Obesity in Western Culture - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1287 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2017/09/21 Category Advertising Essay Type Argumentative essay Tags: Obesity Essay Did you like this example? Within our constantly evolving and ever-changing Western world, what is deemed as being deviant has shifted and adapted to suit the norms and values of society at large. Thus, deviancy can be defined as behaviour that violates the normative rules, understandings or expectations of social systems. The issue of obesity has become increasingly prominent within Western society and is deemed as being deviant due to its wide unacceptance throughout society. In applying the ‘Functionalism’ perspective of deviance on obesity, the ways in which society attempts to handle and understand this issue is further outlined and explained. Obesity is a term used to describe body weight that is much greater than what is considered the healthy range. Individuals who are obese have a much higher amount of body fat than is healthy or recommended. Adults with a body mass index (BMI, calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) greater than 25 kg/m2 but less than 30 kg/m2 are considered overweight (Insel, Turner, Ross, 2009). The ways in which those who classify as ‘obese’ are perceived and portrayed by society are, within a Western society fixated on image and obsessed with reaching physical ‘perfection’, often negative and highly critical. The media plays a crucial role in shaping the idea’s and values our society holds. As we are constantly bombarded with images of ‘idealistically’ thin celebrities, it becomes evident that those who do not fit this normality are excluded from social acceptance and pressured into losing weight and fitting in. A recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald stated that; â€Å"while there was sympathy for underweight models because of possible eating disorders, those with overweight body shapes were blamed for not doing something to lose weight† (Gray, 2010). It is evident here that although there is some negativity surrounded with being ‘u nderweight’, super-thin models and celebrities continue to be represented as acceptable throughout the media, whereas those classified as ‘obese’ are rejected from mainstream society and blamed for not taking the initiative to lose weight. As we concentrate more on what is considered to be ‘physically attractive’, we lose sight of the various biological, genetic, and noncontrollable etiological factors (Puhl, Shwartz, Brownell, 2005) that relate towards obesity. Thus, negative stereotypes and stigmas are placed upon the obese, further strengthening their label of deviancy. In a recent study conducted by Yale University, the perceived social consensus on attitudes toward obese people was tested. Three experiments were created towards educating the participants on the issue of obesity in hope of reducing the bias stereotypes and stigmas our society has successfully created towards the obese. (Puhl, Shwartz, Brownell, 2005). The study describes ho w the consensus attitude towards obesity prevents the reduction of stigmatizing and excluding the obese from mainstream society as people in general feel a sense of ‘security’ and ‘approval’ in following the beliefs of the majority. Thus, if we as a society take greater acknowledgment in the causes of obesity and perhaps even empathize towards those labeled as obese; the idea of obesity as being a form of deviance could potentially shift throughout the long term. The ways in which the ‘obese’ are acknowledged through the medical institution also assists in perpetuating the negative stigma held towards obesity by society at large. According to David F. Williamson of The New England Journal of Medicine (1999), it is crucial that doctors encourage greater weight loss towards obese patients as obese people are â€Å"twice as likely to die from any cause as people of normal weight. † Society then not only recognizes obese people as being à ¢â‚¬Å"obscene, lazy, slothful and gluttonous† (Adler, Adler 2000) but also as ill, and in a sense, ignorant towards the consequences of their poor state of health. As modern technology continues to develop and treatment options further increase, obesity becomes more and more deviant throughout society. Procedures such as ‘liposuction’ are becoming more available, with surgeries having increased 215 percent since 1992 (Naisbitt, Naisbitt, Philips 2001). Although undergoing plastic surgery has not yet attained complete social acceptance, procedures such as liposuction reduce the consequence of the obese being labeled deviant due to their status. In contrast, the way obese people perceive and view themselves is largely impacted by the constant discrimination and criticism carried out by society at large. Although it can be said that in the presence of other obese people there is a greater sense of acceptance and understanding, the self-representation of obese p eople is generally negative and painful. According to an article on ABC news, one obese female stated that â€Å"(you feel like) you have no right to exist as you are. Feeling as though this body is an outlaw body† (Stark, 2004). The majority of obese people often view themselves as outsiders to the social norms of image and feel as though there is a ‘culture of blame’ (ANI, 2008) constantly against them. There have been studies undergone which illustrate the reluctance amongst obese patients to seek preventive health care services due to the embarrassment of their weight, and perhaps even the feeling of being criticized by physicians (Fontaine, Faith, Allison, Cheskin cited in