SWEduCareBD

Palliative Care in Medical Social Work

2022-06-10T21:52:00.034+06:00

Palliative care can be initiated in various care settings, including emergency rooms, hospitals, hospice facilities, or at home. For some severe disease processes, medical speciality professional organisations recommend initiating palliative care when diagnosis or when disease-directed options would not improve a patient's prognosis. For example, the American Society of Clinical Oncology recommends that patients with advanced cancer should be "referred to interdisciplinary palliative care teams that provide inpatient and outpatient care early in the course of the disease, alongside active treatment of their cancer" within eight weeks of diagnosis. Appropriately engaging palliative care providers as a part of patient care improve overall symptom control, quality of life, and family satisfaction of care while reducing overall healthcare costs.

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What is palliative care?

Palliative care is specialised medical care for people with severe illnesses like cancer or heart failure. Patients in palliative care may receive medical care for their symptoms, or palliative care, along with treatment intended to cure their serious illness. Palliative care is meant to enhance a person's current care by focusing on the quality of life for them and their family. [1]

According to World Health Assembly (2014), "palliative care is an approach that improves the quality of life of patients (adults and children) and their families who are facing the problems associated with life-limiting illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and correct assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, whether physical, psychosocial or spiritual." ((NPCS, 2018). [2]

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Palliative care is specialised medical care for people living with a serious illness. This type of care is focused on providing relief from the symptoms and stress of the illness. The goal is to improve the quality of life for both the patient and the family.

Palliative care is provided by a specially-trained team of doctors, nurses and other specialists who work together with a patient's other doctors to provide an extra layer of support. Palliative care is based on the needs of the patient, not on the patient's prognosis. It is appropriate at any age and at any stage in a serious illness, and it can be provided along with curative treatment. [3]

Palliative care (derived from the Latin root palliare, or 'to cloak'), aka comfort care, is an interdisciplinary medical caregiving approach aimed at optimising the quality of life and mitigating suffering among people with serious, complex, and often terminal illnesses (Zhukovsky D, 2019). [4] Within the published literature, many definitions of palliative care exist. The World Health Organization (WHO) describes palliative care as "an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problems associated with life-threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial, and spiritual."( WHO, 2003). [5] In the past, palliative care was a disease-specific approach, but today the WHO takes a more broad approach, that the principles of palliative care should be applied as early as possible to any chronic and ultimately fatal illness (Sepulveda et al., 2002). [6]

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Palliative care is appropriate for individuals with serious illnesses across the age spectrum and can be provided as the main goal of care or in tandem with curative treatment. It is provided by an interdisciplinary team which can include physicians, nurses, occupational and physical therapists, psychologists, social workers, chaplains, and dietitians. Palliative care can be provided in a variety of contexts, including hospitals, outpatient, skilled nursing, and home settings. Although an important part of end-of-life care, palliative care is not limited to individuals near the end of life (Zhukovsky D, 2019). [4]

Palliative care, while originally associated primarily with the diagnosis of cancer, is appropriate for anyone with life-limiting illnesses, including other chronic conditions, dementia, and nonmalignant degenerative diseases. In the last few decades, palliative care has become available within almost every healthcare setting, including neonatal units, paediatric services, general practices, residential aged care facilities, acute hospitals, and generalist community services. Palliative care is also provided through specialist palliative care services which operate from a variety of settings, including specialist inpatient consulting services, specialist inpatient settings, hospices and community-based specialist services. Care is also provided in the home, often by carers supported by home-based outreach services from public, private or not-for-profit agencies. [2]

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Who can benefit from palliative care?

Palliative care is a resource for anyone living with a serious illness, such as heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cancer, dementia, Parkinson's disease, and many others. Palliative care can be helpful at any stage of illness and is best provided soon after a person is diagnosed. In addition to improving quality of life and helping with symptoms, palliative care can help patients understand their choices for medical treatment. The organised services available through palliative care may be helpful to any older person having a lot of general discomfort and disability very late in life. [1]

Evidence supports the efficacy of a palliative care approach in the improvement of a person's quality of life. [7] Palliative care's main focus is to improve the quality of life for those with chronic illnesses. It is commonly the case that palliative care is provided at the end of life, but it can be helpful for a person of any stage of illness that is critical or any age (WHO, 2018) [8]

It is estimated that 40 million people worldwide would benefit from palliative care, but only about 14% receive the care they need. Palliative care is a fundamental component of universal health coverage. People receiving palliative care have been shown to have fewer hospitalisations, shorter lengths of stay when they are hospitalised, and reduced visits to emergency departments. Those receiving palliative care at home have been shown to have increased quality of life and reduced need for hospital-based care, providing cost savings for the government. [2]

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Nature of Palliative Care

Fundamental and holistic aspects of palliative care

1. a) Provides relief from pain and other distressing symptoms.

2. b) Affirms life and regards dying as a normal process.

3. c) Intends neither to hasten nor postpone death.

4. d) Integrates the psychological and spiritual aspects of patient care. [11]

Six Guiding Principles of Palliative Care

The following six principles are fundamental to good palliative care and are expected to be demonstrated in all service delivery, quality improvement, policy and research development activities. These principles are aspirational statements that are reflected throughout the goal areas of the National Strategy and are written in the present and future tenses to highlight the expectation that each principle will be evident to those receiving and providing palliative care.

1. Palliative care is person-centred care;

2. Death is a part of life;

3. Carers are valued and receive the care they need;

4. Care is accessible;

5. Everyone has a role to play in palliative care; and

6. Care is high quality and evidence-based.

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5 Stages of Palliative Care

Stage 1: Stable (The established plan of care is in place)

• a) Adequately controls existing problems and symptoms; and

• b) Plans further interventions to maintain symptom control and quality of life; and

• c) Family & carer situation is relatively stable, and no new issues are apparent

Stage 2: Unstable (Urgent change in the plan of care or emergency treatment is required)

• a) Existing problems rapidly increase in the severity; and/or

• b) New problem(s) develop that were not anticipated in the existing plan of care; and/or

• c) Family & carer circumstances change that suddenly impact patient care.

Stage 3: Deteriorating (Plan of care addresses anticipated need and Care plan needs periodic review, to address expected worsening symptoms and distress)

• a) Overall functional status is declining; and

• b) Gradual worsening of existing problems; and/or

• c) New, but anticipated, problems develop; and/or

• d) Family & carers experience gradual worsening distress which impacts patient care.

Stage 4: Terminal

• a) Change in the focus of the plan of care to ensure physical, psychological and spiritual comfort care, with the provision of anticipatory end-of-life medications

• b) Death is likely within days

• c) Care plan requires frequent review

Stage 5: Bereavement

• a) Patient has died

• b) Planned provision of bereavement support to family & carers

Importance of Palliative Care

Palliative care has been around for decades but is still largely unknown. It helps patients manage the physical, emotional and spiritual challenges surrounding serious illness on case by case basis using an interdisciplinary team approach. Often, these challenges involve addressing the physical symptoms of serious illness, such as pain, nausea, fatigue and depression, as well as the stress that patients can experience managing their daily needs and ongoing care. [10]

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Palliative care is an approach that improves the quality of life of patients (adults and children) and their families who are facing problems associated with life-threatening illnesses. It prevents and relieves suffering through the early identification, correct assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, whether physical, psychosocial or spiritual.

Addressing suffering involves taking care of issues beyond physical symptoms. Palliative care uses a team approach to support patients and their caregivers. This includes addressing practical needs and providing bereavement counselling. It offers a support system to help patients live as actively as possible until death.

Palliative care is explicitly recognised under the human right to health. It should be provided through person-centred and integrated health services that pay special attention to the specific needs and preferences of individuals.

Palliative care is required for a wide range of diseases. The majority of adults in need of palliative care have chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases (38.5%), cancer (34%), chronic respiratory diseases (10.3%), AIDS (5.7%) and diabetes (4.6%). Many other conditions may require palliative care, including kidney failure, chronic liver disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, rheumatoid arthritis, neurological disease, dementia, congenital anomalies and drug-resistant tuberculosis.

Pain and difficulty in breathing are two of the most frequent and serious symptoms experienced by patients in need of palliative care. For example, 80% of patients with AIDS or cancer and 67% of patients with cardiovascular disease or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease will experience moderate to severe pain at the end of their lives. Opioids are essential for managing pain.

Opioids can also alleviate other common distressing physical symptoms, including breathlessness. Controlling such symptoms at an early stage is an ethical duty to relieve suffering and to respect a person's dignity. (WHO, 2020). [9]

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a) Palliative care improves the quality of life of patients and that of their families who are facing challenges associated with life-threatening illnesses, whether physical, psychological, social or spiritual. The quality of life of caregivers improves as well.

b) Each year, an estimated 40 million people are in need of palliative care; 78% of the people live in low- and middle-income countries.

c) Worldwide, only about 14% of people who need palliative care currently receive it.

d) Unnecessarily restrictive regulations for morphine and other essential controlled palliative medicines deny access to adequate palliative care.

e) Adequate national policies, programmes, resources, and training on palliative care among health professionals are urgently needed in order to improve access.

f) The global need for palliative care will continue to grow as a result of the ageing of populations and the rising burden of non-communicable diseases and some communicable diseases.

g) Early delivery of palliative care reduces unnecessary hospital admissions and the use of health services.

h) Palliative care involves a range of services delivered by a range of professionals that all have equally important roles to play – including physicians, nursing, support workers, paramedics, pharmacists, physiotherapists and volunteers –– in support of the patient and their families.

Whether you are young or old, sick or well—the one thing we all have in common is that death will be part of our lives. For those with a serious, life-limiting condition, palliative care can make it a more positive experience. Palliative care can enable people to be comfortable at the end of their lives and ease their concerns and that of their families, allowing them to enjoy their time together. Palliative care can also support medical professionals as their patients transition from receiving treatment that aims for a cure to care that seeks the best quality of life and symptom management. [11]

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Role of Social workers in palliative care

Social workers provide unique knowledge and psychosocial skills for seriously ill patients and their families. Clinicians often collaborate with social workers when caring for seriously ill patients. They have unique education, skills, and training essential to the interdisciplinary provision of holistic, patient-centred care.

Major social work roles for the seriously ill include providing evidence-based interventions that empower the patient in the context of their health care and family situation and facilitating a dignified death as defined by the patient. Social workers attend to family dynamics, assess and support coping mechanisms and social determinants of health, identify and facilitate access to resources, and mediate conflicts. Like other members of the palliative care interdisciplinary team, social workers develop expertise relative to the patient situation. Palliative care social workers are often engaged with adjustment to illness, decision-making, and family coping along the illness trajectory. Hospice social workers are focused more specifically on the end of life. [12]

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Specialist palliative care social workers can offer a wide variety of support to both the person and those that are important to them. This can include sourcing practical help at home, accessing other services, advice around debt or income maintenance, help with housing, advocacy, working with schools or employers, or offering psychosocial support. Palliative care social workers are often skilled in therapeutic work, be it systemic family therapy, counselling or cognitive behaviour therapy. We often work with groups as well as individuals. We have a keen interest in working alongside people with lived experience and including others in how we shape our services and practice for the future. We undertake work around helping people to prepare for the end of their lives through advanced care planning and psychosocial interventions. We provide bereavement care for people who need more specialist support. [14]

Palliative social workers' core responsibilities include conducting psychosocial assessments, coordinating care, providing counselling and psychotherapy, intervening in client crisis situations, and educating patients and families about their treatment plan and the available resources and support systems. [13]

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Psychosocial Assessments

Palliative social workers conduct psychosocial assessments of patients and their families to determine their psychological, emotional, spiritual, and social needs. Such information is vital for the entire care team so its members can develop an effective and compassionate care plan. These assessments gather critical patient information, including the following:

o past and present medical condition(s);

o previous and current treatment plans and health care teams, including current primary care physicians, specialists, and nurses;

o mental and emotional health data, including past and present psychological, emotional, and behavioural conditions that affect their physical health; and

o social, cultural, financial, and familial considerations, including socio-economic struggles, family conflicts, and engagement and/or disengagement with friends and the community.

After completing the evaluation, social workers write recommendations for the types of psychological and social support patients and their families may need. They also use the information to conduct risk assessments—specialised assessments that determine the likelihood a patient will experience a severely negative outcome.

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Care Coordination

One of the most important services that Palliative social workers provide is coordinating the care of patients in collaboration with a team of medical and human service professionals. Care coordination is the delivery of effective medical, psychological, and/or social care through the organisation of primary and secondary care providers. With their knowledge of systems of care, Palliative social workers serve as important points of contact between different care providers, patients, and the treatment team.

Palliative social workers also play an important role in the patient intake and discharge process. During intake, they gather crucial data from patients upon their enrollment in a care program via the psychosocial assessment, help familiarise the patients and their families with the care environment, and communicate with the treatment team about patients' ongoing needs.

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Counselling and Psychotherapy

Palliative social workers provide emotional support, counselling, and psychotherapy to patients and their family members who experience psychological and emotional challenges during the illness.

They may use a combination of clinical social work modalities to help patients evaluate and manage their thoughts and emotions and overcome behavioural issues. Types of modalities include mindfulness for stress reduction, cognitive behavioural therapy, dialectical behaviour therapy, supportive psychotherapy, expressive arts therapy, and narrative therapy.

Counselling and case management are the main forms of intervention, along with life review and grief support.

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Narrative Therapy

Narrative therapy is a common practice skill for Palliative social workers that can be helpful for those who are grieving. It can provide psychosocial support to families and help patients review their life stories to gain insight and understanding.

A narrative therapist believes in the importance of integrating the patients' stories, so they are better able to consider a broader view of themselves and their situations.

Many people need to tell the stories of their experiences to integrate and explore themes, come to new insights, and better understand the paths they have taken.

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Crisis Intervention

Palliative social workers provide emergency psychological support when patients and their loved ones undergo mental, emotional, social, or familial crises.

Crises typically are defined as events that cause distress beyond the individuals' ability to deal with them in the near term. These vary and can include the unexpected advancement of a particular condition, difficult family conflicts, physical violence, neglect, or verbal abuse that result in trauma or suicidal ideation.

During a crisis, social workers provide immediate psychological support and counselling while also completing care coordination services by communicating with the rest of the care treatment team so that they can effectively collaborate to resolve the patients' distress.

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Patient Education and Resources

Palliative social workers help patients and families understand their treatment plans. They also educate those who never have experienced a death and who would benefit from learning more about end-of-life issues. Social workers take these individuals through the decision-making process with the help of the nurses and/or physicians. They also help patients and families learn about and access relevant resources. For instance, they might help make sure that Medicare or Medicaid patients apply for much-needed benefits. Social workers also help them connect with local resources, such as specific illness and grief support groups, pro bono counselling services, and religious communities. They also play a key role in the navigation of discharge plans to make sure patients and families receive ongoing support. [13]

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Palliative Care in Bangladesh

National Guideline of Palliative Care

Every individual on this planet has the right to a dignified life and a painless, peaceful exit without much suffering. This should be true even in Bangladesh, one of the most densely populated resource-constrained countries in the world. Unfortunately, here, as in many other developing countries, organised Palliative care is almost non-existent in the general medical and social practices.

WHO defines Palliative Care as the prevention and relief of suffering of adult & pediatric patients and their families facing the problems associated with life-threatening illnesses. However, hundreds of thousands of people in Bangladesh, including children, require palliative care assistance today as they are often diagnosed at the final stages of their non-communicable diseases due to a lack of awareness, early diagnosis and intervention. In a comprehensive study conducted by The Economist in 2015 on the 'Quality of Death' Index, Bangladesh ranked 79th out of 80 countries assessed. In this study, the quality of life was measured with access to palliative care assistance for the general population during the last days of their lives. The Government of Bangladesh has recognised the pertaining need for integrating Palliative Care into mainstream medical practices.

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The country is also a signatory of WHA resolution 67-19, which recommends the integration of palliative care into the mainstream health care service of any country. The document titled "Assessment of Palliative Care in Bangladesh", conducted in 2014 by the Centre for Palliative Care (CPC), Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), in collaboration with the National Institute of Population Research and Training (NIPORT) wing of the Directorate Generals office under the Ministry of Health and family welfare puts forward four suggestions to incorporate Palliative Care as part of the basic healthcare services. The first recommendation was to formulate a National Guideline for Palliative Care.

This guideline describes the basic practices that healthcare providers need to follow, the importance of education and training and policy implementations. Community engagement is also a vital part of achieving optimal and comprehensive palliative care in society, as well as the availability of pain medications. This guideline intends to complement the knowledge of our healthcare providers to ensure quality care for persons with life-threatening diseases across our communities. It is hoped that with the support of this guideline, the medical community will advocate to alleviate pain and suffering and will offer services to those in need of such care. [16]

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Palliative Care in Bangladesh is a basic right

Article 15A & 18(1) of the Bangladesh Constitution instructs on the state the provision of basic medical care mentioned as follows. 15A: The provision of the basic necessities of life, including food, clothing, shelter, education and medical care. 18(1): The State shall regard the raising of the level of nutrition and the improvement of public health as moving its main duties, and in particular, shall adopt effective measures to prevent the consumption, except for medical purposes or for such other purposes as may be prescribed by law, of alcoholic and other intoxicating drinks and drugs which are injurious to health. The concept of palliative care in Bangladesh so far remained limited to the sympathetic caring of the family members toward their loved ones with fatal illnesses. It is clear that palliative care in Bangladesh is set at the basic level, where some could be sought from the extended family care support system. Quality of life (QOL) issues are rarely practised, even in Bangladesh. Furthermore, palliative medicine, in the perspective of total palliative care service, does not have its due recognition in Bangladesh. [15]

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Challenging issues for palliative care in Bangladesh

First of all, misconception comes. The general misconception is that only those who are terminally sick and those whose health centres have given up hopes of any progress need palliative care. Palliative care is an advancement which can improve the quality of patient's life and their family facing the problems associated with threatening illnesses, which is life-taking through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and faultless evaluation and treatment of pain and other problems like physical, psychological and spiritual.

In an advanced stage of disease, pain is the dominant symptom. Pain makes patients anxious and discomfort and impatient because of constant pain, patients convoy unhappy death. Pain relief can be successfully achieved by the scientific and holistic advance of analgesic supply in palliative care. Lack of knowledge and skill in assessment and improper medication, fear of opioids and addiction are some of the complex obstacles to palliative care. The fear which comes to mind is that drugs (sedatives and opioids) prescribed in the terminal stage may accelerate the death process. Research critics the policies of Dutch end-of-life (EOL) and stated that approximately 20.1% of all deaths were cases in which death happened following amplification of medication to alleviate symptoms of pain. The Moral explanation is to provide analgesia at the final stage of disease with the intention of relieving distress provided that other conditions are satisfied. But the officially authorised explanations of the use of analgesia for palliative care practices are still less clear. [15]

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There are some information gaps also. Death is the most natural thing and certain event in life. But the custom is not to talk about the forthcoming death of a terminal ill patient in many societies in this country. Family members often do not step forward to be the ultimate decision-maker when death is inevitable. For that reason, health care professionals and the Intensive care unit (ICU) may have been challenged to support patients and families only for lack of information.

Sometimes we find that successful resuscitation is not possible, i.e. advanced liver failure and metastatic cancer. In these cases, physicians do not plan to offer cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). In Bangladesh, like some countries of the world, we find that patients and usually family members do not like to perceive the aggressive treatment of end-stage disease on their loved ones and seek the policy of do-not-resuscitate (DNR) in end-of-life care. Physicians need to avoid giving false hope for a cure or false belief. The palliative care team must not hide the truth-telling of the diagnosis abruptly and gently try to break the news on a need-to-know basis. Bangladesh has more than 1 million patients with cancer at any top of time, and about a million suffer from other incurable diseases, i.e. progressive neurological, cardiac and respiratory diseases and HIV-AIDs etc. The practise of euthanasia is legalised in some countries(Netherlands, Belgium, some States of the USA and Australia). Euthanasia poses an ethical dilemma in palliative care. Euthanasia is predominantly the intention of the physician and not the patient's wish. Nevertheless, in some religions and the culture of this country, terminating human life is considered unethical because it violates the ethical belief that life should never be taken intentionally and the fundamental human right is not to be killed. In some circumstances going health services beyond the biomedical model of health and treating the end-stage patients with dignity is a challenging issue. As we know, ethno-specific requirements in exacting society, many of which occur from socio-economic factors and religious beliefs and are tinted by a fatal illness.

Participants identified that pain management was a significant issue. A lack of nurses' ability to advocate effectively for patients because of a lack of relevant skills and knowledge and poor availability of appropriate analgesics was a limiting factor, along with doctors' reluctance to prescribe opioids to manage pain effectively. Lack of resources coupled with lack of training for nurses has a negative impact on palliative care and the delivery of care services to persons living with a human immune virus/acquired immune deficiency syndromes in Botswana.

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Palliative care requires the early identification; thorough assessment; and effective treatment of all problems, physical, psychological, spiritual, and social, in life-limiting illness. There is evidence that palliative care for HIV is effective in the domains of pain and symptom control, anxiety, insight, and spiritual wellbeing; although the literature is limited; most studies predate the availability of antiretroviral therapy (ART), and almost all are of patients with advanced disease, and very few have been conducted in sub-Saharan Africa where two-thirds of people with HIV live. World Health Organization (WHO) policy states that "palliative care should be incorporated as appropriate at every stage of HIV disease, and not only when the patient is dying," and that palliative care should be used alongside ART as needed, not as a substitute.

Conclusion

The overall goal of palliative care is to improve the quality of life of individuals with serious illness, any life-threatening condition that either reduces an individual's daily function or quality of life or increases caregiver burden through pain and symptom management, identification and support of caregiver needs, and care coordination. Palliative care can be delivered at any stage of illness alongside other treatments with curative or life-prolonging intent and is not restricted to people receiving end-of-life care. [17] Historically, palliative care services were focused on individuals with incurable cancer, but this framework is now applied to other diseases, like severe heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, multiple sclerosis and other neurodegenerative conditions. (Wikipedia).

How to take Cases in Social Work Field Work?

2022-05-25T16:17:00.002+06:00

What is Case Taking in Social Work Field Practicum?

We know that the students of Social Work have to attend an Internship programme for sixty days at Hons and Masters level, and primarily they have to take and solve cases of the patients or clients or beneficiaries coming to the agency. In this case, they have to play the role of social workers and use problem-solving methods, including psycho-social study, diagnosis, treatment, intervention, and evaluation. There are different forms and formats of case taking in social work.

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Demo Guideline for a Case (Study)

a) Case Introduction

b) Case Introduction in Agency

c) Referral and Rationale of taking a case.

d) Rapport [using rapport principles]

e) Psychosocial study [using techniques of data collection such as interviews, home visits, case records, correspondence, and consultation]

f) Psychosocial Assessment or Diagnosis [Maximum 4 or 5 causes depending on psych social problem which will be solvable and changeable] It includes i.family condition ii. physical condition iii. mental condition iv. social condition v.cultural condition vi. economic condition.

g) Psychosocial Intervention or Treatment [Intervention will be based upon psycho-social assessment]

h) Evaluation of the case and overall.

i) Termination. and

j.Follow Up

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Example of a Case (Study) in Social Work Field Practicum

Background of the Case

For taking a case, I select a patient named 'Md. Habibur Rahman'. His educational qualification is 5^th class, and he has been living in Dhaka for 30 years. In his early life, he worked as a house caretaker at Lalbagh, Dhaka, and also doing it now. In the middle stage of their life, he went to Dubai as a construction labourer and returned four years ago. He also faced an accident there and got a spinal cord injury as well as an operation there. The matter of sorrow that his wife left him causes his vulnerability. After all, he is physically and mentally so much weak now. Now, he has to do a kidney operation from BIREM, and that's why he got admitted to BIRDEM General Hospital on 03/11/19.

Patient's Profile

Name	Md. Habibur Rahman
Reference No	533305
Social Welfare no	67909
Age	35
Sex	Male
Marital Status	Divorced
Father's Name	Late Abdul Hakim
Mother's name	Mrs Hasina Begum
Education	5^th Class
Profession	House Caretaker
Address	Lalbagh, Dhaka (Home: Manikganj)

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Treatment-Related Information

Problem Diagnosis	DM, HTN, Kidney Disease, Spinal Cord, Eye Diseases
Bed No	1139
Ward No	113
Admission Date	03/11/19
Case Recording Date	03/11/19
Supervisory Doctor	Dr Ashraf Uddin Ahmed

Family Related Information

SL No	Name	Age	Education	Profession	Relation
1.	Hasina Begum	60	Illiterate	Housewife	Mother
2.	Romana Akhter	18	HSC	Student	Niece

History of Illness

When Md. Habibur Rahman was in Dubai as a worker six years ago, he faced an accident (fell down from a three-storied building) there and got a spinal cord injury as well as an operation there. Then he was identified as a diabetic patient and had to leave Dubai later. During this time, his wife left him, keeping him helpless, and now he's been living with his mother and a niece in Lalbagh, Dhaka. Moreover, they have no land in Manikganj as the Padma had taken away, and his family is a victim of river erosion. So, after returning home, it was hard to continue his DM and Spinal Cord treatment as well as his family. Thus, he became attacked with kidney disease alongside DM. Since his accident, he has had to take 'underarm crutches support stick' to walk. Gradually his physical condition becomes worse. So, he came to BIRDEM General Hospital for further treatment and a kidney operation.

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The Rationale for Taking the Case

When I went indoors and investigated the client's condition, I saw him lying on the bed alone. I knew about Md. Habibur Rahman as well as his family. He is the most helpless in my definition now as he's the only earning member of his family including his mother and a niece. Moreover, his most lovely life partner left him seeing his vulnerability. So, what I actually observed is that he is more frustrated and weaker for the sake of family crisis and his treatment cost, so I took him as a case.

Rapport Buildup

The rapport (professional relationship) build-up is so much important before starting a planned treatment because collecting in-depth information and giving an effective problem-solving process to the client is absolutely impossible without establishing rapport. So, at first, I met him and tried to build up a friendly relationship with him. Then I followed him for four or five days and helped him to get services and provided him with information, and also motivated him to take a kidney operation as well as reducing his frustration and anxiety about family and his life. In this way, I built up a professional relationship with the client. I used the following techniques for establishing rapport.

§ Acceptance: I accepted him by giving him full dignity and respect. I gave assurance to solve his problem. As a result, he also accepted the giving importance of taking his treatment properly.

§ Communication: I maintained regular communication with Md. Habibur Rahman tried to understand his need and information about the problem.

§ Participation: Establishing rapport is impossible without ensuring the client's participation is the problem-solving process. So, I ensured the participation of Md. Habibur Rahman in every step of the problem-solving process.

§ Confidentiality: I assured Md. Habibur Rahman hid his all information; as a result, he believed me fully, and he promised that he didn't hide any information in his life.

§ Individuality: I knew all clients are individual. Their problem, patterns of problems, cases of the problem, solution process, expectation, etc. are iterant from others. So, I applied the individuality principle for establishing rapport with Md. Habibur Rahman. I tried to solve his problem according to real findings and his needs.

§ The self-confidentiality: Every client has his own view and wants to ensure those needs. So, I tried to ensure Md. Habibur Rahman in helping me to establish rapport.

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Psycho-social Study

In social casework, the psycho-social study is a very important phase. As an apprentice social worker, to know details information about Md. Habibur Rahman. I completed the psycho-social study. In this stage, I had to apply some techniques. These techniques are given below: -

v Interview: The interview is the main way to collect the client's information. In my case, I met him five times and took an interview with him. These are including in below:

§ 1st interview: After receiving the case, I met with him on the first day. I wanted to know about him, his family, personal information, etc. I also asked the nurse about his illness. I found out the background of his illness and mental stress.

§ 2nd interview: On the second day, I observed his physical and mental condition. And I tried to provide him with counseling. Besides, I wanted to know about his background and observe him. I wanted to know if he got proper treatment or faced any problems. I discussed a nurse for his better treatment.

§ 3rd interview: On the third day, I mainly tried to motivate him for his kidney operation and talked with his niece to take proper care of him. Then I also motivated him so that he felt more relaxed

§ 4th interview: On the fourth day, I followed him. He was more anxious and weaker as well as seldom talked. Again, I also talked with his niece to take proper care of him as well as other nurses.

§ 5th interview: On this day, Md. Habibur Rahman's physical and mental condition was fine. I provided him with different kinds of information related to his treatment. I advised him to follow the rules and regulations which were given by the assigned doctor.

§ 6th interview: On this day, Md. Habibur Rahman was almost well. I arranged all the necessary help for him. At last, he gave me thanks for helping him, and he promised me to take all of his medicine regularly.

v Observation: It is a very important technique at the interview stage. I carefully observed my client's personality, behavior, body language, and mental condition.

v Listening: As an apprentice social worker, I had to listen to my client Md. Habibur Rahman's physical and mental problems and also social, financial, and family-related problems with deep concentration.

v Questioning: In the interview stage, I questioned my client with simple language.

v Answering: When my client asked me any questions, I replied to his questions logically.

v Case Recording: I reviewed the previous and present files of Md. Habibur Rahman was so helpful in knowing his actual overall condition.

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Socio-Economic Condition

Md. Habibur Rahman's family's economic condition is not so good. He is dependent now, and his elder son is the only earning person in his family. His economic status is given below.

Profession	House Caretaker
Family Monthly Income	12,000Taka
Personal Property	Poor
Family property	Poor
Helping Relatives	Absent

Besides, my client's social status is good. He and his family are living in Dhaka, and they do have not enough land in the rural area of Manikganj. His family is mainly a victim of the Padma river erosion, and his neighbour doesn't have good behavior with his family. His social status is given below-

Education	Primary
Resident	Urban Area in Dhaka
Composition	Tin Shed House

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Psycho-social Information

My patient was very mentally upset and worried about his present problems and his economic condition. As he was the only earning member of his family, his wife left him after his physical injury. So, he's in a distressed mind and always do tension about the family and treatment costs.

v Problem identification

From my interview, as well as the hospital's documents. I got some problems with my client. I also talked to the duty doctor, and he told me the whole problem, and I noted down that problem in the following.

Ü Dynamic Diagnosis: Dynamic diagnosis process involves examining the part of a psychosocial problem for their particular nature and organization, the interrelationships among them, the relation between them, and the means to their solution. I observed my cliental present problems and how to remove these problem

§ He is 35 years old person suffering from various diseases.

§ He needed to test some pathological tests.

§ The family is economically insolvent because the cost of treatment is very high.

Ü Clinical diagnosis: Clinical diagnosis means fault and inconsistency in behaviour and causes of social malfunctioning. I found out the problem of clinical diagnosis of Md. Habibur Rahman, such as

§ High blood pressure;

§ High sugar;

§ Spinal Cord Injury;

§ Kidney disease;

§ Eye Disease;

§ Can't/don't get treatment proper time; and

§ Can't take medicine and test report.

q Etiological diagnosis: It is a psycho-social related problem without a clinical problem. It has happened after disease. Such as

§ Family disorganization;

§ Frustration;

§ Mental depression; and

§ Financial crisis etc.

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Treatment

According to Hamilton, "Treatment is the sum total of all activities and services directed towards helping an individual with a problem. The focus is relieving of the immediate problem and, if feasible, modifies any basic difficulties which precipitated it." So, in the light of supportive treatment and motivating treatment. The activities are-

v Supportive treatment

§ Helping him to get medicine from the hospital social welfare department;

§ Free supplying of medicine;

§ Providing correct information about disease and treatment; and

§ Establishing regular communication and counselling.

v Modifying treatment

§ Building a professional relationship and becoming reliable to him and collecting information;

§ Making him understand the real world and removing frustration due to family crises;

§ Motivating to take his kidney operation;

§ Inspiring him on how to cope with society; and

§ Helping him to take medicine regularly.

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Follow-Up/Evaluation

Evaluation is a continuous process of attaching value to the social work practice. It is the method of knowing what the outcomes are and the purpose of an evaluation is to see if the efforts of the caseworker are yielding any result or not, if the techniques used are serving the purpose, and if the goals are being achieved. Moreover, In the end, i.e., termination, the worker should discuss the original as well as revised goals and objectives, achievements during the helping period, factors helpful or obstructive in achieving the objectives, and the efforts needed to maintain the level of achievement and the feelings aroused by disengagement. In this case, every day, I took the information about my client's physical and mental condition and helped him as an apprentice social worker as much as possible with the help of my agency. I tried to always keep him in my touch as well as stating his possible developments and corrections. Finally, I terminated our regular relationship or the problem-solving process by providing him with some positive medications and instructions to follow. He also wished me a thanksgiving goodbye and committed to following my advice.

