The Life Of Working Mothers In Pakistan Social Work Essay

The Life Of Working Mothers In Pakistan Social Work Essay Purpose: This study explored the experiences of mid-career professional working mothers exercising integration between work, family and selves in the context of the city of Faisalabad, Pakistan. It has been examined that how the family systems included joint and nuclear, affected them and their careers. Findings: The study showed that the professional working mothers are responsible for performing their domestic and professional roles, besides self-care. The proper incorporation of both roles is plausible with the stipulation of flexibility from both, work and family system, both, joint and nuclear family system. All women had intense feeling of motherhood; their career was also of high importance for them as they find their values and purpose. They wanted to achieve the objectives of their lives and self-fulfillment. Now they were better able to balance their family, work and individual self in comparative to start of their careers. Research Limitations: The response rate from the audience was low, but, through in-depth, rich and contextual information, which was received during interviews, tried to overcome these flaws. The females from the targeted population became very anxious and some were refused to give audiotaped interviews. Originality/Value: This paper contributes in the work-life integration for professional working mothers. The study explored that what type of hindrance or support a working mother living acquired form the family system and from the workplace and how they integrate the both. Kaleidoscope career model was used for this purpose. Keywords: Professional working mothers, mid-career, joint family system, nuclear family system, work, Faisalabad Paper Type: Research Paper The proportions of women make up an increase in full-time workforce (Metz, 2005), especially in the professional and managerial fields around the world (Cabrera, 2007). Pakistan is in the phase of transition (Raza Murad, 2010), since July 2009 women employment is increased by 1.7% (Labour Force Survey, 2010). The increased proportion of women in labor force creates bigger challenges for women in the incorporation of roles and responsibilities and managing time accompanied with child bearing and child rearing years (Grady McCarthy, 2008). These challenges stimulated scientists to create a link between work, family and self (Valimaki, Lamsa Hiillos, 2009). As a result pressure on organizations to respond towards employees family responsibilities has been increasing (Goodstein, 1994). Additionally the challenge for the organization to find out the adequately integration between domestic and work life by work -family (WF) arrangements (Peeters, Wattez, Demerouti Regt, 2009), by provi ding equality policies, statutory entitlement, maternity leave, carers leave, parental leave, and non statutory arrangements like flextime, e-working, job sharing, term-time working (Glass Estes, 1997, Grady McCarthy, 2008). The increasing number of working mothers, over past years, has increased pressures for them as they confront meaning in work, family and personal life (Grady McCarthy, 2008). Work-life integration seems to be difficult for professional mothers due to increased pressures. They not only need to create meaning in their work, family, personal life by selves but they also need support at work place by the employer. The support by the employer at work place towards integration of work, family and self leads towards self-fulfillment and satisfaction which have positive outcome for them and ultimately for employer (Auster, 2001). The absence of the support by the employer may lead to the difficulties for the professional mothers. The work intensification and long hours, coupled with child rearing demands result in stress and labor turn over (Jones McKenna, 2002). The purpose of this study is to explore the issues, problems and experiences of mid-career professional mothers regarding work-life integration in Faisalabad, Pakistan. How the most prevailing family systems in Pakistan, joint and nuclear (Ahamad, 2002), affect them. The study examines what type of hindrance they face and what type of support they need at work place as well as from the family. Now in Pakistan, vast segment of the society based on women cannot be denied the womens status, autonomy and equality in playing a role in social, economic opportunities and nation building (Amir, 2004, conference paper). Concerns about the economy and as well due to the changes occurred in womans aspirations has increased the women as work force as never before (Ahamad, 2002). According to labor force survey 2010, womens employment rate increased by 1.7% as mentioned above. The focus is on mid-career professional working mothers because they are in the stage of career when a lot of attention i s required by their family and as well for building their professional career. Professional working mothers are defined as those mothers, who manage, develop and invest their professional career throughout the period of rearing their family (Grady McCarthy, 2008). Work-life integration Work and non-work are interdependent and the individuals have to play roles simultaneously or to switch frequently from one role to the other (Wilson et al., 2004). Work role is the professional duties assigned by the organization and non work includes family or domestic duties have to perform for family. Central idea of this research paper is work life integration. Work-life integration is defined that how professional workers incorporate the duties at work place accompanied with the domestic duties along self demands. This belief gained a lot of attraction in the past decade (Metz, 2005, Grady McCarthy, 2008, Valimaki, Lamsa Hiillos, 2009, Peeters, Wattez, Demerouti Regt, 2009, Goodstein, 1994, Glass Estes, 1997, Auster, 2001, Jones McKenna, 2002, Karatepe, 2009, Wilson et al., 2004 Burke, 2004). With rise of industrialization, the agrarian model is now replaced, the conventional role of women expected to take care of the children and men as bread winner is going to be change d (Valimaki, Lamsa Hiillos, 2009, Grady McCarthy). Employees need to confront the work and non-work roles corresponding. Dissolution, interference and conflict between the roles may lead to disorder, burn out, emotional exhaustion (Grady McCarthy, 2008 Peeters, Wattez, Demerouti Regt, 2009), negative health outcome dissatisfaction and emotional dissonance (Karatepe, 2009). The work-family conflict is considered bi-directional (Cohen, 