Brugel's Wisdom and How It May Have Changed the Destiny of K Essay

Brugel's Wisdom and How It May Have Changed the Destiny of K - Essay Example The wisdom of Brugel seems to be, on the other hand, one that is based on knowing that the whole situation is absurd, and one of seemingly being above all that absurdity, carrying on a somewhat lithe and nonchalant attitude towards all that is happening in The Castle, and in some way towards his own role in the bureaucracy as a kind of petty official, a secretary to a minor official in the Castle, who must himself be subjected to the same kind of whimsical nonsense that seems to pervade the transactions in the Castle. Against the determined somberness and seriousness of K, Brugel seems to take a counterpoint attitude of frivolity, lightness of attitude, and a somewhat carefree regard for the duties of the Castle, its effects on the secretary's life, and the role that he must fulfill within that bureaucracy in order to survive. In other words, where wisdom resides in Brugel is in that very attitude of not taking anything in the Castle, and not even taking himself or his boss, or his r ole in the castle, so seriously. Brugel seems to say, for one, that life is not all that serious, that in fact the seriousness is an outward expression of a person who is so taken up by his own efforts to understand something where there is nothing to understand, which seems to be the fate and the attitude that K has taken on for himself, so gloomy in contrast to the light attitude of Brugel. This wisdom of Brugel, if it did not change the fate of K, certainly at least must have changed somewhat K's perception of the Castle, and how he sees himself and his destiny in the context of an overly gloomy conception of life with the bureaucracy (Kafka). Discussion In the face of the difficulties faced by K with the bureaucracy, for one, with getting a job that suits his function as a surveyor of the land, Brugel's attitude is one of carefree nonchalance, detachment, and a sense that anything can be had and done without any serious effort whatsoever on the part of anyone dealing with the bu reaucracy. Brugel was an insider, for sure, but also he was a mere secretary, and one, moreover, who spends a lot of his time not inside that bureaucratic machinery, working with papers and dealing with functionaries, but one who goes out to the castle to liaise between the people of the village and Brugel's boss. There is the exchange in the novel that highlights this, where Brugel expressed his condolences to K when K said that he is unable to work as a surveyor of the land, when Brugel, out of a sense of kindness maybe, or out of a sense of courtesy, or just wanting to get the small talk going, asked him how he was doing in terms of work. Brugel's attitude here is one of lightness, of conveying somewhat that the secretary was most sympathetic to K's plight, but that meanwhile there was really nothing to worry about. K, to Brugel, must have looked like someone who is gloomy for no reason. Why, there is no need to fret about that little detail about the surveying job, all it takes is for Brugel to look at it, no problem! This is at least how Brugel seems to see the situation. It was somewhat of a startling point to K, upon seeing and hearing Brugel talk and act this way, that here was an official who did not seem to know the difficulties that went to K's landing in the place and being given the run around with

HUM310 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

HUM310 - Essay Example This statement can also be found in different sections of the book even more emphasizing how Dubois believes that the division of the society based on the skin color of the people has greatly impacted the interactions of people within the society, that is between dark-skinned and fair-skinned people. He creates the symbolism of a Veil that describes how African Americans, and other dark-skinned men at that, are separated from the world they are living in. Living in a predominantly white society, African Americans living in the American society face different kinds of unjust and unfair treatment. There is somehow a shield or a Veil that separates the two worlds though living in the same space. But even in this line of thought, Dubois himself was able to break free from that Veil, from the division, by being able to engage himself in the activities that the White men believe Blacks cannot. He became a university graduate. He was able to present his thoughts with great impact, especially through his work The Souls of Black Folks. He was also able to show, even within his work, how African Americans can integrate themselves within the society that is evidently has divisions. Dubois presented the concept of dual consciousness which allowed the readers to see how African Americans even within themselves are separated. African Americans are torn within themselves because of their culture and color and their citizenship. African Americans struggle everyday with segregation, discrimination and restrictions of their activities. They struggle everyday fighting for their human rights and beliefs that they, too, are part of the society they are living in. And while they are struggling for their own identity in a world which doesn’t readily accept that they, too, have the same rights as human beings, they also struggle within themselves seeing

