High School and Social Support Essay Example for Free

High School and Social Support Essay The purpose of the study was to determine possible differences in leadership behaviors, using the Revised Leadership for Sport Scale (RLSS), between male and female coaches and among different coaching levels. The researchers submitted two hypotheses. The first hypothesis was that male and female coaches would respond differently to the RLSS in overall leadership behaviors. The second hypothesis was that differences on the RLSS would occur among coaching levels: junior high, high school, and college. The sample was nonrandom, including 162 coaches that were chosen on a volunteer  basis. Within the sample, 118 (0. 73) of the coaches were male, while 44 (0. 27) were female. With regard to coaching level, 25 (0. 15) were junior high coaches, 99 (0. 61) high school, and 38 (0. 24) at the college level. While this is a good sample size, the problem lies with the distribution of the sample. The sample number for junior high coaches, in particular, is rather low. A larger sample with regard to all categories would have aided in the data analysis, particularly when looking for possible interactions between gender and coaching level. The instrument utilized was the Revised Leadership for Sport Scale (RLSS) developed by Zhang, Jensen, and Mann in 1996. This scale is used to measure six leadership behaviors: training and instruction, democratic, autocratic, social support, positive feedback, and situational consideration. The scale uses 60 statements, which were preceded by â€Å"In coaching, I:† A Likert scale was then given for each statement: 1 = never; 2 = seldom; 3 = occasionally; 4 = often; and 5 = always. This produced an ordinal level data set. Scales were administered in a number of environmental settings: classrooms, gymnasiums, practice  fields, and offices. The internal consistency for each section was calculated: 0. 84 for training and instruction; 0. 66 for democratic; 0. 70 for autocratic; 0. 52 for social support; 0. 78 for positive feedback; and 0. 69 for situational consideration. There was no information, however, regarding the validity of the RLSS. A MANOVA was used to analyze the data for differences between male and female coaches with regard to leadership behaviors. This is not consistent with the type of data collected. The RLSS used a Likert scale (ordinal), yet a MANOVA would be most  applicable for normally distributed, quantitative data. The analysis showed there were no significant differences between male and female coaches in overall leadership behaviors. When the six leadership styles were examined separately, there was a significant difference in social support between males and females. In general, females scored much higher than did the male coaches. A MANOVA was also used to examine the data for differences between the three levels of coaching (junior high, high school, and college) with regard to leadership behavior in general. There were significant differences between the three levels. When breaking down the six behaviors and examining them individually, an ANOVA was used to analyze the data. Again, because the data for the RLSS is ordinal, an ANOVA is not the best analysis tool. The three coaching levels scored differently on three of the six behaviors: democratic behaviors, training and instruction, and social support. High school coaches scored much higher than college level coaches in democratic behavior. Junior high coaches were significantly lower in training and instruction than either high school or college coaches. Junior high coaches also demonstrated a lesser degree of social support than either the high school or college coaches. A MANOVA was again used to analyze the data for any interaction between gender and coaching level with regard to overall leadership behavior. Once again, a better analysis method could have been chosen based on the nature of the data collected. The results indicated no significant interactions. The ecological generaliziability for the study is fairly high. The surveys were mailed out, and returned on a volunteer basis. However, due to the nonrandom nature of the sample, the results would not generalizable beyond the 162 participants in the study. There was no effect size is listed for the study. In order to reduce threats to internal validity, the participants were asked to respond honestly and confidentiality was stressed so that the â€Å"coaches might feel more at ease in responding. † No other efforts were indicated. The researchers mention that the scales were given in a variety of settings. This could present a threat to the internal validity in that participants might not have been entirely focused on completing the scale, but instead on coordinating practice, completing  paperwork, etc. There are a number of other factors that could effect the internal validity of the study, yet were not addressed by the researchers. Coaching experience would greatly effect the responses of the participants, yet this was not considered in the study. The gender of the athletes may be a contributing factor to the coaches’ responses. It is not unreasonable to suppose that coaches of female athletes, particularly at the junior high and high school levels, will demonstrate more social support than those of male athletes. The nature of the  sport could also be critical. Certain coaching styles are more applicable for individual sports (wrestling, track, and tennis) than for team sports (football, soccer, and basketball). The socioeconomics and population of the school itself could play a factor. Certain schools have better athletes and programs in a particular sport, while others may not be able to field a winning team. In addition, at the high school level, coaches are occasionally asked/forced to work with a program they have no knowledge of or desire to coach due to staffing  shortages. This could dramatically influence a coach’s response to the scale questions. The history of the program as well as the individual coach’s personal coaching history could greatly influence responses. If the program has had several losing seasons in a row, perhaps the attitude of the coach could be different than that of a coach who has recently won a state title. An additional set of questions regarding the personal history of the coach in question could have helped reduce many of these threats. With additional information, the  researchers may have been able to use a modified matching system when analyzing the results. By increasing the number of independent variables to include things such as coaching experience and gender of the athletes, the researchers could have reduced some of the potential threats to internal validity. In addition, bringing coaches together to a common setting could have reduced location threat. Coaches meet seasonally for clinics. Perhaps obtaining permission to administer the survey during these meetings would have been possible. It would have also been possible to actually go to individual  schools and meet with the coaches as a group to administer surveys. This method would have given a good cross-section of gender and coaching experience for a variety of sports. While the study has merit, the methods need to be re-evaluated. The power of the study needs to be increased by obtaining a larger sample size. The numerous potential threats to internal validity need to be addressed and minimized where possible. It would also be helpful to be given data regarding the validity of the RLSS. Without these, it is impossible to evaluate the potential meaningfulness of this study.

