Against Abortion Essay -- Pro Life

Abortion is fundamentally wrong. It is wrong because it goes against the basic rights guaranteed to every human being under the 5th 9th and 14th amendments in the United States Constitution. Along with it going against the Constitution, there are some medical and moral reasons as to why it is wrong, such as an increased risk of breast cancer, and that the fetus does in fact feel the pain from the abortion.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Simply defined, abortion means any premature expulsion of a fetus, whether it is by natural causes or an artificially induced abortion. Abortion is certainly not a new concept. It has been present in society dating all the way back to Ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, and into the Middle Ages. It was not until the 19th century that abortion began to get all the attention that it gets today. It was in the 19th century that the strict abortion laws were starting to be passed. The 1973 Supreme Court case of Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in the United States for pregnancy within the first six months.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Abortion is not only considered immoral by many, it also violates the Constitution. The 14th amendment forbids states to abridge privileges and immunities of United States citizens, to deprive a person of life, liberty or property without due process of law, or to deny any person the equal protection of laws. Under the United States Constitution, we are forbidden from depriving the life of another individual; abortion is just that. It is depriving a human being the right to life. Nowhere under the 14th amendment does it clarify between the living and unborn. So a fetus should still be protected.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Abortion also violates the 9th amendment which declares that just because certain rights are not in the Constitution does not mean that they do not exist. Courts cannot assume that just because a right is not listed that a person cannot be protected by the government. This is important because the Constitution does not mention abortion, but based on this amendment the unborn child is still under protection and is guaranteed the rights which are provided by the Constitution. The â€Å"silence† of the Constitution on the issue of abortion does not mean that it doesn’t provide a right. When the Constitution was written, abortion was not nearly as much of an issue. Yes it was already going on, but the large numbers of abortions were not taking place as they are toda... ...From a medical standpoint it is wrong as well. The risk of breast cancer increases in the mother and the fact that the baby will feel the pain of the abortion makes it inhumane. It is especially wrong in advanced societies such as ours. There are other alternatives to abortion, and it should not be used as birth control. Statistics have shown that about 80% of abortions are performed for social reasons instead of health reasons. Abortion is murder. If murder is against the law then abortions should be as well. Works Cited Anand, Kanwaljeet. â€Å"Pain of the Unborn.† 15, January 2004. 23 October 2004  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   ELSI â€Å"Chromosomes† 2004. 23 October 2004   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Facts in Brief, â€Å"Induced Abortion.† 2000-2001. 23 October 2004   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Guttmacher, Alan Institute. â€Å"Abortion Statistics-World U.S.-Demographics-  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Reasons.† 2004. 23 October 2004   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Johnson, Douglas. â€Å"The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act- Misconceptions and   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Realities† 5 November 2003. 23 October 2004   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Mount, Steve â€Å"Due Process† 1995-2003. 24 October 2004   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Reuters Health International Journal of Cancer. â€Å"First Pregnancy factors Tied to   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Breast Cancer Risk.† 1 November 2004. 23 October 2004   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Cultural Anthropology Midterm Study Guide

Anthropology 2 Midterm Study Guide: Professor Li Zhang Midterm Date: October 30, 2012 Week 1 What is the scope of cultural anthropology? Discuss its focus of inquiry, approach, and major changes over time. ?Cultural anthropology is concerned with the nature and extent of social and cultural differences among different societies. Focus on Inquiry: Why there are different cultures and how they came about and are affected or changing. Focus on Approach: Approaches could be urban, political, legal, medical, psychological, environmental, feminist, etc. Goals: ?Understanding how differences among societies are shaped. Understanding the unequal power relations between societies produced by colonialism, imperialism and contemporary global practices. ?To compare the perspectives of different societies and how each of them interprets the world. Changes in cultural anthropology over time: ?Used to be a way to proves inferiority of others and justify oppression and ethnocentrism. Now its mostly about being critical of inequality, ? We also do fieldwork in western, ‘developed’ countries. ?There is more globalization now. ?Early anthropology focused on studying isolated, tribal societies. ?Over time they began to study large urban industrial societies. Today the scope of cultural anthropology has expanded into various subdivisions, such as urban political, and medical. Compare the two major schools of early anthropological thought: British social anthropology and French structuralism in terms of their primary concern and focus. British Social Anthropology: ?Emerged in early 20th century. Main founding figure was Malinowski. ?Radcliffe-Brown, Evans-Pritchard, Gluckman, and Leach also were important figures. ?Two theoretical foundations were functionalism and structural functionalism: 0Functionalism – Explanation of why certain social institutions exist. Explains the cultural responses to basic individual needs that are biological and/or physiological. 