6. Modern Society is a slave to fashion.

Fashion needs not only be limited to the scope of designer clothes or trendy gadgets, it should be more broadly defined as the common, the widely accepted or social norm. It does not only include the materialistic aspect but also the non-materialistic part such as tradition and morality. Thus, saying that society today is completely controlled by fashion would be an overstatement. Society is not totally under the control the fashion and to a certain extent, fashion may actually help to drive the society to progression instead.

Humans' constant desire to progress coupled with their current mode of living motivates them to innovate. It is the process of coming up with new methods of doing things, thereby breaking apart from the social norm. Humans' desire for better standard of living and to tackle current problems serve as fuel for innovation. Take for instance global warming, a climate crisis acknowledged worldwide. The expected catastrophe of global warming pushes leaders across the world to seek for solutions, one of them being the development of green technology via innovation. Green technology, which includes electrically-powered cars and carbon capture and storage technology, helps to reduce the current carbon dioxide level present in the atmosphere. Therefore, this shows how society is constantly adapting to changes and it is not confined by the impact of global warming. On the contrary, global warming serves as an impetus for human to progress instead.

Society is also no longer confined to traditional family roles. Women are longer restrained to the roles of housewives and many are actively seeking employment, some even vying for political position. In fact, the world today sees some women in powerful position, for example Condoleezza Rice as the secretary of state for the United States. According to the Ministry of Manpower Singapore, 63% of the women population are employed in Singapore. This trend is also observed worldwide, particularly so in the developed countries. While this 63% is considered little compared to the male 80+%, it shows that women are gradually diverting from traditional fixed roles and are opening themselves up to take on other social position.

In addition, politics are longer restricted to speech rallies and public campaigns to gain influence. With the recognition of the power of the new media and considering that majority of the younger voters belong to the Youtube Generation, political leaders are gradually using the internet to communicate with the public. For example, Singapore is intending to look into its law on cyber-campaigning to facilitate the use of the internet as a political tool. Singapore's Senior Parliamentary Secretary has also used Facebook recently to garner support for the Youth Olympic Games. Hence, there are many ways whereby leaders can reach out and communicate with the public today. The public will then be more informed about choosing the right leaders. Thus, the new media as a political tool is encouraged, breaking apart from the previously rigid mode of propagating.

However, there are signs in society showing that it is still bounded by social norm. One such signs is that products and services sold today are promoted largely based on stereotypes. Aesthetic services such as plastic surgery and slimming services are becoming more popular because it caters to people's desire to be physically appealing. Sports products are often advertised with sports superstars to tingle sportsmen's desire to excel. People are willing to sacrifice in their pursuit of perfectness, be it their wealth or their health. A CNN article reports of how five people had died due to liposuction. Despite the death risk in several of the cosmetic surgery, many are still willing to take the risk and exemplified by the increasing popularity for such services. This shows how society are controlled by the stereotypical images of being perfect and many will go to all means to achieve that aim.

Another sign would be how the medical field is still bounded by ethical issues. Medical research are hindered due to the its process conflicting with traditional and religious values. Such delay in research leads to the loss of lives whose survival depends largely on the outcome of research. For instance, stem cell research may be the key to cure cancer, the number one killer in the United States according to CBS news. However, the controversial nature of acheiving stem cells for research delays the potential development of the technology. In spite of the increasing rate of cancer mortality worldwide (according to the National Cancer Institute), society is still bounded by morality issues which results in the loss of many other lives.

While society is controlled by fashion to a small extent today as seen in the economy and medical sector, it is too much to thus say that modern society is a slave to fashion. Looking at how fashion leads to progression in other sectors such as in technology development and standard of living, it would be more rational to suggest that perhaps society and fashion affects each other equally rather than a one-side relation.

Essay outline

6. Modern Society is a slave to fashion.

Modern: today context
Slave: controlled by
Fashion: Socially norm, commonly and widely accepted
Stand: a limited extent

NO
P: Human constant desire to progress
El: Innovation: coming up with new methods of doing things (breaking apart from social norm)
need not be contented with current mode of living, to solve issues or enhance living std
Eg: Green technology>green cars>higher fuel efficiency and environmentally friendly>reduces the impact automobiles have on global warming (widely accepted)
Ev: Living std are no longer fixed, constantly adapting to changes, not be controlled by global warming

P: Society breaking apart from traditional roles
El: Women not longer confined to the roles of housewives, seeking jobs, political position (condoleezza rice)
Eg: Increasing percentage of women seeking employment in Singapore (63% of women population employed by MOM) .similarly in other countries
Ev: Though this 63% as compared to male 80+% is considered little, noted that many are breaking apart from tradition roles.

