To Discuss Whether the Classless Society Is Attainable and Sustainable in This Century

The aim of this assignment is to discuss whether the classless society is attainable and sustainable in this century. To begin the definition of concepts are given, then the origin of the classes. It then looks at how the capitalist society cannot evolve to the classless society in this century. According to Ernesto (2007:17), Classes are a large group of people who differ in their relation to the means of their role in the social economic and political organization. Their class stratus is determined by their position to the means of production. According to Ernesto (2007:17), the theory of Karl Marx depicts four stages that have societies evolved in the last centauries and from the last stage, the class struggles can hence bring the classless society. According to Friedrich (1944:25), one of his greatest debates was the issue regarding the freedom of mankind. The main determining factor for Karl Marx for a classless society and freedom is class conflict. He also asserts that Karl Marx traced the history of mankind by the ways in which the economy operated and the role of classes within the economy. Because of this, the greatest factor in the classes was determining who owns this freedom. With this in mind, Karl Marx gives us a solution to both the issues of freedom and class conflict in his critique of capitalism and theory of communism, which is the ideal society for Marx. His theory of communism is based on the â€Å"ultimate end of human history† because there will be freedom for all humankind. Ernesto (2007:18) asserts that the conflict theory looks at how certain social interactions occur through conflict. People engage in conflict everyday to gain more power than others in society. Karl Marx is known for studying the conflicts that occur between different classes. Karl Marx has introduced some radical ideas and theories to society through his writings. As the industrial revolution moved forward in society, so did the widening gap between class structures. Karl Marx studied the differences arising between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat people. According to Bellamy (2003:49), the bourgeoisies are interested mainly in developing a capitalist society, using advanced methods of production. The bourgeoisies are the capitalist who own the factories; the products made in the factories, and controlled all the trade. The Proletariats or working class people have gained nothing in society but the thrill of their own labor. The Proletariats feel that they are treated poorly by the middle class society. They receive only enough in life to survive and have no chance of achieving a higher, class status. According to Harding (1984), the bourgeoisie or middle class people in society were exploiting and degrading the Proletariat people. The Proletariats helped to improve production in society, which developed capitalism and helped it to grow faster. The Proletariats were not getting the wages they deserved for the labor that was accomplished. Capital gain was being made for the labor the working class provided, but there was still no way of improving status in society. The middle class was taking over and the rich were staying rich and the poor continued to be poor. Marx wanted the working class to stand up to the bourgeoisie and cause a class conflict. The idea was that if the working class revolted against the capitalist, it would bring about the revolution that would usher the capitalist society into a classless society. According to Holmes (2009), Karl Marx saw communism as the ideal society which was also the classless society because it is the genuine resolution of the conflict between man and man; the true resolution of the strife between existence and essence, between freedom and necessity that capitalism fosters. Holmes (2009) also alludes to how Karl Marx was also committed to the notion that theory and action go hand in hand. He dismissed earlier philosophers or thinkers because they only interpreted the world in various ways; His main idea however is to change the world. He also stated â€Å"Ideas cannot carry out anything at all. In order to carry out ideas men are needed who can exert practical force†. From Dirlik (1989:28) view of this theory, there are various reasons why the classless society cannot be attainable in this day and age. Firstly Attaining the classless society using Karl Marx's theory of communism is not possible because it failed to offer principles or guidelines of even the most general kind for how the system of communism was to be fully established. He is simply shows the stages and the classless paradise which could be attained by conflict. No procedures of conflict are also depicted for the working class to be able to come into harmony with the capitalists. It is this lack of practical guidelines that shows the theory would be doomed to fail if used in practice. Another contradiction of its failure to be attained and sustained is the fact that Karl Marx's theory stems from the social conditions existing during his lifetime. According to Theodore (2004:66), this was when the industrial revolution was hitting its stride therefore led him to making this theory. Great technological advances were being made to the modes of production. According to Theodore (2004:67), Mobility of people from class to class is hindered by who owns the means of production. Moving from a mere worker to a producer can be so costly on individuals and sometimes impossible in other instances. The people having the power increase in power while only serving their own interest. For example, if a person was working as a worker in a mine, it can sometimes be impossible even if the social conflict exists. The worker will not move from the side of the proletariat to the bourgeoisies but will simply move to a higher class within the working class. The worker is only likely to be promoted till he can even have the power to lead the organization but not own the means of production. Because of the nature of their training and the labor they offer according to their skill, they are trapped on the working class side of the capitalist society. Dirlik (1989:120) Mobility form one class to the other is also sometimes impossible because the capitalist will only have economic deals with other capitalists. One producer will interact with another producer making it impossible for the working class to even know the world of the producer. It would even be foregn to him as long as he works. If mobility was easy from the working class side to the capitalist class, then we would one day have what is called an equilibrium where everyone can freely determine their own place in the class they belong to. From Bellamy (2003:97) view, a classless society also means an environment of equity in distribution of resources. This can be impossible because equity is simply dividing all resources and power equally to all. Such an environment also entails that there is no need for political leadership or governance because everyone has the same level of political and economic power. According to Bellamy (2003:98), Karl Marx’s idea of man in the state of nature is that he is selfish and will take advantage of others for their own selfish gain. This also means power cannot equally be divided. Democracies therefore choose representatives who are empowered by the people to make state decisions because they understand that not everyone can lead at the same time. Therefore political equity is an impossible situation. According to Theodore (2004:68) equality is fairness in the distribution of resources means of production and power. It means people are treated fairly depending on their position to the means of production. From the deductions made above, Classes will still exist in a state of equality but fairness is the leading factor. The working class should not be exploited by the capitalist but their surplus value should be equivalent and proportional to their labour input. Fairness can also mean the working class can determine their own class because the means of production are not to the advantage of one class only but to everyone. The individual in an environment of equality will have the power to determine their own position in the political and economic stratus.