What is Health Promotion?

2022-04-27T18:10:00.015+06:00

Definition of Health Promotion

Health promotion began to gain acceptance worldwide after launching the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion at the first international health promotion conference held in Ottawa, Canada 1986. It introduced a focus on health and its determinants into a debate that so far was dominated by a biomedical approach to health.

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Health promotion was defined in the Charter as a ‘process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve their health’. It also built on new types of health programmes in the developed world that moved beyond a focus on individual risk behaviour towards "making the healthy choice the easier choice" through a wide range of environmental and social interventions.

Health promotion refers to enabling people to increase control over their health and its determinants and improve their health. Health promotion is a behavioural, social science that draws from the biological, environmental, psychological, physical and medical sciences to promote health and prevent disease, disability and premature death through education-driven voluntary behaviour change activities.

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According to K Park, "Health promotion is a process that informs motives and helps people adopt healthy practices and lifestyles, advocates environmental changes as needed to facilitate this goal, and conducts professional training and research.

So, Health promotion is the process of enabling people to increase control over and improve their health.

Features of Health Promotion

 Helps people to increase control over their own health.

 Improve a person’s or population’s health by providing information.

 Providing clients with information to enhance health and prevent disease.

 To reach a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being

 To change or cope with the environment.

 Focuses on achieving equity in health.

 Reducing differences in current health status and ensuring equal opportunities.

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Five Principles of Health Promotion

“The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition.” This statement in the preamble of the WHO Constitution - with the inclusion of gender - sets out the point of departure for the fundamental values driving health promotion.

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Five fundamental principles have guided health promotion strategies.

1. Health promotion is context-driven: Focuses on health and its underlying social and economic determinants for analysing socioeconomic, gender, and ethnic gaps in health and disease patterns in populations.

2. Health promotion integrates the three dimensions of the WHO health definition: Promoting health means addressing the multi-dimensional nature of health: its physical, social, and mental dimensions (and often, spiritual health).

3. Health promotion underpins the overall responsibility of the state in promoting health: All levels of government have a responsibility and accountability for protecting, maintaining, and improving the health of its citizens and need to include health as a significant component.

4. Health promotion champions good health as a public good: Good health is beneficial to society and its social and economic development.

5. Participation is a core principle in promoting health: The participation of people and their communities in improving and controlling the conditions for health is a core principle in promoting health.

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Other values and principles are mentioned by Dr Md. Abul Hossen

 Choice / Interest (make it dynamic to consciousness, subconscious, and unconscious to critical consciousness)

 Participation

 Known to unknown

 Learning by doing

 Respect

 Leader involvement

 Empowerment

 Social justice/Equity

 Priority to common good

 Positive health.

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Three Strategies of Health Promotional

According to Dr Md. Abul Hossen Sir, (Health Communication, Self Help Group, Organizational Change, Policy Development)

According to WHO, Geneva, 1995; Three basic health promotion strategies are given below:

Advocacy

Advocacy for Health is a combination of individual and social actions designed to gain political commitment, policy support, social acceptance and systems support for a particular health goal or programme. Advocacy is one of the three major strategies for health promotion. It can take many forms, including the use of the mass media and multi-media, direct political lobbying, and community mobilisation through, for example, coalitions of interest around defined issues. Health professionals have a significant responsibility to act as advocates for health at all levels of society.

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Mediation

Health promotion is a process through which the different interests (personal, social, economic) of individuals and communities and other sectors (public and private) are reconciled to promote and protect health. Changing people’s lifestyles and living conditions inevitably produces conflicts between the different industries and interests of a population. Such conflicts may arise, for example, from concerns about access to, use and distribution of resources or constraints on individual or organisational practices. Reconciling such disputes in ways that promote health may require considerable input from health promotion practitioners, including applying skills in advocacy for health.

Enabling

In health promotion, enabling means acting in partnership with individuals or groups to empower them to promote and protect their health through the mobilisation of human and material resources.

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Five Approaches to Health Promotion

Health promotion approaches introduce the various methods used to promote health. There are approaches to health promotion:

 Medical Approach

 Behaviour changes Approach

 Educational Approach

 Empowerment Approach

 Social Change Approach

1. Medical Approach: It aims

• To reduce morbidity and premature mortality.

• To ensure freedom from disease and disability.

Uses medical intervention to prevent ill-health or premature death, i.e. Immunization, screening, fluoridation.

2. Behaviour Change Approach: It aims

• To encourage individuals to adopt healthy behaviours.

• Views health as the responsibility of individuals.

Methods

 Communication, Education, Persuasion, motivation

 Expert-led, top-down. ‘Victim-blaming’

 Behaviour is very complex & Multi-factorial

3. Educational Approach: It aims

• To provide knowledge and information.

• To develop the necessary skills for informed choice.

• The outcome is the client’s voluntary choice.

Methods

 Information-giving through interpersonal channels, small groups and mass media so that the clients can make an informed choice.

 Group discussion for sharing and exploring health attitudes

 Roleplay for decision-making and negotiating skills

4. Empowerment or Client-centered Approach: It aims at helping people to identify their own needs and concerns and gain the necessary skills and confidence to act upon them.

Role of health promoter: facilitator and catalyst.

Two types of empowerment:

 Self-empowerment - based on counselling and aimed at increasing people’s control over their own lives.

 Community empowerment - related to community development to create active, participating communities which can change the world about them through a programme of action

Methods

• Client-centred, including counselling, community development and advocacy.

• Health advocacy refers to the action of health professionals to influence and shape the decisions and actions of judgment- and policy-makers who have some control over the resources which affect or influence health

• Promoting public involvement and participation in decision-making on health-related issues.

5. Societal/Social Change Approach: it aims

• To bring about changes in the physical, social, and economic environment, enabling people to enjoy better health.

• Radical health promotion - makes the environment supportive of health.

• To make the healthy choice the easier choice.

• The focus is on changing society, not on changing the behaviour of individuals.

Methods

• Focus on shaping the health environment

• lobbying/advocacy

• development of healthy public policies and legislation

• fiscal measures

• creating supportive social and physical environments

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Three Models of Health Promotional

The kinds of health promotion programs that students and schools implement reflect the health education models they are based on. There are three (3) main categories in which health education models can be broadly placed:

Behavioral Change Model

The behavioural change model is a preventive approach and focuses on lifestyle behaviours that impact health. It seeks to persuade individuals to adopt healthy lifestyle behaviours, use preventive health services, and take responsibility for their own health. It promotes a 'medicalised' view of health that may be characterised by a tendency to 'blame the victim'. The behavioural change model is based on the belief that providing people with information will change their beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours. This model is ineffective in many cases because it ignores the factors in the social environment that affect health, including social, economic, cultural, and political factors.

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Characteristics of Behavioural change model

 Focuses on health professionals' perceptions of health needs – suggests that 'experts' know best.

 Transmits knowledge – increases people's knowledge of the factors that improve and enhance health.

 Educates 'about' health.

 Uses health campaigns.

 Uses the transmission approach to teaching – the learners are primarily passive.

 Often reflects 'healthism'*.

 It may have a 'moralistic' tone.

 Emphasises disease and other medical problems, so tend to be negative and deficit-focused.

 Focuses on risks rather than on protective or preventive factors and takes a 'band-aid' approach.

 Tends not to reflect the socio-ecological perspective.

 Do not consider determinants of health or think about who is responsible for health.

 It may imply 'victim-blaming.'

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Self-empowerment Model

This approach seeks to develop the individual's ability to control their own health status as far as possible within their environment. The model focuses on enhancing an individual's sense of personal identity and self-worth and on the development of 'life skills, including decision-making and problem-solving skills, so that the individual will be willing and able to take control of their own life. People are encouraged to engage in critical thinking and action at an individual level. This model, which is often successful for individuals, is not targeted at population groups and is unlikely to affect social norms.

Characteristics of the Self-empowerment model

 Develops a sense of identity.

 Promotes reflection about others and society.

 Encourages people to reflect and change their views.

 Clarifies values.

 Helps people to know where, when, why, and how to seek help.

 Encourages independence.

 Uses critical thinking and critical action about oneself.

 Uses the action competence process for the individual, recognising determinants that may be beyond their control.

 Fosters resilience and empowerment at a personal level.

 Enhances self-awareness.

 Focuses mainly on the individual.

 Gives opportunities to celebrate individuality.

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Collective Action Model

This socio-ecological approach encompasses ideas of community empowerment, which requires people individually and collectively to acquire the knowledge, understanding, skills, and commitment to improving the societal structures that have such a powerful influence on people's health status. It engages people in critical thinking to enhance their understanding of the factors affecting individual and community well-being. It also engages them in necessary action to contribute to positive change at a collective level. Given the importance of determinate health, using a collaborative action model is more likely to achieve healthy outcomes, both for individuals and groups within society.

Characteristics of the Collective action model

 Encourages democratic processes and participation 'by all for all.

 Takes a student-centred/constructivist approach to teaching and learning.

 Takes determinants of health into consideration.

 Emphasises empowerment for all participants.

 Educates 'for' health.

 Uses a social action or action competence process to work with others.

 Uses a whole community/school development approach.

 Views teachers and students as social agents.

 Uses critical thinking and critical action about the individual, others, and society.

 Takes a holistic approach – inclusive of Hauora.

 It is based on authentic needs.

 Fosters resilience at broader community and societal levels – not just at an individual level.

Health and Public Health

2022-04-26T22:04:00.052+06:00

What is Health?

According to the World Health Organization, health is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity". A variety of definitions have been used for different purposes over time. Health can be promoted by encouraging healthful activities, such as regular physical exercise and adequate sleep, and reducing or avoiding unhealthful activities or situations, such as smoking or excessive stress. Some factors that affect health care are individual choices, such as whether to engage in high-risk behaviour. In contrast, others are due to structural causes, such as whether the society is arranged to make it easier or harder for people to get necessary healthcare services. Still, other factors are beyond both individual and group choices, such as genetic disorders.

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The concept of health can also be viewed from two diverging philosophical perspectives. In the natural scientific perspective, which constitutes the foundation of modern medicine, health represents the opposite pole to disease. Because medical interpretation focuses on disease, "health" comes into the picture as "non-disease". This notion of health is therefore intrinsically residual in nature. From this ontological perspective, a human being is a physiological and neurophysiological system composed of an unlimited number of subsystems that are all functional parts of the whole. Diseases are considered disturbances in one or more subsystems, resulting in somatic, psychological, or social dysfunctions. This particular type of reasoning about disease and health originates from a mechanistic view of the functioning of human beings. Because health is seen as a non-disease, it can only be viewed as a condition through causal mechanisms.

Within the modern perspective of health promotion, there seems to be a renaissance of a different view of health, rather like that of the classical Greeks. In this holistic view, health is seen as an expression of how an individual can achieve an existential equilibrium. This equilibrium is not static but continuously in motion. Pathological disturbances of the equilibrium must be interpreted from different angles. Thus, we find what we will call the natural mechanistic perspective and also the social systemic and hermeneutic perspectives entering the health promotion stage. The notion of disease/non-disease is insufficient; concepts like sickness and illness seem to be indispensable to our understanding of health, both as a condition and as an enterprise for human beings.

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Health is the ability of a biological system to acquire, convert, allocate, distribute, and utilise energy sustainably. The World Health Organization (WHO) defined human health in a broader sense in its 1948 constitution as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” This definition has been subject to controversy, particularly as lacking operational value, the ambiguity in developing cohesive health strategies, and the problem created by the use of the word "complete", which makes it practically impossible to achieve. This definition promoted for the first time that, in addition to physical and mental health, social welfare is an integral component of overall health because health is closely linked to the social environment and living and working conditions.

All modern health concepts recognise health as more than the absence of disease, implying a maximum capacity of the individual for self-realisation and self-fulfilment. This should equilibrate the human inner forces and possibilities with the feeling of pleasure or dissatisfaction in their relations with the environment. Social medicine and the public health approach to health advocate that we should observe the health of the individuals and the health of the groups and the community as a result of the interaction of the individuals with the social environment.

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The holistic concept of health is contained in the expression of wholeness. Health is a relative state in which one can function well physically, mentally, socially, and spiritually to express the full range of one’s unique potentialities within the environment in which one lives. Both health and illness are dynamic processes. Each person is located on a graduated scale or continuous spectrum (continuum) ranging from wellness and optimal functioning in every aspect of one’s life, at one end, to illness culminating in death at the other.

Today, three types of definitions of health seem to be possible and are used. The first is that health is the absence of any disease or impairment. The second is that health is a state that allows the individual to adequately cope with all demands of daily life (also implying the absence of disease and impairment). The third definition states that health is a state of balance, an individual's equilibrium within himself and between himself and his social and physical environment.

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According to Suresh Vatsyayann 1995, "Health is an ever-evolving state of mind, body and relationships perceived by an individual, a family, a group or a community for self in a particular time, space and context."

According to -Webster, “ Health is the condition of being sound in body, mind and spirit, especially freedom from physical disease or pain.”

According to Tarlov (1996), Health is defined as the capacity relative to potential and aspirations for living fully in the social environment.”

Biomedical Concept of Health: Traditionally, health has been viewed as an “absence of disease”, and if one has free from disease, then the person is considered healthy. This concept, known as the “biomedical concept”, has the basis in the ‘germ theory of disease.’

Ecological Concept of Health: The ecologist put forward an attractive hypothesis which viewed health as a dynamic equilibrium between man and his environment.

Psychosocial Concepts of Health: Health is not only a biomedical phenomenon but also influenced by social, psychological, cultural, economic and political factors of the people concerned.

Holistic Concept of Health: The holistic model synthesises all the above concepts. It recognised the stronger social, economic, political and environmental influences on health. The holistic approach implies that all sectors of society affect health, particularly agriculture, animal husbandry, food, industry, education, housing, public works, communications, and other sectors. The emphasis is on the promotion and protection of health.

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Philosophy of Health

o It is a fundamental human right (right to medical care, a healthy environment, good food, reproductive health)

o It’s a social investment

o It’s intersectoral;

o It’s an integral part of a development

o It’s personal

Five Dimensions of Health/Wellness

There are five (5) dimensions of health: physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social. These five (5) dimensions of health provide a complete picture of health as a change in any dimension affects the others.

Physical Dimension of Health

The physical dimension of health refers to the bodily aspect of health. It refers to the more traditional definitions of health as the absence of disease and injury. Physical health ranges in quality along a continuum where a combination of diseases such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease or hypertension are at one end, and a person at optimum physical condition (think health, not fitness) is at the other. Physical health can affect the other dimensions of health as a decline in physical health can result in a decline in other forms of health. E.g. a person who suddenly gets the flu is often isolated socially so as not to infect others, struggles to focus on studying or learning anything new, and may feel sad due to their isolation.

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Mental Dimension of Health

Mental health refers to the cognitive aspect of health. Often mental health is linked to or includes emotional health; I want to distinguish the two. Mental health is more about the brain's functioning, while emotional health refers to the person's mood, often connected to their hormones. Mental health then includes many mental health issues such as Alzheimer's and dementia. It refers to the person's ability to use their brain and think. This may be to solve problems or recall information, but the focus is on the cognitive aspect of the person. Mental healthcare affects the other dimensions of health. An increase in mental health can come from increased physical activity, and good mental health can then lead to an increase in self-esteem as mental performance improves. Greater self-esteem then leads to more confidence in social situations and can lead one to ask the larger questions about life, leading to increased spiritual health.

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Emotional Dimension of Health

Emotional health is about the person's mood or general emotional state. We can recognise and express feelings adequately. It relates to your self-esteem and your ability to control your emotions to maintain a realistic perspective on situations. The relationship between emotional and mental health is clear, and as such, some illnesses relate to both, such as depression and anxiety. Emotional health affects the other dimensions of health. A person with good self-esteem is more confident in social settings, makes friends quickly, and often performs better in physical activity.

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Spiritual Dimension of Health

Spiritual health relates to our sense of overall purpose in life. People often find this purpose from a belief or faith system, while others create their own purpose. A person who has a purpose in life is said to be healthier than those who don’t see a purpose to live. Spiritual health will very easily affect emotional and mental health as having a purpose in life can help you to apply yourself to achieving goals. Having a purpose in life can also help people to maintain a proper perspective on life and overcome adversity. Often, spiritual people meet together regularly around their spiritual purpose, which helps improve their social health.

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Social Dimension of Health

The social dimension of health refers to our ability to make and maintain meaningful relationships with others. Good social health includes having relationships, behaving appropriately, and keeping socially acceptable standards. The basic social unit of relationships in the family and these relationships impact a person's life the most. Other key relationships are close friends, social networks, teachers, and youth leaders. Social health affects the different dimensions of health in many ways. A bad social life can lead a person to question their purpose in life or feel isolated and unwanted. Such feelings can demotivate people from physical activity and lead them to depression.

Read Also: Levels of Health/Medical Care

What is Public Health?

Public health consists of organised efforts to improve the health of communities. The operative components of this definition are that public health efforts are organised and directed to communities rather than to individuals. Public health practice does not rely on a specific body of knowledge and expertise but instead on science and social approaches. The definition of public health reflects its central goal—reducing disease and improving health in a community.

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Public Health is an empiric and multidisciplinary field whose goal is to ensure conditions for people to be healthy. While medicine mainly focuses on treating illness in separate individuals, it is the central goal of public health activities to increase health at the population level. The ruling principle of public health is to deal with the population's health in its totality. Health interventions on the population level include community hygiene, sanitation, health education, immunisation, and nutrition promotion. Public health covers preventive, curative, and rehabilitative actions. The success of public health depends on adhering to the basic rules of equity, partnerships, social justice, and the mobilisation of local, national, and international resources.

Public health is defined as the science of protecting the safety and improving the health of communities through education, policy-making and research for disease and injury prevention. It promotes and protects the health of people and the communities where they live, learn, work, and play. It focuses on the entire spectrum of health and well-being, not only the eradication of particular diseases.

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While a doctor treats sick people, those of us working in public health try to prevent people from getting ill or injured in the first place. We also promote wellness by encouraging healthy behaviours.

From conducting scientific research to educating about health, people in public health work to ensure the conditions people can be healthy. That can mean vaccinating children and adults to prevent the spread of disease. Or educating people about the risks of alcohol and tobacco. Public health sets safety standards to protect workers and develops school nutrition programs to ensure kids have access to healthy food.

Public health works to track disease outbreaks, prevent injuries and shed light on why some of us are more likely to suffer from poor health than others. The many facets of public health include speaking out for laws that promote smoke-free indoor air and seatbelts, spreading the word about ways to stay healthy and giving science-based solutions to problems.

Public health is defined as the science of increasing the health and safety of communities through education, policy-making and research for disease and injury prevention.

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In 1920, C.E.A. Winslow provided the following definition of public health practice: “Public health is the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting physical health and efficiency through organised community efforts for the sanitation of the environment, the control of community infections, the education of the individual in principles of personal hygiene, the organisation of medical and nursing services for the early diagnosis and preventive treatment of disease, and the development of social machinery which will ensure to every individual in the community a standard of living adequate for the maintenance of health.”

Almost 70 years later, in 1988, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) published its classic report, The Future of Public Health, similarly defining public health as an “organised community effort to address the public interest in health by applying scientific and technical knowledge to prevent disease and promote health.” Then, the mission of public health is to ensure conditions that promote the community's health.

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Sir Donald Acheson 1988 defined it as: ‘the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting, protecting and improving health through the organised efforts of society.’

The field pays special attention to the social context of disease and health. It focuses on improving health through society-wide measures like vaccinations, the fluoridation of drinking water, or policies such as seatbelt and non-smoking laws.

Public health is considered about the health of people or communities instead of individual health - it is everyone's responsibility. The art and science of disease prevention are known as public health, and it entails:

a) prolonging life and promoting health ––both mental and physical

b) sanitation

c) personal hygiene

d) control of infectious diseases

e) organisation of health services

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Epidemics, such as the plague, spurred public efforts to shield people from disease, although such disease was often considered a sign of the poor moral and spiritual condition. The poor and the common soldier or sailor typically suffered the brunt of epidemic diseases, premature death, and squalid living conditions.

The concept of public health is not unique and has changed over the years due to changes in the population's health status and the determining situations of health. This definition of public health is directly linked to the broader definition of health, found in the preamble of the constitution of the World Health Organisation (1948), where health is referred to as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease.

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This means that public health aims to create the right conditions to provide this state of health for the benefit of society.

History of Public Health

In 1920, Charles-Edward A. Winslow, an American public health leader, defined public health as "the science and art of preventing disease, extending life, and promoting physical health and efficiency through organised community efforts for environmental sanitation, infection control, education of individuals in personal hygiene principles, and the organisation of medical and nursing services for early diagnosis and preventive care." While a modern nosologist might add mental aspects of health to the physical, Winslow's concept has not been surpassed. It served as the foundation for the World Health Organization's definition of health as "a condition of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, rather than simply the absence of sickness or disability" (1948).

The history of public health may be traced back to ancient times. For example, in the Middle Ages, health measures included the quarantine of leprosy afflicted. In Europe and the Middle East, the first worldwide initiatives in disease control took place in national quarantines. The relationship between disease and the environment became more known and refined over time, and plague epidemics from the 14th century onwards prompted efforts to improve sanitation.

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The present public health system has been shaped by two forces over the previous 150 years:

a) The spread of scientific information regarding the causes of sickness and how to treat it

b) Increasing public recognition of illness prevention as a viable option and a shared duty

This article begins with a basic definition of public health before moving on to a brief history of public health from the Middle Ages to today.

Since the late 16th century, England's Poor Laws have been in place to assist the deserving but struggling poor affected by:

a) misfortune

b) death of a breadwinner

c) unemployment

d) sickness

e) inadequate wages

The standard of living was low, and occasionally, the able-bodied were obliged to work in a poorhouse or workhouse to support themselves. Poor legislative support was considered a last resort, as it could undermine the drive to labour.

Although medical treatments did not account for a significant portion of Poor Law care for the unfortunate, many Poor Law Guardians employed the services of local physicians.

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Eighteenth-century

By the eighteenth century, quarantine was frequently utilised to contain contagious sickness. By this time, the right of each human being to health (together with the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness) had been established. The relationship between individual rights and the state's obligation has not always been straightforward.

The Poor Laws were increasingly recognised as ineffectual and incompatible with the era's new economic circumstances. In America, as the population of specific communities increased, more formal systems for the care of the sick were necessary. In Europe, population growth and a growing awareness of newborn mortality and the deplorable circumstances seen in jails and mental institutions.

By the late eighteenth century, some cities in America, including Boston and New York, had adopted permanent quarantine and isolation procedures. These initiatives indicated a shift in perspective on sickness away from the individual and toward governmental responsibility - where the disease was theoretically controllable through public action.

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The Nineteenth Century

The nineteenth-century ushered in a new era of public health. The causal relationship between disease and the environment was established in the fourth and fifth centuries BCE, for example, in the work of Hippocrates, whose book Airs, Waters, and Places served as the theoretical framework for the epidemic disease until the nineteenth century, when the new sciences of bacteriology and immunology emerged.

The nineteenth-century witnessed what has been named "the great sanitary awakening" (Winslow, 1923) –– when pollution was discovered as a source of disease and a route of transmission –– and societal reforms became concentrated on sanitation. Sanitation improvements occurred concurrently in a few European countries and the United States.

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The health and welfare of common labourers decreased as the industrial revolution progressed. Population growth has intensified the prevalence of filthy environmental conditions, particularly in working-class neighbourhoods, and therefore the incidence of sickness. For example, smallpox, cholera, typhoid, and tuberculosis became prevalent in London.

By the mid-nineteenth century, hospitals had established themselves as a permanent component of the medical scene. Though there were limitations: hospitals admitted patients only after they had succumbed to illness; they were curative in nature rather than preventative.

In England, Edwin Chadwick (1800–90) went beyond the established link between poverty and disease, arguing that disease also contributed to poverty in his Report on the Sanitary Conditions of the Working Population of Great Britain (1842). Chadwick claimed a clean water supply system and the abolition of refuge.

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The 1875 Public Health Act in England addressed housing, ventilation, sewage drainage, water supply, nuisances, dangerous trades, contagious diseases, and other public issues, laying the groundwork for the world's most successful health system. Until the end of World War I, the 1875 Act established the requirements for British sanitary administration.

Advances in public health in England had a significant impact on the United States. There was a similar need for an effective administrative structure for supervising and regulating community health. Following the communist revolution in Russia, rural medical services were significantly expanded to meet the entire population's needs. Since then, similar companies in other European and Asian countries have been inspired by the method.

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The twentieth century

At the turn of the twentieth century, further advancements in community healthcare occurred. In the United Kingdom, the Poor Law was re-examined by a royal commission in 1909. This resulted in a proposal for a more integrated state medical system ––a predecessor to the 1946 National Health Service Act.

Recent public health efforts have shifted to cancer, cardiovascular disease, lung illness, and arthritis. Investigations into the relationship between these illnesses and the environment have been conducted. Health education focused on illness prevention has become a growing priority.

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Functions of Public Health

1. Surveillance, analysis and evaluation of the population’s health status

o Monitor health status to identify population or community health problems

o Diagnose and investigate health problems and health hazards in the community

o Monitor environmental and health status to identify and solve community environmental health problems

o Diagnose and investigate environmental health problems and health hazards in the community

o Act as quickly as possible with efficacy in solving and improving these problems

2. Develop policies and plans that support individual and community health efforts: Once the health problem is identified, public health seeks the best interventions and strategies to solve the public health problem and identify health and/or social actors or agents that can be carried out in the best way possible

3. Health Promotion: This is a public health function that tries to promote the population's health, educating in health from the other health, education and mass media facilities.

4. Disease Prevention: There are two strategies to address diseases prevention, the high-risk approach and the population approach

o High-risk approach: The high-risk approach is aimed at individuals particularly predisposed to an illness, and an individual prevention manner is offered to them

o Population approach: The population approach attempts to control the factors of the population as a whole without focusing on a specific collective matter. There are three levels of prevention:

a) Primary Prevention: to intervene before the disease appears

b) Secondary Prevention: to intervene in pre-symptomatic phases

c) Tertiary Prevention: to intervene when the individual is already ill. Try to mitigate the effects of the disease.

2. To develop effective programs and health facilities to protect health: The development and implementation of programmes that promote health improvement of the population as a whole, with the condition that they are based on efficacy, scientific evidence-based, and help increase the population’s quality of life.

3. Evaluation of public health policies, strategies and facilities: Having just been implemented, whatever process included in society to solve or improve the health problems must be evaluated to check its proper performance and functioning and analyse if it is associated with an improvement of the health problems for which were developed.

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The Scope of Public Health

1. Prevention and control of chronic disease and injuries.

2. Look after environmental health.

3. Advocate for creating policies at work, school, daycare/home in all places.

4. Provide services in natural and man-made disasters.

5. Prevention of communicable and non-communicable diseases.

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Functions of Public Health Professionals

As a public health professional, you will be trained to perform one or more of these ten essential services:

 Monitor the health status of a community to identify potential problems

 Diagnose and investigate health problems and hazards in the community

 Inform, educate, and empower people about health issues, particularly the underserved and those at risk

 Mobilise community partnerships to identify and solve health problems

 Develop policies and plans that support individual and community health efforts

 Enforce laws and regulations that protect health and ensure safety

 Link people to needed personal health services and ensure the provision of health care when otherwise unavailable

 Ensure competent public health and private health care workforce

 Evaluate effectiveness, accessibility, and quality of personal and population-based health services

 Research new insights and innovative solutions to health problems.

Social Workers' Role in Public Health

Public health research incorporates a broad array of studies that address systems, policies, and personnel that work to prevent disease, prolong life, and promote better health care within the vast array of public health research studies specific to public health social work practice, an area of practice that has strong historical roots in the social work profession. Public health social work practice uses a research-based epidemiologic approach to identify and address social problems that affect population groups' health status and social functioning. Public health social work emphasises primary prevention interventions and includes practice at multiple levels, including individuals, groups, communities, and populations.

Health promotion is a core function of public health. It effectively reduces the burden of disease (both from communicable and non-communicable diseases) and mitigates the social and economic impact of such conditions. WHO support focuses on promoting healthy living, creating an empowering environment, and generating evidence for programmes and policies that aim to reduce lifestyle-based risk factors for individuals and communities.

WHO provides support for policy development, regulation, public and professional education, guidelines development, media interventions and research that address the determinants of health. Supports are also provided for mass awareness through school-based and other approaches. Partnerships with public and private sectors, academic institutions and civil society groups are promoted.

 Awareness campaign on healthy lifestyle and health risks predisposed to ill health conducted through workshops, media interventions and observance of World Health Day.

 Strategy on the promotion of health of elderly citizens.

 Short course on health education and promotion.

 Training manual on non-communicable disease prevention for health workers.

 Development of national health promotion policy.

 Healthy processed food initiative.

 Advocacy for sustainable financing for health promotion activities using sin taxes

Public health social workers are often responsible for helping people diagnosed with chronic, life-threatening or altering diseases and disorders, helping connect patients with plans and resources to help them cope. One of the most challenging things a person can go through is dealing with acute, chronic, and terminal illnesses and these social workers provide services to ease these patients’ processes. These services include advising family caregivers, providing patient education and counselling, making referrals to other services, case management interventions, planning hospital discharge, and organising support groups. These social workers are often employed at health care centres, assisted living homes or hospitals.

Social Workers play a huge role in Public Health. Public Health Social Workers focus on prevention and identifying children, adults, families, and communities with needs; and provide intervention services to help these clients discover ways of meeting their needs and preventing future problems.

One of the ways Public Health Social workers do this involves helping individuals and families make behavioural and situational life changes to improve their overall health and well-being. Their focus extends to communities, and a significant part of that addresses broad public health issues. Public Health Social Workers conduct the following direct client service activities: (Informing and Awareness Building, Collectivization; Establishing Dialogical relationships, Advocacy).

 Coordinate clients’ involvement with community agencies.

 Refer clients and families dealing with emotional, physical and social issues.

 Empower clients to assess their own needs and advocate for themselves.

 Enhance clients’ coping abilities.

 Link clients to resources for optimal outcomes.

 Provide an understanding of client psychosocial and environmental factors for the multidisciplinary health care team.

 Provide assessment, counselling, and referral services regarding health promotion in clinical and multidisciplinary settings

 Enhance information sharing and research alliances

 Improve the competence of communities to develop strategies for helping older adults define and reach their goals.

 Participate in community management

 Advocate regarding the development and maintenance of community infrastructures

 Encourage better use of available resources

 Develop partnerships among key players and stakeholders in the community

 Promote economic developments that will lead to better health practices among the general population.

 Community-Based Family Health Centers

 Understanding of common ethical and legal issues in social work practise in health care settings

 Biopsychosocial–spiritual assessment

 Use of the strength’s perspective

 Client and family engagement in all aspects of social work intervention

 Case management/care management/care coordination/health care navigation

 Discharge and transition planning

 Client concordance with and adherence to the plan of care

 Advance care planning

 Palliative care, including pain and symptom management

 Hospice and end-of-life care

 Identification of child/elder/vulnerable adult abuse, trauma, neglect, and exploitation

 Crisis intervention

 Facilitation of benefits and resource acquisition to assist clients and families, including an understanding of related policies, eligibility requirements, and financial and legal issues

 Advocacy with other members of the interdisciplinary team and within the health care institution to promote clients’ and families’ decision making and quality of life

 Client, family, interdisciplinary, and community education.

 Family systems issues, including the impact of health care concerns, illness, and disease on family relationships; life cycles; and caregiving roles and support needs.

Talcott Parsons Social System Theory

2022-04-25T20:27:00.006+06:00

Talcott Parsons

Talcott Parsons’ theory of social action has a special significance and importance in sociology. The theory of social action in the cardinal principle of Parsons sociological thought the ideas of Parsons are quite close to behaviourism. Therefore, in order to appreciate Parsons’ theory, it is important to distinguish it from behaviourism.

Before starting, it is better to distinguish between the theory of social action and behaviourism.

