...Of these 272 neighborhoods, the average household earnings for low to high-income neighborhoods vary between $15,003 to $207,938 annually (Los Angeles Times). For these low-income families, allocating their money between rent, utilities, bills, and transportation- whether public or private, leaves very little left for healthy nutritional choices. Healthier food options for low-income families aren’t conceivable when wage disparities exist. Balko contends that the government's efforts in anti-obesity measures are the “wrong way to fight obesity” and that “our government ought to be working to foster a sense of responsibility in and ownership of our own health and well-being” (Balko 396). The socioeconomic crevice is the most problematic barrier to better nutrition choices for low-income families. Consequently, because there is less income to allocate, they are at the greatest risk of poor nutritional...
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...they were given restrooms and water fountains that were only used by “colored people”, and they were forced to sit in the back of the bus. Schools and neighborhoods were segregated and interracial relationships were forbidden. Racism was considered socially acceptable and the judicial system upheld arrests and convictions of those that did not conform to the laws. It was impossible for a person of color to receive a fair trial. Today the judicial system is designed to punish criminals for the crime not their minority status, but the truth can still be twisted by racism. Some people argue that the law is flawed and the courts are biased because we are judged by a group of people who are randomly selected to decide the accused criminal’s fate, also known as a “jury of our peers”. Justice is supposed to be blind, but isn’t it impossible for lady justice to be blind if we are judged by those who are not? This research paper will discuss the racial disparity in the judicial system, crime rates, and whether or not they have an effect on the high minority prison population. A large number of people engage...
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...Bambara On Action and Change Toni Cade Bambara’s "The Lesson" revolves around a young black girl’s struggle to come to terms with the role that economic injustice, and the larger social injustice that it constitutes, plays in her life. Sylvia, the story’s protagonist, initially is reluctant to acknowledge that she is a victim of poverty. Far from being oblivious of the disparity between the rich and the poor, however, one might say that on some subconscious level, she is in fact aware of the inequity that permeates society and which contributes to her inexorably disadvantaged economic situation. That she relates poverty to shame—"But I feel funny, shame. But what I got to be shamed about? Got as much right to go in as anybody" (Bambara 604)—offers an indication as to why she is so hard-pressed to concede her substandard socioeconomic standing in the larger scheme of things. Sylvia is forced to finally address the true state of her place in society, however, when she observes firsthand the stark contrast between the rich and the poor at a fancy toy store in Manhattan. Initially furious about the blinding disparity, her emotionally charged reaction ultimately culminates in her acceptance of the real state of things, and this acceptance in turn cultivates her resolve to take action against the socioeconomic inequality that verily afflicts her, ensuring that "ain’t nobody gonna beat me at nuthin" (606). "The Lesson" posits that far from being insurmountable, economic and social injustice...
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...Course Project LeAnne Aragon SOC350 Gail Rognan April 14, 2012 Introduction Sharp differences in drug arrest rates in different U.S. cities show that much of the racial disparity is the result of decisions by local law enforcement officials to concentrate enforcement in minority inner-city neighborhoods rather than, for instance, in majority white suburbs (Disproportionate Incarceration. 2009). The proof of this lies in the data that one in nine black men between the ages of 25-29 are incarcerated compared to one in 30 other men of the same age. Why? The purpose of this paper is to investigate how racial discrimination in the justice system still exists and how it correlates to the misconception that drug abuse and drug dealing activity is more prevalent among African American males in this age group. Another factor to be addressed is how society has victimized the black man in the “get tough on crime” and the “war on drug” movements. And finally, this paper will address how continued discrimination affects peoples’ ability to change. Race and Imprisonment in the United States Statistics show that African-American men make up 13.6 percent of the U.S. population and 40.2 percent of the U.S. prison population. Even though rates of drug use and selling are similar across the races, people of color are far more likely to be stopped, searched, arrested, prosecuted, convicted and incarcerated for drug law violations than are whites. Michelle Alexander...