Implications of Internet Monitoring on Employees

Implications of Internet Monitoring on Employees By Panuganti Shiv Devara What are the legal and moral implications of internet monitoring on employees? Computers at workplace, are used by employees for their official work, companies often apply employee monitoring software that lets them track everything workers do on their systems. This is termed as internet monitoring of employees. Employee monitoring is most useful to the managers for the fact that job performance is value-added. The benefits of employee monitoring are, looking after errors, the employer can also help the organization cut on expensive inaccuracies and helps the employer mend through supervision. The employer can easily identify policy violators for disciplinary action. Employers engage in employee monitoring to track performance, avoid legal liability, protect trade secrets, and address other security concerns. This practice may some-time influence on employee satisfaction due to its impact on privacy (Ball, Daniel and Stride, 2012). As present-day businesses rely more and more on their websites, internet monitoring software guarantees a nearly uninterrupted runn ing of a companys web presence. Internet facility to the employees is an essential requirement of any employer. The provision of internet facility will enhance the work efficiency of the employees in many ways, and several benefits to the employer. The old-fashioned norms of employment law not only permit electronic monitoring but assumes the legality of its practice as one way of guiding workplace communication and online services (Eivazi, 2011). Employers control is a key feature of the employment contract where it creates employers with the power to control, monitor, and direct the work of employees at workplace. Sometimes, the pressure resulting from workplace monitoring can lead to misleading performance results. The essay is structured to delineate advantages of implementing internet monitoring on employees in workplaces, implications on productivity of organizations, and available acceptable suggestions. A study of the impact of the internet on productivity can be useful for managers by making them aware of the negative effects on productivity and problematic employee behavior (Gumbus and Grodzinsky, 2005). The employee-monitoring-software allows the employer to track everything employees do on their computers. Many workplaces rely heavily on e-mail use and internet access as chief tools of their business. The internet access allows data to be collected, stored, retrieved, and processed at remarkable speed, for businesses. Employers resort to electronic monitoring to protect their business interests and to minimize or prevent exposure to the potential risk of legal liability arising from the misuse of online services at work by employees (Cornelius and Cancer, 2014). Invasion of privacy is one of the important issues in implementing the internet monitoring on employees in business organizations (Carly, 2013) and in educational institutions (Verton, 2004). Employers have a legal right to monitor productivity of workers while workers have the right to be told how they are watched. Video surveillance is a common method used by employers to maintain employee workstations. Strategically placed video cameras can record and archive the computer usage. Video cameras are legal in the work place without notice, except for offensive locations such as locker rooms and bathrooms. While online services such as e-mail and internet access are being used as an efficient tool of communication at work to help business growth, employers cannot overlook its negative legal effects for their businesses. Employees misuse of these services can expose employers, or even themselves, to a new dimension of potential legal liability. Sophisticated monitoring and blocking tool s (filters) will continue to be used by organizations to solve productivity issues due to internet misuse (Wen and Lin, 1998). As outlined above, many of these themes map to national and international privacy frameworks and principles, which may provide additional guidance to employers as to balancing employer versus employee rights and responsibilities. There are certain suggestions for problem-free implementation of internet monitoring of employees. Tools such as InterGuard (http://www.interguardsoftware.com/news_articles.html, NetVizor (http://www.netvizor.net), SurveilStar (http://www.surveilstar.com) and RealtimeSpay (http://www. Realtime-spy.com) have been applied as internal threat solutions that contain different modules such as employee monitoring, web filtering, data loss prevention and laptop anti-theft recovery (http://www.interguardsoftware.com/news_articles.html). By recording the computer (PC/Mac) activity (file tracking, e-mails, social media activity, keystrokes, in stant messages, web activity and screenshots), these tools help protecting the internal threats and keep the contents compliance and maximize employee productivity. Internet monitoring software also provides nursing of every aspect concerning management solution. Further these tools offer bandwidth and IT traffic monitor which indicates which computer is responsible for most bandwidth consumption in the network. Thus, electronic monitoring has become the community norm and a permanent tool of our modern offices (Myria, Kasey, Stephanie and Joy, 2007; Eivazi, 2011). Hence, frame work, involving a specific structure, developed in consultation with employee representatives, delineating the acceptable use of the internet in work places, is one of the common and direct solutions to the legal and moral problems (Gumbus and Grodzinsky, 2006). Eventually, such an internet model solution that sets basic guidelines is required to be made available to all the employees in work place. Employees may also use this model for reasonable private purposes which are consistent with the acceptable use policy. It may be concluded that Internet monitoring plays a pivotal role in monitoring of the assigned duties of the employees in any business organization. This way of surveillance using modern IT tools such as e-mail communications through internet aids to the growth of companies. Although the advantages and disadvantages of employee monitoring seem to balance out, the disadvantages can easily be smoothed out through the right balance of technology and personal engagement. Therefore, the workplace privacy and employee monitoring can go hand in hand such that the employees do not feel pressured but motivated to achieve their outright best. The aspect of employee monitoring involves different areas of the law, from labor to constitutional. While introducing and adopting such procedures and techniques, certain legal and moral issues such as that need to be faced and solved by the business information system analysts and administrators, are discussed. To prevent or minimize the broad range of risk, coupled with the concealed nature of activities online, employers should take reasonable steps to ensure that workplace online services are not being misused. Taking into consideration the benefits of internet monitoring services upon which our modern workplaces are becoming increasingly dependent for their businesses, such trends need to be continued. The education of employees, as well as employers, with respect to their awareness and better understanding of the risks associated with Internet misuse at work. By considering the present-day advancements in IT, some strategic remedial measures and mitigation options like powerful software programs are highlighted. With the advent of recent cutting-edge technological and modeling tools, it is hoped that more and more fast monitoring / diagnosis techniques and cost-effective solutions to minimize the problems that are being encountered by the business establishments come into the practice, leading