Conflict Resolution Essay Example for Free

Conflict Resolution Essay Merriam-Webster (n.d) defines conflict as, â€Å"the opposition of persons or forces that gives rise to the dramatic action in a drama or fiction†. Interpersonal conflicts, whether they are between family members, students and teachers, employees and supervisors, or groups, have certain elements in common. Coser (1967) asserts that conflict is a struggle over values and claims to scarce status, power, and resources, in which the aims of the opponents are to neutralize, injure, or eliminate the rivals. (p. 8) Coser’s definition grew out of the cold war, when conflict between the United States and the former U. S.S.R. dominated Western method to conflict. Conflict was viewed as a win-lose solution. According to Dana (2001) there are only three ways to resolve any conflict; power contests, rights contests, and interest’s reconciliation. Power contest is based on Coser’s (1967) win-lose situation. Each party views their point as right each wanting power over the other. Rights contest is an orderly system which has rules, regulations, policies, precedents and a hierarchy of authority which is used in order to â€Å"win† again this model is a win-lose resolution. The solution to conflict resolution is interest reconciliation. This approach enlists support from both parties to find the best solution. All parties win with interest reconciliation model as their solution. Conflict in the workplace is a condition between or among two or more workers whose jobs are independent, who feel angry, who perceive the other(s) as being at fault, and act in a way that causes a business problem. Conflict has three elements feelings (emotions), perceptions (thoughts) and actions (behaviors). â€Å"Psychologists consider these three the only dimensions of human experience. So, conflict is rooted in all parts of the human nature† (Dana, 2001, p. 5) some confuse conflict with indecision, disagreement, stress, or some other common experience that may cause or be caused by a conflict. However, those elements are not best handled by conflict resolution. The question many ask, is conflict normal? Conflict is a fact of any organizational life. On the job, conflict is a stubborn fact of organizational life (Kolb and Putnam, 1992, p. 311). Rather than seeing conflict as abnormal, Pondy (1992) suggests we view organizations as arenas for staging conflicts, and managers as both fight promoters who organize bouts and as referees who regulate them (p. 259). In addition, Pondy states that in the company, agency, or small business, conflict may be the very essence of what the organization is about, and if conflict isnt happening then the organization has no reason for being (p. 259). One study surveyed workers and found that almost 85 percent reported conflicts at work (Volkema and Bergmann 1989). With an increasing awareness of cultural diversity and gender equity issues, it is essential that employees become familiar with issues surrounding promotions and harassment. In fact, one can see training in organizations as a form of preventive conflict management (Hathaway, 1995). The recognition of the frequency of conflict at work has led to books on mediating conflict in the workplace (Yarbrough and Wilmot 1995), showing how managers can learn conflict management skills to intervene in disputes in their organization. As employees, daily work with clients, customers, co-workers, or bosses can be a struggle. Conflict is as Wilmot (1995) wrote, What determines the course of a relationship . . . is in a large measure determined by how successfully the participants move through conflict episodes (p. 95). Conflict resolution has five styles, giving in, avoiding, fight it out, comprise, and work together style. No style is right or wrong; however some do work better than others. Accommodation, giving in to the others wishes or smoothing waves sacrifices ones own goals for the sake of the other person. Accommodators often use phrases like: Whatever you want is fine with me. When one party in a conflict genuinely does not care about the outcome of the conflict, accommodation may be the right choice for that situation. However, if accommodation is the only style a person utilizes, he or she is advised to learn more skills. Avoidance is characterized by behaviors that either ignore or refuse to engage in the conflict. While avoidance is by some consider a negative style that shows low concern for both ones own and the other partys interests, there are sometimes strategic reasons to avoid conflict. For example, when the relationship is short-term and the issue is not important or when the situation has a potential to escalate to violence, avoidance may be the prudent choice. Fight it out, competition, or win/lose, style maximizes reaching ones own goals or getting the problem solved at the cost of the others goals or feelings. While always choosing competition has negative repercussions for relationships, businesses and cultures, it can occasionally be the right style to choose if the other party is firmly fixed in a competitive style or there are limited resources. While competitive strategy is not necessarily dysfunctional, competition can easily slip into a destructive situation. Understanding the methods and strategies of others who use competitive styles can assist conflict managers in neutralizing the negative consequences of competition and work toward a mutual gain approach. Compromise is a give and take of resources. The classic compromise in negotiating is to split the difference between two positions. While there is no victor from compromise, each person also fails to achieve her or his original goal. Finally, working together to collaborate is when parties cooperatively team up until a mutually agreeable solution is found. Compromise and collaboration are win-win solution where as the other styles are win-lose. Why do people avoid dealing with conflict? People have a natural instinct of fear and some let that fear overpower them. The fear of harm causes people to fight-or-flight. Individuals will choose the flight option when in a dangerous part of a city that they have never been in before in order to avoid danger, it shows wisdom or strength to get out a of physically abusive relationship, commendable to stay out emotionally abusive relationships. In spite of this, in some cases people have the response to flight to a false perception of harm. People overstress in their minds the emotional h arm that someone can cause harm. The same is said for conflict in the workplace, people will avoid conflict for fear of being harmed by others. Some avoid conflict because of a fear of rejection from others. These individuals feel others will withdraw their friendship or push them away causing more hurt. People have the perception if they do not risk rejection they can suppress their needs and feelings. Loss of relationship is the fear of rejection taken up a level they fear totally losing a relationship. Others avoid conflict to mask their true desires because preserving a relationship is more important than getting what they want. These individuals are trapped into believing their worth is dependant on another accepting them. People avoid conflict for fear of anger. These people do not like listening to someone who is angry. They believe another will hurt them, reject them, or leave them, and they just cannot stand to witness anger. However, anger is just anger and it is not necessarily directed toward them. Individuals do not want to be seen as selfish. In some situations people are not afraid of others reactions, but rather their interpretation of the situation. They fear that they will appear selfish. However, is it wrong to have a need, feeling, or want and to express it? Society has sometimes had it seem that way. Although, there is nothing wrong with asking for what individuals want versus feeling they are entitled to always getting what they want. The truth is if one never asks, then they are depriving people around them from being able give to them effectively. Still, people who feel their wants should not be fulfilled, regardless of what others want, fall into the selfishness category. Sometimes people avoid conflict for fear of saying the wrong thing or something they will regret. Individuals will avoid conflict rather than risk putting â€Å"their foot in their mouth† they contain their anger and frustration which often leads to that which they fear. When people have conflicts in the past that have failed so they avoid future conflict for the fear of failing those too and begin to believe the confrontation is not worth the em otional energy it takes to deal with others. The fear of failing can impact other aspects of ones life. The fear of hurting another is more than just saying the wrong thing. These individuals are extremely sensitive and caring. They would rather hurt themselves than risk hurting another. The fear of success is a fear that most over look. However, it is much like the fear of failure. Some people are afraid to get what they want; they believe they will never get it. These people feel they do not deserve what they want, the consequences of getting of what they want is regret, or the responsibility is more than they need or desire. The fear of intimacy is the most subconscious of the fears. People do not want to share their dreams, desires, and wants with others. They feel they are private and do not want to be exposed. People do not want to appear weak. If resolution involves giving in, avoiding, or compromise they may feel they appear as though they do not have confidence. People do not want the stress of confrontation. They feel it is better to avoid conflict rather than deal with the stress it will cause them in the workplace between co-workers. Our society tends to reward alternative responses to conflict, rather than negotiation. People, who aggressively pursue their needs, competing rather than collaborating, are often satisfied by others who prefer to accommodate. Managers and leaders are often rewarded for their aggressive, controlling approaches to problems, rather than taking a more compassionate approach to issues that may seem less decisive to the public or their staffs. Conflict resolution requires profound courage on the part of all parties: It takes courage to honestly and clearly express one’s needs, and it takes courage to sit down and listen to one’s adversaries. It takes courage to look at one’s own role in the dispute, and it takes courage to approach others with a sense of empathy, openness and respect for their perspective. Collaborative approaches to conflict management require individuals to engage in the moment of dialogue in thoughtful and meaningful ways, so it is understandable if people tend to avoid such situations until the balance of wisdom tips in favor of negotiation. People have certain perceptions in conflict when dealing with different situations. Culture shapes and frames each individuals interpretation of appropriate behaviors during conflicts. Conflict across cultures, whether across nations or across the diverse cultures within a country, exacerbates the routine difficulties of conflict management (Fry and Bjorkqvist, 1997). There is no clear conclusion about whether men and women actually behave in different ways while conducting conflicts. However, gender stereotypes do affect conflict behaviors when individuals act and react based on stereotypes of how men and women will/should act rather than selecting behaviors appropriate for the individual one is communicating with (Borisoff and Victor, 1997). Parties respond to conflicts on the basis of the knowledge they have about the issue at hand. This includes situation-specific knowledge and general knowledge. The understanding of the knowledge they have can influence the persons willingness to engage in efforts to manage the conflict, either reinforcing confidence to deal with the dilemma or undermining ones willingness to flexibly consider alternatives. The person sharing the message is considered to be the messenger. If the messenger is perceived to be a threat (powerful, scary, unknown, etc.) the message can influence others responses to the overall situation being experienced. For example, if a big scary-looking guy is yelling at people they may respond differently than if a diminutive, calm person would express the same message. Additionally, if the people knew the messenger previously, they might respond differently based upon that prior sense of the person’s credibility. People are more inclined to listen with respect to someone they view more credible than if the message comes from someone who lacks credibility and integrity. Some people have had significant life experiences that continue to influence their perceptions of current situations. These experiences may have left them fearful, lacking trust, and reluctant to take risks. On the other hand, previous experiences may have left them confident, willing to take chances and experience the unknown. Either way, one must acknowledge the role of previous experiences as elements of their perceptual filter in the current dilemma. These factors, along with others, work together to form the perceptual filters through which people experience conflict. As a result, their reactions to the threat and dilemma posed by conflict should be anticipated to include varying understandings of the situation. This also means that they can anticipate that in many conflicts there will be significant misunderstanding of each others perceptions, needs and feelings. These challenges contribute to our emerging sense, during conflict, that the situation is overwhelming and unsolvable. As such, they become critical sources of potential understanding, insight and possibility. How do people respond to conflict? There are three responses to conflict emotional, cognitive and physical responses that are important windows into our experience during conflict, for they frequently tell people more about what is the true source of threat that is perceived; by understanding the thoughts, feelings and behavior to conflict, a better insight into the best potential solution to the situation. Emotional (feelings) are the feelings we experience in conflict, ranging from anger and fear to despair and confusion. Emotional responses are often misunderstood, as people tend to believe that others feel the same as they do. Thus, differing emotional responses are confusing and, at times, threatening. Cognitive (thinking) are our ideas and thoughts about a conflict, often present as inner voices or internal observers in the midst of a situation. Through sub-vocalization (self-talk), people understand these cognitive responses. Physical (behavior) can play an important role in our ability to meet our needs in the conflict. They include heightened stress, bodily tension, increased perspiration, tunnel vision, shallow or accelerated breathing, nausea, and rapid heartbeat. These responses are similar to those we experience in high-anxiety situations, and they may be managed through stress management techniques. Establishing a calmer environment in which emotions can be managed is more likely if the physical response is addressed effectively. Dealing with someone unwilling to negotiate can be difficult for the person who is trying to resolve the conflict. However, the 8 Step Model can be very beneficial, by focusing first on listening to the other person, and seeking to understand the sources of their resistance, the stage can be set for clarifying the conditions he or she requires in order to talk things out. This is not about being right or wrong in the situation, but a practical strategy for getting the other person engaged as a partner in the negotiation process. Another alternative is to focus on things we can do to influence conflicts in the future, rather than putting initial energy into understanding (or solving) problems we have had in the past. By remaining relatively flexible about the agenda taking on topics individuals care about, but not necessarily the most pressing