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...Nguyen English 1301 March 7, 2015 The Lesson “The Lesson” is among Bambara’s best-known stories, and I really love it. It combines her focus on social justice with her interest in telling stories about children maturing. One of the most provocative elements of this story is Sylvia’s opaque response to Miss Moore’s lesson. The Schwarz angers her, she does not understand why, and cannot decide whether to direct that anger at Miss Moore, at Sugar, or at white people. Yet despite her initially rebellious response to the excursion, Sylvia’s chance to witness the vast disparity between rich and poor seems to inspire her to work harder. Interestingly, the children seem to resent those with different income levels than themselves, regardless of whether that person is of higher or lower class. For example, they berate Mercedes when she talks about her stationery, and push her out of their circle when she talks about returning to the store. However, they also become irritated at the way that Flyboy frequently mentions the fact that he is homeless. This persistent animosity, combined with everyone’s distrust of Miss Moore, speaks to the insularity of their community, and a general distrust of foreigners. People find ways to separate themselves, whether by race, income, or geography. In “The Lesson,” Bambara seems to endorse Miss Moore’s opinion that economic inequality is symptomatic of a flawed society. However, the lesson does not arise organically from the children’s experiences...
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...Summary of Chapter 2 - Lost Decade: Began in the early 1990s (Heisei era), persisted for two decades 1. Dark period began with asset bubble in 1980s 2. Banks: bad loans 3. Economy imploded 4. Social Problems: Unemployment, divorce, suicide, violence 5. Anxiety, insecurity 6. Japan, Inc. lost credibility - Led to transformation, people found out gov’t was incompetent - Junichiro Koizumi 1. Bold 2. Amplifying disparities 3. Increasing risk 4. No safety ❖ Economy Implodes ➢ Crash of the stock market and land prices(hammering banks, business, investors, borrowers, customers, and employees ➢ Lost US$16 trillion, 3 times the size of GDP ➢ Lost Decade ▪ A story about how businessmen, policymakers, regulators, and investors RECONSIDERED the norms and verities of Japan, Inc. and began the process of RETOOLING economics institutions, practices, and patterns to REVIVE the economy ▪ Measured and incremental reforms ▪ Other people: Disparities, betrayal ➢ Company ▪ First, little retirement with less pay and bonuses ▪ After the baby boom generation, companies relied on non-regular workers who are usually paid much less and have little job security(Regular workers needed to work long hours(Low birthrate • Baby boomers: people born during the Post-World War II baby boom between 1946 and 1964. ❖ Lessons from Japan ➢ “Lehman shock” in 2008 ▪ Bankruptcy of...
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...Nursing care is fraught with ethical dilemmas very often. There is a process for dealing with these dilemmas that works well to bring them to the best possible conclusion with the current facts known at the time. In case #5 we have an ethical dilemma that requires the Nurse Practitioner to decide whether to follow her best medical knowledge concerning the patient, or to worry more about the financial conditions that are of great concern with the clinic that she is employed by. There will be an analysis of this ethical decision making process to determine what is the best course of action to take concerning this patient with the facts presented. There will be a discussion of the seven ethical principles of nursing in general. There are seven ethical principles in nursing that we will discuss. The seven principles are autonomy, justice, fidelity, beneficence, veracity, nonmaleficence and paternalism. The ethical principle of autonomy is based on the assertion that individuals have the right to determine their own actions and the freedom to make their own decisions (Chitty & Black, 2007, p. 119). Patients make autonomous decisions based on their value’s, the information concerning the issue at the time without undue influence or pressure and time to reason and deliberate on the issue at hand. Autonomy is becoming increasingly important in nursing and health care but there are still instances where it is very difficult to near impossible for the patient to be autonomous. Some...
