How Opportunity Structures Affect Your Life

How Opportunity Structures Affect Your Life The term opportunity structure refers to the fact that the opportunities available to people in any given society or institution are shaped by the social organization and structure of that entity. Typically within a society or institution, there are certain opportunity structures that are considered traditional and legitimate, like achieving economic success by pursuing education in order to get a good job, or dedicating oneself to a form of art, craft, or performance in order to make a living in that field. These opportunity structures, and untraditional and illegitimate ones too,  provide sets of rules that one is supposed to follow in order to achieve cultural expectations of success. When traditional and legitimate opportunity structures fail to allow for success, people may pursue success via untraditional and illegitimate ones. Overview Opportunity structure is a term and theoretical concept developed by American sociologists Richard A. Cloward and Lloyd B. Ohlin, and presented in their book  Delinquency and Opportunity, published in 1960. Their work was inspired by and built upon sociologist Robert Mertons theory of deviance, and in particular, his structural strain theory. With this theory Merton suggested that a person experiences strain when the conditions of society do not allow one to attain the goals that the society socializes us to desire and work toward. For example, the goal of economic success is a common one in U.S. society, and the cultural expectation is that one would work hard to pursue education, and then work hard in a job or career in order to attain this. However, with an underfunded public education system, high cost of higher education and burdens of student loans, and an economy dominated by service sector jobs, U.S. society today fails to provide the majority of the population with adequat e, legitimate means to attain this kind of success. Cloward and Ohlin build on this theory with the concept of opportunity structures by pointing out there are a variety of pathways to success available in society. Some are traditional and legitimate, like education and career, but when those fail, a person is likely to pursue pathways provided by other kinds of opportunity structures. The conditions described above, of inadequate education and job availability, are elements that can serve to block a particular opportunity structure for certain segments of the population, like kids to attend underfunded and segregated public schools in poor districts, or young adults who have to work to support their families and thus do not have the time or money to attend college. Other social phenomena, like racism, classism, and sexism, among others, can block a structure for certain individuals, while still enabling others to find success through it. For example, white students might thrive in a particular classroom while black students do not, because teachers tend to underestimate the intelligence of black kids, and to punish them more harshly, both of which hinder their ability to succeed in the classroom. Relevance in Society Cloward and Ohlin use this theory to explain deviance by suggesting that when traditional and legitimate opportunity structures are blocked, people sometimes pursue success through others that are  considered nontraditional and illegitimate, like getting involved in a network of petty or major criminals in order to make money, or by pursuing grey and black market occupations like sex worker or drug dealer, among others.

Interesting Facts About US Housing

Interesting Facts About US Housing About 7.2 million homeowners took out home equity lines of credit in 2003, up 12 percent from 2001 when 6.4 million such credit lines were established. Thats just one of the interesting facts and statistics reported in the latest edition of the American Housing Survey (AHS) [pdf], sponsored by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Now entering its fourth decade of publication, the AHS provides information on a variety of topics, including home ownership, characteristics of homes and their owners, housing costs, vacation homes, gated communities and people’s views of their neighborhoods. Some more highlights from the latest AHS: About 3.8 million homeowners had lump-sum home equity mortgages, down nearly 20 percent from 2001, when there were 4.7 million such loans.Homeowners occupied more than 72 million homes. Overall, the nation had about 106 million occupied housing units.Renters occupied 33.6 million housing units.The nation’s median mortgage interest rate was 6.7 percent, down from 7.5 percent in 2001.The median value of owner-occupied homes was $140,000.Between 2001 and 2003, the number of owner-occupied units with four or more bedrooms increased by about 1 million to 18.7 million.There were 3 million owner-occupied homes in planned gated communities.The vacancy rate for rental housing units was 9.6 percent, up from 7.8 percent in 2001.On a scale of 1-to-10, with 10 being the best, 3-in-4 homeowners rated their neighborhood an 8 or higher.

