Sociology

Hispanic Americans form the largest ethic minority group in the American nation. According to population statistics of 2008, the people of Hispanic origin formed an estimated 46.9 million or 15 of the total American population (Tate, 2008). There are various types of Hispanic American community, each of which boasts of its own unique cultural and social aspects. However, these Hispanic American groups have similarities of religion and language.

This essay seeks to identify the linguistic, political, social, economic, religious, and familial conventions or statuses of four Hispanic American groups. The paper takes a look at Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans and Dominican Republic. A summary of the similarities and differences of these Hispanic groups is also given.

First is the Puerto Rican community which forms an estimated 10 of the Hispanic Americans population (Ramirez, 2004). Owing to the fact that they hail from Puerto Rico nation which is a commonwealth of the America, its members are legally recognized as citizens of America (Tate, 2008). They therefore enjoy freedom of movement into the US. Still, due to the commonwealth status, most of its members are fluent in English, factor which gives them an added advantage over other nation. However, the group has Spanish as its primary language of communication.

In religion, the Puerto Ricans are predominantly Roman Catholic believers (Tate, 2008). Nevertheless, some of its members are protestant, particularly Methodist and Baptist, and even Muslims faith believers. Due to the fact that they are legally recognized as American citizens, Puerto Ricans are allowed to participate in American political activities except to vote in presidential elections (Schaefer, 2006). Puerto Ricans have a strong family as is depicted in the communal life they live. This, coupled with their strong religious background has been attributed to the high levels of friendliness. Such could also be seen as a factor to the low rates of divorce and abortion in this ethnic group.

Economically, the Puerto Ricans are economically established, a factor which can be closely attributed to their automatic citizens increasing their access to jobs (Tate, 2008). Another reason is the fact that they have a competitive advantage at the job market over other Hispanic communities due to their fluency in English (Schaefer, 2006). The American federal government exempts them from taxation thus maximizing their investment or job turnover.

Second is the Mexican Americans. The Hispanic ethnic group is the largest forming about 59 of the Hispanic American population which is estimated to be 9 of the overall American population (Tate, 2008). Mexican Americans have Spanish as their primary communicating language. However, most of their second and higher generations are quite fluent in speaking English thanks to the introduction of bilingual education in the community (Ramirez, 2004). This can also be associated to the eminent need for knowing English as a survival tool in the American nation. In American politics, the group is quite influential particularly due to their large population.

On religious issues, Mexican American population is dominantly made up of Roman Catholic believers (Schaefer, 2006). However, the group still has some protest believers. The group has noted be quite active in investment, a possible reason why most of its members are poor. Nevertheless, their large population is marked with almost all type of skilled and professionals personnel (Schaefer, 2006). It is due to this reason that the group enjoys a big share in the job market including holding position in federal government offices.

On family conventions, the groups upholds family bond as a core social structure (Schaefer, 2006). Indeed, it is why they are seen to treasure their extended families by living a communal life. However, family structures are currently changing due to economic hardships and increasing assimilation into the mainstream culture. This can be further supported by the fact that Mexican women are increasingly engaging in employment to support their families.

The third group is the Cuban Americans which a count 4 of the Hispanic American population (Pew Hispanic Center, 2006). Cuban Americans use primarily use Spanish for communication. Nevertheless, due to their quite for gaining an added advantage in the American job market, the most of its members are able to speak fluent English. The introduction of bilingual education has sufficiently helped in making second and higher generation more fluent in English.

The Cuban Americans are legally recognized as American citizens by the American constitution. They are therefore entailed to enjoy all American political rights including nomination of their own political leaders (Pew Hispanic Center, 2006). The group evidently practices conservative politics as is portrayed by its current representative in the House of Representatives. This ethnic group has been established as one of the most assimilated into the mainstream culture (Tate, 2008). However, despite this, they still uphold their strong family bond culture. This is evident from the unity they portray as a family.

Economically, the Cuban Americans are well established in entrepreneurship as well as in the formal employment sector (Pew Hispanic Center, 2006). The investment prosperity of this Hispanic American ethnic group can be evident in the fact that they have changed Miami into a modern city through business investment. Just to be noted is the fact that the group has a strong treasure for its culture as evident in the international recognition of Miami as city of Hispanic favorites (Tate, 2006). On religious matters, the community is made up a mixture of religions including even non-believers. However, Roman Catholic is the most common religious faith.

The fourth group is the Dominican Americans.  The group forms an estimated 3 of the Hispanic American population (Tate, 2008). The Dominican Americans just like other Hispanic American speak Spanish as their primary language. However, some members of the group particularly second and third generations can speak English fluently. This can be attributed by the need to adapt to the American culture as well as the introduction of bilingual education in the community. Members of this group are now becoming more politically active after the Dominican Republic nation enacted a law allowing for dual citizenships in 1994(Schaefer, 2006).

Most Dominicans living in American practice Roman Catholic faith with a minority practicing Protestant faith (Tate, 2008). The community is found to have a strong family bond. This has been cited as a contributing factor to their strong links back to their motherland. It has been established that most Dominicans living in America do not invest back home as a sign of commitment to family expectations. Dominicans believe in big families (Schaefer, 2006). However, with tough economic conditions, the trend is evidently changing.

Economically, the Dominican American community is generally poor (Tate, 2008). This has been closely attributed to the fact that most of its members are not legally recognized as American citizens (Schaefer, 2006). This gives them the disadvantage of failing to get quality jobs. Still, the group lacks strong political protection thus making its members unable to enjoy their labor rights. Their poor living status has also been attributed to the fact that they mainly invest back home rather than establishing investments in American.

In conclusion, the four Hispanic groups predominantly practice Roman Catholic faith (Tate, 2008). Other similarities include the eminent use of Spanish language as a primary language and the strong family culture common among the four groups.

The groups are however difference in their assimilation into the mainstream culture. Cuban Americans have been more assimilated compared to Dominicans (Schaefer, 2006). Another difference is investment practice where the Dominicans are the least compared to Cuban Americans. The last difference is the political influence where unlike Cubans, Puerto Ricans cannot vote for American president.

Durkheim believed that the causes behind the existence of religion should not be neglected without due investigation, as it is one of the most powerful social systems prevalent in society. He felt there was some human need that caused even the most irrational of religion rituals to exist, and thus Durkheim first questions what human motive formed religion. He began to uncover the factors behind the development of religion and its relation to evolution of human societies. He analyzed the common aspects of all religions, beginning from early aboriginal religions such as totemism, so as to trace the phenomenon from its roots. He considers religious practices to have evolved constantly with the growth of society. 

Durkheim also observes religions to have the same categories found in society, and thus believes that religious thought to be an extension of social groups. He points out how criminals and lunatics are treated differently by society even though intellect and morality are just two categories, morality seems to have more importance in society, in accordance with religious thought. Durkheim questions if religion and society have evolved by learning from its experiences of the past as per empiricist doctrine, or if such knowledge has been an integral part of the human intellect.

2) Connection between religion and society
Religion, according to Durkheim, was not merely a shared belief but an elementary source of social identity. Durkheim felt that all religions shared common ground in offering a feeling of collective security and emotional support to man. While the core of any religion is the concept of holding an entity sacred, practicing rituals to honor the sacred entity and prohibiting certain things as forbidden can be considered the origin of religious thought. The church was a group that shared these beliefs and ensured the members of the group adhered to those beliefs.

Religion, in its purest form, began when man started believing that only gods and spiritual beings outside of the perceivable world were sacred. Durkheim believed this stage marked the beginning of an era where society became an inseparable part of human existence. Therefore, the religion into which an individual is born into plays a vital role in defining a persons moral boundaries and structuring hisher value systems.

Hostility in the workplace has been cited as an emerging form of violence all over the world today whose significance cannot be overlooked. In the military the hostile environment is to a larger extent related to cultural and societal norms that have traditionally structured power, strength and abilities based on gender. The dominance of institutionalized power by men for a long time has established moral codes that are deeply embedded in our societies (Cockburn, 1991). Mens dominance and influential positions have guided in creation of laws and shaping of a culture that has continuously perpetuated power over and above their women counterparts. It is for this reason that gender power has become an important tool in examining and evaluating those considered able to exercise these powers and those who cannot. Military service is one such public institution that was established and has existed as male dominated service where demonstration of gender power is of particular interest. Military women have been faced by thrilling violence in their services and unbalanced gender power, abuse of authority and sexual harassment has been a common experience by many women serving in the military. The authorities within the military ranks do not seem to be able to guarantee safety for workers especially women who seek placement in the violent service. The procedure of reporting sexual offences committed by the military personnel has also not been effective. However there have been numerous reports of top army commanders being involved in sexual offences including rape and assault against their female junior personnel (Morgan, 1992). These revelations raise doubt on whether the serving military women enjoy their time of service in the military.

Cultural norms have taught that masculinity and strength are virtues preserved for men making it difficult for women to survive in institutions dominated my men (Dawkins, 1976). The absence of women in such institutions further puts doubts on the ability of women to stage equivalent performances in such institutions a circumstance that is again blamed to their inherent sex rather than to the source. This scenario has characterized the military services all over the world with combat roles and performance expectations based on gender. Unfortunately our societies attributed masculinity exclusively to male gender and once the women from the contemporary societies prove their abilities and willingness to join the male dominated military service, they are greeted by a host of gender based restrictions that force them to remain tethered to junior military ranks. Gender limits are societal shaped and have no biological bases and masculinity attributes necessary for military combat can be developed by either sex (Pleck, 1981). Efforts to eliminate sexual harassment and gender based biases against women in the military can work out positively towards developing job satisfaction, commitment and high retention for women already in the forces. The results would be having more women role models in the forces and a high enrolment by younger women in the service a scenario that work out towards having gender equity in military (Enloe, 1980).

