Ethnography on Middle Class American Male Essay Example for Free

Ethnography on Middle Class American Male Essay Two centuries ago leading white, middle-class families in the newly united American states spearheaded a family revolution that replaced the premodern gender order with a modern family system. But modern family was an oxymoronic label for this peculiar institution, which dispensed modernity to white, middle-class men only by withholding it from women. The former could enter the public sphere as breadwinners and citizens, because their wives were confirmed to the newly privatized family realm. Ruled by an increasingly absent patriarchal landlord, the modern, middle-class family, a woman’s domain, soon was sentimentalized as traditional. It took most of the subsequent two centuries for substantial numbers of white working-class men to achieve the rudimentary economic pass book to modern family life a male family wage. By the time they had done so, however, a second family revolution was well underway. Once again middle-class, white families appeared to be in the vanguard. This time women were claiming the benefits and burdens of modernity, a status they could achieve only at the expense of the modern family itself. Reviving a long-dormant feminist movement, frustrated middle class homemakers and their more militant daughters subjected modern domesticity to a sustained critique. At times this critique displayed scant sensitivity to the effects our antimodern family ideology might have on women for whom full-time domesticity had rarely been feasible. Thus, feminist family reform came to be regarded widely as a white, middle-class agenda, and white, working-class families it’s most resistant adversaries. African-American women and white, working-class women have been the genuine postmodern family pioneers, even though they also suffer most from its most negative effects. Long denied the mixed benefits that the modern family order offered middle-class women, less privileged women quietly forged alternative child rearing. Struggling creatively, often heroically, to sustain oppressed families and to escape the most oppressive ones, they drew on traditional premodern kinship resources and crafted untraditional ones, lurching backward and forward into the postmodern family. Rising divorce and cohabitation rates, working mothers, two-earner households, single and unwed parenthood, and matrilineal, extended, and fictive kin support networks appeared earlier and more extensively among poor and working-class people. Economic pressures more than political principles governed these departures from domesticity, but working women like Martha Porter and Dotty Lewison soon found additional reasons to appreciate paid employment. Popular images of working-class family life, like the Archie Bunker, rest on the iconography of unionized, blue-collar, male, industrial breadwinners and the history of their lengthy struggle for the family wage (Stacey 30). But the male family wage was a late and ephemeral achievement of only the most fortunate sections of the modern industrial working class. Most working-class men never secured its patriarchal domestic privileges. Postmodern conditions expose the gendered character of this social-class category, and they render it atavistic. As feminist have argued, only by disregarding women’s labor and learning was it ever plausible to designate a family unit as working class. In an era when most married mothers are employed, when women perform most working-class job, when most productive labor is unorganized and fails to pay a family wage, when marriage links are tenuous and transitory, and when more single women than married homemakers are rearing children, conventional notions of a normative working-class family fracture into incoherence. The life circumstances and mobility patterns of the members of Pamela’s kin set and of the Lewisons, for example, are so diverse and fluid that no single social-class category can adequately describe any of the family units among them. If the white, working-class family stereotype is inaccurate, it is also consequential. Stereotype is moral stories people tell to organize the complexity of social experience. Narrating the working class as profamily reactionaries suppresses the diversity and the innovative character of many working-class kin relationships. The Archie Bunker stereotype may have helped to contain feminism by estranging middle-class from working-class women. Barbara Ehrenreich argues that caricatures which portray the working-class as racist and reactionary are recent (Handel 655), self-serving inventions of professional, middleclass people eager to seek legitimating for their own more conservative impulses. In the early 1970s, ignoring rising labor militancy as well as racial, ethnic, and gender diversity among working-class people, the media effectively imaged them as the new conservative bedrock of middle America. Thus, All in the Family, the 1970s television sitcom series that immortalized racist, chauvinist, working-class hero-buffoon Archie Bunker, can best be read, Ehrenreich suggests, as the longest-running Polish joke, a projection of middle-class bad faith. Yet, if this bad faith served professional middle-class interest, it did so at the expense of feminism. The inverse logic of class prejudice construed the constituency of that enormously popular social movement as exclusively middleclass. By convincing middle-class feminists of our isolation, perhaps the last laugh of that Polish joke was on us. Even Ehrenreich, who sensitively debunks the Bunker myth, labels starting the findings of a 1986 Gallup poll that 56 percent of American women considered themselves to be feminists, and the degree of feminist identification, was, if anything, slightly higher as one descended the socioeconomic scale. Feminist must be attuned to the polyphony of family stories authored by working-class as well as middle-class people if they are ever to transform data like these into effective political alliances. While the ethnographic narratives in this research demonstrate the demise of the working-class family, in no way do they document the emergence of the classless society postindustrial theorists once anticipated. On the contrary, recent studies indicate that the middle classes are shrinking and the economic circumstances of Americans polarizing. African-American has borne the most devastating impact of economic restructuring and the subsequent decline of industrial and unionized occupations. But formerly privileged access to the American Dream in the 1960s and 1970s, now find their gains threatened and not easy to pass