Anthropology

The functionalist theory is one that views the society as one that is social system made up of interrelated components. Each of these components is important and works together towards the achievement of a whole complete society. A common analogy supporting the functionalist theory is the human body which has several body organs which usually work together with problems in one organ affecting the rest of the body. The major components within a society are customs, traditions, norms and institutions such as families. It is agreed among major functionalists that social institutions make the essential components of society with rules and regulations being needed so as to organize the society in an effective manner.

Functionalism within the discipline of anthropology developed in the early 20th century as a reaction to the extremes of the diffusionist and evolutionary theories developed within the 19th century (Goldschmidt 1996). The change was as a result of a change in focus from the more speculative diachronic examination of cultural traits and social customs as survivals to a more synchronic examination of the various social institutions existing within functioning societies. Functionalists were attempting to increase socio-cultural examination beyond the limits of the evolutionary notion of social history which viewed cultural traits and social customs as the residual pieces of cultural history.

The theory has anthropological roots based on the thoughts and works of Bronislaw Malinowski, who argued that social institutions existed so as to meet the physiological needs of individuals within a society. As such, social stability was achieved by ensuring the needs of the individuals comprising the society were met with adequate knowledge of the feelings and motives of these individuals forming a basis for  understanding how the society functioned. He viewed culture as the main element that ensured the needs of the members of a society were met.

It is also based on the works of Alfred Radcliffe-Brown who argued that the basic divisions of anthropology were the various processes of human life within a social structure interlinked through interactions. Stability within society was therefore achieved through social practices that would repeat themselves and develop overtime supporting each other. As such, he theorized functional analysis as the attempt to understand social stability by observing how these social practices would fit together.

The functionalist theory is also based on the thoughts and works of major social positivists and was first theorized by Auguste Comte following the French revolution which resulted in social malaise. This led him to see the need for social cohesion within society. This was followed by the works of mile Durkheim that advanced the theory of organic solidarity, whose major emphasis was on the fundamental function that ethical consensus played in ensuring social order as well as building an equilibrium within society. His main concern was how certain societies were able to maintain stability and be able to survive hence proposed that such societies are usually have subdivisions with the separate divisions being held mutually by common values and symbols.

In addition, Talcott Parsons argued that a social system is usually one that is comprised of the actions of individuals who are faced with a variety of choices which in turn are influenced by several social and physical factors. He posited a social system that had four types of action systems which included culture, personality, organismic, and  society, with each these four systems having to satisfy four functional needs which were latency, adaptation, integration, and goal attainment. His analysis involved studying the processes and trade offs of social structures within and between the four system levels (Turner and Maryanski 1991).

Central principles in the functionalist theory
    Functionalist analysis studies the social importance of phenomena. It seeks to examine the various functions that these phenomena serve within a society in order to  preserve the whole (Jarvie, 1973). According to Malinowski, the major concepts included
Understanding behavior based on an individuals motivation in addition to both rational and irrational behavior 
Recognizing the interrelationship of the various items which comprised a culture forming a system and
Recognizing a particular item and identifying its function within the contemporary operation of a culture.

    Radcliffe-Brown based his works on those of  mile Durkheim who had  posited that social phenomena comprised a domain of reality that was independent of any  biological or psychological facts. As such, social phenomena have to be explained in terms of the other social phenomena occurring within the domain (Broce, 1973). Radcliffe-Brown therefore studied the circumstances under which the various social structures are upheld within society. He developed an analogy between organic life and social life in order to be able to explain the idea of function hence placing emphasis on the contribution of phenomena to preserving social order.

    Functional analysis has given value to social institutions. This is because it considers them as integrated and active components of a social system and not as simple customs (Langness, 1987). Functionalism has also contributed to the current idea that traditional usages have been formed by the necessity that human beings have to live collectively in harmony. Its emphasis on exhaustive fieldwork has offered an in-depth study of human societies. In addition, the study of functional interrelationship between institutions and customs has provided a framework for collecting information on how societies function.

Major criticisms
    There have been several criticisms raised against the functionalist theory leading to its decline. The functionalist theory has been criticized for its major ignorance towards historical process in addition to its presumption that societies exists in an equilibrium state (Goldschmidt, 1996). Interactionist theorists have criticized this theory due to its failure to conceptualize sufficiently the multifaceted nature of individual actors and the methods of interaction within societies. Marxist theorists have criticized functionalism due to its conservativism and the fixed nature of examination used that underlined the role of social phenomena in the preservation of the status-quo within society (Holmwood, 2005). Constructionist theorists have criticized functionalism due to the use of classificatory theories that characterized phenomena based on their functions (Turner and Maryanski, 1991).