Patients Rights Essay

The legal interests of persons who submit to medical treatment. For many years, common medical practice meant that physicians made decisions for their patients. This paternalistic view has gradually been supplanted by one promoting patient autonomy, whereby patients and doctors share the decision-making responsibility. Consequently doctor-patient relationships are very different now than they were just a few decades ago. However, conflicts still abound as the medical community and those it serves struggle to define their respective roles. Consent Consent, particularly informed consent, is the cornerstone of patients’ rights. Consent is based on the inviolability of one’s person. It means that doctors do not have the right to touch or treat a patient without that patient’s approval because the patient is the one who must live with the consequences and deal with any dis-comfort caused by treatment. A doctor can be held liable for committing a Battery if the doctor touches the patient without first obtaining the patient’s consent. The shift in doctor-patient relationships seems inevitable in hindsight. In one early consent case, a doctor told a woman he would only be repairing some cervical and rectal tears; instead he performed a hysterectomy. In another case, a patient permitted her doctors to examine her under anesthesia but insisted that they not operate; the doctors removed a fibroid tumor during the procedure. In yet another case, a doctor assured a man that a proposed operation was simple and essentially without risk; the patient’s left hand was paralyzed as a result of the surgery. Consent must be voluntary, competent, and informed. Voluntary means that, when the patient gives consent, he or she is free from extreme duress and is not intoxicated or under the influence of medication and that the doctor has not coerced the patient into giving consent. The law presumes that an adult is competent, but competency may be an issue in numerous instances. Competence is typically only challenged when a patient disagrees with a doctor’s recommended treatment or refuses treatment altogether. If an individual understands the information presented regarding treatment, she or he is competent to consent to or refuse treatment. Consent can be given verbally, in writing, or by one’s actions. For example, a person has consented to a vaccination if she stands in line with others who are receiving vaccinations, observes the procedure, and then presents her arm to a healthcare provider. Consent is inferred in cases of emergency or unanticipated circumstances. For example, if unforeseen serious or life-threatening circumstances develop during surgery for which consent has been given, consent is inferred to allow doctors to take immediate further action to prevent serious injury or death. Consent is also inferred when an adult or child is found unconscious, or when an emergency otherwise necessitates immediate treatment to prevent serious harm or death. Consent is not valid if the patient does not understand its meaning or if a patient has been misled. Children typically may not give consent; instead a parent or guardian must consent to medical treatment. Competency issues may arise with mentally ill individuals or those who have diminished mental capacity due to retardation or other problems. However, the fact that someone suffers from a mental illness or diminished mental capacity does not mean that the individual is incomp etent. Depending on the type and severity of the disability, the patient may still have the ability to understand a proposed course of treatment. For example, in recent years most jurisdictions have recognized the right of hospitalized mental patients to refuse medication under certain circumstances. Numerous courts have ruled that a mental patient may have the right to refuse antipsychotic drugs, which can produce disturbing side effects. If a patient is incompetent, technically only a legally appointed guardian can make treatment decisions. Commonly, however, physicians defer to family members on an informal basis, thereby avoiding a lengthy and expensive competency hearing. Consent by a family member demonstrates that the doctor consulted someone who knows the patient well and is likely to be concerned about the patient’s well-being. This will probably be sufficient to dissuade a patient from suing for failure to obtain consent should the patient recover. Legal, moral, and ethical questions arise in competency cases involving medical procedures not primarily for the patient’s benefit. These cases typically arise in the context of organ donation from one sibling to another. Many of these cases are approved in the lower courts; the decisions frequently turn on an e xamination of the relationship between the donor and recipient. If the donor and recipient have a relationship that the donor is aware of, actively participates in, and benefits from, courts generally conclude that the benefits of continuing the relationship outweigh the risks and discomforts  of the procedure. For example, one court granted permission for a kidney transplant from a developmentally disabled patient into his brother because the developmentally disabled boy was very dependent on the brother. In another case, a court approved a seven-year-old girl’s donation of a kidney to her identical twin sister after experts and family testified to the close bond between the two. Conversely, a mother successfully fought to prevent testing of her three-and-a-half-year-old twins for a possible bone marrow transplant for a half brother because the children had only met the boy twice and were unaware that he was their brother. Married or emancipated minors, including those in the Armed Services, are capable of giving their own consent. Emancipated means that the minor is self-supporting and lives independently of parents and parental control. In addition, under a theory known as the mature minor doctrine, certain minors may consent to treatment without first obtaining parental consent. If the minor is capable of understanding the nature, extent, and consequences of medical treatment, he or she may consent to medical care. Such situations typically involve older minors and treatments for the benefit of the minor (i.e., not organ transplant donors or blood donors) and usually involve relatively low-risk procedures. In recent years, however, some minors have sought the right to make life- or-death decisions. In 1989, a state court first recognized that a minor could make such a grave decision. A 17-year-old leukemia patient refused life-saving blood transfusions based on a deeply held, family-shared religious conviction. A psychologist testified that the girl had the maturity of a 22-year-old. Ironically, the young woman won her right to refuse treatment but was alive and healthy when the case was finally decided. She had been transfused before the slow judicial process needed to decide such a difficult question led to a ruling in her favor. Some state statutes specifically provide that minors may give consent in certain highly charged situations, such as cases of venereal disease, pregnancy, and drug or alcohol abuse. A minor may also overrule parental consent in certain situations. In one case, a mother gave consent for an Abortion for her 16-year-old unemancipated daughter, but the girl disagreed. A court upheld the daughter’s right to withhold consent. Courts often reach divergent outcomes when deciding whether to interfere with a parent’s refusal to consent to a non-life-threatening procedure. One court refused to override a  father’s denial of consent for surgery to repair his son’s harelip and cleft palate. But a different court permitted an operation on a boy suffering from a severe facial deformity even though his mother objected on religious grounds to the accompanying blood transfusion. In another case, a child was ordered to undergo medical treatments after the parents unsuccessfully treated the child’s severe burns with herbal remedies. Courts rarely hesitate to step in where a child’s life is in danger. To deny a child a beneficial, life-sustaining treatment constitutes child neglect, and states have a duty to protect children from neglect. One case involved a mother who testified that she did not believe that her child was HIV positive, despite medical evidence to the contrary. The co urt ordered treatment, including AZT, for the child. Many other cases involve parents who want to treat a serious illness with nontraditional methods or whose religious beliefs forbid blood transfusions. Cases involving religious beliefs raise difficult questions under the First Amendment’s Free Excise of Religion Clause, Common Law, statutory rights of a parent in raising a child, and the state’s traditional interest in protecting those unable to protect themselves. When a child’s life is in danger and parental consent is withheld, a hospital seeks a court-appointed guardian for the child. The guardian, often a hospital administrator, then consents to the treatment on behalf of the child. In an emergency case, a judge may make a decision over the telephone. In some cases, doctors may choose to act without judicial permission if time constraints do not allow enough time to reach a judge by telephone. In 1982, a six-day-old infant with Down’s syndrome died after a court approved a parental decision to withhold life-saving surgery. The child had a condition that made eating impossible. The baby was medicated but given no nourishment. The public furor over the Baby Doe case eventually helped spur the department of health and human services to create regulations delineating when treatment may be withheld from a disabled infant. Treatment may be withheld if an infant is chronically and irreversibly comatose, if such treatment would merel y prolong dying or would otherwise be futile in terms of survival of the infant, or if such treatment would be virtually futile in terms of survival and the treatment would be inhumane under these circumstances. Although courts overrule parental refusal to allow treatment in many instances, far less common are cases where a court overrides an otherwise competent adult’s denial of consent. The cases where courts have compelled treatment of an adult usually fall into two categories: when the patient was so physically weak that the court ruled that the patient could not reflect and make a choice to consent or refuse; or when the patient had minor children, even though the patient was fully competent to refuse consent. The possible civil or criminal liability of a hospital might also factor into a decision. A court typically will not order a terminally ill patient to undergo treatments to prolong life. Informed Consent Simply consenting to treatment is not enough. A patient must give informed consent. In essence, informed consent means that before a doctor can treat or touch a patient, the patient must be given some basic information about what the doctor proposes to do. Informed consent has been called the most important legal doctrine in patients’ rights. State laws and court decisions vary regarding informed consent, but the trend is clearly toward more disclosure rather than less. Informed consent is required not only in life-or-death situations but also in clinic and outpatient settings as well. A healthcare provider must first present information regarding risks, alternatives, and success rates. The information must be presented in language the patient can understand and typically should include the following: * A description of the recommended treatment or procedure; * A description of the risks and benefits—particularly exploring the risk of serious bodily disability or death; * A description of alternative treatments and the risks and benefits of alternatives; * The probable results if no treatment is undertaken; * The probability of success and a definition of what the doctor means by success; * Length and challenges of recuperation; and  * Any other information generally provided to patients in this situation by other qualified physicians. Only material risks must be disclosed. A material risk is one that might cause a reasonable patient to decide not to undergo a recommended treatment. The magnitude of the risk also factors into the definition of a material risk. For example, one would expect that a one in 10,000 risk of death would always be disclosed, but not a one in 10,000 risk of a two-hour headache. Plastic surgery and vasectomies illustrate two  areas where the probability of success and the meaning of success should be explicitly delineated. For example, a man successfully sued his doctor after the doctor assured him that a vasectomy would be 100 percent effective as Birth Control; the man’s wife later became pregnant. Because the only purpose for having the procedure wa s complete sterilization, a careful explanation of probability of success was essential. Occasionally, informed consent is not required. In an emergency situation where immediate treatment is needed to preserve a patient’s health or life, a physician may be justified in failing to provide full and complete information to a patient. Moreover, where the risks are minor and well known to the average person, such as in drawing blood, a physician may dispense with full disclosure. In addition, some patients explicitly ask not to be informed of specific risks. In this situation, a doctor must only ascertain that the patient understands that there are unspecified risks of death and serious bodily disabilities; the doctor might ask the patient to sign a waiver of informed consent. Finally, informed consent may be bypassed in rare cases in which a physician has objective evidence that informing a patient would render the patient unable to make a rational decision. Under these circumstances, a physician must disclose the information to another person designated by the patie nt. Informed consent is rarely legally required to be in writing, but this does provide evidence that consent was in fact obtained. The more specific the consent, the less likely it will be construed against a doctor or a hospital in court. Conversely, blanket consent forms cover almost everything a doctor or hospital might do to a patient without mentioning anything specific and are easily construed against a doctor or hospital. However, blanket forms are frequently used upon admission to a hospital to provide proof of consent to noninvasive routine hospital procedures such as taking blood pressure. A consent form may not contain a clause waiving a patient’s right to sue, unless state law provides for binding Arbitration upon mutual agreement. Moreover, consent can be predicated upon a certain surgeon doing a surgery. It can also be withdrawn at any time, subject to practical limitations. Right to Treatment In an emergency situation, a patient has a right to treatment, regardless of ability to pay. If a situation is likely to cause death, serious injury, or  disability if not attended to promptly, it is an emergency. Cardiac arrest, heavy bleeding, profound shock, severe head injuries, and acute psychotic states are some examples of emergencies. Less obvious situations can also be emergencies: broken bones, fever, and cuts requiring stitches may also require immediate treatment. Both public and private hospitals have a duty to administer medical care to a person experiencing an emergency. If a hospital has emergency facilities, it is legally required to provide appropriate treatment to a person experiencing an emergency. If the hospital is unable to provide emergency services, it must provide a referral for appropriate treatment. Hospitals cannot refuse to treat prospective patients on the basis of race, religion, or national origin, or refuse to treat someone with HIV or AIDS. In 1986, Congress passed the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) (42 U.S.C.A.  § 1395dd), which established criteria for emergency services and criteria for safe transfer of patients between hospitals. This statute was designed to prevent â€Å"patient dumping,† that is, transferring undesirable patients to another facility. The law applies to all hospitals receiving federal funds, such as Medicare (almost all do). The law requires hospitals to provide a screening exam to determine if an emergency condition exists, provide stabilizing treatment to any emergency patient or to any woman in active labor before transfer, and continue treatment until a patient can be discharged or transferred without harm. It also delineates strict guidelines for the transfer of a patient who cannot be stabilized. A hospital that negligently or knowingly and willfully violates any of these provisions can be terminated or suspended from Medicare. The physician, the hospital, or both can also be penalized up to $50,000 for each knowing violation of the law. One of the first cases brought under EMTALA involved a doctor who transferred a woman in active labor to a hospital 170 miles away. The woman delivered a healthy baby during the trip, but the doctor was fined $20,000 for the improper transfer of the woman. In addition to federal laws such as EMTALA, states may also impose by regulation or statute a duty on hospitals to administer emergency care. There is no universal right to be admitted to a hospital in a nonemergency situation. In nonemergency cases, admission rights depend largely on the specific hospital, but basing admission on ability to pay is severely limited by statutes, regulations, and judi cial decisions. For  example, most hospitals obtained financial assistance from the federal government for construction; these hospitals are required to provide a reasonable volume of services to persons unable to pay. The amount of services to be provided is set by regulation, and the obligation continues for 20 years after construction is completed. Patients must be advised of the hospital’s obligation under the law, or the hospital may be foreclosed from suing to collect on the bill. In addition, many states prohibit hospitals from denying admission based solely on inability to pay; some courts have made similar rulings against public hospitals based on hospital charters and public policy reasons. Hospitals are also prohibited from requiring a deposit from a Medicare or Medicaid patient. Once a patient has been duly admitted to a hospital, she or he has a right to leave at any time, or the hospital could be liable for False Imprisonment. This is so even if the patient has not paid the bill or if the patient wants to leave against all medical advice. In rare cases, such as contagious disease cases, public health authorities may have state statutory or regulatory authority to quarantine a patient. In addition, state laws governing involuntary commitment of the mentally ill may be used to prevent a person of unsound mind from leaving the hospital if a qualified psychiatrist determines that the person is a danger to himself or herself or to the lives of others. A doc tor familiar with a patient’s condition determines when a patient is ready for discharge and signs a written order to that effect. If the patient disagrees with a decision to discharge, she or he has the right to demand a consultation with a different physician before the order is carried out. The decision to discharge must be based solely on the patient’s medical condition and not on nonpayment of medical bills. In the mid-1990s, concern over maternity patients being discharged just a few hours after giving birth prompted legislation at both the state and federal levels. In September 1996, President bill clinton signed a law ensuring a 48-hour hospital stay for a woman who gives birth vaginally and a 96-hour stay for a woman who has a caesarean section, unless the patient and the doctor agree to an earlier discharge. A number of state legislatures have passed similar laws as well. With the rise of Managed Care and Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs), patients faced new issues involving the right to treatment. HMOs may deny authorization for expensive or experimental treatments, or for treatments  p rovided outside the network of approved physicians. HMOs contend that they must control costs and make decisions that benefit the largest number of members. In response, state legislatures have enacted HMO regulations that seek to give patients a process for appealing the denial of benefits. The HMOs have opposed these measures and have vigorously defended their denial of benefits in court. In Moran v. Rush Prudential HMO, Inc., 536 U.S. 355, 122 S.Ct. 2151, 153 L.Ed.2d 375 (2002), the Supreme Court in a 5–4 decision upheld an Illinois law that required HMOs to provide independent review of disputes between the primary care physician and the HMO. The law mandated that the HMO must pay for services deemed medically necessary by the independent reviewer. Most importantly, the court ruled that the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) did not preempt the Illinois law. ERISA is an extremely complex and technical set of provisions that seek to protect employee benefit programs. The decision was significant because it empowered other states to enact similar laws that give patients more rights in obtaining treatment Med ical Experimentation Medical progress and medical experimentation have always gone hand in hand, but patients’ rights have sometimes been ignored in the process. Sometimes patients are completely unaware of the experimentation. Experimentation has also taken place in settings in which individuals may have extreme difficulty asserting their rights, such as in prisons, mental institutions, the military, and residences for the mentally disabled. Legitimate experimentation requires informed consent that may be withdrawn at any time. Some of the more notorious and shameful instances of human experimentation in the United States in the twentieth century include a 1963 study in which terminally ill hospital patients were injected with live cancer cells to test their immune response; the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, begun before World War II and continuing for 40 years, in which effective treatment was withheld from poor black males suffering from syphilis so that medical personnel could study the natural cou rse of the disease; and a study where developmentally disabled children were deliberately infected with hepatitis to test potential vaccines. Failure to obtain informed consent can arise even when consent has ostensibly been obtained. The California Supreme Court ruled in 1990 that a physician must disclose preexisting research and  potential economic interests that may affect the doctor’s medical judgment (Moore v. Regents of the University of California, 51 Cal. 3d 120, 793 P. 2d 479). The case involved excision of a patient’s cells pursuant to surgery and other procedures to which the patient had consented. The surgery itself was not experimental; the experimentation took place after the surgery and other procedures. The cells were used in medical research that proved lucrative to the doctor and medical center. Patients in teaching hospitals are frequently asked to participate in research. Participants do not surrender legal rights simply by agreeing to cooperate and validly obtained consent cannot protect a researcher from Negligence. In hospitals, human experimentation is typically monitored by an institutional review board (IRB). Federal regulation requires IRBs in all hospitals receiving fed eral funding. These boards review proposed research before patients are asked to participate and approve written consent forms. IRBs are meant to ensure that risks are minimized, the risks are reasonable in relation to anticipated benefits, the selection of subjects is equitable, and informed consent is obtained and properly documented. Federal regulations denominate specific items that must be covered when obtaining informed consent in experimental cases. IRB approval never obligates a patient to participate in research. Advance Medical Directives Every state has enacted advance medical directive legislation, but the laws vary widely. Advance medical directives are documents that are made at a time when a person has full decision-making capabilities and are used to direct medical care in the future when this capacity is lost. Many statutes are narrowly drawn and specify that they apply only to illnesses when death is imminent rather than illnesses requiring long-term life support, such as in end-stage lung, heart, or kidney failure; multiple sclerosis; paraplegia; and persistent vegetative state. Patients sometimes use living wills to direct future medical care. Most commonly, living wills specify steps a patient does not want taken in cases of life-threatening or debilitating illness, but they may also be used to specify that a patient wants aggressive resuscitation measures used. Studies have shown that living wills often are not honored, despite the fact that federal law requires all hospitals, nursing homes, and other Medi care and Medicaid providers to ask  patients on admission whether they have executed an advance directive. Some of the reasons living wills are not honored are medical personnel’s fear of liability, the patient’s failure to communicate his or her wishes, or misunderstanding or mismanagement by hospital personnel. Another way individuals attempt to direct medical care is through a durable Power of Attorney. A durable power of attorney, or proxy decision maker, is a written document wherein a person (the principal) designates another person to perform certain acts or make certain decisions on the principal’s behalf. It is called durable because the power continues to be effective even after the principal becomes incompetent or it may only take effect after the principal becomes incompetent. As with a Living Will, such a document has little power to compel a doctor to follow a patient’s desires, but in the very least it serves as valuable evidence of a person’s wishes if the matter is brought into court. A durable power of attorney may be used by itself or in conjunction with a living will. When advance medical directives function as intended and are honored by physicians, they free family members from making extremely difficult decisions. They may also protect physicians. Standard medical care typically requires that a doctor provide maximum care. In essence, a livin g will can change the standard of care upon which a physician will be judged and may protect a physician from legal or professional repercussions for withholding or withdrawing care. Right to Die A number of cases have addressed the right to refuse life-sustaining medical treatment. Broadly speaking, under certain circumstances a person may have a right to refuse life-sustaining medical treatment or to have life-sustaining treatment withdrawn. On the one side in these cases is the patient’s interest in autonomy, privacy, and bodily integrity. This side must be balanced against the state’s traditional interests in the preservation of life, prevention of suicide, protection of dependents, and the protection of the integrity of the medical profession. In in re quinlan, 355 A.2d 647 (1976), the New Jersey Supreme Court permitted withdrawal of life-support measures for a woman in a persistent vegetative state, although her condition was stable and her life expectancy stretched years into the future. Many of the emotional issues the country struggles with in the early 2000s were either a direct result of or were influenced by this case,  including living wills and o ther advance medical directives, the right to refuse unwanted treatment, and physician-assisted suicide. The first U.S. Supreme Court decision addressing the difficult question regarding the removal of life support was Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health, 497 U.S. 261, 110 S. Ct. 2841, 111 L. Ed. 2d 224 (1990). Cruzan involved a young woman rendered permanently comatose after a car accident. Her parents petitioned to have her feeding tube removed. The Supreme Court ruled that the evidence needed to be clear and convincing that the young woman had explicitly authorized the termination of treatment prior to becoming incompetent. The Court ruled that the evidence had not been clear and convincing, but upon remand to the state court the family presented new testimony that was deemed clear and convincing. The young woman died 12 days after her feeding tube was removed. The Supreme Court decided two right-todie cases in 1997, Quill v. Vacco, 521 U.S. 793, 117 S.Ct. 2293, 138 L.Ed.2d 834 (1997), and Washington v. Glucksberg, 521 U.S. 702, 117 S.Ct. 2258, 138 L.Ed.2d 772 (1997). I n Glucksberg, the appellate courts in New York and Washington had struck down laws banning physician-assisted suicide as violations of Equal Protection and due process, respectively. The Supreme Court reversed both decisions, finding no constitutional right to assisted suicide, thus upholding states’ power to ban the practice. Though both cases were considered together, Glucksberg was the key right-to-die decision. Dr. Harold Glucksberg and three other physicians sought a Declaratory Judgment that the state of Washington’s law prohibiting assisted suicide was unconstitutional as applied to terminally ill, mentally competent adults. The Supreme Court voted unanimously to sustain the Washington law, though five of the nine justices filed concurring opinions in Quill and Glucksberg. Chief Justice william rehnquist, writing for the Court, based much of his analysis on historical and legal traditions. The fact that most western democracies make it a crime to assist a suicide was backed up by over 700 years of Anglo-American common-law tradition that has punished or disapproved of suicide or assisting suicide. This â€Å"deeply rooted†opposition to assisted suicides had been reaffirmed by the Washington legislature in 1975 when the current prohibition had been enacted and again in 1979 when it pass ed a Natural Death Act. This law declared that the refusal or withdrawal of treatment did not constitute suicide, but it explicitly stated that the act did not authorize Euthanasia. The doctors had argued that the law violated the Substantive Due Process component of the Fourteenth Amendment. Unlike procedural due process which focuses on whether the right steps have been taken in a legal matter, substantive due process looks to fundamental rights that are implicit in the amendment. For the Court to recognize a fundamental liberty, the liberty must be deeply rooted in U.S. history and it must be carefully described. The Court rejected this argument because U.S. history has not recognized a â€Å"right to die† and therefore it is not a fundamental right. Employing the Rational Basis Test of constitutional review, the Court concluded that the law was â€Å"rationally related to legitimate government interests† and thus passed constitutional muster. Privacy and Confidentiality Confidentiality between a doctor and patient means that a doctor has the express or implied duty not to disclose information received from the patient to anyone not directly involved with the patient’s care. Confidentiality is important so that healthcare providers have knowledge of all facts, regardless of how personal or embarrassing, that might have a bearing on a patient’s health. Patients must feel that it is safe to communicate such information freely. Although this theory drives doctor-patient confidentiality, the reality is that many people have routine and legitimate access to a patient’s records. A hospital patient might have several doctors, nurses, and support personnel on every shift, and a patient might also see a therapist, nutritionist, or pharmacologist, to name a few. The law requires some confidential information to be reported to authorities. For example, birth and death certificates must be filed; Child Abuse cases must be reported; and infectious, contagious, or communicable diseases must be reported. In addition, confidential information may also be disclosed pursuant to a judicial proceeding or to notify a person to whom a patient may pose a danger. In spite of the numerous exceptions to the contrary, patients legitimately demand and expect confidentiality in many areas of their treatment. Generally speaking, patients must be asked to consent before being photographed or having others unrelated to the case (including medical students) observe a medical procedure; they have the right to refuse to see anyone not connected to a hospital; they have the  right to have a person of the patient’s own sex present during a physical examination conducted by a member of the opposite sex; they have the right to refuse to see persons connected with the hospital who are not directly involved in the patient’s care and treatment (including social workers and chaplains); and they have the right to be protected from having details of their condition made public. A patient owns the information contained in medical records, but the owner of the paper on which they are written is usually considered the actual owner of the records. The patient’s legal interest in the records generally means that the patient has a right to see the records and is entitled to a complete copy of them. The patient’s rights are subject to reasonable limitations such as requiring inspection and copying to be done on the doctor’s premises during working hours. Federal Patients’ Bill of Rights Dissatisfaction with an expanding corporate healthcare industry dominated by profit margins has spawned numerous reform ideas. One idea that has gained a foothold is a patients’ federal Bill of Rights. In 1997, President Bill Clinton appointed an Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry. The commission was directed to propose a â€Å"consumer bill of rights.† The 34-member commission developed a bill of rights that identified eight key areas: information disclosure, choice of providers and plans, access to emergency service, participation in treatment decisions, respect and nondiscrimination, confidentiality of health information, complaints and appeals, and consumer responsibilities. The proposed rights include: the right to receive accurate, easily understood information in order to make informed health care decisions; the right to a choice of healthcare providers that is sufficient to ensure access to appropriate high-quality health care; the right to access emergency healthcare services; the right and responsibility to fully participate in all decisions related to their health care; the right to considerate, respectful care from all members of the healthcare system at all times and under all circumstances; the right to communicate with healthcare providers in confidence and to have the confidentiality of their individually identifiable healthcare information protected; the right to a fair and efficient process for resolving differences with their health plans,  healthcare providers, and the institutions that serve them; and the responsibility of consumers to do their part in protecting their health. This bill of rights has been debated in Congress and there are bipartisan areas of agreement, but, as of 2003, no final action has taken on enacting a set of rights into federal law.