Module 4 Case Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Module 4 Case - Assignment Example In order for the delivery cycle of the trucks to be regulated in a manner that utilizes time the best, the arrival time intervals are left as they are since the trucks are not be driven any faster to accomplish the need for better time management (Wilco, n.d.). Based on the principles of linear programming, it is required that the number of arrivals be provided with a more efficient unloading period such that more trucks can be unloaded at the same time. The current data indicates that the 83.333% capacity utilization is capable of providing room for a larger number of arrivals besides the current rate of 3.5. The issues facing the delivery system involve the underutilization of the system. Starting with the current single-server situation, The attached MS Excel file, single-server, shows that the maximum number of trucks that can be handled at a 95.89% is 22.374% out of a total number of 23.33% (see table 1). This data shows that at any given time during the working hours, 22.374% trucks will be waiting in a queue while a total of 23.33% will be accounted for. In order to achieve this score, the server takes into consideration the change in service rate from the current 4.2 to 3.65. The change in service rate amplifies the number of truck s serviced in an hour since the reduced servicing rate means more trucks can be unloaded in an hour. Based on the previous data, only 4.2 trucks can be unloaded in an hour and only 3.5 trucks are unloaded within the hour. This shows that reducing the servicing rate would require the reallocation of the servicing personnel as there are fewer trucks to unload unlike the number of arrivals. However, provided that various situations lead to the underutilization of capacity, the probabilities that 5, 6, and 7 trucks will be in queue at the same time takes three assumptions into account. Firstly, there are no changes in the arrival rate, 3.5 trucks per hour, and

HUM310 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

HUM310 - Essay Example This statement can also be found in different sections of the book even more emphasizing how Dubois believes that the division of the society based on the skin color of the people has greatly impacted the interactions of people within the society, that is between dark-skinned and fair-skinned people. He creates the symbolism of a Veil that describes how African Americans, and other dark-skinned men at that, are separated from the world they are living in. Living in a predominantly white society, African Americans living in the American society face different kinds of unjust and unfair treatment. There is somehow a shield or a Veil that separates the two worlds though living in the same space. But even in this line of thought, Dubois himself was able to break free from that Veil, from the division, by being able to engage himself in the activities that the White men believe Blacks cannot. He became a university graduate. He was able to present his thoughts with great impact, especially through his work The Souls of Black Folks. He was also able to show, even within his work, how African Americans can integrate themselves within the society that is evidently has divisions. Dubois presented the concept of dual consciousness which allowed the readers to see how African Americans even within themselves are separated. African Americans are torn within themselves because of their culture and color and their citizenship. African Americans struggle everyday with segregation, discrimination and restrictions of their activities. They struggle everyday fighting for their human rights and beliefs that they, too, are part of the society they are living in. And while they are struggling for their own identity in a world which doesn’t readily accept that they, too, have the same rights as human beings, they also struggle within themselves seeing

Public School Essay Example for Free

Public School Essay The Perfect Public School will be established with the vision to provide the quality education to the students of the Fateh Muhammad Jatoi and to enable them to compete at the national and international level. To achieve this vision the school will have the very well experienced and well groomed faculty that will provide the education on modern lines that will inculcate the students as well as their parents for the betterment of their children career development. The quality education that provide in our school is at low price as compared to our major competitors Beacon house, Frobels, roots and City school etc. The Perfect school is developed in order to facilitate the Pakistanis to get education as good and excellent as the students in Perfect school Pakistan. The Perfect school is located in Pakistan and is well renowned in all over the world for its Excellency in education field. Students from far flung countries go there with the aim to study and to get benefit from their quality education system. The Perfect school of Pakistan is also ranked among the top ten schools of the world. Moreover the Sindhi students also go abroad to study in this school and they score quite well as compared to other fellow students. The only difficulty that the Pakistani students face while going abroad is that they have to pay a huge sum of money for visa and passport requirements. The Perfect public school is going to be established to provide quality education as did other schools of Pakistan. The Perfect public school will be affiliated with the B. I. S. E Sukkur. The educational industry that provide these types of services includes the competitors like beacon house, Frobels, Roots and City school. These institutions are established with the purpose of providing the quality education but initially they have done their job quite well in providing excellent education, and with the passage of time they start diverting from their core mission of providing quality education. Now their focus shifts to provide the luxurious environments to the students and not to provide the quality education. The students living in the luxurious environments are used to enjoy the beauties or luxuries of life and are not willing to hard work, normally student involves in other activities which lead them to depression and illegal works. The Perfect staff is well trained