0Exa mple: cannibalism may be explained through a survivalist function ?Structural Functionalism – Concerned less with individual needs and actions and more with the place of the individuals in the social order. ?Figures out the relationship of individuals to the larger social body. ?Example: Cannibal Tours – colonists arrived and stripped villages of sacred objects and introduced European monetary system to make the villagers subordinateDuring these early years, social anthropology was deeply intertwined with the British colonial government that provided the financial support for research and teaching in anthropology. The primary interest was in Africa – to study their languages and generate knowledge about their political and legal systems. French Structuralism ?Primary figure in school of thought is Levi Strauss. ?Focused on the elementary structures of kinship, mythology, and language. ?Some concerns include the patterns or underlying structures and how seemingly unrelated things may actually be from a complex system of interrelated parts. Form is emphasized over content. ?The internal logic of a culture and its relationship to the structures of human society and human mind. Comparison: ?Both schools of thought are concerned with studying the structure and layout of the society. ?British social anthropology is concerned more with the relation of the individual to society while French structuralism is concerned with how individuals are connected to one another to form the society (mythologies, language, human mind). Week 2: How does Edward Taylor define â€Å"culture†? Discuss the four key aspects of culture by providing one example for each aspect. Examples can be drawn from the readings, films, or other sources including your own observation. British anthropologist Edward Taylor defines culture as: â€Å"a complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, arts, morals, law, customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by a man as a member of society. † The four elements of culture are: 1. Culture is learned. ?Culture can be learned consciously and unconsciously through interacting and imitating the people around us. It can happen in informal settings such as your home, or formal places like churches and schools. Example: as children we learn to imitate words we hear adults speak and learn to speak the language. Proper etiquette is taught by looking at how others behave or from interacting with people who teach it to them. 2. Culture is shared. ?Members of a group share common beliefs, values, memories, and hope. ?Example: American culture is identified with individualism, while Chinese culture is identified with collectivism. This difference can be seen through the food and meals they choose. Americans usually don’t like to share their meals and order individual plates while the Chinese typically share their food and eat family-style. Example: â€Å"Eating Christmas in the Kalahari† by Richard Lee 0For Christmas, Lee buys the largest ox to show his gratitude for the Bushmen’s hospitality during his stay. He becomes confused when everyone in the village says that the ox he bought was no good and that is has no meat on it. 0In Bushmen village, it is part of their culture and tradition to insult each other so that people don’t become arrogant. Lee learned this by asking the Bushmen about it, showing how culture is shared by communication and interaction. 3. Culture is symbolic. Creation of culture depends on the human’s ability to use symbols and be able to have symbolic thought. ?We are able to give meaning to a thing or event and grasp the meaning. It can be arbitrary and conventional and depends on the social context that is widely accepted by society. However, the context can vary for each society. ?Examples: -McDonalds has become a symbol of fast food and unhealthy eating in America, but it is viewed as high class and modern in China. ?Colors tend to have symbolic meanings attached to them. Red represents love, yellow represents life, black represents death, etc. . Culture is dynamic. ?Culture isn’t a static cage to lock people in. It is something that changes over time. ?People use their culture creatively and actively instead of rigidly following the rules. ?There are some differences in culture between groups and societies, but the differences aren’t absolute. ?Cultural hybridization allows different cultural traditions and practices to merge together. 0Examples: – Food culture: fusion of food features a combination of different elements of cultures from all over the world. – Western psychotherapy combines Buddhist meditation with western psychology.What is ethnocentrism? Why is it problematic? In your discussion, draw examples from either Bohannan’s â€Å"Shakespeare in the Bush† or the film Cannibal Tours. How would a diffusionist argue against ethnocentrism? Ethnoce ntrism is the tendency to use one’s own culture as a yardstick to measure other cultural practices and beliefs. †¢Tendency for people to see their own culture as superior and natural. People make judgments according to their own cultural lens, giving them a narrow perspective; they see all other cultures as inferior to theirs.Examples: Cannibal Tours: The western tourists continuously compared the natives’ lifestyle to their own and saw their culture as primitive and backwards. They saw the natives as uncivilized and poor people who lacked the technology they possessed back at home. Bohannan’s â€Å"Shakespeare in the Bush†: While reading through Hamlet, both the storyteller and the audience exhibit ethnocentrism. What Bohannan took for granted and viewed as common sense were things that the elders did not understand because it didn’t exist in their culture.Ghosts and the afterlife did not exist in the native’s culture, and young people should not fight against their elders. Elders constantly made remarks about the play as if they knew what was going on, believing that they were telling her the true meaning of Hamlet and how her interpretation of Hamlet is actually wrong. According to Franz Boas, no culture is pure and authentic. Instead, cultural boundaries are porous and cultural exchanges have long existed in human societies. 