on to their children. While high-wage, blue-collar jobs decline, the window of postindustrial opportunity that admitted undereducated men and women, like Lou and Kristina Lewison and Don Frankin, to middle-class status is slamming shut. Young white families earned 20 percent less in 1986 than did comparable families in 1980, and their homeownership prospects plummeted. Real earnings for young men between the ages of twenty and twenty four dropped by 26 percent between 1980 and 1986, while the military route to upward mobility that many of their fathers traveled constricted. In the 1950s men like Lou Lewison, equipped with VA loans, could buy homes with token down payments and budget just 14 percent of their monthly wages for housing costs. By 1984, however, carrying a median-priced home would cost 44 percent of an average male’s monthly earnings. Few could manage this, and in 1986 the U. S government reported the first sustained drop in home ownership since the modern collection of data began in 1940. Thus, the proportion of American families in the middle-income range fell from 46 percent in 1970 to 39 percent in 1985. Two earners in a household now are necessary just to keep from losing ground. Data like these led social analysts to anxiously track the disappearing middle class, a phrase that Barbara Ehrenreich now believes in some ways missed the least from the middle range of comfort. Conclusion The major arena to which expert turned in their examination of postwar masculinity was the American family, placing a spotlight upon men’s roles as husbands, fathers, and family heads. It was commonly noted by social scientist and delineators of American character that men had lost much of their former authority within the family. Indeed, the typical American male, as described by the anthropologist Geoffrey Gorer, was seen as having so completely given up any claim to authority that the family would constantly risk disintegration and disaster if not for the efforts of his wife (Reumann 66). On the other hand, commentators diagnosed an assault on middle-class manliness and warned of its effects on the nation and its culture. Obsessively rehearsing a narrative of nationwide decline, social disarray, and familial and gender collapse, they pictured a country in which masculinity had become a besieged and precious resource. Works Cited Handel, Gerald. and Gail, Whtchurch, The Psychosocial Interior of the Family, Aldine, Transaction, 1994 Reumann, Miriam. American Sexual Character: Sex, Gender, and National Identity, Berkeley, California: London University of California Press, 2005 Stacey, Judith, In the Name of the Family: Rethinking Family Values in the Postmodern Age; U. S, Beacon Press, 1996

Host Community Attitudes And Perceptions About Tourism

Host Community Attitudes And Perceptions About Tourism This study aims at identifying the relationships between residents socio- cultural, economic and environmental aspect and their attitudes towards tourism by focusing on a small community where tourism is in the development stage. By conducting this research, the author hopes to come across the residents attitudes and capture their current perceptions about tourism development in their area. Moreover, this research is being done because most authors agree that initial community attitudes toward tourism are critical to community involvement in the industry (Murphy 1981), the formation of destination image (Echtner Ritchie 1991). Attitudes are defined as a state of mind of the individual toward a value (Allport 1966, p. 24) and as an enduring predisposition towards a particular aspect of ones environment (McDougall Munro 1987, p. 87). Attitude of host community to tourism based development can improve if there is a boost in the tangible and indescribable settlements the host community can receive by being in based development (Choi Sirakaya, 2006). As Attitudes are based under this understanding, this is why some researchers came to a conclusion that residents attitudes toward tourism are not simply the reflections of residents perceptions of tourism impacts, but the results of interaction between residents perceptions and the factors affecting their attitudes (Lankford et al.1994). Some preceding researchs have proved that some most important impacts of tourism are identified along with its variables, however the theory is underdeveloped: Currently there is limited understanding of why residents respond to the impacts of tourism as they do, and under what conditions residents react to those impacts (Ap 1992, p. 666). Husband (1989) also addressed this issue by saying There is, so far, no theoretical justification of why some people are, or are not, favorably disposed to tourism (p. 239). Various issues can persuade perceptions of the host community about positive outcomes of tourism development. Support will depend on the degree of benefits perceived. The participation of community will be discussed later on in the literature review. The acceptance of local values can also be an important factor that leads to the achievement of a tourism based development (Alexander, 2000). However over a certain period of time many findings detected that host community perceptions in the direction from tourism may have more positive attitudes. People who depend on tourism industry or having a better economic benefit may possibly have a higher degree of positivity than other inhabitants who do not benefit from a tourism development ( lankford and howard, 1994; Jurowski, Uysal, and willimas, 1997; Sirakaya , Teye and Sonmez,2002 ). Lindberg and Johnson (1997) mentioned that people having higher economic impacts from tourism may have more positive attitudes. However Travis (1984) has stated that its not only an economic characteristics such as the opportunity for jobs creation or capital generation that needs to be considered by the host community. The socio-cultural and environmental aspects are also very important. For Choi and Sirakaya (2005), the most community should also have a better environment in term of infrastructures and improved amenities such as leisure and recreational activities. They describe tourism as consisting of various supports and any development in the tourism field should ensure the protection of the culture of host community, alongside the protection of the environment. In order to clarify the relationship between the impacts of tourism and residents attitudes toward tourism, several models have been developed. One of the most influential models is Doxeys Irridex model (1975) which suggests that residents attitudes toward tourism may pass through a series of stages from euphoria, through