Egalitarian as the Belief in Equity - Essay Example

Introduction Egalitarianism is a belief in equality among different individuals. The main emphasis of egalitarianism isequity and equality. All individuals are to be given fair treatment regardless of gender or race. In our current society, issue of equity has been of much concern. The society is made up of different social classes that act as a basis of determining equity. Individuals from a low social class have experienced much suffering in the hand of the haves. They are treated as lesser being due to their social status; this is why they do not have much influence in major decision-making processes. This essay tries to compare egalitarianism in Japan and Korea basing on four books, these are Japanese workers in protest, Shinohata, class struggle and family struggle and finally ancestor worship and Korean society. Egalitarianism takes different forms; there is both economic and economic egalitarianism. Religious egalitarianism states that God created all beings equally and that there is none that is superior to another or one entitled to oppressing others no matter what. Both men and women were created in God’s image and therefore need to be treated fairly regardless of gender. In economic egalitarianism, there should be equality in outcome. All society members are to be involved in active production of goods that are necessary to the growth of the economy. An example of economic egalitarianism is setting of fixed prices on goods regardless of quality and demand (Turner p 32). The main interest of Japanese workers was to champion for equality in the society. This emanated from the existence of capitalist ideology where the rich continued enjoying high positions in the society while poor people were used for working for the rich. This population comprised of workers, they were not happy with the major changes that union management had effected. Payment of workers was in a compromising situation, they were only offered sixty percent of what they were supposed to earn. Unikon workers were constantly threatened of losing their job opportunities if they do not meet set standards of the organization. They were therefore subjected to long working hours, but could not be allowed to complain. Their wages were very low that could not be able to sustain their families. Workers went through so much mental torture and did not really understand what they were to do in ensuring equality and fairness. Workers welfare is a very important factor for an organization to consider ensuring smooth operations. There should be equality among workers regardless of gender and race. Inequality is shown through payment of wages to workers. Unikon management did not see the need of addressing the issue of salaries among the workers considering him or her lesser beings who deserve no justice. Inequality in employment can be done on gender lines. Most people consider women as a weak gender that cannot be able to carry out task s like that of men (Turner 153). Therefore, they deny employment opportunities to women. Women just like men can perform efficiently in organisations. In Japan, most workers have experienced hard living conditions. The most notable workers are those that work in nuclear firms. They sleep on the floors and corridors withstanding much cold. Officials believe that this is a favor to them and that the conference halls offered to them are very conducive for survival. The irony behind this is that they cannot themselves sleep in the halls they refer to as conducive. This shows high rate of inequality between workers and the top officials. Diet of workers has not been addressed; they are forced to survive on only two meals in a day. Apart from meals, there is lack of enough water that workers can use for showering in most cases they are forced to go without showering. Water, food and housing are basic needs that every individual should access. Denial of these amenities can lead to diseases or even worse death. Top officials have not been able to address workers issues even after experiencing prolonged suffering among workers. Working conditions for workers have not been different for Korea; the same trend of poor treatment has been promoted by some organizations. Their employers expose laborers who are considered to be at the lowest rank to much suffering. This is due to their social background. In Korea there are workers referred to as sweatshop workers. These workers are forced to work for long hours without extra pay. These workers are very helpless at the hands of their employers, they are always in constant fear of being fired, and therefore employers take advantage of their employee’s fears by mistreating them. Sweatshop employers are mostly found from rural areas. These individuals seek employment in urban centers due to poverty. In both Japan and Korea, working conditions of laborers in most organizations are very poor. Issues of low pay and lack of job security are dominant. The main contributor of this is the difference in social class. The poor are forced to provide cheap labor under harsh conditions (Dore 119). A book on class struggle and family struggle tries to explain the condition of Korean women who work in factories. Women play a vital role in service production in different organizations in Korea. Most individuals have not been able to appreciate the position of a woman in the society. Class struggle greatly affects women’s role in major roles in organisations. When it comes to decision-making women are fully involved this due to the view that they cannot make any creative or critical decisions on, matters affecting organization. Inequality of women presentation has been demonstrated through leadership. Most technical leadership roles are assigned to men and not women. In Korea, for