Macroeconomics Equilibrium GDP

1. Move the green pointer on the horizontal axis to an income level of 430. Then click on the â€Å"income adjustment† button. What happened? Why did income return to equilibrium at 470? The GDB rises to restore equilibrium. This is because at GDP=430, the aggregate expenditures is higher than production. This is a state of imbalance so that production opportunities will rise to match the total spending. 2. Move the green pointer on the horizontal axis to an income level of 510. Then hit the â€Å"income adjustment† button. What happened? Why did income return to equilibrium at 470? GDP decreases to restore equilibrium. This is because at GDP=510, production is higher than aggregate expenditures. This means that there will an excess in production. The excess will force production to reduce to maintain profitability until equilibrium point is achieved. So GDP will always return to equilibrium point of 430 where aggregate expenditure equals production. 3. What happened to Income in Chapter 10 exercise when Investment was increased? Income also increases as indicated by GDP line at 6000. 4. Explain why the resulting increase in equilibrium Income was greater than the change in Investment spending. Investment will produce some level of gains or in numbers this is a multiplier. This gain (multiplier) is what causes the GDP change in equilibrium to be higher. 5. Give three real-world forces that could cause a â€Å"shift in Aggregate Demand.† 5.1 An increase in consumption will increase the Aggregate Demand. 5.2 An increase in government expenditure will increase the Aggregate Demand. 5.3 An increase in net export will increase the Aggregate Demand. 6. Give three real-world forces that could cause a â€Å"shift in Aggregate Supply.† 6.1 An increase wages and salaries will increase the Aggregate Supply. 6.2 Education and Training will shift the Aggregate Supply. 6.3 Research and Development will shift the Aggregate Supply. References C. MacConnell, S. Brue (2005). Economics: Principles, Problems, and Policies, 16/e. Graphing Exercise: Equilibrium GDP (Chapter 10.1). Retrieved January 27, 2007 from

The Childhood Obesity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Childhood Obesity - Essay Example Apparently, childhood obesity is not the only condition prevalent in children. Other diseases abound and show high linkage to dietary and lifestyle habits, for instance, juvenile diabetes and more specifically type 2 diabetes. Experts today boldly say that nutrition has a significant impact on prevention and treatment of diabetes. Managing diabetes depends on how one controls blood sugar levels. Firstly, it is important to incorporate high fiber carbohydrates that do not spike sugar levels in the children. This means whole grain cereals, pasta, and bread and so on. Also, parents must ensure that carbohydrates are served in smaller proportions. This ensures that the body’s insulin-producing mechanism is not stressed to failure. A further choice of good fats is paramount in preventing juvenile diabetes. Recommended fats include fish oils, vegetable oils and such like. Fruits and vegetables should dominate children’s meals as they have vitamins and minerals that aid in the optimum functioning of body organs such as the hypothalamus, liver, and pancreases that are responsible for the production of insulin. Foods rich in vitamin C, E, B and K found in dark green vegetables and red-orange fruits. The initial signs of diabetes include fatigue, dizziness and fainting, thirst, frequent urination, involuntary weight loss, vaginal yeast in ladies, blurry eyesight and bad breath and so on. Treatment of diabetes is a lifelong procedure that entails constant monitoring of one’s levels and of course what one eats.... Additionally, parents and teachers at school are advised to encourage physical activity among their children so that they burn excess fat that causes obesity. Physical education is compulsory in schools and this has helped to prevent obesity. In instances where obesity is caused by psychological factors such as boredom, distress etc therapy has worked to alleviate turmoil and help the children find healthier ways which they can channel their inner feelings and find relief. It cases where obesity is genetic, doctors have come up with surgical procedures and medication that can help patients achieve healthy weight say the gastric bypass. (Koplan, Liverman, & Kraak, 66-78). Apparently, childhood obesity is not the only condition prevalent in children. Other diseases abound and show high linkage to dietary and lifestyle habits, for instance, juvenile diabetes and more specifically type 2 diabetes. Experts today boldly say that nutrition has a significant impact in prevention and treatment of diabetes. Managing diabetes depends on how one controls blood sugar levels. In that case dietary habits have to change. Firstly, it is important to incorporate high fiber carbohydrates that do not spike sugar levels in the children. This means whole grain cereals, pasta, and bread and so on. Also parents must ensure that carbohydrates are served in smaller proportions. This ensures that the body's insulin producing mechanism is not stressed to failure. Further choice of good fats is paramount in preventing juvenile diabetes. Recommended fats include fish oils, vegetable oils and such like. (http://ndep.nih.gov/). Fruits and vegetables should dominate children's meals as they have vitamins and minerals that aid in optimum functioning

A Theme In Human Evolution Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

A Theme In Human Evolution - Research Paper Example An exanimation of the fossil records for the hominids can reveal much information on the early forms of the present creatures. The study of human remains did not feature until the nineteenth century when archaeologists realized that the culture and the morphology of early man could be revealed by the remains and the tools that were found buried with these remains (Greene, 11). A comparison between the morphology of the different fossils can be made to provide an insight into the relationships that occur between populations of organisms at different stages in the evolution process. Much information regarding the human culture could be obtained through the study of such remains. It has been noted that by studying the bone morphology of the fossils â€Å"one can understand the nutritional status, diet, disease processes, factors affecting mortality and life expectancy, biological responses to environmental stressors and aging of our ancestors† (Seth, 19). The teeth of animals wil l be related to the kinds of food that they consume. The herbivorous animals feed on vegetation and have many large molar teeth for chewing the fibrous foods. On the other hand, carnivorous animals like lion have large canine teeth that are used for killing and tearing the meat of their prey. The early hominids had the ape-like U-shaped dental arcade whereas the modern, man has a parabolic dental arcade. These early hominids and the modern man have the same dental formula of 2.1.2.3= 32.   This means two incisors, one canine, two premolars, and three molar teeth on both sides of the upper and lower jaws. However, there is a difference in the teeth structure and size between the early hominids and the modern man. This has been caused by the difference in the kinds of food that have been consumed by man at different stages of evolution. The early hominids were mainly herbivorous and had large molars for chewing the high roughage content foods.