apathy and irritation. to antagonism, as perceived costs exceed the expected benefits. This model is supported by Long et al.s (1990) research results, which indicate residents attitudes, are initially favorable but become negative after reaching a threshold. To have a better comprehension about the relationship between the impacts of tourism and residents attitudes toward tourism, several models have been developed. One of the most dominant models is Doxeys Irridex model (1975) which suggests that residents attitudes toward tourism may pass through a series of stages from euphoria, through apathy and irritation. to antagonism, as perceived costs exceed the expected benefits. This model was supported by Long et al.s (1990) research results, which indicated that residents attitudes are initially favorable but become negative after reaching a threshold. The Irridex model indicates that residents attitudes toward tourism will change overtime. It suggests that residents attitudes and reactions toward tourism contain a sense of homogeneity (Mason et al. 2000). Conversely, this concept was challenged by some research findings that reported heterogeneous community responses and diverse residents attitudes simultaneously existing in a community ( Brougham et al. 1981,Rothman 1978). Critics about Doxey Irridex Model and Butler Tourism Area Life cycle According to Butler (1975) when he has developed a more complex model, he suggested that both positive and negative attitudes could be held by residents in a community simultaneously and be expressed via active and passive support or opposition. Furthermore this model is supported by Murphys (1983) research results, which reveal the distinct attitude differences among residents, public officials, and business owners in three English tourist centers. Despite that the model addresses the difficulty of residents attitudes toward tourism, researchers still lacked theories explaining relationships between residents attitudes and tourism impacts until Ap (1992) applied social exchange theory to tourism. According to the theory, exchange will start, only when there are irregular inaction forms. Ap (1992) suggests that residents evaluate tourism in terms of social exchange, that is, evaluate it in terms of expected benefits or costs obtained in return for the services they supply He also argued that when exchange of resources is high for the host actor in either the balanced or unbalanced exchange relation, tourism impacts are viewed positively, while tourism impacts are viewed negatively if exchange of resources is low. Social exchange theory has been examined as a theoretical framework by researchers to describe residents attitudes toward tourism impacts (Perdue et al. 1990, McGehee Andereck 2004). The Doxey irridex model gives a clear view of how host community attitude changes over a period of time. It mentions host community perceptions, reactions and attitudes in the direction of tourism (Manson et al.2000). This can be a conflicting principle because some research came to a conclusion that various host community attitudes and perceptions may exist in the community, (Brougham et al.1981, Rothman 1978). Akis, Peristanis Warner (1996) disapprove the Irridex Model and The Tourism Life Cycle and view it as too simple, because both models give a few hint of changing host community perceptions and attitudes over time. Other researchers like Lankford and Howard (1994, P.135) opposed against the model of Doxey(1975) because positive and negative factors that affect the perceptions and attitudes of host community are not given much consideration. As the tourism industry keeps on changing, this may be a reason why we must give this industry continuous support for its related development. Andereck vogt( 2000) stated that it is considered that optimistic attitudes towards tourism may entail the encouragement for further tourism development. If there is any delay in tourism project development can be due to frustration towards tourists. Mill and Morisson (1984) even mention that, an acceptance of tourism cannot be built unless the benefits of tourism are made relevant to the community. Attitudes and perceptions of host community at a destination is of utmost importance in the accomplishment of tourism development alongside the development of the industry at large also, (Hayword,1975), (Heenan, 1978), and Hiller (1976). There is a broad belief perception and attitudes of host community in the direction of tourism outcomes are apt to become essential planning and policy concern for flourishing development and expansion of existing and potential tourism programs, (Ap,1992). Host community attitudes and perception is very important as it will influence their behavior towards tourism, (Andriotis and Vaughan, 2003). Host community involvement and participation Community participation has become a common element in many development initiatives, such as community-based programmes, which assume participatory methods and has been promoted by development organizations, notably the World Bank, to address the inefficiency of highly centralized development approaches particularly in the developing world (Baral and Heinen, 2007). Today, many development initiatives solicit the participation of all concerned stakeholders, at the relevant level, not only for the sake of efficiency and equity of the programmes, leverage of donors and demands of local communities, but also for o for sustainability of these initiatives (Ribot, 2004). . Consequently, the real outcome for soliciting such community participation is to create and produce an enabling environment needed by these stakeholders, especially local communities who have been vulnerable to negative impacts of tourism attributed partly to the fact that many tourism resources occur in their areas, to have a real stake in development activities (Havel, 1996; Songorwa, 1999). This requires involving local communities in decision-making and strengthening their ability to act for themselves. One approach to achieve this is through investments in human capital, such as education and health, investments in social capital such as local-level institutions and participato ry processes, and support for community based development efforts planned and implemented from bottom up (Havel, 1996, p.145). However, given the fact that the central point underlying peoples participation may be the degree of power distribution, these efforts are less likely to succeed unless responsive institutions and the legal and policy framework that facilitate and support local participation are in place (Havel, 1996; Tosun, 2004; Wang and Wall, 2005).

