Work Stress and Coping Among Professionals in Asia

CHAPTER EIGHT WORK STRESS, WORK SATISFACTION AND COPING AMONG LIFE INSURANCE AGENTS Chan Kwok-Bun The life insurance industry began in England as early as 1756, yet agents as an occupation to sell insurance directly to the public did not appear until 1840, and mostly in the United States (Kessler, 1985, p. 14; Leigh-Bennett, 1936, p. 59). The industry in the United States expanded considerably in the late nineteenth century due to rapid economic growth, urbanisation and popular education; one saw keen competition among companies and agents for the client dollar.Some agents resorted to unfair and sometimes illegal sales tactics that resulted in further public hostility, rejection and distrust of life insurance agents. Such public stigmatisation was recorded in the United States as early as 1870. Zelizer (1983, p. 146) wrote, ‘Illegitimate practices were abolished, codes of ethics were published, professional associations organised and agents better trained. Yet the stigma endure d. ’ Since its spread to Singapore in 1908 (Neo, 1996, p. 7), the life insurance industry has relied on agents to ‘negotiate the cultural resistance to discussing the proposition of death and its implications, especially among the Chinese’ (Lee, 1994, p. 6; Leong, 1985, p. 178; Neo, 1996, p. 37). Han (1979, p. 44) wrote that ‘everyone needs life assurance, but very few people do anything on their own to buy it’. The agent was thus invented to deal with the public’s rejection of life insurance as a concept and as a commodity. In doing this work, agents were given a share of the pro? t: commissions (Chua, 1971, p. 42; Neo, 1996, p. 8). Hundreds of workers were lured into the life insurance industry by the attractive prospect of self-employment and its promise of work autonomy and potentially high monetary rewards—a sort of ? ight away from the wage-earning class. To say that the work of a life insurance agent is stressful is perhaps an un derstatement. The fact was well documented in a 1990 survey of six groups of 2,589 workers in Singapore, life insurance 126 chan kwok-bun agents included (see Chapter 10). The survey found two major sources of work stress. One source was performance pressure.The professional workers may have internalised a strong need for job achievement and maintenance of professional standards, which are values often held high by many formal organisations as well as the government. The stress of performance pressure may also be a result of Singapore’s economic growth. As Hing (1991, 1992) suggests in Chapter 3, globalisation of the Singapore economy has driven workers to strive for personal and company success—which may bring considerable stress to the workers. Another important source of work stress was workfamily con? icts—a ? ding consistent with those of recent overseas studies (Coverman, 1989; Lai, 1995; Simon, 1992; Thoits, 1986). This essay attempts to identify and anal yse stressors associated with the work of life insurance agents, as well as coping strategies adopted by the life insurance industry in general and the agents in particular. The study on which this essay is based analysed transcripts of in-depth interviews conducted in 1990 with 15 life insurance agents and subsequently in 1998–1999 with 15 agents and informants. Each interview lasted between one and a half and two hours.The respondents ranged from 23 to 42 years in age; 17 men, 13 women. Only ? ve of the 30 respondents were university graduates or diploma holders; the rest were graduates of secondary schools, except for three who had completed ‘0’ or ‘A’ Level. Slightly more than half (18) were married. Drafts of this chapter were given to ? ve other life insurance agents (one retired) to read. One agent provided the researchers with extensive written comments; each of the other four was interviewed twice for feedback on the essay’s various d rafts. This research strategy, though laborious and time-consuming, posed critical and re? ctive questions that required the analysts to periodically confront their qualitative data in the form of ‘reality-testing’—indeed a useful step in an interpretive study like ours. As a methodological device, this triangulation of respondents/informants, researchers and ‘critics’, when intentionally built into the research process, forces the researcher(s) to be doubly re? ective. A step is thus institutionalised that requires the researcher to come to terms with biases or blind spots about which others within the triangle are in a legitimate position to ‘complain’. There are two ways to de? ne stress.One denotes external demands which require the individual to readjust his or her usual behaviour patterns (Holmes and Rahe 1967). In this chapter, these demands work stress among life insurance agents 127 are called ‘stressors’ or ‘ stressor factors’, and the readjustment is referred to as ‘coping’. The other way of conceptualising stress is to view it as a state of physiological or emotional arousal that results from one’s appraisal of the relationship between the person and the environment ‘as taxing or exceeding his or her resources and endangering his or her well-being’ (Chan, 1977; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984, p. 1; Selye, 1974; Thoits, 1995). In this chapter, when the term ‘stress’ is used, it is meant in the second sense, to be distinguished from the other two terms, ‘stressor’ and ‘coping’. Work Stressors The life insurance agents believe that Singapore society in general does not have a favourable image of them. Agents are subjected to such derogatory stereotypes as nagging, dishonest, intent on making money fast, manipulative and unethical—basically, people society would like to reject and to shun.In Singapore, life insu rance agents are often seen as among occupants of the lowest stratum in the sales business, possibly below the car salespersons and at best slightly better than a sales clerk in a departmental store. Agents are seen as a category of persons out there selling life insurance policies to ‘eat up people’s money’, sometimes unscrupulously. Victimised by stereotypes, an agent is deprived of an opportunity to defend his or her self as a person—an individual making a living like everybody else: As you know, ‘life insurance’ is not a nice word to utter.We get a lot of rejections, ‘brush-o? s’, and nasty looks by people—all these can cause us to have a very low self-image. . . . When I was very new, and when I was still doing a lot of selling, I got a lot of rejections. You notice that you have reached a dead-end because you have tried so hard to reach your sales target but you simply cannot. (1)1 These personal experiences with reje ctions by clients are frequent enough to have become part and parcel of the job itself; they must be among the more deleterious work stressors for the agents.To some if not all agents, rejections—taking such forms as not listening, not returning telephone calls, failing to keep an appointment or 1 The number in the bracket identi? es the respondents of our study. See Table 1 for their personal characteristics. 128 chan kwok-bun Table 1: Personal Characteristics of Respondents (N = 30) Education Secondary School Graduate = S ‘A’ Level = ‘A’ ‘0’ = ‘0’ Age University or Diploma = U or D Marital Status Sex (Married = M; (Male = M; Number Single = S) Female = F) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 M S M M S M S S M S M S M M S M M M M S M M S S M M S S M M M F M M M F M F M M M M M M F M M M F F F M M M M F F F M M 28 28 29 29 33 35 30 31 33 29 23 32 32 28 24 25 38 30 27 28 36 35 30 42 2 7 30 28 31 38 26 ‘A’ S S ‘0’ S S S U D S S S S ‘A’ S S S S S S U S S S U D U S S S simply not giving one, or deciding at the last minute not to purchase a policy—invariably provide an evidential and experiential validation of society’s low image as well as disrespect of the occupation of life insurance agents.Agents reported childhood friends and relatives avoiding and labelling them as ‘pests’ and ‘man-eaters’. Some made speci? c requests work stress among life insurance agents 129 that no talk about life insurance be allowed in friendly social gatherings lest they risk discontinuation of friendships and relationships. Beginners in life insurance sales typically approach these same people within their own close personal networks to meet their quota in the ? rst one or two years, usually quite successfully. Yet, over-reliance on this personal network quickly exhausts its inherently limited potential.On th e dark side, rejections by those who are socio-emotionally close, and are therefore supposedly ‘obliged’ to help out because of friendship or family and kin membership, are often experienced by the beginning agents as particularly traumatic. Some agents thus feel let down, betrayed and cheated—these feelings sometimes result in agents slowly divorcing themselves from others socially and emotionally close to them, thus breeding personal isolation and alienation. Parents, relatives and friends are often upset when a young university graduate chooses to be a life insurance agent.Without a basic monthly salary to fall back on, the agents’ income comes entirely from sales commissions, which are often seen by parents as unreliable and risky. Parents expect a university degree, itself a considerable achievement in the Singapore society, to lead to a reasonably attractive salary from a stable, secure, respected job. The idea of an agent going for months without pa y for not being able to sell a single policy is either foreign or unacceptable to parents of an earlier generation.This e? ectively makes the agents outsiders to their close personal networks. The very nature of the life insurance agents’ job lies in dealing with people and prospective clients, many of whom they meet for the ? rst time as strangers in probably the most unlikely places and hours (often subjected to the desires and whims of the clients). Much of the stress and strain experienced by the agents thus lies in their transactions and negotiations with strangers—with the unknown, unfamiliar and unpredictable.Yet, the probability is quite high that these same strangers will hold an unfavourable stereotypical image of agents as a category, thus sometimes mistreating and denigrating them. The agents, in their encounters with strangers, have to manage an instant spoiled identity, a stigma, externally and coercively imposed on them by society at large. Agents often start on a wrong foot in the door, so to speak. Agents do not interact with their clients as equals. The balance of power in agent-client transactions is often tilted in favour of the clients.This status inequality, a source of intense discomfort, anxiety 130 chan kwok-bun and sometimes alienation for many agents, is often exploited, if not abused, by the clients. The agents, when asked to recall a speci? c experience or situation at work when they felt depressed or frustrated, would quite freely describe what constitutes a ‘bad’ client: Some clients are quite unreasonable, and they a? ect our morale considerably. What is being unreasonable? They try every possible means to reject you.They will tell you they are busy and ask you to come another day, or they will ask you for an appointment but when you show up they will say they are busy and ask you to come on yet another day! (10) Yet, agents are trained and often reminded by their supervisors and senior colleagues not to try to get back at their clients simply because of their ‘bad’ or ‘unreasonable’ conduct. In an important sense, agents are not allowed tension release ‘to get even’ with the ‘other’, thus further aggravating the built-in status inequality of the agentclient relations.This inability of agents to express the feelings of frustration, anger and displeasure that are generated by unpleasant encounters with ‘bad’ clients may prove to be doubly degrading to some agents. It perpetuates the status imbalance and is of considerable psychological costs to the agents. While much of work stress among a wide range of professional groups is often attributed to sheer work overload, some life insurance agents reported having too much time on their hands at work as a stressor. As one agent put it, ‘When I am most free, I am most stressed. Having plenty of time means one is not being productive— ideally, one should be kept busy. Having little or no work for weeks or even months generates anxiety, for insurance work relies exclusively on commissions from selling policies. Largely unstructured, insurance work gives the agents much personal freedom and autonomy; yet this same job characteristic requires skills to structure and use time to one’s advantage. Given the unstructured and unde? ned nature of an agent’s work, di? culties experienced in dealing with either plenty of time or little time were often reported by the agents as stressors.One important way the agents de? ne stress is in terms of sustained pressure to produce, to meet the yearly quota of sales, which is invariably enacted by their bosses’ ‘nagging’: Once in a while, my boss will remind us to pull up our socks. (6) work stress among life insurance agents 131 A ‘bad’ boss, as seen by the agents, is someone solely interested in pushing for a certain level of sales productivity in a given year, yet not showing enough care and support. It was reported that one insurance company regularly sends ‘gentle reminders’ to those agents not doing well, thus adding to the pressure.As a way to increase agents’ productivity and to sustain a motivational level, the life insurance industry has institutionalised the practice of publishing regular bulletins which, among other things, rank the ‘top super achievers’ by detailing their total volumes of sales by month and year. One agent reported that her company sends each agent every month a progress report which is seen by the agents as one form of assessment and feedback from the administration. Every quarter of the year, the unit manager and the agent will meet to review the latter’s sales performance.As the agent herself put it, ‘Such meetings can make me feel good when sales meet the set quota, or the experience will be quite embarrassing if I don’t do well. ’ It was reported by another agent that the leader of her agency organises the agents into several work groups and gives out awards to the topachieving group every now and then, especially at the end of the year, to foster ‘healthy’ inter-group competition and, thus supposedly, sales productivity. Singapore has experienced in the past twenty years a rapid growth in the insurance industry, as measured both by the actual number of insurance companies and y the number of full-time and parttime life insurance agents. These agents are competing with each other for more or less the same client market, which by and large still views the concept of life insurance with disinterest. The net result of this rapid growth in the industry is increased competitiveness and rivalry between companies. Theoretically, the client market is an open one, often seen by some relatively successful agents as unlimited—‘the sky is the limit’, so to speak. Yet, in actual day-to-day practice, it wa s reported by agents that they often ran into direct competition with each other.Reports were made about unethical practices of agents who resorted to substantially reduced insurance rates to ‘undercut’ competitors. Yet others, in order to maintain a certain level of yearly sales