National Security, Energy Resource Scarcity and Climate Change in the Essay - 2

National Security, Energy Resource Scarcity and Climate Change in the upcoming decades - Essay Example The negative consequence associated with having a diverse group is group conflict which may take place due to difference in knowledge, experience, age and expertise. According to a study conducted on homogenous and diverse groups showed that both groups were performing exceptionally well but people from the diverse groups had lower satisfaction from their group members, lack of group consistency existed within the group and this group had higher level of conflicts as compared to the members of the group that contained homogenous individuals (Robbins, 2003, p.234). Similar studies even proved that if individuals of diverse groups are able to overcome the conflict that they experience during the early stages of group development, then diverse groups can perform in a much better manner (Sommers, 2006, p.610). A group consisting of members that have different educational backgrounds and cultural backgrounds is said to have the ability to come up with various ideas and opinions. Great importance is given to the identification of various solutions for a particular problem, this portion of the decision making process can be satisfied by having people from diverse backgrounds making decisions (Hansen, 2006). Hansen, Z. K., Owan, H., Pan, J., & National Bureau of Economic Research. (2006). The impact of group diversity on performance and knowledge spillover--an experiment in a college classroom. Cambridge, Mass: National Bureau of Economic Research. Phillips, K., Northcraft, G., & Neale, M. (January 01, 2006). Surface-Level Diversity and Decision-Making in Groups: When Does Deep-Level Similarity Help?. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 9, 4, 467-482. Sommers, S. R. (January 01, 2006). On racial diversity and group decision making: identifying multiple effects of racial composition on jury deliberations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 4,

Theoretical Skirmish Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Theoretical Skirmish - Essay Example 115), while Condit did not clearly define the term, but stated that hegemony resisted â€Å"the exclusive and narrow focus on the economic base that pervaded earlier Marxist theories† (Condit, 1994, p. 206). Condit stated that the earlier Marxist theories held that in capitalism, dominant classes imposed their capitalism ideology on the working class, and that, since capitalism flourished around the globe, while Marxism failed, the ideology had to have been spread by â€Å"coercive military force of the State proper and the leadership exerted in the civil society on behalf of the world view of the group in power† (Condit, 1994, p. 206). In other words, according to this theory, capitalism is maintained in these societies by coercion and by leadership. The leaders must have allies with whom they have active assent, while also maintaining passive assent from the governed. In this way, there is a distinction between power and leading – power is something that a person obtains, while leading is the quality the person exerts. It is this latter quality that stabilizes a society. Leading takes into account that there are a spectrum of interests in the populace, and that the leadi ng groups interest is not the only one. If a society does not take this into account, but, rather, that the leader merely dictates his own worldview on the populace, this is dominating, as opposed to leading, and this results in â€Å"dictatorship without hegemony† (Condit, 1994, p. 207). Thus, hegemony is defined as a way to stabilize society by generating some kind of consent by the populace to the ideological bent of the leader. Condit and Cloud take slightly different tacts in illustrating the concept of hegemony, however. Condit states that hegemony in the United States is accomplished by concordance. In pre-industrial societies, hegemony was accomplished in a different way. Because these societies were more