to substantial growth in the bu siness organization profiles. REFERENCES Ball, K., Daniel, E. M. and Stride, C. (2012). Dimensions of employee privacy: an empirical study. Information Technology and People, Vol. 25, Iss:4, pp. 376-394, http://dx.doi.org / 10.1108/09593841211278785 Carly L. H. (2013). The insider threat and employee privacy: An overview of recent case law. Computer Law Security Review, Vol. 29, pp. 368-381, www.sciencedirect.com, http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1016 / jclsv.2013.05.014 Cornelius J. K. and Cancer de la Guardia, M. E. (2014). Exploring the positive side of personal internet use at work: Does it help in managing the border between work and non-work, Computers in Human Behavior, Vol. 30, pp. 355-360,http://dx.doi.org.ez.library.latrobe.edu.au /10.1016/ j.chb.2013.09.021 Eivazi, K. (2011). Computer use monitoring and privacy at work, Computer Law and Security Review, Vol. 27, pp. 516-523, www.elsevier.com/locate/clsr Gumbus, A. and Grodzinsky F. (2006). Ethical and managerial implications of internet monitoring, WCOB Faculty Publications. Paper 129, pp. 119-124, http://digitalcommons.sacredheart.edu/wcob_fac/129 Myria, W.A., Kasey L. W., Stephanie J. C. and Joy L. H. (2007). Workplace Surveillance and Managing Privacy Boundaries, Management Communication Quarterly, Vol. 21, No. 2, http://mcq.sagepub.com hosted at http://online.sagepub.com Verton, D. (2004). Email glitch exposes flaw in privacy law, Computerworld, Vol. 38, No. 28, pp. 1, https://doi.org/10.1108/09593841211278785 Wen, H.J. and Lin, B. (1998). Internet and employee Productivity, Management Decision, Vol. 36, pp. 6, doi:10.1108/00251749810204142

Feminist Theories in Social Work

Feminist Theories in Social Work This research considers the application of feminist thought in social work practise.   Specific areas of consideration include the gap from social workers’ personal acceptance of feminist constructs and their use of such constructs in daily practise, the effects of perpetuation of hegemonic gender roles by social workers, and domestic violence victims perceptions of the effectiveness of social work based on the perspectives of their social workers as considered above.   This research further describes a focus group of college social work students who are also domestic violence victims. It records their perceptions of social workers’ worldviewsand the impact of such on service.   Conclusions include that there is asignificant gap between the understanding or acceptance of feministconstructs amongst social workers and its application in daily fieldpractise, that social workers are often likely to perpetuate hegemonicgender roles, and because of such perpetuation view domestic violencesituations as individual occurrences rather than part of a greatersocietal pattern of oppression, and that domestic violence survivorsfeel best served when work with them uses a feminist theoreticalframework. INTRODUCTION Feminism and social work have been associated for many years; however,although many social workers personally espouse working from a feministperspective, the systems of social work still favour work from atraditional or patriarchal perspective.   This research, therefore,seeks to first consider findings from previous study regarding thisphenomenon and the theoretical frameworks for both social work andfeminist thought.   In this light of information gleaned from thesefindings, it became apparent that hegemonic gender roles, a commontopic of feminist research, play a relevant part in work with survivorsof domestic violence.   Specifically, domestic violence survivors areoften directed, either explicitly or implicitly, that their situationis personal and should be considered and dealt with from a personal andpathological perspective rather than applying the tenets of feministthought that view such situations as manifestations of structural andpower problems in our greater society .This study then seeks to document whether this gap between social worktheory supportive of feminist worldviews and social work application ofpractise exists, and if so, how prevalent a gap it is.   This isaccomplished through use of a focus group of college students, all ofwhom have taken at least one course in social work theory and arethemselves domestic violence survivors who have been served, towhatever level of quality, by social workers.   Discussions within thefocus group involved ideas of gender roles and social worker advocacyof hegemonic gender roles, whether explicit or implicit.   The focusgroup then built on this foundation to consider group participants’experiences with social workers and whether they presented anindividual / pathological perspective of domestic violence, or whetherthey presented a perspective that consider the wider influence ofsociety and its systems.   This was further related to the effect ofsuch perceptions on the understanding of and service to groupparticipants at the time of intervention. LITERATURE REVIEW Feminism has emerged in the past thirty years as a viableworldview.   Dietz (2000), quoting Bunch (1980), defined feminism asâ€Å"transformational politics that aims at the dismantling of allpermanent power hierarchies in which one category of humans dominatesor controls another category of humans† (372).   â€Å"In the feminist andempowerment traditions, the personal is political, and individualchange and social change are seen as interdependent† (Deitz 2000,372).   Feminism contends it is not adequate to simply include women inthe world’s political and power systems, as these were designed by andfor men and therefore favour a highly masculinised mechanism forresponding to issues and require women working within these systems todo the same (Scott 1988, Moylan 2003).   Simply including women is notenough; society must give women’s experiences equal time andconsideration, eventually recasting the very meanings of the topics itconsiders (Scott 1988) .   Rather, feminism argues women must be engagedin both the system development and decision-making processes that shapeour society (Moylan 2003).   Consequently, one area where feminism has particularly challengedtraditional views is in the area of gender roles.   For example,Dominelli and McLeod (1989) examine the way in which social problemsare defined, recognising gender as particularly important inunderstanding client groups, and stress egalitarian relationshipsbetween therapists and clients.   Gender is also an importantconsideration of social work due to the patriarchal society that stilldominates most of our world.   This power framework rests on a basis ofhegemonic masculinity (Cohn and Enloe 2003).   Connell (1995) createdthe term ‘hegemonic masculinity’ to describe the valued definition ofmanhood in a society.   He argues that whilst there are multiplepossible masculinities in a culture, only one or a few are most valuedor considered ideal (Conn ell 1995).   This gender definition isconstructed both in relation to femininity and to other, subordinatedmasculinities, and is used to justify both men’s domination of women,and the hegemonically masculine man’s power over other men (Cohn andWeber 1999).Whilst women are increasingly being included in world systems, thesystems themselves still were designed for and operate by and for men.  Therefore, women who participate within the system must do so from maleparadigm, even if it is sometimes at odds with their own preferencesfor how to go about dealing with a situation (Cohn and Enloe 2003).Feminism historically is a â€Å"critique of male supremacy, the belief thatgender order was socially constructed and could not be changed† (Cott1989,205).   Masculinity is often defined as what is not feminine, andfemininity as what is not masculine, although understanding thedynamics of one requires considering both the workings of the other andthe relationship and overlap between the two (Cohn and Enloe 2003).  