Sociology

General Introduction
Bernard Berelson defined Content Analysis as a research technique for the objective, systematic, and quantitative description of manifest content of communications (Berelson, 74). Content analysis is a research tool used to determine the presence of certain words or concepts within texts or sets of texts. It is used in a large number of fields. The following list (adapted from Berelson, 1952) offers more possibilities for the uses of content analysis which by and large are in relation to sociology Reveal international differences in communication content detect the existence of propaganda identify the intentions, focus or communication trends of an individual, group or institution describe attitudinal and behavioral responses to communications determine psychological or emotional state of persons or groups.

In his introduction to content analysis, Michael Palmquist enumerates the following as the advantages of content analysis. In particular, he says, content analysis... Looks directly at communication via texts or transcripts, and hence gets at the central aspect of social interaction can allow for both quantitative and qualitative operations can provides valuable historicalcultural insights over time through analysis of texts is an unobtrusive means of analyzing interactions provides insight into complex models of human thought and language use when done well, is considered as a relatively exact research method (based on hard facts, as opposed to Discourse Analysis)

On the other hand, Michael recognizes that content analysis suffers from the following limitations Can be extremely time consuming is subject to increased error, particularly when relational analysis is used to attain a higher level of interpretation is often devoid of theoretical base, or attempts too liberally to draw meaningful inferences about the relationships and impacts implied in a study is inherently reductive, particularly when dealing with complex texts tends too often to simply consist of word counts often disregards the context that produced the text, as well as the state of things after the text is produced can be difficult to automate or computerize. Timothy Shortell (Shortell, 2006) justifies the need of content analysis in the work of sociologists when he writes sociologists dont always study people. When examining structure, we often study groups, such as families, organizations, communities or nations. But, we can also study things. Human-made objects, called SOCIAL ARTIFACTS, contain information about the society from which they come Its clear that we need a particular method for studying these things. In my view childrens cartoons and commercials are the things sociologists interested in children must study and content analysis offers them the means to study these things.

DATA CHART AND TOTALS
Cartoon Recording Sheet
Cartoon 1 The Wabbit Who Came to Supper
Source for cartoon Online
Character NameGenderRaceEthnicitySocial ClassAge Employment Bugs BunnyMale Red Middle class81 Comedian Elmer FuddMale White Middle class60Comedian Totals 2  1122
Cartoon 2 SpongeBob SquarePants
Source for cartoon TV show
Character NameGenderRaceEthnicitySocial ClassAge Employment SpongeBobMale White Low class47Comedian Snail GaryMale White Low class47Comedian Patrick StarMale RedLow class52Actor Sandy CheeksFemale White Low class33actressEugene KrabsMale White Low class51Actor Sheldon PlanktonMale White Middle class41Director Squidward TentaclesMale White Middle class58Voice actorTotals 6161527
Commercial Recording Sheet
Sources for Commercials
Product and SponsorProduct TypeGeared TowardsActors Race, Age, gender Announcers genderKey words or phrasesBarbie dolls, MartellLearning toys children Female Barbie girliPhone, McCann EricksoniPhoneChildren  Male Attack of the Misfit ToyscadmiumjewelryChildren Female Another Thing For Moms To Worry AboutSpace jam CartoonChildrenMichael JordanMale Have-to-have Childrens sunglassesSunglassesChildrenFemale Help zoneTotals5132

In summarizing the Wabbit who came to supper, there were two male characters both from a middle class with the ages of 61 and 80 years respectively. They were both comedian.
While in the case of SpongeBob SquarePants, out of the seven characters, six were male and only one was female. Five of them were from low class while two emanated from middle class. Their ages were 47, 47, 52, 33, 51, 41, and 58 years old respectively.

In summarizing my data for commercials, Ive noticed that all the commercials and directed to children with three female announcers against the two male counterparts. Even though some of the product types were all household oriented, it struck that the persons targeted with the commercials are the children.

In general I realized that more men are involved in children cartoon work as opposed to women. On the other hand more women were involved in childrens commercials as compared to men.

Data analysis
My total for the cartoon voices a conflict in respect to the age gaps. As much as the cartoons are targeting children, the persons animating the cartoons are very old people whose motive is only to create an impression to the young. The old have found it very lucrative to use children as a mode through which all the household needs are customized.

Jan Zeiger in her article marketing to children, noted that companies market to children today more than ever before. Corporations see children as consumers and have employed successful marketing strategies that result in children asking their parents for specific products, she noted. This happens because kids are more exposed to media and advertising agents than ever before. They want to see their mentors in television characters at the toy store, at their school book fair or even at a local joint. It has been big business for a while because companies realize that putting Elmo, Buzz Light year, or Blue on a lamp, pair of shoes, or puzzle will result in children asking for that item. The have  to  have kind of adverts pushes the pressure up further since children view such items as such necessary part of life that they cannot live without.
Conclusion

In her Book, Born to Buy Juliet Schor affirms my findings. She leveled a common ground by warning little spenders that advertisers want your kids and are better at wooing them than ever before. Juliet goes a head to clarify that advertisers have always aimed at kids through a limited set of products like cereals and toys but what happened in the 1990s is a dramatic explosion in the amount of advertising aimed at children because of the growth of cable and the increase in kids watching more adult shows. Now, it is children who are influencing adults choices of items like hotels and travel destinations. This she confirmed when one of the marketers exclaimed, When I grew up, I got to pick the color of the car. Now kids get to pick the car.  

The impact of such ill  directed adverts are numerous as illustrated by Juliet in her study of 300 fifth and sixth graders. She found out that those who are more materialistic and consumer oriented develop high levels of depression and low self esteem, headaches and poor relations with their parents. Juliet advices parents to reduce exposure to electronic media and provide a stimulating environment outside of it. This is the only way out of this muck that our children are transfixed by the commercials.  

