Underrepresentation of Women in Canadian Politics

Underrepresentation of Women in Canadian Politics In November 2015, new PM Justin Trudeau made headlines around the world when he chose a cabinet made up of 50% women. Yet this in fact constituted only 30% of the women Liberal MPs elected in 2015. In the 2015 federal election Canadians elected 88 female MPs, or 26% of all MPs in the House. But this represented only a 1% increase from 2011, when 25% of all MPs elected were women. As we can see from this analysis, although PM Trudeau seemed to have figured out a way to bridge the gender gap, it however is only a percentage better than that of women representation in parliament back in 2011. Till today the representation of women in politics is still quite low. Canada is currently ranked 62nd amongst the 193 countries included in the Inter-Parliamentary Unions classification (IPU, 2017). Around the globe there has been progress when it comes to the aspect of bridging the gender gap in politics but Canada has remained stagnant for a very long time even though there have been some period s of progress. The Trudeau government now currently holds the record for greatest percentage of women representation in Canada but this still isnt enough to make significant progress. In this paper, I will be looking at the underrepresentation of women in Canadian politics, as well as reasons for this gender inequality in Canadian politics and barriers to the election of females into politics. In addition to this I will also touch on reforms that could be made to the political system to encourage more women to enter politics. A useful guide to understanding how political candidates are chosen is the demand and supply framework outlined by Pippa Norris and Joni Lovenduski. The demand side being the demand for political candidates by political parties, and the supply side on the other hand is the supply of political candidates that is the result of individual decisions to stand for election. That is the supply of individuals willing and able to step forward to stand for office (Brenda ONeill, 2015). The demand side, which is the selected candidates, suggests that the selected candidate must be the candidate with the least risk, that is, the candidate most likely to win the seat. The electoral system practiced in Canada (the first-past-the-post system) is the cause of this mentality. The electoral system being a winner take all system ensures that political parties have to put forth their best candidates in order to challenge for the seat. Existing networks and past experiences have set a standard for the pe rception of the right candidate and this has influenced choices towards candidates who meet the perception of who is most likely to win. The masculinized environment of Canadian politics that privileges power and competition hinders women from getting into politics because politicians are seen to be assertive, active, and self-confident, all these being male stereotypes. Women would have to go against their stereotypes in order to be selected for seat. Women who go into politics tend to be seen as less feminine than other women but not as masculine as men. They are defined by what they lack, femininity and specific masculine traits (Melanee Thomas, 2013).   There is no safe place for women who go into politics, they will be criticized one way or the other. Another reason for the under representation of women in Canadian politics is the concept of sacrificial lambs, women who are nominated to run in ridings where the party is not competitive (Melanee Thomas/Marc Andre Bodet, 2 013). The continuing competitiveness of Canadian politics helps notice the effect of the sacrificial lamb hypothesis. Parties are more likely to nominate men than women to run in districts that they believe can be won (Brenda ONeill, 2015). Another point to consider as to why women are under represented is the fact that party systems vary. Parties on the right side of the ideological spectrum have refused to make special opportunities to help enhance women representation. Some examples of these right winged parties with poor women representation; the Wildrose Party in the 2012 Alberta election had 13% female representation; in the 2014 Ontario election, the PC Party had 25% female representation (Brenda ONeill, 2015). The left side of the spectrum in contrast to the right has created sufficient opportunities to enhance female representation. The New Democratic Party in the 2012 Alberta election had 47% female representation and 48% back in 2009 (Brenda ONeill, 2015). The supply side ; an important factor affecting the supply of women is gender norms. In society, today, the expectations from women is quite different to that of men. They both have varying public and private roles. Men are seen to be the bread winners, that is, the person who brings income into the family, so they are brought up in a brute and disciplined manner, they are pressured to go to school in order to get a job in future which would help sustain their families. Females on the other hand are raised in a more pampered manner because they are seen to be more delicate than men and they have specific duties like taking care of their children which require extreme care and attention. Gender norms shape everything in society, from the education and occupations women and men choose to the level of political interest and knowledge that they exhibit (Brenda ONeill, 2015). Along with the existing societal norms comes the willingness of women to participate in politics. Women feel that since the socie ty doesnt deem them fit they shouldnt try to contest for candidacy if not theyll just attract unnecessary back lash