2009, p. 814). Managing multiple tasks at a time may lead towards conflicts from work to family life and from family to work life (Kirrane Monks, 2004). Sense of equilibrium may create by positive spillover, enrichment and facilitation (Glass Estes, 1997, Valimaki, Lamsa Hiillos, 2009). On the other hand women entrance in workforce in last two decades at an precedent pace (Auster,2001), resulted dual-earner and in low gap between male and female (Ahamad, 2002). Females need support from family system and spouse to make an appropriate assimilatio n (Valimaki, Lamsa Hiillos, 2009). The family system and work-life integration for mid-career women It has been proposed that a professional womens career is difficult to be examined without examining her non-work life family system and spouse (Powell Mainiero, 1992). Family, a smallest unit of a society composed of two or more people who are interconnected by marriage, blood or adoption, live together from an economic unit, has basic features of sharing and togetherness (Ahamad, 2002). Two types of household systems, dominant in Pakistan, joint family system, in which women with her husband and children lives with in-laws, and the nuclear family system, in which a woman separately lives with her husband and children (Amir, 2004). A newly married working woman prefers to live in nuclear family system but in child bearing stage this system jeopardizes her life (Aamir, 2004). Due to the lack of day care centers and unreliable servants and maids may make it difficult for the working professional mothers to take care of their dependent children particular in mid-career. In such case joint family system becomes the heart favorite of working professional mothers (Aamir, 2004), which may facilitate and may take care of their children, in their working hours. Woman marries the whole family and she is answerable to other family members(Ahamad,2004), tough responsibilities are on her shoulders, specifically in joint system, leads towards heavy burden when woman is working as professional and as well as an economic hand of her partner. In such case woman may feel dissonance and may prefer nuclear system where number of dependents are less, she needs support from her spouse and work place to continue her professional career. Modern life is leading towards change in roles of women and men due to continuous changes in economic and demographic trends (Ahamad, 2002) The percentage of married couples increased in previous decades, in which both spouses worked full time, a spouse or a partner can provide basic support, include sharing home, parenting responsibilities, encouraging career development, interpersonal support needed by working women (Gordon Whelan-Berrry, 2004). After passing day long activity at workplace may make a working women exhausted and make it thorny for her to take care of children along household duties. In such case professional working women particular in mid-career, where family demands with child rearing are increasing accompanied with career growth. It may become difficult to incorporate both without support from family and work place. In some cases, family and spouse do not facilitate working women but sometimes do really support (Karatepe, 2009). Working professional mother may b e from Joint family system or nuclear family system, necessitate ample support. It may affect in work-life integration. By sharing common interests a flexible spouse enables working woman to manage their career and integrate work and family lives successfully (Valimaki, Lamsa Hiillos, 2009), especially in mid-career where career has already established and women are beyond the parenting of infants and toddlers, finding new challenges in work and personal interest (Gordon Whelan-Berrry, 2004 Grady McCarthy, 2008). Thus, literature indicates when women are in their mid-career, face challenges regarding work-life integration while experiencing new opportunities in advancement of their career, they need to be supported by work place and family system, either joint or nuclear family system. Professional working mothers strive to integrate across the domains and to minimize the gap. This research paper aims to explore the gap that how professional working mothers create balance concerning work, family and individual selves; and how family system affects this integration? The following section indicates research methods used in the current study to address these research questions. Method Qualitative in-depth interviews were carried out with 22 professional working mid-career mothers. The criteria determination for the participants was Professional mid-career working mothers, who joint parenting role along with career advancement Age between 33 to 48, most agreed aged for mid-career in Pakistan With children, at least one dependent child, less than 18 years The sample was chosen by considering convenience and snow-ball sampling. The professional working mothers to whom authors met were asked for further contacts. The sample size of 22 professional working mothers is adequate representation of population of working professional mothers particular in mid-career in Faisalabad, Pakistan. Interviews were based upon 90 to 120 minutes and were audio-taped. Authors transliterated interviews. Table1 presents the sample questions which were asked for exploration. Sector Subject matter Sample questions 1 Responsibilities/dependent care you and your family Tell about yourself, your responsibilities at work place and self demand? How does every day job look like? 2 Amalgamating work and family life Do you find it easy or difficult to manage work, family, school etc at morning? Did you ever feel frustration and think to stay at home full time? 3 The work place-flextime, support, enrichment Is your work place family-friendly for you? Have you availability of any flextime? 4 Career development and promotion-support or barrier Are you on the right path of your career, you ever thought? How did you manage during child rearing? 5 Self-fulfillment and satisfaction Did you approach your value or purpose of mid-career? Do you consider satisfied yourself? 