The Massive Government Cover-Up of the Attack on the USS Liberty Essay

The Massive Government Cover-Up of the Attack on the USS Liberty - Essay Example There were many questions that remained unanswered during the last 40 years, but recently declassified documents and newly uncovered testimony has shed new light on the events surrounding this tragic event. Examining what we know about the reports from the time, and the information that has been made public since, makes a convincing case that the attack was a deliberate action by the Israeli government and resulted in a massive cover-up by the Navy inquiry. The official explanation at the time was that in the heat of battle the Israeli Air Force had misidentified the USS Liberty as an Egyptian vessel. Yet, according to a CIA memo of June 13, 1967, 5 days after the attack, the agency reported that two Israeli Mirage fighters had orbited the Liberty on a reconnaissance flight just six hours before the attack (Central Intelligence Agency, 469). The CIA further reported that the weather was clear, the ship was plainly marked, and had a US flag flying. (Central Intelligence Agency, 470). In addition the Liberty was 200 feet longer than the Egyptian ship and had an Ensign that was clearly visible and appropriately marked. To examine the case of mistaken identity requires that we evaluate what the Israelis knew and when they knew it. The initial air assault took place at 13:58 hours and a second wave occurred at 14:04 (Bregman, 89). These flights consisted of machine gun strafing and napalm, which damaged the deck, antennas, and some communications capability. Israeli tape recordings from that day verify that Colonel Shmuel Kislev, the Commander of Israeli Air Control, knew that it was an American ship by 14:14 hours (Bregman, 89). At 14:26, 12 minutes after they had confirmed it was a US ship, Israeli torpedo boats arrived at the scene. By 14:31, 17 minutes after verifying identification, the Israeli boats had fired 5 torpedoes (Bregman, 89). One of the torpedoes hit the Liberty, killed 25 crewmen, and put the USS Liberty out of commission. Motives for the attack are difficult to ascertain in the aftermath of war. Military and governments sometimes act as organisms with no clearly definable goal. A plausible explanation has been offered that contends Israel feared that the Liberty would intercept sensitive communications regarding their plans to attack Syria's Golan Heights. If the US were alerted to the plan, they might have tried to prevent what Israel perceived as a vital operation. A CIA report identified Defense Minister Moshe Dyan as the Israeli leader that ordered the attack (Brands, 211). Dyan had gambled that Johnson would not fully investigate the incident. According to Brands, Johnson made a minimal effort to investigate the area, but was concerned about alarming the Egyptians or the Russians (212). After Johnson was unable to gather any information from the scene, the Israelis apologized. Not wanting to destroy the fragile alliance with Israel, Johnson accepted the apology and ordered the incident to be kept quiet (Brands, 212). The following day, Israel launched an attack against Syria, which wrapped up the final phase of the Six Day War. There could be little believability that the Israelis were unaware of a major US intelligence ship just off their coast in international waters. It had been in the Mediterranean since June 5 (Joint Chiefs of Staff). The cover story of mistaken identity was so weak, that according

How the war on terrorism affected the way of life in Afghanistan Research Paper

How the war on terrorism affected the way of life in Afghanistan - Research Paper Example The horrific terror attacks elicited a mixture of economic, political and social reactions globally. Anti-Islam and hatred discourse that failed to separate the ordinary Muslims from the despotic, militant terrorists was rife all over. Issues of distrust between Christian and Muslim communities led to increased antagonism and in some instances extremist tendencies. For example, in the West, incidences of Muslim beatings and at times killings were reported. Examples of Muslim extremist tendencies were evident through support of the terrorist activities. Following the 9/11 attacks, it was quite clear that a retaliation response by the American government led by George Bush was eminent. To this end, the greatest fear pertained to what form of retaliation, how it would be enforced and also the potential impacts on the ordinary lives of the Afghan citizens. The impacts on the Afghan citizenry were also being assessed in consideration that they were still suffering at the behest of the Tal iban regime. In the period leading to 9/11, the Bush administration had been subject to scathing criticism for its position on various policy issues locally and internationally. These issues ranged from, geopolitics, environmental, economic, defense, inequality among others. However, the ghastly terror attack of September 11 resulted to considerable reduction of criticism towards the Bush administration. On the contrary, support for the Bush administration in light of the terror attacks began to rise significantly. This support was as a result of the announcement of the retaliatory action that the American administration would embark after the terror attacks. To this end, on 20th September, 2001, President George Bush made a televised address in... Conclusion The war on terrorism that began in earnest over a decade ago, has clearly caused profound impacts. These impacts cut across the divide of both pro and anti crusaders of terrorism. To this end, the long protracted war has not only impacted countries targeted for terrorism networks, but also the primary opponents of terrorism such as the United States. Following the September 9/11 attacks, it is clear that the geo-political, economic and social spheres changed dramatically for all actors. In light of the United States, the change of stance pertaining to foreign policy in dealing with terrorism dramatically changed to a military offensive against any threat to its security. Furthermore, the social fabric pertaining to relations among diverse religions was visibly tested. In addition, the astronomical cost of funding the war presented another significant burden on the American citizenry as well as local political intrigues involving pro and anti war protagonists. However, one vital aspec t that did not receive adequate attention was the assessment of impacts on the ordinary Afghanis citizens. Evidently, much attention has been focused on America and their justification for the war on terror without due consideration to the Afghani citizenry.

The public needs to know Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The public needs to know - Assignment Example lt care, pediatric, prenatal, immunization, care for adolescent, screening, and testing, a laboratory will be available and a pharmacy so all this will be available to meet the patients’ medical needs. Provision of services should cover all people in spite of their geographical location. The employees of these clinics should offer services with ultimate respect and dignity to both patients with no insurance. This clinic will be an independent hospital and should not be controlled by any organizational body (Wallace, 2009). A free clinic to serve the uninsured then volunteer nurses and doctors will be needed for a start and maybe part-time medical student to offer services. The community will also come and help raise the clinic any well-wishers can give their support to ensure the opening is successful, and all requirements are in place for effective running of services. Uninsured patients will be required to pay some fee for visits to the office. This fee should be patient friendly in that it will depend on their family size and income. Since the clinic will be taking care of the community needs, and then this is a clear indication that a patient is visiting the clinic willing since it will offer quality services that are affordable. The clinic will partner with other clinics so that in case they cannot provide medication, and then patients can be transferred to another equipped hospital to be treated. The opening of the hospital should ensure a balance between quality service provision and the number of patients (Eckenfels, 2008). The opening of this clinic will benefit a good number of patients in the neighborhood by not just providing the routine hospital services but also individual programs for the patients. Some of the programs include parenting teens with the help of partnering with the community, dealing with adolescents and providing them with advice and also taking care of homeless youths. Programs will be created to prevent subsequent pregnancies

U,S Economy Change Before and After WWII Ended Essay

U,S Economy Change Before and After WWII Ended - Essay Example Most of the sectors which oriented themselves to defense kind of production were like electronics and aerospace. Therefore, despite the fact that numerous Americans feared the return of the depression that had hit the nation before the war, after this war, they got quite a significant rise in personal income during the war that reached the year 1945. (Tassava, 2010) The two decades following WWII, are best described economically as ‘Growth period’. Despite the fear of most Americans that depression would haunt America again after WWII; up to 1970s, the economy experienced just mild recessions. An example to show this growth is that the period running from 1945-1960, the real GNP growth rate was (52%) fifty two percent. During the same period per capita GNP escalated by (19%) nineteen percent. Most notable after the WWII was the rise in production of consumer durable commodities. These commodities were like TVs, Cars as well as household appliances. The US’s service industries also expanded a great deal. (Walker, 1996 p

