Changes of Youth and Policy - Essay Example

Social Change Community, youth and social change and policy According to Anderson Ralph E, C, Irl E. and Lowe, G, a community is defined to as a population whose members; consciously identify with each other, may occupy common territory, engage in common activities and have some form of organization that provides for differentiation of functions thus allowing them to adopt to its environment thereby meeting the needs of it’s component. The components of community includes; persons, groups, and organizations and institutions which enable it to meet its needs. The environment of the community constitutes the society in which it exists, adapts and even modifies (Anderson Ralph E, C, Irl E. and Lowe, G, 1999, P. 9) Social change in sociological context involves the alteration of mechanism within the social structure and is characterized by changes in cultural symbols, rules of behavior, social organization or values. (Form, William, 2011) To explain social change in society, sociologists have borrowed various models of social change from other disciplines. Among the first model was the concept of evolution which was used initially to understand biological change and idea of social change. Other sociological model such as structural functionalism came later to shed more light on the issue of social change. This theory explains on the existence of certain basic institution such as kinship relations and division of labor which often determine social behavior in the community. This is owed to their nature of interrelatedness as change in one institution affects other institutions. According to an article entitled ‘social change’ by Form, the various theoretical schools emphasizes in different aspects of change. Marxist theorist for example, suggests that changes in models of production can lead to changes in modes of production can lead to changes in class systems. This can either incite new forms of change or class conflict. Other theorists inclined to conflict the model, emphasizes on conflict an element which is inevitable in every society, which brings about changes that promote social integration. Social change in society can emanate from various societies. The causes of social change affect every aspect of the society in the world. On macro scale, they shape all major institution including economics, politics, religion, family, education, science and technology, military and legal system. On the micro level of society, they shape society’s values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviors. (people.uncw.edu, 2011). Major social changes in community include; (a) Technological and economic changes such as agricultural advancement (b) Industrialization- The process of moving from an agrarian based economy in which the primary products is food to an industrial or post industrial economy in which primary product is goods. Also the process of changing from a manual labour force to a technology driven lobour force in which machines play a great role. c) Modernization: The process of moving from an agrarian to industrial society. Characteristics of modern societies include, larger role of government in society and bureaucracy to run government, Large, formal organizations and division of labor based on specialization of skills and abilities into occupation, forming of social institutions to regulate behavior, laws and sanctions to regulate behavior, Control over and management of environmental resources: oil, water, land, animals, larger role of science in society to produce knowledge to advance society, larger role of education and universities, improved quality of life, ability to buy good and services, more recreational time, better public health, housing  and self-efficacy  d) Urbanization where large populations live in urban areas rather than rural areas. Usually results from economic opportunities, either people move to a city for jobs, or rural areas become the sites of large businesses which leads to population growth.  e) Bureaucratization. The process by which most formal organizations in a society run their organizations through the use of extreme rational and impersonal thinking, division of labor, and record keeping. All tasks and functions are broken down into small parts which become positions in the organizational hierarchy.  Roles attached to positions.  Pay and benefits attached to positions not persons. f) Conflict and Competition. Examples include war due to religion, ethnic tensions, and competition for resources. g) Ideology. Religious beliefs for example, caused the rise of capitalism in U.S. due to religious beliefs and Protestant work ethic. Also religious beliefs sometimes lead to revolution and civil wars which lead to new countries. h) Diffusion- The rates at which populations adopt new goods and services. According to Dean, 2006 in page (1), social policy entails the study of social relations necessary for human wellbeing and the system by which wellbeing maybe promoted.Coles (1995, p3),states that social policy and the youths involves the study of welfare and welfare systems and the way in which systems of welfare do or do not ,meet social needs. Social policy among the youths focus on key areas affecting the youths including , education, training and the labour markerts, housing, health and social security and institution of social care. Social policy also focuses upon particular clients group such