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In psychology, the theory of Behaviorism was propounded by Waston According to him, all behaviour, whether animal or human, was fundamental to a stimulus-response pattern. For example, there is an explosion, and a man is afraid. The fear of man is a response to the stimulus of an explosion. According to Watson, social actions are responses to various social stimuli. Behaviourism reduces all actions to a stimulus-response pattern. The view of Parsons is different. According to Parsons while animal behaviour can be explained in terms of stimulus and response, human behaviour can not be explained in this manner. According to Parsons, many factors other than stimulus and response play their part in human behaviour. In different psychological situations, different responses in two persons. Thus, Parsons’ theory of social action is quite different from that of behaviourism.

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What is Behaviorism?

Despite the tremendous sociological gains made by the various branches of social behaviourism, many prominent sociologists seem to feel that it is no final answer. The ranks of social behaviourism have been decimated by persons who made significant contributions to it.

The three main branches of social behaviourism – pluralistic behaviourism, symbolic interactionism, and social-action theory – presented quite independent solutions to the same set of problems. Their points of strength are quite different. Theoretically, the weakest and methodologically the strongest branch of social behaviourism is the pluralistic behavioural branch. Its members strongly promoted and helped to develop modern sociological statistics.

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The second major branch of social behaviourism – symbolic interactionism – was strong (theoretically) precisely where pluralistic behaviourism was weak. But unfortunately, it was weak (methodologically), whereas pluralistic behaviourism was strong. There is no doubt that its conceptualisation of sociological subject matter as consisting of ‘’attitudes,’’ ‘’roles.’’ ‘’languages as a social mechanism,’’ ‘’the looking-glass self,’’ ‘’the generalised other,’’ ‘’reference groups,’’ ‘’life organisation,’’ and so on, was a tremendous improvement in subtlety and precision over the conceptions of pluralistic behaviourism. To be sure, its methods showed some development – from the mere proposal of a systematic autobiography of Cooly to the attempt to set down standards for the case and life histories of Thomas and Znaniecki.

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The third branch of social behaviourism, social-action theory, has suffered from a number of difficulties. The partial failure to visualize the full range of the school has not promoted its detachment from the powerful personality of Max Weber.

What is Functionalism?

There are a number of possible meanings of ‘’function’’ that could be employed for serious sociological theory construction. Among the more important of these are:

a) function in a mathematical sense,

b) function as useful activity,

c) function as appropriate activity, and

d) function as system-determined and system-sustaining activity.

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1) A function in mathematics is a variable whose values are determined by those of one or more other variables. If (x) and (y) are two variables, and if each value of (x) corresponds to one and only one value of (y), (y) may be said to be a single-valued function of x: y = f (x). In this expression, (x) is the independent and (y) the dependent variable. If more than one value if (y) corresponds to a value of (x), the variable (y) is a many-valued function of (x). historically, the theory of functions goes back to the publication of Descartes’ work on analytical geometry (1673). The evolution of the theory of functions is central to the development of mathematics,

2) The term ‘’function’’ has often been used to mean ‘’useful activity’’; in fact, it is sometimes used even for ‘’activity.’’ This usage is reflected in popular speech. Public and institutional ceremonies and activities are said to be ‘’functions.’’

3) The third usage treats function as ‘’appropriate activity,’’ a concept by no means identical to ‘’useful activity.’’ An activity can be quite useful either in fulfilling a need or in implementing a purpose without being ‘’appropriate.’’ A distorted craving for recognition may, in the opinion of the psychiatrist, drive the individual to megalomania. There is no doubt about the relationship between need and activity in the psychiatrist's mind. When he describes this as a ‘’functional disorder,’’ he judges its appropriateness concerning otherwise ‘’normal’’ operations of the system of behaviour.

4) The fourth major meaning of function is that of a ‘’system-determined and system-maintaining activity.’’ The critical property of this position is the view that social life is fundamentally incorporated into systems. In these systems, any item is to be judged in terms of its determination by the system and its place in maintaining the system. This is clearly a more inclusive meaning than either the second or the third. In fact, these meanings are sometimes taken up into the fourth.

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Two significant schools of sociology functionalism are in the process of development at the present time. Since all the essentials of functionalism are manifest in both, it is rather inappropriate to expend the term ‘’functionalism’’ on only one. For want of better terms they will are described here as ‘’macro-functionalism’’ and ‘’micro-functionalism.’’ This distinction is made purely in terms of the size of the unit chosen as the basic type of system for the branch of the theory in question. The macro-functionalists basically presume the existence of relatively large-scale systems. The micro-functionalists of fairly small-scale systems. The first branch of functionalistic theory had its origins primarily in sociological organicism (though its exponents are often more inclined to trace their origins to anthropology); the second branch of functionalism had its origin primarily in gestalt psychology.

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What is Structuralism?

At the general level, the term is used loosely in sociology to refer to any approach which regards social structure (apparent or otherwise) as having priority over social action.

Basic to the approach is the idea that we can discern underlying structures behind the often fluctuating and changing appearances of social reality. The model is Saussure’s structural linguistics and the notion that a language can be described as a basic set of rules that govern the combination of sounds to produce meanings. For Levi-Strauss and semiotics generally, these underlying structures are categories of the mind, in terms of which we organize the world around us. For Levi-Strauss, but not necessarily others, such categories can always be understood as binary oppositions (for example, un/down, hot/cold).

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Structural Marxism replaced these mental categories with positions in modes of production (such as those of labourer versus non-labourer) and substituted relationships to the means of production for the rules governing the production of meaning.

The structural models: the structural model of system analysis is not a single strain; it consists of a variety of approaches represented by Levi-Strauss, Nadel, Gerth and Mills, Parsons and Merton.

According to Mullins, The distinctive aspect of structuralism is its practitioners’ belief that all manifestations of social activity in any society constitute languages in a formal sense. Structuralism is a cognitive, concerned with social system logic. Levi-Strauss talks of systems playing themselves out through people. Structuralists see human behaviour as ordered by a small number of simple systems that can be described in terms of boundaries, self-regulation, and transformation rules. Boundaries define a set. Self-regulation implies control of a set’s activities rather than by either historical or external systems, and transformation is the property of moving from one state to another in a regular, lawful manner… Structuralists thus give logical and analytic priority to a whole over its parts, emphasising the complex web of relationships that link and unite those elements.

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Subject and Situation in Social Action

The behaviour of an individual or society in a social context is called ‘’ Social action’’. Any social action has two main aspects. Firstly, there is an actor or a subject of social action, and, secondly, there is a context or situation in reference to which the actor performs a social action. Any social action presupposes the existence of both of these factors or elements. The actor performs the social action, and therefore, anyone who does the social action is called the subject or actor. However, a social action cannot take place in a social vacuum; there must be some situation or social context under which social action takes place. The actor and situation of social action are mutually linked; they are interdependent; the actor, by his behaviour, is also affected by the situation.

The significance of function in social action. According to Parsons, the main business of sociology is to describe and explain social action. The concourse of many individuals results in social action. In any social action, each individual performs a specific function. In social action, each individual performs a specific function. In the analysis of social action, it is important to know the function of every individual.

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Types of Social Action

While discussing the meaning of social action, Parsons described the various types of social action. Talcott Parsons takes motivation or orientation as the basis of distinction among the types of action. According to Parsons, there are three forms of orientation:-

1) Cognitive Orientation: The nature of the orientation of social action determines its type. Therefore, the type of social action changes with the change of orientation. If a social action is dominantly rational or cognitive it is said to have a cognitive orientation part. It is dominated by rational considerations exclusively.

2) Cathartic or Emotional Orientation: Some social actions are predominantly emotional. Their orientation is said to be cathartic or emotional. In an emotional social action, the inspiration for the action comes from within the man. In an emotional social action, it is emotion and not a reason that plays the dominant role. For example, under the influence of the emotion of love, a man is prepared to give up all his possessions or else make some other great sacrifices; in these actions, rational considerations do not count.

3) Evaluative Orientation: The system of values plays a vital role in society. The different values inspire men to act in various ways. The actions guided by values are said to have evaluative orientation.

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Talcott Parsons's Social System theory

Parsons takes ‘action’ as the building block of the system. He prefers the term ‘action’ to ‘behaviour’ because he is ‘interested not in the physical events of behaviour for their own sake but in their patterning, their meaningful, patterned products (physical, cultural, and other), ranging from implements to works of art, and the mechanisms and processes that control such patterning. An action consists of the structures and processes by which human beings form meaningful intentions and, more or less successfully, implement them in concrete situations. The social system is one of the primary subsystems of human action systems; the other three are the cultural, personality and biological systems. Because of the interpenetrations, each of the other three action systems constitutes a part of the environment of a social system.

All sociological theories of Talcott Parsons are somehow based upon his conception of social action. The overt form of social action is expressed as a role or function. The role or function presents itself in various ways. When the role is performed by an individual, then it comes under the category of personality system. On the other hand when the role is performed in the context of some cultural background, then it comes under the category of Cultural System. And if a role is being performed in a certain social context or background, then it is covered by the category of Social System.

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Personality System

The personality system is concerned with the social actions of an individual. The social actions of an individual can be looked upon from two points of view. The first point of view is self regarding, that is he views his actions according to the nature of his own self. The second point of view is the evaluation of the individual's actions from the viewpoint of others.

According to Talcott Parsons, each society expects a certain standard of behaviour from its members. Those individuals who conform to these standards in their behaviour are said to have well-organized personalities and those who fail to live up to the standards of behaviour expected of them by society are disorganized. For example, in most societies, individuals are expected to be honest and truthful and, therefore, those persons who are dishonest or lie habitually are considered to have disorganized personalities.

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Cultural System

When the individual system rises to the level of culture, it is known as a cultural system. The individual and society gather cultural facts. The culture is represented by certain signs or symptoms. When any action is done with reference to these cultural signs and symptoms, Parsons includes it in the category of the cultural system.

Social System

A society is made up of individuals. A number of different types of individuals live in society. They may have a common culture or may belong to different sets of cultures. According to Parsons, if all individuals in society belong to the same culture, they form a social system. Besides the commonness of culture, it is necessary for a social system that the social actions of various members of a society should be well-coordinated and should not so conflict as to destroy the social harmony. In an advanced society, certain institutions do the work of systematization of these social actions.

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Functions of AGIL Model

Parsons outlines four fundamental functions which every functioning social system must perform:

1) The function of adaptation – is to produce and allocate fluidly disposable resources.

2) The function of goal-attainment – is to maximize the capacity of the society to attain collective goals.

3) The function of integration – is to bring together motivational and cultural or symbolic elements in a certain kind of ordered system.

4) The function of pattern maintenance and tension-management – is to maintain adequate motivation to conform with cultural values, reward conformity and check disruptive behaviour.

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The AGIL framework of Parsons’ theory of social system is summarized as follows:

Every social system is confronted with four functional problems. These problems are those of pattern maintenance, integration, goal attainment, and adaptation.

Pattern maintenance refers to the need to maintain and reinforce the basic values of the social system and to resolve tensions that emerge from continuing commitment to these values.

Integration refers to the allocation of rights and obligations, rewards and facilities, it ensures the harmony of relations between members of the social system.

Goal attainment involves the necessity of mobilizing actors and resources in organized ways for the production or acquisition of generalized facilities or resources that can be employed in the attainment of various specific goals.

Social systems tend to differentiate between these problems so as to increase the functional capabilities of the system. Such differentiation – whether through the temporal specialization of a structurally un-differentiated unit or through the emergence of two or more structurally distinct units from one in a differentiated unit – is held to constitute a major verification of the fourfold functionalist schema. It also provides the framework within which are examined the plural interchanges that occur between structurally differentiated units to provide them with the inputs they require in the performance of their functions and to enable them to dispose of the outputs they produce.

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Systems and Subsystems

Parsons’ general theory of system recognizes four different aspects of reality – social, cultural, personality and behavioural organism. Corresponding to these four realms of reality, there are four sub-systems of action: the social, the cultural, the personality and the biological systems which are analytically separable and mutually irreducible. The social system is analytically abstractable from the total interaction process; the other three systems are the environments of the social system but all four are at the same time sub-systems of action.

The Social System

According to Parsons:- A social system consists of a plurality of individual actors interacting with each other in a situation which has at least a physical or environmental aspect, actors who are motivated in terms of a tendency to the ‘’optimization of gratification’’ and whose relation to their situations, including each other, is defined and mediated in terms of a system of culturally structured and shared symbols.

What are the units of social systems? In the most elementary sense, the unit is the act. But for most purposes of the more macroscopic analysis of social systems, Parsons prefers a higher-order unit than the act which he calls the status role. Since a social system is a system of processes of interaction between actors, it is the structure of the relations between the actors as involved in the interactive process which is essentially the structure of the social system. The system is a network of such relationships.

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Hence Parsons regards the participation of an actor in a patterned interactive relationship as the most significant unit of the social system.

The structural components of social systems are delineated in terms of two analytical constructs:

a) The normative order which involves norms and values. Norms are primarily social whereas values serve as the primary connecting link between the social and cultural systems.

b) Collectively organized population which involves collectivity, the category of intra-social structure and the roe, the category of boundary structure.

A social system may be analyzed on four levels of generality so far as its units are concerned:

1) Individuals in roles are organized to form what we call

2) Collectivities. Both roles and collectivities, however, are subject to ordering and control by

3) Norms which are differentiated according to the functions of these units and to their situation, and by

4) Values which define the desirable kind of system of relations.

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The Cultural system

Parsons defines the cultural system as the aspect of action organized by the specific characteristics of symbols and the exigencies of forming stable systems of them. It is structured in terms of patterning of meaning which, when stable, implies in turn generalized complexes of constitutive symbolisms that give the action system its primary sense of direction, and which must be treated as independent of any particular system of social interaction. Thus, although there are many ramifications in such areas as language and communication, the prototypical cultural systems are those of beliefs and ideas. The possibilities of their preservation over time, and of their diffusion from one personality and/or social system into another, are perhaps the most important hallmarks of the independent structure of cultural systems.

Cultural institutions consist of cognitive beliefs, systems of expressive symbols and private moral obligations. The main function of the cultural system is the legitimation of the society’s normative order. Cultural value patterns provide the most direct link between the social and cultural systems in legitimizing the normative order of society. They define what is appropriate and what is not, not necessarily in a moral sense but in accordance with the institutionalized order.

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The Personality System

Parsons views personality as the aspect of the living individual, as an ‘actor’, which must be understood in terms of the cultural and social content of the learned patterning that make up his behavioural system. Personality is autonomous as a distinct sub-system of action. It forms a distinct system articulated with social systems through their political sub-systems, not simply in the sense of government but of any collective ordering. This is to say that the primary goal output of social systems is to the personalities of their members. Parsons also claims that the personality system is the primary meeting ground of the cultural system, the behavioural organism and, secondarily, the physical world.

The main function of the personality system involves learning, developing, and maintaining through the life cycle an adequate level of motivation so that individuals will participate in socially valued and controlled activities.

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The Biological System

According to Parsons, all relations between the social system and the physical environment are mediated through the behavioural organism. The perceptual processes of the organism are the source of information about the physical environment, which gains cultural organization from its conceptual and theoretical components. The organism is also the source of the instinctual components of the motivation of an individual’s personality.

Organization and control are exhibited by one ordering of levels of the four systems. The psychological system organizes and controls the organism (in its behavioural aspects); the social system organizes and controls the psychological system and the cultural system performs similarly with respect to the social system. By an opposite ordering of a set of conditions basic to the cultural systems, psychological systems are a set of conditions on which the social systems depend, and the organism provides the conditions underlying the psychological system.

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There are characteristic interchanges among the four systems. The motivational energy part of which is fed back to the organism in the form of control that increases the performance potential of the organism between the psychological and cultural systems a mutually underprovided with legitimation by cultural components by which its functioning is made subject to normative patterns. Culture is provided with a motivational commitment by the psychological system which transcends an understanding of the norm to become a total internalization of it so that the norm becomes a part of an internal regulatory mechanism which is part of the personality system itself.

Subsystems of Social Action

Social system

Cultural system

Personality system

Biological system

integrative subsystem

pattern maintenance and tension management subsystem

goal-attainment subsystem

adaptive subsystem

Collectivity

Cultural value

Polity

Economy

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Pattern Variables of System Theory

In delineating the structure of action Parsons initially followed the lead from tennies; gemeinschaft a Gesellschaft. However, soon he became convinced that a given structure might clearly exhibit attributes suggestive of both the polar types. The professional status-role of the physician is a case in point. In terms of the application of the general principles of medical science, the physician’s relation to his patient is Gesellschaft – but by virtue of the canon the ‘’welfare of the patient’’ should come ahead of the self-interest of the doctor, this was clearly one of gemeinschaft. Therefore, Parsons sought to identify the choices between alternatives that an actor confronts in a given situation and the relative primacies assigned to such choices. Thus he proposed the five dichotomies of pattern variables listed below:

Affectivity vs. Affective Neutrality

The pattern is effective when an organized action system emphasizes gratification, that is when an actor tries to avoid pain and maximize pleasure; the pattern is affectively neutral when it imposes discipline, and renouncement or deferment of some gratifications in favour of other interests, for example, soldiers are expected to ignore immediate gratification and be affectively neutral in their line of duty even if that involves risking their lives. Similarly, unbridled expression of emotions and impulse gratifications are negatively evaluated by cultural patterns.

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Self-orientation vs. Collectivity-orientation

This dichotomy demands social norms or shared expectations which define as legitimate the pursuit of the actor’s private interests or obligate him to act in the interests of the group. Salesmen and shopkeepers are expected to glorify their products and give sales talk in accordance with self-orientation but the doctor is expected to tell the patient what is best for him, even if he can make extra money from an expensive operation. This dichotomy has nothing to do with selfish or altruistic motives which are individual character traits but with shared expectations commonly held by a collectivity.

Particularism vs. Universalism

The former refers to standards determined by an actor’s particular relations with a particular object, the latter to value standards that are highly generalized. A teacher is supposed to give grades to all students impartially, that is, in accordance with the same abstract, general, universal principles, but if he favours his son or a friend who happens be in the same class, he is behaving particularistic ally, for he is treating people differently on the basis of their particular relationship to him. To give another example: a woman on the trial jury has to be universalistic, otherwise, she will be dishonest; but as a wife, she has to be particularistic, otherwise she will be unfaithful.

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Quality vs. Performance

This is the dilemma of according primary treatment to an object on the basis of what it is in itself, an inborn quality, or what it does, and the quality of its performances, the former involves defining people on the basis of certain attributes such as age, sex, colour, nationality, etc; the latter defines people in the basis of their abilities. Compulsory retirement, racial discrimination and the notion of caste superiority are based on considerations of quality. Recruitment of personnel in a modern bureaucracy based on technical qualifications and the standard tests involves consideration of performance.

Diffuseness vs. Specificity

This is the dilemma of defining the relation borne by the object to the actor as indefinitely wide in scope, infinitely brood in involvement, morally obligating, and significant in pluralistic situations (diffuseness); or specifically limited in scope and involvement (specificity). The relationship between the employer and the employees in a modern factory is specific since no obligation is assumed to exist beyond what is specified in the contract. However, certain systems of land tenure such as the semi-feudal and zamindari types are supposed to involve the tenants in an infinite variety of obligations to their masters. Similarly, patterns of friendship and husband-wife relationships are supposed to involve a limitless number of obligations.

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Criticism of Talcott Parsons Theory

Parsons’ formulation of the pattern variables to categorise expectations and the structure of relations of actors in situations however suffers from serious shortcomings. If it is assumed, in the Parsonian framework, those individual actors are socialized and thus are motivated to meet the demands of societal expectations, then we can expect actors to make appropriate choices about the pattern variables, and we can predict their behaviour on the basis of information about values and normative expectations. However, there are situations in which the choice is not simply a matter of one or the other. Thus the pattern variables scheme is not as neat as it appears at first glance, either as a way of clarifying and describing role relationships or as a way of predicting people’s appropriate choices.

The first objection to parsons’ concept of pattern variables is that few of these pairs of alternatives are true dilemmas for any social actor since they are provided to actors by the norms of society, and are not freely chosen.

The second criticism of the pattern variables scheme is that even if particle norms are solved by the actor they are not necessarily solved in one way or other according to the alternatives presented by Parsons. Further, a particular solution may be part of one sort or part of another. In our society, for example, there is equality before the law. But the judge in passing a sentence may be influenced even quite consciously, by the character of the offender, which may not appeal to him.

The third criticism is that Parsons does not explain that his pairs of dilemmas exhaust the possibilities of orientation in social interaction.

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Summary of the theory

Thus one may easily note the following points about Parsons’ sociological efforts.

First, he is opposed to the view that sociology should proceed on the basis of empirical generalizations. His conception of sociology is also a rejection of philosophies and theories based on claims as to the fundamental uniqueness of historical epochs. Parsons’ theory is primarily concerned with the constants and universals of social life.

Second, parsons attempt to hold an integrated and systematic scheme that exposes the dynamic relations between the most significant variables in the study of human society.

Third, his attempt has been to construct a theory of sociology rather like the supply-and-demand sort of economic theory a set of concepts which are at one and the same time logically consistent, and suitable for classifying the data which sociologists might collect. It is a set of categories rather than a set of propositions.

Parsons’ sociological works, however, have produced many criticisms of which the following two are important and relevant. The first objection to Parsons’ theory is that it too strongly emphasizes consensus and value commitment at the expense of conflict, coercion and domination. Parsons seems to imply that a social system exists only in so far as there is consensus about role expectations – that is, only in so far as people understand what is expected of them and in so far as their understanding of their roles is the same.

This has led to criticism of Parsons some European sociologists such as Dahrendrof and Lockwood, while not denying the usefulness of the consensus model, have urged for using the alternative conflict model. In the explanation of any actual social behaviour. In the United States also, sociologists such as Gross and his colleagues, while fully acknowledge their debt to Parsons in the development of role life roles. Instead of consensus being a postulate, they insist it must be treated as an empirical variable. Goffman goes further and suggests that it is simply untrue that people are socialized exactly the opposite happens and people’s personalities develop in opposition to, or against, the roles assigned to them. According to John Rex, the stability of modern industrial societies owes more to the ad hoc character of class conflict, than it does to any deep commitment to ultimate values. Social consensus, as there is in modern societies, exists within social classes which have collective goals and a common culture. The fundamental characteristic of the social system is that of structural conflict.

Parsons’ sociological outlook is, therefore, generally held basically conservative; for this theory is fundamentally static rather than dynamic. Hence Parsonian ideas are not applicable to the problems of social change. But, according to professor Robertson, Parsons has made important contributions to the study of various processes of change. Particularly in his model of structural differentiation, this has been used for the analysis of changes in small groups as well as at the level of society.

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Bibliography

1) Abraham, M. Francis. Modern Sociological Theory: an introduction. New Delhi. Published by Neil O’Brien. 1995. Pp. 39-72.

2) Sharma, R. N. and R. K. Sharma. History of Social Thought. Mumbai. Published by Mrs Lily Jayasinghe. 2003. Pp. 427-434.

3) Ritzer, George. Contemporary Sociological theory. Translated by Muhsen Salas. Tehran. Elmi press. 2005. Pp. 117-150.

4) Bhattacharyya, D. C. Sociology. Kolkata. NP. ND. Pp. 909-920.

5) Martindale, Don. The Nature& types of Sociological Theory. New Delhi. Nice Printing Press. 2010. Pp. 484-490.

6) E. C. C. Cuff; W. W. Sharrock. And D. W. Francis. Perspectives in Sociology. London. 1990. Pp. 40-51.

7) Parsons, Talcott. The Social System.England. Printed by Lowe & Brydone.1970.

CEDAW and Women Rights | Bangladesh

2022-04-22T04:43:00.001+06:00

What is CEDAW?

The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is an international treaty adopted in 1979 by the United Nations General Assembly. Described as an international bill of rights for women, it was instituted on 3 September 1981 and ratified by 189 states. Over fifty countries that have ratified the Convention have done so subject to certain declarations, reservations, and objections, including 38 countries that rejected the enforcement of Article 29, which addresses means of settlement for disputes concerning the interpretation or application of the Convention. Australia's declaration noted the limitations on central government power resulting from its federal constitutional system. The United States and Palau have signed but not ratified the treaty. The Holy See, Iran, Somalia, Sudan and Tonga are not signatories to CEDAW.

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The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly, is often described as an international bill of rights for women. Consisting of a preamble and 30 articles, it defines what constitutes discrimination against women and sets up an agenda for national action to end such discrimination.

Background of CEDAW

The Commission on the Status of Women was established in 1946 to elaborate on the general guarantees of non-discrimination from a gender perspective. The Commission was established initially as a subsidiary body of the Commission on Human Rights. Still, it was granted the status of a full commission due to pressure exerted by women's activists. In response to a call to set international standards for the equal rights of men and women, the Commission on the Status of Women drafted a Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, which was adopted by the General Assembly in 1967. This was not, however, a legally binding treaty. In 1972, the Commission asked the Secretary-General to call upon United Nations Member States to consider the possibility of preparing a legally binding treaty that would give normative force to the provisions of the declaration. In 1974, it was agreed that a single, binding treaty on eliminating discrimination against women should be drafted. The text of the CEDAW was prepared by working groups of the Commission in 1976. It was the subject of extensive deliberations by a working group of the Third Committee of the General Assembly between 1977 and 1979. The CEDAW was adopted by the General Assembly in 1979. On 2 September 1981, 30 days after the twentieth Member State had ratified it, the Convention entered into force—more rapidly than any previous international human rights convention.

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The Convention defines discrimination against women as "...any distinction, exclusion or restriction made based on sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, based on equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field."

By accepting the Convention, States commit themselves to undertake a series of measures to end discrimination against women in all forms, including:

to incorporate the principle of equality of men and women in their legal system, abolish all discriminatory laws and adopt appropriate ones prohibiting discrimination against women;

to establish tribunals and other public institutions to ensure the adequate protection of women against discrimination; and

to ensure the elimination of all acts of discrimination against women by persons, organisations or enterprises.

The Convention provides the basis for realising equality between women and men by ensuring women's equal access to political and public life opportunities, including the right to vote and stand for election and education, health, and employment. States Parties agree to take all appropriate measures, including legislation and unique temporary standards so that women can enjoy all their human rights and fundamental freedoms. The Convention is the only human rights treaty that affirms women's reproductive rights and targets culture and tradition as influential forces shaping gender roles and family relations. It affirms women's rights to acquire, change or retain their nationality and the nationality of their children. States parties also agree to take appropriate measures against all forms of traffic against women and exploitation of women.

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Countries that have ratified or acceded to the Convention are legally bound to put its provisions into practice. They are also committed to submitting national reports on measures to comply with their treaty obligations every four years. The Convention has a similar format to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, "both about the scope of its substantive obligations and its international monitoring mechanisms". The Convention is structured in six parts, with 30 articles in total.

Part I (Articles 1-6) focuses on non-discrimination, sex stereotypes, and sex trafficking.

Part II (Articles 7-9) outlines women's rights in the public sphere, emphasising political life, representation, and rights to nationality.

Part III (Articles 10-14) describes women's economic and social rights, mainly focusing on education, employment, and health. Part III also includes special protections for rural women and their problems.

Part IV (Article 15 and 16) outlines women's right to equality in marriage and family life and the right to equality before the law.

Part V (Articles 17-22) establishes the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the states parties' reporting procedure.

Part VI (Articles 23-30) describes the effects of the Convention on other treaties, the commitment of the State's parties and the administration of the Convention.

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Effectiveness of CEDAW for advancing women's rights

a) Educational opportunities;

b) Violence against women and girls;

c) Marriage and family relations;

d) Political participation;

e) Participation in the economy; and

f) Progress in the Health sector.

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Principle features of CEDAW

Under CEDAW, the meaning of women's human rights is constructed on three main principles. These principles are given below.

1. The Principle of Equality: CEDAW's primary concern with eliminating all forms of discrimination against women is achieving gender equality.

Formal Equality: CEDAW imposes on states parties a ‘formal legal the obligation of equal treatment of women with men’. Formal (de jure) equality asserts that, as equals, women and men should be treated the same.
Substantive Equality: In addition to formal equality, CEDAW requires states parties to take all appropriate measures to ensure substantive (de facto) equality between women and men.
Transformative Equality: The principle of transformative equality underpins several of CEDAW’s provisions. Examples include arts 2(f) and 5, which together require states parties to address prevailing gender relations and the persistence of gender-based stereotypes.

2. The Principle of Non-Discrimination: CEDAW requires governments to take steps toward ensuring that their policies, legislation, program and activities do not discriminate against women.

3. The Principle of State Obligation: The Convention places legal obligations on States to ensure de jure (legislative) equality through laws and policies and de facto (actual) equality – the practical realisation of equality in everyday life. The State cannot withdraw from these obligations once it has agreed to be held accountable at the national and international levels to implement CEDAW.

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What Does CEDAW Do?

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1. CEDAW helps girls and women of every age to claim their rights. Even though CEDAW mainly refers to 'women' and not 'girls', CEDAW allows girls to claim their rights at all stages: from when they are born to when they are little girls, adolescents, and grown-up women and through old age. If a girl learns how to claim her rights while she is still a child, she is more likely to be able to enjoy her rights as a woman.

2. CEDAW calls upon governments to take action to end discrimination against girls and women CEDAW demands that governments change laws and customs in their country so that girls and women are not discriminated against in any way. CEDAW protects girls and women from discrimination in education, health, work, marriage and family life.

3. Being aware of girl's and women's rights is the first step toward ending discrimination faced by girls and women When girls and boys take time to learn more about girls and women's rights and what governments should do to stop discrimination against girls and women, they are already helping. G girls and boys should know that they have the same rights.

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Significance of CEDAW

To fully understand Articles 7 and 8, one must read them with the agreement's so-called Framework Articles (1–5 and 24). These contain obligations concerning conduct and results for states parties regarding their actions (legislation, policies and programmes) to empower women and engender cultural change. Thus, states parties are obliged:

a) to eliminate direct and indirect discrimination;

b) to implement the concepts of both formal equality and substantive or de facto equality;

c) to embody the principles of equality and non-discrimination in their constitutions and laws; to pursue the realisation of these principles in practice by taking appropriate measures against persons, organisations and enterprises that discriminate against women; and to protect women from discrimination both through legal proscriptions, including sanctions, and competent national tribunals and other public institutions;

d) to act without delay (and without considering financial resources);

f) to undertake all appropriate measures to ensure the full development and advancement of women in all fields; and

g) to modify and eliminate social and cultural patterns based on prejudice, customary and traditional practices, sex-role stereotypes and the alleged inferiority or superiority of either sex.

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CEDAW is the sole international legal instrument specially designed to promote and protect women's rights holistically and systematically.

CEDAW defines the principle of substantive equality between men and women. Substantive equality" means absolute equality based on equality between men and women, guaranteeing not just equality of opportunity but complete equality- equality of outcome.CEDAW provides a comprehensive definition of discrimination.

CEDAW legally binds all states parties that sign and ratify or accede to the Convention to fulfil, protect, and respect women's human rights

CEDAW addresses gender inequalities in all spheres and levels within the family, community, market and State. CEDAW estates and addresses violations of women's human rights in the private sphere of the home.

CEDAW guarantees equality and non-discrimination, but in reality, watered-down non-discrimination clauses, biased citizenship laws, antiquated common law, and customary patriarchal law all work in concert to disempowered women. To protect and promote women's rights and equality as human beings in all regions, the role of law and CEDAW is inevitable. All discriminatory laws must be repealed, and gender equality laws and policies must be promulgated to achieve a conducive, socio-political environment. A gender mainstreaming strategy must be employed to address the effects of discriminatory religious and customary practices. U ultimately, the aim is to bridge the gap between de jure and de facto equality so that women may finally come out of their socially constructed cocoons and contributes to society in their own way.

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Women's Rights: An integral part of protecting human rights in Bangladesh

Within four walls of the house they are mothers, daughters, sisters and wives. In society, they are friends, philosophers and guides. Like anywhere globally, the women in Bangladesh also form an integral part of the human race and almost half of the human populace. Therefore, neglecting or ignoring women's rights is an inhuman act. In Bangladesh, women rule the roost in politics and governance; we cannot undermine women and their role, nor can we see them as downtrodden compared to their men.

Neglecting women's rights is a violation of human rights - the UN World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna confirmed this in 1993. The declaration came after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was adopted. Eight years after the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) came into force.

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It was striking that this statement was even necessary as women's status as human beings entitled to rights inherited at birth should have never been in doubt. Yet this identifies negligence of women's rights as a human rights violation and focuses on the connection between gender and human rights violations. The rights of women and their empowerment have been an issue all around the globe, and still, many countries have not ratified CEDAW.