issues – thus, creating an opportunity to reduce the fears associated with resistance. While the conflict may not be able to be truly resolved, some key issues that exist will be managed and will help to prevent the issues from getting worse. Power is an important and complex issue facing anyone seeking a negotiated solution to a conflict. Before negotiating clarify the true sources of power in the room: The boss has position power, associated with the carrots and sticks that come with the role. She or he may also have coercive power, supported by contracts or statute that compels employees to behave in certain ways and do certain tasks associated with the job. Some may have a great deal of expertise power, accumulated from doing your job over a period of time. Either conflict participants may possess normative power, through which they know the lay of the land in their department and, therefore, how to get things done. And either may possess referent power, through which others show respect for the manner in which the employee conducts themselves. Generally, referent power accrues to those who demonstrate a mature willingness to seek collaborative solutions. An impasse is the sense of being stuck. Impasse is the point within a dispute in which the parties are unable to perceive effective solutions. People feel stuck, frustrated, angry, and disillusioned. Therefore, they might either dig their heels in deeper, anchoring themselves in extreme and rigid positions, or they might decide to withdraw from negotiation. Either way, impasse represents a turning point in our efforts to negotiate a solution to the conflict. As such, rather than avoiding or dreading it, impasse should be viewed with calmness, patience, and respect. Multi-party disputes are complex situations, and they require careful attention and persistence. However, the same 8 Step Model can be applied to the disputes. In spite of using the same process expect everything to take a bit longer than if there where only two or three people. Patiently make sure that all points of view are heard, that issues are clarified for all to see, and that all members in the group accept the agreements being negotiated. If there are limits to the groups decision-making power, then it is important to acknowledge those limits and understand how they are perceived by all members of the group. There are many different ideas of the steps for resolution, some claim five steps while others claim six or seven for the purpose of this paper Weeks (1992) eight step resolution style is identified. Step one – Create an Effective Atmosphere Creating the right atmosphere in which the conflict resolution process will take place is very important, yet most overlook its importance. The atmosphere is the frame around the canvas which will be painted the negotiations and building of better relationships (Weeks, 1992). Step two – Clarify Perceptions Perceptions are lenses through which a person sees themselves, others, their relationships, and the situations they encounter. Perceptions have a great influence on behavior of people. Once people perceive something in certain way, even if the perception is wrong, in the mind it is that way, and often base behaviors on that perception (Weeks, 1992). Step three – Focus on the Individual and Shared Needs This step builds on the previous step as needs as the conditions people perceive they cannot do without, those conditions critical to each persons wellbeing and relationships. However, step three focuses more on skills involved in the conflict partnership approach. There are several key points to keep in mind in this step. 1) Needs are the foundation of relationship and are an essential part of that foundation. 2) People sometimes confuse needs with desires. 3) Personal needs in relationships perceived by individuals must allow for respect of the needs or the relationship (Weeks, 1992). Step four – Build Shared Power Power is a part of every relationship. However, the way people perceive and use power is seen frequently as a dirty word. Such as when people use power as means to control or to manipulate some else to get what they want. Although, power is and of itself not corrupt, it is the way in which people use their power and whether they allow such power to corrupt. Developing positive self power through a clear self-image means that we base our perceptions of ourselves not on what others expect of us or want us to be but what we believe to be our own needs, capabilities, priorities and goals (Weeks, 1992, p. 152). Step five – Look to the Future, Then Learn from the Past. All relationships and conflicts have a past, present and future. Resolving conflicts requires dealing with all three. The conflict partnership process encourages the use of positive power to focus on the present-future to learn from the past. The past experiences people face set the landscape for present and future decision making and how relate to others (Weeks, 1992). Step six – Generate Options People have the ability to discover new possibilities in their relationships as well as conflict resolution. However, both are often impaired by the packaged truths and limited vision people hold onto in times of stress, insecurity, and conflict. Generating options breaks through the predetermined restrictions brought into the conflict resolution process. Generating options imparts choices which specific steps to resolve conflicts and enhanced relationship can be agreed upon (Weeks, 1992). Step seven – Develop â€Å"Doables†: the Stepping-stones to Action Doables are the necessary stepping-stones taken along the way to resolve conflict. Doables are explicit acts that stand a good possibility of success, meet some individual and shared need, and depend on positive power, usually shared power to be carried out. Working on and accomplishing some doables can help the conflict partners see more clearly where they need to go. Many conflict partners have changed their preconceived definitions of both the conflict itself and the expected outcome due to the lessons learned and clarified perceptions through working with doables (Weeks, 1992) Step eight – Make Mutual-Benefit Agreements Mutual-benefit agreements are the next step on the pathway to conflict resolution. Conflict resolution agreements must be realistic and effective enough to survive and the potential to develop further as challenges arise in the future. Mutual-benefit agreements replace the need or want for demands, see the others needs, shared goals, and establish a standard wherein power is identified as positive mutual action through which differences can be dealt with constructively (Weeks, 1992). Conclusion Conflict is an unavoidable aspect of everyday life whether it is with family, teachers, students, friends, or an organization. The best approach to resolving conflict is interest reconciliation. It joins both parties of the dispute to find the best solution. In so doing, all parties win. People respond to conflict in three ways emotional (feelings), cognitive (thinking), and physical (behavior). All are important to the conflict experience. They allow a better awareness to best furnish a solution to the situation. An important tactic to conflict resolution is to develop persuasion skills with the ability to clearly explain one’s point of view and to argue for their conclusions and convictions. Week’s Eight-Step Process is a valuable tool in helping people to become more strategic about resolving conflict. References Borisoff, D., and D. A. Victor., (1997). Conflict management: A communication skills approach, 2nd ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Conflict, (n.d.). In Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conflict Coser, L. A. 1967. Continuities in the study of social conflict. New York: Free Press. Dana, D. (2001). Conflict resolution. New York: Mcgraw-Hill. Fry, D. P., and Bjorkqvist K., (1997). Cultural variation in conflict resolution. Mahwah, N. J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Hathaway, W., (1995). A new way of viewing dispute resolution training. Mediation Quarterly, 13(1), 37-45. doi:10.1002/crq.3900130105 Kolb, D. M., Putnam, L. L. (1992). The Multiple Faces of Conflict in Organizations. Journal of Organizational Behavior, (3), 311. doi:10.2307/2488478 Pondy, L. R. (1992). Reflections on organizational conflict. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 13(3), 257-261. Volkema, R. J., and Bergmann T. J., (1989). Interpersonal conflict at work: an analysis of behavioral responses. Human Relations 42: 757-770. Weeks, D. (1992). The eight essential steps to conflict resolution: preserving relationships at work, at home, and in the community. Los Angeles, J.P. Tarcher; New York: Distributed by St. Martins Press Wilmot, W. W. (1995). Relational communication. New York: McGraw-Hill. Yarbrough, E., and Wilmot W., (1995). Artful mediation: Constructive conflict at work. Boulder, Colo.: Cairns Publishing.

Problem With The Media Essay -- essays research papers

Problems with the Media There has been an ongoing dispute concerning the media's perception of how people are supposed to look. It seems that every year, the expectations of looking thin becomes harder and harder to meet. I know this from a personal experience of my own. A few years ago, I would look in magazines and see girls wearing size one or size two clothes. By look at this at least once every month, I started to feel that I was inadequate and I had to loose weight. Unfortunately, I took my dieting to far and over used diet pills. Because of my abuse to the pills, I almost became addicted and that's when I realized how distorted the media's idea of looking good was. Fortunately there are numerous amounts of people that agree with me. This would include a woman writer, Susan Bordo, who wrote about the media's ideas of being thin, and how she thinks that they are wrong In the essay "Never Just Pictures" by Susan Bordo, she discusses the issue of the media's promotion of being skinny and what affects this has brought. The media claims that the phobia of being fat is a disease that you are born with, but that is not always the case. Bordo, like many other people, believe that the media is mostly to blame. Bordo brings up a few arguments, such as Freud's opposing thoughts along with the ads cutting back the use of make-up, but never goes into Yarbrough 2 great detail with the opposing side. Throughout the essay, Bordo uses many examples, along with pictures, to help prove her point. By using her emotions, evidence, and experience as a writer on similar subjects, she reaches her audience and gives and effective and convincing argument. Bordo proves her creditability throughout the paper. She demonstrates that she is an intellectual woman with a grasp on current events. She mentions articles from highly renowned newspapers, such as The New York Times and The New Yorker, along with referring to newscasters' comments from the 1996 Olympic games. She also justifies the writing by mentioning her pervious work in the 1993's Unbearable Weight, where she discusses similar issues. The book, published by the University Press, shows that she had obvious academic knowledge and support. Bordo's targets an audience of younger to middle-aged women by using termi... ... though it might not seem completely fair, Bordo saves the media's responses and mentions them at the end. The reason why she does this is not only keep the reader interested but not going back and forth on the issue, but also build up the audiences agreement with her. This way she can get more response from her reader up against the press. When Bordo does mention the opposing side, anything that the media says and/or does just isn't good enough because they are causing people to get sick and sometimes die. This would force the audience to agree with her more, which is what she wants. Bordo does a great job with getting in touch with the reader. This article, however, is not very effective unless the reader cares about the issue before they pick it up and read it. She does a good job of arguing with the opposing sides, so if someone reads the article and their beliefs are against her beliefs; there is a possibility that they would change their minds. The reason for the possible change of heart from her lists of examples, her reasoning with it being backed up by media proof, and how much feeling she puts into the essay

Human Resource Essay

Question 1: How would you forecast the manpower needs of Ya Kun? Ya Kun can forecast their manpower by using trend analysis, ratio analysis, scatter plot and computerized system. The personnel can use either one of these method of finding new recruitment. Based on trend analysis, Ya Kun find new recruit by using their past experienced which means that they can provide an initial estimate of future staffing needs, but employment levels rarely depend just on the passage of time. They looked their past performance of sales, productivity and so on to estimate their employee also because if their performance goes beyond their expectation like Ya kun that have many outlets throughout the world, they may required more employee either full time or part-time. Other forecasting method that Ya Kun can use to forecast their manpower is ratio analysis. In this method, Ya Kun forecast based on the historical ratio between some causal factor (like sales volume) and the number of employee required such salespeople. In this case, Ya Kun need more employee because they need more salespeople to run the business in each of their outlets. The sales volume for Ya Kun also one of the factor that Ya Kun need to recruit employee. Compared to trend analysis, ratio analysis assumes that productivity remains about the same. Personnel also can use scatter plot to forecast their manpower. In this method, the personnel may use two related variables to indicate the relation between the two such as sales volume and number of employee. If these two factors are related, then the points will tend to fall along straight line then the personnel can forecast the need of new recruitment. Computerized forecasting also is one way that personnel can use to forecast their need of manpower. With programs like these, employers can more accurately estimate how many employee that they need to projected productivity and sales. Many firms use computerized employee forecasting system for particularly for estimating short-term needs. In Ya Kun case, their personnel may need this program because they have many outlets that need more part-time worker to replace fulltime worker if needed. Question 2: What are the advantages and disadvantages of Ya Kun’s hiring part-time workers? Part-time workers are those who whether by personal choice or due to employment conditions beyond their control work fewer hours than the regular, full-time staff of a business over the course of a year. There is no specific number of hours that makes someone full or part-time, but a full-time worker will usually work 35 hours or more a week. The advantages of Ya Kun’s hiring part-time workers are part-time workers are less expensive than full-time workers. This is because some of them are paid less than half of what full-time workers, who do the same work, are paid. In other hand, part-time workers will not get benefits same like full-time workers such as insurance or sick pay. So Ya Kun’s can save significant amount of money by hiring part-time workers. Most of the part-timers are student, since it allows them to balance their academic needs with their school needs and they are often willing to learn new tasks and responsibilities when doing their work. Therefore, they will do their job better than full-time workers and this will increase labour productivity of Ya Kun’s. Furthermore, Ya Kun’s only hiring part-time workers when the full-time workers go on vacation or become ill. Students are particularly useful in meeting these periods of high demand in order to ensure that the needs of Ya Kun ’s customers are met and will increase in Ya Kun’s output as well. The disadvantages of Ya Kun’s