to guide the student about their career development. The Perfect school is one of the prestigious students and established in the capital of Pakistan in F-10 Islamabad. The reason behind choosing this location that is capital of Pakistan is that we can get attention to the people. Secondly the people living in that part are very well aware of the educational needs and they fully know the importance of good education. Thirdly there are a reasonable number of foreigners living and they want to get their children to get a quality education. Fourthly there are mostly living the elite class of people in Islamabad and our business is mostly targeted to the elite class. The Perfect public school comprises of an elegant building, three grounds for outdoor sports activities of the students and one sports complex for indoor activities like table tennis, badminton, squash etc. The school will consist of almost 5-7 class rooms, 1 staff room and one principal office. The class rooms will be very well decorated and well furnished. The male and female staff will be hired for better education. As principal, I will regularly visit the classes, our progress towards implementing the strategies within the Business Plan, as well as the achievement of milestones and targets. Our values Success for every student. Diversity Ideal Customer The ideal customer for the Perfect Public Schools foreign language programs falls into one of two categories. The first is a middle class working person who feels the need to learn a foreign language either for a pressing work-related need, a desire to have more options in career, or a wish to travel to a foreign country and enjoy the experience more. These individuals, however, feel they cannot afford one-on-one tutoring, but are too social to be able to be content with a book, online program, or software to learn the language. They desire a classroom experience both as a structured approach to force them to make a commitment to the language learning and as a means to have extensive social interaction through the process. Market Description Perfect Public School targets customers with the following characteristics: 05 to 15 years of age Locals Male and Female Situation Analysis The Perfect Public School will be in the first year of business as a start-up operation. The School believes that the market demand for their services will be great and are convinced that a cohesive marketing strategy is required for The School. Market Summary The Perfect Public School possesses good information regarding their market and the target segments that they wish to serve. The School will leverage this information to better understand who is served, their specific needs, and how The School can better serve them. Market Needs The Perfect Public School will provide the education with a source of knowledge. This market need is important as many parents’ are faced with the dilemma of using their limited income on education. Pricing: The Perfect Public Schools fees will be noticeably better than local schools. Market Trends The market trend for schools reinforces consolidation. Market Growth In 2012, the global educational system/industry as a whole was 897 Million industry. The education system is forecasted to continue its record growth. Pakistani society in particular has become increasingly reliant on education. This conclusion seems to be fairly intuitive as many individuals have a vested interest in living longer and more educated. SWOT Analysis The following SWOT analysis captures the key strength and weaknesses within  the area, and describes the opportunities and threats facing The Perfect Public School. Strengths †¢A unique, current business-environment-appropriate business model. †¢Excellent staff who are highly trained and very competent. †¢Games. Weaknesses †¢The lack of visibility and brand equity of a start-up business. †¢Lack of true experience. †¢Government intervention/regulation into education is possible. Opportunities †¢Outside pressure on students. †¢The constant growth of the number of students taking education. †¢Newly formed alliances of school systems. Threats. †¢The entry into the market by an established school. †¢Some event that cripples education. Competition Competition takes many different forms in the education industry. †¢Chain of schools: These are private national chains such as City School. Keys to Success The keys to success are: Male and female students. Low overhead and operating costs. Normal prices and services. Financial Objectives A double digit growth rate for the first three years. Reduce the variable costs associated with servicing each student order by 4% a year. Profitability by the end of year. Sales Forecast. Sales Forecast 2013 2014 2015 Sales Walk-in customers (students) 83,056 243,778 343,540 New Old customers 76,994 976,543 1,234,654 Total Sales 360,050 1,720,321 2,078,194 Direct Cost of Sales 2001 2002 2003 Walk-in customers 111,664 453,705 514,559 New Old customers 79,647 439,444 555,594 Subtotal Direct Cost of Sales 191,311 893,149 1,070,154 Expense Forecast Marketing expenses are to be budgeted so they ramp up quarterly. These intervals are chosen because they are the common intervals that students who are getting several types of courses in same school. Controls. The purpose of the marketing plan is to serve as a guide to the organization. The following areas will be monitored to gauge performance: Revenue: monthly and annual. Expenses: monthly and annual. Repeat business. Students’ satisfaction. Contingency Planning Difficulties and risks: Problems generating visibility. Difficulty developing sufficient talent. An entry into the education market from an already established, larger schools like City and Grammar School. Worst case risks include: Determining that the business cannot support itself. Having to lab equipment to cover liabilities. Competition.