6 Family system Who does take care of your dependents while your working hours? What type of family system may support more mid-career women? Opt out from child day care center, house maid or relatives for your child-care? 7 Other issues Has the study enabled you to think in a different way about your? 8 Demographic data Source: Work-life integration: Experiences of mid career professional working mothers (Grady McCarthy, 2008) The content analysis was the approach used to analyze the data (Bryman Bell, 2003). The qualitative responses were collected, grouped and the concept was examined through the organized analysis of the record. The figure below presents the content analysis framework that was derived. Framework led four subject matters along with four research questions. Further integration of work is illustrated by incorporating values and essence of balance. Final column indicates the responses of the participants towards questions Sphere Themes Description Construct of work-life integration Respondents reference to theme 1. Self-perception in relation to work and family roles Children are a working mothers number one priority. When there was a clear conflict between work and children, participants made choices and children became the priority. Sense of self (assess values, beliefs and purposes) 100% Work and career is very important Career is important for participant they seem stimulation, challenges and enrichment 80% 2. Work-related factors Flexibility is two-way When flexibility is experienced at work it supports commitment and increased productivity in the in the work place in addition to integrating work and family life 60% Changing attitudinal, and social context The changing attitudes and culture in the work place and the social and legislative changes have improved the situation for working mothers Work itself (paid and unpaid) 75% Responsible for ones own career Working mothers took responsibility for their own career at all stages and more particularly now as mature members of the workforce and at mid-career they assess that it is up to them to create their own future direction 93% 3. Merge work Family system Whether joint system help professional mothers for working? Joint family including husbands parents,sisters and brothers are helpful for working mother Sense of balance Choices about time in each sphere 72% Whether Nuclear system help professional mothers for working? Nuclear system excludes members of family except husband,wife and their children is more beneficial or provide support to working woman. 28% 4. Proper Integration Self suffers when work and family become dominant Integrating work and family was a key priority throughout the years with little time for self, but participants found significance in this integration. Integration and balance across work, family and self= work-life integration 80% Paradigm is shifting and needs are changing Merging work and family is getting easier, children are getting older, seaking more time for self- meaning of integration is changing 80% Findings Demographic information and career profile The participants in this study were 22 women in number aged from 33 to 48, fall in mid-career, who endured full time job accompanied with family rearing years. All infatuated nationality of Pakistan. All participants in this paper were interviewed, indicated their marital status as married, with at least one dependent child. Three of the participants had four children; nine of the females accompanied three kids and eight of the respondents possessed two children and two females had 1 child. Seven of the females were living in joint-family system, three of which lived with just mother-in law and father-in law, and other four were living with other relatives as well. Fifteen of the participants lived in nuclear system. One of the females had infants and the children of other women were school-aged or above but at least had one independent child. The women possessed work experience between 8 to 22 years. The targeted sectors were medical, education, makeup industry, telecommunication, nursing and research officers including both public, private and semi-government organizations along with self-employment. Four targeted interviewees were doctors had specialization in different fields, work experience fall from 9 to 20 years. Two of the participants were Ph.D. doctors, fell under the category of research offi cers; eight of the respondents were from education field were working as teachers, generally owned masters degree, as well had some completed short-courses relevant to the fields. Three of the contestants were selected from telecommuting, two from banks and one from beauty salon, preserved 10 to 18 years experience and possessed different relevant short courses. Nine of the women included, were form private organizations, five were from government or public organizations, five were from semi-government and three were the self-employed. One of the respondents, had the nationality of Pakistan but lived 10 years in Madinah, Saudi Arabia and worked as lecturer in the Madinah University, Saudi Arabia for ten years, and shifted to Faisalabad for last five years and running her own school. Self-perception in relation to work and family roles The findings point out that when the family roles as well as work roles spill over each other, the number one priority professional working mothers gave to their children. It is evident from the interviews that females were very disturbed and stressed at their work, regarding their children. Women miss their children at workplace. All women became very emotional when they talked about their children. They are not ready to do compromise over their children. The working mothers focused on giving a quality time to their children. The following statements are the evident of the way of thinking of mothers: Being a mother, my children are my number one priority. I will never let my children neglected due to my career. I have a wish to pursue my career along with performing the duties related to my children as a mother. As a mother, my kids were my main concern. I always tried to give them a quality time rather than a quantity time. Self employed respondents were flexible in their working conditions. They were not bound for any ones order. Such women indicated that the reason for their being self employed was their children. They said that it was difficult for them to give an appropriate time to their children. I am self-employed and running my own school. I rare feel to make an adjustment difficult between children and my career. In case of any accident or sickness of child it is easy for me to take a leave. All women had intense feeling of motherhood. But some women responded that their work as a stimulating factor for them. Females pointed out themselves much active due to their jobs and considered them as idle without job. They had more challenges in their lives so they worked hard and struggled more to accomplish. They identified them as more creative in contrast to non-professional women. In