hiring part-time workers are Ya Kun’s need extra time to train part-time workers to get knowledge about their work and they also need to be guide by someone before they can do their work by their own. Besides that, it will increase training cost of Ya Kun’s. Part-time workers have to go for training before they can start their work in order to avoid from low skilled workers. This also will affect productivity of Ya Kun’s. Moreover, part-time workers have higher absenteeism rates. This is because most of the part-time workers are student and they only doing part-time work to get extra money or just for fun. Besides that, they do not think about their commitment so they keep absent to work. Question 3: A good attitude and commitment are two important attributes that Ya Kun looks for in its job applicant. Is a job interview an effective method to assess these two attributes? What else can Ya Kun do to get reliable information on these two attributes? It is good to have job interview, but conducting a case test and attitude test would help to assess the attribute. Recruiting via the internet: The recruiter should be given complete description about the job and who will be qualified to apply for the job. A simple test could be done to screen the applicants online. Afterwards, a job interview will be needed. Advertising: The employer should advertise their ads where they’ll reach your prospective employees. The recruiter should be given complete description about the job and who will be qualified to apply for the job. Afterwards, a job interview will be needed. Private employment agency: The recruiter should be given complete description about the job and who will be qualified to apply for the job. Afterwards, a job interview will be needed. Walk-ins: This involves direct interview, which is the effective way to measure good attitude and commitment rather than just simply looking at the resume. Question 4: What suggestion would you make to Ya Kun to improve its recruiting processes? From the case Ya Kun Kaya Toasts, we can see that Ya Kun used the recruitment and selection process through advertised in Chinese and English newspapers as well as trough recruitment notice at their outlets. There are few steps to applicants should be undergo before they can be select and recruit by Ya Kun Kaya Toasts. It start from the interview by two manager, screened primarily for their level of commitment and willingness to work shifts, screened for other desirable qualities, until when they successful then they need to go through 2 week training and remain on probation for 3 months. However, Ya Kun still thinking the way how to improve its recruiting process. The reasons why is because the main challenge Ya Kun face in its recruitment efforts is finding employees with the right attitude, because the technical skill required are relatively easy to learn. Other than that, there are some applicants were unwilling to work shifts, making it difficult for Ya Kun to hire them because shift work is inevitable in the food and beverage retail industry. Look at the case, challenge economic times are prompting employers especially Ya Kun manager to rethink how they go about recruiting process. So, there are several suggestions would we make thinks to Ya Kun can do to improve its recruiting processes. Firstly, from job opening for the outlet staff the point in your advertisement should reach your target prospective employees. Use the guide AIDA (attention, interest, desire, and action) to construct advertisements. You must attract attention to the advertisement. From that case, Ya Kun should state in the ad that all the responsibilities and qualifications required for work at Ya Kun. For example, under the responsibilities and qualifications required the applicants should be education because we know that the person who educated has the right attitude toward the job. Moreover, don’t forget to include the required for â€Å"work shifts interested only† in the advertisement. So that, during the interview period manager not wastes their time recruit the applicants. Secondly, recruitment materials have a more positive impact if they contain more specific information. That means, at the application form the manager should provide applicants with information on aspects of the job that are important to them, such as salary, location, and diversity. For example, pay the salary base on their schedule of shift work. As we look at the case, some applicants were unwilling to work shifts because they not satisfy about the salary especially when they work at second shift period from 3 P.M to 11 P.M. The reason because at that time, number of customer may be increase because that time are pass the work time and they may like to hang up at Ya Kun coffee shop with their friend and family. Moreover, the manager of Ya Kun also can do the job rotation which is the periodic shifting of a worker from one task to another. That means, results depend on how job satisfaction is measured. Thirdly, using application forms to predict job performance. In this stage, manager should already get all the application forms from the applicants who apply for that job after the certain period of job opening for the outlet staff or recruitment notice at their outlets. It is possible for the Ya Kun manager to use application form information to predict which candidates will be successful and which won’t, in much the same way that one might use test for screening. The basic process involves conducting statistical studies to analyze the relationship between biodata responses on the application form and measure of success on the job. It is important to choose the biodata items in order to look at their life style as well as other criteria such as their background, education, and others. So, we can evaluate the candidates during the interview session whether they pass or not. Conclusion It is important to understand the nature of the business that we are in before doing the recruitment and selection process. Different nature will result different way or step to look at the employees which is really suitable to apply as well as to be accept to work at that company or industry. From the case it start with personnel planning and forecasting where it is the process of deciding what position the Ya Kun industry will have to fill, and how to fill them. Filling open position with their internal sources of candidate make Ya Kun has several advantages. For example, Ya Kun has a family –style environment and established â€Å"promotion-from-within† policy and many more. Then as result, not only the organization build the good structure and enhance performance, but the emphasis on good attitude and character in the selection of outlet staff has help Ya Kun build a pool of hardworking and committed workers. Ultimately, the main goal that the Ya Kun will achieve is make it big through the improvement its recruiting process in the future. That all the improvement for Ya Kun has to face in order to take the challenge by increasing the commitment of all staff toward the company.

Edgar Allan Poe His Life and Legacy - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 5 Words: 1551 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2019/06/26 Category Literature Essay Level High school Tags: Edgar Allan Poe Essay Did you like this example? Edgar Allan Poe was an American author of short stories, a poet, a literary critic, and an editor. Poe was alive during the romantic era which was evident in his writing, and he was one of the first gothic writers of his time. He told dark tales that often included a dead or sickly woman and a tormented male figure. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy" essay for you Create order It is believed that Poes childhood and relationships to women throughout his life had a big impact on his writing. The women in Poes family were often sickly and many of them passed away without living a full lifespan. Poe was born on January 19th, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts. His birth parents, Elizabeth Eliza Poe and David Poe Jr., were two professional actors. His family moved to New York City in the summer of 1809. Poe was the second child, William Poe was the older son and was two years older than Poe. Poes mother was far more successful than his father, and David spent most of his acting career in the shadows while Eliza was in the spotlight. This angered David, who was an alcoholic, and caused him to leave her and his acting career behind shortly after the birth of Edgar. Eliza had one more child, a girl by the name of Rosalie Poe whos father is uncertain, but Poe believed she was his full sister and the daughter of David (Edgar Allan Poe). Edgars aunt and Davids sister Maria Poe Clemm, didnt believe that Rosalie was the daughter of David or Eliza. When Rosalie was a child, a wealthy man from Richmond, Virginia left $2,000 towards Rosalies upbringing, she was the only person who he left that much money for. Rosalie Poe was described as backwards and was believed to be mentally retarded. She was separated from Poe around the age of 1 and was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Mackenzie and didnt develop mentally past the age of 12. Rosalie wasnt in contact with Edgar during the beginning of her life and was unaware of her siblings. Later in her life she contacted her blood relatives although Poe was said to have neglected her. He would visit her from time to time and she would cling on to him, he was almost disgusted by her and would constantly tease her. After the civil war, she started selling pictures of Edgar Allan Poe and ordinary household items saying they belonged to Poe. She died in a charity home in 1874 and her tombsto ne states she was born in 1812, a year after Elizas death (Meyers). In 1811, the Poe family was at a boarding house in Richmond, Virginia for one of Elizas performances. Eliza started spitting up blood and showing the first signs of tuberculosis. Her performances became less and less frequent in 1811 until they stopped completely, her last performance being October 11, 1811. Mr. And Mrs. Usher , Elizas close friends who also acted with her, took care of her children as her illness grew worse and many people in Richmond helped as well. The Richmond Theatre even hosted a benefit performance for her on November 29, 1811 (Meyers). Shortly after, Elizabeth Poe died on December 8, 1811 of what was commonly believed to be tuberculosis. Her three kids were split up and Edgar Allan Poe was the only one of the three to not be formally adopted (Edgar Allan Poe). Poe was put into foster care in December of 1811 and was raised as a foster child by John and Frances Allan the rest of his childhood. John Allan was a successful tobacco exporter and he sent Poe to the best boarding schools. Poe excelled as a student and continued his education Poe at University of Virginia . There he struggled with money due to his gambling addiction, using the money that his foster-father was giving him for his tuition. As a result, his relationship with John Allan suffered (Edgar Allan Poe). Poe was never adopted by the Allans, but he thought of Frances as a mother and even referred to her as Ma. Frances couldnt have children and took Poe in as her own even though he legally wasnt her son. Frances was very ill and grew more and more sickly while Poe was away at Fort Monroe in Virginia where Poe had been promoted to Sergeant-Major. While he was at Fort Monroe, Poe would constantly write to John Allan asking for updates about his foster mothers medical health but John was very insensitive to Poe and often didnt write back and when he did he gave very little detail. We are still unsure if Poe knew how severe her illness had gotten. The day Frances Allan passed away, Poe was present at Fort Monroe and seemed as if he didnt know about her passing. Once he finally went home, he was a day too late for her funeral and was devastated. After her death, Poe grew closer to John Allan and started to call him Pa rather than Sir, but soon enough John realized that Poe was an adult and didnt need a foster father anymore (Meyers). After Poe left the military, he moved in with Maria Poe Clemm, his fathers sister, and her daughter, Virginia Eliza Clemm in May of 1831. Marias husband had recently died and she was struggling to support her family. Maria loved Poe and acted like a mother to him. Poe grew closer to Maria than he had to anyone in his entire life. Poe even wrote the sonnet To My Mother about Maria Clemm (Montague). While living with the Clemms, Poe grew closer to Virginia and fell in love with her. Poes cousin a Neilson Poe found out that Poe had the intention to marry Virginia and asked her to live with him to try to sway her away from marrying her first-cousin, offering material comfort and financial support to both Virginia and Maria. Poe found out about this and sent Maria a very personal letter confessing his deep love for Virginia and begging Maria to let Virginia decide for herself to marry him or not. In the letter he even asked if Virginia and Maria still loved him and said that he would have nothing left to live for if they didnt. The Clemms decided against the support from Neilson and remained loyal to Poe, leaving their fate in his hands (Meyers). Poe spent his time and money molding Virginia into the type of woman he wanted to marry and he spent most of his salary on her education. Poe even became her tutor once while he wasnt making enough money to send her to school. Virginia became a successful singer and musician. Poe and Virginia got married when Poe was 26 and Virginia was 13, although on the legal documents of their marriage they listed her as 21. They honeymooned in Petersburg, Virginia. Virginia was very sick which made it hard for any sexual relations to occur between her and Poe, although Poe stated in one of his letters that their sexlife was normal. Others said their relationship was more like that of siblings than of a married couple. Poe and Virginia moved around often because of on Poes work (Meyers). Virginia grew more ill from tuberculosis in 1846 and Poe was reminded of his mothers death. Virginias illness was hopeless at this point and Poe knew it. He contributed even more of his time to her and stopped publishing leaving him without friends or money. On her deathbed, Virginia begged Maria to never leave Poes side and to look after him after she died (Meyers). Virginia passed away on January 30, 1847 at age 24, which was the same age that Poes mother and brother died, both of tuberculosis. Virginias death influenced Poes writing and many of the stories he wrote after her death involved young women dying, including The Raven, Annabel Lee, and Ligeia (Montague). After Virginias death, Maria kept her promise to her daughter and took care of Poe. They grew even closer than they were before the death of Virginia, Maria now replacing the role of his wife as well as his mother. Maria wrote that Poe never liked to be alone and that she would walk with him in their garden and would stay with him in his study while he wrote (Montague). Poe would kiss her before bed every night and would call her Mother. Poe had several other lovers as he tried to fill the gap in his heart that Virginias death had left, but he never married again. Poe died on October 7, 1849, the details of his death are still unclear. Maria and Rosalie were the only women in Poes family to outlive him, and Maria was the only woman who didnt struggle with an illness or disability during Poes lifetime, other than getting weaker from aging, but she did suffer from inflammation of the lungs after his death (Meyers). Poe was very disturbed and used his writing as an outlet for his troubles in life. Many of these troubles were rooted from his need for a maternal figure and the death of the love of his life. His stories grew darker as he aged and as he continued to lose his loved ones. The sicknesses and eventual deaths of the women that were related to him and the women he loved tormented him, but also inspired his literary works that remain famous today.