Arab-Americans are an integral part of the American history. With this conference the Arab-American Historical Foundation will focus on perpetuating the history of Arab- Americans achievements and contributions while helping foster a better understanding of their perspectives and cultural concerns(Arab American Affairs, 2008). These were the words of Haiek, the President of the Arab American Historical Foundation. The statement was made during the Fourth Arab American History Conference which was being hosted by the University of California on October17, 2008 (Arab American Affairs, 2008).There has always been such forums held so as to discuss a better representation of the Arab-American community (Detroit Free Press, 2001). This paper seeks to discuss the effects that the Arab-American Community has had on the American Judicial System in regard to the multi-cultural issues in criminal justice.

History of Arab Americans
Arab Americans originated from twenty two countries in Asia and North Africa which had a similar heritage and language. The larger groups of the Arab Americans are Christians. However, the Muslim religion is the fastest growing in the Arab American community (Arab-American Markets, 2009). The first immigration was as a result of the Japanese competition which affected the Lebanese silk market and the diseases that affected their vineyards (Detroit Free Press, 2001). The next one started after the Second World War up to the present. Other Arabs came to the U.S. so as to seek for greener pastures. In the year 2001, it was estimated that the population of the Arab-Americans was four million (Arab-American Markets, 2009).

Arab-Americans live in most parts of America. However, they are more concentrated in Michigan, California and New York states. Most Arab Americans possess dual loyalties. Even though most of them are tied to their countries origins, several of them were born in America. The expression Truly Arab and fully American (Detroit Free Press, 2001), reflects their dual loyalties. A well known Arab-American is a former White House press corps dean, Helen Thomas (Detroit Free Press, 2001).The Arab group whether in America or any part of the world is considered as one nation. This is despite of the differences they may have on language, history or religion (Raanan, Mesner, Armes  Martin, 1991).
Dialogue between the U.S. government representatives and the Arab American leaders
 
A meeting was held at Washington DC, between the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano and leaders of the Arab Americans, Sikh, Muslim and South Asian Americans in January 29, 2010. The leaders argued that the DHSs policies included those of ethnic, racial and profiling at the borders and the airport on religious grounds. As a result of the meeting, the leaders were given the freedom to participate in anti-violence forums and were also to receive quarterly and regular meetings with the secretary. These community believers were satisfied at the end of the meeting. This is because they believed in an authentic and open dialogue between the Muslim and the DHS (Arab American Institute, 2010).

A similar meeting was held in the year 2003.The Attorney General Holder held a meeting with the same leaders to discuss on several policies which were considered as controversial. These policies concerned ethnic, religious and racial issues. The racial discrimination was demonstrated at the border and the airports. The Arab Americans had lost trust in the governments credibility and trust (Arab American Institute, 2010).
     
The Middle-East effects to the Arab Americans
 There has always been conflict between Israel and the Arab countries, and also within and between Arab countries. The Middle-East conflict has affected the Arab-Americans greatly. This is because, even when Arabs are far away from each other, they still keep their close family ties intact. Most Arab Americans have immigrated to the U.S. in recent years. Therefore, they are always interested in the Middle East news. In addition, escapism from the Middle-East conflicts was the reason why most of the Arab-Americans fled from their original homelands. Therefore, the Arab-Americans are affected by the Middle-East, even when they are in the U.S. (Detroit Free Press, 2001).

There are several recurrent and salient themes in the Arab people. The themes are as a result of the Arab community being placed as a minority. These themes include leadership, centralization, federalism, democratization, and search of equality. The themes are especially significant in the Arab people when they migrate to other countries (Rienner L, 1999).

Hate crimes of the Arab Americans
The Arab Americans have several times experienced hate crimes and all sorts of discrimination. The American Arab Anti Discrimination Committee (ADCRI) has been periodically publishing reports on discrimination and hate crimes to attack the Arab American community. Following the attacks against the U.S. on September 11, the hate crimes and illegal discrimination became more rampant and intense. A government campaign on a new national security was launched so as to attack the Muslim-American and the Arab-American community. There were several Federal Bureau Investigations (FBI) interviews on young Arabs and Arab-American men which involved secret hearings and detentions by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS).These activities added to great hostility and fear, great emotions of isolation and anxiety to the Arab Americans. Additionally, the Department of Justice (DOJ) agencies and the INS were given greater powers of targeting the Arab American, Arabs and Muslim immigrants. Reinforcement of this kind of institutionalized discrimination was as a result of the legislation of the USA patriot act, the decline of civil rights and abuse of power by the government (Ibish  Stewart, 2003)

Disproportionate focus and discriminatory policies on the Arab American community encouraged racism from the public. There were several reports on hate crimes against property and persons in the nine weeks that followed the 911 September attacks. ADCRI confirmed that there were over seven hundred incidents which targeted the Arab Americans, or those who were believed to be Arab Americans (Ibish  Stewart, 2003). There was a wave of attacks on racist grounds based on the peoples religion and appearance. This encouraged xenophobia and racism. Arabs, Muslims and Sheikhs were shot in different parts of America. Since Islam is associated with the Arab communities, several mosques were firebombed and shops were looted. Harassment and intimidation led to the closure of schools (Study of Islam section, 2001)

Irene Khan, the 2001 Amnesty International Secretary General had a lot to say about the atrocities committed against the Arab American Community. The U.S. government used the war on terrorism so as to introduce measures which limited the civil liberty of the Arab Americans. These measures were passed through the American judicial system .The U.S. government introduced measures which allowed the detainment of immigrants even if there was no offence directed to them. Such measures only curtailed basic freedom and brought about hatred in the communities. The human rights activists observed that justice had to be given according to the rule of law. They claimed that all the accusations hurled against the suspects were supposed to be in accordance to the standards which were recognized internationally on fair trial procedures (Study of Islam section, 2001)

 As a result of the human atrocities subjected to the Arab American community after the September eleven attacks, international accountability was called for. The Human Rights Activists blamed the U.S. government for their failure to ratify the International criminal court and broadening its jurisdiction. They also insisted that the U.S. government needed to consider the courts establishment (Study of Islam section, 2001).

