International Financial Institutions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

International Financial Institutions - Essay Example It depends on the government of the recipient countries as to the utilization of aid funds and grants. Foreign assistance in the form of aid plays vital role in development of an underdeveloped country to the extent that they are utilized properly. Government institutions have also a significant role in the utilizing this amount. Good government policies not only help country in its development but also help in utilizing the donors' money properly. Existing research [e.g. Burnside and Dollar (1997), Mosley, Hudson and Verschoor (2004), Dalgaard, Hansen, and Tarp (2004), Burnside and Dollar (2000) etc.] suggests that academicians and scholars stress greatly on the importance of recipient country's policies in the effectiveness of aid. These authors regard aid as highly effective in poverty reduction and economic development only if the recipient country's policies are growth and development oriented. This suggests that although aid can contribute a lot towards economic development and prosperity, the result could be entirely opposite. Burnside and Dollar (1997) strongly opine that foreign aid leads to growth in poor countries with 'sound economic policies' (p4). The authors identify certain good policies that lead to long-term growth in recipient countries including "open trade regimes, fiscal discipline and avoidance of high inflation" (p5). They take example of Botswana and Indonesia as countries that performed well after receiving foreign aid whereas the countries like Tanzania and Zambia could not perform well. They studied the provision of bilateral aid in the period of Cold War and found that foreign aid provided to countries with poor economic policies such as Tanzania or Zambia was thoroughly wasted whereas it could lead to growth and development in countries with good economic policies. They argue that, "in a sound policy environment, aid attracts private investment, whereas in a poor policy environment, it displaces private investment." (p5). Hence, if the recipient country's economic policies are good or growth oriented, infusion of foreign aid can accelerate the process of economic development. For instance, if the existing policies of a recipient country accentuate open trade environment and encourage private investment, aid can be effective in removing the financial hurdles in the way of industrialization. The element of good and bad government policy is highly evident in the literature. The concept of good economic policy highlights the importance of aid allocation to the areas where it can be the most effective in bringing the desired results. Mosley, Hudson and Verschoor expound that "the marginal aid dollar should flow to where its effectiveness is highest, under the joint influence of existing policies and levels of poverty, not necessarily to where it is high" (2004, F218). Hence, the policies of recipient government which are relevant to the process of aid allocation truly determine the extent to which aid becomes effective in poverty reduction and economic growth or is simply wasted on less important issues. For example, if the goal of aid provision Dalgaard, Hansen, and Tarp "sufficiently poor economic management,

Different Social Ecological Perspectives Sociology Essay

Different Social Ecological Perspectives Sociology Essay Social ecological perspective is a discipline which tries to look into various results and correlation of social factors in the environment. It also examines the interaction among people within a certain natural environment and the challenges on the important affordances for knowledge which are provided by the very environment. Generally it provides the insight on how people in a certain environment influence one another in a way (Naess, 1989). This way, ecology is both reactive and creative; it also makes people contemplate on the changes within the system and around the environment. Social ecological systems go beyond an individual, since the world we live in have a greater impact on how we live. Bronfenbrenner (1979) argues that it is not only the environment which affects the person directly, but there are some other layers factors. According to his research which basically began with thesis equations Bronfenbrenner states that behavior depends on the environment and the person. Bronfenbrenner (1979) also considered; community, individual, culture and environment as nestled factors. This is clearly illustrated in Charles dawn book on web of life. There are several outcomes which results from cross-level influences and interactions between and within levels that social ecology perspectives address. Interactions are parallels or discontinuities and cross-level effects according to (Rousseau House 1994). Therefore this paper is going to provide a comprehensive overview on the theoretical concepts and constructs relating to social ecological perspectives, review on discrimination and inequality in relationship to this topic and then conclude by highlighting on how to achieve a better social perspective. Levels of influence comprises of; Individual, interpersonal, organizational, community and public policies. The social ecological perspective looks into correlated relationship which occurs between individual and environment they live in. In individual levels people are mandated to implement and enhance the lifestyle fluctuations to minimize risk and have better health. Family