productivity, were forced to pay out of their own pockets premiums not paid up by their clients, thus sometimes getting themselves into considerable debts. Acute competitiveness and rivalry between agents/colleagues thus possibly engenders a general feeling of distrust, tension and 132 chan kwok-bun strain in interpersonal relations among peers. Competition and con? ct generate barriers of communication, undermine collegiality and, if left unmanaged, breed individualism and self-isolation. The more successful agents arouse jealousy from others and are thus shunned. The not so successful ones ? nd others critical and condescending, and would thus choose not to con? de in them. The competitivenes s of the client market demands considerable work commitment, e? ort and mental concentration of the life insurance agents which, in reality, may or may not translate themselves into actual sales, especially for the beginners just initiated into the industry.Agents complained about having to work long, irregular hours, sometimes late in the evenings or over weekends, prospecting strangers or going for appointments with clients: If a client calls you at night and insists on seeing you, you have little option but to go. You may not be that free since many people own chunks of your time. You are beholden to many people, all your clients, real or imagined, unlike in a regular job where you have relatively predictable hours, and usually one person (your boss) can demand of your time. As an agent, your time is not yours, but your clients’, everybody’s. 20) Many perhaps choose to be a life insurance agent thinking the job approximates self-employment and thus o? ers the capaci ty to control one’s use of time to serve one’s interest. Yet, paradoxically, having escaped the tyranny of control by a boss who has legitimate rights to his time, the agent soon realises he has lost his control of time to many other bosses: all his clients, real and prospective. If professional autonomy is partially measured by one’s control over time, an agent may soon be in a shock of his life. A worker who cannot claim ownership of time is a stressed agent.Much of an agent’s work is done outside his or her own o? ce, travelling on the road between appointments, in client’s o? ces or any other place clients deem appropriate or convenient to themselves. This seemingly perpetual mobility of the ‘on-the-road agenttraveller’, in a substantial way, makes the work of a life insurance agent an essentially lonely one. The agent becomes a lone ranger exploiting the frontier and eking out a daily routine of negotiating with strangers, much of the time facing a social world of unfriendly, if not hostile and aggressive forces.The very nature of an agent’s work in terms of long, irregular hours as well as an ‘unsocial’ work routine necessarily casts him or her out of the mainstream society. work stress among life insurance agents 133 An agent’s life is largely out of sync with the normal tempo of his or her family, relatives and friends. This temporal and spatial disparity between the agent and his or her social world has over time become a potent source of strain manifested in various forms of interpersonal con? icts. These tensions in interpersonal relations are particularly taxing among two groups of agents: ? st, the beginners, who strive to maintain some resemblance of order with their family, their boyfriends or girlfriends; second, married women, who try to juggle their multiple roles of wife, mother and full-time agent. Women agents are sometimes seen by their male colleagues as perhaps a bit too aggressive, or too driven, working too hard, putting in too many long hours while competing with other male agents in an already tight market. One single woman spoke about how the long, irregular hours she has been keeping for almost two years led to con? icts and ? ghts with her boyfriend and the eventual break-up of a close relationship.Parents worry about their young daughters’ safety and well-being; they are concerned that young single women meeting with total strangers for business, in unlikely places at inappropriate hours. Other parents do not like the thought that their daughters are so preoccupied with work that they do not have time to look for or see boyfriends. A married woman, determined to become a unit manager in three years, spoke about the di? culties encountered in e? ectively discharging her role as a mother to two young children, sometimes feeling remorseful over releasing her work frustrations on them. Another single woman, ? ding the Singapore m arket too competitive, resorted to concentrating her e? orts in Indonesia; and she spoke about societal pressures on single women in terms of work, career and achievement. Two agents had become, over the years, increasingly aware that they had been pursuing their work goals almost at the total expense of their family, often to the extent of coming home so tensed up that they were incapable of communicating with their family members. Worried and preoccupied with work, they were increasingly non-communicative and were drifting further and further into a world of their own making.In the course of time, these agents, while selfdivorcing and self-isolating from their family, have engineered and completed their own disengagement from their social world, which itself may breed various forms of marital as well as familial con? icts. As a result, work stress and family stress become intertwined, each feeding into the other—up to a point when the agent is at a loss 134 chan kwok-bun as to which is the ‘cause’ and which is the ‘e? ect’. Yet, ironically, the agent continues to believe in the uniqueness of his or her own work problems, so much so that only the worker himself or herself can solve them.Work problems have thus become a personal problem that requires a personal solution—a perception that inevitably leads to the self-isolation of the agent. One of the possible consequences of this non-communication with and self-enforced isolation from one’s social environment, be it one’s work colleagues or one’s family members and friends, is this tendency, in solitude, to blame oneself, to blame one’s personal weaknesses, failings or incompetence for not having been able to secure an appointment, to close a policy or to meet the yearly sales quota.A self-blaming, self-denigrating agent who takes all the blame upon oneself is a stressed agent. Coping During our interviews, in describing their ways of coping w ith work stress, life insurance agents often underlined the importance of three personal qualities: self-reliance, motivation and discipline. A largely unstructured work life demands self-discipline in terms of an ability to e? ectively manage and use time in a context where there is either plenty of time and little productivity, or little time and a heavy workload.The fact that an agent does not, in a real sense, have a boss during much of the agent’s work life often means that one needs to rely on one’s own ‘internal’ resources to motivate and initiate oneself. During their training, agents learn from their trainers’ exhortations about the critical signi? cance of cultivating the personal habit of being able to motivate and discipline oneself. One agent, determined to become a manager in the shortest possible time, a? xed to the wall of her o? ce facing her desk ‘power’ messages stressing discipline and self-reliance—messages w hich served as a daily reminder to her.Her cabinet along another wall was ? lled with layers of ‘inspirational’ and ‘how-to’ books and cassette tapes dealing with such subjects as time management, self-improvement and stress control. She actually reported during an interview that one of those books ‘totally’ changed her life; she recommended anyone aspiring to become successful in life to read it, many times over. Another young male manager grumbled about his o? ce having only limited space while work stress among life insurance agents 135 almost one entire wall was taken up by shelves ? led with motivational and inspirational cassette tapes from America. He remarked that there is a real demand for such materials among the young executive sta? in the Singapore business world. Insurance companies routinely mount in-house training workshops or courses o? ering agents opportunities to ‘refresh’ their ideas on motivation and self disci pline. Trainers or consultants from within the industry, the universities and overseas are also brought in regularly to speak on such subjects at professional meetings and industry conventions or congresses.Occasionally, successful sports coaches or athletes are brought to annual life insurance conventions to share with agents and managers their experiences in motivating and disciplining themselves, thus drawing an analogy between excelling in sports and selling life insurance. One agency, reputed to be among the top four in the mother company, publishes and distributes a monthly bulletin as well as a regular newsletter. In one of the issues, the agency leader shared in her front page message a book she had recently read: The Successful System that Never Fails (1962), by Clement Stone.The same issue carried another article showing a woman agent as a ‘goal getter’, stating, ‘She has a very disciplined system to monitor her daily and weekly activities. ’ And her advice to the new agents was: 1. KNOW what you want. 2. SET GOALS to achieve it. 3. DO THE BASICS everyday (prospecting, telephone calls, meeting customers, servicing). The article ended with another ‘motivational’ message: ‘Time and tide wait for no man. Plan and do it now. ’ On the second to last page of the bulletin, among the agenda items for a forthcoming agency meeting, it listed a discussion of a book, Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill (1996).Agents also share a strong belief in personal control. Personal control is understood here as values, abilities and behaviours to manage and master oneself e? ectively, including one’s time, habits, perceptions, thought processes, feelings and emotions, or, to put it brie? y, self-mastery. The ability to cope with stress depends a lot on your personality and your own psychological state of mind. Sometimes people amplify the stress situation and make themselves even more stressed. If we are able to control our mind, it’s very much better. (12) Our problem is our mind.If we ourselves are negative, that is our end. We need to think on the positive. We work to help pick up those who are ‘down’. (11) 136 chan kwok-bun In another monthly bulletin, an entire poem, ‘A Note of Motivation’, from a speaker during one of the regular agency meetings, was reprinted. The poem ended with these lines: ‘Life battles don’t always go to the stronger or faster man, but sooner or later the man who wins is the man WHO THINKS HE CAN! ’ Associated with this belief in personal control is the value of hard work, the belief that hard work will bring results, that there is a connection between e? rts and results and, most importantly, the ability to ‘take hard work’, to put up with long, hard, irregular work hours. Two agents actually singled out hard work as an e? ective strategy to cope with work stress. In this context, work, rather th an relaxations or rest, is prescribed as an antidote, a remedy or solution to stress or so-called ‘mental and physical a? ictions’. Such a work ethic also seems to suggest a certain degree of mental and emotional toughness, an attitude of determination toward work and life, a readiness to ‘tough it out’.One agent spoke about the importance of being able ‘to pick oneself up, put the broken pieces together and move on with life’ as a way to get out of a ‘sales slump’. The emphasis is thus on one’s resilience and hardiness, or belief in personal control over work as well as one’s ability to bounce back and recover quickly from ‘the hidden injuries of life’: After a while, I sit back and evaluate my own performance. I’ve learned to think this way: ‘You are not considered a failure if you can pick yourself up and carry on with what you are doing. (1) To the agents, strategies of coping also includ e a sample of various psychological defence mechanisms; there is evidence from the indepth interview data that they are quite frequently used. Agents are taught during training to handle rejections by controlling their own mind. They are taught to think aloud to themselves that the clients are not rejecting them, but rather, may well be rejecting themselves and their families and, consequently, leaving their lives unprotected.The objective here is to externalise, not internalise; hence to lay blame on others, not on themselves: Before, I took rejections quite personally. I felt that he said ‘no’ to me because of something in me that he cannot accept. But now, I realise that he said ‘no’ not to me, but to his family. He is not being responsible to himself and his family. The problem lies in him, not me! I have done my best and I’ll keep on trying to convince him. But for cases that give me direct rejection, I’ll throw them away because there is no point keeping them on my mind.It’ll be very stressful (laugh). (14) work stress among life insurance agents 137 Agents are also trained to accept rejections as a predictable, builtin part of a life insurance agent’s work. With experience, most agents would have learned to develop an attitude of acceptance: We took a course in psychology. From there we learned how to accept things as they come along. Basically, I’m a happy-go-lucky person. I’ll always ? nd a way out for myself. I don’t normally reproach myself unnecessarily. (12) Agents are trained to accept rejections as an inextricable part of their work.In fact, they are literally told that ‘they are paid to take rejections’, and that ‘the more rejections they encounter, the better results will be. ’ So rejections are good things and agents should indeed be happy about them: My boss always tells me that insurance is very di? cult work, but it is for the same reason w e are paid back such high dividends. If it was any easier, the money would not be that good, so the agent is talked (or, talking himself ) into seeing rejections as a good thing. He said, ‘If your prospect were to say yes readily, someone else would have sold the policy to him long, long ago? It is all very logical. (22) To most agents, coping is meant to refer to accessing and using psychological resources within oneself. These so-called personal or internal resources include self-discipline, mental control, rationalisations and the ability to self-motivate, accept, shift blame away from self to others, work hard, manage time and problem-solve. The emphasis here is on learning through training and experience to acquire the appropriate resources, skills and values so that, once they are internalised, they become part of the person and can be used in day-to-day coping.It is essentially a skill-oriented, person-focussed approach, where the onus is on the person as an active agen t ‘using the person’, using one’s self, one’s resources and skills. Such a personfocussed, skill-oriented concept of coping is accentuated by a general disinclination on the part of most agents (except a few) to seek and use help, support and care from the family for problem-solving or emotional support: It is very di? cult to get help from my family. (10) There is nothing much they can do about it. They won’t understand. (5) My family would not understand my work. So I would not go to them for help or support. 