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...develop the awareness of the healthcare disparities for the Hispanic population. The aspects of why the Hispanic population is a vulnerable population will be shown. There are numerous barriers to healthcare for Hispanic patients and the healthcare provider; this paper will discuss only two of these barriers. Two interventions will be shown to aid the healthcare provider in bring down the barriers to efficacious healthcare for Hispanic patients. Three or more concepts from this course will be incorporated into this paper. Awareness of the healthcare disparities is critical to understanding when attempting to take down the barriers to equal healthcare for the vulnerable Hispanic population. The deficiencies are well researched and documented. In 2003, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies issued Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care, which reported that minorities are less likely than whites to receive health services, including clinically necessary procedures, even when controlling for insurance status, patient income, and other access-related factors. Cultural bias can affect clinical decision-making. The authors found evidence that stereotyping, biases, and uncertainty on the part of health care providers can contribute to unequal treatment (Smedley, 2003). It is important to understand that the end result of death is not the only factor that should be viewed as disparity. The ongoing cost of living with disease...
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...For example, the lives of the people in the Capitol are a huge disparity to the ones in the districts. People of the Capitol are wealthy enough to enjoy basic necessities and luxury goods, while most of the districts are living through an impoverished lifestyle. In the Games Katniss says, “when I passed the bakery, the smell of fresh bread was overwhelming, I felt dizzy” (Collins 29). The novel describes the glaring differences that exist between the Capitol and the districts. The Capitol is the seat of power in Panem. It is home to the wealthiest and powerful people of the country. It hosts the annual Hunger Games to celebrate its triumph, and remind the districts that they are under its control. The Capitol members do not need to participate in the Games, they just watch for their personal enjoyment. They...
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...prosperity and success through hard work in a society with few barriers is world-famous. Though higher education is a sign of success in the U.S., the American dream is crushing. Student debts are getting more burdensome because the university tuition is expensive and bankers always lend high interest loans to students. During the last seven years, student debts for graduation have increased about 40 percent. Over 15 percent of the students cannot repay their debts, which may eventually cause a worse consequence. Definitely, it will lead to inequality among those who can afford to attend universities and those who cannot. In recent years, student debts have become serious problems. Stiglize (2012) pointed out that “in 2012, according to the Federal Reserve and the Department of Education, nearly 13 percent of student-loan borrowers owe over $50,000, and about 4 percent owe more than $100,000” (“Student Debt,” para. 6). Increasing student debt has weighed down many Americans because students cannot pay it back. The increasing interest rates, the soaring tuition and the sluggish incomes are the main factors that lead to greatly increased student debts. First of all, although they have seen the tough condition faced by the students, predatory lenders are still raising the interest rates, which are...
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...health practitioner, when presented with a crisis, problem, or circumstances in the community can use the different research methods, such as quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods. These advance plans of query explore not only potential clarification, but it explores different route that will conclude an exact treatment or intervention and influence an outcome. The three abbreviated research plans will be outlined in this paper, will provide possible clarification to the rising concerns in the U.S. on health disparities in to the people in the community that have limited or no health insurance that will prevent them from receiving adequate medication, health care, and the use of preventive measures such as diet and exercise (Walden, 2012). Strength and Limitation of Research Methods The two major strengths found in the quantitative research methods are that using the strategy of inquiry, the researcher have the chance to test and confirm presented theories about how and why incident happen and test theory assemble before the information is achieve to study a large number of people in a determined community or population (Creswell, 2009). The next strength of this research is that based on the findings, the investigator can make an overview when the composed information is based on casual samples of major size (Creswell, 2009). According to Creswell (2009), the strength for the qualitative methods is the data that are collected is based on the participant’s words, perspective...