Masculine definitions are often based on strength, domination andviolence, whilst feminine on weakness, nurturing, compassion andpassitivity (Rabrenovic and Roskos 2001).   The result is pressure onmen adhering to a hegemonic definition of masculinity to view forms ofaddressing conflict other than a physical or masculine response asfeminine and a threat to their manhood (Moylan 2003).   The popular concept of gender holds that masculinity and femininityare unchanging expressions based on the chromosomal male and femalebodies (Butler 1990).   â€Å"Gender is assumed to be ‘hard-wired,’ at leastin part† (Hawkesworth 1997).   Masculine actions and desires for men andfeminine actions and desires for women alone are normal, thesemasculine and feminine traits are not a matter of choice, and allindividuals can be classified as one or the other (Hawkesworth 1997).  However, whilst our society men are considered strong and dominant, andwomen passive and nurturing, â€Å"the meanings of male and female bodiesdiffer from one culture to another, and change (even in our ownculture) over time† (Connell 1993, 75).   For example, there have beenâ€Å"periods in Western history when the modern convention that mensuppress displays of emotion did not apply at all, when men wereeffusive to their male friends and demonstrative about their feelings†(Connell 1993, 75).   â€Å"Masculinities and feminities are constructed oraccomplished in social processes such as child rearing, emotional andsexual relationships, work and politics† (Connell 1993, 75).Feminism, however, contends gender is a constructed by each culture,and as a social practice involves the incorporation of specificsymbols, which support or distort human potential (Hawkesworth 1997).  Ã‚  Gender is created through â€Å"discursively constrained performative acts,†and the repetition of these acts over time cr eates gender for theindividual in society (Butler 1990, x).   People learn to â€Å"act† likewomen or men are supposed to; women are taught to behave in a femininemanner, men are taught to act in a masculine manner.   This is oftenreinforced by authority figures, such as social workers.   Barnes (2003)cites a number of studies which find social workers often assume theâ€Å"disciplinary gaze† of notions of â€Å"what and how to be woman,†perpetuating traditional gender roles (149).  Ã‚   â€Å"Armed with rigid codesof gender appropriate behaviors, social workers often sought toregulate and mediate women’s interactions with the social, economic,and political world† (Barns 2003, 149).Feminism and social work share a number of similarities.   Both believeâ€Å"in the inherent worth and dignity of all persons, the value of processover product, the appreciation of unity-diversity, the importance ofconsidering the person-in- environment, and a commitment to personalempowerment and active participation in society as a means to bringabout meaningful social change† (Baretti 2001, 266-267).   Similarly,both feminism and social work address multiple approaches to handlingsituations, challenging the institutionalized oppression common in manypower structures and supporting â€Å"the reconceptualization andredistribution of that power† (Baretti 2001, 267).It follows that one impact of feminism on social work practise is theconsideration of issues from a societal rather than personalperspective.   For example, this might include viewing a domesticviolence situation not from the perspective that the family isdysfunctional, but from the perspective of the society that created thefamily.   The psychology-based focus of clinical social work â€Å"oftenleads to individualizing social problems, rather than to viewing themas the result of relations of power, primarily oppression and abuse†(Deitz 2000, 369).   As such, individuals experiencing such difficultiesare â€Å"taught† that their particular experiences are inappropriate,rather than addressing the systems that created the difficulties in thefirst place (Deitz 2000, 369).   Dominelli and McLeod (1989) re-evaluate social work practice from afeminist perspective, considering the functions of social work such astherapy, community interaction, and policy making not from apathological standpoint but from one of defined roles endorsed bysocietal conditions.   As such, they contend that working from afeminist perspective allows the social worker to address the causes ofsocial issues, rather than the symptoms played out in individual’slives (Dominelli and McLeod 1989).One area of difference in social work practise between those operatingfrom a feminist framework and a traditional framework is the concept ofdistance.   Traditionally, the â€Å"patriarchal bias against relationalityand connection† is intended to lead to â€Å"connection without harm, lovewithout power abuse, touching without sexual abuse in psychotherapy†(Deitz 2000, 377).   Unfortunately, in practise it often results inâ€Å"power over† relationships where those receiving services feel â€Å"lessthan† those providing them.   â€Å"Healing happens when someone feels seen,heard, held, and empowered, not when one is interpreted, held at adistance, and pathologized† (Deitz 2000, 377). Deitz (2000) finds thatsocial workers often institutionalize a â€Å"power over† stance fromprofessional training and discourse that constructs the identities ofclients as somehow disordered, dysfunctional or impaired.   â€Å"Whetherbetween parents and children; physicians and patients; social workersand consumers of services; Whites and Blacks; or heterosexuals andlesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgendered persons, power overrelationships give the dominant partners or group the right to definethe mean ings of subordinates’ experiences (including their resistance)and thus their opportunities for self-affirmation† (Deitz 2000,373).This creates professional relationships that ignore theenvironmental, historical, and social contexts of the problem, discountpeople’s strengths and resilience in assessment and intervention, andlead â€Å"to the objectification of people as diagnoses, rather than toempowerment† (Deitz 2000, 370).   â€Å"The keys to empowerment in feministmicro practice are reconnection and transformation through politicalactivity; survivors of oppression and abuse experience reconnectionthrough relationships based on mutuality, collaboration, andtrustworthiness† (Deitz 2000, 376).Theories from social work, psychology, and particularly developmentalpsychology describe empowerment as primarily a process, with thepersonal transformation of the individual becoming empowered at itsfoundation (Carr 2003, 8).   Barriers to empowerment and problems ofdisenfranchisement caused by powerlessness are primarily political,rather than psychological.   Powerlessness is defined as the inabilityto effectively manage one’s emotions, knowledge, skills, or resources;it is â€Å"derived from the absence of external supports and the existenceof ontological â€Å"power blocks† that become incorporated into a person’sdevelopment† (Carr 2003, 13).   As such, many survivors also work toreconnect to others in their communities, often seeking politicalactivity that â€Å"emphasizes the empowerment of others, such as byorganizing Take Back the Night marches or speak-outs, volunteering forcrisis hot lines, seeking legislative changes, or becoming socialworkers or human service professionals† (Deitz 2000, 376).For example, feminist work with abuse survivors â€Å"emphasizes therelationship between abuse and oppressive social relations (Deitz 2000,374).   On the other hand, the dominant clinical socia l work approach tooppression and abuse relocates the problem of oppression in victims.Psychological theories are typically employed, which â€Å"locates pathologyin individuals, rather than in oppressive relationships and systems,and considers the long-term effects of oppression to be symptoms ofindividual pathology† (Deitz 2000, 374).   