The Life and Work of Howard S. Becker

The Life and Work of Howard S. Becker Howard S. Howie Becker is an American sociologist renowned for his qualitative research into the lives of those otherwise classified as deviant, and for revolutionizing how deviant behavior is studied and theorized within the discipline. The development of the subfield focused on deviance is credited to him, as is  labeling theory. He also made significant contributions to the sociology of art. His most notable books include  Outsiders  (1963),  Art Worlds  (1982),  What About Mozart? What About Murder?  (2015).  Most of his career was spent as a professor of sociology at Northwestern University.   Early Life Born in 1928 in Chicago, IL, Becker is now technically retired but continues to teach and write in San Francisco, CA, and Paris, France. One of the most prolific living sociologists, he has about 200 publications to his name, including 13 books. Becker has been awarded six honorary degrees, and in 1998 was given the award for Career of Distinguished Scholarship by the American Sociological Association. His scholarship has been supported by the Ford Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation. Becker served as President of the Society for the Study of Social Problems from 1965-66, and is a lifelong jazz pianist. Becker earned Bachelors, Masters, and Doctorate degrees in sociology from the University of Chicago, studying with those considered a part of the Chicago School of Sociology, including Everett C. Hughes, Georg Simmel, and Robert E. Park. Becker himself is considered a part of the Chicago School. His career in studying those considered deviant began thanks to his exposure to marijuana smoking at Chicagos jazz bars, where he regularly played piano. One of his earliest research projects focused on marijuana use. This research fed into his widely read and cited book  Outsiders, which is considered one of the first texts to develop labeling theory, which postulates that people adopt deviant behavior that breaks social norms after they have been labeled deviant by others, by social institutions, and by the criminal justice system. Importance of His Work The importance of this work is that it shifts analytic focus away from individuals and to social structures and relations, which allows for the social forces at play in producing deviance to be seen, understood, and changed, if need be. Beckers groundbreaking research resonates today in the work of sociologists who study how institutions, including schools, use racial stereotypes to label students of color as deviant problems that must be managed by the criminal justice system, rather than in-school punishment. Beckers book  Art Worlds  made important contributions to the subfield of the sociology of art. His work shifted the conversation from individual artists to the whole field of social relations that make the production, distribution, and valuation of art possible. This text also proved influential to the sociology of media, media studies, and cultural studies. Another important contribution that Becker made to sociology was to write his books and articles in an engaging and readable way that made them accessible to a wide audience. He wrote prolifically also on the important role that good writing plays in disseminating the results of sociological research. His books on this topic, which also serve as writing guides, include  Writing for Social Scientists,  The Tricks of the Trade, and  Telling About Society. Learn More About Howie Becker You can find much of Beckers writing on his website, where he also shares his music, photos, and favorite quotes. To learn more about Beckers fascinating life as a jazz musician/sociologist, check out this in-depth 2015 profile of him in  The New Yorker.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Essays