history, personal attitudes, beliefs all contribute to individual influence. They can be eliminated by encouraging good beliefs, behavior and attitude. Individuals who habitually engage In many unhealthy and dangerous behavior, for example intake of saturated fats, irregular sleep, lack of frequent physical exercises, alcoholism, high level of frequent stresses, live unhealthy lifestyles which can be controlled at individual level. The change of single pattern of unhealthy behavior can be modified. This can be archived through social influence patters like modification of an individuals behavior, attitude and thoughts in terms of actions and the way others feel. Some of the ways in which to achieve social influence is; cognitive change where there is modification of individuals opinions and how he/she feels. Behavior modification entails individ uals change on how he or she views the surrounding and effective modification with a shift with ones assessment of entities. Interpersonal levels are a collection factors which raises risk as a result of relationship with family, peers and intimate partners. These are seen to modify behavior and experiences. These can be eliminated by promoting peer programs that educate on equality, trust and mutual respect among others. These interpersonal attributes are strong on how an individual perceives oneself. These qualities and factors can be learned, like in membership of a group, but many are ingrained (e.g., ethnicity, gender). In the interpersonal sphere, there are also many components of the individual, including psychological and cognitive factors, like personality, knowledge and beliefs (Gregson, 2001). Gregson continues by stating that; The individual in his or her own micro system is constantly shaped, not only by the environment, but by any encounter or other individual they come in contact with. This shaping is well explored in child development, as it would be unreasonable to believe a child is solely a product of the societal environment. There are multiple, simultaneous influences in child behavior and learning including culture, school, teacher, parental support and education level, involvement in extracurricular activities, etc. Examples of Microsystems outside the self also include groups of friends, family, unorganized athletics, or social clubs (Gregson, 2001) The community level factor depends on an individuals experiences and how he/she interacts with community in general involves social environment for example a neighborhood, schools and work places. This can be promoted through social and norm campaigns based on trust, respect among others. A clear illustration is overweight and obesity where people normally believe that it is an individuals responsibility which is correct to some degree (David, 2001). The community also plays a crucial role for example where work places, schools food stores or restaurants do not provide healthy food options, in the neighborhood and where there are no fields for jogging, places for exercises, safe and accessible facilities for children to play, no proper healthy facilities and where physical education is not offered in school. All this are community responsibilities. According to David (2001) the community can promote healthy behavior through implementation of policies and environmental factors such as healthy cafeteria meals, Incentives for bicycles and pedestrian commuters, smoke free workplaces, sidewalks and bike paths, insurance cover for preventive services like tobacco cessation and work site wellness programs. These can lower the risks of diseases like stroke, diabetes, cancer and other heart diseases. The barriers to healthy behaviors are interwoven among the community in general. When these barriers are eliminated or lowered, behavior change will be achieved. Behavior change will then become more sustainable, this is according to James (2003). According to Gregson (2001) on the other hand these aspects can be rules, policies, and acceptable business etiquette within a more formal organization. He further argues that there are some organizations that foster entirely different atmospheres than other corporations giving an example of Google, where employees may wear pajamas to the office. The organizational component is especially influential with younger, more impressiona ble employees, as it helps to shape the ethics and expectations of a typical organization for these individuals. Examples include schools, companies, churches, and sports teams (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). Bronfenbrenner also claimed that the richer the medium for communication in this system, the more influential it is on the micro system. Societal levels are larger things that influence individual behavior, they include; religion, gender, societal norms, cultural beliefs and societal policies. This can be prevented by working in conjunction with social bodies associated with policies, mutual respect, social norms, gender equality, mutual respect, trust, and foster intimate relationship. These influences are more easily seen than the other factors, mainly due to the magnitude of the impact. Examples of significant intercultural effects include Communism, Western culture, Military, Islam, and Christianity. For instance, the macro system of Communism is a Marxist philosophy that believes that wealth should be shared in the macro system. A Communist country, such as Cuba (exo), governs and regulates the environment within which corporations (meso) and society or individuals (micro) exist. Media