Unfortunately, whilst manysocial workers have been exposed to or even personally supportoperating from a feminist framework, the systems in which they workprevent them from actively utilising feminist insight in their dailypractise.   RESEARCH PLAN This research seeks to study the prevalence and impact of traditionaland feminist practitioner constructs from the perspective of thoseserved.   Specifically, a focus group study will be conducted with agroup of college students, all of whom are currently studying socialwork and therefore have some concept regarding social work practice,feminist and traditional worldviews.   In addition, all students in thefocus group will have experienced domestic violence and have beenprovided the services of a social worker in some form during theirteenage years.Three areas of discussion will be undertaken by the group.   These willbe provided to individual group participants in writing several daysbefore the group in order for students to have time to consider whatthey would like to share regarding their opinions and own experiences.  The first group activity will involve creating definitions ofâ€Å"masculine† and â€Å"feminine† from the perspective of a typical socialwork er based on the students’ teenage experiences.   Students will thenbe asked to discuss where, if at all, they personally feel they andtheir family members who were involved in the domestic violencesituation(s) â€Å"fit† regarding these preconceived definitions.   It isanticipated some students will have been uncomfortable with societalconstraints they or their family experienced as teenagers.   As all arestudying social work, they are also anticipated to make moreconnections between societal power issues, hegemonic gender roles, andtheir influence on domestic violence than a focus group without suchbackground.   The third area of discussion will centre on how thestudents’ perceptions of their social worker(s) understanding of genderroles influenced their and their families reception of adequateservice. The researcher will both tape record and take notes on the groupdiscussions.   Data gathered from the group will then be compiled andanalysed.   In a ddition, students from the focus group will be given theoption to write a response to the group activity, if they so desire.  These will be further included in the group data. METHODOLOGY Data collection involved four means.   Prior to the group starting,each participant was given a questionnaire (see Appendix 3) to gatherbasic demographic information.   The questionnaire also asked for abrief summary of their abusive situation.   Regarding data collection ofthe group proceedings, as described above the focus group session wastape-recorded and the researcher took notes to supplement the recordingof group discussion.   The recorded sessions were then transcribed intoprint form, with research notes added in at the chronologicallyappropriate points of the transcription to provide a more completewritten overview of the focus group discussion.   In addition, groupparticipants had an option to write a response the group to be includedin the group data.   Four participants wrote responses, which wereconsidered with the group data following analysis of the focus groupdiscussion.   Participants were provided with the three areas of groupdiscussion several days pr ior to the actual focus group meeting.   Theywere not given any directions or guidance regarding the optionalwritten responses to the group activity.Data analysis first involved dividing and coding group data.   Responsesto the first topic of discussion were divided into three categories:  those representing a traditional worldview, those representing afeminist worldview, and those that did not clearly represent eitherworldview.   From these groupings, overall findings regarding theworldviews typically experienced by the group participants weresummarised.   This was then further compared with the definitions oftraditional gender roles identified by the group.Data from the second topic of discussion were also broken down intothose representing a traditional worldview, those representing afeminist worldview, and those that did not clearly represent eitherworldview.   It was important to then note participant perceptions andemotional responses to these codings, and in which worldview groupingthey and their families were reported to feel best served andempowered.   Data from the specific discussion regarding service were then similarlyanalysed, and combined with previous findings to present a picture ofthe impact of traditional versus feminist worldviews on social workpractise, emphasising work with teenage domestic violence survivors andtheir understanding of gender roles in society.   It was anticipated at the conclusion of such research, a view could beasserted as to whether feminist perspective has a significant impact onthe practise of social work as it is currently undertaken and whetherthis impact, if any, leads to improved service.As the focus group involved a relatively small number of participants(nine total) and data from their interactions were primarilyqualitative in nature, it was decided not to perform any complexstatistical analysis on focus group data.   It was felt that such typesof analysis would neither reveal findings that co uld be consideredstatistically significant nor provide a more accurate understanding ofthe issues under consideration than a more qualitative analyticalapproach.   In consideration of space and relevance portions of thediscussion were used to support conclusions in the findings andanalysis sections of this dissertation, whilst an overall summary ofthe most relevant portions of the discussion are included in Appendix2. IMPLEMENTATION OF PROJECT Nine students meeting the criteria laid out in the research planagreed to participate in the focus group.   They were primarilyorganised by one group participant, who had discovered other domesticviolence survivors through classroom discussions and throughparticipation in a survivors’ group in the local community.   All ninestudents were currently studying social work or had taken at least onesocial work course as part of a related course of study, such aseducation or criminal justice.   There were six women and three men,ranging in age from nineteen to twenty-seven.   Racially, seven wereCaucasian, one was Black, and one was Asian.   All present as comingfrom upper working class to middle class backgrounds.   All hadexperienced domestic violence as teenagers, making their experiencesfairly recent and therefore providing a relatively current depiction ofsocial work practise.   Five students (three women, two men) had beenremoved from their biological parents at s ome point during theirteenage years.   All had been involved in interventions into the familyby a social worker representing either a government organisation, or inthe case of one woman, a local church.   Some of the participants previously knew each other and were somewhataware of each other’s experiences, which should be considered in groupanalysis.   Five regularly participated in a survivors’ support group inthe community.   One man and one woman were cousins.   In addition, twoof the men had known each other as teenagers from intervention throughthe school system.Jennifer, a twenty-four year-old Caucasian woman, was chosen to be themoderator, as she had been the one who had assisted the researcher byarranging for most of the participants to become involved in thestudy.   The group then moved almost immediately into discussion of thetopics provided.   The group had been provided a whiteboard for its use,which Jennifer implemented to organise individua l comments and ideas.  