from both society and the media. Another factor affecting the supply of women is time. As mentioned earlier, according to norms, women are meant to take care of their children and this eats up a huge amount of their leisure time, especially those women working full time. Research on leisure time availability shows some slight difference between women and men. Womens leisure time is eaten up by child care and unpaid domestic chores while men have theirs eaten up by extra working hours (Melanee Thomas, 2013). In addition to this, research shows that women are less interested in politics than men, so this low level of interest might hamper their willingness to run. And politics being a blood game causes for women to shy away from it. This low level of interest by women in political participation is quite problematic. It is problematic for three reasons. First, women are a historically underrepresented group (Melanee Thomas, 2013). In the past, they were blocked from access to political activities because it was seen as something women werent built for and therefore could not handle. Although these barriers affecting women representation have been removed over time, informal barriers such as media still hamper women representation. These informal barriers stop the Canadian political system from being just and fair. The second reason is that women are a heterogeneous group with a diversity of political opinions and preferences (Melanee Thomas, 2013). They view situations in a different light than men. However, due to the small number of representatives and activists, it is quite impossible for all these diverse political opinions to be represented. The final reason being the result of research. Research shows that in the legislature, womens and mens decision-making behaviour changes with the gender composition of that group (Melanee Thomas, 2013). So, men paired alongside women are more likely to have outcomes that represent both male and female perspectives towards the situation at hand unlike a team made up exclusively of men. Women are more likely to prioritize the wellbeing of the people first and this might affect the society as a whole while men who are more straightforward in making decisions, not looking at how the people would be affected but at how the society will benefit in the long run. This current low participation rate of women in Canadian politics makes us aware of the fact that there are still some barriers hindering women from participating. These barriers exist at the individual, social, and political levels (Melanee Thomas, 2013). Individual barriers include, education and income. Over time, women rights have been advocated for to bridge the existing inequality gap. The earliest studies of political behaviour argued that as womens level of education, income, and occupational status caught up to mens, so to should their levels of political participation and engagement (Melanee Thomas, 2013). This phenomenon is known as the pipeline theory of political representation. This theory assumes that once women take on the same occupations, have similar levels of education, and earn similar incomes to men, their numbers as legislators would naturally increase (Brenda ONeill, 2015). This has not been the case though. Women remain underrepresented and the education of w omen has sky rocketed compared to back in the days but women are pushed towards more feminine areas of study such as family studies, catering, social services, etc. Only a few go into areas of study which would then lead them into politics and this causes for the underrepresentation in the upper echelon of many professions despite the overall education gains. Women still earn lower than men in todays society. Women in comparison to men earn 80 cents to each dollar a man earns.   The lack of campaign finance regulations makes income a barrier. Some provinces and municipalities lack regulation and this requires for candidates to rely on conventional sources of campaign finance, including personal income (Melanee Thomas, 2013). This reliance on personal income therefore affects women because they dont earn as much as men. Social barriers are raised from societal views. As mentioned earlier, womens progress in politics is hampered by the views of society. This view that well paying jobs and jobs that require critical thinking are more masculine. These societal views have pushed women away from these jobs because they do not see themselves as capable of handling those types of jobs. And these jobs are the jobs which most Members of Parliaments held before going into politics. The top occupation for Canadian Parliamentarians in 2011 was businessman. This job does not appear in top 10 for women parliamentarians. Instead, the women who enter politics are most likely to be teachers and consultants (Melanee Thomas, 2013). The media is a major social barrier. They perceive women politicians in a discriminatory light. They feel like they are not fit for the positions which they hold and so they (the press) tend to pick on these women politicians. Womens personal relationships and physical appearance receive fa r more scrutiny from the press and other politicians than do male colleagues, and the tone of the press coverage women politicians receive is disproportionately negative (Melanee Thomas, 2013). After exceeding individual and social barriers, women still have to face political barriers. These political barriers being nomination procedures. Political parties have varying nomination processes. The Conservative Party has very few formal nomination rules. The NDP on the other hand, has a very formal nomination process. Formal nomination processes help with the representation