19) We are told to present a positive and optimistic front to everyone at all times, including our family. (19) 138 chan kwok-bun The married male agents were quite speci? c about keeping work and family life separate, not wanting work problems and frustrations to spill over into the domestic domain, thus not confounding their relationships with their spouse, children and kin members. They said they would strive to ‘arrange’ thei r work and familial aspects of their lives such that weekdays and occasional week evenings and Saturdays are for work while Sundays are reserved for the family.Some reported that, in general, they do not bother to communicate with their spouses about problems and frustrations experienced at work; they cite reasons such as ‘not wanting to give them headaches’, ‘spouse not understanding my work problems’ or ‘no use to talk about problems since they would not be able to solve them for me anyway. ’ One agent attributed his disinclination to involve his wife in his work problems to ‘the Asian nature and culture’. Another agent rationalised to himself that the important thing to do ‘to keep the right balance in life’ is to maintain ‘quality time’ with his wife and children.Two managers described their agencies as warm, cohesive places, almost like a surrogate family, bound by social, economic and emotional ties to problem-solving as well as to provide support for the individual agents. The agency was described as a place where agents are encouraged to return for care and guidance: How do you go about making yourself feel better? There are many ways. Over here, our company policy is that when you are feeling low or lost, the best thing to do is to come back to the agency and ? nd a colleague for a chit-chat.Is this method e? ective? It is nice that peers encourage and support each other. In general, you would want to discuss with the more experienced peers—they will give you a few ideas—point to a ‘road for you to walk on’, give you a guideline, help you to solve a particular problem, or simply go out with you for a walk to release your pent-up emotions or depressed feelings. That way, you will feel much better. (10) When I am stressed or frustrated, I immediately go to other agents (here in the agency). They are always willing to help.Four of them are very close to me. When problems come up, we talk about them among ourselves. While talking, we often come to realise that they are not my problem only—they become more normal, less serious. I always look to my more experienced colleagues—they are more likely and able to help. (15) To help create and sustain the notion of the agency as a ‘large family’, agency bulletins regularly print greetings to welcome newcomers as well as birthday messages to agency members. The intent is work stress among life insurance agents 139 o impress upon the agents that they should strive to reach their individual goals by cooperating with, supporting and caring for each other. Nonetheless, though seemingly encouraged and promoted by the management, agents only partially used social support at the agency as a way of coping with stress. Rivalry and competition between agents within the same agency or company would undermine any possible feelings of fellowship among colleagues. While some agents reported actually turning to their managers or supervisors for ‘problem-solving’ guidance and advice, they also exercised onsiderable caution in such interaction for fear of unwittingly revealing personal weaknesses, inadequacies and vulnerabilities. In practice, there are two inter-related parts to the relationship between the agent and his or her agency/company represented by a supervisor-manager: supervision and training. The agent receives supervision of varying degrees from the manager, who negotiates the kind of continuous training required to either maintain the status quo or to improve one’s sales volume. This often means customising a training programme to ? the needs of an agent in a particular stage of career development, which invariably change relative to their clients and their needs. As the life insurance industry continues to innovate by creating and introducing new products and new services, the agent ? nds it obligatory to learn new skill s—both in the ‘software’ (e. g. , new ways to motivate self and client) and in the ‘hardware’ (e. g. , legal and administrative aspects of a new product). The agent needs training, and the industry ? nds ways to encourage and support it.Thus an ethos of continuous upgrading exists. Indeed, it is a norm shared by peers in the industry, part and parcel of a collectivised coping strategy. All except one or two of the agents seemed quite clear about not seeking social support from their family for their work problems. Most tended to believe that a clear-cut separation between work and family would be an e? ective way to manage stress at work. Family relations thus become a distraction, a welcome diversion from work, where the worker learns ‘to put things aside, to forget work problems, to shut o? emporarily’. For at least two agents, the mere knowledge that their spouses will be supportive when their help and care are needed was enough witho ut the agents actually involving them in their work problems. When it comes to using social support of colleagues or supervisors at the workplace, the agents have also learned to be selective and discretionary in deciding who is to 140 chan kwok-bun be approached for what problems and towards what ends. The ‘culture’ of the support system at the workplace is thus accessed and used by the agents with iscretion, and in his or her best interests. The life insurance industry thus provides a rather appropriate context for what we call ‘the sociology of coping’, which is focused on how groups or communities, not individuals, come to terms with and deal with their stressors. To ‘contextualise’ the coping of life insurance agents, one is required to understand how, for example, an individual’s social embedment in the larger ‘system’ and ‘culture’ of the industry would make a di? erence in one’s coping process and strategy. The more socially embedded, the more e? ctive in coping—partly because one is now receiving social support and partly because one has learned ‘the tricks of the trade’ through one’s socialisation ‘into’ the group or community. The life insurance industry in Singapore is unique in that it puts into practice a certain belief in continuous on-the-job training (or what Singaporeans commonly call ‘upgrading’), learning and self-renewal. Indeed, this belief or ideology is operationalised and institutionalised in a well-worked-out system of seminars, workshops, conferences, small-group discussions, feedback sessions, etc.These are founded upon a central premise: an individual agent must be continuously skilled and re-skilled by the system and its knowledge to cope with oneself and a hostile social world—thus the constant reference to the social sciences, particularly psychology and social psychology, for insights, inspi ration and intervention. For better or for worse, the life insurance industry in Singapore has become an active user of social science knowledge and the myriad interventions derived from it. The individual very rarely copes alone and is very rarely left alone by the life insurance ‘family’.When socially embedded in this ‘family’, the individual obtains his or her support, expressively (it is nice to know how to deal with one’s depression or mood swings) as well as instrumentally (it is useful to know how to handle a hostile client). The ‘social fund’ is there for one to tap into; when used, this fund produces an ‘economic fund’ for the system and the individual. Work Satisfaction While the life insurance agents no doubt faced a wide range of stressors in their daily work, many of which demanded various modes work stress among life insurance agents 41 of coping and adaptation, they also reported a considerably high level of w ork satisfaction. Formerly construction engineers, computer programmers, factory supervisors or teachers prior to joining the life insurance business, none of the thirty agents we interviewed reported having feelings of regret over their present work; neither did they anticipate any further job change in the immediate future. All said the job was right for them, though a few did report that there were indeed lingering thoughts of quitting insurance work during the ? st two years of initiation. Several agents in fact seemed to have derived so much satisfaction from their work that they reported that their job had long become their hobby; work and hobby were indistinguishable and had in fact become one. Several agents took pains in our interviews to emphasise that everything they did in their hobbies and in life was somewhat related to their work, and vice versa. On the basis of the interview data, one would attribute the agents’ high level of work satisfaction to a combination of factors.One important factor has to do with agents’ perceived sense of control over their work as a result of the freedom, autonomy and independence an agent’s work provides. In a signi? cant way, an agent is essentially his or her own boss, answerable and accountable mainly to oneself (thus largely dependent on one’s own personal resources such as initiative, self-discipline, self-reliance and motivation). An agent is self-employed, and his or her work has the potential of developing into an entrepreneur’s business where, at least in one’s mind, the results are a direct function of e? rt and hard work. Moreover, one derives much satisfaction from being able to generate pro? t for oneself, rather than for a company as is the case for salaried employees. Indeed, several agents reported that they had quit their former job and joined the life insurance business precisely because it o? ers the potential attraction of self-employment and entrepreneu rship: I had this wish to do my own work and be my own boss. It just happened that insurance o? ered me the opportunity to realise my wish. So, naturally, I became an agent. (10)Another factor associated with agents’ work satisfaction is their relatively high income in view of the fact that many entered the profession with educational quali? cations no higher than ‘0’ Levels, with one year of training and having passed a certifying examination considered by many as easy. The agents we interviewed made an average of three to four thousand Singapore dollars per month, while 142 chan kwok-bun several agent-managers with about ten years of experience in the business reported an average annual income of S$240,000.One agency supervisor, herself making S$70,000 per year after seven years, reported that her 42-year-old manager was getting an annual income of S$800,000 or, as she emphasised, admiringly, ‘close to a million’. With money comes fame. The agency regularly publishes sales ? gures of top agents, the so-called ‘top high achievers’ in their company-wide bulletins. In an attempt to raise work morale and motivation, the industry periodically hands out awards and medals during conventions and congresses. One agent considered the wide publicity and recognition a successful agent received as a potent source of work satisfaction.When successful (as indicated by insurance sales ? gures and the subsequent recognition and appreciation received from colleagues, company and friends), an agent has ? nally come around: he or she, through personal success, has managed to achieve the kind of social status and respect that society seems so reluctant to give to this profession. In a sense, personality and achievement elicit both material and non-material rewards that are due. Insurance agents spoke about the grati? cation they derived from having sold a policy where the ? ancial rewards are tangible and immediate; one can literally calculate the precise amount of commission one makes from having completed a successful transaction. Another agent actually reported that he sometimes felt guilty for having been receiving such a sizeable income for all these years in the insurance business; his friends of the same cohort in the banking sector, better educated and more intensively trained, were making less than he did. In his mind, life insurance sales work, for those who can cope and become successful at it, o? rs good pay, a clear and well-de? ned prospect of promotion (from agent through trainer and unit supervisor to, eventually, agent-cum-manager) and a distinct probability of self-employment. For many, the prospect of a quick transition from an agent to an entrepreneur within a span of ten to ? fteen years excites and motivates many a high achiever. In the process of plodding through one’s career path, the individual gets his or her own rewards in accordance with ‘the goals set and e? ort exerted ’. And so it seems. work stress among life insurance agents Conclusion 43 Singapore society rejects the idea as well as the product of life insurance, which is the ‘? rst movement’ of the dialectic of encounters between a life insurance agent and society (Neo, 1996). Society thus rejects the role of being an agent, not necessarily the person in that role, though the person is very likely to internalise the rejections through self-blame and self-criticism. It is thus not so much what is wrong with the product, but what is wrong with me—a process that entails considerable psychological costs to the individual agents.Nevertheless, the life insurance industry employs agents and trains them to di? use such societal rejections, oftentimes striving to turn such hostility around. As it happens, the agents are assigned a stigma by society, a Go? manian spoiled identity; agents are keenly aware of the intentional social distance, the chasm, that separates them and s ociety. Agents are to be shunned by all, strangers and close social others. This is the ‘second movement’ of the Hegelian dialectic.Note that such an analysis posits that societal rejection of life insurance as an idea and the stigma attached to life insurance agents are as much structural givens as they are historical conditions, or what the Durkheimian sociologist calls ‘social facts’ which the individual agents cannot easily ‘wish away’. The ‘third movement’ begins when the life insurance industry in general, and the agents in particular, attempt to cope with the stigma by developing an institutional culture over time; an ideological complex of values and beliefs—or, ‘tricks of the trade’, if you like.The life insurance industry is among the few industries that are fully aware of the structural and historical causes of the myriad ‘assaults on the self ’ that happen during the daily routine of the work life of an agent. Their counter-attack is ongoing training and educational upgrading of the profession, from bottom up. A structural problem requires at the least a collective solution. Through seminars, workshops, conventions and pep-talks, the industry instils in the individual agents a ‘bag of tricks’. These include values and beliefs such as hard work, self-e? acy, self-reliance and discipline; work habits (keeping accounts and making regular cold calls); procedures for dealing with prospective clients; and a battery of coping strategies and defence mechanisms such as positive thinking (the cup is half full, not half empty), cognitive alteration or conversion (it is your loss, not mine, for not buying insurance from me), hiding and 144 chan