It is surmised that the easy manner with which the group undertook thediscussion was based on the fact that they were all students andtherefore used to having study groups, group discussions, and the like,and that all of them had at least publicly shared their experiencespreviously, either as part of a classroom discussion or survivors’group, or both, and were therefore more comfortable in engaging in suchdiscussion than might be typical for a focus group dealing with suchexperiences. FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS The first finding of this research is that the majority of socialworkers in service or domestic violence survivors to not consistentlyemploy feminist constructs in practise, despite the likelihood ofhaving been exposed to such constructs.   This manifested itself inthree significant ways.   First, families were overwhelming dealt withas individuals with problems.   That is, the abuser was described asmaking poor choices or having some type of pathological issues that ledto his or her decision to abuse (in one participant’s family, bothparents were abusive).   As such, the abuser was described from apsychoanalytical standpoint by the social worker(s), and his or herbehaviour labelled as individually deviant.   The survivors of the domestic violence situations, particularly themothers, as the majority of abusers from the groups’ experiences weremale family members or boyfriends of the mother, were also reported tobe consistently dealt with from an individual per spective.   In thissense, their behaviour was also reported to be categorised by thesocial workers involved as unhealthy, pathological, and coming fromsome sort of unresolved personal issues, such as low self-esteem.   Inthe case of only one participant did the social workers involved ineither intervention or therapy consistently relate the domesticviolence situation to broader issues of oppression, societal powerstructures and the related hegemonic gender roles, or patriarchal normsof society.   It is of note that this participant received service froma progressive women-helping-women organisation, rather than atraditional government-organised social work programme.  Group participants also repeatedly described their family situationsas unhealthy, and they certainly were, but from the perspective thatboth the abuser and abused were reacting or displaying emotioninappropriately, rather than that the motivation or norming behind thebehaviour was at fault.   For example, Tre nt described his mother asdrawn to violent, alcoholic men.   â€Å"She always seemed to go for theseguys that didn’t know how to express anything except by breaking stuff,yelling, hitting, you know.†Ã‚   His further descriptions of his mothers’boyfriends indicated an assumption that if these men had been raisedwith or taught proper means of dealing with their frustrations andemotions, the abuse to him and his mother would have been lessened oreliminated.   This idea was supported by at least one social worker, whosuggested counselling for Trent, his mother, and the then boyfriend asone possible way of addressing the abusive situation.Several participants did bring feminist theory and thought into groupdiscussion, pointing out, for example, that dominance or aggression bymen in any form was unhealthy, and questioning why it was only seen asunhealthy by most of the social workers they had encountered, and byothers they knew in the community, when physical viol ence was actuallyinvolved.   There was a related discussion, albeit brief, about the unwillingnessof neighbours, relatives, and others in the community, such as membersof the same church, to intervene in the domestic violence situation.  Participants indicated their perception that whilst this was often dueto a fear of getting involved or knowing how to help the situation,there were repeated occurrences in everyone’s experience where anunwillingness to intervene derived from others’ implications that theman of the house had some right to choose the way in which thehousehold operated, or that he had a right to discipline his wife /girlfriend and children as he saw fit.   Wendy reports hearing an auntstate â€Å"Well, its his family, their kids, she wants to stay with him,†and dismiss the ongoing violence as therefore an acceptable familylifestyle, or at least one in which none of the rest of the familyshould be expected to intervene.   Participants then a cknowledged thisand several other systemic situations that perpetuated their abuse,such as reluctance of authority figures to continue questioning wheninitially told nothing was wrong, and unwillingness of police tointervene repeatedly.   Similarly, regarding gender roles, discussion indicated a belief bymost participants that their social workers believed a traditionalstereotype of what was appropriate behaviour for a man and a woman, andthat these behaviours were different.   There were reports of acceptanceof physical response as an appropriate masculine reaction, but thelevel of physical response not being considered appropriate.   Maleparticipants were encouraged to talk about their experiences, butreport never being given permission to express fear, or an emotionalresponse such as crying.   One male participant reported starting to cryas part of a group experience, and being discouraged rather thanencouraged to continue, whilst female members of the group were allowedt o and even supported in such emotional expression.   There were similarreports of various hegemonically feminine expressions, such as crying,fear, and nurturing behaviours, being supported and encouraged bysocial workers for male family members but not female, as well as anacceptance or assumption of weakness on the part of adult females whochose to remain in an abusive situation.The discussion then moved to the effect of traditional and feministperspective on social work service.   Participants overwhelminglyreported feeling better served when social workers sought to empowerthem and their families.   This did usually involve practise of methodsderived from a feminist view, such as the use of reflective journalingand support groups, as well as encouragement from the social workers tothe mother that she could, indeed, survive and prosper outside thedomestic violence situation, that she did have the inner reserves toaddress the situation and move to a healthier lifestyle, and t hatsocietal pressure to be with a man, either as a romantic partner or asa father / father-figure for children was not necessary for asuccessful life.   Participants also report feeling personally empoweredby such encouragement, and therefore able to support their mothers inattempts to leave relationships.From their own study in social work theory, focus group participantswere able to briefly discuss the ramifications of the patriarchalsocietal power structure on a woman’s decision to stay in a violentsituation.   One issue brought up included the perception that societywill view a woman as a failure and undesirable if she does not have aromantic relationship with a man in her life.   A number of womenparticipants in the group reported feeling similar pressure to maintaina romantic relationship with a man in their life, regardless of theirother commitments or interests, and an expectation that they would notbe successful women if they did not ultimately get married and havechildren.   When questioned by other participants, the three maleparticipants reported not feeling such pressures.   Another issue raisedwas the mothers’ perception that they needed a father figure tosuccessfully raise children, particularly boys.   This was perpetuatedin the life experiences of group participants even though the menoccupying these roles were viewed by the male participants asdestructive, rather than constructive, influences.   Issues of supportin disciplining children and managing household operations were alsoindicated, as was the financial support provided by the batterer.   Thegroup indicated all these issues were societal, rather than individual,and lack of addressing of them affected the effectiveness of the socialservices they had received.Overall, the participants were generally positive about at least onesocial worker with whom they had a relationship during their teenageyears.   