plays a significant role on all levels, as it communicates information and assists in the development of expectations for all individuals in the respective culture (Bronfenbrenner 1979) The best way of achieving healthy behavior is put in to consideration of factors at all level which are; interpersonal, organizational, individual, public and individual. By so doing, behavior change will be implemented and sustained. In the corporate scenario a lot of disagreements are understandable others while others are explicit. In these scenarios there are stakeholders who are workers, clients, shareholders and managers who normally raise conflicts. Interactive and cross-level consequences while observing from a different angle are seen, this is because a lot of companies think they only have the duty of creating monetary value for the stakeholders whilst upholding responsibilities to their customers. In some organizations, it is usually hard to tell events where devotion is taken too far towards owners and workers at the expense of the clients. Directions of influence Isomorphisms are parallels that cause impact on one level then the resulting impact affects other levels (Rinderle 2006). People carrying out Researcher on isomorphic models are required to see an equal impact on both the magnitude and direction in cases where at least one cause changes in level shifts. Discontinuities are basically antonyms of isomorphism. They cause effect one level or group hence producing an unequal, potentially in the opposite direction, they cause impact on at least one or more groups. Top-down effects are most prominent of any social ecological component, according to5 (MCLeroy 1996) the environmental outcomes shapes the persons behavior. The nested factors are basics which react while in crisis situations (Rinderle 2006). OK-FIRST is a program that alienates people on how to help others respond to whether related dangers in a better way (Oetz 2006). Historical interactions also shape peoples conflict behavior. This is clearly illustrated in several situations as observed in the many conflicts of the society. Media also plays an important role in strengthening these issues. Bottom-up effects illustrate how people or society affect the upper levels, as in how people form coalitions to achieve their goals 7(Rinderle 2006). There are also effects on cultures as a result of global corporations existence in some countries. For example, china has raised the accessibility of news to reach a larger audience in a Communist nation. 8 Guerrero (2006) shows emotions are as a result of feelings which includes anger, jealousy, greed, guilt among others and the feelings affects the events likely to happen. Interactive effects are interdependent variables and taking place simultaneously in many groups 10(Rousseau House 1994). For example in Italy where culturally different workgroups, conflicts among group members may occur. This deters relationship impacts in accomplishing the goal of group members for an organization and learning at the personal level. Thus technology also plays an important role in community, cultures, interpersonal conflict and organization (Rousseau House 1994). Political conflict The role of politics is in the making up of decisions. Politics encompasses the appeasing of all stakeholders towards realizing an ultimate objective, decision may be required of an individual, organization, community, or country. A decision a congressman makes affects anyone in his or her jurisdiction. If one makes decision not to vote for the President of the United States, one has given oneself no voice in the 15election (Ungar, 2002). If a lot other people decide not to put in their efforts to vote, they would have unintentionally permitted a greater part of others to carry the day on their behalf. Internationally if the administration of a country like America decides to inhabit another nation say in the Middle East, this will not only have an influence on the administration of that country but it will also have an effect on American soldiers and the whole environment where they come from. Another thing is that when America uses funds on conflicts that are political in nature, t he value of the U.S. currency may be negatively affected. This shows that many cross-level and interactive consequences of a decision can arise. An example of this is like the act of a terrorist could possibly interrupt with the lives of soldiers, the lives of people close to them and the country at large. Economics Basically, from a top-down view point, the physical environment determines a considerable extend to the lifestyle of a person and the country as whole. If the area is hilly or very dry and there is limited land for agricultural activities, the nation generally will not grow compared to other countries. The general, human habits, cultural characteristics and economics are shaped by geography and output is determined by natural resources, technology and human resources. Entrepreneurial mind has an impact on technology. These indicates that there exits bottom-up effects on economics. Health Peoples efforts to modify their own healthy practices are mostly dictated by social, economic and cultural setbacks. Poor educational status, time and money, energy and chronic exposure to neighborhood violent and proximity to friends and family members who often exhibit healthy threatening behavior are some of situation factors that can affect peoples best efforts that and intentions to improve their health practices. There are