Abortion Ethics Essay -- essays research papers

The argument of abortion has been raging since the Supreme Court case, Roe vs. Wade, in 1973. This court case has divided the country into two factions: pro-choice and pro-life. Pro-life advocates argue that abortions are murder and extreme levels of child abuse. While pro-choice advocates believe abortions are a justifiable means to end pregnancies. The pro-choice argument is that the fetus is not yet a human being and its rights should not override that of the mother’s. An importance on what defines a human is very important. Is a human the result of sperm fertilizing an egg? At this point of fertilization the human is composed of a single cell with a unique DNA structure. Killing this unique cell would be wrong, however does this single cell constitute for a person? If being human is defined through having a certain level of self awareness and acknowledgment of your person, then the fetus is not yet a human being so aborting it would be as immoral as destroying a malignant tumor (Shrage 127). Should emphasis be placed on intelligence and awareness when interpreting what a human being is? A fetus is not a form of intelligent life because it has not yet had any experience, so therefore probably hasn’t had thoughts. In his essay, Rene Descartes, argues that we truly exist because we can doubt our existence. He states, â€Å"If I completely stop thinking, I would completely cease to exist†. In this sense of existence is it possible for an unborn child to doubt their existenc... Abortion Ethics Essay -- essays research papers The argument of abortion has been raging since the Supreme Court case, Roe vs. Wade, in 1973. This court case has divided the country into two factions: pro-choice and pro-life. Pro-life advocates argue that abortions are murder and extreme levels of child abuse. While pro-choice advocates believe abortions are a justifiable means to end pregnancies. The pro-choice argument is that the fetus is not yet a human being and its rights should not override that of the mother’s. An importance on what defines a human is very important. Is a human the result of sperm fertilizing an egg? At this point of fertilization the human is composed of a single cell with a unique DNA structure. Killing this unique cell would be wrong, however does this single cell constitute for a person? If being human is defined through having a certain level of self awareness and acknowledgment of your person, then the fetus is not yet a human being so aborting it would be as immoral as destroying a malignant tumor (Shrage 127). Should emphasis be placed on intelligence and awareness when interpreting what a human being is? A fetus is not a form of intelligent life because it has not yet had any experience, so therefore probably hasn’t had thoughts. In his essay, Rene Descartes, argues that we truly exist because we can doubt our existence. He states, â€Å"If I completely stop thinking, I would completely cease to exist†. In this sense of existence is it possible for an unborn child to doubt their existenc...

Banquos Virtue in Shakespeares Macbeth :: Free Essay Writer

Banquo's Virtue in Macbeth      Ã‚   The Bard of Avon creates some truly mean and ugly characters in the persons of the Macbeths, but he creates a counterpart to them in the character of Banquo. This military man will be the subject of this essay.    In Everybody's Shakespeare: Reflections Chiefly on the Tragedies, Maynard Mack explains how the Bard upgraded the Holinshed version of Banquo:    His [King James] family, the Stuarts, claimed descent from Banquo, and it is perhaps on this account that Shakespeare departs from Holinshed, in whose narrative Banquo is Macbeth's accomplice in the assassination of Duncan, to insist on his "royalty of nature" and the "dauntless temper of his mind" (3.1.50). Many critics see a notable compliment to James in the dumb show of kings descending from Banquo ("What, will the line stretch out to th' crack of doom?" (186)    Blanche Coles states in Shakespeare's Four Giants that Banquo is "a man to be feared" by Macbeth:    Besides Lady Macbeth, the one who knows how much Macbeth is acting is Banquo. In the scene where Banquo is starting for his afternoon ride, the conversation between the new King and his "chief guest" is artificial on both sides. In pretending that he is about to seek advice from Banquo, Macbeth [. . .] is relying on the security of his office to prevent a contradiction from Banquo. A few lines farther on he says that his fears in Banquo sink deep. In the long soliloquy, beginning "To be thus is nothing," he reflects that Banquo would dare a great deal, and yet his daring is accompanied by a certain wisdom that would guide him to act safely. So he is a man to be feared. (56-57)    Clark and Wright in their Introduction to The Complete Works of William Shakespeare comment that Banquo is a force of good in the play, set in opposition to Macbeth:    Banquo, the loyal soldier, praying for restraint against evil thoughts which enter his mind as they had entered Macbeth's, but which work no evil there, is set over against Macbeth, as virtue is set over against disloyalty.   (792)    In Fools of Time: Studies in Shakespearean Tragedy, Northrop Frye explains the rationale behind Banquo's ghost in this play:    Except for the episode of Hercules leaving Antony, where mysterious music is heard again, there is nothing really supernatural in Shakespeare's tragedies that is not connected with the murder of the order-figures. Banquo's Virtue in Shakespeare's Macbeth :: Free Essay Writer Banquo's Virtue in Macbeth      Ã‚   The Bard of Avon creates some truly mean and ugly characters in the persons of the Macbeths, but he creates a counterpart to them in the character of Banquo. This military man will be the subject of this essay.    In Everybody's Shakespeare: Reflections Chiefly on the Tragedies, Maynard Mack explains how the Bard upgraded the Holinshed version of Banquo:    His [King James] family, the Stuarts, claimed descent from Banquo, and it is perhaps on this account that Shakespeare departs from Holinshed, in whose narrative Banquo is Macbeth's accomplice in the assassination of Duncan, to insist on his "royalty of nature" and the "dauntless temper of his mind" (3.1.50). Many critics see a notable compliment to James in the dumb show of kings descending from Banquo ("What, will the line stretch out to th' crack of doom?" (186)    Blanche Coles states in Shakespeare's Four Giants that Banquo is "a man to be feared" by Macbeth:    Besides Lady Macbeth, the one who knows how much Macbeth is acting is Banquo. In the scene where Banquo is starting for his afternoon ride, the conversation between the new King and his "chief guest" is artificial on both sides. In pretending that he is about to seek advice from Banquo, Macbeth [. . .] is relying on the security of his office to prevent a contradiction from Banquo. A few lines farther on he says that his fears in Banquo sink deep. In the long soliloquy, beginning "To be thus is nothing," he reflects that Banquo would dare a great deal, and yet his daring is accompanied by a certain wisdom that would guide him to act safely. So he is a man to be feared. (56-57)    Clark and Wright in their Introduction to The Complete Works of William Shakespeare comment that Banquo is a force of good in the play, set in opposition to Macbeth:    Banquo, the loyal soldier, praying for restraint against evil thoughts which enter his mind as they had entered Macbeth's, but which work no evil there, is set over against Macbeth, as virtue is set over against disloyalty.   (792)    In Fools of Time: Studies in Shakespearean Tragedy, Northrop Frye explains the rationale behind Banquo's ghost in this play:    Except for the episode of Hercules leaving Antony, where mysterious music is heard again, there is nothing really supernatural in Shakespeare's tragedies that is not connected with the murder of the order-figures.

The Blank Slate of Frankenstein’s Mind :: Frankenstein Essays Brain Locke Papers

The philosophical root of Frankenstein seems to be the empiricist theory first promoted by John Locke in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. In that essay, the mind is concieved as beginning as a blank slate or tabula rasa, upon which the various impressions gained by the outside world shape the personality. According to this strict empiricism, the mind contains no innate basis for the basic prerequisites for human socialization: a social code and/or morality with empathetic roots. As a result of the monster's isolation, he is unable to sympathize with human beings and loses respect for other intelligent life. Even though the monster has good intentions, his beneficence is subverted by the negative and anti-social reactions he receives from the people he encounters. The most blatent passages in support of the tabula rasa can be found in the monster's account of the impressions of his early life at the beginning of Chapter IX (pg 70 Dover Edition). The relevant portion starts at the beginning of the chapter, but the passage of most interest is reproduced below: "Several changes of day and night passed, and the orb of night had greatly lessened, when I began to distinguish my sensations from each other. I gradually saw plainly the clear stream that supplied me with drink, and the trees that shaded me with their foliage. I was delighted when I first discovered that a pleasant sound, which often saluted my ears, proceeded from the throats of the little winged animals who had often intercepted the light from my eyes. I began also to observe, with greater accuracy, the forms that surrounded me, and the boundaries of the radient roof of light which canopied me. Sometimes I tried to imitate the pleasant sounds of the birds, but was unable. Sometimes I wished to express my sensations in my own mode, but the uncouth and inarticulate sounds which broke from me frightened me back into silence." While this account is probably a poor model of how an actual entity would behave upon being thrust into a brand new world of sensations with sufficient cognitive apparati to comprehend the impressions (categories and systemization are utilized almost immediately, although there would be no reason for the monster to arrange things in this way, "light from my eyes" is a physical principal [an incorrect one at that] and would not likely be used in a naive description. The Blank Slate of Frankenstein’s Mind :: Frankenstein Essays Brain Locke Papers The philosophical root of Frankenstein seems to be the empiricist theory first promoted by John Locke in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. In that essay, the mind is concieved as beginning as a blank slate or tabula rasa, upon which the various impressions gained by the outside world shape the personality. According to