Perception of Others and Ourselves

Table of Contents Introduction ‘No Cats in America’ ‘Masks’ Analysis Conclusion Works Cited Introduction Human beings are social creatures who perceive others and themselves through their social environment. Social environment is an immediate environment that acts as a mirror for the people to perceive themselves relative to others. The dominant factor in the social environment that significantly affects our perception is the social class that has set virtual boundaries for the people to socialize within certain limits.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Perception of Others and Ourselves specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Dominant social classes provide benchmarks for others to tirelessly struggle to achieve perceived social status. In the essay ‘No Cats in America’, a student perceives that America is the land of bliss and without any problem. Moreover, ‘Masks’ is an essay that depicts beautiful girl with a wonderful family that leaves other students admiring her social stature at school. The essays depict how social classes of these students influence their perception of others and themselves at the school and in the society. Hughes and Zanden argue that, â€Å"the essence of the sociological imagination is the ability to see our private experiences and personal difficulties as entwined with the structural arrangements of our society and the times in which we live,† (2). Social class is a social construct that classify and fit people into their respective social levels depending on the dominant perceptions of varied social environments. Therefore, how does social class influence our perception of others and ourselves in the society? ‘No Cats in America’ In this essay, after a student watched a movie ‘there are not cats in America’ and having learned about the American dream, the student realized that Amer ica is the land of happiness and free from any life’s problems. Seeing that many Russians have gone to America in search of better life, the student who is a Philippine began longing to be in the land of happiness and equality according to the American dream. Fortunately, his father gets a job in California and he realizes his wish of being in America. Shifting to America, he is utterly surprised to note that his cultural and racial identity puts him at disadvantaged social position because at school, students mock and ridicule him. On the first day at school, other students laughed at him when he introduces himself. The students laughed at him because his English accent differs with American accent yet he is proficient in English for he had learned in Philippines. Moreover, during lunchtime, girls desert his table because of his strange menu and eating habits. He narrates that, â€Å"in Philippine, the only way to eat fish and rice is with hands †¦ my manners were prim itive here in America, I was embarrassed at the smell, was embarrassed at the way I ate, was embarrassed to be me† (Ramage, Bean, and Johnson 168). He eventually realizes that ‘there are cats in America’ for negative social perception and interaction severely affect his studies.Advertising Looking for essay on rhetoric? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More ‘Masks’ The second easy portrays a beautiful girl who attracts a lot of envy and admiration at school due to her beauty and elegance. Narrator describes her beauty comparatively and concludes that it is matchless in the entire school. â€Å"Today, she wore a pink dress with frills and lace and impeccably white tights. Her feet, which swayed back and forth underneath her chair, were pampered with shiny, black shoes without a single scuff †¦ wise, sophisticated beyond her kindergarten years† (Ramage, Bean, and Johnson 169). The narrator a dmits that her beauty and elegance attracts great deal of envy from other students and particularly her to the extent that she emulates her form of dressing, hairstyle and painting. The beautiful girl paints an elegant drawing of a superb house and classy fence, which reflects her social status and beauty as well. Her mother loves her very much and always congratulates her for the little and great things she does. In contrast, other students had to paint something that closely resembles her painting as an effort of achieving her status of beauty and elegance. Unfortunately, the narrator realizes that her beauty and elegance is just but a mask because she is very dependent socially. Moreover, she depends upon other students when doing her algebra assignment. Analysis Social class is significant social factor that determines how people perceive social environment relative to themselves in the society with economic inequality and cultural diversity. In the essay ‘No Cats in Ameri ca’, the student perceives that America is a land of happiness and equality unlike Philippines or Russian where people suffer due to constant problems in life that make life unbearable. He longs to live in America because he perceives that America is the best place to live on earth. Comparatively, he thought that social class of America is better than that of Philippines and Russian, hence he perceives that Americans are great people. Emerson argues that, â€Å"our perceptions are always partial and subjective †¦they are partial because we cannot perceive everything; and they are subjective because they are influenced by factors such as culture, physiology, roles, standpoint, and cognitive abilities† (22). Thus, perception of America and Americans having higher social class gives him a false perception that he later discover that ‘there are also cats in America’ like others in Russia and Philippines.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Perception of Others and Ourselves specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More After going to America, his perception about America and Americans changes due to social class and cultural differences that portray him as a primitive student with poor education and bad eating habits. Although he perceives himself as a potential student who can equally compete anyone in class, his grades gradually goes down due to social class influence. The Americans students perceive him as a primitive student, which in turn leads him to believe that he is indeed primitive and began performing poorly in class. Humiliating experiences leads him to confess that, â€Å"I hate being Filipino! Silence filled the room, teardrops rolled down my cheeks, my parents were shocked, and so I was† (Ramage, Bean, and Johnson 168). He cries because the American dream influences her life negatively for he performs poorly in class because other students mocks and ridicul es his abilities. In the ‘Masks’ essay, the students perceive that the beautiful and elegant girl is very intelligent and sophisticated in class. Since she comes from an affluent family that gives her all that she wants, she is at higher social class relative to other students, thus she sets the benchmark for admiration and envy. Her social stature gives wrong impression to the classmates that she is not only a beauty model but also an educational model that everyone should admire and envy. Her friends try all means to emulate her dressing code, follow her hairstyle and copy her paintings for they perceive that she is the smartest of them all in the class and school just because of her social status. Knowing that no one matches her beauty and elegance status, she had great opinion of herself for she ridicules her friends whenever she feels they are trying to give her competition at school. Smith asserts that, â€Å"people who have anxious or ambivalent attachment style s often are preoccupied with relationships and perceive others in unpredictable ways† (12). The girl perceives others as inferior and tries all means to secure her social position even though she performs poorly in algebra. With time, the students realize that they have a false perception of her since she cannot do algebra assignment on her own and that she is very dependent on others for complements of her beauty, unlike them who work independently. The narrator ultimately admits that, â€Å"I then, realized her cheerleader outfit, her golden locks, her smile were all a mask. Take them away and nothing but air would remain. Her friends and their adoration were her identity. Without them she was alone and vulnerable† (Ramage, Bean, and Johnson 171). Her social class and identity masked and falsely magnified her abilities as student. Thus, social class influences our perception of others and ourselves in the society of economic inequality and cultural diversity.Advertisi ng Looking for essay on rhetoric? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Conclusion Ultimately, basing on the two essays, ‘No Cats in America’ and ‘Masks’, they portray how social class influence our perception of others and ourselves. In the first essay, the student perceives the American students to be of high social class and very intelligent while perceiving himself as inferior. Such perception negatively affects his studies making him to perform very poorly. In the second essay, a beautiful girl from an affluent family perceives others are inferior and thus she always ridicules others. Other students regard her as an intelligent and smart student to the extent that they emulate her dressing code, hairstyle and painting, yet she was very weak in algebra. Thus, social class can give us false perception of others and ourselves in the society. Works Cited Emerson, Ralph. Perception and Communication. New York: Wadsworth Publisher, 2008. Hughes, Michael, Zanden, James. â€Å"Developing a Sociological Consciousness.† The  Journal of sociology 16.3, (2009): 1-23. Ramage, John, Bean, John, and Johnson, June. The Allyn Bacon Guide to Writing. Reading Notes Smith, Bernard. â€Å"Social Perception.† The Journal of Communication. (2007): 1-34. This essay on Perception of Others and Ourselves was written and submitted by user Gael E. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Manpower Cost Analysis for PT6-Engine Overhaul Facility Essay