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...Yuanting Xiong English Comp. 102 Prof. Courtney Stanton 2014/7/2 Food in Symbolism Symbolism is a common narrative method; authors bury “a symbol” as a clue throughout an article to hint readers the meaning of text, in the meantime, to remain the fitness of this symbol in the text. In “Goodbye Columbus”, Philip Roth creates a young Jewish couple, Brenda and Neil, whose story starts with their meeting, and ends with them breaking up. In this story, foods play as an important symbol. When Neil and Brenda fall in love with each other, Ruth spends time describing cherries, which not only represents virginity, but also merrymaking and festivity. When their relationship is on the edge, Neil, instead of being obsessed with the taste of Patimkin fruits, finds them tasteless. Throughout the article, the descriptions of the meals and talking at the table during the meal demonstrates that Patimkin and Klugman are two families in different social classes, and the glitch between two classes eventually leads to a broken relationship. Food, as an important symbol, not only directs the relationship between Neil and Brenda, but also reveals the difference between the two social classes as one of the reasons of the ruining of their relationship. Descriptions of cherry in this article help readers understand Neil and Brenda were in a loving relationship, and they were so happy. Cherry, as a symbol, has been widely used in many literature works by many great authors. On one hand, cherry implies...
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...Gurinder K. Fnu Soc&101 The Culture Of Poverty and the theory of Functionalism Background: In 1959 a sociologist, Oscar Lewis investigated poverty and its trends amongst society. Lewis came up with a theory commonly known as the ‘Cycle of Poverty’. The cycle of poverty is the term used to refer to the phenomenon in which poor families become trapped in poverty for generations. This is because they have no access to long-term education and no long-term financial guarantees. The cycle of poverty suggests young children who are born into poverty will remain in poverty because they lack the ability to go to school and receive no education, their families are not financially stable (no clean clothing, a poor diet, lack of hygiene, etc.). The ability for them to break out of this cycle is limited, and in some cases simply not possible. The structural-functionalist approach to stratification asks the question: what function or purpose does stratification serve? The theory's answer is that all parts of society, even poverty, contribute in some way or another to the larger system's stability. Structural-functionalists maintain that stratification and inequality are inevitable and beneficial to society: the layering is useful because it ensures that the best people are at the top of the hierarchy and those who are less worthy are at the bottom. Those at the top are given power and rewards because of high abilities, and the high rewards exist to provide incentive for qualified...
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...Is the Death Penalty a Fair and Effective Deterrent in the United States? Abstract The death penalty is the most severe punishment that may be imposed on an individual by the United States government. It denies a person one of their most basic human rights, which is the right to live. One of the purposes of the death penalty is to serve as a deterrent for other would-be criminals. There have been studies conducted to determine if the death penalty is effective in this regard. There is another point of disparity surrounding the death penalty related to the equality of its application. Are all citizens treated equal? This paper takes a closer look at the equality in the application of the death penalty and its effectiveness as a deterrent. Is the Death Penalty a Fair and Effective Deterrent in the United States? The death penalty came to the United States with the first European settlers and continued until the 1960’s. “The 1960s brought challenges to the fundamental legality of the death penalty. Before then, the Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments were interpreted as permitting the death penalty. However, in the early 1960s, it was suggested that the death penalty was a "cruel and unusual" punishment, and therefore unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment.” (Bohm, 1999) Since the 1960’s courts have been battling the issue of the death penalty. Currently there are 38 states that have provisions for the death penalty. What is the purpose of the death...
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...Affirmative Action a Balancing Act ENG. 215 February 5, 2013 Affirmative Action a Balancing Act Many people believe that affirmative action laws are reverse discrimination and that these laws should be changed. Unfortunately in this country race is a determining factor in many aspects of daily living. Affirmative action laws simply balance the scales when it comes to determining whether race works for or against minorities. Affirmative action laws should not be changed, because it is an excellent program as demonstrated by the fact that two Supreme Court justices are products of affirmative action. Originally designed to overcome the disparities created by slavery and past discrimination affirmative action is still relevant in today’s society Affirmative action laws have been the subject of legal actions and disputes. In 2003 Michigan law school had to defend its affirmative action practices before the Supreme Court in the case of Grutter versus Bollinger (Garces, 2012). The court decided that colleges and universities have an obligation to consider race in a society where race matters. Another case is currently before the Supreme Court titled Fisher versus the University of Texas (Garces, 2012). A decision in this case is imminent and can have sweeping effects on the future of affirmative action laws. Many Americans do not understand affirmative action laws. Most people see it as a personal injury of giving priority to someone that...
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