University of California Los Angeles Week 4 Chapter 5 Confidence interval HW

One Is Not Born A Woman

A single, short expression that poses the central feminist question about sex difference is the following: Mamas baby, papas maybe. Biology has granted women a right to genetic parenthood that no man is privileged to share. However, this expression is subject to inversion in the text, The Color Purple, which I have chosen to discuss in the light of womanism rather than feminism because the former is more inclusive than the latter. Moreover, the traditional concept of man- woman relationship/ dependency physically and ideologically is put to severe blow by Monique Wittig’s concept of lesbianism in her controversial yet most famous essay, “One is not born a woman.” This paper aims to show the bonding between Celie and Shug through the theories put forward by Wittig. The meaning of love, companionship and sexual pleasure finds an altered form in the chosen text and proves that woman does not need a man to complete her. Keywords: intertextuality, womanism, black identity PAPER Monique Wittig is a well-known French feminist writer. In 1992, The Straight Mind and Other Essays, a compilation of essays on a variety of feminist and lesbian issues, stormed the world with its declaration of “lesbians” as opposed to the category of “woman”. The result was a book of nine essays in which she outlines her position on such issues as the category of sex, the heterosexism inherent in language and the social contract. It cajoles one to think about one’s “natural” assumptions about gender and sexuality. According to Wittig’s preface, the first half of the collection is concerned with “materialist lesbianism” in which she “describes heterosexuality not as an institution but as a political regime which rests on the submission and the appropriation of women (p. xiii). In “One Is Not Born a Woman,” one of the essays in the book that I have chosen to read, is an attempt to establish a link between women fighting for women as a class, against the idea of “woman” as an essentialist concept. Wittig being a contemporary proponent of feminist and gay/lesbian rights, takes constructionist viewpoints of the likes of Simone de Beauvoir, that – One is not born a woman, but becomes a woman. No biological, psychological, or economic fate determines the figure that the human female presents in society: it is civilization as a whole that produces this creature, intermediate between male and eunuch, which is described as feminine. (p.1) The advantage of womanism as a theory is that it, unlike the feminist movement, brings to bear upon the woman question more than a white woman’s perspective in its effort at ridding the society of sexual inequality (Aldridge 127). Womanism also acknowledges the existence of the male counterpart, seeing him as an equal victim with the woman. However, it is pertinent to mention here that black women were victimized thrice in terms of – racism, sexism, and economic exploitation though the womanists combat the question of racism first before the gender issue. The emphasis varies from female- empowerment to race-empowerment and Women’s Liberation Movement to Black Freedom Movement (Aldridge 133, 135). Toni Cade in her 1970 anthology The Black Woman elaborates: “[…] Over the years, things have sort of been cooled out. But I have yet to hear a coolheaded analysis of just what any particular group’s stand is on the question. Invariably, I hear from some dude that Black women must be supportive and patient so that Black men can regain their manhood. The notion of womanhood they argue – and only if pressed to address themselves to the notion do they think of it or argue- is dependent on his defining his manhood (Cade). The categories of sex (woman and man) essentially appropriates that one having capacity to give birth (biologically) is a “woman” and that it is the only creative act that determines her existence and her identity proclaiming her “naturalized” slavery to man as “master/ oppressor.” Wittig defines ‘woman’ in terms of her relationship with ‘man’ which takes the form of a “forced residence”, “domestic corvee”, “conjugal duties”, “unlimited production of children” etc. This applies to Celie, the protagonist of Walker’s The Color Purple who contents herself with a purposeless life and is oblivious of the orgasmic pleasure until she meets Shug Avery. Essentially the patriarchal society, as Wittig asserts, strengthens the form of oppression through “imaginary formation” of physical features. A black is perceived as a black, therefore, s/he is a black; similarly, a woman is perceived or seen as a woman, therefore she is a woman. However, it is not because she is born that way, but because she is made to be so. Walker swept the world with her crude yet realistic portrayal of strong women characters and equally repulsive men characters in her Pulitzer winning novel, The Color Purple. Her clarion call for Black Womanism had just begun. She could not accept the idea of the White feminism speaking for women of color because she correctly witnessed the alienation of the ‘black experience’ and further marginalization of texts by black feminists in the mainstream academic tradition. Her ideology of ‘womanism’ first appeared in her book In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens: Womanist Prose (1983), in which she attributes the word’s origin to – “the black folk expression of mothers to female children, ‘You acting womanish,’ i.e. like a woman … usually referring to outrageous, audacious, courageous, or willful behavior … [A womanist is also] a woman who loves other women sexually and/or nonsexually appreciates and prefers women’s culture, women’s emotional flexibility (values tears as natural counterbalance of laughter), and women’s strength. Sometimes loves individual men, sexually and/or non-sexually. Committed to survival and wholeness of entire people, male and female. Not a separatist, except periodically, for health. Traditionally universalist… Loves music. Loves dance. Loves the moon. Loves the Spirit. Loves love and food and roundness. Loves struggle. Loves the Folk. Loves herself. Regardless.” And “Womanist is to feminist as purple is to lavender.” (p. xi-xii) Feminism as a movement is exclusively for women and has as its agenda the repudiation of male hegemony. The meaning of female “denotes the sex that can bear offspring or produce eggs, distinguished biologically by the production of gametes (ova) that can be fertilized by male gametes.” Thus, biology can use the term ‘female’ rather than ‘girl’ and ‘woman’. Femininity, on the other hand, is a group of traits that have culturally become associated with women, but they do not make a woman. The patriarchy views woman as an incomplete man, the second sex, the other. But in refusing to become a woman does not imply that one adorns