Changes that occurred in the Judiciary based on multicultural issues
In a bid to enforce law on immigration policies after the September eleven attacks, there were secret detentions, hearings and deportations in many correctional facilities in the U.S. An unknown number of Arab American men were detained. Importantly, the majority of the detainees were not suspected or accused to be members of the Al Qaeda involvement or even accused. Most of the detainees also had no knowledge of terrorism. This was a draconian measure which was used by the American government. A Palestinian man was arrested and deported because he had not changed his address to the INS. This law was however previously not enforced. Several human rights bodies, including the Amnesty International demanded to know the number of the Arab American detainees that were held (Ibish  Stewart, 2003).

In 2002, Federal district court judge, Gladys Kessler demanded that the government had to comply with the human rights organizations and release the detainees names. The organizations stated that there was no difference between jail and detention. The secret detentions were accompanied by secret hearings (Ibish  Stewart, 2003).  The U.S. Department of Justice claimed that it had heard over six hundred hearings since the 911 attacks. An unknown number faced deportation following the secret hearings and detentions. In one case, the government of U.S. chartered a plane so as to deport a large group of Pakistan Arab-Americans. A well known case was that of an Arab American Muslim Community leader in Detroit. He was detained for a long time without any credible evidence for his detention. The reasons for his detention were that he had overstayed his visa. All the assets of the Islamic Charity that he had co-founded were frozen on the day he was arrested (Ibish  Stewart, 2003).
 Seizure of property from the Arab Americans and the Muslims was another effect on the criminal justice of the American Judicial system. In several instances, Islamic charities were seized as they were believed to be handy in supporting terrorist attacks. The Arab Americans were not accused of anything. The individuals were therefore forced to prove that their property was not part of the terrorists involvement, which was proved otherwise by the government. Such cases were very sensitive, and they ended up in the civil courts (Ibish Stewart2003).

Operation TIPS and Citizen Vigilance program is rated as one of the most serious governments security response to the 911 attacks. This was a proposal which was meant to refer all suspected individuals to the higher authorities. The groups goal was to enlist over one million civilians who could assist in reporting suspicious activities of their colleagues at work. A good example of cases of Arab Americans being subjected to this policy was a seventeen hour search which involved three Arab American Medical Students on Florida Highway. The three were apprehended because of laughing at September 11. The three were also accused of planning to attack Shoneys restaurant Located in Calhoun, Georgia. The three medical students were released after being found innocent (Ibish  Stewart, 2003).

There were restrictions against the FBIs use of law enforcement for Domestic Intelligence Gathering. However, on the wake of the 911 attacks, the policy was revived in a bid to counter terrorism. In 2002, several Arab Americans and Muslims were subjected to close monitoring of their communications in regard to internet activity and phone communication. Any of the communications which were found to be suspicious on terrorist attacks resulted to detention (Ibish  Stewart, 2003).

On November 13, 2002, President Bush introduced a directive known as the Military tribunals. This directive allowed the government to try all nationals who were suspected of terrorist attacks, rather than being tried in civilian courts. The directive had no time limit, and had no formal Congressional war declaration. Clearly, the formation of the Military tribunal was seen as an encroachment on the judicial system and the authority of the Congress. A military tribunal was seen as being unfair to the Arab Americans as it violated their human rights (Ibish Stewart, 2003).

 Lastly, all the conversations between detainees and their attorneys were banned. On October 31, 2001, John Ashcroft, an Attorney General offered regulations that permitted the government to eavesdrop on all communications between the attorneys and the detainees. These included clients who had not been charged with any crime. This regulation violated the Sixth Amendment of the Americas judicial law (Ibish  Stewart, 2003).

Conclusion
The effects of the Arab American community on the American Judicial System were fuelled by the terrorism attacks in September eleven 2001. The multicultural issues in the criminal justice were however seen to violate the rights of most Arab Americans. There is need to improve the relationship between the Arab American community and the law enforcement procedures. Arab Americans have focused more concern on victimization by Federal practices and policies than the acts of violence and harassment (U.S. Department of Justice, 2007). All the same, when the Arab Americans and the American government discuss the best policies to be used so as to improve relations, a better community understanding will exist.    

The most knowledgeable and experienced academicians studying gangs are still arguing concerning the most appropriate definition of the term gang, as today, there is no globally accepted definition of the term. However, a gang can simply be defined as a group which has a collective and common identity and which exercises a frequent interaction. Additionally, the gangs members are involved in criminal activities and adopt certain identification methods. They also claim to be solving their political, economic or social problems emerging in their societies (National School Safety and Security Services, 2009). This paper will provide a research on the Crips gang in relation to the political and socio-economic issues related to it.  

The Crips gang is an extremely aggressive street gang. It was formed as a result of merging of different street organizations which were referred to as sets. The Crips gang originated in Los Angeles, California. Each set is known to have sub-clicks, lines or blocks. Originally, Crips was a black gang which used to meet at Washington High School campus in Los Angeles. The gang grew and extended to other parts of the Los Angeles City. The new street gangs which were formed as a result used the word Crips as their gang name (Walker, 1998).

Most members of the Crips gang are of the age of twelve to twenty four years .The most numerous part of the gang members are African Americans. However, Hispanics and whites have been known to be Crips members in several parts of the United States. For one to be a member of the gang, initiation is necessary. This presupposes a murder or an assault, shooting, armed robbery or beating up committed by newly recruited members. The gangs color identification is blue. Each of the members has a blue bandanna which they call the flag. There is a strong relationship that exists in the group. Crips refer to each other as cuzz, which is the gang slang name for cousin. Graffiti is one of the intricate communication systems that they have. Others display their colors, using hand signals and wear specific athletics clothing (Walker, 1998).