Manpower Cost Analysis for PT6-Engine Overhaul Facility Essay Manpower Cost Analysis for PT6 Year: Manpower Cost Analysis for PT6 Engine Overhaul Introduction Cost analysis is used to determine the most appropriate cost for labour or any business ventures. Mostly cost analysis is used when evaluating the real cost of service or product. Manpower involves planning for staff levels in regard to the present and future requirement on any given organization. In this report, we analyse the labour cost for overhauling the PT6 engine facility in Qatar airways. The PT6 is among the most popular airplane engines in the world. The report looks at the data collected at Qatar airways to determine the most feasible solution to contracting manpower for this facility.Analysis The analysis looks at two options of manpower that can be contracted to do this work on this facility. The feasibility of contracting each is also examined. The cost analysis will also determine how many of each category will be contracted to this facility. The manpower is divided into two categories; this consists of certified engineers and technicians. There are also two types contract available for the technicians, a permanent contract or a sub contract. The permanent contract or full contract is when the company fully employs the technician. The sub contract, on the other hand, is when the company contracts another company for the provision of labour. From the data collected, the sub contract for the technicians is viewed as the preferred option from the two. This is concluded from the premise that, sub-contractors cost less to hire and maintain because they do not receive allowances. Because their contract is not on a full time basis, perks like accommodation and insurance are not the responsibility of the company. This option is also better for the company because the subcontracted team will provide all the services for the airline, instead of the airline looking for specialised technicians for different jobs. Hiring full contract technicians will cost the company more because the airline will be responsible for the accommodation of the technicians, their health insurance and their annual ticket for travelling. This will inadvertently cost more to the company than beneficial. Therefore, this choice is not regarded as the best for technician. The cost of overtime of the full time contractor is also higher that a sub-contractor. Certified engineers are the most costly to the airline. The work they would perform can be handled by the technicians and the company will not need to employ them for the overhauling facility. They require a higher basic salary and a housing allowance, as well. The company is also obligated to provide accommodation and transport for them. Under their benefits, the company is also paying school fees for the certified engineers. If the engineers have children below 18, the airline is to pay travel tickets for them, as well as the engineers. These costs are deemed unnecessary for the airline, and the option of contracting certified engineers is n ot considered.Conclusion In the labour cost analysis, a company finds the most affordable way to acquire labour without accruing unnecessary costs. After statistical analysis, it is determined that the best labour choice is the subcontracted technicians. ReferencesMurphy, JE 2006,Guide To ContractPricing: Cost  Analysis For Contractors, Subcontractors, And Government Agencies,Management Concepts Inc, Virginia.

