Individuals Perspectives And Factors Affecting On Their Forming - Essay Example

Individuals Perspectives And Factors Affecting On Their Forming Introduction Individuals’ perspectives over similar issues can vary greatly. These perspectives are driven by many social, economic and cultural factors. In addition to that, personal experiences and philosophies also play a vital role in designing a person’s view regarding an eminent social issue. In order to evaluate views of three different generations i.e. a teenager, a middle-aged person and a baby boomer, regarding world after hundred years from now, an open-ended interview was conducted in which these three generations shared their views regarding population, state of cities, city dwellers and general society. During this analysis, impact of personal traits like gender, age and education were examined with relation to individuals’ perspectives about world after a century. 1) Impact of Age on Interviewees’ Opinions There was a visible difference on the opinions of interviewees belonging to different age groups. With increase in age, there was a visible inclination towards cynical behavior which was also supported by previous experiences and forecasting of the future driven by current social trends. Younger interviewees had relatively higher expectations regarding betterment of the world in hundred years whereas with increase in age, the vision transformed from being realistic to a negative one. A simple example of it can be opinions about uniformity of the cultures. Where Alex believed that globalization can lead to a uniform culture in response to third questions, James agreed to the similar notion but in a disappointing way by emphasizing on lack of identity and pride in nations due to mixed and adapted cultural values. In response to question regarding economic state of city dwellers, Alex had hopes regarding cities after hundred years as she stated that those with multiple earners will be in a better state. On the other hand, Jessica who is a middle aged lady had a more realistic perspective of world after a century. She supported her answer by saying that there are limited resources for economic development and population is going to suffer eventually due to lack of employment and other monetary resources. There is a clear diversion of opinion from being hopeful and rather less knowledgeable about facts to realistic and then cynical tone if the answers of these interviewees are compared in ascending order in terms of age. 2) Impact of Gender on Interviewees’ Opinions Out of three interviewees, two were female. A critical analysis of their answers showed that females were either optimistic or realistic about world in future. On the other hand, the male interviewee, James who also happened to be the oldest of all, had little hopes regarding survival of the world. Interview of Alex showed her realistic approach when she mentioned future difficulties like low employment, rising rate of social issues, higher crimes due to limited income etc. However, she believed that population will increase greatly with Asia becoming the denser region. Same notion is supported by Brunn, Williams and Zeigler (2003) when they discuss increase of population and infrastructure development in Asian cities like Karachi, Mumbai and Dhaka. Similar was the case with Jessica’s interview. She had a better know how of current global environment. She knew that there is a rising death rate which may increase further in future affecting world’s population. She was also of the opinion that living conditions of city dwellers will get better due to infrastructure and environmental development. On the other hand, when asked about environmental issues faced by city dwellers, James responded by saying, “May be government will work on develop infrastructure and will pay attention to environmental issues but I think that would be short-term.” It was clear that female interviewees had concrete facts and philosophies to back up their answers where James was aggressive in his tone and selection of words with philosophy driven by his personal experiences in the past. Gender has an impact on one’s views. Male and female genders have some visible psychological differences that are well-reflected in their overall aura as well. 3) Impact of Education on Interviewees’ Opinions Out of these three interviewees, Alex was in high school; Jessica was a Masters in International Relations and James had done primary schooling with several engineering courses back in his days. It was evident from the responses that all the interviewees were using the facts that were known to them. Of course, due to different levels of education, the responses varied too. Alex was aware of the issues faced by global economy but had limited set of facts and figures. When asked about increase in global population in the first question, she answered, “I think it will increase enormously. Mainly because of third world countries.” On the other hand, Jessica prompted that it will remain moderate because of increasing death rate due reduced average life span. It was visible that she knew about increasing chronic health conditions and was able to compare increasing birth rates to death tolls. James, on the contrary, just believed, “more people will be older after hundred years and hence they will die soon”. The given answer was backed up by no facts and figures whatsoever. Comparing these answers showed that Jessica was most educated within the selected sample and her answers were backed up logics and facts. 4) Impact of Culture on Interviewees’ Responses Out of these interviewees, only Alex was African American whereas other two were Whites with same cultural background. Comparing Alex’s answers with Jessica and James did not show any major cultural differences. Alex was born in New York and her parents were established professionals. In the interviews and during general discussion, she behaved like an average American teenager. When asked about regions that are expected to have dense population, Alex and Jessica named Asia mainly because of the facts known to them and nothing related to culture. James, on the other hand, believed that America will have highest population due to incoming immigrants. United States has been a land of cultural diversity for over a century (Brunn, Williams & Zeigler., 2003; Centre of Diseases Control, 2012). People from major ethnic groups have risen multiple generations here. Therefore, it is unlikely to believe that James and people of his cultural background perceive immigrants as threats. However, the general population of minor ethnic groups has increased greatly and some of them even have established communities as well (ESRI, 2010; Subramanian, 2012). Therefore, James’ answer may reflect the notion of increased ethnic population and no bias against them in general on the basis of conflicting cultural values. 