Relative Deprivation and Deprivation Theory

Relative deprivation is formally defined as an actual or perceived lack of resources required to maintain the quality of life—diet, activities, and material possessions—to which various socioeconomic groups or individuals within those groups have grown accustomed, or are considered to be the accepted norm within the group. Key Takeaways Relative deprivation is the lack of resources (money, rights, or social equality) necessary to maintain the quality of life considered typical within a given socioeconomic group. Relative deprivation often contributes to the rise of social change movements, such as the U.S. Civil Rights Movement.Absolute deprivation or absolute poverty is a potentially life-threatening situation that occurs when income falls below a level adequate to maintain food and shelter. In simpler terms, relative deprivation is a feeling that you are generally â€Å"worse off† than the people you associate with and compare yourself to. For example, when you can only afford a compact economy car, but your coworker, while getting the same salary as you, drives a fancy luxury sedan, you may feel relatively deprived. Relative Deprivation Theory: Definition, Examples, and History As defined by social theorists and political scientists,  Relative Deprivation Theory suggests that people who feel they are being deprived of almost anything considered essential in their society—whether money, rights, political voice or status—will organize or join social movements dedicated to obtaining the things of which they feel deprived. For example, relative deprivation has been cited as one of the causes of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, the struggle of Blacks to gain social and legal equality with whites. Similarly, many gay people join the same-sex marriage movement in order to acquire the same legal recognition of their marriages enjoyed by straight people. In some cases, relative deprivation has been cited as a factor driving incidents of social disorder like rioting, looting, terrorism, and civil wars. In this nature, social movements and their associated disorderly acts can often be attributed to the grievances of people who feel they are being denied resources to which they are entitled. Development of the concept of relative deprivation is often attributed to American sociologist Robert K. Merton, whose study of American soldiers during World War II revealed that soldiers in the Military Police were far less satisfied with their opportunities for promotion than regular GIs. In proposing one the first formal definitions of the relative deprivation, British statesman and sociologist Walter Runciman listed the effect’s four required conditions: A person does not have something.That person knows other people who have the thing.That person wants to have the thing.That person believes he or she has a reasonable chance of getting the thing.   Runciman also drew a distinction between â€Å"egoistic† and â€Å"fraternalistic† relative deprivation. According to Runciman, egoistic relative deprivation is driven by an individual’s feelings of being treated unfairly compared to others in the group. For example, an employee who feels he or she should have gotten a promotion that went to another employee may feel relatively deprived. Fraternalistic relative deprivation is more often associated with massive group social movements like the Civil Rights Movement. Relative vs. Absolute Deprivation Relative and absolute deprivation are measures of poverty in a given country. Absolute deprivation describes a condition at which household income falls below a level needed to maintain the basic necessities of life like food and shelter. Relative deprivation describes a level of poverty at which household income drops to a certain percentage below the country’s median income. For example, a country’s level of relative poverty could be set at 50 percent of its median income. While absolute poverty can threaten one’s very survival, relative poverty is more likely to limit one’s ability to participate fully in their society. In 2015, the World Bank Group set the worldwide absolute poverty level at $1.90 a day per person based on purchasing power parities (PPP) rates. Critiques Critics of relative deprivation theory have argued that it fails to explain why some people who, though deprived of rights or resources, fail to take part in social movements meant to attain those things. During the Civil Rights Movement, for example, Black people who refused to participate in the movement were derisively referred to as â€Å"Uncle Toms† by other Blacks in reference to the excessively obedient slave depicted in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 novel â€Å"Uncle Tom’s Cabin.† However, proponents of relative deprivation theory argue that many of these people simply want to avoid the conflicts and life difficulties they might encounter by joining the movement with no guarantee of a better life as a result.   Relative deprivation theory does not account for people who take part in movements that do not seem to materially benefit them, such as the animal rights movement. In many of these cases, for example, straight people who march alongside lesbian and gay rights activists, or wealthy people who demonstrate against policies that perpetuate poverty or income inequality, are believed to do so more out of a sense of empathy or sympathy than feelings of relative deprivation. Sources Curran, Jeanne and Takata, Susan R. Robert K. Merton. California State University, Dominguez Hills. (February 2003).Duclos, Jean-Yves. Absolute and Relative Deprivation and the Measurement of Poverty. University Laval, Canada (2001).Runciman, Walter Garrison. Relative deprivation and social justice: a study of attitudes to social inequality in twentieth-century England. Routledge Kegan Paul (1966). ISBN-10: 9780710039231.