this strict empiricism, the mind contains no innate basis for the basic prerequisites for human socialization: a social code and/or morality with empathetic roots. As a result of the monster's isolation, he is unable to sympathize with human beings and loses respect for other intelligent life. Even though the monster has good intentions, his beneficence is subverted by the negative and anti-social reactions he receives from the people he encounters. The most blatent passages in support of the tabula rasa can be found in the monster's account of the impressions of his early life at the beginning of Chapter IX (pg 70 Dover Edition). The relevant portion starts at the beginning of the chapter, but the passage of most interest is reproduced below: "Several changes of day and night passed, and the orb of night had greatly lessened, when I began to distinguish my sensations from each other. I gradually saw plainly the clear stream that supplied me with drink, and the trees that shaded me with their foliage. I was delighted when I first discovered that a pleasant sound, which often saluted my ears, proceeded from the throats of the little winged animals who had often intercepted the light from my eyes. I began also to observe, with greater accuracy, the forms that surrounded me, and the boundaries of the radient roof of light which canopied me. Sometimes I tried to imitate the pleasant sounds of the birds, but was unable. Sometimes I wished to express my sensations in my own mode, but the uncouth and inarticulate sounds which broke from me frightened me back into silence." While this account is probably a poor model of how an actual entity would behave upon being thrust into a brand new world of sensations with sufficient cognitive apparati to comprehend the impressions (categories and systemization are utilized almost immediately, although there would be no reason for the monster to arrange things in this way, "light from my eyes" is a physical principal [an incorrect one at that] and would not likely be used in a naive description.

Case Study of Walmart Goes South Analysis

How has the implementation of NAFTA affected Walmart’s success in Mexico?The North American Free Trade created in 1994 affected Wal -Mart`s success in Mexico in three specific ways. Wal-Mart had a marketing campaign where it offered â€Å"Every Day Low Prices†, but this was not quite true in Mexico because it had significant import charges on many of the products brought from the U.S. After the implementation of NAFTA, Mexico became a free trade zone. This made it possible for Wal- Mart to reduce its tariff from 10% to 3 %. This led the government to solve the logistical problem due to the fact that Mexico`s transportation system was below average.NAFTA encourages Mexico to improve the transportation system, which lowers the logistical cost. Additionally, NAFTA allows foreign investment in Mexico. As a result,  Wal-Mart was able to build manufacturing plants in Mexico because of the cheap labor. In this particular case we can observe how low labor cost contributes to obtain low import tariffs therefore leads to cheaper products. Wal-Mart`s success in Mexico was definitely possible because of the NAFTA implementation.Question 2How much of Walmart’s success is due to NAFTA, and how much is due to Walmart,s inherent competitive strategy? In other words, could any other U.S retailer have the same success in Mexico post-NAFTE, or is Walmart a special case?NAFTA benefits every company that is willing to operate abroad. This agreement solved some difficulties but Wal-Mart`s inherent competitive strategy was effective in the Mexican Market. As we all know Wal-Mart`s strategy to win against its competitors is its offered prices. The company is considered leader in the market because it has the capability to offer the lowest prices for this reason Wal-Mart is considered to have a large negotiating power.They can negotiate with suppliers to drop prices and consequently lower prices. In my opinion NAFTA benefits plus Wal-Mart`s purchasing power was t he combination that allowed the company to be successful. Wal-Mart uses time inventory system which allows them to keep track of what they need and communicate this to their suppliers. Wal- Mart`s purchasing power is not available in other companies therefore if competitors any to survive they should compete against the companies prices or change the type of business.Question 3What Have Comerci and Sorina done to remain competitive?What else do you thinks they need to do remain competitive in the future?Comerci and Soriana form a purchasing consortium that would allow them to negotiate better bulk price from suppliers. Comerci expand by opening new stores. Enter into several strategic alliances including with Wallmart’s major competitor in  US. Soriana bought Gigante supermarket chain and gain greater purchasing efficiencies for its larger network of supermarkets.Upgrading the supply chain and distribution channel system, reducing the using of warehouse that can cut cost of operation and logistic. Developing a strong relationship with supplier could make a comerci and soriana get a exclusive right of supplier , such as extra tenure on short term credit, lower rate on short term credit, lower price of product and so on. Create customer loyalty benefit, such privilege card or coupon, this action could make the customer loyal to comerci or soriana. Multiple source