of women in politics, that is because these processes require to seek out qualified candidates from historically underrepresented groups. However, the right-wing parties are the ones in competition for the seat and they are also the majority so they choose to pick out the best possible candidate due to the winner take all nature of the electoral system. And the best possible candidate based on the standards set by history would be a male. The candidate would most likely be male as politics is a masculinized environment and males should be accustomed to such an environment as they were brought up for living i n such an environment (Melanee Thomas, 2013). So, there is a gender bias when it comes to nomination processes. Parties on the left wing of the ideological spectrum (NDP) assist in women representation but in some cases, the strength of women representation held by these parties still leave women underrepresented. provinces with electorally strong parties on the left of the ideological spectrum will often reveal greater gender equality. BC, Quebec, and Manitoba, for example, have enjoyed strong showings amongst parties on the left and rank among the top provinces for women representation in politics. However, Saskatchewan, despite the strength of the NDP in the province, does less well (Brenda ONeill, 2015). A lot of research has gone into figuring out how to deal with this continuing underrepresentation and some solutions have been brought up to help fill in the existing gender gap.   A major solution that has been proposed is, the reform of the political system. This would help encourage more women to enter politics. A change to the current electoral system would be in favour of women representation. The current electoral system practiced in Canada is the first-past-the-post system and this being a winner takes all system is sort of masculinized therefore making sure that political parties view male candidates as the most suitable candidates in such an environment. This discourages women representation. Many of those advocating for reform seem to prefer the proportional representation system. Most countries where women occupy at least 30% of the parliamentary seats use the PR system (Julie Cool, 2011). However, the PR system might not benefit women representation. The PR system where the most widely used form is the list system may contain a lot of bias when these lists are being made. People use their own discretion to choose the names that appear on the list and nothing says that those selecting the names on the list would look to balancing gender inequality when there are more pressing issues, like the well being of the society, to focus on. PR systems need to be supplemented with more incentives in order to ensure impartiality on party lists. While some people believe electoral reform is an efficient means of bridging the inequality gap in parliament, others believe that slight electoral change would be better off. That is, Canada would function the same but with new additional rules that enable them better women representation. Some of these additional rules might include the introduction of quotas. Majority of the countries that reached the 30% mark for women representation in parliament used quotas (22 of 30 countries as at 2009). The core idea behind quota systems is to recruit women into political positions and to ensure that women are not only a few tokens in political life (Drude Dahlerup, 2009). These quotas can either be legislative or voluntary. Legal quotas are mandated in a countrys constitution or by law, usually in the electoral law. All political parties must abide by legal quotas, and may be subject to sanctions in case of non-compliance. Costa Rica, Belgium and Argentina have legislated quotas, which spec ify that a certain percentage of candidates for election must be women. There are firm legal sanctions in place if the provisions are not met (Julie Cool, 2011). Voluntary quotas on the other hand are developed at the discretion of political parties. Other additional rules proposed to help women representation were the introduction of spending limits on nomination campaigns, and tax credits for contributions to support prospective candidates seeking nomination. These rules were to aid women in the aspect of income.   (Julie Cool, 2011). Lastly, the introduction of campaign schools for women and a change in political environment. Women should be encouraged to enrol into campaign schools. These campaign schools help women to be better prepared for the tough nature of the political realm. It teaches these women how to portray themselves and fight against the barriers which stand in their way. These campaign schools are developed mainly by women or equality organizations, based on consultation from academics, civil servants, and elected officials. Some organizations that host these campaign schools in Canada are, the Nova Scotia Advisory Council, Equal Voice Canadian Women Voters Congress, and the College of Continuing Education at Dalhousie University. Although a systematic study on full effects of these campaign schools has not been undertaken in Canada, we can see that they have made significant impact in bridging the inequality gap in places like America (Melanee Thomas, 2013). Alongside these campaign schools there should also be a change in political environment in Canada. It has to be more of a women-friendly environment. The political system being highly masculinized blocks women from freely participating in politics and this causes for the masses in Canada to question the democratic status of the country. Special attention to the values, norms, rules, procedures, and practices in parliament