Country of Origin Ethnocentrism & Hyrbrid Product Essay

Country of Origin Ethnocentrism & Hyrbrid Product - Essay Example Therefore, the country variable in country of origin studies should be treated as a multidimensional concept that can indicate the different dimensions of country of origin. This will better reflect the market environment as well as the ethnocentric consumers' evaluations. The customers attitudes towards the different dimensions should also be examined (Brodowsky, 1998; Acharaya and Elliot, 2003; Brodowsky, Tan and Meilich, 2004). Severalstudies have investigated and looked into ethnocentric consumers' attitudes. They have put their attitudes and evaluative beliefs to a multi-dimensional formulation of country of origin (COO), including country of design (COD), and country of assembly (COA) (Brodowsky, 1998; Acharaya and Elliot, 2003; Brodowsky, Tan and Meilich, 2004). Brodowsky (1998) also examined how the country where the product was assembled and the country where it was designed effects the evaluative beliefs and attitudes towards buying automotive products between people with high and low ethnocentric qualities. The results of the study proved that consumers with high ethnocentric ideals had more positive beliefs and attitudes towards buying domestically designed automobiles than foreign designed and domestically assembled automobiles than foreign assembled. ... On the other hand, not only did people with low ethnocentric ideals not have positive evaluative beliefs and attitudes towards domestically designed or assembled automobiles, but expressed more positive evaluative beliefs and attitudes towards buying foreign designed than domestically designed automobiles., and foreign assembled than domestically assembled automobiles. This is also not surprising given the other study about people with high ethnocentric qualities. Brodowsky (1998) also stated that the positive ideals of low ethnocentric consumers towards foreign assembled and foreign made automobiles may have been based on their evaluations of the foreign product, which often times can be superior to the home made product. In a seperate study, Acharya and Elliot (2003) also researched the patters of high and low ethnocentric consumers' evaluations and intentions to purchase domestically assembled than foreign assembled products, and domestically designed than foreign designed products. This was tested for three different product categories all differencing in their mixed levels of involvement. The results revealed that high ethnocentric consumers expressed positive evaluations and attitudes towards buying domestically assembled than foreign assembled products for the three product categories examined. Results also showed that high ethnocentric consumers expressed more positive attitudes towards buying domestically designed than foreign designed products. However, contrary to their hypothesis, high ethnocentric consumers expressed more positive evaluations for foreign designed than domestically designed products. This was the case for two of the three products examined. Further, Brodowsky (1998) highlig hted that high ethnocentric consumers ascribed put a bigger

My Experience of Volunteer at Various Organizations Essay

My Experience of Volunteer at Various Organizations - Essay Example Once I had collected enough books, I would pack these up in delivery boxes and send it out to the various prisons that are affiliated with our organization. I would also take the time to write letters to the inmates who were directly involved with the book program. I was almost like an unofficial librarian in a way since I had to match certain book types with certain inmates. This was one of the most rewarding activities in the volunteer program because I would receive letters from the inmates who were so happy to be beneficiaries of our program. Since some of them had no family or friends, the books that we sent them helped lighten their lonely mood. We volunteer in effect, became a part of their extended family in the outside world just because of the simple act of kindness that we did for them. I personally received letters from those inmates who wanted to spend their time in prison or in jail productively. They would ask me to find books that would truly widen their horizon and challenge their minds. Books like those specializing in Spanish, medicine, math, English, and other educational reading material. I was more than happy to help them find those books and get it to them. It made me feel like by doing this type of volunteer job with th e organization, I was truly making an impact in the inmate's lives and helping them to see that they had a future outside of prison if they wanted to. My other volunteer job was at the Melbourne Animal Shelter. The South Animal Care shelter to be precise helped keep the cats and dogs in a presentable manner for possible adoption. My job was to make sure the animals were bathed, their cages cleaned, and most importantly, I made sure that these animals were given their daily exercise by taking them for leisurely walks. It saddened me that I this animal shelter was a kill shelter. Meaning the animals that did not get adopted would be out to sleep.