several ecological variables that can improve or stop danger to individuals healthy physically. To eliminate diseases, an individual should keep off from an environment in which they may be more exposed to virus or where there body defense system would be compromised. This also entails possibly avoiding workgroup if they are breathing or inhalation dangers or keeping off from a sick work mate. Some environments are good for health benefits. Staying around people who are physically fit will encourage you to be active, good diet and physical exercises in general. The state putting a ban on saturated fats manufacture may add value to top-down effect on individuals health in a country. Efforts to persuade a person to adopt health practices can be unfruitful if the person is not ready to embrace the suggested behavior. This can also be limited by exposure to environmental toxins and safety hazards (Haekel, 2003). The current research studied predictors of health-related social influence tactic use in close relationships. According to the social ecological perspective, predictors were grouped as reflecting characteristics of the agent of social influence, characteristics of the target of social influence, characteristics of the agent and targets relationship, and characteristics of the social influence situation. One hundred and nine spouses reported on situations in which each partner was attempting to influence his or her spouse to change a health-related behavior. Using the actor-partner interdependence analysis approach, results revealed only actor effects for characteristics of the agent, primarily partner effects for characteristics of the target, and both acto r and partner effects for characteristics of the situation when predicting health-related tactic use. Effects for relationship characteristics only emerged in interactions with respondent sex. These results indicate that social influence in marriage involves reciprocity and interdependence. Physical and social environment can serve as a media for disease transmit ion; waterborne and airborne diseases. The environment can also act as a stressor exerting detrimental effects on peoples mood, performance and physiology as a result of their exposure to uncontrollable demands such as noise, political upheaval or interpersonal relationship. The environment can act as source of safety or danger; residing in an area contaminated by chemicals, geographically unsafe, or socially violent.tne environment can also serve as an enabler of healthier behavior exemplified by inhalation of safety devices in motor vehicles, proximity of physical fitness devices to work place or home and exposure to interpersonal modeling or cultural practices that foster health behavior. The environment can act as provider of health resources such effective communication sanitation systems, public health services and legislation ensuring citizens access to health insurance and primary care. Risk communication In event of a natural disaster or hazard, there are ways of ensuring that people who are affected are safe. SEM can be required in helping one analyze when information and receivers and those involved. These conditions are environmental influences which are far reaching. The persons level of education, understanding, and privileged circumstances may determine the kind of information the person receives and the mediums through which the information is conveyed. If the information received is altered through the mode of communication, there would be a bottom-up effect on the people involved. In general MCLeroy (1996) points out that: The social perspectives try to, eliminate obstacles on healthy risks, generate conditions favorable for individuals well being plus all people around, creates a positive reception on how people be at vary, facilitates individuals interdependence, coexistence and interrelationships that are found among other individuals and the society as a whole, they try to show in which way; broader physical, social, political, economical, ethnical and cultural context and histories influence the ways in which individuals( and other people) make meaning out of observation and experience and it embraces the sense of care and concern for others (MCLeroy 1996). Other things that social perspectives accomplish are; they help in the recognition of competitive interests, access to resources and relationship with authority which is seen to manipulate peoples abilities, societies and countries to gain stability. These perspectives also assist in the reflection of self and thinking critically that eventually ends in positive actions, encourages social justice, helps learners to counter the ever shifting world, and enables youthful people to look past their selves while working towards expectations and a future encouraging people in taking necessary actions where appropriate in order to develop better healthy practices. Bullying and Victimization The idea of a multiple society influencing an entity is not a new concept. In fact much has been researched on the interplay between the individual, family, peer group, school, community and culture. This reciprocal interplay between individuals involved in the bully/victim continuum can be clearly illustrated, the social ecological perspective can be applied to the conceptualization of bullying behavior. According to Dolls (2001), in a nut shell, bullying does not occur in isolation. This phenomena is encouraged/or incited as a result of complex relationship between the individual, family, peer