should ensure that, once they are elected, women can apply their unique and diverse perspectives (Julie Cool, 2011). Among other options, parliaments could consider reorganizing their work to become more gender-sensitive, for example, by instituting family-friendly hours, ending parliamentary business at a reasonable time; reorganizing work schedules to allow for family days; or spreading parliamentary business over a number of shorter days (Julie Cool, 2011). Canada has remained stagnant in women representation for a very long time and it is about time to move on from this stagnation. Canadas electoral system doesnt work in favor of women because it is very masculinized and at the same time a very difficult job. This however defies the status of democracy that Canada holds. In a democracy, everyone is equal but this is not so as women are discriminated against and stereotyped as not being suitable for politics, and those who manage to get into politics are criticized as not being feminine enough and at the same time not cutting the mark for masculinity. Media bashes women politicians for the littlest of reasons, and this is because there is this established view that women are more suited for the home and not jobs that require aggression and critical thinking. All these existing barriers have then led to women looking down on themselves feeling that they are not capable of handling the nature of such a difficult job. However, we need to r ealize that we cannot just bring women into politics just because we want to bridge the gender gap. They have to work for it, just as hard as their male counterparts did. So instead of trying to advocate for a womens agenda in parliament, we should work towards the development of workable, sustainable, dynamic strategies to increase women representation in politics. BIBLIOGRAPHY Facts and figures: Leadership and political participation. UN WOMEN, UN Women, Aug. 2016, www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/leadership-and-political-participation/facts-and-figures. Accessed 28 Feb. 2017. Woolf, Nicky. Canadas new parliament is most diverse ever. theguardian, 22 Oct. 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/22/canada-new-parliament-most-diverse-ever. Accessed 28 Feb. 2017. Women in national parliaments. Inter-Parliamentary Union, IPU, 1 Jan. 2017, www.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm. Accessed 28 Feb. 2017. Cool, Julie. Women in parliament. Parliament of Canada, Library of Parliament, 10 May 2011, www.lop.parl.gc.ca/content/lop/ResearchPublications/2011-56-e.htm#a9. Accessed 28 Feb. 2017. Brenda ONeill, Unpacking Genders Role in Political Representation in Canada, Canadian Parliamentary Review (Summer 2015), vol. 38:2, pp. 22-29 Melanee Thomas, Barriers to Womens Political Participation in Canada, UNB Law Journal (2013), vol. 64, pp. 218-233 Melanee Thomas and Marc Andrà © Bodet, Sacrificial lambs, women candidates, and district competitiveness in Canada, Electoral Studies (2013), vol. 32, pp. 153-166 Myrna Driedger, Is there such a thing as a Womens Agenda in Parliament?, Canadian Parliamentary Review (Spring 2013), vol. 36:1, pp. 11-12

The importance of Human Resources :: Human Resources Essays

The true value of any company in any economy is its people. Could a company survive if it lost all of its equipment, all of its machinery or all of its office supplies? The answer to this question is absolutely, because the employees of the company would pitch in to make sure it survived. On the other hand, could a company survive if it lost all of its employees? These questions emphasize the importance and necessity of people in businesses because without them, the businesses would not be able to run. The importance of human resources is staggering and it acts as an advocate for the most important business resource, people. Without human resources, people would have no incentive or motivation to stay in there jobs I believe there is a clear relationship between the effectiveness of a company’s people practices and the company’s market value. Focusing on people definitely pays off; therefore strong human resource practices have the potential to increase a company’s productivity and profitability. The expanse of issues human resources deals with in a company is extremely large, effecting most if not all aspects of a person’s job. For example, compensation, benefits, harassment, hiring, job evaluation, leaves of absence, occupational health and safety, vacation, retirement, education and training are just a few of the topics human resource professionals deal with on a full time basis. Can you imagine working in a company where there was no person or group of people to turn to with a question or concern regarding your job evaluation or career path? What would happen if you felt you were being harassed because of your sex or race at work and there was no human resource department or policy in place against harassment? These questions stress the fact that without human resources in a company, employees would feel unimportant and discouraged as well as other negative feelings. There are endless scenarios that could show the disadvantages an employee would face without human resources and the policies and practices it follows that work to protect and benefit employees. In businesses, incentive programs are almost always coordinated through human resource departments. These programs are very important because they motivate an employee’s job performance or attendance for example. A popular incentive program is for attendance, in this program, an employee is rewarded for meeting certain attendance criteria, for example, not using any sick days in a calendar year.

