Sociology

Thesis Statement Gay marriage has been subjected to extensive criticism and has been showered with conflicts and controversies. However, over time, gay marriage has proved to be no more different than traditional marriage and should therefore be considered to be the same.

Outline
An introduction to the concept of gay marriage
The reasons because of which the debate on gay marriage exists
The school of thought in favor or gay marriage finds its arguments on the basis of the right of every human being to choose the way heshe leads hisher life.

The school of thought against gay marriage finds its arguments on the basis of religious beliefs and social norms.

Gay couples over time have developed a somewhat cautious approach towards society in light of the barrage of controversies and criticism to which they have been subjected.

The demand for the right for same sex marriages should be considered in light of the fact that it is no more different than the recognition of the idea of marriage by choice through time

Resisting the recognition of gay marriage is ineffectual since it is not an outbreak or a cult but a part of the evolution of society and should be considered with the relevance it merits.

There has been no evidence and no indication that can oppose gay marriage and the only opposition that was based on stigmas is steadily waning away since it was without foundation to begin with.

Conclusion and validation of thesis statement
Gay marriage, or same sex marriage as it is otherwise referred to as, is the marriage of two people belonging to the very same gender category (Eskridge and Spedale). The issue is one that has acquired a significant degree of attention in the last few decades of the twentieth century and has become the subject of heated debate and criticism.

The reason because of which the issue is of sensitivity is that religious, cultural and other region based beliefs often conflict with the idea of gay marriage while is rejected completely by social norms in some societies (Mello). Not being accepted by such societies, gay couples end up without any legal recognition or protection. They are excluded from justice systems and legal frameworks through the refusal to recognize them as married couples.

Those in favor of same sex marriages stand for the perception that marriage in essence is the right of every human being and the authority to marry whosoever they wish to is a right that comes with it (Johnson). Protestors in favor of gay marriage perceive it as a basic human right and call for the recognition of gay marriage in the same light.

Those against gay marriage generally take their stand based on social norms or are motivated by religious or cultural beliefs (BBC News). This school of thought continues to deny accepting gay marriage as any recognizable form of marriage and denounces it strongly (Honan). They consider same sex marriages to be somewhat unnatural and look down upon people who belong to same sex marriages.

In recent decades, the debate for and against same sex marriages has become all the more critical in light of the fact that a steadily growing number of people have begun to favor same sex marriages and the gay community has come forth more openly than they ever did before. Studies have been conduced and the media has showed that same sex marriages are in fact, no more different than traditional customary marriages (Chait). Couples engaged in same sex marriages have come forth and have shown that same sex marriages mean and cause no harm to society in any way at all.

When considering the question of gay marriage, decades of subjection to heated debates and controversial perspectives have brought the gay community to a point where they now choose to lead cautious lives and while they are willing to express their sexual orientation without any hesitation, they make sure that they do not send out any messages to the larger society that have the potential to be misinterpreted into any meaning that may oppose the idea of gay marriage.

In earlier days, couples who chose to engage in gay marriages would choose to keep their identity as a gay couple secret from society. For decades, such couples were denounced and rejected by society with very little support. It was with time that it became apparent that this was not a temporary trend but a social reality that had to be recognized.

It is known full well that there was once a time when marriage took place as a result of a consensus between the parents of the husband and wife to be. This system steadily became inadequate and evolution brought forth the right and need for the right to marry according to ones will more profoundly than it ever had before. In light of this fact, it would be unfair to stop it from evolving further. While one cannot deny the fact that change has never been easy and societies have taken their time in adapting to change, it is the most essential constituent of the evolution of a society. In this case, the development is towards the provision of the right to choose a life partner.

No evidence has been recorded that may indicate that same sex marriages are harmful. In fact, couples engaged in same sex marriages can hardly be told apart since the fact of the matter remains that they are no more different from couples in marriages that are currently considered as traditional marriages. There is still a considerable degree of confusion amongst the church and government systems upon the legalization and recognition of gay marriage. However, the stigmas associated with the idea have disintegrated with time and one cannot help but notice that the realization of the authenticity of gay marriage as a marriage no different than a traditional marriage is steadily acquiring its position in society.

While countries such as Denmark chose to recognize gay marriage as a form of marriage long before others, the concept still remains new and is even considered to be taboo in some cultures. It is therefore evident that there is a strong need for education in this regard. Gay marriage and statistics acquired in its response over the decades have shown that it is not different from any other form of marriage and should therefore be considered to be the same. It would be reasonable to bring this paper to a concluding note with the statement that gay marriage should be considered to be no different than normal marriage and should be given the same relevance and regard that a customary marriage would be given.

In John F. Kennedys  one and only inaugural speech, he empowered a nation to give
of themselves. Specifically he said   ask not what your country can do for you, but what you
can do for your country . Those words inspired a nation then, and continue to inspire today.
Since that time many organizations are available for students to volunteer both locally and
globally. Americorps, Habitat for Humanity, and the United Way are just a few organizations
that students can volunteer their time. Most organizations will offer college credit for
volunteering. However, the goal is to have students continue volunteering even after
graduation. An internet article titled The Benefits of Volunteering states the importance of
young students volunteering for community service. When students especially young ones
volunteer, it sets in motion a lifetime of helping others(Halperin 2007). Additionally, by
volunteering students can try out possible career choices, while providing a service to the
community(ibid). Throughout this semester we have surveyed college students as to why
they started volunteering. The surveys were based on the concepts discussed in our class
this semester. Students who volunteer in community service will be better prepared for the
work-place, and will most likely continue to do so after graduation.

Although the benefits of volunteering are obvious, the reasons why students volunteer
are not. As stated before some students volunteer because they are not sure what career
they want to pursue. Some students may utilize volunteering with college credits. For some
students it may be as simple as helping others, while traveling the world. For our class our
goal was to better understand why students volunteer. We began by separating into smaller
groups, and then discuss the best approach to collect data. Surveys are a very effective way
to obtain information from a large group, like college students. There are many different
resources available to write effective surveys. A good survey should begin with question. The
question should be straight forward, not too long, and easy to answer(InfoPoll,1997). This
supports what was discussed in our focus group.

Another important facet to consider is the validity of the survey, and the information
obtained from the survey. As long as the questions are clear and concise, then the responses
are valid. Validity in data collection means that your findings truly represent the pheonomen
you are claiming to measure (Seliger and Shohamy 1989,95). Once our group had a better
understanding of the importance of validity in a survey, we were ready to start writing our
questions. We studied different models of surveys, and ultimately came up with the following
questions

When did begin volunteering
What type of community service have you done
What is your major
What year are you
Are you a transfer student
Do you plan on volunteering after graduation

Each member of our group discussed our own personal experiences with community service.
These discussions proved to be useful when trying to understand the many different reasons
why students participate in community service. Since 2005 the number of college has grown
to 3.3 million, and by next year that number is anticipated to grow to 5 million(national
service.gov. 2006). This report further states the reason that students are volunteering more
than ever is because of the attacks on September 11, 2001(ibid). Most of the college students
were in high school when the attacks happened. Because they started volunteering prior to
college, they are likely to make volunteering a life-long habit (ibid). This supports the thesis
statement.

Collecting data with surveys is a great way to get the opinions of a large groups of people. However it is important to make sure that when creating the survey that your questions are
clear and concise. If the questions are unclear then the responses will be ambiguous. The
goal is to validate the responses. Drawing on personal experiences is also helpful when
creating a survey questions. Discussing your personal responses within a group setting helps
understand different opinions as to why college students participate in community service.

With the number of college students performing community service on the rise, the signs are
good that students will continue community service after graduation.

Pets form the daily part of our lives. There are tens of thousands of pets which we interact with in our homes. For example, pets like dogs, cats, birds, monkey and rabbits are very familiar animals to us. In a broad sense, mankind has identified with them for an infinitely long period of time to an extent that they have become like our family members.

However, you may ask yourself why pets as animals have become part and parcel of our households yet we continue to violate their rights. Animals, according to my view, deserve to be treated equally well just like human beings. There are numerous benefits we derive from them. However, in this essay, I am going to explore one specific importance of animals as pets and why they should be given due care and consideration like human beings.