advantage, by doing this comerci and soriana could get more choice in choosing the supplier, which one could give a better rate and good service. Lobby for government intervention in avoiding a monopoly player in the market, such as impose a regulation on floor price.Question 4What do you think of Walmart’s strategy in Mexico and Central America, and how have bilateral agreements and geographic proximity played a role in their success?What challenges do you think Walmart de Mexico e Centrameca will face as it continues to expand in Mexico and Central America?Walmart in Mexico penetrated the market with a joint venture with its local player. This joint venture helped Walmart gain better knowledge of the Mexican market and supplied Walmart with supplier connections, knowledge about the local culture as well as helping Walmart to work with local authorities. This ensured successful expansion of Walmart's power in the Mexican markets, gaining the greatest influence in the shortest time period.Bilateral agreement and geographic proximity played a roled in wallmart success interm of gain and access into more product and suppliers. Also have a better coordinate the network of 14 distribution centers in mexico and 11 central America, locating Wallmart’s strategically throughout the region.Apart from it, Wallmart also established multiformat operations approach in the region to address different consumer segment. In future, the challenges that may faces by Wallmart in expanding their market in Mexico and Central market is, maybe the changes or a new policy on tariff that maybe impose to certain core product of wallmart that could affect the price of wallmart  product. Labour cost increase also could be one of the major problem that could affect on wallmart operation cost. The growth of the competitor can made a sale on wallmart affect due to market share penetration by competitor.

Assisted suicide Essay

Assisted Suicide In the 1990s, ‘Doctor Death’ Jack Kevorkian invented the first assisted suicide machine  in the world. He was then thrown into prison for 7 years (Pickert). This caught people’s attention  and made them question whether it should be legal to request physician assisted suicide, which is  when someone asks a physician to help him or her terminate his or her life. This topic became  one of the most popular discussions in recent years, but the truth is that it has actually been a  centuries- old debate. For both logical and humanitarian reasons, assisted suicide is not right and  should not be legalize. Is it right for a nation founded on Christianity to allow citizens to choose assisted  suicide? Can a decision that is made by a mentally ill person be treated as a rational decision? Is  the prevention of pain an acceptable circumstance in which to end a life? People still do not have  a widely accepted answer. It is not clear whether physician assisted suicide  is right or wrong. Assisted suicide should not be viewed solely as affecting one life, but should be viewed as a  decision that affects many.  The declaration of independence states that everyone has the right to pursue happiness  In whatever way they choose. Many argue that a decision to kill oneself is a private choice, that  society should not be, and has no right to be concerned. America believes that with its freedom,  people can do almost everything based on their own choices. Physician assisted suicide is also  one of the choices that they can decide. The common argument is that these people are adults  who can make rational and reasonable choices, however many people who request physician  assisted suicide are mentally ill. Of those who attempt suicide but were unsuccessful, less than 4  percent go on to kill themselves in the future, which means that most people changed their mind  after a period of recovery. Psychological evidence shows that those who ask for physician   assisted suicide in order to avoid pain are normally ambivalent, and they  usually attempt to end  their life for other reasons than a settled desire to die. Since assisted suicide has already become  a popular way to end suffering and pain, people who were in the status might feel it is necessary  for them to kill themselves since they have in their mind become a burden to their family and  society. Some would say it is wrong for such an impression to have the power to persuade a  personto end their life due to their weakness and disability. As a Christian nation, America wants a positive and happy image for the country.  American people value the meaning of life, and According to what most of the Christians  believe, God is the one who created life. Then how can people have the right to end something  that they did not even create in the first place? American society does not think assisted suicide  is good as a whole, because assisted suicide is still a self-caused death, which is equal to suicide.  