as the homeless, disabled and the elderly. Social policy also often focuses on the most vulnerable sections of the community and the ones who most require the help of stare agencies in both supporting them and protecting their welfare. Welfare systems designed for youths are organized so as to offer opportunities and support for their physical, emotionl, social, moral and education development and to protect them from exploitation and abuse (Coles,1995, p 4).Some of this is done directly through the support for the family and also through direct provision of services for young people by state agencies In most cases, youths are the back borne to the society in bringing about social change. They can change the future of the society with their courageous behavior and wellbeing. Despite the youth being active agent of social change, they are faced by numerous challenges of providing a stable and strong economic and social infrastructure to the community. This is mainly caused by social exclusion of youth in policy matters as noted by Barry (2005, p1) that young people have few legitimate means to have their voice heard. Barry writes that society in its capacity must be willingness to be more inclusive of the youth. The youths as they endeavor to mainstream the society, they are constrained by poverty, extended dependency on the family, limited opportunities available for employment, housing and higher education According to Barry, youth policy is one of the key vehicles for ensuring that the youth inclusion in social matters becomes a reality. Also, the combination of significant change in attitudes and practices, an innovative and genuinely inclusive youth policy could pave way for the young to start experiencing greater recognition and respect within society. (Barry, 2005, p 1) Among the policy initiatives which have been adopted to combat social exclusion include; improving services for the youth and promoting social inclusion. These policy initiatives are aimed at giving young people particularly those from disadvantage communities, best start in life, through improved provision of advice, guidance and opportunities for personal and social development. Ways in which the dominant groups marginalize and exclude others By marginalization, we refer to the process of being separated from the rest of the society. According to Tatum (2003, p.10), the dominant groups set parameters within which the marginalized and subordinates operates. The dominant group holds power and authority in the society relative to the subordinate and they determine how the power and authority is to be used acceptably. Scholar Tatum notes that “who gets the best job, what in history is taught in school or whose relationship are validated by society, the dominant group has the greatest influence in determining the structure of the society.” The relationship between the marginalized and the dominant group is usually a defective or substandard. For instance, blacks have historically been characterized as less intelligent than whites; women have been viewed as less emotionally stable than men. (Tatum, 2003, p10) The dominant group usually assigns roles to the marginalized which reflects in most cases the latter’s devalued status, reserving the highly valued roles in the society for themselves. Subordinates are usually treated as innately incapable of being able to perform the preferred roles. When a subordinate demonstrates positive qualities that are more of characteristic of the dominants, the individual is defined by dominants as an anomaly. The dominant group is seen as the norm for humanity. Tatum points out that they generally do not want to be reminded of inequalities. The dominant, thus, create rationalizations to justify the social arrangements, making it easy to believe everything as it should be. According to Tantum, the dominants usually avoid the awareness of social inequality because their explanation of relationship becomes so well integrated in other term, that is, they propagate the believe that they and the subordinates group share the same interest and common experience to some extent. The truth is that the dominants do not in any way know what the experiences of subordinates are. In contrast to the dominant group, the subordinates are well informed of the dominants, mainly from the variety of images and information of the dominants group reflected by the mass media. In situations of unequal power, subordinates groups have to look for survival tactics. By survival, it means that not responding to oppressive behavior because by doing so will result into physical harm or even death to oneself. Tantum notes that “because of the risk inherent in unequal relationships, the subordinates often develop overt ways of resisting or undermining the power of the dominant groups”. To break the structural and psychological limitations imposed on the subordinate by dominant is possible, but not easily achievable. Thus, Tantum concludes by saying that “all members of the marginalized should gang up and protest against any form of injustice, and it is only then that justice can be successfully achieved.” According to Iro (2009 p. 88), he notes that the marginalization and political exclusion of youth possess a high threat to peace and stability in society today. Thus he concludes by saying that it is important and necessary to ensure the full participation of young men and women in political process and protection