0Diffusionism shows that all cultures are interrelated to one another, so ethnocentrism does not exist. In Ralph Linton’s â€Å"One Hundred Percent American,† he shows that cultures are not 100% from their own country and that culture is diffused and adapted by various places as part of their culture. What is cultural relativism? Discuss its pros and cons. What is your take on it? Support your argument with evidence and analysis. Cultural Relativism is the view opposite of ethnocentrism: believes that one shouldn’t judge the values and practices of other people accordi ng to their own standards. †¢The main idea is to see things from the point of view of those who live their lives.This allows the anthropologist to fully appreciate another culture. Pros: ?Objective approach in doing research; helps anthropologists another culture more thoroughly. ?Promotes unity between cultures and between groups of people in general since it would help people respect and understand each other. Cons: ?Helps justify controversial practices such as female genitalia mutilation, cannibalism, animal sacrifice, etc. *I am of the opinion that cultural relativism is an important philosophy to apply to any anthropological research, however a delicate balance must always strive to be maintained.To me, respect should always be asserted, but human rights should have authority over political correctness. †-malinowski According to Malinowski, what is a holistic approach to doing ethnographic research and why is it important? What constitutes the proper conditions for ethnographic fieldwork? Explain three central ethnographic techniques (don’t just list them, but explain in greater detail). A holistic approach in doing ethnographic work is to understand a culture as a whole and all aspects are connected/intertwined and must be understood in relation to one another. The goal of the ethnographer should be to provide an anatomy of the culture, understand the facts and put the focus into a broader context. †¢You must understand that all the small institutions of a culture, such as religion, education, kinship, are all related to one another in order to grasp the meaning as a whole. †¢The proper conditions for ethnographic fieldwork is to observe the details of the natives’ family and communal life by staying as close in contact with them as possible and cutting yourself off from the company of anyone else other than the natives.You must immerse yourself into the local society for a long duration because there is a difference b etween sporadic plunging into the company of the natives and really living with them and connecting with them. Three central ethnographic techniques: 1. Observation and participant observation. ?Careful and detailed observation is important to collect data to answer questions, which requires a lot of patience. ?You should try to be objective and keep away from any bias thoughts or else the collected data will be compromised.You must also remember to be invisible and make sure they don’t know they are being observed or else the data will be inaccurate. ?Participant observation is when you participate in events with the natives in order to analyze and take notes. 0This allows you to get closer to the natives and helps you to better understand their culture through your experience and interaction with them. 2. Interviews. ?Interviews involve asking several individual questions to get a better understanding of the culture from a native’s point of view. The goal of the inte rviews is to see a pattern that emerges in the answers you receive. ?Interviews can be informal, semi-structured, or structured. ?Informal interview – an interview that doesn’t follow a straight schedule and takes advantage of the opportunity when it arises. ?Semi-structured / structured interview – interviews that are planned out with the questions you want to ask written down and planned beforehand. 0Semi-structured interviews may have some open ended questions. 0Interviews are the most effective method and are the core of ethnographic research. When you interview people you know, you may get introduced to people that you could possibly interview, and you can therefore gather up more data and opinions for your research. This is called the snowballing effect. 3. Key informants and life histories. ?Also called cultural consultants. These people are important figures that are able to give you more insight and information in various aspects of a culture. 0They are the few people who are willing to tell you more and explain in clear details while incorporating their personal experience to help you understand.Key Informant: Someone you build an amicable relationship with, who acts as a representative of the culture. Generally someone in a high position who will be able to explain the ins and outs of the culture from an intimately informed POV. What are the core issues in the code of ethics for anthropologists (discuss at least three)? Why is it important to follow them? The three core issues in the code of ethics for anthropologists include: 1. Full disclosure. ?It is important for the anthropologist to be open and honest to the people s/he is studying. Must inform them of every aspect of the study and any consequences that may happen as a result of the study. 2. Informed Consent. ?The people being studied must be well informed about the procedure, and the anthropologist must have them sign a paper or ask for verbal consent before proceeding w ith the study. 0This is to make sure that they have fully agreed to the terms and have proof that they have willingly volunteered themselves. 3. Potential Harm. 0It is the anthropologist’s duty to inform the subject of any consequential harm that may come to them. The anthropologist must ensure not to harm safety, dignity, or privacy of any parties involved. ?It is important to follow the code of ethics in order to avoid any lawsuits and also to make sure that the people being studied are well informed and know exactly what they are signing up for so that no harm will come to them. Week 4: Today most anthropologists recognize that race is a social construct that does not have a biological reality. Discuss how Boas and Montagu each defend this view. What evidence from modern genetics does the film â€Å"Race: The Power of an Illusion† provide to further support this position?Franz Boas also referred to as the â€Å"Father of American Anthropology,† talks about ra ce as a social construction in his paper, â€Å"Mind of Primitive Man† ? He believes that racial groups never existed, and that races are not as pure as we imagine them to be because migration patterns in the past intertwined cultures together and created diverse groups of people. ?Boas talks about purity and boundedness, stating that biological significance is only possible when races have uniform, closely inbred groups where family lines are alike. However, these conditions can’t be achieved with humans, especially in large populations. He also argues about the instability of populations, meaning that the physical and psychological attributes of people are dynamic and fluctuate constantly to adapt to various circumstances. 