middle- to high-income backgrounds† (Neuman 126). It was also noted that younger students were affected greater than older students. This study shows that while peer tutoring and one-on-one instruction outside the classro om can improve student achievement, it cannot be used as a panacea for the achievement gap. While Greenwood put his focus on supplemental instruction programs to improve literacy in students from low socioeconomic households, Come andFredericks chose to investigate the involvement of parents in reading programs. They claim that poor families avoiding schools is frequently perceived by educators to be a lack of parental interest in children’s education and, upon investigation of an inner city Georgia school, found that 45% of the children had no one to read to them at home (Come 567). This school had developed several programs designed to help increase the self-esteem of children through parental encouragement and involvement in literacy development.One program designed to include parents in children’s reading was a monthly rewards system. If a student read with a parent for at least fifteen minutes each day for a month, it was marked on a calendar, submitted to the tea cher, and the student was rewarded for his or her accomplishment, boosting confidence and reading proficiency. This program was assisted by a school wide book exchange, in which the students themselves improved access to new reading material. When they brought two books to school, they could exchange one book for a book to keep and the other for a book to donate to their classroom library† (Come 569). Accompanied by a cross-age reading program that paired students in different grades for cooperative reading groups, this book exchange reinforced by parental involvement proved to have significant improvements on children’s reading aptitude in the inner city Georgia school. These programs proved to be useful in the development of student’s reading ability and confidence, as well as the involvement of parents in their children’s education.However, inner-city schools are frequently a melting pot of ethnicities and languages, which can put more strain on childre n’s education if schools do not include language development in reading programs. In a study done by William Louden, a project called Literacy in its Place was investigated to compare literacy programs in rural and urban schools. Initial research â€Å"suggested that the reported difference in urban and rural scores could be explained by differences in social class distribution between the country and the city† (Louden 1).When these factors were taken into account, surprisingly little significance was found. Instead, it was found that children from working class homes, specifically homes in which English is a second language or dialect, were more academically disadvantaged than other students. Louden focuses the rest of his research on professional development for teachers to better assist multilingual students and their parents become actively involved in mastering the English language and developing reading skills. While this supports the consensus of the previously discussed authors that hildren from low-income homes struggle more with school, it introduces language development as a new focus for further research. Mahiri and Sablo introduce research into language as a factor in academic achievement and literacy by investigating the voluntary writing of African American students in a California high school. â€Å"This study was initiated because, in our overall quest to look at ways that African American and youth culture could be used as a bridge to writing development, we wanted to learn more about the kinds of writing these students do for their own purposes outside of school† (Mahiri 165).In this case, writing is seen as an outlet through which students are free to express themselves in whatever vernacular they are most comfortable with, without conforming to school standards or expectations. By investigating students’ use of language in out-of-school settings, Mahiri and Sablo hoped to better link what schools view as importa nt and meaningful in lessons, and what students find meaningful in their daily lives.In this study, it was found that minority students were predominantly in basic and academic classes, as opposed to honors or advanced placement, and performing well below the average scores on standardized tests. Statistics provided by the school, which remained unnamed, showed a 44% failure rate for African American students that began as freshman there. Through an analysis of several pieces of literature written by the students included in the research, and the methods for instruction used by their teachers, little connection was found to suggest culturally relevant topics were being included in instruction.Students were applying information obtained at school to improve their skills and express themselves, but instructors made little effort to do the same. The teachers included in the study recognized that urban culture and schools were changing and that these changes would require them to adjust as well, but were having trouble doing so. Mahiri and Sablo also recognize that including culturally relevant material in school instruction and literacy activities would not solve the problems students faced with literacy development.However, their research suggests that it may help with the development of language and reading skills by giving students something that they can relate to and understand based on their own interests. Ernest Morrell addresses this in the article, Toward a Critical Pedagogy of Popular Culture: Literacy Development among Urban Youth. Ernest Morrell, a former teacher in urban schools, claims that low academic achievement is not the result of a lack of