the role of a man since as Wittig puts it- For becoming a man would demand from a woman not only a man’s external appearance but his consciousness as well… one feature of lesbian oppression consists precisely of making women out of reach for us, since women belong to men. Thus a lesbian has to be something else, a not-woman, a not-man, a product of society, not a product of nature, for there is no nature in society. (p.4) She elaborates her argument further asserting that- The refusal to become (or to remain) heterosexual always meant to refuse to become a man or a woman, consciously or not. For a lesbian this goes further than the refusal of the role “woman.” It is the refusal of the economic, ideological, and political power of man. (p.4 ) The term “gender” was coined by Greek philosopher, Protagoras. Greek nouns were divided into three different classes which attributed its existence to a word meaning ‘class’ or ‘kind’- ‘masculine’, ‘feminine’, and ‘neuter’ (Cameron, p.89). The ‘masculine’, Jakob Grimm, a German philologist explained, ‘means the earlier, larger, firmer, more inflexible, swift, active, mobile, productive; the feminine the later, smaller, smoother, the more still, suffering, receptive’ (Cameron, p.92). However, the category of ‘woman’ is neither biological nor grammatical. It is a cultural construct. Womanism, on the other hand, considers the society as a collective whole and acknowledges the inter-linked fate of the black women with their men in the community. Rather than supporting separatism, Womanism promotes “universalism”. Womanism, like Black Feminism, provides a space for Black women and women of color to create dialogue in a non-dominative and a non-threatening environment. Womanism is not a new idea by any means; in fact there is evidence of its origins in the sacred texts of ancient Africa, especially the Husia of Egypt and the Odu Ifa of ancient Yorubaland. Concepts from the Husia such as the Divine inclusiveness of male and female principles, woman and man as the image of God and the concept of human customarily written with male and female characters in hieroglyphs indicate the belief that woman and man were equal by nature and divinely and must operate as such (Karenga 324). Wittig thus, busts the “myth of woman” (created by men) by questioning and agreeing to Beauvoir, that the concept of “woman is wonderful”, underlining women having the best of features is a judgment men have compartmentalized according to their own perception. To save one self being entrapped in such a purview is the aim of the lesbian- feminists who strive for a sexless society. In this light then the concerns of feminism too is subjected to scrutiny. Feminism contains the word “femme” meaning woman, fighting for women as a class or, the removal of this “class.” If it is so, then the movement took precedence from the acceptance of the notion that women shared common features as a result of oppression; “But for them these features were natural and biological rather than social.” Wittig takes upon her the daunting task of establishing the idea of lesbians as opposed to the class of woman/man in materialist terms. It does not imply that men as species should be led to extinction but to suppress men as a “class’ through political struggle. Once this category of class disappears, says Wittig, the natural and historical division between man and woman too will vanish, for “there are no slaves without masters.” The political formation of class can be traced back to the ideology of Marxism which states individuals to be product of society, and that only their consciousness can be alienated not the individual herself/ himself until the class that dominates ceases to produce the ideas itself that alienates them from the class that they oppress. For instance in order to achieve a sexless society, the visible division between the bourgeois and the proletariat has to be removed first and then only can there be “no-man” and “no-woman”, but all humans society. As Wittig puts- This real necessity for everyone to exist as an individual, as well as a member of a class, is perhaps the first condition for the accomplishment of a revolution, without which there can be no real fight or transformation. But the opposite is also true; without class and class consciousness there are no real subjects, only alienated individuals.(p.10) Thus, lesbianism is the only concept that provides for a chance to create such a social form where humankind can live freely. Celie’s realization of herself as a woman capable of living independently without the necessity of a man in her life, springs from the unconditional love she receives from Shug Avery, another woman for The Color Purple establishes itself as a story of women by a woman. It moves away from the categories of woman and man because a lesbian is neither a man nor a woman, “either economically, or politically, or ideologically.” Here, Wittig’s text offers some positive contributions to feminist and queer theory, in particular her deconstruction of the term “woman” and her focus on the power of language. As she clarifies- There is no possible fight for someone deprived of an identity, no internal motivation for fighting, since, although I can fight only with others, first I fight for myself. (p.7) In the The Color Purple the women are doubly marginalized, first as a black, seen as ‘the other’ by the white, and, secondly, as a subordinate group by the men. Celie is so used to the oppression by the men around her that when her step- son Harpo complains of his wife’s disobedience to him, she advises him to beat her: an alternative for her does not exist. Nettie, on the other hand, refuses to give in to the whims and fancies of the male order. She fights and carves an identity and life for her with her marriage to Samuel, a missionary. It is Shug Avery, a Blues singer, who reveals to Celie the value of independence and the assertion of a woman’s identity. Through the conversations and the relationship thus enforced between Shug and Celie, one can find clinching evidence of ‘subversive textuality’ wherein the traditional text is undermined and hetereosexuality is challenged. The realization brings about a metamorphosis in Celie. She forgives the men in her life who viewed her as nothing more than a “mule of the world.” She emerges like the autobiographical Walker as a butterfly whose fiercely strong willpower makes the society and world at large celebrate her identity and individuality. As Toni Morrison maintains in Beloved, “Definitions belong to the definers not the defined. Self naming and self defining is crucial.” (Morrison 1987). So too, womanists like Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, Patricia Hills Collins, Clenora Hudson- Weems assert authoritatively their political identity to the world, amidst the frequent conflation with the Black Feminists.

