Compensation (Human Resources) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Compensation (Human Resources) - Essay Example Incentive plans normally endow with compensation foundation on a formula, on accomplishment of concert objectives, on an unrestricted decision, or an amalgamation of these. An organization internally could be measured adjacent to the individual performance. These plans consist of stock-based strategy, which put forward stock options based on stock performance or finance policy, which suggest cash booty joined to congregate objectives. These plans recompense performance with the time period of 2 to 5 years. The key similarity among the Apple Inc and the Microsoft is in the efficient potential by both the company sales. Good sales incentives are provided to the employees in both the organization and the bonus provided by both the companies are depended on the profitability of the company. The company insists in the working hours for making it a success in the market. The differences in the company are in terms of the payment structure. The basic payment provided by Microsoft are high compared to that of apple inc† Microsoft is reportedly trying to hire away Apples retail employees by bribing them with... wait for it, better wages. People that have spoken to The Loop on condition of anonymity confirm that Microsoft has contacted a number of Apples retail store managers to work in their stores. In addition to "significant raises," the managers have also been offered moving expenses in some cases.† (Microsoft reportedly poaching apple retail staff, 2009). The dissimilarity in the strategies of the companies occurs due to certain reasons. The main idea in the planning of the strategy is based on the efficiency in the company’s operations, productivity and profitability. Various reasons are there in expecting the positive relationship in the organization. The level of the executive employees also plays a vital role in the organization size and the positioning of the strategy. The different contingency approaches

Minority Group and Multiculturalism Essay Example for Free

Minority Group and Multiculturalism Essay Ideas about the legal and political accommodation of ethnic diversity — commonly termed â€Å"multiculturalism† — emerged in the West as a vehicle for replacing older forms of ethnic and racial hierarchy with new relations of democratic citizenship. Despite substantial evidence that these policies are making progress toward that goal, a chorus of political leaders has declared them a failure and heralded the death of multiculturalism. This popular master narrative is problematic because it mischaracterizes the nature of the experiments in multiculturalism that have been undertaken, exaggerates the extent to which they have been abandoned, and misidentifies not only the genuine difficulties and limitations they have encountered but the options for addressing these problems. Talk about the retreat from multiculturalism has obscured the fact that a form of multicultural integration remains a live option for Western democracies. This report challenges four powerful myths about multiculturalism. First, it disputes the caricature of multiculturalism as the uncritical celebration of diversity at the expense of addressing grave societal problems such as unemployment and social isolation. Instead it offers an account of multiculturalism as the pursuit of new relations of democratic citizenship, inspired and constrained by human-rights ideals. Second, it contests the idea that multiculturalism has been in wholesale retreat, and offers instead evidence that multiculturalism policies (MCPs) have persisted, and have even grown stronger, over the past ten years. Third, it challenges the idea that multiculturalism has failed, and offers instead evidence that MCPs have had positive effects. Fourth, it disputes the idea that the spread of civic integration policies has displaced multiculturalism or rendered it obsolete. The report instead offers evidence that MCPs are fully consistent with certain forms of civic integration policies, and that indeed the combination of multiculturalism with an â€Å"enabling† form of civic integration is both normatively desirable and empirically effective in at least some cases. To help address these issues, this paper draws upon the Multiculturalism Policy Index. This index 1) identifies eight concrete policy areas where liberal-democratic states — faced with a choice — decided to develop more multicultural forms of citizenship in relation to immigrant groups and 2) measures the extent to which countries have espoused some or all of these policies over time. While there have been some high-profile cases of retreat from MCPs, such as the Netherlands, the general pattern from 1980 to 2010 has been one of modest strengthening. Ironically, some countries that have been vociferous about multiculturalism’s â€Å"failure† (e. g. , Germany) have not actually practiced an active multicultural strategy. Talk about the retreat from multiculturalism has obscured the fact that a form of multicultural integration remains a live option for Western democracies. However, not all attempts to adopt new models of multicultural citizenship have taken root or succeeded in achieving their intended effects. There are several factors that can either facilitate or impede the successful implementation of multiculturalism: Multiculturalism: Success, Failure, and the Future 1 MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE Desecuritization of ethnic relations. Multiculturalism works best if relations between the state and minorities are seen as an issue of social policy, not as an issue of state security. If the state perceives immigrants to be a security threat (such as Arabs and Muslims after 9/11), support for multiculturalism will drop and the space for minorities to even voice multicultural claims will diminish. Human rights. Support for multiculturalism rests on the assumption that there is a shared commitment to human rights across ethnic and religious lines. If states perceive certain groups as unable or unwilling to respect human-rights norms, they are unlikely to accord them multicultural rights or resources. Much