ProblemIssue Statement and Description
The gang subculture is one of the major problems that the U.S. has had to face. Gang activities have crossed all socio-economic, racial and ethnic boundaries. A considerable historical focus has been directed toward the study of the traditional gang structures and the urban areas. It has become apparent that the activities of the gang have translated into a national problem and the growth of the gangs activities has been startling.

Literature Review
The Crips gang recruitment is quite rampant in schools today. There are various economic and social factors which motivate youth to join gangs like this one. Some of the factors are the economic profitability, the status, security, friendship and the family substitute. School children become gang members, regardless of socio-economic backgrounds. Once the pupils join the gang groups, they are involved in a lot of gang violent activities. The gangs activities involve the weapon use and a high level of violence (National School Safety and Security Services, 2009).

The gangs lifestyle is considered an attractive choice to some of the American youth. This is emphasized when a street gangster is glorified as being wealthy, influential and powerful. As a result, some young people have been motivated to join gangs like the Crips. There is a need of better law enforcement, more perfect tribal courts and creation of an environment which will not tolerate any gang behavior. Young people have a lot of energy which needs an outlet. Therefore, recreational opportunities and employment must be provided so as to engage them in beneficial activities (Grant, 2004). Crips gang like any other gang has a difficult recruitment process, loose and chaotic organization .The predominant activities of the gang group members are drug trafficking, major crime involvement, drinking and hanging out (Barrik  Decker, 2010)

The Crips gang is rated as the largest and most violent group in the U.S. There are several Crip sets around the U.S. Some of them identify themselves with the original Los-Angeles based Crips gang, but they run their own criminal activities. Additionally, famous hip hop artists and rappers have also been said to have an affiliation with the Crips. This is even emphasized by one aspect of the hip hop culture, which is to promote gangster life and violence in their music. Gangster rap glamorizes the life of the gangs and makes the gang membership attractive (Moreno, 2001).

Crips gang has been characterized by an increased escalation of violence, a rise in gang membership and the spread of gangs from one society to another. Criminologists have involved themselves in studying values, membership and behavior. The research that has been conducted has revealed that gangs engage in very high degree of violence. This is as a result of the collective group behavior and the policies that govern the gangs. Studies have also shown that gang warfare in the prison confines is highly intensified. The violence in the gang groups is accelerated by the brutality and abuse of the prison guards (Decker, 2007).

Forensic experts have developed different investigative approaches of detecting different gang members from various groups. When profiling gangs, forensic investigators identify the gang members by jewelry, tattoos, body piercing, photographs and tattoos. They also identify the members through their violent and aggressive personalities (Decker, 2007).

Crips gang is associated with drug trafficking. A study conducted at the University of California established that the Crips gang was expanding its behavior in drugs to other cities and markets. As a result, there was the increase of gang violence. It was found out that street gang structures cannot manage drug operations successfully. Studies have also shown that most fights are as a result of drug issues (Decker, 2007).

Gang Organization
Nowadays, gangs often collaborate due to certain anti-social reasons. This is shown by how different smaller gang groups joined the Crips and became the Crips Alliance. Generally, Crips gang has one or a group of leaders who are responsible for giving orders. These leaders eventually benefit from the actions of the gang members. Most gangs start as groups of youthful delinquents. Once they become full gang members, they turn into violent activities which include drug trafficking. The craving of most gang members is that of power, which is popularly known as juice in gang slang. Joining a gang group by the youth is seen as giving someone a sense of belonging. In fact, many youth have joined a gang group so as to avoid any kind of harassment from their peers ( Nawojczyk, S 1997).

Gangs are fluid in nature, meaning that they are subject to transformation. They at times change affiliations. There are certain principles which are considered essential to all gang groups. They are popularly known as the three Rs. The first one is reputation. The gang members, popularly known as gang bangers in the gang slang are concerned with the reputation of an individual and the gang as a whole. The more an individual or a gang is involved in illegal activities, the more the reputation of the person or the gang (Nawojczyk, S 1997).

The second principle is that of respect. As the gang members claim, disrespect to the rival groups shows the individuals respect to ones own gang group. Therefore, a gang member should show disrespect to the rival groups through graffiti, hand signs and other acts of violence. The last principle is that of retaliation. In a gang culture, no challenge is supposed to go unanswered. Various acts of violence are seen as acts of revenge. Many acts of violence are as a result of a drug territory infringement or bad drug deals (Nawojczyk, S 1997).

The political organization of gangs varies. It is characterized by a loose structure of positions depending on how much a person has worked for the gang. The ranks are arranged in the following order, from the lowest level. the tiny gangster (under eighteen years), the baby gangster (over eighteen years), the original baby gangsters(after five years of gang membership), original gangster (after ten years of membership), double original gangster(after fifteen years of membership) and the triple original gangster(after twenty years of membership) (Crip Knowledge, 2004).

Political and socio-economic issues
The major problem associated with the Crips gang is that of violence. The Crips is the most ruthless Californian gang. Its acts of violence arise when it targets other non-Crip gangs with acts of violence. One of their rivals is known as the Bloods. The Crips alliance was formed with an intention of extending the revolutionary ideology that was in the 1960s. However, it did not attain this goal because it lacked political leadership. As a result, their obsession became that of seeking self-protection from other gangs, which accelerated the rate of violence in the U.S. Up to date, the Crips has been associated with violence as a socio-economic issue due to lack of political leadership.

Conclusion
The Crips gang has been involved in highly violent activities. The government of the U.S. needs to address the increasing gang issues through safe correctional measures.

Judith Butlers work on the notion of performativity is one of the most substantial research in social sciences and particularly appealing to researcher studying the inequalities or distribution in the society, such as discrimination on the basis of race, gender etc (Baldwin, 2004). The paper by Minelle Mahtani and Mary Thomas discuss the issue of social division through racism by using this notion. Both papers discuss the same issue from different perspective with Mahtani discussing how the racism exist in the Canadian society and how people from different ethnicities feel and react to it. Thomas on the other hand, discusses the existence of the concept of racism among teenagers in America by evaluating from her interviews with school students from black and white races and how their performance bolster the division among them despite them having no knowledge about it.