0The biological, linguistic, and cultural traits of people are the product of historical development and the environment. Ashley Montagu in her article, â€Å"The Concept of Race in the Human Species in the Light of Genetics,† uses the idea of cooking an omelet as a metaphor for the making of race. 0When an omelet is made, the end result may all look the same, but the ingredients used to make the omelet may vary.This is the basis for the anthropological view of race in that although groups of people may have different appearances and characteristics, everyone is essentially the same. 0His argument is based on modern genetics, stating that no two humans are genetically identical to one another, therefore races cannot categorize groups of people since they don’t share the same genetic background.  ¦Racial characteristics are artificial and have no genetic base. Example of the use of modern genetics in the film, â€Å"Race: The Power of an Illusion. †¢In the film, a group of students performed an experiment to compare genetic similarities to other classmates using blood samples, skin color, and saliva swaps. The result of the experiment turned out to be different from what they expected. The students found that their genes were most similar to people they least expected, and that there was no correlation between their genetic patterns and their skin color. †¢Dr. Richard Lewontin, with the use of gel electrophesis, found that 85% of all variations among humans are between individuals of the same local population. There is as much difference between two individuals of the same race as there is between individuals of different races, so race can’t be determined biologically. What is scientific racism? Why is it flawed and dangerous? Use one of the examples discussed in the lecture to support your argument (Morton versus Gould or The Bell Curve). How do anthropologists understand gender and patriarchy? Provide two examples (from the lecture or your own observation) to show that gender roles change from society to society and from time to time.Scientific Racism is the attempt to prove â€Å"scientifically† that some â€Å"races† are not just different, but superio r to others. 0Scientific techniques and observations are usually utilized to prove this belief but the collected data is usually inaccurate and tainted with racist beliefs. Example: Dr. Samuel George Morton versus Stephen J. Gould. †¢Samuel George Morton attempted to prove that some races were superior to others by measuring the skulls of people of different races,  ¦He believed that the cranial capacity of the skulls would tell how intelligent people were. His results concluded that white people were the superior race among other groups, because his measurements showed that they had the largest skulls compared to the others. ?Stephen J. Gould repeated the research and found several errors with Morton’s conclusion. 0Morton manipulated his data by including more female skulls for blacks than for whites, so the measurement for the skulls of the blacks turned out to be smaller. 0When Gould measured again fairly, the average size of a black person’s skull turned out to be much larger than the skull of a white person’s. The data was manipulated because of Morton’s bias. His beliefs caused him to already have the results in mind that he wanted, regardless of what is actually true. Example: The Bell Curve 0A book written by Richard J. Hernstein and Charles Murray: argues that blacks carry inferior genes of intelligence compared to whites, and so they naturally score lower on IQ tests.  ¦Their low IQ scores are what prevent the blacks from attaining a higher level job, and it is also because of their low intelligence that they have a higher crime rate. The controversy that comes with this claim is that if the government agrees with it, then the blacks should not receive social welfare for their low-income families because they are genetically inferior. Scientific racism is usually incorrectly proven using data that has been deliberately altered to support bias beliefs, so the results are not accurate. The danger that can result fro m this if it is actually proven, the groups may be neglected or abused, or at the very least treated with social injustice. Gender – All the traits that a culture assigns to and indicates in men and women. It is a social construct of male and female characteristics and roles. ?Gender differences come from culture rather than biology. ?Patriarchy – A social and political system rule by men in which women have inferior social and political status. 0Females are carried out as subordinates to men in this system. Most common in patrilineal societies (involving counting the descent line of the father’s line, which includes property inheritance, names, titles, etc. ) Examples of gender roles changing between societies and through time: ?Forager/hunter and gatherer societiesThis type of society shows a typical gender division of labor. Men were responsible for hunting and fishing while women were responsible for gathering fruits and nuts. Men would usually bring in more food than women, so the men had a higher social rank in these societies. When women are the ones to contribute more food, then the women would have an equal relationship with the men. ?Agriculture societies Men are assigned to heavy labor such as plowing the field, while women are responsible for domestic work, child rearing, and light far work around the house. These societies tend to have a stronger gender inequality. Industrial societies Gender roles in industrial societies tend to change over time in response to economic conditions and social climates. Before the 1900s, it was common for men, women, and children to work in factories. Things began to change in the 1900s with the large influx of immigrants that increased the male labor force and also brought up ideas that women weren’t fit to work in the factories and should stay home and take care of the kids instead, During WW2, things changed again as men are drafted into the military and women began working in factorie s again to fill the gap.The women’s return to the factory was received in a positive notion and was even viewed as patriotic. What are gender stereotypes? What is the role of advertising in making and reinforcing gender stereotypes and normalcy? Draw two concrete examples from the film (Killing US Softly) in your discussion. Gender stereotypes – oversimplified yet strongly held ideas about the characteristics of men and women. Advertisements mainly target women and girls about beauty and the ideal body they should have, as well as a childlike / quiet demeanor. Many girls express the fear of being fat, and the number one wish of girls between the age of 11-17 is to be thinner. ?Most of the people who suffer from eating disorders are girls who are self-conscious and obsessive about their body. Examples in Killing us Softly: ?Ads