of the backlash against multiculturalism is fundamentally driven by anxieties about Muslims, in particular, and their perceived unwillingness to embrace liberal-democratic norms. Border control. Multiculturalism is more controversial when citizens fear they lack control over their borders — for instance when countries are faced with large numbers (or unexpected surges) of unauthorized immigrants or asylum seekers — than when citizens feel the borders are secure. Diversity of immigrant groups. Multiculturalism works best when it is genuinely multicultural — that is, when immigrants come from many source countries rather than coming overwhelmingly from just one (which is more likely to lead to polarized relations with the majority). Economic contributions. Support for multiculturalism depends on the perception that immigrants are holding up their end of the bargain and making a good-faith effort to contribute to society — particularly economically. When these facilitating conditions are present, multiculturalism can be seen as a low-risk option, and indeed seems to have worked well in such cases. Multiculturalism tends to lose support in high-risk situations where immigrants are seen as predominantly illegal, as potential carriers of illiberal practices or movements, or as net burdens on the welfare state. However, one could argue that rejecting immigrant multiculturalism under these circumstances is in fact the higher-risk move. It is precisely when immigrants are perceived as illegitimate, illiberal, and burdensome that multiculturalism may be most needed. I. Introduction Ideas about the legal and political accommodation of ethnic diversity have been in a state of flux around the world for the past 40 years. One hears much about the â€Å"rise and fall of multiculturalism. † Indeed, this has become a kind of master narrative, widely invoked by scholars, journalists, and policymakers alike to explain the evolution of contemporary debates about diversity. Although people disagree about what comes after multiculturalism, there is a surprising consensus that we are in a post-multicultural era. This report contends that this master narrative obscures as much as it reveals, and that we need an alternative framework for thinking about the choices we face. Multiculturalism’s successes and failures, as well as its level of public acceptance, have depended on the nature of the issues at stake and the countries involved, and we need to understand these variations if we are to identify a more sustainable model for accommodating diversity. This paper will argue that the master narrative 1) mischaracterizes the nature of the experiments in multiculturalism that have been undertaken, 2) exaggerates the extent to which they have been abandoned, and 3) misidentifies the genuine difficulties and limitations they have encountered and the options for addressing these problems. 2 Multiculturalism: Success, Failure, and the Future MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE Before we can decide whether to celebrate or lament the fall of multiculturalism, we need first to make sure we know what multiculturalism has meant both in theory and in practice, where it has succeeded or failed to meet its objectives, and under what conditions it is likely to thrive in the future. The Rise and Fall of Multiculturalism The master narrative of the â€Å"rise and fall of multiculturalism† helpfully captures important features of our current debates. Yet in some respects it is misleading, and may obscure the real challenges and opportunities we face. In its simplest form, the master narrative goes like this:1 Since the mid-1990s we have seen a backlash and retreat from multiculturalism. From the 1970s to mid-1990s, there was a clear trend across Western democracies toward the increased recognition and accommodation of diversity through a range of multiculturalism policies (MCPs) and minority rights. These policies were endorsed both at the domestic level in some states and by international organizations, and involved a rejection of earlier ideas of unitary and homogeneous nationhood. Since the mid-1990s, however, we have seen a backlash and retreat from multiculturalism, and a reassertion of ideas of nation building, common values and identity, and unitary citizenship — even a call for the â€Å"return of assimilation. † This retreat is partly driven by fears among the majority group that the accommodation of diversity has â€Å"gone too far† and is threatening their way of life. This fear often expresses itself in the rise of nativist and populist right-wing political movements, such as the Danish People’s Party, defending old ideas of â€Å"Denmark for the Danish. † But the retreat also reflects a belief among the center-left that multiculturalism has failed to help the intended beneficiaries — namely, minorities themselves — because it has failed to address the underlying sources of their social, economic, and political exclusion and may have unintentionally contributed to their social isolation. As a result, even the center-left political movements that initially championed multiculturalism, such as the social democratic parties in Europe, have backed 1 For influential academic statements of this â€Å"rise and fall† narrative, claiming that it applies across the Western democracies, see Rogers Brubaker, â€Å"The Return of Assimilation? † Ethnic and Racial Studies 24, no. 4 (2001): 531–48; and Christian Joppke, â€Å"The Retreat of Multiculturalism in the Liberal State: Theory and Policy,† British Journal of Sociology 55, no. 2 (2004): 237–57. There are also many accounts of the â€Å"decline,† â€Å"retreat,† or â€Å"crisis† of multiculturalism in particular countries. For the Netherlands, see Han Entzinger, â€Å"The Rise and Fall of Multiculturalism in the Netherlands,† in Toward Assimilation and Citizenship: Immigrants in Liberal Nation-States, eds. Christian Joppke and Ewa Morawska (London: Palgrave, 2003) and Ruud Koopmans, â€Å"Trade-Offs between Equality and Difference: The Crisis of Dutch Multiculturalism in Cross-National Perspective† (Brief, Danish Institute for International Studies, Copenhagen, December 2006). For Britain, see Randall Hansen, â€Å"Diversity, Integration