interest, intelligence, or other personal factors in urban students.Instead, he suggests that the issue lies with a lack of access to curriculum and resources. Working from the correlation Mahiri found with urban youth literacy practices and the types of practices emphasized by schools, Morrell suggests that â€Å"any investigation of popular culture must emanate from and serve the interests of members of marginalized groups†¦where students and teachers learn from and with one another while engaging in authentic dialogue that is centered on the experiences of urban youth as participants in and creators of popular culture† (Morrell 2).As an example, he explains programs he designed and used in his own classroom, where hip-hop culture, popular film, and the media were incorporated into each unit. When beginning a unit on English poetry, Morrell introduced the importance of learning the context in which poetry was written to obtain a better understanding of the literature. The same idea was applied to hip-hop and rap music that students in the class were familiar with.For the final project, students were given rap songs to choose from and interpret based on contextual concepts and interpretations that apply to English poetry. As a result, students were inspired to create their own rap/poetry, and were able to better engage with the material because it was tied to larger social issues they could relate to. A similar idea was used in units on popular film and current media. Several movies related to books and assigned reading material were watched in class while students took notes comparing characters, writing styles, and story structure.News segments were also watched to help students analyze portrayals of stories in the media, conduct interviews, and complete a research project on a current topic in the news. Based on his observations of the students in his classroom, Morrell found that â€Å"critical teachers and teacher educators can use classroom-based research to prove that there are ways to meet the challenges the new century offers and turn them into opportunities to connect to the worlds of students, to promote academic achievement, and to prepare students for critical citizen ship in a multicultural democracy† (Morrell 4).Through an inves tigation of current studies being done on reading programs and language development in urban schools, it is easy to see what students struggle with and why. Students from urban neighborhoods tend to be poor working families where English may not be the primary language. Some researchers have interpreted the struggles of these students as a lack of involvement from parents and programs have been designed to better include them in their child’s education. While these have proven to be somewhat successful, they do not solve any issues beyond increasing parental involvement.Other less successful programs have been designed to increase students’ access to school resources, thinking that increased access will increase reading comprehension and proficiency. While this also proved somewhat successful, it can only be applied to schools where budget issues do not limit those resources. Family structure, student motivation, and gender have also been investigated as possible facto rs in the literacy of urban youth, but proved to have an insignificant effect.The most successful research and program development has been a result of combined individually researched ideas. Developing programs that incorporate popular culture has proven to engage students better than regular classroom material and often on more a personal level. Peer tutoring and other cooperative learning programs have proven to be somewhat successful because they allow students to encourage each other in their responsibilities, but this can by further increased by the inclusion of popular culture in the material.These ideas, in addition to increasing parental involvement and increasing students’ access to resources, have had the most significant impact on education and literacy development. It is the incorporation of urban culture into education that further research should be conducted on. By understanding what is important and relevant to students and including that in their education, a platform can be created from which literacy and language skills can be developed.

Rawls Theory Essay

A contemporary philosopher, John Rawls (1921-2002), is noted for his contributions to political and moral philosophy. In particular, Rawls’ discussion about justice introduced five important concepts into discourse, including: the two principles of justice, the â€Å"original position† and â€Å"veil of ignorance,† reflective equilibrium, overlapping consensus, and public reason. What is interesting about these five contributions is how Rawls’ speculative thought has been used by scholars across disciplinary lines, influencing such diverse academic disciplines as economics, law, political science, sociology, and theology. A theory of justice†¦ Rawls’ most famous work, A Theory of Justice (1971), provides an introduction to this body of thought as well as some of its implications for ethics. Like many philosophers before him, Rawls focused upon justice because of its substantive importance for organizing and governing society. The problem, however, involves defining what that term means theoretically (i.e., speculatively about organizing and governing society) and practically (i.e., the consequences for people and their lives). Generally, speaking, justice can be defined in one of two ways. One definition emphasizes an individual’s merit or lack of it. According to this definition, each individual must be treated exactly as one deserves. This â€Å"merit theory† of justice, reflecting utilitarian ethics, uses merit to determine just how individual members of society