Recently a new phrase called the “Corporate Culture” has evolved and come to the forefront of the minds of many management teams when discussing marketing, research, organizing, and progress for their respected companies. The dictionary defines culture as “the act of developing intellectual and moral faculties, especially through education”.

Companies further define culture as “the moral, social, and behavioral norms of an organization based on the beliefs, attitudes, and priorities of its members”. All companies are different in their beliefs, attitudes, and priorities and most do not consciously plan to develop a certain culture. It develops unconsciously usually based upon the thoughts and ideas of the upper brass or founders of the company. Successful companies adopt strategies to strengthen their corporate culture in order to run effectively and efficiently. Hewlett Packard developed and implemented “the HP Way” program to inform employees and customers of their culture. Continue Reading »

The traditional custom of female circumcision, also known as female genital mutilation (FGM) persists primarily in Africa but has occurrences in at least 28 countries (Morris, 1996, pg. 43). FGM is a collective term that describes several different traditional, not religious, rituals. It has been estimated that between 100 million and 140 million infants, toddlers, children and adolescent females have undergone a FGM procedure and that between 4-5 million of these procedures are performed yearly (Althaus, 1997, pg.1).

FGM is most often performed between the ages of 4-10 years and is performed by the village physician (Althaus, 1997, pg. 2). Typically the procedure uses a variety of instruments, such as knives, broken glass, and fruit thorns (Morris, 1996, pg. 45). According to Rita Morris, PhD, the procedures are classified according to the severity of structural disfigurement. Type I, often known as clitorectomy, involves removal of the skin surrounding the clitoris, and may or may not include removal of the clitoris. Type II, or excision, is the removal of the clitoris and part of all of the labia minora. The excisions are sutured with catgut or fruit thorns. Type III, infibulation, is the most severe form of FGM. In infibulation, the entire clitoris and labia minora are removed and the labia majora are sewn together, leaving only a large enough opening in the vagina for urination and menstruation. There are many physical and psychosocial ramifications associated with all types of FGM. Continue Reading »

In the essay “Don’t Let Stereotypes Warp your Judgement”, by Robert C. Heilbroner, he discusses how stereotypes cause us to prejudge the different types of people in the world before actually getting to know them. He writes about the types of stereotyping and how we do it without recognizing it, when we begin, and what we should do to try to prevent it. He gives clear examples of the many types of stereotyping. Every point that the author makes in this essay is valid. Especially the points about childhood stereotyping, how we try to make sense of the world, and what we should try to do to prevent ourselves from stereotyping so much.

Heilbroner writes, “ We begin to type-cast people in our early childhood.” This statement is true. Not only do we begin to typecast at an early age, our peers greatly influence how we are to typecast another peer. Kids can be cruel and hurtful even when it comes to a simple kickball game. Continue Reading »

Essay on Relationship Between Critical Thinking and Decision Making
Critical thinking and decision-making are the most intricate parts of solving problems. Without it, we cannot begin to evaluate someone’s reasoning or grasp the rational being offered for acceptance as a point of view. In grasping and understanding reasoning we must understand critical thinking.

In order to understand critical thinking, one must analyze the concept of reasoning. We use reasoning in communication.

Reasoning is presented in language and is used to tell jokes, make insult, report factual information, describe a scene or a personality, tell a story, express our feelings, explain why we have acted in a particular way and ask questions. Sometimes we use reasoning to persuade others to accept the truth of a statement, by offering them reasons or evidence in support of this statement. This is the most central and material part of an argument. Arguments occur when someone believes some statement and presents reasons aimed at persuading others to adopt the same point of view. Often people do this without realizing that what they are saying is argumentative. Continue Reading »

Divorce has become a major issue in our society, and many causes have been attributed to the incline in divorce rates. Divorce rates have spiked during the past few decades and no on really knows why, but several theories have been formed in an attempt to explain this recent phenomena. Feminist theory, Individualism, and dual income theories will be discussed and analyzed to determine if they apply to the recent rise in divorce rates in North America. These theories do not act alone, that is, a not one of the above theories can be labeled as a definite cause of divorce, but when all three are examined together, a formula for divorce can be seen. The rise in divorce can not be, and should not be, attributed to a single theory, but rather the rise in divorce rates can be linked to all three, and one can see that these theories act collectively, as opposed to individually to cause the dramatic spike in divorce rates. Continue Reading »

What is the average weight? What is healthy? How do these two things compare to the standards society has on health and beauty today? What do you see when you look in the mirror? And why don’t people see regular people in fashion TV advertisements? I personally think that advertisers should introduce people of all weight sizes into the fashion advertisements. Throughout history, women’s roles have been to make themselves as attractive to others as possible. Although fashion and physical values have changed over time, this drive has remained constant. The recent change of women’s extreme thinness has become a topic of concern in the health department. This issue starts as early as the first day a person was born. Gender differences, the surrounding environment, and the pressure of ideal image are almost impossible to escape due mostly to the everyday occurrences that one encounters. Continue Reading »

For this assignment, I shall explore some factors that influence the development of culture, and sub-culture, reflecting on consumer products, and how they help to develop identity. In particular, my study will focus on music, media, and fashion, in relation to young people. As Williams, Hall, and Jefferson (1977) suggest, in this context culture refers to “distinct patterns of life, and the ways in which social groups give expression to their social and material life experiences”. (Cited in Wyn, J. White, R. 1997:pg72) Subculture highlights diversity, such as individual group cultures, “sub-cultures give young people the chance to express their difference from the rest of society, yet coexist within it”. (Brake,1980 cited in Roche,J.Tucker,S.1997:pg149) Continue Reading »

Abortion is the practice of terminating a pregnancy resulting in, or closely followed by, the death of the human fetus. In 1973 the famous court case of Roe versus Wade legalized abortion in the United States. Since that time, despite the occurrence of over thirty-five million abortions, abortion has become a prevalent social issue, extremely debatable and controversial. For the most part people can be divided into two basic categories: those in favor of abortion and those opposed to it. Both groups feel strongly concerning the issue and regularly debate its morality. These opinions on abortion are so powerful that the issue is frequently referred to in politics and is often a deciding factor when votes are being cast for public office. Obviously, these fierce opinions are influenced by far more than whimsical convictions, which raises the question: why do people feel so strongly about abortion? Continue Reading »

For example, Robert Park, one of the first American Sociologists to define the term stated, “The essential characteristics of a community, so conceived are those of: (1) a population territorially organized, (2) more or less completely rooted in the soil it occupies, (3) its individual units living in a relationship of mutual interdependence”(Lyons, p. 5). In contrast to this, Minar and Greer defined a community so that it may include a large corporation, Kuhn said that a community may be an informal professional group such as the “scientific community”, and Nisbet stated that a even a philosophical and psychological commitment to communal lifestyles could be considered community (Lyons 1999). While all of these may be acceptable definitions of community to one person, some or all may be completely unacceptable to someone else. Continue Reading »

Censor means to examine in order to suppress or delete any object that may seem objectionable. I believe censorship is wrong because certain materials may not be objectionable to some people. Censorship is used in radio and television to prevent the corruption of people’s minds. Censorship is wrong because individuals should have the freedom to listen or watch what they want, whether or not it offends some, without interference.

The television is one place where censorship is strongly used in many different ways. One of the oldest and most common ways used to censor inappropriate words is to use a “bleep.” I disagree with this method because whatever these people are saying is just words. Remember the saying “sticks and stone may break my bones but words will never hurt me?” These words will not harm anyone and if people are offended they don’t have to listen. Another popular method of censoring television is to cit out scenes. Continue Reading »