Racism and Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Racism and Society - Essay Example It should be stated that racial categories are variable and mostly depend on the meanings inserted by contemporaries. According to some scholars, it is wrong to consider the concept of race politically neutral. It always contain, even if just implicitly, the idea of conflict of interests. Omi and Winant state "race is a concept, which signifies and symbolizes social conflicts and interests, by referring to different types of human bodies" (55). Some sociologists state that the notion of race has always been filled with some socio-cultural meaning, demonstrating an attitude towards 'aliens' expressed through the emphasizing of their most observable physical differences. In other words, sociologists consider that physical marks reflect not the objective reality, but subjective attitude. According to Robert Park (237-239, 315), a racial mark has become the symbol of the suspense, in the ground of which has laid the sense of self-vulnerability. He writes that a sociologist is interested not in physical distinctions, differentiating one race from another, but in less evident lineaments of inner apprehensions. And physical distinctions are just the symbols of these inner apprehensions. Park claims that historical process in the issue is predetermined by the ideological factors, not by the biological ones. The more important is to realize what people believe in and look for, than to know who they are.In other words modern sociolo gists, considering race as an artificial construct and one of means of creation and description the identity, emphasize that race remains to be rather important notion, which determines and legalizes social and political actions of people. At the same time they are sure that race is a product of racism, and not contrariwise. From this point of view groups, which are called racial, turn out to be 'racialised'. It means that social, political, or economical state of these groups is described with the help of racial categories.A lot of scholars for decades have oppugned against scientific racism, which has tried to ground the idea of racial inequality. They have proved that human capabilities do not depend on the color of the skin or type of eyes. One of the most outstanding representatives of this stream is Ashley Montague, who from 1940s has insisted that race is just a scientific phantom.However a lot of scholars as before consider race and ethnos as some biological reality, underes timating the paramount role of social factor. "While racism is necessarily rooted in biology, ethnocentrism is typically rooted in culture," says D'Souza (33). Nonetheless most of scholars have understood that race is rather social construct then the biological reality, and that the concept of race implicates relationship of dominance and submission. Does racism still exist It should be said that it is rather difficult to define the notion of racism. In fact this concept has an extraordinary ability to mimicry, changing itself in accordance with the circumstances. Besides

Eurocompanies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Eurocompanies - Essay Example There is often a futuristic focus, with prescribed contingent outcomes. Although there are often attempts to address both the practice and the conceptual aspects of HRD, the drive to express HRD in relation to models, frameworks and typologies could result in a distancing between rhetoric and reality, similar to that found in HRM debates. As Hatcher argues, 'Without a focus on the theoretical foundations of research and practice, HRD is destined to remain atheoretical in nature and poor practice will continue to undermine its credibility' (2000:45). Historically, the development of HRD can be traced from training and instructional design, to training and development, to employee development, to human resource development. Traditionally, the field of HRD was defined by practice, not from a theoretical frame or set of research. Pat McLagan (1983) postulates the boundaries of HRD as individual development, organization development and career development. O'Brien and Thompson (1999) apply a similar framework in the Irish and European context. More recently, the emergence of HRD related journals have presented an opportunity to define the field on the basis of theory and practice. There is also a blurring of the boundaries in relation to the affiliation of researchers. Many early American researchers emanated from either an instructional design or an adult educational base. Recently Jacobs has reported that there are an increased number of manuscripts coming from business schools. This trend is a reversal of the European and UK situ ation. In the UK, HRD is very much the child of the explosion of HRM literature in the 1980s and 1990s. In the introduction to this volume we discuss the emergence of the HRD literature in the form of HRD texts, journals and academic symposia. In addition, the scope of HRD research can be seen to be expanding, with recent focus on areas that were not traditionally considered to be within the domain of HRD. These include organizational leadership, organizational values, workforce development issues at the societal level and labour economics. Multidisciplinary foundations and an expanding scope both have the effect of expanding the discursive resources and therefore language available to and used by HRD academics and practitioners. While acknowledging that HRD is a distinct field of scholarly research and practice in relation to HRM, it has to be acknowledged that the contextual factors in mainland Europe are an important influence upon HRD outcomes. If anything, the UK context is somewhat closer to the US experience, and it is a mistake to assume that the rest of Europe is mirrored in UK practice. So, for example, the historical role and development of HR professionals varies considerably across Europe, as do their career paths (Tyson and Wikander 1994). So, for example, in the UK a strong professional body representing both HRM and HRD practitioners regulates initial training. Elsewhere in Europe this does not happen, and HR professionals can undergo very different training. So, in Germany the extensive legal responsibility of HRM professionals for collective employee relations necessitates a strong legal training, while their counterparts in HRD are more likely to