will be rewarded or punished based solely upon whether one’s conduct is useful or harmful to society. The â€Å"need theory† of justice, which assumes that individual members of society should help those other members who are most in need so as to redress their disadvantages, reflects the influence of natural law theory and Kant’s categorical imperative. In this view, â€Å"doing good† dictates that every member of society recognize that need entitles the most disadvantaged to some sort of special consideration and that the more advantaged must compensate the disadvantaged with the goal of bringing them up to an acceptable level of advantage. Attempting to balance the demands posed by these rival theories, Rawls maintained that inequalities in society can only be justified if they produce increased benefits for the entire society and only if those previously the most disadvantaged members of society are no worse off as a result of any inequality. An inequality, then, is justified if it contributes to social utility, as the merit theory asserts. But, at the same time, Rawls argued, priority must be given to the needs of the least advantaged, as the needs theory asserts. Thus, differential rewards are allowed to the advantaged members of society but not because of any merit on their part. No, these rewards are tolerated because they provide an incentive for the advantaged which ultimately will prove beneficial to society (e.g., taxing the advantaged with the goal of redistributing the wealth to provide for the least advantaged). The original position†¦ Using a thought experiment Rawls called â€Å"the original position† from which agents behind a â€Å"veil of ignorance† select principles of justice to govern society, Rawls argued that two principles serve to organize society, the â€Å"liberty principle† and the â€Å"difference principle.† He rooted the original position in and extended the concept of â€Å"social contract† previously espoused by Hobbes, Rousseau, and Locke which made the principles of justice the object of the contract binding members of society together. In addition, Rawls’ advocacy of treating people only as ends and never as means rooted his philosophical speculations in and extended Kant’s categorical imperative. According to Rawls, a society is a cooperative venture between free and equal persons for the purpose of mutual advantage. Cooperation among members makes life better because cooperation increases the stock of what it is rational for members of societ y to desire irrespective of whatever else its members may want. Rawls calls these desires â€Å"primary goods† which include among others: health, rights, income, and the social bases of self-respect. The problem every society must confront, Rawls noted, is that the members will oftentimes disagree about what constitutes the good and how the benefits and burdens within society will be distributed among its members. Some believe, for example, that the good consists in virtuous conduct which perfects the commonweal while others believe that the good is discovered in the pursuit of individual happiness, at least in so far as the members of society define these terms. Some members believe that an individual’s merit should determine how one will participate in society’s benefits while others believe that society must provide the least advantaged extra assistance so that they will be able to share equally in society’s benefits. If society is to exist and to endure despite these and other such differences, its members must de rive a consensus regarding what minimally constitutes the good. What consensus requires in actual practice is that the members of society agree upon the rules which will govern them as a society and that these rules will be applied consistently. But, Rawls asked, just how would a society and its members know what constitutes a â€Å"fair† principle? And, how would it be possible to determine what is â€Å"reasonable† for every member to agree with? Thompson cites the example of welfare to make this point: The growth of the welfare state has often been explained and defended as a progressive recognition that government should provide certain benefits (positive rights) in order to prevent certain harms to citizens (negative rights). Yet its opponents claim that the welfare state violates the negative rights of other citizens (property owners, for example). (1987, p. 104) Rawls responded to this challenge by invoking the original position, in which representative members of a society would determine the answers to these difficult questions. That is, absent any government, the representatives would rationally discuss what sort of government will be supported by a social contract which will achieve justice among all members of society. The purpose for this discourse would not be to justify governmental authority but to identify the basic principles that would govern society when government is established. The chief task of these rep resentatives would not be to protect individual rights but to promote the welfare of society (1971, p. 199). To this end, the representatives do not know—are â€Å"veiled† from—which place in society they will occupy. In addition, every factor which might bias a decision (e.g., one’s tastes, preferences, talents, handicaps, conception of the good) is kept from the representatives. They do, however, possess knowledge of those factors which will not bias one’s decision (e.g., social knowledge, scientific knowledge, knowledge identifying what human beings need to live). From this original position and shrouded by a veil of ignorance about their place in society, Rawls argued the representatives ultimately would select the principle of justice rather than other principles (e.g., axiological virtues, natural law, utilitarian principles) to