kwok-bun compartmentalising (I make sure my family doesn’t know anything about my work problems), talking oneself into believing ‘doing good for others’ (everyone needs an insurance policy; it never rain s but pours), accepting the inevitable, and so on.Our analyses have indicated the in? ltration of academic psychology into the articulation and justi? cation of such an ideological complex. To illustrate, Seligman’s learned optimism concept (1990), Kobasa’s idea of psychological hardiness (Kobasa & Pucetti 1983) and many other psychological concepts such as resilience, personal control, competence, self-esteem and pragmatism, have found their ways into the everyday life language of the life insurance agents. It is perhaps a case of applied psychology, of the industry turning to social science for guidance and ideological justi? ation. Of course, never for a moment in the three movements of this dialectic is the individual agent a passive voice. Most signi? cantly, for example, the agent interacts with the industry culture to develop an ideological complex of his own to fend o? the ‘slings and arrows’ of his work life, which some have apparently done more s uccessfully than others, thus enjoying considerable work satisfaction. There are good reasons to believe that the transmission of the institutional culture is often met y resistance on the part of the individual agent, especially when the culture does not allow for tension release on the one hand and demands considerable commodi? cation of emotions on the other hand. Agents are exhorted to do emotion work—to ‘never get back at bad clients’ and to ‘act nice, think positive’. In a sense, this personal ideology grounded in a larger institutional culture serves three functions. First, in a deep psychological sense, it bestows on the agent a social identity that he uses to cope with the stress of his work life.Second, existentially, it provides the agent with a self-justi? cation of his own existence, partly because it has an altruistic dimension to it: the insurance agent is in the business of ‘doing good’, in that the family is looked after by an insurance policy should something disastrous happen to the bread-winner. Third, it also gives the agent a bag of tricks, something useful and practical in his daily encounters with society. Our interview data show rather clearly that our agents reported a considerably high level of work satisfaction.They liked their work, had few regrets about their vocational choice and had rarely thought of quitting life insurance work except during their beginning years in the industry. Some even merged their work with their life—work and hobby became one. work stress among life insurance agents 145 One ? nds at the core of this ideological complex several rather attractive things on o? er: handsome monetary rewards; a ? ight from the tyranny of the working-class condition; and a promise for freedom, occupational autonomy and self-determination in use of time— all of which are embodied in the lure of self-employment and entrepreneurship.To some workers in a credential society , these promises prove irresistible because the ful? lment of the Singaporean dream is the deliverance of one’s great expectations. To perhaps many others, these promises are just that: promises. Freedom, free will and self-determination (in use of time according to one’s desire) are an illusion. An agent does not e? ectually own his time, nor does he dispose of it according to his own accord. The chasm between proletariat and bourgeoisie remains real and forever self-expanding.Still others learn that this entrepreneurial dream, even when realised, has its dark side. A self-employed person never for a moment stops ‘using his own person’, his personality or everything he owns and can rightfully call his—his time, his charm, his tolerance, his love. Having escaped from the tyranny of control by others, he now engages in the ultimate form of exploitation: exploitation of self. The chasm that separates the capitalist from the proletariat is a structural one which is bridgeable by only a few with the right strategic internal and external resources, but which remains a chasm to many.The Singaporean dream is just that—a dream. Many agents will be caught in this black-hole-like chasm, between reality and myth, yet never fail to blame themselves for their personal failures. The moment of the ultimate nightmare will come when the life insurance industry has found ways to make direct sales to the public, e. g. , through the Internet, or when the public goes direct to the industry, as in the case of medical, house or automobile insurance (Neo, 1996). The existence of the agent is thus rendered obsolete because it has lost its value. CHAPTER NINEINSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT AND STRESS APPRAISAL AMONG LIFE INSURANCE AGENTS Gina Lai, Chan Kwok-bun and Ko Yiu-chung Work stress as a social phenomenon and social issue has been of considerable concern to scholars and laypersons alike because of its myriad costs to individual workers a? ected and to companies that experience low productivity, absenteeism and turnover (Beehr, 1995; Sutherland & Cooper, 1988). For decades, conventional research on work stress has generally perceived individuals as passive actors, making personal adaptations to structural constraints imposed by organisations.Work stress is often seen as a result of an individual’s failure in making adjustments to the work environment (e. g. , Beehr, 1995; Loscocco & Roschelle, 1991; Lowe & Northcott, 1988; Sutherland & Cooper, 1988). While studies adopting this view usually examine work stress by identifying the unique sources of stress experienced by particular occupational groups, they tend to overlook the relationship between the institutionalised arrangements of a profession and work stress. The regulative and normative systems of an industry and profession may well a? ct how an individual worker perceives, appraises and responds to work situations—subsequently in? uencing the level of stress the individual will experience. The present chapter aims to study how the institutionalised arrangements of the life insurance profession and industry in Singapore relate to the types and extent of work stress experienced by its workers. Insurance agents represent a unique group of workers who are both paid employees and entrepreneurs. Data from in-depth interviews with 11 agents working for di? erent life insurance companies provided background information on the norms and rules of the industry.Insurance agents’ experiences with work stress were analysed using survey data. The information obtained from the interviews, which were conducted prior to the sample survey, enabled our understanding of the industry and guided our questionnaire construction. 148 gina lai et al. Definition of Work Stress The term ‘stress’ has been de? ned in various ways: it has been used to refer to demands that require the individual to re-adjust his or her usual behavioural patterns ( Holmes & Rahe, 1967), or to the state of physiological or emotional arousal that results from the perception of demands (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984; Selye, 1974; Thoits, 1995).In this chapter, ‘stress’ refers to the latter while the former is termed ‘stressor’. In the current research literature (Thoits, 1995), this distinction between stress and stressor is espoused. Stressors manifest themselves in episodic events or situations and are classi? ed in the literature into life events, chronic strains and daily hassles (Thoits, 1995). For an event or situation to be perceived as stressful, two appraisal processes are involved (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). First, the individual appraises the event or situation as threatening to his or her well-being.Events or situations that individuals ? nd threatening often entail potential danger or alteration to one’s personal identity, social relations, routine behavior, and/or normal physical state. Examples include los s of a loved one from whom one derives great personal a? rmation and emotional comfort or a serious illness that causes debilitation. Second, the individual feels a need for action. He/she appraises the available resources for requisite action but is uncertain about the su? ciency or e? ectiveness of resources to successfully carry out the action.When appraising an event or a situation as threatening, the individual, believing that action is needed and feeling that the outcome is uncertain, would experience an emotional reaction called stress (Locke & Taylor, 1990). Based on this conceptualisation of stress, ‘work stress’ refers to the emotional response to work-related events and situations. Researchers have suggested that stress may be manifested psychologically and physically, as well as behaviorally, and that such manifestations may vary across social groups de? ed by, for example, gender and social class (Pearlin, 1999). The present chapter focuses on the psycholog ical aspect of work stress, an emphasis particularly relevant to the study of work stress among insurance agents. Insurance work is indeed emotional work. Selling insurance often assaults one’s self due to stigmatisation and rejection by society; agents whether individually or collectively are constantly forced to make psychological adjustments to and/or manipulations of their hostile work environment. Thus, it institutional context among life insurance agents 49 would be meaningful to investigate how job incumbents in the insurance industry appraise various aspects of their work and evaluate the impacts of such appraisal on their psychological well-being. Adopting a sociological perspective, the present chapter emphasises the social-structural organisation of the industry and its link to individuals’ experience (Aneshensel, 1992; Pearlin, 1989, 1999; Thoits, 1995). The appraisal of and response to work-related events and situations are thus argued to be related to the meaning attached to work, which is in? enced by the regulative and normative systems of a profession and industry. The Political Economy of the Life Insurance Industry The most important attractions o? ered by insurance work are its promises of autonomy, potentially high monetary rewards and the prospect of self-employment. Insurance agents are usually given a certain sales target to meet within a period of time if they intend to stay in the company. However, they themselves have to decide on their sales target, set their own work tempo and get their work done wherever and whenever deemed appropriate and e? ctive. To further solicit workers’ compliance with industry goals, agents are given a share of the industry’s pro? t—commissions (Chua, 1971; Neo, 1996). Work is remunerated on the basis of sales; and commissions increase as one progresses along a clear and well-de? ned career path. The pace of advancement along the career path is selfdetermined: the individ ual decides how fast he or she wants to move along the career ladder. Individual job performance, in terms of sales volume and ability to keep policies ‘alive’, is a requisite for career advancement.Insurance agents thus take on a dual identity. On the one hand, they are employees who follow directives set by the company and work toward organisational goals. On the other hand, they are entrepreneurs who can determine their own career goals—which more often than not coincide with organisational interests—as well as experiment freely with various modes to achieve these goals. There is, however, a down side to the agents’ work. While the agents enjoy work autonomy and ? exibility, they also experience sustained pressure to produce (Chan & Ko, 1991).Further, life insurance has been and still is a taboo subject for many Singaporeans (Chan & Ko, 1991), partly due to the stigma attached to death and 150 gina lai et al. disabilities. Moreover, life insuranc e is generally perceived as a highrisk investment because of the need for considerable long-term ? nancial commitment to an unforeseeable future. Coupled with negative stereotypes of insurance work, agents often face rejections by strangers as well as family members and close friends, subsequently breeding personal isolation and alienation.Even worse, agents do not interact with their clients as equals. The balance of power in agent-client transactions is often tilted in favor of the clients. When faced with ‘unreasonable’ clients, agents are trained and often reminded by their supervisors not to get even for ‘bad’ client conduct, thus further perpetuating the status imbalance. Paradoxically, having escaped from the control of a boss who has legitimate rights to one’s time and labour, one now ? nds himself or herself subject to the control of many other bosses: all his real and prospective clients.Further, the rapid growth in the insurance industry i n Singapore has induced acute competitiveness and rivalry between companies as well as among agents, engendering a general feeling of distrust, tension and strain in interpersonal relations among peers. Jealousy from colleagues and interpersonal con? icts further reinforce individualism and self-isolation. Keen competition also makes it necessary for agents to intensify their labour—to self-exploit. Operating in such a hostile environment, the life insurance industry has to put up moral and social bu? rs to cushion itself against myriad adverse impacts—thus the emergence of an institutional ethos and culture as defense mechanisms. As a way to increase agents’ productivity and to sustain a certain motivational level, the industry periodically gives out awards and medals during conventions and congresses to raise workers’ morale and motivation (Chan & Ko, 1991). A culture of internal cohesiveness and mutual support is encouraged within individual life insur ance companies as well as the industry as a whole.These values not only help the industry achieve its goal of pro? t-making, but also facilitate the ability of agents to cope with mental and physical a? ictions caused by their work. Description of the Survey The analysis was based on three non-random samples, which yielded a total sample of 400 life insurance workers. First, 500 questionnaires were distributed to the agents by the managers of six major institutional context among life insurance agents 151 life insurance companies in Singapore.Of these, 212 completed and returned their questionnaires, giving a response rate of 42. 4%. Second, with the help of the Secretary of the Singapore Life Underwriters Association, questionnaires were disseminated to 400 agents via managers who attended a series of four talks organised by the Association. This channel saw a return of 137 questionnaires, yielding a response rate of 34. 3%. Third, the Secretary distributed 100 questionnaires to in surance managers whom he knew, who in turn handed them out to their own agents.A total of 51 questionnaires were returned this way. The overall response rate for the study was 40%. The non-random nature of the samples and relatively low response rates inevitably lead to a concern about the representativeness of our selected respondents. The relatively low response rate was probably due to the way we sampled our respondents and distributed questionnaires. We distributed the questionnaires to potential respondents through intermediaries (managers of major life insurance companies and the Secretary of the Singapore Life Underwriters Associatio