What was the significance of the Lawrence, Massachusetts Strike of Essay

What was the significance of the Lawrence, Massachusetts Strike of 1912 - Essay Example They stipulated that: Another impact of the strike is that it proved wrong the theory of conservative trade unions inside the American Federation of Labor. This showed that an immigrant, mostly unskilled female and racially divided workforce could not be organized. It showed women were capable of assuming significant leadership positions in labor. The strike proved successful because the workers overcame strong odds and their demands were met. The poor living conditions in the residences of the workers were exposed. In fear of a repeat of such strikes and unionization movements, some factories, not only in the textile industry, raised wages. It also gave a new, nonviolent strategy to those wishing to participate in strikes, in future. It serves as a motivation for future workers who may also come to demand better wages, treatment, and benefits (Watson

What factors will be relevant in resolving this dispute and how will Essay

What factors will be relevant in resolving this dispute and how will they be applied by the court in this case - Essay Example Of course, Kev does hold ownership of the mansion and can enjoy the profit from it if any. However, he is not entitled to sell it or insist Agatha to vacate the mansion. Also, section 12 of the Act states that â€Å"beneficiary is entitled to an interest in possession in land subject to a trust of land is entitled by reason of his interest to occupy the land†1. Section 14of the Trust of Land and Appointment Trustees Act 1996 specifies court’s power in preventing the disposal of property. The law further denotes that selling the property should be â€Å"free of any equitable rights† which does not apply in this case. Similar to this case, a recent judgment on a case study of Jones v Kernott (2011) UKSC 53 reveals the fact that the person’s interest on the property should be recognized and fulfilled as he has 50:50 share or ownership on land or property2. Hence, in this case Agatha has to make only certain amount of compensations if Kev does not experience any benefit from the property. No law of the country would ever prevent her from staying at the mansion for the rest of her life. A jury would always observe a person’s state of mind, intension, and whether it hurts any of the partners in some ways or other. In this case, Agatha’s desire to remain in rambling mansion has to be accepted, because she as the co-owner and an aged woman deserves caring consideration for every cause. On the flip side, when one considers the demand of Kev, his claim does not point to any loss he experiences because of Agatha’s stay. Since he does not have a clear reason to support the immediate sale of the mansion, his argument would not sustain in the court of law. TLATA always intends to ensure peace and harmony. Agatha may have to make certain level of compensation if Kev proves that he does not get any benefits from the mansion. But such claims of Kev should have valid proofs and

