Decision Making Essay Example for Free

Decision Making Essay When you are making a decision there are six steps you want to follow they are; identifying and diagnosing the problem, generating alternative solutions, evaluating alternatives, making the choice, implementing the decision, and evaluating the decision. There are times in our lives when we have to make important decisions such as changing jobs, moving to a new state, buying a new house or going to school. For me this decision came a little over a year ago when I decided to go back to school and further my education. The first step of my decision making process was to identify the problem. I have been working at the same job for six years with no chance of advancement. I just had my first child and when my leave was up, I didn’t want to go back to the same job that I hated. Next, I had to look at all of my options. Yes, I could have gone out and got another job, but really how far can you go with just a high school diploma. I wanted to be able to go out and make a difference and do something that I love doing. Last, with my husband’s support I made the choice to go back to school. And I have to say it has been the best decision I have ever made. I will be done with my associate’s degree in August then I am starting my bachelor’s degree. This will not only help me but my family too. Even though my situation is somewhat different from the one in the text, we both made the decision to better ourselves. She had to cut cost and repay the company’s debt. This made Xerox survive and is now a thriving business.

Harriet Jacobs Essay -- essays papers

Harriet Jacobs Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl was written to appeal to an audience of free white women and to involve them in the antislavery struggle. At a more personal level, it was written to vindicate Harriet Jacobs, both to reveal her history and to account for it in a public setting. Jacobs's narrative signals several significant departures from the literary and social conventions of the slave narrative, a genre that enjoyed widespread popularity in the United States during the 1840s and 1850s. Slave narratives written by men characteristically focused on the heroic struggles of individuals, lone figures struggling against the injustices of the slave system. Issues of family and community were often subsumed within these individual struggles. Incidents in the...

Analysis of Social Class

Paper #2 Analysis of Stratification Social Class Introduction This paper will describe this student’s informed opinion regarding the class structure in the United States in terms of social class. Prior to researching for this paper this student did not think much about social class. However after knowing what she now knows it seems impossible to not realize the stratification in society. This paper will discuss key terms, additional readings, new knowledge regarding social class, and a critique of class structure. Class structureSociety is divided into seven sections: The super rich, wealthy, upper middle class, lower middle class, working class, the working poor, and the underclass. The super rich includes the persons who have benefits such as: A social register, alumni set asides at Ivy League schools, interlocking corporate boards of directors, and whose incomes are over $250,000. The wealthy class includes those with incomes over $200,000, children in private schools, and servants. The upper middle class includes approximately 23% of the households in the United States.The incomes in this class of society range from $75,000 to $199,000. They are highly educated and professional, and active in local politics. The lower middle class is the most diverse class and is typically comprised of teachers, nurses, firefighters, police officers, and office workers. Their annual incomes range from $50,000 to $74,999. Their children can only attend college with work-study or student loans. The working class or â€Å"blue collar class† of society have jobs, not careers, as factory workers or clerical workers, or in hospitality and tourism.The working class comprises 27% of the class structure. The children of the working class attend a community college for two years but are not likely to graduate. The working poor’s annual income does not exceed $25,000, they have unstable work without benefits, and include the highest percentage of people of color. The last class of society as outlined by Dr. Armstead, is the underclass. This class is growing rapidly. It includes about 15. 6 million unskilled workers and unemployed young mothers.There are other economic stratification systems which include: Closed systems, open systems, Marxian model, and Weberian model. People born into a closed system are assigned their class position at birth and will never have an opportunity to better their situation. An example of this is India’s cast system. Those individuals living in an open system have an opportunity to move from one social class to another. No system is completely open or closed. The Marxian model divides society into four classes: capitalist class, managerial class, small business class, and the working class.The Weberian model divides society into six sections: upper class, upper middle class, middle class, working class, working poor, and underclass. Additional Readings There are different social and economic lifestyles am ong the social classes. For example, Dr. William Domhoff believes the elite class of society sticks together by relaxing and socializing with each other at exclusive places such as The Bohemian Grove in California. Journalist Barbara Ehrenreich went undercover as an unskilled worker posing as a cleaning lady, waitress, nursing home aid, hotel maid, and Wal-Mart sales clerk.Through her journey, readers were able to see what â€Å"prosperity† looks like through the eyes of the lowest level workers. The root causes of inequality are still not entirely understood as D. Weinberg explains in â€Å"A Brief Look at Postwar U. S Income Inequality. † One of the factors that influence inequality is the wage distribution has become considerably more unequal with more highly skilled, trained, and educated at the top experiencing real wage gains and those at the bottom experiencing real wage losses (P60-191 3).Also divorces, births out of wedlock, and the increasing age at first mar riage have led to a shift away from married couple households and toward single parent household, which typically have lower incomes. What Was Learned Just like H. Gans in his â€Å"The Uses Of Poverty†, this student too thought it would be impossible to find the positive functions of poverty. Without the poor, who would do the â€Å"dirty work†? Such as field working or truck farming. Gans explains an interesting function of poverty which is that the poor help keep the rich busy. Society uses the poor as beneficiaries of charity affairs.One more example outlined by Gans is, since the poor are powerless they absorb the costs of change and growth in American society. They are pushed out of their neighborhood to make room for progress which includes express ways, hospitals, and universities. The poor are important in their own ways. The poor pick the tomatoes that the rich eat. Even though the rich may eat organic tomatoes, both chew and swallow tomatoes in the same way. This student acknowledges that there are indeed distinct social classes; however each class has its own distinct and important role in society.Critique of Class Structure Like a cast system, J. Rawls explains that most Americans raised at the top or bottom are likely to stay there as adults. The graph in the power point lessons shows a small deviation however the majority of society tends to stay in the class which they were born into. Of course social class in the United States does not compare to India’s cast system because in the United States, there is much much more opportunity to better your situation. Another eye opening aspect of this project was B. Ehrenreich’s book.It was interesting to see how the low paid jobs which are considered â€Å"unskilled† actually require a lot of skill. Even the lowest paid job, requires exhausting mental and muscular effort. As D. Weinberg said, what if food stamps and welfare checks were added into the definition of inco me? If the definition of income was broadened, would any of the class percentages change? The way our society is divided there are some negative aspects such as: Poor neighborhoods have run down schools unlike upper class neighborhoods, whose schools have well maintained lawns and graffiti free walls.Also these underclass neighborhoods are high in crime. Until only recently have poorer neighborhoods in Miami held farmers markets and book fairs. In this student’s ideal society, most of society would be middle class, leaving political agendas and the running of huge corporations up to the super rich. This student feels badly about assigning some people to the underclass of this â€Å"ideal† society, but she understands now that the poor play an essential part of a healthy society.Between the facts provided in the various power point lessons and the additional reading assigned, one is able to formulate their own opinion about society in the United States and its different class divisions. This paper has described this student’s informed opinion regarding the class structure in the United States in terms of social class. The seven key terms, super rich, wealthy, upper middle class, lower middle class, working class, the working poor, and the underclass have been explained, and additional readings have been discussed.All of this along with new knowledge regarding social class has enabled this student to critique the class structure in the United States. It is important that when studying or speaking with others about societal class division, that the speaker and listener keep an open mind. One can hope for equality for all, but as Dr. Armstead explains, total equality for all is impossible; however fairness for all is achievable. Citations Hunt, Elgin and Colander, David. (2011). Social Science: An Introduction to the Study of Society. 14th Edition. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. www. trinity. edu/mkearl/strat. html www. census. gov