Introduction
In our modern days there is a big number of women serving in the military than it has ever occurred in the past years. The number however is still low compared to the population of men in the forces. Military is considered a male domain and the women who enroll in the service are considered to be masculine and daring. Though the military culture has been evolving over a long time, the perception of women in the army has never failed to be controversial. The cultural norms and beliefs in the military have not fully accorded a woman the position equivalent to man. As a result the women minorities in the military have always had unique challenges that are only particular to their careers in the force (Brown, 1993). The challenges facing these women is usually due to the fact that the military is largely dominated by men, the combat operations are considered stereotypically men duties and their number is low. The situation encourages unfair treatment of women in work related biases and sexual harassment by their men counterparts including their senior commandants. Considering the privacy associated with the military operations, very little is documented about the problems that are faced by women by independent external researchers. The offences committed within the forces are normally supposed to be investigated by the military official who been accused of favoritism when dealing with sexual related offences. Having established that the military culture has been unfriendly to the women officers, questions have been live on how the culture can bee revolutionized to match the civilian culture in the jobs that were traditionally men dominated. The extent at which these challenges affect the productivity, commitment, organization and commitment of the military women in their line of duties is also a matter of interest. In addition the culture has restricted the involvement of women some important military operation like combat a fact that has made the promotion to higher military ranks be gender biased because it is based on combat experiences.

Though recent reports indicates that sexual harassment and gender related biases are decreasing, the question of establishing the implications of military culture on the perception of military women has become more important due to the increased number of women enrolling in the military. It is important that the impact of these perceptions be examined against the prior expectations of the women recruits and the performance of the serving officers. Though there have been more strict policies to check the worrying trends of sexual harassment in the military there are fears that the claims of reduced cases may not be factual. This is because of lack of protection for those women who report such cases for they risk loosing their jobs and being branded as trouble makers. The victims may fear the formal process of staging complains because it may also prove counterproductive. Considering the level of comradeship that is necessary at the battle fields some times this fear could be founded and ways of resolving it may prove complex.

Thesis
This paper examines the military culture and male dominance with an aim of evaluating its impact on the acceptability of women to rise up in the military ranks, their job satisfaction, commitment and propensity in the military. The paper further relates the sexual abuse and harassment against women in military to their entry and retention in the forces.

Literature Review
Women have had a role to play in the military service where they usually disguise themselves so as to look like men. The service of women during the World War 1 as nurses and typewriters played a big role in the spirit of the war. However, being a male dominated field, women have always been faced with difficulties in rising up the ranks a fact that may contribute to propensity to leave the forces. Government policies have also been restrictive in the exact involvements of women in the forces a fact that was effectively limiting the possible rise that a women could have within the military hierarchy. The military rules also prohibited women from getting married or becoming married and any one contravening such rules could be permanently expelled from the forces. The hostile working environment and unfriendly policies lowered significantly the retention levels of women in the military services making it difficult for a woman to serve for a period long enough to rise up the military ranks. This led to lack of role models for the young women joining the forces who thought of themselves as being servants in the lower ranks only with no opportunities to ever get promoted.

There were women stereotypes in the early services that had also portrayed a negative image of women in the war fronts a fact that influenced the decisions to be made biased on their involvement (Baker, 2006). For instance, before the World War II the cost of sustaining one woman typist could be enough to sustain two men typists. There was also a general assumption that women physical characteristics were prohibitive for them to handle some of the field operations in the war field (Tolson, 1977). There was also the issue of men claiming that they could not take military related orders from a woman senior officer. In addition women were also frustrated by the fact that the senior ranked military male officers did not offer consistent support that was necessary for them to cope (Brittan, 1989).

The service of women in the military at whichever lever has however been very crucial and is said to have always played a significant role to the outcome of war. This is because women have always had an inherent desire and commitment to offer excellent service to their countries (Brown and Fielding, 1993). For instance, Albert Speer (Hitlers senior Weapons officer) attributed the whole outcome of the World War II to the critical support from women that facilitated freeing of men for combat operations.

Military Women and Leadership Concepts
It is clear that the commitment and job satisfaction for the women can be derived from the opportunity to serve in unrestricted environment where the performance is rewarded with promotion just like with men. Any contrary effort is counter productive and it may lead to increased propensity for women to leave the forces for lack of opportunities to assume leadership roles (De Pauw, 1981). Leadership concepts apply the same with the civilian as with the military and it is important to comprehend how the military culture is integrated in the leadership theories and concepts particularly in shaping the perception of military women as leaders. Leadership process involves the ability to influence people towards achieving predetermined organizational goals. An effective leader especially in the militarys complex and hostile environment needs to develop special skills in quick decision making, effective communication and proper planning.

There are three leadership styles including Laissez faire, democracy and authoritarian leadership. Authoritarian leadership is mainly associated with military and it involves a leader who completely dominates the people being led. In the democratic style of leadership the leader considers the opinions of the others before making decisions. In laissez faire the leader is not taken responsible in the goal organizational goal achievement. A closer look at the militarys leadership styles reveals that the most successful military leaders did not use strict authoritarian rule but actually borrowed much from the democratic style of leadership (Dienstfrey, 1988).

In history a culture has existed where men have been regarded as leaders and women as the subordinate. This resulted to gender stereotypes where women leadership could be seen as mistaken and inappropriate. The perception inculcated a belief that also permeated to the military where both men and women found it unusual to be ordered by women. As such women were consistently locked out from leadership positions and therefore failed to comprehend the complex structures especially in the male dominated institutions. It is however important for those women that aspire to join the military to understand fully its corporate structure and get committed to set role models in the forces that can be used by other young females that could have similar ambitions. In all sectors of society a lot of work to eliminate discriminatory policies against women leadership is going on and many women are rising up to the challenges of top leadership and responsibilities with outstanding performances (Oakley, 1972).

As the integration of women continues in various sectors much more is expected from the military women leadership that would end the long debates on effectiveness and appropriateness of a woman military leader.

Traditional military leadership is understood and evaluated on the outcome of war and therefore the military leaders usually have an uphill task of being an example to motivate others in risking their own life in efforts to accomplish their objectives. Battle fields are characterized by uncertainty and authoritarian style of leadership is used for the leader is required to make quick decisions and expect fast responses from the troops. There is therefore no room for democracy in a war situation but such a style of leadership can still be effectively used outside the war zone. For effective military leadership loyalty by both the leader and the troops is a key element and such loyalty is nurtured outside the battlefields by use of democratic leadership styles.

The Military Culture
For a long time the military culture laid down limits beyond which a military woman could essentially never penetrate. Considering that these cultural norms and limits were largely shaped and articulated by men, women could be left at vulnerable positions. The vulnerability of women did not only come out as a result of the junior positions that they held far too long but also due to their low numbers in the military compared to their male counterparts (Elshtain and Tobias, 1990). However there has been a paradigm shift in the military culture where nations are undergoing changes in cultural norms to give room for changes in the military cultures. According to Dunivin (1997), such paradigm shifts are significant because they allow the military models to evolve and accommodate the realities of a dynamic world. The traditional military models were characterized by exclusions of the minority women from active participation in important military operations or limit the extent of their involvement. The evolving model is becoming more accommodating to the minority women with a number of the traditional cultural variables changing for the better as dictated by the dynamics of the society. Table 1 below summarizes the paradigm shift for some of the affected cultural variables (Dunivin, 1997).

The current social changes have led to emergence of controversial issues both in gay involvement in military and women in combat that continue to raise debates because they contravene the militarys traditional culture. The past involvement of women in combat has however proved that qualified females performance is just as competent and professional like their male counterparts. For example, during the gulf war of 1991 more than 40,000 military women who were part of the US combat force staged a distinct performance that made Richard Cheney (defense secretary) attribute the profound victory to them. This outstanding performance by women led to the formation of a special presidential commission to evaluate the laws that restricted military women from similar operations. The commission gathered views from two opposing camps the traditionalists and the evolutionists. The traditionalists viewed women as the weaker sex and recommended limited participation in the military like nursing and other support services. Evolutionists in the other hand viewed women as equal partners to men and therefore recommended their full integration in the military including combat operations. According to evolutionists any form of deviation of womens opportunities and responsibilities from that of their men counterparts in the military was to be considered as act of discrimination (Goldstein, 2001).

Though the military culture on women involvement in combat has been dogged by controversies, the recent controversy of allowing self declared gay men in the military has to some extent softened the hardliners stand on women. Many of the traditionalists who had vigorously campaigned against full involvement of womens in the military would rather have those women than the gay men. According to the evolved military model (Table 1), the military culture defines the military team as combat, masculine warriors, a definition that effectively locks both women (non-combats) and gay men (non-masculine) out of the desired team. The fact that many women with relevant training have proved themselves capable for combat operations is one major factor that softens the stance on womens involvement (Herbert, 1998). Some observers have however argued that the portraying of soldering as hyper masculine is a distorted view that has the potential of turning off committed and qualified recruits. The military culture should instead shift and center on the critical professional aspects of military rather than on ideals of masculinity. However military culture just like any other cultural belief, is difficult to change for it is engraved in attitudes that are much more static than the institutional structures that only reflect the inherent cultural values.

Any successful paradigm shift in the military culture should start with radical social changes that should embrace new beliefs and give room for generation of new ideas. In the recent times a culture of inclusion is obvious in most of the military forces around the world. With advancement and campaigns for democratic societies around the world, the traditional military culture may not survive. The military that will oppose the paradigm shift towards more inclusive society shall be risking being divorced by the very society that they serve (Higate, 2003). It is therefore important that the military top authorities understand the necessity of the call for the paradigm shift and facilitate the implementation of the evolved culture that is generally acceptable by the modern society.  It is however the responsibility of the entire society to ensure a successful shift to an evolved culture. The change must reflect acceptance of alteration to values and beliefs that would characterize the new beliefs. Paradigm pioneers should be able to demonstrate full comprehension of the uniqueness in the idea of the evolving paradigm. The pioneers must also be ready to defend the unpopular views of the changed culture among radical critics that may be opposed to change. Finally they should be committed to work out the idea through the entire process until the fruits are realized without having options for failure. A paradigm shift is a process that takes time and commitments to institute important changes to a static society and it therefore calls for pioneer attitudes and courageous leaders to succeed especially in the military. To put a military paradigm shift into operation, the responsible commandants should assess the existing traditional combat and identify the weak points of need that require changes to conform to the modern evolved systems of inclusion . The combat workforce for example should reflect the inclusion of the current allowable minimum members of the enlisted military officers to carry out combat operations. The military should also allow for involvement of its enlisted women officers to activities like peace keeping missions and humanitarian assistances like it was witnessed recently in Haiti earthquake disaster.