Puhl, Shwartz, Brownell, 2005). This clearly shows that obese people themselves are not content within their condition and recognize their deviant label within society. Although they inevitably feel the pressure to lose weight, the embarrassment of yet again being judged and criticized by healthcare professionals prevents them from doing so. The Functionalist approach to deviance can be applied to obesity in many ways. Functionalism was developed by Emile Durkheim and illustrates how the institutes within society function and maintain social equilibrium. A functionalist analysis of deviance begins with looking at society as a whole rather than focusing on the individual. â€Å"It looks for the source of deviance in the nature of society rather than the biological explanations or psychological nature of the individual† (Covington, 1999). In this regard, applying functionalism to obesity becomes difficult as obesity is initially a personal health concern. Both biological and psychological aspects contribute towards obesity which then labels the individual as deviant, proving that rather than focusing on the nature of society at large for explanations on deviancy, it is equally vital to focus on the obese individual to understand their deviant label. In evitably, this can be recognized as a weakness within the functionalist argument. In contrast, applying functionalism to obesity presents much strength in understanding why changes within social institutes occur. Institutes such as health/medical and education have had to shift and develop in order to combat the obesity epidemic and create greater equilibrium within Western society. Australian schools have recognized the deviant nature of obesity, mainly due to its associated health risks, and have recently began enforcing healthy eating and exercise habits (Hareyan, 2006). School systems have recognized that many families are unable to teach their children healthy habits, so have taken upon this role to maintain the social order within society. Alongside this, there has been a vast increase in weight-loss alternatives (rather than simply the gym, or perhaps surgery) to suit the modern, working individual. ‘Quick’ weight loss pills and detox diets are now more on the market than ever before and are available to anyone willing to pay. Functionalism revolves around creating solutions to maintain social order, and in regards to obesity, many actions have been taken as obesity is seen as a deviant act which disrupts the balanced functioning of society. In conclusion, obesity has been labeled as a deviant act within modern Western society as it violates what the consensus recognizes as ‘normal’ behaviour. It is increasingly less acceptable with those carrying the status left facing the consequences of social judgment and exclusion. In applying the functionalist theory, the deviant nature of obesity can be further outlined and understood as a problematic issue within contemporary society. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Obesity in Western Culture" essay for you Create order

Agents Of Socialisation The Mass Media - 1120 Words

Agents of Socialisation : The Mass Media In the present day, the media is incorporated into our daily lives. Every day, through newspapers, radio, television, email, the internet and social media, are we sucked into an electronic world, which changes many of our beliefs and values about how we live our lives. It plays such a large role in almost every person’s life compared to 50 years ago, when the internet did not exist. It effects things such as our political views, tastes in music, views of men, women, gay and coloured people. Media is very powerful in that it is accessible by almost every human being in the world. Over the decades, there has been a significant increase in the amount of technological advancements, especially in the way of mobile devices and computers. The mass media, being an agent of socialisation, means that it has a significant influence on our lives, primarily in the way we interact with each other and learn social and cultural behaviours from others. 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Market Orientation and Hotel Performance †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Market Orientation and Hotel Performance. Answer: Introduction: Structure of an organization describes the hierarchy of authorities, duties and responsibilities within workplace. The major role played by organizational structure is to evaluate the ways in which roles, duties and responsibilities are regulated so as to attain organizational desired objectives and goals. Apart from this, it also engages the communication flow from top level management to the lower management. It is designed on the basis of the rules, policies and standards of the organization which are designed in order to accomplish organizational tasks in an effective manner. This essay will focus over the organizational structure of Victoria Taxi (Victoria Taxi, 2018). Along with this, impact of internal as well as external forces over the business performance will also be covered under this essay. Current risks factors confront by the organization, decisions taken by the management of Victoria Taxi in relation with uplifting organizational performance and crucial functions of t he organization for developing effective strategies in relation with the accomplishment of the objectives will also be covered in this essay. Organizational structure of Victoria Taxi follows the traditional system under which the highest authority controls every activity within the workplace. Top most authority of the organization is CEO (chief executive officer) and then board of directors are