of women of color tend to show them with animal prints which turn them into animals rather than human beings. ?Ads about women who lost weight t ypically say they were able to get married because they lost weight.This gives the idea that women who are fat probably won’t ever get married, and this serves to lower women’s self-esteems even further and increase their drive to become skinnier and purchase products to expedite the process. ?Images of thin women are often used to silence women and put them down. ?Ads show pictures of women exhibiting passive body language such as their hands over their mouths and faces. ?When there is an ad of a man and a woman, the man is usually taller and is looking down at the woman, while the woman looks up and smiles compliantly. This encourages female submission to men and conveys the message that women should be quiet and obedient. According to Martin’s article, how do stereotypical gender roles shape scientific accounts of the egg-sperm romance? Stereotypical gender roles shape scientific accounts by how the sperm and the egg are described and how they function. ?The sperm is described as masculine, active, agile, and penetrating, while the egg is described as passive, feminine, fragile and dependent. ?The egg is portrayed as a damsel in distress who waits quietly in a still spot for her knight in shining armor, the sperm, to fight his way to her. The female reproductive system is seen as wasteful and a failure while the male reproductive system is seen as productive. ?Scientists question why women are born with so many eggs only to have most of it go to waste, yet the don’t consider the excessive amount of sperm men create as a waste. ?New research found that the sperms aren’t that forceful and what actually matters is that the surface of the egg is what traps the sperm, showing that eggs are more active than previously thought. This shows that the relationship between the egg and the sperm is interactive. Even with this new research, the egg is still viewed in a bad light. ?The more active role of the egg is seen as too aggressiv e and the reproductive system of women as a dangerous place since it tries to kill sperm cells that enter it. How does Ortner explain why women are universally put in an inferior position to men? Do you agree with her argument? Why or why not? Support your view with evidence. Ortner argues that the subordination of women is a universal idea by referring to how a lot of anthropological literatures show accounts of how women are devalued in society. Symbolic acts of women are believed to justify their inferior role. Menstruation is considered a symbolic act that restricts the freedom of women. During a women’s menstruation period, she was not allowed to come near sacred objects because of the fear that she might contaminate them. Menstruation was believed to be a threat of warfare. ?Social and political structures also serve to affect the status of women in societies, and exclude women from participating in areas with people of high authority. ?Women are associated with nature while men are associated with culture, and culture is typically viewed as superior to nature.Men use their creativity to create technology and symbols that are transcendental and last for eternity, while women are restricted by their natural duties that involve reproduction and creating life.  ¦Destruction of life by men has more prestige and is viewed as transcendental, while creation of life by women is regarded as less important.  ¦The things that men create last forever while what women produce are doomed to die.  ¦The reason why women are associated with nature more is because of their physiology, social role, and psyche. ?No I do not agree with Ortner.I believe that these views are socially constructed, and that we’ve evolved past them. Week 5: What are the five different economic systems in the world? Define each briefly. ?Forager: hunting and gathering; moving from place to place; gender roles due to unequal division of labor, egalitarian (old people are respect ed). ?Horticulture: Cultivation with simple tools, fields not permanent property (slash and burn) mobility, depend on rainfall. ?Agriculture: Use animals for food and labor. These groups are less mobile, live in larger and more permanent settlements, and use advanced irrigation systems. Pastoral: Focus on domesticated animals for food; nomadic. ?Industrial: Mechanized forces, factories, and technology for mass production; increased population density. Briefly explain the three basic principles that govern exchanges according to Karl Polanyi. ?The Market Principle: Supply and Demand, Capitalism. Coffee beans they were selling. Export of crop. ?Redistribution: Socialism; Goods move from local level to center: taxation, welfare. Redistributing the pigs and wealth within the people. ?Reciprocity: exchange between those who are socially equal (gift economies); want to give back.What is a moral economy? What is a system of total service defined by Marcel Mauss? ?Moral Economy: A type of e conomy in which economic activities are an integral part of social relations and moral obligations. Economic and non-economic activities and institutions are embedded in one another. Economic activities and exchange systems are governed by conceptions of social justice, norms, and expectations. ?Systems of total service – The exchange is not solely about property and wealth, but also about the social and moral obligations. Part of the more general and enduring contract.According to Marcel Mauss, why does a gift have the special power to cause its recipient to pay it back? ?The Power – Gifts are never â€Å"free,† so they give rise to reciprocal exchanges. The giver does not merely give an object, but also a part of him/herself. This intrinsic bondage weighs on the conscience of the recipient. What is potlatch? How do Ruth Benedict, Marcel Mauss, and Marvin Harris explain why potlatch exists? ?Potlatch means to give away, or a gift; it is a festival ceremony, and its goal is to give away joy and wealth – more than the rival. Explanations – 0Ruth Benedict: Driven by obsession with prestige and status, (because the more that you give the more prestige you claim). 0Marcel Mauss: Compelled by reciprocity, (responding to a positive action with another positive action, rewarding kindness). 0Marvin Harris: Serves an economic purpose (rational cultural adaptation). Says that potlatch is a logical cultural mechanism. Says that participating in potlatches creates a constant flow of goods. Serves as an economic purpose, human social life is a response to practical problems of earthly existence.