Acceptability of women in high Military ranks
The promotion of military men and women is mainly based on their bravely acts they did in the service of the nation. Such opportunity can be awarded to those who have accumulated vast experiences in combat operations. However, for a long time combat operations have been considered stereotypically men activities and participation of women in such operations have remained a contentious issue and it is being debated all around the world. The total exclusion of women from combat has been considered as an act of discrimination by many and as a way of denying chances for women to rise up through the military ranks (Mitchell, 1989). Those arguing against the involvement of women in combat operations have cited physical and emotional variations between the two sexes as the reasons for the exclusions. It has been argued that involving women as the weaker sex in the combat operation would lead to increased casualties at the battle field and would lead to many of the women soldiers being captured and tortured as war captives by the enemies. Other critics suggest that having the two sexes in the battle field would increase the sexual activities by the troops a fact that may disrupt their sensitivity to attacks from the enemy troops. Some countries have however used their women in combat operations in front lines at numerous occasions. For instance 800,000 women were in the service of the Soviet military in the entire World War II with almost 70 of them serving at the front line at one time or the other (Mitchell, 1989). Leigh Ann H. is another example of a woman US soldier who was recognized with a silver star for having directly participated in combat operations. Though many countries allow women in the military only a few of them allow them to participate in active combat operations. Some of the countries that allow the woman to get involved in active combat operations positions include Israel, Germany, France and Canada. UK allows military women to only offer services at the artilleries during combat while US allows them to participate in most of the combat flying operations.

Though the debate is going on in many countries around the world on whether to fully allow qualified women in combat operations, the issue remains a hindrance to those already serving and ready to build their career in combat. It would be difficult to have unanimous acceptance of the women participate in the all military operation as men (Sasson, 2003). Some military men still have difficult taking orders from women senior commandant and would not approve any effort that would earn them opportunities to be promoted. Based on the professionalism of the women that have been involved in combat operations in the past, it is clear that any qualified person regardless of the gender can successfully participate in the combat operations if heshe is motivated enough to do so. It is important that the relevant authorities remove the restrictions and open a clear path for the committed women officers so that their dream as military officers can bear fruits and earn them satisfaction.

Sexual Harassment of Military Women
There has been renewed attention in the handling of cases of sexual abuse and harassment committed against women in the military since the US Tailhook episode where a total of 26 women were reported to have been assaulted in 1991 (Sagawa and Campbell, 1992). Though many cases of sexual assaults have been going unreported many women are now coming out to report after special units to address the problem were established. During the gulf war 24 US military women reported sexual harassment from their counterpart amongst them the high ranking commanders (Sagawa and Campbell, 1992). The involvement of senior ranking men soldiers in sexual abuse and harassment has complicated the issue of investigation into the womens allegation as they are the ones that the cases are reported to. A study carried out by MDC (Man Power Data Center) in US revealed that military women had lost faith in both militarys formal and informal grievance handling programs. Only 40 of those interviewed thought that the military would successfully address sexual related abuses. 38 could not report sexual harassment instances for fear of invoking unpleasant working relationships, 33 could not report for fear of being segregated as a trouble maker. According to the MDC report, sexual harassment was reported in all the military forces with the marines reporting the highest rates of 75, army 68, Navy 66, and Air force 57 (Sagawa and Campbell, 1992).

One of the reasons as to why the sexual harassment cases have been in the rise in the military is because there have been no adequate and effective policies to tackle the problem (Martindale, 1991). In addition cultural norms and beliefs have been blamed for the increased sexual harassment in the military forces which also restricts women from involvement in combat operations. These biases and mistaken cultural beliefs perpetuate a view of women as inferior to men and should therefore tolerate certain treatments from the superior gender. The low number of women in the military performing duties that are generally perceived to belong to men and under close supervision by male officers creates a hostile environment for the minority gender. This situation can easily create room for sexual abuse and related discrimination (Martindale, 1991).

Harassment problems and restricted upward mobility for women officers has continued to add propensity for military women to leave the force. High ranking jobs are given to those with experience in combat operations and the women are rarely approved to participate in such duties making their chances for promotion very limited. This essentially means that those senior officers that are supposed to mediate in sexual related abuses against women are men who may not understand the gravity of the situation or may play down the problem for having been culprits in similar offences (Loy and Stewart, 1984). Such discouraging response from the leaders may either result to the women victims contending to the habit without reporting them or leaving the forces. Policies and laws that prevent lesbians and gays from joining the disciplined forces may also contribute to sexual harassment within the military. Women who dont give in to sexual demands from men may be accused of practicing lesbianism which is considered a serious misconduct for a military officer and lead to thorough investigation of the accused, a process which is usually very depressing. Such woman who is put under investigation may never recover emotionally even if investigation reports were to prove that she was not a lesbian.

Sexual harassment among the military is complicated by the fact that the victims cannot easily seek the intervention of the federal courts due to strict rules within the military system. Though the civilian definition of the sexual harassment is similar to that given by the military, a civilian woman has the right to directly seek the intervention of the courts to have the problem addressed. The military sexual abuse victims normally pursue their grievances through informal procedures where they report the case to a senior officer in their command, or a social officer. The issue is supposed to be investigated by the commanding officer and appropriate action taken against the culprits. If the victim is not satisfied by the verdict given she can always refer the case to the Inspector general for a fresh investigation but the final word is always given by the commanding officer. A formal procedure can also be applied where the victim can launch a complaint through the command chains in the military to the relevant legal officers this is a complex process and is rarely used. The victims are therefore forced by circumstances to rely on the men dominated chain of military command to get justice. The verdict therefore would be subject to the personal and moral uprightness of the officers handling the case. In a number of cases the officers handling the case could be in favor of the male officer accused of sexual harassment and the verdict might be done in his favor leaving the woman in the cold. At the same time if the senior commanding officer is also the kind that practices sexual harassment like the accused may not give the case the seriousness that it deserves and may in most cases drop out the case without satisfying the victim. Usually the victim has no right to seek or establish independent investigation and cannot ask for written copies of the finding. The launch of complain also does not guarantee that the case would be completed without being dismissed somewhere along the chains of command.

In cases where sexual harassment cases are ruled in favor of a victim, the options for compensating the victim and punishing the accused are again very limited as compared to similar civilian cases. Records on punishment of the perpetrators and redress of sexual harassment victims are usually not preserved and therefore monitoring the trend of such cases at any given time is difficult. However severe punishment of the perpetrators of sexual harassment and compensation of the victims is rare actually, the military women who are victims of sexual harassment are usually transferred from their stations leaving the offenders behind with no records to show their misconduct.

Job Satisfaction, Commitment and Propensity of Military Women
From the discussions it is clear that the male dominated military culture has some adverse effects the operations of women in the military. The culture has shaped the perception of the women to be viewed as second class officers who cannot participate in all military operations. While the women join and train to tackle all operations in the battle field, their restriction to simple operations can be quite demotivating. Though patriotism may be a driving force to joining military, many of the military workers leave civilian opportunities to join the military forces because of the high salaries and benefits associated with the forces. The financial benefits in the military however depend on the frequency of involvements in active military operations. Depending on the way they are handled financial issues can therefore be motivating or demotivating factors that can affect job related operations. Many workers define job satisfaction as that which can be able to offer financial freedom. Due to restrictions to participate in some of the operations women are only able to attract low financial benefits besides their low remunerations compared to their male counterparts. This may be cited as a major cause of job dissatisfaction among military women that has contributed to high attrition rates of the military women from the forces.

Position in the military ranks is another factor that can greatly affect the motivation levels of military workers. In the military working environment, ranks especially for women officers are greatly affected by the culture that is biased against women. A great number of men still feel that it is not appropriate for women to give orders to men. For this reason the majority of women remain under the command of male senior counterparts who could have joined the forces long after they joined. This is truly very demotivating and may greatly cut on the commitment of the officers. Cultural shifts that would allow merit based promotions that would not consider gender issues are very much welcome in the forces and it has raised the morale and commitment of women officers in countries where it is operational. Israel for example has opened up the ranks up to 83 to men and women by merit women can however not rise up beyond the given top mark (Van, 2001). The culture that allows for treatment of military women as second class officers both in battle field and in time of peace does not auger very well with the affected gender. Sexual harassment and biases against women is another factor that the military culture should eliminate to ensure that productivity of women is maintained at the peak. Sexual harassment affects the emotions of the victim and such a person may not be able to perform her duties normally. Researches show that most of women that are harassed at their place of work develop a liking to want to leave that particular organization. Finally the low number of women in the military can cause nostalgic feeling to women that can generate propensity to leave the forces when the problem is compounded by the other factors (Schneider et al, 1992). It can therefore be seen that the high attrition levels in military women from the forces is caused by the old fashioned male dominated military culture that has no place for women. The current paradigm shifts being witnessed in the military forces are dropping the traditional beliefs on perception of women as non-performers. This move will help the women in uniform to attain job satisfaction and remain in the forces for longer periods of time.

Recommendations
To promote job satisfaction, commitment, retention and productivity of the military women it is important that the officers in the high ranking military offices take serious actions in enforcing policies that would reduce if not eliminate sexual harassment among the uniformed women officers. This action would ensure that the military women work in a calm environment without feeling of being misused by their male counterparts. The policies would also ensure that the women military officers are kept away from emotional torture that come with sexual related assaults like rape. This would also reduce on the time wasted by victims of sexual harassments, their perpetrators and senior commandants addressing cases instead of focusing on more important issues. The policies must also protect the victims that report harassment cases and hold the commanding officers strictly accountable for all sexual abuse cases occurring in their command. This would give assurance for job security and ensure all the cases are reported. Failure to protect the victims could lead to many cases going unreported a situation that would eventually explode with many women having gone through unbearable and traumatizing experiences.