and the Turn from Multiculturalism in the United Kingdom,† in Belonging? Diversity, Recognition and Shared Citizenship in Canada, eds. Keith G. Banting, Thomas J. Courchene, and F. Leslie Seidle (Montreal: Institute for Research on Public Policy, 2007); Les Back, Michael Keith, Azra Khan, Kalbir Shukra, and John Solomos, â€Å"New Labour’s White Heart: Politics, Multiculturalism and the Return of Assimilation,† Political Quarterly 73, No. 4 (2002): 445–54; Steven Vertovec, â€Å"Towards post-multiculturalism? Changing communities, conditions and contexts of diversity,† International Social Science Journal 61 (2010): 83–95. For Australia, see Ien Ang and John Stratton, â€Å"Multiculturalism in Crisis: The New Politics of Race and National Identity in Australia,† in On Not Speaking Chinese: Living Between Asia and the West, ed. I. Ang (London: Routledge, 2001). For Canada, see Lloyd Wong, Joseph Garcea, and Anna Kirova, An Analysis of the ‘Anti- and Post-Multiculturalism’ Discourses: The Fragmentation Position (Alberta: Prairie Centre for Excellence in Research on Immigration and Integration, 2005), http://pmc.metropolis. Net/Virtual%20Library/FinalReports/Post-multi%20FINAL%20REPORT%20for%20PCERII%20_2_. pdf. For a good overview of the backlash discourse in various countries, see Steven Vertovec and Susan Wessendorf, eds. , The Multiculturalism Backlash: European Discourses, Policies and Practices (London: Routledge, 2010). Multiculturalism: Success, Failure, and the Future 3 MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE away from it and shifted to a discourse that emphasizes â€Å"civic integration,† â€Å"social cohesion,† â€Å"common values,† and â€Å"shared citizenship. †2 The social-democratic discourse of civic integration differs from the radical-right discourse in emphasizing the need to develop a more inclusive national identity and to fight racism and discrimination, but it nonetheless distances itself from the rhetoric and policies of multiculturalism. The term postmulticulturalism has often been invoked to signal this new approach, which seeks to overcome the limits of a naive or misguided multiculturalism while avoiding the oppressive reassertion of homogenizing nationalist ideologies. 3 II. What Is Multiculturalism? A. Misleading Model In much of the post-multiculturalist literature, multiculturalism is characterized as a feel-good celebration of ethnocultural diversity, encouraging citizens to acknowledge and embrace the panoply of customs, traditions, music, and cuisine that exist in a multiethnic society. Yasmin Alibhai-Brown calls this the â€Å"3S† model of multiculturalism in Britain — saris, samosas, and steeldrums. 4. Multiculturalism takes these familiar cultural markers of ethnic groups — clothing, cuisine, and music — and treats them as authentic practices to be preserved by their members and safely consumed by others. Under the banner of multiculturalism they are taught in school, performed in festivals, displayed in media and museums, and so on. This celebratory model of multiculturalism has been the focus of many critiques, including the following: It ignores issues of economic and political inequality. Even if all Britons come to enjoy Jamaican steeldrum music or Indian samosas, this would do nothing to address the real problems facing Caribbean and South Asian communities in Britain — problems of unemployment, poor educational outcomes, residential segregation, poor English language skills, and political marginalization. These economic and political issues cannot be solved simply by celebrating cultural differences. Even with respect to the (legitimate) goal of promoting greater understanding of cultural differences, the focus on celebrating â€Å"authentic† cultural practices that are â€Å"unique† to each group is potentially dangerous. First, not all customs that may be traditionally practiced within a particular group are worthy of being celebrated, or even of being legally tolerated, such as forced marriage. To avoid stirring up controversy, there’s a tendency to choose as the focus of multicultural celebrations safely inoffensive practices — such as cuisine or music — that can be enjoyably consumed by members of the larger society. But this runs the opposite risk 2. For an overview of the attitudes of European social democratic parties to these issues, see Rene Cuperus, Karl Duffek, and Johannes Kandel, eds. , The Challenge of Diversity: European Social Democracy Facing Migration, Integration and Multiculturalism (Innsbruck: Studien Verlag, 2003). For references to â€Å"post-multiculturalism† by progressive intellectuals, who distinguish it from the radical right’s â€Å"antimulticulturalism,† see, regarding the United Kingdom, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, After Multiculturalism (London: Foreign Policy Centre, 2000), and â€Å"Beyond Multiculturalism,† Canadian Diversity/Diversite Canadienne 3, no. 2 (2004): 51–4; regarding Australia, James Jupp, From White Australia to Woomera: The Story of Australian Immigration, 2nd edition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007); and regarding the United States, Desmond King, The Liberty of Strangers: Making the American Nation (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), and David A. Hollinger, Post-ethnic America: Beyond Multiculturalism, revised edition (New York: Basic Books, 2006). Alibhai-Brown, After Multiculturalism. 