instance inequality has greatly affected them in the job market (Kim p 39). A woman’s place has always been defined as the kitchen. This means that women are only supposed to be concerned with domestic matters. The society holds that a woman is to be brought up in a moral manner; these morals are to be used in managing of homes and not managing organisations. In politics women have not been fully represented, most of Korea’s politics is made up of men. Women in Korea are not ready to sit down and watch this happen. Believing that inequality in women presentation in both organizational and governmental is brought about by bias, they are trying to champion for equal representation. They have ensured this by, forming organisations that help in expressing women’s grievances. Government has tried to address this issue by trying to recruit women in government. Another measure that has been taken by the government is trying to provide gender equality measures that ensure both men and women be fully presented. Due to a traditional mindset of most Korean firms, women have opted to working for firms in the United States than those in Korea. The reason why there has been this great shift is that the United States firms have flexible policies that encourage women involvement in leadership. Lack of family support towards women’s roles greatly leads to inequality. Most women pursuing top managerial positions in Korea lack family support. Most families hold that managerial positions are to be held by men and women (Kim 77). In Japan, women have been used to perform different tasks in the economy. Japan has been greatly faced with a decline in the birth rates. This therefore means that the whole population is to be used in realizing growth in the economy. In clubs for example, women have been used to promote appeal to the public. Therefore, businesses have been used as a mean of self-evaluation. Due to feudal influence in Japan, women were prevented from owning property. This meant that women were to look for jobs in order to survive. Those from low social class had all the time to move freely and look for jobs while partrilineal forces controlled those from rich family. Poor women experienced very harsh working conditions for instance poor health and lack of enough food. Women participation in jobs was influenced by emergence of industrialization. Women moving to urban centers made the role of fathers and husbands useless in the sense that they were forced to carry out tasks that their wives performed (Kim 201). Another effect of women movement was low birth rates in Japan. The government was greatly concerned with the Japans population therefore sought measures through which population would be increased. Women were given freedom to form associations at the same time choose what occupation they were interested in. this was a measure of boosting the economy. Job positions no longer dependent on gender but rather interests and ones skills. Unlike Korea, women in Japan had all the liberty to choose what career they were interested in. this step encouraged Japan women to pursue jobs at top managerial positions. Korea had a more traditional approach when it came to women employment and property ownership by women. This is the reason why most Korean opted to moving out to United States where they could be given job opportunities (Kim p 205). In ancestor worship and Korean society, Korean beliefs about the dead are explain. The Korean society highly believes in the dead and that these individuals have an influence on the lives of the living. Appeasement of the ancestors is very important. During burial time, a large population is allowed to attend apart from nuns and monks (Janelli and Janelli 76).Women have a major role to play in religion; they are highly regarded in the sense that, they are believed to be presentations of small gods on earth. Women have highly influenced religious sector more than other sectors. Women are allowed to offer sacrifices to God. Those that carry out this practice are to be holy and pure. By being, holy means a woman has to maintain high moral standards by being a virgin. Equality has therefore been promoted in the religious sector. Japan believes that the dead do have influence over the living. When one dies, his or her spirit goes to a place known as Yomi. Japan culture requires that, places of worship should be approached with respect and silence. Any individual approaching shrines was to be holy. There was a belief that the dead influenced the lives of every individual in the society regardless of gender or age (Janelli and Janelli p 120). Conclusion Egalitarian is the belief in equity and equality. Egalitarian holds that all people deserve to be given equal treatment regardless of one’s economic, social or political background. Lack of equality can sometimes lead to a revolt among different groups. This is evident through the protest of workers in Japan who wanted better living conditions than they were offered. Inequality can also be expressed along gender and racial factors. Women have always been sidelined in major issues that concern decision-making. Social stratification is also another issue that brings about in equality in the society. The rich tend to discriminate against the poor. Work cited Dore, Ronald Philip. Shinohata, a portrait of a Japanese village. Carlifornia: University of California Press, 2005. Janelli, Dawnhee and Roger Janelli. Ancestor Worship and Korean Society. New York: Stanford University Press, 2002. Kim, Seung-Kyung. Class struggle or family struggle?: the lives of women factory workers in South Korea. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Turner, Christena L. Japanese Workers in Protest: An Ethnography of Consciousness and Experience. Carlifonia: University of California Press, 2000. Read More