The Importance of Setting in a Rose for Emily - 884 Words

May 16th 2011 The Importance of Setting in A Rose for Emily. Setting often provides more then just a mere backdrop for the action in the story. It is probably the most important part of the putting together a story. In this story the setting is a reflection of the character as much as the town. The physical setting, time setting and cultural settings are all important parts of this short story, Physical setting is to give the readers a sense of what the environment is for the story. The physical setting for A rose for Emily is important because it reflect the life of Emily, the main character. In this story the setting takes place in the southern town of Jefferson. Miss Emily Grierson lived in a house that had a â€Å"big squarish†¦show more content†¦The town in this story grows with the time but the main character Miss Emily will not. â€Å"The town had just let in the contracts for paving the side walks.† When the newer generation becomes the back bone and spirit of the town Miss Emily didn’t move ahead with the times. â€Å"When the town got free postal delivery, Miss Emily alone refused to let them fasten the metal numbers above her door and attach a mailbox to them.† It was like Miss Emily was stuck in a particular time in the life and wanted to live like that. Culture is also important to the setting in the story being told. Miss Emily was a Grierson. The high and might Grierson’s as they were known in Jefferson. Faulkner talks about how â€Å"Miss Emily had gone to join the representatives of the august names where they lay in a cedar-bemused cemetery among the ranked and anonymous graves of the union and confederate soldiers who fell at the battle of Jefferson.† By describing this culture setting Faulkner is setting the tone for what kind of character Emily is, and what kind of family she had. The Grierson’s were a powerful family in Jefferson, royalty if you will, and Emily was the last of this great family. He then goes on to describe how â€Å"Colonel Sartoris invented an involved tale to the effect that Miss Emily’s father had loaned money to the town, which the town, as a matter of business preferred this way of repayment.† Remitting Miss Emily’s taxes was aShow MoreRelatedA Rose For Emily And Barn Burning By William C. Faulkner949 Words   |  4 Pageswere also a part of the Southern town. Both â€Å"A Rose for Emily† and â€Å"Barn Burning† tells about people’s lives in the South and their continuing struggles with society. These two stories have many similarities in their setting, but they also have differences that make it more interesting and uncommon. The atmosphere established in these stories is quite unique, but both have a sense of mystery about them. Faulkner uses Yoknapatawpha County as the setting for the short story â€Å"Barn Burning†. The SnopesRead MoreA Rose for Emily by William Faulkner Essay967 Words   |  4 PagesIn Faulkner’s, â€Å"A Rose for Emily†, Emily lives in a world of her own making. This is because townspeople in Jefferson holds Miss Emily in such high regards. To them, she symbolizes the customs of the old south, or what the town Jefferson once was. For Emily and also for the townspeople time is relative, the past is an ever-present realm in Jefferson. For this reason people wish to respect Emily and preserve her customs; even if it means intruding into her personal life, or turning the cheek towardsRead MoreIn Literature, There Are Genres. Two Main Genres Are Fiction1350 Words   |  6 Pagesnonfiction in an exaggerated way. Though fiction may not be based on the facts, it can still resemblance a sense of real life events. â€Å"Fiction may base on stories on actual historical event s. Although fictitious characters are presented in a fictitious setting in stories and novels, yet they may have some resemblance with real life events and characters† (â€Å"Fiction†). Literature is meant to get the readers’ minds wandering. â€Å"The function of fiction is to entertain, educate and inspire the readers and theRead MoreEssay on The Scrambling of Time in Faulkners A Rose for Emily1504 Words   |  7 PagesThe Scrambling of Time in Faulkners A Rose for Emily In, A Rose for Emily, Faulkner uses the element of time to enhance details of the setting and vice versa. By avoiding the chronological order of events of Miss Emilys life, Faulkner first gives the reader a finished puzzle, and then allows the reader to examine this puzzle piece by piece, step by step. By doing so, he enhances the plot and presents two different perspectives of time held by the characters. The first perspective (the worldRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem Southern Gothic 1566 Words   |  7 Pagesquickly became popular after Edgar Allen Poe poems in the 18th century. Most writings were formed around the Civil War era, which plays an enormous part in the tone and setting in Southern Gothic writing styles. (O’Connell 63) Southern Gothic writing elements consist of â€Å"horror, romance and psychological and domestic dramas† (63). The setting of Southern Gothic was always dingy and dark which explains the tone of most southern states at this time. Southern Go thic writing styles were known to be grotesqueRead MoreSetting Is The Most Versatile Device An Author1454 Words   |  6 Pagesâ€Å"Setting is the most versatile device an author can use when writing fiction. Setting is comprised of the time, location, position and aims to capture the essence and sometime social aspects of a period in time. In a given story, setting can serve a purpose to develop a story in a certain way or be used to accomplish and multitude of objectives. Setting offers context to a character s’ surroundings which can then led to further insight into a variety of relevant themes or moments. Closely examiningRead MoreA Rose For Emily Literary Analysis957 Words   |  4 Pageshis Southern upbringing, often setting his stories in the fictional Southern town, Yoknapatawpha County. â€Å"A Rose for Emily† was one of Faulkner’s first published pieces and displays many of the now signature characteristics of Faulkner’s writing. The short s tory provides commentary through the use of many symbols. In William Faulkner’s short story, â€Å"A Rose for Emily†, the author uses the townspeople as a representation of societal expectations and judgments, Emily and her house as symbols for theRead Moreâ€Å"Resistance to Change†: An Analysis of Not Changing with the Times854 Words   |  4 Pagesstory, A Rose for Emily, well-known American writer and Nobel Prize laureate, William Faulkner, narrates the consequences of people not changing with the times. He lived in the south when slavery was acceptable and includes this in many of his stories. Faulkner’s purpose is to emphasize to his audience that people must accept change and evolve or risk isolation and ultimately dying alone. Faulkner’s views on change are brought out effectively in â€Å"A Rose for Emily† through his use of setting, tone,Read MoreGothic Literature : The Southern Gothic Fiction1476 Words   |  6 Pageswith the us e of ghoulish and ironic events, disturbing and damaged characters, and grotesque themes ultimately revealing a less than desirable culture. Perverted countryside settings became the norm, with southern gothic writings showing the south emerging into a ridiculous assessment of contemporary living. â€Å"A Rose for Emily† was written by William Faulkner and is an example of southern gothic literature. The story is set in the south, Mississippi specifically, and southern locale demonstrates oneRead MoreThe Search for Time in Yoknapatawpha County1908 Words   |  8 Pages Setting is an important aspect of any story, movie, poem and novel. Setting enhances many aspects of a story by adding time, location and mood into the works. Imagine how different Harry Potter would be if it took place in South Africa, instead of the magical kingdom of Hogwarts? Setting also enhances the tone of the narrator by adding effects, such as, weather changes, time of day, time of the year and the time period of the story. Furthermore, in the short story â€Å"A Rose for Emily† by William

How Do Gender Stereotypes Affect The Decisions Our Youth

Christine Lin Hill TPSP, P5 26 October 2014 Rough Draft One: How do gender stereotypes affect the decisions our youth makes and ultimately their careers? Being the same age, having the same economic security, living in the same neighborhood, boys and girls obtain different career paths and positions. Gender stereotypes prevent an equal distribution of men and women in fields of work do to the strong influences by the education system, the media, and family. To start off, gender stereotypes are â€Å"one-sided and exaggerated images of men and women which are deployed repeatedly in everyday life† (Marshall). Certain behaviors are categorized as feminine or masculine. However, gender is not categorical; it is relational. Gender stereotypes serve as a comparative quality where if one is less feminine, one is more masculine. Thus, these relations that carry negative connotations force individuals to certain behaviors or practices due to their biological gender. Gender roles are personas that one may take on to fit one’s biological gender. Each person wishes to be in a state of order in society and gladly would fall in line to be more feminine or masculine. As a majority of these two ideas develop from an early age, a major influence to each individual occurs in one’s school. The average student in the United States of America will spend â€Å"1,620 hours a year receiving their education† (Chalabi). In a school setting, the gender roles that are put upon the students include girls to beShow MoreRelatedGender Roles And Stereotypes Of Women1675 Words   |  7 Pagesthe occasional generic, sexist, joke, but these jokes and phrases may be more harmful than they seem. Gender roles influence the way people see the world, everything from parenting roles to places in the workforce are affected by how the public perceives gender. This is why those simple ‘jokes’ are so problematic. They are symptomatic of the to xic way the world sees gender. Gender roles affect men and women which leaves no one at the winning side, and at this point in history, no one at fault.Read MoreStereotyping Is Inevitable, By James Baldwin1717 Words   |  7 PagesStereotyping is inevitable, we all do it ad we all experience it, but this does not mean it does not effect us. Stereotypes are all around us. They effect the way we think about ourselves and the way we think about the people around us. Stereotyping leads us to act certain ways and treat people certain ways. At times it can be beneficial to a certain group, but may bring many disadvantages to others. Many times stereotypes limit us and restricting our success in life. In â€Å"A Letter to My Nephew,†Read MoreGender Equiality in Our Society1149 Words   |  5 Pagespolitical and institutional promotion of gender equality has shaped different conceptual and methodological approaches, thus raising many questions and opinions. Therefore, education an d gender are intimately linked. Through learning, is not only knowledge acquired, but also attitudes, values, experiences, and reflections. It can be understood that gender equality consists of giving each person equal opportunity, regardless of sex. Yet, implementing a policy of gender equality in schools requires culturalRead MoreThe, All About Jazz, On The Learning Channel ( Tlc )1671 Words   |  7 PagesGender can be interpreted several ways, these include: male, female, and transgender. A transgender is someone who was born with female or male bodily structures, but feel as if they have been born into the wrong body. People choose to become the opposite sex from what they were at birth by undergoing the surgery to become transgender. Today the term â€Å"transgender† is more accepted in this world and people are presented what it takes and the meaning to become a transgender. Jazz Jennings is aRead MoreHow Marketing Affects Children1655 Words   |  7 Pageschildren lives today. This paper will explore the causes of how marketing affects children and this will affect the generations to come in the futu re which disappoints the parents and generates the parent’s way of raising their kids without the exploitation of the social media. I will argue that the generation of marketing has filled an appalling influence to youths today, marketers have urbanized a society of advertising to kids that can affect their future and they analyze the facts that are directedRead MoreStereotypes Prejudice:. What Are They, And How Do They1825 Words   |  8 Pages Stereotypes Prejudice: What are they, and how do they affect communication? Today we live in a world of diversity, we have thousands of different cultures that all share the same earth. Due to this fact it is important that all of these different cultures, filled with valuable ideas, beliefs, thoughts, and people be able to communicate. There is many barriers that keep people from different cultures from communicating. Some of them are very obvious, and easy to identify such as language, locationRead MoreEssay on Gender Stereotype: Gender in The Toy Store1417 Words   |  6 Pagesa toy that is not marketed explicitly or subtly by gender. If toys were marketed only according to ethnic and racial stereotypes, many individuals would be infuriated. However, we come across toy departments that are highly, as well as strictly segregated—not by race, but by gender. In order to fully comprehend the how gender stereotypes perpetuate children’s toys, one must understand gender socialization. According to Santrock, the term gender refers to the, â€Å"characteristics of people as malesRead MoreHow My Sex, Gender, And Race Ethnicity Influenced My Concept Of Family And Traditional Gender Roles1617 Words   |  7 Pagesself-analysis, I look at how my sex, gender, and race-ethnicity influenced my concept of family and traditional gender roles. Education as a minority has forced an awareness on the disproportion of men and women in STEM majors. Navigating through stereotypes, cultural differences, and similarities amongst family, peers, and strangers has been an ongoing voyage in my life. The opportunities my upbringing and culture has afforded and the consequences of chances are critical in how I balance multiple statusesRead More Drugs and Alcohol in the Adolescent Years Essay1547 Words   |  7 Pagesgirls and boys to make decisions that w ill essentially have the power to shape their lives. In life there are conflicts to be overcome from both the â€Å"evil† social world and also a young girl’s vulnerability can cause problems. Both have a huge impact on decisions she will make. Drugs and alcohol are both issues that almost any young person in today’s society is going to come into contact with. Then there is the issues of making decisions about how these substances will affect their life. It is interestingRead MoreIct Entrepreneurship For Social Impact Essay1513 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction â€Å"Humanity’s greatest advances are not in its discoveries, but in how those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity.† Bill Gates is a guy with all the money in the world, yet he showed up every day to change the world. Rather than just retire and play with his money, he focuses his time, energy, and resources on making a better world. In 2016, World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD-2016) will focus on the theme: â€Å"ICT entrepreneurship for social impact†, in accordance

