Design and Contemporary Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Design and Contemporary Culture - Essay Example In support of their ideologies, the authors present the case of the crisis of Victoria in British Columbia that saw the rise of teenage violence in the early 2000s. The authors explain how this violence and chaos were brought out as a social crisis in the state after years of hiding owing to the fear of tarnishing the city’s image. The authors also use other cases of youth violence and crime, as well as, the responses towards these situations, in support of their arguments regarding social construction of crises. In essence, the authors explain the role of the media in both, representing the real picture during crisis and its inability to grasp the intricacy of the truth of the crisis1. This first section of the article also explains what is to be covered in the next sections, and facilitates the comprehension of some of the ideas and concepts regarding social construction. Representation. Having introduced the story of youth violence in the first section of the article, Oâ₠¬â„¢Brien and Szeman examine the concept of representation as is relates to social construction. The term representation is defined as the social construction of meaning by use of sign systems2. ... Representation affects people’s thoughts and perceptions concerning certain events, hence its role in social construction. To, further, elucidate their ideas regarding representation, the authors also draw attention to the structuralist theories of representation, as well as, the rules of representation in social construction. As explained in the article, the structuralist theories of representation are focused on the indirect meanings of words and cultural practices, as opposed to, their direct meaning. Put simply, these theories put more emphasis on how words mean instead of what they mean4. O’Brien and Szeman provide the example of the semiotic theory in support of this, and they explain how this theory has had a major impact on culture. Essentially, the semiotics theory consists of two main elements including the langue and parole. The langue is what the authors refer to as the what the meaning is, where as the parole refers to how the meaning is presented. The lang ue is also associated with the system as a whole as existent on the abstract level, whereas, parole has been closely linked with individual utterances5. O’Brien and Szeman also discuss the rules of representation, and how their application in social construction. The authors explain the rules of representation are quite simple and they involve drawing the line between storytelling and the depiction of actual events. While these two principles may have a relation in social construction, the authors explain that the ability comprehend the role of these two elements in social construction is imperative. It provides individuals with the ability to draw out made up stories from actual realities. To support their argument, O’Brien and Szeman provide

STI and HIV Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

STI and HIV - Essay Example Nearly 88% of these people are in the sexually active and economically productive age group of 15 to 49 years (National AIDS Control Organization 2006, 11). Therefore, most people living with HIV are in the prime of their working lives with many of them supporting families. The remaining 8% of the infected population are above 50 years and another 4% are children (National AIDS Control Organization 2006, 11). The spread of HIV in India has been very uneven. Although the overall rate of infection in India has been very low, certain regions and certain population groups within the country have extremely high rate of infection. The infection rates are extremely high in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and the far north-east states of Manipur and Nagaland. Together these states account for 64% of the HIV burden in India (National AIDS Control Organization 2006, 14). Prevalence Rates Overall the prevalence of HIV for adult males and females has shown a declining trend in the past five years. In 2006, it was 0.36% while in 2002 it was 0.45% in 2002 (National AIDS Control Organization 2006, 11). ... 2007). One of the major concerns regarding the epidemic of HIV in India is the increase seen in the proportion of infections among children and adults above 50 years. Among children, the prevalence of HIV was 3% in 2002 which increased to 4% in 2006 (National AIDS Control Organization 2006, 13). Similarly, the prevalence of the disease was 6% among adults above the age of 50 which has increased to 8% in 2006 (National AIDS Control Organization 2006, 13). Transmission route In India, nearly 88% of the transmission of STI/HIV happens through heterosexual contact (The World Bank 2008). Other routes of transmission include perinatal (4.7%), unsafe blood and blood products (1.7%), infected needles and syringes (1.8%) and other unspecified routes of transmission (4.1%) (The World Bank 2008). It is interesting to note that in the high prevalence southern states of India, STI/HIV has been found to spread primarily through heterosexual contact while in the high prevalence north-eastern states , the disease has been found to spread mainly among injecting drug users and sex workers (National AIDS Control Organization 2006). Researchers believe that the HIV epidemic in India has followed the ‘type 4’ pattern (The World Bank 2008). This is a pattern where new infections occur among the most vulnerable populations like the female sex workers, men who have sex with men or the injecting drug users. The infection then spreads to ‘bridge’ populations like the clients of sex workers or sexual partners of drug users and finally it enters the general population. Studies have revealed that long distance truck drivers and male migrant workers make up significant proportions of clients of sex workers (UNGASS 2008). In