Why is it difficult to define a “new social movement”?

When one thinks of â€Å"new social movements† (NSM's) it is fair to say that a number of images may spring into peoples' minds. To some, Swampy chaining himself to a tree will automatically be imagined, for others, they may think of the anti-globalisation protests in Seattle or on the streets of London. The fact is that both of these ideas come under this broad title and it is for that reason that it can de difficult to define exactly what is meant by an NSM. This essay will attempt to address why NSM's have come into existence, which sections of society choose to become involved and how these groups operate. Having done this, the essay will then attempt to show why defining an NSM is problematic. It is fair to say that most people who choose to participate in NSM's do so because they feel that conventional politics does not or has not dealt with the issues that they feel are important. It is, therefore, the aim of the NSM's to highlight these issues and bring them to the attention of either the politicians or the general public in the hope that government policy will adopt a different strategy. It has been said that â€Å"one repeated motif in the discussion of new social movements is the view that they are, in contrast to older movements, primarily social or cultural in nature and only secondary, if at all, political. † (Scott, 1990:16). What Alan Scott is saying here is that the main ideas behind social movements are the attempts to change the way society exist as a whole and not necessarily the way people view their politics. Being part of a social movement is not just a way of thinking; it is a belief in a certain ideal that transcends all aspects of your life. In this way, it can be said that NSM's are expressive in their views as opposed to political parties, who are instrumental. An NSM is not necessarily motivated by achieving a pre-set goal but by the belief itself. This is one reason that can explain why members or ‘adherents' of social movements are fully prepared to make self-sacrifices, such as imprisonment, for their cause. One important ramification of this is that the adherents to social movements are prepared to step outside the law to achieve their goals. This creates a very serious dilemma for governments because if people are prepared to act illegally then the threat of legal action will not act as a deterrent. In other words, if people have a strong enough will then in the end, there is nothing to stop them. As Russell Dalton and Manfred Kuechler wrote â€Å"the new social movement approach claims that many NSM's intentionally remain outside the institutionalized framework of government. † (Dalton et al. , 1990:14). The NSM's prefer to remain in this position to avoid being forced to compromise their goals. What this suggests is that NSM's actively promote criminal behaviour and rationalize it by saying that it is for a good cause. However, in a survey conducted by Alan Marsh in 1977, it was found that 55 per cent of the people questioned believed that â€Å"it is justified to break the law to protest about something you feel may be very unjust or harmful. † (Byrne, 1997:4). Although these activities are illegal, the majority of people are prepared to act as such anyway. This illustrates the complications that arise when one tries to define NSM's. On the one hand, you could say that they choose to be troublemakers, committing crimes and illegal protests, but on the other hand, you see that in fact a substantial proportion of the population shares their views on the appropriate course of action. A major difficulty with trying to define NSM's is to distinguish with what exactly we are dealing. What is meant by this is what sort or group of people or section of society do we class as a new social movement? For example, we would class feminists and green activists as social movements but this also leads to difficulty in defining what an NSM actually is. In terms of ideology, feminists and green activists have little in common yet they would both fall into the category of NSM's. A very extreme example of this is the Al' Queida terrorist network and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). These two groups could not be more different if they tried but to a certain extent they can both be classed as social movements. On the one hand, you have the CND, an organisation at the heart of the Peace Movement, whose â€Å"supporters have employed tactics which extend from serious academic work on the probable effects of nuclear warfare, to mass demonstrations, and to a wide variety of non-violent direct action. † (Byrne, 1997:11). On the other hand, you have the Al' Queida terrorist network, the alliance responsible for the September 11th attack upon New York's World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. This group is responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent people – the CND, however, call for an end to weapons of mass destruction. How then can you class the Al' Queida terrorist network as a social movement? Its members are willing to step outside the conventional channels to achieve their goals. They are prepared to fight and die for their cause as long as by their death they have advanced towards their end goal – the destruction of the US. The Al' Queida is one extreme example of how an NSM can be described as irrational and unreasonable. Their adherents are not motivated by self-interest but by their unbreakable belief in the cause. They also seem to think that they are justified in breaking the law or ignoring any kind of conventional methods. Here we can see how defining a NSM can be made difficult. The spectrum when it comes to social movements is so diversified that it leads to problems in terms of what can and cannot be included. It is difficult to comprehend that two such different groups can be classified under the same heading. The Al' Queida terrorist network is, to a certain extent, an example of how NSM's choose to exist in terms of their structure. The Al' Queida exists with more recognizable members, such as Osama Bin Laden, but the fact remains that if he were to be captured or killed then that would have little effect on the remainder of the group. The adherents will still believe in their cause and they will still do all they can to realize their vision. Of course, this is a very extreme example of a NSM and when we look at more mainstream groups the structure is less militant but the basic ideas remain the same. On a whole, NSM's attempt to avoid the hierarchical approach of the conventional political parties and instead choose to opt for a more co-operative system. The CND is actually an example of how a structured organisation can exist within the informally organized Peace Movement. It is difficult to describe the structure of an NSM as even the word ‘structure' suggests some kind of organisation. Referring to NSM's as groups also causes problems as this suggests that there would be some kind of hierarchy when in fact, as Brand et al. suggest â€Å"New social movement theorists maintain that these groups prefer a decentralized, open, and democratic structure that is more in tune with the participatory tendencies of their supporters. † (Dalton et al. , 1990:13). It is clear that NSM's choose to steer away from creating any formal structure as to avoid becoming the political parties that they are attempting to influence. The structure of NSM's has strong links with their ideology. NSM's are inclined to believe more in a co-operative society where every person has his or her own personal space in which they have the right to exist and the right to choose how they wish to live their lives. This means that NSM's have no leaders as such due to the adherents wish to maintain a sense of autonomy. To many adherents of social movements it is important for them as individuals to maintain their rights to exist as they see fitting. The idea of autonomy is of great importance when trying to discuss NSM's and the fact that they demand various aspects of this autonomy adds weight to the arguments for difficulty with definition. The first aspect is personal autonomy. The idea that adherents have the social ‘space' to grow as individuals and develop their own views and ideas, as opposed to being limited by constraints placed upon them by society. An example of this sort of autonomy can be found when we look at the Women's movement of the early seventies. Here women were not only fighting for their sex as a whole but for their own personal right to equality within the male dominated system. The Women's movement is also a good example of the second aspect of autonomy: that of group autonomy. Here we can consider the issue of abortion and the rights of women. This issue can be evaluated on both levels: personal and as a group. On a personal level, the efforts of the movement mean that the choice is there and whichever path is chosen is not dictated by anyone other than the parties involved. The women's movement fought for the rights of all women to choose whether or not to have abortions so that no matter what background you come from or what religion you are, every woman has the right to choose. The third aspect of autonomy is described as the ‘autonomy of struggle', which is to say â€Å"the insistence that the movement and those it represents be allowed to fight their own corner without interference from other movements, and without subordinating their demands to other external priorities. † (Scott, 1990:20). We now see that this issue of autonomy is very important to NSM's. A social movement sees itself through its own rights and the rights of its adherents to live their lives in a certain fashion. This leads on to the idea of a social movement helping people to define themselves in terms of their place in society. This is prime example of how adherents differ to members of conventional political parties. A Conservative does not really have to make any concessions upon his or her lifestyle in order to be a member of the Conservative party but being an environmentalist is about a change in how one acts in general. What this illustrates is the argument that NSM's do not necessarily take action towards political reform but in fact towards social reform. One of the main elements that makes defining NSM's so difficult is who makes up the adherents of these movements. Over the last thirty years, there has been an increase in the so-called new politics but can this all being attributed to the uprising of the student movement or are the adherents far more diversified? As has already been mentioned, different people have different views on what they consider to be an NSM. Are we supposed to believe that all adherents are in fact longhaired, unwashed students who have nothing better to do with their time that form squatter camps and disrupt building work? The classical approach to NSM's suggests that most adherents turn to social movements due to relative deprivation. The idea that they are somehow incapable of participating in conventional politics so they choose NSM's as an alternative. However, when classicalists looked at the type of people involved in the civil rights movement in the US during the fifties and sixties, they found that it was not only the alienated black population that was involved but also the white middle class. The theory of ‘resource mobilization' was put forward as an alternative to the classical theory. Here, the authors of the theory believed that participation in NSM's was to do with resources. What ‘resources' mean is the availability of finances, office space and other intangible assets such as time and education. It suggests that there has been an evolution of the middle class to include people such as teachers and lecturers who have created a class not through economic wealth but through their knowledge and intelligence. The typical adherent to NSM's is far from the image of a tree-hugging extremist but is, in fact, a member of this new middle class, a technocrat. What are the reasons behind this? That is a hard question to answer but Ronald Inglehart suggested the theory of ‘post-materialism'. â€Å"Inglehart argues that the post-war generation have been socialized into such higher order or ‘post-material' values, and its this which motivates their support for social movements. † (Byrne, 1997:55). Here, the argument is that the people who choose to become involved in NSM's are those who feel that they have achieved all the material possessions that they can and are therefore, looking for some other kind of personal fulfillment. This theory holds a number of flaws, for example, how can Inglehart be sure that people would choose to become involved in social movements instead of charity work in their quest for personal fulfillment? Another problem arises when you try to quantify the level of material wealth that constitutes satisfaction and at which point the person decides to give up the search for more money. However, the fact remains that it has become more apparent over the years that it is this new middle class that is the typical adherents to the NSM's but it has not become clear why it is this group. The fact is that these new social movements choose to exist outside the conventional channels of politics. They do not have the same structure as the mainstream political parties as they are not supposed to be as such. They are an ideology that is followed through choice and lead to more extreme measures than usual politics to the extent that adherents make a lifestyle decision. The difficulty in defining NSM's comes from all aspects of their existence. The title of a social movement covers such a diverse range of beliefs and ideas that any kind of set rules will ultimately fail as no statement can be truly all-inclusive. Neither would NSM's want to be able to be defined as it goes against all the ideals for which they stand – the ideals of a hierarchy free alliance where the emphasis is on co-operation and not leadership. This statement itself causes problems, as it is a sweeping generalization of the group of social movements as a whole. The difficulties of defining new social movements appear because of the fact that no two movements or beliefs are exactly the same.