Gender Discrimination Essay Example for Free

Gender Discrimination Essay Gender discrimination is an important issue in the workplace in today’s world. Female employees are facing gender discrimination in the form of different dimensions. This discrimination is disturbing their performance. The main aim of this study is to see the effect of these gender discrimination dimensions which include glass ceiling, salary gap and discrimination in facilities on the productivity of female employees with the mediating effect of job commitment and job satisfaction. The research is focused on the private education sector. The population frame is the female teachers in the private education institutes. A sample of 130 female teachers is collected for this study. The framework is developed for our study for checking the impact of glass ceiling, salary gap and discrimination in facilities on the productivity of female employees. The hypotheses are developed and after the data analysis some of the hypothesis are rejected and some of the hypothesis are not rejected. The hypotheses that the glass ceiling, discrimination in facilities and salary gap has negative impact on employee productivity is accepted which made us to conclude that these discrimination has a big impact on employee productivity and ultimately organizational performance. This study will give some guidelines to the managers and policy makers in any organization that how to reduce these discriminations. Key words: Gender discrimination, Glass ceiling, Employee productivity, salary gap, discrimination in facilities, job satisfaction, job commitment, Paper type: Research Paper 1. Introduction 1.1 Significance/Rationales of study The study came up with the solutions to the problem of gender discrimination at work place. This study will help the people to be aware of this dominating problem of gender discrimination and its reasons. This study can also identify the positive and negative effects of discrimination on the world of business and personal lives of people. Gender discrimination is a wide phenomenon which is affecting every political, social and economic life. In this era where everyone think that there should be equal rights for men and women, there are some occurrences of people who are being discriminated because of their gender. It is not an issue, which one can easily tolerate or ignore. Gender discrimination is understood as the unequal treatment against people of either sex, but statistics shows that women are the one who are more discriminated just being a female (Lila Adhikari, 2008). Gender issues were first pointed out in 1950s, but it’s been highlighted in organization and management studies in between 1980s and 1990s. In this duration many studies on effect of gender discrimination on employees were conducted. One study shows that gender discrimination is inversely proportional to job commitment and satisfaction which means it reduces the employee’s productivity which ultimately affects the organizational productivity (Zahid Ali Channar, 2011). Many factors have been identified which are responsible for gender discrimination in work place, which are education, promotion, marriage and child bearing and environment. If we look in context of promotion, a wide practice used is glass ceiling, a process by which women are not promoted to high level of jobs (Bell, 2002). Last year report issued by a commission of glass ceiling that shows that there are only 7 to 9 percent of managers that are in senior positions are women at fortune 1000 (kom and catalyst, 2012). 81 % employers dislike to hire a female. 49 % not carefully planning their careers to benefit women and above of all a survey tells that only 1 percent CEOs or even less than 1 percent take it as first concern, the development of women (Mauricio, 2012). 1.2 Problem Statement HRM in any organization is related to staffing, motivating and maintaining the organization (Decenzo, 1998). 50 years ago, due to homogeneity of work force the HRM was very simple, but now-a-days the workforce is heterogeneous. Managing this heterogeneity required such a staff that can create an equitable environment so that no group has any kind of advantage or disadvantage on other group (Wayne, 1995). Heterogeneity in workplace gave birth to gender discrimination, which has become an intense situation in Pakistan and affecting the employee’s productivity (Qaiser Abbas, 2011). An employee perform difficult tasks for the survival and improvement of organization but gender discrimination reduces the employee’s satisfaction, commitment and enthusiasm and increases the stress level which ultimately affects the productivity of an employee (Zahid Ali Channar, 2011). These studies did not discuss that how dimensions of gender discrimination effect the productivity of employee. The dimensions of gender discrimination include discrimination in promotions, discrimination in salary and discrimination in facilities provided. So there is a need to explore the effect of different dimensions of gender discrimination on the productivity of employee. 1.3 Aim of the study This study investigates that how different dimensions of gender discrimination effect the employee productivity. It would be helpful for any organization in the process of policy making which will ultimately increase the productivity of an organization. 1.4 Research Objectives 1) To identify that whether gender discrimination has an effect on productivity of employees in private educational institutes. 2) To explore how the productivity of employees is affected by gender discrimination in promotion, salary and facilities provided in private educational institutes. 3) To examine the results of the survey. 4) To recommend some reformed measures to the policy makers for the future. 1.5 Research Questions 1) What is relation between the employee productivity and gender discrimination? 2) What is effect of gender discrimination in promotion, salary and facilities on the performance of an employee? 2. Literature Review This literature view is based on the evaluation of gender discrimination on employee’s productivity. The gender discrimination now exist most of the organization around the world. Gender discrimination may exist in different dimensions like discrimination in promotions, facilities and Salaries. In simple words gender discrimination can be defined as the unfair treatment or behavior based on gender. It is said to occur when an individual’s decision is based on gender. Gender discrimination was attempted to define by no law. If we look in the perspective of employment, it is giving more advantage to a particular group (Wayne, 1995). This thing results in the decreased productivity of employees. 2.1 Gender Discrimination in Global Perspective The first form of discrimination was found by the universal declaration of human rights (1948). Gender discrimination is now a social disease which is destroying the lives of women around the world. Sen (1991) shows us that if equal treatment and opportunities were given then there should be more 100 million females than are presently alive. Many steps were taken to eliminate the gender discrimination but none of them was proved to be effective. The Beijing conference that documented 12 most prominent areas of discrimination was a big step in eliminating the gender discrimination (UNFPA, 2005). It is proved from the studies that gender discrimination has an influence on the employee productivity. A study shows that if there is a proper policy of gender discrimination there will be a change in employee’s productivity (Naqi Abbas, 2010). 2.2 Glass Ceiling Women in workplace face a wide practice called glass ceiling. This is a practice in which women are ignored when making a promotion policy or promoting an employee. We can see that in every organization the executive posts are held by males. According to a study only 3 percent of the most paid executives are female and these posts are disproportionately held by men (Healy and Zukka, 2004). Women are mostly entrusted in small projects not the big one. They are being kept deprived from international assignment which is keeping away from their promotions. Nick (1991) had conducted the study on international careers of women. His study clearly shows that there is a glass ceiling effect. Women are not being encouraged to do new projects on new markets and they are being kept at junior manager positions. Gender discrimination is not directly related to productivity. The relation of employee productivity and gender discrimination is mediated by job satisfaction and job commitment. Employees who faces policies and practices of gender discrimination show less satisfaction with their job (Ensher et al, 2001). When individuals’ face gender discrimination in workplace they show a low level of job commitment so gender discrimination has a negative relation with job commitment and job satisfaction (Sharon Foley, 2005). Gender discrimination creates tension and reduces the satisfaction of people and it is the study of 139 Hispanic male and female (Sanchez, 1996). The productivity of a happy worker is higher than an unhappy worker (Rabins, 1999,). Employee satisfaction plays a vital role in its productivity and there is a significant relation of job satisfaction with employee productivity (Pushpakumari, 2008). Job satisfaction lead to organizational responsibility, mental health and finally employee productivity (Coomber, 2007). Another study shows us that the organizations who perceive greater gender discrimination report less satisfaction and commitment (Ellen A. Ensher, 2001). The hypotheses are given below: 1) Glass ceiling has negative impact on employee productivity. 2) Glass ceiling is negatively related with employee productivity. 3) Job Satisfaction is positively related with employee productivity. 4) Job satisfaction mediates the relation between gender discrimination in promotions and employee productivity. 2.3 Discrimination in facilities In a workplace an employee is provided with many facilities which helps them to complete their task which include computers, air conditioners, assistant and transport facilities etc. If on a work place if such kind of facilities are provided to a male employee and not provided to a female employee of a same post. The female employee will start to think that the upper management don’t care about them which will increase their stress level and the satisfaction level of that employee cold be decreased which will affect the employee’s productivity. The hypotheses are given below: 1) Gender discrimination in facilities has negative impact on employee productivity. 2) Gender discrimination in facilities is negatively related with job satisfaction. 3) Job Satisfaction mediates the relationship between gender discrimination in facilities and employee productivity. 2.4 Salary Gap Another dimension of discrimination is the Salary gap. Women usually get low pay then men in any job they are appointed. Ashraf and Ashraf (1993) study shows that there is a gap of 63.27 percent in salary in 1979, and in 1986 it decreases to 33.09 percent. This was the decline in every province. Discrimination is not the phenomenon of one or two countries, it exist in most of the developed countries like USA. A study showed that women dietitians in USA earn 45,258 dollars per year while men earn 50,250 dollars per year (Pollard, 2007). Managers at top level in organization mostly prefer their own interest rather than others. They think that superiors who have power on their careers will support them. According to Susan et al (1998) mostly top managers in any organization are the people who are more biased against females and these people save interest of their own. The study shows that job commitment is significant related with productivity, there exist high degree of correlation between commitment and productivity. Individuals that are highly committed proved to be more productive and have higher satisfaction and have no intention to leave the job rather than employee with low job commitment (Varsha, 2012). The hypotheses are given below: 1) Salary gap has negative impact on employee productivity. 2) Salary gap is negatively related with job commitment 3) Job Commitment is positively related with employee productivity 4) Job Commitment mediates the relation between salary gap and employee productivity. 2.5 Gender discrimination in Pakistan Pakistan is also one of the countries where gender discrimination is seen in most of the organizations. We all know Pakistan is a male dominating society and women are being treated unfairly in every field of profession. Gender discrimination has spread its root from public organizations to private organizations. Women are being kept at low level jobs and they are not promoted to high posts due to biasness of top level managers and policy makers. A study by Ghizala Kazi (2011) shows us that no women in the public organizations are in the scale of 20 or more. There are very few women above scale 15. Most of the women are under 15th scale, which shows the situation of discrimination in Pakistan. Many factors for this situation were identified like education, promotion, environment, child bearing and discrimination. If such kinds of discrimination is eliminated than the productivity of these women employees could be increased. There are evidences that the promotion of gender equality leads to a better performance and improved economy of concerned society. The societies who have greater female employment opportunities are less corrupt and have better governance (Klasen, 2006). This is not the end of discriminations in Pakistan. A women employee is also discriminated in Salary, which is a basic right of an employee that he should get compensated according to his work and post. In Pakistan you will see men and women working on same job level but different pay. In the report of poverty in Pakistan it is clearly proved that majority of women are concentrated in low paid jobs with very few opportunity for moving upward (Shah et al, 2004). If we look in the export industries of Pakistan which is a backbone in measurement of economy of Pakistan we will see the similar situation of discrimination. The study of Siddique (2006) surveyed the industries of export that are in Karachi, Sialkot and Faisalabad. The results from this study confirms the gender discrimination and shows that men were getting 20 percent more than then women working at the same post. It was also concluded that adjustment policies and change in labor market has a negative impact on females. To have maximum output from women employee the organizational culture of discrimination should be changed. Organizational culture affects the performance of employee. Organizational environment and culture can make the workplace attractive and supportive for a female employee. Attitudes of peers and support from family are also very significant for the female employee (Irfan, 2009). Many studies have discussed the gender discrimination as a general term but there is need to explore the discrimination in different dimensions and how these dimensions affect the productivity of employees. Gender discrimination has three dimensions which include discrimination in promotions, salary and facilities provided. So this study will be based on exploring the effect of dimensions of gender discrimination on productivity of employees. 