Responses to Critiques
    Comparative functionalism, developed by Walter Goldschmidt, attempts to respond to the difficulties that have developed as a result of Malinowskis argument that a culture can be comprehended on its own with institutions been seen as products of the various cultures within which they were created. Comparative functionalism seeks to understand institutional differences between cultures by examining phenomena within the different cultures and the problems experienced in these societies. This approach is worthwhile since it is aware of the universality of the functions to which social institutions are a response to. Problems are usually consistent from one culture to another culture, but the institutional solutions that will be needed will vary from one culture to another (Holmwood, 2005). As such, one begins with analyzing the problem so as to find out how institutional procedures provide solutions.

    Neo-functionalism is an attempt to revise British structural-functionalism. Some neo-functionalists seek to analyze phenomena based on particular functional requisites. Other neo-functionalists focus on matters of social integration, social evolution, and social differentiation. Others examine how the various cultural processes such as rituals, values, and ideologies integrate with social structures. However, neo-functionalism places little emphasis on how phenomena are able to meet system needs (Turner and Maryanski, 1991). This approach is worthwhile since it provides a bridge between human behavior, which frequently involves cooperation, and natural selection, where individual interaction involves competition more than cooperation.

The concept of establishing equality among all members of the society is as old as the history of civilization  the list of dos and donts of several cultures also emanate out of that, before the dominant groups of the societies convert them as doctrines to maintain their dominance over the minorities. However, the voice of the concerned humans also rise from time to time, like what is now being heard under the titles like human rights or living wage.

Though usually dubbed as a means of meeting the basic living requirements, living wage aims at facilitating humans to earn their lives to fulfill what Maslow (1943) described in his hierarchy of needs, which comprises of five sets of needs such as basic needs (air, water, food, clothing and shelter), safety and security needs, social needs, esteem needs and self-actualization needs. Thus the concept of living wage raises issues of human rights with special emphasis on the right to survival and dignity. This article thus explores three situations depicted by three researchers to underpin the drivers of inequality in general. 

India is Plagued by Caste-concept and Exploitative Colonial Ruling Style
In spite of being officially a staunch supporter of human rights with a clear backing from its constitution, India is still plagued by the legacies of the Hindu caste system and exploitative format of British ruling style, if the findings of Channa (2010) have anything to go by. He points out with evidence that there is a huge gap between the constitutional vision and the ground-level realities regarding the social and economic situation in India, where it clearly fails to reason why the majority of its population still reels under below poverty line, save providing living wage. Channa points out that legislation or legal strictures prove insufficient against the power of social will in India, which needs to be transformed to a state where the dominant groups of the society will unlearn the caste and exploitative colonial ruling concepts and perceive the real-time need of restoring the human status of its fellow countrymen.

South Carolina Suffers from Contradictory Legislations
The issue of living wage gets another dimension when it is seen from interpretive and political economic anthropological perspectives, where Kingsolver (2010) comes up with the instance of South Carolina, the area which tops in the number of people living in poverty due to high unemployment rate. Here the solution lies in enforcing legislated living wage that would prioritize human needs over the issue of earning profit.  Kingsolver argues that the elimination of contradiction in the laws on tax or right to work appears to be the first step towards achieving a legislated living wage, otherwise the age-old conflict between the logics of social welfare and the welfare of capital will continue to be at loggerheads in this region.

Exploiters in the Avatar of Corporate Giants 
Bensen (2010) shows how biocapitalism of the corporate giants like Philip Morris is actually a veiled threat to the normative functioning of the society, where it violates not only the ethical standards of living, but also carries on with the tendency of exploiting the human capital, let alone ignoring the issue of social equality. For example, the placement of tobacco auction warehouses as well as the leaf-processing plants in North Carolina are strategically placed in predominantly Black residential areas to get low-skill workers at a minimum rate and to profit more by saving the expenditure on workplace conditions.