Cosmetic Surgery Essay Example for Free

Cosmetic Surgery Essay Introduction The development of plastic surgery in recent years has opened larger opportunities for health care professionals to offer a wide range of services to its customers, while the growing popularity and high demand on the services of plastic surgeons stimulated the rapid development of this field of medicine worldwide. according to Thompson (2011). In fact, he continued nowadays, plastic surgery becomes accessible to a larger number of people and, instead of the elitist surgery available to only a limited number of people, plastic surgery become accessible to large number of patients. This means that cosmetic surgery becomes more popular and available for people in developing and developed countries to be able to have those kind of services for their desires. On the one hand, cosmetic surgery brings happiness to people who have the right cosmetic surgery. On the other hand, it also influences many negative results from those actions. Many people take the advantages from this to satisfy their demand but they are totally wrong decisions to do that. Negative results to teenagers Teenagers are not allowed to do cosmetic surgery as they are not growing up properly. There were 174,851 cosmetic surgeries done on teenagers that were 18 years old or younger in 2005 a study from Harvard University wrote about Teenagers with Cosmetic Surgery in 2010. This number shows that teenagers trend to get a beautiful body. Parents should pay more attention to their children and be their consultant for them before they have operation. The writer also claimed that: I believe that cosmetic surgery should not be the ultimate answer for teenagers. I agree with the critics of cosmetic surgery that say teenagers are not old enough to make such a mature decision and that there needs to be more guidelines that will help stop most of them from making a wrong decision.(Teens and Cosmetic Surgery). Health Risks People who have cosmetic surgery, may die if they go with wrong doctors or lack of information before their operations. According to Alpert (2006), People have risked and lost their lives and limbs, and suffered devastating disfigurement and scarring as a result of plastic surgery gone wrong. The worst outcomes are rare, but risk is nonetheless a reality. After the cosmetic surgery, patientss healths will be affected. Moreover they may have risks to get some disease of blood, heart attacks Psychology issues How do you feel if your friends or neighbors keep gossip about your comestic surgery? And what do you think if your boyfriend or girlfriend get jealous or upset with the attraction from you to people? John, an psychologist expert from University of Washington indicated that: Depression, increased stress, feelings of disappointment, shame, or embarrassment can become issues when a cosmetic procedure fails to resolve the issues that motivated the individual to have the procedure. It is important to understand that while cosmetic surgery can bring you some rewards, it will not change your life, your problem or your relationship. There is nothing called physical perfection. Unsatisfactory Results Based on the research from Stanford University in 2008, not every surgery is successful. The unsuccessful surgery is very subjective. Unsatisfactory results may leave pain or patients may think about the next cosmetic surgery operation. Conclusion In conclusion, cosmetic surgery leads to many problems in the future that could affect you physically and mentally. Let think very carefully and consider about the negative results you may have before you get the cosmetic surgery. In my opinion, a happy life can not come from the cosmetic surgery. People will respect you from your inner beauty. Be you are and be yourself. Let try to have a healthy life by improving yourself, learn how to treat people well, do exercises and enrich your knowledge about society and the world. For sure you will have a wonderful life then

Alice In Credit Card Land :: essays research papers

<a href="http://www.geocities.com/vaksam/">Sam Vaknin's Psychology, Philosophy, Economics and Foreign Affairs Web Sites Your credit card is stolen. You place a phone call to the number provided in your tourist guide or in the local daily press. You provide your details and you cancel your card. You block it. In a few minutes, it should be transferred to the stop-list available to the authorization centres worldwide. From that moment on, no thief will be able to fraudulently use your card. You can sigh in relief. The danger is over. But is it ? It is definitely not. To understand why, we should first review the intricate procedure involved. In principle, the best and safest thing to do is call the authorization centre of the bank that issued your card (the issuer bank). Calling the number published in the media is second best because it connects the cardholder to a â€Å"volunteer† bank, which caters for the needs of all the issuers of a given card. Some service organizations (such as IAPA – the International Air Passengers Association) provide a similar service. The â€Å"catering bank† accepts the call, notes down the details of the cardholder and prepares a fax containing the instruction to cancel the card. The cancellation fax is then sent on to the issuing bank. The details of all the issuing banks are found in special manuals published by the clearing and payments associations of all the banks that issue a specific card. All the financial institutions that issue Mastercards, Eurocards and a few other more minor cards in Europe are members of Europay International (EPI). Here lies the first snag : the catering bank often mistakes the identity of the issuer. Many banks share the same name or are branches of a network. Banks with identical names can exist in Prague, Budapest and Frankfurt, or Vienna, for instance. Should a fax cancelling the card be sent to the wrong bank – the card will simply not be cancelled until it is too late. By the time the mistake is discovered, the card is usually thoroughly abused and the financial means of the cardholder are exhausted. Additionally, going the indirect route (calling an intermediary bank instead of the issuing bank) translates into a delay which could prove monetarily crucial. By the time the fax is sent, it might be no longer necessary. If the card has been abused and fraudulent purchases or money withdrawals have been debited to the unfortunate cardholders’ bank or