Critical Analysis on Fools Crow by James Welch Essay

Critical Analysis on Fools Crow by James Welch - Essay Example It is, moreover, the poetry f "singers" like Ray Anthony Young Bear, Simon J. Ortiz, Joy Harjo, Wendy Rose, the late William Oandasan, Geary Hobson, Linda Hogan, and, again, Welch--especially in Riding the Earthboy Forty ( 1971; rev. ed., 1975)--that brings into greater focus the reason for this noticeable recurrence f seemingly antiheroic, alienated, and benumbed protagonists, singers, and speakers at odds with their pasts and the times and places in which they find themselves. It is the simultaneous impetus f atavism and modernism--the need, as Young Bear phrases it, "to be there, standing beside our grandfathers, being ourselves" and by meeting that need, to bring meaning to the twentieth-century predicament. (McCoy 110-112) An exorcism first: this is not "just another Custer book," nor is it unbalanced in any way by James Welch's aboriginal heritage. It is, in fact, a valuably enhanced examination f "the most depicted event in our [American] history" (p. 22). It incorporates the results f recent, innovative research methodology, using topographical and time-motion studies. It benefits, too, from an opportune archeological investigation by a young Canadian archeologist, Richard Fox f the University f Calgary, who conducted a timely dig following a 1983 grassfire which revealingly denuded the Little Bighorn battlefield. Welch had access to his family's oral-tradition accounts (his great-grandmother, Red Paint Woman, survived the Baker Massacre f 1870, about which more later); and by Welch's stylistic gifts (he is an acclaimed poet, novelist, and screenwriter). The book, solidly documented, also bears some well-controlled, reader-friendly hallmarks f "the nonfiction novel." It evolved quite naturally from a year and a half f research which was distilled into a twenty-two page scenario for a PBS documentary film (Last Stand at Little Bighorn, directed by Paul Stekler and aired in late 1992). Welch recapitulates, succinctly and clearly, the context and circumstances f the Little Bighorn disaster, focusing consistently and persuasively on the broad complex f cultural, economic, and philosophical factors which, conjoined, made that event inevitable. He does not indulge himself in Custer-bashing, so irresistibly tempting to so many recent non-Native investigators. Nor does he romanticize the often unsophisticated -- and, at times, hapless -- late nineteenth century Blackfeet; he is, on occasion, bluntly condemnatory, even though he clearly understands the almost irresistible pressures which undermined effectual Native solidarity then and now. (G ish 309-11) He is unblinking in his assessment f the basic motives f both sides: the whites wanted the vast northwestern hunting grounds f the Natives; the Natives, eager for the material trade goods which would make their hard lives easier, were willing to cede some f their land. There was, unfortunately, never any chance that a just exchange was possible. Welch points out, sardonically but without much rancor, that western Plains aboriginals lost their holistic lifestyle when the buffalo were transmuted by planned, systematic slaughter into fur coats, industrial belting, and bonemeal for the eastern industries f the whites; they were also degraded by

Advise Marcos on his rights under the European Convention of Human Essay

Advise Marcos on his rights under the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) - Essay Example (Your Rights 2008) Because the laws were rarely enforced it was unlikely that they would be prosecuted, but the risk of enforcement was there, so they were allowed to challenge it.(Your Rights 2008) Here, Macros has standing because he has already been mistreated. Thus, Macros has satisfied the first element of standing. Before Macros makes an application to the ECHR he must pursue any proceedings that he could take in the Hungarian courts that are capable of providing him with an adequate remedy for the breach of his Convention rights. Here, the Hungarian Courts found that the officers had used necessary force to contain the situation while making multiple arrests. Further, the Hungarian Courts also found that the internal inquiry conducted within the Special Anti-Terrorist Squad was adequate although no officers were criminally prosecuted. Based upon the facts provided, it appears that all remedies offered by the Hungarian courts have been exhausted. Accordingly, Macros fits into the second element of standing to file his application to the ECHR. Finally, Macros must make his application to the ECHR within six months of the conclusion of any court proceedings that he has taken in Hungary that could have provided him with a remedy or, if there were no proceedings that it was reasonable to expect Macros to take, within six months of the event which gives rise to his application. When Macros makes his application to the ECHR he will be asked to complete one of the ECHR’s application forms. However, it is not necessary to fill out one of these forms to meet the six month rule. All he need to do is to get a letter to the court within the six months setting out: 3. The facts that have given rise to the application. Marcos was sitting in a cafà © in the centre of Budapest (Hungary) when officers of the Special Anti-Terrorist Squad raided the cafà © in order to

Binh Danh Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Binh Danh - Research Paper Example In his words, "Its almost my religious practice when I make my own artwork because Im coming up with my own concept about what is life, what is death, what is consciousness, what is history.† (Sparks, 2006). Binh Danh has tried to pay respect through his work to the people who have suffered during the war of Vietnam; the soldiers, the common man and the children who lost their parents during the brutality of war. In Binh Danh’s own words, â€Å" for me its becomes almost a religion, it’s almost my own religious practice when I make my own artwork, because I am coming up with my own concept of what is life and what is death, what is consciousness and what is history† (Sparks, 2006). Binh Danh has derived his inspiration from the life he had seen in Vietnam; the war, the tragic incidents of life and death that moved around him. His work displays more reality and it is closer to the bitter realities and life circumstances faced by every Vietnamese. His main theme of the work is focused on the subject of life and death. His photographs reflect the memories of his stay in Vietnam which made him suffered in a bad way. His images portray violence, blood, death and war scenes that are scribbled on his mind. His images clearly tell the scenes of war in Vietnam and the political crisis that overall affected the wheel of economy of the country. Binh Danh used a uniquely different technique in his photography which distinguishes his work from the rest of the work. He invented his own technique which is different from what was being used by the other artists. His technique is innovative and as well as, it is organic in nature. His style is also known as chlorophyll technique in which the artist uses the most suitable leaf to take a print on it. Sometimes he picks fresh leaves for more clear images and sometimes, he also picks leaves which are marred

What is Performance Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

What is Performance Management - Assignment Example By setting a standard process of performance, employees know what is expected of them, and understand the responsibilities in which they are accountable. Performance of employees needs to be monitored regularly as well to know how well they are doing their job. Regular monitoring is needed so that remedial measures can be acted upon immediately to reduce wastes and costs if work is found unacceptable. Value to management Results of monitoring determine the kind of development and training an employee needs. Training can be given to an employee to prepare his/her for higher responsibilities or just to improve his/her skills in her present work. At the end of the evaluation period that is usually set and agreed by employee and supervisor, a rating is given to the individual employee. A rating becomes an overall comparison between periods of performances to no improvement. Management, at times, compares the overall performances of employees. A top rating performer is usually rewarded by management with awards and incentives, usually done on a year to year basis.  An example is the top achiever award for sales in the company which is awarded cash incentives.  Business behavior means ethical behavior in the conduct of business usually governed by the principles of right and wrongs of human conduct. In business, it is defined as the moral values governing business behavior and restrains companies from pursuing the interest of the shareholder at the expense of all other considerations†. I have inferred this law as the â€Å"Cause and Effect† that covers the â€Å"laws of belief, expectations, attraction, and correspondence† (Tracy, B. 2002). These, I believe, are unbreakable, because it rationalizes causes why one is successful and an achiever, it gives justification for one’s status of happiness, and why there are prosperity and poverty in life. It is argued that when one believes truly in oneself and with firm resolve, this will become a reality. For instance, in starting a business, one should truly believe that it will succeed, therefore, he puts everything in all honesty, his best inputs.