Trade policies: The WTO Success And Failures

online homework help A Review of the Theory Trade between nations has always been an intriguing issue. Some argue that there should be a complete allowance of trade between countries and on the other hand some say that this would be disastrous for many countries that would lose from such a decision. In understanding why would a country seek trading with other countries and whether free trade should be introduced in the world, we have to take into account some basic theories from the past. Adam Smith, was the first person to attempt to give a reason for this in the late 18th century. In his book, “Wealth of Nations”, he tried to give a good reason to promote free trade, through his “absolute advantage theory”. In his theory he first used a comparison between nations and households. The concept of this example was simple. The master of a family would never choose to produce something at home that is going to cost less by buying it. And this is a fact because doing so, he would gain more time to produce something else. This is the same case as for countries. A country would prefer to buy a product, if the cost of producing it, would be higher than buying it. This country would gain the opportunity cost of using the spare time from not producing that good, to produce something else. In order to show this, he used the term of “absolute advantage” of one country over another in producing a good. A country is supposed to have an absolute advantage in producing a good if a worker of that country is able to produce higher amounts of this good than a worker of the same industry in another country. To define and measure this advantage he used labor productivity and production cost and compared them between countries. Thus, Adam Smith explained the benefits of free trade, and showed that trade helps every single country to make the most of its absolute advantage in constructing some products. Generally, the overall level of wages in countries is determined by absolute advantage, and trade patterns are determined by comparative advantage. To sum up with, a country is more affluent with trade, without being an disbursement to the other country. This theory was something very important for that period because it introduced the free trade idea to many governments. On the other hand, it had a big imperfection. In a case in which a country would have absolute advantage in all products over another country (and the world was following his [1] theory thoroughly), no trade would occur between these two countries, because of no absolute advantage existence. This is when David Ricardo introduced his own “theory of comparative advantage”, to give an answer and solution to this imperfection. In his theory, he entails that a country doesn’t need to have absolute advantage over another country in order to trade a good. He combined the theories of comparative advantage and opportunity cost, to prove that “a country will export the goods and services that it can produce at a low opportunity cost and import the goods and services that it would otherwise produce at a high opportunity cost” (Pugel, 2009). According to comparative advantage theory, the living standards of these countries are going to boost because of trading, because the resulting world pattern of production faces higher efficiency instead of each country producing only for its own market. If this theory is accurate, globalization is beneficial for every society, to the extent that living standards are higher and prices for goods are lower. In conclusion, Ricardo proved that advantageous trade can arise even if one country is less productive at producing all products, on condition that, these countries will have different relative advantage or disadvantage on the production of different goods. An alternative to Ricardo’s model came up in the early 19th century. Heckscher-Olin theory, which predicts, that “a country exports the product(s) that use its relatively abundant factor(s) intensively and imports the product(s) using its relatively scarce factor(s) intensively. The H-O theory focuses on another important source of production-side differences. There exist some basic assumptions that have to hold in order for two countries to trade goods with each other, according to H-O theory. First of all, there has to be a condition in which major factors of production are not found in the same amount in both countries and that these two goods being produced, will require either relatively more labor or relatively more capital. When a country has a relatively higher amount of capital, it specializes in producing capital-intensive goods, while on the other hand, the country with the relatively higher amount of labor, is going to specialize in the production of labor-intensive goods. Furthermore, another condition that has to stand is that there will be no movements of labor and capital between the two countries. In addition, these countries will have to be in a market environment in which, transporting goods between countries has no associated costs. The final assumption required, is that the citizens of these two nations have the same wants. To conclude with, the prediction that comes out of Heckscher-Olin theory is that a country exports products that use the country’s relatively abundant factors more intensively. They exchange these products for imports of products that have an intensive usage of the country’s relatively limited factors”. Specialization in production and trade generates a higher standard-of-living for the countries involved, according to the H-O theory. The problem arising from this theory is that it is not taking the trade of capital goods into consideration. Moreover, capital and labor are fixed components endowed to each country. These main theories give emphasis to differences in production conditions instead of tastes. Ricardo’s argument was that, because countries have different comparative advantages in producing different goods, trade is profitable. “The Heckscher-Ohlin theory agrees that comparative advantages in production are the basis for trade, but H-O explains comparative advantage in terms of underlying differences in factor endowments. Each country tends to export those goods that intensively use its relatively abundant factors of production” (Pugel, 2009). The evidence is that the H-O theory explains a fine part of the world’s actual trade patterns sensibly well, but that some significant aspects of trade patterns do not square easily with H-O (Pugel, 