Notes Receivables

NOTES RECEIVABLE * Represents claims for which formal instruments of credit are issued as evidence of debt, such as promissory note. The credit instrument normally requires the debtor to pay interest and extends for time periods of 30 days or longer. Notes receivables are considered current asset if they are to be paid within 1 year and non- current if they are expected to be paid after one year. NEGOTIABLE PROMISSORY NOTES * Unconditional promise in writing made by one person to another, signed by the maker, engaging to pay in demand or at the fixed determinable future time a sum certain in money to order or to bearer.An entity owned a tract of land costing P 800,000 and sold the land for P1,000,000. On January 1, 2011 the entity received a 1- year note for 1,000,000 plus interest of 12% compounded annually. Journal Entry: First year: Note receivable1,000,000 Land800,000 Gain on sale of land200,000 # DISHONORED NOTES * Promissory note matures and is not paid. * When the maker of a n ote fails to pay on the due date, the note receivable is considered to be dishonored. A dishonored note is no longer negotiable. Journal Entry: 2012 Jan. 1 Accounts receivable1,120,000 Notes receivable 1,000,000Interest income 120,000 # INITIAL MEASUREMENT * Conceptually, notes receivable shall be measured initially at PRESENT VALUE. * However, SHORT TERM NOTES are measured at FACE VALUE. * The initial measurements of LONG TERM NOTES will depend on whether the notes are INTEREST- BEARING or NONINTEREST- BEARING. INTEREST- BEARING LONG TERM NOTES are measured at FACE VALUE which is actually the present value upon issuance. NONINTEREST- BEARING LONG TERM NOTES are measured at PRESENT VALUE which is the discounted value of the future cash flow using the effective interest rate. SUBSEQUENT MEASUREMENTAmortized Cost * the amount at which the note receivable is measured initially minus principal repayment, plus or minus the cumulative amortization of any difference between the initial car rying amount and the principal maturity amount minus reduction for impairment or uncollectibility. For long-term noninterest-bearing notes: Amortized Cost = present value + amortization of the discount Or Amortized Cost = face value – unamortized unearned interest income Accordingly, only long-term notes receivable will be discussed in conjunction with the present value concept under the following situations: . interest-bearing note b. noninterest bearing note Problem 7-2 â€Å"FATHOM COMPANY† (INTEREST- BEARING NOTE) 2011 Jan. 1Cash1,000,000 Notes Receivable6,000,000 Land5,000,000 Gain on sale of land2,000,000 # Dec. 31 Accrued Interest Receivable720,000 Interest Income720,000 (6,000,000 x 12%) # 2012 Dec 31 Accrued Interest Receivable806,400 Interest Income806,400 # 6,000,000| +| 720,000| =| 6,720,000| | | | *| 12%| | | | | 806,400| 2013 Jan. 1Cash7,526,400 Notes Receivable6,000,000 Accrued Interest Receivable? 1,526,400 #Accrued interest receivable? 2011| | | 720,00 0| 2012| | | 806,400| | | | 1,526,400| Problem 7-3 â€Å"BUG COMPANY† (NONINTEREST- BEARING NOTE 1) 2010 Jan. 1Note receivable600,000 Sales540,000 Unearned interest income 60,000 # DATE| NOTES RECEIVABLE BALANCE| FRACTION| INTEREST INCOME| Dec. 31, 2010| 600,000| 1/2| 30,000| Dec. 31, 2011| 400,000| 1/3| 20,000| Dec. 31, 2012| 200,000| 1/6| 10,000| | 1,200,00| | | Dec. 31Cash200,000 Notes receivable200,000 # Unearned interest income30,000 Interest income30,000 # 2011 Dec. 31Cash200,000Notes receivable200,000 # Unearned interest income20,000 Interest income20,000 # 2012 Dec. 31Cash200,000 Note receivable200,000 # Unearned interest income10,000 Interest income10,000 # PROBLEM 7-4 â€Å"IMPRESS COMPANY† (NONINTEREST- BEARING NOTE 2) 2010 Jan. 1Cash100,000 Note receivable900,000 Sale? 820,540 Unearned interest income? 179,460 # Face value900,000 Present value (300,000*2. 4018)720540 Unearned interest income? 179,460 Present value720,540 Cash received100,000 Sales price? 82 0,540DATE| ANNUAL COLLECTION| INTEREST INCOME| PRINCIPAL| CARRYING AMOUNT| Jan. 1, 2010| | | | 720,540| Dec. 31,2010| 300,000| 86,465| 213,535| 507,005| Dec. 31,2011| 300,000| 60,841| 239,159| 267,846| Dec. 31,2012| 300,000| 32,154| 267,846| ? | Dec. 31Cash300,000 Unearned interest income 86,465 Note receivable300,000 Interest income 86,465 # 2011 Dec. 31Cash300,000 Unearned interest income 60,841 Note receivable300,000 Interest income 60,841 # 2012 Dec. 31Cash300,000 Unearned interest income 32,154 Note receivable300,000 Interest income 32,154 #

Indentured servitude Essay

Indentured servitude was considered a fine replacement for slavery, rising as slavery fell out of favor in many of the European countries. However, despite the rules that were out in place, they were often changed and didn’t follow the what could be considered the lowest form of humanity. Indentured servitude was used instead of slavery, but in the end, it was almost the same affliction. David Northup’s Doc 4 compares directly with Doc 3, 6, and 9. They show almost just the sheer amount of indentured servants that were shipped for the purpose of hard labor. All three documents are purely data and can be considered un-bias, trustworthy sources. In Doc 3 it is hugely visible that a massive amount of servants are sent to the Caribbean such as Trinidad and plantations in Suriname from India, a British colony. Doc 4 backs up this information as well as provide a huge number of455,000 people bent sent from India to the ‘Spice Islands’, Mauritius. Doc 6 shows tha t many