American History 1946-2012 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

American History 1946-2012 - Essay Example Primarily two objectives, that is, supporting democracy and containment of communism, shaped the US policy for the Cold War. In his â€Å"Joint Address before Congress†, President Truman clearly asserts, â€Å"Greece must have assistance if it is to become a self-supporting and self-respecting democracy.† (Truman, 1947, p. 3) The US policy of containment was fundamentally the outcome of President Truman’s reaction to the Soviet leaders’ expansionist tendency. This policy of containing the expansionist Soviet leaders remains the baseline of the US policy during the whole period of the Cold War. Indeed, almost all of Truman’s descendants, more or less, had attempted to put this policy of containment into operation in different contexts with different measures (Nigel, 2006, pp. 45-49). The Cold War can be considered as a clash of interests between the Soviet Union and the United States of America, the superpowers of the world during the post Second-Wor ld-War era. The war continued from 1947 to 1991. After the World War II, the US foreign policymakers did not need Soviet support any more to defeat the Axis Powers; therefore, they refused to acknowledge the Soviets’ security concern in Europe. ... Indeed, these distrusts and strife between the two superpowers subsequently the 50 years long Cold War ensued. In February 1945, the failure of the Yalta Conference in the Crimea was essentially one of the events which forecasted the Cold War (â€Å"The Cold War†, 2003, pars. 1). Though during the Cold War, ideological, political, economic and military tensions existed at an extreme level, the superpowers did not become involved in any direct war. Rather their military involvements were confined to proxy wars in various geographical regions of interests. Nuclear arm race between the two main parties of the war, the USA and the Soviet Union, began as a response to the superpowers’ desire to overpower each other. (Schweizer, 1994, pp. 69-74) During the Cold War, Kennedy Administration’s cold-war policies diverged a bit from the baseline of the traditional US foreign policy. During the most critical period of the War in the 1960s, President Kennedy adopted a policy, variedly known as â€Å"Flexible Response†, â€Å"Containment of Communism† and â€Å"Reversal of Soviet Progress†, etc, which was more tactful than his predecessor, Dwight Eisenhower’s militarily staunch response to the Soviet Forces (Schweizer, 1994, p. 209). In fact, this diplomatic stance of the Kennedy Administration critically shaped the premises of future American foreign policy. Truman’s policy was to restore economy in the war-affect European countries, since he believed that â€Å"The seeds of totalitarian regimes are nurtured by misery and want†¦They spread and grow in the evil soil of poverty and strife† (Truman, 1947, p. 6). The main goal of his policy was to ensure

The character Dee walker,alice everyday use Essay

The character Dee walker,alice everyday use - Essay Example She is the successful daughter, â€Å"the child who has made it† (Walker, Para. 3) and carved a place for herself in the outside world. Her style of dress, in striking shades of yellow and orange, ethnic jewelry and hairstyle all deliberately accentuate her African heritage and call out loudly for attention. They constitute her apparently defiant statement of identity. Dee’s use of the Swahili style of greeting, â€Å"Wasuzo-Teano† (Walker, Para. 21), and her adoption of the name, â€Å"Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo† are also meant to reinforce her assertion of her roots. Dee’s veneer of pride in her heritage is like her â€Å"sunglasses which hid everything† (Walker, Para. 82). A deeper study of Dee’s personality reveals that she has actually rejected her roots. â€Å"She had hated† (Walker, Para. 10) her childhood home. Her attitude towards her mother and sister is marked by criticism and condescension. Dee takes pictures of them as if they were curiosities and includes the house and the cow, but not herself. She does not see herself as a part of their world. Her change of name is again a rejection of her lineage. The name Dee, which has passed down to her through generations of her family, is more a genuine part of her heritage than the affected African name she has adopted. Her rejection of her past is irrevocably made by her statement about the old Dee: â€Å"She’s dead† (Walker, Para. 27). Dee covets the churner top and dasher, not as treasured parts of her past life, but as pretentious artistic curios to be flaunted as exotic ornaments. Likewise, her estimation of the quilts, â€Å"they’re priceless!† (Walker, Para. 52) is not based on the value of her love for the grandmother and the aunt who made them, but on their considerable monetary value as antiques, which will make a striking fashion statement. Dee does not know who made the dasher, nor does she know how to quilt. Unlike her sister Maggie, who will use

Cross Cultural Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Cross Cultural Management - Essay Example The main religions in China are Buddhism, Islam, Taoism, and Christianity. Buddhism is the most dominant. There are seven major languages used in China, with Mandarin being used by majority of the population. Hans Chinese is the biggest ethnic group. The rest include Zhuang, Hui, Manchu, Uighur, Miao, Tibetan, Yi, among others. The major industries in China include power (nuclear, hydro, and thermal) and manufacturing and automobiles industries. Cross Cultural Theorists Geert Hofstede Geert Hofstede proposed that people differ in terms of several dimensions which include power, masculinity, collectivism, orientation, uncertainty avoidance, and indulgence. The first dimension is power distance. Power distance refers to the degree to which the subordinates in institutions and organizations accept the fact that power distribution is unequal. In cultures where low power distance is approved, consultative power relations are expected. People in the organization relate as equals. Subordina tes participate in decision making and can criticize their bosses. However, in countries with a high power distance, the subordinates accept dictatorial power relations (Hofstede 1980). The dimension of individualism versus collectivism is concerned with the extent of consolidation of individuals into groups. Countries that are individualistic emphasize on individual rights and personal accomplishments. Individuals are expected to act on their own to defend themselves and their families. Nations that promote collectivism act as a team. The dimension of uncertainty avoidance versus tolerance refers to the degree of reducing uncertainty in order to manage anxiety. Individuals in societies with high uncertainty avoidance try to prevent anxiety by strictly following the rules and regulations. Individuals in cultures with low uncertainty avoidance have few rules and prefer unstructured and dynamic settings. These individuals accept changes and are more logical (Hofstede 1993). The mascul inity versus femininity dimension is concerned with the differences in gender roles. Individuals in masculine societies tend to emphasize on power, competitiveness, ambition, materialism and assertiveness. Feminine-oriented societies emphasize on quality of life and relationships. Societies that emphasize on long-term orientation focus on the future. They promote values such as saving, adaptation and persistence, which will bring future rewards. On the other hand, societies that are short-term oriented promote values concerned with the present and the past. Such values include preserving traditions, stability, and reciprocation. Another dimension is indulgence versus restraint. Highly indulgent societies give people the freedom to satisfy their desires and needs. However, societies that emphasize on restraint regulate and suppress the satisfaction of peoples’ desires and needs and are characterized by strict rules (Hofstede 1993). Fons

Chador on Muslim Women Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Chador on Muslim Women - Essay Example A chador is a loose robe that is worn like an open cloak by Muslim women, as stated in the Definition of Chador. Although most people associate the wearing of chador with Iranian women, it is deemed that chador is also worn by Muslim women in other parts of the Middle East like Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Typically, a chador is worn with hijab, a headscarf which is intended to cover the wearer’s hair, throat, and neck, as claimed in an online article entitled Chador. However, a chador does not necessarily have to include a facial veil. In terms of wearing the chador, women pull it over their heads, clasping it shut in front and swathing their bodies in the fabric, as discussed in an online article called What is a Chador?. This is made possible because the chador is cut in the shape of an open half-circle. A well-worn chador is able to cover everything but the hands, feet, and face of the woman, with hijab giving extra support by covering the face—all of these to ensure t hat nothing indiscreet will be revealed. It is interesting to point out that some highly traditional women wear chador with a riband.The underneath clothing depends upon the taste of the wearer. Although there were certain points in Muslim history in which Iranian women wore daring outfits as an expression of their outrage against the manipulative government, the majority of the Muslim women like wearing the chador with a modest clothing underneath in order to highlight their expression of piety, their matter of taste, or just plain personal comfort.

The Relationship of Marijuana Accessibility & Substance Abuse Essay Example for Free