of their rights. The place of community youths in contemporary forms of governance Comprehensive models are necessary in involving youths in decision making and should be in a substantive manner within a comprehensive program framework. This is because most of the programs allover the world do not involve the youth in governance roles. The youth should be involved in civic engagement projects, where the youth design their own projects as part of service-learning approach. Youth can also be involved in intervention projects such as mentoring or even job training. Issues of governance also deal with the complexity of dynamics and diversity of modern political systems. Also patterns of orders that occur in the society as a consequence of the interaction of a wide range of social and political actors from state, market and civil society are dealt with (Kooiman, 1993) Kooiman notes that in modern government, activities are interrelated to governing efforts and are by far defined to interaction processes between public actors and involve target groups or individuals. The models of governing are necessary interactive in a complex and mixed hierarchical and non hierarchical society. Put in other words, the outcome of administrative action are in many areas not the outcome of authoritative implementation of pre-established rules, rather the result of a co-production of the administration and its clients (Kooiman, 1993, p 255) According to Bessat (2004), he notes that, youth participation in decision making has become a popular part of contemporary political arena in many communities of the world. Most governments are now advocating for youth participation. This is based on the belief that youth participation will empower the young people, help build community and remedy social problems. Bessat (2004) also notes that the idea of participation is itself an old idea central to democratic tradition. Booher and Innes(2005,p 419),also notes that collaborative participation of public particularly the youth, can help solve complex, contentious problems such as decision making and create an improved climate for the future action where bitter disputes divide a community. The only key elements required are authentic dialogue, networks and institutional capacity. The two authors also propose that participation should be understood as a multi-way among citizens and players who work together to produce outcomes. They proceeding steps should the involve developing an alternative practice framework, creating forums and arena, adapting agency decision process and providing training and financial support(Booher and Innes,2005,p. 419) Author Zeldin(2004,pp.75-90) makes it clear that engaging the youth in organization governance promotes positive youth development and organization effectiveness. Zeldin,in his research on youth participation in governance issues found out that engaging the youth in decision making secured the commitment of young people to their organizational communities and additionally, contributed positively to youth development. Also the experience of working with the youth has a positive development on the development of adult leaders and contributes to efficacy of their organization. Zeldin also points out that organization governance may offer viable context through which youth can be active producers of their own development and of communities in which they interact Governance issues must also be based on fairness. This implies that the executives in power must respect the rights and interests of the people for democracy to prevail. Community and informal social networks Social networks are mainly composed of individuals or organizations. Social networks are used to create contacts between individuals and even organizations. They are also referred to as social networks (Torun, 2009, p.26). Informal networks are mainly based on informal communication. Contrary to formal communication, informal social networks are being characterized as being fast and more informative. Informal social networks are very important particularly when it comes to team building among the youths. Torun notes that informal social network play an important role in a project specific situation. The relationship between project members usually enhances the sharing of knowledge and consequent influence project performance. In conclusion, Torun says that individuals, particularly the youths should foster social networks and mentoring programs so as to facilitate formal and informal knowledge transfer. Community and the imposition of normative order Normative order s a kind of ideal order that lays down the difference between right and wrong conduct, stipulating which models of conduct, stipulating which models of conduct are required of people as their duties, providing that people have rights to proper conduct by others and have rights to conduct themselves as they choose (Bellamy, 1993,p 126). Normative order is thus about law thus when normative order is institutionalized, there is law. The institutionalization of normative order in community arises mainly through the erection of standing forms of authority (normative power) held by some individual or groups. The general rules of order are made by authority and make bidding decisions about alleged breaches of duty or infringement of rights. According to Bellamy, law as an institutional normative order cannot function alone without relying on some measure of