P: Politics no longer restricted to speech rallies and campaigns to gain influence.
El: attract youtube generation, make use of new media, recognises its power
Eg: Sg intending to relax its law on online campaigning. Allowed if gotten approval from police. Political leaders using networking websites such as Facebook
Ev: Many varieties whereby leaders can reach out to citizens, public will be more informed about choosing the right leader. New media as propagenda tool encouraged and accepted, breaking apart from norm

YES
P: Products sold and services today are mostly based on sterotypes.
El: Aesthetic services popular today> people's desire to be physically appealing
Sports superstar advertising sports products> people's desire to be good in sports.
Eg: MNCs like Nike and adidas endorsing yao ming, maria sharapova, wear their products, seemingly selling the image that their products lead to superstar.
Slim10 pills having side effect, majority affected
Ev: Society controlled by the sterotypical images of being perfect. Go to all means to acheive that aim.

P: Medical still bounded by ethical issues.
El: Research hindered by morality matters raised, resulting in loss of lives whose survival depends largely on the outcome of research.
Eg: Stem cell research>possibility of developing any cells from it allow us to tackle problems of cancer and parkinson's disease.
Ways of achieving stem cell controversial
Despite the increasing rate of cancer mortality worldwide (National Cancer Institute)
Ev: shows how society still bounded by morality issues which results in the loss of many lives

Globalisation.
Globalization as internationalization.
The “global” in globalizationis viewed “as simply another adjective to describecross-border relations between countries.” It describes thegrowth in international exchange and interdependence.

Globalization as liberalization.
Removing governmentimposedrestrictions on movements between countries.

Globalization as universalization.
Process of spreading ideas and experiences to people at all corners of the earth so thataspirations and experiences around the world become harmonized.

Globalization as westernization or modernization.
The socialstructures of modernity (capitalism, industrialism, etc.) are spread the world over, destroying cultures and local self-determinationin the process.

Globalization as deterritorialization.
Process of the “reconfigurationof geography, so that social space is no longer whollymapped in terms of territorial places, territorial distances and territorial borders.”

1. Globalization of the economy.
The world economy globalizes as national economies integrate into the international economy through trade; foreign direct investment; short-term capitalflows; international movement of workers and people in general;and flows of technology. This has created new opportunities for many; but not for all. It has also placed pressures on the global environment and on natural resources, straining the capacity of the environment to sustain itself and exposinghuman dependence on our environment. A globalized economy can also produce globalized externalities and enhance global inequities. Local environmental and economic decisions can contribute to global solutions and prosperity, but the environmental costs, as well as the economic ramifications of our actions, can be externalized to places and people who are so faraway as to seem invisible.

2. Globalization of knowledge.
As economies open up, more people become involved in the processes of knowledge integration and the deepening of non-market connections, including flows of information, culture, ideology and technology. New technologies can solve old problems, but they can also create new ones. Technologies of environmental care can move across boundaries quicker, but so can technologies of environmental extraction. Information flows can connect workers and citizens across boundaries and oceans (e.g., the rise of global social movements as well as of outsourcing), but they can also threaten social and economic networks at the local level. Environmentalism as anorm has become truly global, but so has mass consumerism.

3. Globalization of governance. Globalization places great stress on existing patterns of global governance with the shrinking of both time and space; the expanding role of non-state actors;and the increasingly complex inter-state interactions. The global nature of the environment demands global environmental governance, and indeed a worldwide infrastructure of internationalagreements and institutions has emerged and continues to grow. But many of today's global environmental problems have outgrown the governance systems designed to solvethem.11 Many of these institutions, however, struggle as they have to respond to an ever-increasing set of global challengeswhile remaining constrained by institutional design principles inherited from an earlier, more state-centric world.

The relationship between the environment and globalization—although often overlooked—is critical to both domains.12 The environment itself is inherently global, with life-sustaining ecosystems and watersheds frequently crossing national boundaries; air pollution moving across entire continents and oceans; and a singleshared atmosphere providing climate protection and shielding usfrom harsh UV rays.Monitoring and responding to environmentalissues frequently provokes a need for coordinated global or regionalgovernance. Moreover, the environment is intrinsically linked toeconomic development, providing natural resources that fuelgrowth and ecosystem services that underpin both life and livelihoods.Indeed, at least one author suggests that “the economy is awholly-owned subsidiary of the ecology.

not only does globalization impactthe environment, but the environment impacts the pace, directionand quality of globalization.