of these indentured servants were previous slaves, or Asian Indians, whom the British considered below their station. Doc 9 also shows this huge number of indentured servants in Mauritius, showing that 71% of the population was Asian Indian, as well as the population of Trinidad being 33% Asian Indian. This information may not seem prevalent, but when compared to the stark contrast of Doc 7 and Doc 8. Doc 7 is an official document from the British Guiana Indenture Agreement from 1895. The document itself is a sign-up sheet that the servant would sign to agree to conditions that he trusted were to be followed until the end of his term, which lasted 5 years. This agreement states that work is every day except Sundays and Holidays and work will be 7 hours in the field or 10 in the buildings. However in Doc 8 an indentured servant complains about the conditions of his work. He works from 5:30 to 8:30, which is 15 hours total, and must work on Sundays till 2:00, which is 8 hours and 30 minutes. This amount of work is double the promised 7 hours, and even more than the normal hours on a day in which they weren’t to work at all. This was a gross abuse of rights and scholars even knew it, but people still didn’t see them as ‘people’ but workers. Doc 1 and 2 shows this. At first it was drafted just as the necessity of importation of foreign labor, but grew into a huge problem. The natives couldn’t keep up with the work and more and more immigrants were needed to keep up a study supply of sugar. However, it wasn’t as what one could call, nice, as it sounded. They were machines.  Indentured servant were not voluntary immigrants, but they weren’t slaves. They were raised, with pain, much like recruits for military service. Indentured servitude was indeed not a slavery of people, but it was the outcome of slavery and led to something very similar. People were worked to the bone and foreigners were pulled in to tiny islands just to maintain a steady flow of sugar and other rich resources. I believe Doc 5 was completely unnecessary and would have preferred another document with another account of mistreatment, or a change of time graph of indentured servants, or a change over time graph of slaves to indentured servants.

Measures and Scale Statistics Project Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Measures and Scale - Statistics Project Example Various tests have been employed to determine if the regression model is satisfactory. The model is said to be satisfactory, if the estimated regression equation can predict the value of the dependent variable given values for the independent variables. The relationship between these two measures is that they analyze the extent to which variables are related. However, these two do not assess cause and effect. Stress is part of normal life though too much stress can cause emotional, psychological and physical problems such as heart disease, irregular heart, chest pains and high blood pressure (Quinn & Keough, 2002). Our main concern is to study the relationship between stress and high blood pressure. We want to ascertain whether medical researchers are right with regard to stress causing high blood pressure. Let us determine the relationship of these two by using a sample of 20 patients who had their stress test score and blood readings taken. Regression and correlation is used in ascertaining the relationship as shown below: From the above workings in the table, the correlation coefficient is one. Therefore, the relationship between stress and blood pressure is a linear one. This simply means that when stress levels increase, the blood pressure also increases. The regression model is determined is fit as we were able to predict the values of blood pressure at given levels of stress. The correlation is +1, therefore a relationship which is linear exists between BMI and birth weight. Using regression analysis, it will be not possible to predict the birth weight given the BMI because the model is Ã… · =

The changing role of Middle Managers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The changing role of Middle Managers - Essay Example This team’s focus is more towards the long term goals of the company in terms of growth, profitability, withstanding competition, compliance with regulations, satisfying shareholders and increasingly being good corporate citizens in society in terms of the environment and sustainable business practices. Line managers tend to technical experts at specific tasks such as production, quality, purchasing, product development, marketing, sales, advertising or accounting. The middle manager serves as the interface between the small senior team and the much larger number of line managers (Jones and George, 2003). 