In her paper, Mahtani investigates the complex relationship that is present between performativity and racialization by building up a Butlerian approach to performativity. In the paper, Mahtani has suggest that  while according to Butler, gender is a regulatory function, race can also regarded as a regulatory function which implies that the social performance occurs in a constraint spaces with racial border guards constantly on patrol to tackle any attempt to blur the classification that occurs naturally in the society. Mahtani also mentions the cases of several women of mixed race who gave out complex racialized performance in order to disrupt often offending and dual reading of their racialized identities. As a proof to this, Mahtani has quoted interviewed from a number of mixed raced females who have reworked their identities and disrupt social values associated with the seeing of race ( Mahtani, 2002).
Thomas on the other hand, takes a look at the dynamics and existence of racism in US society and how performances actually enhance the lines of division despite the fact that people often do not want to or do not give importance to act of racism. The paper evaluates the interviews of several female school students from different races, namely black and white, in which they were asked about their reactions to racism in their school. The paper states that although the girls themselves are the practitioners of race, they do not accomplish this in a social-spatial vacuum. They actually face a powerful racialized space which they accept and repeat and embody racialization by invoking normative racial identities. An example provided in this regard, is the grouping of black girls that exist in the lunch room of the school. Another activity that develops the notion of racial identities among the girls is the labeling and policing of black and white girls and through space. The papers suggests that the girls identification of each other by others race and by making it an spectacle in the school space  gives rise to the effect of racialization rather than normal identification of their peers (Thomas, 2005).

These reading are important in providing an understanding of the existance and dynamics of racism and discuss how it affects the society from the notion of performance. These reading highlight how performances by people affect the existence of racism in the society and that the spaces also plays a major role in the racial performance given out by people which either develop or attempt to mitigate racialization in the society.

Having experience multi-ethnicity all my life, I tend to agree with the findings given in both papers. Though performances by people tend to suggest whether they classification in the society or not, I believe that with the concept of racialization will then to melt away as people spend more and more time together in a space. I also have experienced that people are not often concerned with others race but rather the qualities that are attributed with that race. Once these qualities are understood, then people have fewer problems understanding each other. Though both reading attempt to classify the performance of people generally, they actually report their facts from specific environments (Mahtani talks about offices, while Thomas discusses racism among teenagers in school). The readings of the assigned papers raise several questions. First is the identification of factors other than space that play a role in performances. Furthermore, if the performances play a major role in highlighting the division in the society, are their any steps taken to prevent the development of such a space where people generally accept what they see and feel. The highlighting of exceptional instances by Mahtani in her paper also raises this issue and the need of highlighting of such instances in order to make people think about the issue and to show them that individual difference can transform into something significant. I totally agree with Ms. Mahtani on the idea that the performances by some women who rework their identities create emotional and psychic earthquakes by disrupting the social values associated with how race is perceive, these performances may reinvest racial ideals. I also totally agree with the fact that it would be false to assume that all such performances can challenge binary and oppositional modes of racial identification. With regards to Ms. Thomas, I agree with the author on the fact that people often do not recognize the banality of racial production and racist practice, despite their practices. I also totally agree with Ms. Thomas that in society, people are constrained by their identifications and social positioning and that race stills remains at the heart of the spaces they perform in, and also that it is important to understand how people come to accept and reproduce the same authority of race that the constitute the social and spatial meaning (Barker, 2008).

Though both articles look at racism from different perspective, the thing that links them together is the performance. It is through performance in a spatial setting that social function of racism takes place. Both papers can be compared to each other as both papers cover the issue from completely different angles, with Ms. Thomas providing discussing how and why such performances take place while Ms. Mahtani discusses the reaction of such performances. There are several similarities as well that exist between the two reading such as both paper emphasize the fact that in a society, the boundaries of classes are policed by certain people which encourage the racialization among society. Furthermore, both papers mention the fact that people in the society commit racial practices, despite their wariness of racism and that they do not recognize the banality of such activities.

This case study seeks to undertake an analysis of CreekSide Convalescence Hospital with a view of identify the key management strategies that the facility administration may need to pursue in their efforts to meet the public expectations for high quality services. The nursing homes play a very critical role in ensuring specialist Medicare to a variety of special needs patients. This means that numerous experts are involved in the daily activities of the facility. It is therefore important that proper management and activity coordination is implemented for the smooth and successful running of such facilities. This case study of CreekSide Convalescence Hospital has given special emphasis on the implementation of information systems as being central in the management of a nursing home.  
CreekSide Convalescent Hospital is a religious nonmedical health care institution that is situated on the 850 Sonoma avenue Santa Rosa in California. This facility specializes in the provision of extended-stay nursing care to seniors with different levels of disabilities within Santa Rosa, California. The hospitals primary specialty is a nursing home. The hospital has several departments ranging from clinical laboratory to house keeping services. There are several employees both specialists and non-specialists who work both full time and part-time at the facility. The facility was first approved to provide Medicare services in 1974 (Hospital-Data, 2009).

Nursing homes are institutions where persons who do not necessarily need to be in hospitals and at the same time cannot be cared for at home are housed and taken care of. This means that nursing homes are nearly structured like hospitals and utilizes the services of nursing aids and skilled nurses who attend to those admitted round the clock. The staffs are supposed to provide medical care and other forms of therapy. Because nursing homes care for a very special category of patients most of whom require 24 hours of attention, it is important that the nursing homes have in place efficient standards for their services and administration (National Institute of Health, 2010).

This hospital provides services onsite to the residents of Santa Rosa. The services include clinical laboratory services, dental care services, Dietary services, mental health services, housekeeping services, nursing services, and occupational therapy services. The other services include pharmacy services, physical therapy services, physician services, podiatry services, social work services, speech or language pathology services, therapeutic recreation specialist services, and diagnostic x-ray services. All these activities are either provided by staff onsite to residents or the social services staff onsite to the residents (Hospital-Data, 2009).