environmental resources provide the fuel for economic globalization,

TABLE: PG 13-14

The rapid acceleration in global economic activity and our dramatically increased demands for critical,finite natural resources undermine our pursuit of continued economic prosperity.
- the quantum of resources being used has grown exponentiallyin recent years, especially with the spectacular economicexpansion of large developing economies—such as India andChina—and increasing global prosperity.
-Studies demonstrate that we already exceed the productive capacity of nature by 25 to 30 per cent, and that 60 per cent of the ecosystems are currently overused.
-the prospects of higher demand, growing prices and dwindling stocks are already propelling new races for control over key resources - oil, metals, minerals, timber and even recyclable waste.
-For many developing countries endowed with critical resources in high demand, this provides an opportunity to harness the power of globalization and pull themselves out of poverty.
-Past experience suggests that national and global economies have not been particularly good at allowing for the benefits of resources to flow down to the poor
-the challenge today is to find the ways and means to do exactly that.

The linked processes of globalization and environmentaldegradation pose new security threats to analready insecure world. They impact the vulnerabilityof ecosystems and societies, and the least resilientecosystems. The livelihoods of the poorest communitiesare most at risk.
-Even without climatechange, the number of people affected by water scarcity is projectedto increase from 1.7 billion today to 5 billion by 2025.
-A recent report by the Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that developing nations may experience an 11 per cent decrease in lands suitable forrain-fed agriculture by 2080 due to climate change.
-some evidence that disease vectors such as malaria-bearing mosquitoes will spread more widely.
-global warming may bring an increase in severe weather events like cyclones and torrential rains.

From: http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2007/trade_environment_globalization.pdf

1. Globalisation and Culture
Def: refers to the increasing connectivity of economies and ways of life across the world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globalisation
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6279679.stm
http://www.globalisationguide.org/04.html
http://www.spinneypress.com.au/202_book_desc.html
http://economics.about.com/od/globalizationtrade/l/aaglobalization.htm

Benefits of globalisation:
1) Economic benefits
2) Benefits poorer members of society
3) Rapid flow of IT
4) Globalisation is not new, but is a product of the industrial revolution.

Disadvantage of globalisation:
1) Freeing of financial markets has brought global instability
2) End of cultural diversity - tend to follow the culture of America
3) Falling wages of workers
4) Flood of migrants to cities in poor countries
5) Growing inequality across the world

Is same-sex marriage a practical consideration in this age of globalisation?

In the 21st century, countries all across the world place great emphasis on the need for globalisation. It aims to the increase the connectivity of the world's economies and ways of life. The ultimate aim of globalisation is to bind the world's people more tightly into one global system. However, in this age where differences are beginning to be acknowledged, should same-sex marriage be legalised? Same-sex marriage means the recognition of the marriage between homosexuals by society. Some countries such as Canada and Belgium have already legalised the marriage between homosexuals. However, should the world follow suit?

According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone is entitled to all human rights and freedoms without distinction of any kind. The restriction of homosexual marriage can be regarded as a national practice of sexual discrimination, propagating further practice of that. Thus, same-sex marriage should be made legalised because all forms of discrimination are not to be tolerated if the final aim of globalisation is to be achieved. In most countries today, different forms of discrimination are starting to be controlled through the means of legislation. For example, Singapore recognises the need for racial harmony and that any form of racial discrimination is bound to have a drastic effect. Hence, laws are passed which prohibits any practise of racial discrimination. Since society are beginning to take action regarding discrimination, what is wrong with easing the problems of sexual discrimination by legalising homosexuals marriage? Sexual discrimination restricts a group of people ability to love someone of equal gender. This group of people, though a minority, are unable to devote their lives to someone completely because they are unable to marry. However, because they are a minority, they are already facing unequal treatment in other aspects such as job opportunities. Thus, if society is to progress to a more liberal one with globalisation in mind, same-sex marriage should be allowed because it would be unfair to isolate victims of sexual discrimination.


On the other hand, be legalising same-sex marriage, it will result in many undesirable social problems. It will be defying the definition of what constitutes a family - Father, mother, children. Since families are the most fundamental units of a society, by disrupting the constitution of families, it will ultimately affect society. By allowing same-sex marriage, it would lead to homosexual couples adopting children which could eventually result in a cycle of homosexuality. According to a Straits times article in July 2007, there is medical evidence indicating that children from same-sex homes run a greater risk of suffering from Gender Identity Disorder. Thus, what is a minority of society may turn up to eventually occupy a larger proportion of the world population. This would make solving the problems associated with homosexuality even harder. Moreover, a proper family is necessary for the development of children. Take for instance a family consisting of two mother and an adopted son. Who would the son follow as a male role model? In a normal family, a father is there to teach and nurture his son into being a man. However, when that male role model is missing, who would the son follow? While homosexuals may argue that the son can follow the mother displaying more masculinity, how would he know that that is masculinity in the first place when the mother looks so different from him? Moreover, it takes a man and a woman to pro-create. If same-sex marriage is allowed, while homosexuals can help reduce the number of orphans, they would contribute to the declining global birth rate, leading to an aging population as experienced by both Japan and Singapore. Therefore, same-sex marriage should not be legalised since the social problems that result from it are far more devastating to the progression of society.