the start of my career, I found it hard to create a balance between work and family. But now I feel myself incomplete without my job. In off days I feel myself very lazy and idle. I even dont wash my face and take bath as I dont have to go at work. My work creates charm in my life. Work related factors: Two-way flexibility is very crucial issue in business organizations. If employers give flexibility to the employees working in an organization, the employees also put more commitment over there. Parental leaves, maternity leaves, flexible working hours, carers leave, job-sharing, may fall under the category of flexible related factors. Flexibility is very important. I am here; the reason is the cooperation from my colleagues at workplace. As yesterday, I had to attend mothers meeting of my younger child. My employer let me to go. As a result, today I am putting my maximum contribution. I am a doctor but instead of doing practice I am teaching at medical college and I got flexibility from the organization to pick my children from their school. My children are quite happy and I am also contented due to that flexibility. Some women pointed out that they had to suffer a lot because of inflexibility of the organization; sometimes it became so difficult for them to run their career during child bearing period. I am an employee of a private organization. During my career I thought many times to leave the job due to inflexibility from my organization specifically during my child bearing stage, I ever got unpaid maternity leaves for only one month. At that stage I became so frustrated due to my child care and had wished to shoot the employer. From previous decade the working trend of the women is increasing and as a result, social, behavioral and attitudinal changes are also emerging. In Pakistan, it was considered strange for the women to go out of their homes for the sake of earning beside their husbands. Now-a-days male colleagues share the responsibilities and contribute to the work with their female colleagues instead of competing with them. I have been working from eighteen years. At start of my career, my neighbors, relatives, and my male colleagues watched me in an unsophisticated way, but now at the stage of my mid-career my peer group specifically included men are very cooperative towards me. Without participation of women, its not easy to bear financial expenses only by male. Now society is more civilized and it is accepting this reality. Women only considered them responsible for their career. They often had to ignore many opportunities just due to their family and child related problems. Women were not willing to leave the city due to their family and spouse. I received much flexibility from my previous organization at Lahore. I was at the promotional stage in that unit of organization. But in case of my husbands promotion in Faisalabad I had to compromise and to leave that unit of organization and made it possible my transfer in other unit of that specific organization in Faisalabad. Now I have to deviate from my smooth career path. I have left many opportunities offered by organization. I dont want to become as part of top management because I dont want to bear burden of work more it may cause to disturb my family. Merging work and family system: As research evidence showed that professional working mothers have much feelings of motherhood and as well they had identified the need to come in professional fields. Women have to leave the job due to negative spillover of work and family roles; they have to leave their jobs (Glass Estes, 1997). There is high importance for them to merge work within their family systems. As indicated before that two most prevalent family systems are joint and nuclear. Professional working females, as part of joint system, pointed that this type of family system showed cooperation with them in their career path. I have been working from fourteen years. I have never felt any type of problem regarding my child care. I leave my children at home and their grandmother takes care of them in a best manner. My children are more confident and bold as compared to my relatives whose mothers are not working. Whenever I go home after completion of job, the happy faces of my children make me fresh. All credit goes to my mother-in-law. I love her. I dont have any problem regarding my children care. I never felt any need of child care center here because our joint family system is the best alternative of such day care centers. I may never feel confidence over the servants and maids as I have trust in my in-laws. Some women indicated that they had to suffer due to joint family system because of the burden of extra responsibilities and domestic duties. Joint family system hinders smooth career path of professional working women. Due to a large amount of domestic responsibilities I lost many opportunities. Financial expenses also increases and I have to give a big portion of my salary to my in-laws. Respondents who lived in nuclear family system mentioned a lot of problems regarding their work and family integration. They mentioned problems regarding their child care and to perform a lot of domestic duties by selves. Working women needed a cooperative spouse. I have to ignore my children when I come to work. I forget work when I reach at home. I wish to have a joint family system at least my children may be in a position to get safety and security because I cant rely on maids. My husbands career is very important and he cannot take leave for children. It is also evident that the working mothers, who lived in a nuclear system, didnt compromise on their careers. They didnt have any responsibilities and bounding from other family members. They indicated much satisfaction because they didnt need to answer anybody. I am thankful to God that I live in nuclear family system, I am very happy in my paradise where there is no interference from typical mother, father, sister and brother in-laws. I am not answerable in front of anybody regarding my actions except my cooperative husband. Support from partner/ spouses were identified as a key element for professional working mothers. A researcher woman pointed that she was nothing without the support from her husband because a supportive husband shared the domestic roles as well. Today I am here due to my husbands support. During my child bearing period I did my Ph.D. related to my field. I did work at home and my husband made it possible to examine my work from my supervisor consecutively. My husband is very cooperative in building my career. Even he does cooking