Although there is always a vague line drawn between assisted suicide and attempted  murder. Assisted suicide is the opposite of happiness because it demonstrates  utter depression. It  is clear that American society sees assisted suicide as wrong, because there is a suicide watch  team among the police and counselors at schools who are trained to help and avert suicide. Asking for assisted suicide as a form of pain relief and signing a release form is not acceptable  either. People cannot solve problems by trying to get rid of them. People who stand against  physician-assisted suicide believe that suffering is just a stage of life. And lots of people who  were prevented from assisted suicide will tell you that they all passed that stage successfully,  and they are appreciative that they were stopped from asking for physician-assisted suicide. Assisted suicide also hurts the people who care about those who were asking for a  physician assisted suicide. Patients might get relived from their long suffering and pain but their  family will be hurt from one’s immature decision. The person only thought of their own  feelings and never considered others who are around them and how they feel. Families and loved  ones will be upset about their decision to take their lives in a selfish act. Other evidence that  shows assisted suicide is wrong is the fact that there are always suicide prevention billboards in  communities. This should show the government that people do not want those around them to  commit suicide. People who fight for the right to have physician-assisted suicide argue that assisted  suicide can bring benefits to both patients and society. They believe that people who  choose assisted suicide will die with dignity rather than suffer the pain of illness( O’Steen,  Burke). That they will not let their family and friends suffer anymore by showing their weakness  and sickness. By choosing assisted suicide, patients can also reduce a huge amount of medical  expenses that insurance does not cover. To benefit society, their organs can be donated to save  people’s lives (Humphrey). Doctors and nurses can spend more time on recovering patients  rather than waste time on patients who are assured death, and of course, they still think it is a part  of one’s freedom to be able to choose for himself whether to live or die. Whether it is one’s  rational decision to chose to end their life has always been the center of this debate. Because  with out arguing about one’s free right, those who favor assisted suicide will lose an important  statement. Although there is a ton of evidence showing that physician assisted suicide is not right,  it is a fact that so many people are still in favor to legalize assisted suicide. They believe that  rather than give people hope to live, telling them the truth and offering them an option is more  reasonable. They argued that in some ways, it is humane to give dying people assisted suicide;  society is okay with people helping a sick or dying animal yet people are not okay with letting a  sick and dying patient go. It was said that humans are too selfish to let their loved ones go, even  if death would be a comfort. People who think it is illegal for a physician to offer assisted suicide  are accused of wanting to control other people’s lives. People think that one has his/her own will  about their life that no one is suppose to tell them what they should do and should not do. Especially when their faith to live is completely gone. It was understood as a merciful behavior  for a physician to offer help to end one’s life. A new statement was also brought up to argue in  the favor of legalize assisted suicide. It is that if one can reject medical treatment to prolong life  then why can’t one request treatment to end it? Many people found this statement be reasonable  and useful to support the legalization of physician-assisted suicide.  After centuries’ debating, there is still no certain answer for those questions that are  brought up by the topic of assisted suicide. Two sides are still debating about the benefits and  negative effects of assisted suicide. Still to this day no one is able to convince the either group to  change their views on this topic. In 2006, the US Supreme Court ruled that legalizing assisted  suicide is to be the responsibility of each state respectively. No one can yet predict how long this   topic will still be an argumentative topic for debate, And no one can predict how this issue will  effect human life in the future. But overall, do people really possess the right to kill a life that  was not created by them? It is still a big question that no one has yet given an answer that can  satisfy everyone. Maybe one-day people will find out the right answer and that assisted suicide  will be a new thing that brings benefits to the world. Physician suicide should be banned due to  its negative cause and impaction to society. People who think assisted suicide should be  illegalized because of the value of life to a society is still the majority; ending a life is  not so simple that people should decide to do so on their own. Work cited Pickert, Kate. â€Å"A brief history of assisted suicide.† a brief history of assisted suicide. N.p., 3 Mar. 2009. Web. 13 Sept. 2013. . Humphry, Derek. â€Å"Liberty and Death: A manifesto concerning an individual’s right to choose to die.† Assisted Suicide – Information on right-to-die and euthanasia laws and history. N.p., 24 Mar. 2009. Web. 18 Sept. 2013. â€Å"Declaration of Independence – Text Transcript.† National Archives and Records Administration. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2013. O’Steen, David N. , and Burke J. Balch. â€Å"Why We Should Not Legalize Assisted Suicide | New York State Right to Life.† Welcome | New York State Right to Life. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2013. Information on right-to-die and euthanasia laws and history. N.p., 24 Mar. 2009. Web. 18 Sept.2013. .