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Essays The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Essay The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Essay Each time someone stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against Injustice, he sends a tiny ripple of hope. Robert F. Kennedy The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 Is a new law that mandates that everyone In the united States have health Insurance/coverage by year 2014 or subject to a tax. Notably, the new law is thousands of pages long which does not lend itself to easy interpretation. However, at this time, no one appears to be willing to even agree to disagree. While everyone seems to agree that there will be dramatic hanged in the delivery of healthcare and its effects on the nursing profession, no one knows for sure whether its impact will make nurses jobs better or worse. Certain segments of the population have worked themselves into a frenzy over the proposed adverse effects of the PACE on healthcare delivery system and its effects on the nursing profession but the truth of the matter Is, a lot of what healthcare experts say is pure supposition and conjecture. One has to always consider how others personal agendas fit Into an equation or view-point. No one will know the laws total Impact until the rubber actually hits the road. I would wager a guess, however, that nurses will fare far better than critics think. While some experts say that PACE will Increase the workload of nurses, there is also evidence to suggest that it will also provide greater opportunity for the nursing profession by increasing job opportunities for both nurses and nurse practitioners, allowing for increased funding for nursing education, thereby creating greater career opportunities for both. Additionally, quality of care will not be jeopardized. Yes there is much to be surmised about this much dreaded day, according to many. During reflection, I can almost liken it to the mass hysteria of the year 2000. The world broke out Into mass hysteria because of dire predictions that at the stroke of midnight January 1, 2000 everything electronic and computer driven would go haywire. However, when the clock stuck midnight nothing happened as postulated. The heart and lung machines did not stop working, aircrafts did not suddenly nose dive to the ground, your simple computer did not cease to function. The world as we knew it did not change for the worse. Similarly, the impact of the PACE will not impact the healthcare delivery system exactly how postulated by pundits and the world at large. Yes it will take the country by storm but not necessarily in an all negative or all positive way. I like to believe that with change comes great opportunity for improvement; after all, the outlaw of slavery allowed for great invention It facilitated Eli Whitney Invention of the cotton gin. A survey of Urns across the country revealed varied opinions on whether an Increase in patient workload Would negatively affect their pollen of PACE, Most agreed that It would, however, they Included many positive effects of the PACE on the nursing profession. McNealy Gloria J, April 2010. The article suggest that in order to encourage education, including grants for associate, bachelors, and advanced degree loan reimbursement. In addition to greater career opportunities, nurses will also find work opportunities in new areas of focus under the PACE. These include nurse-to-family home visit partnerships, in which specially trained nurses make home visits to first time, low income families. New opportunities will also become available in new school based health clinics that will provide expanded care to students. While more Americans may be making appointments to see a doctor, there will not be enough doctors to support the new patient load. It has been reported that the United States face a 30 percent shortage of primary care physicians as there will be a increase of new patients that now has insurance coverage. ANA, August 2009. The PACE recognizes these shortages and has allocated funding to establish nurse- managed clinics. These clinics will allow nurse practitioners (NP) to provide primary and preventatives to patients. A NP is a registered nurse who holds a masters degree and has undergone advanced clinical training to care for a wide range of patients. In some states, Naps already have the ability to treat and diagnose patients as well as prescribe medication. The penalty of success is by the people who use to snub nurses, Nancy Astor. And according to most pundits, there will be both losers and winners in the effort to remake the healthcare delivery system. However, I believe clear cut winners will include nurses. The increased demand for quality-cost efficient medical care, pulled with lower reimbursements for hospitals and doctors, greater career choices for nurses will position more nurses/Naps to be called on to provide care that was traditionally provided by physicians. It will expand the scope of what nurses can do. It will also allow nurses to work more independently, especially in places that are undeserved, such as poor inner city neighborhoods and rural areas . According to ACNE series, Petrel Poorhouse, the nursing profession is likely to thrive rather than struggle during the health care reform years that lie ahead.

Developing new or existing funding streams for a Social Enterprise or Essay

Developing new or existing funding streams for a Social Enterprise or Charity Project - Essay Example In general, social enterprises are typically considered to be those organisations that apply commercial techniques for the purpose of maximising enhancements especially in environmental along with human well-being rather than exploiting profits for their respective external shareholders (Price, 2009). It is worth mentioning that social enterprises can often act in the form of a social oriented business, a mutual along with co-operative organisation or a charity based establishment. It has been apparently observed that the different service enterprises located in diverse regions throughout the globe possess certain significant social targets. These social goals comprise attaining favourable environmental, community and cultural or social outcomes, effectively mitigating any sort of prevailing social issues, generating optimistic transformations in the communities and most vitally earning money without creating harm to the society and delivering better benefits to the society (Drucker, 2012). It has been viewed that the managers belonging to different social enterprises are incessantly facing crucial problems in terms of increasing pressure to compete for funding due to ever-transforming business environments (SEL, 2007). With this concern, the managers belonging to different social enterprises throughout the globe should design and execute an effectual or inventive problem-solving procedure based on Enterprise Case Initiative (ECI) in order to mitigate the aforementioned issue by a greater level. In this paper, a detailed analysis about the business market environment and the assessment of underperformance or growth opportunities of an United Kingdom based social enterprise organisation named Families Relief will be discussed. Moreover, the identification of feasible enterprise case initiatives that would support this organisation towards exploiting growth opportunities will be considered. Various aspects like the objectives of the proposed ECI for Families Reli ef, a detailed implementation plan and valuable suggestions that are needed by this service enterprise based organisation in order to attain and embed the ECI will also be depicted in this paper. A Brief Overview of Families Relief Families Relief is regarded as one of the foremost charity organisations in the United Kingdom. The service enterprise based organisation strongly realises that any sort of disasters not only adversely affect the individuals but also unfavourably affect their families along with the communities by a greater level (Social Enterprise Mark Co, 2013). The prime business objective of this particular organisation has been viewed to be providing an active support to different individuals towards mitigating the problems generated from the happenings of any sort of disasters for constructing a sustainable future. It has been apparently observed that the organisation performs its different operational functions in various regions of the world like Europe, Asia and the Middle East serving significant portion of individuals as well as their families with their basic necessities. The major missions of the organisation have