Animal liberationists have presented in-depth arguments concerning how animals are generally given bad treatment. If their opinion on animals is anything to go by, then the society has an overwhelming responsibility to review and correct its attitude on animals. Shell (121) observes that pets provide pleasure, companionship, and protection or the feeling of being secure. This is unbelievable bearing in mind how animals have been mistreated and continue to be mishandled even today. In his point of view, Shell has a strong feeling that animal pets are indeed friends to human beings. Some pets like dogs give a real identity of security whenever they are around. Cats and birds for instance, elicit a lot of liveliness whenever we interact with them. The aesthetic value in them is incredible. Why then should their existence and comfort rights be ignored Is it that animals cannot talk for themselves and so they are less important I dont think so.

Ordinary definitions of pet obscure not only what man and animals are but also what is the place of the pets in the family structure (Shell 123). The great value posed by animal pets has lost meaning from time immemorial. As Shell notes, the rightful position of pets in a family unit is yet to be acknowledged. Despite this scenario, there are those who have come to realize the importance of pets. For pet lovers, pets are family (Shell123). We still have opponents to this element of giving value to animals as pets. They vehemently argue that it is not morally right to think of animals as part of our family members. According to them, a family structure is blood related and there is no way animals can form a family with human beings and become equals.

According to Heidi Wallace, Sara Staats and Tara Anderson (280), it is important to realize that human circumstances have changed greatly in the last 5,000 years. The technological advancement coupled with change in human culture has revolutionized the human thinking in the aspect of animal rights. Animals are no longer extensively used in errands like hunting or providing warmth. This does not however, overlook the precious roles animals play even today. Heidi et al. agree that animals are still in our abodes a majority of human familieskeep a companion animal (280). To be able to keep a pet demands love for the animals. It is also a voluntary act without compulsion. This human-animal behavior has survived the test of time and is vivid evidence that there has been a strong human-animal bond across time, change and cultures (Heidi et al. 280). For this historical background reason, animals should be accorded the much needed love, care and family embrace they deserve. If indeed their companies make sense to us, then there is no valid ideology why their interests should not be protected. In any case, both human beings and animals still belong to vast known animal kingdom, not plants It is therefore ridiculous to despise or perform any act to animals that is considered injurious.

Consider this theory. Human nature does not permit lone ranging. We are well knit like a fabric to an extent that going, doing or living alone is not our nature except in extremely unexplainable cases. As everything is rapidly changing around us so do the human fabric continue to be torn apart. In the end, we are too busy to find quality time for one another. It is at this point when animals come in as pets to cover up our loneliness. Heidi et al, according to research carried out in the United States of America confirms that avoidance of loneliness is the most frequently given reason for keeping a pet (286). Most people still value animals as pets. They keep us company when we are bored, a role that is supposed to be played by human beings. If this is true that animal pets can break our boredom and keep us lively, then I dont see why they should be segregated or disregarded in the human society. They too have a right to good shelter, quality food and health care. The social importance of pets cannot be over-emphasized it clearly stands out for itself.

Alexa Albert and Kris Bulcroft (544) assert that pets have been overlooked in family studies.Rational social scientists have not thought of them as real family members. Children are also not included in studies related to  family power, response to transitions and communication structures( Alexa Bulcroft 544).These social scientists seem to be extremely occupied with matters related to family challenges rather than the positive aspects of animal pets. Moreover, young growing minds, namely children lack adequate and relevant information to do with changes within family units. All these put together form a protracted web of ignorance to animal dignity. If proper information on animal care was passed from one generation to another, the neglect being experienced today would just be a mirage.

Despite this misinformation, there is still more to celebrate because Americans spend over  5 billion annually feeding dogs and cats alone, while only  3 billion is spent on baby food.(Alexa Bulcroft 544). These statistics attest to the fact that animals form an integral part of our society. Like the Americans, the rest of the world and humanity in general ought to embrace this animal protectionist policy.

Pets are largely ignored by the city dwellers because their economic value is viewed to be low. It is however, imperative to note that the economic attachment given to animal pets is a disguise to their real function social output. As we have investigated above, the social gains derived from pets has far reaching implications which are beneficial to human beings as well. A society cannot flourish if the social element is weak, unstable or at the verge of collapse. In another study carried out among the American households, respondents were asked to rate on a scale of 1 to 5 the extent to which their favorite pet is a member of the family (Alexa Bulcroft 547).It was amazing that the majority of the respondents rated on the scale 5 indicating that animal pets are sincere members of the family. The hypotheses in this research indeed came out to be true. From this and many research studies carried in the past, we can be me conclusive that animals can be used as pets, playing an inevitable role of companionship, happiness, pleasure and security. For this undisputable importance of animal pets, they should also be incorporated into human rights and liberation efforts. This will definitely protect these innocent creatures from being extinct with time. I strongly suggest more vibrancy in the animal liberation movements for the sake of animal posterity.

Punishment, though necessary for reducing crimes, should always be proportional to the degree, to which the criminal acts infringe the sanctity of possessions, human well-being and the welfare of the state. It is in punishing perpetrators of crimes that the concepts of positivism and rational choice come into play. For the punishment to be in line with the social contract, it should be fair as to the magnitude and the cause (Nichols, 2006). The two concepts are contradictory as to what motivates criminal activities and which of the two is the most effective in determining the kinds of punishment to be administered to the perpetrators, and which one is the best in preventing or at least reducing criminal activities. The two concepts clash and cause serious debates as to which is the best one. The paper discusses the two concepts in details and their impact on criminology (Gomory, 2001).

Concept of positivism  
Positivism argues that the human nature is not always constant, but is also determined by the society. The positivism theory sees people as adapters and responders to social circumstances. In the positivism theory it is important to note that for every human being, there is a group, for which he or she is an associate. The group acts in either a normal, that is, the right way, or abnormal, that is, the wrong one, depending upon the social values of the group. Positivism is concerned with deviance and criminal, environmental and psychological reasons for a persons failure to adopt the norms of a system the majority are supposed to follow (Fruehwald, 2001).  Positivism in criminology, therefore, has a universal view of a society consisting of normal people, who follow the norms that are agreeable to the society. Deviants are under-socialized or pathological individuals, who are not able to take their place in central grounds of a health society. With this understanding, it will be easier to handle criminal activities in society. Positivism will, therefore, deal with the causes of criminal acts collectively, unlike the rational choice, dealing with an individual. Social reaction against deviants will, thus, be a problem, only if the law enforcement and the judiciary system are not efficient in their role of representing the collectivity as a whole. In positivism, the main focus of criminology should be on the criminal actor, the environment, rather than focusing so much on the law. Positivists reject completely the notion of a rational man being able to exercise the free will. The prime task of positivism in criminology is the complete elimination of crime therefore, positivism advocates therapy as a way of achieving this (Gomory, 2001).

One of the supporters of the positivism adaptation in criminology, Enrico Feri, argues that this is not merely a movement but as a Copernican transformation of human beings conception of crime and human nature. Positivism viewed its role as the methodical removal of the free will school of thought and replacing it with the science of society, taking by itself the role of crime eradication (Gomory, 2001).  Most psychological and sociological studies on crime and deviant acts have been done the positivist framework. In the last fifty years or so, the United States supreme courts have adapted themselves to the positivist view of criminology. The courts do not identify the constitutional limits on the view of a crime. For instance, the legislature does not define offences based on the mental state aspect. They judge certain actions as criminal without investigating the mental state of the perpetrator, which could have led him to committing the crime (Hartung  Blustein, 2002).  

Many people opposing positivism in criminology argue that the concept is more value-loaded than objective. The positivism theory tends to deal with the social make-up instead of facts that can be proven scientifically. Positivism deals with negative environmental persuasions that lead to criminal activities.  Some of the negative environmental influences are alienation, deprivation, overpopulation and being exposed to deviant cultures (Fruehwald, 2001).