Family and Cousin Essay

Human behavior can be explored by taking a look at the different aspects of a person’s life. These aspects include the biological, psychological, social, cultural and spiritual. These aspects can help social workers better understand the background history of a person’s life and gather information in order to do an accurate assessment of a person. This paper does not intend to make an assessment but it’s rather an informative paper in order to discover and understand the various systems of a person’s life. Furthermore this paper will also focus on how these systems interact with one another. I chose to do this paper on my cousin who just became a mother and she is currently learning how to adapt to her new way of life. I think she is in an interesting stage in her life and that is also why I chose her. My cousin and I are only a year apart in age and she chose a different path from the one that is expected after she graduated from high school. She decided not to go to college and began to work doing random retail jobs until she found a permanent job as a hostess. We are so different now but a few years ago we did get along and had a lot of things in common. Her relationship with her mother has also changed and now that my cousin is a mother, they seem to understand each other better. BIO-PHYSICAL My cousin’s name is Carla Sanchez and she is twenty two years old and the youngest of three. She is 5’5 and before she had the baby she had lost so much weight but now she regained some of that weight back. She has dark long hair and dark brown eyes. Before she became pregnant she fell in love with her baby’s father and lost a lot of weight. During her teenage years she was not as determined to lose weight as she was when she was nineteen when she met her significant other. During her pregnancy her body went through some physical changes. She did not have impulsive cravings and she ate the foods she normally eats but in larger portions. She gained around sixty pounds and now she looks like the way she did before she lost the weight. Her weight when she was a younger child before the teenage years resembles that of her mother. My aunt had an average weight because she was not skinny but she was not overweight either. My cousin’s weight then was average like her mother’s because due to the genes that were passed down to her through her mother. My cousin’s baby is a girl and looks more like her father but she has my cousin’s straight hair. Now that it has been several weeks after childbirth my cousin plans and is determined to lose the weight again. She looks like her mother and both have a healthy mother and daughter relationship. She is very open-minded and very out spoken. Her mother is also an open-minded person. According to the biological determinism theory it is evident that a person’s personality and physical appearance is embedded into a child from birth trough genetics. My cousin’s parents divorced when she was a young child and therefore she has always been close to her mother and that is why my aunt has been able to greatly influence my cousin’s behavior. Most of her life she has been more attached to her mother. PSYCHOLOGICAL According to Erikson’s theories of psychological development my cousin is in the intimacy versus isolation stage. My cousin’s childhood and teenage years have passed by. All that is left of her childhood and teenage years are memories. She began working at restaurants during her high school years and has stayed with that career. She has gone from being a waitress when she was sixteen to a hostess. However she is thinking of going back to school because she was her daughter to look up to her when her daughter is older. My cousin did not get married and she is not living with her boyfriend. She lives at home with her baby and her mother. All her time is devoted to her baby however there have been times when she is overwhelmed with the task of raising a child and her mother helps her so that she can at least have some time to rest. According to Paiget my cousin is at the stage four which is based on formal operations. At this level problems are now approached using logic, reason and combinational thought. Also individuals at this stage with formal operations can think about their own thoughts, feelings and think about thinking. I think that at this point Paiget is focusing on how we can look back at our past and reflect. My cousin is able to do this now and she now reflects on how her mother raised her so that she can raise her daughter the same way. My cousin constantly worries whether or not she is raising her child in a proper way or to the extent that it is expected of a mother to raise her child. She lives with her mother and her mother helps her by giving her advice from how to comfort the child to how to give the baby a bath. My cousin’s friend had her baby before my cousin and when her friend met my cousin’s child she was also giving her advice on hoe to take care of the baby. She is acquiring knowledge on how to raise her child from people such as her mother that have had years of experience raising children. Her friend told her that she worries to whether she is taking care of her baby the right way. My cousin has to endure a psychological as well as physical adaptation. Paiget describes adaptation as the process by which structures of the mind develop over time to achieve a better fit with the environment and external reality. My cousin is still eating food in large portions as she did when she was pregnant but now she is drinking more milk because she chose to breastfeed her baby. Therefore she keeps gaining weight and is also stressed out. As far as her mental state she is stressed and cannot focus on herself because