organize and govern society. While individual members of society oftentimes do act in their self-interest, this does not mean that they cannot be rational about their self-interests. Rawls argued that this is precisely what would occur in the original position when the representatives operated from behind the veil of ignorance. Freed from focusing upon one’s self-interest to the exclusion of others’ self-interests, the society which the representatives would design determines what will happen to its members and how important social matters like education, health care, welfare, and job opportunities will be distributed throughout society. The idea is that the representatives operating from behind the veil of ignorance would design a society that is fair for all of its members because no individual member would be willing to risk ending up in an intolerable position that one had created for others but had no intention of being in oneself. Why is this so? Rawls claimed that the representatives to the original position would invoke the principle of rational choice, the so-called â€Å"maximin decision rule.† This rule states that an agent, when confronted with a choice between alternative states of the world with each state containing a range of possible outcomes, would choose the state of affairs where the worst outcome is that state of affairs which is better than the worst outcome presented by any other alternative. Rawls’ example of two persons sharing a piece of cake demonstrates how the maximin decision rule works in actual practice. Suppose there is one piece of cake that two persons want to eat. They equally desire to eat the cake and each wants the biggest piece possible. To deal with this dilemma, both agree that one will cut the cake while the other will choose one of the two pieces. The consensus derived guarantees that the cake will be shared fairly, equating â€Å"justice† with â€Å"fairness.† The two principles of justice†¦ By equating the principle of justice with fairness, the representatives in the original position and operating from behind the veil of ignorance would elect to organize society around the liberty principle and the difference principle. The liberty principle requires dictates that each member of society has an equal right to the most extensive scheme of equal basic liberties compatible with a similar system of equal liberty for all. Accordingly, each member of society should receive an equal guarantee to as many different liberties―and as much of those liberties―as can be guaranteed to every member of society. The liberties Rawls discussed include: political liberty (the right to vote and to be eligible for public office); freedom of speech and assembly; liberty of conscience and freedom of thought; freedom of the person along with the right to hold personal property; and, freedom from arbitrary arrest and seizure. In contrast to some libertarian interpretations of utili tarianism, Rawls did not advocate absolute or complete liberty which would allow members of society to have or to keep absolutely anything. The difference principle requires that all economic inequalities be arranged so that they are both: a) to the benefit of the least advantaged and b) attached to offices and positions open to all members under conditions of fair equality of opportunity. If this is to occur, Rawls argued, †¦each generation should â€Å"preserve the gains of culture and civilization, and maintain intact those just institutions that have been established† in addition to putting aside â€Å"in each period of time a suitable amount of real capital accumulation.† (1971, p. 285) Rawls is willing to tolerate inequalities in society but only if they are arranged so that any inequality actually assists the least advantaged members of society and that the inequalities are connected to positions, offices, or jobs that each member has an equal opportunity to attain. In the United States, this scheme is oftentimes called â€Å"equal opportunity.† The inequalities Rawls discussed include: i nequalities in the distribution of income and wealth as well as inequalities imposed by institutions that use differences in authority and responsibility or chains of command. The reason the representatives in the original position and operating from behind the veil of ignorance would agree upon the difference principle is not due to the existence of a social contract but to ethics. That is, members of society do not deserve either their natural abilities or their place in a social hierarchy. Where and when one was born and the privileges and assets afforded by one’s birth is a matter of sheer luck. It would be unfair, Rawls contended, were those born into the least advantaged of society to remain in that place if all members of society could do better by abandoning (or redistributing) initial differences. According to Rawls, this is what ethics―according to the standard of justice―demands and, in the United States, this is the basis of what is oftentimes called â€Å"affirmative action.