Risperidone for Methamphetamine Induced Psychotic Disorder

Risperidone for Methamphetamine Induced Psychotic Disorder On the efficacy of risperidone for the treatment of methamphetamine induced psychotic disorder, a dose ranging study Induced psychosis, diagnosis and treatment Worldwide growing methamphetamine abuse is one of the most serious health problems with several different consequences for victims, especially in developing countries. Chronic methamphetamine abuse is associated with several psychiatric problems in all countries which are faced to epidemic methamphetamine abuse. Methamphetamine induced psychosis (MIP) is a major medical challenge for clinical practitioner from both diagnostic and therapeutic viewpoints. Stimulant psychosis commonly occurs in people who abuse stimulants, but it also occurs in some patients taking therapeutic doses of stimulant drugs under medical supervision. The main characteristic of meth psychosis is the presence of prominent hallucinations and delusions. Other drugs, such as cocaine and marijuana, can trigger the onset of psychosis in someone who is already at increased risk because they have vulnerability. The current literature review attends to explain several aspects of MIP, including epidemiologically, clinically and investigators proposed pharmacologically treatment based on recently published data. Introduction Amphetamine and methamphetamine have the most substances for abuse among the synthetic psychostimulant across the world1. The overall the prevalence of methamphetamine users (excluding amphetamine users) ranges from 10.5 to 28.5 million people worldwide (0.2% to 0.6% of adults between 15 to 64 years old)2. Accompanied to amphetamine these synthetic psychostimulants are ranked as the 2nd abuser illicit drugs after cannabis as the 1st and before cocaine and opiates1. Many consequences follow methamphetamine abusers including medical, psychiatric, cognitive, legal and socioeconomic problems. It is unclear why methamphetamine abusers are more involved with legal consequences than all other illicit drug abusers3. It might be due to more psychotic symptoms induced by these psychostimulant drugs, or flaring of symptoms in a subtle or stable schizophrenia which could be exacerbated by methamphetamine4. It has been well known that such drugs are able to produce psychotic symptoms in persons with no history of previous psychiatric disorders.5,6 Epidemiology and clinical manifestations of MIP There are other substances able to produce psychosis including cocaine, cannabis, alcohol, hallucinogens, heroin and sedatives7.There will be a diagnostic challenge to meet a net diagnosis for drug-induced psychosis, if the clinical practitioner cannot establish the presence of psychotic symptoms before initiating drug abuse. In a survey, among 400 cases who admitted in different psychiatric emergency departments for their psychotic symptoms, 44% received a substance-induced psychosis diagnosis and 56% were diagnosed essential psychosis8. According to DSM-IV criteria, diagnosis of primary psychosis is usually after at least 4 weeks with persisting symptoms without heavy substance use. In addition to the previous history of substance abuse, other factors lead to drug-induced psychosis including parental substance abuse, dependency to drug (rather than occasional abuse) and visual hallucination. Lower positive and negative syndrome scale with th positive history of drug abuse put in fa vor of drug-induced psychosis, as well as more consciousness to psychotic symptoms and more tendency to suicidal thoughts are another feature of drug-induced psychosis. Generally, reported psychotic symptoms due to MethAmphetamine(MA) abuse, from USA, Japan, Taiwan, Australia and Iran are the same as each other including (as studied by Fasihpour et al) persecutory delusions (82%), auditory hallucination (70.3%), reference delusion (57.7%), visual hallucination (44.1%), grandiosity delusion (39.6%) and jealousy delusion (26.1%)9. Although certain risk factors could not be extracted among documented literature and many conducted studies by different authors in involved countries have been reported more common factors include: 1. Pyschosis induction is largely dose-dependent than duration-dependent5,10,11 2. Positive family history of psychotic symptoms especially in first degree relatives5. Interestingly protracted and more resistant psychosis was occurred in abuser persons, whose one of their first degree relatives has been involved by schizophrenia12.3. Presence of premorbidity in abuser subjects, such as schizoid/schizotypal personality traits, alcohol dependency, antisocial personality disorders and major depression, all can be psychosis induced by methamphetamine5. 4. History of sexual abuse experience, recent higher occasion of MethAmphetamine(MA) abuse plus another illicit substance13. 5. Childhood Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) may be associated frequently with psychosis reports14. 6. Hi gher serum level of methamphetamine and amphetamine are associated with more profound psychotic symptoms4. The route of consumption (oral, smoking, injection) was not a significant factor in Mc Keit et al study6. But according to Matsumoto et al. smoker abuser show more quickly acute psychotic symptoms than who use the injection, because smokers have poor control on MA consumption. In addition psychotic syndromes in injection abusers require more medical care to respond to treatment15. Other personal characteristics such as age at which abuse is started, education, IQ, and duration of methamphetamine use were not associated significantly with risk of psychosis developing among abusers8. Female preponderance for undergoing psychotic symptoms was established among participant persons in the study of Mahoney and his coleagues16. It is noticeable to mention that the results of studies on MIP characteristics are somewhat inconsistent because of different cultural population, different accuracy in methods of studies and so on. But they provide a general opinion for further investigations and more accurate and localized studies. Sign and symptoms of MIP Reported psychotic symptoms among several different studies performed in Japan17, Taiwan5, Australia6, Tailand18 and Iran9 all are unanimous in obtained results. The most common features include persecutory delusion and auditory hallucination followed by delusion of reference, visual hallucination and thought broadcasting. MIP is initiated with excitation and increased focusing or concentration states, following by prepsychotic states and delusions which may subsequently progress to overt psychosis with positive symptoms10. The onset of first psychotic episode from the first occasion of