All the three papers reviewed above analyze social dynamics of stigmatization under different contexts, where India suffers from the legacies of age-old caste system and exploitative British ruling strategies, while North and South Carolina suffer from racial discrimination and corporate manipulation. Such state of affairs only consolidates the impression that rules to establish human rights cannot be effective unless the mindset of the dominant groups are transformed, and for that matter, UN should steer a cogent and cohesive campaign across the globe on establishing human rights.

    Creation science is a controversial nature study founded on principle that the existence of the cosmos is as a result of supernatural causes (Browning, 1997). Also referred to as scientific creationism, the study combines creation concepts mainly from the Christian and Islamic understanding with scientific discoveries. The creation accounts described in the book of Genesis from the Holy Bible and the Quran are supported by Creation Science programs taught in some universities. These programs attempt to show how scientific discoveries are more consistent with creation accounts than they are with evolutionary theories suggested by earlier scientists such as Darwin (Browning, 1997).

   While such creation science concepts sometimes create some controversies, there should be no such problems and science and faith should be allowed to mingle. The most astounding problem is that science relies on empiricism while faith depends on believing on the unseen. However, science should be understood as mans endeavors in understanding his universe and it is not unscientific to believe in deliberate creation of life. There are a number of evidences in the Holy Bible that can be used to study the modern Earth. For instance, the Great Flood in the story of Noah provides an understanding to the geological features in todays Earth (Browning, 1997).

    In general, creation science should be supported to realize a large number of scientists supporting the paradigm that God creatively designed and formed the Earth while applying the scientific methods in gaining a deeper understanding to the question on the origin of life and the universe.

 The fields such as biblical archaeology and chronology, cosmology and philosophy of science are all the product of creation science and thus the thinking of creation science should be upheld to find answers to some of the questions pure science and pure religion fail to address.

Extinction can be defined as a phenomenon in which a given species or organism comes to an end. Scientifically, extinction occurs when a species can no longer compete for survival in changing environmental conditions. Extinction of both plants and animals imposes major threat to humanity because it is a major environmental problem on earth and hence a subject of discussion.

The rate of loss of species is alarming and it has been attributed to mankind activities particularly the degradation of plant and animal habitats. The destruction of species habitant may take the form of physical destruction of forests, toxicity or by introduction of new species which limits species ability to survive and compete for the available resources.

Transportation of plants and animals from one geographical area to another has been done by man for long time either intentionally or by accident. This has proved to contribute extensively to extinction of species. This is because the species can be established in the new geographical area as an alien species which can affect the original species by competing for the available resources, eating them, or by introducing other harmful species which degrade their habitat.

People who exist within a given environment depend on the survival of all plant and animal species in that environment and therefore the loss of these species can be catastrophic and threat to human life. For instance, we depend on plants to clean the air we breathe, that is, take in carbon dioxide and give out oxygen, which we breathe. Plants are also a contributing factor to formation of rainfall, the main source of the water we use. The extinction of plants and animals would actually result into ecological imbalance.

It is therefore clear that human beings are undoubtedly contributing to the elevated extinction rates and that we should be concerned about the loss of species if ecological balance is to be maintained.

Fundamentally the term culture means to cultivate but on other hand this word also contains some other meanings and definitions as well. Number of writers and author worked and surveyed on the actual definition of culture and in year 1952 Alfred Kroeber and Clyde has presented approximately 164 defamations of this word culture.

If we focus these definitions and research work by our well-known authors then we can came to know the fact that culture is simply the critical review of concepts and definitions that people have. Along with this the fact has also been revealed that culture can be presented and illustrated with three different approaches like the taste in fine arts and humanities is one of the significant ways of defining ones culture or perspective. Similarly values, goals and attitudes are also used in illustrating the cultural values. (Bryan 1963)

Beside above mentioned points the human knowledge , belief and the attitudes are also used in promoting culture as these things has the power and capacity to define the thoughts and ideas of people.

Later after finding numerous definition of culture in twentieth century this word emerges out with new concepts as the focus point of anthropology, which means that culture is a word that is actually composed of all the actions and thoughts that is performed by human anywhere in the world and all these behaviors does not have any sort of relation with the genetics.