The second danger is for the people of Alabama

Alabama faces two problems regarding race relations. One is tiring of the work just as the blonde girl in the old joke, who swims half-way across a lake, declares she is too tired to make it all the way, and then swims back to the side she started on. If the residents of Alabama grow tired of progressing, they too, might someday end up back where they started. The labor of generations, then, would be wasted.The second danger is for the people of Alabama to believe that enough progress has been made. It is easy to think of one's own generation as the most advanced in all of time. Yet, a look back at history shows that previous generations felt the same way. An examination of the attitudes and actions of the progressives in the past sheds some light on how far Alabama has come and how far it might still need to go.Many people today portray slave masters as wicked, violent men, who beat their slaves constantly and neglected their needs. This is not a completely accurate picture. Indeed, former Alabama slave Alice Gaston[i] (Gaston, 1941, p. 1) in a 1941 interview with Robert Sonkin the following:All the white folks that know me, they treats me nice. And if I want anything, I'll ask for it. I was taught in that a way by my old master. Don't steal, don't lie, and if you want anything, ask for it. Be honest in what you get. That was what I was raised up with. And I'm that a way today.Another former slave, Isom Moseley also said that he’d worked for, â€Å"might good white folks.† (Moseley, 1941) He remembered the white people having shoes for the children and the elderly.   Similarly, former slave Joe MacDonald recalled that his master had made sure he was educated, so that he would be treated well by other white people, once the master and his wife had â€Å"died and gone to heaven.† (MacDonald, 1940)One slave owner fathered a child by a black woman. Instead of denying his paternity, James T. Rapier’s father acknowledged him and hired a private tutor to educate him in secret, because Alabama law, at the time, did not allow blacks to be educated.[ii]   Rapier elected to the forty-third congress in 1873 as a republican.Yet, in some parts of the state, slaves were treated very badly – particularly in the earliest years. In 1824, slaves in Montgomery outnumbered whites. Around half of Alabama’s heads of household were slave owners.As the number of slaves in Alabama increased, so did per capita wealth. Indeed, in 1930, per capita wealth was $700, which was unmatched by any other part of the country.[1] These factors lead many whites to fear black insurrection. If Alabama blacks rose up against whites, the outnumbered whites might not be able to stop them.Therefore, many feared for their lives. Others feared losing their fortunes. If blacks were freed, once great southerners would have to compete with industrialized northerner families in the American economy. It would be extremely hard for them to compe te. [iii]White fear lead to increased oppression. While, for a time, there were free blacks in Alabama, the government chased them out in 1839. An article from The New-Yorker in 1839 declares, â€Å"By a law of the last session of the Alabama legislature, all free persons of color who remain in the state after the 1st of August next are to be enslaved.†[iv]If a similar ruling were made today, the newspaper editors would call for public outrage. In 1839, the note is simply followed by a warning about yellow fever in New Orleans. Clearly, neither the government, nor the media thought of blacks as equals.Yet, while the Alabama legislature tried to rid the state of free blacks, it also ruled, in 1852, that owners must properly clothe their slaves. According to Mary Jenkins Schwartz, however, the law was not enforced and frequently broken.[v] Jenkins states that because owners would not follow the law, slaves who had children had a difficult time keeping their children warm. Indee d, she says, on one Alabama plantation, mothers would cut holes in gunny sacks to clothe their sons and daughters.[vi]Slaves were treated on many plantations as animals. Jenkins reports that many slept on hay. Children were given blankets of inferior quality and expected to share with one another. Children who did not work in the fields on one plantation, were not given food allowances.Therefore their parents would have to catch animals like rabbits and raccoons to feed them. Indeed, says Jenkins, some children would look forward to working in the fields because they would be able to earn food for themselves to stop their hunger.[vii]The fact that plantation owners thought of slaves just as people think of animals is also evinced by a number of documents from Alabama in the 1800’s. For instance, in 1852, a Parks Landing plantation owner offered a reward of fifty dollars for the return of his runaway slave, Stephen. It reads like a lost pet poster. The plantation owner describ es his slave as, â€Å"A fine looking negro† who is â€Å"between twenty-five and thirty years of age,† â€Å"about six-feet high,† â€Å"copper-colored,† with a â€Å"high fore-head†. [viii][1] Jenkins reports that slave owners would use this to tempt slaves into putting their children to work in the fields. Those who did would receive, â€Å"one frock apiece.† One boy, who worked carrying water for workers, earned a shirt, two pairs of pantaloons and shoes.[i] Alice Gaston.   â€Å"Interview with Alice Gaston, Gee's Bend, Alabama,† Voices of Slavery. Library of Congress.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Washington, D.C. 1941. [ii] Eugene Feldman. â€Å"James T. Rapier, Negro Congressman from Alabama,† The Phylon Quarterly. Vol 19. No. 3    1958. [iii] Clayton W. Williams â€Å"Early Ante-Bellum Montgomery: A Black-Belt Constituency,† The Journal of Southern    History, Vol. 7, No. 4. Nov. 1941. [iv] â€Å"Free Negro es in Alabama,† The New Yorker. Sep. 14, 1839; 7 26. P. 411[v] Mary Jenkins Scwartz. Born in Bondage: Growing up Enslaved in the Antebellum South. (Harvard: Harvard University Press, 2000). [viii] Levi Parks. â€Å"Poster offering fifty dollars reward for the capture of a runaway slave Stephen,† American Memory. Library of Congress. Washington, D.C. 1852.