Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Debate Paper on the Welfare Act Essay Example for Free

Debate Paper on the Welfare Act Essay In 1996, in order to fulfill his campaign promise to end welfare as we know it President Bill Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), as a result both the fabric and management of the national welfare system were altered. With any policy change comes conflict in the form of opposing perspectives, and the two conflicting viewpoints that will be discussed for the basis of this paper were induced as a result of the enacted PRWORA. Michael Tanner, the first author to be discussed within this paper defended the belief that the alterations to welfare reform achieved desirable results. Author Stephen Pimpare, the voice of the opposition, blasts the PRWORA and its aftereffect. Michael Tanner discussed, how the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) has been the catalyst for the decline of poverty in the United States. Tanner began his argument by accenting the opposition of many American liberals, that anticipated that the passage of this bill would bare cataclysmic results such as, forcing families into absolute poverty. Through the use of statistical data, Tanner discussed how a decade later, the results of the aforesaid bill have proven to be quite opposite of the conjecture. Comparatively, Stephen Pimpare sought to discuss, how the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) has come to fail the recipients that it was originally intended to benefit. Pimpare admits that although, the number of welfare recipients were reduced, there has not been enough substantial evidence to indicate that this was, as a result of welfare reform. Instead, Pimpare believes that the decline in poverty was attributed to forces unrelated to the enactment of the PRWORA. Although, poverty declined in the mid-1990s, he affirms that it is on the rise once more and in large part due to welfare reform. Pimpare continues his argument by making the struggles of former welfare recipients a focal point. By encouraging employment among the poor, the PRWORA placed a work requirement, and a five year lifetime cap on cash assistance, which Pimpare believes has made the lives of those that left welfare, particularly single mothers, that much harder. He more or less explains that under the policies of the PRWORA the federal governments attempt at bringing an end to welfare meant giving states more control over program requirements; doing away with previous federal matching funds, and reducing the incentives for bringing in new welfare recipients. According to Pimpare, without these incentives and the increased authority given to states, many now delegate their allotments for the use of programs or budget deficits that are unrelated to the welfare expenses for which, the funding was initially intended, and the few states that do invest funds into welfare related programs do so by contracting private organizations. Each author agrees that there has been reductions in welfare rolls, but neither believe that this decline occurred for the same reasons. Michael Tanner asserts throughout his article that rolls declined in large part as a result of the PRWORA; giving only slight praise to economic growth. Tanner believes that this among other factors are an effective appraisal of the PRWORAs overall success. Although, Stephen Pimpare also acknowledges cuts in the rolls, he denies that the PRWORA was the influence. He credits the diminishment of the rolls to the decline of unemployment and higher wages. He affirms that if it had not been for the implementation of welfare reform, poverty would have been substantially lower then it was. An additional point, addressed by both authors, is how former welfare recipients have fared beyond their enrollment under the enacted PRWORA. Each side of the opposition maintains that the effects of the welfare reform have bared either negative or positive consequences. Tanner stated that although, many individuals who left welfare, as a result of the PRWORA, have only acquired full time, entry level positions, paying an average of $16,000 per year, it was progress and far better then where those individuals once were. He adds, that while these individuals take on menial employment, they are in turn, gaining valuable experience that will provide them with marketable skills for higher earnings in the future. In Pimpares article, he argues that the PRWORA has ultimately, had adverse effects on the lives of former recipients. He states that homelessness is at an all time high. According to Pimpare, more then half of former recipients remain in poverty, and around 60 percent were unemployed upon there completion of the welfare program. He adds, that poor women, a population that dominates the overall pool of welfare recipients, have become no more autonomous following the welfare reform, then they were previously. Historically, there have been generations of conflict concerning the welfare of the impoverished, and the overall tone of both articles are no exception. Each article, exemplified the current state of conflict. Within our course we have examined this shift of ideology, throughout various periods of time. Historical occurrences, from one era to the next have acted as the catalyst for the fluctuation of the perceived accountability for the poor. The view of personal versus social responsibility has shaped the response to social welfare policies. The retrenchment was a period marked by the relinquishment of responsibility to the individual, and the PRWORA was to be the means of supporting this return of autonomy to the poor. It has been sixteen years since the PRWORA took its place amongst government legislation, and the lives of its former recipients have shifted during this lapse in time, but has welfare reform changed their lives for better or for worse? Did the lunatic right accurately predict the welfare leavers destinies, or were the liberal prophets of doom correct? I strongly believe, that in order to form an educated rebuttal against the opposition, one should have a clear understanding of the vantage point that they wish to support, as well as, of the one that they wish to dismiss. After, thoroughly examining each viewpoint of the welfare reform quarrel, I believe that I am fully informed enough to take the side of most American liberals. Since, its enactment in 1996, the PRWORA has increased the power of the states, but has done very little to increase the livelihood of those who stood to benefit from it. I am sure in hindsight, the PRWORA seemed like a good idea, but it turned out to be fundamental flawed. Since its passage, single parents have been unable to adequately provide for their families. While, many former welfare recipients have managed to attain employment, a scant amount have actually evaded the reality of poverty. The rise in employment is parallel with the increased presence of single mothers, who have entered the labor force, which can clearly be attributed to welfare reform. The vast majority of former welfare recipients, who have entered the work force are only earning between $10,000 and $16,000 annually, this is substantially lower then the amount a family realistically requires to obtain lifes basic necessities. The impractical expectation of welfare reform were that these individuals would eventually climb the job ladder out of menial, entry level positions, but I am not so naive and simple-minded as to agree. History has offered insight into such situations, thus wages remain stagnant for less educated workers, and being employed does not automatically absolve a person from impoverishment. On a positive note, more monies have been earmarked for child care agendas, but difficulties still persist. Single parents continue to receive less support to work. Federal and state programs extend to few families that require child care. Head Start serves less than half of eligible children (Blank, Schulman, and Ewen 1999). The quality of child care is insufficient, as a result of low wages for child care workers. An additional problem is that, although former recipients have obtained employment, they have in turn, been left unable to afford healthcare. Many are not offered such benefits through their employers, and become excluded from government funded health coverage, due to there inability to adhere to the maximum wage requirements. While I am sure the debate over welfare reform will persist long after this assignment has been submitted, it is still worth mentioning how fundamentally backwards the passage of the PRWORA was. Although, it has succeeded in pushing individuals off of the rolls, it has failed to pull them out of poverty, and it is for this reason that I must assent with Pimpares argument. What quality of life do people have when they must survive on the bare minimum? I can make little sense of a government that would allow its citizens to continue living in poverty. The PRWORA does not offer the opportunity for betterment and empowerment, it guarantees a life of struggle.