Accounting Fraud in an Organization Research Paper

Accounting Fraud in an Organization - Research Paper Example Simply put, accounting is a field that involves financial operations which record information about the financial status of a company. Accounting, when it is moral and professional at the same time, provides a lucid financial picture of a company and enables the accountants to formulate well-versed decisions that aim at securing the profit of the company. The accounting system may be as simple as involving a simple register and may be as sophisticated as a computerized system that records all financial activities providing information about every monetary detail like a current business trend and future vision. Accounting deals with three types of information: operating information, financial accounting information and Managerial accounting information (MoneyInstructor, 2005). Operating information is the largest portion of accounting information. The company needs this information on a routine basis like employees’ salaries, a record of loans rendered, sales, inventory, and so on. Financial accounting information enables the managers, shareholders and the like to make well-informed decisions about their investment, shares, money taken or given as the loan, and etcetera. Managerial accounting information enables managers to make decisions about budget and formulate plans to supervise the financial activities. Businesses and organizations are sometimes very much under the pressure, due to market competition may be, to make them appear profitable to the investors and clientele in order to draw them. But they need to know that practicing counterfeit accounting activities to fulfill this purpose is not only unethical but also can bring disastrous consequences.  

The effects of oral medications on the peridontium Essay

The effects of oral medications on the peridontium - Essay Example The gums firmly enclose the teeth around their exposed portion or the neck. Gingival enlargement or hyperplasia occurs as an undesirable side effect of some drugs such as corticosteroids, tetracycline, phenytoin, ibuprofen, cyclosporine and calcium channel antagonists. This can lead to misalignment of the teeth resulting in cosmetic problems, cause problems with eating, speech and impede effective tooth cleaning. Gingival enlargement thus needs to be treated either locally or with the aid of therapeutic dental strategies. The two major diseases of this region are Gingivitis and Periodontitis which can be triggered by either poor oral hygiene leading to bacterial infection and plaque formation, or as a result of drug induced side effects. Risk factors for the prevalence of drug-induced gingival overgrowth include age, and gender, with young people, and males being more susceptible. 1. Tetracycline’s: This group of drugs is a broad spectrum antibiotic and has a propensity to leave residues in bones, teeth and their associated structures. They are also widely used as adjuncts in the broad spectrum antibiotic coverage in periodontal disease. Systemic use of this class of drugs leads to the inhibition of orthodontically induced root and alveolar bone resorption. This occurs because of the additional effect of Tetracycline’s in exerting an anti inflammatory action which prevents collegenolysis (Golub et al., 1984). The destruction of collagen is an essential step in the pathogenesis of periodontal disease. In a study conducted in rats by Mavragani et al, (2005) it was found that Doxycycline exerts a significant inhibitory effect on root resorption and alveolar bone distraction in rats. 2. Phenytoin: This is an extensively used anti epileptic drug and its usage leads to gingival enlargement in almost 50% of the patients which usually requires surgical intervention. The hyperplasia