Does An Individual Enjoy Freedom Of Occupational Choice

Does An Individual Enjoy Freedom Of Occupational Choice Why do working- class individuals continue to enter working- class, gender stereotyped jobs? Why do working- class boys look for heavy manual work (Willis 1977), in trades such as plumbing, electrical engineering and forestry? Why do working- class girls still swarm towards traditional female occupations, such as nursing and rarely for example, seek training as electricians, joiners, technicians and computer operators? We might expect that new production patterns, and new systems of education and training, coupled with the promise of lifting barriers to opportunity, might have dislocated the processes of class and gender reproduction of careers- but little has happened to counteract the influence of class race and gender on career choice. (Wilson 2010: 51) In view of the above statement, critically evaluate the contention that the individuals enjoy the freedom of occupational choice. Occupational choice is without doubt one of the most important decisions an individual makes in their lifetime. Sofer (1973) reiterates this by stating that; It is often critical in determiningincome; standard of living; health; self- esteem; social relationships; the quality of ones life; and the environment one can provide for ones family, including the chances of ones children to enter particular occupations. (Williams 1974:15) The above statement reflects how it is often perceived that if a person is satisfied within their working environment, then other aspects of their lives will follow on from this. Work plays a huge role in our life and we contribute a large majority of our time and effort to ensuring that we have chosen the right career, beginning from very early childhood when we embark into the education system, right through to when we leave school and decide where to go next. The past twenty years have seen rapid advances in the theories of occupational choice, but to date there has been little agreement as to exactly how and why we preside in a certain occupation over another. More traditional theories sided with the belief that we either happen upon a certain role, or that it is down to the development of the individual thanks to a rational process of decision making. These concepts have recently been challenged by theorists who believe that alongside the developmental and chance aspects of occupational choice, there are structural factors which make a massive impact. The objective of this essay is to determine the extent to which an individual enjoys freedom of occupational choice. This will be addressed by firstly defining occupational choice, then exploring how the theory has developed, critically evaluating the contrasting opinions and providing necessary academic literature where needed. The essay will logically move through these theories in refer ence to the objective provided and then arrive at a conclusion, reviewing all of the above. According to Watson (2003), occupational choice is an individualised process through which the self concept grows as abilities, aptitudes and interests develop (Watson 2003: 183). This definition has developed over many years after numerous studies have been conducted into occupational choice and its determinants. Preliminary theorists deemed it to generally rely on chance events whether they are planned or unplanned, that would eventually influence an individual to make certain decisions (Bright et al 2004: no page). This was referred to as the happenstance theory of occupational choice, which is now seen as highly inaccurate since it did not consider the individual and their personality alongside occurring events during their lifetime (Bright et al 2004: no page). Back in 1951, Ginzberg et al carried out a major study into occupational choice which has become known as one of the originating theories on the topic. Ginzbergs research focus was on the individual, and how by making decisions through defined life stages, the self concept is adapted. They deemed the process to be largely irreversible which has formed the basis of the argument for many critics (Slocum 1959:183). Super (1957) is probably the most notable critic of Ginzberg et als theory. He argues that elements such as values and previous research had been ignored (Slocum 1959:184) and he also believed that an individual is matched to an occupational role not only because of their character and merit, but also by the opportunities which are available at the time (Williams 1974:31). Super had recognised the more vocational aspect of occupational choice that a child is subjected to whilst growing up, such as work experience and changing job roles. Supers work contained situational exper iences that highlight more structural factors such as the socio- economic status of the childs parents (Watson,T :2008:230) and the current availabilities within the labour market. Although Supers work delved into the subject much deeper than the proceeding research by Ginzberg, it has limitations due to the way that it only highlighted the potential influence of parents and peers on a child- nor does he examine how this impact can be either positive or negative. The weaknesses of the two studies mentioned so far include that both were carried out on white