In West, this word has its own meaning as they have their own approaches and thoughts regarding this term, as according to them culture basically defines two things that include the human experience, imaginations and incidents which occurs with them and later they present those things according to their art and used their power of creativity as well. (Alan Bryan 1963)

Similarly they illustrated the meaning of culture by presenting the idea that in this entire world there are number of people who have their own way and manners of living and with their own ideas, experience and conditions they define their own meaning of culture as the way of defining culture varies from place to place and from people to people as well. But later after the World War 2 numerous authors reformed the definition of culture and the style they had presented it was also changed and among those authors albeit played a significnat role as in this era his work and ideas are still followed and apprectiated.

Besides these above mentioned definition when we go though numerous research paper and studies of different authors from all over the world we came to know the fact that number of artist were born in west side and presented beautiful and unique work that portrayed their thoughts regarding culture and numerous other things.

Among these beautiful and talented artist Hansen is a significant name. This man was born in year 1960 in West area where the natural beauty, purity and environment was so attractive that form the early stage this boy started visioning, drawing and portraying his cultural beauty in a marvelous manner.

    Hansen completed his educational career and returned to homeland in 1990, but during his early days of schooling this young boy started painting in year 1969, after that he went abroad to study mechanical design as well. Later he came back to America and served this country as a technical drawing specialist. Ms Georgian was the lady who impressed Hansen and he want himself to work and serve the idea of culture through his talent and skills of painting and drawing. He has developed his own unique sense of styling which reflects his philosophical mind as well. As time passes this young boys skills in promoting culture were notified by numerous people and his professional career started in which he designed numerous spectacular designs in the boating industry.

The concept of portraying culture in such manner was so much appreciated by people that the technique of introducing abstract and cubist was later adopted by the artist of East as well. Beside Hansens work numerous other artist work and thought are adopted by the people of East.

Christians also played a vital role in promoting cultural values and portraying them in such a manner that it was appreciated by the entire world. And among there marvelous work the oldest and the most symbolic thing is the cross sign which is known as the sign of Christians faith. The idea of presenting cross sign has played a significant role in numerous other cultures as well. People from different region especially from east side have adopted it as well and defines their own meaning of this symbol.

If we go through to the detail and deep knowledge of this cross then we came to know numerous facts regarding it as it was revealed that through ages and centuries people are using and following this cross sign to protect themselves from illness, to have good fortune, and to show their respect to their religion and numerous other things as well. After the great success of promoting culture is such manner numerous other artists has developed countless version of its, which include X-Shaped St. Andrews cross and the T-shaped teau-cross as well.

Beside this, the people of Greek have used this symbol in order to represent the four cardinal directions as well or we can say that they tried to represent the four basic elements which include earth, wind, water and fire. Other than this, the people of India have used this symbol as well in order to show the four main directions of heavens. Similarly, the people of Africa has designed cross roads and there concept of it is that these crossroads are places where the world of living and dead meet. In addition with this, numerous Eastern artists used this shaped to promote their cultural jewelry as well.
Along with above mentioned things, Eastern people have also discovered new and interesting things in Japan by following the writings of Shakespeare as they had focused the plays of him and started studying the canonical values of his theater and implement the thoughts and ideas in order to promote the cultural things. Similarly, the people of Japan also have a great history in promoting cultural things through different and unique ideas such as the monster is one of the significant thing that Japanese promotes in their culture which was actually the creation of human imagination which resemble numerous things at different points like people, other animals or well known objects as well. (Kuncaraningrat 1985)

The artist of West promote their cultural values and things by numerous ways and among them music is the major source. With the help of unique and different musical instruments they define their thoughts and ideas regarding their culture. All sort of music either rock, pop or slow all were used to promote culture. In addition with these the artist of West also launched numerous sort of games that have music like Krongcong is one of the famous and well-known musical game that was designed in a manner that the music lovers start playing them and the main focus of promoting culture with the help of music will also go on with such innovative discoveries.

Similarly along with music, dance is another thing that is used in order to promote culture of West, as it is the best approach of reflecting and showing the diversification of different ethical groups that compose the entire West portion of the world. This technique of promoting culture was adopted by the artist of East as well, as this gave great opportunity to show the traditional and cultural values of ones states.

The people of West also use the source of drama and theaters in order to promote their cultural values, and this technique really works as people form all over the world came to watch such sort of drama that promotes culture and things regarding traditional values.

Along with this the people of East represent the culture of West in their region by using the traditional arts things which includes paintings, sculpture and numerous sort of architecture as well. Not only this they also used literature and poetry in order to present the idea and thoughts regarding the culture and traditional values of West.