Women are a significant part of society, and it is impossible to achieve societal development, leaving them behind. Most developed countries have ensured the rights of women. Despite that, the debate goes on whether women are treated equally in those countries as men. The situation is much worse in developing and under-developed countries, including Bangladesh.

Human rights, a crucial, widely admitted proper matter in today's world, cannot be considered separate from women's rights. According to the Bureau of Statistics, women are around fifty percent of the total population, even in Bangladesh. Even if we want, we cannot deny their contribution to our family, society or economy. Wo n's rights are the fundamental human rights preserved by the United Nations for every human being on the planet in 1945. Numerous international and regional instruments have drawn attention to gender-related dimensions of human rights issues, the most critical being CEDAW, adopted in 1979.

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The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, adopted in 1995 at the UN's Fourth World Conference in Beijing, was a rallying cry to embed gender equality and women's rights in every facet of life. The rights broadly include living free from violence, slavery, and discrimination, being educated, owning property, voting, and earning a fair and equal wage. Seve, all aspects of women's rights need to be addressed in Bangladesh to ensure women's empowerment. The government and the human rights organisation have been actively working to improve women's lives in Bangladesh for the last two decades. But still, there is a vast scope for improvement, especially in rural areas. Our omen has come out of the dark ages, but they are still unaware of their rights and what they are entitled to.

The greatest curse faced by Bangladeshi women must be child marriage. We arr rank fourth in the world in terms of child marriage as around 59 per cent of females experience that in Bangladesh despite decades-old law banning marriage before 18 years for women and 21years for men. Regretfully, a new law was passed where girls can be allowed to marry before 18 years of age in 'exceptional cases, which is definitely an addition to the misery of women in our country. Underage marriage and early childbearing create enormous risks for a girl as she has to endure everything for which she needs to reach a certain maturity.

Mostly, girls married at kinder ages drop out of school and lose their opportunity to be self-sufficient and independent. The situation gets even worse as they face health issues during untimely pregnancy. Over half a million women die from pregnancy and childbirth-related causes worldwide. Dowry, another alarming factor, is a custom in practice in Bangladesh and neighbouring countries. Women are often tortured and killed for dowry. Many women meet premature deaths due to such incidents where the husband and in-laws tortured the wife to death for non-payment of promised or expected dowry. It is also a psychological burden on the women, which cripples them from the very beginning of their married life.

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Violence against women is one of the most prevalent human rights violations globally. It knows no social, economic or national boundaries. An estimated one in three women will experience physical or sexual abuse. Gender-based violence undermines its victims' health, dignity, security, and autonomy, yet it remains masked in a culture of mystery and silence. Women in Bangladesh are often victims of several types of violence, including domestic violence. We ha e hundreds of incidents happening every day where women become victims of murder, rape, acid attack, eve-teasing, torture, etc.

They are not even safe in their homes or in their immediate neighbourhood, in school or at a park. Almost one-third of households in city areas experience domestic violence incidents, and from that, we can guess the situation in rural areas. Taking birth as a woman generates lots of challenges in Bangladesh. The girls are often deprived of education. The parents, especially in suburbs and rural areas, do not feel the importance of educating their girls as they are taken for granted for household work. They can never become independent and cannot fight for their rights in the process.

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Women are entitled to similar wages as men as per the Constitution or law. But still, they receive lower salaries and wages than men for the same level of work. In Bangladesh and many countries globally, the scenario is the same. Women s participation in economic and political works is much lower than it should be. Though our prime minister and the largest opposition party's chairman and former prime minister are women for which, we take a lot of pride. Women's participation in such works is not satisfactory. Other than these, women are the greatest victims of human trafficking worldwide. Moreover, in many countries, women's right to property is not ensured. These are serious violations of women's rights.

In the Constitution of Bangladesh, women's rights are protected under the broad and universal principles of equality and participation. Artic e 10 of the Constitution provides that steps shall be taken to ensure the involvement of women in all spheres of national life.

The State shall pay endstate to ensure equal opportunity for all citizens as Article 19 (1). Artic e 27 specifies that all citizens are equal before the law and are entitled to equal protection of the law.

Moreover, Article 28 (1) provides that the State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth, while article 28 (2) more directly says that women shall have equal rights as men in all spheres of the State and of life.

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Other than that, several special laws prohibit certain forms of violence against women like; the Penal Code 1860, the Anti-Dowry Prohibition Act (1980), the Cruelty to Women Ordinance (1983), the Suppression of Immoral Traffic Act (1993) and the Prevention of Repression against Women and Children Act (2000).

a) To prevent violence and discrimination against women, it is necessary to practice the rule of law, reduce poverty and discrimination,n and implement existing laws protecting women.

b) At the same time, it is necessary to ensure the security of witnesses and victims, and corruption must be fought from when a case of violence is filed until the trial is finished, and political pressure must be stopped.

c) Most importantly, strong emphasis must be provided on women's education. Our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has taken a few vital steps that have brought good results, yet a lot needs to be done. The n nationwide coordinated campaign should be carried out by the government, NGOs and administration. The r rights of women should be included in textbooks from junior level schooling. If ou women get educated and people know women's rights, the situation will improve significantly.

d) NGOs and law enforcers should focus on activities that protect women from violence and discrimination. They are only focusing on victim support which is not helping much as crimes against women increase every day. Moreover, they are not sometimes beneficial to the victims as they try to capitalise on the incidents by harassing even the innocents. To improve the scenario, they must ensure that women get equal opportunities as men and are treated respectfully in their homes, offices, streets, and everywhere.

e) Only improving women's lives in city areas will not ensure women's rights in Bangladesh. We must focus on the whole country. Only when women are safe and free from violence, can earn their livelihood, have an equal voice in their family and community, and decide when they get married or have children will we be able to say that they have equality and justice.

f) To become a developed country, we must ensure women's rights are integral to human rights development goals. We believe, with a little more planned and coordinated effort, we can achieve that goal soon. And h re, the much talked about "zero tolerance" policy may play magic!

Demography and Social Work

2022-04-21T21:27:00.004+06:00

Emergence of Demography

In 1962, the issues of the population become known by a scholar named John Graunt (London); he is generally regarded as the father of Demography and these achievements were a result of his publication (natural and political observation made upon the bill) in 1962. The publication marks the beginning of serious consideration of Demography. The history behind this, is that, in the early 16th century, the city of London ordered that the number of deaths will be recorded in every parish along with the number of christenings (births) [children that have been named] beginning from 1592. It is the record that is referred to as BILLS RECORD. These bills were conducted by each PARISH CLERK recorded at every end of the week will be recorded and circulated on weekly basis. "Note, the period of plague is also referred to as period of epidemics" this plague motivated for the bills of mortality; the cause of death is ordered to also be recorded and the sex of the death not only the number of the deaths, the age of those dying is also added in the 18century. The materials that were compiled from 1592 to1662 were all collected and studied by John Graunt.

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In 1962, he analysis the series of volume; Graunt is not a professor but a haberdasher; a person who sells small articles of sewing, such as buttons, ribbons, zip etc. after his analysis Graunt found the following.

 In London of that day, deaths exceeded births whereas in rural areas, the reverse is the case.

 He discovers the Biological phenomena that at birth the number of male infants exceeded the number of female infants and that there is a distinctive age pattern of death.

 He classifies deaths by cause, and learned that the causes of varied from place to place and from year to year example the highest causes of death in the city might be accident.

 He is credited from accrued Mortality Table that otherwise known as Life Table. He discovered from the life table you can predict your expectancy of living.

 He undertook & estimates the trends of growths and size of London's population and correctly identifies mortality, fertility & migration as the components of growth.

 He was able to evaluate the data used in any research to learn the extent, types and probable courses of errors and to devise adjustment and correction factors to remove bias in statistical measures computed from the data.

 He established as a leading goal of population study the development of explanation for the underlined regularities observe. He developed the act of explanation on every discovery made.

These were the observation of john Graunt from an unpromising material made from the BILL OF MORTALITY. He has a friend called WILLIAM PETTY from a society of the influential. He discourse his work with William Petty, his friend and he encourages Graunt with the work. He was the one that circulated the work in the Royal Society. He brought the work to the attention to the scientific world in 1970s. Petty’s work (political arithmetic] was published in 1690. From the two works, Petty generated many original and stimulating ideas of population.

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The empirical research of John Graunt supplement by the insight of William Petty marks the emergence of demography as a scientific discipline. The influence of the two men spread to France and later to Germany and other Europeans countries and during the 18th century, there was an awakening of interest in population study. This often led to the form of compiling of many facts as possible of the entire nation and led to the Early Census of duration or the commencement of the vital registration.

“Demographic thoughts traced back to antiquity, and were present in many civilisations and cultures, like Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, India and China. In ancient Greece, this can be found in the writings of Herodotus, Thucydides, Hippocrates, Epicurus, Protagoras, Polus, Plato and Aristotle. In Rome, writers and philosophers like Cicero, Seneca, Pliny the elder, Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, Cato, and Collumella also expressed important ideas on this ground. In the Middle ages, Christian thinkers devoted much time in refuting the Classical ideas on demography. Important contributors to the field were Conches, Bartholomew, William of Auvergne, William of Pagula, and Ibn Khaldun.

One of the earliest demographic studies in the modern period was Natural and Political Observations Made upon the Bills of Mortality (1662) by John Graunt, which contains a primitive form of life table. Among the study's findings were that one third of the children in London died before their sixteenth birthday. Mathematicians, such as Edmond Halley, developed the life table as the basis for life insurance mathematics. Richard Price was credited with the first textbook on life contingencies published in 1771, followed later by Augustus de Morgan, ‘On the Application of Probabilities to Life Contingencies’ (1838).

At the end of the 18th century, Thomas Robert Malthus concluded that, if unchecked, populations would be subject to exponential growth. He feared that population growth would tend to outstrip growth in food production, leading to ever-increasing famine and poverty. He is seen as the intellectual father of ideas of overpopulation and the limits to growth. Later, more sophisticated and realistic models were presented by Benjamin Gompertz and Verhulst.

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The period 1860-1910 can be characterised as a period of transition wherein demography emerged from statistics as a separate field of interest. This period included a panoply of international ‘great demographers’ like Adolphe Quételet (1796–1874), William Farr (1807–1883), Louis-Adolphe Bertillon (1821–1883) and his son Jacques(1851–1922), Joseph Körösi (1844–1906), Anders Nicolas Kaier (1838–1919), Richard Böckh (1824–1907), Émile Durkheim (1858-1917), Wilhelm Lexis (1837–1914), and Luigi Bodio (1840–1920) contributed to the development of demography and to the toolkit of methods and techniques of demographic analysis.

What is Demography?

Demography (from prefix demo- from Ancient Greek δῆμος dēmos meaning "the people", and –graphy from γράφω graphō, implies "writing, description or measurement” is the statistical study of populations, especially human beings. As a very general science, it can analyze any kind of dynamic living population, i.e., one that changes over time or space (see population dynamics). Demography encompasses the study of the size, structure, and distribution of these populations, and spatial or temporal changes in them in response to birth, migration, aging, and death. Based on the demographic research of the earth, earth's population up to the year 2050 and 2100 can be estimated by demographers. Demographics are quantifiable characteristics of a given population.

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Demographic analysis can cover whole societies or groups defined by criteria such as education, nationality, religion, and ethnicity. Educational institutions usually treat demography as a field of sociology, though there are a number of independent demography departments.

Demography is the statistical study of human populations. It includes the study of the size, structure, and distributions of different populations and changes in them in response to birth, migration, aging, and death. It also includes the analysis of the relationships between economic, social, cultural, and biological process influencing a population.

Demography is widely used for various purposes and can encompass small, targeted populations or mass populations. Governments use demography for political observations, scientists use demography for research purposes, and businesses use demography for the purpose of advertising.

Statistical concepts essential to demography include birth rate, death rate, infant mortality rate, fertility rate, and life expectancy. These concepts can be further broken down into more specific data, such as the ratio of men to women and the life expectancy of each gender. A census helps provide much of this information, in addition to vital statistic records. In some studies, the demography of an area is expanded to include education, income, the structure of the family unit, housing, race or ethnicity, and religion. The information gathered and studied for a demographic overview of a population depends on the party utilizing the information.

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Demography is the study of human populations – their size, composition and distribution across space – and the process through which populations change. Births, deaths and migration are the ‘big three’ of demography, jointly producing population stability or change.

A population’s composition may be described in terms of basic demographic features – age, sex, family and household status – and by features of the population’s social and economic context – language, education, occupation, ethnicity, religion, income and wealth. The distribution of populations can be defined at multiple levels (local, regional, national, global) and with different types of boundaries (political, economic, geographic). Demography is a central component of societal contexts and social change.

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European Population Conference illustrates demography’s breadth:

 Fertility, Families and Households

 Ageing and Intergenerational Relations

 Internal Migration and Urbanization

 Mortality and Longevity

 Economics, Human Capital and Labour Markets

 Development and Environment

 Integration processes of migrant populations

 Health inequalities at older ages

 Population and the welfare state

 Population projections of small areas and special groups

 Religion and demographic behavior

Demography is very useful for understanding social and economic problems and identifying potential solutions. Demographers are engaged in social planning, market research, insurance forecasting, labor market analysis, economic development and so on. They work for private firms and public agencies at local, regional, national and international levels.

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Since antiquity a number of thinkers have expressed their views on the level of economic development and the size of population. During the time of Confucius, many Chinese and Greek writers, and following them Aristotle, Plato and Kautilya (around the year 300 B.C.) have expressed their thoughts on the subject of population. Thus, as a subject, population education is as old as human civilization.

Demography is the empirical, statistical & mathematical study of human population (Bogue 1969, PI)1 It is the quantitative study of the size, distribution & composition of human population & of the major components of change in these features. The dynamic components comprise fertility, mortality and migration, to which some demographers would also add marriage & social mobility.

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This term was probably first used by the Frenchman A. Guillard in his book, Elements de Statistique Humaine (1855). He defined it as ‘the natural and social history of the human species, or in a narrower sense, the mathematical study of population, their general movements, and their physical, civil, intellectual and moral conditions’.

According to U.N (1958: 3) The Multilingual Demographic Dictionary defines “demography as the scientific study of human populations, primarily with respect to their size, their structure and their development.” The Multilingual Demographic Dictionary, however, differentiates between various aspects of demography by defining separately demographic statistics, economic demography and social demography; the latter two imply the study of relations between demographic phenomena on the one hand and economic and social phenomena on.

According to Peter R. Cox, “Demography is the study of statistical methods of human population involving primarily the measurements of the size, growth and diminution of the numbers of the people, the proportions of living being born or dying within the same area or region and the related functions of fertility, mortality and marriage.”

According to Dictionary of Sociology by P. Scott, “Demography is the study of population size, composition, and distribution and the patterns of change there in. The narrowest concept of demography views it as the study of vital statistics (birth and death rates and related statistics).

According to Thompson and Lewis, “The population student is interested in a population size, composition and distributions; and in changes in these aspects through time and the causes of these changes. Ultimately he is interested in these changes because they are related to, human welfare.”

This definition emphasis was on the study of (1) the, size of population, (2) the composition of population, and (3) the distribution of population.

According to Von Mayor, “Demography is the numerical analysis of the state and movement of human population inclusive of census enumerations and registration of vital processes and of whatever qualitative analysis can be made of the state and movement of population on the basis of fundamental census and registration data.”

This definition traces historical origin of demography as a subject and shows its close link with statistics. -Although Von Mayor himself did not mention about any demographic theory, yet he has explicitly stated the importance of such theories in the subjects Demography can thus be regarded as a kind of biological book keeping, a continuous inventory and analysis of human population and its vital processes.

According to Social Work Dictionary, “Demography is the systematic study of population variable and characteristics.”

According to Encyclopedia of Britannica, “Demography, statistical study of human populations, especially with reference to size and density, distribution, and vital statistics (births, marriages, deaths, etc.). Contemporary demographic concerns include the “population explosion,” the interplay between population and economic development, the effects of birth control, urban congestion, illegal immigration, and labour force statistics.”

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Writers like William Peterson, Hauser and Duncan consider “Population Studies” and “Demography” to be different. According to them, ‘Demography’ encompasses limited spheres and it studies only the decisive factors of population growth, whereas in ‘Population Studies’ besides the social, economic, geographical, political and biological aspects of population, their ensuing relationships are also studied.

The Oxford Dictionary of Economics defines demography as “The study of the characteristics of human populations.” According to the UN Multilingual Demographic Dictionary, “Demography is the scientific study of human populations, primarily with respect to their size, their structure and their development.”

According to W. G. Barckley, “The numerical portrayal of human population is known as demography.” Similarly, according to Thomson and Lewis, “The population study is interested in population’s size, composition and distribution; and in changes in these aspects through time and causes of these changes.”

All these definitions take a narrow view because they emphasise only the quantitative aspects of demography. Some other writers have defined demography in wide sense by taking the quantitative and qualitative aspects of population studies

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In this context, according to Hauser and Duncan (1959), “Demography is the study of size, territorial distribution and composition of population, changes therein, and the components of such changes, which may be identified as natality, mortality, territorial movement (migration), and social mobility (change of status).” In simple terms, it is the study of the size, structure and development of human population.

In this definition, composition of population implies (1) such traits as age, sex, race, and ethnic origin (the biological or fixed traits), (2) such life cycle attributes as educational level and marital and household status; and (3) such variable characteristics as occupation, socio-economic status, income, etc.

According to Frank Lorimer, “In broad sense, demography includes both demographic analysis and population studies. A broad study of demography

Thus, according to Donald J. Bougue, “Demography is a statistical and mathematical study of the size, composition, spatial distribution of human population, and of changes overtime in these aspects through the operation of the five processes of fertility, mortality, marriage, migration and social mobility. Although it maintains a continuous descriptive and comparative analysis of trends, in each of these processes and in its net result, its long run goal is to develop a body of theory to explain the events that it charts and compares. ”

These broad definitions take into view not only the size, composition and distribution of population and changes in them in the long run but also imply human migration and change in the status of the population through education, employment, social status, etc.

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Finally, Demography is a science of population. Demographic issues are as old as humankind. The issues of life and death, survival, birth, marriage/cohabitation, and ageing, are deeply rooted in man’s biological, social and spiritual being. The knowledge of population growth appeared within many sciences making demography an interdisciplinary science related to statistics, sociology, economics, medicine, biology, anthropology, psychology and other scientific disciplines.

Demography is a broad social science discipline concerned with the study of human populations, primary with respect to their size, their structure and their development. Demographers deal with the collection, presentation and analysis of data relating to the basic life-cycle events and experiences of people: birth, marriage, divorce, household and family formation, employment, ageing, migration and death. The discipline emphasises empirical investigation of population processes, including the conceptualisation and measurement of these processes and the study of their determinants and consequences. The field of demography is also concerned with the broader nature of social and economic change, and with the impact of demographics change on the natural environment.

According to ‘The Penguin Dictionary of Sociology’, “Demography can be defined as the analysis of the Size, structure and development of human populations, although it is occasionally employed to cover the study of animal populations. The crude statistics of population size and change are provided by the relationship between the birth and death rates and by migration and emigration. Two central features of population structure are the sex and age composition of human groups. Demographic analysis also includes the geographical distribution of populations, population and natural resources, genetic composition, population projections, family planning, and demographic features of the labour supply. Because the demography of human populations is crucial for economic and social planning, the development of demographic analysis has become important for national and international government forecasting. Partly in response to government requirements and partly because of the nature of demographic data, demographers have developed sophisticated mathematical models of population change and structure which permit statistical forecasting, population projections and the creation of actuarial life-tables. It is now common place, therefore, to distinguish between formal or mathematical demography, which is concerned with the mathematical structure and functions of human populations, and social or historical demography, which studies the historical conditions of population change such as the nature of the demographic transition.

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The demographic characteristics of human populations are clearly of major importance for any sociological understanding of human society. Population change in both size and structure has a direct bearing on, for example, the availability of housing, education, health and employment. Despite these obvious connections between demography and sociology, it is perhaps surprising that the two disciplines have tended to develop as separate and distinct approaches to human society. Although the question of population density played an important part in early sociological theories of social contract and division of labour, subsequent sociological theory and research did not take the demographic features of society to be of central analytical significance in sociological explanation.

One explanation of the neglect of demography by sociologists may lie in the fact that sociologists like T. Parsons came to equate an interest in the demography of society with a 'biologizing' tendency in sociological theory. Biological determinism attempts to employ the study of animal populations as the basis for the study of human groups, perceiving the latter in terms of basic laws of population growth in relation to fixed resources. While demographers were inclined to ignore the cultural and social factors which mediate between population and environment, sociologists have neglected population variables between society and environment.

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This mirror-image ignorance between demography and sociology has now changed fundamentally with recent developments in the social history of human populations which is centrally concerned with such questions as marriage practices, bastardy, family structure and generally with the impact of social conditions on fertility, mortality and migration.”

Scope and importance of Demography

The scope of demography is very wide. It includes the subject matter of demography, is it a micro or macro study? Whether it is a science or art? These are vexed questions about the scope of demography about which there is no unanimity among writers on demography.

According to P.M. Heuser & O. D. Duncan, “There is no standard conception of the scope or the framework of demography.”

According to W.R Thomson and D.T Lewis, “The field of demography changes according to time, place and circumstances”

On the basis of nature, characteristics, magnitude and area of discussion, the scope of demography has been categorized into two main sectors.

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Micro Demography

This is the study of a growth distribution and redistribution of the population within community, state, economics area and other local area. It studies small units like individual, family, groups etc. these includes numerical (statistical) and compositional aspect and it performed by using meaningful subdivision of community or local area.

In this sense, According to Dictionary of Sociology by P. Scott, “Demography is the study of population size, composition, and distribution and the patterns of change there in. The narrowest concept of demography views it as the study of vital statistics (birth and death rates and related statistics

Micro demography is the narrow view of population studies. Among others, Hauser and Duncan include the study of fertility, mortality, distribution, migration, etc. of an individual, a family or group of a particular city or area or community.

As pointed out by Bogue, “Micro demography is the study of the growth, distribution and redistribution of the population within community, state, economic area or other local area.” According to the micro view, demography is primarily concerned with quantative relations of demographic phenomena.

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Macro Demography

Writers like Bogue, Lorimer and others favour a balanced view of population studies. They do not believe in dividing the study of demography into two separate micro and macro divisions.

Prof. Bogue explains macro demography as “the mathematical and statistical study of the size, composition, and spatial distribution of human population and of changes over time in these aspects through the operations of the five processes of fertility, mortality, marriage, migration and social mobility. It maintains a continuous descriptive and comparative analysis of trends, in each of these processes and in their net result. Its long run goal is to develop theories to explain the events that it charts and compares.”

A majority of writers take the macro view of population studies and include the qualitative aspects of demography. To them, demography includes the interrelationships between population and social, economic and cultural conditions of the country and their effects on population growth.

It studies size, composition and distribution of population, and long run changes in them. Why migrations take place and what are their effects? What leads to urbanisation and what are its consequences? All these form part of macro aspects of population studies which also include unemployment, poverty and policies relating to them; population control and family welfare; and theories of population, migration and urbanisation etc.

William P. Scott explained Demography as a broad sense in his book of ‘Dictionary of Sociology’, “In the broadest view of demography is the study of population composition and distribution include not only such variables as fertility, mortality, age, and sex, but also marriage, divorce, family size, race, education, illiteracy, unemployment, distribution, crime rates, density of population, migration etc.

According to Frank Lorimer, “In broad sense, demography includes both demographic analysis and population studies. A broad study of demography studies both qualitative and quantitative aspects of population”.

As pointed out by Lorimer, “A demographer limited to the merely formal treatment of changes in fertility, mortality and mobility would be in a position like that of a formal chemist observing the compression of mercury with no information about associated changes in temperature or the constituent of the liquid.”

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Therefore, the scope of demography should include both micro and macro aspects of population. According to Thompson and Lewis, it should relate to fertility, mortality, information about female population, their health, marital status, distribution and classification of population according to occupation, and collection and study of information about social and economic condition, and migration of population.

This deals with such studies as the cause of rapid or slow growth of birth rate, death rate, population growth, sex ratio and health conditions. Many economic issues like unemployment, income condition, standard of living, labour condition and living standard, production, consumption, saving habits, relationship between population and economic development are all parts of macro demographic studies. Also, social problems like mental status, family composition, growing trends about education, religion etc. and problems of migration, urbanization, etc. form of macro demography.

In the World Population Conferences held by the United Nations ([UN) organization in 1954 & 1968, the following topics were discussed.

 Fertility

 Mortality

 Migration

 Genetic Composition

 Future Prospects

 Population and Resources

 Techniques of Measurement

 Training of Demographers

 Distribution of Population

 Family Planning

 Population Projections

 Demographic aspects of housing, education, saving of investment.

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Importance of Studying Demography for Social Work

Demography deals with the analysis & measurement of fertility, morbidity, mortality, migration, & net change in population. Demography as a subject has historically contained elements both of a social science & a policy science. Demography now is much more than the study of vital statistics but less than the all - encompassing science of human being would be an error to regard demography as a very wide subject.

Demography studies (i) theories, (ii) events, (iii) vista, & (iv) Policy propositions. We study “how to adjust the economy to the requirements of population”, but this is “economics of development we can study “how to adjust population to the requirements of the development of economy”, & this is part of population studies. The border between the two types of the studies is however, an “open” one.

Demography deals with vital issues relating to the events of marriage, births, living, migration & deaths & hence its relationship can be traced with some important disciplines of pure as well as social sciences. Demography deals with vital issues relating to the events of marriage, births, living, migration & deaths & hence its relationship can be traced with some important disciplines of pure as well as social sciences. An organic, & not mechanical, view is lateen of everything.

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 It provides the different idea of different variables and concepts of demography

 Techniques of population measurements are learnt through it.

 It helps to know theoretical perspective of increasing, decreasing and changing trends of population.

 It gives an idea in regard to natural resources and different economic factors such as (income, savings, investment, employment)

 Different population problems and their solutions are discussed in demography

 Formulation, Implementation, and evaluation of population policy, planning and programmes are examined by demography

 It provides the idea regarding the trend and root of social mobility through demographic elements

 It is important for health, planning, education, housing planning, planning of food supply and concerning migration rate etc.

 It helps to compare different dimension of population among national, regional and international level.

 Overall, Demographic knowledge helps to transfer population into human resources.

Population Studies in Demography

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What is Population?

Population studies is broadly defined as the scientific study of human populations. Major areas studied include broad population dynamics; fertility and family dynamics; health, aging, and mortality; and human capital and labor markets. researchers in population studies also focus on methodology. Population studies is an interdisciplinary area of study; scholars from demography, epidemiology, sociology, economics, anthropology, and various other disciplines study populations.

In biology, a population is all the organisms of the same group or species, which live in a particular geographical area, and have the capability of interbreeding. The area that is used to define a sexual population is defined as the area where inter-breeding is potentially possible between any pair within the area, and where the probability of interbreeding is greater than the probability of cross-breeding with individuals from other areas. Or , a community of animals, plants, or humans among whose members interbreeding occurs.

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In sociology, population refers to a collection of humans. Demography is a social science which entails the statistical study of human populations. Population in simpler terms is the number of people in a city or town, region, country or world; population is usually determined by a process called census (a process of collecting, analyzing, compiling and publishing data)

A research population is generally a large collection of individuals or objects that is the main focus of a scientific query. It is for the benefit of the population that researches are done.

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In anthropology also, the concept of population as a reproductive community is essential for analysing human biological variability and explaining the way it emerges in time and space. For this reason, anthropology emphasises the changing processes operating in human populations, closely linked to social life and culture. Indeed, anthropology, beyond its technical devices is, above all, a way of thinking. It is the history of population which becomes the guiding axis for its research.

In general ecology, the several populations in an area are considered together as a complex rather than singly; they represent different species, animal and plant, which depend on each other, sharing the same environment, together forming a living community: a biocenosis (Olivier, 1975).

Even in the case of palaeo-anthropology, despite the lack of adequate sampling to meet strict statistical requirements, where scarce fossil remains, sometimes unique, provide the only information on one or more members of the populations, it is possible to analyse and interpret the data in a probabilistic way. In these analyses, the palaeo-environmental context is considered in the wide sense, including the physical as well as the cultural environment.

In statistics, a population is a set of similar items or events which is of interest for some question or experiment. A statistical population can be a group of actually existing objects (e.g. the set of all stars within the Milky Way galaxy) or a hypothetical and potentially infinite group of objects conceived as a generalization from experience (e.g. the set of all possible hands in a game of poker). A common aim of statistical analysis is to produce information about some chosen population.

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In statistical inference, a subset of the population (a statistical sample) is chosen to represent the population in a statistical analysis. If a sample is chosen properly, characteristics of the entire population that the sample is drawn from can be estimated from corresponding characteristics of the sample.

On the other hand, from the demographic point of view a population is more constricted, since it is defined by pre-established limits, often administrative or political, in a conventional way: e.g. an urban population, student population, or the population of a province or a country. These are quite different uses of the term "population" from that in studies of the genetics of human populations where, as noted above, it is a community or communities made up by individuals who reproduce sexually or who are potentially capable of doing so. It is a group in which each member has the same probability of mating with other members of the opposite sex (Strickberger, 1976). From this point of view, what are the limits of a population? Usually, they are undefined, since in general, there are no clear borders among the genetic communities. Individuals separated by large geographical distances or physical barriers, or who do not speak the same language, have less chance of forming a couple, even though this would be biologically possible. Closed populations, genetically isolated from the others, are rather an exception.

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Science/Definition of Population

Populations can change through three processes: fertility, mortality, and migration. Fertility involves the number of children that women have and is to be contrasted with fecundity (a woman's childbearing potential). Mortality is the study of the causes, consequences, and measurement of processes affecting death to members of the population. Demographers most commonly study mortality using the Life Table, a statistical device which provides information about the mortality conditions (most notably the life expectancy) in the population.

Migration refers to the movement of persons from a locality of origin to a destination place across some pre-defined, political boundary. Migration researchers do not designate movements 'migrations' unless they are somewhat permanent. Thus demographers do not consider tourists and travelers to be migrating. While demographers who study migration typically do so through census data on place of residence, indirect sources of data including tax forms and labour force surveys are also important.

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Demography is today widely taught in many universities across the world, attracting students with initial training in social sciences, statistics or health studies. Being at the crossroads of several disciplines such as sociology, economics, epidemiology, geography, anthropology and history, demography offers tools to approach a large range of population issues by combining a more technical quantitative approach that represents the core of the discipline with many other methods borrowed from social or other sciences. Demographic research is conducted in universities, in research institutes as well as in statistical departments and in several international agencies. Population institutions are part of the Cicred (International Committee for Coordination of Demographic Research) network while most individual scientists engaged in demographic research are members of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population, or a national association such as the Population Association of America in the United States, or affiliates of the Federation of Canadian Demographers in Canada.

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According to Social Work Dictionary, “The total number of people in a nation or other specified geographic region; also, the number of people of a specified class or group (such as women, Roman Catholics, black people and disabled people) is a specified place or geographical region.”

According to Dictionary of Sociology by P. Scott, “The term population studies refer to the study of the inter-relationship between population composition and distribution and wide variety of social and economic variables.”

According to Merriam-Webster, Population refers to the body of persons or individuals having a quality or characteristic in common; the organisms inhabiting a particular locality; a group of interbreeding organisms that represents the level of organization at which speciation begins.

According to Genetics: Principles and Problems by Daniel L. HartL, (2007-45) “A Population is all the organisms that both belong to the same species and live in the same species and live in the same geographical area.”

According to ‘The study of population’ (1959-02) by Philip M. Hauser and Otis Dudley Duncan, “Demography analysis is confined to a study of the components of population variation and change. Population studies are concerned not only with population variables but also with the relationships between population changes and other variables social, economic, political, genetic, geographical and the like.”

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Characteristics of Population

 It indicates human population

 It is an assemblage of human beings

 It’s one of the core parts of demography

 It indicates the inhabitants of a specific geographical area

 It can be continually modified or changed by different variables (natural and social environment, birth-death, migration, intellectual situation, state policy etc.)

 It’s varied by situation, time , duration and environment

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Common rates and ratios of Population studies / Demography

 The crude birth rate, the annual number of live births per 1,000 people.