2009). Most economists favor letting nations trade freely, with few tariffs or other barriers to trade. The striking consensus in favor of free trade is based primarily on a body of economic analysis demonstrating that there are usually net gains from free trade, both for nations and the world. Trade affects production and the quantity of consumption in a country. In the country importing a good, it is doing so, by raising consumption and by lowering the production of that single good. On the same time, it is raising production of that good in the exporting country, but we cannot be sure whether it is going to lower or raise the quantity of consumption of that single good. We can say that both countries gain from trade. That is because it makes, both the exporting as well as the importing nation, better off in the net national sense. “Each country’s net national gains are proportional to the change in its price from its no-trade value, so the country whose prices are disrupted more by trade, gains more” (Pugel, 2009). A further source of national gains from trade is that the variety of products that become available to consumers, increases through imports, because of the country’s opening to trade. The economic well-being of consumers increases when they are able to choose from a wider variety of goods. Another source of national gains, comes from international competition, which can lower the prices of domestic goods, bringing extra gains to home consumers. It is quite interesting to have a look on who are the gainers and who are the losers, from opening trade. To do so, we need to make a distinction between the short run and long run effects of open trade. In the short run, we can say that those consuming the goods being imported and those producing exportable goods, are the main gainers. To find losers and gainers from trade, in the long run, we need to examine the findings of the Stolper-Samuelson theorem. This theorem shows that in long run, a person that is making his living by selling a factor that is more abundant in his country, in respect to other countries, is able to gain from trade. And this is a fact regardless of the goods he might be consuming, or the sector he might be working in. On the other hand, a person that makes his living by selling a factor that is relatively scarce in his country, can lose from trade. Again, this is a fact regardless of the goods he might be consuming, or the sector he might be working in. But free trade is not accomplished due to trade policies and barriers that countries put up, according to their own benefits. Kinds of policies like these, with all their consequences are explained in the following section. Trade Policies and The Role of the WTO A tariff is a tax imposed by a country on the import of a good or service, which custom officials accumulate at the place of import. There are two major kinds of such taxes. A specific tariff is described as the total sum of money that should be given for each unit of import (dollars per ton of steel bars). “An ad valorem tariff, is a percentage of the estimated market value of the goods when they reach the importing country” (Pugel, 2009). In general, a tariff is going to be beneficial for domestic producers, competing against imports, but on the other hand, it is going to hurt all the domestic consumers that buy this imported good, forcing them to suffer from higher prices for the consumption of the same good. Furthermore the effect of a tariff that is not so high as to end the imports, for a government, is an increase on this government’s revenue. This government could use this extra revenue for projects that will benefit the nation’s wellbeing. Through years, several empirical effects of placing tariffs can be made. We can say that putting up a tariff reduces in almost every case the overall world’s, as well as, each nation’s welfare. Another impact of using a tariff is that it benefits those groups that produce goods or services that can be used as substitutes for the taxed import. Another kind of trade policies is the nontariff barrier (NTB) and it is a policy that governments use in order to reduce number of imports. This is accomplished by several effects. For example, the cost of getting imports into a market is increased, and also it generates uncertainty over the conditions under which imports are going to be allowed. This is different than a usual import tariff. The most common nontariff barrier is “import quota”, with which, a government can restrict the import of a product into the country, above a specified limit of total quantity, during a period of time. The direct effect of NTB is on quantity. Protectionists and government officers might decide on putting up quotas instead of tariffs for many reasons. One of them is that a quota, guarantees that there is a strict limitation on the import’s quantity, quite the opposite to a tariff. A result of such a quota, is that government officials end up with greater power. Furthermore, there are some other nontariff barriers. One of them is the voluntary export restraint (VER), which is a case in which an importing country government pressurizes with many ways the foreign exporting country to restrict its exports to this country. Just like an NTB, the direct effect of VER is on quantity. Voluntary export restraint results in the form of a cartel among the foreign producers, who agree not to export a good to the importing country that negotiated the VER. This leads to an increase of the foreign country’s price for this specific good, as well as a decrease for the revenue of the importing government because it suffers from the cut of a tariff for this imported good. To sum up with, VERs have negative effects on the welfare of both the importing and exporting nations, who suffer from higher prices and lower variety of the goods being cut from exports and imports. Another nontariff barrier, is a tariff-quota. This kind of a barrier, allows imports with a low or zero tariff into the country, but up to a specified quantity, and imposes a higher tariff on imports above this quantity. In this way it manages to have a direct effect on quantity of imports, because, by placing a very high tariff, it makes the import above the specified quantity unaffordable. A further nontariff barrier, is the Government procurement. This is a case, when a government that buys a quantity of a good, is placing law and government rules that favor local products. This barrier has direct effects on the quantity and the cost of importing this