group, school community and culture. The individual is the centre of his/her social ecology. The individual involved ion bullying may be involved as a bully, bully victim, victim or by stander. Individual factors will influence participation in bullying. Ecological systems theory purports that all individuals are part of the interrelated systems that locate an individual at the centre and move out of the centre to include all the systems that affect the individuall Bronfenbrenner (1977). According to his theory, a child is inseparable part of social network comprising of four interrelated systems: Microsystems, mesosystems, exosystems and Microsystems. The child is at the centre of and actively involved with this interplay of systems. The micro system involves the childs relationship with one system; home, classroom or playground. The Microsystems depicts he the childs immediate interaction with others, and including others reaction towards bullying behavior. This conceptualization of Microsystems also includes the status of the child along the bully/victim continuum. Thus the bully, bully victim, victim or bystander interact with others in his or her social environment, and this interaction either exacerbates or mitigate bullying and/or victimization behavior. The mesosystem includes the interrelationship between system in the childs life; home and school. The mesosystems depicts the congruence between two or more environments such as congruence between and home and school in regard to bullying behavior. The exosystems includes influences from other context, such as the effects of a schools district anti bully policy or parental i nvolvement in the school system. Finally, the macro system is the influence of cultural mores, such as societal attitude towards bullying behavior. The social ecology that encompasses the daily life of youth dictates the engagement and non engagement in bullying and/or victimization behaviors. 19Simons (2000) because individual are affected by their surroundings, it logically follows that intervention the environment in which youth function. Interventions that do not follow the target multiple environments in which youth exists are likely to be fewer effectives than interventions that address social ecology. This assertion is related to consistent findings that the youth who are involved in aggressive behavior experience problems in multiple area including the family, peer group, school, and community. It is important to determine whether or not an intervention is effective in preventing and /or eliminating bullying behavior. Thus assessment of bullying phenomena must utilize multiple methods of assessments, use multiple informants and include assessments across the context. While this can be a daunting task, best practices demands that we asses all the social ecological if we are to accurately determine the effects bullying prevention and intervention programming. An example of this type of best practice is reflected in schema proposed and implemented by Simons (2000) these studies state that data should be collected across all settings (home, school, community, laboratory and others), by multiple informants, observers, children peers, parents, teachers and using multiple methods home observations, lab tasks, classroom, playground questionnaires, records among others. Conclusion We can conclude that a better social perspective can be achieved by putting into consideration of factors at all level which are; interpersonal, organizational, public and individual. Behavior modification entails individuals change on how he or she views the surrounding and effective modification with a shift with ones assessment of entities. By so doing, behavior change will be implemented and sustained.

Impact Evaluation of Three Social Programs Essay -- Evaluating Three S

You are to identify a social issue and research on at least 3 social programs or efforts that try/tried to address this issue. For each program, you should look at: - Facts of the program (NPO, beneficiaries, country or region of efforts) - Objective(s) of program - Whether the program has meet its objective(s), and how far are they away from it - Evaluation of the success of the program According to the 2013 factsheet for the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDG), enrolment in primary education in developing regions reached 90 per cent in 2010, up from 82 per cent in 1999, which means more kids than ever are attending primary school. ("Goal 2: Achieve," n.d.) However, 57 million children of primary school education age were out of school. Globally, 123 million youths aged 15 to 24 were lack of basic reading and writing skills and 61 per cent of them are young women. ("Goal 2: Achieve," n.d.) Gender gaps in youth literacy rates are improving, from 90 literate young women for every 100 young men in 1990 to 95 women in 2010. ("Goal 2: Achieve," n.d.) In Singapore, primary education was made compulsory for all children who are above the age of 6 years and who has not yet reach the age of 15 years. ("Compulsory education," n.d.) Factors that are associated to poverty such as unemployment, physical health conditions and the illiteracy of parents increases the risk of children unable to attend school and drop-out from school. ("Right to education," n.d.) Due to the lack of access to education, adults are unable to get a stable job to generate income for the family. The poverty cycle continues when parents could not afford to send their children to school. Undeniably, many children who were living in poverty ... ...nistry of Education Singapore. Retrieved from http://www.moe.gov.sg/committee-of-supply-debate/files/supporting-singaporean-students.pdf Financial assistance and bursary schemes. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.moe.gov.sg/initiatives/financial-assistance/ Female secondary school assistance project, bangladesh. In Retrieved from http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTEMPOWERMENT/Resources/14828_Bangladesh-web.pdf Stipends triple girls access to school. (2009, October). Retrieved from http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTABOUTUS/IDA/0,,contentMDK:21227882~menuPK:3266877~pagePK:51236175~piPK:437394~theSitePK:73154,00.html What is ida?. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.worldbank.org/ida/what-is-ida.html Quality primary education in bangladesh In United Nations Children's Fund. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/bangladesh/Quality_Primary_Education(1).pdf

Ellen Goodman Columnist Essay

Ellen Goodman, a Pulitzer prize winning columnist, author, speaker, and commentator who refuses to call herself a pundit. Ellen has long been a chronicler of social change in America, especially the women’s movement and effects on our public, private lives, and has spent most of her life chronicling social change and its impact on American life. As a Pulitzer Prize winning columnist she was one of the first women to open up the pages to women’s voices and became, according to Media Watch, the most widely syndicated progressive columnist in the country.Proof of her strong passion for impacts on an average American life, her column titled â€Å"Dispensing Morality† shows just that. In her column, she expresses how those in professions and careers should reserve the right to distribute drugs or anything that has the ability to harm someone, even if it’s intentions is to aid, if the decision on handing it out conflicts with their ethics, morals, and values. Sh e uses scenarios of situation like those and rhetorical questions to prove a point based on ethos with a tad bit of pathos; while she uses statistics of a considerable amount of claims, facts, expert opinions to appeal to the reader’s logos.She ends of this column saying: â€Å".. last time I looked, the pharmacist's license did not include the right to dispense morality. † Matching the last word with exact title of her column gives it a serious conclusion displaying how serious she is about the subject. In another column of Goodman’s, â€Å"Those Poor College Conservatives† she boldly evinces how politics does not only have a monumental spotlight as the nation as its theatre, but it also has a college level arena where students can take the initial stand of having grand debates as would senators and other officials perform when running for office of any kind.Here she uses statistics of how much Democrats there is for one Republican in the universities of Stanford and Berkeley to indicate how much national politics is effected by students who, as we know, are the next generation – the future. She also uses ExxonMobil; The Independent Women's Forum; and a quote of Harvey Mansfield, a Harvard conservative, to add on to her use logos in addition with her statistics. However, as much as logical this column may be, she uses her strong opinions to include pathos to approve to reader’s emotions, morals, and beliefs.This column demonstrates how much of a determination Goodman has toward the inclusiveness of American lives. One column of hers clearly exhibits her drive for righting wrongs of America. In Goodman’s column, â€Å"Will Her Voice Ever Be Heard? † she stands up for foreign writers to be able to have published books in the United States. This column mainly surrounds Iranian writer, Shirin Ebadi, who was the first Iranian woman to become a judge and the first to receive a Nobel Prize, who’s been es chewed by the government because she’s Iranian and the American government will not allow people who the country fears and is currently in war with.Goodman uses the background and story of Ebadi to convey the difficulties she has had in order to have her books published, those trails are an example of pathos because it is attempting to attract the reader’s emotional state. The author also uses facts revealing discrimination, such as: â€Å"A law written in 1917 allows the president to bar transactions during times of war or national emergency. It was amended twice to exempt publishers.Nevertheless, the Treasury Department in its wisdom has ruled that it's illegal even to enhance the value of anything created in Iran without permission. † To appeal to the audience’s logos state. The purpose of this article is to strike up people’s ethos so they will also stand up for those like Ebadi and hopefully let them have a share of this â€Å"country of free dom. † Ellen Goodman, currently does not write columns, however, as stated earlier, she is considered one of the most advanced columnist in the country.Her passionate columns of justifying the unjust in America truly exemplifies her love for this nation and how much she wants to make it an ideal land for not only its citizens but for those seeking liberty and freedom. Through her use of pathos, ethos, and logos she desires to please everyone’s emotions, value, and intellectual mind-sets, thus spreading her drive and motivation toward others. Her goal for composing such column makes her an astounding writer – not for money, not for fame, not for glory, but to touch reader’s hearts for good.