martin scorsese Essay -- essays research papers

For my final project, I chose to learn more about my favorite director, Martin Scorsese. From as far as I can remember, Martin Scorsese’s films have always intrigued me like no others have. There are many reasons why I am drawn to his type of films and his style of directing. Martin Scorsese has directed films that support his ethnic background. He has revolutionized the motion picture industry with the films he has directed. Scorsese has a unique approach in directing his films. Lastly, Scorsese’s favorite actor to star in his films is Robert DeNiro, who is by far my favorite actor of all time. This topic holds much value to me because movies are an escape from reality that I enjoy. I do not believe many people realize how influential movies and all other media are. We already know that watching a movie is what people do to relax, when they are bored, its something to share with a friend or loved one, or when the movie just plain appeals to you or draws your interest. The main reason why this topic is so important to me is because one of my favorite things to do is just kick back, relax, and watch a great movie.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Almost all of Scorsese’s films relate to his Italian descent. They reflect his life and how things were growing up in New York City’s Little Italy neighborhood throughout the 1950s and 1960s. What I like about this is that he is staying true to himself and background. He does not forget where he came from and even exploits it for us the viewers, which was an immediate success because of the realism. He portrays early Italian American life like no other. He displayed a side of culture that many people had never been exposed to. I wish that I could create films relating to my childhood, the environment around me, and at the same time be successful. That is exactly what Martin Scorsese has done since he started directing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Martin Scorsese built an empire of films that changed the way people view directing. Scorsese created a path for other new and experienced directors to explore their creativity. His first success was Mean Streets in 1973 about life in Little Italy, which was the first of many movies to come starring Robert DeNiro. In 1976, he directed a success with Taxi Driver, a graphic movie about a loner who learns he is disgusted with society and decides to do something about it. He ... ... of all time. He is an incredible actor. No one catches my interest like DeNiro. Martin Scorsese highly contributed to his success. Without Martin Scorsese’s directing I do not believe Robert DeNiro would be who he is today. Choosing Robert DeNiro for movies like Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, and Casino was brilliant.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Martin Scorsese really is responsible for changing my expectations when I view a film. When I watch a movie familiar to his genre of film, I use his films to compare, which I don’t believe is right, but his films are classics to me. To me, newer films will never compare to the work of Scorsese because society and culture are different, many ideas have already been done, and they just don’t make movies like they used to. I realize that movies he made will always be my favorites and I will never hesitate when someone asks, â€Å"Who is your favorite director?†Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Movies Afecting Indian Youth