The hospital has employed quite a number of both specialists and non-specialists to offer the variety of services listed on its catalog. The employees either work on full-time terms or on part time terms for the hospital. Available statistics at the facility indicates that the full time activity professional staff employed at the facility accounts for 1.04 of the employees while the full time administrative staff account for 6.35 of the total employees. The activity professional staff category include registered nurses, certified nurse aides, dietitians, occupational therapists, occupational therapy aides, pharmacists, podiatrists, speech pathologist, and other physicians (Hospital-Data, 2009).

The success of CreekSide Convalescent Hospital is very much dependent n prudent management on the part of the hospital administration. This means that there is need for the facility to always strive to offer high quality services that are associated with public expectations. To achieve this mission of nursing homes, it would be important for the management to come up with strategic management plan that would address matters of quality in line acceptable high quality nursing care services. At the same time, it is important the activity professional staff observe professionalism in the course of their duty. Most nursing homes have been characteristically identified with the lack of information systems despite the important roles they play in ensuring specialized care. This has always meant that the general public is unable to access efficient management services including better management of chronic conditions and improved access to information that would result from the establishment of information systems. It is generally agreed that implementation of action plans involving establishment of information systems will help increase the quality of patient care and minimize incidences of medical errors (Alexander, 2008).

Though this facility has a long history in the nursing field, the fast changing administrative roles require proper coordination between the administration and the staff. There is also need to develop a clear coordination system between the numerous specialists who offer the various nursing services. Most nursing homes have been characteristically identified with the lack of information systems despite the important roles they play in ensuring specialized care. This has always meant that the general public is unable to access efficient management services including better management of chronic conditions and improved access to information that would result from the establishment of information systems. It is generally agreed that implementation of action plans involving establishment of information systems at the CreekSide Hospital will help increase the quality of patient care and minimize incidences of medical errors (Alexander, 2008).

Strategic Management
There is increasing demand from the general public for better service provision by the nursing homes. This aspect continues to exert a lot of pressure on nursing home operators not only to provide the desired services as residents enter their facilities, but that they must also modify their services to match the ever changing needs of their residents. This calls for the incorporation of a wide variety of care services that a resident can access from within the facility. Though this has always been a key concern in the management of nursing homes, majority of operators have always paid very little attention (CBS Interactive, 2010).

Nursing homes that will therefore remain adamant to 5the market forces that are determined to drive key changes in their operations, and are instead fixed to their traditional and longstanding modes of operation face greater risk of being rendered unsuitable. Strategic management calls for the ability of institution managers to steer their institutions towards growth and expansion. To achieve this, there is need on the part of the management to continuously monitor the changing landscape and come up with action plans, products and services that are able to effectively respond to the market characteristics (CBS Interactive, 2010).

Community Needs Assessment
This is a strategic management mechanism that gives direction on how to maximize an institutions patient mix. It will work towards giving the indication on the new products and services according to the market place needs. This call for the application of integrated information systems for purposes of data analysis to enable service providers undertake an assessment of the demand for services according to changing public needs  (CBS Interactive, 2010).

Community needs assessment calls for a detailed audit for the purposes of identifying the extent of the market being served. Such an audit would ensure that relevant information on current and proposed services are captured and rated so that necessary adjustments may be made to reflect the changing market needs. This approach would ensure nursing homes remain relevant and meet their key purpose of quality services to the general public (CBS Interactive, 2010).

Information Systems
The information systems that are ideal for implementation in CreekSide Hospital are those systems that relate actual measurement of care that is provided to the home residents. The systems should support the storage of clinical data including the documentation of care delivered to each and every resident within a nursing home. The chronic cases that nursing homes handle call for the establishment of triggers and alert information systems. These should be capable of relying frequency messages from home residences to the risk management oversight. These are information systems capable of automatically sending messages to an end user as a notification of a potential patient problem so as to ensure quality risk management (Alexander, 2008).

An information system that offers prudent management of clinical data will enable the multiple service providers in the facility including physical therapists nurses, medical technicians, and physicians gain relevant access to patient information. This is important because all these professionals provide necessary treatments, education and assessments contained in the medical records. Prudent management of data would ensure that each of the stakeholders make the best possible decision about a patient (Alexander, 2008).

Implementation of action plans that involve the integration of information systems into the management of CreekSide Hospital is very important in ensuring excellence in service delivery to the general public. This is because information systems ensure decision support that facilitates efficient coordination and interaction between the multiple service providers since all the residents data are coordinated and all the sources listed. This is important in meeting the overall mission of providing quality life and quality care to the general public (Alexander, 2008).

Financial Performance Plan
Assumptions
Financial planning requires little assumptions to support the analysis. These assumptions if supported by proper evidence and argument are acceptable and valid. These assumptions help in decision making. They are also significant enough to do financial analysis. A little discrepancy in the information is also explained by these assumptions that are made in the start of making these financial statements. The assumptions are also supposed to be realistic. If this is not the case, then the investor and all the third parties related to the hospital, people who are investing in the operations of the hospital and expecting a return for their investment, will not be invest in the hospital anymore.
Creek side hospital is a not for profit organization. The assumptions made must be strong and real enough to support and satisfy the people who are giving money to the hospital to function. Some of the significant assumptions revealed from the financial data analysis are that

Depreciation
All the assets are depreciated using a straight line method. The hospital assets include the hospital beds, the equipment like blood pressure apparatus, operation tray etc. depreciation of these assets is charged using a straight line depreciation method.

Gross patient revenue
The gross patient revenue is the fees charged by the patients who are admitted for surgeries or extensive care, inpatients, and the patients who are admitted for 12 hours, outpatients. The patients who come for consultation during the OPD hours are not included in the gross revenue. The reason for this is that, these patients do not represent any significant amount of the patients coming to the hospital.