Childhood Obesity Solutions Essay

Prevalence of childhood obesity has increased greatly in the recent years, so much so that the number of children considered overweight by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has nearly quadrupled among children aged 6-11 years old (Cawley, Meyerhoefer, and Newhouse, 2007, p.506). Many members of the public, media, and congress have declared childhood obesity as a major public health concern, considering it to be an â€Å"important cause and consequence of wider disparities in health† (Freudenberg, Libman, and O’Keefe, 2010). Director of the division of nutrition, physical activity and obesity at the CDC, Dr. William H. Dietz, went as far as to say â€Å"This may be the first generation of children that has a lower life span than their parents† (Roberts & Wilson, 2012). Though it is evident steps are needed to be taken to help protect the health and futures of our youth, those with the most power to actually make a visible, long lasting environmental change are the most reluctant to do so. Policymakers have alternate interests in finances that water down their attempts to take charge. Sadly, often times playing the social problems game takes precedence over the more genuine social problems work. As a Washington Post article so boldly states â€Å"In the political arena, one side is winning the war on child obesity. The side with the fattest wallets.† (Roberts & Wilson, 2012) Proposals that frame childhood obesity as being an inevitable result of increasing environmental surroundings by unhealthful foods are too often neglected by government officials more willing to frame childhood obesity as an individual problem. Indeed it is more convenient to claim providing freedom of choice to individuals who are capable of making their own decisions, emphasizing self regulation, and freeing themselves of responsibility to their nation to lead in financially beefy actions. This essay seeks to demonstrate that childhood obesity should no longer be considered an individual cause stemming from lifestyle choices which can be changed through minor solutions such as education in physical activity and nutrition. Unfortunately, this social problems ownership has become the taken-for-granted frame for this problem (Loseke, 2003, p.69). Childhood obesity really is a social problem which is a direct result from our environment, social structures emphasizing fast, unhealthy, frankly JUNK food which is readily available in any given neighbourhood and continuously marketed through all mediums to increase profits to some select wealthy individuals. I will stress that the only solutions met by this pressing issue have been solely symbolic solutions which have been prematurely praised as they are false attempts to appear loyal to the public, communities, and school systems, while truly remaining loyal to the corporations, who some may very well be held entirely accountable. Within this paper the exploration of three chosen symbolic solutions to date will include: American Government’s distribution of the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans Midcourse Report: Strategies for Increasing Physical Activity Among Youth, the national law passing of requiring restaurants with 20 or more chains to provide calorie information on menus and menu boards, and lastly, the enhancement of PE requirements for school aged children. The distribution of said guidelines is reported to be important by reviewing â€Å"the evidence on strategies to increase youth physical activity and make recommendations†¦ and to communicate findings to the public.† (Rodgers, 2012, p.10) This report focuses on five settings, but in reality only offers strategies for 3 of them. Two settings (Home and Family, and Primary Care settings) received no proposed strategies to increase physical activity among youth, and focused only on areas requiring further research (p.7). Those settings which did receive proposed strategies were quite obvious suggestions which doubtfully would have any significant impact on physical activity among youth. One such suggestion is to â€Å"provide teachers with appropriate training† (p.5). Although it must be noted that this is not a report distributed solely to decrease obesity among youth, it is distributed to increase physical activity among youth, which is not the same, though admittedly similar. On the webpage this guide is provided, a number of other arbitrary tools can also be found. Webinars on online nutrition information, fact sheets, blogs, access to printable posters, and more. Educating the public, educating the parents of youth, and the youth themselves of course is important. At what point however will it be supplemented by restrictions on marketing of food and beverages to youth, which this guideline reports is estimated at a whopping $10 billion per year, but shows no indication of wanting to reduce or restrict this, and can only suggest counterbalancing with media campaigns directed to offset these unhealthy images (Rodgers, 2012, p. 3). One article is more forward in summarizing â€Å"Despite this widespread recognition of negative impact of marketing unhealthy foods, the practice continues unabated.