Rational choice concept
The concept of rational choice is founded on the investigation of human behavior developed by Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham (Neyhouse, 2002). The key points of the theory are human beings act rationally rationality in human beings means calculation human beings select their behaviour, whether compliant or deviant, out of their rational calculation the key element of calculation engages a cost benefit analysis the choice made, with all other conditions constant, will be aimed at making the individuals benefits maximum the choice can be handled by the perception and comprehension of the possible punishment that will result from an act proven to be in contrast with the social contract. the states has the responsibility of observing order and the common good by creating a system of laws and the swiftness, severity, and certainty of the punishment are the basic aspects in comprehending a laws capability in controlling human behavior. In the view of the rational choice theory, crime can be prevented or reduced through policies that can convince criminals to resist criminal activities, holdup their acts, and keep away from a particular target (Hartung  Blustein, 2002).

The rational choice theory underlines the criminal as a decision maker.  The rational choice theory argues that crimes can be committed if the advantages to the offender looks greater than the risks involved that is, if the pleasures seems greater than pains. The theory assumes that the criminal seeks to benefit from the criminal behaviour. It involves making choices and decisions regardless of the consequences. The offenders cognitive capabilities show limited rather than normative rationality. The theory exhibits greater logic, because most of the criminal activities committed can be explained by rational choice. The formulation of the theory was based on the additional promise that the processes of decision making and the factors considered in the making of the decision are likely to differ at the various stages of the process and among different criminal activities (Fruehwald, 2001).

The rational choice theory argues that every criminal activity can be elucidated by rational choice. For instance, robbery is done so that the offender can acquire items that can be sold for financial gain (Nichols, 2006). To prove that the crime is committed out of personal choice, the offender in most robbery cases come armed with protective items like gloves and masks so as to conceal their identity. They also appear with means to hide and carry the items, like bags or get away car. The argument in the rational theory is that every crime is premeditated and predetermined, which is evident to a rational decision making. The offender usually selects his victim, the place and location where the crime will be conducted, and the time to do so (Neyhouse, 2002).

Critics of the rational choice theory argue that it is the determined nature of the moral sentiment that that determines the range of moral choices. Thus, hey argue that it is more advantageous for the criminal justice system to base their ruling on the positivism concept.  The rational choice theory fails to put into consideration other causes of criminal activities, especially, as related to the social well-being of the perpetrator. There are other conditions, like deprivation, broken families, poor living conditions and underprivileged childhood that can cause a person to turn into a criminal (Hartung  Blustein, 2002).  

Conclusion
The two concepts have a positive impact upon criminology to a certain extent.  The negative aspects of one of the concept can be solved by applying the other. Law enforcement and the judiciary system should find a way to strike the balance between the two concepts. They should strive to find a way of coming up with a system that will borrow the positive aspects of each of the two concepts. This will provide a system that will be very strong in handling crime.

The concept of deterrence
In the most simple terms, the word deterrence means fear of punishment. It can be described as the prevention of unethical behavior in the society through fear of getting punished. A person who is a potential criminal is forced to avoid committing a criminal offence simply by remembering the harsh consequences associated with such a crime. There are two types of deterrence which are general and special deterrence. General deterrence indicates the deterrent effect of the fear of punishment while special deterrence, also known as individual deterrence, indicates the impact of the real punishment on the person committing crime (Wieseltier, 1985).

The main principle of deterrence is the dread of penalty. The dread of penalty may be as a result of previous experience. When an individual has undergone the process of punishment, heshe is conversant with the whole process and this reinforces the fear for being involved in the criminal activity. It is also possible for the experience of punishment to work in the reverse direction, especially in conditions where the offender had blown up the previous experience only to end up concluding that the punishment accorded was not that dreading as heshe had thought. An individual who has been involved in a more serious crime which landed himher into jail usually has no fear for committing another offence. Distinguishing the deterrent effects of the prison experience from other effects associated with being in prison is not possible. Deterrence can only be measured by checking how the offenders behave after being punished (Preet, 2009).

Deterrence has the effect of dread on the potential criminal but also other effects which come as a result of risk and imposition of punishment. Criminal law is a symbol of societys disapproval of unethical activities and it influences the people in several ways. Many people have a specific value for official law. Illegalization of some specific type of behavior may function as an example, enabling people to recognize the socially dangerous feature of an activity (Wu, 2005). The moral prohibition showed via the criminal law has influence on the moral attitudes of a person in a less thoughtful manner. The effects of the criminal law include moral, educative, socializing, attitude shaping, or the custom reinforcing effect of the law. According to the view of law makers, formation of moral condemnations is more significant than simple deterrence since moral condemnation functions even under conditions where an individual does not need to dread detection and punishment. In countries like Germany and Scandinavia, the moral prohibition in crime prevention is highly valued as compared to deterrence. The moral effect of criminal system which is based on the application of doctrines of fairness, proportionality and equal treatment are highly upheld as compared to harshness of punishments offered (Warburton, 1999).

General prevention includes the impact of fear and the moral impact of the criminal law. It is considered the same as general deterrence in the broad sense however, the term deterrent concentrates on the effect of dread. Most research papers on the topic of deterrence fail to tackle the meaning of the word deterrence and apply the broader concept because they are focused on the effects of crime rates of the system of criminal justice and include the effects which result from the mechanisms apart from fear. Respect for the law is customary and the fear of punishment contributes to the development of this habit. A good example is the motorists reaction to the traffic signals. Deterrence can also be considered to include habituative effects of the law. For a habit to develop, observance must come first from other sources which might include dread and value for the law. Habit is therefore developed through replication of the law enduring activity (Bunt, 1994).

Recent Research on Deterrence
There have been various researches conducted to prove whether severity of punishment accorded to the criminals can prevent future crimes. The results obtained from these studies were not similar because of the research method used, sample used, and the factors considered by various researchers (Wieseltier, 1985).

According to the research which was conducted by Jeffrey Fagan in the year 2006 on the topic death and deterrence redux, it was concluded that the research failed to support deterrence debate. Another study on the topic is Life versus death Who should capital punishment marginally deter conducted by Charles Keckler. It showed that the measures of the effects of death penalty have gradually provided proof that it reduces the rate of homicide. Other researchers rely on the fact of the offenders behavior. The study tried to scrutinize whether it is practical to speculate that there is an insignificant increase in deterrence due to raising the sentence from life imprisonment without considering capital punishment. The insignificant increase realized is attributed to the prison conditions as they are expected by the would be offender. If potential offenders view imprisonment as being not too bad, then the imprisonment will have less deterrent effects on the potential offenders (Preet, 2009).

The study also tackled the topic of experimental believe in the existence of murderers who are not scared of imprisonment but might be scared with the capital punishment. Criminals have been shown to dread capital punishment through sacrificing the most significant rights at the times of plea by bargaining to avoid this penalty. This usually results in increasing the number of years one is expected to serve for the offence of murder, and may have some deterrent effects on the death penalty. Death penalty to some offenders stimulates massive precaution when involving in activities like dangerous brutality, and the deterrent effect is measured through changed behavior in such people. Isolation of groups in which death penalty have the highest marginal effect indicates that improvements in sentencing which concentrates on expensive capital safety measures on the offenders who are numb to substitute criminal sanctions (Bunt, 1994).

Study conducted by Michael Radelet et. al. on the topic deterrence and death penalty was to try and resolve if the capital punishment has been, is, or could be a common deterrent to murder. The study involved interviewing the present and the former leaders of three professional criminology organizations so as to get their views on the topic of study. About 80 of the experts interviewed believed that the study failed to support deterrence proof for death penalty. More than 75 believed that increasing the rates of executions or reducing the period spent on death row before being murdered have no deterrent effects (Warburton, 1999).

Criticism of deterrence
The most serious criticism of it is that it can be used to justify deterrence in individuals who have not committed any crime, the crime which they are punished for. Punishing an individual who is widely believed to have committed a crime may impose some fear on the people who were also thinking of committing the same crime without knowing that the person punished was innocent. In such situations, this theory justifies punishing innocent individuals so as to scare others from getting involved in criminal activities. Any reasonable deterrent theory of punishment must meet this opposition (Wieseltier, 1985).