The laws and policies that restrict women from accessing positions that they have qualified for should be considered for amendment. Promotion of women to higher ranks will be an important move to end the military culture that views female gender as inferior. The hope for greener pastures for women within the military services is a motivation factor that would ensure that they remain within the forces for longer periods just like their male counterparts. An increased number of motivated female military officers in the force is by itself a testimony of a successful culture of inclusion that would attract more women into the military. A rise in military women would further cultivate a culture of inclusion and the military service would not be viewed as a man domain.

The victims of sexual harassment in the military should enjoy protection similar to that of the civilian victims and every military base should have appropriate health facilities to assist rape victims and carry out initial medical investigation. The lack of compensation of victims discourages many victims from reporting the sexual assaults because they is nothing to gain from the pursuance for justice and the perpetrator may also end up unpunished. All the military and health workers should take relevant courses to be able to respond professionally to such cases whenever they occur. They should be able to correct and preserve evidence immediately after the act to ensure that the perpetrator does not escape for lack of enough evidence. Restoring and maintaining long term confidence in the military service therefore calls for consultative efforts by governments executive and legislative authorities, senior and junior (men and women) military service workers and other military support staff.

Conclusion
It has been seen that the military culture has played an important role in not only shaping the perception of women in the armed forces but also in determining their position in the army. Historically the military had embraced a male dominated traditional culture that excluded others from the army. With the emerging egalitarian societies this traditional culture is rapidly giving way to an inclusive evolved culture that would allow the involvement of women in military operations including combat. Though the issue of involving women in combat operations has raised heated debates around the world it seems that it is the way that to go based on the paradigm shift that is sweeping through many of the military bases. Many policies have been implemented to allow for inclusion of the women in the forces and protect them from intimidation, biases and sexual harassments that have been affecting their productivity, job satisfaction and commitment in the forces.

The process to institutionalize the new social changes in the military culture is faced by stiff opposition from the traditionalists who feel that women should remain in their feminine duties and leave the military operations to men. The introduction of gay issues into the inclusive culture seems to soften the traditionalist stance on woman involvement in the military and now the hot battle is in the opposition against the inclusion of homosexuals in the military. The military operations conducted by women in the past have proved their capabilities and professionalism in challenging battle fields including direct combat operations. A paradigm shift in the military is now certain but the promoters must work on it prudently so that it can stand the stiff opposition that is expected to emerge in future. The shift must therefore allow for changes that will allow inclusion and active participation of women and change the inherent perceptions promoted by the traditional culture. This can be done by altering the current combat male image, embracing and managing the current social changes and accepting both the institutionalized and individualized responsibilities for the paradigm shift.

In her article titled The Gender of Sovereignty, (2008, p.1) Lisa Lowe states current definitions for state sovereignty date back to the Treaty of Westphalia (1713). At that time it was assumed that state sovereignty should provide special rights for contemporary nation states to govern their people and territories. The United States Constitution was crafted to reflect this mindset. Providing special rights outside of regular law has presented some problems, both for the people and her government. For example, under the newly titled war on terror those original rights of governance afforded under our Constitution have been appended to include the largely unilateral US invasion in Iraq, as well as, our seemingly endless occupation in Afghanistan. At other times throughout our history this appendage has attempted to mitigate, or perhaps even reverse, the flow of illegal aliens into the USA.  Applying a feminist lens to this scenario Lisa Lowe suggests this may be movement via special policy toward a new world order. 

As one example of supporting data for this new world order argument Lisa Lowe (2008, p.2) proposes the fence and beefed-up border presence along the US border between US territories and Mexico. This particular governmental stance was supposed to help remedy to the immigration crisis post 911 when there was a certain hysteria about our porous borders. This knee jerk reaction has recurred over the years, sometimes with the same players and at other times differing crisis partners. While on the surface this may seem like a good policy to adopt it has failed to address issues of a transnational nature especially in the agribusiness and service sectors that have largely been filled by this unchecked influx of cheap Mexican labor. Oftentimes, these policies have been at odds with those directives issued under Immigration and Naturalization and border patrol.

Data regarding the unilateral decision to go to war in Iraq was more about control of valuable resources than political response to US territorial threat to sovereignty in the post 911 USA. (Lowe, 2008, p.2) In the oil and gas arena the USA stands way behind other nations in production, refining, and overall GDP. Control of oil and gas on the world markets would go a long way toward the US to becoming more competitive with China and Asia. In retrospect embarking on this war has been costly, both in terms of dollars spent annually and lives lost in pursuit of the Taliban. It can also be argued that the huge outlay of cash in this endeavor may have precipitated our economic tsunami which occurred in the Fall of 2008. A secondary problem with this line of warmongering logic is the destabilization of the entire Middle Eastern region.

Academic discourse, thus far, have been shaped by using a political science lens to address emergence of transnational governance. The biopolitical nature of this discourse is that borders and governance have been blurred and focus has been on populations instead. (Lowe, 2008, pgs.3-4) This has been beneficial, in that it has helped rationalize actions taken under the war on terror and immigration crisis. However, to neglect to point out the bad side of this rationalization is that this mindset perpetuates fear of our citizenry, has abrogated civil rights for detainees in Gitmo, promulgated false patriotism, and given military unilateralism political equality over social injustice. 

Andrea Smith Sovereignty Argument
Andrea Smith argues that we must include the Native American women in scholastic discourse or attach no feminist theory to the arguments that already exist. (2008, p.309) She endeavors to open our eyes to the struggles of current female organizers in this realm of social injustices.

On the notion of nation-state Smith prefers the Judith Butler definition of nation-state sovereignty. Judith Butler indicates that sovereignty provides nation-state with absolute power legitimacy. (2008, p.309-10) It is because of this absolute power in the name of sovereignty that governments can negate laws designed to serve otherwise in civil, military, and international matters. Smith hypothecates that this absolute power is where leaders deem it is prudent to imprison some without trial. Smith concludes that this was the case with regard to actions taken under George W. Bushs presidency in reference to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and the detainees held there without benefit of legal counsel, without official charges being levied against them, or right to trial. Butler contends that these actions wereare unconstitutional and only served to grind down our democracy and civil rights.

Smiths argument is supported by Sora Han, legal scholar. Han contends that the U.S. Constitution provides remedy for government to proscribe laws above those of her citizenry. (2008, p.310) If that theory holds true then we must also be able to ascertain that the selective use of genocide of certain segments of her citizenry, (i.e. Native Americans, women, blacks), provide foundation and cover for the Constitution as story about origin. David Kazanjian terms using the Constitution as origin story and then applying it to actions taken under Bush as a colonizing trick. This type of political duality has helped to divide the governing parties leaving the left and right at odds regarding how this country was constructed and intended to be governed. (p.311) Liberal ideals state that the Constitution was built on democratic principles and the conservative doctrine upholds capitalism, white supremacy, and colonialism as the pillars of same.

Smith states (2008, p.312) that if we could for a moment forget the US exists and that there are other forms of governance around the globe we might further the argument about nation-state sovereignty from the feminist perspective and otherwise. She posits that nation states are governed by heteropatriarchy, coercion, control, and dominion of territory above all else. In contrast, indigenous nationhood fosters shared responsibility and caring for her people. If we fail to act responsibly or challenge this ill-fated line of logic we are only perpetuating heteropatriarchy as the norm. (p.313)

Paramount in combating the heteropatriarchial argument is the need for sustainable and collaborative processes whereby we can, as a world community, share our triumphs, failures, and struggles.

Conclusion
There are three perspectives which shared philosophies overall. The end result is basically the same in that we need to challenge the nation-state sovereignty status quo by continuing to change the dialogue to include the feminist and Native American perspectiveslens such that our world governments work better for people.

Jennifer Denetdale on Dine Marriage Act
While there are some similarities between the previous two authors, and to some degree even Ms. Dentendales definition, on the topic of national sovereignty Jennifer Denetdales argument differs in that it adds the tribal sovereignty and thirdfourth gender roles in Native American folklore twist to the mix. (2008, pgs.1-4) Denetdale highlights how the Native Americans have been marginalized time and again by White American leadership in America and yet throughout this tumultuous history the Native Americans have proven to be quite patriotic, as in numbers enrolled in our military service serving at home and abroad. Native American men and women alike have joined in safeguarding America and Americans on foreign and domestic soil. Many scholars see this movement and adoption of American tradition as Americanization or proof of assimilation into American society. Native Americans have reaped some rewards from this cultural connection in that they, via military service and other nuances of the American culture. Military service is largely seen as being a significant milestone in achievement of manhood, status, and pride. Paul Rosier calls this hybrid patriotism. Cherokee scholar, Jennette Hayes Writer (p.4-5) suggests that by studying the connection between American colonialism and Native American patriotism we might unearth some of the historical trends that have contributed to American imperialism.

The Dine Marriage Act in the Native American community was about defining marriage as between a man and a woman. (Denetdale, 2008, pgs.5-6) This particular Act has similar connections to those sought and upheld under the Presidency of George W. Bush where the same matter came under the legislative microscope. Previously, the Native American people had folklore that perpetuated and described a thirdforth sexgender called the nahleehi. This nadleehi or hermaphrodite was first described to the Western world in the 1930s by anthropologist, W.W. Hill. Nadleehi were noted as being first class weavers, as well as, harmonizers between men and women, especially in times of conflict or unrest.

Managing personalities and agendas of others can be a very daunting task at times not to mention, downright impossible to resolve. For example, my best friend decided to encourage the employment of a female acquaintenance within the same department hes employed. Little did we know their personal issues would spill-over into the workplace Within a matter of weeks conflicts of interest were spreading like an epidemic from one department to another. I eventually found myself in a mediator position struggling to savage my best friends job and possibly others who were being affected by their conflict.

From a consult team perspective an effective manner or approach could be sought in a variety of ways when dealing with conflict resolution. One in particular would be through first discovering, understanding and addressing the issues in a serious manner. Secondly, a consult team could establish a forum for the purpose of sharing concerns as well as addressing questions with viable solutions. Most importantly, every issue should be addressed wholeheartedly and not taken lightly.