Inventory analysis
The inventory is calculated by using the FIFO method which is first in first out method. Oldest inventory items are recorded as sold first. This is relevant in a hospital environment because, inventory includes the medicines and the drugs. The expiry of these medicines is an issue, thus the hospital management follows the first in first out method to analyze the inventory.

The pension expense is taken in the financial expense since it is 20 of the employees wages. Thus for the ease of calculation it is included in the expense portion.

The eight law suits that the hospital has are not showed in the financial statements. The reason for this is that the settlement of these financial plans will not have any material impact on the current financial position of the hospital. Thus to avoid financial confusions and complexities, these adjustments are not considered.

Analysis of Financial and Operational Plan
The financial analysis for a hospital is slightly different as compared to normal organizations. The main reason for this is that the payment methods and the operations differ widely. An example for this is very simple. Working capital current assets- current liabilities is a very significant and a key indicator for the profitability of any organization. However this cannot be applied to the hospital model as the net working capital is not relevant in this case. The main problem in applying working capital to the hospital comes with the accounts receivable. Organizations usually deicide which client to serve and what credit limit to provide to which client.

However a hospital will not have this kind of an attitude. Hospital management does not decide who to serve and who not to serve. And providing credit to the patients is not the policy in a majority of the hospitals. Thus this very basic ratio, the net working capital fails to indicate the profitability of the hospital. This was a very basic example that all the ratios do not indicate the profitability of the hospital. Because a hospital has completely different operations and performance measures, that is why their profitability and financial analysis is a little different and complicated.

Identifying common financial characteristics of performance is important in evaluating a hospitals financial position. A common financial characteristic of hospital performance is one that consistently surfaces when financial ratios are statistically analyzed over time and across industries. Starting with the profitability factors, ratios like return on total assets return on investment, and total margin ratios for each year and each operating environmentstrongly depict the profitability of the hospital. The profitability ratios are extremely important and significant for the not- for- profit hospitals. The reason for this is that these ratios are the only indicators that relate to the success of the hospital. This is the only key performance indicator that is significant enough to attract people to invest in the hospital. A good ratio will help to attract more investors and thus will help improving the quality of the service provided to the patients.

Thus the most important ratio for analysis of the financial statement for a not- for- profit hospital will include the profitability ratios. This is the first and the foremost step in the analysis of the financial statements. This is also a very good indicator of the performance of the hospital.

Fixed assets efficiency is another very important factor for ratio analysis and for observing the performance of the hospital. The related ratios will include the fixed-asset turnover, fixed-asset turnover (price-level adjusted), and total asset turnover measures.

This ratio analysis of the fixed assets relate to the capacity of the hospital. While hospitals usually have mostly labor intensive with their fixed assets usually invested in the personnel, they are also capital intensive. They also invest heavily in new and advanced technology. This is done to improve the quality of the service provided to the patients. This is also done to stay in the run with the competition.

Thus it is also very relevant to calculate the return on this heavy investment. The dollar sales that the hospital is generating on this investment of the fixed assets are also a very significant factor to analyze the profitability of a hospital. Thus after the profitability analysis, the analysis of fixed assets is done. The financial structure is the third important factor. Analysis among the ratios that relate to capital structure indicates that equity financing and fixed-asset financing are strongly correlated and, thus, are meaningful for estimating a hospitals capital structure. Low values for equity financing and high values for fixed-asset financing imply more debt. This analysis is thus very important to predict the profitability of the hospital.

After analyzing the financial structure the last but not the least comes the liquidity analysis. The ratios relevant in this analysis include current ratio, days cash on hand. The days cash on hand indicates the degree of the cash to cover the daily expenditures. Hospitals with greater liquidity will have older physical plants or high average age and less debt. The ideal situation would be to have low debt, a young physical plant, and ample cash on hand. Unfortunately, the simultaneous occurrence of these three conditions is rare in hospitals these days. Thus the key indicators for analyzing the performance and the financial position of a hospital include the following factors

Profitability factors
Fixed assets efficiency
Financial structure
Liquidity analysis
Other factors that are considered during the analysis of a hospital include
The change in the number of the patients every year, taking into charge the inflation. The reason for this is that the change in the number of the patients will indicate the impact of the investment in new technology.

An analysis of the cost per patient compared to the revenue per patient will prove to be a good indicator for the financial analysis. This will help to analyze how much cost is covered by the revenue generated. This analysis will also take into account inflation.

The volume that is the amount of patients coming in is highly impacted by inflation, the quality and the level of the service provided to the individuals. Thus comparing the number of inpatients and outpatients every year will provide a good explanation about the quality, the affect of inflation and the satisfaction of the customers. These are some of the steps that are involved in measuring the performance and analyzing the financial position of the hospital relative to the industry.

Conclusion
CreekSide Hospital as a nursing facility plays a very central role in the provision of onsite nursing services to the residents of Santa Rosa, California. The magnitude with which nursing home have in the recent past gained popularity has meant that there is a very high expectation from the general public on the standards and quality of services that are being offered within the facility. This calls for the change of approach and strategy by the management so that they may pursue and implement plans that would ensure that their services meet public expectation. The key area that has for a long time been associated with poor quality services in most nursing homes has been the lack of information systems that can assist in proper coordination of their activities.

The continued success and survival of this facility should thus be a key concern to the administration, staff and the other entire stakeholder. There should be good liaison among the stakeholders, the hospital facilities should be given a major facelift, and implementation of information systems be pursued as a priority. It is from this improvement strategy approach that CreekSide Hospital can stand out to be counted among the leaders in nursing care provision.