methamphetamine consumption ranges from 1.7 years in smoker abusers to 4.4 years in injectioners19 and or 5.2 years without considering route of abuse10. Individuals with intense eagerness20, injection of methamphetamine and methamphetamine abusers are at higher risk for experiencing more severe psychosis21. Although MIP usually have short courses duration but longer and persistent episodes of psychos is have been reported even after discontinuation of drug abuse and in abstinence period17. As protracted MIP frequently occurred in many studies, it remains unclear whether methamphetamine can produce a chronic psychotic disorder or methamphetamine has uncovered a psychotic disorder in a patient with psychotic background5. The risk factors for developing long lasting MIP include positive family history of first degree relative involved to schizophrenia, premorbidity with a personality disorder specially schizoid/schizotypal form, a former neurological disorder like ADHD, head injury and learning disability2. During the abstinent period, MIP relapse might occur in a previously undergone short MIP, as well as any stressor like insomnia and severe alcohol intake.10,23,24 Methamphetamine and not stress induced MIP relapse occur with a likelihood of 60% to 80% in less than 1week to 1 month respectively, after re-exposure to MA8. A history of more than 2 years MA abuse makes the person susceptible for spontaneous relapse of psychosis without any methamphetamine reabusing for years.10 MIP Treatment pharmacological approaches Although no medical agent(s) are approved as therapeutic drug for MIP yet, due to a few numbers of pharmacological evaluations which have been proformed for finding a suitable choice in recent years. According to bio-molecular neurotransmitters influenced by MA, several pharmacologic agents are proposed for treating MA with clinical implications such as dependency and MIP. In this review a brief will run to introduce involved pharmacological groups separately. Dopaminergic agents Modafinil is a dopaminergic agonist approved essentially for sleep disorders such as narcolepsy, obstructive sleep apnoea/hypopnoea and idiopathic hypersomnia. Modafinil may increase efficacy of cognitive behavioral treatments and decrease craving in methamphetamine dependency25. It may have beneficial effect in schizophrenia and thereby in MIP.26,27 Bupropion, a re-uptake inhibitor of dopamine has demonstrated its effect as decreasing methamphetamine use specially in low to moderated dependency.28,29,30 Methylphenidate (Ritaline) and Dextroamphethamine (d-amphethamine) both increase releasing of dopamine in synaptic cleft and have high capacity to be abused. They show strong efficacy in studies to stop or reduce MA abuse in even deep dependency.31-34 Although the above quoted drugs have not revealed any direct effect for MIP, but it seems that appetite decreasing for MA use occur by these drugs, which can be indirectly effective for managing MIP as well. Aripiperazole, a dopamine D2-receptore partial agonist and a second generation antidepressant is proposed for MethAmphetamine(MA) dependency and MIP. In a study driven by Sulaiman et al. Aripiperazole was effective for diminishing the severity of psychosis resulted from methamphetamine, but it was failed to increase abstinence duration.35 In another study, Farnia et al. compared the efficacy of aripiperazole versus risperidone in MIP cases, in a double blind randomised control trial. After six weeks trial with aripiperazole 15mg/day or risperidone 4mg/day, they concluded that both drugs are able to significantly decrease the MIP severity, however rispridone causes showed more reduction on positive symptoms while aripiperazole was more effective on negative symptoms.36 The ability of antipsychotics like aripiperazole and haloperidol in suppressing the dopamine releasing in amygdala of animal experiments which caused marked reduction in behavioral sensitivity following MA exposure, may explain its benefits on MIP.37 In another animal model study, it was shown by Futamara et al. that aripiperazole can diminish behavioral sensitization through acting on 5-HT1A receptor.38 Risperidone is evaluated solely for its ability to prolong abstinent period in 4 weeks administration of 3.6mg/day in an open-label trying. Results demonstrate a decrease in meth consumption in abusers.39 Two separate case reports have considered the dramatic response of MIP to risperidone therapy.40,41 Despite safety applications of classic antipsychotics Hatzipetros et al. warned about an unknown toxic effect of conventional antipsychotics like administrating the haloperidol to GABAergic cells in subchronic treatment of MIP might lead to hyperkinetic movement disorder and convulsion42. Other antipsychotics like quetiapine and olanzepine were applied successfully for drug– induced psychosis.43,44 GABAergic agents Several different GABA agents like baclofen45,gabapantine45,46, vigabatrine47,48, topiramate49 and benzodiazepines were proposed for treatment of MA dependency and associated psychosis based on their effects on decreasing the dopamine transmission in mesolymbic system by which reinforcing effects of MA is reduced.50,51 But ,actually conducted trial studies are somewhat inconsistent to suggest a precise recommendation.49,52 Nevertheless Ito K et al. showed that clonazepam in animal model experiments did not obtain explicating of behavioral sensitization in rats which were under treatment with MA.53 Serotonergic agents No pharmacological trial studies lead to any clinical recommendation of serotonergic agents for MIP found in web published searching except for two animal experiments in which the role of serotonergic receptors are evaluated in locomotor activating and developing behavioral sensitization. Kaneko et al. studied the inhibitory effect of fluoxetine and paroxetin, 2 clinically available SSRI agents, on establishing and expression of MA induced behavioral sensitization and suggested a prophylactic role of SSRIs for preventing of psychotic states like hallucination and paranoid symptoms due to methamphetamine abuse.54 Ago et al. demonstrated the critical role of serotonine system in behavioral sensitization formation in mice by osemozotan a 5-HT1A-receptor agonist and ritanserin a 5-HT2-receptore antagonist and again suggested a capacity of serotonergic agents for treating methamphetamine psychosis.55 Opioid antagonist Naltrexone, a pure antagonist of morphine have showed successful outcomes in MA dependency management by decreasing craving, probably because of endogenous opioid system modulating role in reducing of reinforcing effects of metamphetamine.56-61 Behavioral sensitization produced by frequently exposure to methamphetamine is prevented by