A vitalist is virtually someone who believes life is not predicated upon the laws of physics or chemistry but is somewhat self-determining. With that said and based upon my readings it would impossible to not conclude that those who oppose artificial nutrition and hydration are indeed vitalist. Case in point, there are such goals practiced by theorist and activists which can only be accomplished by helping individuals discover that changing health conditions as well as impaired cognition shouldnt be a recipe for pulling the cord on any human being.

If the 4-D model of ethical decision-making has to be applied, we must first identify a problem then apply the proper code of ethics as well as determine the temperament and magnitude of the situation while generating a potential course of action thats capable of being evaluated and implemented without harm. Whats important to remember under such conditions is that different professionals may apply a slightly different course of action thereby creating the possibility of value differences and usually theres never one particular answer to such a complex ethical situation as was the case involving Terry Schiavo. Nevertheless, if the 4-D model is followed, it would assure that a professional explanation can be given for the chose course of action.

The existence of global society and global citizenship is rather controversial due to the lack of clear demarcations of the boundaries governing each.  However, the discussion held here in will elaborate some key points on whether there is or not, a global society or global citizenship. A global society can be viewed as the integration of all or many societies of the world to form a single society and this is the anticipation of globalization.  Business entities are uniting to form regional trade groups and these have the intention of global trade interaction.  There are also some non governmental organizations as well as the humanitarian groups that have united to fight for the union of the world communities with the aim of achieving global peace among the societies, thus, this would be described as a global society.

The formation of a global society is facing trouble and opposition especially when the humanitarian groups are fighting for global peace and the political groups of the world are competing in terms of political powers that make some of the nations to use the weapons of mass destruction in wars Also, what is worse is the lack of national security that defies the presence of world peace (Gerard, 15).

The formation of a global society is a hot debate in most of the international forums. 
Globalization is feared for the effect of corporations that will result to environmental degradation global warming, lack of political accountability to the worlds responsibility toward the support of humanity and the environment as a whole.  However, this does not bar globalization which is progressively taking route since the 1970s and has since then transcended some political and ethnic boundaries, breaking down cultures and creating global cultures.  These kinds of associations are likely to result in the formation of global society whose culture in a hybrid of all cultures of the world.  The development in communication skills, technological developments that have resulted in the internet connectivity, availability of electronic money transfer systems are hastening globalization (Anthony, 5).  The development of the global society threatens the retention of ethnicity, religious affiliations, as well as resulting to insecurity and increased crime rate  at global level due to lack of sovereignty by some nations.
 
On the other hand, focusing on global citizenship, people can say that they are global citizens while others stick to there national citizenry.  The two global and national citizens are not the same although some people may qualify for either or both depending on their current state and nature of citizenship.  In order to be able to define whether there is or not a global citizen, it is important to start from the known to the unknown.  That is let me define a national citizen first.

National citizenship is a state in which one belongs to a certain country, in which heshe has full rights to life and that they can live any where in the nation. Additionally, they can vote and can also associate freely with different people of their nation. They have the freedom of expression as well as of worship among other stipulated rights as dictated by the nations constitution.  Citizenship of one country is not similar to the citizenship of another because different States describe citizenship differently (Darren, 26).  For example, if one has the citizenship of one country they can not claim their right of expression or life from another country.  One has freedom of movement within and without hisher country that only applies to their own country but not another. 

Citizenship for example in United States of America can be earned by birth, naturalization, derivative citizenship as well as the acquired citizenship.  Citizenship by birth is achieved by the virtue of being born in a particular country.  To become a citizen by naturalization, one has to apply for the citizenship but before they are approved for it they must meet the set requirements for naturalization.  With effect from the offer of citizenship to the United States of America by naturalization, their children may automatically become citizens of the U.S by the derivative means and this depends on the date of naturalization approval. However, these children must be below 18 years of age to before the date of naturalization otherwise they should apply for citizenship by naturalization (Keane, 14). 

One may also be a citizen through acquiring it if they were not born in the United States but only if either of their parents were U.S citizens at the time of birth. However, this may have to be followed up at the immigration offices to ensure that one has the right to live in the U.S.   If one is living in the U.S, they must always have their passports or the green cards with them in order to be able to prove that they are the rightful citizens of the States.  It is also possible for one to have dual citizenship, if they are allowed to retain citizenship of their original country or even they can still apply for dual citizenship depending on the nations described and the nature of duty that mandates them to (Frost, 31). A citizen of a certain State or nation is obliged to pay taxation, vote freely, obey to the laws of the country, they can serve in the court of law, they cane also serve in the armed forces of the nation as well as in the political participation among other Statutory obligations. 

In some cases, their other inferred descriptions of citizenships from the humanitarian act like having the mandate to rescue people by giving them relief in an immigration camp where there are people of all walks of life who need assistance.  Community participation activities like voluntary services could grant one a form of citizenship that is not associated directly to a certain nation or State. In this case, the citizenship is defined by the mandate or role that one holds in that community rather than is the case of national citizenship, in which one may be associated to the rights that the State should offers.  Since the 1990s, it is easy for one to identify themselves as global citizens by the virtue of obligation rather than the rights they claim for (Gerard, 39). According to the UBC mission statement which recognizes students obligations as global citizens, it converts the meaning of citizenship in to subjective obligation rather than the fight for human rights from the State. 

Global citizen could be that person who is well versed with international matters and has free interaction with press or media form all over the world. They could also attend international seminars and fellowships, interact with nongovernmental and governmental forums, work under various political systems of the world, be well traveled and widely read in numerous spheres of life in the world.  They can fit well in vast varieties of cultures, environments and location and negotiation tables of the world.  They holistically appreciate the diversification of the globe.

Take for instance some one working with the United Nations program where at certain durations they are in the United States and the following month they are offering assistance at Sudan in Africa. after a few days on, they are in Afghanistan offering relief at a battle field yet after a few weeks they travel to Haiti for the salvation of another group of souls.  This person qualifies to be called a global citizen even though there is nothing like global governance to which they would claim their Statehood or rights (Keane, 67).

Another case of a global citizen would be a stateless person who loses citizenship of his country of origin upon the application of citizenship to another country yet after some time their rights of citizenship to destination are cancelled upon a realization that they had a wrong entry to the destination. In this case, they may be lacking citizenship of any of the nations and thus may be referred as global citizens.  Unfortunately, the majority of stateless persons languish in poverty  and starvation because they cannot claim for the rights of education, freedom of expression, or ownership of property among other rights, from any government and that there is also no global citizenry that has a distinguished governance. 

Therefore, in reality, there is a literal or inferred meaning of a global citizen but not legislatively recognized global citizenship.  Also, a global society is yet to get prominence as globalization takes root.  There is also a need for more analysis on who comprises the global society.

Men and women are two sides of a coin that cannot see each others face yet cannot be separated. They can be described as a combination of fire and water but complement each other so well. The battle between man versus woman is going on for centuries in almost every norms of life whether it is home or the workplace.

Due to the physically weakness in the feminine sect the males have dominated and controlled them centuries. This unequal distribution of power has created social dis-balance which until a few decades ago was up to the level of national apartheid against women. For years women were even deprived of the right to vote in US until in the year 1756 when the first women, Lydia Taft, was allowed to vote in America.

The idea of dual labor was initiated in the era of globalization when extreme advancement of technology forced the companies to put in more labor force as current level of workforce could not suffice the requirement. Other than that, the inflationary periods in different countries also led this phenomenon to grow further as a single person salary was not enough to finance the entire family. With increase in prices of the basic commodities, head of the family alone cannot fulfill the needs of the whole family and thus creating a need for other house members to go out for work to live a sustainable life. Although globalization has fueled this change in great ways as with the passage of time the companies operating in the industry had a need to change their thinking pattern and bring in some new innovation to fulfill the current demand. For this purpose there was a thirst for ideas and companies have to go far beyond from normal practice. This was only possible when women apart from men workforce were also given the opportunity to come forward and put in something beneficial for the company. And it proved to be successful as women have made their significant leaps and bound with their numbers in the workforce. They made their stance and showed that they can produce effective results and are very strong on their commitment regarding the work life.

 But times started to change in the 19th and 20th century which was a remarkable rise in awareness thanks to advancements in print and electronic media. Women have realized the needs of time and have overcome their weakness and have turned themselves in strong individuals. Women are coming forward in both education and pursuing most careers at their will. However, there is still an unseen barrier between opposite sex and thus have developed different career interest which may well be because of different social and cultural pressures. Cross-cultural studies show the diversified pattern of jobs that are considered suitable for women (Cartmill, 1999). Due to these trends there are still many career fields which are male and female dominated and thus has led to occupational sex segregation for instance politics, engineering, plumbing, construction which are male segregated sectors while nursing, teaching and child care remain to be female segregated areas.

Occupation sex segregation can be describes as a difference between male and female dominated jobs. There are certain jobs which are more suitably performed either by man or women however which does not imply that it can only be done by one gender. This terminology basically states the proportion of men or women on a particular job and on that basis it can be categorized into male and female oriented jobs. In another context this term has a different definition and it is described as a significant proportion of earning gap between men and women. This means that women are kept at lower tier positions and are paid lower wages as compared to men.

 In a workplace when workers get together to form group or teams there is always an seen attempt to gain power to affect decision making, achieve rewards and promotion. Since all employees want a favorable evaluation of their performance and for salary adjustments, therefore women in power are usually subjected to sexual harassment, nasty remarks, comments and jokes from the males who occupy lesser power or positions in the organization (Robbins, 2005). But this usually happens when theres majority of male workers. The roles get reversed in women dominated work areas. In this war of power, conflicts arise, egos clash and this brings a negative impact on organization interests. It becomes more of personal achievement rather than that of the companys. It may affect organizations productivity and usually creates a less comfortable workplace.

Also occupational segregation leads to difference in earnings as women often work in places where women dominate while men tend to work where men pre-dominate. Here the number of occupations is larger and so the women earnings average reduces. Studies show that in US of average womens earnings 60 of that of men (Reskin, 1986).