if I am not there. It was reported by all participants that they may only continue their career if support from their families were there. Joint family system was supportive for family emergency time and children care. Research indicated those women who fell under the category of nuclear family system, pointed that they were nothing without their husbands support. Because there was no one at home, work as helping hand in spite of their spouses. Integration of work, family and personal self: Increasing trend of working mothers from the last decade indicated that women were in their mid-career. There felt a need to manage work family and personal selves. But respondent showed that this stage of mid-career they fully focused towards family and work and had forgotten themselves, which is supported by following statement of a gynecologist; Work and family come at first. My profession does not let me to ignore it. I have to remain alert at all times. In such case I find no time for myself. Last day I came to workplace and my coworkers pointed that I was wearing shirt from the wrong side. The participant women showed that they are trying for their values in their lives because at this time of mid-career the financial issues were almost solved and compensation plans are not enough. Their children have also grown up and care for children become easier. The women at their mid-career seek purpose of their lives, their needs are changing. They mentioned that they had past a lot of time with their work and family now they feel need for self care. The following statement proves these views: In the start, my husbands salary was very low, unable to fulfill our financial expenses; I pursued myself towards my career as right hand of my husband. That was tough time when my children required time from my side. But now I have no problem regarding children care or any financial issue. Its now time to focus on me. In summarized form, it is proved from the findings of the whole study that working professional mothers interplay the roles of work and family along with individual selves. Family balance is achieved through the potential, appropriate plan, family system, and workplace flexibility and a network of support. Large proportion of respondents perceived that joint family system helped them for fulfilling career and a sense of achievement. In the start career the most portion of the time, they devoted for work and family. But now in mid-career, self-balance gained a lot of importance. Discussion and conclusion This study explored the experiences of mid-career professional working mothers constructing integration between work, family and selves in the context of Faisalabad, Pakistan. It is examined that how family systems included joint and nuclear, affect them and their career. How these professional working mothers made integration in spite of lot of challenges and what support they require from family system. The lives of professional working mothers are very crucial. They need to run their family and children as number one priority along with significant concern for their career. Mid-career professional working mothers experienced a long time period of time for their work. They created quality in their work, which motivated them for the self-fulfillment. According to Warner and Hausdorf (2009) work-family support negatively affects the individuals stress and leads to satisfaction in different aspects of life, family as well as the job while enhancing more commitment towards their workpl ace. Thats why working professional mothers leads towards the sense of achievement. Now organizations are struggling to better understand the factors, affect the fulfillment of this ever-growing demographic type of mid-career who is filled with intelligence and experience (Ellen R. Auster and Karen L. Ekstein, 2004). The existence of flexible working conditions and flexible working hours are reported as favorable for the working mothers. Schedule flexibility is a boundary-spanning resource that helps workers accomplish both their work and family responsibilities (Carlson, Grzywacz Kacmar, 2010, p. 331). Organizational policies are required to include flex options, for professional working mothers. Women and men particularly who are married, as c

Reading The Light :: essays research papers

Reading The Light   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The story that is most significant to me is “Reading the Light'; by Roger Pfingston. This story felt like it was written from the heart. It is filled with emotions, ones that the author caught in his story very well. Even though I could not empathize with Brian, I did feel sympathetic towards him. When David said to Brian, “Is it really such a surprise? I’m sure you know that your mother and I haven’t been the best of friends lately.'; (6), that was a shock to me. David did not seem to be sympathetic towards his son; instead he made it sound like it had happened and that there was nothing that could be done about it. At the end of the story, David, Maria and Brian went to the park where the author stated “The three of them stood huddled in the glare of ice and sun.'; (7) My heart sank. They just stood there accepting that their family was breaking up. I thought that Roger Pfingston wrote this story from his heart. I was able to put my self in Brian’s place and actually feel how I thought he would feel.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The story that stretched my imagination the most was “Charles'; by Shirley Jackson. Even though children have wild imaginations, it did not occur to me that a child in kindergarten would tell such an elaborate lie. When I looked back in the story, I found the spot where I think that Laurie first started to tell his lie. “The teacher spanked a boy, though, ... For being fresh'; was Laurie’s replay to his mother asking him what happened in school. “Laurie thought. “It was Charles';'; (14) When I reread this I thought that this was where Laurie decided to put on his act. I know that young children are capable of a lot of things, and some times they go unnoticed, like Laurie’s charade. This story seemed to be more like a fairy tale.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Story that I think I will remember the longest is “Another April'; by Jesse Stuart. This story found a soft spot in my heart. I thought it was indescribable how much Grandpa enjoyed life. Grandpa was acting like an anxious little kid “Don’t get ’em, I won’t ketch cold.'; (37) Grandpa seemed to be filled with life. He waited every year to go out and be among the world.