induction and expression of naltrexone in mice.62 But naltrexone plus N-acetylsysteine, an antioxidant, fail to demonstrate priority to placebo group for MA dependency treatment.63 Although no particular study with emphasis on the effects of naltrexone on MA-induced psychosis was found, it may be associated with precise changes in severity and prevalence of MIP because of its strong effects on abolishing dependency. Other unclassified treatment Minocycline, a second generation antibiotic was proposed for MIP treatment. In two separate case reports minocycline administration were associated with significant results in curing the psychotic symptoms of methamphetamine abuse probably due to its anti-inflammatory effects on micoglia.64,65 Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is mentioned for its high capacity to create a dramatic response in a MIP cases whose psychotic symptoms were resistant to conventional pharmacological antipsychotic therapy.66 Discussion Methamphetamine abuse is now going to become an epidemic problem in many countries. Chronic MA abuser underwent many medical psychiatric cognitive and legal consequences. One of the most important complications is the psychosis. Many studies were performed and a plenty of pharmacological drugs were proposed for managing of MA dependency, although none of them were approved yet, but only a few investigations tried to find drugs targeted on psychosis due to MA. These drugs as reviewed in this articles belongs to different biochemical neurotransmitters like dopaminergic antipsychotics, serotonergic agents and GABAergic drugs. All the studied drugs failed to obtain approval validity, although according to the results of conducted studies merely all of these agents could subside the MA associated psychosis. Recognizing neurotransmitter/receptor systems involved and influenced by MA in animal models and human experiments that can elevate knowledge about developing MA-induced psychiatric sy ndromes, especially psychosis, is the best way to overcome MIP pharmacologically and is recommended strongly for future studies.

Love and Hate Expressed by Characters in William Shakespeares Othello

Love and Hate Expressed by Characters in William Shakespeare's Othello In the play Othello, by William Shakespeare, different characters contribute to the development of particular themes. Three strong themes portrayed by the characters are of; misplaced trust, love vs. Hate and jealousy, and shattered innocence. The first theme of misplaced trust is clearly evident in most of all the characters that are manipulated by the depraved Iago. Roderigo is the first character to be entangled in his web of deception, whom I will focus on. Iago essentially uses Roderigo as a source of financial gain and a tool in extracting his revenge on the other characters. In Act I, Iago has him awaken Brabantio in order to spoil Othello's secret honeymoon with his daughter; "Call up her father. Rouse him, make after him, poison his delight."(1.1.69-70) Iago financially abuses Roderigo as well, consoling him constantly to "put money in thy purse," (1.3.335) therefore supporting Iago's expenditures, which are supposedly winning Desdemona's love for him. Only later in the play does Rod...

Representations Of Masculinity And Femininity In Miguel Street Essay

Representations of Masculinity and Femininity in Miguel Street It has been said about V.S. Naipaul's novel Miguel Street that "One of the recurrent themes... is the ideal of manliness" (Kelly 19). To help put into focus what manliness is, it is important to establish a definition for masculinity as well as its opposite, femininity. Masculinity is defined as "Having qualities regarded as characteristic of men and boys, as strength, vigor, boldness, etc" while femininity is defined as "Having qualities regarded as characteristic of women and girls, as gentleness, weakness, delicacy, modesty, etc" (Webster). The charcters in Miguel Street have been ingrained with the pre- conceived notions of the roles that Trinidadian society dictates for men and women. Naipaul not only uses these notions to show the differences of the sexes, but takes another step in telling anecdotes of characters showing their anti-masculine and anti- feminine features. This will lead to the discovery that our definitions of masculinity and femininity prove that those characteristics apply to the opposite sex in which the women often act like men, and the men often act like women. All of this will be discussed through looking at both male and female characters in the book as well as the boy narrator of the book. Finding examples of manliness are found with great ease considering that 12 of the 17 stories in some way deal with the theme of manliness (Thieme 24). It doesnt take long before the first example, a carpenter named Popo, is introduced. In the chapter titled "The Thing Without A Name" we are told that "Popo never made any money. His wife used to go out and work and this was easy , because they had no children. Popo said ' Women and them like work. Man not made for work" ( Naipaul 17). This attitude immediately makes Popo stand out from the rest of the men of Miguel Street. Hat (a character that will be discussed later) deems Popo as a "man- woman. Not a proper man" (Naipaul 17) because Popo's wife makes all the money. From this brief description of Popo, the reader quickly learns as to what makes a man manly on Miguel Street. Popo has no children which questions his virility. It is also important to notice that Popo's wife has no identity except that of being P... ...42). I think a lot can be looked into that matter. We expect how men and women should act, but yet in Miguel Street it ends up being all about illusion. This doesnt apply to the secondary characters of the novel, as they serve their purposes of being the stereotypical men and women of Trinidad and in this case, Miguel Street. But the main characters never turn out to be who you initially think they are. Laura, Emelda, Mrs. Morgan and the narrator's mother are examples of women who take charge in their homes. They work, they beat and raise their children, and take on the roles of being the masters of their homes. Hat, Popo, Morgan, Man man (who only acts like he's crazy), and Big Foot (who as big as he is, is really a wimp inside) are examples of the illusion that men are the superior ones of Miguel Street. Only a shallow read could see that otherwise. When all is said and done it is the women who carry the qualities of "strength, vigor and boldness" while the men have the qualities of "gentleness, weakness, delicacy" although definitly not "modesty". On Miguel Street, the only male quality the men have is the lack of modesty, the rest is all illusion.

