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The importance of ethics within the decision-making process
Ethical analyses and decision-making
The importance of ethics within the decision-making process
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The mere mention of power brings about numerous images to one’s mind, exemplifying variant forms found to be accompanied with its use. Some uses of power can be found in government, communities and the individual. Noticeably these examples are few however the broadest and strongest. Power of an individual may be overlooked even though before there was a majority there was only self. This is where the foundation for power may be found. Before the community and large government may obtain power it starts with the inner self. Here an evaluation process takes place, analyzing morals, values, and issues that involve the larger picture. When an individual has recognized who they are and what they stand for the foundation’s first layer has just been poured. From here choosing to become educated and involved in one’s community is the next essential step finishing the foundation. Constructing the frame work and completing a sound structure involves pulling families, neighborhoods, and communities closer together. Through networking and action communities gain their power.
Self-empowerment is a crucial part of an individual’s life. Many happenings take place before reaching this point in one’s life. Serious assessment of who one is and what one stands for is important when contemplating where and what to spend their energies on. If someone has found themselves content in their current environment choosing to do nothing, then they have just put a limit on how far their inner power will reach (not much further than their own household). However, if they wish to become an influential voice within their community a choice to become heard has to be made. Socializing amongst one’s neighbors sharing ideas, concerns and changes to form a soluti...
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...guous areas of Portsmouth, Ohio have given up on what is right due to examples taught to them by their protectors. How are individuals in similar communities going to stand up and fight, when it’s their own legal system working against them? Why is it that they choose defeat? When, gradually overtime they could take the area back with some effort. Will there be someone in office able to remind them how to care after decades of police brutality? By not averting the attention towards the community they have allowed corrupted power to take over. It will take a strong person to implement power they have assumed for the correct motives in order to save communities like this one. Please understand I in no way condone whatever mischief my brother was up to that evening, I am merely stating that only in mathematics does a negative multiplied by a negative equal a positive.
The MOVE Organization surfaced in Philadelphia in the early 1970’s. The MOVE movement was one of “back-to-nature,” which was poorly understood by their urban neighbors and the local government and possibly by the organization itself (McCoy). John Africa, who is said to have been illiterate, founded MOVE. It was a loosely organized and sparsely populated organization. I argue that the failure of MOVE to “bow to the man” and the lack of police and government self-control, led to the abuse of power and police brutality that culminated on May 13, 1985 of which the magnitude Black’s theories fail to predict. Black’s theories on law, specifically “Socio Economic Status” and “Organization” and its bearing on the application of law, will be used to analyze the MOVE II incident.
Sociology 1010. York University. 11 January 2010 Landstreet, Peter. A. The “Power and Power Relations Lecture”.
...ctive we are able to understand analyze previous achievements and forward progress within the community. According to Kirsten-Ashmen, “ empowerment is defined as the process of increasing personal, interpersonal, or political power so that individuals can take action to improve their to improve their life situation (p.81)”. Within the empowerment theory there is a focus on conscious raising, social justice, mutual aid , power, socialization, and group cohesion. The DSNI strives to achieve all of these sub-ideas within the theory.
Power can be defined as the ability to influence or outright control the behavior of people. A variety of different things can drive power, including both knowledge and experience. Power in most cases is needed to establish authority. In today’s country, the United States government has a lot of power. It has so much power that even American citizens are beginning to complain about it. Having all this power and authority has allowed the government to make decisions quicker. However, by making decisions faster, some mistakes can be made and innocent people can be convicted. This point is directly exemplified when using two New Yorker articles, “Surviving Solitary” and ‘A Shot to The Heart.” Both articles consist of results produced quite
Racial discrimination in our society has reached its tipping point such that rioting has become a last resort. After the deaths of two young African American males that occurred due to police brutality , the public has been in an uproar, fighting and hoping for change;however the means of fighting aren’t seen as appropriate. The majority of the population argues that the rioting that had occurred in Baltimore and Ferguson, where the shootings happened, were unjustified. The media depicted the rioting to be criminalized and unrelated to the cause. It was portrayed that African Americans took the deaths of Michael Brown and Freddie Gray as an excuse to loot and raid.On contrary to popular belief, the rioting in Baltimore and Ferguson were adequate actions that took place. It wasn’t until the rioting occurred that investigations of these cases followed. Because of the investigation it was found that the problems at hand were more than racial issues highlighted by police brutality, but racial abuse in the system of the cities.