she is constantly thinking about the well-being of her baby. She worries just as much as other mothers do because she wants her baby to be happy. She said that her baby seems to be cranky most of the time and basically she is dedicating all her time to comfort the baby. My cousin had learned to adapt to her new role as a mother and she will need to keep up as the baby goes through different stages of her life. SOCIAL She has not been working since July and her social life is not as it used to be before she had the baby. However she was visited by her godparents and many friends when she brought the baby home. They have showered the baby with gifts and seeing how other people have acted towards the baby makes her happy. My cousin is trying her best to imitate her mother because she loves her mother and wants to follow her advice so that she can raise a happy child. According to the social learning theory behaviors are mediated by thoughts, expectations as well as emotions and stresses the importance of observational learning or modeling. In my cousin’s case she sees her mom as a model mom that she wants to imitate. As far as I know my aunt really sacrificed a lot so that my cousin’s could have a better life than the one she had. I have seen how selfless my aunt has been especially with my cousin Carla because she is the youngest one. My cousin wants the approval of her mother in everything she does because she has been very attached to my aunt. Her brother and sister live far away from them. My cousin has kept in touch with her fellow co-workers and many of them came to visit her when she brought the baby home. One of her friends who is a teacher and brought her a huge box of pampers. He also gave her some parenting advice because he, as a father of three, thinks that he has had enough experience with kids. He was very happy to see the baby and many of her friends came to see the baby as well. Even though my cousin has not gone out since she gave birth in November 30th, she has had her friends come over to her place to see the baby. However her weeks have turned into the same routine of just staying at home to take care of her baby. The baby’s father also visits her but not too often because their relationship is not in good standing. My cousin is trying to be the mother that society expects her to be but most importantly she is trying to imitate her own mother. My aunt is a fervent believer in the Catholic faith and she raised her children in the same faith as she was raised in. All of her three children were baptized, did the communions and attended mass on Sundays. Until this day my aunt does not miss a mass at her local church. Her children however have not been as devoted as my aunt has been. My cousin Carla stop attending church after her teenage years when she graduated from high school and spent her weekends working. However my aunt always tries to make sure that my cousin does not loose her faith. According to James V. Fowler’s theory of faith development my cousin is at the stage 5 which is the individuative-reflective faith. In this stage young adults question the beliefs and stories they have received from family, friends and other social groups. My cousin does not believe everything that my aunt was taught about Catholicism. For example my cousin did not get married and decided to raise a child as a single mother. My aunt did not approve of this because she was taught that a woman must be a virgin until she gets married. Her other daughter moved in with her boyfriend and then got married. My aunt did not approve of this either. My aunt believes that salvation is obtained by following the church’s sacraments but my cousin believes that no one really knows how to obtain salvation. She also thinks that God is everywhere and therefore she does not need to attend mass every Sunday. My aunt was raised in a very religious home and in her native country religion plays an important role in life but her children who were raised in the United States have found a way to practice their religion however way they think is the proper way. My cousin plans to baptize her daughter and she has picked the godparents already. My family is from Ecuador which is in Latin America so that makes us part of the Latino community. My cousin Carla was born in New Jersey. She had to learn about the Ecuadorian culture and the American culture. When she was a kid my aunt would travel with her and her other siblings to Ecuador so that they could visit their grandmother and learn their cultural roots. My cousin had to learn both languages English and Spanish. She now knows them fluently and this has helped her a lot because she was able to make a lot of friends. In Ecuador gender roles are so delineated. Men are expected to work and women are expected to stay at home raising the children. It is not common for females to work outside the home. Most females graduate from high school and after high school they start raising families. My cousin knows both cultures but since she was born and raised in the United States she identifies more with the American culture. When her baby gets older she expects to go back to work and even go back to school so that she can be able to provide a better living for both. She is a single mother but has learned a lot from her mother who got divorced from her husband when my cousin was a young child. In conclusion these several aspects of a person’s life help us understand how each one relates to the other and how they affect human behavior. Human behavior can be affected by the people we associate with and by the culture we are raised in as well as other factors. These several theories described in this paper are very helpful to understand why a person behaves a certain way.