good. Moreover, another NTB is the, Local content and mixing requirements. With this barrier governments succeed a direct effect on the quantity of an import, by requiring a specified use of local labor, materials, or other products. An additional NTB is, Import Licensing ,which, by requiring from importers to apply for approvals for intended imports accomplishes direct effects on the cost of the import and also it creates uncertainty on whether this import is going to be made. Protectionism against import competition for a product has several results. First of all, it is clearly beneficial for domestic producers, by increasing the domestic production of a product. In addition, it harms domestic consumers on the purchase of this product, who suffer from higher prices. Furthermore because of protectionism, this product faces a decrease on its domestic consumption. It is probably harmful for the importing nation as a whole and furthermore, it is almost surely harmful for the world as a whole. On the other hand protectionism results in increasing government revenues and, in addition, the distribution of income or well-being in the country is being altered. Evidence (that associate trade with economic growth and jobs) [1,500] These are some of the reasons for the creation of the “World Trade Organization (WTO)”. The WTO espouses three major principles: first of all, reductions of barriers to trade, furthermore, nondiscrimination principle (MFN), and finally, reduction of unfair encouragement for exports. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was signed in 1947 by 23 countries and focused directly on international trade issues. From 1948 to 1994, the GATT was putting up the rules on which world trade was accomplished. GATT was provisional with a limited field of action, but in its over 47 years of existence it succeeded promoting and securing the liberalization of much of world trade. With continuous reductions in tariffs it resulted in very high rates of world trade growth. During the Uruguay Round, the rush of new members confirmed that the multilateral trading system was recognized as an instrument for development and economic and trade improvement. Under the GATT, eight rounds of multilateral trade negotiations were pursued by the member countries, with the purpose of lowering barriers. In the first five rounds they based their discussions on reductions of tariff rates, using item-by-item negotiations, where there was an agreement that the largest trading countries would reduce tariffs, extend them to all members, keeping the MFN nondiscrimination principle in mind. This means that GATT did not address other areas of trade, for example agriculture and services, even though they represented a considerable share in world trade. Through years, GATT was facing more and more problems because of its structure. Globalization of the world economy was ongoing, GATT rules were not covering trade-in services, which was becoming more and more interesting for countries, and international investment had expanded. World merchandise trade was further increasing and this was tied up closely to the expansion of services. These and other reasons were convincing enough for GATT members to attempt to reinforce and extend the multilateral system. That effort resulted in the Uruguay Round, the Marrakesh Declaration, and the creation of the WTO (World Trade Organization). The World Trade Organization An international agreement in the early 1990s led to the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in January 1995. The WTO took the place of GATT as its physical expand and since then it is the organization that supervises the worldwide rules of policies being kept by several countries towards international trade. It provides the round-table for negotiating global agreements to improve these rules. The governments that had signed GATT were known as GATT contracting parties. Since they signed the new WTO agreements, they officially became known as, WTO members (World Trade Organization).Today the WTO has 153 member countries and an overall budget of 189 million Swiss francs for 2009. The WTO’s headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland. The WTO is making decisions in some quite unusual processes. There are two primary models of decision-making: decision by consensus and decision by voting. For general decision-making, WTO kept on acting like GATT, in making decisions by consensus. “In consensus decision-making, the minority will normally go along with the majority unless it has a serious objection” (Matsushita, M., et al). Then the majority will not make decisions using voting but it will discuss the objections of the minority. This decision-making process is always taking a great deal of time. In the WTO, only when a decision cannot be taken by consensus there is usage of voting decision- making. “In the Ministerial Conference and the General Council, decisions are taken by a majority of the votes cast, unless otherwise specified in the relevant WTO agreement” (Matsushita, M., et al). There are several ways of looking at the WTO. It’s an organization that seeks the liberalization of trade. It is a forum where governments can negotiate trade agreements. Fundamentally, it is a place where member countries try to sort out some trade problems they might be facing with each other. The first step is to discuss. The organization was born out of negotiations, and everything it does is offering the table on which, optimal solutions can be made. It’s a place for governments to settle trade disputes. Regularly, incompatible interests are involved within trade relations. Agreements, including those thoroughly negotiated in the WTO, often need interpreting. The most harmonious way to settle these differences is through some neutral procedure based on an agreed legal foundation (World Trade Organization). That is the purpose behind the dispute settlement process written into the WTO agreements (World Trade Organization). It operates a system of trade rules. The WTO agreements, which are negotiated and signed by the world’s trading countries, provide the legal essentials for international trade. They are fundamental contracts, that bind governments on keeping their trade policies within settled limits. Although the negotiations are being discussed and signed by governments, the main goal is to help exporters and importers as well as producers of goods and services, carry out their business. And all this, while governments will be able to meet social and