middle class American males, and therefore cannot be considered to be a true reflection of developmental occupational choice. More valuable research would include information on both sexes, and also recognise the impact of different social class status in the United Kingdom. Musgrave (1967), Mead (1934) and Miller and Form (1951) reinforce the latter point that the main drawbacks of Supers studies was that he failed to fully recognise the significance of parental and peer influence on a child (Slocum 1959: 142-3). Musgrave (1967) took the work of Ginzberg and Super and applied a more sociological stance to give recognition to the way in which we as individuals learn, watch and observe even before entering the labour market, which helps to shape our perception of society (Watson 2003:183). He formulated four stages through which an individual passes; pre-work socialisation, entry to the labour force, socialisation into the labour force and lastly, job changes (Williams 1974:101). The pre work stage focuses on how children imitate adults by games such as doctors and nurses where they take on an imaginary job, and act out how they perceive the role to be. This role playing or role-taking as Miller and Form (1951) refer to it then develops in the second and third stages which cover the individuals entry into a working environment and the career path they eventually decide on, whilst the fourth stage considers any changes that may happen occupationally (Slocum 1959:142). Role- playing shows the influence adults, and more specifically our parents can have on our career choice. A more recent study into the importance of parental roles has been carried out by Dryler (1998). Although on a Swedish cohort, she confirmed that parents in a specific industry will encourage their child to follow in their footsteps. In addition to this, she discovered that the parent of the same sex as the child is more influential if they are in a particular line of work (Dryler 1998:394). There are similarities between the work of Dryler (1998) and Greico (1987). Greico recognised that some individuals are not merely influenced by their parents, but physically supported toward a certain job by being sponsored or recommended (Watson 2003:185). The work of Dryler (1998) and Greico (1987) mirrored earlier observations by Bandura (1977) and Kohlberg (1966) that focussed on social learning and cognitive development, theories that both acknowledge how children emulate their parents, specifically those of the same sex to themselves (Dryler 1998: 377). Interestingly, Dryler also denoted t hat if the parent and child are of different sex, then the opposite is true (Dryler 1998:394). Whipp (1980) and Ram (1994) carried out research which is consistent with the findings of Dryler and Grieco, agreeing that a child can literally be pushed into a job of their parents choosing, which differs greatly from Ginzbergs original theory that individuals have freedom of occupational choice. This also demonstrates how children are not necessarily exposed to all the career opportunities available, and that their parents can be a driving factor in limiting this. These findings also support the theories of Marshall, Swift and Roberts (1975) that ability is nurtured which Hollingshead (1949) suggested can relate to where our parents are situated in the class structure as to how a child portrays a particular job role, which will be looked at in more detail in the next section of this paper (Abercrombie and Warde 2003:141, Slocum 1959:147). However, it must be recognised that childhood observation of our parents may have totally the opposite impact, and a job role may be chosen simp ly to be different. The research discussed so far has mainly focussed on the individual and our behavioural maturation alongside values and beliefs, and how these achieved roles affect our occupational choice. Whilst the work into the developmental aspects of occupational choice is invaluable, it does not help to fully explain the issues mentioned by Wilson (2010) and Willis (1977) in the question. Therefore it is necessary to look at how the theory has developed, and widened to incorporate structural factors which are outside of the individuals control- also known as ascribed roles. Three advocates in the structural related factors field of theory are Roberts (1968), Kiel et al (1966) and Miller and Form (Furlong 1996: 561- 65, Williams 1974: 78 97). They understand that whilst psychology plays a huge part in our occupational choices, we are often faced with issues including, the current economy, gender, ethnicity and class which will be now be analysed in more detail. Traditionalists such as Kuh and Wadsworth (1991) believe that as individuals, we are born into one class- and it is very hard to migrate into other classes (Kuh and Wadsworth 1991: 537-555). In contradiction to this is the notion of social mobility, which is the ability of an individual to move from one class to another (Goodhart 2003). The Government is working hard to increase social mobility, and has appointed Alan Milburn to assist them further with their plans to eradicate the so called barriers to opportunity that Wilson (2010) refers to (Stratton 2010 and Wilson 2010). Hutton (2010) believes that the working class are simply not presented with as