History of Health and Human Services Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

History of Health and Human Services - Essay Example The development of human services is thus affected by the beliefs and values held by the society over time. Since beliefs and values keep changing, the human services field develops accordingly.3 The current health and human services can thus be viewed as representing the current attitudes, beliefs, and values of the contemporary American society. There are also questions as to which group of people and the types of problems should be helped, to what extent and how. Many people and events have also shaped the development and direction of the field. This paper will try to outline the history of Heath and Human Services field from the start of US history up until the year 1880. It will try to explain the main pioneers of this field among other issues such as the main Acts. However, it will first give a brief history of the era before US independence in order to understand the development of the field better and its foundation. Pre-independence Era The US human services are based on the Elizabethan poor laws of 1601 of England. According to Woodside and McClam this law guided the social welfare practices in England and US for the next 350 years by specifying who was to provide what services to those in need.4 Before inception of this law, the early communities used to believe that diseases were caused by supernatural beings such as demons. The work of medicine men was thus to exorcise the evil spirits. As society progressed, so did their beliefs and development of human services field. The Hippocrates were more civilized began to attribute diseases and disabilities to brain malfunction as opposed to demons. Diseases were thus treatable with use of exercise, vegetable diets and change of lifestyle.5 The renaissance era marked the beginning of formal state intervention in provision of social services. The state established the poor laws which segregated people into three categories. The poor were placed in shelters and some were sent to poorhouse or almshouse. These houses were under poor conditions and lacked essential services; they were congested, food was in short supply not forgetting the stigma associated with such houses. Most people were against helping the poor and saw it as a means of promoting laziness. The situation was worsened by the industrial revolution. There was growth of urban centers due to introduction of the factory system. This led to mass migration of people from rural to urban areas hence an increase in urban poor and prompting the need for public institutions to cater for them.6 The new beliefs during this period were centered on the protestant work ethic. This was the belief that hard work portrays virtuousness and deserves to be rewarded while laziness deserved punishment.7 As such, wealth was considered as the reward for hard work and poverty as punishment from God. This philosophy was neither considerate of the poor in society nor those with disabilities or could not find a job. The poor were not to be helped but to be encouraged to work hard so as to earn a living and improve their well-being. The introduction of the less eligibility concept was geared towards encouraging people to work. It maintained that assistance given was to be lower than the lowest wage paid to any working person.8

Assess the contribution of Social Action Theory to sociology Essay Example for Free