3 4 4 Multiculturalism: Success, Failure, and the Future MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE of the trivialization or Disneyfication of cultural differences,5 ignoring the real challenges that differences in cultural and religious values can raise. Third, the 3S model of multiculturalism can encourage a conception of groups as hermetically sealed and static, each reproducing its own distinct practices. Multiculturalism may be intended to encourage people to share their customs, but the assumption that each group has its own distinctive customs ignores processes of cultural adaptation, mixing, and melange, as well as emerging cultural commonalities, thereby potentially reinforcing perceptions of minorities as eternally â€Å"other. † This in turn can lead to the strengthening of prejudice and stereotyping, and more generally to the polarization of ethnic relations. Fourth, this model can end up reinforcing power inequalities and cultural restrictions within minority groups. In deciding which traditions are â€Å"authentic,† and how to interpret and display them, the state generally consults the traditional elites within the group — typically older males — while ignoring the way these traditional practices (and traditional elites) are often challenged by internal reformers, who have different views about how, say, a â€Å"good Muslim† should act. It can therefore imprison people in â€Å"cultural scripts† that they are not allowed to question or dispute. According to post-multiculturalists, the growing recognition of these flaws underlies the retreat from multiculturalism and signals the search for new models of citizenship that emphasize 1) political participation and economic opportunities over the symbolic politics of cultural recognition, 2) human rights and individual freedom over respect for cultural traditions, 3) the building of inclusive national identities over the recognition of ancestral cultural identities, and 4) cultural change and cultural mixing over the reification of static cultural differences. This narrative about the rise and fall of 3S multiculturalism will no doubt be familiar to many readers. In my view, however, it is inaccurate. Not only is it a caricature of the reality of multiculturalism as it has developed over the past 40 years in the Western democracies, but it is a distraction from the real issues that we need to face. The 3S model captures something important about natural human tendencies to simplify ethnic differences, and about the logic of global capitalism to sell cosmopolitan cultural products, but it does not capture the nature of post-1960s government MCPs, which have had more complex historical sources and political goals. B. Multiculturalism in Context It is important to put multiculturalism in its historical context. In one sense, it is as old as humanity — different cultures have always found ways of coexisting, and respect for diversity was a familiar feature of many historic empires, such as the Ottoman Empire. But the sort of multiculturalism that is said to have had a â€Å"rise and fall† is a more specific historic phenomenon, emerging first in the Western democracies in the late 1960s. This timing is important, for it helps us situate multiculturalism in relation to larger social transformations of the postwar era. More specifically, multiculturalism is part of a larger human-rights revolution involving ethnic and racial diversity. Prior to World War II, ethnocultural and religious diversity in the West was characterized by a range of illiberal and undemocratic relationships of hierarchy,6 justified by racialist ideologies that explicitly propounded the superiority of some peoples and cultures and their right to rule over others. These ideologies were widely accepted throughout the Western world and underpinned both domestic laws (e. g. , racially biased immigration and citizenship policies) and foreign policies (e. g. , in relation to overseas colonies). 5 6 Neil Bissoondath, Selling Illusions: The Cult of Multiculturalism in Canada. (Toronto: Penguin, 1994). Including relations of conqueror and conquered, colonizer and colonized, master and slave, settler and indigenous, racialized and unmarked, normalized and deviant, orthodox and heretic, civilized and primitive, and ally and enemy. Multiculturalism: Success, Failure, and the Future 5 MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE After World War II, however, the world recoiled against Hitler’s fanatical and murderous use of such ideologies, and the United Nations decisively repudiated them in favor of a new ideology of the equality of races and peoples. And this new assumption of human equality generated a series of political movements designed to contest the lingering presence or enduring effects of older hierarchies. We can distinguish three â€Å"waves† of such movements: 1) the struggle for decolonization, concentrated in the period 1948–65; 2) the struggle against racial segregation and discrimination, initiated and exemplified by the AfricanAmerican civil-rights movement from 1955 to 1965; and 3) the struggle for multiculturalism and minority rights, which emerged in the late 1960s. Multiculturalism is part of a larger human-rights revolution involving ethnic and racial diversity. Each of these movements draws upon the human-rights revolution, and its foundational ideology of the equality of races and peoples, to challenge the legacies of earlier ethnic and racial hierarchies. Indeed, the human-rights revolution plays a double role here, not just as the inspiration for a struggle, but also as a constraint on the permissible goals and means of that struggle. Insofar as historically excluded or stigmatized groups struggle against earlier hierarchies in the name of equality, they too have to renounce their own traditions of exclusion or oppression in the treatment of, say, women, gays, people of mixed race, religious dissenters, and so on. Human rights, and liberal-democratic constitutionalism more generally, provide the overarching framework within which these struggles are debated and addressed. Each of these movements, therefore, can be seen as contributing to a process of democratic â€Å"citizenization† — that is, turning the earlier catalog of hierarchical relations into relationships of liberaldemocratic citizenship. This entails transforming both the vertical relationships between minorities and the state and the horizontal relationships among the members of different groups. In the past, it was often assumed that the only way to engage in this process of citizenization was to impose a single undifferentiated model of citizenship on all individuals. But the ideas and policies of multiculturalism that emerged from the 1960s start from the assumption that this complex history inevitably and appropriately generates group-differentiated ethnopolitical claims. The key to citizenization is not to suppress these differential claims but to filter them through and frame them within the language of human rights, civil liberties, and democratic accountability. And this is what multiculturalist movements have aimed to do. The precise character of the resulting multicultural reforms varies from group to group, as befits the distinctive history that each has faced. They all start from the antidiscrimination principle that underpinned the second wave but go beyond it to challenge other forms of exclusion or stigmatization. In most Western countries, explicit state-sponsored discrimination against ethnic, racial, or religious minorities had largely ceased by the 1960s and 1970s, under the influence of the second wave of humanrights struggles. Yet ethnic and racial hierarchies persist in many societies, whether measured in terms of economic inequalities, political underrepresentation, social stigmatization, or cultural invisibility. Various forms of multiculturalism have been developed to help overcome these lingering inequalities. The focus in this report is on multiculturalism as it pertains to (permanently settled) immigrant groups,7 7 There was briefly in some European countries a form of â€Å"multiculturalism† that was not aimed at the inclusion of permanent immigrants, but rather at ensuring that temporary migrants would return to their country of origin. For example, mothertongue education in Germany was not initially introduced â€Å"as a minority right but in order to enable guest worker children to reintegrate in their countries of origin† (Karen Schonwalder, â€Å"Germany: Integration Policy and Pluralism in a Self-Conscious Country of Immigration,† in The Multiculturalism Backlash: European Discourses, Policies and Practices, eds. Steven Vertovec and Susanne Wessendorf [London: Routledge, 2010], 160). Needless to say, this sort of â€Å"returnist† multiculturalism — premised on the idea that migrants are foreigners who should return to their real home — has nothing to do with multiculturalism policies (MCPs) premised on the idea that immigrants belong in their host countries, and which aim to make immigrants 6 Multiculturalism: Success, Failure, and the Future MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE but it is worth noting that struggles for multicultural citizenship have also emerged in relation to historic minorities and indigenous peoples. 8 C. The Evolution of Multiculturalism Policies. The case of immigrant multiculturalism is just one aspect of a larger â€Å"ethnic revival† across the Western democracies,9 in which different types of minorities have struggled for new forms of multicultural citizenship that combine both antidiscrimination measures and positive forms of recognition and accommodation. Multicultural citizenship for immigrant groups clearly does not involve the same types of claims as for indigenous peoples or national minorities: immigrant groups do not typically seek land rights, territorial autonomy, or official language status. What then is the substance of multicultural citizenship in relation to immigrant groups? The Multiculturalism Policy Index is one attempt to measure the evolution of MCPs in a standardized format that enables comparative research. 10 The index takes the following eight policies as the most common or emblematic forms of immigrant MCPs:11 Constitutional, legislative, or parliamentary affirmation of multiculturalism, at the central and/ or regional and municipal levels The adoption of multiculturalism in school curricula The inclusion of ethnic representation/sensitivity in the mandate of public media or media licensing Exemptions from dress codes, either by statute or by court cases Allowing of dual citizenship The funding of ethnic group organizations to support cultural activities The funding of bilingual education or mother-tongue instruction Affirmative action for disadvantaged immigrant groups12 feel more at home where they are. The focus of this paper is on the latter type of multiculturalism, which is centrally concerned with constructing new relations of citizenship. 8 In relation to indigenous peoples, for example — such as the Maori in New Zealand, Aboriginal peoples in Canada and Australia, American Indians, the Sami in Scandinavia, and the Inuit of Greenland — new models of multicultural citizenship have emerged since the late 1960s that include policies such as land rights, self-government rights, recognition of customary laws, and guarantees of political consultation. And in relation to substate national groups — such as the Basques and Catalans in Spain, Flemish and Walloons in Belgium, Scots and Welsh in Britain, Quebecois in Canada, Germans in South Tyrol, Swedish in Finland — we see new models of multicultural citizenship that include policies such as federal or quasi-federal territorial autonomy; official language status, either in the region or nationally; and guarantees of representation in the central government or on constitutional courts. 9. Anthony Smith, The Ethnic Revival in the Modern World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981). 10 Keith Banting and I developed this index, first published in Keith Banting and Will Kymlicka, eds. , Multiculturalism and the Welfare State: Recognition and Redistribution in Contemporary Democracies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006). Many of the ideas discussed in this paper are the result of our collaboration. 11 As with all cross-national indices, there is a trade-off between standardization and sensitivity to local nuances. There is no universally accepted definition of multiculturalism policies and no hard and fast line that would sharply distinguish MCPs from closely related policy fields, such as antidiscrimination policies, citizenship policies, and integration policies. Different countries (or indeed different actors within a single country) are likely to draw this line in different places, and any list is therefore likely to be controversial. 12 For a fuller description of these policies, and the justification for including them in the Multiculturalism Policy Index, see the index website, www.queensu. ca/mcp. The site also includes our separate index of MCPs for indigenous peoples and for national minorities. Multiculturalism: Success, Failure, and the Future 7 MIGRATION POLICY INSTITUTE Other policies could be added (or subtracted) from the index, but there was a recognizable â€Å"multiculturalist turn† across Western democracies in the last few decades of the 20th century, and we can identify a range of public policies that are seen, by both critics and defenders, as emblematic of this turn. Each of the eight policy indicators listed above is intended to capture a policy dimension where liberaldemocratic states faced a choice about whether or not to take a multicultural turn and to develop more multicultural forms of citizenship in relation to immigrant groups. While multiculturalism for immigrant groups clearly differs in substance from that for indigenous peoples or national minorities, each policy has been defended as a means to overcome the legacies of earlier hierarchies and to help build fairer and more inclusive democratic societies. Therefore, multiculturalism is first and foremost about developing new models of democratic citizenship, grounded in human-rights ideals, to replace earlier uncivil and undemocratic relations of hierarchy and exclusion. Needless to say, this account of multiculturalism-as-citizenization differs dramatically from the 3S account of multiculturalism as the celebration of static cultural differences. Whereas the 3S account says that multiculturalism is about displaying and consuming differences in cuisine, clothing, and music, while neglecting issues of political and economic inequality, the citizenization account says that multiculturalism is precisely about constructing new civic and political relations to overcome the deeply entrenched inequalities that have persisted after the abolition of formal discrimination. It is important to determine which of these accounts more accurately describes the Western experience with multiculturalism. Before we can decide whether to celebrate or lament the fall of multiculturalism, we first need to make sure we know what multiculturalism has in fact been. The 3S account is misleading for three principal reasons. 13 Multiculturalism is first and foremost about developing new models of democratic citizenship, grounded in human-rights ideals. First, the claim that multiculturalism is solely or primarily about symbolic cultural politics depends on a misreading of the actual policies. Whether we look at indigenous peoples, national minorities, or immigrant groups, it is immediately apparent that MCPs combine economic, political, social, and cultural dimensions. While minorities are (rightly) concerned to contest the historic stigmatization of their cultures, immigrant multiculturalism also includes policies that are concerned with access to political power and economic opportunities — for example, policies of affirmative action, mechanisms of political consultation, funding for ethnic self-organization, and facilitated access to citizenship. In relation all three types of groups, MCPs combine cultural recognition, economic redistribution, and political participation. Second, the claim that multiculturalism ignores the importance of universal human rights is equally misplaced. On the contrary, as we’ve seen, multiculturalism is itself a human-rights-based movement, inspired and constrained by principles of human rights and liberal-democratic constitutionalism. Its goal is to challenge the traditional ethnic and racial hierarchies that have been discredited by the postwar human-rights revolution. Understood in this way, multiculturalism-as-citizenization offers no support for accommodating the illiberal cultural practices within minority groups that have also The same human-righ.

William Thomson Essay -- biographies biography bio lord kelvin

Born on June 26th 1824 in Belfast Ireland, William Thomson was one of many children. He was primarily raised by his father, James Thomson, as his mother died when he was six. James Thomson raised his family in a strict Presbyterian fashion. Although his father was strict and demanding, William mangaed to maitain a close relatioship with his father. James Thomson was the professor of engineering in Belfast and later was appointed to the chair of mathematics at the University of Glasgow. He taught his son mathematics at a very early age and as a result, William Thomson became an accomplished mathematican beyond that of universities. William Thomson enterd Glasgow University at the age of ten. That was not as uncommon as it is today because back then the universities were competing for the best junior pupils. In 1838, when Thomson was 14, he began what people today would consider university work and when he was 15, his essay called An Essay on the Figure of the Earth won him a gold medal from the University of Glasgow. Thomson then went on to publish his first papers at ages 16 and 17. These papers were defending the work of Fourier who was being criticized by british scientists. Following his years at Glasgow, Thomson entered the University of Cambrige in 1841. He graduated in four years with a B.A. honors degree and was second wrangler. Further work in 1845 saw him become first Smith's prizeman and he was elected a fellow of Peterhouse. From there he went to Paris because of his interest in the French approach to mathematics and he wanted to gain practcal experience and competence in experimental work. Before leaving Paris, Thomson got involved in many discussions which led him to study th... ...that of electrical current flow which helped him solve the problems with trasmitting electrical signals over long distances. Following this project, thomson invented the mirror galvanometer which he patented in 1858 as a long distance telegrah reciever. These projects not only led him to a great deal of fame but also a lot of money. Because of the great success he had from his work, Thomson was Knighted by QueenVictoria in 1866. He then retired from Glasgow in 1889 after being a professor for 53 years. In 1890 he became president of the Royal Society and held that position for five years and in 1892 he was created Baron Kelvin of Largs and recieved the Order of Merit in 1902. William Thomson, better know as Lord Kelvin, eventually died at his home December 17th, 1907, in his estates close to Largs, Scotland, and was buried at Wetminster Abbey, London.

Environmental and Biological Influences in the Classroom :: Teaching Education Essays

Environmental and Biological Influences in the Classroom The fourth grade class that I looked at had a number of different personalities. Some of the differences can be attributed to either environmental or biological causes. Some of the differences I thought might be something that was due to environment however, after talking to the teacher, Mrs. St.Germain, I changed my opinion to being a characteristic due to the biological influences. Some of the differences I noticed I thought where due to genetics or biological causes. One student that I thought exhibited characteristics that may have been due to environment was a girl who exhibited a lot of shyness. She was very quit and sat following directions at all times. As a whole the girls in the class where much quieter than the guys, however, this girl was quite a bit more quite than all the other girls were. I attribute her shyness to the environment that she was brought up in. I feel this very strongly after talking to Mrs. St.Germain. The girl was an immigrant from Haiti and had just learned to speak English in the 2nd grade. This late introduction into American society, lifestyle, and way of life is probably rather overwhelming and that causes the environment to add to her shyness. Another student seemed very outgoing and rather loud compared to the rest of the students. When I was coming to the room he introduced himself right away and told me the rest of the class was in the media center. At times he interrupted class and could be a nuisance at times. At first I thought that this could be an effect of an environment where he did not receive enough attention. After talking to Mrs. St.Germain though it turned out that he has ADHD along with another hyper activity disorder and his mother would not allow him to be medicated. The next student that I observed was very smart in math. I was told that he often times beats the teacher when doing math multiplication dittos. I think that his intelligence is something that would be passed down through his genes. On the other hand if a learning environment is established than a higher intelligence may result from the learning environment.

Important lessons about West African history Essay

In light of current events – the resurgence of racism in the U. S. , the political and social upheavals in Africa, and other sad legacies of 300 years of slave trade and colonialism – it is easy to forget that in many ways, Africans brought these evils upon themselves. In the historical novel Segu by Afro-French Caribbean scholar Maryse Conde, we are presented with a vivid portrait of the political struggles and infighting, as well as social and cultural conflicts that put enough stress on traditional African societies so as to allow their exploitation by European powers as well as Arabs and Ottoman Turks. These sweeping events are presented in miniature through the story of Dousika Traore, advisor to the King of Bambara in the city of Segu (located in present-day Mali on the Niger River). His four sons represent the major forces that were tearing at the fabric of traditional African society during the late eighteenth century; Islam, Christianity, the slave trade and Western-style capitalism. Tiekoro, the eldest turns his back on tradition and embraces Islam, a rigidly patriarchal faith with harsh, ascetic demands. It requires that he turn his back on the ancestors, â€Å"protectors of his clan,† (Conde, 35), and required that a man give up many pleasures: â€Å"Monzon, even though he made use of the services of Muslim marabouts, had feelings of the greatest repugnance against Islam, which castrated men, reduced the number of wives they might have, and forbade dolo [an alcoholic beverage] . Could a man live without dolo? Without it, where was he to find the strength to face each succeeding day? † (131). Tiekoro soon learns some hard facts, however, especially in Part I, Chapter 8, as his natural physical drives come between him and his desire to become a devout Muslim. Naba, the youngest, is captured and sold into slavery. While the popular TV mini-series, Roots depicted this sort of kidnapping as perpetrated by white â€Å"slave-catchers,† the reality is this was rarely done. Most often – as depicted in Segu – this happened as the result of kidnapping or capture by other black Africans (typically of a rival nation or clan) or Muslim traders. In fact, it is noteworthy that Conde depicts the aristocracy of the kingdom as more than willing to finance their traditionally hedonistic lifestyles by means of the slave trade. Malobali embraces Christianity, another influence of white Europeans. In part, he appears to be driven to this, being pressured by his elder brother Tiekoro, who thinks what is good for him is good for the others (165). Eventually, he embraces Christianity (252), which involves losing his name and his language as he is renamed â€Å"Samuel† and taught the French language. Yet cultural and family issues (251-292) come between him and his full acceptance of what, like Islam, is a patriarchal and restrictive faith at odds with the cultural values with which he is raised. Siga is the son who attempts to hold on to the traditions of his father. Dousika’s death fairly early in the novel (135) is symbolic of a culture and a society that is dying all around him. As a younger son, Siga is not in a position of power, yet resists Tiekoro’s authority and attempts to force the family to accept Islam. Nonetheless, the forces tearing apart traditional society and culture are too powerful for him; ultimately, Siga adopts the life and occupation of a merchant of wares, enabling him to live in some degree of comfort, but stripping him of what status he might have enjoyed as Dousika’s son. In Segu, the reader has an excellent opportunity to see the slave trade and the exploitive colonization of Africa from the African perspective, gaining a greater understanding of the fact that no people in history have even been conquered without inside help. Work Cited Conde, Maryse. Segu. English ed. (New York: Penguin Books, 1987)Ã'Ž