responsible for managing organizational performance. Primary role of Victoria Taxi is to provide travelling services to the people and along with the travelling services, they care for each and everything so that travellers could feel safe and secure while travelling with Victoria Taxi. After board of directors, senior level management holds the responsibility for accomplishing organizational tasks with the view to uplift its performance in the target market. further, middle level management and workforce comes as the organizational structure of Victoria Taxi and these are majorly responsible for performing physical tasks so that plans made by the senior level management could be converted as reality (Zheng, Yang McLean, 2010). External and internal environmental forces plays crucial role in uplifting or declining organizational performance. External forces are economic conditions of the country, technological factors, political environment and socio-logical factors. While internal forces which affect organizational performance are employees, companys financial performance, resource availability, etc. As Victoria Taxi is engaged in travel industry, thus, both internal as well as external forces will affect their business performance and in order to avoid these impacts, management of the organization is required to adopt appropriate strategies and the policies. Their major objective is to attract people for consuming their taxi services while it is also necessary for the organization to adopt appropriate measures so that the policies could be developed by considering internal as well as external environmental forces (Chen, Huang Hsiao, 2010). One of the major external environmental factors is innovation and in terms of Victoria Taxis activities, it is necessary for them to adopt this factor so that rapid improvements and new features could be added into their practices. Innovation in terms of Victoria Taxi could be improvisation in their services which will help them to develop a unique image in the market as compared to its competitors. Organization will be able make their practises effective as well as efficient through which desired goals and objectives would easily be attained (Chittithaworn, Islam, Keawchana Yusuf, 2011). Risk factors confronted by Victoria Taxi are increase sudden increase in the fuel prices, entry of new companies in the taxi business, etc. These factors have the potential to affect organizational profitability directly. Apart from this, there are certain external risk factors such as increase in interest rate, exchange rates, etc. which could also affect organizational performance in negative manner. As Victoria Taxi is performing its activities in Canada and seeking for growth in international market, thus, they also need to confront the risk factor such as facing competition from the existing companies in the international market. For conducting taxi business in an effective manner, appropriate code of conducts needs to be practiced so that the travellers could feel safe and secure while consuming the taxi services. Along with this, Victoria taxi is required to improve their systems to match up with the international standards of taxi business in order to uplift its performance a s well as to attain its desired goals and objectives. Competition risk plays vital role in the taxi business, thus, organization needs to adopt appropriate defensive strategies so that they could be able to save their acquired position in the target market for a longer time period (Wang, Chen Chen, 2012). Certain other risk factors could also affect Victoria Taxis performance which is changes in the laws and regulations, new rule applied by the government, etc. Hence, organizational senior level management and board of directors are required to adopt appropriate measures so that all the above risk factors discussed above could not affect organizational performance in negative manner (Shneiderman, 2010). Apart from this, improvisation is necessary to grow and prosper for every organization along with confronting risk factors. Risk factors plays dominant role in adaptation of the strategies for improving organizational performance as well as it also lead the organization to adopt inn ovation in their practices so that the organizational profitability could be increased along with developing an effective position in the market (Wheelen Hunger, 2011). In order to uplift Victoria taxis performance in the target market along with ascertaining various other opportunities to grow and prosper in international markets, it is necessary to adopt certain advanced measures within the workplace. Along with this, optimum utilisation of internal resources is also necessary so that cost could be reduced and profitability and turnover could be increased. Organization could also evaluate other factors for improving its performance such as setting benchmarks, developing quality standards and providing adequate training sessions to its employees in order to improve their efficiencies. Victoria Taxi is a service rendering organization and in service industry, it is necessary for organization to set appropriate benchmarks related to their services so that customers needs and requirements could be fulfilled. Apart from this, employees who perform significant role in the success of the organization should be treated in the same manner by the organizati on (Trkman, 2010). It is necessary to provide appropriate training and counselling sessions to the employees of Victoria Taxi so that their efficiencies could be improved (Casadesus-Masanell Ricart, 2010). Apart from this, employees skills, talent and knowledge and other factors should be valued by