This era is where the shift from a centralized task force has gravitated to a decentralized task force, causing some friction from both the community and the officers that serve it. Police are told that they are needed to listen to the concerns for the community; however, law enforcement is still the primary goal. Police forces now have to defend the values for which the forces were built upon. The idea of problem solving has come into question with police discretion towards certain run-ins with the law. Williams and Murphy argue it is due to the lack of sensitivity from minorities and the concern on crime itself than the community. Kelling and Moore contradict Williams and Murphy, with Kelling/Moore suggesting the era is more about listening to concerns of the community and improving the citizen satisfaction. But both the article came to the conclusion of the silent underlying problems that are becoming more of a “quiet riot” with the police and the
According to Richmond Confidential (2015), the U.S Attorney General was coming to Richmond to “…highlight the city as a national example of how to repair trust between citizens and the police”. The statistics and feedback from the community prove that the way Richmond is dealing with crime, proves that the method of dealing with crime in Richmond is what the community wants. Despite the justice that some people in the community members feel, as well as the statistics that show that crime has gone down significantly over the last few years, there is still problems with dealing with crime and police officer’s actions. Richmond has a great bond between law enforcement and the community, but there are still some who disagree with the justice served by Richmond’s criminal justice system. While in parts of the country, we can see the massive separation of law enforcement and the communities, to the point where the community doesn’t trust the officers, protests the policies, and have started mass movements. For example, Ferguson is different from Richmond, but we can see that a major distinction between the justices served in Ferguson and Richmond, for in Ferguson community ties are severed and, at this point, the relationship between the
In what can be called a viscous cycle starting with the war on drugs, a war that from the beginning has unfairly targeted minorities. A war that has helped contribute to the breakdown of the black family, and add to the constant socioeconomic struggle that perpetuates crime in many communities. These communities experience constant and unfair policing that puts so many youths into the system, that discredits, imprisons, and ultimately breaks them. Filled with discriminatory practices that have been overlooked for years under the disguise of gaining a “Victory.” A victory that may never actually come to
Within a society power serves a vital role of establishing and maintaining roles of dominance and submission (Bourdieu, 1977). This creates and maintains a social hierarchy of inequality that unconsciously determines the status, behavioural expectations and available resources for members of the community (Navarro, 2006). The meaning of power within a society is that it determines one’s social standing or relational position within the given community as well as the level of dominance or power they have available to exert onto others. Power, within a society is primarily created through the habitus, capital and culture of a
The dictionary defines self-empowerment to mean an individual who is in control of his or her life and views the trials they face in life in a positive way. It is also about building self-esteem and confidence. With the right kind of motivation, a person can be empowered to have a happier life as they move through the transitions of aging. To be truly self-empowered means that you have the ability inside yourself to know what is really best for you. Therefore, your actions reflect the power of your own strength that you take from making your own decisions. If one is empowered, it is the same as having a clear vision of where to go and how to get there. This knowledge also implies self-belief, self-trust and self-leadership. As unique as we are throughout our lifetimes, we are just as unique in how we age. Some people age with minimal aches and pains, fully conscious mentally and engaging in life to their last breath. For others, aging is not so easy a task. Individuals that are challenged throughout the aging process sometimes forget who they once were due the loss of control they feel when making their own daily decisions. Continued research in the field of self-empowerment might then be focused on how we can teach continued empowerment to all individuals, no matter what stage of their life they are experiencing, in order to lead happier and more fulfilling lives as they move through this final, and hopefully best part of their lives.
In the video Eric Liu spoke of the systems of power that society has structured. Eric defines power as the ability to make others do what you would have them do. He sees power as being found with family, at your workplace, and in relationships. He defines the six main sources of civic power as being Control of physical force, wealth to buy results and other power, State action (government) to have control over people and what they do. An example for this would be that in a democracy the citizens give government power through elections, and in contrast dictatorship expresses power through force. The fourth civic power is known as social norm, which means what others believe that is okay, and what is not okay. The fifth civic power is ideas meaning
Third, institutions consist of a new type of power, so that all individual relations constitute a power relationship. (Foucault, “Truth and Juridical Forms” 82-83) A relationship of power may be described as a mode of action that acts upon an individual’s actions through which the behavior of an active subject is able to inscribe itself. (Foucault, “The Subject and Power” 342) Institutions work through an authority network of individuals, and power is employed and exercised by individuals through a netlike organization. “Not only do individuals circulate between its threads; they are always in the position of simultaneously undergoing and exercising this power.
Some theorists believe that ‘power is everywhere: not because it embraces everything, but because it comes from everywhere… power is not an institution, nor a structure, nor possession. It is the name we give to a complex strategic situation in a particular society. (Foucault, 1990: 93) This is because power is present in each individual and in every relationship. It is defined as the ability of a group to get another group to take some form of desired action, usually by consensual power and sometimes by force. (Holmes, Hughes &Julian, 2007) There have been a number of differing views on ‘power over’ the many years in which it has been studied. Theorist such as Anthony Gidden in his works on structuration theory attempts to integrate basic structural analyses and agency-centred traditions. According to this, people are free to act, but they must also use and replicate fundamental structures of power by and through their own actions. Power is wielded and maintained by how one ‘makes a difference’ and based on their decisions and actions, if one fails to exercise power, that is to ‘make a difference’ then power is lost. (Giddens: 1984: 14) However, more recent theorists have revisited older conceptions including the power one has over another and within the decision-making processes, and power, as the ability to set specific, wanted agendas. To put it simply, power is the ability to get others to do something they wouldn’t otherwise do. In the political arena, therefore, power is the ability to make or influence decisions that other people are bound by.
Power is defined in the course study notes as the “ability of individuals or groups to get what they want despite the opposition”. Power is derived from a variety of sources including knowledge, experience and environmental uncertainties (Denhardt et al, 2001). It is also important to recognize that power is specific to each situation. Individuals or groups that may be entirely powerful in one situation may find themselves with little or no power in another. The county Registrar of Voters, who is my boss, is a perfect example. In running the local elections office, she can exercise the ultimate power. However, in a situation where she attempted to get the county selected for a desirable, statewide pilot project, she was powerless, completely at the mercy of the Secretary of State. Power is difficult to measure and even to recognize, yet it plays a major role in explaining authority. In organizations, power is most likely exercised in situations where “the stakes are high, resources are limited, and goals and processes are unclear” (Denhardt et al, 2001). The absence of power in organizations forces us to rely on soley hierarchical authority.
Conversely, police officers may suggest that there are citizens that don’t do their part to make their neighborhoods safe, which takes us back to Sir Robert Peel. Unfortunately, when the police try to empower people to be accountable, and to do their part, the interpretation is that the police are avoiding their responsibility. In any case, understanding there is work to be done by both, the police and citizens is the first step. Now, implementing the processes to make the corrections needed is merely a start.