In conclusion, same-sex marriage should not be legalised because the eventual impact of that decision would be far more harmful to society than if we allow sexual discrimination to exist. Moreover, because the occurence of homosexuality can be associated to both environment and genetics, if we allow an environment that allows or even promotes homosexuality to exist, the number of people with wrong sexual orientation would increase. Hence, same-sex marriage is an absolute no if society were to reach closer to its goal of globalisation.

"The mother of revolution and crime is poverty"(Aristotle) Do you agree?

With globalisation as the main focus of many economies today, the world as a whole can expect to enjoy a better standard of living with higher salaries. However, that is not the case. Poverty still exists among the rich despite the fact that more and more people are beginning the reap the benefits of globalisation. Poverty is the stage or condition in which one lacks a socially acceptable amount of money or material possession and it does not only exists in the developing countries such as Laos and South Africa but also in more developed countries such as the United States and Singapore.

Aristotle once said that "the mother of revolution and crime is poverty", meaning that poverty itself can lead to revolution and crime. Revolution is a movement to change a current socioeconomic situation or political organisation while crime is the commiting of an action that is illegal under the legislation system, in which offenders face penalties.

Today, what Aristotle said can be considered true to certain extent. Class divide has become a prominent issue with the effect of globalisation. The income disparity between the rich and the poor contributes to this widening class divide. In Singapore, blue collar job workers like cleaners earn three digits salary while other jobs such as office workers earn at least thrice their amount. With the increased cost for living, what blue collar job workers are earning are just sufficient for survival. They have no additional money to spend on luxuries or entertainment whereas majority of the population can afford to. Such unfairness would certainly raise discontentment among the poor and when they as a group decides to change their fate, it may result in a revolution. When an individual is unable to control him or herself, it may also lead to the commiting of crimes when the person is driven to desperation. Poverty itself can be regarded as a deprivation from luxuries, which according to a BBC article "Focus call on poverty crime link" in January 2005, may lead to crime. While the above are negative perpectives of how poverty could lead to revolution and crime, it may not always be pessimistic. The "Pledge to eliminate child poverty" article in March 1999 states that Britain is starting a revolution in an attempt for people to appreciate the welfare state and at the same time solve the problems regarding child poverty. This shows that revolution need not always be seen from a negative perspective and that it may be an attempt to tackle the main issue of poverty.

However, there are different viewpoints to Aristotle's quote as well. What he said may be reversed. Revolution, on the other hand, may lead to poverty as well. According to the article "The market: winners and losers" from BBC news in November 2003, two-third of China have an average income of less than a dollar a day. This was due to the industrial revolution which took place 200 years ago, thus showing how poverty may be a consequence of revolution instead. Revolution may lead to economic progression, raising people's standard of living. However, it also have the effect of widening class divide because not everyone can be guaranteed a part of the revolution success. There may also be other reasons as to what causes crimes and revolution. For instance, crime can also be due to prejudice, greed, personal pleasure and many other reasons. In the case of personal pleasure, a barman was murdered by a gang who was on a brutal spree of violence in London according to the article "Man killed in 'night of violence'" in October 2005. The recent Thai coup in 2006 also demostrated how revolution can occur due to political discontentment when the administrative reform group decided to force Thaksin to resign from his position. Hence, these show how other reasons may attribute to revolution and crimes.

In conclusion, while what Aristotle said may be true that poverty does lead to crimes and revolutions, there are also other cases whereby other reasons such as discontentment contribute to crime and revolution. Moreover, the reverse may also occur and hence, it is not definite to totally agree with Aristotle's quote.

Other forms of discrimination

Lookism
Def: Lookism is discrimination against or prejudice towards others based on their appearance.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lookism
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=123853&page=1
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=86602&page=1
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=2622184&page=1

Ageism
Def: Ageism is stereotyping and prejudice against individuals or groups because of their age
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ageism
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/actionnetwork/A5267063

Disablism
Def: discrimination against people with disabilities in favor of people who are not disabled
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disablism

Xenophobia
Def: Xenophobia is a fear or contempt of foreigners or strangers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenophobia