Diversity Defenders - Assignment Example

240455 Diversity Defenders There are two political camps, liberals and conservatives; then there are the rational independents who do not follow party lines, but who advocate common sense. I would like to think that I fall into the latter category. I do, however, find that I agree with the liberal camp on many things; the conservative camp on some issues, but, for the most part, I always disagree with their partisan steadfastness. What is the motivation for a person to be a liberal, or a conservative is an interesting question. It is the personality that makes people systematically and predictably, and interestingly, different from one another (Furham, 1999). Winston Churchill is credited with having said, “A young man who is not a liberal, is a man without a heart. A man over 40 who is not a conservative, is a man without a brain.” Whether or not Churchill said this is irrelevant, but it does reflect on the fact that political ideology is not fixed, and that it, like our personality and behavior, is affected by our perceptions at certain ages. This brief essay looks at what causes people to lean towards one, or the other as an affiliation. Conservatives Adrian Furham and Patrick Heaven (1999) examine personality types, and say that the perception of most people is that according to personality theories, it is impossible to be a “liberal” or “conservative” personality types. “Rather, one is conservative or radical in a tough-minded or a tender-minded way (Eysenck and Wilson, 1978). Thus one may hold tough-minded conservative or tender-minded conservative views, but these are qualitatively quite different from each other. Whereas the former may include attitudes such as Martians should be prohibited from owning property, the latter could include such attitudes as abolish Sunday observance or abolish religion. Brand explained the Eysenckian position thus: What the racist and the radical, the Fascist and the Communist, lacked in similarity of their opinions, they made up in intractability, insensitivity and impoliteness (Brand, 1981, p.12) (Furham and Heaven, 113).” It would probably also surprise the liberal minded person to know that Furham and Heaven say that conservative personality types are identified in part by the individual’s belief of fair and just social ideals (Furham and Heaven). The personality type, contrary to what is perhaps popular because of the current sentiment surrounding the politics of the world at the moment; is usually one of pragmatic tendency, a reliance on studied and well thought out decision making processes (Furham and Heaven). It is not unusual that the conservative would pursue a life of politics, where they can attempt to persuade others to their own level of logical and deliberate thinking. While some people say that it is an individual choice to pursue political conservatism, conservatives might respond that they are compelled to do so by the level of chaos around them. Based on what Furham and Heaven say about conservatives, it is not surprising that chaos would be an unsettling and unacceptable condition to the conservative. Other personality traits that we might associate with conservatives, and ones which would be obvious given what Furham and Heaven have said, is that they would stick close to the rules, because rules prevent chaos. Also, that they would hold close tradition, and traditional values, such as celebrating national occasions like Thanksgiving and Christmas. Conservatives would find that tradition, celebrating tradition, keeps people within the rules of the social order, which in turn prevents chaos. Conservatives are less likely, then, to respond to the emotional issues. This might make them come across as hard, and not sensitive to the social needs of people. Conservatives actually prefer social continuity, organization, and structures that prevent the individual from falling into the social need pitfalls. They just do not respond to it at an emotional level, but at the level of organized, planned, execution of plan. Liberals According to Fordham and Heaven, liberals have a tendency to reject fundamental and literal beliefs. This suggests that their realm is one that on an more esoteric level, an inspirational level. Liberals look to ideals for motivation, without idealistic inspiration, liberals do not connect to concepts. They reject “literal” beliefs. This is why we find that they have a tendency to react loudly, even irrationally, and have a greater tendency to respond to the emotional needs of society. Like conservatives, liberals, too, are compelled to public lives of service. We see that in or political leaders, and in the groups that support them. We find that liberals often appeal to individuals who are heads of households with a blue collar, or average income, and those individuals where there is no breadwinner, or where there is a reliance on social programs to sustain them. Liberals have a tendency to go for the esoteric over the pragmatic, and to focus on individualism rather than socialism. Neither group is without flaws. If one tries to frame oneself snugly within either group, it becomes less effective, have less utilitarian impact. It is the reason why we have two parties, liberals and conservatives, because together, and in a system that requires their actions to come together, we often find that we get the best of both worlds. Works Cited Furnham, Adrian, and Patrick Heaven. Personality and Social Behaviour /. London: Arnold, 1999. Questia. 15 Sept. 2008 . Gender in the Media The media, which is focused on its industry profit line, has impacted the way in which gender is perceived by the public. This has long been the study of researchers, and much information supports the fact that the media is responsible for putting men and women into stereotypical roles, and impacting the way in which the public perceives their own sexuality, and that of their opposite sex, or gays and lesbians (Carstarphen, Meta and Zavonia, Susan C., 1999). Recent studies have shown a departure from the traditional roles of men and women. This essay looks at the media and gender, in brief, to gain a general idea of the ways in which the media affects our perspectives on gender. Traditional Relationships If we looked back on the 1960s, there is the image that was conveyed to many people through the media, television, newspapers, and magazines, of the “nuclear” family, or the family as depicted by television, like Harriet and Ozzie, Leave it to Beaver, or even the Brady Bunch. No matter which of these examples one takes, they create an image of a nuclear family: mom, as the homemaker and the center of the family; dad as the breadwinner, but whose presence in the family is less visible; and the children who attend school, and are in the process of their own social development. These images are what one could categorize as “traditional” models of gender and relationships. Today, the media portrays less traditional role models; MTV’s The Osbournes, Gene Simmons, and even the Simpsons. Each of these programs portray nontraditional relationships and roles for men and women in their families and society. For instance, the Osbournes are a financially sound family, but socially inept on many levels. While the mom, Sharon, is the center of the family, the most dysfunctional member of the family, Ozzie, is the breadwinner. Ozzie, however, could not win bread or anything else without the direction and guidance of Sharon who is very involved in his professional life and routine. Then there is Gene Simmons, another reality show. Simmons and his live-in love of 25 years, former Playboy bunny and model, Shannon Tweed, have two children and have for all appearances the American dream. Gene and Shannon, however, have never married, and Gene holds that marriage would damage, ruin the relationship he has had with Shannon for 25 years. Shannon, on the other hand, would like to marry the father of her children. The children are normal, well adjusted, respectful of their parents, and forgiving of the fact that their parents are not married. There is the Simpsons, who portray the family in total dysfunction, suffer nearly every social ailment thinkable. Bart Simpson is a juvenile delinquent, Lisa is an underachiever because she lacks the social structure in her home, and is often portrayed as lapsing into depression like states of frustration. Homer Simpson is a dysfunctional breadwinner, always looking for the quick financial fix that would mean he would never have work again. These contemporary images of gender and relationships are supported by the media (Carstarphen, Meta and Zavonia, Susan C., 1999). For instance, recent studies showed that men, when portrayed with working women, were nonworking. While ads targeting men showed the men as the breadwinners, in more traditional role perceptions, and the women were not employed. The ads that Carstarphen and Zavonia are referring to are targeting the needs of an identified consumer market. Having done that, they play to the conscious and subconscious triggers of the individual, so that the individual associates product with preference. The ads were also found to appeal to the targeted audiences by way of facial expression, body language, fashion, and environment. By the same token, because the media ad is appealing to targeted groups, the ads depict the individuals, depending upon the product, as having fun, and laughing; being sexually aggressive, or seductive; and often portrayed women in submissive roles to men. “The portrayal of men and women in various media has been analyzed by a number of researchers, many of whom have concluded that media portrayals of both men and women tend to fall into the stereotyped "traditional" roles. (For an excellent review of early research, see Courtney and Whipple, 1983; for more recent research, see Klassen, Jasper, and Schwartz, 1993; Robinson, 1994.) Courtney and Lockeretz ( 1971) examined eight magazines published during the week of April 18, 1970, and coded 729 advertisements. They found that only 12 percent of the ads showed women in working roles. When men appeared with women, the men tended to be in nonworking roles, and women were rarely shown interacting with other women. Klassen, Jasper, and Schwartz summarized the magazine studies: "Like the general-readership magazine studies, examinations of advertisements in magazines targeted specifically at female and male audiences, such as Good Housekeeping and Sports Illustrated, concluded that women frequently appeared in traditional stereotypical roles" ( 1993, p. 31). In what has come to be regarded as a seminal study of the visual stereotypes often afforded such photographic portrayals, sociologist Erving Goffman ( 1976) offered a frame analysis of advertising portrayals of men and women in his monograph Gender Advertisements. Goffman used a randomly selected collection of magazine advertisements to analyze position and expression used within the illustrations. Goffman argued that such display informed viewers about acceptable gender behavior, role positions, and stereotypes (Carstarphen, Meta and Zavonia, Susan C., 1999).” Representations of gender are specifically manufactured for us by the media. Perhaps what is of a greater concern, is that so many of us are willing to accept or embrace the images the media imposes upon us as images we relate to and want to portray in our own lives. Works Cited Carstarphen, Meta G., and Susan C. Zavoina, eds. Sexual Rhetoric: Media Perspectives on Sexuality, Gender, and Identity. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999. Questia. 15 Sept. 2008 . Read More