Participants typically felt feeling most encouraged and bestserved by those social workers who did not present themselves as beingdistant or above the participants and their families, and who did notoverly emphasise their family’s issues from a perspective of individualdysfunction.   These findings indicated that a feminist interactiveconstruct, which avoids â€Å"power over† methods and practise is perceivedto be most effective by domestic violence survivors. RECOMMENDATIONS It is recommended from findings of this study that social workersare first provided greater exposure to and training in feminist methodsand theory as it relates to their practical, day-to-day practise.   Forexample, all participants reported some positive experiences inresponse to reflective methods such as reflective journaling andsurvivor support groups.   Considerations of ways to more greatlyinclude such methods in typical practise are therefore indicated.   Of greater concern are the systems in which social workers operate.  Whilst most of the social workers in these focus group participants’experiences had some familiarity with feminist theory or methods, asindicated by their emphasis on empowerment or use of specificstrategies, there is something within the government-sponsored socialservices structure that prohibits practise truly based on feministtenets.   A sharp contrast was provided by the young woman served at aprogressive, private service, where feminis t theory was the obviousframework on which service was based.   She was by far the most positiveabout her experiences and workers, and reported insights, understandingand empowerment to change not consistently reported by other focusgroup participants.It therefore recommended that more research be pursued as to whatfactors constrain social workers from functioning from a more feministframework.   Issues such as time (many social workers have far morepeople to see and serve than they would like to have, or often feelthey can serve effectively), lack of material resources such asappropriate space, lack of effective training, or discouragement insuch regards from supervisors or others in power.   Specificallyidentifying relevant factors could then form a framework forprogressing with change in social work practise within a typicalgovernment service organisation.It is further recommended that individual social workers consider whatconstraints they persona

LBJ and the Vietnam War :: Vietnam War Essays

Thus far the Vietnam War has shown to be a highly complex situation. Many of times, I have found myself agreeing with Lyndon B. John’s decisions to escalate the war. First and foremost, the United States had made a promise of freedom and tranquility to the people (whom were not part of Viet-Cong) of Vietnam. As an American, it is my opinion that the United States had to uphold its word, essentially its credibility. Secondly, withdrawing troops from Vietnam when the situation was really out of control would make the United States appear weak. In midst of the Cold War, the one thing that was not going to prove true was that the United States was weak. Although these reasons were and are valid, the anti-war movement in conjunction with the Tet offensive required President Johnson to make a decision that changed the perception of the war; he chose to call a halt on the bombardment in Vietnam. The purpose of this essay is to further analyze how the continuing anti-war movement and the Tet Offensive were the reasons that â€Å"America’s fate was effectively sealed by mid-1968.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The antiwarriors that have been described in Melvin Small’s book have shown to be relentless. They were fighting for a just cause, or at least it was a just cause in their opinion. They were able to organize and rally others to join in their quest to end the violence that was occurring in Vietnam. Between 1967 and 1968, however, a new phenomenon was occurring, the age of the â€Å"hippies.† Small mentions, â€Å"For many Americans by 1967, antiwar demonstrators were not only unruly and potentially violent but hippies†¦serious politically oriented activists became easily conflated with hippies to the detriment of their cause.† (Small, 81) This unexpected result of the antiwar movement definitely did put a damper on the cause because hippies were perceived as these pot-smoking, disrespectful, unappreciative bunch of kids who had no idea what they were talking about because they were high all the time. This proved to be untrue. The hippies w ere just as much as a centrifugal as the other activists, and this was evident in the rally held at the Pentagon.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Although only 75,000 or less activists were there, the event that occurred at the Pentagon was one of the underlying reasons LBJ had decided to end the bombing in Vietnam. What made this event stand out from the rest is that is was one of the largest, and nonetheless, it occurred â€Å"at the center of [American citizens] center of their war-making machine [which] presented a powerful image of a nation in turmoil.

How the Catholic Church Held Up During the Middle Ages Essay -- Histor

The Middle Ages was a long period of time. It started in about the 500 A.D. and ended in about 1500 A.D. Not many things can last for this long period of time, but at least one thing did, and that was the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church consists of Popes, Bishops, Clergy, and Monks, and Nuns were also part of the Church. Also during the Middle Ages, it also produced many great philosophers (Funk & Wagnall’s, 275). From the Middle Ages to the 13th century, the church played important role as authority, influence. The Catholic Church held up due to the power of the Pope, Pope Gregory’s policies, and the Church was a part of the citizen’s daily lives. In the Middle Ages houses of the poor and wealthy were often alike, except for the wealthy because they could occupy all their floors of the house. Their business would be on the first floor, living quarters on the second, and servant’s quarters on the third. If they family were poor they might have several families living under one roof, which makes the house very crowded (Gies, 243). Among the village, the only stone building was the church. The entire village was mostly made out of sticks, mud and such objects. The churches were built and paid for by the people (thinkquest). It was a nice centerpiece of a town. Inside the Church, you will not find any sort of warmth. Many people came with hand-warmers, because the church was often cool year round. Churches also did not have pews for people to sit on; they had to bring their own chairs. The church was a public building in which the town’s business life is often occurring around a town’s church (Gies, 291). The Church provided services to the poor, care of the sick, helpless, and travelers (Frem... ... new heights. Christendom to take up arms to re-conquer Jerusalem, it was urged on by soldiers, monks, popes, and others. â€Å"The Church encouraged uniformity during the Crusades and efforts to recapture territories lost to aroused and militant Islamic powers† (Funk & Wagnall’s). The Roman Catholic Church went through some tough times during the Middle Ages, but they did hold up. Each member played an important part in the Church. Each part of the hierarchy had an important role to play. They had to be a firm believer in the Church. Pope Gregory created policies, and strengthened many parts of the Church. Each Pope had the power to influence the kings that were in power. If it had not been for the people, and the hierarchy of the Church, the Church might have died. The Catholic Church did hold up during the Middle Ages due to the people and events that took place.