Occupational sex segregation in US saw a decline from 1960 and 1970 when sex discrimination laws and regulations were made. These laws came under Title VII of Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited gender discrimination in employment practices and workshops. Since equally qualified men and women were given different levels of jobs, it clearly affected their career advancements. These laws gave women to fight for their rights legally and thus it certainly brought a positive change career persuasion in women. Many countries then followed the steps of the US. Britain also enacted such laws in 1970s.

One of the finest example which I have seen in day to day life is that of drivers particularly taxi and bus drivers. These are completely male dominated as female rarely have entered this field. Even when they are eager to become a part of this job, due to some factors and society restrictions hold back especially in developing countries. While in other countries this scenario is little bit different as majority of women population are into this business and working successfully in this direction and also dont hesitate in doing such jobs.

Conclusion
There is a need to bring change in the thinking pattern of the people. As long as men and women will consider each other a threat to their success, the current situation will prevail. Women are also part of the society they should be given equal opportunity as men and should not be de-motivated. Like men, women are also a valuable resource which should be used in an effective way in order to bring balance and to produce fruitful results. The following quotation of ex secretary general of United Nation Kofi Annan best describes the beauty of women,

Gender equality is more than a goal in it itself. It is a precondition for meeting the challenge of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building good governance (Kofi Annan)

Racial Justice and Equality
Race has been a major factor and cause of conflict in America especially in 18th-19th century, when color was an important factor in employment, politics, associations and marriage. Several people were judged unfairly as a result of color variation. America was once a country that had a lot of difference among the citizens. There has been a variation in the past in terms of treatment and respect that was based on the color difference. There was a lot of discrimination and hatred among the people and in most cases economic assets were not owned or managed by the blacks or Negros in 19th century. Despite race, color, age or background, it is important to value opinion of others however this was not common in America.

The past present and the changes
According to Jonas (2005), equality is the fair treatment that is awarded to someone despite age or sex it can also be referred as fair judgment or perception without prejudice. Equality was not practiced in America in 19th century as compared to the modern America, where equality is becoming relevant. In the past, women in America were not having certain fundamental rights to do certain jobs or to participate in a political race. However, the activism that was initiated by a great hero and a protestant by the name Martin Luther King Jr. had a lot of impact on the perception of women in America he organized demonstrations for the blacks against discrimination in 1937.

Most of the Americans especially the blacks believed in his actions. He was a courageous man who never bothered to die in fact he declared to his followers that, even though everybody is afraid of death including him, he was ready to die on behalf of the rest. His desire to see a new America that was not founded on the rock of color was his daily dream even though he knew that it was an uphill task that was not easy to come by (Jonas, 2005).

However, America has transformed for the last few decades and color or race is no longer a major factor in employment, politics, interactions, business and owning of properties though activism has reduced significantly. However, much is still not done and activism in America has reduced instantly with the critical changes that has taken place in the recent past when a half cast, between a Kenyan and American, became the President of America, President Barrack Obama, this shows that democracy has expanded though there are conservatives who do not believe in black supremacy or leadership capability.

Conclusion
Discrimination is highly associated with the two conflicting terms of race and equality. Even though several actions and activism has led to a decline on the negative perception that people had towards each other, several events played a major role in achieving the change that has brought more benefit and respect towards people of different background, age, sex and color. On equality, people have come to realize that both men and women are just equal and that color does not reflect intelligence or Gods image but just a mere pigment of creation. Finally, it is worth noting that there have been positive changes for the last one decade and color is no longer relevant in the eyes of Americans and the rest of the world.

The definition of physician assisted suicide and euthanasia is first introduced before bringing into light the controversy surrounding the issue. While the paper does not support the act of killing people in the name of euthanasia or physician assisted suicide, it gives the arguments for both sides before taking its stand on the sensitive issue. Arguments against physician assisted suicide or euthanasia are first discussed and they clearly show that this is a practice that cannot be condoned at any cost since it is morally unacceptable and is likely to set a very bad precedent n the manner in which the society deals with various challenges in future. The essay also looks at the positive side of the issue and provides some arguments to that effect. Finally, there is a conclusion which summarizes the paper and takes a firm stand that the practice of euthanasia on the elderly people should not be allowed to take place.

Introduction
Physician assisted suicide and euthanasia involves having a physician assist a patient to terminate his or her life.  The physician may accomplish this through several means all of which are passive. Some of these include giving the patient information that may aid the patient in meeting death, prescribing medication that is lethal or any other device that may help the patient in dying. When a patient is near end of life, they may choose to hasten their death and to do so, they may request the physician to aid through the means mentioned above but more so by having the doctor prescribe the lethal dose of medication. It is important to note here that the physician does not actively administer the lethal medication but his work is to just prescribe while the patient administers the dose themselves (Zanskas  Coduti, 2006). 

With so much controversy revolving around autonomy, the question of dying finds a central place. The way individuals meet their death is obviously meant to provoke a controversial debate when a second party is involved as it becomes hard to differentiate what is murder and what is not. Such is the case when it comes to euthanasia and physician assisted suicide for the elderly people. Euthanasia has had a dark past where it has been maliciously employed to get rid of a section of people in the society such as it occurred in the Nazi genocide in Germany. Physician assisted suicide or euthanasia to the elderly or any other section of the society is thus painted as crime and the situation becomes even more confusing when moral and ethical views are introduced. This essay seeks to state that physician assisted suicide or euthanasia in the elderly is not only murder but it is also malicious since life occurs naturally and it should thus be taken away from any individual naturally (Lee, 2003).

Arguments against physician assisted suicide or euthanasia
Physician assisted suicide and euthanasia in elderly people has elicited much criticism and opposition due to legal, ethical and religious reasons. It is perceived by many as a violation of medical ethics particularly the Hippocratic Oath. The oath prohibits physicians from giving patients lethal medications thus terminating an individuals life. It therefore implies that, physician assisted suicide is a way of compromising the ethics that have established medicine. By giving physicians the right to prescribe the lethal dose to the elderly people in the society, it is not only argued to be equivalent of murdering such individuals, but it is actually murdering them. Physician assisted suicide and euthanasia is seen to contravene most religious beliefs such as Christianity, Islamic, Buddhism and Hinduism which all adore that life emanates from God and thus it should only be taken away by God. Physicians as well as the elderly people are therefore viewed to take up Gods role of determining life or death by having physician assisted suicide and euthanasia. Morally, Physician assisted suicide or euthanasia has been viewed by many people and health organizations as morally unacceptable (Miller, 2002). 

There are those who are of the view that with physician assisted suicide and euthanasia in the elderly, the relationship between the physician who is the perpetrator of the crime and the elderly individuals who are the victims is violated and hence erodes the trust thereof. It is the responsibility of the physician to keep life and try to assist the elderly individuals to live for a much longer period of time, instead of using his or her knowledge and experience in murdering people through some legitimized means. A doctor should therefore be as beneficent to the elderly people as possible. Moreover, there are fears that physician assisted suicide and euthanasia can be uncontainable if misused by people in the society. Some people would simply go for physician assisted suicide or euthanasia when they suffer from depression which is a condition that can be reversed. On the same note, some caregivers are likely to make such decisions as physician assisted suicide or euthanasia for their incompetent patients. This abuse would also extend to persons with disabilities and other minorities within the society. Physician assisted suicide and euthanasia is likely to be used maliciously to get rid of persons who may be deemed inconvenient (Manetta  Wells, 2001).

Controversies regarding physician assisted suicide do not only arise around religious circles but also within the health profession itself. Some clinicians will view this practice as unacceptable whereas others will view it otherwise. Among the organizations that have regarded physician assisted suicide or euthanasia as morally unacceptable include The American Osteopathic Association, American Medical Association as well as the American Geriatrics Society. The issue becomes more of a dilemma to physicians and nurses when it is legally unacceptable. A request for physician assisted suicide or euthanasia is likely to leave the physicians feeling that they have failed to take control of the elderly peoples situation and they may end up feeling guilty. Shock and anxiety are also likely feelings to be encountered by other health care providers such as nurses. Confusion also prevails with these professionals being torn between heeding to the old peoples call and abiding to their professional codes of conduct (McKenzie, 2004).

Even in jurisdictions where physician assisted suicide have been legalized, clinicians have still found themselves torn between their ethical values and patient autonomy. Such an ethical dilemma as whether to have physician assisted death can only be resolved by use of a structured model. In this particular issue, beneficence as an ethical decision making model can be very useful in ensuring that the dying patient receives the best of care and that no conflicts exist between any of the three players i.e. the patient, physician and caregiver (Miller, 2002).   

In most cases, the elderly people are less concerned about the events that are taking place around them. They therefore do not have the capacity of either accepting physician assisted suicide and euthanasia or not. It is thus possible for them to accept their lives to be terminated, while in the real sense they never meant it. By administering to them lethal doses and thus terminating their lives prematurely would give the implication that the physicians and indeed the whole society is taking advantage of the helplessness nature of these individuals to murder them without their consent since people without the capacity of accepting such an action also cannot be said to consent to it. Furthermore, the elderly people have lived for quite a long period of time in their respective societies and they have made several contributions to it. If the same society turns against them and murders them simply because they can no longer make any more contributions to it, the society can only be said to be immoral, unethical and unthankful. It would also imply to the much younger generation that there is no need of making any meaningful contributions to the society since when they will become old, the same society will unjustly get rid of them when they are no longer useful to it (Zanskas  Coduti, 2006). 

Arguments for physician assisted suicide or euthanasia
A look into the reasons why the elderly people and caregivers will request for physician assisted suicide and euthanasia indicates that most will choose to terminate their lives to alleviate unbearable pain they are going through as well as a sense of hopelessness. Most of the elderly people suffer from various terminal illnesses which cause severe pain to them and they have limited financial resources to seek proper medical care. They are also faced by the challenge of having committed people to take care for them since they need a lot of assistance. With this in mind, it would only be good to offer such elderly individuals an opportunity to be relieved off the pain through physician assisted suicide. They die with dignity and are well conscious of their actions and decisions. In other words, the elderly people choose a shorter way out of suffering and physicians offer physician assisted suicide or euthanasia as a sign of mercy.  Reports on why elderly people who are also terminally ill usually choose physician assisted suicide and euthanasia indicates that most of them had gone through pain for years and have lost ability to function. They therefore prefer physician assisted suicide or euthanasia to evade more suffering as no hope for recovery existed (Lee, 2003).