The Relationship of Marijuana Accessibility Substance Abuse Essay Abstract A growing concern in the medical and mental health field is the relationship between marijuana use and further illicit drug abuse. Due to the recent state laws passing in Washington and Colorado, there has been a need for a study to address the accessibility factor in relations to the â€Å"gateway hypothesis† to marijuana. The fear is that the increase in accessibility of marijuana will result in an increase of substance abuse and dependency. Therefore, this study is intended to address the following research question: Is the increased accessibility of marijuana correlated with the increase use of marijuana and other illicit drug use. Additionally, this proposal will address the gap in the literature, sample and instrument used, and the findings. The Relationship of Marijuana Accessibility Substance Abuse A growing concern in the medical and mental health field is the association of marijuana use and further illicit drug abuse as well as whether the increase accessibility of marijuana will result in the increase of substance abuse (Yacoubian, 2007). In the United Sates, researchers and professionals have observed the controversial gateway hypothesis of marijuana for the past 30 years (Hall Lynskey, 2005). Hall and Lynskey provide the following operational definition for the gateway hypothesis: â€Å"Drugs whose use in some unspecified way is a cause of the use of later drugs in the sequence† (p.1). During this time, a variety of studies have been conducted and have discovered empirical support to suggest that marijuana is commonly associated with the use of other illicit drugs (Lessem, 2006). A previous study found that 90% of cocaine users had used marijuana prior to cocaine (Fergusson, Boden, Horwood, 2006). In another study, researchers discovered that 33% of occasional and 84% of daily marijuana users reported using other illicit drugs (Fergusson, Boden, Horwood, 2006, p. 2). Currently, marijuana is a hot topic in the media due to the United States having the worlds largest single market for illicit drugs (Yacoubian, 2007).  In addition, research shows that marijuana has been discovered as the most prevalent illicit drug within the American households (Yacoubian). Out of the estimated 19 million people using illicit drugs in American households, the majority of patients admitted to treatment facilities are adolescents and young adults for marijuana abuse (Lessem, 2006). This research significantly affects the mental health field due to the high demand of professionals trained and qualified to work with and treat patients with substance abuse and dependency issues. In terms of policy, during the 2012 election the state of Washington and Colorado passed laws that legalized the recreational use of marijuana (Healy, 2012). To date an estimate of 12 states have decriminalized marijuana and 18 states as well as Washington, DC permit medical marijuana use (Healy). However, under the Federal law there is no such thing as â€Å"medical† marijuana (McCarthy, 2004). This is due to the Drug Enforcement Administration’s criteria and the Controlled Substance Act which classifies marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug based on the following three factors: (1) its high potential for abuse, (2) having no significant means for medical use, (3) lack of accepted safety for use of the drug (McCarthy). Additionally, the Department of Justice clearly states that marijuana is illegal under Federal Law despite state policies and acts (McCarthy). Yacoubian (2007) addresses the debate between criminalization versus decriminalization by comparing and contrasting drug regulation and policies within the United States and the Netherlands. Research found that de facto legalization, permitting coffee shops, in the Netherlands led to a significant increase of marijuana use among Dutch youth (Yacoubian). Yacoubian concluded that research suggests that an increase accessibility of marijuana will result in the increase of drug use. For the purpose of this study, the operational definition of accessibility will align with Yacoubians, which is based on state policies and regulation. For example, legalization policies suggest a high accessibility of marijuana (Yacoubian). Specifically, in regards to the present study the following three states define the level accessibility: Colorado’s legalization policies and recreational use (high accessibility), California’s decimalization policies and medical use (limited accessibility), and Virginia’s illegal policies and no permitted use (no accessibility) (Healy, 2012). Due to the conflict of recent state laws passing and Federal Laws not changing there has been a  necessity for further research regarding the illicit drug marijuana and its effects (Healy, 2012). Researchers have found a significant relationship between regular and early marijuana use and further drug use such as cocaine, heroin, pills, etc. (Hall Lynskey, 2005). However, previous studies concluded that there is a gap within the research because there may have been an overestimation of results suggesting the â€Å"gateway hypothesis† known as the frequency of marijuana use and later involvement in other illicit drug use (Fergusson, Boden Horwood, 2006). Lessem (2006) mentioned some of the limitations to research were the inability to measure drug dependency as well as the issues of causality. In addition, most current research studies are out dated and prior to the recent laws. This research study was designed to fill the specific gap portrayed within the current research. According to Fergusson, Boden, and Horwood (2006) their study resulted in overestimation of date; therefore, this specific study was formatted to ensure the data is precisely and accurately analyzed to prevent complications of overestimations. Additionally, this study uses a valid and reliable assessment to measure drug abuse and dependency, which satisfies the limitations previously mentioned in Lessem’s (2006) research study. It is a concern that as marijuana becomes more accessible, there will be an increase in substance abuse and dependency across the nation (Hall Lynckey, 2005). This study is intended to address the following research question: Is the increase accessibility of marijuana correlated with the increase of marijuana use and substance abuse and dependency. Therefore, the research hypothesis for this study is that with the increase of accessibility there will an increase in substance abuse and dependency. The overall purpose of this research study is to cover several presenting factors. First, it is to increase awareness of the epidemic of marijuana use and further drug abuse within our nation. Second, it is to educate the public on the significance of the relationship between marijuana and drug abuse. Lastly, this research proposal is designed to gather and analyze data from states in which recent laws were passed permitting increase in accessibility and use of marijuana. Method Participants The sample for this study consisted of 450 subjects from the states of  California, Colorado, and Virginia. A sample size of 150 was used from each of these states, 75 participants were students from state universities and another 75 participants were patients at rehabilitation and drug treatment centers. The mean average age of participants within in the sample was 22.23. Among the total sample size, 64% (n=288) were male subjects and 36% (n=162) were female subjects. In terms of ethnicity, 42% (n=189) of participants identified as white, 22% (n=99) as African American, 20% (n=90) as Hispanic, 16% (n=72) as Asian, and 4% (n=18) as other. The sample was first divided into the following three pre-existing groups according to state accessibility of marijuana: California participants (decriminalized marijuana/limited accessibility), Colorado participants (legalized marijuana/high accessibility), and Virginia participants (illegal marijuana/no permitted accessibility). Participants were then separated into one of the three subgroups based on their drug use and abuse. The participant’s score on the Drug Abuse Screening Test assessment determined their placement in one of the following three subgroups: non-existing/mild, moderate, and severe. Instrument The Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST) was the instrument used to assess the sample in this specific study. The DAST is a 20-item psychometric instrument that is purposed to measure an individual’s drug use and abuse (Corcoran, Fischer, 2007). The manual indicates that a higher total score suggests an index of problem severity (Corcoran, Fischer). The DAST is scored by the total sum of all 20 items with range of scores being from 0 to 28 (Corcoran, Fischer). For the purpose of this study, participants scores are estimated by mild (scores: 0-6), moderate (scores: 7-13), severe (scores: 14-20). Refer to Appendix A for a sample of the full instrument presenting all 20 items. The DAST indicates that psychometric instrument has both excellent reliability and validity (Corcoran, Fischer, 2007). The estimated internal consistency reliability was calculated with an alpha of .92; however, the manual does not provide any data of test-retest reliability (Corcoran, Fischer). The DAST manual shows both a good discriminant and concurrent validity for the instrument. In terms of discriminant validity, the instrument’s total score accurately and significantly distinguished between the groups with mainly alcohol-related problems from the groups with drug  problems (Corcoran, Fischer). The DAST concurrent validity was examined by its significant correlation of the DAST’s background variables, frequency of drug use within a 12-month time frame, and indices psychopathology (Corcoran, Fischer). Procedure The participants of this study were recruited by two different approaches based on their institutional setting. At state universities, the psychology departments recruited participants through a research database that required all students in a PSYC 101 course to participate in at least 3 studies in which this study was an option. Additionally, faculty and staff at state university counseling centers recruited students whom were receiving counseling services. At the substance abuse rehabilitation and treatment centers, staff recruited current and new patients to participate in the study at their consent. After participants were recruited through their institutional setting and consent, they received two separate emails from the researcher of the present study. The first email was a confirmation email for the individual’s participation. The second email contained a testing packet for the research studying which included the following three components: study consent form, personal questionnaire (age, race, gender, and institutional setting), and the Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST). Participants were asked to complete the entire testing packet and return by email to the research of the study within a week time frame. Once the researcher received the completed testing packets from participants via email, the packets were examined and separated by pre-existing groups based on state accessibility. For example, all participants from the state of Virginia were separated into the no accessibility group. Participants were then additionally divided in to one of the 3 subgroups based on their score on the DAST. The three subgroups were determined based of the following range of scores on the DAST and the individual’s degree of drug use and abuse: mild (scores: 0-7), moderate (scores: 7-14), and serve (scores: 14-20). For the purpose of this study the data was converted to nominal with mild=1, moderate=2, and severe= 3. Once the data was collected  and converted, it was inputted into the IBM SPSS ® 20.0 software to analyze the statistical relationship between marijuana accessibility and drug use/dependency. Results The statistical analysis conducted was a coefficient of contingency in order to analyze the correlation and statistical significance of marijuana accessibility and drug use/dependency. The coefficient of contingency was conducted two separate times examining the statistical significance between no marijuana accessibility (Virginia) to limited marijuana accessibility (California) and then again no accessibility (Virginia) to high accessibility (Colorado). Additionally, analyzing the relationship between each accessibility level and drug use/dependency. Before running the statistical analysis, a frequency table was made to organize the data. The table portrayed how many participants scored in one of the three subgroups (mild, moderate, severe) under each state. Therefore, it was discovered that in the state of Virginia 47 participants fell in the mild, 61 in moderate, and 32 in the severe subgroups. The state of California had 37 participants were in the mild, 66 in the moderate, and 47 in the severe subgroups. Lastly, in the state of Colorado 29 participants were in the mild, 62 in the moderate, and 56 in the severe subgroups. The coefficient of contingency was calculated after the frequency table was formed. The first statistical analysis of Virginia and Colorado computed a contingency coefficient of .716 and statistical significance of .00. The second analysis of Virginia and California computed a contingency coefficient of .775 and a statistical significance of .00. Discussion In conclusion, the results of this study can be interpreted as supporting the researchers purpose and design for this specific study. The frequency table demonstrates that in the state of Virginia which has no permitted accessibility to marijuana that there were more participants who fell in the mild subgroup and fewer participants within the moderate and severe subgroup compare to the two other states. In the state of California, limited accessibility, there were more participants in the moderate subgroup and fewer participants in the mild and severe subgroups. Lastly, in the state of Colorado, high accessibility, there were more participants in the severe  subgroup and fewer participants in the mild and moderate. The two statistical analyses results conveyed additional statistical support for the hypothesis of this study. It was hypothesize that there this a relationship between marijuana accessibility and drug use and dependency, which translates that with an increase in accessibility there will be an increase in use or dependency. Therefore, the statistical analysis of Virginia and Colorado portrayed that there was a .716 correlation that was statistically significant by .00. The analysis of Virginia and California found that there was a .775 correlation that was also statistically significant by .00. Concluding that the null hypothesis was rejected and the research hypothesis was statistically significantly supported. Several suggestions can be made for future research due to the limitations of the present study. First, future studies should attempt to acquire interval data to run a more robust statistical analysis of the collected data. Second, it is suggested that future research studies use multiple assessments to measure both accessibility and drug use. Specially, the researchers recommend the Adult Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Test-3 (SASSI-3) that measures an individual’s probability to abuse or depend on substances. Lastly, a significant gap in the research conveys that there is a need for longitudinal case studies with individuals from states where policies permit recreational use of marijuana in order to accurately discovered whether these individuals are likely to use and/or abuse substances. Appendix A References Corcoran, K., Fischer, J. (2007). Measures for clinical practice: A sourcebook (4th ed., Vol. 2). Oxford University Press. ISBN: 0195314905 or 9780195314908. Fergusson, D. M., Boden, J. M., Horwood, L. (2006). Cannabis use and other illicit drug use: testing the cannabis gateway hypothesis. Addiction, 101(4), 556-569. Hall, W., Lynskey, M. (2005). Is cannabis a gateway drug? Testing hypotheses about the relationship between cannabis use and the use of other illicit drugs. Drug Alcohol Review, 24(1), 39-48. Healy, J. (2012, November 6). Voters Ease Marijuana Laws in 2 States, but Legal Questions Remain. The New York Times. Retrieved from  http://www,nytimes.com Lessem, J. K. (2006). Relationship between Adolescent Marijuana Use and Young Adult Illicit Drug Use. Behavior Genetics, 36(4), 498-506. McCarthy, K. I. (2004). Conversations about Medical Marijuana between Physicians and Their Patients. Journal Of Legal Medicine, 25(3), 333-349. Yacoubian, G. S. (2007). Assessing the Relationship between Marijuana Availability and Marijuana Use: A Legal and Sociological Comparison between the United States and the Netherlands. Journal Of Alcohol Drug Education, 51(4), 17-34.