 The general fertility rate, the annual number of live births per 1,000 women of childbearing age (often taken to be from 15 to 49 years old, but sometimes from 15 to 44).

 The age-specific fertility rates, the annual number of live births per 1,000 women in particular age groups (usually age 15-19, 20-24 etc.)

 The crude death rate, the annual number of deaths per 1,000 people.

 The infant mortality rate, the annual number of deaths of children less than 1 year old per 1,000 live births.

 The expectation of life (or life expectancy), the number of years which an individual at a given age could expect to live at present mortality levels.

 The total fertility rate, the number of live births per woman completing her reproductive life, if her childbearing at each age reflected current age-specific fertility rates.

 The replacement level fertility, the average number of children women must have in order to replace the population for the next generation. For example, the replacement level fertility in the US is 2.11.

 The gross reproduction rate, the number of daughters who would be born to a woman completing her reproductive life at current age-specific fertility rates.

 The net reproduction ratio is the expected number of daughters, per newborn prospective mother, who may or may not survive to and through the ages of childbearing.

 A stable population, one that has had constant crude birth and death rates for such a long period of time that the percentage of people in every age class remains constant, or equivalently, the population pyramid has an unchanging structure.

 A stationary population, one that is both stable and unchanging in size (the difference between crude birth rate and crude death rate is zero).

A stable population does not necessarily remain fixed in size. It can be expanding or shrinking.

Note that the crude death rate as defined above and applied to a whole population can give a misleading impression. For example, the number of deaths per 1,000 people can be higher for developed nations than in less-developed countries, despite standards of health being better in developed countries. This is because developed countries have proportionally more older people, who are more likely to die in a given year, so that the overall mortality rate can be higher even if the mortality rate at any given age is lower. A more complete picture of mortality is given by a life table which summarizes mortality separately at each age. A life table is necessary to give a good estimate of life expectancy.

What is State in Political Science?

2022-04-21T21:15:00.013+06:00

Concept of State

The state is the most universal and most powerful of all social institutions. The state is a natural institution. Aristotle said a man is a social animal, and by nature, he is a political being. To him, to live in the state and to be a man were identical.

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The modern term "state" is derived from "status." Niccolo Machiavelli (1469 – 1527) first used the time "state" in his writings. His critical work is titled "Prince." The state is the highest form of human association. It is necessary because it comes into existence out of the basic needs of life. It continues to remain for the sake of good life.

Human beings' aims, desires, and aspirations are translated into action through the state. Though the state is a necessary institution, no two writers agree on its definition.

'State' is an association, and it means a nation or territory considered an organized political community under one government. A state, in another sense, is the political organization that has supreme civil authority and political power and serves as the basis of government. A government or politically organized society has a particular character.

According to Wikipedia, A state is a type of polity that is an organized political community living under a single system of government. States may or may not be sovereign. For instance, federated states are members of a federal union and may have only partial sovereignty but the state. Some states are subject to external sovereignty or hegemony, in which ultimate sovereignty lies in another state. Sovereign states are known as sovereign states.

§ According to Aristotle: "A union of families and villages having for its end a perfect and self –sufficing life by which we mean a happy and honorable life"

§ According to Woodrow Wilson: "The state is people organized for law within a definite territory."

§ According to Bluntschli: "The state is a politically organized people of a definite territory"

§ To Holland, the state is "a numerous assemblage of human beings generally occupying a certain territory amongst whom the will of the majority of the class is made to prevail against any of their number who oppose it." Burgess defines the state as "a particular portion of mankind."

§ According to Sidgwick, "State is a combination or association of persons in the form of government and governed and united together into a politically organized people of a definite territory."

§ According to Garner, "State is a community of people occupying a definite form of territory free of external control and possessing an organized government to which people show habitual obedience."

§ Prof. Laski defines a "state as a territorial society divided into government and subjects whose relationships are determined by the exercise of supreme coercive power."

So, we can say that a state is an association or organized political institution or community that has a government to govern within a definite territory.

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Elements of State

There are four components of a state, and these are population, territory, government, and sovereignty; these are described in the following:

Population

It is the people who make the state. The population is essential for the state. Greek thinkers believed that the people should neither be too big nor too small. According to Plato, the ideal number would be 5040. According to Aristotle, the number should be neither too large nor too small. It should be large enough to be self–sufficient and small enough to be well-governed.

Rousseau determined 10,000 to be an ideal number for a state. Greek thinkers like Plato and Aristotle's thinking on the number was based on the small city-states like Athens and Sparta. Modern conditions vary in population. India has a population of 102,70,15,247 people, according to the 2001 census.

Territory

There can be no state without a fixed territory. People need territory to live and organize themselves socially and politically. It may be remembered that the territory of the state includes land, water, and air–space. The modern states differ in their sizes. The territory is necessary for citizenship. As in the case of population, no actual size concerning the extent of the area of the state can be fixed. There are small and big states.

In the words of Prof. Elliott, "territorial sovereignty or the Superiority of the state overall within its boundaries and complete freedom from external control has been a fundamental principle of the modern state life."

Government

Government is the third element of the state. There can be no state without government. Government is the working agency of the state. It is the political organization of the state. Prof. Appadorai defined government as the agency through which the will of the state is formulated, expressed, and realized.

According to C.F. Strong, the state must have supreme authority to make and enforce laws. This is called the government.

Sovereignty

The fourth essential element of the state is sovereignty. The word 'sovereignty" means supreme and final legal authority above and beyond which no legal power exists. The concept of "sovereignty" was developed in conjunction with the rise of the modern state. The term Sovereignty is derived from the Latin word 'superanus,' which means supreme. The father of the modern theory of sovereignty was Jean Bodin (1530 – 1597), a French political thinker.

Sovereignty has two aspects: Internal sovereignty means that the state is supreme over all its citizens and associations. External sovereignty implies that the state is independent and free from foreign or outside control.

According to Harold J. Laski, "The state is distinguished from all other forms of human association by possession of sovereignty.

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Functions of State

The activities undertaken by the modern state are complex and varied. This is because there is a strong demand by the people for active state intervention in the social and economic affairs of the country. The statesmen of today do not place any limitation on the powers of the government to interfere in the social and economic spheres. The only governing principle is whether state action promotes the general welfare. In every country of the world, the 'laissez-faire' policy has been discarded, and there is a strong swing toward adopting Socialism. Frase is right when he says, "Socialism or Collectivism is upon us, horse, foot and gun."

The main functions that the modern state now performs are as follows:

(i) Provision of defense and security? The state's primary function is to protect the country from external invasion and maintain peace and security. People must live in perfect harmony for the smooth and progressive working of the economic machinery. They should not be in fear of external aggression. Every member of society should have complete protection from the injustice or oppression of every other member. The stale expenditure providing security and justice is productive because it indirectly helps carry out the activities labeled as effective.

(ii) Economic Function: The modern slate actively intervenes in economic spheres. Though it recognizes the individual rights in private property, it allows freedom of enterprise and contract. When it finds that its laws are being violated, it immediately regulates economic affairs. If the state considers that private capital is not forthcoming in specific industries, it assists private enterprises in establishing and running the drives. Sometimes, the government itself takes the initiative and sets up ambitions. Modern economists justify state interference in the following cases:

(a) Where business is of Monopolistic Nature: There are certain businesses like railways, post, telegraph, canal, electricity, water supply, etc., which are extremely useful for the people. If they are given into private hands, the consumers can be easily exploited. So the government, in the interest of the people, takes control of these businesses and runs them almost on a non-profit basis.

(b) Where Private Capital is not Attracted: If the private capital is shy in a particular industry or industry because of the inadequate return or no return, the state must step in and provide the requisite means. The cases where private capital is not attracted are public health, libraries, museums afforestation, road construction schemes, parks, etc.

(c) Protection of economically weak persons: Factory workers are often exploited by their employees in a competitive society. The state, therefore, must take appropriate steps for protecting the legitimate rights of a class having feeble bargaining powers.

(d) Exploitation by Forming Monopolistic combination: Sometimes, businessmen form cartels and trust and exploit the consumers by charging very high prices. The state, in such cases, must intervene and prohibit the formation of such a combination.

(e) Protection of Consumers: The State must protect its citizens against adulteration of food, sale of intoxicants, etc.

(f) Supply of Currency: The State must take complete control of the supply of currency in the country. This will help the government secure the stability of prices and appropriate steps to reduce income inequality. For this purpose, it adopts a progressive taxation system, levies death duties on the inherited party, and provides social services to the poor section of the community.

(g) State and Economic Planning: The State, to speed up economic development in a balanced manner, formulates programs and policies to harness the human efforts and-physical resources to the maximum possible extent. It fixes targets and priorities and then completes them within the specified period.

(iii) Direct Social Activities: Every modern State takes a keen interest in providing social services to its citizens. The government gives funds to the needy, sick, and unemployed persons, giving them free education and medical and old-age pensions. It takes care of public health and provides them housing facilities. It opens parks libraries for the benefit of the people.

In short, the state's intervention in economic affairs takes the form of:

(a) Provision of facilities to the businessmen for carrying on their businesses.

(b) Direct business encouragement by providing protection from foreign competition, granting bounties, subsidies, relief, taxation, etc.

(d) Taking actual control and ownership of specific vital industries.

In the last decade of the 20th century and in the 21st century, the state's role has been considerably reduced. Instead of performing the producer, controller, and regulator role, it will act as protector, promoter, and provider.

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Major 8 Functions of a State

(i) Defense: The Government's primary function is to safeguard the populace against external aggression and internal disorder. The government's primary responsibility is to maintain sufficient police and military forces and provide protective services.

(ii) Judiciary: The government is concerned with administering justice and resolving disputes. It should establish an adequate judicial structure capable of administering justice to citizens of all classes.

(iii) Enterprises: The modern state is responsible for regulating and controlling private enterprises. The government is responsible for owning and successfully operating certain enterprises.

(iv) Social Welfare: It is the state's responsibility to provide for the education, social security, social insurance, health, and sanitation of the country's citizens.

(v) Infrastructure: Modern states must lay the groundwork for the country's economic development by establishing social and economic infrastructure.

(vi) Macroeconomic policy: The government is responsible for fiscal and monetary policy to achieve macroeconomic objectives.

(vii) Social Justice: As an economy grows, specific segments of society benefit at the expense of others. The government must intervene with fiscal measures to rebalance income distribution.

(viii) Monopoly Control: Another evil that the government must address is the concentration of economic power. Thus, the state intervenes to prevent economic power concentration through monopoly control and restrictive trade practices.

Leadership in Social Group Work

2022-04-21T21:10:00.019+06:00

What is Leadership?

Leadership is an essential element of the directing function of management. Wherever there is an organised group of people working towards a common goal, some type of leadership becomes necessary. "The power of leadership is the power of integrating. The leader stimulates what is best in us. He unites and concentrates what we feel only gropingly and shatteringly. The person who influences me most is not he who does great Deeds, but he who makes me feel that I can do great deeds." Marry Parker Follet.

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Leadership is the ability to build up confidence and zeal among people and create an urge to be led. To be a successful leader, a manager must possess the qualities of foresight, drive, initiative, self-confidence and personal integrity. Different situations may demand different types of leadership. Leadership in this context does not mean taking centre stage – it is about creating the right environment for others to act. It is less directing and controlling, more stimulating, enabling and empowering.

Leadership is the capacity to work creatively, constructively, and effectively with individuals, families, groups, organisations, and communities to promote social justice, catalyse social change, and address individual and social problems. Leaders accomplish this by inspiring vision, offering direction, and supporting individual and collective action to obtain mutually valued results.

A simple definition is that leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal. Leadership is a process by which an executive can direct, guide and influence the behaviour and work of others towards the accomplishment of specific goals in a given situation. Leadership is the ability of a manager to induce subordinates to work with confidence and zeal.

Leadership is the potential to influence the behaviour of others. It is also defined as the capacity to influence a group towards realising a goal. Leaders are required to develop future visions and to motivate the organisational members to want to achieve the visions.

According to Keith Davis, "Leadership is the ability to persuade others to seek defined objectives enthusiastically. It is the human factor which binds a group together and motivates it towards goals.""

Leadership is both a research area and a practical skill encompassing the ability of an individual or organisation to "lead" or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organisations. US academic environments define leadership as "a process of social influence in which a person can enlist the aid and support of others to accomplish a common task."

Leadership is when one person sets the purpose or direction for one or more other persons and gets them to move along together with them and with each other in that direction with competence and full commitment. (Jaques & Clement, 1994: 4)

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Leadership is an interaction between two or more group members that often involves a structuring or restructuring of the situation and the perceptions and expectations of members…Leadership occurs when one group member modifies the motivation or competencies of others in the group. Any member of the group can exhibit some amount of leadership… (Bass, 1990: 19-20)

Leadership is the process of influencing the activities of an individual or a group in efforts toward goal achievement in a given situation. (Hersey & Blanchard, 1988: 86). Leadership is interpersonal influence, exercised in a situation and directed, through the communication process, toward attaining a specified goal or goals. (Tannenbaum, Weschler & Massarik, 1961: 24)

Leadership involves a) establishing a clear vision, b) sharing that vision with others so that they will follow willingly, and c) providing the information, knowledge and methods to realise that vision, and coordinating and balancing the conflicting interests of all members and stakeholders. A leader steps up in times of crisis and can think and act creatively in difficult situations.

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Characteristics of Leadership

1. Leadership is a personal quality.
2. It exists only with followers. If there are no followers, there is no leadership?
3. It is the willingness of people to follow that makes a person a leader.
4. Leadership is a process of influence. A leader must be able to influence his subordinates' behaviour, attitude, and beliefs.
5. It exists only for the realisation of common goals.
6. It involves a readiness to accept complete responsibility in all situations.
7. Leadership is the function of stimulating the followers to strive willingly to attain organisational objectives.
8. Leadership styles do change under different circumstances.
9. Leadership is neither bossism nor synonymous with; management.

Emergence of Leadership

Personal Traits
Accidental Leadership
Situational Leadership
Specific Skills
Tradition based
Conditioned Needs

Power bases of Leaders

Connection Power
Expert Power
Information Power
Legitimate Power
References Power
Reward Power
Coercive Power

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Functions of a Leader/Leadership in Social Work

Attributor (Conflict Mitigator)
Compromiser
Co-ordinator
Education (formal, non-formal)
Facilitator
Motivation
Democratic Decision Making
Guidance & Control
Organising the Group
Policy Maker
Programme Planning
Representation of the agency
Supervisor
Empowerment

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Style/Types of Leadership

A leadership style is a leader's style of providing direction, implementing plans, and motivating people. There are generally three significant styles of leadership such as:

Authoritarian Leadership

The authoritarian leadership style keeps the main emphasis on the distinction of the authoritarian leader and their followers. These types of leaders make sure to only create a distinct professional relationship. Direct supervision is what they believe to be vital in maintaining a successful environment and followership. Authoritarian leadership styles often follow the vision of those in control and may not necessarily be compatible with those being led. Authoritarian leaders focus on efficiency, as other styles, such as a democratic style, may be seen as a hindrance to progress.

Examples of authoritarian leadership: a police officer directing traffic, a teacher ordering a student to do their assignment, and a supervisor instructing a subordinate to clean a workstation. These positions require distinct characteristics that give the leader the position to get things in order or get the point across. Authoritarian Traits: sets goals individually, engages primarily in one-way and downward communication, controls discussion with followers, and dominates interaction.

Several studies have confirmed a relationship between bullying, on the one hand, and an autocratic leadership and an authoritarian way of settling conflicts or dealing with disagreements, on the other. An authoritarian leadership style may create a climate of fear, where there is little or no room for dialogue and where complaining may be considered futile.

Democratic Leadership

The democratic leadership style consists of the leader sharing the decision-making abilities with group members by promoting the interests of the group members and by practising social equality.

The boundaries of democratic participation tend to be circumscribed by the organisation or the group needs and the instrumental value of people's attributes (skills, attitudes, etc.). The democratic style encompasses the notion that everyone should play a part in the group's decisions by virtue of their human status. However, the democratic leadership style still requires guidance and control by a specific leader. The democratic style demands the leader decide who should be called upon within the group and who is given the right to participate in, make and vote on decisions.

Research has found that this leadership style is effective and creates higher productivity, better contributions from group members, and increased morale. Democratic leadership can lead to better ideas and more creative solutions to problems because group members are encouraged to share their thoughts and ideas. While democratic leadership is one of the most effective leadership styles, it does have some potential downsides. In situations where roles are unclear or time is of the essence, democratic leadership can lead to communication failures and uncompleted projects. Democratic leadership works best when group members are skilled and eager to share their knowledge. It is also essential to have plenty of time to allow people to contribute, develop a plan, and vote on the best course of action.

Laissez-faire Leadership

The laissez-faire leadership style is where all the rights and power to make decisions is entirely given to the worker. This was first described by Lewin, Lippitt, and White in 1939, along with the autocratic leadership and the democratic leadership styles.

Laissez-faire leaders allow followers to have complete freedom to decide on completing their work. It will enable followers to self-rule while at the same time offering guidance and support when requested. The laissez-faire leader using guided freedom provides the followers with all materials necessary to accomplish their goals but does not directly participate in decision making unless the followers request their assistance.

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This is an effective style to use when:

Followers are highly skilled, experienced, and educated.

Followers have pride in their work and the drive to do it successfully on their own.

Outside experts, such as staff specialists or consultants, are being used.

Followers are trustworthy and experienced.

This style should not be used when the leader cannot or will not provide regular feedback to their followers.

10 Qualities of a Leader

A leader has multidimensional traits, making him appealing and effective in behaviour. The following are the requisites to be present in a good leader:

Physical appearance- A leader must have a pleasing appearance. Physique and health are significant for a good leader.

Vision and foresight- A leader cannot maintain influence unless he exhibits that he is forward-looking. He has to visualise situations and thereby has to frame logical programmes.

Intelligence- A leader should be intelligent enough to examine problems and difficult situations. He should be analytical, weigh the pros and cons, and then summarise the situation. Therefore, a positive bent of mind and mature outlook is fundamental.

Communicative skills- A leader must communicate the policies and procedures clearly, precisely and effectively. This can be helpful in persuasion and stimulation.

Objective- A leader has to have a fair outlook free from bias and does not reflect his willingness towards a particular individual. He should develop his own opinion and base his judgement on facts and logic.

Knowledge of work- A leader should precisely know the nature of the work of his subordinates because it is then he can win the trust and confidence of his associates.

Sense of responsibility- Responsibility and accountability towards an individual's work are essential to bringing a sense of influence. A leader must have a sense of responsibility towards organisational goals because he can only get the maximum capabilities exploited in an absolute sense. He has to motivate himself and arouse an urge to give the best of his abilities. Only then he can motivate the subordinates to be the best.

Self-confidence and willpower- Confidence in himself is important to earn the confidence of the subordinates. He should be trustworthy and should handle the situations with full willpower.

Humanist-This trait to be present in a leader is essential because he deals with human beings and is in personal contact with them. He has to handle the personal problems of his subordinates with great care and attention. Therefore, treating human beings on humanitarian grounds is essential for building a congenial environment.

Empathy is an old adage ""Stepping into the shoes of others"". This is very important because fair judgement and objectivity come only then. A leader should understand the problems and complaints of employees and should also have a complete view of the needs and aspirations of the employees. This helps in improving human relations and personal contacts with the employees.

From the above qualities present in a leader, one can understand the scope of leadership and its' importance for a scope of business. A leader cannot have all traits at one time. But a few of them helps in achieving effective results.

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Components of Leadership

1. Self-Knowledge: The ability to demonstrate the professional use of self in practice, including the capacity for self-examination, insight and self-awareness. Monitor the effectiveness of one's own professional practice by applying research techniques and evaluation methodologies appropriately. Understand and acknowledge the profession's mission, values, ethnic principles, and ethical standards and course in a manner consistent with them. Understand the importance of continued professional renewal.

2. Critical & Creative Thinking: Apply critical thinking skills within professional social work practice. Use theoretical frameworks supported by empirical evidence to understand development, behaviour and interactions across a life span. Analyze and formulate social policies. Evaluate social work research and apply it to practice.

3. Effective Communication: Understand the various communication modalities and how contextual factors impact the effectiveness of contact with individuals, families and groups. Use verbal and nonverbal communication skills differentially with clients, colleagues and communities. Employ communication skills to establish and maintain mutual respect, acceptance and trust with other students, colleagues and clients. Share thoughts, ideas and feelings effectively in discussions, meetings, field placement and presentations with diverse individuals and groups. Demonstrate proficiency in oral and written communication designed to affect change in clients, groups, organizations, communities and society in the interest of social and economic justice.

4. Respect & Inclusion: Practice with respect, knowledge and skills related to clients' age, class, colour, disability, ethnicity, family structure, gender, marital status, national origin, race, religion, sex and sexual orientation. Validate and enhance assets and capacities for all client systems and communities, exceptionally diverse populations and disadvantaged, vulnerable or oppressed groups. Respect and promote clients' right to self-determination and assist clients in their efforts to identify and clarify their goals. Developing an understanding of their own personal, cultural values and beliefs is one way of appreciating the importance of multicultural identities in the lives of people.

5. Moral Courage: Understand the value base of the profession and its ethical standards and principles and practice accordingly. Recognize the forms and mechanisms of oppression and discrimination and apply advocacy and social change strategies. Take appropriate measures to discourage, prevent, disclose, and correct incompetent or unethical behaviour by colleagues and assist and defend colleagues believed to be unjustly charged with such conduct.

6. Teamwork & Collaboration: Use supervision and consultation appropriate to social work practice. Establish and maintain effective helping relationships that facilitate planned change. Demonstrate the skills necessary for constructive work within an organization. Treat colleagues with respect and represent accurately and fairly the qualifications, views and obligations of colleagues.

7. Focus On Purpose Or Results: Employ strategies for change that promote empowerment of clients and social justice. Plan and implement social intervention strategies appropriate for use in direct or management and community practice. Engage in social and political action that seeks to ensure that all people have equal access to the resources, employment, services and opportunities they require to meet their basic human needs and develop fully. Strive toward the maintenance and promotion of high standards of practice.

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Importance of Leadership in Social Group Work

Leadership is an essential function of management that helps to maximize efficiency and to achieve organizational goals. The following points justify the importance of leadership in a concern.

Initiates action- A leader is a person who starts the work by communicating the policies and plans to the subordinates from where the work actually starts.

Motivation- A leader plays an incentive role in the concern's working. He motivates the employees with economic and non-economic rewards and thereby gets the work from the subordinates.

Providing guidance- A leader has to supervise and play a guiding role for the subordinates. Guidance here means instructing the subordinates on how they have to perform their work effectively and efficiently.

Creating confidence- Confidence is an essential factor that can be achieved by expressing the work efforts to the subordinates, explaining their role clearly and giving them guidelines to achieve the goals effectively. It is also essential to hear the employees regarding their complaints and problems.

Building morale- Morale denotes the willing co-operation of the employees towards their work and getting them confidence and winning their trust. A leader can be a morale booster by achieving full co-operation to perform to the best of their abilities as they work to achieve goals.

Builds work environment- Management is getting things done by people. An efficient work environment helps in sound and stable growth. Therefore, human relations should be kept in mind by a leader. He should have personal contact with employees and listen to their problems and solve them. He should treat employees on humanitarian terms.

Coordination- Coordination can be achieved through reconciling personal interests with organizational goals. This synchronization can be achieved through proper and effective coordination, which should be the primary motive of a leader.

Group Therapy in Social Group Work

2022-04-21T21:08:00.014+06:00

What is Group Therapy?

Group psychotherapy or group therapy is a form of psychotherapy in which one or more therapists treat a small group of clients together. Group therapy focuses on the group of clients and attempts to benefit from sharing their experiences. In group therapy, both patient-patient interactions and patient-therapist interactions are used to effect changes in maladaptive behaviour in each group member. (Raghda Elgamail)

Group therapy is “a form of psychotherapy that involves one or more therapists working with several people at the same time (Cherry, 2017).”

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Group psychotherapy is a treatment of a psychological problem in which two or more patients/clients interact with each other on both emotional & cognitive levels in the presence of one or more psychotherapists who serve as catalysts (the person who can be related to or who can understand the other's point of view), facilitators or interpreters. (Syeda Omama Shahab)

Group therapy is a type of psychotherapy in which one or more therapists interact with multiple clients concurrently. This therapy is generally available in several settings, including private practices, hospitals, mental health clinics, and community centres. While group therapy is occasionally used alone, it is frequently combined with individual therapy as part of a comprehensive treatment strategy.

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Goals of Group Therapy

Help Individuals Identify Maladaptive Behavior
Help with Emotional Difficulties through Feedback
Offer a Supportive Environment

While most therapeutic sessions attempt to make people feel more at ease, autonomous, and in charge of their life, group therapy has a slightly different goal than individual therapy. Group therapy is often the most practical option for individuals dealing with situations that touch many people. The most common recommendation for group therapy is as part of a larger therapeutic plan to facilitate sharing, connection and coping.

In group therapy, there are two types of goals:

Process Goals, and
Outcome Goals

During a group session, process goals relate to comprehending personal concerns and relating to others. This is commonly referred to as the healing process. The behavioural changes that individuals want to achieve as a result of group therapy are known as outcome goals.

The primary purpose of group therapy is to foster a sense of belonging or relatability by facilitating understanding via sharing everyday experiences. As a result, group therapy works best when it addresses a common concern among all group members. The group's success depends on this global relatability.

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Purposes of Group Therapy

a) To help build an atmosphere of trust and safety.
b) To enforce rules and norms.
c) To provide feedback.
d) To get a member's input, reaction or feedback.
e) To draw connections between members or point out themes
f) To correct irrational or faulty thinking.
g) To empower participants.
h) To offer support when needed.
i) To reinforce helpful contributions.
j) To encourage constructive risk-taking

Types of Group Therapy

The group therapy session's general tone and direction will change according to the group type. There are numerous types of groups, each with a distinct focus, but they all fall into one of two categories:

1) Psychoeducational – These groups are designed to arm members with the knowledge and skills necessary to address or cope with whatever brought them to the group; they are typically arranged around specific subjects or modules.

2) Process-Oriented – These organisations are primarily concerned with sharing experiences, connecting, and forming connections; a conversation among members takes precedence over a predetermined agenda (GoodTherapy, 2013).

Groups can be further classified according to discussion topics and the group's structure. Several of the most often used therapy groups include the following:

1) Self-Help Groups – These are often led by individuals who are not trained group facilitators but have suffered with or successfully overcome or handled an issue and seek to assist others.

2) Medication Groups - These groups focus on medicine compliance; the goal is to educate clients about their medication, ensure they follow their doctor's instructions and alleviate their sense of isolation.

3) Interpersonal Therapy Groups – These groups are designed to delve deeper into the clients' current relationships to better understand current problems; the emphasis is on the present rather than the past in these groups.

4) Encounter Groups— These groups place members in potentially uncomfortable and difficult group circumstances in the hope of eliciting more change than a typical therapy group.

5) Psychodrama — This novel group therapy involves participants acting out significant events in their lives. These theatrical re-enactments have the potential to elicit intense emotions, which are explored following each "scene" (Counselling Connection, 2010).

The size of a group therapy session is also determined by the type of group but can range from three or four to twelve or more individuals (although more than twelve participants may not be as effective). Group sessions are often held once or twice a week for one or two hours each. Although six sessions are typically advised, group therapy frequently lasts up to a year or longer (Cherry, 2017).

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Group therapy sessions are classified into two types.

1) Open groups: new members are welcome to join at any time; for instance, Alcoholics Anonymous is an open group that welcomes new members at any time.

2) Closed groups: therapy sessions are restricted to a core group of participants; additional members may be admitted only when a new group is formed (Cherry, 2017).

While the content of a group therapy session varies according to the topic, participants, and stage of treatment, the following are some typical features:

The participants will convene in a room arranged in a big circle of chairs. The session may begin with group members introducing themselves and discussing their reasons for seeking therapy. Members may also share their progress and updates since the previous group meeting in the following sessions (in closed groups) or in each session (in open groups). The session's flow will be determined by the same elements mentioned above but will most likely follow one of the following broad paths:

1) Free-form: each participant may participate in the group as much or as little as s/he like. Participants are the primary drivers of the discussion, with the therapist providing facilitation and guidance.

2) Planned: In some instances, the therapist may have a predetermined program for the meeting, complete with planned activities and skill-building exercises for the group members to participate in (Cherry, 2017).

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11 Principles of Group Therapy

1) Universality- the feeling of having problems similar to others, not alone
2) Altruism - helping and supporting others
3) Instillation of hope - encouragement that recovery is possible
4) Guidance - nurturing support & assistance
5) Imparting information - teaching about problem and recovery
6) Developing social skills - learning new ways to talk about feelings, observations and concerns
7) Interpersonal learning - finding out about themselves & others from the group
8) Cohesion - feeling of belonging to the group, valuing the group
9) Catharsis – release of emotional tension
10) Existential factors – life & death are realities
11) Imitative behaviour – modelling another's manners & recovery skills.

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Yalom's therapeutic factors of Group therapy

It is typically used in conjunction with individual therapy and occasionally medicine, while it may be used alone for specific concerns or problems. According to Dr Irvin D. Yalom, one of the most known group therapists, there are eleven fundamental principles of group therapy:

1) Instilling hope: Because group therapy frequently involves clients at various levels of their treatment, some of the newer clients may be encouraged by observing the positive effects on those who are further along in their treatment.

2) Universality: Simply being a part of a community of people who understand and have dealt with similar issues can help clients realise they are not alone and that pain is universal.

3) Sharing knowledge: Group members can be excellent sources of information.

4) Altruism: Group therapy allows individuals to exercise altruism by assisting others in the group, which is likely to benefit them.

5) The primary family group's remedial recapitulation: The process of clients learning and examining their childhood experiences, personalities, behaviours, and feelings, as well as learning how to detect and avoid damaging or non-helpful behaviours, is referred to by this euphemistic premise.

6) Socialisation techniques: Working in a group provides good opportunities to socialise, practise new behaviours, and experiment in a safe atmosphere.

7) Imitative behaviour: Clients can watch and model positive and helpful actions toward others in the group, including the therapist, by observing and imitating or modelling them.

8) Interpersonal learning: The client can learn more about themselves by interacting with the therapist and other group members and receiving feedback.

9) Group cohesion: Group therapy sessions can help people feel like they belong and are accepted by others.

10) Catharsis: This theory is founded on the healing effects of sharing one's feelings and experiences with others; talking through them in a group can help ease pain, guilt, and tension.

11) Existential factors: While group therapy provides direction and support, it also teaches clients that they are accountable for their own acts and the consequences (Cherry, 2017).

This set of ideas demonstrates that working in a group has numerous advantages over working alone. While some of these ideas can be applied to individual therapy, most are best used in a group context.

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Functions of Group Therapy

a) Sharing experiences

b) Support to & from group member
c) Socialisation
d) Imitation
e) International learning

Role of a Group Therapist

The group therapist is the primary orchestrator of change within the group. While group members also exert an influence, the group therapist creates the therapeutic climate and is responsible for focusing the group on relevant tasks. The therapist should actively structure group discussions to encourage the members to stay on topic and on task to achieve desired outcomes. The therapist's roles include:

The decision to establish a group
Determine the setting and size of the group
Choose the frequency and length of the group sessions
Decide on open vs closed groups
Select a co-therapist for the group
Formulate policy on the group therapy with other therapeutic modalities
Creating a therapy group
Formulate appropriate group
Select clients who can perform the group task
Prepare clients t for group therapy
Construction and maintenance of the therapeutic environment
Build the culture of the group explicitly and implicitly
Identify and resolve common problems (e.g., membership turnover, sub-grouping, conflict)
Being aware of individual group members
Directing the focus of the group.

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Skills of the therapist

Group therapists' skills are displayed in different ways and at various stages during the life of the therapy group. Group therapists must know which skills are at the core of leading an influential group while also ensuring any skills employed are done quickly and appropriately.