Monday, January 20, 2020

An Analysis of Page 69-70 of Chopin’s The Awakening :: Chopin Awakening

An Analysis of Page 69-70 of Chopin’s The Awakening Each time I read The Awakening, I am drawn to the passage on page 69 where Edna and Madame Ratignolle argue about â€Å"the essential† and â€Å"the unessential.† Edna tries to explain, â€Å"I would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn’t give myself.† What most would see as essential—money (you need it for food, clothing, shelter, etc) and life—Edna sees as â€Å"unessential.† Edna is speaking of more than that which one needs for physical survival; she would not hesitate to give her life to save the life of one of her children. On the other hand, Edna’s being, her â€Å"self,† is something quite different from her physical form. Madame Ratignolle simply does not understand Edna; to her, sacrificing one’s life is the utmost that a mother can do for her children. It is as if Edna was not even â€Å"talking the same language.† In fact, the two women might well be speaking different languages. Unlike Madame Ratignolle who seems to have a baby every couple of years, Edna’s head is not filled exclusively with thoughts about her children. Whereas Madame Ratignolle is motherly at all times, Edna often seems irritated by her role as mother, and her attentions to her children often occur as an afterthought. Madame Ratignolle’s entire being is bound to her children; Edna’s being is of her own design. For her there is more to life than marriage and babies and social obligations. Edna might well, at least in this passage, be asserting an early version of what Betty Friedan discusses in The Feminine Mystique. Previously, the narrator has intimated, â€Å"She had all her life long been accustomed to harbor thoughts and emotions which never voiced themselves. They had never taken the form of struggles. They belonged to her and were her own.† Her thoughts and emotions engulf her, but she does not â€Å"struggle† with them. They â€Å"belonged to her and were her own.† She does not have to share them with anyone; conversely, she must share her life and her money with her husband and children and with the many social organizations and functions her role demands.