Why is it difficult to define a “new social movement”?

When one thinks of â€Å"new social movements† (NSM's) it is fair to say that a number of images may spring into peoples' minds. To some, Swampy chaining himself to a tree will automatically be imagined, for others, they may think of the anti-globalisation protests in Seattle or on the streets of London. The fact is that both of these ideas come under this broad title and it is for that reason that it can de difficult to define exactly what is meant by an NSM. This essay will attempt to address why NSM's have come into existence, which sections of society choose to become involved and how these groups operate. Having done this, the essay will then attempt to show why defining an NSM is problematic. It is fair to say that most people who choose to participate in NSM's do so because they feel that conventional politics does not or has not dealt with the issues that they feel are important. It is, therefore, the aim of the NSM's to highlight these issues and bring them to the attention of either the politicians or the general public in the hope that government policy will adopt a different strategy. It has been said that â€Å"one repeated motif in the discussion of new social movements is the view that they are, in contrast to older movements, primarily social or cultural in nature and only secondary, if at all, political. † (Scott, 1990:16). What Alan Scott is saying here is that the main ideas behind social movements are the attempts to change the way society exist as a whole and not necessarily the way people view their politics. Being part of a social movement is not just a way of thinking; it is a belief in a certain ideal that transcends all aspects of your life. In this way, it can be said that NSM's are expressive in their views as opposed to political parties, who are instrumental. An NSM is not necessarily motivated by achieving a pre-set goal but by the belief itself. This is one reason that can explain why members or ‘adherents' of social movements are fully prepared to make self-sacrifices, such as imprisonment, for their cause. One important ramification of this is that the adherents to social movements are prepared to step outside the law to achieve their goals. This creates a very serious dilemma for governments because if people are prepared to act illegally then the threat of legal action will not act as a deterrent. In other words, if people have a strong enough will then in the end, there is nothing to stop them. As Russell Dalton and Manfred Kuechler wrote â€Å"the new social movement approach claims that many NSM's intentionally remain outside the institutionalized framework of government. † (Dalton et al. , 1990:14). The NSM's prefer to remain in this position to avoid being forced to compromise their goals. What this suggests is that NSM's actively promote criminal behaviour and rationalize it by saying that it is for a good cause. However, in a survey conducted by Alan Marsh in 1977, it was found that 55 per cent of the people questioned believed that â€Å"it is justified to break the law to protest about something you feel may be very unjust or harmful. † (Byrne, 1997:4). Although these activities are illegal, the majority of people are prepared to act as such anyway. This illustrates the complications that arise when one tries to define NSM's. On the one hand, you could say that they choose to be troublemakers, committing crimes and illegal protests, but on the other hand, you see that in fact a substantial proportion of the population shares their views on the appropriate course of action. A major difficulty with trying to define NSM's is to distinguish with what exactly we are dealing. What is meant by this is what sort or group of people or section of society do we class as a new social movement? For example, we would class feminists and green activists as social movements but this also leads to difficulty in defining what an NSM actually is. In terms of ideology, feminists and green activists have little in common yet they would both fall into the category of NSM's. A very extreme example of this is the Al' Queida terrorist network and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). These two groups could not be more different if they tried but to a certain extent they can both be classed as social movements. On the one hand, you have the CND, an organisation at the heart of the Peace Movement, whose â€Å"supporters have employed tactics which extend from serious academic work on the probable effects of nuclear warfare, to mass demonstrations, and to a wide variety of non-violent direct action. † (Byrne, 1997:11). On the other hand, you have the Al' Queida terrorist network, the alliance responsible for the September 11th attack upon New York's World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. This group is responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent people – the CND, however, call for an end to weapons of mass destruction. How then can you class the Al' Queida terrorist network as a social movement? Its members are willing to step outside the conventional channels to achieve their goals. They are prepared to fight and die for their cause as long as by their death they have advanced towards their end goal – the destruction of the US. The Al' Queida is one extreme example of how an NSM can be described as irrational and unreasonable. Their adherents are not motivated by self-interest but by their unbreakable belief in the cause. They also seem to think