Listening to Rap Cultures of Crime, Cultures of Resistance Free Essays

string(135) " Priest was accused of producing recorded material \(songs\) that contained subliminal messaging diat led to the suicides of two fans\." Listening to Rap: Cultures of Crime, Cultures of Resistance Julian Tanner, University of Toronto Mark Asbridge, Dalhousie University Scot Wortley, University of Toronto This research compares representations of rap music with the self-reported criminal behavior and resistant artirudes of the music’s core audience. Our database is a large sample of Toronro high school studenrs (n = 3,393) from which we identify a group of listeners, whose combination of musical likes and dislikes distinguish them as rap univores. We then examine the relationship between their cultural preference for rap music and involvement in a culture of crime and their perceptions of social injustice and inequity. We will write a custom essay sample on Listening to Rap: Cultures of Crime, Cultures of Resistance or any similar topic only for you Order Now We find thar the rap univores, also known as urban music enthusiasts, report significantly more delinquent behavior and stronger feelings of inequity and injustice than listeners with other musical tastes. However, we also find thar the nature and strengths of those relationships vary according to rhe racial identity of different groups within urban music enthusiasts. Black and white subgroups align themselves with resistance representations while Asians do not; whites and Asians report significant involvement in crime and delinquency, while blacks do not. Finally, we discuss our findings in light of research on media effects and audience reception, youth subcultures and post-subcultural analysis, and the sociology of cultural consumption. Thinking About Rap The emergence and spectacular growth of rap is probably the most important development in popular music since the rise of rock ‘n’ roll in the late 1940s. Radio airplay, music video programming and sales figures are obvious testimonies to its popularity and commercial success. This was made particularly evident in October 2003 when, according to the recording industry bible Billboard mzgnzme, all top 10 acts in the United States were rap or hip-hop artists;’ and again in 2006, when the Academy award for Best Song went to It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp, a rap song by the group Husde Flow. Such developments may also signal rap’s increasing social acceptance and cultural legitimization (Baumann 2007). However, its reputation and status in the musical field has, hitherto, been a controversial one. Like new music before it (jazz, rock ‘n’ roll), rap has been critically reviewed as a corrosive influence on young and impressionable listeners (Best 1990; Tatum 1999; Tanner 2001; Sacco and Kennedy 2002; Alexander 2003). Whether rap has been reviled as much as jazz and rock ‘n’ roll once were is a moot point; rather more certain is its pre-eminent role as a problematic contemporary musical genre. Direct correspondence to Julian Tanner, Department of Social Science University of Toronto at Scarborough, 1265Military Trail, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, MIC 1A4. Telephone: (416) 287-7293. E-mail: Julian. Tanner@utoronto. ca. † rh8 Uniiersily of North Carolina Press Social Forces 88121 693-722, December 2009 694 †¢ Social Forces 88(2) In an important study of representations of popular music. Binder (1993) examined how print journalists wrote about rap and heavy metal in the 1980s and 1990s. While both are devalued genres (Roe 1995), she nevertheless contends that they are framed differently: the presumed harmful effects of heavy metal are limited to the listeners themselves, whereas rap is seen as more socially damaging (for a similar distinction, see Rose 1994). The lyrical content of the two genres is established as one source of this differential framing: rap lyrics are found to be more explicit and provocative (greater usage of â€Å"hard† swear words, for example) than heavy metal lyrics. The second factor involves assumptions made (by journalists) about the racial composition of audiences for heavy metal and rap-the former believed to be white suburban youth, the latter urban black youth. According to Binder, rap invites more public concern and censorious complaint than heavy metal because of what was assumed to be its largely black fan base. At the same time, she identifies an important counter frame, one component of which elevates rap (but not heavy metal) to the status of an art form with serious political content. In both the mainstream press (i. e.. The New York Times) and publications targeting a predominately black readership (i. e.. Ebony and/^i), she finds rap lauded for the salutary lessons that it imparts to black youth regarding the realities of urban living; likewise, rap artists are applauded for their importance as role models and mentors to inner-city black youth. Thus, while rap has been framed negatively, as a contributor to an array of social problems, crime and delinquency in particular, it has also been celebrated and championed as an authentic expression of cultural resistance by underdogs against racial exploitation and disadvantage. How these differing representations of rap might resonate with audience members was not part of Binder’s research mandate. ^ Furthermore, while she does acknowledge that ournalistic perceptions of the racial composition of the rap audience are not necessarily accurate-that more white suburban youth, even in the 1980s and 1990s, might have been consuming the music than black inner-city youth-this acknowledgment does not alter her enterprise or her argument. At this point in time, when the listening audience for rap music has both expanded and become increasingly diverse, our research concerns how young black, white and Asian rap fans in Toronto, Canada relate to a musical form still viewed primarily i n terms of its criminal and resistant meanings. Researching Rap Much of the early work on audiences preoccupied itself with investigating the harmful effects of media exposure, especially the effects of depictions of violence in movies and TV on real life criminal events. Results have generally been inconclusive, with considerable disagreement in the social science research community regarding the influence of the media on those watching the large ot small screen (Curran 1990; Abercrombie and Longhurst 1998; Freedman 2002; Sacco and Kennedy 2002; Alexander 2003; Newman 2004; Savage 2004; Longhurst 2007). Listening to Rap †¢ 695 Listening to popular music has, on occasion, been said to produce similarly negative effects, although these too have proven difficult to verify. For example, in one high profile case in the 1980s, the heavy metal band Judas Priest was accused of producing recorded material (songs) that contained subliminal messaging diat led to the suicides of two fans. You read "Listening to Rap: Cultures of Crime, Cultures of Resistance" in category "Papers" This claim was not, however, legally validated because the judge hearing the case remained unconvinced about a causal linkage between the music and the self-destructive behavior of two individuals (Walser 1993). Strong arguments for the ill effects of media consumption rest on the assumption that audiences are easily and direcdy influenced by the media, with frequent analogies made to hypodermic syringes that inject messages into gullible and homogenous audiences (Abercrombie and Longhurst 1998; Alexander 2003; Longhurst 2007). In contesting this view of audience passivity, critics also propose that texts are open to more than one interpretation. Again, TV udiences have been studied more frequently than audiences for popular music, although research on the latter has illustrated how song lyrics are not necessarily construed the same way by adolescents and adults. Research conducted by Prinsky and Rosenbaum (1987) indicates that songs identified by adults as containing deviant content (references to sex, violence, alcohol and drug use, Satanism) were not similarly categorized by adolescents. Evidence that there are diflferent ways of watching television or listening to recorded music has led to an alternative conception of audiences-one more concerned with what audiences do with the media than what the media does to audiences. The development within communications research of the uses and gratifications model (McQuail 1984) is one result, with TV once more the media form most commonly investigated. Nonetheless, a few studies have documented how young people listen to popular music in order to satisfy needs for entertainment and relaxation (among other priorities), and utilize it as an accompaniment to other everyday activities, such as homework and household chores (Roe 1985; Prinsky and Rosenbaum 1987). More recent research has added identity construction as a need that popular music might fill for young listeners (Roe 1999; Gracyk 2001; Laughey 2006). One particular usage emphasized by British cultural Marxists associated with the now defunct Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies has focused attention on how active media audiences counter dominant cultural messages in their consumption of popular culture. In what has, by now, become a familiar story, a series of music-based, post-war youth cultures (Teddy Boys, Mods, Rockers, Skinheads, Punks) in the United Kingdom have been represented as symbolically resisting the dominant normative order (Hall and Jefferson 1976; Hebdige 1979). This argument has, however, relied on a reading of cultural texts and artifacts for its evidentiary base, rather than observations of, or information from, subcultural participants themselves (Cohen 1980; Frith 1985; Tanner 2001; Bennett 2002; Alexander 2003). 696 †¢ Social Forces 8S(2) More recently, the utility of the term subculture for understanding young people’s collective involvements in music has been questioned. The focus of this criticism is, once again, the Birmingham school and its conceptualization of subculture. Its critics argue that, nder conditions of post modernity, music audiences have fragmented, and young people are no longer participants in distinctive subcultural groups (Bennett 1999b; Muggleton 2000). Instead of subcultures, they are now involved v^^ith neo tribes and scenes (i. e. , Bennett 1999b; Bennett and Kahn-Harris 2004; Hesmondhalgh 2005; Longhurst 2007; Hodkinson 2008). Post subcultural research has been much less inclined than the Birming ham era researchers to decode and decipher texts, and much more likely to engage in ethnographic studies of music and youth groups (Bennett 2002). However, while there has been occasional work on modes of (female) resistance in the â€Å"tween scene† (Lowe 2004) and â€Å"riot girrrl scene† (Schily 2004), there has been no equivalent research on rap scenes and resistance. Examinations of audience receptions of rap are not numerous and have been of two main kinds: a few studies have explored how young people perceive and evaluate the music, while others have studied the harmful effects of rap by trying to link consumption of the music with various negative consequences. An early study by Kuwahara (1992) finds rap to be more popular with black than white college students, and more popular among males than females. However, reasons for liking the music varied little by race, with both black and white audience members prioritizing the beat over the message. A more recent study by Sullivan (2003) reports few racial differences in liking the music, although black teenagers were more committed to the genre and more likely to view rap as life affirming (Berry 1994) than those from other racial backgrounds. In a small but important study conducted in California, Mahiri and Connor (2003) investigated 41 black middle school students’ perceptions of violence and thoughts about rap music. In focus group sessions and personal interviews, informants revealed a strong liking for rap music, valuing the fact that it spoke to their everyday concerns about growing up in a poorly resourced community. They did not, however, like the way that rap music on occasion (mis)represented the experiences of black people in the United States. They challenged the misogyny evident in some rap videos and rejected what they saw as the glamorization of violence. Overall, their critical and nuanced engagement with rap music fitted poorly with depictions of media audiences as easily swayed by popular culture (Sacco 2005). The search for the harmful effects of rap music has yielded no more definitive results than earlier quests for media effects. While some studies report evidence of increased violence, delinquency, substance use, and unsafe sexual activity resulting from young people’s exposure to rap music (Wingood et al. 2003; Chen et al. 2006), other researchers have failed to find such a link or have exercised extreme caution when interpreting apparent links. One review of the literature, conducted in the 1990s, could find a total of only nine investigations-all of them Listening to Rap †¢ 697 mall-scale, none involving the general adolescent population-and concluded that there was an even