Essay A Western Identity Crisis - 739 Words

This country was founded by immigrants and is known for its population from a wide array of cultural backgrounds. Living in a westernized society that is so diverse, we are forced to choose an identity for ourselves at one point or another in our lives. Some choose to identify by their outer qualities, while others may identify by their inner qualities. One may identify by their looks, gender, sexuality, political views, or their beliefs. Some may have an identity that is dynamic and ever changing depending on the events faced in life, or some my identify by a single aspect throughout their whole life. Some may even struggle finding an identity due to the countless influence both conscious and unconscious. â€Å"In the Borderlands of Chicano†¦show more content†¦According to Saenz, our identities are shaped by our surroundings. He describes a student: â€Å"He did not produce himself. He is a product. And the word product here should not be confused with victim. Though we may all occupy different positions in the material world, we are all products of the cumulative discourse around us† (Saenz 71). We are products of our environment, and the course each of us takes in life is dependent on how we allow the discourse to shape us and our beliefs. Choosing an identity is necessary, and many of us are forced to have more than one identity. We have an identity that we choose, a private identity, and are forced to also have a public identity. Our public identity is shaped by politics and our cultural surroundings. According to Saenz, â€Å"the West’s obsession began with Plato and Aristotle and was extended by (among others) Thomas Aquinas, Augustine, Descartes, Locke, Hume, Heidegger and Marx† (75). This obsession with political identity continues into present day and the West’s obsession has a great impact on our public identity. Our public identity is not one that we may necessarily choose, but rather is forced upon us by othe rs. While some say â€Å"we are all the same. We all love, we all hate, we all dream, we all will die. We feel. We all feel† (73). There is so little truth behind such a statement. We are not all the same, not genetically,Show MoreRelatedThe Iranian Hostage Crisis Of 19791667 Words   |  7 PagesThe Iranian Hostage Crisis of 1979 was an event that profoundly impacted Western-Iranian relations, to the extent that its residual effects still linger today. Iran’s revolution of 1979 resulted in a regime change that saw U.S.-supported Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi toppled by the formerly-exiled Ayotollah Khomeini, who promptly instated a strongly anti-Western regime that established itself as ideologically in direct opposition to many Western values. 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