Economics History Essay

During the 1980s Mexico experienced what Latin American social scientists call a change in its â€Å"development model. † Gone is the import-substitution industrialization model that characterized Mexico since the 1930s. Instead, Mexico has become an open economy in which the state’s intervention is limited by a new legal and institutional framework. Under the new model, the tendency is for the market to replace regulation, private ownership to replace public ownership, and competition, including that from foreign goods and investors, to replace protection. Nothing illustrates the change in strategy more vividly than the pursuit of a free trade agreement with the United States, first mentioned by Salinas in June 1990, and the constitutional reform of land distribution and the ejido system adopted at the end of 1991 (Watling, 1992). What prompted this change in development strategy? Mexico had taken a risk in the 1970s by borrowing heavily in world capital markets and indulging in over-expansive policies, and then paid dearly when oil prices fell and world interest rates rose. Adjustment to the new circumstances required a policy that would increase net exports, generating foreign exchange to service the external debt. Because the government, not the private sector, owed most of the external debt, fiscal policy also had to change in order to increase revenues and cut noninterest expenditures. The restoration of growth required changes that would build confidence and encourage private capital inflows by means other than commercial bank loans, which were no longer available. Finally, to make the economy more flexible and competitive in a global context, the rules that governed the flow of goods and investment had to change. In mid- 1982Mexico was in a deep economic crisis. The international environment was adverse to a Mexico saddled with foreign debt. World interest rates were high, the price of oil, Mexico’s main export, was falling, and commercial banks had stopped lending. This unfavorable international environment exacerbated the consequences of domestic imbalances and contributed to rampant inflation, capital flight, and chaos in the financial and foreign exchange markets. To confront the internal imbalances and accommodate the adverse external conditions, Mexico was compelled to adjust its expenditures, reorient its output, and find new ways to foster growth. In the early 1990s Mexico gained recognition as a country successfully managing economic adjustment and reform. Inflation slowed, flight capital was returning, domestic and foreign investment was rising, and per capita output began to grow. The path to recovery, however, had been far from smooth. Well into the late 1980s, analysts wondered why Mexico’s recovery was so slow despite the sound macroeconomic policies and structural reforms it had instituted. The slow recovery imposed high social costs on the Mexican population, as per capita real disposable income fell on average by 5 percent a year between 1983 and 1988. For some six years the Mexican government focused economic policy on restoring stability, particularly on lowering the rate of inflation and keeping the loss of international reserves in check. It finally succeeded in 1988, when inflation decreased from monthly averages close to 10 percent at the beginning of the year to about 1 percent by year’s end. However, growth did not follow. Only a combination of more decisive external support and a shift in Mexico’s development strategy managed to produce a turnaround. The changes regarding the role of the state in economic matters and the country’s economic interaction with the rest of the world are particularly striking. Reforms sought to reduce state intervention and regulation so as to open new investment opportunities, build business confidence, and create a more flexible and efficient incentive structure. These reforms have called for substantial modifications in the legal and institutional frameworks of the economy that will shape the country for decades to come. In the late 1970s, on the mistaken assumption that the rise in world oil prices and the availability of cheap external credit would continue, the Mexican government engaged in a spending spree. The resulting fiscal deficit increased inflation rates and the trade deficit. The fiscal and external gaps were filled with external borrowing. In 1981, when the price of oil began to fall and external credit became more expensive and of a shorter maturity, the Mexican government failed to implement fiscal and relative price adjustments to adapt to the new, less favorable conditions. Fear of an imminent devaluation of the peso fueled capital flight, and a large nominal devaluation followed in early 1982 (Banco de Mexico, 1983). As inconsistent policies were pursued, the macroeconomic environment became increasingly chaotic. Capital flight continued, and as reserves were depleted and no more credit was available to service debt payments, in August 1982 the Mexican government had to declare an involuntary moratorium on its debt, triggering a debt crisis that soon acquired global proportions. Tensions between the private sector and the government peaked in September 1982, when the government announced the nationalization of the banking system (Banco de Mexico, 1983). When Miguel de la Madrid’s government came to power in December 1982, it confronted the unenviable task of restoring economic stability in the face of a hostile domestic private sector and reluctant external creditors. In other Latin American countries the political resistance of different social groups expressed in massive strikes or threats of coups added to the climate of economic instability and made the necessary adjustment more difficult. However, Mexico’s difficulties cannot be blamed on the political resistance of wage earners or other social groups to absorbing the costs of adjustment. In Mexico, policymakers enjoyed remarkable freedom to act during six years of economic hardship. There were no serious wage conflicts, threats from the military, peasant uprisings, or active guerrilla movements.