split hetween those that found some sort of an association between exposure to the music and various deviant or undesirable outcomes, and those that could find no connection at all Moreover, in those studies where the music and the wrongdoing were linked, investigators were very circumspect about whether or not they were observing a causal relationship, and if so, which came first, the music or the violent dispositions (Tat um 1999). A mote recent investigation conducted in Montreal is illustrative of such interpretative problems. While a preference for rap was found to predict deviant behavior among 348 Frenchspeaking adolescents, causal ordering could not be established, nor an additional possibility ruled out: that other factors might be responsible for both the musical taste and the deviant behavior (Miranda and Claes 2004). The notion that rap is or can be represented as cultural resistance-the counter frame identified by Binder-has become increasingly prominent in the rap literature over the past 20 years (Rose 1994; Krims 2000; Keyes 2002; Quinn 2005). In his influential book. Why White Kids Love Hip Hop: Wankstas, Wiggers, Wannabes, and the new Reality ofRace in America, Kitwana (2005) expounds at length on his emancipatory view of rap’s history and development. Kitwana sees hip-hop as a form of protest music, offering its listeners a message ofresistance. He also makes the additional claim that the resistive appeal of hip-hop is not restricted to black youth. Indeed, as the tide of his book suggests, he is patticularly interested in the patronage of rap music by white youth, those young people who might be seen as the contemporary equivalents of Mailer’s â€Å"White Negro† or Keys’ â€Å"Negro Wannabes. (Keyes 2002:250) In his view, the global diffusion of rap rests on the music’s capacity for resonating with the experiences ofthe downtrodden and marginalized in a variety of cultural contexts. Quinn (2005) similarly explains the crossover appeal of gangsta rap in the United States in terms ofthe â€Å"common sensibili ties and insecurities shated by post Fordist youth. † She continues: â€Å"many young whites, facing bleak labor market prospects, were also eager for stories about fast money and authentic belonging to ward off a creeping sense of placelessness and dispossession. (Quinn 2005:85-86) Thus, rap’s appeal is as much about class as it is about race. Nor is the resistive view of rap restricted to the North American continent. At least one French study-conducted in advance ofthe riots in the fall of 2005 -has noted how French Rap has become the music of choice for young people of visible minority descent who have grown up in the suburban ghettos (Les Cities) of major cities. They have been routinely exposed to police harassment on the streets, subjected to prejudice and discrimination at school, and struggled to find decent housing and appropriate jobs (Bouchier 1999, cited in Miranda and Claes 2004). The idea that popular music might serve as an important reference point for rebellious or resistive adolescents is not a new one. As we have already noted, this is how a British school of subcultural analysis once interpreted the cultural activity of wotking-class youth in the United Kingdom (Hall and Jefferson 1976; Hebdige 698 †¢ Social Forces 88(2) 1979). Some attempt has been made to understand rap fandom in similar terms. Bennett’s (1999a) ethnographic study, set in Newcastle, reveals how one group of white rappers translate the racial politics of blacks into the language of class divisions in the United Kingdom. However, for the most part there has been limited application of this kind of analysis to young people’s involvement with rap music. Rap scholars who construe the music as an authentic expression of cultural resistance directed against exploitation and disadvantages at school, on the streets, or in the labor market, do so primarily without much input from the young people who make up its listening audience. Because they have not often been canvassed for their views about the music, we do not know to what degree they share in or identify with the message of resistance readily ound in content analysis of the rap idiom (Martinez 1997; Negus 1997; Krims 2000; Stephens and Wright 2000; Bennett 2001; Sullivan 2003; Kubrin 2005; Quinn 2005; Lena 2006). Thus contemporary rap scholarship follows British subcultural theory in gleaning evidence of resistance from the texts, not the audience. Resistance is sought, and found, in the words and music rather than in the activities and ideolog ies of subcultures or audience members. We can suggest, echoing Alexander’s (2003) earlier critique of British cultural studies, that the audience for rap music has been theorized rather more thoroughly than it has been investigated. The Present Study The present study is concerned with three key questions: First, is there a relationship between audiences for rap and representations of the music? Second, as compared to other listening audiences, are serious rap fans participants in cultures of crime and resistance? Third, if such a link is found, what are the sources of variation in their participation in these cultures of crime and resistance? The need to address these questions, as we see it, emerges from several limitations in the existing research on rap. These limitations are as follows: First, there is a significant disjuncture between dominant representations of the music as a source of social harms and evidence unambiguously supportive of this proposition. Second, the case for a resistant view of rap music is usually advanced, as we have already intimated, by examination of the designs and intentions of musical creators, both artists and producers, as well as music critics. We do not know whether or not resistant messages register and resonate with those who listen to the music. Third, we do not have an accurate gauging of the sociodemographic composition, particularly racial and ethnic, of the audience for rap music. Rap’s dominance of the youth market is widely understood as a crossover effect-the original black audience now joined by legions of white fans (Spiegler 1996; Yousman 2003). However, purchasing habits-the usual arbiter for claims about rap’s increasing popularity with white consumers-may not be an entirely reliable measure of either rap’s popularity or racial and ethnic variations therein (Krims 2000; Quinn 2005). The system devised by the recording industry to gauge record Listening to Rap †¢ 699 sales-Nielson Soundscape-does not gather data on the race, or indeed any other personal characteristic, of purchasers. What it does do is categorize sales in terms of whether they were made in retail stores in high-income locations or in lowincome locations. Record companies, journalists or academics then choose to equate those high-income sales with white suburban youth, and low-income sales with inner-city black youth, but are doing so without any direct measures of the racial background or identity of buyers (Kitwana 2005). Moreover, it has been argued that sales figures â€Å"under represent the taste preferences of the poor. † (Quinn 2005:83) As Rose (1994) explains it, in the black community, particularly in impoverished neighborhoods, many more rap CDs are listened to than bought-a single purchase being passed on from one fan to another. Similarly, homemade tapes and bootleg CDs are often produced and shared within local fan networks. The implications of this point are clear enough: the appropriation of rap music by suburban white teens might not be as extensive as is commonly supposed. Finally, we do not know whether or how the rap audience relates to the dominant frame of the music as a catalyst for crime and delinquency or to the counter frame of the music as an articulator of social inequity. The mainstreaming of rap may have cost the genre its underground or counter-culture status as protest music, or made it less attractive to delinquent rebels. Rap also may play no part in crime or resistance subcultures because, under post modern conditions, young people have become increasingly eclectic and individualized in their musical tastes; the close relationship between musical tastes and lifestyles, implied by subcultural theory, no longer applies. On this formulation, therefore, we would not expect to find strong connections between a preference for rap music and subcultures of crime and subcultures of resistance. On the other hand, reasons for believing that rap music may be a basis for subcultural lifestyles, at least among black youth, are more compelling. At the time that we were conducting our research there was considerable debate, in the local media and among local politicians, about issues involving race and crime-racial profiling and the desirability of collecting race-based crime statistics, for example. Contributing to this debate were findings from another study, confirming what black youths in Canada have always suspected, namely that they are much more likely to be arbitrarily stopped and searched by police officers than are members of other racial and ethnic groups-even when their own self-repotted deviant activity is statistically controlled for (Wordey and Tanner 2005). In addition, contemporaneous research on the media coverage of race and crime in Toronto newspapers carried out by Wortley (2002), found black people disproportionately portrayed in a narrow range of roles and activities (principally those involving crime, sports and entertainment) than members of other racial and ethnic groups; and when featured in crime stories, depicted primarily as offenders. Capricious policing and media misrepresentation may therefore contribute to a sense of injustice among black youth, a sense of injustice that has them gravitating to rap as an emblem of cultural resistance. 00 †¢ Social Forces SS{2) Commercial success and artistic valorization has not diminished rap music’s capacity to provoke moral panic. The music is still seen as threatening, dangerous and socially damaging by many political figures and established authority. ‘ Previous research suggests that negative media coverage ofthe cultural preferences and practices of adolescents often intensifies subcultural identifications (Cohen 1973; Fine and Kleinman 1979; Thornton 1995). Rap based moral panics may therefore tighten connections between the music and delinquent lifestyles and/or resistive attitudes and behaviors. The lack of attention paid to rap’s consumers renders these questions relatively open ones, the meaning of rap music still to be discovered. Methods Whereas most contemporary research on rap focuses on those who create the music-artists and producers, and those who write about it, music critics-we pose questions about rap’s audience. Further, while audience studies usually employ qualitative data-gathering techniques (for example, Morley 1980; Radway 1984; Shively 1992), we use the methods of survey research. We are more concerned with how audience members interact with the music than with the issue of cause and effect. We are interested in how music might be used as a resource in their everyday lives (Willis 1990; DeNora 2000), how it might contribute to identity formation (Roe 1999) and, especially, how audiences might align themselves with (or distance themselves from) cultures of crime and resistance. Nonetheless, in our analyses, we treat rap fandom as a dependent variable. While there is considerable academic and public debate about whether music produces or is a product of cultural activities, legal or otherwise, existing research has failed to provide a compelling or consistent rationale for any particular causal logic. As we have seen, the idea that exposure to rap music causes crime is not unequivocally supported in the research literature. Research on resistant youth cultures, by contrast, is much more likely to reverse the relationship and see musical style as a result of subcultural activity (Willis 1978; Hebdige 1979). Hebdige, for example, infers that punk rock in the United Kingdom was a cultural response to the subordination of existing working-class youth groups. Laing (1985) has countered that punk the musical genre existed before punk the subculture. In the absence of agreement about the direction of the relationship between musical taste and cultural practices, our decision to operationalize rap appreciation as a dependent variable is made more for pragmatic, heuristic reasons than unassailable theoretical ones. Our strategy is to focus on listening preferences rather than purchasing habits. By asking students to report on and evaluate the music that they like, dislike and in what combinations, we gain a clearer and more detailed picture of where rap is situated in the consumption patterns of groups of students differentiated by, among other factors, their racial identity. Our goals are to: (1. distinguish students with a serious, exclusive taste for rap from more casual fans; (2. to calculate the Listening to Rap †¢ 701 size and racial makeup of rap music’s prime audience; and (3. to map relationships between that core audience and resistant and delinquent repertoires. Few surveys of general populations of young people have established any kind of connection between rap and deviancy, net of other factors. We contend that rap’s reputation as a corrosive force is validated by that linkage, and that without it that representation becomes more ontestable. A similar logic applies to the relationship between rap and social protest. The claim that the music carries a serious message-that it is an expression of resistant values and perceptions-is substantiated with evidence of a link between the music and a collective sense of inequity, and weakened by its absence. Data The data for this research are drawn from the Toronto Youth Crime and V ictimization Study, a stratified cross-sectional survey of Toronto adolescents carried out from 1998 through 2000 (Tanner and Wordey 2002). Self-administered questionnaires were completed by 3,393 Toronto students ages 13-18, from 30 Metropolitan Toronto high schools in both die Cadiolic (10 schools) and larger Public School (20 schools) systems. Within each school, one class from each grade, 9 (ages 13 and 14) through 13 (ages 18 and 19), was randomly selected. The overall response rate was 83 percent (83. 4% for Catholic vs. 83. 