environmental principles. The whole system has an overriding purpose to help trade flow without restraints, whenever possible, because this is something crucial for economic development and well-being. That partially means removing barriers. It also means ensuring that individuals, companies and governments know what the trade rules are around the world, and giving them the confidence that there will be no sudden changes of policy (World Trade Organization). In other words, the rules have to be “clear” and unsurprising. World Trade Organization is running under certain trade principles. According to these principles, the trading system should meet some requirements, such as, trade without discrimination, freer trade, predictability on trade issues by the governments, promotion of fair competition and encouragement of development and economic reform. Under the WTO agreements, countries are not allowed to discriminate between their trading associates. This principle is known as most-favoured nation (MFN) treatment (World Trade Organization). This principle suggests special treatment, but in fact it means non-discrimination. “Imported and locally-produced goods should be treated equally – at least after the foreign goods have entered the market.” (World Trade Organization). Free trade is another aim of the WTO. This aim suggests lowering trade barriers through negotiation. This is one of the most clear ways to encourage trade. “The multilateral trading system is an attempt by countries to make the business environment stable and predictable” (World Trade Organization).WTO tries to improve predictability and stability through binding and transparency. With these factors stable, investment is encouraged, jobs are created and consumers can fully enjoy the benefits of competition. The organization also seeks on promoting fair competition while discouraging “unjust” practices such as export subsidies. The final principle under which the organization is running, is that trade should be more beneficial for less developed countries. The WTO is paying extra attention on the least-developed countries. “All the agreements recognize that they must benefit from the greatest possible flexibility, and better-off members must make extra efforts to lower import barriers on least-developed countries’ exports” (World Trade Organization). Nowadays, most of the WTO’s members are developing countries. Because of their number, because they are gaining more importance in the global economy, and because they increasingly seek to trade as a crucial tool in their development efforts, they play an increasingly significant and vital role in the WTO. Developing countries are a group with very different concerns and views. The organization deals with the different needs of developing countries in several ways. First of all, the WTO agreements enclose special provisions on developing countries, providing them with special rights and “special treatment” than other members. For example, there might be some provisions, which allow developing countries to be treated more favourably by the developed countries, than the rest WTO members. In addition, the organization offers extra time for developing countries to accomplish their obligations. Moreover, it makes agreements that offer provisions, designed to increase trading opportunities for such countries, through greater market access. *Rounds of negotiations (2000) Through the years of their existence, GATT and WTO have started several rounds of negotiations to achieve the liberalization of trade and further reduction of tariffs and other policies standing against trade. These rounds are often lengthy, with an example being the Uruguay Round which lasted seven and a half years. Trade rounds can provide an important advantage. Instead of negotiating on a single issue, they offer a package approach to trade negotiations, which can sometimes turn to be more fruitful. This is a case, because the size of the package can imply more benefits for participants who can seek advantages across a wide range of issues. It can be easier for an agreement to be achieved, through trade-offs . This has political as well as economic implications. Developing countries and other less powerful participants, face a greater chance to influence the multilateral system in a trade round than in bilateral relationships with major trading nations (World Trade Organization). In December 1945, 15 countries had already started negotiations to decrease and bind customs tariffs. Considerable tariff reductions were accomplished in the first round, which took place in Geneva. This round, started on April 1947 and lasted for 7 months. By the time the deal was signed on 30 October 1947, the number of member countries had increased to 23. These negotiations achieved the signing of GATT and in addition, it resulted in 45,000 tariff concessions, affecting $10 billion of trade (World Trade Organization). For almost half a century, the GATT’s basic legal principles remained much as they were in 1948 and efforts to reduce tariffs continued (World Trade Organization). This was achieved through the “trade rounds”, which were a series of multilateral negotiations. The leading steps forward in the liberalization of international trade, were achieved because of these rounds which were held under GATT’s support. The next round, Annecy, started on April 1949 and finished 5 months later. 13 countries participated in these negotiations, which resulted in the exchange of some 5,000 tariff concessions by the countries (World Trade Organization). Negotiations continued in the Torquay round. They started on September 1950 and finished 8 months later. In Torquay, the result was that countries exchanged some 8,700 tariff concessions, cutting the 1948 tariff levels by 25% (World Trade Organization). 