Hobbes’ And Locke’s Political Philosophy Essay

On Hobbes’ Political Philosophy Hobbes’ scientistic philosophy presupposed that man is the self-sufficient interpreter of the facts of life and that man can correctly define what the facts of life are. Similar to the Sophists, Hobbes asserted that the knowable facts of life are only particular empirical things. Thus, Hobbes asserted that universal words, such as good and evil, are incomprehensible to man in the objective sense as rooted in reality. Because they are non-empirical and universal, they are mere names. Like the Sophists, Hobbes was also a nominalist. Moreover, Hobbes asserted that metaphysical essences and metaphysical forms do not exist. God’s attributes are merely names that man thinks would honor Him. Thus, like the Sophists, there is no natural hierarchy tied to the essences or purposes of things, but only a realm of natural causes. For Hobbes, man existed individually in a state of nature before civil government was formed. He asserted that human equality is based upon an empirical condition, namely power. Man in the state of nature was obligated only to seek Peace by self-preservation. Hobbes embraced a negative theory of freedom. There was really no law in the state of nature because the obligation to seek peace was not declared from a higher power; no one had a Bible in the state of nature to proclaim to him the will of almighty God. As one who believed in God’s existence, Hobbes’ scientistic epistemology and ontology forced him to embrace theological voluntarism. Ultimately, morals are grounded in the arbitrary will of God rather than His character. Hobbes postulated that the superior will and power are the only legitimate grounds of law.[1] In terms of what is good and evil, just and unjust, the natural man in a state of nature did whatever he reasonably thought was right in his own eyes to preserve his life. If killing another person was deemed necessary to preserve his life, then it was good and just in the sense that it preserved the peace. Thus, because good and evil, just and unjust are mere names whose meanings no one can agree on, the state of nature is a state of war, every man against every man. And because man naturally avoids the risk of harm, he arms himself to preserve the peace.[2] For Hobbes, only civil society has a supreme sovereign to give the citizens the standard they so desperately need to judge between good and evil, virtue and vice. For Hobbes, good and evil are not objective ideas rooted in reality that man can conceive and understand with his own mind. Therein is the fountain from which springs forth the conflict of individual man in a state of nature. Man, as a risk avoider, contracts with his fellow man to leave the state of nature and create an artificial civil society in which a third party will act as the supreme power. Hobbes pointed, the will of the parties in their social contract create their duties to each other and to the third party. The third party, the king, must define for the society what is good and evil, just and unjust so that the natural war of all against all will cease. The king, however, is not a party to the contract. The king has no contractual duty to the citizens, but only a natural duty to God to seek peace. The king seeks peace by deterring evildoers (the king defines who is evil) by wielding the sword and restricting free speech. Thus, any punishment meted out by the government is for the purpose of deterring wrongdoing, not retribution. That is, the â€Å"evildoer† is neither punished because he necessarily deserves it nor punished proportionally to his just desert, but because the punishment is an example to others how seriously the king takes his duty to preserve the peace. Thus, logically, the king could â€Å"rightly† punish an innocent citizen. The only inalienable right the citizens have is the natural right to preserve their life. Thus, they contracted to obey the king; they did not contract not to resist the king when being punished. In the state of nature, no man is obligated to heed another person’s opinion or power. Every person has a right to all things, to define what is good and what is evil, even to kill a person if one does not trust him. For Hobbes, the primary means of achieving peace is by creating an â€Å"artificial† society through individual covenantal relationships (Ibid, 66). In De Cive, Hobbes defined a contract as â€Å"the act of two, or more, mutually conveying their rights† and a covenant as that which involves promises that bind one to perform in the future (Ibid, 35-36). Hobbes’ political theory involves more of a social covenant idea than a social contract. But he does tend to use the two terms interchangeably, as is evidenced below, perhaps signifying both that rights are given up and that one is bound to perform in the future with the creation of civil society out of the state of nature.[3] Most assuredly, Hobbes’ political philosophy is a recipe for a tyrannical and oppressive government Similar to the Sophists, Hobbes’ scientistic philosophy supports the argument that any philosophy that has scientific presuppositions and begins with physical particulars produces a negative view of freedom, a simple view of human equality based upon power, authority that is equated with mere power and sanction, a deterrence theory of punishment, a natural law that can only be known in selfish generalities, natural rights that are grounded in man’s self-interests, nominalism, and theological voluntarism. In addition, because the social contract or covenant is made with each other and not with the sovereign, the sovereign has no obligation to the people that arises from the social contract. The only obligation the absolute sovereign king has is to God. In Leviathan, Hobbes discusses why a king with such absolute power â€Å"will not take all, spoil all, kill all†. Hobbes states: â€Å"[T]hough by right, that is, without injury to them, he may do it, yet can he not do it justly, that is, without breach of the natural laws, and injury against God. And therefore there is some security for subjects in the oaths which princes take†.[4] Hobbes seems to say that the king would not be seeking peace, the one obligation of the natural law, if he sought to â€Å"take all, spoil all, and kill all†. But if the king does abuse his power, the citizens have an inalienable right to resist death. For Hobbes, the citizens contracted or covenanted away their natural right to all things, but one: the preservation of life. According to Hobbes, that is the one inalienable right that men have. In essence, men contract or covenant with each other that the king may kill them if they do not perform their contractual duty, not that they will not resist when then king attempts to kill them. Although the king can â€Å"sin †¦ against God,† in no situation â€Å"is the right taken away from him, of slaying those who shall refuse to obey him†.[5] Moreover, the king has the right â€Å"to judge what opinions and doctrines are enemies unto peace, and also that he forbid them to be taught†.[6] Hence, it is the sole purpose of having a civic government. On Locke’s Political Philosophy The state of nature refers to the natural pre-political state of man. Except for the fact that Locke believed man naturally is a social person in a family, he agreed with Hobbes that man is not naturally a social being. Similar to Hobbes, civil society is not natural, but artificial. In a state of nature, man was free within the bounds of the natural law and was equal in power in relation to everyone else to act as judge in his own case and controversy with anyone else. The natural law obligates man to preserve himself: to do no harm, and to preserve the community in the absence of competition.