5) Impact of Interviewer on the Interview Responses During interviews conducted for occupational and academic purposes, biases may exist that may hamper overall effectiveness of the interviews. Some of these biases include stereotyping, inconsistency in questioning, first-impression error, negative emphasis, halo effect, cultural noise, non-verbal bias, contrast effect and similar-to-me error (‘Interviewer Biases, n.d). I believe that there was a limited impact of my personal bias on the interview since I gathered most of the information by directly writing down the verbal answers. There was practically no stereotyping since I have African Americans and Whites in my social circle and no pre-determined trait affected my observation. There was a limited use of my own judgment during the interview (as it was only used in analyzing these answers, correlating them and deducing meaning out of them) and no inconsistency in questions asked from all the interviewees. There can be a slight first impression error as I believed Jessica and Alex to be more reasonable and driven by logic whereas James appeared to be an older person with bitter experiences. Same perspective might reflect in my analysis of his answers as well. His age and less literate background may have lead to a negative emphasis bias and Halo effect which have made me focus more on his old age instead of his rich experience while examining his answers. There was also a limited or no cultural noise or non-verbal bias due to similar cultural background among me and the interviewees. Conclusion A critical analysis of the answers indicated that age, education and gender had more influence on individuals’ perspectives than culture or interviewer’s bias. The younger and well-educated interviewees had better current information and more logical explanation for their answers as compared to the old and less educated one. In addition to that, interviewer’s bias had relatively controlled impact on the output of the interviews. References Brunn, S.D., Williams, J.K. & Zeigler, D.J. (2003). Cities of the World: World Regional Urban Development. Rowman & Littlefield Inc. Centre of Diseases Control. (2012). Racial & Ethnic Minority Populations. Retrieved 4 October, 2013 from http://www.cdc.gov/minorityhealth/populations/remp.html ESRI Inc. (2010). Minority Population Growth: The New Boom. Retrieved 4 October, 2013 from http://www.esri.com/library/brochures/pdfs/minority-population-growth.pdf ‘Interviewer Biases’. Retrieved 4 October, 2013 from http://www.uncsa.edu/humanresources/forms/InterviewerBiases.pdf Subramanian, C. (2012). Minority Report: New U.S. Data Shows More Ethnic Babies Than Whites. Retrieved 4 October, 2013 from http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/05/18/minority-report-new-u-s-data-shows-more-ethnic-babies-than-whites/ Appendix A Children’s Interviews Name: Alex Gender: Female Age: 18 years 1) I think it will increase enormously. Mainly because of third world countries where rate of population growth is extremely high and with more people moving towards poverty line, it is more likely to increase. 2) I believe Asia will have the largest cities and America too. Asia will be the leading region in population growth because China and Japan already have a large number of populations along with other developing countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. America will also have a large population because of increasing immigration trend and population contribution through these immigrants. 3) I think they will have a lot of similarities. Cultures are already mixed up right now. Countries are losing their cultural boundaries. The trend will increase I think. 4) City dwellers would do average I believe. Population growth will cause increase in demand of employment whereas actual employment supply will be relatively limited. However, following current trend of nucleus family with multiple earners, families individually may do well. Inflation will also increase so it is possible that income will provide limited value. 5) I think that these issues will increase. Things are not exactly very encouraging right now. With time, the resources are going to deplete which means lesser environmental protection. So, as long as we are not living in automated capsules, things will be difficult and city dwellers will face these problems the most because of higher rate of economic development. 6) Crime rate and other social issues will also increase. Lesser employment and income sources will increase poverty and hence, there will be a visible social misbalance. Appendix B Adults’ Interviews Name: Jessica Gender: Female Age: 38 1) I think it will remain moderate. Increase in rate of birth is also met by increase in death rate due to low life span. Diseases are more likely to increase along with other social disorders being a cause of death. Therefore, I think it will remain average. 2) I think Asia will be the largest region considering the current rate of population growth. It is important to note that cultures in Asian countries promote joint family system or strong social bond among family members which may act as a reason. Furthermore, this region is also showing greater economic growth trend which will also attract more immigrants etc. 3) Yes definitely. Italians are eating Chinese noodles and using wok for cooking whereas Americans are becoming fond of sushi. Cultural values are going to amalgamate because of globalization. I think world will turn into a single unit with lesser boundaries and uniform culture. 4) I think not. We are running out of resources for economic development. Furthermore, less consideration for environment is aggravating this situation. Employment level will decrease mainly because of higher competition, larger population and increased trend of immigration. 5) I think there will be a decent economic and infrastructure development. Every time brings its own set of new changes so yes, living conditions will be comparatively better. However, it is imperative that corporations need to be careful about welfare of general public. 6) I think crimes and poverty along with other social evils will persist. These have always been present and there is a little chance of social evils getting completely eliminated. In fact, I believe that these social issues will turn more pressing. Appendix C Older Adults’ Interview Name: James Gender: Male Age: 68 years 1) I think it will shrink. People are likely to die more quickly after 100 years than they are right now; more people will be older after hundred years and hence they will die soon. 2) May be America. Looks like everyone is coming here to earn money. Society has changed so much, we barely see communities with completely white people. 3) No, cities are going to get worse. They will be crowded with more struggles among people causing damage to existing cultural values. There will be a time when no one will know their cultural identity. 4) Income will increase and so will the expenditure. Life is going to get more costly. In our days, things were better in quality and way cheaper and we used to pay in cents. Now everything is too expensive and is likely to get more expensive. 5) May be government will work on develop infrastructure and will pay attention to environmental issues but I think that would be short-term. Giant organizations will get stronger and will have a better share of these facilities. So these issues are more likely to increase. 6) Considering existing conditions of the society, I don’t have any high hopes. There will be less money and more people in need of it. Organizations will become stronger and money will remain in the hands of fewer people, so people will turn towards crimes. Read More