many opportunities as those in the classes above them, and Sennett and Cobbs (1972) went as far as to say that being working class creates psychological barriers acknowledging how it may not only be economic difficulties that affect an individual (Reay et al 2001:855-74). Goldthorpe (2003) counteracts this, stating how the class syst em is in decline in Britain, whilst Goodhart (2009) observes that there is no viable way of measuring who belongs in what class therefore statistics on class mobility are often complex and flawed (Goldthorpe 2003:239, Goodhart 2009). In his own studies, Goldthorpe (2003) draws heavily from the previous work of Ginzberg and Super with relation to the self concept development theory, but is distinguishable by the way in which parental class is addressed in more depth and he also incorporates modern empirical evidence to support his work (Goldthorpe 2003: 234). Although he deems class as important, he makes clear that this is only in the entry and lower levels of the labour market (Goldthorpe 2003:238). This is supported by Layder et al (1991), Giddens (1984) and Blau et al (1956), who agree that an individual is affected by different factors at different times in their life, particularly when they enter the institution system and the job market (Watson 2003:184, Williams 1974: 31). Goldthorpe (2003) refers to the rich as risk averse, highlighted by the recent stock market collapse where high paid city bankers still received huge bonuses and pay packets after losing millions of the nations money in risky transaction s. This translates the way in which the working class have to rely on education more heavily as they do not have as much to fall back on as their higher class peers (Goldthorpe 2003: 235). Pakulski and Waters (1996) disagree, stating that parents class makes no difference to their childs eventual occupational choice (Abercrombie and Warde 2003:130). In stark contrast to the earlier research, Garner (2008) states that social class is the single most influential factor in educational attainment, suggesting that our parents class is directly related to the grades we will eventually achieve, and also for what institution we gain them from (Garner 2008). Savage and Egerton (1997) and Westergaard (1995) agree with Garner (2008), claiming that children can do well in education purely because of the distribution of wealth (Abercrombie and Warde 2003:130-1). The Government seems to sit on the fence with regards to the impact of parental class on occupational choice; Nick Clegg and Harriett Harman are both of the opinion that whilst parents play a crucial role, ultimately class inequalities still remain (Stratton 2010, EHRC 2010)- explaining why the Government is taking such a stance on social mobility. The above discussion on social class shows how the stereotypical roles referred to by Willis (1977) may be undertaken by working class in dividuals purely due to the opportunities that are available to them and the class status inherited from their parents. Although Wilson (2010) suggests that this is still the case, the research mentioned has proved that this debate is not easily settled since there are strong arguments from either side by numerous theorists and influential figures. Another structural factor which may affect an individuals choice of occupation is that of gender. In todays modern society, the hypothesis is that gender inequalities have been eradicated, but the National Equality Panel found recently that men are still paid up to twenty one percent more per hour than women who have the same job role and qualifications (EHRC 2010). This report has been devastatingly critiqued by numerous academics, including Saunders (2010) and Caldwell (2010) who both believe that the EHRC have confused the meaning of inequality with that of prejudice and discrimination (Caldwell 2010:7 and Saunders 2010:14). This demonstrates how, like class, gender is a hard topic to define and quantify, therefore its affects on occupational choice are very difficult to measure. In 1984, Martin and Roberts looked at the relationship between gender and career choice, and found that a womans decision making process is related to the assumption that she will become a mother and therefore be more dedicated toward child rearing and domesticated duties (Watson 2003:192). This study suffers due to the fact that it is over fifteen years old and therefore cannot be considered as accurate in the present time. However, more recent work has been carried out by Riddell, Gaskell and Banks (1992), who discovered women are more likely to be pulled towards domestic subjects in early schooling (Abercrombie and Warde 2003:472), which illustrates how gender is already affecting occupational choice at a very young age by implying stereotypical roles to each sex . Although Riddell et als research is newer than Martin and Roberts it still has limitations because times have changed so much in the past ten years or so and it does not properly consider the aspirations of males compar ed to those of females. In 2000, Hakim demonstrated that preferences had changed dramatically, women were being offered more opportunities, and businesses had adapted to become more flexible towards them. She identified three work life preference groups; home centred, work