Dancing essays

Dancing essays When I look back through my old family photo albums, I find it difficult to recall much more than what is pictured in their pages. The dated clothing, the people, the locations... all of these are quite visible, and therefore appear memorable, but the fact is, without the visual prompt, I probably wouldn't recollect many of the pictured events at all. Things that made no major impact on my life remain simple illustrations in the back of my mind or images in the album tucked away in the back of an unused closet. Looking at a picture of my fifth birthday party, I can see who was there, what the cake looked like, the gifts I received, but I can't remember much else. Other times in my childhood I remember rather vividly, however. It's funny how memory is selective like that, how certain things can be completely retold down to every last detail. Often, however, a simple prompt can trigger an outpouring of memories that may have otherwise remained hidden deep in the mind. A sight, a sound, perhaps a smell...all of these things can trigger a deluge of retrospection. We have a home movie of this party...it is grainy and of short duration, but it's a great visual aid to my memory of life at that time. And it is in color - the only complete scene in color I can recall from those years. -Judith Ortiz Cofer, "Silent Dancing" In her book "Silent Dancing," Cofer recounts the memories of her childhood induced while watching this short piece of film. Each scene brought about more memories, as colors and scents of the past were relived through it. Because the film was silent, however, those parts of the past had to be made up...explored by her. When I think of the things that remind me of my childhood and development, one scene in particular stands out. I experienced more learning and exploration on the playground at age eight than any other time I can recall in my life. The many things I learned st...

Bpa Bisphenol a Essay Example

Bpa Bisphenol a Essay Example Bpa Bisphenol a Essay Bpa Bisphenol a Essay Bisphenol A Anais Rodriguez Munoz Colorado Technical University November 15, 2011 Bisphenol A What are some possible detrimental health effects associated with BPA? Bisphenol A has been labeled as an endocrine disruptor because it has been found that it mimics estrogen which we already have in our bodies a natural hormone, may fool the body by stimulating reactions that are unnecessary and potentially harmful. Scientist has found links to heart disease, diabetes and liver abnormalities in adults as well as brain and hormone development problems in fetuses and young children. Studies have also shown it can promote human breast cancer cell growth, and cause erectile dysfunction and other sexual problems in men. Explain the position of the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding BPA. They have been avoiding the use of BPA such as removing baby bottle or cups off the U. S. market, developing alternatives or minimize BPA levels for the can lignin in food and baby formula. The FDA is also taking other measures to ensure there is no BPA in other products. They are doing new studies like the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences has recently announced that it is providing $30 million in funding to study BPA, which includes support both for FDA studies and external grants. What is the position of your state government regarding BPA? Tuesday August 30, 2011 The California state Senate voted to ban the plastic chemical bisphenol A, also known as BPA, from baby bottles and sippy cups sold in the state of California. Opponents had argued that if the ban was approved more companies would be open to lawsuits if the chemical was found in baby products. Do you feel that BPA should be more tightly regulated in the US? Why or why not? I definitely think the U. S. should be stricter on the regulations of BPA especially because it’s found in so many products for children; they are the ones that are at higher risk. In my opinion it should be banned in every state even country no one should be consuming products that could possibly have harmful chemicals in it. Toys have BPA along with bottles and sippy cups why would it be alright for our children to be victims of this chemical when their immune systems are still immature? It just seems very selfish in order to avoid lawsuits form the companies the bill was denied in some states, makes no sense the facts are there that it is a harmful chemical that causes a number of illnesses in children and adults. So why are we even debating whether it should be more tightly regulated in the US of course it should! References: Health Effects of Bisphenol A http://environment. about. com/od/healthenvironment/f/bisphenol-a-health-effects. htm (2011) Retrieved November 16, 2011 California bill passes http://latimesblogs. latimes. com/greenspace/2011/08/bpa-ban-passes-state-senate. html (August 30,2011) Retrieved November 16, 2011 Drug and Food Administration 2011 fda. gov/newsevents/publichealthfocus/ucm064437. htm (January 2011) Retrieved November 16, 2011