One Stop for Colleges Education Career ? ? Covers complete IITJEE/AIEEE syllabus ? ? ? Chemistry, Maths and Physics Sections ? Its Free ? Lessons, tests by IIT/NIT toppers 1000+ Questions and Sample tests Last minute preparation and help Minglebox Engineering Prep Free Online Preparation for Engineering with Minglebox Engineering Prep. Cover basic concepts of under â€Å"Section† for Engineering Entrance Exam Preparation with Study material, solved examples and tests prepared by IIT/NIT toppers. 1 Minglebox Engineering Prep Minglebox. om Communication systems Electronic communication refers to the faithful transfer of informationor message (available in the form of electrical voltage and current)from one point to another point. Transmitter, transmission channel and receiver are three basic unitsof a communication system. 2 Minglebox Engineering Prep Minglebox. com Transducer: Any device that converts one form ofenergy into another can be termed as a transducer. Signal: Informa tion converted in electrical form and suitable for transmission is called a signal.Signals can be either analog or digital. Noise: Noise refers to the unwanted signals that tend to disturb the transmission and processing of message signals in a communication system. Transmitter: A transmitter processes the incoming message signal so as to make it suitable for transmis sion through a channel and subsequent reception. Receiver: A receiver extracts the desired message signals from the received signals at the channel output. Attenuation: The loss of strength of a signal while propagating through a medium is known as attenua tion.Amplification: It is the process of increasing the amplitude (and consequently the strength) of a signal using an electronic circuit called the amplifier. 3 Minglebox Engineering Prep Minglebox. com Range: It is the largest distance between a source and a destination up to which the signal is received with sufficient strength. Bandwidth: Bandwidth refers to the frequency range over which an equipment operates or the portion of the spectrum occupied by the signal.Modulator: At the transmitter, information contained in the low frequency message signal is superimposed on a high frequency wave, which acts as a carrier of the information. This process is known as modulation. As will be explained later, there are several types of modulation, abbreviated as AM, FM and PM. Demodulation: The process of retrieval of information from the carrier wave at the receiver is termed demodulation. This is the reverse process of modulation. Repeater: A repeater is a combination of a receiver and a transmitter.A repeater, picks up the signal from the transmitter, amplifies and retransmits it to the receiver sometimes with a change in carrier frequency. 4 Minglebox Engineering Prep Minglebox. com Two important forms of communication system are: Analog and Digital. The information to be transmitted is generally in continuous waveform for the former while for the latter it has only discrete or quantised levels. Every message signal occupies a range of frequencies. The bandwidth of a message signal refers to the band of frequencies, which are necessary for satisfactory transmission of the infor mation contained in the signal.Similarly, any practical communication system permits transmission of a range of frequencies only, which is referred to as the bandwidth of the system. Low frequencies cannot be transmitted to long distances. Therefore, they are superimposed on a high frequency carrier signal by a process known as modulation. In modulation, some characteristic of the carrier signal like amplitude, frequency or phase varies in accordance with the modulating or message signal. Correspondingly , they are called Amplitude Modulated (AM), Frequency Modulated (FM) or Phase Modulated (PM) waves. 5Minglebox Engineering Prep Minglebox. com Pulse modulation could be classified as: Pulse Amplitude Modulation(PAM), Pulse Duration Modulation (PDM) or Pulse Width Modulation(PWM) and Pulse Position Modulation (PPM). For transmission over long distances, signals are radiated into spaceusing devices called antennas. The radiated signals propagate aselectromagnetic waves and the mode of propagation is influenced bythe presence of the earth and its atmosphere. Near the surface of theearth, electromagnetic waves propagate as surface waves. Surface wavepropagation is useful up to a few MHz frequencies.Long distance communication between two points on the earth isachieved through reflection of e lectromagnetic waves by ionosphere. Such waves are called sky waves. Sky wave propagation takes place upto frequency of about 30 MHz. Above this frequency, electromagneticwaves essentially propagate as space waves. Space waves are used forline-of-sight communication and satellite communication. 6 Minglebox Engineering Prep Minglebox. com If an antenna radiates electromagnetic waves from a height hT, thenthe range dT is given by v2RhT whereR is t he radius of the earth.Amplitude modulated signal contains frequencies (? c –? m ), ? c and (? c +? m) Amplitude modulated waves can be produced by application of the message signal and the carrier wave to a non linear device, followed by a band pass filter. AM detection, which is the process of recovering the modulating signal from an AM waveform, is carried out using a rectifier and an envelope detector. 7 Minglebox Engineering Prep Minglebox. com Sample Examples A message signal of frequency 10 kHz and peak voltageof 10 volts is used to modulate a carrier of frequency 1 MHz and peakvoltage of 20 volts.Determine (a) modulation index, (b) the side bandsproduced. Solution (a) Modulation index =10/20 = 0. 5 (b) The side bands are at (1000+10 kHz)=1010 kHz and(1000 –10 kHz) = 990 kHz. A transmitting antenna at the top of a tower has a height32 m and the height of the receiving antenna is 50 m. What is themaximum distance between them for satisfactory communication inLOS mode? Given radius of earth 6. 4 ? 106 m. Solution = v2 *64*105*32 + v2 *64*105*50 = 64 ? 102 ? v10 + 8 ? 103 ? v10 m =144 ? 102 ? 10 m = 45. 5 km 8 Minglebox Engineering Prep Minglebox. com

My First Year Student Assessment - 1317 Words

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The ways in which I have improved in these are as include forming study groups and having a relationship with the professors in those classes that I found myself struggling in. By going in and talking to the professors, I made myself a familiar face in the classroom and found that they began to want to help me more as well. I noticed a slight drop in my desire to finish college and that is partially due to the work load I am bearing this semester. I feel as though I should have split some of the classes I am enrolled in up so that IShow MoreRelatedTeaching And Assessment Of A My First Year Student2225 Words   |  9 Pageslearning and assessment of a my first year student on a busy acute medical ward. 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