Haveloche corporation Essay Example for Free

Haveloche corporation Essay Haveloche Corporation is a research and development company, which translates into sporadic cash flows over time. There are times when genius ideas bring in lots of cash flow for the company. However, there are also times where those genius ideas are shelved because no one has an interest in that patent. The ever changing cash flows prove to be difficult for decision making, especially when it comes to whether the company should give back to its investors or not. Haveloche is constantly faced with the predicament of deciding what dividend policy is best for the organization and the investors. The company’s CEO listed the stock prices and dividends for us to look at. There are 3 theories of investor preference for dividend versus capital gains: (1) Dividend Irrelevance Theory or Modigliani Miller (2) â€Å"Bird-in-the-hand† Theory (3) Tax Preference Theory. According to Modigliani Miller (MM), the dividend policy has not effect on the stock price of the firm or the cost of capital. This theory states that investors reinvest the dividends back into the firm and the firm’s value is only based on the income produced from its assets, and not the dividends and retained earnings. According to the second theory, the â€Å"Bird-in-the-hand† theory, dividends are known and stable and capital gains are unknown and uncertain. The dividend is less risky than capital gains. The risk of the firm’s cash flows in the long run is determined by the dividend payout policy according to this theory. According to the third theory, Tax Preference Theory, capital gains are preferred over dividends. Due to time value of money, a dollar paid in the future on taxes has a lower cost than a dollar paid on taxes in the present. Capital gains typically have better tax advantages than dividends, which is why some investors prefer to invest in companies that minimize dividends. Based on the scatter plot, I would have to say that Haveloche has chosen a variety of these different theories over the years since they have been paying dividends. When the company needed to reinvest the money back into the company, they dividend was lowered. When the company had plenty of extra cash lying around, the dividend payout increased. Haveloche has been paying a dividend since its initial IPO, but those dividends vary from year to year. One could argue that the dividend is guaranteed each year based on history, but the investor does not have a clue as to how what that dividend will be based off. Moreover, if you take a look at the stock price from year to year, it widely fluctuate up and down. Investors in this do not know from year to year if the company’s patents are going to strike it rich or if they are just going to be shelved. It being an RD company, it is a risky company, which investors know prior to taking the plunge with investing their hard earned money. Haveloches business is based on the unknown of whether the patents will be useful to electronics companies. The company may come up with something that it deems the next big thing, but it may not find a company that wants to use it. Investors in Haveloche are not in it specifically for the dividends. Investors are hoping for heavy payouts if Haveloche makes it big. The company needs to do more research and look into which dividend policies are working for the other small R;D companies that work on patent projects. With more information and results, Haveloche would be able to make a more intelligent business decision about which dividend policy it should choose.

Stanhope and Raleigh in R.C. Sherriffs Journeys End :: Sherriff Journeys End Essays

Stanhope and Raleigh in R.C. Sherriff's "Journey's End" Journey’s End is a well received play written in 1928, by R.C Sherriff. The play is set in a trench system, which were used during most of the Great War. In the play we get an insight into a fascinating relationship between a Junior officer, Raleigh, and the commanding officer, Stanhope. The relationship shows us some effects of the war and it has many ups and down which are well portrayed. During this essay I will comment about the ever changing relationship between young Raleigh and Stanhope. Commanding officer Stanhope is the company commander and is therefore under constant pressure, as he had to make tactical decisions and is also responsible for the welfare for a number of officers. Stanhope is considered as one of the best infantry commanders, ‘ He’s a long way the best company commander we’ve got’, Osborne (Pg 4). Stanhope forms a strong bond the officers, he is seen as hard working and passionate, ‘His commanded this company for a year – in and out of the front line. He’s never had a rest. Other men come over here and go home again ill, young Stanhope goes on sticking it, mouth in, mouth out’, Osborne (pg6). Stanhope particularly forms a strong bond with Officer Osborne, Stanhope has been involved in war activities since the war started and we see that during this time Stanhope has grown a close relationship with Osborne, and sees him as an ‘Uncle-figure’. Numerous times we see that Stanhope refers to Osborne as, ‘Uncle’. The character of Stanhope also shows the dread and stress of war, we learn of commander Stanhope drinking vice, often he is reduced to endless bottles of whisky to revert from the stress of war, it shows how badly men were affected. His problem with drinking is seen to a large extent, the reason why the relationship between himself and Raleigh is never stable and is continually changing. His drinking problem is highlighted throughout the play, ‘ Drinking as a fish as usual’, (pg 4). He is seen as a workaholic, ‘ I’ve seen him on his back all day with trench fever – then on duty all night’, (pg 6) and it seems as of he is not coping well at all, ‘ Lost control of himself; and the he – sort of - came to – and cried’, (pg 6). Raleigh is a young officer, drafted out from England into commander Stanhope’s infantry. Raleigh is a very inexperienced soldier, having just been transported from England and the prospect of being one of Stanhope’s officers is a momentous boost to his fragile confidence.