Sunday, January 12, 2020

Social Construction of Crime

Social Construction of Crime The obvious definition of crime is the legal definition of an act which breaks the law. It is a social construction as it varies across culture, time and law. Crime is defined by a society's own rules, norms and beliefs at any given time in history. Hazel Croall emphasizes pathological way and social construction of crime in the book. An analysis of reasons of crime reveals the fact that crime is a functional part of a society, constructed by society in political, economical and cultural aspects and affects the society as a loop back. Crime is created by the government by choosing to outlaw something. Government creates what crime is or not. For instance all non-violent drug offenses are crimes that would not be considered crimes if the government hadn't made drugs illegal. That is one form of how government constructs crime. Another is that it constructs crime for its own interests. Money tracking laws and tax evasion are in this category. In fact the best way to make money is to get the government to force people to give it to you. Such as in America the drugs of the rich and middle class are either legal, or not strongly enforced. Generally celebrities who use cocaine do not do serious jail time but the drugs of the poor and minorities are illegal because they cannot afford to pay commissions. Consequently as lawmakers consider crime as a creation of the citizens, in fact crime is a creation of lawmakers who decided to limit civil freedoms by their own moral standards. However crime could change across cultures and times. For example, polygamy is illegal in Turkey but acceptable in many African cultures. Cannabis tincture was permissible as a painkiller in Victorian times but today possession of cannabis is illegal in UK. Crime is present in every society through the history. Therefore Durkheim argues that it could be assumed to be normal and its function determined (14). Crime unifies the community, as it clarifies and strengthens moral sentiments, the collective conscience and the rules. On the other hand, Downes and Rock object this idea, claiming that crime may isolate people by making them stay in at night, lock their doors and avoid talking to strangers (15). But these are valid for too much crime. Excessive crime leads people to disintegration, while too little crime is the product of too strong social control. Hence crime rates must not be excessively high or excessively low in order to crime could be functional. According to Durkheim, the cohesion and solidarity of pre-industrial societies broke up with the growth of industry (16). People started to have fewer moral standards or constraints to guide them. People’s expectations increased with the economic growth. Materialism and wealth became universal goals. And he called anomie as the search for attainable goals. Anomie reflects in society as many ways such as conformists, innovators, retreatists. Frustration and hopelessness as a result of boundless aspirations direct people to crime as another chance to achieve their goals. That is the inevitable social construction of crime that arises with industrialization Furthermore crime can be related to economic conditions. Firstly unemployment is one of the important reasons to increase crime. Crow, consider increases in unemployment as a threat to law and order (34). With globalization, many traditional crafts and skills became redundant. Therefore unskilled workers could not find long-term jobs and opportunities for career progression. As Taylor says, economic cycles of growth and recession produce changes in employment and consumption (34). Unemployment is popularly linked to crime. But the employed people also commit crime and all the unemployed people are not criminals. Such as the retired, the idle rich or the redundant executive could commit crime. Because worklessness means having more time and opportunity to commit crime. Secondly another economic reason of crime is the market policies. Currie argue that market society promotes crime by increasing inequality and concentrated economic deprivation, weakening capacity of local communities, stressing and fragmenting the family and withdrawing public provision of basic services (40). These policies affect not only lower class but all kinds of crime. â€Å"The encouragement of individualism and the aggressive pursuit of profits can be associated with law breaking among managers and executives and with an increase in financial frauds. Economic and industrial changes have also affected organized crime which can become an alternative labour market† (Croall, 41). To sum up, economic reasons take a large part in social construction of crime. Most importantly, crime arises in certain places in which there is the blatant segregation of the rich and poor. Mostly people tend to live in the same areas with other people who earn the same amount of money. In low income areas, people see crime as a way to make a few extra dollars. Therefore poor people commit crime more than other people and that forms the ‘underclass’ notion. But it is government responsibility for the economic and social policies which produce these conditions. Government is supposed to do necessary regulations to protect poor people to commit crime. Taking into account all these factors mentioned above, we can safely arrive at the conclusion that crime is inevitable reality of humanity. Although there are a few exceptions, crime do not occur due to a criminal disease or a criminal gene. It’s constructed in society rather than individually. Society creates crime, then crime affects society. In conclusion crime is what a society chooses it to be, and the crime rate is what the society chooses it to be.

Saturday, January 4, 2020

Beloved The Horrors Of Slavery And Its Memory - 1434 Words

Few books in the last fifty years have received as resounding praise as Beloved, a novel about the horrors of slavery and its memory. The reason for the praise is clear when investigating the character Beloved, who, in Morrison skillful hands, is eventually turned into the book’s central symbol for slavery. Beloved, the character, embodies various aspects of how slavery relates to us all, representing the reckoning of slavery’s traumas in her relationships with ex-slaves, symbolizing the communal action needed to rid a community of slavery in her eventual exit, and embodying the swiftness with which the horrors of slavery are forgotten as Beloved’s community’s â€Å"disremembers† her in the book’s final pages. Like a brutal therapist,†¦show more content†¦So when the lid gave he didn t know it†(117). Filled to the brim with symbolism, this quote shows, in plain terms, Paul D and Beloved having sex. Symbolically though, the scen e shows the tobacco tin around Paul D’s heart, which represents his inability to open up, falls away. Though a weird way to go about it, Paul D and Beloved’s affair allows Paul D to love Sethe openly and live more freely. Though nonsense at the first look, the outcome of the affair makes perfect sense when Beloved is looked at as a symbol for slavery, as it shows that by coming to terms, intimately so, with slavery, Paul D is able to move beyond it and live his life more authentically. While Paul D’s confrontation with Beloved helps free him from the past, Sethe’s reckoning with slavery through Beloved is not so clearly beneficial. Instead, slavery possesses her, as Morrison writes, â€Å"Her brain was not interested in the future. Loaded with the past and hungry for more, it left her no room to imagine, let alone plan for, the next day†(70). Due to the intensity of her enslavement, Sethe is unable to come to terms with slavery. Instead, the presen ce of it through Beloved obsesses her, as she devotes so much of herself to it that she nearly runs outShow MoreRelatedToni Morrison s Beloved And The Ghosts Of Slavery : Historical Recovery1691 Words   |  7 Pages In the novel Beloved, Toni Morrison develops character Beloved as an allegorical figure to embody slavery’s horrific past and the lasting impact that unresolved past trauma has upon the present. Morrison develops the character Beloved to represent all the unremembered and untold stories of slavery and to further the message that we must maintain a collective memory of slavery in order to pursue a hopeful future. 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