centred and adaptive, claiming that most women in America and the United Kingdom could be placed into the adaptive group- therefore achieving a balance between their work and home lives (Watson 2003: 194). More recent studies have also found there to be a more wide range of job opportunities available to both sexes, with the armed forces being an example of how gender atypical roles have deteriorated. The Royal Air Force now offers over ninety percent of its roles to women, whilst the Navy and the Army have approximately three quarters of their roles available to both sexes (MOD, no date). This does however insinuate that not all opportunities are entirely equal- although progress has been made over the last century as attitudes have chan ged and women are looking for self fulfilment from their occupations (Watson 2003:194). Formal institutions have often been blamed for the different educational development of boys and girls. Timperley and Gregory (1971) found that there were approximately four times as many females wanting to continue on in education after school, whereas males were more likely to go straight into the labour market (Wilson 1974:193). Timperley and Gregorys paper would have been far more persuasive if it had been carried out in the last ten years and also if it had covered a nationwide cohort rather than just one particular area. Since this study, research has also begun to cover individual attitudes toward occupational roles, it cannot be said that women nowadays subscribe to the assumption that they will have children- many women are in fact the total opposite and careers are becoming first priority. Harper and Haq (2001), support this by stating that British women who delay motherhood, are likely to be more ambitious in terms of their educational and occupational achievements (Harper and Haq 2001:713). This can also be related to the way in which gender roles have in some cases switched altogether, with some men choosing to stay at home with the children whilst the woman of the household is the main breadwinner. However, this is hard to measure since studies cannot clarify individual aspirations and boys may not apply themselves as much as girls if they believe that the occupation they want to go into does not need high grades, particularly if they are looking at trades or the armed forces. Although class and gender are two of the most prominently researched structural factors that may impact on an individuals occupational choice, Wilson (2010) also mentions the issue of race. The afore mentioned EHRC report found that white working class boys and black Caribbean boys historically have bad attainment grades (EHRC 2010), whilst Haw (1998) concluded from her study that some staff were confused with regards to the treatment of Muslim pupils (Abercrombie and Warde 2003:474-5). Blackwell (2003), looked at the impact of ethnicity in greater detail, and implied that occupational choices in different ethnic groups can largely be related to historical and political reasons. She also noted that ethnic segregation in occupational roles is less than gender segregation, highlighting how differentials can be created by the individual, rather than by the market (Blackwell 2003:726-7). Most studies in racial impact on occupational choice have been slanted towards the opportunities avai lable in the market, but it would be more useful if the authors had considered individualistic factors that relate to culture and political views. Taking into account the studies mentioned; it would seem that ethnicity is not a deciding factor of an individuals occupational choice- and further studies could focus on whether this is true. Returning to the question posed at the beginning of this paper, it is now possible to state that whilst an individual does have freedom of occupational choice to some extent, there are, as Wilson (2010) states, many factors which also have an impact. The findings of this essay suggest that when the individual proceeds through the development of self concept, they can be influenced by parents, peers, class, formal institutions, the current economy, gender and their ethnicity. Further work needs to be done to establish whether individuals in the present times are still impacted by the socio-cultural factors mentioned by Willis (1977), and also to attain whether aspirations are affected by opportunity availability. It is now more acceptable to see women in roles such as plumbing and engineering, but the impact of gender and class is still being argued. Structural factors are very much related to the individual in the sense that certain job roles have historically been filled by certain class origins or by a particular gender- and it has proven difficult to change peoples perceptions of certain careers. New government policies are attempting to eradicate inequalities, although it will be difficult to change individual attitudes and values towards certain jobs- especially in the tough economic climate that is being experienced due to the recession. Overall, it could be said that if an individual is given a fair and varied exposure to all job roles available, then it will be down to their own choice, but in reality this will be very hard to achieve because what may be a good job for one person, may not be perceived as that to another. Word Count: 3260 words (Excluding bibliography) References Abercrombie, N. and Warde, A. (2000) Contemporary British Society. 