that they are justified in breaking the law or ignoring any kind of conventional methods. Here we can see how defining a NSM can be made difficult. The spectrum when it comes to social movements is so diversified that it leads to problems in terms of what can and cannot be included. It is difficult to comprehend that two such different groups can be classified under the same heading. The Al' Queida terrorist network is, to a certain extent, an example of how NSM's choose to exist in terms of their structure. The Al' Queida exists with more recognizable members, such as Osama Bin Laden, but the fact remains that if he were to be captured or killed then that would have little effect on the remainder of the group. The adherents will still believe in their cause and they will still do all they can to realize their vision. Of course, this is a very extreme example of a NSM and when we look at more mainstream groups the structure is less militant but the basic ideas remain the same. On a whole, NSM's attempt to avoid the hierarchical approach of the conventional political parties and instead choose to opt for a more co-operative system. The CND is actually an example of how a structured organisation can exist within the informally organized Peace Movement. It is difficult to describe the structure of an NSM as even the word ‘structure' suggests some kind of organisation. Referring to NSM's as groups also causes problems as this suggests that there would be some kind of hierarchy when in fact, as Brand et al. suggest â€Å"New social movement theorists maintain that these groups prefer a decentralized, open, and democratic structure that is more in tune with the participatory tendencies of their supporters. † (Dalton et al. , 1990:13). It is clear that NSM's choose to steer away from creating any formal structure as to avoid becoming the political parties that they are attempting to influence. The structure of NSM's has strong links with their ideology. NSM's are inclined to believe more in a co-operative society where every person has his or her own personal space in which they have the right to exist and the right to choose how they wish to live their lives. This means that NSM's have no leaders as such due to the adherents wish to maintain a sense of autonomy. To many adherents of social movements it is important for them as individuals to maintain their rights to exist as they see fitting. The idea of autonomy is of great importance when trying to discuss NSM's and the fact that they demand various aspects of this autonomy adds weight to the arguments for difficulty with definition. The first aspect is personal autonomy. The idea that adherents have the social ‘space' to grow as individuals and develop their own views and ideas, as opposed to being limited by constraints placed upon them by society. An example of this sort of autonomy can be found when we look at the Women's movement of the early seventies. Here women were not only fighting for their sex as a whole but for their own personal right to equality within the male dominated system. The Women's movement is also a good example of the second aspect of autonomy: that of group autonomy. Here we can consider the issue of abortion and the rights of women. This issue can be evaluated on both levels: personal and as a group. On a personal level, the efforts of the movement mean that the choice is there and whichever path is chosen is not dictated by anyone other than the parties involved. The women's movement fought for the rights of all women to choose whether or not to have abortions so that no matter what background you come from or what religion you are, every woman has the right to choose. The third aspect of autonomy is described as the ‘autonomy of struggle', which is to say â€Å"the insistence that the movement and those it represents be allowed to fight their own corner without interference from other movements, and without subordinating their demands to other external priorities. † (Scott, 1990:20). We now see that this issue of autonomy is very important to NSM's. A social movement sees itself through its own rights and the rights of its adherents to live their lives in a certain fashion. This leads on to the idea of a social movement helping people to define themselves in terms of their place in society. This is prime example of how adherents differ to members of conventional political parties. A Conservative does not really have to make any concessions upon his or her lifestyle in order to be a member of the Conservative party but being an environmentalist is about a change in how one acts in general. What this illustrates is the argument that NSM's do not necessarily take action towards political reform but in fact towards social reform. One of the main elements that makes defining NSM's so difficult is who makes up the adherents of these movements. Over the last thirty years, there has been an increase in the so-called new politics but can this all being attributed to the uprising of the student movement or are the adherents far more diversified? As has already been mentioned, different people have different views on what they consider to be an NSM. Are we supposed to believe that all adherents are in fact longhaired, unwashed students who have nothing better to do with their time that form squatter camps and disrupt building work? The classical approach to NSM's suggests that most adherents turn to social movements due to relative deprivation. The idea that they are somehow incapable of participating