Assess the contribution of Social Action Theory to sociology Essay Social Action Theorists, or Interactionists are also known as micro sociologists, this is because instead of looking at the bigger picture in society, and how the large structures and institutions such as the education and judiciary systems affect individuals, which is what Marxists and Functionalists (macro sociologists) look at, Social Action Theorists look at the opposite, how us, individuals, act by our own accord, and how we make up society. This is known as a ‘bottom up’ view of society. They see people as having a much more active role in society, as opposed to the passive puppets that Structuralists make us out to be. They reject the view that our behaviour is the product of these organisations and structure. Although Social Action Theorists do look very much as individual behaviour, they also take into account the fact that we are aware of the people around us, they argue that our behaviour is influenced by how other individuals react to us and behave, so society is made up because people come together and interact. We are able to react to each other’s behaviour in this way because we have learnt how to expect what people should and shouldn’t do, and how to interpret behaviour. We have meanings for various symbols during interactions, for example, someone frowning may show confusion or anger, and someone swearing with a hand gesture may be insulting, because of these codes and symbols, we are able to anticipate behaviour, and judge how people are feeling. This also gives us a knowledge about what behaviour is and isn’t appropriate in certain situations. These different situations can also affect how we behave and what behaviour is acceptable, for example shouting and swearing may be seen as acceptable at a football match, but this would be highly inappropriate in the middle of a supermarket or library. These behaviours and expected ways of carrying ourselves, or norms and values, (especially the basic ones, such as how to act around others) are learnt from the family at a young age. However education teaches us how to act in a larger range of social situations. The acquiring of this knowledge is what leads to us gaining our identity. Social action theorists suggest that there are three main parts to our identity. The first of these parts is the things that make us individual, such as name, signature and photograph. The second aspect is social identity, which is made up of the personality characteristics that are associated with our role in society. For example, I am seen as an older brother, which society may make me out to be annoying and protective of my younger sibling, but I am also seen as a student, who is perceived to be hard-working and well-behaved. The final part of our identity is the concept of ‘self’, or what we think of ourselves, and how we think we play our respective roles. This concept of ‘self’ has been developed further by social action theorists, who believe that this can be further broken down into two components, the ‘I’ and the ‘me’. The ‘I’ is the private inner self, what we truly think of ourselves, whereas ‘me’ is the social self, and is the one that carries out the roles of brother and student. Goffman referred to society as a play, and that we are all as individuals, actors in this play, or in the drama of everyday life. The expected ways of behaving, or social norms are the script, for example, greeting someone with ‘Good morning’ is expected. He suggests that the roles we carry out are simply a performance designed to create a particular impression. For example in front of grandparents, I put on this performance of being exceptionally well mannered (believe it or not). Another part of social action theory is the concept of labelling. This is when someone is put into a group, or stereotyped, because of the way they look or act. For example a young person may be labelled as a ‘goth’ because they have pale skin, black hair, and listen to a certain type of music. Becker came up with the idea of a Master Status. This means that an individual can have a status (normally negative) which overrides all other labels. For example, someone may be a very good brother and son, but then may be arrested for robbery, and then the label of ‘criminal’ will become his master status, and people won’t see the brother or the son they saw before, they will simply see him as a criminal. It is believed that these labels lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy. This means that someone will react to the label they have been given, and this label will become true. For example, if a teacher (very wrongly) labels a student as ‘dumb’ they may think they genuinely are dumb, and will not do well at school. However it has been argued that the opposite can occur, and people may go out of their way to disprove their label, to carry on with the example before, the ‘dumb’ student may try exceptionally hard at home and at school, to prove the teacher wrong, the label may act as motivation. There are many criticisms of Social Action Theory, one being that they tend to be very vague when describing who is responsible for creating these norms and values, and interpretations that mean we know how to act around people and in certain situations. They fail to explain power, and factors which may affect these norms such as class or gender.

