A Push to Give Steadier Shifts to Part-Timers by Steven Greenhouse - Case Study Example

A Push to Give Steadier Shifts to Part-Timers by Steven Greenhouse (The New York Times) Summary Issues relating to thenumber of hours awarded to part-time employees have raised eyebrows in the past days. This is after claims by sections of part-time employees that they are not awarded sufficient working hours with some working for less than 20 hours in a week. In addition, some of the part-time employees have very unpredictable schedules, which make it difficult for them to organize themselves. Some states and city councils have gone ahead to develop laws that safeguard the interest of part-time employees. Such include San Francisco and Vermont while requires workers to seek from their employers to have flexible schedules. In another case, SeaTac in Washington adopted a minimum wage of $15 an hour. George Miller, the representative for California will be tabling legislation to the House that will require employers to pay an extra hour if the employee was not informed of their shift within 24 hours. In addition, the legislation will require compensation of employees whose work is terminated after a few hours. The view that part-time workers have been subjected to differing working hours has elicited mixed reactions from the employers as well as the employee organizations. Despite lack of union for part-time workers, The Fair Workweek Initiative has seen their plights addressed. Social Concept and Sociological Perspective This article addresses the basic sociological concept of the society. In an endeavor to consider the concerns of all the people in America, the plight of the part-time employees has been addressed. A society is a group of people that are united trough a common identity. These people form an integral part of the American community, therefore their plights needs to be addressed. According to the report, most of these employees are women, therefore, there issue addressed is that they need to have a better pay, be allowed to work for more hours and be allowed to have predictable working schedule. Largely, this will help these members of the society to plan their time. The sociological perspective being addressed here is the functionalist perspective. The role played by the part-time employees cannot be negated. There is an interplay between the functioning of the government, the welfare of the country as well as that of individuals. Just as it has been addressed in the article by California Representative George Miller, the cycle should be balanced. The employer should ensure that their part-time employees get sufficient working hours; incase this is not effected as it has been the case, it is the role of the legislators to enact laws that push the employers to do so. Every individual, including the part-time workers have a collective responsibility of making America great. Such cannot be achieved when they are subjected to unpredictable working hours and they earn meagre wages because of the few working hours. Good Samaritans Launch Mission to save Migrants in the Mediterranean by John Hooper Summary Based on the increased number of immigrants estimated at over 65,000 entering Italy and Malta from Tunisia and Libya, a couple has considered helping. An Italian philanthropist Regina Catrambone together with her American husband Christopher is doing their final touches to facilitating a rescue mission for the African immigrants. The immigrants have been crossing the Mediterranean Sea in search of better livelihoods in Europe; however, it has not been all rosy for them. Catastrophe has struck resulting to loss of lives and others have been stuck in the sea. Regina was moved when she saw a person floating in the sea while sailing to Tunisia. In addition, she had seen the Pope plead for support through a television broadcast. She has already obtained a boat, Phoenix1, which will be adequate for the operation. In addition, they have obtained two drones, which could aid in identification of the migrants. Her initiative is not in any way an effort to compete with other rescuers from the Italian marines but a desire to ensure that the misery of the immigrants in the sea is brought to an end. She plans to start of the initiative with their finances but is open to sourcing for funds if what they have will not sustain the operation. Social Concept and Sociological Perspective The social concept that is developed in this news report is the Social Role. A social role is the act of taking up a responsibility for an individual that has a given social position. An individual or a group of individuals within a social setup can opt to engage in a social activity. In this regard, Regina and Christopher have opted to engage in a social welfare role that is not necessarily beneficial to them but to others. Having a good social status in the society has created a favorable platform for them to engage in the charitable deed. They have finances that can sustain the rescue operation and they have networks that can help them realize the rescue mission. A social perspective that comes out clearly in the article is the conflict perspective. This perspective entails the aspects of the society that keeps on changing hence resulting to conflicts. This perspective works towards challenging the status quo. In this case, the negative aspect brought forth is the migration of people from Libya and Tunisia in an effort of seeking asylum. These people are moving from their countries because of lack of resources and political tensions. However, in the process of gaining access to other countries, some of them have lost their lives while others are desperately stranded in the sea. This has made Regina to sympathize with them and develop the initiative with an objective of rescuing them. Conflict theory has been elucidated in the article through the endeavor by the migrants to seek better livelihoods, while disregarding their wellbeing, which is at stake while in the sea. Europe and the United States, Allies in Crisis by Joaquin Roy (Global Issues) Summary Just like it was the case of United States and its allied countries after the world war, these countries may face a serious crisis towards the future. The foreign policy adopted by President Obama seems not to work for the sake of the country. The