Culture Shock in Japan Essay

Culture is a condition of confusion and anxiety affecting a person suddenly exposed to an alien culture or milieu. There are many different ways to experience culture shock. It can be experienced across the world or as near as one’s backyard. Many Americans would venture that they consider themselves very culturally accepting. Often, when these same Americans travel abroad, they experience culture shock. It is not always a negative thing. Often to some American coming to Japan and adjusting to life in Japan can be difficult, since even the most mundane things could be done differently than they would have been done in the U.S, so here are some basic facts of Japan. And remember be patient. Home. When entering a Japanese home you are expected to remove your shoes before stepping up from the entry area into a Japanese home known as the genkan. There in the genkan you must change from outdoor shoes into indoor slippers. When entering the genkan, you have to remember to step out of your shoes, and step into the house proper. Then you must turn around, kneel or bend down, and turn the outdoor shoes around so that they face the door, ready to be slipped into again when they leave. This custom is also required in many traditional Japanese restaurants, all department store dressing rooms, temples, and a few other businesses. On an extra note it is wise to buy clean socks since you will be taking off your shoes when you enter homes or some resteraunts. And you don’t want to embarrass yourself with dirty socks. Food. In the U.S many people carry their lunches in lunchboxes, but in Japan people use Bento boxes which are pre-prepared lunches, sold in every convenience store in Japan or brought from home. Usually a bento box consists of a box divided into several sections, containing perhaps, noodles, rice, pickles,  meat or fish, and maybe a little fruit. If there is a need to heat their lunches almost all stores also have a microwave so that you can heat the bento in the shop. When traveling to Japan one must be aware of the proper way to eat. In the U.S slurping is generally considered rude, so it is useful to know that the Japanese people consider it correct to slurp whenever eating noodles, ramen or soup etc. By making slurping when one eats their soup or noodles is considered to be polite, also by slurping you compliment the person who cooked it. More than that slurping serves a practical purpose, as noodles, ramen etc, are often served very hot, slurping draws air into the mouth which helps to cool the food as well as bring out the flavor. Knowing how to use chopsticks can make life in Japan a bit easier, but you have to remember the certain etiquette that concern using chopsticks. Just as there are good manners when it comes to using a knife and fork in the west, the Japanese have definite rules of thumb when it comes to using chopsticks. Don’t point at people with your chopsticks, move plates with them or wave them or stick them. Do not stick chopsticks into your food, especially not into rice. Only at funerals are chopsticks stuck into the rice that is put onto the altar. Education. Education in Japan is similar to that of the education system in the U.S, since it was adopted based on the U. S education system by the Japanese after World War II. But some things are quite different. If you are a parent sending your child to school in Japan, there are some key facts you must know In Japan competition for entering a good University is fierce, for that reason many student start at a young age go to Juku, which are cram schools, parents send their kids to, so that they have a better chance of doing well on University exams. In Japan if you are able to go to a good University than the chances of a good and stable job is quite high. It quite common for kids to finish school then go at night for 2 to 3 hours to a cram school. Hygiene. When bathing Japanese style, you are supposed to first rinse your body outside the bath tub with some water from the tub, using a washbowl. Afterwards, you enter the tub, which is used for soaking only. The bath water tends to be relatively hot for Western bathing standards. If you can barely enter, try not to move much, since moving around makes the water appear even hotter. After soaking for a while, leave the tub and clean your body with soap. Make sure that no soap gets into the bathing water. Once you finished cleaning yourself and rinsed all the soap off your body, enter the bath tub once more for some more soaking. After leaving the tub, do not drain the water, since all household members will use the same water. There are three types of toilets commonly found in Japan. The oldest type is a simple squat toilet, modern Western-type toilets and urinals and the state of the art is bidet toilets However traditional toilets are usually the most common type in most public places, universities, restaurants etc. The tradition toilet is known as the squat toilet, it essentially looks like a miniature urinal rotated 90 degrees and set into the floor. Most squat toilets in Japan are made of porcelain, though in some cases (like on trains), stainless steel is also used. Instead of sitting, the user squats over the toilet, facing the wall in the back of the. A shallow trough collects the waste, instead of a large water-filled bowl as in a western toilet. In Japan, being clean is very important; the bidet toilet is like the western flush toilet. While the toilet looks like a Western-style toilet at first glance, there are a number of additional features, such as blow dryer, seat heating, massage options, water jet adjustments, automatic lid opening, flushing after use which are included either as part of the toilet or in the seat. These features can be accessed by a control panel that is either  attached to one side of the seat or on a wall nearby, often transmitting the commands wirelessly to the toilet seat. For an American coming to Japan for the first time, the squat toilet or the bidets could be quite a shock and could take some time getting used to. Gambling entertainment. If you want to gamble in Japan you must remember that gambling is illegal so to compensate there is the wildly addicting game known as Pachinko a type of vertical pinball machine. The winnings are in the form of more balls, which the player may use to keep playing or exchange for prizes such as pens or cigarette lighters. Cash cannot be paid out according to Japanese law, but players can then exchange certain prizes for cash at small centers located nearby, but separate from the parlors. In America there are cartoons and comic books in Japan there are manga and anime. Remember when reading manga or any Japanese book, guide for the matter, you must start at the â€Å"last† page and work â€Å"backwards†. The same applies to the panels within the pages. They should be read right to left, not left to right. Transportation. In Japan, cars drive on the left side of the road and have the driver’s seat and steering wheel on the right. And unlike the U.S which has a minimum driving age of 16, the legal minimum age for driving in Japan is 18 years. While you are waiting for the train to arrive, you stand in politely in neat rows, calmly waiting for your train. When the train arrives, the first rule you must bear in mind is that no matter how crowded it looks, there will always be room for one more. If you have any doubt about the above rule, there’s a white gloved attendant ready to shove you in. Then, once you get one the train, you must remember certain rules. Don’t drink coffee in the morning, save drinking anything for the ride back home. The morning rush hours peak on weekdays between 8am and 9am, while the evening rush hours are more spread out and commence around 5pm. Rush hours are most extreme in Tokyo, but also pretty heavy in Japan’s other major cities. So if you plan on riding the train it is best to go before rush hours. As you stay in Japan you as individual can learn to grow towards multicultural perspectives and develop alternative futures for his or her self, thus making his or her self a more culturally accepting person.