Comparison of Stakeholder Theories

Comparison of Stakeholder Theories Compare and contrast stakeholder and stockholder theories. Discuss how each relates to ethics and regulation. The shareholder theory was described initially by Milton Friedman and it states the traditional view that the maximisation of financial value for shareholders is the ultimate goal of the business (Mansell, 2013). The central idiom of shareholder theory implies that long-term cash surpluses increase shareholder value (Rausch, 2011). Smith (2003), writes describing some of the misconceptions regarding Shareholder theory clarifying that the increase of profits is clearly restrained by legality. Additionally, there exists the perspective that under shareholder theory, charitable donations are discouraged as they would directly reduce profits however they are supported within the constraints of available capital. Stakeholder theory was described initially by Edward Freeman and it states that a company has a duty of responsibility to an extended group described as stakeholders. Stakeholders include all individuals which may be affected by the activities of the company for example shareholders, employees, customers, and competitors. According to Kaler (2006), stakeholder theory has two main ethical functions-firstly, it proposes distributive fairness within a capitalist framework, by distribution of profits to non-shareholder interests as opposed to the shareholders only, and secondly it promotes the concept of corporate social responsibility which produces ethical pressure for companies to adopt obligations to society that transcend shareholder appeasement. Stakeholder theory has gained popularity in light of recent corporate scandals (Reynolds et al, 2006). According to Smith (2003) the fundamental distinction between shareholder and stakeholder theory is that stakeholder theory stresses that stakeholder interests are considered even if profits are diminished as a consequence however as all interests are represented and as this includes the shareholders, there is still a requirement to show a profit without which the business would fail. According to Mansell (2013), it is possible for an organization to maintain and uphold the ethical principles, described in the shareholder theory model, whilst simultaneously upholding those described in the stakeholder theory model by modifying the traditional credo to extend the tenet regarding sole stakeholder focus being maximization of shareholder profit. This is achieved by questioning if the concept of corporate duty to achieve happiness of any non-shareholder contravenes shareholder theory. Mansell maintains that the original shareholder theory is effectively outdated and that his modifications would allow both theories to coexist. 2. List five normative ethical theories and provide a one-paragraph summary of each. How are they similar? Different? You may choose from the following: virtue ethics, deontology, consequentialism, welfarism, egoism, relational ethics, role ethics, and pragmatic ethics. Deontological theory is determined by the categorical imperative and states that one should act only on axioms which can be reasoned to be universal laws of nature and to treat humanity in an individual as the end and not the means. Thus ethical behaviour is based on intent. The virtue approach considers virtuous behaviour such as honesty, kindness, and generosity. When looking at behaviour from an ethical perspective the question is asked are these actions reflective of virtuous behaviour and is it representative of the type of business the bank aspires to. This is similar to deontological theory from the perspective in that its characteristics are intentional. According to Melchert (2006), consequentialism is a utilitarian moral philosophy in which actions are categorized as morally acceptable or unacceptable according to their consequences. This theory opposes Deontological theory in that the deontological approach is to judge according to the intention of the individual rather than the consequence of the action whereas the action in consequentialism is absolute. According to Gravel and Moyes (2013), welfarism describes a number of normative approaches which rank social states based upon the distribution of welfare levels. An prime example of one of these approaches is utilitarianism, Utilitarianism has its roots in early Greek philosophers who reasoned that the best life is one that causes the least amount of suffering. Utilitarian theory states the principle focus is maximizing utility. In the field of business ethics, utility equates to the increase in happiness with the reduction of suffering. Ethical egoism is often described as the traditional business model (Debeljak and Krkac, 2008) who debated that opposing the concept of Friedman that the only goal in business is the generation of profit, there are ethics in business namely egoistic business ethics. As is the case in business and other interests, additional factors are essential besides self-interest such as the right to exercise freedom of choice and continuous concern. Self-interest can only be achieved if all conditions are met therefore if the individual maintains the conditions for themselves, they are met for all. References Debeljak, J., Krkac, K. (2008). Me, myself I: practical egoism, selfishness, self-interest and business ethics. Social Responsibility Journal; Bingley4.1/2 (2008): 217-227. Gravel, N., Moyes, P. (2013). Utilitarianism or welfarism: does it make a difference? Social Choice and Welfare; Heidelberg40.2 (Feb 2013): 529-551. Mansell, S. (2013) Shareholder theory and Kants duty of beneficence. Journal of Business Ethics: JBE; Dordrecht117.3 (Oct 2013): 583-599. Melchert, N. (2007). The great conversation: a historical introduction to philosophy (5th Edition). New York: Oxford University Press. Rausch, A. (2011). Reconstruction of decision-making behavior in shareholder and stakeholder theory: implications for management accounting systems. Review of Managerial Science; Heidelberg5.2-3 (Jul 2011): 137-169. Smith, H. (2003). The shareholders vs. stakeholders Debate. Retrieved March 18, 2017, from http://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-shareholders-vs-stakeholders-debate/