the management along with fulfilling their needs and requirements. With the help of these measures, organization could make employees feel motivated towards work as well as it also helps to develop a positive image amongst the employees towards organization. organization could also invite employees to take participate in the decision making process so that appropriate decisions could be applied in the organizational context for attaining further goals and objectives along with developing an effective image in the target market. With the help of above discussed practices, Victoria taxi could easily uplift its performance along with gaining a big part of the market share which will result in attainment of organizational desired goals and objectives (Lustig, Roussanov Verdelhan, 2011). With the objective of attaining organizational strategy, it is necessary for the organization to involve innovation and its related practices within the workplace. Strategy of the organization is to acquire a big portion of the market share along with the attainment of competitive advantage in the target market. in order to acquire these objectives with the concern of attaining strategy, it is necessary to adopt practices which are capable enough to fulfil target audiences needs and wants. Customers also plays vital role in the success of service based companies and for the same purpose, it is necessary to utilise organizational resources so that the functions of the organization could be improved as per the quality standards built up by the management (Bryson, 2018). Apart from these functions, organization needs to evaluate its internal requirements departmental wise. Furthermore, advanced measures need to be adopted with the motive of fulfilling each departments needs in terms of capital, resources, man power, etc. Above discussed functions would play crucial role in attaining the desired strategy for the organization along with the development of an effective image in the target market (Teece, 2010). From the aforesaid information, it could be concluded that Victoria Taxi is performing well in their industry. In order to expand its operations, organization has conducted evaluation of its structure so that performance of the organization could be reviewed along with determining any error if found. Apart from this, external and internal environmental forces have also been discussed in this essay with the objective of establishing appropriate measures for facing those challenges in an effective manner. References Bryson, J. M. (2018).Strategic planning for public and nonprofit organizations: A guide to strengthening and sustaining organizational achievement. John Wiley Sons. Casadesus-Masanell, R., Ricart, J. E. (2010). From strategy to business models and onto tactics.Long range planning,43(2-3), 195-215. Chen, C. J., Huang, J. W., Hsiao, Y. C. (2010). Knowledge management and innovativeness: The role of organizational climate and structure.International Journal of Manpower,31(8), 848-870. Chittithaworn, C., Islam, M. A., Keawchana, T., Yusuf, D. H. M. (2011). Factors affecting business success of small medium enterprises (SMEs) in Thailand.Asian Social Science,7(5), 180. Lustig, H., Roussanov, N., Verdelhan, A. (2011). Common risk factors in currency markets.The Review of Financial Studies,24(11), 3731-3777. Shneiderman, B. (2010).Designing the user interface: strategies for effective human-computer interaction. Pearson Education India. Teece, D. J. (2010). Business models, business strategy and innovation.Long range planning,43(2-3), 172-194. Trkman, P. (2010). The critical success factors of business process management.International journal of information management,30(2), 125-134. Victoria Taxi. (2018). About Us. Accessed on 30th March 2018 from https://victoriataxi.com/ Wang, C. H., Chen, K. Y., Chen, S. C. (2012). Total quality management, market orientation and hotel performance: The moderating effects of external environmental factors.International Journal of Hospitality Management,31(1), 119-129. Wheelen, T. L., Hunger, J. D. (2011).Concepts in strategic management and business policy. Pearson Education India. Zheng, W., Yang, B., McLean, G. N. (2010). Linking organizational culture, structure, strategy, and organizational effectiveness: Mediating role of knowledge management.Journal of Business research,63(7), 763-771.

Health vs. Wealth in Society free essay sample

This paper discusses the affect that wealth has on health and postulates that people born with lower social status have a higher likelihood of sickness and health complications. It touches on subjects from issues of not enough money for food to sexual practices. Even though we are taught in schools how different we are from ancient societies, we are not all that different. An individual is still born into his or her social class and he or she is brought up to live like those of his or her class. In our modern society individuals are able to more easily build his or her future on his or her dreams, but the reality is that dreams and hopes are hard to come by. Sadly due to the social classes impounded upon us at birth individuals must over come many obstacles in life, of which one is health. In our society, health can be purchased, as though it were a commodity, not something available to everyone but only to the wealthy. We will write a custom essay sample on Health vs. Wealth in Society or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Such a commodity should not exist since we have a right to be healthy, however it does. For obvious reasons, it is much harder for lower classes to purchase this health, and therefore, for obvious reasons, such classes are less healthy.