Physician assisted suicide and euthanasia has been viewed by proponents as a good way of respecting patients autonomy. Autonomy requires that the individual who will have his life terminated make his own decision regarding choice of care given and the physician must respect this. Even when the patient is not in a position to make such a decision, he or she can appoint a surrogate decision maker. Physician assisted suicide is therefore a respect for the elderly individuals autonomy. Autonomy complements mercy whereby the elderly person as a human being is free to live his or her own life as they may deem it fit to them whereas mercy is a call to remove all types of pain and suffering from such people. Giving these two rigs to the patient through physician assisted suicide and euthanasia should be the aim of the physician and the society at large (McKenzie, 2004).   

Not only does physician assisted suicide and euthanasia do away with suffering in the elderly people, but it also relieves caregivers off the burden (emotional and financial) of taking care of such people who eventually ends up dying. Palliative care only deals with lessening physical, psychological suffering among other needs and not really curing the elderly people who are terminally ill. Physician assisted suicide or euthanasia on the other hand does not take all those tedious measures but goes directly to relieve the elderly people and the caregivers the agony. This means that physician assisted dying is good for cases that may be requiring immediate intervention and those that may not require palliative care (Zanskas  Coduti, 2006).

The media, human rights activists and the public at large has severally whined that human beings are accomplishing murder through the practice of euthanasia. This however is an unfounded argument since euthanasia is the intentional killing by act or omission of a dependent human being for his or her benefit. Terminal illness patients as well as persons suffering from severe pain and incompetence are the main candidates of euthanasia. It is rare to find euthanasia practiced outside health care settings and such should raise alarm. Murder on the other hand is defined as the act of killing another human being with malice. Murder can take place under various settings and circumstances including in heath care settings hence the need to draw a clear line between the two. From these definitions, euthanasia does not stand out as an act of murder and it is therefore not in order to reject physician assisted suicide and euthanasia on the grounds that it is equivalent to murder (Miller, 2002). 

In murder, the person who is killed is not given an option to choose between dying and living. Euthanasia however has that option as defined under voluntary euthanasia. By an individual giving the informed consent to be killed, then there is no malice on the part of the person implementing the request. The individual who has requested to be killed is the one who should bear the responsibility of the death even though they have not done it by themselves. Having made the decision from a point of competence in their mental status, it means that the individual carrying out the act is not subjecting death on the killed individual. This should draw the line between involuntary euthanasia which is not supposed to be classified as euthanasia for it clearly falls under murder (McKenzie, 2004). 

Conclusion
By looking critically at the arguments discussed in this paper, it is clear that physician assisted suicide or euthanasia is an act that is not acceptable since it involves taking advantage of the desperate situation of the elderly people to unjustly terminate their lives. It is not only against virtually all religious beliefs as well as social norms of several societies, but it actually amounts to murdering people hiding behind a lame excuse that the physicians are assisting in alleviating the desperate situation of the elderly people. By allowing such a practice to be carried out, the society would set up a very bad precedent that it is right to kill people as long as they are not adding a lot of value to it.

The death penalty, also referred to as the Capital punishment, has become one of the largest awarded penalties in response to the crimes, over the recent years. But there is still a big question mark on its justification with regards to the rate to which it has been able to reduce the crime rate.

Death penalty as a Deterrent to Crime
There is a big question mark on whether death sentence has been able to reduce the rate of crime over the previous years. People are of a differentiating view regarding this aspect, some claim that it has while some insist on the fact that it doesnt. According to a research, about 80 of the Americans polled in favor of death sentence in 1994. (Michael L. Radelet, 1996) While a poll conducted recently in 2009 by Gallup showed this support to an extent of 64

As for the people who claim that it has been a deterrent to crime, a counter question can be that if yes then, why the crime rates have risen in the past years in U.S. One reason for this factor is that people who indulge in activities which would later result in death penalty already have an idea of what may happen in response to their act, therefore a majority of these people know they are getting themselves into.

Apart from the U.S., other countries have had variable responses to the issue of death sentence. Countries like Australia, Canada and most of Western Europe have shown a great disregard to this way of penalization.

Personal Opinion
When it comes to the personal opinion regarding the death sentence, there are mixed feelings regarding it. If such a penalty is totally removed from the society, it will give more opportunity and free hand to the criminals to commit crimes without fear. Criminals would have no reluctance because the worst penalty they would have to face will be life imprisonment.

It is an arguable fact that is it just that a person who has committed just one murder and a person who has committed a series of murders, i.e. a homicide, be awarded the same penalty (Schaefer, 2008)

Another aspect of this issue is that of the finance that has been put up for cases requiring capital punishment. In this regard states like Idaho and Texas have introduced bills to allow their states to pay counties for murder trials that are expensive. (The Christian Science Monitor. Boston, Mass, Feb 25, 1999)

Death Penalty in Case of Youth
In case of youth, the subject of death penalty is more aggrieved This is also because the youth are more involved in these activities which lead to a death penalty or a capital punishment. The youth should rather be awarded an imprisonment compared to the death sentence as this would reduce the factor of the youth being more exposed to crimes that they believe would result in their own casualty.

Conclusion
It is a highly debatable topic as to whether death penalty be awarded or not, but leniency should be given to the youth in this regard.

The Role of the Family in Alcoholism
As a personal definition, family is known for being the foundation and the basic unit of the society that undeniably plays an important role in ones development. Statistics right now shows that about 17.6 million Americans or 8.46 of the adult population are known to have alcoholic disorder.

The word family generally refers to those people related to one another through blood. However, due to changes in family structure the term now does not only refer to the nuclear family but also to the extended family members as well as single parents, ex- and step relations and even foster families. Family may also be composed of subgroups that lead to a larger family system. Families subsist also of a larger social circle, or a community, wherein each member is affected by the environment which surrounds him.

So what is the implication of this for family, social work practices and policy This has showed that we cannot separate the role of the family in the development of alcoholism or the culture of alcoholism. The presence of family breakdowns or broken homes, family dysfunction, violence, and abused are brought by alcoholism in the family.  The family though cannot be considered as the sole factor for alcoholism. People cannot deny other things like social pressure, media, community and other host of factors to blame. Alcoholism moreover develops from dependency as it is a form of social recreation and also a means to counter stressful situations with its anxietyreduction effect.

The family therefore can develop either vulnerability or resiliency to alcoholism. The Community Reinforcement and Family Training program (CRAFT) for example is a social program that aims to target directly the family and community level to provide counseling and guidance. Recovery from alcoholism is possible with the help of the family. Studies have shown that individual effort is not enough. The presence of a strong and encouraging family support along with positive influence can help very much in the process of recovery.

Incompatibility
Cultural dynamics as defined by Cartwright (1993) is from the origin of anthropologists.  Culture dynamics is used to analyze how a culture in an organization is determined and changed. It includes the values, artifacts, symbols, and assumptions of each culture.  It is affected by interpretation, manifestation, realization, and symbolism.  There is a much research going on at this time about the possibility of assuring a multicultural organization and leveraging that to better profits.  This is logical when many organizations are merging and commerce is so well spread across the world often involving multicultural organizations. Cultures then are thrown into a work situation in which they must get along and work together if they are to survive commercially.  What happens when two cultures do not find a way to get along What if their basic beliefs are so opposite that they cannot find a way to be compatible Is there a time in todays commercial world when there is cultural and commercial incompatibility Most would say no, there is not a time when there is total incompatibility, this writer says yes there is. This paper will explore the reasons to support the writers argument as compared to general belief.

There are many current approaches at understanding cultural dynamics. In each, the researcher is attempting to break down a culture and understand how to combine cultures to work together. Cultural dynamics are much more complicated than this and are often wrapped up in not only the culture itself but also the resources available to that culture. Organizational cultures must become anchored in not only these resources but the deep substance of a culture in order to allow cultural compatibility to occur in an organization. It has not been seen by researchers at this point that this kind of in-depth study is occurring before a corporation is formed. For this to happen culture must be studied by these organizations, not only as an entity that is taking place now but as a history that is held by the people as well as a social realization that is not simple to change.

There has also been much risk in the acquisition and merger of organizations from various cultures in an effort to create organizations that are compatible and profitable. The expectation is that these multicultural organizations appeal to more customers, creating an organization that can get ahead of all the rest. The risk is greater than has been thought as the assumption has been that all cultures can learn to get along in a commercial situation, even if they remain different under other circumstances. However, that has not always shown to be the case. This is beginning to show itself in the high numbers of mergers and acquisitions that have recently occurred and then failed.  Takeover bids are common these days and may very well create some of the issues of failure.  Cross-border mergers have increased by about nine times of what they were just a few years ago.  Many of these takeovers and mergers fail because there is actually a production slow down based of the inability of two or more distinct cultures of people unable to work together.

Culture is dynamic everything about the human is immersed in cultural belief. It refers to everything that makes up a way of life. This includes language, which is the oldest institution medium of expression, thought which is what creates perception of others and understanding of the world, spirituality which is the values system that determines through generations of learning how life will be expressed and interaction which is the human contact and how that give and take of socialization occurs through negotiation, protocol, and conventions.  It is the cumulative deposit of all knowledge in the human function. It affects experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, and spatial relationships, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions. In other words, it is everything the human is. In merging acquisitions the human presence is ask to merge cultures. How can that happen when the term culture meets this definition How can the human change everything ever learned through history about their culture or presence in the world in order to make a profit  This writer believes that this is not possible.

