Race and Racism (Anthropology) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Race and Racism (Anthropology) - Essay Example States is a country with a strong tradition of institutionalized racism which permeates all aspects of modern America society (see hooks’ Ain’t I a Woman?: Black Women and Feminism, 1981). For many in America racism is an ever-present aspect of the social condition and is built upon a rigid social code, a white/black binary which has its roots in early American settlement and the shameful tradition of slavery in the New World. What are the effects of racism and sexism on the lives of people today? In American society there is a definite health disparity in the country as non-whites report a lower level of overall health and access to healthcare. The American Journal of Preventive Medicine undertook a substantial quantitative analysis of the infant mortality rates between black and white infants and found that a disparity in this important social indicator does in fact exist. Accordingly, this respected journal found that the black-white infant mortality ratio has persisted for decades and has even increased in recent times. In 1960, the black-white infant mortality ratio stood a 2.0, but twenty years later this figure had risen to 2.4. Why such a disparity? What are the causes of such dramatic differences in the likelihood that a newborn black child would not live to see his or her first birthday in comparison to a white child? This study determined that while a variety of factors can account for this dis parity, low birth weight remains the most prominent cause of a higher infant mortality rate amongst black babies. In fact, black babies in America have a 300% greater likelihood of being born with a low birthrate relative to their white counterparts. The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention found a variety of socio-economic causes for the phenomenon of low birth weight, including poverty, poor nutrition, a lack of knowledge about pregnancy and the challenges associated with it, and access to proper medical facilities. The disparity in

Management of the Non-Profit Organizations Research Proposal

Management of the Non-Profit Organizations - Research Proposal Example NPOs, on the other hand, do not usually provide for substantial monetary compensation, since most, if not all, of its work force are volunteers. As such, workers are motivated more by their love and dedication to the mission of the organization and the cause for which it stands. Because of this fundamental difference, workers in NPOs cannot be persuaded to remain with the organisation and contribute their best by the usual means of increasing pay and monetary incentives. Although volunteers are drawn to the job because of the psychic income, such may not be sufficient to sustain the commitment of these volunteers in the long term, without the necessary and appropriate support and action by the human resources manager. The threats posed by the social and physical environment on the continued commitment of an NPO’s volunteer staff will remain a source of challenge to its HR managers, which this dissertation shall aim to explore. Introduction Not too long ago, there was a clear d ichotomy of organizations according to their nature and purpose. The common taxonomy of organizations distinguished them according to whether they were business corporations, organizations supporting philanthropic causes or social development purposes, or public administrative organizations. Business organizations worked to maximize profit, public administrative organizations advanced the goals of the government, and the social cause-oriented organizations worked towards the development of marginalized sectors of society. Recently, there has emerged a changing trend in how organizations are expected to operate. Business organizations can no longer be motivated by the single goal of realizing profits; it must actively pursue a corporate social responsibility program and sustainability program integrally with its main operations, in order to return to society a portion of its profits for the benefits it enjoys as corporate citizen. Non-profit organizations, on the other hand, are comp elled to face the necessity of operating on a self-sustaining basis; it can no longer rely on its previous sponsors and donors who had so generously supported it during more prosperous times, because of the deep financial crisis that will continue to defy recovery efforts for some time to come. Even as many business organizations have been forced to close, NPOs, because of their less financially tenable position, are forced to face economic realities and find ways and means to become financially self-sustaining. There are implications to the obscuring delineations between the types of organizations. Business organizations are becoming increasingly socially oriented, while NPOs are assuming activities that are increasingly economic. These affect the manner in which human resources are expected to perform and how they are engaged. Conceptual framework The term employee engagement may immediately be considered a misnomer in the sense that NPO workers are mostly volunteers rather than e mployees. As such, they are normally not bound by an employment contract where they commit to discharge a particular set of duties in exchange for a predefined monetary compensation. NPO workers perform their duties of their own accord and volition, and correspondingly excel in these duties out of a sense of dedication to further the cause of the organization. Granted that there exists already a greater affinity and identity