3. Conceptual framework In the literature review of this topic the framework has been defined which show the relationship between the variables. Correlation is basically run to analyze the relationship between two or more variable. It also measure that how two variables move in relation to each other. It measures the strength and direction of linear relationship between two variables with respect to each other. The sign of the value shows the direction that whether it is negative or positive. Positive sign shows that the variables are moving in same direction means if one variable is increasing the other variable is also increasing and negative sign shows that if one variable is increasing then other variable is decreasing. The magnitude shows the intensity between variable. If the value is between 0.1 and 0.5 then the variables are weakly correlated. If the value is between 0.5 and 0.7 then the variables are moderately correlated. If the value is between 0.7 and 0.99 then the variables are strongly correlated. The value 1 shows the perfect correlation between variables. Table 5 shows the intensity and the direction of any two variables. Highest value of correlation is 0.753 which is between gender discrimination in facilities and glass ceiling. So the correlation between discrimination in facilities and glass ceiling is positive and strongly correlated. The relationship between DF and EP, and DF and JS, and JC and SG is negative. So it means that if you have more salary gap than your commitment to job will be less but its value is less than any else two variables, so we can say that job commitment will be less but with very small value, and if you have more discrimination in facilities then your productivity will be less. The remaining variables have positive relation with each other. The relationship is significant at 1% which means there are 99% chances that the relationship between all two variables will remain the same if the sample is changes and sample size and population remains same as shown in the table given below. 5.7 Regression This research is to check the effect of gender discrimination dimensions which are glass ceiling, salary gap and discrimination in facilities on the employee productivity. This research also includes two mediating variables job satisfaction and job commitment. Job satisfaction is mediating between glass ceiling and employee productivity and also discrimination in facilities and employee productivity. Job commitment is mediating between salary gap and employee productivity. For this 9 hypothesis were developed. For the purpose of checking the impact regression has been applied. The model has only one dependent variable so there will be one model of regression equation. There will be separate equation for mediating variable to check the mediating effect of variables between independent and dependent variable. In first model we run the regression equation between EP, GC, DF, SG, JC and Job satisfaction. 5.7.1 Regression Equation EP = 4.66 0.38GC 0.86DF 0.26SG + 0.017JC + 0.167JS The Above equation shows that if all the other variables remain unchanged or have value of zero then the productivity of employee remains at 14.66. It is the fixed value of employee productivity. The coefficient values tell the per unit change in the employee productivity so if we increase the value of GC, SG and DF then the value of employee productivity will decrease by 0.38, 0.86 and 0.26 respectively. If the value of job commitment increases by one then the value of employee productivity will increase by 0.017. The hypotheses of glass ceiling, discrimination in facilities and job satisfaction are accepted. If the value of job satisfaction is increased then the value of employee productivity will increase by 5.10 Kruskal Wallis Test The non-parametric test will be used that is kruskal-Wallis test. Whenever the assumption of levene test is not fulfilled the non-parametric test i.e. kruskal-Wallis test is used. So kruskal-Wallis test is applied to check the level of job commitment in the females who are earning less than 30,000 between 30,000 and 40,000 and more than 40,000. The table given below shows that the asymptotic value is greater than 0.05so test is insignificant. So there is no difference in the average of glass ceiling in all three populations. So we can conclude that there is no significant difference between the mean of all three population p = 0.509, with a mean rank of 73.45 for below 30,000, 65.20 for 30,000 to 40,000 and 73.00 for above 40,000. 6. Discussion This study is conducted to check the impact of gender discrimination on the productivity of employees. The study included three dimensions of gender discrimination that is discrimination in promotions, discrimination in facilities and discrimination in salary. With the help of previous studies it is found that all these discriminations have negative impact on employee productivity which is mention in literature view. The hypotheses were developed for this study. There are 12 hypotheses that are developed. First hypothesis is that glass ceiling has negative impact on employee productivity. This hypothesis is checked after entering the data into SPSS. He results show that glass ceiling does have negative impact on employee productivity. If women are not being promoted to higher job positions and if there is no such policies related to gender discrimination then the productivity of female employee decreases. Second hypothesis was that the glass ceiling is negatively related with job satisfaction. this hypothesis is checked through the correlation. The table 5 of correlation clearly shows that glass ceiling is negatively related with the job satisfaction and result is also significant so this hypothesis is supported. Third hypothesis is that the job satisfaction is positively related with the employee productivity. The table of correlation shows the positive relation between the two variables. So employee productivity increases as the job satisfactions continues to increase and if job satisfaction decreases the employee productivity also decreases. Fourth hypothesis is that the job satisfaction is mediating between glass ceiling and employee productivity. This hypothesis is checked through the mediation test which consists of four steps. This test did not support the hypothesis so this hypothesis is rejected. Fifth hypothesis is that the discrimination in facilities has negative impact on the employee productivity. This hypothesis is checked by regression. Discrimination in facilities has the negative impact on the employee productivity and it is also significant. So this hypothesis is also supported. The sixth hypothesis is that discrimination in facilities is negatively related with the job satisfaction. This hypothesis is supported because the correlation between them is negative in the table 5. So the discrimination in facilities increases then the satisfaction with the job decreases. The next hypothesis is that the job satisfaction plays the mediating role between the discrimination in facilities and employee productivity. This hypothesis is also checked by the mediation test the result is shown in the table 8 which shows that this hypothesis is not supported. It means that job satisfaction is not mediating between discrimination in facilities and employee productivity. The eights hypothesis that was developed is that salary gap has negative impact on the employee productivity. The hypothesis is not supported as it is checked by regression test which is shown in the table 6. It has negative impact but it is not significant means that if gap is more in salary then employee productivity decreases but not significantly. The ninth hypothesis is that salary gap is negatively related with job commitment. The hypothesis is checked with the correlation which is shown in the table 5 of correlation which shows that the relation between these two variables is negative. So salary gap reduces the job commitment of female employees. The next hypothesis that is developed is that the job commitment is positively related with the employee productivity. The relation is checked with the correlation and hypothesis is supported because results show that there is positive relation between salary gap and job commitment and it is significant. It means more job commitment the more employee productivity. The next hypothesis is that job commitment mediated the relation between the salary gap and employee productivity. This hypothesis is checked by the mediation test and it is not supported. The results show that job commitment does not play a mediating role between salary gap and employee productivity. The t test is also applied to check that whether the level of variables is also applicable on the population. The results are shown in the table 9. This table shows that all the values of p are significant so the level is also the same as the population. The level of job commitment is also checked in the three population related to different income groups that is below 30,000, 30,000-40,000 and more than 40,000. For this purpose the ANOVA is applied but for ANOVA the assumption of levene test should be fulfilled that is its value should be insignificant. The table 10 shows that levene test assumption is not fulfilled so the non-parametric test is used. The non-parametric test is the Kruskal-Willis test. This test is applied and the hypothesis is rejected as its asymptotic value is not significant. So it means that the there is no significant difference between the job commitment of females who are earning less than 30000, 30000-40000 and more than 40000. 7. Implication Through this study the impact of gender discrimination is checked on the employee productivity. The productivity of an employee is much important for an organization. So the management should consider the issue of gender discrimination as it is shown that the gender discrimination has negative impact on the employee productivity. As our sector for this research is the private education institutes which are very important sector for a developing countries so the management should consider reforming its policies. The management should make transparent, merit based recruitment and selection, it should also provide the training for better performance of female employee so that they can be promoted, they could be provided similarly facilities and different incentive so that they compete economically with the men as all these discriminations are effecting their productivity. 8. Limitation This study was only focused to the three dimensions of gender discrimination and employee productivity is the only variable that is measured that effect the productivity of organization. This research was only examining the education sector and the data was collected only from private institutions. The data was also 140 and it was collected only from the schools that are in the city area the educations institutes in the village was not collected so therefore the ability of generalizability of our findings were restricted and this can lead us to the biasness of respondents (Paul et al., 2003). 9. Conclusion This study provided an insight that how the dimensions of gender discrimination affect the productivity of employee. The data has been collected from different private education institutes through questionnaire. After the analysis that we have done on SPSS we can conclude that gender discrimination has a negative impact on the employee productivity which ultimately affect the performance of employee. The result of impact of salary gap on the employee productivity is not significant. So if the organizations want to perform well then they should keep the gender discrimination out of their organizations in order to make their female employees perform well which will be beneficial for the organization. 10. References Channar, Z. A. (2011). Gender Discrimination in Workforce and its Impact. Pak. J. Commer. Soc. Sci, Vol. 5, pp. 177-191. Dixit, V. (2012). A Study about Employee Commitment and its impact. European Journal of Business and Social Sciences, Vol. 1, pp. 34-51. Abbas, S. M. (2010). Gender Based Wage Discrimination and Its Impact on Performance of Blue Collar Workers: Evidence. KASBIT Business Journal, Vol. 3, pp. 45-63. Hiau, Joo. Kee. (2008) Glass ceiling or sticky floor exploring the Australian gender pay gap. The Economic Record, Vol. 82, No.59, pp. 408-427. Foley, S. (2005). Perceptions of Discrimination and Justice: Are there Gender Differences in Outcomes? Group Organization Management, Vol. 30, pp. 421-452. Ashraf, J, and B. Ashraf (1993) Estimating the Gender Wage Gap in Rawalpindi City. Journal of Development Studies 29:2. Ensher, E. A., Grant-Vallone, E. J., Donalson, S. I. (2001). Effects of perceived discrimination on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, organizational citizenship behavior, and grievances. Human Resource Development Quarterly, Vol. 12, pp. 53-72. Prudence Pollard, Maxine Taylor and Noba Daher, Health Care Manager; Jan-Mar2007, Vol. 26 Issue 1, p52-63, 12p, 4 charts Ensher, E. A. (2011). Effects of Perceived discrimination on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, organizational citizenship behaviour and grievances. Human resource development quarterly, Vol. 1. Coomber B, Barriball KL. 2007†Impact of job satisfactions on intent to leave and turnover for hospital based nurses: a review of the research literature†, International Journal of Nursing Studies, Vol. 44, pp. 297-314. Joanne Healy and Zucca J. Linda Mid-American Journal of Business; Spring2004, Vol. 19 Issue 1, pp. 55-62. Sen, Amartya, 1999, Assessing Human Development Special Contribution Human Development Report 1999 (New York: UNDP). Shah, Parveen. Memon, Rajab. A. (2004). Socio-economic and demographic status of rural women in Sindh. Proceedings of the international conference on social sciences: endangered and engendered, Fatima Jinnah women university, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, pp. 98-113. Nick, Foster. (1999) another ‘glass ceiling’? The experiences of women professionals and managers on international assignments, Gender, Work and Organization, Blackwell publisher’s ltd., Vol. 6, no. 2, pp.79-89. United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA), 2004, Programme of Action: Adopted at the International Conference on Population and Development, Cairo 1994 Wayne, F. Casico, (1995) Managing Human Resource, Productivity, Quality of work life, Profits, McGraw hill Internationals, 4th ed. pp. 61-116. Susan, Trentham. Laurie, Larwood, (1998) Gender discrimination and the workplace: an examination of rational bias theory, Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, Jan, 1998, pp. 1-22. Sanchez, J. I., Brock, P. (1996). Outcomes of perceived discrimination among Hispanic employees: Is diversity management a luxury or a necessity? Academy of Management Journal, 39 (3), 704–719. 11. Appendices Questionnaire We are students of B.sc (Hons) Accounting Finance, currently doing a research project on gender discrimination and its Impact on employee’s performance for which the questionnaire is being distributed to collect empirical data. Therefore you are kindly requested to fill this questionnaire. The information will be kept confidential and will be used for only academic Purpose it will take 15-20 min to complete the data. Thank you in anticipation (Strongly Disagree = 1, Strongly Agree = 5) Employee Productivity