The Lord Of The Flies :: essays research papers

'Lord of the Flies Creative Essay';   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are many lessons of human nature to be learned from the novel Lord of the Flies; the book explores many aspects of human nature and society as a whole. We know this is evident because the book stirs a variety of human emotions for the reader. The implications of Lord of the Flies go far beyond these few small children being abandoned on a dessert island, it discovers the defects of the mind and our human nature in order to explain our actions in society. Human fear stems from the unknown, which leads to terror and often irrational behavior; just as the children on the island experienced fear, the island became an evil place as if 'a beast ' had been unleashed. We later learn that the fear of the unknown causes humans to release their own devils from within. In effect, their world isn't so different from the one we live in now.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I find it ironic that the very person who interrupted the children's sick man-hunt of Ralph, will take the children to his ship, which will then hunt the enemy in the very same fashion. Society is no better than the children who are stuck on the island and showing their violent attributes. However, these children were saved, only to be exposed to the exact same situation on a greater level. The entire time the boys were stuck on that terrifying island they were wishing for an adult to come and release them from it. Who then will rescue this individual and save him from the terrors of the world?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There is also a political system on the island just as there is in our society. Ralph is the children's elected representative. He appoints hunters (or an army in our case) and a leader to this group on the island. He also appoints people to look after the fire, people to get water, to get food and make shelters (political heads). They also have an age of importance on the island, they can distinguish a minor from their form of an adult just like us. In this way the island is run in an orderly fashion. However, as in most political systems there are people who will oppose the decisions made by their representative. Jack is this leader of anarchy on the island. He drives this toward Ralph like people in society would protest or go on strike.

Reliable Sources Worksheet Essay

Source 1 †¢Author: Wilson, Wendy Bedwell †¢Date: March 2012 †¢Title: From Trash to Treasure †¢Publication: Dog World. 97 Issue 3, p20-21, 2p Write a 100- to 150-word response to each of the following questions: †¢Is the source reliable? How do you know? This source is very reliable; this magazine has been around for almost 100 yrs. Dog World is a monthly magazine aimed at the community of serious dog enthusiasts and participants, including breeders; conformation exhibitors; obedience, agility, herding and field trial competitors; veterinarians; groomers; and trainers. †¢Is the information relevant to the topic? Yes this story is about a dog rescuer from NJ who picks up dogs from high kill shelters down in West Virginia and brings them back up to be placed in foster homes. On her trip back up she witnessed someone tossing a dog out on the side of the road and leaving it there. Out of curiosity she pulled over where the dog was dropped off to investigate and found a malnourished and injured dog. After 20 minutes they were able to capture the dog and bring it to NJ where its was seen by veterinarians who were able to nurse the dog back to health. †¢Does the information reflect a bias on the author’s part? If so, what is the bias? I did not read any bias material within the article, there was no mention of any retribution toward the original owners. This article basically told a story about how a dog’s life was turned around after a person who carries about dogs rescued this dog and now uses it to help rehabilitate other dogs that have been abused. Source 2 †¢Author: Redwine, Arlo †¢Date: April 2012 †¢Title: Going the Distance †¢Publication: Dealernews, Vol. 48 Issue 4, p18-28, 7p Write a 100- to 150-word response to each of the following questions: †¢Is the source reliable? How do you know? Dealer News is a trade publication that has been around for 17 years. This publication provides news and information for dealers, manufacturers and distributors in the motorcycle and accessory industries. I do not know how reliable this source is due to this is a trade publication and can post bias reviews. †¢Is the information relevant to the topic? â€Å"Going the distance† is relevant to the topic because the author talks about how a young â€Å"go getter† started a motorcycle dealership in the late 70’s. The story tells how this young man grew his business from the ground up to one of the largest Harley Davidson dealerships in the Junction City, Kansas area. †¢Does the information reflect a bias on the author’s part? If so, what is the bias? Yes the information is bias on the author’s part due to the fact that he is telling a story from the eyes of the owner of this dealership. The author does not tell the readers the challenges that took place from competitors or the manufactures that he represented in his store.

Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat

Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat The novel breath, eyes, memory is a true manifestation of the medieval and present human society. In simpler terms, it reflects the basic elements that spun our existence. These elements are explained from the main themes of the novel. These themes form the framework of this paper because immigration, love and parenting are discussed as the main themes in the novel.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Immigration Immigration is a major theme in the novel breath, eyes, memory because it describes the foundation of the novel’s plot. Moreover, the theme of immigration is almost representative of the current and past American immigration trends. From the novel, a reader is able to see the difference in culture between Sophie and her mother. Sophie was raised in Haiti but her mother lived in New York (Danticat 3). As the novel progresses, we can see that Martine (Sophie’s mother) invites her daughter to the US to stay with her. From this understanding, the theme of immigration is profound. After shifting her residence from Haiti to New York, Sophie discovers missing pieces of her past. In addition, she is able to adjust to the new American lifestyle. Later in the narration, Sophie returns to Haiti to see her grandmother after she develops some resentment towards her mother. Her trip back to Haiti is also another manifestation of the theme of immigration, where she goes back to her native homeland to live with her grandmother and aunts. However, throughout the novel, the differences in culture (between native Haitians and Americans) are exposed, and the concept of assimilation is emphasized to synchronize the two cultures (Danticat 15). Love The theme of love is profound in the novel breath, eyes, memory. Love manifests in the Haitian ritual to check female virginity, where mothers test their daughters to ensure they are still pure. This is an act of love, which manifests in protection. Testing is therefore done to ensure mothers protect their daughters from the social evils of the world. Briefly, this ritual acts as a deterrent for young women to engage in runaway sexual adventures, which may expose them to harm (Danticat 23). Therefore, due to the practice of the ritual, young women observe chastity because they would not want to be condemned if they failed the test. Though the entire experience is traumatizing for Sophie, clearly, the procedure is done out of love.Advertising Looking for essay on american literature? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More When Sophie moves to America, she finds love with her husband. This episode in the novel’s plot is a fast forward to Sophie’s life after high school (Danticat 31). Sophie becomes obsessed with the man next door and through love; they are able to court and live together . From this love, they bore a daughter. The analysis of love within the above framework can be understood in the context of family love because Sophie and her husband lived together, bound by love. By extension, the theme of love also manifests in the bond that existed among the Caco women. Coupled by a deep sense of history, the theme of love binds the practices, beliefs and values shared by the Caco women (Danticat 31). When Sophie moves back to Haiti, she seeks counsel from these women and consequently, their advice shape her ideals as a woman. The bravery and struggles of the Haitian women are passed down to Sophie through the love they have for her. They also treat her as one of their own because of the love they all share. Parenting A major part of the novel breath, eyes, memory highlights the theme of parenting. In fact, Sophie’s entire experience is understood within the framework of parenthood (Danticat 40). Her trip from Haiti to New York, her experiences as a mothe r, and her trip back to Haiti highlight her quest and experiences in understanding parenthood. Raised without a mother, the theme of parenting manifests in Sophie’s life during the earlier chapters of the novel when Martine (a childless mother) invites Sophie (a motherless child) to live with her in the US. Parenthood is at the center of this invitation because Sophie is curious to learn the history and life of a mother that she never knew. Similarly, Martine is desperate to unite with her daughter. All along, Sophie’s grandmother raised her until she was 12. Everything that she knew before she joined her mother was because of the parental care she received from her grandmother in Haiti. Later sections of the novel revolve around Martine’s parenting skills, which eventually form a rift with her daughter. For instance, the virginity test is a form of parental skill Martine inherited from her past as a Haitian girl. She passes this practice down to her daughter bu t Sophie is not receptive to it.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It is from this understanding that a rift is created between Sophie and her mother. This sentiment prompts her trip back to Haiti where she goes to seek her grandmother’s counsel. The entire narration manifests the need for good parenting. Conclusion The themes of immigration, parenting and love feature prominently in breath, eyes, memory because they are used to explain the lives of the main characters. These themes represent real-life situations affecting people in the society, and almost concisely, they summarize the fabric of our social relationships. For instance, love and parenting are core foundations of family life, while family life is the core of the society. Based on this understanding, the themes discussed above are core to the understanding of the novel breath , eyes, memory and a mirror of the society. Danticat, Edwidge. Breath, Eyes, Memory. New York: Vintage Books, 1998. Print.