[7] Similar to Hobbes, Locke equated human equality with power. Although Locke believed in a positive view of freedom whereby man is free only within law, Locke failed to show that man could know the specifics of the natural law code and thus, he failed to show that man really possessed a positive freedom in the state of nature. Do no harm does not provide much moral guidance. In reality, like Hobbes, for Locke man possessed a negative freedom. Locke stated â€Å"state all men are naturally in†¦ is a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose of their possessions, and persons as they think fit, within the bounds of the law of nature, without asking leave, or depending upon the will of any other man. A state also of equality, wherein all the power and jurisdiction is reciprocal, no one having more than another†.[8] Similar to the Sophists and Hobbes, Locke believed man began his existence in a state of nature. For Locke, the state of nature is divided into two historical stages. In the first stage, man had a natural property right over his own body. Everything else was naturally held in common. When a man labored over something that was held in common, he acquired property in it. Moreover, man had a natural right of subsistence, which was regulated by spoilage. In other words, what man possessed as property by mixing his labor with it was limited by what he could consume before spoiling. The second stage of the state of nature was initiated in by the invention and use of money. With the invention of money, man could enlarge his possessions way beyond what he could consume before spoiling. Money does not spoil. Although the use of money produced the unequal division of the earth, overall, Locke argues everyone is better off: For Locke, mankind socially compacted to form civil society for several reasons: first, some in the state of nature were ignorant of the law of nature, second some were biased by the amount of property they had, third, there was no impartial judge to resolve disputes, and fourth, there was no third power to execute the law of nature. Underlying all of these reasons to form civil society is, similar to the Sophists and Hobbes, man’s self-interested passion to preserve himself. Because not one theoretical or practical principle is written on man’s heart, the natural law is not written on man’s heart. Because the natural law can be known only from a lawmaker, those who are ignorant of God’s existence because they fail to apply their reason are ignorant of the natural law. For those who do apply their reason and come to know of God’s existence and the natural law, Locke claimed that they could know the natural law code as they could know the specifics of mathematics. But Locke never came close to showing that the specific moral code is capable of mathematical demonstration. Locke extremely overestimated how much moral knowledge his empiricist epistemology could deliver. Locke’s empiricist epistemology could not demonstrate in detail what was good or evil, just or unjust For Locke, man’s conscience is nothing other than his own opinion of what is right and wrong. Thus, similar to the Sophists and Hobbes, Locke was essentially a skeptic. God’s natural law governs his creatures. Although Locke wrote of God’s right and authority to rule over his creatures, Locke never justifies his assertion. Locke never demonstrated that God was anything except the most powerful being that could compel obedience through rewards and punishments. Locke’s empiricist epistemology does not allow him to draw the distinction between authority and mere power. Thus, like Hobbes, punishment for Locke was merely deterrence. Moreover, because Locke was so consumed with, and analyzed so thoroughly, the empiricist epistemology of natural law, Locke demonstrates clearer than Hobbes that scientism coupled with a belief in God leads to nothing but theological voluntarism, i.e., the law is ultimately grounded in God’s almighty will, not His unchanging character, such that God can will anything to be moral. Thus, whoever embraces an empiricist epistemology and at the same time, acknowledges God as the ultimate lawgiver, will be left with nothing but theological voluntarism. Thus, scientistic modernism destroyed the firm and unchanging foundation of civil law and the only real restraint to civil tyranny, namely, a natural law grounded in God’s eternal and unchanging character. Similar to Hobbes, the source of civil governmental power for Locke is the consent of the people. There are two natural powers that are given to civil society, the legislative and executive. The legislative power in any civil government is superior over the executive because it gives the laws to the executive. Some of man’s natural executive power is retained. This is so because man’s natural right of self-preservation is inalienable, i.e., it cannot be given over to civil government. Thus, men in civil society have a right to resist the civil government if, after a long train of abuses, their opinion on the basis of their feelings grounded in their experience is that the civil government has violated the natural law. The civil governmental authority puts itself into a state of war with the people when it repeatedly violates the natural law. Tyranny occurs when the civil government acts out of its own self-interest and does not protect the property of the people. Locke’s theory of civil resistance is weak, however, because he failed to demonstrate that the specific code of the natural law is knowable.[9] Similar to Hobbes, Locke’s empiricist epistemology made the end of civil government empirical, i.e., the self-preservation of the people. Locke’s theory of civil resistance is based upon the personal opinions of the people. Thus, Locke could support that notion that the civil government should tolerate every religious opinion that does not threaten the people’s physical property.[10] Moreover, Locke placed most religious beliefs in the realm of mere opinions. For Locke, only a few religious propositions were within the realm of demonstrative knowledge. Overall, Locke’s theory of religious toleration is a two-edged sword. In a sense, it encouraged theological relativism. In another sense, it allowed religious liberty, albeit seemingly equating toleration with liberty (negative freedom). Finally, if Hobbes’ political philosophy described how a society of skeptics could live together under one sovereign power, then Locke’s political philosophy described how a society of skeptics could live together by balancing their opinions with the civil government’s. Thus, contrary to Hobbes, Locke believed that a little civil resistance now and then is a good thing. Although Locke’s political philosophy guard’s against tyranny better than the political philosophy of the Sophists and Hobbes, similar to the Sophists and Hobbes, Locke’s scientistic philosophy supports the argument that any philosophy that has scientific presuppositions and begins with physical particulars produces a negative view of freedom, a simple view of human equality based upon power, authority that is equated with mere power and sanction, a deterrence theory of punishment, a natural law that can only be known in selfish generalities, natural rights that are grounded in man’s self-interests, nominalism, and theological voluntarism. BIBILIOGRAPHY Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan: Or the Matter, Forme and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil, ed. Michael Oakeshott. New York: Simon &. Schuster, Inc., 1997. Locke, John. Two Treatises of Government, ed. Peter Laslett. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988. [1]   Hobbes, Thomas, Leviathan: Or the Matter, Forme and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil (New York: Simon &. Schuster, Inc., 1997), 54-63) [2] Ibid, 72-77. [3] Ibid, 11-21. [4] Ibid, 77. [5] Ibid, 79. [6] Ibid, 76. [7] Locke, John, Two Treatises of Government (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988) 283-290. [8] Ibid, 263. [9] Ibid, 290-292. [10] Ibid.