Martin Luther King V. Malcolm X

Alan Mason Period 8 Martin Luther King v. Malcolm X Martin Luther King has been known for using peace to help him get equality among all people but especially African-Americans. He was not the type of leader that resorted to violence in order to get the equality that he fought for. King has been known for moving people by the use of his speeches like King's I Have a Dream and Vie Been to the Mountaintop speeches. King shows through these speeches that even though he was determined to get equal rights for every African-American, he as only going to stick to subtle, nonviolent ways like court cases, protest, and boycotts.This philosophy is the exact opposite to Malcolm X, another Civil Rights Leader, who thought that African American should not waste their time on protest and boycotts (Document 7). Malcolm, like King, was not in favor of violence but believe that African Americans should by all meaner use violence to protect themselves when they â€Å"attacked by racists† (Docum ent 9). But, Martin Luther King's philosophy was more beneficial for the African-American community then Malcolm Ax's because the effort that he put Into his nonviolent philosophy made gaining rights more successful and more meaningful.Martin Luther King showed that he had the better philosophy compared to Malcolm X because of his stance on violence. One way King upheld his beliefs was through protest. King said In his Our God Is Marching speech, â€Å"We are on the move now. The burning of our churches will not deter us. We are on the move now. The bombing of our homes will not dissuade us† (Document 4). So Protesters, Including King himself were having their homes burned down for retesting for what they believe Is right. In March of 1965 King and other protesters walked In order to raise awareness of the need for a Voting Right Act. This Act was passed later that year.But even though they achieved their goal for voting right does not mean that the protesters did not receive opposition for their actions. Mass arrest, police attacks, and state troopers blockading all occurred throughout the walk. If King chose to fight back then that could have either delayed getting the Voting Right Act approved, or It may have been felt that African-Americans did not deserve to get the Act approved. But King Just showed by obtaining from violence you can still get what you want. Martin Luther King showed that there were other ways to fight for what you want aside form fighting Itself.King did this by using boycotts and strikes. He said, â€Å"There Is nothing quite so effective as refusal to cooperate economically with the forces and Institutions. † King realized that one of the ways he was going to get American to give them the rights that African-Americans wanted was by disrupting the flow of money that was going Into the Caucasian shops. This meaner by not buying from places that o not offer Jobs for African-Americans then those businesses would see how much they needed the African-American community, even If It meant having to hire African- American workers.Malcolm X did not agree with boycotts and strikes he said, â€Å"We have to learn how to own and operate the businesses of our community and develop to be involved in picketing and boycotting other people in other communities in order to get a Job† (Document 7). But this idea completely went against the philosophy of being together not separate. If this would have happened then the country would eave always been separate and things would have never been equal.Martin Luther king has been known for using his words instead of his fist when it comes to defending what he many thousands of others believed to be correct. King once said in his I Have a Dream speech that he had a dream that â€Å"former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood†¦ They will not be Judged by the color of their skin but by their charac ter†¦ We will be able to work together, pray together, to struggle together, to go o Jail together, to climb up for freedom together† (Document 2).King fought for African Americans rights by using his words. He told the people of his desires for and equal and fair life where people could live in harmony with each other and not be judged by their skin tone. He thought of a time where there would be no more separate but equal as were stated prior, people would be able to â€Å"work together†¦ And go to Jail together. † (Document 2) So by using his speeches where thousands of people came to listen to him talk, he moved a nation to be in favor of his reasoning's.In conclusion, Martin Luther Kings philosophy was more beneficial for the African- American community then Malcolm Ax's because the effort that he put into his nonviolent philosophy made gaining rights more successful and more meaningful. King kept up with his no violence idea by participating in other thi ngs that got America's attention like protest, boycotts and speeches. King strives to achieve equality and because of his hard efforts he has succeeded in more ways than one to help African-Americans get the same civil rights as Caucasian Americans.