2.1 The principal tasks for a middle manager Anthony Dance who describes himself as a Middle Manager Coach lists the differences between the middle managers’ role and that of the line managers who report to him. In a 2011 magazine article, he describes the middle manager as the manager of mangers whereas line mangers are mangers of specific functions. The middle manger ’s performance is dependent on the performance of others and his set of duties is often not very clearly defined. Anthony Dance breaks up the traditional role of a middle manager into three principal categories, Strategic tasks, Technical tasks and People tasks. The Strategic tasks include the understanding of the objectives for the company set by the senior management and breaking those into actionable tasks for the line managers, providing feedback to senior management on any problems and recommending corrections, financial and performance analysis and reporting, and communication both upwards and downwards. The Technical tasks include administration, ensuring compliance with plans and co-ordination between line functions. The most important function, however, are the...Anthony Dance who describes himself as a Middle Manager Coach lists the differences between the middle managers’ role and that of the line managers who report to him. In a 2011 magazine article, he de scribes the middle manager as the manager of managers whereas line managers are managers of specific functions. The middle manger’s performance is dependent on the performance of others and his set of duties is often not very clearly defined. Anthony Dance breaks up the traditional role of a middle manager into three principal categories, Strategic tasks, Technical tasks and People tasks. The Strategic tasks include the understanding of the objectives for the company set by the senior management and breaking those into actionable tasks for the line managers, providing feedback to senior management on any problems and recommending corrections, financial and performance analysis and reporting, and communication both upwards and downwards. The Technical tasks include administration, ensuring compliance with plans and co-ordination between line functions. The most important function, however, are the People tasks which include leading the team, motivating them and developing new leaders. Good middle managers strive to constantly improve the performance of line managers and remove those who fail to improve. The problem in most organizations comes from the middle manager not spending enough time on people tasks, either because he is overloaded with the other tasks or because he is uncomfortable with handling people issues.

The book Marriage Morals by Bertrand Russell Essay

The book Marriage Morals by Bertrand Russell - Essay Example It contests and lobbies against LGBT rights, divorce, abortion, embryonic stem-cell study and pornography. Marriage and Morals is an old book written by philosopher Bertrand Russell, and that questions the Victorian perceptions of morality concerning marriage and sex (Russell 2). Contrast issues The Liberation of Women: chapter seven of the book advocates for women liberty; however, the approaches contrasts the morals the title claim. The chapter claims that the sex education provided by many books is insufficient to curb immorality. The only fixation that will suffice is to eliminate from young women all chances of being by themselves with men: girls must be prohibited to make their living by work outside the residence; they should never be permitted an outing unless in a company of their mother or an aunt; the unfortunate practice of going to boogies without a chaperon ought to be sternly stamped out. The book suggest that to avoid immorality of unmarried women there should be a mo nthly medical checkup carried out by police doctors and these doctors preferably castrated, and non-virgins to be sent to penitentiary(Russell 82). The chapter continue to suggest that the use of contraceptives and talking to unmarried women to be prohibited. The author asserts that if this is carried out for several years then the tide of immorality will be curbed. The concept is comparable with FRC effort to make women free from oppression; however, the approach differs. FRC has processes to encourage women freedom in a more humane manner as contrasted to suggestion that the book provides. It supports a federal ethics clause, permitting medical employees to refuse to give certain treatments to their clients, such as procurement of abortion, blood transfusion or birth control. It also supports for abstinence- and encourages sex education, intelligent design and entreaty in public schools, and the control of pornography and other "obscene, profane, indecent, or program on broadcast and cable television (Stange 510). In both cases, there is advocacy for restriction; however, the approaches differ. The book suggestions are not liberty related they are a different form of oppression of women in pretext of curbing immorality. The book gives a presumption that immorality can be controlled through restriction of women activities. Sex Morality: Chapter 8 of the book discuses the taboo on sex knowledge, it claims that frank pornography would do less damage if it were open and unashamed than it does when it is rendered interesting by secrecy and stealth(Russell 89). This is contrary to FRC stand on pornography since it is against it and advocates for the control of pornography and other indecent, obscene, profane, or program on broadcast and cable television. The book argues that the taboo against nudity is an obstruction to a decent approach on the topic of sex. It proposes that it is in order for children to observe each other and their parents nude when it so happen s naturally. There will be a short time, most likely at about three years of age, when the youngster is fascinated in the dissimilarity between the mother and the father, and compares them with the variances between themselves and other siblings, but this stage is soon ended, and subsequent to this they take no more interest in nakedness than in clothes. This is a contrasting fact with FRC stands that condemns any form of obscenity (Stange 510). The book considered homosexuality to be immoral when it