Imagination in Romantic Poetry Essay

A large part of those extracts on Romantic imagination – which are contained in the fascicule on pages D64 and D65 – are strictly related to an ancient theory about Art and Reality’s imitation, the Theory of Forms concieved by a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician Plato – in Greek: ÃŽ  ÃŽ »ÃŽ ¬Ãâ€žÃâ€°ÃŽ ½, Plà ¡tÃ… n, â€Å"broad†; from 424/423 BC to 348/347 BC. The Theory of Forms – in Greek: á ¼ °ÃŽ ´ÃŽ ­ÃŽ ±ÃŽ ¹ – typically refers to the belief expressed by Socrates in some of Plato’s dialogues, that the material world as it seems to us is not the real world, but only an image or copy of the real world. Socrates spoke of forms in formulating a solution to the problem of universals. The forms, according to Socrates, are roughly speaking archetypes or abstract representations of the many types of things, and properties we feel and see around us, that can only be perceived by reason – in Greek: ÃŽ »ÃŽ ¿ÃŽ ³ÃŽ ¹ÃŽ ºÃŽ ® – that is, they are universals. In other words, Socrates sometimes seems to recognise two worlds: the Apparent world, which constantly changes, and an unchanging and unseen world of forms, which may be a cause of what is apparent. This theory is proposed in different ways in Blake’s, Coleridge’s Shelley’s extracts. The former says that â€Å"This world of Imagination is the world of Eternity† (A Vision of the Last Judgement, 1810) a place which resembles to a sort of otherworldly realm where â€Å"Exist [†¦] the Permanent Realities of Every Thing (the Form) which we see reflected in this Vegetable Glass of Nature (the Apparent world)†. A similar thing is exposed by Samuel Coleridge an english romantic poet who divides Imagination in Primary and Secondary. The former is â€Å"the living Power and prime Agent of all human Perception, and as a repetition in the finite mind of the eternal act of creation in the infinite†, the latter is an echo of the former who â€Å"diss olves, diffuses, dissipates, in order to re-create† (Biographia Literaria, 1817) a thing which is totally different from Fancy. Even in Shelley the poetry is presented as â€Å"something of divine [†¦] not like reasoning† (A Defence of Poetry, 1821) which beholds as the poet, the present, the past, and the future. In Keats and Wordsworth the poetry became â€Å"the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings [originating] from emotion recollected in tranquillity† (Preface to Lyrical Ballads) and the poet â€Å"the most unpoetical of any thing in existence; because he has no Identity† (A Letter to Richard Woodhouse, October 27th 1818). So Art is imitation, a feature of both of Plato’s theories. In the Republic, Plato says that art imitates the objects and events of ordinary life. In other words, a work of art is a copy of a copy of a Form. It is even more of an illusion than is ordinary experience. On this theory, works of art are at best entertainment, and at worst a delusion. This theory actually appears in Plato’s short early dialogue, the Ion. Socrates is questioning a poet named Ion, who recites Homer’s poetry brilliantly but is no good at reciting anything else. Socrates is puzzled by this; it seems to him that if Ion has an art, or skill, of reciting poetry he should be able to apply his skilled knowledge to other poets as well. He concludes that Ion doesn’t really possess skilled knowledge. Rather, when he recites Homer, he must be inspired by a god. The Ion drips with sarcasm. Plato didn’t take the â€Å"art by divine inspiration† theory very seriously. But many ancient, medieval, and modern artists and aestheticians have found it irresistible.

Being there

Jerzy Kosinski’s Being There is the story of Chance Gardener, a man with limited mental and social potential, yet raised by his environment to the level of fame. Referred to as a â€Å"blank page† person, he is, at the same time, seen by his immediate environment as â€Å"quite a personality† mainly because of his exterior qualities: he has a â€Å"beautiful voice†, is â€Å"manly† and â€Å"well-groomed†. Not only the Manhattan society, in which Chance finds himself after being hit by a car knows nothing about Gardiner’s past: the reader is also faced with the same puzzle.The opening chapter provides only some information about the protagonist’s enclosed life in the Old Man’s house, his passion for gardening and his life reality, which is entirely formed by the pictures seen on television. We get to know that the Old Man sheltered Chance as a baby when his mother died, that his name is Chance because he was born by chanc e, that due to his mental disability inherited from his mother he could neither read nor write. The only people that Chance initially communicates with are the Old Man, who eventually dies, and the maid Louise.Louise is soon forced to return to Jamaica due to an illness and a new maid comes to substitute her. Chance the Gardener seems to lead a blissful life while watching TV or working in the garden – the only activities that form his view of reality at the onset of the narration. However, when the Old Man dies he is forced to leave the house as no will is left by the deceased and no record of Chance as either a resident or employee can be found in the Old Man’s documents. It remains a riddle for both the lawyer who comes to handle the estate and the reader why Chance was left out of the records.For all that, this riddle appears to serve as a good tool for creating suspense in the account of the hero’s changed life style after the accident. With no social and f amily connections whatsoever Gardiner becomes the center of attention among the educated high class society of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Rand. He soon meets the US President and a number of political and corporate figures, and becomes â€Å"a strong candidate for one of the vacant seats on the board of the First American Financial Corporation† (35).The developments that follow appear hilarious as none of the persons Gardiner gets acquainted with is aware of his physical disabilities. Two aspects that â€Å"save† his positive image are his interest in television and love for gardening. The first helps him think of proper ways to behave in social situations and the latter is a basis for the only factual knowledge he can refer to when participating in discussions about American economy. For instance, when engaging in conversations with Mrs. Rand â€Å"Chance resorted to repeating to her parts of her own sentences, a practice he had observed on TV.In this fashion he encourage d her to continue and elaborate† (24). Also, during a meal Chance ignored the wine because â€Å"On TV, wine put people in a state they could not control† (26). Later, when invited to participate in a TV show, Gardiner could experience the making of a program personally: â€Å"Chance was astonished that television could portray itself; cameras watched themselves†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (37). Similarly, his story about seasons and growth in the garden during his meeting with the President led to his being recognized as an expert in the field of economics.Towards the end of the novel the suspense is even greater when the President keeps demanding that his administration provides him with background information about Chance. However, they are unable to find out anything substantial. Mass media is also concerned about the lack of such information. However, Chance’s future looks positive especially with the death of Benjamin Rand. Mrs. Rand is very much in love with Gardiner a nd sincerely hopes he will stay with her after her husband’s death. Gardiner appears to also have acquired a certain image in the public eye, which will not be easily shattered in case politicians find out who he really is.On numerous occasions Gardiner was very explicit about his disabilities to write and read, but the public interpreted it in its own way, the â€Å"wishful thinking† way. The latter is, ultimately, the problem of the public – and the American society in its wider implications – that interpreted Gardiner’s words the way it wished to. Works Cited Kosinski, Jerzy. Being There Groningen: Wolters-Noordhoff, 1996 Brothers Judd Daily. Ed. 23 Sep. 2000 < htttp://www. brothersjudd. com /index. cfm/fuseaction/reviews. detail/book_id/294/Being%20There. htm>