1% for public schools), and is a conservative estimate as it was based on the number of students enrolled in each class rather than those present the day of the study. Informed consent was given for participation in the study. Surveys were completed during class under the supervision of a member of the research team (and without a teacher present) and took approximately 45 minutes to complete. The survey asked young people about a broad range of topics, including family life, educational experiences, leisure activities, delinquent involvement, victimization experiences and so forth. The survey instrument was designed by members of the research team and evolved out of a series of 11 focus groups with adolescents in Toronto schools. The completed survey was reviewed by a series of institutional ethics boards, including those at the University of Toronto, the Toronto Public School Board and the Catholic School Board. As the survey does not include high school dropouts, institutionalized youth and street youth, it is a school sample and thus any generalizations speak only to the experiences of school-based adolescents. Our sample is ethnically and racially diverse and is representative of the Metropolitan Toronto high school population. Measures Musical Preferences Guided by Bourdieu’s work (1984) and Peterson’s recasting of musical taste in terms of omnivorous and univorous patterns (1992), we focus our attention on 702 †¢ Social Forces 88(2] how musical choices are combined: if young people liked (or disliked) one style or genre, what other styles or genres did they like or dislike (what Van Eijck 2001 has referred to as â€Å"combinatorial logic†). Indicators of musical taste were derived from the question: â€Å"How much do you like each of the following types of music? Respondents were then asked to evaluate each of 11 contempotary musical genres: Soul, Rhythm and Blues, Jazz, Hip/Hop and Rap, Reggae and Dance Hall, Classical and Opera, Country and New Country, Pop, Alternative (including Punk, Grunge), Heavy Metal (Hard Rock), Ethnic Music (traditional/ cultural), and Techno (Dance). Musical tastes were assessed on a five-point Likert scale that addresses whether respondents liked the musical genre very much, quite a lot, a little bit, not very much or not at all. Unlike previous research that dichotomized musical tastes, focusing exclusively on the musical genres most liked (Peterson and Kern 1996) or disliked (Bryson 1996), we target the level of appreciation (or lack of appreciation) each respondent has for a particular musical genre. For space considerations a detailed overview of the clustering procedure has been omitted but is available upon request. We employed a two-stage cluster analysis (hierarchical agglomerative and ^-means) procedure to derive groupings of adolescent musical tastes. Cluster analysis assembles respondents based on their common responses to questions/ measures, and is useful for identifying relatively homogenous groups, groups that are highly intetnally homogenous (members are similar to one another) and highly externally heterogeneous (members are not like members of other clusters) (Aldenderfer and Blashfield 1984). Employing cluster analysis techniques, we uncovered seven musical taste clustets. Table 1 outlines the results of our cluster analysis. The largest group (n = 616) was the Club Kids, composed of those who report an above average enjoyment of techno and dance, mainstream pop, and hip-hop and rap. Next were the Urban Music Enthusiasts (n = 605). Members of this group combined a strong appreciation of Rap and Hip Hop with considerable disinterest in most other musical styles. These adolescents are the primary focus ofthe current study. Then there was a fairly large (n = 482) group of youth, the New Traditionalists, who have an above average liking of classical music and opera, jazz, soul, RB, country music and mainstream pop. The fourth largest (n = 425) group, the Hard Rockers, comprised a sizeable number of heavy metal and hard rock, alternative, punk and grunge fans. Then there was a surprisingly large (n = 384) group of adolescents, the Musical Abstainers, who are only marginally interested in any kind of music. The group we call the Ethnic Culturalists (n = 380) were so described because of a dominant preference for a quite wide range of ethnic music, as well as a greater than average liking for soul and RB, jazz, classical music and opera, country music techno and dance, and mainstream pop. The smallest group (n = 338), the Musical Omnivores, was composed of those who have an above average appreciation for all 11 musical genres. These clusters vary considerably, not only in the musical Listening to Rap †¢ 703 Q-CM O O U O O U O O U O O -COIOCOCOCNJCJCOIO † †¢ ^ – T— c3^ h ^ h†¦ c o 3†² UJ CD o .Si i -T— COCOCDCO s m eu rocMincDco -T— CMC3 co co i Q. CL tu . S o .2 U) o tu tpcooin CNJcOCOCOcdcOCMCOM-‘^COCNI co T—CMOCI5 ? CO en (U ro â€Å"o 0} Q. CL ro â€Å"o en CM CM co â€Å"cD t n tu . 2 2 Oi tn -D C to to CZJ eu co CNI co o tD tu. —. _ 2 CD â€Å"O en ! c: o c: 03 sa | ^ sV ndical . 0011 V CL ro o tu . S P o | idd tn tu V p. 704 †¢ Social Forces 8H2) likes and dislikes, but also with respect to sociodemographic, socioeconomic class indicators, and measures of school experience, cultural capital, leisure patterns and subcultural delinquency (Tanner, Asbridge and Wortley 2008). Social I njustice, Property Crime and Violent Crime The sense of injustice that rap is said to speak to often involves the dealings that young people have with the police and courts. Six items in our questionnaire invited respondents to evaluate their perceptions of the equity of the criminal justice system, fairness in the educational system, and more general perceptions of the equality of opportunity in Canada. Some of the questions addressed racebased inequality, while others invoked age, class- and gender-based discrimination. These six items were condensed into a scale and standardized (alpha = . 65) with higher values indicating greater feelings of social injustice. Respondents were also invited to report their participation in illegal activities. Our measures of crime and delinquency covered a spectrum of activities, varied by type and seriousness. Two scales items are constructed based on the following question: â€Å"How many times in the past year have you done any of the following things? Would you say never, once or twice, several times, or many times? † The first scale captures involvement in property crime, including self-reported property damage, theft under $50, breaking into a car, stealing a car, stealing a bike, breaking and entering a home, drug dealing and theft over $50 (alpha = . 6). The second scale measures violent offending and includes carrying a hidden weapon such as a gun or knife in public, using physical force on another person to get money or other things, attacking someone with the idea of seriously hurting him or her, hitting or threatening to hit a parent or teacher, getting into a physical fight with someone, and taking part in a fight where a group of friends were up against another group (alpha = . 81). SES, School Measures and Cultural Capital The impact of students’ sociodemographic backgrounds is initially examined in terms of demographic variables-age, gender, Canadian identity (â€Å"Do you think of yourself as Canadian? â€Å"-a measure of perceived inclusion in Canadian society), and race. Socioeconomic status is captured through indicators of parents and family situation, and includes measures of parental educational attainment (whether or not they had attended postsecondary education), family intactness (whether or not respondents grew up in a two-parent household), a measure of subjective social class based on perceptions of family income. Next we include a set of measures related to educational attainment, experiences and expectations: self-reported grades (proportion receiving mostly As), skipping school, suspension from school, educational stream (general or academic stream) and a more evaluative question about the degree of importance that young people attached to education. Listening to Rap †¢ 705 Finally, we include a measure of respondents’ own cultural capital activities. While mainly used as an explanation of educational and occupational attainment (DiMaggio 1982; DiMaggio and Mohr 1995; Aschaffenburg and Maas 1997), measures of cultural capital have also been deployed to uncover dispositions, or orientations, towards the arts (Bourdieu 1984; Swartz 1997). We use it here as a further measure ofthe characteristics and lifestyles ofthe audience for rap-its possession bestowing status upon individuals and the music that they listen to, its absence denoting the opposite. Our seven-item cultural capital index comprises both traditional highbrow pursuits-going to the symphony, visiting museums-and the sorts of respectable leisure activities (playing a musical instrument, attending cultural events, going to the library, reading a book for pleasure and hobbies) that contribute to the cultural resources available to young people. The sum of these seven items is standardized and has an alpha of . 65. Descriptive statistics and other details on all measures can be found in Appendix A. Analytic Procedure Multivariate logistic regression is employed in four separate analyses. First, a strong preference for Rap and Hip/Hop-being an Urban Music Enthusiast-is regressed on sociodemographic, socioeconomic status and school measures. Next, we regress being an Urban Music Enthusiast on sociodemographic, socioeconomic status and school measures for three racial groups-white, black and Asian/South Asian youth. For each racial group we run four separate models that include baseline measures only, followed by models that add social injustice, property crime and violent crime. All analyses were conducted with the Stata 8. computer program (StataCorp 2001) using the survey commands that account for intra-cluster correlation due to the complex sampling strategy. Results We can quickly confirm the enormous popularity of rap with our respondents. It has the highest average approval rating of any musical genre, with some 33 percent of students saying that they liked it â€Å"very much,† and 21 percent saying that they liked it â€Å"quite a lot. † Rap clearl y appeals to a broad range of young listeners and is, therefore very much part of a common music culture among high school students. But our cluster analysis (Table 1) also isolates a group of students who enjoy rap music and little else. Examining the approval radng for each music genre relative to the cluster means, where scores approaching 1 indicate a strong approval ofthe genre, and scores approaching 5 indicate a strong dislike, demonstrates that Urban Music Enthusiasts have a strong preference for rap and hip-hop, reggae and dance hall; a more moderate liking for soul and RB, and a below average liking for all other musical genres. We think that our Urban Music Enthusiasts fit the profile of music univores-individuals who appreciate a few musical styles while disliking everything 706 †¢ Social Forces mi) else-as described in the research of Peterson (1992) and Bryson (1997). Bryson links univorous taste among American adults to low status, particular racial and ethnic groups, and regional differences. She also notes that univorous taste, when compared to omnivorous taste, is more likely to be related to what she calls â€Å"subcultural spheres. † (Bryson 1997:147) Our Urban Music Enthusiasts appear to be rap univores who may also be adhering to â€Å"sub-cultural spheres. Of the 605 Urban Music Enthusiasts in our sample, 275 {A6%) are black, 117 (19%) are white, 115 (19%) are Asian or South Asian, and 98 (16%) are from other racial groups. These figures tell us that young black people still comprise the central component of the rap audience; moreover, roughly 57 percent of black youth is Urban Musi c Enthusiasts). At the same time, we observe evidence of a significant racial crossover. White Urban Music Enthusiasts constitute 8. 6 percent of the white students in our sample, while Asian Urban Music Enthusiasts make up 9. 5 percent of all Asian students. The racial composition of the Urban Music Enthusiast taste culture prompts two further questions: Eirst, of the black students surveyed, what factors in addition to race predict their univorous interest in rap? Second, of white and Asian students, what factors encourage their involvement in an essentially black music culture, an involvement that clearly sets them apart from other white and Asian students? Table 2 provides results for Urban Music Enthusiasts membership regressed on sociodemographic, socioeconomic status and school measures, with separate analyses for white, black and Asian/South Asian young people. Paying particular attention to the findings for each racial group, what is common to all three groups of Urban Music Enthusiasts is that, compared to other students in our sample, they are poorly endowed with cultural capital and are not especially good students. Few other background factors have any significant or consistent impact upon a disposition towards Urban Music. For white students, parental SES, family structure and subjective social class, have no bearing upon their musical preferences, whereas school suspension and poor grades are strong predictors. For black students. Urban Music enthusiasm is more common among younger students and those less likely to identify as Canadian. Being a black youth identified as an Urban Music Enthusiast is also strongly related to growing up in a single-parent family and skipping school. For their part, Asian/South Asian youth are something of an anomaly-among them. Urban Music Enthusiasm is positively associated with social class and having well-educated mothers-but like other Urban Music Enthusiasts it is also strongly related to school suspension and skipping school. We are less interested, however, in the sociodemographic and socioeconomic factors that may lead to being an Urban Music Enthusiast than in the relationship between being a Urban Music Enthusiast and representations of rap-either as part of a culture of resistance and/or as a basis for subcultural delinquency. Tables 3 through 5 describe the distribution of being an Urban Music Enthusiast across three racial groups (white, black, Asian/South Asian) as shaped by perceptions Listening to Rap †¢ 707 I i I u (O re (/ CO o (U 1. 