in conventional politics so they choose NSM's as an alternative. However, when classicalists looked at the type of people involved in the civil rights movement in the US during the fifties and sixties, they found that it was not only the alienated black population that was involved but also the white middle class. The theory of ‘resource mobilization' was put forward as an alternative to the classical theory. Here, the authors of the theory believed that participation in NSM's was to do with resources. What ‘resources' mean is the availability of finances, office space and other intangible assets such as time and education. It suggests that there has been an evolution of the middle class to include people such as teachers and lecturers who have created a class not through economic wealth but through their knowledge and intelligence. The typical adherent to NSM's is far from the image of a tree-hugging extremist but is, in fact, a member of this new middle class, a technocrat. What are the reasons behind this? That is a hard question to answer but Ronald Inglehart suggested the theory of ‘post-materialism'. â€Å"Inglehart argues that the post-war generation have been socialized into such higher order or ‘post-material' values, and its this which motivates their support for social movements. † (Byrne, 1997:55). Here, the argument is that the people who choose to become involved in NSM's are those who feel that they have achieved all the material possessions that they can and are therefore, looking for some other kind of personal fulfillment. This theory holds a number of flaws, for example, how can Inglehart be sure that people would choose to become involved in social movements instead of charity work in their quest for personal fulfillment? Another problem arises when you try to quantify the level of material wealth that constitutes satisfaction and at which point the person decides to give up the search for more money. However, the fact remains that it has become more apparent over the years that it is this new middle class that is the typical adherents to the NSM's but it has not become clear why it is this group. The fact is that these new social movements choose to exist outside the conventional channels of politics. They do not have the same structure as the mainstream political parties as they are not supposed to be as such. They are an ideology that is followed through choice and lead to more extreme measures than usual politics to the extent that adherents make a lifestyle decision. The difficulty in defining NSM's comes from all aspects of their existence. The title of a social movement covers such a diverse range of beliefs and ideas that any kind of set rules will ultimately fail as no statement can be truly all-inclusive. Neither would NSM's want to be able to be defined as it goes against all the ideals for which they stand – the ideals of a hierarchy free alliance where the emphasis is on co-operation and not leadership. This statement itself causes problems, as it is a sweeping generalization of the group of social movements as a whole. The difficulties of defining new social movements appear because of the fact that no two movements or beliefs are exactly the same.

Theology Leads to Interpretation - 1336 Words

Emily Dickinson’s extensive collection of poems on the subject of death can be better understood individually once time has been taken to view her works as whole. By viewing the works as a whole, it is possible to conclude a likely theological view point of the author and then apply this theology to the individual works in order to improve interpretation. Emily Dickinson’s poem â€Å"Because I could not stop for Death† is one such poem that when viewed individually is open to a wide scope of readings. Using Dickinson’s other works in collaboration with the poem itself creates a theological viewpoint through which a more defined interpretation can be reached. Dickinson’s poems on death indicate a theology which extends the concept of stages in†¦show more content†¦The speaker of the poem is picked up in a carriage by two beings, â€Å"Death† and â€Å"Immortality.† Dickinson’s personification of these concepts as two separate beings reinforces them as two separate stages in the process of death. Death being the one who â€Å"kindly stopped for [her]† is the stage which has already been achieved. However the lines indicating that the horses’ heads were pointed â€Å"toward Eternity† and not yet arrived clarify that this is only a future destination and not a point which has actually been reached. Another puzzling feature of the poem â€Å"Because I could not stop for Death† which has undergone much debate is the â€Å"[pause] before a House that seemed/ A Swelling of the Ground.† These lines are usually interpreted in two way: the first being that the pause is actually a stop for the subject who is left at a true house and thus there is no burial in the poem, the second is that it is only a pause at the grave before the â€Å"self† moves on â€Å"towards eternity† thus achieving immortality. Abbott Collamer’s explications on this poem employ historical facts to provide convincing proof that the structure described is a grave. The burial vaults at the time were structures similar in shape to the elementary image of a square home. After construction they were buried and covered in grass. Thus the terms associated with the construction of a home, â€Å"Roof† and â€Å"Cornice,† apply to the construction of the grave. 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