political power to enforce the law. Enforcement of law is necessary in a community in order to facilitate harmony, law and order. (Bellany, 1993) The existence of legal order in any given community as it allows it to function effectively. Police force, prison services, courts, armies and militaries in large scale modern societies help in ensuring that standing rules and regulations are upheld and not flouted and also to decide a dispute. Bellamy (1993p.128) therefore, concludes that institutional normative order, that is law, is a necessary element with the community within the community and states coercive apparatus. Community and social action. The role of the community, particularly the youth in participation in community actions plans is aimed at harnessing the enthusiasm, creativity and potential of young people to make contribution to the society. “Youth participation in action plans” youth should be involved at all times in community work, planning and implementation programmes. This will ensure the building of third capacity as well as improving of societies’ in general. According to Prasad (2005, p.1), he sees social action as any work done to bring about social welfare. Social action is undertaken by the people and the government. Prasad, identifies several motivation that influence people to social action. Some of the motivation factors include; political, religious, economic, social and personal incentives. Thus it is the duty of the government to help its people. The desire to help people is often backed by religious feeling as it is common belief that God helps those who helps others. This belief has resulted into philanthropic tendencies and people with means to share their income for charitable purposes. There is also a large group of other people who are motivated to do social work an account of economic consideration such as social workers. Community or social action is done inform of voluntary action out of goodwill for others without being paid (Prasad, 2005, p.2) Community citizenship civil rights and duty Citizenship spells the right of political participation as well as the duty to contribute to the common good. Citizenship rights are such as positive civil rights and liberty. The concept of citizenship was predominantly attached to democracy and political participation motivated by ideal active involvement in self government Civil rights and duties belong to civil citizenship .According to Stoneman (2002, pp 221-226) youth civil engagement is an important means of overcoming disrespect and marginalization of young people and when done right, it can contribute to positive change for all societies. Engagement of youth in civil duties in most cases is promoted by government and private foundations Reference list: Anderson, Ralph E, C, Irl E. and Lowe, G. (1999). Human behavior in the social environment: a social systems approach. Edition 5, illustrated, reprint. New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, P.9 Barry, Monica (2005). Youth policy and social inclusion: critical debates with young people. London: Routledge. p 1 Bellamy, Richard Paul. (1993). Theories and concepts of politics: An introduction. Manchester: Manchester University Press ND. P .126 Bessat, Judith (2004).Mixed messages: youth participation and democratic practice: Australian Journal of Political Science. Volume 39, Issue 2, Pp387 - 404 Retrieved 4TH April 2011.http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a713612280 Coles, Bob. (1995).Youth and social policy: Youth citizenship and Young careers. London: Routledge. pp3,4. Dean, Hartley. (2006). Social policy. Edition illustrated, revised. Cambridge: Polity. p1. Form, William. (2011). Social Change. Retrieved 4TH April 2011 http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/550924/social-change Iro, Andrea. (2009)The UN Peacebuilding Commission: lessons from Sierra Leone.Potsdam: Universitatsverlag Potsdam. p88. Innes, Judith and  Booher, David. (2005).Reframing public participation: strategies for the 21st Century: Planning Theory & Practice. Volume 5, Issue 4, pp 419- 436. Retrieved 4TH April 2011 http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a713722470 Kooiman, Jan. (1993). Modern governance: new government-society interactions. Edition illustrated, reprint. London: SAGE. people.uncw.edu. (2011). Top 10 Causes Of Global Social Change. Retrieved 4TH April 2011 http://people.uncw.edu/pricej/teaching/socialchange/causes%20of%20social%20c hange.htm Prasad, Ankit. (2005). Social Welfare and Social Action. India: Mittal Publications. Stoneman, Dorothy. (2002) .The Role of Youth Programming in the Development of Civic Engagement: Applied Developmental Science Volume 6, Issue 4, Pp. 221 - 226 Retrieved 3RD April 2011 http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a783719587 Tatum, Beverly Daniel. (2003). "Why are all the Black kids sitting together in the cafeteria?" and other conversations about race. Edition 5, revised, reprint. New York: Basic Books, p .10 Torun, Fatma. (2009). Knowledge Management as Key Factor in Project Performance. Munich: GRIN Verlag, pp.25, 26. Zeldin, Shepherd. (2004). Youth as Agents of Adult and Community Development: Mapping the Processes and Outcomes of Youth Engaged in Organizational Governance Applied Developmental Science. Volume 8, Issue 2, 2004, Pages 75 – 90 Retrieved 3rd April 2011 http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a783720474 Read More