† The representatives would agree. The liberty principle must always take precedence to the difference principle so that every member of society is assured of equal basic liberties. Similarly, the second part of the difference principle cited above (b) must take priority to the first part (a) so that the conditions of fair equality of opportunity are also guaranteed for everyone (1971, p. 162). Thus, the two principles of justice, the liberty principle and the difference principle, are ordered because society cannot justify a decrease in liberty by increasing any member’s social and economic advantage. Reflecting Rawls’ interest in political philosophy, the liberty and principle and the difference principle apply to the basic structure of society (what might be called a â€Å"macro view†)―society’s fundamental political and economic arrangements―rather than to particular conduct by governmental officials or individual laws (what might be called a â€Å"micro view†). The liberty principle requires society to provide each citizen with a fully adequate scheme of basic liberties (e.g., freedom of conscience, freedom of expression, and due process of law). The difference principle requires that inequalities in wealth and social position be arranged so as to benefit society’s most disadvantaged group. In cases where the two principles conflict, Rawls argues the liberty principle must always take precedence over the difference principle. One example that applies Rawls’ theory of justice involves how one would become a lawyer in the society designed by the representatives in the original position and operating from behind the veil of ignorance. This example also indicates how and why inequalities would exist in that society. In the original position and operating from behind the veil of ignorance, representatives organize society to be governed according to the liberty principle and the difference principle. In that society, any member of society can become a lawyer if one possesses the talent. So, a young woman discovers that she possesses the talent and interest to become a lawyer and decides that this is what she wants to do in her life. But, to get the education she actually needs to become a lawyer requires an inequality. That is, less fortunate people must help pay for her education at the public university’s law school with their taxes. In return, however, this young woman will perform some very important functions for other people―including the less fortunate―once she becomes a lawyer. At the same time, however, the lawyer will make a lot of money. But, she is free to keep it because she has earned it. At the same time, she will also pay taxes to the government which, in turn, will be used to provide needed programs for the least advantaged members of society. The issue of equitable pay also provides a practical example that clarifies how Rawls’ theory of justice can be applied (Maclagan, 1998, pp. 96-97). Noting that the principle â€Å"equal pay for equal work† is eminently fair in concept, Maclagan notes that not all work is equal. What is really needed in society is some rational basis to compare what sometimes are very different occupations and jobs, especial ly when this involves comparing â€Å"men’s work† and â€Å"women’s work.† Typically, the criteria used to compare dissimilar jobs quantifies work requirements as well as the investment individuals must make to attain these positions. In addition, the amount of skill and training required, the potential for danger and threat to one’s life, the disagreeableness involved in the work, as well as the degree of responsibility associated with a job all figure prominently when making such calculations. In actual practice, however, making comparisons between dissimilar jobs is an immensely difficult undertaking, as Maclagan notes, citing as an example the difficulties management and labor both confront in the process of collective bargaining. Collective bargaining involves ethics because each party declares what the other ought to do. When these differences are resolved through a consensus, a â€Å"contract† provides the basic structure by which the members of that society (called the â€Å"corporation†) will organize and govern themselves for a specific period of time. Coming to agreement upon a contract—like Rawls’ concept of reflective equilibrium—requires both parties to the collective bargaining process to align their principles and intuitions through the process of considered dialogue and mutual judgment. Furthermore, the contract―like Rawls’ difference principle―tolerates inequalities in pay but only as long as the least advantaged enjoy equal opportunity and their situation is protected if not improved. What is noteworthy about Maclagan’s example is that the parties are not in the original position nor do they operate from behind a veil of ignorance. Instead, they have to move toward those positions if they are to adjudicate their differences amicably and for the benefit of both. The critics†¦ Since its first publication in 1971, Rawls’ work has received some begrudging if not respectful criticism. Some have asked which members of society constitute the â€Å"least advantaged†? For his part, Rawls identified these people generally as unskilled workers and those whose average income is less than the median income. What Rawls failed to address, however, is the plight of those who may be the truly least advantaged members of society, namely, those citizens of some permanently unemployed underclass, who depend entirely upon government largesse to subsist (e.g., welfare), or whose racial or ethnic origins condemn them to permanent disadvantage. The critics ask: Should not their plight be considered more important than those who possess more of society’s benefits? Furthermore, in so far as Rawls states the difference principle, it appears that inequalities are permissible but only if they better the lot of the least advantaged members of society. However, cr itics note, that position is inconsistent with Rawls’ claim that the representatives to the original position must not take an interest in anyone’s particular interests. The logic fails if preference must be given by those in the original position to the least advantaged. Lastly, Rawls’ critique of utilitarianism, his embrace of egalitarianism, and the actual effects of the difference principle combine in such a way that his philosophy can be construed to advocate political agenda with Marxist overtones. That is, in actual practice Rawls’ theory would redistribute society’s benefits away from the â€Å"haves† to the â€Å"have nots† with little or no concomitant bearing of society’s burdens. Economists, for example, note that Rawls has neglected to consider the market forces unleashed in a capitalist society where seeking one’s self-interest is arguably the primary motivating principle. These critics argue that even the least advantaged, if they so choose, can take advantage of the minimal benefits society offers them by virtue of citizenship. Through education, persistence, and hard work, the least ad vantaged (or, their children in the next generation) will be able to participate more fully in enjoying the benefits as well as in bearing the burdens of membership in society. The critics ask: â€Å"Is this not what has happened to waves of immigrants to the United States during the past two hundred years?