Deterrent theory is considered to be ineffective way of stopping crime. Locking up criminals in jails only protects the society for a short period, and in the long term a more dangerous society emerges because when the criminals meet in jails they teach one another how to dodge justice after committing crime. In this case, life imprisonment is the only alternative for serious criminal offences so that the community can be protected. In the process of protecting the society, there should also be efforts directed at reforming the character of criminals (Bunt, 1994).

Another criticism to deterrence is that criminals should not be given death penalty so as to scare away others who may want to get involved in the same crime. Even in history there has been a repeat of wars throughout despite the consequences which come with it. The same applies to murderers who continue committing the crime even with the knowledge of the punishment associated with it (Preet, 2009). Instead of concentrating on the punishment, we should consider other factors which make these people involve themselves in crime and instill into them the moral ethics required. They should be made to understand that killing is wrong. Punishment is supposed to deter, rehabilitate, and to protect the society of which most of the punishment offered do not fulfill.

There are many groups that influence the formulation of HIVAIDS policy in the United States however, the goal of this paper is to identify six most prominent stakeholders who have the greatest say in the design of pertinent polices.

One of the major stakeholders in the process of devising any public policy is the government, and HIVAIDS is no exception. There is a reason behind it governments are concerned about well-being of their citizens, since they have been entrusted with the task to protect their basic rights and guarantee a decent standard of living. However, the government is a very broad concept a more detailed examination of which organs and agencies are dealing with the issue of HIVAIDS is necessary. Without any doubt, the U.S. Congress is responsible for creating laws which lay down the overarching framework for dealing with the problem, while the White House creates general conditions for the implementation of these laws.

One of the priorities of the President Obamas term in office is containing the spread of the virus and helping Americans living with it. To this end, the National HIVAIDS Strategy was created it is aimed at lowering HIV incidence and related health disparities, making healthcare more accessible for people living with HIVAIDS, and optimizing the use of healthcare resources. Within the federal government system, there are three bodies responsible for the implementation of the strategy. They are the White House Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of HIVAIDS Policy (OHAP) and the Presidential Advisory Council on HIVAIDS (PACHA).

Although their functions and competencies sometimes overlap, all of them have different missions. For instance, the White House Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP) will oversee the process of developing the strategy, and will be soliciting input through a series of community discussions and new media activities. ONAP works to coordinate an increasingly integrated approach to prevention, care, and treatment of HIVAIDS and emphasizes the integration of domestic and international efforts to combat HIVAIDS (AIDS.gov, 2009, para. 4). The Office of HIVAIDS Policy (OHAP) advises the Assistant Secretary for Health and senior HHS officials on the appropriate and timely implementation and development of HIVAIDS policy, the establishment of priorities, and the solid implementation of HIVAIDS programs, activities, and initiatives across other HHS health agencies (AIDS.gov, 2009, para. 6), while the Presidential Advisory Council on HIVAIDS (PACHA) provides information on past and upcoming events, reports, and policy recommendations (AIDS.gov, 2009, para. 7).

Another important player in all policy areas in the U.S. is state government. While policies or ways to implement federal policies at the local level may differ considerably, most states have some agency or at least a strategy for combating the dissemination of HIVAIDS and improving access to healthcare resources. It is usually state department of heath broadly responsible for addressing the issue. Some state governments establish special divisions or task forces to prevent the spreading of HIVAIDS. For example, Virginia Department of Health has a Division of Disease Prevention which provides leadership and support to local health departments, other medical providers and community-based organizations in the prevention, surveillance and treatment of HIVAIDS and other transmittable diseases (Virginia Department of Health, 2009, para. 1). Texas has a Department of Health Bureau of HIV and STD Prevention (Official Portal of Texas, 2008). California Department of Public Health has an Office of AIDS (State of California, 2007).

Partnerships between state government and community are very common for example, the California HIVAIDS Planning Group (CHPG) provides community perspectives, advice, and recommendations to the California Department of Public Health, Office of AIDS (CDPHOA) in the planning and development of programs and allocation of resources (Office of AIDS of the California Department of Public Health, 2008, p. 1). The New York City Prevention Planning Group (PPG) is charged with ensuring ongoing input from the diverse communities of New York State that are infected, affected and impacted by HIVAIDS (New York Department of Health, 2009, New York State HIV Prevention Planning Group, Program Description, para. 4). Such partnerships can be regarded as a distinct category of stakeholders influencing the formulation of the policy on the one hand, they are different from public authorities, on the other hand. they are not community organizations per se.          

International organizations, such the United Nations and World Health Organization, also play a role in policy formulation in the Unites States. Despite the country is reluctant to accept the authority of international organizations over domestic political issues, the U.S. does not miss out on the opportunity to benefit from technical cooperation.

Think tanks can be identified as the fifth category of stakeholders which influence the formulation of the policy on HIVAIDS. For example, a paper titled Methodology for effective HIVAIDS policy formulation was presented at the International Conference on AIDS in 2004 by Mr. McCadney of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (2009). In general, the mission of a think tank is to provide objective, unbiased information on various policy issues in the U.S., there is a tradition of think tanks being funded by lobbies or political parties, which has a bearing on their objectivity.  

Finally, the last but definitely not least actor is a community based organizations (CBO). Such organizations exist in a variety of shapes and sizes and can represent either people living with HIVAIDS or members of a local community concerned about the spread of HIVAIDS. They can be working to spread HIVAIDS awareness among youth, communities of color, or sexual minorities they are often faith-based. The emphasis has been made on CBOs rather than NGOs, given that American NGOs active in the field of HIVAIDS are usually development-oriented and help other counties, mostly in Africa, to combat the AIDS epidemics.  

While it might appear that it is important to include healthcare providers and organizations in the list, such organizations are mostly responsible for policy implementation rather than formulation CBOs, public agencies and partnerships between government and community often seek their input into their policy proposals.
As for the factors which influence policy making in different contexts  such as prevention, access to care, treatment, and payment options  they need to be examined separately for each category.  In terms of HIV prevention, the two main categories of prevention message recipients are young people and at-risk groups, mostly intravenous drug users. For young people, the main factor is sex education regardless of whether it teaches abstinence or contraception, it should be designed to inform young people about the ways of contracting HIV, identifying the virus, and seeking help. For drug users, both information campaigns and needle exchange programs are necessary.          

In terms of access to care, the issue of testing and the problem of social stigmatization should be discussed. Testing is the first step towards getting in contact with the healthcare system, and this is of high importance if the results are positive. Testing should be free, anonymous, and accessible to all mobile laboratories within at-risk communities are a good example. Pretest and posttest counseling should be available, and users should be given information on where to seek further advice and treatment. Another factor is social stigma some people living with HIV are unaware of it due to fear of getting tested because of ensuing discrimination. The most vulnerable group here comprises females, mostly teenage, especially rape victims. This problem can be overcome by discussing the issue of HIVAIDS in public, removing stigma associated with it, and eradicating discrimination against people living with the virus.

As for treatment, two factors are at play first of all, choosing the right therapy program, and secondly, making necessary lifestyle changes. Most Americans living with HIVAIDS nowadays have access to triple combination therapy (Avert, 2009), while they still should make changes to their nutrition and way of life to avoid opportunistic infections.          

As for payment options, there are two ways Americans can receive funding for antiretroviral drugs either through an insurance plan, or though other sources, such as Medicaid, Medicare, and funding provided by the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resource Emergency (CARE) Act (Avert, 2009), although it is necessary to note with regret that funding allocated trough these sources is often not enough to cover the full costs of treatment.

Two factors here are that employers should be prohibited from inquiring about HIV status of a potential employee and basing their hiring decision on it, which is always associated with insurance costs, and that underinsured citizens should be given more opportunities to afford expensive medications, for instance through taking part in trials of new antiretroviral drugs (Avert, 2009). Eradicating racial and income disparities in access to AIDS treatment is the priority of the current administration.    

The conclusion that can be made is that a variety of stakeholders influence policymaking with regard to HIVAIDS in the U.S. First of all, various federal agencies work to implement the National HIVAIDS Strategy they are the White House Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of HIVAIDS Policy (OHAP) and the Presidential Advisory Council on HIVAIDS (PACHA). At the level of state government, each states department of health has set up its own agency or task force to address the issue. International organizations and think tanks supply expertise, policy recommendations, and policy analysis. Partnerships between public authorities and communities ensure that users needs and preferences are taken into account when designing polices. Finally, community based organizations play an active role in informing citizens about the virus, helping those living with it, and mobilizing resources to fight the disease.

The major challenges the policy on HIVAIDS should address is making testing and treatment available to all, informing schoolchildren through sex education, providing needle exchange programs for drug users, alleviating social stigma associated with the disease, and prohibiting all forms of HIVAIDS-related discrimination, especially in the workplace.                  

The 20th century was marked with the development and discussion of numerous theories of race and domination. In many aspects, the 20th century became the period of continuous reformulation and reessentialisation of race as a purely biological construct toward seeing race as the product of human domination. Such scientific attention to race and domination was justified by the historical changes that occurred in the latter half of the 19th  the beginning of the 20th centuries dozens of colonial countries finally became the free members of the so-called third world. For this reason, theorists found it necessary and appropriate to reconsider the meaning of race and the role it plays in the development of power relationships in the world. From Marx and W.E.B. DuBois, through Fanon and Omi and Winant, up to Dyer and Said, the concept of race was gradually becoming a convenient object of sociological, economic, cultural, and political analysis. Contemporary social theories reflect the gradual evolution of the theoretical thought about race and domination, from race as the tool of class exploitation, to race as a man-made construct flexible enough to be used for the satisfaction of the changeable political interests however, none of the existing theories of race can serve a reliable tool of erasing racial differences in society.

Karl Marx, class exploitation, and the beginnings of the postcolonial analysis of race
Karl Marx can be fairly regarded as one of the first in the system of postcolonial studies to see race and domination as the object and the instrument of class struggle, exploitation, and as the basis for developing and establishing. For Marx, who states that capitalist production develops technology, and the combining together of various processes into a social whole, only by sapping the original sources of all wealth  the soil and the labourer (Marx, Mandel  Fernbach 1992), this labourer is often a racial minority representative, without whom domination, imperialism, and exploitation become impossible. However, it is not enough to say that racism lays the foundation for the development of imperialism rather, it is more than important to see what racism is and how race works in the system of owner-labourer relationships in the capitalist society.

Racism for Marx looks like the conjunction of the three critical elements first, racism is a systematic ideology second, this ideology is based on the belief in racial inferiority and third, racism is hardly limited to beliefs and attitudes but is actually a complex system of discriminative practices and super-exploitation principles (Marx, Mandel  Fernbach 1992). Although Marx does not provide any clear and universal definition of race (the task which, until the present time, remains largely unresolved), he is confident that race is a category constructed by humans for the purposes of exploitation, domination, and class struggle (Marx, Mandel  Fernbach 1992). Here, the effects of Marxs vision on the development of the new theory of race is two-fold on the on hand, he is one of the first to consciously reject the concept of race as a biological construct on the other hand, Marx creates the new theoretical line, which will be followed by dozens of postcolonial theorists after him. After Marx, postcolonial studies in racism and domination either took the vision of race as a social construct for granted, or sought to examine, minimise, and reject the vision of race as the combination of purely biological characteristics. To a large extent, what Marx wrote about race and racism was later used and extended by W.E.B. DuBois in his attempt to produce a single and comprehensible definition of race.

W.E.B. DuBois from Marx to Marx
That W.E.B. DuBois based his vision of racism on what had been written about race by Marx is a surprise. Contemporary studies of race and domination often place Marx and W.E.B. DuBois as the representatives of one and the same sociological school, but there are several essential differences between their personal understandings of domination and race. Although, in his The Conservation of Races, DuBois continues the line set by Marx and tries to look deeper into the socioeconomic aspects of race consciousness, he proceeds further to explore racism as the fundamental prerequisite for the cultural cohesiveness and stability within minority groups. It would be fair to say that what W.E.B. DuBois wrote about race and domination was a step away from the 19th century biological ideas of racism and a step closer to the new 20th centurys vision of race as a historical and social construct.

First of all, DuBois views race not as the product of social illusion and imagination, but as an entity that is socially, historically, and politically constructed and is extremely important for the analysis of the major social processes (Dubois  Edwards 2007). Second, DuBois views race as the instrument of power relationships in society which, as these power relationships evolve, also changes its nature. Moreover, DuBois was confident that the concept of race led to the development of the so-called race consciousness, without which black progress would have been impossible (DuBois  Edwards 2007). The biological distinction between the three major races for DuBois is meaningless as long as it cannot explain specific cultural and historical differences between them. DuBois defines race as a vast family of human beings, generally of common blood and language, but always of common history, traditions and impulses, who are both voluntarily and involuntarily striving together for the accomplishment of certain more or less vividly conceived ideals of life (DuBois  Edwards 2007). As a result, race for DuBois is nothing else but the product of cultural, social, and historical processes, and the development of the mentioned racial consciousness is aimed to help different groups leave their historical message for the generations that follow.

In this context, the question is in how the members of one and the same race identify themselves with one particular and not any other race. Also, why did DuBois himself, being the descendant of both the Dutch and the Black, seek to identify himself with the Negro community Those questions, left by DuBois without answers, were fully answered by Frantz Fanon in his Black Skin, White Masks  the book, which became a logical continuation and the sign of the gradual progress in the development of postcolonial vision of race.

Frantz Fanon and the process of racial identification of the self
Fanons vision of race and domination is interesting in a sense that it serves a kind of logical continuation of what W.E.B. DuBois was unable to address in his works about race. The process of racial identification and the development of individual race consciousness as the products of domination and exploitation are probably the most important in Fanons book. Fanon (1967) is confident (and in many aspects, it correct) that as long as the black man is among his own, he will have no occasion, except in minor internal conflicts, to experience his being through others.  The black man among his own in the twentieth century does not know at what moment his inferiority comes into being through the other.  and then the occasion arose when I had to meet the white mans eyes. An unfamiliar weight burdened me. For Fanon (1967), the new racial consciousness and the process of identifying oneself with one particular and not any other race goes in line with and is inseparable from the meaning and the notion of domination. It is domination that leads individuals to recognise themselves as a part of some particular race and to realise their inferior social position compared to the dominant race. The dominant societal groups perceive race as the source of otherness, but does that mean that by eliminating the notion of race, society will finally succeed in developing sound equity relationships between different social groups And if society claims that it was able to grant racial minority groups sufficient opportunities for profitable performance and self-realisation, does that also mean that it was able to erase the boundaries between races and shape the ground for the development of fair racial relationships

Here, Fanon (1967) makes a challenging claim the mere fact that society intentionally and persistently tries to reject the notion of otherness and its biological  sociological features, and the mere fact that society emphasises how black and other racial communities act and interact without being discriminated against means that this society was not able to discard and erase racial distinctions between individuals. Rather, the system of domination was transformed to follow and satisfy the changeable political needs of society.

In its current state, society is increasingly interested in respecting equality between races, but the lines of racial distinction are not erased nor are they forgotten. I knew, for instance, that if the physician made a mistake it would be the end of him and of all those who came after him.  The black physician can never be sure how close he is to disgrace (Fanon 1967). As such, and according to Fanon (1967), the rise of the race consciousness and the societys striving to erase the boundaries of race are nothing else but the products of continuous domination and the signs of the misbalanced power relationships. Black people turn into black people as soon as they meet the representatives of the white dominant race, and this process of identifying oneself with Blacks is aimed to give an individual a clearer idea of his inferior position in society. This knowledge of ones inferior social position is later used by the dominant (usually, white) race, for the sake of exploitation and for the purpose of redistributing limited economic and social benefits between different members and groups. Whether race is openly condemned or whether it is used as the basis for developing equality strategies  it is always a tool of racial domination and a convenient and rather flexible tool of satisfying changeable political needs of society.

Omi and Winant Racial Formation
Race as the tool of political domination and fight  this is exactly how Omi and Winant (1994) try to position race in their theory of race formation. Omi and Winant (1994) show race as an unstable component of the social structure, which makes it possible to transform race under the influence and for the purposes of political struggle. Race for Omi and Winant (1994) is a concept which signifies and symbolises social conflicts and interests by referring to different types of human bodies. In their discussion Omi and Winant (1994), on the one hand, question the pre-colonial vision of race as the conjunction of biological features and, on the other hand, try to see how possible it is for the enlightened world to operate without taking the concept of race into account.

To some extent, what Omi and Winant (1994) write about race is similar to what Fanon (1967) was trying to show through the prism of the new racial equality trends in society, which do not erase but only emphasise the line of distinction between the superiority of the white people and the imposed inferiority of other races. As a result, the process of racial formation turns into the essential component of all social processes in the world and comprises the two stages the process of organising human bodies and historical structures around historical projects, and the process of reformulating these projects to follow the standards and requirements of a particular hegemony (Omi  Winant 1994).

The link between power and race is the distinctive feature of postcolonial studies about race, which all theorists and sociology professionals consciously or subconsciously accept as the basis for contemporary sociological analysis of racial relationships. However, Omi and Winant (1994) make a significant progress in the postcolonial vision of race and domination in distinction from their predecessors, they are able to add the new cultural dimension to everything that had been written and said about race before them. As a result, race comes out as the product of both social and cultural influences. Race looks like a complex conjunction of cultural representations and interpretations of racial differences in society, and it also serves a flexible instrument of political struggle and a convenient tool of achieving predetermined political objectives. The significance of such cultural interpretations and their usefulness in the current structure of domination and hegemonies is undeniable and too evident to be neglected and these cultural interpretations actually shape the ground for the development of other racial theory  Orientalism in the eyes of Edward Said.

Edward Said, Richard Dyer, Orientalism, and the new dimension of race
No matter how persistently society tries, it can hardly release itself from the legacy of racial discrimination and domination left by the 19th century. The need for domination and the current structure of political and economic hegemony show race and racism as the convenient instruments of exploitation and political struggle and the eternal opposition between everything western (civilised) and everything oriental (non-civilised) is one of the brightest representations of the racial dichotomy so widely presented and discussed in literature.
This is, actually, one of the major paradoxes in the postcolonial representation of race and domination numerous theorists position race as the concept and the construct extremely flexible and adjustable to the changeable political conditions, but this flexibility also reflects the surprising stability of the binary racial opposition between races that are considered civilised and races that are considered uncivilised and socially inferior.

Dyer (2000) writes that white identity is founded on compelling paradoxes a vividly corporeal cosmology that most values transcendence of the body a notion of being at once a sort of race and the human race, and individual and a universal subject. This is also what Said (1979) implies in his theory of Orientalism, discussing racism as the product of historical changes. According to Said (1979), under the influence of historical liberation and the rise of new independent states in the Eastern World, racism became a good guarantee for the stability of racial dichotomy and the existing racial hegemony in the world. The textual representations of race, on which Said (1979) relies in his work, are included into a set of devices common to the work of important poets, artists, and scholars, which were used to confirm the historical dominance of western political institutions over the eastern world. Unfortunately, neither Said nor any other theorist discussed in this paper was able to propose any relevant solution to the problem of races today. None of those who were critically examined in this work ever tried to develop a relevant plan for eliminating and erasing the notion of race from our consciousness. Rather, the discussed theories show race as the essential component of social functioning, without which the current social structure will become obsolete. Moreover, given the relative stability and continuous dominance of this structure, it is hardly possible to predict the consequences of such anti-racial transformations in society.

Conclusion
In light of everything that was written and said, race stands out as the concept that was historically and socially constructed for the purposes of continuous political and social domination, exploitation, and class struggle. Race also shows as a flexible instrument of political change, which was and is used by numerous political groups to pursue their interests. However, the mere fact that numerous theories of race and domination were developed also implies that race is far from being an illusion nor is it a product of social and cultural imagination. It is hardly possible to use these theories for the sake of achieving any racial balance in society. These theories cannot also erase the differences between races, but can only emphasise the relevance of the stable white race hegemony and the stability of the racial dichotomy between western civilisation and oriental racial wildness. At a closer look, all these theories confirm race to be a convenient tool of political dominance and an extremely flexible tool of managing racial consciousness in a way, which will always grant the dominant race a chance to preserve its political and social position in the world.

Cross-racial relationships always stand as the main theme of Asian-American cultural products. The fusion of two cultures produces entirely distinct characteristics, as well as breaks racial stereotypes. Within the most globalized society ever in human history, keeping individuals cultures or identities is almost impossible and meaningless. Needless to say, each individuals heritage and traditional culture should be respected and preserved by others. Moreover, isolated behaviors such as having certain stereotypes or biases toward other cultures should be eliminated in todays globalized society. In North America, a place where there is ample diversity of ethnic groups to even allow for a recognition or realization of distinct cultures, minorities still have a dilemma between cultural identity and cultural racism. While the United States of America would perhaps pride itself with this united cultural diversity term melting-pot, but then hidden racism and inequality still exist beneath its surface. Jessica Yus film Ping Pong Playa and Adrian Tomines graphic novel Shortcomings exhibit a culture gap shrinkage concerning Asian-Americans.
       
Ping Pong Playa, a film directed by Jessica Yu, is a recent film about Asian-Americans that breaks cultural stereotypes about Asians or the Chinese. The films hero, Christopher Wang, portrayed as C-Dub, is a local California guy who wants to be a basketball player like Yao. He is truly inspired by an African-American culture that even his manner of talking and pronunciation personify African-Americans. His character is that of a positive person who neither critics other cultures nor prepares for the future. His brothers character in the film, however, represents a typical Chinese man but C-Dubs character stands in stark contrast as a stereotypical Asian-American. Even the films portrayal of his relationship with his father is extremely atypical, when viewed against traditional Chinese culture. On a different note, C-Dubs bestfriend in the film, JP Money, is an African-American who intends to learn the Chinese language and grasp Chinese culture. It is, therefore, cinematically reasonable too that JP Money influences C-Dubs personality or style which embodies an African-American person. Both C-Dub and JP Money represent a departure from stereotypes associated with their respective racial groups. For instance, it is unusual for an African-American to attend classes in a Chinese Community Center, as well as for a Chinese guy to mimic an African-American lifestyle. C-Dub and JP Moneys special friendship, therefore, is a metaphorical depiction of cross-racial relationships. This particular cross-racial friendship suggests a new future for Americas invisible social issues.        

Barack Hussein Obama was elected as the 44th president of the United States of America beating the Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain. The election of the first Black president in the United States swept the historical roots of racial and ethnic discrimination in the country (Nagourney). However, his election has an immense social significance as he bridges all the minorities in the society. He is an epitome of a leader who understands the needs and feelings of the people in the minority groups. Some expressed that racism in America is finally dead.

The last U.S. presidential elections has proved that democracy ruled in the United States, a country who was dominated by White men. Obama emerged victorious on the elections from humble beginnings. The election of Obama has great impacts on the Americas perception as a white mans country and will end the long-standing racial problems and disparity in the country. Obama has created euphoria among the Blacks that is palpable. Obamas election finally eased the generations of struggling for parity in terms of race and ethnicity.
His election will start to heal the racial wounds from the past and will pose a lot of opportunities to the African-Americans to join and unite with country and end the time of their silence. One of his accomplishments is reshaping the view on race in the United States. Obamas election will present an opportunity for all the races to be together and finally move towards the future. He addressed the problems in race and ethnicity that no other president has taken a stand before. Upon his election, Obama set to break down all the barriers dividing the nation and the people that hinder the country towards a better future.

Timeshare is recognized as a form of ownership or the right to use a property. The properties that are usually recognized under the timeshare are resort condominium units that are usually shared by multiple parties in an allotted period of time. The parties that are involved in a timeshare have the right to use the property in a certain amount of time without really owning it (Schreier, 2005). The concept of timeshare has gained popularity among resort developers and prominent hoteliers like Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott, and Disney (Foster, 2007). Vacation ownership through timeshare is very lucrative for stakeholders in these resorts and hotels because of its popularity to vacation-goers. Due to this, competition among resorts and hotels are observable wherein they tend to out do each other when it comes to the length of their timeshare, quality of products, quality of rooms being shared, privileges, additional bonuses, and others. Big resorts and hoteliers have more resources in giving more privileges and amenities for the members of their timeshare. Despite the fact that only six percent of the United States household has timeshare, the concept of vacation ownership is continuously expanding, many resorts have timeshare. According to the American Resort Development Association International Foundation (AIF) about half of the resorts in the United States are currently involved in timeshare and they are producing 8.6 billion of profit in 2005 (Haight  Singer, 2005).

Timeshares are originally offered to the market by the developer who is responsible in creating a resort or converting a real estate property to a hotel. Developers worked hard in order to establish an environment wherein the amenities offered by the timeshare will stimulate demand in the market. Developers use two common ways in stimulating demand in the market. First, developers of timeshares are having contests wherein the winners have the opportunity to spend a free weekend in a luxurious resort and then, they will experienced a high-powered sales pitch that will influence them to take part in the timeshare. Second, developers will offer a valuable prize to people in exchange for them into coming to the resort wherein they will be exposed to sales pressure, which often times makes people succumb to this effort and participate in timeshare. The people who avail of timeshare through these means usually regret it because they paid it for a price that is way above the market price of the property. Being the case, the presence of the secondary market tends to address this problem. The market price for timeshare is identified in the secondary market wherein the force of supply and demand in relation to the emotional appeal of certain timeshare is reduced to its economic value. Due to this, the second market for a certain timeshare is almost always has a price that is well below the primary market with discounts that amounts to 40 percent (Schreier, 2005). Second market for timeshares is not well centralized. There are instances wherein a resort in which the timeshare is located will establish its own secondary market for timeshares. The Internet is also recognized as a medium that shows the essential role of the timeshare secondary market. The importance of second market in timeshare is clearly seen in the number of timeshare owners association that supports an active secondary market for timeshares (Haight  Singer, 2005).

Timeshare is increasingly gaining popularity in the market, especially for people who frequently go on vacation. This concept is regarded as a lucrative business endeavor, which is why most resorts and hoteliers are also involved in it. Competition among major resorts and hotels like Marriott and Hilton is observable because of the profit returns for timeshare is indeed very significant for the businesses of these aforementioned stakeholders. In addition, other parties like the second market also play an important role in timeshare, as they are responsible in giving the economic price for timeshares, which the market could afford. In this sense, timeshare is indeed a lucrative endeavor for resorts and the market could also take advantage of this offer because they could get great benefits and rewards in availing timeshares of resorts and hotels.

Present essays elaborates on how Brechts The Threepenny Opera relates to the historical and political thought of Karl Marx. The comparative analysis is to be based on the similarity of topics, themes, ideas, concepts and ideology used both in Marxs works and Brechts musical, focusing on how they are expressed through different media  scientific work and a literary work of art.

Marxs historical and political thought
According to Marx, human history represents the history of class struggles (Marx and Engels, 6). Through the course of history people were separated by class division lines, which prevented them from realizing progressive and humane communication. Ruling classes exploited oppressed by economical, physical and political violence, which is evident in slavery, feudalism, enclosure laws and working place control.

In the past class formations the fabric of society was very complex and that made it easy for the ruling classes to control oppressed by creating universal morality, ideology etc. According to Marx and Engels, in modern capitalist society, class contradictions and societys structure are less complex Society as a whole is more and more splitting up  into  two  great  hostile  camps,  into  two  great  classes directly facing each other - Bourgeoisie and Proletariat (Marx and Engels, 7).

Notwithstanding bourgeoisies revolutionary role during French and English Revolutions, now it stops the pace of progress and is detrimental to the human salvation (Marx and Engels 9). Contradictions of capitalist society have far-ranging consequences for the human relations and morality. According to Marx and Engels, people desperately stick to money fetish, which they idealize. At the same time, capitalism is irrational, because it can not control the processes it engendered Modern bourgeois society, with its relations of production, of exchange and of property, a society that has conjured up such gigantic means of production and of exchange, is like the sorcerer who is no longer able to control the powers of the nether world whom he has called up by his spells. For many a decade past the history of industry and commerce is but the history of the revolt of modern productive forces against  modern  conditions  of  production,  against  the property relations that are the conditions for the existence of  the  bourgeois  and of  its  rule.  It  is  enough  to mention the  commercial  crises  that  by  their  periodical  return  put the  existence  of  the  entire  bourgeois  society  on  its  trial,  each time more threateningly(Marx and Engels, 13).

People are alienated from their true Being and become the hostages of money, property and power. Such structure affects both workers and property owners. The first degrade because of poverty, lack of education etc. while property owners degrade because of their hedonistic and individualistic way of life.  The only possible way to save humanity from self-extinction due to aggressive nature of capital is to establish just and progressive communist society. To sum it up, basic premises of Marx and Engels historical and political thought were outlined. Now, it is time to find how they relate to Brechts famous The Threepenny Opera.

The Threepenny Opera and Marxism
The setting of The Threepenny Opera is slums of Victorian London, where marginalized personages engage in their social relations. Brecht describes poor, underclass elements of society without a hint of idealization  he presents them in all their degradation, despair and immorality. Such realistic approach runs contrary to the well-known tradition in literature to idealize oppressed and to present them as the bastion of progress.
 In contrast, Brecht shows how capitalism and poverty results in degradation and criminalization of human society. The main protagonist of the play, Macheath  Mack the Knife, is antiheroic and amoral hero. Unlike Robin Good he does not steal money from rich to give them poor.

He steals money and robs people to indulge his immoral desires and needs. When he decides to marry Polly Peachum, her violent father controlling beggars in London makes all possible efforts to have Macheath hanged. Brecht shows the entire industry of corruption and bribery, in which human relations are regulated not by human principles, but by the pursuit of fame, money and success.

This is even true in the backyard of society  criminals control beggars, criminals like Macheath bribe the Chief of Police, Tiger Brown etc. The Threepenny Opera provides viewers and readers with many questions, provoking reflection into difficult issues of property and legality under capitalism. For instance, this is the case for Brechts famous dramatic question Who is the greater criminal he who robs a bank or he who founds one (Brecht, The Threepenny Opera). Such question is greatly affected by Marxs concept of society and his critique of bourgeois ideology.

According to Marx, private property is not something natural, as Lockean philosophy and bourgeois law contends. Private property is not a natural right, but a historical contingency.

Ancient pre-communist societies did not have the notion of private property  the property was communal.
Goods produced were equally distributed between the members of commune. And only in class societies due to class inequality private property became the dominant source of personal income. In the case of big private property, its acquisition is accompanied by violence and oppression, as in the case of enclosure in England, criminal property re-distribution in Chicago etc. The latter implies that Brechts artistic criticism goes in line with Marxs ideology critique.

Peachums business of capitalizing on beggars is also exemplary in terms of Brechts criticism of capitalism, which goes in line with Marxs analysis. Peachum takes 50 of money earned by beggars and hires criminals to beat those beggars, who do not work for him. In this way, Brecht depicts capitalist exploitation, in which even beggars have to pay money for protection.

Notwithstanding the inhumane character of his business, Peachum still wears the clothes of humanist, talking about how much money and efforts he spends on protecting the poor, on charity and social progress. Such sarcastic paradox is emphasized by Brecht to show the harsh non-coincidence between capitalist ideology and reality, described by Marx in his famous political treatise German Ideology. The Peachums cynicism in relation to poor is evident in his description of poverty and misery in terms of money and interest These are the five basic best adapted to touching the human heart. The sight of them induces that unnatural state of mind in which a man is actually willing to give money away (Brecht, 9).

The relations between Polly and her father Peachum also reveal much about the effect of capitalist society on family. As Marx and Engels say in Communist Manifesto, The  bourgeoisie  has  torn  away  from  the  family  its  sentimental veil, and has reduced  the  family relation  to a mere money relation (Marx and Engels, 9).  Such situation in the family is similar to that described by Brecht in The Threepenny Opera.

Peachum wants her daughter to marry a rich man  not a criminal like Macheath. Pollys attempts to persuade her father that he may use Browns connections to Macheath to his own advantage are vain. Peachum is not disturbed by the fact that his daughter loves Macheath. In contrast, he makes all possible to throw him into jail.

Peachum can do all possible to stop Macheath. For instance, he blackmails Brown, telling him that he is going to unleash his beggars during Queen Victorias coronation, which would cost Brown his job in the police.

Neither his friends, nor his beloved do anything effective to release Macheath from prison. Brown being afraid of beggars revenge opts not to arrest Peachum and save his friend. The whole world is against Macheath and he prepares to dies. But suddenly, in a comical way, consciously designed by Brecht, Macheath is been pardoned by queen and granted a castle, a pension and a title. Such comic turn vividly demonstrates that capitalist society functions not by laws, but by egoistic interest and contingency. The finale plea of the musical tells us that wrongdoing is not punished too harshly, because the life is harsh itself.

Conclusion
To sum it up, in the present analysis of relationship of Marxs historical and political thought  to Brechts The Threepenny Opera, we have found many similarities. This implies that Brechts musical is a reflection of Marx ideas about society and progress at the level of artistic drama and musical. Several basic ideas peculiar to Marxism may be found in Brechts drama.

The first is that capitalism negatively affects morality and humanness not only of the ruling classes, but oppressed as well. This is particularly evident in Brechts presenting his main protagonists as marginal and underclass elements with no progressive system of values.

Brechts similarity with Marx may be found in his critique of abstract humanness and virtue, which may be found in dominant bourgeois ideology of Peachum. This personage manages at the same time to exploit the bunch of beggars, while professing the values of progress, charity and liberation. Such schizophrenic consciousness is mocked and parodied in Brechts musical. Brecht after Marx also tries to show how radically does ideology contradicts objective reality.

Such effort is evident in the dramatic questions Macheath asks Who is the greater criminal he who robs a bank or he who founds one. It demonstrates that the notion of private property is artificial and is designed to protect the interests of minority. Moreover, Brecht vividly shows that capitalist relations disintegrate family and transform its members (especially sons and daughters) in the source of fame and income for their parents. Therefore, it is evident that Brechts work of art has many crucial similarities with Marx and Engels ideas in Communist Manifesto, German Ideology and other works.

1. Violence in the news

a. The news story, The war on women in Congo, which is a CNN special feature written by a known woman activist and playwright Eve Ensler, is all about what Ensler calls as femicide, which she believes is basically a political and economic strategy to destroy the entire Congolese female population in order to cause long-term and irreparable damage to the whole Congolese society, which will ultimately lead them to leave the area open for plunder and exploitation of its precious resources, especially of the mineral coltan that is widely used as an essential material for cellphones and computers to work. Further, Ensler believes that the alarming prevalence and proliferation of such femicide since twelve years ago can be attributed to the international communitys racial discrimination against black people, most especially against black females, so that even the supposedly powerful and responsible United Nations (UN) does not intervene, leaving these poor black females perpetually victimized helplessly.

b. In the article, Enslers overarching assumption is that humans can go as far as kill one another out of greed, in this case, for the resources (e.g., coltan mineral) that the Congolese have in their land. I believe that such an assumption seems justified because there can be no other reason for humans to do such barbaric acts against the helpless ones if not for attractive rewards, material or otherwise, which are most possibly offered by the greedy and powerful ones who have orchestrated the entire violent plot that is still ongoing in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

c. If I were an applied anthropologist and have been asked to provide assistance on resolving the conflict in Congo, I would agree with Eve Enslers main assumption that the conflict and violence against the Congolese females are mainly driven by the outside forces  the powerful, moneyed and have vested interest in the precious resources that the Congolese people have in their land. To resolve the issue peacefully, the main force behind the conflict, who is undoubtedly an outside influence to the leaders of the Congolese society, must be found out. This task of finding out the main force behind is the most difficult task, primarily because heshe they isare hiding behind and well-concealed and protected by the Congolese forces who serve as the main actors causing the conflict. Parallel to the efforts of tracing the main forces behind will be peaceful peace processes (e.g., dialogues, negotiations, informational and educational campaigns, provision of alternative economic activities, etc.) within the Congolese tribe. I will never recommend military intervention to resolve the conflict.

The debate on whether or not America should continue using capital punishment in its justice system has been marked with much controversy. Many have claimed that capital punishment is a contradiction our human rights provisions by the American laws (Zimring, 2003). It is however to be realized that capital punishment is an important tool for ensuring law and order in the American society. The law must be upheld by all in the society as it is only by such that justice and fairness can be realized. It is in support of the thesis that America should continue using capital punishment that this paper is written.

Capital punishment is by simple terms the legal act of executing criminals who have been convicted of committing capital crimes against others in the society. It should be noted that by failing to execute killers in our community, the American nation will compromise the value it gives to the security of its citizens life (Mckelvie, 2006). It is only by killing killers that we can combat capital such crimes and thus ensure a community free of threats elements in the American society. As a culture of the human community, it plays much to have a lasting solution to any eminent social problem that affects its members (Mckelvie, 2006). Giving an analogy of the efforts that the American government has given to the fight against terrorism, capital punishment is a sustainable and permanent solution to criminology in our nation.

Statistical information on crime rates in our nation have evidently revealed that crime rates have reduced due to the use of capital punishment in our legal justice systems (Zimring, 2003). Criminal behavior has been found to be an influential behavior rather than an inborn individual character. It is by associating with criminals that a new generation of criminals is formed in our society. It is due to this, and making a conclusion from the principles of sufficient reasoning that capital punishment should always remain as a tool for eliminating felony in our nation. By letting capital crime offenders remain in our society is risking the bad influential potential they have to our youth (Zimring, 2003). Capital crime offenders should thus be executed to ensure a sustainable solution to criminology in the society.

It is human to claim sympathy on criminals. However, it should be noted that sentencing capital offenders has and will never be a solution to criminology in our society. What is the logic behind claims of having mercy on criminals who have proved a major threat to the lives of others in the community There is no need of spending billions of tax payers money to sustain criminal in prisons for a life time (Zimring, 2003).  Even while in prison, criminals have been found to be a major concern for insecurity in the society. They both act as potential organizers of crimes in the society or influencing the generation of professional criminals on interacting with other criminals in the prison cells. This is thus clear evidence on the uncertainty that life sentencing of capital crime offenders can have in the society.

Still to be noted here is the fact that giving a second chance to a criminal is a violation of the basic underlying psychological principles that govern the human behavior (Zimring, 2003). It has been evidently found out that first time offenders have a high chance of committing more serious crimes upon their release from prisons. Therefore, it is based on this that by failing to use capital punishment on capital crime offenders, our nation will never realize a sustainable solution to the problem of insecurity in the society.
In conclusion, it is evidently clear that capital punishment can easily ensure sustainable security and justice in the society. Let every member in the society get the equivalent share of his or her deeds in the society.

A stereotype can be regarded as a label associated with a specific group of people based on their race, color, age, place of origin, religious, political beliefs or other characters. Devlin (2006) defines stereotyping as the  imputation of unchanging and inflexible characteristics to all members of a particular group.  Stereotypes can be either positive or negative.

Old people are normally stereotyped as  helpless and incompetent. Younger people paint pictures of a helpless elderly generation whose members need constant care and attention. They are therefore not expected to take physically exerting roles as it is assumed that their bodies are too weak for such roles. Companies also discriminate against the elderly when they are hiring. Research has shown that old people who believe these stereotypes fulfill them.

Old people are also portrayed as having smaller thinking capacities. In fact, they are depicted as having the  mental capacity of a child. Due to their  restricted mental capacities,  old people are associated with many failures, a view which is perpetuated by the media. Elderly people are blamed for economic crises, collapsing banks and companies.

Young people, on the other hand, are portrayed as thieves, liars and trouble-makers. They are also associated more closely with drugs. Because of these anti-social stereotypes, young people are expected to have bad poor relationships with the older people, and in need of continuous advice from the elders on topics touching particularly on sex and drugs.

Stereotypes exist for different reasons. Some people use stereotypes to insult or despise a group they are not fond of. For instance, white people find it easy to stereotype as members of violent gangs. Others use stereotypes to tell between members of one group from the other, with no intention of malice. Although some stereotypes have some truth in them, others are based on falsities or fallacies.