US administration has failed to capitalized on the gains from the Middle East. This could have cost Obama votes if he had a chance of reelection, an aspect that may haunt his successor. On the other hand, the European Union has failed to provide lasting solutions for the region. Despite the boost by the allies (US and EU) on the stake of capital they have, they are far from combating the global crisis. In order to enhance their survival, these powerhouses have experienced an increased number of immigrants that come to seek asylum. While United States has become a victim of immigrants from Central America, European countries have seen immigrants from Africa get into Europe. Life in Europe is far much better than in Africa and Asia. It is apparent that the future of the EU and USA is in the immigrants. This is the reason why it would be nearly impossible to develop systems that prevent immigration completely. In this regard, the involved countries need to repeal their migration policies. Social Concept and Sociological Perspective The social concept being advanced in this article is that of power. Power generally refers to the capacity for an individual or a group to have influence and authority over others. When engaging in communal actions those in power are the ones that have the final say and does so by doing all things possible to have a control over the opinions and behaviors of others. In this article, the power status of the European Union as well as the United states has been elucidated. Since they (Allies) have influence over other nations and have better economies, they have developed systems that have gone against them. In fact, the ‘leading from behind’ system adopted by President Obama threatens the future position of US. On the other hand, the increased immigrations to Europe from Africans seeking asylum as well as people from Central America to the US has created a situation where these economies are being destabilized. The sociological perspective is that of conflict. This perspective focuses on the negative aspects of deeds; it underscores the need for the society to keep on changing. This means that the world is in a state of continued transformation from time to time. The article presents a scenario where the present and the future of the world powers, US and EU remains at stake since they have not been able to streamline systems in order to deal with global crises. The Obama administration has been accused of dong very little on the issue of immigrants from central and South America seeking better living in US. The Negative Effect of Social Media on Society and Individuals by Brian Jung (Chron) Summary Social media has been linked to a number of disadvantageous effects despite having the capability to connect us with people far away and those that we have not met for years. The negative implications of social media to individuals and the society are several. Firstly, there occurs a false connections with makes an individual to engage virtual individuals at the expense of the people they have personal relationships with. This aspect makes relationships to be casual and shallow. Secondly, social media has contributed greatly to cyber bullying; this is because of the high levels of traffic in the social media. Since social media has the capacity to maintain anonymity, malicious individuals have used this platform to bully innocent people, with children being the majority of the victims. A CBS news report in 2010 indicated that up to 42% social media users reported being victims of cyber bullying. Thirdly, social media is addictive hence, it creates a situation where people become less productive. Since many organizations have agreed to the use of social media especially for business communication, employees are likely to go overboard. The distraction created by social media results to loss of many man-hours. Finally, social media promotes exposure of the privacy of individuals hence exposing their personal lives. Social Concept and Sociological Perspective This article about the negative implications of social media brings forth the social concept of social groups and networking. Social groups entail a collection of individuals that share a common platform and have a peculiar organization. People in a social networking group are able to share a myriad of information through social sites. In this article, social media provides the platform in which a social group is built upon. The article addresses undesirable effects, which emanate from being part of the social media community. The community of people that shares a communication platform has varied values but are able to share these values through a common platform (social media). The platform is flawed for its infringement on privacy, it contributes to cyber-bullying, causes reduced productivity and creates a false sense of connections. The sociological perspective under consideration in this case is the functionalism. It is apparent that different parts of the society operate in different fashions. The Social media has a role to play in the society, this role helps bring people together from their varied roles to engage in social media. As people engage in social media, there are various negative implications that come in. The article under analysis highlights the implications of the social media that brings forth detrimental effects to both the society and individuals. Works Cited Greenhouse, Steven. A push to give steadier shifts to part-timers. The New York Times. July 15, 2014. Web. July 17, 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/16/business/a-push-to-give-steadier-shifts-to-part-timers.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0 Hooper, John. Good Samaritans launch mission to save migrants in the Mediterranean. The guardian. July 16, 2014. Web. July 17, 2014. http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/jul/16/couple-launch-mediterranean-migrant-search-project Jung, Brian. The negative effect of social media on society and individuals. July 14, 2014. Web. July 17, 2014. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/negative-effect-social-media-society-individuals-27617.html Roy, Joaquin. Europe and the United States, Allies in Crisis. July 14, 2014. Web. July 17, 2014. http://www.globalissues.org/news/2014/07/14/19749 Read More