26 Countries continued negotiations in Geneva, on January 1956. The major subjects that were covered in this round were not only tariffs, but also the admission of Japan. Geneva II round of negotiations, achieved new reductions in tariffs of $2.5 billion (World Trade Organization). As did the Dillon Round in September 1960, from which, further tariff concessions that were worth $4.9 billion of world trade, were achieved (World Trade Organization). To achieve more extensive tariff reductions, the Kennedy Round (1963-1967), covered subjects not only on tariffs but also on “anti-dumping”. The 62 countries that participated in this round for 37 months, made the agreements so that the industrialized countries would use a formula to decrease all nonagricultural tariffs. The results from these agreements were substantial. They achieved tariff compromises worth $40 billion of world trade (World Trade Organization). In addition, the average tariff was decreased by 38 percent for non-agricultural imports into industrialized countries (World Trade Organization). The Tokyo Round started on September 1973 and lasted for 74 months. It included negotiations over tariffs, non-tariff measures and “framework” agreements. It achieved tariff reductions worth more than 300 billion dollars (World Trade Organization). Up to this point the achievement of all these negotiations is that they led to substantial reductions of tariffs, but on the other hand, they had let non-tariff barriers (NTBs) rise in importance. GATT members started discussing about NTBs in a more serious way. They tried to find ways of addressing these excluded sectors. This stood until the Uruguay Round successfully covered them. The Uruguay Round (1986-1994) kept on going, with usage of ways for cuts, with negotiated exceptions. It resulted on an agreement to allow full access for clothes and textiles from developing countries and intellectual property rights were extended. Furthermore governments agreed to limit their use of domestic content requirements. Industrialized countries’ nonagricultural tariffs fell by an average of 33 percent and 38 percent, respectively (World Trade Organization). The agreements also included new codes on customs, such as, import licensing and procedures, subsidies, safeguards and dumping. The last round of negotiations under the GATT was the most ambitious and most successful international economic negotiation since Bretton Woods (World Trade Organization). The World Trade Organisation was launched in 1995, and since then, it has held five Ministerial conferences. The Doha Ministerial in 2001, was marked by the core concern, that the multilateral trading system should benefit the developing countries which constitute about two thirds of the WTO members. The entire package is called the Doha Development Agenda (DDA). Key elements of the striving agenda include significant liberalization on trade of agricultural products, drop of nonagricultural trade tariffs, reductions of nonagricultural goods tariffs, trade in services liberalization, provision of assured access on low-cost medicines for developing nations, and refinement of rules, governing various NTBs. The Doha declaration tried to help developing countries to obtain a share in the growth of world trade according to the needs of their economic development. It pledged that, through two key routes. First of all, by reducing import tariffs it tried to improve market access to the Northern markets for developing countries. Furthermore by phasing out domestic and export subsidies. After failing to begin the new round at the WTO ministerial conference in Seattle in 1999, the next conference was in Doha, Qatar, in 2001. Developing countries were considering that the Uruguay Round was unfair for them. “They incurred substantial costs by accepting the mandatory NTB rules and the mandatory protections of intellectual property, but their benefits of greater access of export markets in the industrialized countries were limited by the slow end to the VERs on clothing and textiles and by the lack of actual liberalization of agricultural trade. Developing country governments pushed for a “development round” and vowed to be more active in the negotiations” (Pugel, 2009). A special agreement led to the Information Technology Agreement of 1996. Each country involved in the agreement (initially 23 countries) was obligated to eliminate tariffs on imports of information technology goods and software. By 2007, 70 countries had embraced this agreement, so that 97 percent of international trade in these products is now free of tariff. Second, the developing countries that have joined the WTO since 1995 minimized their actual tariff rates as a condition for joining and accepted bound rates equal to, or very close to, their actual rates. The Fifth Ministerial Conference in Cancún, in September 2003, was proposed as a stock-taking conference where members would come to an agreement on how to complete the rest of the negotiations. But the meeting was soured by discord on agricultural issues and ended in deadlock on the Singapore issues (World Trade Organization). “In 2003, member countries agreed to improve the rules on intellectual property to allow developing countries to import low-cost broad versions of patented drugs in health emergencies, however, there has been little progress. The major area of disagreement has been agriculture, for which, neither the United States nor the European Union has been willing to offer sufficient liberalization. The United States has resisted meaningful cuts in its subsidies to domestic agricultural production, and the European Union has been unwilling to offer sufficient cuts in tariffs and other barriers to agricultural imports. Without adequate progress on agriculture, the developing countries led by India and Brazil, have been unwilling to offer much in other areas of the agenda” (Pugel, 2009). “Further progress in narrowing members’ differences was made at the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in December 2005, but some gaps remained unbridgeable and Director-General Pascal Lamy suspended the negotiations in July 2006″ (World Trade Organization), though discussions continued at a less formal level. Efforts then focused on trying to achieve a breakthrough in early 2007” (World Trade Organization).

Drawing from all the materials this week, summarize how shame can work as a social and political mechanism.

Drawing from all the materials this week, summarize how shame can work as a social and political mechanism.. I’m studying for my Sociology class and need an explanation.

Drawing from all the materials this week, summarize how shame can work as a social and political mechanism. Focus and reflect especially on how shame can be “projected” onto other groups of people, especially those marginalized by society. End by reflecting on and giving your views on th

https://medium.com/@Phaylen/the-social-and-political-shaming-of-men-who-date-transgender-women-is-what-is-killing-us-efcda0ede9d2
Drawing from all the materials this week, summarize how shame can work as a social and political mechanism.

SOC 313 UOM Sociology Ethnography Studies Research Paper

SOC 313 UOM Sociology Ethnography Studies Research Paper.