Festival De La Familia Concert Report Music Essay

Festival De La Familia Concert Report Music Essay For the Concert report I attended the Festival de la Familia at Cal expo on April 25th. The first thing I did when I got there was to look for a schedule or program of the events that were going on. It turns out there were more performers than I could actually watch. I headed first to the tower stage as I could hear music coming from there. I got there and a Mariachi band was playing. I looked at the event program and it was the Tonantzin Mariachi according to the program but apparently it wasnt. I overhead people saying that the mariachi band was actually a different one that the one listed. The mariachi band members were all wearing traditional charro costumes. I got to hear three songs before the band ended their session. However these songs were pretty melodic and upbeat. They didnt dance much but they did move in unison to the rhythm of the music. The melody was pretty joyful, it seemed that it was made especially for celebrations. There was an obvious harmony laid by violins matching the main melody. It was really nice hearing how all the different harmonies from the different instrument groups complemented each other, these songs all had a very nice texture. The rhythm was easy to decode as it was made by the guitar players muting the guitar strings with the palms of their hands to create a beat. They would also stomp on the ground every once in a while to the beat of the music. The instrumentation was pretty standard, it consisted of guitars, a guitarron,a couple violins and trumpets, and a singer. All instruments are of Europena decent (Mariachi). The most interested instrument was the guitarron. It was different in that it is usually only found in mariachi bands. Although the guitarron that the Mariachi bands use is actually called guitarron mexicano or Mexican guitarron as there is a Chilean and an Argentinian version of the guitarron as well. (The Guitarron). Althought it seems the guitarron comes directly from the guitar it actually does not. The guitarron was developed independently in 16th century Spain independently from the Spanish bajo de uà ±a. It replaced the harp in the 20th century (What is the mariachi?). The trumpets were not originally part of the Mariachi bands arsenal. As Mariachi music became more popular and because of the popularity of jazz and Cuban music mariachi bands started adopting the trumpet to accompany or replace the violins and harp. (What is the mariachi?). The mariachi band is believed to have originated from Jalisco, Mexico, although nobody seems to know where the name Mariachi came from (What is the mariachi?). The instruments used in a mariachi band were introduced by Spain. They were originally meant to be used in mass, but later on criollos began to use them to create popular music (What is the mariachi?). Back when Mariachis started, they represented the pride and culture of the Mexican people(What is the mariachi?). Today, the same can be said as when one listens mariachi music usually the first thing that comes into mind is something to do with Mexico. The band I saw at the event hasnt deviated much from the old traditions. They still wear the old traditional costume, the large hats, the songs were traditional ones. They did put to use all the modern mariachi band instruments including the guitarron and trumpets. There was no harp present. In my opinion, I would says that theres not a lot of difference between the Mariachi bands around the world. Most of them play the same songs but the different comes in the quality of their sound, the way the play their instruments so that the song sounds like one good piece instead of a mix of instruments d also the singer. I heard some singers in mariachi bands whose voices just dont match the song at all. Later on I went to the tent Top Stage and got to see the group BF Las Estrellas de Hayward. I hope that was what they were called since it seemed that the schedule was a little bit off and the performers were performing at different stages than the ones they were listed on the handout. This was a dance group. Although there was no live music playing here, it was recorded, but it was still nice to listen to it and watch the traditional dances of Veracruz, Mexico or jarocho. These dancers were wearing the traditional white guayabera shirts and white pants and hats. The women were wearing colorful dresses and head decorations. They were all wearing special shoes with which the would tap on the ground or do the zapateados to create a percussive sound that would complement the other instruments. I would say that the dancers tried to keeps the traditional form that was used since the beginning of the jarocho music. The whole performance had a very tropical feeling to it, especially after they brought in statues of sea creatures such as sea starts and sea horses. It would have been nice if they were actual live instruments playing but from what I listened I could tell some of the instruments that were playing. One of the most noticeable instruments was the harp which made the music sound very Caribbean like and you could also hear guitars on the background laying the main rhythm. Afterwards, the group Samba da Terra made their presence into the stage. They were a Brazilian samba group located in Sacramento. They started out with about 6 drummers creating a steady beat. The tempo was pretty slow but it picked up as time went by. The drummers did not seem to wearing any ethnic clothing or costumes. They were all wearing t-shirts with the Samba da Terra logo on them and short pants or long shorts. The only instruments played during their entire performance were drums of different styles and sizes. The drums sounded different enough from each other to distinguish the timbre even though all of them were beat at about the same volume. There wasnt much harmony; the drums themselves dont have a very harmonic sound. There were lots of dynamics though. Some beats were louder that others. The was a lead drum player with a different type of drum that he would ply similar to a regular snare. He would play his own part but he would accentuate certain beats to amplifly the beats made by the other drums. If it wasnt for the dynamics, the beat would have sounded pretty lifeless and simple. The texture was simple, there were the bigger drums seting a deep bass sound while the smaller drums had a higher pitch and very played a little faster that the bigger drums. Some of the players would alternate between using their hands and stick to create different sounds. There also want much of a melody, only a study beat and rhythm. They would however change it about every 30 seconds. You could tell that there was an African influence in the samba. For one, the beat had a very tribal feeling to it. The instrument s have their roots back to Africa as well. The drums came from slaves brought to Brazil by the Portuguese. (Samba) Later, the group was joined by a group of female dancers that dance to the rhythm of the drumming. Thats when things got more interesting. The female dancers were in traditional samba costumes which were pretty colorful and were wearing this huge head pieces adorned with feathers. As the dancers were dancing to the beat the drummers would suddenly change the tempo pretty drastically to a really fast one and the dancers would try to keep up with it. Later the tempo would slow down and so would the dancers. At first, the dancer were doing a pretty simple dance, as the performance progressed they started doing some pretty complex dances that seem to tak e a lot skill to pull of. You could tell which dancers had more experience by observing them dance during the complex parts. Samba da Terra was formed in 2001 by Marta Santos. Marta is a native Brazilian that has participated in various Samba event including the Carnaval of Brazil. Afterwards, as I was walking towards the exit of the expo, I ran into Aztec dancers. They were doing a traditional dance. Most of them were wearing traditional Aztec clothing and articles. The performer were of different age. The were kids that seem to be about 8 to 12 years old to full grown adults in their 40s or 50s. The main instrument seems to be a drum in which the main beat was formed. Each dance had some type of foot shaker that created noise every time the dancer moved. The group seemed to be divided, some dancer would be doing the same part while another groups while another group would be doing another. The older dancers were the ones with the drums. There was a certain dancer that seem to have a special role. She was a young kid that dance differently from the others. She was doing some type of jump/sneaking movement in between the other dancer as if she was looking for something. I was surprised about this because the dance that she was doing seem pretty hard and tiring compared to the others. The music was simple. It was mostly drums accompanied by the shakers. There was the occasional vocal chanting. The overall melody seemed to be calling for something, as in calling a God for help or a war dance. There was a war like rhythm to the sound structure of the Aztec dancers. The main beat was laid off by the two drummers. It was complemented by the rattles in the feet of all the dancers, in fact the rattles created a sort of melody. You could distinguish between the sound of the two drums because one of the drummers would play softer that the other. The dynamics also changed to give a more dramatic beat and the dancers would move more dramatically to compensate. The tempo stay relatively the same thought out the entire performance. The texture was relatively simple just consisting of the noise coming from the rattles and the drum beat. Before the pre-Hispanic times in Mexico, the Aztecs would dance and sing as an offering to the Gods. (Mexican Dances) . The dance purpose was to ask for good fertility, crops and earth. The Aztecs would use two drums used during the dance called the huà ©huetl y teponaztle. (Mexican Dances) both drums are skin drums. (The aztec music) The huà ©huetl was played wit the hands while the teponaztle was played with mallets. The rattles found on the feet of the dancers are called Theres not much known about the Aztecs musical culture prior the arrival of the Spanish. (Mexicolore) After the Spanish conquistadors came and the Mexican empire fell the use of drums or any other percussion instrument was forbidden and any one found using on would get its hands cut off (Mexican Dances) This lead to the development of the guitars made of animal shells. (Mexican Dances) Later in the 1930-1940s, the old instruments such as the the huà ©huetl y teponaztle started to be used again because of Manuel Pinda Escalona, Gabriel Osorio. (Mexican Dances) Today most Aztec dance groups consist of a few drummers an and group of dancers. Its hard to find the traditional instruments used back in time such as the armadillo or tortoise guitars and drums (Ayotl) or the Omichicauaztli which was made out of deer bones. (Aztec Music) Overall, the research that Citations http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariachi http://www.cumpiano.com/Home/Articles/Special%20interest/Acbass/guitarron.html The guitarron http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitarr%C3%B3n_mexicano Guitarrà ³n mexicano http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/1875-what-is-the-mariachi What is the mariachi? http://www.sambadaterra.com/aboutus.html Samba Da Terra: About us http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samba Samba citations http://www.barraganzone.com/mexicandances_aztec.html Mexican Dances http://www.aztec-indians.com/aztec-music.html Aztec Music http://www.mexicolore.co.uk/index.php?one=azttwo=mus Mexicolore http://www.aztec-history.com/aztec-music.html tHE aZTEC mUSIC)