Interestingly, in the group environment, while some of the skills are primarily the therapist's responsibility, other skills may depend more on the cooperative efforts of group members in conjunction with the group therapist (Gladding, 2003). Some of the specific therapist skills include but are not limited to the following:

a) Facilitating: In groups, the therapist facilitates or ensures the smooth and effective progression of the group process, the interaction between group members and group dynamics.

b) Protecting: This involves safeguarding group members from unwarranted attacks by others in the group. This is a vital skill in group therapy, especially at the beginning stages, where members are more likely to be combative.

c) Blocking: In blocking, the therapist intervenes to stop counterproductive behaviour either verbally or nonverbally.

d) Linking: In linking, the therapist points out-group members that share the same concerns and encourages them to work together.

e) Diagnosing: In the group work setting, diagnosis is when the group therapist identifies certain behaviours and categories in which a group member may fit. This is based on the therapist's observations and doesn't necessarily include psychological instruments. For example, a group therapist may notice that the group tends to blame rather than develop constructive ideas.

g) Delegating: In delegating, the group therapist assigns a task to the group or one or more of its members. The idea behind delegation is to share the responsibility group development with the group members.

h) Creativity: because group work is very creative, group therapists need to be skilled in divergent ways of thinking and behaving. With an increased capacity for creativity group, therapists can help themselves and the group to become more productive through innovative ideas and methods of approach in times of crisis and when forming a sense of community within the group.

Other therapist's skills

Encourage participation of all group members
Observe and identify group process events
Attend to and acknowledge group member behaviour
Clarify and summarise group member statements
Open and close group sessions
Impart information in the group where necessary
Model effective group leader behaviour
Ask open-ended questions in the group
Empathise with group members
Confront group member's behaviour
Help group members attribute meaning to the experience
Help group members integrate and apply what they learn
Demonstrate ethical and professional standards of group practice
Keep the group on task and accomplish shared and individual goals.

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6 Techniques of Group Therapy

a) Cognitive therapy
b) Behavioral therapy
c) Roleplay
d) Story Writing and Sharing
e) Task-oriented groups
f) Therapeutic activity groups

Functions of Group Therapist

a) Emotional Stimulation
b) Caring
c) Meaning Attribution
d) Executive Function

5 Guidelines of Group Therapy

a) Maintain Confidentiality
b) Commitment to Attendance.
c) Socialising with Group Members
d) Putting Feelings into Words, Not Actions.
e) Role of Leader and Members

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5 Rules of Group Therapy

Regardless of the form of group treatment you attend, the basic guidelines will almost certainly be the same. These guidelines must be observed to ensure the group's safety and the treatment's effectiveness. While many groups may have different criteria, there is a basic set of five guidelines necessary for group therapy to be successful. These five rules are as follows:

1) Preserve Confidentiality. Throughout group therapy, all group participants and leaders must keep everything discussed in private. Failure to follow this guideline can erode group trust and impede members' healing attempts.

2) Attendance Commitment. This is another critical criterion for practically any organisation — each member must attend each session, come on time, and remain for the duration of the session. Apart from the fact that the absent member is missing out on crucial information and practice, absence, late arrival, or early departure can cause disruption within the group.

3) There will be no socialising with other members of the group. Group therapy is not a social activity; it is ideally therapeutic (ideally!). Developing intimate friendships or other relationships with group members can jeopardise the group's success, especially if members feel afraid to disclose personal information due to an incident involving another group member. Friendships should be conserved for the period following the group's disbandment.

4) Communicate Through Words, Not Through Actions. This guideline is the polar opposite of the customary counsel given to storytellers: "Show, don't tell!" Because people react differently to physical contact, it is critical to communicate verbally rather than physically.

5) Participate. Group therapy is ineffective if members do not participate! Healing and growth are contingent upon group members' ability to connect, share, and learn from one another. For this treatment to be effective, all group members must participate fully.

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What Is The Best Way To Run A Group Therapy Session?

1. Start with age, grade, class, and goals, then prepare the teachers, parents, and students that you may make adjustments in the first few weeks based on group dynamics for students' benefit.

Spend the first sessions honing in on student personalities, interests, preferences, academic skills and levels of performance, motivating factors, and other factors contributing to success- then adjust.

2. Flexibility! We want the schedule to be perfect from the start, and no one likes the extra work of making changes, but flexibility is vital. It is OK to make changes when needed.

3. Don't feel like goal areas are the only requirement for groups. Sometimes interests, personalities, academic level, skills, etc., are more significant in facilitating successful sessions.

Social skills groups: Sometimes, I have found it beneficial to group a student working on social skills with a student who is not. I have had groups with two students working on social skills struggle to engage and participate despite my best efforts. Still, once they have a natural peer model of targeted communication skills or even a peer they were already familiar with and liked, they open up and are more receptive to engaging.
Relationships: Especially in Middle School and High School, students can be involved in social drama and conflict that interfere with sessions. Sometimes pairing males/females together or separately can help groups work better.
Cultural Competence: Be alert of the student's linguistic, cultural, and other unique factors that would impact the session.

4. Engagement. Strategise how all the students can be engaged in the session.

Games: Preparing individualised cards/questions paired with a board game.
Cooperative Games: Play games where the group has to "win" a challenge together.
Shared Text: Design literacy-based sessions on a shared text while targeting individual goals.
Combined Responses: Have both students answer questions, engage in the activity, and then take data on students' individual goals in the last couple minutes of the session.
Support: Encouraging students to help one another with responses if appropriate.
Model: Model acceptance, encouragement, a celebration of strengths, and respect for all.
Focus Tasks: Have a paper/pencil task for the students to work on when it's not their "turn" (i.e., drawing pictures of items with their sounds, filling in a chart for their accuracy, articulation colouring page, seek and find, underlining- quick and straightforward entities to maintain focus on session and goal).

5. Privacy. Let parents/guardians/students know that if they would like to discuss specific aspects of their therapy (i.e., goals, progress, etc.), you will meet separately with them due to privacy needs. Offer to stay on after the other student leaves, meet a few minutes early, or set up a separate time.

It's important to remember these 5 tips when training your teams on how to facilitate a group therapy session.

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5 Ways to Run a Successful Therapy Group

1) A Strict Non-Violence Policy: While it's crucial to avoid being unduly pushy or controlling in a group therapy session, several other essential characteristics must be avoided. Violent, threatening, or otherwise intimidating behaviour is one of them. Many people, particularly those with social or self-esteem difficulties, will shut down when confronted with antagonising behaviour, leaving the group ineffective. In the worst-case situation, they'll need a lot of assistance to try the same notion again, and they might have to do so with a different group. This type of behaviour should be avoided if feasible, but it should be dealt with calmly and directly if required.

2) Make the Group Fun: This idea is frequently overemphasised in groups for children, but it is underutilised in organisations for adults. Fun is a crucial concept to include; socialising is supposed to be enjoyable. It won't be much use if the group comes out as dull, monotonous, repressive, or frivolous; people may still profit, but it won't serve them well as a society model. Adults have a variety of alternatives for making therapy enjoyable, ranging from the ubiquitous coffee and doughnuts to games and activities to famous films that address the issues that the group is addressing (in a constructive manner).

3) Respect a Participant's Privacy: The group — or anyone else — is not due to any personal or private information. Participants in a group therapy session should never be forced to reveal any specific piece of information at any point. This sense of vulnerability and responsibility runs opposite to what is required to address a wide range of common psychological issues that persons with various diseases face. The group leader's responsibility is to actively defend participants against such infringement, rather than merely avoiding requiring anything of them.

4) Encourage, but Don't Force, Participation: By deciding to attend group therapy sessions, a person has already made the first step toward assisting themselves in confronting their problems. Most of the time, such a person has sought individual counselling elsewhere, indicating that they have already taken significant measures toward healthy living. Participants should be urged to participate as gently as possible, but they should never be compelled to do so before ready.

5) Be Straightforward and Direct, but Unassertive: Anyone leading a group therapy session should be open and honest about the group's objective, including what it plans to do, for whom, and how, and what obstacles they hope to help others in attendance overcome. At the same time, this should not come off as if individuals in attendance are being singled out or targeted. One of the most essential features of group therapy is that the participants feel like they are part of a supportive social circle. If they believe they are up against a united front of resistance or accusation, the group might be thrown off balance and even become counterproductive.

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Benefits/Advantages of Group Therapy

There are numerous reasons why group therapy is a treatment worth considering for participants. Among the primary advantages are the following:

It enables individuals to gain support and encouragement from other group members, reducing their feelings of isolation and loneliness.
Group therapy enables group members to serve as role models for other group members, mainly when the group consists of people at various stages of treatment.
Even if all participants are at the same stage, some will naturally be more successful than others in dealing with particular challenges. Group members can share their experiences and learn from one another.
Because the therapist's time is shared with other clients, it is typically less expensive than individual treatment.
Group therapy creates a safe space for group members to experiment with new habits without fear of being judged.
Interacting with others in group therapy enables the therapist to observe firsthand how a client interacts with others and behaves in social situations, allowing the therapist to provide each client with tailored feedback and suggestions (Cherry, 2017).
People who participate in group therapy can benefit from the support and encouragement of their peers. People in the group can see that others are going through similar experiences, which might make them feel less alone.
Members of a group can serve as role models for others. Other group members can realise that there is hope for healing by watching someone effectively deal with an issue. As each person grows, they can become a role model and a source of encouragement for others. This can aid in the development of sentiments of accomplishment and success.
Group therapy is frequently relatively inexpensive. Instead of focusing on just one client at a time, the therapist can focus on a much wider group of people, lowering the cost to the participants.
Group therapy provides a secure environment. The environment allows people to practice habits and actions in a safe and secure environment.
The therapist can observe firsthand how each person reacts to others and behaves in social circumstances by working in a group. The therapist can provide valuable feedback to each client based on this information.

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7 Ice Breakers and Activities for Adults

Many different activities and exercises can be done in groups in addition to specific subjects for discussion in group therapy. A handful of these actions are outlined in the following paragraphs.

1 Therapy Goal Setting: Group treatment sessions are more challenging to facilitate than one-on-one therapy sessions. However, with appropriate goal-setting, interactive dynamics and potential communication challenges with larger groups may typically be anticipated.

2 About Your Partner: This activity can be an excellent opening for couples therapy groups. These questions aren't overly probing, but they might serve as a good reminder of the couple's emotional bond and relationship history. It can also assist them in learning more about themselves and their relationship.

3 Two Truths and a Lie: This exercise is terrific for icebreakers, but it's entertaining to do with people who already know each other. It allows individuals to reveal something personal about themselves, utilise their imagination and ingenuity to concoct a compelling story, and learn exciting facts about the group's other members.

4 Mindful Speaking: This group therapy activity focuses on participants' communication and mindfulness abilities, and it's a terrific all-around activity for any treatment. Cultivating an awareness of mindful speech can be an excellent method to set the tone for couples group therapy, or even when working with families, where emotion regulation is a focus.

5 Cooking: Getting group members to participate in an activity involving both active hands and focus is a terrific approach to help them become more familiar with one another and open up. Cooking is ideal for this activity since it brings people together to do something enjoyable while still connecting with others in the group.

6 Strength-Spotting: The purpose of this Qualities Spotting group activity is to assist participants in identifying and recognising psychological or character strengths in themselves and others. One of the most potent advantages of doing this generally isolated exercise in a group setting is that participants can receive feedback on their own talents from people around them.

7 Check-In Questions: Most therapy groups begin with each member "checking in," providing any progress updates, and sometimes sharing something noteworthy from their week or something they've learned since the previous session. If you're working with people who are hesitant to speak in front of a group, having a list of questions to lead the check-in process can be beneficial.

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10 Techniques, Ideas, and Games for Youth and Teens in Group Therapy

Many of the exercises and activities listed above can be used in group therapy with children, but some are better suited to this age group. Below are some practices and strategies that perform well with younger groups.

1 Icebreakers and Trust-Building: This section contains about a half-dozen icebreaker suggestions suitable for both teens and adults in group therapy.

2 Categories: Participants are requested to divide into smaller groups based on a category, such as favourite colour, favourite meal, number of siblings, and so on, in this icebreaker. It will assist teens in becoming more comfortable communicating with one another and learning new things about their peers.

3 Human Knot: Because this exercise demands physical interaction between group members, it may not be appropriate for all groups. Everyone forms a circle and takes the hand of someone who isn't right next to them, then tries to untangle the knot without losing go of anyone's hand.

4 Fear in a Hat: This icebreaker works best in a group if everyone is at least somewhat familiar with the other members. Everyone puts out their deepest, darkest dread on a sheet of paper. These papers are collected and placed in a hat. Each team member will create a worry, read it aloud, and try to figure out who wrote it.

Trust-building exercises are also excellent for making group members feel at ease with one another and encouraging a safe and secure environment in which to share information.

5 Minefield: Members of the group should be paired up. If there are an odd number of members, the therapist can team up with one to make the group more balanced. Tell each couple to blindfold one member and have the other guide them around the room looking for a particular object or object. When the object(s) has been discovered, the partners can switch if there is adequate time.

6 Eye Contact: For this essential exercise, participants are divided into pairs and must stare into each other's eyes for 60 seconds. Maintaining more extended eye contact will assist group members in becoming more comfortable with one another, practising a crucial aspect of social interaction, and connecting on a deeper level.

7 Trust Fall: This tried-and-true trust exercise is still a great approach to establishing group trust. Have each person climb onto a table and fall backwards into the arms of the other group members without looking back. For a reason, this is a classic: it works!

8 Silent Appreciation Mapping: This engaging gratitude activity allows kids and adolescents to express themselves while exercising their creativity. A whiteboard or a large sheet of paper, as well as several coloured pens, are required. Divide your leading group into three to five smaller groups.

9 My Favorite Animals: This is a fun game for kids and young adults that combines creativity, imagination, absurdity, and active participation. Instruct the participants to list their top three favourite animals in order. Members must write down the animal's name and three attributes they admire about it for each animal.

Ask each group member to analyse how each animal reflects them differently after identifying and describing their three favourite animals. The first animal and its three qualities represent how you want others to see you. The second animal and its three rates mean how people actually see you. The third animal and its three qualities represent who you are.

10 Inside and Outside Worksheet: This Inside and Outside Worksheet might be a valuable tool for families with young children in treatment. It's designed for a youngster to complete, and the answers can be discussed as a family to help understand and find solutions to family issues.

Social Problems in Sociology

2022-04-21T21:05:00.004+06:00

What is Social Problem?

Social change creates many social problems in a functional society (i.e.). The norms, values, customs, traditions, mores, and laws of social change as the changes occur inside society. It means that society is disturbed by external or internal forces of social change. A changing society inevitably develops problems; either the conditions themselves change and become unacceptable (population growth, soil erosion, and deforestation create a conservation problem) or the society's changing values define an old shape as no longer tolerable (child labour, poverty, racism. or sex inequality)

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There is no universal, clear cut, constant, or absolute definition of what constitutes a social problem. Instead, social issues are defined by objective and subjective criteria that vary across societies, among individuals and groups within a community, and across historical periods.

A social problem is a condition born in a society that is not an ideal situation. As long as a society still finds the community's unmet needs equally, social problems will always exist. A heterogeneous society like Bangladesh will undoubtedly encounter a lot of social issues.

According to Arnold Rose “ A Social Problem may be defined as a situation which has influenced a good majority of people. i.e.., they believe that this situation itself is responsible for their difficulties or displeasures which may be removed”
According to the International Encyclopedia of the social sciences, Vol-14 “ social problems are described most simply as perplexing questions about human societies proposed for solutions. The social problems are part of the climate of opinion in society which enters on expressed needs for public policies and anticipated requirements for social control”.

The Social Work Dictionary Defines Social problems as “Conditions among people leading to social responses that violets some people's values and norms and cause emotional or economic suffering.

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Some other essential definitions of social problems are given below :

1. Horton and Leslie: It is often defined as a condition that many people consider undesirable and wish to correct.

2. Lindbergh: "It is any deviant behaviour in a disapproved direction of such a degree that it exceeds the tolerance limit of the community".

3. L.K. Frank: Any difficulty of misbehaviour of a relatively large number of persons which we wish to remove or correct."

4. Fuller & Mayer: "A social problem starts with the awakening of people in a given locality, with the realization of certain cherished values that are threatened by the conditions which have become acute."

Read: Theoretical Perspectives to Social Problems

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Factors of Social Problems

Social problems encountered in the community are usually very diverse. However, the diversity of social issues can be categorized into four main factors, namely as follows.

a) Economic factors, usually in poverty, unemployment, Beggary, Dependency and so on.

b) Cultural factors, usually in divorce, juvenile delinquency, Overpopulation, Communal Conflict and so on.

c) Economic factors, usually poverty, unemployment, Beggary, Dependency, etc.

d) Cultural factors, usually in divorce, juvenile delinquency, Overpopulation, Communal Conflict and so on.

e) Biological factors, usually in the form of infectious diseases, food poisoning, etc.

f) Psychological factors, usually in the form of neurological disease, a cult, Frustration, Suicide and so on.

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Forms of Social Problems

¾ Abortion /Alcoholism

¾ Bullying /Campus Crime

¾ Capital Punishment / Death Penalty

¾ Child Abuse /Child Labor

¾ Cyber Bullying (Cyberbullying)

¾ Domestic Violence

¾ HIV / AIDS

¾ Human Trafficking

¾ Pornography /Poverty

¾ Rape /Sex Trade/ Sexual Harassment /Spousal Abuse

¾ Smoking / Tobacco

¾ Stereotyping /Suicide

¾ Terrorism /Unemployment

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Read: Poverty: Types, Causes and Trends

Read: Corruption as a Social Problem

Read: Women Vulnerabilities: Levels and Forms

Characteristics of Social Problems

Salient features and characteristics of social problems are that it changes the situation so that a problem is created to the extent that the existing social order has to be changed. It also means that it is challenging to solve the problem, but feeling that such a solution is inevitable or undesirable is not proper. But one of the significant characteristics is that it becomes a problem only when people begin to feel and take that in that sense. As long as the people are not aware of the problem, even though that exists, there is no social disharmony, but maladjustment comes to the front only when the masses become conscious of it.

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Classification of Social Problems

So far, no universally accepted classification has been produced about social problems. Our sociologists have tried to give different categories.

According to Harold A. Phelps, the classification of such problems is biological.

¾ physical defects; bio-psychological

¾ feeble mindedness cultural,

¾ juvenile delinquency and economic

¾ poverty and unemployment.

Another classification is based on heritage

¾ physical heritage,

¾ biological heritage,

¾ social heritage.

But so far, no universally accepted classification has been produced. The primary reason for this is that no problem is absolute in society. Every issue is relative and linked with one or more aspects of our life.

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Causes of Social Problems in Bangladesh

A social problem is not welcomed in any society. Problems create disharmony and maladjustment, but still, the problems exist. What are the leading causes which have been posted by our sociologists? So far, the situation has found no solution, and every attempt made in this regard has failed. The main reason for this is that sociologists cannot pinpoint a single cause responsible for creating such a problem. The grounds, which may be accountable in one society, may not be liable in the other society.

Similarly, what may be liable under certain circumstances may not be under certain other circumstances. In fact, in actual practice, it has been found difficult to find any single cause responsible for creating social problems. Some of the many reasons include the individual's feeble-mindedness and physical disability. Industrialization, immobility and weak social institutions may be other causes responsible for it.

The nature of a social problem and its need for binding intervention cannot be overemphasized to salvage society from the conditions or situations that warrant its occurrence. These causes are therefore contingent factors worthy of understanding in order to wage war against social problems affecting societal growth, development and transformation respectively. Also, the basic causes of the social problem are structural and individual-related. The structural cause of a social problem revolves around the way and manner the socio-economic, and political administrators function (Uzodike & Maiangwa, 2012; Akanni, 2014; and Aborisade, 2017) while the individual factor can singlehandedly engineer some problems – by initiating a social movement. Due to the relativity of social problems, sociologists cannot pinpoint a single cause responsible for creating the problem everywhere i.e. the cause of a problem in a particular jurisdiction, may not be the force in another. Hence, in actual practice, it is presumed difficult to relate a single cause for a social problem. Worthy of note, a social problem can also necessitate another social problem from anywhere in the world (Uzodike & Maiangwa, 2012).

For instance, unemployment or underemployment in any nation can stir up the likelihood of poverty, poor standard of living, low cost of living, and health issues to mention but a few. On another note, war as a significant social problem usually comes with other acquaintances – homelessness, famine, sexual assault, homicide, genocide to mention a few. Other causes of a social problem include feeble-mindedness of the individual, individual consciousness, segregation/marginalisation, globalization, industrialization, leadership aptitude, weak social structure – especially the political and economic base, to mention a few (Uzodike & Maiangqa, 2012; Ijewereme & Dunmade, 2014; and Aborisade, 2017). Nonetheless, the causes highlighted above as engineered by the individual, national and international bodies or even by the social problem itself make it quite important to proffer appropriate and workable mechanisms for the menace. This is therefore necessarily based on the consequences of any social problem on the individual and the society at large – which is the main focus of the next heading.

a) Social Change

b) Natural Disaster

c) Overpopulations

d) Political Turmoil

e) Unequal Distribution of Wealth and Opportunity

f) Illiteracy

g) Social Ill-Health

h) Cultural Lag and Cultural Conflict ( Satellite Culture)

i) Unplanned Urbanization and Industrialization

j) Values Conflict and so on.

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Attitudes Towards Social Problems

a) Indifference

b) Fatalistic Resignation

c) Cynicism

d) Religious Retribution

e) Sentimentalism

f) Social Scientific Attitude

Ways to Reduce/Control Social Problems

   a) Social Research
   b) Legal Control
   c) Change in Behavior
   d) Social Policy and Planning
   e) Use and Engagement of Experts
   f) Religion and Moral Education
   g) Equal Distribution of Wealth and Opportunity
   h) Social Prognosis

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Read: NGOs Initiatives in Poverty Alleviation in Bangladesh

Read: Government Initiatives in Poverty Reduction of Bangladesh

Solutions/Effects/Consequences of Social Problems

The social problem very adversely affects our society. One of the significant effects is that our harmony is disturbed, and in its stead, there is hostility and suspicion in society. These also result in large-scale social dissatisfaction and create suffering and misery. On the whole, These do not help solve any problem but create a problem of serious magnitude, which is disadvantageous to the whole society. But in this connection, it may be pointed out that 'problem' is not an absolute term. It is only a relative term because what is a problem for one society may not be a problem for the other. Similarly, 'problem' is not permanent and universal. What may appear problem today may not remain so tomorrow.

We found that child marriage was a problem in India until yesterday, but it has received universal condemnation today and is no problem at all. So is the case with Sati System and so on. But despite this, there are still some universal problems that are identical, e.g. poverty, unemployment and crime etc.

The implications of any social problem (no matter its structural dimension) in a society cannot be left underrated for reasons concerning value consensus, continuity and development of the system in question. This is implying that the nature of social problems experienced in any living society bears a significant effect on the state of the economy, political administration and the individual members of the society regardless of their social class (Ogionwo, 2016). The consequences of social problems ranging from a pressing need to an unexpected and disastrous ending. For instance, the mob actions of citizens in Libya, Egypt and Gambia led to a desirous ending of the government in power while the re-occurrence of the Ebola virus (killing thousands of people in 2014/2015) led to the concerted effort nationally and internationally bodies (Caputo, 2005). In essence, social problem threatens the social and the physical world. Social problems such as underemployment, unemployment, poverty, rape, terrorism, hard drug use/abuse and a host of others can impact a person’s quality of life (emotions, psychology, social and medical) negatively, as well as his friends and families (Aborisade & Vaughan, 2014; and Ogionwo, 2016). The social problems briefly highlighted above have led to the death of numerous individuals, some now reside in psychiatric homes, some have sustained several health challenges (hypertension, stress, high blood pressure, heart attack), and some have lost bearing of their life (giving up on their dreams).

On a societal level, kidnapping activity threatens the national orientation (freedom to move freely all around the nation without any fear) as well as the nation’s security. Terrorism at the extreme shakes the nook and crannies of the nation, especially the targeted area. This is one reason why Maiduguri city in Nigeria currently remains a no-go area for sensible individuals - Nigerians and outsiders due to the bombings activities of Boko Haram from the earliest time to date (BBC, 2014). In the same vein, the United States of America would forever remember, The World Trade Centre bombing on September 11, 2001, by the Al-Qaeda Group led by the late Osama Bin Laden.

Nevertheless, social problems can also threaten social institutions on the local or international front. For example, spousal killing if not given adequate catered for can be highly disastrous to the family system – which bears significant implications for the continuity of the society. The global economic crisis – the great depression, the great recession and the 21st-century recession for instance also bears so many implications on the economic state of the nation either developed or developing. Against all odds, it is so crucial to work out a possible mechanism for ameliorating social problems that influence societal development and continuity. The next section, therefore, explains the possible mechanism practically useful to give any social problem the attention and intervention it requires.

References

Obileye, A. A., & Aborisade, R. A. (2020). Social Problem. Introduction to Sociology: African Culture, Context and Complexity, 275-285

Climate Change and International Responses

2022-04-20T15:36:00.005+06:00

What is Climate Change?

Climate change is the catch-all term for the shift in worldwide weather phenomena associated with an increase in global average temperatures. It's real and temperatures have been going up around the world for many decades.

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The climate change phenomenon refers to seasonal changes over a long period with respect to the growing accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Tackling this phenomenon is of utmost importance given the pivotal role that climate plays in the formation of natural ecosystems and the human economies and civilizations on which they are based.

Recent studies have shown that human activities since the beginning of the industrial revolution – manifested in fossil fuel consumption for power generation, land deforestation for agriculture, and urban expansion – have contributed to an increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by as much as 40%, from about 280 parts per million in the pre-industrial period, to 402 parts per million in 2016, which in turn has led to global warming. Several parts of the world have already experienced the warming of coastal waters, high temperatures, a marked change in rainfall patterns, and an increased intensity and frequency of storms.

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Rising sea levels and temperatures are expected to be an increasing trend. Moreover, the potential for severe and irreversible climate and environmental changes, including the continued melting of polar ice layers, such as those found in Greenland and West Antarctica, could cause sea level rises exceeding 10 meters, harmful fluctuations in ocean currents, and increased methane emissions.

Climate change refers to significant changes in global temperature, precipitation, wind patterns and other measures of climate that occur over several decades or longer. Climate change refers to a statistically defined change in the average and/or variability of the climate system, this includes the atmosphere, the water cycle, the land surface, ice and the living components of Earth.

Literally ‘Climate Change’ denotes to long-term change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns (e.g. temperature, precipitation etc.) over decades to millions of years of time. Climate on earth has changed on all time scales even since long before human activity could have played a role in its transformation.

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But UNFCCC defined Climate Change as "a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods”

However, the IPCC definition of Climate Change includes change due to natural variability alongside human activity. Australian Government’s DCCEE in its website described Climate Change- ‘our climate is changing, largely due to the observed increases in human produced greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases absorb heat from the sun in the atmosphere and reduce the amount of heat escaping into space. This extra heat has been found to be the primary cause of observed changes in the climate system over the 20th century’.

Online Free Dictionary, “Climate Change refers the change in global or regional climate patterns, in particular a change apparent from the mid to late 20th century onwards and attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels.”

America's Climate Choices: Panel on Advancing the Science of Climate Change; National Research Council (2010), “Climate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns when that change lasts for an extended period of time (i.e., decades to millions of years).

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Climate change may refer to a change in average weather conditions, or in the time variation of weather within the context of longer-term average conditions. Climate change is caused by factors such as biotic processes, variations in solar radiation received by Earth, plate tectonics, and volcanic eruptions. Certain human activities have been identified as primary causes of ongoing climate change, often referred to as global warming.”

NASA defines climate change as: "a broad range of global phenomena created predominantly by burning fossil fuels, which add heat-trapping gases to Earth’s atmosphere. These phenomena include the increased temperature trends described by global warming, but also encompass changes such as sea-level rise; ice mass loss in Greenland, Antarctica, the Arctic and mountain glaciers worldwide; shifts in flower/plant blooming; and extreme weather events."

Physical evidence to observe climate change includes a range of parameters. Global records of surface temperature are available beginning from the mid-late 19th century. For earlier periods, most of the evidence is indirect—climatic changes are inferred from changes in proxies, indicators that reflect climate, such as vegetation, ice cores, dendrochronology, sea level change, and glacial geology. Other physical evidence includes arctic sea ice decline, cloud cover and precipitation, vegetation, animals and historical and archaeological evidence.

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Reasons for the Interest in Climate

Change When we talk about climate change, we mean any long-term change in the average weather patterns in a particular area. Average weather patterns include average temperature, rainfall, wind conditions and numerous other climatic conditions. These changes may take place due to the dynamic processes of the Earth (e.g. volcano eruptions or earthquakes), due to external forces (e.g. changes in the intensity of solar radiation or fall of large meteorites), or due to human activities (e.g. deforestation, tree burning or the three types of pollution – land, air and sea), resulting in an ecological imbalance, the disappearance of certain animal and plant species, and the appearance of others.

Scientists expect the Earth’s average surface temperature to rise by 1.4 to 5.8°C between 1990 and 2100. This rise could cause numerous environmental changes, such as melting of ice, changing wind movement and occurrence of hurricanes, floods in certain areas and drought in others, and the occurrence of climatic phenomena such as tsunami. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has found new and stronger evidence that most causes of high temperatures over the past 50 years can be attributed to human activities.

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Climate change has brought many environmental risks to human health, such as ozone layer depletion, loss of biodiversity, increased pressures on food-producing systems and spread of infectious diseases. The three main categories of climate change impact on human health are:

a) Direct impact (e.g. as a result of heatwaves, large-scale air pollution, natural disasters).

b) Impact on ecosystems and environmental relationships (e.g. damage to agricultural crops, overabundance of mosquitoes, and depletion of marine species).

c) Indirect impact (e.g. poverty, displacement, conflict over resources such as water, postdisaster epidemics). As a result, climate change threatens to reduce, impede or reverse global progress for those suffering from malnutrition and dying of infectious diseases, especially in developing regions of the world.

We are while a wide range of natural phenomena can radically affect the climate, publishing climate scientists overwhelmingly agree that global warming and resultant climate effects that we're witnessing are the result of human activity.

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Life on Earth is dependent on an atmospheric "greenhouse" – a layer of gasses, primarily water vapour, in the lower atmosphere that trap heat from the sun as it's reflected back from the Earth, radiating it back and keeping our planet at a temperature capable of supporting life.

Human activity is currently generating an excess of long-lived greenhouse gasses that – unlike water vapour – don't dissipate in response to temperature increases, resulting in a continuing buildup of heat. Key greenhouse gasses include carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. Carbon dioxide is the best-known, with natural sources including decomposition and animal respiration.

The main source of excess carbon dioxide emissions is the burning of fossil fuels, while deforestation has reduced the amount of plant life available to turn CO2 into oxygen. Methane, a more potent but less abundant greenhouse gas, enters the atmosphere from farming – both from animals such as cattle and arable farming methods including traditional rice paddies – and from fossil fuel exploration and abandoned oil and gas wells.

Chlorofluorocarbons and hydrofluorocarbons – once widely used in industrial applications and home appliances such as refrigerators – were key greenhouse gasses released during the 20th century, but are now heavily regulated due to their severe impact on the atmosphere, which includes ozone depletion, as well as trapping heat in the lower atmosphere. Our warming climate is also creating a feedback loop as greenhouse gasses trapped in Arctic permafrost are released.

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International Response to Climate Change

Climate change is one of the major challenges of our time and adds considerable stress to our societies and to the environment. From shifting weather patterns that threaten food production, to rising sea levels that increase the risk of catastrophic flooding, the impacts of climate change are global in scope and unprecedented in scale. Without drastic action today, adapting to these impacts in the future will be more difficult and costly.

The history of the scientific discovery of climate change began in the early 19th century when ice ages and other natural changes in paleoclimate were first suspected and the natural greenhouse effect first identified. In the late 19th century, scientists first argued that human emissions of greenhouse gases could change the climate. Many other theories of climate change were advanced, involving forces from volcanism to solar variation. In the 1960s, the warming effect of carbon dioxide gas became increasingly convincing. Some scientists also pointed out that human activities that generated atmospheric aerosols (e.g., "pollution") could have cooling effects as well. During the 1970s, scientific opinion increasingly favored the warming viewpoint. By the 1990s, as a result of improving fidelity of computer models and observational work confirming the Milankovitch theory of the ice ages, a consensus position formed: greenhouse gases were deeply involved in most climate changes and human caused emissions were bringing discernible global warming. Since the 1990s, scientific research on climate change has included multiple disciplines and has expanded. Research has expanded our understanding of causal relations, links with historic data and our ability to model climate change numerically. Research during this period has been summarized in the Assessment Reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

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Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions, or in the distribution of weather around the average conditions (such as more or fewer extreme weather events). Climate change is caused by factors that include oceanic processes (such as oceanic circulation), biotic processes, variations in solar radiation received by Earth, plate tectonics and volcanic eruptions, and human-induced alterations of the natural world. The latter effect is currently causing global warming, and "climate change" is often used to describe human-specific impacts.