Conduct and write up a short ethnographic studyIMPORTANT: READ THIS WHOLE EXERCISE BEFORE STARTING THE ASSIGNMENT.Task: I have identified several 1 to 3 minute videos of people engaged in some activity. View all and pick one with which you are NOT familiar. Assignment: try to understand what the people are doing and why they choose to do it.Goal: To understand ethnographic research.Paper requirements are in red belowPaper requirement: – 1,200 words or less NOT counting citations/references, word count at least 1000Paper requirement: Read and cite at least two of these syllabus readings on ethnographic research. Penalty of 10% of paper grade for citing less than 2 of these readings.Geertz, C. 1973. Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture. The interpretation of cultures: selected essays: 6-9. New York: Basic Books. (Links to an external site.)Richard Fenno. 1978. Homestyle: House Members in Their Districts, Little, Brown and Co., “Introduction,” pp. xi-xv (5 pages).Tilly, C. 2006. Afterword: Political Ethnography as Art and Science. Qualitative Sociology 29(3): 409-412.Fota, A. 2019. What’s Wrong With This Diorama? You Can Read All About It. New York Times. 20 March 2019 (accessed: 20 March 2019 (Links to an external site.)).Freeman, R. 2008. How to ‘do’ history, or the ten ‘C’s of historical understanding.Palmer, D. 2014. Explainer: What is post-modernism? The Conversation. 2 January 2014 (accessed: 23 March 2019 (Links to an external site.)).Tannenwald, N. 1999. The nuclear taboo: the United States and the normative basis of nuclear non-use. International Organization 53(3): 433-468. [Note how Tannenwald interprets what is NOT happening.]Eriksson, P. and A. Kovalainen. 2008. Chapter 12: Ethnographic Research. Introducing Qualitative Methods: Qualitative methods in business research, edited by P. Eriksson and A. Kovalainen: 138-153. London: SAGE Publications. (Links to an external site.)Sangasubana, N. 2011. How to Conduct Ethnographic Research. The Qualitative Report 16(2): 567-573. (Links to an external site.)View ALL these videos briefly. Select the ONE that you know NOTHING (or the least) about.NONE of these has sound (audio was not recorded).Video link 1Play media comment.Video link 2Play media comment.Video link 3Play media comment.Video link 4Play media comment.Video link 5Play media comment.Do NOT do ANY searching to determine what is actually going on. This assignment only works if the video is your ONLY source of information. The assignment is to act like an ethnographer, trying to understand why people behave as they do by interpreting how they behave. I will identify the sources AFTER the assignment is due.Avoid assumptions. Do NOT try to prove some theory. Ethnographers come to their research questions and their explanations as they observe, not beforehand.Observe: Watch your selected video several times. Take detailed notes on what you observe. Assume you do NOT know why these people are doing what they are but, instead, describe what they are doing and consider all possible explanations. Write down whichever things you observe, such as:What “type” of people are interacting (e.g., do they appear to be from one social group or different social groups)How people are dressed (e.g., differences across genders or groups)Are all people engaged or are some involved and some observersOther concrete details of behaviorPaper requirement: Describe the “context” of what is happening (see rubric below for details).Paper requirement: Describe four (4) major things you observe that “didn’t make sense” to you when you first watched the video.Paper requirement: Make an interpretive argument: What do these behaviors mean for the people involved. Make a thesis statement about “what the people were doing”, in the sense of how they would have made sense of their behavior given the social context. Select observations that best support your explanation. Help your reader see that your interpretation captures something that is NOT obvious but IS visible to a good observer.NOTE: In ethnographic research, conducting research ethically requires: protecting people’s privacy, not observing without people’s consent, stopping observing if people are uncomfortable, etc. When using video, ensure your writing shows respect for the people you are observing on video and the activities they are engaged in, even if you cannot understand it. Do a FINAL read-thru of your paper and ensure you avoid bias — do not describe these behaviors as “weird,” “strange,” or otherwise judge the people involved.Some RubricSome RubricCriteriaRatingsPtsThis criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeResearch ContextDescription of the research context.Consider the following as things you might include in your description: what were you able to, and not able to observe? How was the camera positioned and how does this affect your ability to observe? Approximately when does it appear that these videos were created?You might also consider questions like: in what space were these observations conducted? what is that space like? was it loud? were there many or a few people in the video? did they seem comfortable? what, in general, was the atmosphere like? etc. THESE ARE SUGGESTED DIRECTIONS FOR EXPLAINING THE RESEARCH CONTEXT200.0 ptsFull Marks0.0 ptsNo Marks200.0 ptsThis criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeMajor ObservationsAfter having painted an overall picture of the research context, focus on 4 **major** things you observed with respect to the group. Select elements to include that will focus your reader on the most important, or key, aspects of what you saw and heard.This section of the paper should be **purely descriptive** – simply, and as accurately as you can, **describe** what happened. Don’t make assumptions; don’t bring in your opinions. Throughout, be detail-oriented and stick to “the facts”.300.0 ptsFull Marks0.0 ptsNo Marks300.0 ptsThis criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeInterpretationUse the observations elaborated in the previous section as a basis for an interpretation / explanation of “what the people were doing,” in the sense of how the people involved would have made sense of their behaviour given the social context. **This explanation should be presented as a thesis statement.** The explanation – your thesis – should be non-obvious, and supported by evidence from the observations. That is, show how your specific and detailed observations support your interpretation of “what the people were doing.”After doing this, **describe how you came to your view that this is how they would have made sense of what they were doing.**300.0 ptsFull Marks0.0 ptsNo Marks300.0 ptsThis criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeCourse MaterialsMake sure the paper includes material from at least two readings from the list given in the prompt. Include citations and a bibliography. This is graded not JUST on the inclusion of citations, but how well you use them/they fit with your paper100.0 ptsFull Marks0.0 ptsNo Marks100.0 ptsThis criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeStyleWell-structured (uses headings), well-written, no typos, creativity in interpretation.100.0 ptsFull Marks0.0 ptsNo Marks100.0 ptsThis criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeCurveThese are the points added to your score to achieve a fair curve.0.0 ptsFull Marks0.0 ptsNo Marks0.0 ptsThis criterion is linked to a Learning OutcomeLate PenaltyThese are the points subtracted from your score for late submissions. This is assessed as a 2% deduction per day.0.0 ptsFull Marks0.0 ptsNo Marks0.0 ptsTotal Points: 1,000.0
SOC 313 UOM Sociology Ethnography Studies Research Paper