76 4. 37 ,01a ‘V— re . r; o — U; c n t – – CO CO cr; – ^ †¢ ^ CD – ^ CO CO CD CM CNl T – CD CN? -â€Å"i^ CO CNJ – . CNj CO r-1 †¢2 . o o CO CO c n 0 5 t-~- M – ,59c ,55c I CO ro ro CNl CD c n r— CO CZ CO CO CNJ cu CD CO CO CNl CO o CNI m E cn o O) T— †¢T— LO r CO CNl CN LO CD CZ CM LO †¢Ã‚ «Ã¢â‚¬â€ e n LO CO CD LO CM †¢ ‘o ro CNJ †¢ c n CO CO u o O r-. – CO h ~ T— CO CM -sj- CO CO CO ,41 ro CO u o u CO CO CO ^ – CO LO o ro ro CM LO T – CO T— c u LO c n -. 11 -3. 67 Tl- CNl l CO cp h.. – LO cn CO T— LO CO CO †¢ C35 CNJ CNl C D CO h— CJ) †¢ ^ CO CD LO CNl c n CO LO CNl c n CI3 c n r— CO CD – ^ CO CO ‘ ‘ T-^ CU T— CO CO r l CO CD CO h-^ CO J ro c j o LO LO r~- I— CO CT CO LO CD CO †¢ o I— co O5 o lO Tt lO t^ †¢*†¢ CM t ^ co LO r T co CD csi ro g ‘†¢ co E Q: S o 0 ~ ~ CM †¢ 05 EntlNusi ts Memi nd Vioie Prop iociai Stice t-ratlo _o , 0 E o. E Q. / fV le 0 S ^^ 0  « †¢rat †¢g CO t-~ - «aO5 CIS co co CM r~. – ^ CM r – i r j co cz †¢ ^ co co OO m LO co r-.. co †¢ ^ T — en lO CM LO † CO o †¢ †¢ – r— cz; CM r— UO OO T l – I— CD ^ 1 – LO CD T— O ‘ CSI CO CO T T- T-^ OO ^ CO oq – ^ †¢ LO O I— ^† 05 †¢ h – co LO C3 CSl i T-^ c s i T-^ ‘ c s i re re 3 s o: 0 CM LO †¢;* O; CD CD CJ C 3 CO T— CO – ^ co Ti† i^.. OO co T – 1 ^ CM CD O ) OO CD co eu r O r co CD ci u 3 S ice a Bas iViod _o d) ro .? † 5 ‘S V 3 iO r- co CM CM LO CD CD CM LO †¢ – CD LO co o LO T^ T-^ T^ cri i~~- c o h – †¢Ã¢â‚¬â€ c o CM – †¢ – o ^ – CD CM OO h-; oq CO csi T-: csi T-^ ‘†¢ CD †¢s c 0 ?ai ir 1 ? ir _3 s oc 0 CSJ T— I— CD CD c o CN – ^ co OO co i csi CSI C3 co CD T t co O; CD o 3 o u 0 coiSS ? 3 (O re  «^ CL O) O a; ro .^ re 0) Logi! .†¢^ O fe 5 5 ID ? -O ^Et » {‘iyMA-d3. †¢ 1997. â€Å"What About the Univores? Musical Dislikes and Group-Based Identity Construction Among Americans with Low Levels of Education. † Poetics 25(2-3): 141-56. Chen, Meng-Jinn J. , Brenda Miller, Joel Grube and Elizabeth Waiters. 2006. â€Å"Music, Substance Use and Aggression. † Journal of Studies on Alcohol 67(3):373-81. Cohen, Stanley. 973. Folk Devils and Moral Panics. MacCibbons and Kee. †¢ 1980. Folk Devils and Moral Panics. 2†³Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ Edition. Martin Robertson. Curran, James. 1990. â€Å"The New Revisionism in Mass Communication Research: A Reappraisal. † European Journal of Communication 5 (2): 135-64. DiMaggio, Paul. 1982 â€Å"Cultural Capital and School Success: The Impact of Status Culture Participation on the Grades of U. S. High School Students. † American Sociological Review A7(2):\%9-1Q. DiMaggio, Paul, and John Mohr. 1985. â€Å"Cultural Ca pital, Educational Attainment and Marital Selection† American Journal of Sociology 90(6):I231-6l. DeNora, Tia. 2000. Music in Everyday Life. Cambridge University Press. Fine, Gary Alan, and Sherryl Kleinman. 1979. â€Å"Rethinking Subculture: An Interactionist Analysis. † American Journal of Sociology 83(l):l-20. Ereedman, Jonathan. 2002. Media Violence and Its Effect on Aggression: Assessing the Scientific Evidence. University of Toronto Press. 718 †¢ Social Forces 88(2] Frith, Simon. 1985. â€Å"The Sociology of Youth. † Pp. 301-68. Sociology: New Directions. Michael Haralabos, editor. Ormskirk: Causeway Press. Gracyk, Theodore. 2001. / Wanna Be Me: Rock Music and the Politics ofIdentity. Temple University Press. Hall, Stuart, and Tony Jefferson. 1976. Resistance through Rituals. Hutchinson. Hehdige, Dick. 1979. Subculture: The Meaning of Style. Routledge. Hesmondhalgh, David 2005. â€Å"Subcultures, Scenes orTribes? None ohe. Ph(ywt! ‘ Journal of Youth Studies 8(l):21-40. Hicks, Jeffrey. 2006. â€Å"How Hip-Hop Destroys the Potential of Black Youth. † Project 21 New Visions Commentary: National Leadership Network of Conservative AfricanAmericans. The National Center for Public Policy Research. Available at: http://www. project21 . org/P21 Index. html. Hodkinson, Paul 2008 â€Å"Youth Cultures: A Critical Outline of Key Debates. Pp. 1-23. Youth Cultures: Scenes, Subcultures and Tribes. Paul Hodkinson and Wolfgang Deicke, editors. Roudedge. Kay-ho, Pih, and Mao KuoRay. 2005. â€Å"Golden Parachutes and Cang Banging: Taiwanese Cangs in Suburban Southern Calihmh. † Journal of Cang Research 12{l):59-72. Keyes, Cheryl L. 2002. Rap Music and Street Consciousness. University of Illinois Press. Kitwana, Bakari. 2005. Why White Kids Love Hip Hop: Wankstas, Wiggers, Wannabes, and the New Reality of Race in America. Basic Civitas Books. Krims, Adam. 2000. Rap Music and the Poetics of Identity. Cambridge University Press. Kuwahara, Yahsue. 1992. â€Å"Power to the People Y’all: Rap Music, Resistance and Black College Students. Humanity and Society l6(l):15-73. Kubrin, Charis E. 2005. â€Å"Cangstas, Thugs, and Hustlas: Identity and the Code of the Street in Rap Music. † Social Problems 52(3):360-78. Laing, Dave. 1985. One Chord Wonders: Power and Meaning in Punk Rock. Open University Press. Laughey, Dan. 2006. Music and Youth Culture. Edinburgh University Press Lena, Jennifer. 2006. â€Å"Social Context and Musical Content of Rap Music, 1979 -1995. † Social Forces %G{)A^^-(. McQuail, Denis. 1984. â€Å"With the Benefit of Hindsight: Refiections on Uses and Gratifications Research. † Critical Studies in Mass Communication 1(2): 177-93. Middleton, Jason, and Roger Beebe. 002. â€Å"The Racial Politics of Hybridity and ‘NeoEclecticism’ in Contemporary Popular Music. † Popular Music 21(2):159-72. Miranda, Dave, and Michel Claes. 2004. â€Å"Rap Music Cenres and Deviant Behaviors in French-Canadian Adolescents. † Journal of Youth and Adolescence 33(2): 113-22. Morley, David. 1980. The â€Å"Nationwide† Audience: The Structure and Decoding. London: British Film Institute. Muggieton, Dave. 2000. Inside Subcultures. Berg Publishing. Listening to Rap  » 7 1 9 Negus, Keith. 1999. Music Genres and Corporate Cultures. Routledge. Newman, Katherine. 2004. Rampage: Social Roots of School Shootings. Basic Boob. Patterson, Orlando. 006. â€Å"The Poverty of the Mind. † The New York Times. Available at: http://www. nytimes. com/2006/03/26/opinion/26patterson. html. Peterson, Richard A. 1992. â€Å"Understanding Audience Segmentation: From Elite and Mass to Omnivore to Univore. † Poetics 2{2):243-58. Peterson, Richard A. , and Roger Kern. 1996. â€Å"Changing Highhrow Taste: From Snob to Omnivore. † American Sociological Review 61 {^):900-07. Prinsky, Leslie E. , and Jill Rosenbaum. 1987: † ‘Leer-ics’or Lyrics: Teenage Impressions of Rock n’ Roll. † Youth and Society 18(4):384-97. Quinn, Eithne. 2005. Nuthin’but a â€Å"G† Thang. Columbia University Press. Radway, Janice. 1984. Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy and Popular Literature. I† Edition. University of North Carolina Press. Roe, Keith. 1983. Mass Media and Adolescent Schooling: Conflict or Coexistence. Almquist and Wiksell International. _. 1985. â€Å"Swedish Youth and Music: The Listening and Motivations. † Communication Research 12(3):353-62. . 1995. â€Å"Adolescents Use of Socially Devalued Media: Towards a Theory of Media DeWnquency. † Journal of Youth and Adolescence 24(5):6l7-30. _. 1999. â€Å"Music and Identity among European Youth. † Soundscape 2(1):1-15. Rose, Tricia. 1994. Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America. Wesleyan University Press. Sacco, Vince R, and Les W. Kennedy. 2002. The Criminal Event. 3†³Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ Edition. Toronto: Nelson Thomson Learning. . 2005. When Crime Waves. Sage Publications. Savage, Joanne. 2004. â€Å"Does Viewing Violent Media Really Cause Criminal Violence? A Methodological Review. † Aggression and Violent Behavior 10(l):99-128. Schilt, Kristin. 2004. † ‘Riot Grrrl is†¦ ‘: Contestation over Meaning in a Music Scene. † Pp. 115-30. Music Scenes. Bennett, Andy and Richard Peterson, editors. Vanderhilt University Press. Swartz, David. 1997. Culture and Power: The Sociology of Pierre Bourdieu. University of Chicago Press. Shively, Jo Ellen. 992. â€Å"Cowboys and Indians: Perceptions of Western Films among American Indians and Anglos. † American Sociological Review 57(6):725-34. Spiegler, Mark. 1996. â€Å"Marketing Street Culture: Bringing Hip-Hop Style to the Mainstream. † American Demographics 18(l):28-34. Stata Co rp. 2001. Stata StatisticalSoflwarv: Release 8. 0. College Station, TX: Stata Corporation. Stephens, Ronald J. , and Ead Wright III. 2001. â€Å"Beyond Bitches, Niggers, and Ho’s: Rap Music and the Sociology of Knowledge. † Race and Society 3(l):23-40. Sullivan, Rachel E. 2003. â€Å"Rap and Race: It’s Got a Nice Beat, but What about the MessigeV Journal of Black Studies 33(5):605-22. Surette, Ray. 1992. Media, Crime and CriminalJustice: Tmages and Realities. Brooks/Cole. Tanner, Julian. 1981. â€Å"Pop Music and Peer Croups: A Study of Canadian High School Student’s Responses to Pop Music. † Canadian Review ofSociology and Anthropology 18(1):1-13. †¢ 2001. Teenage Troubles: Youth and Deviance in Canada. 2^ Edition. Toronto: Nelson Canada. 720 †¢ Social Forces BH2) Tanner, Julian, Mark Asbridge and Scot Wortley. 2008 â€Å"Our Favourite Melodies: Musical Consumption and Teenage Lifestyles. † British Journal ofSociology 59(1): 117-44. Tanner, Julian, and Scot Wortley. 2002. The Toronto Youth Crime and Victimization Survey: Overview Report. Toronto: Centre of Criminology. Tatum, Becky L. 1999. â€Å"The Link Between Rap Music and Youth Crime and Violence: A Review of the Literature and Issues for Future Research. † Justice Professional ll(3):339-53. Thornton, Sarah. 1995. Club Cultures: Music, Media and Subcultural Capital. Polity Press. Tsunokai, Glenn, and Augustine Kposwa. 2002. â€Å"Asian Cangs in the United States: The Current State ofthe Research Literature. † Crime, Law and Social Change 37(l):37-50. Van Eijck, Koen. 200 L â€Å"Social Differentiation in Musical Taste Patterns. Social Eorces 79(3): 1163-85. Walser, Robert. 1993. Runningwith the Devil: Power, Cender, andMadness in Heavy Metal Music. Wesleyan University Press/University Press of New England. Weinstein, Deena. 2000. Heavy Metal: The Music and Its Culture. Da Capo Press. Willis, Paul. 1978. Profane Culture. Routledge and Keegan Paul. . 1990. Common Culture. Open Univer sity Press Wimsatt, William. 1994. We Use Words like ‘Mackadocious,’Bomb the Suburbs. Subway and Elevated Press. Wingood, Cina M. , Ralph DiClemente, Jay Bernhardt, Kathy Harrington, Susan Davies, Alyssa Robillard and Edward Hook. 2003. A Prospective Study of Exposure to Rap Music Videos and African-American Female Adolescents Health. † American Journal ofPublic Health 93(3):437-39. Wortiey, Scot. 2002. â€Å"The Depiction of Race and Crime in the Toronto Print Media. † Pp. 55-82. Marginality and Condemnation: An Introduction to Critical Criminology. Bernard Schissel and Carolyn Brooks, editors. Fernwood Publishing. Wordey, Scot, and Julian Tanner. 2004. â€Å"Social Groups or Criminal Organisations? The Extent and Nature of Youth Gang Activity in Toronto. † Pp. 59-77. Enforcement and Prevention to Civic Engagement: Research on Community Safety. Bruce Kidd and Jim Phillips, editors. Toronto: Centre of Criminology. . 2005. â€Å"Inflammatory Rhetoric? Baseless Accusation? A Response to Gabors Gritique of Racial Profiling Research in CAm. a2i. † Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice 47(3):581-609. Yousman, Bill. 2003. â€Å"Blackophilia and Blackophobia: White Youth, the Gonsumption of Rap Music, and White Supremacy. † Communication Theory 13(4):366-91. Listening to Rap †¢ 721 Appendix A. Descriptive Statistics for all Measures Variables Independent Measures Age Gender Do you identify yourself as Canadian Race Coding Years Male Female Mean/ Cases Percent 3331 1696 1700 2533 16. 62 49. 9 50. 1 74. 8 25. 39. 4 14. 2 11. 5 19. 3 15. 7 31. 5 68. 4 27. 0 73. 0 76. 7 23. 3 3. 26 Yes No White Black Asian South Asian Other 850 1334 Father Received Postsecondary Education Mother Received Postsecondary Education Two-Parent Family 480 391 653 531 1073 2327 Subjective Social Class 1 (poor) to 5 (rich) Z-score Cultural Capital Leisure (index o f frequency of involvement in playing a musical instrument, attending cultural events, volunteering, going to meetings/ belonging to organizations, going to the library, going to the symphony or opera, going to the museum, reading a book for pleasure, and involvement with hobbies, with an a=. O). Have been suspended from school at least once Have skipped school at least once Primarily receive â€Å"A† Grades Educational Stream Education is Important Part of Life Yes No Yes No Yes No 917 2483 2609 791 3032 3325 Yes No Yes No Yes No Educational General 450 2950 2493 907 1092 2308 2642 13. 2 86. 8 73. 3 26. 7 32. 1 7. 9 78. 0 22. 0 71. 8 28. 2 18. 7 81. 3 736 2309 Yes No 905 605 2625 3277 Dependent Measures Yes ~ Urban Music Enthusiasts No Social Injustice (index of amount of agreement or Z-score disagreement regarding the following statements: people from my racial group are more likely to be unfairly stopped and questioned by the police than people from other racial groups; discrimination makes it hard for people from my racial group to find a good job; discrimination makes it difficult for people from my racial group to get good marks in school; students from rich families have an easier time getting ahead than students from poor families; everyone has an equal chance of getting ahead in Canada; it is rare for an innocent person to be wrongly sent to jail, with an a=. 65). continued on the following page 722 †¢ Social Forces 88(2] Appendix A. ontinued Coding Variables Independent Measures Property Crime (index of frequency of involvement Z-score in breaking into cars, minor theft under $50, property damage, stealing bikes, breaking and entering into homes, ste aling cars, major theft over $50, and drug dealing, with an pi=. 86), _ . ^ Violent Crime (index of frequency of carrying a hidden Z-score weapon like a gun or knife in public, using physical force on another person to get money or other things; attacked someone with the idea of seriously hurting that person, hit or threatened to hit a parent or teacher, getting into a physical fight with someone, and taken part in a fight where a group of friends were up against another arouD. with an a=. 81). Mean/ Cases Percent 3344 3288 Copyright of Social Forces is the property of University of North Carolina Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or How to cite Listening to Rap: Cultures of Crime, Cultures of Resistance, Papers