 Climate Action Institutions and Stakeholders: In the period after the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) until the Paris Summit of December 2015, a number of institutions and tools were created by the international community to lead its fight against global warming. This article describes some of the main global negotiation mechanisms.

 Kyoto Protocol: By 1995, countries launched negotiations to strengthen the global response to climate change, and, two years later, adopted the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol legally binds developed country Parties to emission reduction targets. The Protocol’s first commitment period started in 2008 and ended in 2012. The second commitment period began on 1 January 2013 and will end in 2020. There are now 197 Parties to the Convention and 192 Parties to the Kyoto Protocol.

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Conference of the Parties (COP)

During the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, the United Nations set up a Framework Convention on Climate Change, known by the acronym UNFCCC. This universal convention brings together 195 nations plus the European Union (alongside its member states), for a total of 196 parties. Every year since 1995, their representatives have attended a Conference of the Parties, held on a rotating basis in one of the five U.N. regions, to review the Convention's application and negotiate new commitments. Certain conferences have had a strong historical impact. The Conference of the Parties (COP) is held each year in a capital city on a rotating basis in one of the U.N.'s five regional groups of member states (Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, Latin America and Caribbean, Western Europe and Other and Africa).

▪ COP 1 (1995): The first UNFCCC Conference of the Parties took place from 28 March to 7 April 1995 in Berlin, Germany. It voiced concerns about the adequacy of countries' abilities to meet commitments under the Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (BSTA) and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI). COP 1 agreed on "Activities Implemented Jointly", first joint measures in international climate action.

▪ COP3 (1997): The Kyoto Climate Conference gave way to the Kyoto Protocol, which for the first time set greenhouse gas (ghg) emissions targets for industrialized countries. COP 3 took place in December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan. After intensive negotiations, it adopted the Kyoto Protocol, which outlined the greenhouse gas emissions reduction obligation for Annex I countries, along with what came to be known as Kyoto mechanisms such as emissions trading, clean development mechanism and joint implementation.

Most industrialized countries and some central European economies in transition (all defined as Annex B countries) agreed to legally binding reductions in greenhouse gas emissions of an average of 6 to 8% below 1990 levels between the years 2008–2012, defined as the first emissions budget period. The United States would be required to reduce its total emissions an average of 7% below 1990 levels; however Congress did not ratify the treaty after Clinton signed it. The Bush administration explicitly rejected the protocol in 2001.

▪ COP13 (2007): Bali Climate Conference - these talks opened negotiations on a follow-up to the Kyoto Protocol.

▪ COP15 (2009): Copenhagen Climate Conference (COP15) - with numerous heads of state present, these talks set the tenable increase in the global temperature at 2°C, but did not provide details on how to remain below this threshold. The overall goal for the COP 15/CMP 5 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Denmark was to establish an ambitious global climate agreement for the period from 2012 when the first commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol expires.

However, on 14 November 2009, the New York Times announced that "President Obama and other world leaders have decided to put off the difficult task of reaching a climate change agreement... agreeing instead to make it the mission of the Copenhagen conference to reach a less specific "politically binding" agreement that would punt the most difficult issues into the future". Ministers and officials from 192 countries took part in the Copenhagen meeting and in addition there were participants from a large number of civil society organizations. As many Annex 1 industrialized countries are now reluctant to fulfill commitments under the Kyoto Protocol, a large part of the diplomatic work that lays the foundation for a post-Kyoto agreement was undertaken up to the COP15.

The conference did not achieve a binding agreement for long-term action. A 13-paragraph 'political accord' was negotiated by approximately 25 parties including US and China, but it was only 'noted' by the COP as it is considered an external document, not negotiated within the UNFCCC process. The accord was notable in that it referred to a collective commitment by developed countries for new and additional resources, including forestry and investments through international institutions, that will approach USD 30 billion for the period 2010–2012. Longer-term options on climate financing mentioned in the accord are being discussed within the UN Secretary General's High Level Advisory Group on Climate Financing, which is due to report in November 2010. The negotiations on extending the Kyoto Protocol had unresolved issues as did the negotiations on a framework for long-term cooperative action. The working groups on these tracks to the negotiations are now due to report to COP 16 and CMP 6 in Mexico.

▪ COP16 (2010): Cancun Climate Conference - these talks resulted in the Green Climate Fund. COP 16 was held in Cancún, Mexico, from 28 November to 10 December 2010. The outcome of the summit was an agreement adopted by the states' parties that called for the 100 billion USD per annum "Green Climate Fund", and a "Climate Technology Centre" and network. However the funding of the Green Climate Fund was not agreed upon. Nor was a commitment to a second period of the Kyoto Protocolagreed upon, but it was concluded that the base year shall be 1990 and the global warming potentials shall be those provided by the IPCC.

All parties "Recognizing that climate change represents an urgent and potentially irreversible threat to human societies and the planet, and thus requires to be urgently addressed by all Parties,". It recognizes the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report goal of a maximum 2 °C global warming and all parties should take urgent action to meet this goal. It also agreed upon greenhouse gas emissions should peak as soon as possible, but recognizing that the time frame for peaking will be longer in developing countries, since social and economic development and poverty eradication are the first and overriding priorities of developing countries.

▪ COP17 (2011): Durban Climate Conference - it was here that the process began that was expected to culminate in Paris. The 2011 COP 17 was held in Durban, South Africa, from 28 November to 9 December 2011. The conference agreed to a start negotiations on a legally binding deal comprising all countries, to be adopted in 2015, governing the period post 2020.

There was also progress regarding the creation of a Green Climate Fund (GCF) for which a management framework was adopted. The fund is to distribute US$100 billion per year to help poor countries adapt to climate impacts. While the president of the conference, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, declared it a success, scientists and environmental groups warned that the deal was not sufficient to avoid global warming beyond 2 °C as more urgent action is needed.

▪ COP18 (2012): Qatar hosted COP 18 which took place in Doha, Qatar, from 26 November to 7 December 2012. The Conference produced a package of documents collectively titled The Doha Climate Gateway. The documents collectively contained:

1. The Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol (to be accepted before entering into force) featuring a second commitment period running from 2012 until 2020 limited in scope to 15% of the global carbon dioxide emissions due to the lack of commitments of Japan, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, New Zealand (nor the United States and Canada, who are not parties to the Protocol in that period) and due to the fact that developing countries like China (the world's largest emitter), India and Brazil are not subject to emissions reductions under the Kyoto Protocol.

2. Language on loss and damage, formalized for the first time in the conference documents The conference made little progress towards the funding of the Green Climate Fund Russia, Belarus and Ukraine objected at the end of the session as they had a right to under the session's rules. In closing the conference, the President said that he would note these objections in his final report.

▪ COP19(2013): COP 19 was the 19th yearly session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 9th session of the Meeting of the Parties (CMP) to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol (the protocol having been developed under the UNFCCC's charter). The conference was held in Warsaw, Poland from 11 to 23 November 2013.

▪ COP20(2014): On 1–12 December 2014, Lima, Peru hosted the 20th yearly session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 10th session of the Meeting of the Parties (CMP) to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol (the protocol having been developed under the UNFCCC's charter). The pre-COP conference was held in Venezuela..

▪ COP21 (2015): This meeting resulted in the Paris Agreement, the first accord to be signed by all the countries of the world. The COP 21 was held in Paris from 30 November to 12 December 2015. Negotiations resulted in the adoption of the Paris Agreement on 12 December, governing climate change reduction measures from 2020. The adoption of this agreement ended the work of the Durban platform, established during COP17. The agreement will enter into force (and thus become fully effective) on November 4, 2016.

On October 4, 2016 the threshold for adoption was reached with over 55 countries representing at least 55% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions ratifying the Agreement.

Paris Agreement: At the 21st Conference of the Parties in Paris, Parties to the UNFCCC reached a landmark agreement to combat climate change and to accelerate and intensify the actions and investments needed for a sustainable low carbon future. The Paris Agreement builds upon the Convention and – for the first time – brings all nations into a common cause to undertake take ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects, with enhanced support to assist developing countries to do so. As such, it charts a new course in the global climate effort.

The Paris Agreement’s central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping the global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius. On Earth Day, 22 April 2016, 175 world leaders signed the Paris Agreement at United Nations Headquarters in New York. This was by far the largest number of countries ever to sign an international agreement on a single day.

▪ COP22(2016): COP 22 was held in Marrakech, in the North-African country of Morocco, on 7–18 November 2016. A focal issue of COP 22 is that of water scarcity, water cleanliness, and water-related sustainability, a major problem in the developing world, including many African states. Prior to the event a special initiative on water was presided by Charafat Afailal, Morocco’s Minister in Charge of Water and Aziz Mekouar, COP 22 Ambassador for Multilateral Negotiations. Another focal issue was the need to reduce greenhouse emissions and utilize lowcarbon energy sources. Mr. Peter Thompson, President of the UN General Assembly, called for the transformation of the global economy in all sectors to achieve a low emissions global economy.

▪ COP23(2017): COP 23 was held on 6–17 November 2017. On Friday, 18 November 2016, the end of COP 22, the Chairperson of COP 23 from Fiji announced that it will be held in Bonn, Germany. (COP 23/CMP 13). Fijian Prime Minister and incoming President of COP 23, Frank Bainimarama, on 13 April launched the logo for this year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference, to be held at UN Campus, Bonn in November.

▪ COP 25 (2019): The 25th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 25) to the UNFCCC was planned to take place from 11 to 22 November 2019 in Brazil. Upon election as President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro withdrew Brazil from hosting the event.

COP 25 was then planned to take place in Parque Bicentenario Cerrillos in Santiago de Chile, Chile from 2 to 13 December with a pre-sessional period from 26 November to 1 December 2019 with up to 25,000 delegates scheduled to attend. However, following the 2019 Chilean protests, Chilean President Sebastián Piñera announced Chile's withdrawal from hosting the summit in late October 2019. UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa stated that organizers were "exploring alternative hosting options". Then Spain offered and was appointed, as the new host.

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Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

The intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was founded by the United Nations in 1988. Made up of hundreds of experts, its goal is to provide detailed assessments of the current state of scientific knowledge relating to climate change. The IPCC is not a research center but rather a forum that compiles climate-related research conducted in laboratories throughout the world. Since its founding, the IPCC has published five reports, which are divided into several volumes. It does not prescribe policy – that's each government's role – but rather provides national leaders with the tools they need to make informed decisions. In liaison with the different countries, the IPCC publishes carefully worded executive summaries intended for decision makers.

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Green Climate Fund (GCF)

First mentioned at the Copenhagen Conference, the Green Climate Fund is an operating entity of the Financial Mechanism of the UNFCCC. Its purpose is to transfer funds from the most advanced countries to the most vulnerable nations in order to implement projects aimed at countering climate change. The GCF was set up in Seoul, South Korea in 2011. Its board is comprised of members from both industrialized and developing countries.

A Host of Meetings

Symbolic events and meetings bringing together a variety of stakeholders have risen in number over the years. The United Nations organizes collective actions on a regular basis. One such undertaking, a series of decentralized initiatives carried out by regions, businesses and ordinary citizens called the Agenda of Solutions was launched in September 2014. These new climate actors organize many stakeholder-specific initiatives to advance the climate change agenda. Earth Day has been celebrated every year since it was first observed on April 22, 1970. This year Earth Day will coincide with the signing ceremony of the Paris Agreement. In 2007, the WWF (formerly World Wildlife Fund or World Wide Fund for Nature) organized Earth Hour, a worldwide lights-off event held every year on the last Saturday of March.

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United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

The UN family is in the forefront of the effort to save our planet. In 1992, its “Earth Summit” produced the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as a first step in addressing the climate change problem. Today, it has near-universal membership. The 197 countries that have ratified the Convention are Parties to the Convention. The ultimate aim of the Convention is to prevent “dangerous” human interference with the climate system.

Earth Summits: Earth Summits are U.N.-sponsored meetings of worldwide leaders held every 10 years to develop sustainable development guidelines. The first of these highly symbolic, closed circle gatherings took place in Stockholm (1972), followed by Nairobi (1982), and Rio de Janeiro (1992) – which gave a powerful impetus to climate action – and Johannesburg (2002). The last meeting, referred to as Rio+20, was held in 2012 for the second time in Brazil.

Nobel Peace Prize

In 2007, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly to former United States Vice-President Al Gore and the IPCC "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change."

Dowry Prohibition Laws in Bangladesh

2022-04-20T14:38:00.004+06:00

What is Dowry?

Dowry (yautuka) Yautuka means gifts made at the time of marriage of a girl by her parents, other relations and even by strangers. Thus it is a gift normally voluntarily made by the relations and strangers to a girl at the time of her marriage so that she could use it at her pleasure in her husband's house for her own benefit and welfare. Yautuka is mentioned in the texts of Hindu Law as one of the sources of women's property (stri-dhana) over which a woman has absolute right of disposal without the consent of her husband.

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The term “dowry” is defined as "money or any other asset" demanded by a party as the consideration for a marriage. However, it does not include a dower or mahr, in those cases in which the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) applies to the parties. Nor does it apply to wedding gifts.

In Dowry Prohibition Act, 1980, 'Dowry' is defined as any property or valuable security given or agreed to be given either directly or indirectly by one party to the marriage to the other party to the marriage, or by the parents of either party to a marriage or by any other person to either party to the marriage or to any other person, at the time of marriage or at any time before or after the marriage as consideration for the marriage of the said parties, but does not include dower or mahr in the case of persons to whom the Muslim Personal Law (shariah) applies. The Act excludes any article valued not exceeding taka 500 presented at the time of marriage by any person other than a party to the marriage.

Bangladesh Dowry Prohibition Act, 1980

Practice of giving yautuka developed in the Hindu society from time immemorial due to the fact that a female heir could not inherit property from her male relations with the male heirs. But in course of time yautuka turned into and developed first in the Hindu upper- and middle-class society as a burdensome system of realizing property either in cash or in kind or both by the bridegroom or his relations from the bride's parents and guardians as a consideration of the marriage. During the colonial rule no attempt was made to contain or discourage the growing dowry problem by legislation except passing the Hindu Women's Right to Property Act, 1937 by which a Hindu widow is entitled to inherit a share of her deceased husband's property equal to that of a son, and that also in limited life interest and not in absolute right. But after independence from the British colonial rule in India, Hindu Succession Act, 1957 has done away with the traditional Hindu succession system, and now sons and daughters of a deceased Hindu inherit equal share of paternal or maternal property. But in spite of such provision the curse of dowry system has not abated in India. So the Government of India was compelled to enact Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 making demand or acceptance of dowry either before or at the time of or after marriage as consideration of the marriage, as a punishable offence.

The curse of dowry system affected both the Muslim and Hindu society of Bangladesh so much so that it spread from the upper and middle class to the poorest of the poor. So, to contain this social problem in Bangladesh the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1980 was enacted which is heavily influenced by the Indian Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961.

The Act makes giving or taking of dowry punishable by a minimum of one year and a maximum of five years imprisonment or a fine. The Act provides for the same punishment for demanding dowry as provided for giving or taking of dowry.

Where the definition of dowry in section 2 of the Indian Act of 1961 excludes presents made at the time of marriage in cash, ornaments, clothes or other articles unless made as consideration of marriage by anyone, but the definition of dowry in Bangladesh Act of 1980 excludes the presents made by a person other than the party to the marriage valued not exceeding five hundred takas. Similarly, punishment for giving or taking or demanding dowry is up to six monthly imprisonment or five thousand rupees or both in the Indian Act of 1961 which is much less than the punishment provided in the Bangladesh Act of 1980.

Forms of Violence against Women for Dowry are included as Physical abuse; Sexual abuse; Verbal and emotional abuse; Economic abuse

The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1980 having failed to prevent the curse of dowry, demand of which led to oppression to the bride including physical torture and even murder government was compelled to enact the Women and Children Oppression (Special Provisions) Act, 1995 providing for penalty for causing simple or grievous hurt as well as attempt to murder and murder of any woman or child over the demand of dowry. But the same having been found not sufficient to combat the menace, the Prevention of Oppression of Women and Children (Deterrent Punishment) Act, 2000 was enacted repealing the earlier one and the same was further amended in 2003. Section 11 of the said Act provides for death sentence for causing murder, imprisonment for life for attempting to murder, imprisonment from five to twelve years for grievous hurt and imprisonment of one to three years for simple hurt over the demand of dowry.

In spite of taking such stringent measures by the government to combat the menace of dowry system the same could not be contained, rather it is going on spreading eroding the economic fabric of its victims and also subjecting the innocent brides to suffer physical torture, at time leading to grievous hurt and murder over the unsuccessful demand of dowry.

Penalty for giving or taking dowry: 3. If any person, after the commencement of this Act, gives or takes or abets the giving or taking of dowry, he shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to [five years and shall not be less than one year, or with fine, or with both].

Penalty for demanding dowry: 4. If any person, after the commencement of this Act, demands, directly or indirectly, from the parents or guardian of a bride or bridegroom, as the case may be, any dowry, he shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to five years and shall not be less than one year, or with fine, or with both].

Agreement for giving or taking dowry to be void: 5. Any agreement for the giving or taking of dowry shall be void.

Cognizance of offences: 7. Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (Act V of 1898),-

(a) no Court inferior to that of a magistrate of the first class shall try any offence under this Act;

(b) no Court shall take cognizance of any such offence except on a complaint made within one year from the date of the offence;

(c) it shall be lawful for a magistrate of the first class to pass any sentence authorised by this Act on any person convicted of an offence under this Act

The Dowry Prohibition (Amendment) Act of 2018

The Dowry Prohibition Act of 2018 (the "Act") of Bangladesh prohibits the giving or receiving of a dowry. The primary purpose of the Act is to end the custom whereby the bride's family makes a financial payment to the groom's family upon a marriage. The system is now seen to be a “social curse,” which frequently leads to disputes between the families and the harassment of innocent parties.

Section 3 of the Act criminalizes the act of directly or indirectly demanding a dowry, punishable by imprisonment of up to five years and/or a significant fine Section 4 of the Act makes it an offense to give or receive a dowry, or to abet such actions, which is likewise punishable by a fine or imprisonment. Section 2 provides that the parties who may be prosecuted for such actions may include the bride, the groom, their parents or legal guardians, “or any other person directly involved in the marriage” from the side of the bride or the groom.

Section 5 of the Act provides that any agreement for giving or taking of a dowry is void.

In an attempt to limit the number of false cases and harassment of an innocent party, Section 6 of the Act criminalizes filing a false complaint or causing a false complaint to be filed.

Finally, the offenses committed under the Act are “cognizable, non-bailable, and compoundable.” This means that, as a “cognizable” offense, the police may arrest the accused without a warrant; as a “non-bailable” offense an accused does not have an automatic right to be released on bail; and as a “compoundable” offense the parties are allowed to settle the issue outside of court.

It should also be noted that there are additional remedies available in Bangladesh for dowry-related violence, including the “Nari-O-Shishu-Nirjatan-Daman-Ain, 2000” law, which provides severe penalties for any dowry-related offense which causes hurt, grievous hurt or death, and the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, which defines "domestic violence" as any conduct which harasses, harms, injures, or endangers an aggrieved person, including any act done with a purpose to coerce an aggrieved person to meet any unlawful demand for a dowry.

Effectiveness depends on enforcement

a) The Cabinet has approved the new act of “The Dowry Prohibition Act-2018”. It incorporates the earlier Dowry Prohibition Act, 1980 and subsequent amendments.

b) The Act lays down 14 years' rigorous imprisonment along with fines for any individual or individuals who incite any girl to commit suicide over dowry.

c) It has a provision also for a life term of 12 years for hurting a woman over dowry. That the government has taken cognizance of the fact that dowry is a serious social malady that needs to be tackled with legislation is welcome.

d) However, as pointed out by legal minds, most of what has been proposed in the new Act is already in place under different laws. But it is good that all issues have been brought under a single Act. That said, Bangladesh is a country that has ample laws on paper. It is the lack of enforcement of existing laws that has been the problem. It is our hope that those responsible for upholding the law will utilise this upcoming Act to go after the perpetrators of dowry-related violence.

e) The incorporation of imprisonment and financial penalty, if applied to the full extent of the law should help reduce the thousands of incidents of dowry related violence we are forced to witness every year in both rural and urban Bangladesh. The time is ripe to deliver the message that women cannot be maltreated over dowry that demanding dowry is illegal and only time will tell if the Act is being utilised as it was intended to.

Factors/ Causes of Dowry

1. Poverty is the main causes behind dowry because most of the people in Bangladeshi are poor. They often take dowry to reduce their Poverty.

2. Because of the Illiteracy, most the people are unaware of effect of dowry.

3. Narrow mentality behind the dowry system.

4. Negative attitude towards the women

5. Lack of women’s Education in Families is the reason for giving dowry.

6. Lack of decision making power of women’s in family because in Bangladesh families are ruled by father .Because of that the position of woman in a family is much disagreed.

7. Women are less independent then men. In Bangladesh; most of the women are housewives and have less economic power to control the family. Because of dependency women become a burden in a family.

8. Some time bridegroom wants money to do business or want to make his life settle with that money.

9. In a town, people think that giving dowry in a marriage creating more status in society.

Women spend a good life in husband’s house if dowry paid in marriage.

10. In a village, most of the people think Dowry is their legal right which has to pay the daughter’s family in a marriage.

11. In a village, Poor parents consider any expenses for educating a girl unproductive as she leaves their family after marriage.

12. In the village if brides are not beautiful to look at or if they get late married then they are to give a lot of money as dowry to the bridegroom.

13. The giving of a dower seems to be an established Bangladeshi cultural institution. The wife is expected to bring suitable gifts (monetary or otherwise) with her to her new home or shoshurbari.

14. Dependence on husband and living on their income, social corruption and so on are the main causes of dowry

Effect of Dowry on Economy and Daughter’s family

More than 35 million people in Bangladesh, around a quarter of its population, face acute poverty and hunger. Dowry payments of more than 200 times the daily wage and costly medical expenses are major causes of this chronic poverty says research from the University of Bath. It is the poor who really suffer economically and socially as a result of the practice of dowry.

1. The custom of paying a dowry to the future husband's family when a daughter is married is illegal in Bangladesh, but is still practiced by most families living in rural areas. Payment is normally upwards from 20,000 Taka and since typical earnings are only 100 Taka (94 pence) per day, this can be a major contributor to poverty for many families with daughters.

2. The trend of rising dowries, commonly referred to as dowry inflation, has received much attention, as payments can represent multiple years' worth of a family's income and often cause severe destitution of households with daughters of marriageable age.

3. Through this custom the bride has to give a large amount of money, furniture, ornaments and many things to the bridegroom. It is a very terrible situation for the society. Women & their family suffer a lot for this dowry system.

4. The money of dowry is often raised by the sale or mortgaging of land at low prices. It also includes livestock, trees, household goods and family jewelry and as well as loans from NGOs and moneylenders at high rates of interest.

Effect of Dowry on Women’s life

Disputes over dowry payments have led to numerous cases of dowry violence against brides, resulting in injuries and even death.

1. There are many severe consequences resulting from the payment of dowries. First, failure to meet the dowry demands or the new demands often results in verbal and physical abuse of the wife. Physical abuse includes beating; burning with cigarettes, withholding foods, sleep deprivation and denial of medical treatment. The abuse may be meted out by the husband or members of his family, especially his mother. Verbal abuse may include starting rumors about the character or behavior of the wife and often the girls feel unable to disclose the situation to her parents. If the physical abuse continues and worsens, this may lead to the wife committing suicide.

2. Additionally, a common result of unmet dowry is sending the girl or woman back to her parents’ house. When this happens every one considers that it must be the fault of the girl or woman saying such things as: She could not adapt to her husband or She cannot look after her husband properly So, once again both the girl and her parents suffer from rumors and criticism. This also affects the reputation of the younger sisters.

3. Apart from the social stigma attached to the girls being returned to live with her parents there are other problems. Her brothers and their wives may resent her presence, particularly if she has brought children with her. She is seen as a drain on the household resources and may be verbally, and even physically, abused by her own family.

4. Dowry-related violence is particularly problematic in Bangladesh. A survey conducted by Naogaon Human Rights Development Associations (NHRDA) revealed that 84% percent of the cases it received in 2000 were dowry related wife battering cases. In 2001, 173 girls and women were killed due to dowry demand with 79 of these victims below the age of 18.

5. Repression of women for their inability to bring adequate or repeated installments of dowry from their poor parents and resultant deaths or grievous injuries is rather disquietingly frequent.

6. It has become very difficult to find a suitable match for a girl without paying handsome dowry. It has soured the relations and there are tensions, ill will and disharmony in the families. Marriage has become a kind of business and exploitation of the parents of a girl. Thus, bridegrooms are bought and sold like commodities and the girls sacrificed on the altar of marriage.

7. It is a much-unexpected situation for the bride’s family members. They are to collect a huge amount of money for their daughters or sister’s marriage. Sometime they are to take loan, sell their lands, furniture, ornaments and even their own house to collect the money. They are to lose many things and face many problems for this dowry system.

8. For this dowry system divorce, doing suicide, mental and physical tortures, number of broken family are increasing day by day. It is also affecting on the new generation. They cannot give attention in their education; can not contribute in any development activities. It hampers their mental development.

Steps against Dowry system in Bangladesh

Dowry system is against the law of equality of men and women. It is a crime to give and take dowry. But these are openly violated. There are thousands of cases of dowry every year few offenders are actually punished. It shows that laws alone are not enough. Besides laws, we need more social awareness and effective social measures.

1. We should create a movement and strong public opinion against the system. The movement should be taken to villages and every nook and corner of the country.

2. More leaders, social groups, men and women should be involved in the movement against the evil. People who practice dowry system should be socially boycotted. Women organizations should hold demonstrations against such people.

3. The registration of marriage should be made compulsory. Young men and women should be made to take a pledge against the evil. Group and community marriages can also help in removing the evil.

4. The women should refuse to marry the men who demand dowry. More and more women should be encouraged to take employment and become economically independent. The percentage of literacy among girls and women is very low. This rate should be increased. More schools, colleges and training institution for women should be opened.

There should be free education for women up to the university level. Spread of literacy and education among women can prove a great weapon against dowry.

5. The women themselves should come forward and fight against the practice of dowry. They should know their rights, privileges and strengths. They should stop thinking in terms of a weaker sex. They should revolt and expose dowry practitioners. They should stand on their own feet and fight for their rights.

6. The young men should frankly reject the demand for dowry from their parents. Demand for dowry reduces a party to a status of a beggar. The evil should be fought both on the levels of law and society. A very strong propaganda and movement are needed to eradicate the evil forever.

7. We should change our outlook, mentality by our Law rules. Narrow mentality of the greedy people should be changed and a hard punishment should be given to them.

8. But good thing is that, at present our Government is aware about it. Therefore, this system is changing. In the past it was so high in our country. Now we have a law that who will give dowry and take dowry--- all will be known as a criminal.

Other steps against Dowry

§ Start practising dowry prohibition in your family.

§ Educate the members of your family with the provisions of laws that demanding and accepting or giving dowry is an offense.

§ If in any family there is a growing dispute between the in-laws and the lady, try to intervene to sort out the differences and educate them about the evils of dowry system. If they fail to listen to you, please inform the jurisdictional police and counseling centers.

§ Provide support and shelter to the lady in distress. If you cannot, please contact the Women organizations who can provide support in such cases

§ Gather like-minded people who are fighting against this evil and gather public sympathy and support to ex-communicate the families where the evil persists

§ In case you have any suspicion of ill treatment of a lady in any house, immediately inform the local Police. Ladies in distress, generally avoid showing their resentment to ill-treatment till it reaches a dangerous point leading to their being burnt to death

§ Encourage women folk to raise their voice about their rights and to fight against dowry system.

§ It shows that only law is not enough to protect the women against injustice. It needs social awareness and effective measures.

§ The registration of marriage should be made compulsory.

§ The women and their parents should refuse the men who want dowry.

§ Men and women should promise against the dowry system.

§ We should create a movement and strong public opinion against the dowry system.

§ Besides, government and NGOs should be involved in the movement against the course.

§ People who practice dowry system should be socially boycotted.

Dowry is a very harmful system in our country. Because of dowry women are badly treated in their laws house. Sometimes they are killed, injured, abused and so on. We should stop the system for our future success.

§ To stop this we should telecast the bad effects of dowry in mass media.

§ To increase social value, women’s education, reduce poverty and so on.

§ To ensure the legal action against dowry.

It is a much unexpected situation for the bride’s family members. They are to collect a huge amount of money for their daughters’ or sisters’ marriage. Sometime they are to take loan, sell their lands, furniture, ornaments and even their own house to collect the money. They are to lose many things and face many problems for this dowry system.

We saw that women are tortured when they can not give any money to their husband. Some time we hear and see in the newspaper that some women are killed, some are hung and some are burnt by their husband, in-law’s family members and others.

For this dowry system divorce, doing suicide, mental and physical tortures, number of broken family are increasing day by day. It is also affecting on the new generation. They can not give attention in their education; can not contribute in any development activities. It hampers their mental development. This custom is very disgraceful for our country.

So we should try hard to remove this system from our country. There are some laws to remove it. But we can not apply them properly. We have to try to use these laws properly. There should be more steps on women’s right in our Law system. We should change our outlook, mentality by our Law rules. Narrow mentality of the greedy people should be changed and a hard punishment should be given to them.

Dowry related Statistics in Bangladesh

Dowry practise has severe and alarming consequences, causing physical, mental, and social anguish. Threatening the wife with divorce and returning her to her father's family is a very common practise in Bangladesh if the demand is not met. Verbal abuse is a type of oppression as well. All of this can lead to killings and brutal tortures.

According to the human rights organisation Odhikar, 5,699 women were victims of dowry-related violence between 2001 and 2017, and the rate of dowry-related homicides and suicides has also been high. According to Odhikar, at least 256 women were subjected to dowry-related violence in 2017, and 129 women were killed or committed suicide. Following years of anti-dowry campaigns and related legal reforms, the number of dowry violence incidents continues to rise year after year. The government enacted the Dowry Prohibition Act-2017 to replace the 1980 law, but the number of cases filed remains low when compared to the number of violent incidents. According to Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK), 188 dowry-related cases were filed in the previous year, compared to 303 reported cases of dowry violence. Though the country has made significant progress in women's education and empowerment, data suggests that dowry violence is far from over.

Numerous governments on the subcontinent have attempted numerous measures to combat it, with varying degrees of success, but have been unable to totally eradicate it. According to a survey, over 50% of all violence against women occurs as a result of Bangladesh's dowry culture.

Again, according to media sources, 374 women were murdered in the city for dowry over the last 17 years, until 2019. Each year, 22 women are murdered in Dhaka City for dowry. In 2018, 14 women were murdered in the Dhaka Metropolitan region due to their inability to pay dowry. 13 women were murdered in January and February of last year, while 17 were subjected to physical assault as a result of dowry.

According to Odhikar, there were approximately 5,800 dowry-related incidences of violence against women between January 2001 and December 2019. Additionally, a Bangladeshi human rights group reports that over 3,300 women and girls were murdered during that time period due to dowry disputes. According to Ain O Salish Kendra, there were 73 occurrences of women or girls being physically mistreated over dowry-related issues in 2020, while another 66 incidents resulted in the husband or his family murdering her.

What is Anthropology?

2022-04-20T03:46:00.015+06:00

What is Anthropology?

Anthropology is a branch of sociology. It always describes human, human behaviour and human societies around the world. It is a comparative science that examines all societies. The term anthropology comes from the Latin word ‘anthrop’ means man or human and ‘logos’ means science or study. So the term anthropology means the scientific study of man or human beings.

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Anthropology studies who and how man is evolved over a period of time, why he looks like the way and the way he talks and acts in a particular manner. It is a broad discipline dedicated to the comparative study of mankind, from its first appearance to its present stage of development. It is concerned with all the varieties of the human population in every part of the world, both past and present.

Anthropology looks at man both in time and space. Time means the stages of development of man in the process of evolution during different periods of time and space refers to the differentiation of physical and cultural types in modern man living in different environs all over the world.