Global Warming And Its Effects On The Great Barrier Reef

How has Carbon Dioxide (CO2) levels frequently increased global warming and the massive increase of global ocean temperature which have risen from 0.74oC during the 19th century to 4oC in modern day society (NOAA, 2016), and how does CO2 contribute to one of the biggest tragedies seen on the Great Barrier Reef today, known as coral bleaching and what can be done to slow the increasing rate of this terrible tragedy? â€Å"Coral reefs are extremely important for biodiversity, providing a home to over 25% of all marine life. They are also vital for people and business. They provide nurseries for many species of commercially important fish, protection of coastal areas from storm waves, and are a significant attraction for the tourism industry†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦show more content†¦Most of the CO2 that enters the atmosphere dissolves into the ocean, as close to a third of the CO2 produced from human activities since 1800 and approximately half produced by burning fossil fuels are consumed into the ocean (Sabine et al. 2004). Increased CO2 in the atmosphere is one of the main causes of our changing climate change (NOAA, 2011). Global ocean temperatures have risen by 0.74oC (1.3oF) since the late 19th century. With the increasing rate of CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions have been predicted to rise to approximately 4.0oC (7.2oF) this century (NOAA, 2016). Just the tropical upper oceans alone have warmed more than 0.01oC per year over the past 50 years and the warming rate is still increasing (NOAA, 2010). Figure 1: The Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide (CO2) growth rate between the years of 1959-2014 https://www.co2.earth/co2-acceleration (NOAA, 2013) This table shows the atmospheric growth rate of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) starting from the year 1959 and ending at 2014 therefore showing 6 years of data. Many types of coral have a special symbiotic relationship with a ting marine algae called zooxanthellae that lives inside corals’ tissues and are very efficient food producers that provide up to 90% of energy that corals require to grow and reproduce (GBRMPA, 2016). Bleaching occurs when the relationship between the zooxanthellae and their coral host breaks down. This can be caused by a number of environmental stresses,

How important are volunteers to events Free Essays

Introduction The purpose of the following paper is to explain how important volunteering for events is; it is inevitable to say events will not succeed without the input of volunteers. The paper will discuss whether volunteering is a method of reducing costs for the event itself or in general for an organisation. There are numerous concerns in relation to volunteers and the implications in which may occur when participants are made to work long hours with no pay. We will write a custom essay sample on How important are volunteers to events or any similar topic only for you Order Now However this is done from their own free will so this is a complicated issue as volunteers have their own means of motivation. The paper will then focus on explaining the implications of volunteering for Organisers. A definition of a volunteer can be â€Å"someone who willingly gives unpaid help in the form of time, service, or skills, through a club organisation or an association† (Australian Burea of statistics, 2003, p.2). There are numerous reasons as to why volunteering is regarded as a fundamental aspect in an event, many of the sporting events such as the common wealth games , tennis tournaments, the world cup and etc use volunteers (Green and Chalip,1998). Volunteers make up a large amount of the workforce for an event; Stirgas and Jackson (2003) suggest that without the help of volunteers a sporting event will not succeed. Cnaan and Goldberg Glen (1991) share the same views and state that with the help of volunteers, managers are able to develop the magnitude and diversity of the services required without having to spend in terms of finance, this will be discussed further in the paper. When sporting events are held each year, Organisers have a growing concern about recruiting volunteers, this in itself goes to show how important volunteers are to the success of an event. It is considered that volunteers are seen as an integral part of an event, this is not just whilst the event is taking place but also before the event has taken place as without the aid of volunteers it is possible that the event would not take place at all It is apparent to advocate that the role of volunteers in events are important, volunteers aid to the planning of events and also to the organisational aspect of any event, furthermore they also benefit to the marketing and production element of an event (Hall, 1992). Such work carried out by volunteers of an event is imperative in relation to the financial shortfall in which many event organisations struggle to deal with. Yet on the other hand the resources which organisations have to offer appeal to volunteers which is regarded as a means of motivation for volunteers, other methods of motivations can be that, volunteering is seen as a leisure activity as it is associated with similar incentives which leisure activities also have, for example they are both fundamentally motivating, whilst also having constructive advantages such as; positive physical and mental feasibility, a sense of organization, gaining a feeling of purpose and also part taking in social participation (Shmotkin , Blumestein and Modan, 2003). Katz (1960) shares the same views and explains that volunteers are recruited in accordance with their psychological gain, he believes that volunteers have some sort of gain for working in events, it could be for experience, self fulfilment or any of the reasons previously mentioned. However it is not enough †¦/†¦.. There has been various debates in relation to whether having volunteers in an event is due to recruitment issues, yet the aspect which is so appealing to organisatiopns is that they are able to have a workforce without having to pay them, thus many mangers in organisations are incredibly reluctant to incorporate human resource concepts to their volunteers as they have such a minimal workforce they are so eager to get them to start work and hesitant to send them away if they are unable to meet human resource requirements, for example if they are not skilled enough to enable them to carry out the job in hand, this is why the organisations are not carrying out the right requirements before taking on volunteers (Hartenian, 2007). On the other hand volunteers can be classified as consumers and volunteers are regarded as a consumer who would like to take on a challenge in terms of marketing. Managers in this instance search for enabling the needs of consumers to be met, thereby doing all they can to receive the benefits which volunteering brings about, they do this through their product, i.e the event itself and label this as ‘ the volunteering experience’ (Riecken et al., 1994). Conversely Yavas (1997) argues that it is a necessity to view volunteers in this manner due to excessive pressures and rivalry caused in the voluntary sector, thus this has resulted in managerial organizations to endure survival techniques in the form of using marketing management tools on the application of consumer behaviour concepts. Therefore there becomes an implication in terms of volunteer attraction, drawn from a marketers view point and the perspective of consumer behaviour patterns (Wymer et al., 2002). Events such as mega sporting events generate a worldwide interest, however this also causes a problem in terms of opportunities and the fact that certain issues about volunteering in some instances can be disregarded. What is meant by this is the fact that when volunteers in an event take part in unpaid labour many organisastions initially think this is a advantage for them as this is a means of reducing costs, they do not consider the other benifits in terms of cultural interaction or postitive association with host communities, yet the first thing that springs to mind would be that they are reducing costs (Getz 1997). Getz (1997) also discusses other issues relating to volunteering such as; costs and viability, economic restoration etc. Ingerness (2001) also shares alike thoughts on this matter and explains that volunteers in general whether they are volunteers for a mega sporting event or for a local art events, are regarded as an important economic and cultural factor to the production and performance of an event. Green and Chalip (2004) add to this view and state that volunteers are cruial for an event and having volunteers working in an event, is in a way a method of reducing costs as their services and their labour which contributes towards the event is not paid for, whichever way you look at this matter it can be regarded as a means of reducing costs. The Sydney Olympic games (2000) explained that volunteer labour is vital for the running and financial operation of an event. The Sydney Olympic games needed over 40,000 volunteers for the event (SOCOG, 2000). They also sated that although this was a sporting event on a huge scale, smaller events also require large numbers of volunteers. Yet research indicates that without the aid of volunteers an event is more than likely to fail, yet there are various implications which are related to volunteers in events for organisers. Pearce (1993) stated that there are a number of problems with the performance of volunteers, e.g. organisers do not ensure that their volunteers work to a high standard. Howden (2003) also explains that 25% of volunteers fail to turn up for ther shifts, which then causes operational problems for the organisers. Yet on the other hand there have been many cases where the event organisers over recruit volunteers as they view organisers as a source of unpaid labour where they don not understand the factors which influences their reason for motivation, by doing this organisers would gain a better understanding as to why volunteers are willing to give up their time for the event. Another problem with organisers over recruiting is an increase number of volunteers results in an increase in costs for selection, placement, training, transport, meals, etc (Howden, 2003). Conclusion An additional implication in hiring volunteers for events is the issues it causes for the volunteers themselves, for example large events are usually staged over a short period of time, sometimes in a number of days, such events have deadlines which must be stuck to thus adding immense pressure on volunteers and making them work in a manner which is highly courteous and example of this is in The Sydney Olympic Games volunteers were made to carry out a minimum of 10 shifts which were each 8 hours long over 16 days (Sydney Olympics 2000). How to cite How important are volunteers to events, Essay examples