† In light of these criticisms, Rawls modified the principles of liberty and difference. Pondering the question of social stability, Rawls considered how a society ordered by the two principles of liberty and difference might endure. In Political Liberalism (1996), Rawls introduced the idea that stability can be found in an overlapping consensus between citizens who hold diverse religious and philosophical views or conceptions about what constitutes the good to be sought. As with Maclagan’s (1998) collective bargaining example, this â€Å"overlapping consensus† is found in their agreement that justice is best defined as fairness. In Justice as Fairness (2001), Rawls introduced the idea of public reason, that is, the reason possessed by all citizens which contributes to social stability, a notion he first detailed in The Law of Peoples with â€Å"The Idea of Public Reason† Revisited (1999). References Aristotle. (1958). Nicomachean ethics (W. D. Ross, Trans.) In J. D. Kaplan (Ed.), The pocket Aristotle (pp. 158-274). New York: Washington Square Press. Maclagan, P. (1998). Management & morality. Thousand Oaks, IL: Sage Press. Rawls, J. (2001). Justice as fairness: A restatement. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press. Rawls, J. (1999a). A theory of justice (rev. ed.). Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press. Rawls, J. (1999b). The law of peoples with â€Å"the idea of public reason† revisited. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Rawls, J. (1996). Political liberalism. New York: Columbia University Press. Rawls, J. (1971). A theory of justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Thompson, D. F. (1990). Political ethics and public office. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Animal Farm Allegory – Revolution and Dystopia

Eric Blair, known by his pen name George Orwell, was an Englishman whose writings attacked political and social oppression. One of his best-known works, Animal Farm, was written in 1945 and is a satire on abusive political power and an allegory of Russian history. George Orwell’s life experiences influenced Animal Farm; as a student, he was discriminated against, and as an adult he was often impoverished and rebelled against social and economic oppression. Napoleon, a huge Berkshire boar who becomes the dictator of Animal Farm, exhibits many of the traits of Stalin and other dictators as he constantly manipulates thought and belief, sets up a scapegoat, and proves his power by making others suffer. Napoleon uses his agent Squealer to manipulate thought and belief about he happenings on the farm just as Stalin used the communist newspaper, Pravda. Throughout the course of the novel, the animals all work on the windmill, the main project of the farm. At the very start, Napoleon had been opposed to the idea of the windmill, but through Squealer makes all the other animals believe â€Å"that [he] had never in reality been opposed to the windmill† (Orwell 71). Napoleon is probably opposed to the idea of the windmill because it was Snowball’s idea first. After Snowball was expelled, Napoleon takes the idea as his own so he can have the credit if it succeeds, and if it doesn’t then he can blame Snowball. Joseph Stalin did much of the same idea in that if anything worked, it was his idea and if it failed, he quickly found a scapegoat. Napoleon also uses Squealer to spread propaganda about his false feelings for the animals. He has Squealer give long speeches in which he â€Å"would talk with the tears rolling down his cheeks of Napoleon’s wisdom, the goodness of his heart, and the deep love he bore to all animals everywhere, even and especially the unhappy animals who still lived in ignorance and slavery on other farms† (Orwell 100). Napoleon obviously doesn’t care much for the animals on the farm just as Stalin and other dictators don’t really care about the well being of the people that they rule. Napoleon, like Stalin and other dictators, uses propaganda to maintain control over the people, and keep himself in power. Just as Stalin sets up Trotsky as his scapegoat for things that go wrong, Napoleon makes Snowball his scapegoat throughout the novel so Napoleon never takes the blame for anything. As conditions on the farm start to deteriorate under Napoleon’s rule, Napoleon tells the animals that â€Å"[Snowball] stole the corn, he upset the milk-pails, he broke the eggs, he trampled the seedbeds, he gnawed the bark off the fruit trees† (Orwell 88). This isn’t the case, as Snowball had never done any of those things just as all scapegoats usually don’t commit any of the crimes they are accused of. Napoleon, like Stalin and other dictators, need to set up a scapegoat for poor conditions so that failures will never reflect poorly on them. As conditions on the farm grow worse and worse under Napoleon’s rule, it becomes commonplace for the animals to accept that â€Å"Whenever anything went wrong it became usual to attribute it to Snowball† (Orwell 88). A