Hill Collins portrayed women to have sought their autonomy through the following dimensions control over their bodies. This is explained by their efforts to strangle the idea of sterilization endeavors to keep their children and the persistent struggle to retain the power and control of their childrens minds. However, Crenshaw introduces the notion of intersectional discrimination that acts against all of these efforts for liberation. Hoogte V. D. Liesbeth and Kingma Koos (2004) describes intersectionality as the idea that  specifically addresses the manner in which racism, patriarchy, economic disadvantages and other discriminatory systems contribute to create layers of inequality that structures the relative positions of women and men, races and other groups. Patel (2001), on his Notes on Gender and Racial Discrimination, clarifies that The idea of intersectionality seeks to capture both the structural and dynamic consequences of the interaction between two or more forms of discrimination or systems of subordination as cited on the UNs expert group report (UN Expert Group Report, 2001, pp 9). Crenshaw in his article Whose Story Is It, Anyway Feminist and Antiracist Appropriations of Anita Hill explains that the struggle of women with color to attain various forms of autonomy has always been downplayed by the crossroads of gender and race hierarchies. In sighting Anita Hills case, Professor Kimberle Crenshaw developed a metaphor relating to a traffic intersection (Patel 2001). The metaphor gives what is considered to be an effective model for the understanding of intersectional or multiple  discrimination. In this metaphor, race, gender, class and other forms of discrimination or subordination are the roads that structure the social, economic or political terrain. It is through these thoroughfares that dynamics of disempowerment travel. Marginalized groups of women are located at these intersections of these powers by virtue of their specific identities and must negotiate the traffic that flows through these intersections to avoid injury and to obtain resources for the normal activities of life, (Page 9, Expert Group Report). The failure of national governments and the international community to adequately analyze all experiences of intersectional discrimination lies in the fact that in traditional conceptions of race and gender discrimination, certain specific problems or forms of discrimination faced by marginalized women are rendered invisible. Crenshaw describes this as the twin problems of over-inclusion and under-inclusion. For example, the notion of over-inclusion refers to situations where the racial dimension of an experience is subsumed within a gender perspective. The consequence is that only the gender aspect of the discrimination is addressed and the subsumed or radicalized aspect of discrimination is ignored. The trafficking of women and young girls is perceived to be an example par excellence of gender subordination. It is commonly held to be only a womans problem. So in the debates or strategies on the trafficking of women and young girls, little if any attention is paid to the fact that some groups of women and children may actually be selected and targeted for trafficking.

The combination of these womens gender, socio-economic position and their race that renders them vulnerable to economic and sexual exploitation is obvious but it is not addressed. The notion of under-inclusion refers to situations where a gender analysis is underplayed or ignored altogether in what is perceived to be a problem of racial discrimination. For example, the forced non-consensual sterilization of black and other marginalized women has been perceived to be a problem of racial discrimination rather than one of sexual abuse. There is another form of structural discrimination which occurs where policies intersect with underlying structures of inequality to create a compounded burden for particular vulnerable women. One example of this is the ways in which vulnerable women within radicalizedmarginalized groups may be coerced into non-violent crime in support of the criminal activity by their partners as explained by Professor Kimberle Crenshaw. Yet another manifestation of structural discrimination is where the policy in question interacts with background structures thus creating burdens that disproportionately affect marginalized women. The combined effects of racism and gender discrimination, in particular on migrant, immigrant, indigenous, minority and marginalized women around the world has thwarted the efforts of these women to gain their autonomy for example in the areas of domestic violence and immigration policies, domestic violence and the criminal justice system, domestic violence and multiculturalism.

In the book Racial Formation in the
United States From 1960s to the 1980s written by Michael Omi and Howard
Winant, the tandem states that race has been and will always be the at the
center of American experience (6). The duo even went further to discuss in
this book that challenging both the mainstream (ethnicity oriented) and
radical (class-oriented) analyses, they argue that race has been
systematically overlooked (p.138) as one of the most important aspects in
comprehending and understanding the nature of American politics and society as
a whole. In this book, they set to task a construction of an analytic
framework with which to use to view in proper perspective the racial politics
in the last three decades in America.

The book Racial Formation in the United
States From 1960s to the 1980s is organized in three parts. The part one of
the book is a survey of the three perspectives on American race relations.
These perspectives are ethnicity-based theory, class-based theory and nation-
based theory. The tandem of Omi and Winant provided arguments for each
sociological theory.

In the ethnicity-based theory, the duo criticized this
viewpoint for its tendency to subsume race under the aspect of the general
rubric ethnicity and thus giving a perception that overlook the unique
experiences the minorities, like black, Native Americans and Asians,  living
in America. On the other hand, class-based theory is similarly criticized for
overlooking the power inherent in race in the aspects of social, political and
economics because of its too much focus on economic interests, processes, and
cleavages. And finally, on the nation-based theory is being challenged by Omi
and Winant for its inappropriate for analyzing the structure of race relations
in American using the geography and history.

If the tandem would be asked what
is needed to understand the full context of the race relationship in America,
the duo suggested an analysis according to racial formation perspective.

According to Omi and Winant, this perspective can deal with race as an an
autonomous field of social conflict, political organization, and
culturalideological meaning (52). Omi and Winant defined then racial formation
as the process by which social, economic and political forces determine the
content and importance of racial catergories, and by which in turn shaped by
racial meaning (62).

As the book progresses, the duo argue for continued
importance of the role of race in American politics, culture and economics.
Yet, they fail to make any specific predictions as to the importance of race
in terms of the future of American politics and society as a whole.

What can be
said about the book is not only about the lacking in any specific predictions
made by the two regarding the role of race in American experience, it can also
be noted that the conclusion written by the two is accompanied by a lack of
rigor that is observable throughout the book.

The authors present their ideas
and assertions in an engaging manner, there is no doubt about that, but these
ideas and assertions were not backed up by any detailed analysis.  For example
the two state that race has been a key determinant of mass movements, state
policy, and even foreign policy in the United States (p.138) but rather than
giving a detailed explanation and analysis as to why is this so, the authors
only can provide occasional example to support these assertions. Another sign
of lack of rigor in the authors assertions is when they state that one of the
things we notice about people is their race (62). This assertion is no longer
a secret to treat is as something of a new idea but rather a self-evident
truth.