Reforms in the Late 1800s and the Early 1900s, Essay Example For Students

Reforms in the Late 1800s and the Early 1900s, Essay By: Marina Bluvshteyn 813During the late 1800s and the early 1900s there were many problems inthe world. People came together because of what they thought was right. Some problems took more work than others to solve. Different methods wereused by reformers. Some reformers had more power than others and madegreater changes than others. Things like the 1901 New York State TenementHouse Law and the Pure Food and Drug Act were passed because people puttheir feet down and said that theyve had enough. President Roosevelt was mostly responsible for the passing of the PureFood and Drug Act. This act prohibited the manufacturing, sale, ortransportation of mislabeled or contaminated food. Roosevelt had areputation for making laws, acts, and trusts. At first Congress dint wantto pass this act, but after a few compromises the act was passed. Important people like the president werent the only people who helped passlaws, and/or acts; ordinary people helped too. Women wrote letters toCongress saying that it would be best if food was examined before sold orshipped somewhere. Every voice counts. Another law called the New York State Tenement House Law was passed in1901. This law concerned most immigrants. It outlawed the construction ofdark and airless tenements. The law required new buildings to have betterventilation, toilets, and running water. New Yorks law became a model forhousing reform in other states. Many progressives also establishedsettlement houses patterned after Jane Adamss Hull House. Theseorganizations worked in immigrant and poverty-stricken communities toimprove education, sanitation, and housing conditions. Progressives andMuckrakers (Journalists) were mostly the cause of the passing of this law. Muckrakers mostly focused their stories on poor people like immigrants;they helped spread the word of the terrible housing conditions. Progressives let the problems be known in other ways. Even though the new law was passed there was still more work to bedone. In 1909 hundreds of reformers gathered at the first NationalConference of City Planning and Congestion. Supporters of city planningproposed to get rid of unsafe housing, to develop more park land, and toimprove public transportation. After the planning was put to the testdeath rates dropped and there was less pollution in the air and on theground. Soon urban Americans came to enjoy the highest standards of publicservices in the world. Many other laws, and acts were past after and before this law and act. People with a lot of power werent the only ones who made things possible,ordinary people did too. The New York State Tenement House Law was anexcellent law to pass. It helped save lives and made New York a cleanerplace to live in. The Pure Food and Drug Act was also an excellent idea,food is now safer to eat. There are still problems in our world today, andpeople do try to solve them, but it takes more than one person toaccomplish something.