big enough lie has been told about Snowball so often, that all the animals just automatically believe that all the problems on the farm are Snowball’s fault. Without scapegoats to blame all their problems on, dictators would be overthrown even more quickly than they usually are. Napoleon shares another trait with other dictators in that he must prove his power by making others suffer. To help wash his hands of all of the failures of the farm, Napoleon, by intimidation, forces four pigs to confess â€Å"that they had been secretly in touch with Snowball ever since his expulsion, that they had collaborated with him in destroying the windmill, and that they had entered into an agreement with him to hand over Animal Farm to Mr. Frederick† (Orwell 92). Napoleon holds these trials of the animals and forces them to confess to things that they didn’t do just as Joseph Stalin did during the Moscow Purge Trails. The trials continue and the reasons for slaughtering become even more ridiculous as some animals are even slain for having a dream of Snowball. The awful trials continue, â€Å"until there was a pile of corpses lying before Napoleon’s feet and the air was heavy with the smell of blood, which had been unknown there since the expulsion of Jones† (Orwell 93). The society that the pigs and Napoleon created has now come to mirror the society that the animals had rebelled against at the beginning of the novel. Napoleon, like other dictators, feels that he must continually prove his power in order to keep from being overthrown. Napoleon constantly manipulates the thoughts and beliefs of the other animals, sets up Snowball as a scapegoat, and proves his power by making others suffer for his failures, similar to how Stalin and other dictators established and controlled their regimes. When those in power become corrupt, prosperous societies become dystopias controlled by the wishes and wants of those who lead. Lord Acton once said that â€Å"Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely,† a theme that is echoed not only throughout this novel, but also throughout history.

Organisational Leadership and Change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Organisational Leadership and Change - Essay Example The mission of the organization is to lead the industry, serve the people and make unique differences for the business partners. The organization became popular due to its innovative product and service differentiation (Honold, 1997, pp.22-24). However, recent financial crisis forced the organization to implement major restructuring and change process. They implemented reduction in-force strategy to overcome the impact of economic challenges. In the year 2009, the financial crisis affected the service business of Microsoft in Asia (Ang, 2012, pp.12-13). The organization terminated numerous employees like those associated as support staffs and consultants. Inadequate implementation of retrenchment theory and change management process developed several critical issues. These workplace conflicts reduced the image and reputation of the organization in global market place. This reduction-in-force strategy reduced the motivation level of the employees. This change management concept increa sed job insecurity of employees (Greenhalgh and Rosenblatt, 1984, p.8). However, after an open discussion, the organization tried to develop several sustainable strategies in order to maintain its brand image within the global market place. ... In 2009, the financial crisis occurred through all over the world. Due to of this financial crisis, many workers were laid off. The organization’s morale was all time low; even the general managers were also replaced. Employees were highly dissatisfied and de -motivated due to the strategies taken by the management. Organization takes retrenchment strategy when they have to reduce their cost. In this strategy, organizations reduce the overall size and diversity of the operations. The goal is to get a stable financial growth by cutting down the expenses. The organization follows a contraction of its activities by reducing one or more functions or eliminating the scope of business. For example, one company, as a part of retrenchment strategy, can focus only on a single segment of a business which gives it a higher revenue opportunity. For example a hospital can focus only on the special theatre and ignore the general theatre because the special theatre provides them better reven ue. During the retrenchment, the company follows change management strategies after a little discussion with the employees. It was the first time; the company reduced 20% of its workforce. The sudden workforce reduction of the company had a huge negative impact on the employees mind. The overall situation was very frustrated and uncertain. The employees were highly de-motivated that even after 6 months of the incident, the employees were talking about the workforce reduction. Significant drop was noticed in the workgroup health index (WHI). WHI is an index used to measure the employee engagement and leadership. The results of WHI indicated that Microsoft scored 76 points only and it was the record failure of the company. The company judged their leaders on the basis of

Frames paper incorporating Lee G. Bolman and Terrence E. Deal's four Term