† (Harvard School of Public Health, 2012) Mandated menu labelling of calories in some American jurisdictions was passed in 2008, requiring restaurant chains with 20 or more facilities to post calorie information next to each item on their menus and menu board (Kuo, Jarosz, Simon and Fielding, 2009, p.1680). This new law was backed by evidence that â€Å"eating fast food has been shown to increase caloric intake and the risk of becoming obese† (Harvard School of Public Health, 2012). As an alternative to restricting what is sold in these fast food chains, restricting advertising of these products, or perhaps even zoning restrictions on how many fast food restaurants were permitted to be within a certain range of schools, this new law appears to be the most liberal of solutions, and the most beneficial for the companies selling these high calorie foods. Findings from a health impact assessment are as follows: â€Å"mandated menu labelling at fast food and other large chain restaurants could reduce population weight gain, even with only modest changes in consumer behaviour.† (Kuo, Jarosz, Simon and Fielding, 2009, p.1683) As promising as this is, it is followed by a stronger and more realistic assessment stating â€Å" if nonobese restaurant patrons were more likely to order reduced calorie meals than were obese patrons, the impact on the obesity rate could be less than what we reported†. Because there was no study conducted on the weight of those opting for calorie reduced items, it is difficult to say if this solution is beneficial to the target audience, obese people in these jurisdictions. If changes are being made that is great, but there is no evidence to date to support this influencing the rising issue of obesity. It is just another means of essentially saying that the government is willing to educate on the food being provided and it is the choice of the individual, to consume or not consume. One solution offered by government recognizes that with the majority of youth enrolled in schools, school is an ideal place to provide much needed physical activity to students (Rodgers, 2012). In implementation, many state policies require schools to â€Å"have a PE unit requirement that constrains students to spend a minimum amount of time in PE class† (Cawley, Meyerhoefer, and Newhouse, 2007, p. 508). A study evaluating the effectiveness of such policies revealed that, naturally, a required PE unit is correlated with a higher probability that the student participates in PE (Cawley, Meyerhoefer, and Newhouse, 2007, p. 511). Although this is clearly a positive outcome of enforcing requirements among youth to enroll in PE classes, this same study goes on to say that â€Å"a requirement is correlated with students reporting fewer minutes spent active in PE†(p.511). Yes, you read that correctly, specifically 15.1 fewer minutes active in PE for boys, and 3.1 fewer in PE for girls (p.511-512). In conclusion, this report sums up the opposing information by stating that â€Å"curriculum development is not significantly associated with the amount of time spent active in PE†. As such, the implementation of these programs sounds a lot more effective in theory then it is in practice. All three of these solutions offered by government are certainly steps in recognizing that childhood obesity is in fact prevalent in our society. These solutions also claim that something can be done to reduce the level of harm to children’s health, and that actions should be implemented in correcting this epidemic. Essentially childhood obesity is a recognized social problem in our society. Unfortunately because the victims, (obese children), are politically powerless individuals, proposals to decrease the harm attributed to them have been, and will continue to be symbolic. Sadly, effort from interest groups with good intentions can be overshadowed by the social problems game of politics. This concept is not lost in an article posted in The New York Academy of Medicine which reads as follows: â€Å"†¦private interests generally have more resources and skills than public health reformers to achieve their policy goals, and are more successful in resisting changes than advocates are in implementing them. These structural barriers are a powerful deterrent to reducing childhood obesity. Creating cities where health rather than business concerns take precedence will require new approaches to governance and democracy.† (Freudenberg, Libman, and O’Keefe, 2010, p.761) It appears as though, for now, the social problems game of proposing symbolic solutions for childhood obesity is being accepted by audiences. Since Loseke claims that â€Å"the goal of social problems game is persuading audience members† (p.51), government officials, the players, are succeeding. References Cawley, J., Meyerhoefer, C. and Newhouse, D. (2007), The correlation of youth physical activity with state policies. Contemporary Economic Policy, 25: 506–517. doi: 10.1111/j.1465-7287.2007.00070.x Fredenberg, N., Libman, K., O’Keefe, E. (2010), A tale of two obescities: The role of municipal governance in reducing childhood obesity in New York city and London. Journal of Urban Health: Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, 87:5 doi:10.1007/s11524-101-943-x Harvard School of Public Health, (2012), The obesity prevention source toxic food environment. Retrieved from: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/ Kuo, T., Jarosz, C., Simon,P., Fielding, J. (2009), Menu labelling as a potential strategy for combating obesity epidemic: A health impact assessment. American Journal of Public Health, 99:9 doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2008.153023 Loseke, D. (2003), Thinking about social problems. New York: Walter de Gruyter, Inc. Robert, J., Wilson, D., (2012, April 27), Special report: How Washington went soft on childhood obesity. Reuters. Retrieved from: http://www.reuters.com/ Rodgers, A., (2012), Physical activity guidelines for Americans mid-course report: strategies to increase physical activities among youth. US Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved from: http://health.gov/paguidelines/default.aspx