Martin Wight told us that a society of stats that are lacking in shared culture as a part of the expansion beyond its original base will be unstable. This destabilization affects not only society itself but certainly the economic function of a culture that has expanded into one another due to merging acquisitions.  The culture clash that can occur is much greater than just language, dress, and work style. It extends to music and art as well. These things are well ingrained in culture as well as personality. In the Arab countries, for example, women are covered and they certainly not shown in art without their clothing. Yet in the United States, you can walk down the hall of a major building and se seminude art. This is insulting to the Arab politician who comes to America to negotiate a deal in a merger. Music is another issue when American music almost never has any kind of singing without instrumental when many of the Asian countries have instrumental without singing and singing without instrumental. These things are deeply cultural and cause a direct impact on the incompatibility that is often being felt in merging companies.

There are actually several theories that should be considered here. Those are the Theory of Cultural Determinism, Cultural Relativism, and Cultural Ethnocentrism.  Cultural determinism takes the position that the ideas, meanings, beliefs, and values of a people are learned at a level that is as a member of the society. These are not a single persons belief but the beliefs of all of those around the individual. In other words, people are what they learn to be. In this case cultural Anthropologists believe that there is no universal way of doing something and the right way is our way. One can imagine how this collides when two different cultures are attempting to do the same job.  If one is optimistic in using this theory, it might be determined that humans are changeable, so much so that two or more distinct culture could re-learn enough to work together, however on the pessimistic side one must content that people are what they are conditioned by their cultures to be. Many would say that if the pessimistic viewpoint is taken, it is believed that man is a passive creature that is completely molded by his culture. This writer does not agree. It seems that, as previously discussed, man is deeply ingrained in his culture, not only does his culture teach him but he teaches his culture.

The second theory or that of cultural relativism gives the insight that different cultural groups think, feel, and act differently. There is no superior or inferior group but just distinctly different groups.  This theory is meant to help one understand the other groups and is based mostly on the theory presented. This writer will ask again, how one culture group realistically evaluates another whether or not it is done by theory. An example of cultural values and how that evaluation happens from another culture is the article by Perlez (2006) called Indonesian province embraces Islamic law, and canings. This is an article that was covered in the New York Times. This is an article that was written right after the tsunami hit Indonesia. This is a province that has participated in the Islamic religion for many years. They put Shariah law into effect right after the tsunami. In Shariah law, public canings are not unusual.

What happens when another culture without the same religious beliefs reads this article Let us for example say it is someone from the United States. First there is shock and disbelief and then there is anger. The person reading the articles believes that this is a terrible practice that the people have nothing to do with and is instituted by the government.   Why is this There is freedom of religion in the United States and that is a basic and important part of the culture so there is no basis to understand the religious practices that are talked about in this articles. The people in the United States that are reading it as practicing what is known as ethnocentricity. It is easy to read the article and ask, how can they do that when there is not an understanding of the practice. When that same ethnicity is applied to a commerce situation where the Indonesians and the United States have merged into one company, can that company survive Many would say yes, they will learn to understand each other and get along. This writer, however, believes there is a limit in which this can happen and those basic beliefs learned in culture would prevent the success of this company.

The third theory is cultural ethnocentrism which is partially explained in the example above.
It is the belief that ones own culture is superior to that of other cultures and what is believed by ones own culture is the culture that is correct. In this type of comparison one takes the factor from the other culture and somehow tries to fit it into their own culture which cases a distortion of the issue. In ethnocentrism, global business is usually in a lot of trouble because the important factors in business are overlooked because of an obsession with ones own beliefs. There may be such a focus on the needs of one culture that the other culture does not receive any advantage from working with the first culture and the differences are recognized but both cultures assume that the other culture will change. This is all a recipe for disaster for many companies. However, like the example, how does one move past the feeling created by their culture to allowing others to have their own cultural ideas  This may be possible in the instance of two cultures that are very close but not in those that are very different in everything about their culture.

There have been many explanations attempted lately to talk about the corporate failures that have occurred between the Japanese joint ventures and the western multinationals.  The studies have identified that cultural differences are the major reason for failure. The suggestion of most of these researchers is that there is a need to do away with the simple way of looking at cultural incompatibility and begin to replace that with an awareness of a combined issue of cultural and economic forces that are ingrained in each of the cultures. This becomes a much bigger issue. It was assumed when many of the Japanese and American ventures took place, that the economic returns would replace the cultural views that were so different. This has not happened and it is clear from earlier theory discussed that this is not possible.

Conceptual styles are another reason why cultural and commercial conflict occurs. Conceptual styles are rule sets that are identified and then analyzed and often used to rate the other culture. There are two conceptual styles to be considered here. One of those is the rational style and the other is the analytic. In each style there is a difference in how one culture might deal with the other in a commercial situation. There is often a case when the conceptual style that is used between two cultural groups is incompatible, culture conflict will occur.  The naive ability of one culture to believe that they can act like the other culture just makes the issues worse.

There are not only cultural issues that are incompatible between countries but also within countries. Let us look at Australia as an example. The Australian indigenous people are culturally different in every way from the people who now occupy the territory. There is a tremendous amount of stress and tension between the two cultures and many businesses as well as attempts at programs between the two cultures have failed. The indigenous people feel they have the right to self-determination which conflicts with those of the territories at this time (very similar to the Indian people in the United States).  Everything about these two cultures clashes and yet they have made several attempts at social programs that combine the needs of the territorial people and the indigenous people. The end result is a program that is not used by either group, the same as if they had created a corporation together, which would also have failed.

The 21st century is one in which it appears that there will be more of a clash of civilizations as there continues to be a push for global participation in business. The United States and other Western countries have made a push to the East to make this happen but the results has in some cases been disastrous. A case in point was the Wal-Mart push into Germany. The Germans do not shop like those in the United States and though there was effort to implement language and some of the other styles of the people, this problem was culturally ingrained in this group of people and overlooked by Wal-Mart. In this instance they failed to become a German organization.

Healthcare is culturally significant to every culture. Many of the for profit hospitals in the Western World have determined that there is profit to be made by opening and maintaining hospitals in the Eastern World. They too want to be globalized and they too have had some very specific failures. Thos failures are related to how deeply the cultural issue is embedded in the culture at hand. In the United States, it is part of the healthcare culture to tell a patient when they have cancer and are facing the possibility of dying. It is felt that it is ethically important and that all patients have the right to know what is wrong with them. This has changed over recent years however, in that there has been a view in the past that whatever the physician said is what was right and it did not matter what was wrong with you.  The paternalistic view point of how a physician should act is clearly still accepted and important in many other countries.

The Turkish healthcare system is one of those cases. They also have what is called the doctrine of therapeutic privilege which allows healthcare professionals should not tell a patient what is wrong with them when they might believe that it is harmful to the patient to know. Most Turkish physicians never tell their patients they have cancer. As Americans began to be involved in healthcare this became a major argument between the two cultures. The Americans felt the patients had the right to know and the Turkish healthcare group did not. The American book on healthcare ethics says they should be told whether or not they want to know and the Turkish ethics book says absolutely not, they should not be told. This is a major issue of cultural incompatibility. US nurses feel that their ethics are right and because it is an ethics issue, they cant change how they approach these patients and the Turkish physicians do not want them approaching patients with this news. This then, becomes an issue that dictates that US nurse cannot care for Turkish patients. The argument would be that they can be taught Turkish ways or vice versa but they cant. Ethics is one of the things that is at the history and heart of a culture and in being so, cannot just be changed but must be conceded and in neither of these cases can there be concession so it becomes a situation of incompatibility and in this case, US hospitals have failed.

Economic pressures have developed a need within the global marketplace, an effort to merger or purchase no matter what the issues. This has led to unprecedented failures of mergers this decade. The US alone has had a failure rate amounting to 22.64 billion. The failure rate now lies between 40 and 80. Many Corporate owners and commentators are finally willing to give importance to the fact that these failures are not just financial or legal but are a problem with cultural synergy. Research shows that about 65 of failures have to do with cultural issues.

Another recent example of such failure is the DaimlerChrysler failure. This was a partnership that believed that intercultural hurdles could be overcome. They say now, however, that they underestimated the importance of the cultural issues involved in the merger of these companies which led to a cultural clash that has put the company in position to struggle as a global organization. Is the answer more training they are asking Or are there times when two cultures will just not work together no matter how much training. Due to this and the numbers of failures that are occurring, scholars are taking a second look at whether culture plays a bigger role than was thought before. These scholars are finding that cultural differences play a role in which conflict will upset business settings which are a result of both social and economic relations. The belief has been that as organizations grow together, their cultures will become more homogeneous but as we have seen in a couple of examples, this may not be possible. Culture is not a surface issue that goes away quietly when one is told to change. It is everything that a person or employee is, it is in question as to whether that can change without changing everything about oneself.

According to Mittelman, globalization is a historical transformation, not something that has happened recently. The transformation has always been about cultural diversity. Globalization is about making the world act like one country. It is supposed to strengthen those countries involved with the corporate merger and move. However, it is being seen that poorer countries in most instances are becoming poorer so there is a harmful effect economically as well as culturally. This kind of change becomes an economic nightmare for the poor which drives poorer countries to charge that they are being taken advantage of because of their culture. Even if the world acts as one country, the richer get to say how it will function.

There are also conflicts in the international convergence and divergence arena. Socio economic systems can create real havoc with one another. For example when a Mexican person is trained in management in the United States, he then is different from either culture and becomes someone on the edge of two cultures. He does not blend his cultures, he actually becomes a new culture himself which makes him not be able to fit into either. When this happens with a large number of people who are working for one global corporation, there are things that must be given up by the Mexican employee. Those things which are part of his history then cause get difficulty in dealing with either culture, especially as a manager.

In conclusion, globalization and commercialization has been a goal for some time. The efforts to do this have been basically financial in origin and originating from mergers or acquisitions. There has been much research done on how to merge cultures in these organizations so everyone will profit from these organizational changes. Economies throughout the world have been effected. However, there have been many failures among these companies and 65 of those failures have been related to culture. Many would say that these cultures can find a way to get along but even after this research, this writer disagrees. There are many cultures that cannot be merged and that is because culture is not personality or color of skin or even gender. Culture is a history of the people. When one says he is Chinese, he is not only saying what he looks like and where he comes from but he is indicating the history of his people and how he sees the world. Can we expect him to merge his history with that of another country and become something in the middle Not likely. At least not now.