Anthropology studies primitive, pre-literate, simple, small societies which are not studied by other disciplines. In anthropology fieldwork or the first-hand study of people through personal observations, interviews and interactions are very significant. It depends on the direct evidence. In anthropology fieldwork or the first-hand study of people through personal observations, and not the view of people through a security camera without them knowing, interviews and interaction are very significant.

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Anthropology is the study of man by man. It is a study that tries to examine in an objective way the evidence. People are given importance in anthropological studies as it is concerned with the nature and behaviour of each and every group of individuals.

According to Roger Keesing and Felix Keesing, 'Anthropology is a study of universalities and uniqueness; a study of startling contrast and surprising similarity; a study of meaning and logic in what seems bizarre'. Anthropology is thus historically and geographically vast in its scope.

Definition of Anthropology

“Anthropology the study of humankind everywhere, throughout time, seeks to produce useful generations about people and their behaviour and to arrive at the fullest possible understanding of human diversity” (Havilland, W. A.1975).

“Anthropology is the study of people and all the things they do, think, say and make" (Gwynne and Hicks, 1994).

“Anthropology is the study of human beings, divided into the branches of biologically oriented, physical anthropology and social-oriented, social anthropology” (Jary and Jary, 2005)

The concise oxford dictionary: a study of mankind especially of its societies and customs; study of structure and evolution of man as an animal”. Kroeber: “Anthropology is the science of groups of men and their behaviour and production”. Herskovits: “Anthropology may be defined as the measurement of human beings.” Jacobs and Stern: “Anthropology is the scientific study of the physical, social and cultural development and behaviour of human beings since their appearance on this earth.”

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Characteristics of Anthropology

1. It is the study of human beings.

2. It is a scientific process.

3. It explains human diversity.

4. Tendency to make generalizations.

Finally, we can say that anthropology describes the distinctive feature of different cultures, organizations, and fundamental similarities among human being around the world.

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Branches of Anthropology

There are mainly three sub-fields of anthropology, as such

a) Socio-Cultural

b) Physical

c) Cultural

Socio-Cultural Anthropology

Cultural anthropology is the study of the culture and social structure of a community or society. Cultural anthropology emphasizes the understanding of the total configuration and interrelationships of cultural traits, complexes and social relationships in a particular geographic environment and historical context. Thus it is concerned with the influence of geographic and historical as well as social and psychological factors in the analysis of the development of a culture, its present characteristics and the change it is undergoing.

Many investigations of cultural anthropologists have been studies of non-literate and non-western societies; however, in recent years there has been a tendency to extend the approach of cultural anthropology to the study of modern western society. Cultural anthropology is generally considered synonymous with social anthropology and ethnology. Social anthropology and cultural anthropology are interlinked and intertwined. Social anthropology is concerned with the manner in which people associate and groups themselves while cultural anthropology is concerned with the habits and customs of the people. The concept of society is the main in the minds of social anthropologists and the concept of culture is crucial to the cultural anthropologists.

The most elementary form of social grouping is the family. Social anthropologists consider and discuss the concept of family as the cornerstone of human society. The two kinds of human relationships that lay the foundation for the family are birth and marriage. The principles of descent and alliance constitute kinship and are studied under socio-cultural anthropology. Each society and culture has its own unique notion of marriage.

That is why the problems of the unique notion of marriage are discussed by socio-cultural anthropologists. Marriage forms an alliance pattern in each society and is studied and also compared with those of others. In the context of kinship, the terminology used to refer to and address a person, the behavioural patterns between different relatives as well as rights and obligations enjoined in the relationships between relatives also become important as they are all culturally determined.

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Branches of Socio-Cultural: There are other six types of fields of socio-cultural anthropology.

Economic Anthropology

Production, consumption distribution and exchange are the basic structures of economic transactions and their processes. Economic Anthropologists concentrate on these activities mainly in non-literate and peasant societies. They focus on the modes of exchange including ceremonial exchanges. The concept of reciprocity and redistribution are crucial here The nature of trade and market systems are also studied.

The process of economic growth and development in societies is ultimately studied. Some scholars argue that the economic activities of man are not studied in isolation but in their socio-cultural setting with the emphasis on those socio-cultural factors that influence and determine economic activity in each society. It resulted in a hot debate between the formalists and substantives i.e those who feel that the theories formulated in the discipline of Economics are equally sufficient in explaining economic processes in simple societies, and those who counter by arguing that the economy of each society is embedded in the bed of culture and so that economic theories that have been constructed with the modern monetized systems in mind do not find a credible place in the anthropology of simple societies.

Political Anthropology

It concentrates on the ubiquity of political process and the functions of legitimate authority, law, justice and sanctions in simple societies; focuses on power and leadership. It focuses on the Anthropological point of view in the formulation of the typology of political structures based on differences and similarities observed among the societies of the world and the political processes emerging among nations and complex societies. Moreover, it also studies political culture and the nation-building processes.

Psychological Anthropology

It is the study of cross-cultural variations in psychological traits. It studies the psychological, behavioural and personal approaches of man. It is developed as an interdisciplinary approach between psychology and socio-cultural anthropology. Modern Psychological Anthropologists are very much interested in the process by which culture is transmitted from one generation to the next.

Ecological Anthropology

The term ecology refers to the totality of relations between environment and organism. It deals with the relationship between human beings and their environments. It is the use of the concept of environment in the explanation of different cultural elements and also the diversity of cultural groups. Two main views related to cultural behaviour and environment are determinism and possibilism. The former, also called environmentalism, states that the environment dictates cultural practices whereas the latter denies it and holds that the environment has a limiting rather than the determining effect on cultural behaviours.

It deals with the relationship between human beings and their environments. It is the use of the concept of environment in the explanation of both the origin of different cultural elements and also the diversity of cultural groups. It also attempts to understand cultural groups. It also attempts to understand the relative influence of the environment on human society and how it is used by different societies. The ecological perspective is based on the assumption that constant interplay takes place between a man and his environment. They cannot be understood as isolated entities. The ecological perspective in Anthropology was first expressed by Steward in the 1930s through his most important concept, cultural ecology, which recognized that culture and environment are not separate spheres but are involved in a dialectic interplay of reciprocal causality.

Ethno-archaeology

The term ethnic refers to a group distinguished by common cultural characteristics. The comparative study of cultures from a historical perspective is the subject matter of ethnology whereas the descriptive account of the total way of life of the people at a given time is devoted to ethnography. Archaeology is that branch of anthropology that is concerned with the historical reconstruction of cultures that no longer exist. It helps to reconstruct the human past in its material features including how people lived and worshipped, how they built, their arts, tombs and travels. It provides material on man’s prehistory about which no written records are available. It is concerned with all of man’s material remains. Thus, the use of archaeology to study ethnography becomes imperative. That’s why this branch is referred to as Ethnoarchaeology.

Anthropology of Religion

There are many theories regarding the origin of religion among people. Some of the major theories are Animism, Animatism, Manism and Primitive monotheism. The perceptions of people regarding the differences between man and nature are studied first of all. The beliefs in natural forces and super-natural forces, and/or being are investigated. The operation of religious traditions including the rituals and ceremonies among non-literate and peasant societies are studied in detail.

The practices which fall within the domain of religion such as taboo and totemism are also examined. The differences between magic, religion and science are discussed and debated. Witchcraft and Sorcery are examined as important aspects of non-literate magic. Above all, the social and Psychological functions of magic and religion are emphasized.

Physical Anthropology

Physical anthropology is defined as the branch of anthropology that is concerned with man as a biological organism. Physical anthropology deals with the origin of man, the comparative study of racial and sub racial groups, the measurement and classification of anatomical differences among men, problems of heredity, the influence of differences in the physical environment on the human organism and the interrelationship between biological and cultural differences among men. Physical anthropology is sometimes referred to as somatic anthropology or as somatology.

The recognition of the pervasive influence and impact of culture on the biology of man makes physical anthropology distinctive from human biology. It discusses the man's place in the animal kingdom. A detailed study of the order of primates is undertaken by anthropologists. In the evolution of mankind, the title Homo sapiens is attributed to modern human beings and their ancestors who have existed for approximate the past 50,000 years.

The anatomical and morphological changes that have occurred over the past millions of years to produce this species of mankind are studied in detail by physical anthropologists. Physical anthropology is concerned about the extent to which biological factors influence the nature, behaviour and culture of humans and the population at large.

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Branches of Physical Anthropology are mentioned in the following.

Human Biology

The Physical anthropologist studies human biology as he is interested in Homo sapiens alone. He studies man out of the vast range of creatures that claim the attention of the general biologists. Therefore, there is a close relationship between Physical Anthropology and the study of other living beings. The Physical anthropologist tells about the man's place in the animal kingdom by making a comparative study on the different groups of man and his near relations like apes, monkeys, etc. whom we call primates.

Human Evolution

Another object of Physical Anthropology is to deal with human evolution. Like other creatures, man is also a living organism. It is difficult to explain under what conditions life had appeared on earth. But from the geological and palaeontological evidence, it has been known that the first living organism that had appeared on earth consisted of one cell only, which is known as a unicellular organism or amoeba. In course of time, this simple homogeneous organism through the process of changes attained the heterogeneous form at various stages. Ultimately, a complex form of animal called man had emerged. All living forms of humanity today belong to the single genus and species of Homo sapiens. Man is said to have emerged during the quaternary epoch of the Cenozoic era. As time elapsed varieties of man had evolved from the date of his origin.

In an analysis of human evolution, paleontology plays an important role. Anatomy is essential for studying different human forms, especially in the study of racial differences, and no one can specialize in Physical Anthropology without prior training in anatomy. On the basis of geological evidence, it has become possible to find out the age of the different forms preserved under the earth.

Human Variation

The physical anthropologist after having studied the origin, development and place of the evolution of man focuses his attention on the study of the different varieties of man. Outwardly though they appear different, all men have some common characteristics and belong to the species - Homo-sapiens. However, it is generally found that the common hereditary does not resemble those of other groups in various ways. Each of these groups is designated as race. So, in Physical Anthropology the different aspects of race are studied. Somatology-Somato-scopic observation and anthropometry are useful for this purpose.

Human Genetics

The methodology of Physical Anthropology has now been changed. The days of the descriptive stage are gone and the analytical stage has taken its place. Classical Physical Anthropology was mainly interested in classification and not in interpretation. For example, a black native African has a platyrrhine nose whereas the European has a leptorrhine nose. Previously it was not interpreted why these two groups of people had different types of noses. Now, explanations are being put forward why they have different types of noses. In recent times the attention of physical anthropologists has been diverted to Genetics a branch of biology, which deals with descent, variation and heredity. They now study the blood types, differences in musculature etc.

They also study the group differences in time of sexual maturation, growth rates and various disease immunities. These studies have practical value and the results may be used in various ways. The physical anthropologist studies also the influences of the natural environment on man and trees to find out whether the physical traits of man are affected by the environment. Moreover, the studies the problems association Moreover, the studies the problems associated with physical changes, effects of food and mode of life on racial and physical characteristics.

Another aspect of the study of Physical Anthropology is demography which is directly related to fertility and mortality. There are various factors including heredity and environment that influence fertility and mortality. These are studied by physical anthropologists.

There is another subject called pedagogical anthropology which is directly concerned with education. In various educational fields, pedagogical studies are utilised by many advanced countries. On the whole, Physical Anthropology is highly a specialized branch of Anthropology.

Human Palaeontology

Human palaeontology studies the old human skeletons of different stages. It also studies the history of the earth's evolution. According to Webster's New International Dictionary, “Human palaeontology is the science that deals with the life of the past geographical periods. It is based on the study of the fossils remains as organisms.”

Anthropometry

According to Herskovits, anthropometry may be defined as the measurement of man. Anthropologists have decided on certain definite traits by the measurement of which human races may be classified. Anthropometry, again, has been classified into two branches, the study of the physical structures of living human beings and the study of human fossils

Medical Anthropology

It studies disease patterns and their impact on human societies. Medical Anthropologist attempts to bring into light the socio-cultural as well as genetic or environmental determinants of disease within a population through the close study of the people and their way of life. This proves very much effective in combating different diseases in human societies.

Physiological Anthropology

This branch deals with the internal organs of the human body in order to understand their biochemical constitutions. It is also concerned with how the physiology of man interacts with external factors like climate, food habits, etc. Moreover, it studies biochemical variations in man and other primates.

Forensic Anthropology

It deals with the skeletal structure of hominids and non-hominids to understand the similarities and differences of the body parts. This branch of knowledge becomes very effective in the detection of criminals as well as in the identification of the nature and status of individuals through their biological remains.

Dental Anthropology

This branch of knowledge deals with teeth and their pattern. The teeth provide the body shape and size as well as food habits, and related behaviour patterns. Dental morphology helps us to understand human evolution, growth, body morphology, and genetic features.

Human Growth and Development

It is another area of interest to physical anthropology in which biological mechanisms of growth, as well as the impact of the environment on the growth process, are studied. Today, physical anthropologists study the impacts of disease, pollution, and poverty on growth. Detailed studies of the hormonal, genetic and physiological basis of the healthy growth in living humans contribute to the understanding of the growth patterns of our ancestors and also, to the health of children today, etc. It is, therefore, a specialized knowledge that attempts to study the distribution of different dental traits among the different populations.

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Cultural Anthropology

There are almost as many definitions of culture as there are scholars. In order to understand, culture one must know the steps by which mankind has transformed itself from an instinct dominated anthropoid into a cultural adaptive human being. Cultural Anthropology deals with learned behavioural characteristics of the past, present and future of human societies. Now, the main fields of studies under Cultural Anthropology are Prehistoric archaeology, ethnology and ethnolinguistics. Under ethnology again economic anthropology, social anthropology, ethnography, religion, art, musicology, recreation, folklore etc. are studied.

Branches of Cultural Anthropology are mentioned in the following.

Prehistoric Archaeology

It is now a specialized branch of Cultural Anthropology. The prehistorians with their pick and shovel have contributed much to getting first-hand knowledge about the extinct peoples and their cultures and the past phases of living peoples. They enlighten us with how the prehistoric people coped with the natural setting by making tools and implements, weapons and other necessary equipment in order to serve their biological and psychological needs such as food, clothing, art etc. Prehistoric archaeology has also been helpful in finding out the sequence of culture and dating the past by adopting various methods such as Stratigraphy, Radio-carbon methods, etc.

Paleontology

There is another scientific discipline called paleontology which is closely associated with prehistory and helpful to make a study on the extinct races from their fossilized forms. It tells us how the modern races have evolved from those extinct fossil races.

Technology: In order to satisfy his wants and to live by adjusting to the natural environment, the man had to make some material objects such as tools and implements, weapons, utensils, clothes, houses, canoes etc. This is called the material culture of the people. The study of the techniques of making these objects of material culture is known as Technology. This aspect of culture in the past is being studied with the help of Prehistoric Archaeology.

Ethnology

Ethnology is another field of study under Cultural Anthropology. It made its appearance as a recognized branch in about 1840 and it developed very greatly during the next hundred years. It makes a comparative study of the cultures of the world and emphasizes the theory of culture. It is often called Cultural Anthropology and is sometimes used as a synonym for Anthropology also.

Ethnography

Ethnologic studies are essential for a cultural anthropologist to know the links between the different cultures and the principles guiding the socio-cultural systems. Ethnology includes in its fold Economic Anthropology, Social Anthropology, Religion, Art, Musicology and Recreation, Folklore etc. As a matter of fact, Ethnology interprets the facts on data collected through ethnographic studies, classifies them and formulates principles with regard to the nature of human behaviour and the evolution and functioning of culture.

Ethnography is the study of the cultures of the living peoples of the world through the direct and indirect observation of behaviour. Ethnography is not the study of races, which is the work of the physical anthropologist. It involves the collection of data only and the raw materials for scientific analysis.

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Social Anthropology

Man is a gregarious animal and lives in a society. So he has to adapt to the social environment and learn to live in social cohesion. A man is born in a family, the smallest unit of society. He is socialized through this unit. As society is a web of social relationships, a man is tied to society with various strings of social relationships. He is a member of different kinship groups such as the family, the lineage, the clan, the phratry, the moiety etc. as well as he may be a member of various non-kin groups or associations viz. boy's club, secret society, village council etc.

Man is also involved in social institutions such as marriage, government, law etc. So in adjusting to the social environment and to keep the society in continuity, one has to abide by the various laws and customs formulated by the society. But society has got an intimate relationship with a culture that is created by man. Culture exists to make the society survive but without the existence of society, culture has no entity. So the social anthropologist studies various aspects of society in keeping with the cultural development. Such as (Religion, Art, Musicology, Recreation, Folklore)

Ethnolinguistics

Another branch of Cultural Anthropology is Ethnolinguistics which is highly specialized. Ethnolinguistics (sometimes called cultural linguistics) is a field of linguistics that studies the relationship between language and culture, and the way different ethnic groups perceive the world. It is a combination between ethnology and linguistics. The former refers to the way of life of an entire community, i.e., all the character

The former refers to the way of life of an entire community, i.e., all the characteristics which distinguish one community from the other. Those characteristics make up the cultural aspects of a community or a society.

It is the study of human speech and of the various dead and living languages and dialects of the different groups of people in the world. By studying these anthropologists tries to find out the origin and development of the languages and their interrelationships. Then they are classified. The linguist also helps to unveil the men's past and the diffusion of their culture. In American universities, there is a growing trend to establish independent departments of ethnolinguistics. As a science, the study of language is somewhat older than Anthropology. The two disciplines become closely associated in the early days of anthropological fieldwork when anthropologists took the help of linguistics to study unwritten languages. An example is a way spatial orientation is expressed in various cultures. In many societies, words for the cardinal directions east and west are derived from terms for sunrise/sunset. The nomenclature for cardinal directions of Inuit speakers of Greenland, however, is based on geographical landmarks such as the river system and one's position on the coast. Similarly, the Yurok lack the idea of cardinal directions; they orient themselves with respect to their principal geographic feature, the Klamath River.

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Other Specialties of Cultural Anthropology are mentioned in the following.

Ethno-ecology

This is a special sub-field of anthropological study that deals with the adaptation of human beings to their total environment.

Urban Anthropology

Urban Anthropology came to grow as a distinctive area of study in Anthropology in recent times. It is a subset of anthropology concerned with issues of urbanization, poverty, urban space, social relations, and neoliberalism. The field has become consolidated in the 1960s and 1970s.

Although some anthropologists studied ethnic populations in urban settings since the beginning of this century, urban anthropology, in fact, started as a special study in 1967 when there broke out riots in some cities of the United States. Urban anthropologists are trying to bring the unique attributes of anthropology to the study of urban cultures in contemporary cities. Urban anthropology is heavily influenced by sociology, especially by the Chicago School of Urban Sociology. The traditional difference between sociology and anthropology was that the former was traditionally conceived as the study of civilized populations, whilst anthropology was approached as the study of primitive populations. There were, in addition, methodological differences between these two disciplines-sociologists would normally study a large population sample while anthropologists relied on fewer informants with deeper relations.

As interest in urban societies increased, methodology between these two fields and subject matters began to blend, leading some to question the differences between urban sociology and urban anthropology. The lines between the two fields have blurred with the interchange of ideas and methodology, to the advantage and advancement of both disciplines.

Anthropometry

Anthropometry is the science of measuring the different limbs of the body. It is an inevitable part of Physical Anthropology, and with its help, various measurements of the limbs of the body are taken so as to know the proportions of the limbs. With this knowledge, the physical anthropologists can give advice regarding sitting arrangements in aeroplanes, railways, classrooms, offices etc.

Physical Anthropology is also useful in detecting criminals. With the knowledge of feet and handprints, it becomes easier to detect criminals as the types of foot and handprints are never changed during man's lifetime. Similarly, analyses of hair texture and blood groups also help in detecting criminals. The physical anthropologist can also advise with regard to finding out the father of the son born to an unmarried mother.

The population explosion is a great problem in India, Bangladesh and North Africa. Population explosion has become a menace to the whole of mankind. A two-pronged strategy to produce more food as well as to control the human population by way of the green revolution and family planning programmes had been made to cope with this problem. The services of cultural anthropologists are useful in the planning of these development programmes. Similarly, for successful implementations of prohibition, family planning, adult education and various other development programmes, the services of the cultural anthropologists are essential.

National disintegration is another erosive problem in India. The services of both the physical and cultural anthropologists are essential to help solve the problems of casteism, communalism, regionalism, racialism etc. Nowadays, the problems of labour management in various industries have been acute and labour strikes frequently take place. These problems could be mitigated to a great extent if the living and psychological conditions of labourers are studied earlier with the help of cultural anthropologists.

Action Anthropology

It has been coined by Sol Tax. According to him, an action anthropologist is to study the processes of change in the society and help the people to overcome the adverse effects of change and guide planning in such a way that the people do better in the process of change. Though it is an offshoot development from applied anthropology, it does not stop with the humanistic study as an applied anthropologist does with the natives and minority peoples.

Rather, the action anthropologists involve themselves intimately with anthropological problems and pursue their studies in a context of action. In such a study, the distinction between pure research and applied research generally disappears. The anthropologist accepts a problem as his own and proceeds through the trial and error method.

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Scope and Value of Anthropology

Anthropology is usually classified as a social science along with disciplines such as sociology, economics, political science and psychology but it has much in common with natural sciences like biology and geology as also with religion and art in the field of humanities. The diverse field of anthropology has a broader scope than other social sciences. Anthropologists are interested in all human beings and their different aspects such as skin colour, kinship system, religious beliefs, technologies and other aspects of life.

In physical anthropology, investigation of the evolution of the human species, physical variations among different human groups and the anatomy of monkeys, apes and humans are studied. Primatology is a line of specialization within anthropology and it specializes in the evolution, anatomy, adaptation and social behaviour of primates which constitutes the taxonomic order including humans. Anthropologists studying the variation in human beings seek to measure and explain the similarities and differences among the people of the world.

Archaeology studies the human past on the basis of examination of the material remains of the past in order to understand human life has changed over centuries. Cultural anthropology also known as ethnology involves the study of historically recent and contemporary human cultures and societies. They study a wide range of subjects of which some main are -

1. Study and preparation of reports about the ways of life of particular human societies.

2. Comparison of diverse cultures to understand their common features and influences operating on the cultures.

3. Understanding the mutual relationship and influence of the various aspects of like economics, family life, religion and art etc.

Ethnology helps people to understand and appreciate cultural differences in the increasing multi-cultural world. The ethnologists move into the community to study, live in close contact with the people and communicate with them in the local language to gain firsthand knowledge.

Anthropological linguistics involves the description and analysis of sound patterns, words, meanings and sentence structures of human languages. Cultural anthropologists try to understand how language and culture influence each other.

Medical anthropologists investigate the interaction among human health, nutrition, social environment and cultural beliefs and practices. Development anthropology is a field in which anthropologists apply their expertise to the study of human problems.

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Research Methods of Anthropology

Anthropologists use both objective (scientific) and subjective (interpretive) methods in their research. As scientists, anthropologists systematically collect information to answer specific research questions. They also document their work so that other researchers can duplicate it. But many anthropologists also conduct informal kinds of research, including impromptu discussions with and observations of the peoples they study. Some of the more common types of anthropological research methods include

(1) immersion in a culture,

(2) analysis of how people interact with their environment,

(3) linguistic analysis,

(4) archaeological analysis, and

(5) analysis of human biology.

Cultural Immersion

Researchers trained in cultural anthropology employ a variety of methods when they study other cultures. Traditionally, however, much anthropological research involves long-term, direct observation of and participation in the life of another culture. This practice, known as participant observation, gives anthropologists a chance to get an insider’s view of how and why other people do what they do.

Polish-born British anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski was the first anthropologist to document a detailed method of participant observation. Malinowski spent two years living with the people of the Trobriand Islands, part of Papua New Guinea, between 1915 and 1918. He learned the Trobriand language and explored the people’s religion, magic, gardening, trade, and social organization. He later published a series of books describing all aspects of Trobriand's life. Malinowski's work became a model of research methods for generations of anthropologists.

Just as Malinowski did, most anthropologists today learn local languages to help them gain an insider’s view of a culture. Anthropologists commonly collect information by informally asking questions of the people with whom they live.

Often anthropologists will find individuals within the society being studied who are especially knowledgeable and who are willing to become so-called informants. Informants typically enjoy talking with a sympathetic outsider who wishes to interpret and record their culture. Informants and anthropologists may also form teams in which the informants work as anthropologists. While informants often provide much useful information, anthropologists also have to take into account the biases that people typically have in explaining their own cultures.

In some cases, anthropologists may use interviews to record the extensive life histories of individuals with whom they have good relationships. Older people usually volunteer to tell their life stories, often because they have seen many changes since their youth and enjoy telling of past experiences and lessons learned. Such stories can provide valuable insights into how cultures change.

Anthropologists also commonly construct genealogies (diagrams of kinship relations) and map to show how the people in communities are related to one another, how people organize themselves in groups, and how people and groups interact with each other. These research tools can provide a way for anthropologists to see cultural patterns and complexities of daily life that would otherwise be difficult to discern or comprehend.

Human Ecology

Many anthropologists combine cultural research with studies of the environments in which people live. Human ecology examines how people interact with their natural environments, such as to make a living. Anthropologists may collect large amounts of data about features of a culture’s environment, such as types of plants and animals, the chemical and nutritional properties of medicines and foods, and climate patterns. This information can provide explanations for some characteristics of a people’s culture.

For instance, in the 1960s American anthropologist, Roy Rappaport analyzed the ecological significance of a ritual cycle of peace and warfare among the Tsembaga people of Papua New Guinea. Rappaport found that the Tsembaga and neighbouring groups would maintain peace for periods of between 12 and 20 years. During these periods, the people would grow sweet potato gardens and raise pigs. The people would also guard areas of land they had previously gardened but which were now unused and believed to be occupied by ancestor spirits. When the presence of too many pigs rooting up gardens and eating sweet potato crops became a nuisance, the Tsembaga would feast on the pigs, perform a ritual to remove spirit ancestors from old gardens, and then lift the ban on warfare. The lifting of the ban allowed the Tsembaga to capture abandoned lands from other groups. This regulation of warfare coincided with the amount of time it took for abandoned gardens to regain their fertility, and so made good ecological sense.

Linguistic Analysis

Linguistic anthropologists, as well as many cultural anthropologists, use a variety of methods to analyze the details of a people’s language. The practice of phonology, for example, involves precisely documenting the sound properties of spoken words. Many linguistic anthropologists also practice orthography, the technique of creating written versions of spoken languages. In addition, most study the properties of grammar in languages, looking for the rules that guide how people communicate their thoughts through strings of words.

Language reveals much about a people’s culture. Anthropologists have studied such topics as how different languages assign gender to words, shape the ways in which people perceive the natural and supernatural worlds, and create or reinforce divisions of rank and status within societies.

For instance, many of the peoples native to North America conceive of time as a continual cycle of renewal, a concept quite different from the European belief that time only moves forward in a progression from the past to the future. Linguists have found that many Native American languages, such as that of the Hopi of the North American Southwest, include grammatical constructions for saying that something exists in a state of “becoming,” even though it does not yet actually exist. English and other European languages cannot as easily express such an idea, nor can most Europeans or Americans of European descent truly understand it.

Archaeological Analysis

Archaeologists use specialized research methods and tools for the careful excavation and recording of the buried remains of past cultures. Remote sensing involves the use of aeroplane photography and radar systems to find buried sites of past human cultures. Rigorous methods of excavation allow archaeologists to map the precise locations of remains for later analysis. Seriation, the practice of determining relative age relationships among different types of artifacts based on their shapes and styles, helps archaeologists learn how past cultures changed and evolved. Archaeologists also use a variety of dating methods involving chemical and other types of scientific analysis to reveal the age of buried objects up to millions of years old.

In addition, some archaeologists have training in cultural anthropology, and they may use cultural research to help them interpret what they find buried in the ground. For example, people in many small-scale societies continued to make tools of stone into the 20th century, and some still have the know-how. By watching these people make their tools, archaeologists have learned how to interpret patterns of chipped pieces of stone buried in the ground.

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Physical Anthropological Research

Physical anthropologists often rely on rigorous medical scientific methods for at least part of their research, in addition to more general observational methods. All physical anthropologists have detailed knowledge of human skeletal anatomy.

Paleoanthropologists and forensic anthropologists can construct extremely detailed descriptions of people’s lives from only measurements of bones and teeth. These researchers typically analyze the chemical or cellular composition of bones and teeth, patterns of wear or injury, and placement in or on the ground. Such analyses can reveal information about the sex, age, work habits, and diet of a person who died long ago.

Some physical anthropologists specialize in epidemiology, the study of disease and health among large groups of people. In addition to studying diseases themselves, physical anthropologists focus on cultural causes and preventions of disease. They may study such specific medical topics as nutrition and gastrointestinal function, human reproduction, or the effects of drugs on brain and body function. For instance, physical anthropologists working in San Francisco, California, studied how the beliefs and practices of homosexual and bisexual men factored into the spread of the AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) virus in the 1980s. This information helped in the design of effective health education programs to reduce the spread of the disease.

Physical anthropologists studying human genetics use sophisticated laboratory techniques to analyze human chromosomes and DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), the structures through which people inherit traits from their parents. With these techniques, researchers have identified human populations that have genetic predispositions to specific diseases, such as types of cancer. This knowledge has promoted an increased focus on the use of preventive measures among people with a higher risk for disease.

Some Special Methods Of Anthropology

• Observation Methods

• Case Study Methods

• Genealogical Methods

• Historical Methods

• Ethnographic Methods

• Survey Methods

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Sociology and Anthropology

Sociology is the science of society. Sociology word was terms that were derived from Latin and Greek words such as the socious or societus and logos or logy which means society and science or study. The sociology word was first used by the French Professor August Comte. And, Comte introduced the word 'Sociology' for the first time in his famous work "Positive Philosophy about 1893 ( Subject to nature and invariable laws, the discovery of which is the object of investigation)

Sociology is one of the members of the family of social sciences. Sociology is concerned with the life and activities of man. It studies the nature and character of human society, and also its origin, development, structure and functions. And, it also analyses the group life of man and examines the bonds of social utility. Sociology tries to determine the relationship and interdependence between different elements of social life; moral and religious, economic and political, intellectual and philosophical and aesthetic, scientific and technological, non-material and so on.

Broadly it may be said that sociology has had a four-fold origin; political philosophy, the philosophy of history, biological theories of evolution and the movements for social and political reforms.

Pioneers or founding fathers of sociology are as follows:-

1. August Comte

2. Herbert Spencer

3. Karl Marx

4. Max Weber

Some definitions of sociology by the sociologist are as follows:-

• "Sociology is the science of society"- L.F. Ward

• "Sociology deals with the behaviour of men in the groups"- Kimball Young

• "The subject matter of the society is the interaction of human minds"- Young n Mack

Thus, many sociologists define their own views on the topics of sociology and they are different from each other so sociology is the broad concept of society.

And, Anthropology means the study of human beings' behaviour and its evolution and human structure. The word anthropology was derived from the Greek words 'Anthropos' and the 'logos' or 'logy' which means 'man' and the 'study or science'. Some definitions of anthropology are as follows:-

• "Anthropology as the study of human beings"- Anthropology of Dictionary

• "Anthropology is the science of groups of men and their behaviour and the production"- A.L. Kroeber

• "Anthropology may be defined as the measurement of human beings"- M.J. Herskovits

Thus, anthropologists are seeking answers to an enormous variety of questions about humans. They are interested in discovering when, where and why humans appeared on the earth, how and they have changed since then.

Sociology is the study of human social life, groups and societies. The scope of sociological study is extremely wide, ranging from the analysis of passing encounters between global social processes. Sociology is the science of society. Sociology deals with many things in society like family, education, networks, etc. sociology is the science of social relationships. It also studies social life and social action. Sociology has some functions also and they are as follows:

• Social Structure

• Customs

• Social Institutions

• Religion

• Social Change

Anthropology is the study or science of human beings. Anthropology is the practical side and in this topic, the anthropologist seeks to know how human beings were incorporated a whole catalogue of disciplines; sociology, psychology, political science, economics, history, human biology and perhaps even the humanistic disciplines of philosophy and literature. Most of those disciplines have existed longer than anthropology, and each is somewhat distinctive. Anthropology is the scientific study of overall activities and the development of human history to the present. Anthropology is mainly concerned with primitive communities to the study of varying cultural patterns developed in different periods of human history.