Frames incorporating Lee G. Bolman and Terrence E. Deal's four frameworks - Term Paper Example Production factors are vital to the manager, since the company cannot enter the market without a product to offer. Labor, premises, raw materials, and machinery are the major factors. Similarly, the company considers its market segments and determines the number of competitors and customers and the relationship between the two groups. The company further researches to establish all the relevant stakeholders in the micro and macro environments (Bolman & Deal, 2008). The following cites a comprehensive framework of the above-mentioned factors in relation to that of Bolman and Deal. Our most important tool of management is labor. Labor comprises of all employees that help in effecting the product manufacturing process. Employees show different behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes relative to their different cultures and societies. This brings forth a state of confusion on how to coerce their differences for the company’s benefit. As the manager, I maintain a distinct culture that me ntors all employees’ characteristics to target towards achieving organizational goals and objectives. I ensure that employees abide by the code of conduct at the result targets to mutual benefits. Conflicts among employees are a common lyric in every organization thus; the management intervenes and rules out in accordance to the code stipulated by the organization. When these conflicts involve employees and the organization, the management has to find a solution before operations come into halt. As the manager, I practice the spirit of motivation, that is, in influencing a person to perform a given task either by use of a positive measure or a negative one. To the company, motivation plays the most pivotal role as it affects performance of the set goals. Giving employees more than just monetary incentives, will similarly improve their performance and the outcome is that the company will achieve its objectives. Therefore, the importance of motivation is to enable workers sense that they are part of the organization. I believe in motivation as it eases unnecessary fears amongst the employees. The company’s statistics reveal that workers perform poorly under oppression as compared to when motivated. This is because; they have the duty to carry out all tasks, irrespective of whether machinery or manual operations. The essence is that, no matter the employees competence to a task, shortcomings may arise due to monotony, frustration, and oppression. As a manager, I should engage in motivation, and must try to curb behaviors that tend to mislead the company, and practice behaviors that will gear up progression and prosperity. Bearing in mind that, every set of human beings does exhibit distinct cultures, the management should observe and tame that culture which favors the company. Culture comprises of personal beliefs, attributes, needs, and behaviors. On addressing these issues properly, the company pursues its objectives and strategically beats compet ition. I believe in addressing issues in a friendly way and welcome views from the employees. I believe in avoiding ideologies of drawing attention from the employees that they should recognize me by my position. Every company has a mission and vision in its business field. Therefore, to come up with the best results of production, I consider the goals and objectives of the company. For example, the company’s mission is to enhance economic growth and customer satisfaction, the products entice consumers to feel

Performance Management And Reward System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Performance Management And Reward System - Essay Example A lot of organisation managers neglect these important performance management functions since they are terribly time overwhelming and need some competent skills. However, that should not be a barrier. There are lots nice; reasonable performance management applications offered that automates the full method, and even offer tools that help to create it and make it easier to align goals, write feedback and select development activities. Grouping package is one amongst the leading suppliers; however there are many others as well.Reward systems will and sometimes do have associate influence on the effectiveness of structure modification efforts. Once the impact of a modification program on the reward system is not taken into consideration, the reward system will become a crucial impediment to people accepting the modification. On the opposite hand, once the reward system is taken into account and made a part of the modification strategy, it will create a positive contribution to a modific ation effort. It is exactly due to the general nature of organizations that nearly any modification effort has implications for the reward system.The capability of the employees is improved through motivation and rewarding hard work. For an organisation to retain motivated workers and achieve high performance there should be development programs which has motivational reward strategies and challenging work. This will enhance career development and progressive job satisfaction.

Work Plan for a Formal Business Report Assignment

Work Plan for a Formal Business Report - Assignment Example The report will compare the types of wiki used by the two companies in order to determine a suitable type of wiki for Home Bank. The report will also include subtopics such as: benefits and costs, risks, training needs, and recommendation. Benefit and Costs will be an important part of the report because it will inform the supervisor about the feasibility of the wiki, so that it can be rejected if it has more costs than benefits and accepted if it has more benefits than costs (Brown, 2006). This report will not include wider elements of a wiki that do not apply to the bank. The business investigation report will be conducted in a sequence of steps. This will involve the use of mainly secondary sources of data. First, the investigating team will collect data from the relevant secondary sources and record them for analysis. The team will then analyse the data objectively. The analysed data will then be discussed and appropriate recommendations are provided based on the