3rd ed. Cambridge: Polity Press Blackwell, L. (2003) Gender and Ethnicity at Work: Occupational Seggregation and Disadvantage in the 1991 British Census British Journal of Sociology, Vol 37, pp. 713-31 [online] Available at: [Accessed 16/11/2010] Bright, J.E.H. et al. (2005) The Role of Chance Events in Career Decision Making Journal of Vocational Behaviour, Vol 66, Part: 3: pp. 561-576 [online] Available at: [Accessed 19/11/2010] Caldwell, C. (2010) Inequality in a Meritocracy Financial Times, 30th January, p. 7 [online] Available at: [Accessed 20/10/2010] Carol, A, Parry S. (1968) The Economic Rationale of Occupational Choice. Industrial and Labor Relations Review. 1968. pp183-196 [online] Available from Business Source Premier [Accessed 20/10/2010] Chang, T.F.H. 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(2009) Oh Do Keep Up: Social Mobility Is Far From Dead Sunday Times, 26/07/2009 Harper, B. Haq, M. (2001) Ambition, Discrimination, and Occupational Attainment: a Study of a British Cohort Oxford Economic Papers, Vol 53, Part: 4: pp. 695-720 [online] Available at: [Accessed 15/11/2010] Hutton, W. (2010) Extract: Them and Us: Politics, Greed and Inequality- Why We Need a Fair Society The Guardian, 26/09/2010, [online] Available at: [Accessed 19/10/2010] Kuh, D. Wadsworth, M. (1991) Childhood Influences on Adult Male Earnings in a Longitudinal Study British Journal of Sociology, Vol 42, Part: 4: pp. 537-555 [online] Available at: [Accessed 16/11/2010] Ministry of Defence (MOD) (no date) Equality and Diversity in the Armed Forces [online] Available at http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/AboutDefence/WhatWeDo/Personnel/EqualityAndDiversity/. Accessed 15/11/2010 Reay, D. et al. (2001) Choices of Degree Or Degrees of Choice? Class, Race and the Higher Education Choice Process British Journal of Sociology, Vol 35, Part: 4: p. 855-874 Saunders, P. (1997) Social Mobility in Britain: an Empirical Evaluation of Two Competing Explanations British Journal of Sociology, Vol 31, Part: 2: pp. 261-288 Saunders, P. (2010) Difference, inequality and unfairness: the fallacies, errors and confusions in the Equality and Human Rights Commission report- How Fair is Britain Civitas Online Report, October [online] [Accessed 20/10/2010] Slocum, W.L. (1959) Some Sociological Aspects of Occupational Choice American Journal of Economics and Sociology. January 1959. pp 183-196 [online] Available from Business Source Premier [Accessed 19/10/2010] Stratton, A. (2010) Nick Clegg Outlines Plans For More Social Mobility The Guardian, 18/08/2010, [online] Available at: [Accessed 19/10/2010] Watson, T.J. (2003) Sociology, Work and Industry. 4th ed. London: Routledge Williams, W.M. (1974) Occupational Choice. London: George Allen and Unwin LTD Willis, P.E. (1977) Learning to Labour: How Working Class Kids Get Working Class Jobs. Farnborough: Saxon House Wilson, F.M. (2010) Organisational Behaviour and Work. a Critical Introduction. 3rd ed. Abingdon: Routledge

The Rural Way of Life in The River Warren :: warren

The Rural Way of Life in The River Warren Anyone who has taken a trip across the midwestern states has seen a different way of life. The River Warren gave the readers a sense of this rural way of life around the Two-Speed semi crash. Corn, wheat, and other agricultural products can be seen for miles and miles in all directions. As you drive through, you can see farmers hard at work, combines, tractors, and bailers all working at full speed, sun up to sun down. It doesn't take long too see how much these farms must work in order to survive. Why must these farmers devote so much of their lives to the profession? The answer to this question can become very complicated. When one sells any product, economics is the dominant factor with regards to price and the quantity of one's particular product. Many external factors play a huge role in the supply and demand of farm products. The focus of this paper is to explore some of the factors that make farming such a hard, volatile business. In the book, the Gruber family is a good example of a small farming family. Leo is the head of the household and, therefore, spends all or most of his time working on the farm. Jeff Gruber, Leo's son, speaks of his father's work in one passage. Leo stated his father's "capacity for work grated on him (76)." This family was always forced to work. At night, the tractor-trailer would come to load cattle. Jeff stated the days were full of "plowing, discing, harrowing, planting, cultivating, harvesting, and feeding the cattle (76)." Growing up in this setting meant work at a young age for the children. Jeff and his younger brother, Chris, are not exceptions. In the story, Chris is killed in a farming accident. Chris's youth and his inexperience with farm equipment were outweighed by the needs of the farm. Unfortunately, this kind of tragedy happens in real life as well. The book describes this way of life in many sections but never answered why life was like this. Why this muc h work was need was never answered. Now we will explore this question. First thing we need to look at are some of the external factors that apply to the family farm.