Nancy Drew Books Author Carolyn Keene Biography

Teenage sleuth Nancy Drew and Mildred Wirt Benson had a great deal in common, including very long and active lives. Nancy Drew books, in one form or another, have been popular for more than 70 years. Mildred Wirt Benson, who wrote the text of 23 of the first 25 Nancy Drew books under the direction of Edward Stratemeyer, was still an active newspaper columnist  when she died in May of 2002 at the age of 96. Bensons Early Years Mildred A. Wirt Benson was a remarkable woman who knew from an early age that she wanted to be a writer. Mildred Augustine was born on July 10, 1905, in Ladora, Iowa. Her first story was published when she was only 14. While attending the University of Iowa, she wrote and sold short stories to help cover college costs. Mildred also worked on the student newspaper and as a reporter for the Clinton, Iowa Herald. In 1927, she became the first woman to receive a masters degree in journalism from the University of Iowa. In fact, it was while she was working for a masters degree that Benson submitted a manuscript for the Stratemeyer Syndicates Ruth Fielding series and was hired to write for the series. She was then offered the opportunity to work on a new series about teenage sleuth Nancy Drew. The Stratemeyer Syndicate The Stratemeyer Syndicate was established by author and entrepreneur Edward Stratemeyer for the purpose of developing childrens book series. Stratemeyer created the characters and developed outlines of the plots for a variety of childrens series and the Syndicate hired ghostwriters to turn them into books. The Hardy Boys, The Bobbsey Twins, Tom Swift, and Nancy Drew were among the series created through the Stratemeyer Syndicate. Benson received a flat fee of $125 from the Stratemeyer Syndicate for each book for which she was the writer. While Benson never hid the fact that she wrote the text for the Nancy Drew books, the Stratemeyer Syndicate made it a practice to require that its writers remain anonymous and listed Carolyn Keene as the author of the Nancy Drew series. Not until 1980, when she testified in a court case involving the Stratemeyer Syndicate and its publishers, did it begin to become commonly known that Benson wrote the text of the first Nancy Drew books, following the outlines provided by Edward Stratemeyer. Bensons Career Although Benson went on to write numerous other books for youth on her own, including the Penny Parker series, the bulk of her career was devoted to journalism. She was a reporter and columnist in Ohio, first for The Toledo Times and then, The Toledo Blade, for 58 years. While she retired as a reporter in January of 2002 due to her health, Benson continued to write a monthly column Millie Bensons Notebook. Benson was married and widowed twice and had one daughter, Ann. Like Nancy Drew, Benson was smart, independent, and adventurous. She traveled a good deal, particularly in Central and South America. In her sixties, she became a licensed commercial and private pilot. It seems fitting that Nancy Drew and Mildred Wirt Benson had so much in common. What Makes Nancy Drew Books So Popular? What is it that has made Nancy Drew such a popular character? When the books were first published, Nancy Drew represented a new kind of heroine: a bright, attractive, resourceful girl, capable of solving mysteries and taking care of herself. According to Mildred Wirt Benson, ...it seems to me that Nancy was popular, and remains so, primarily because she personifies the dream image which exists within most teenagers. The Nancy Drew books continue to be popular with  9-12-year-olds. Some of the boxed sets you might consider are: Nancy Drew Starter Set, which includes  The Secret of the Old Clock,  The Hidden Staircase,  The Bungalow Mystery,  The Mystery at Lilac Inn,  The Secret of Shadow Ranch, and  The Secret of Red Gate Farm  Nancy Drew Girl Detective Sleuth Set, which includes  Without a Trace,  A Race Against Time,  False Notes, and  High Risk. If you like audiobooks, try The Secret of the Old Clock  The Hidden Staircase Individual Nancy Drew books, such as  The Case of the Creative Crime  and  The Baby-Sitter Burglaries  are also available in hardbound and/or paperback editions.