For people who loved food the Eastern group facilitate them by provding and presenting the Western dishes, along with this the more powerful and source that the Eastern people used in order to represent the culture of West in the media, as there is a great number of cinemas within East and these cinemas has played a significant role in spreading every bite of cultural things and cover all the traditional values of the entire West.

In previous days, this source did not work as much but at the beginning of year 1980 this platform reaches the peak and concurred the highest level as well. Beside this cinemas role numerous Eastern artists have played a significant role in order to promote and represent the culture and traditions of West within their country and this medium of representing the culture is very much appreciated by all as in this every age group can find its own interesting things to go for. Other than this, radio network which was formed in year 1945 also played a significant role, especially after 2006 numerous radio channels are launched using Digital Audio Broadcasting and Hybrid system that are also facilitating in promoting the cultural values all over the East.

But all these above mentioned approaches had a positive result till political issues do not arise. In early days if we go through the detail representation techniques of promoting and showing culture of West in East we came to know that its result is very much effective as long as it was concerned as the homogenous population things towards mass production. This multiculturalism has worked for a long time in order to show the Western European society.

The people of French also liked and welcomed this sort of representation and wrote numerous theories on it and named such things as a class struggle which highlighted the real charm, beauty as well as the weakness, along with this such representation also include ethics, religion and race issues but this thought of promoting culture is no more seen due to numerous political issues. (Adams 2006)
As now people have the idea that political, cultural, social and economical dialogue projects are addressed but should not be exclusively shown in Muslim countries, beside this according to the political rules the training programs, information of technologies and other things should not be shown and promoted on other side rather than West as this cause great trouble to the citizens of the west.

Beside this the global conflict is also one of the major reason of promoting culture and traditional things in such a way, as the people of other country did not have the actual idea or right to promote each other cultural values as by this they often show our cultural things in a wrong manner and this cause big issues.

According to a survey and research numerous authors wrote things about politicians idea that they have an idea that assimilation model cant work longer because he people who are from different state are not like us and they have different skin color, they have other religion whose rules are not applicable on us, as we are not of same group, culture, and we does not have same social and traditional values.

Similarly the political rules that are governing West also have the idea that we people are from different type of population and thats why we cant work on same issue with hand in hand as these people are living in a territory which has no political representation and they wants to copy our theories and approaches by promoting our cultural and traditional values. (Adams 2006)
In a nut shell, we can conclude our paper that the idea of presenting and promoting culture and traditional values of each other provide us great benefit as by this we can come to know the real concepts and ideas of each other, and this thing also facilitate us in getting new approaches as well but this concept that arises in this era that by doing so we people can face numerous difficulties and political issues is not good for both the citizens of West as well as East so we should cover up such issues and focus on the growth and development of cultural as well as other things which is a great need for all of us.

Abstract.Traditionally, duties carried out by individuals in the society depended on their gender. This trend is however slowly changing with creation of a global environment caused by international institutions and economic globalization processes (Attanapola, 2004). This paper will evaluate the changing gender roles in Sri Lanka and give a correlation how this change has impacted the health of female workers in the industrial sector in export-processing zones (EPZ) in Katunayake. A case study of a 23-year old Rani will be considered to show how the change in gender roles has negatively and positively impacted her health and social values.

The Changing Gender Roles and Health Impacts among Sri Lankan Women Working in EPZ
Gender roles refer to the particular types of activities that are meant for individuals based on their gender. In traditional setting, men do most of the work to provide for the family while women entirely devote their time in doing household chores. However, with the economic constrains in Sri Lanka, there has been a major paradigm change in gender roles and women are increasingly assuming new roles to address these problems.   

In Sri Lanka, the change of gender roles can be attributed to the change in policies, especially the 1977 economic liberalization policies that the government passed at the request of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund under the SAP (Attanapola, 2004). The government of Sri Lanka had to respond to the requests in order to address unemployment problems and also benefit from the foreign aid. Relaxed foreign migration and export-oriented policies provided the poor women with a chance to take part in income-generating activities that were considered non-traditional such as working as domestic servants and workers in EPZs (Attanapola, 2004).

     The change in gender roles have changed the traditional ideologies about women and coined a whole new meaning of women in the Sri Lankan society. For instance, young women who migrated from the rural to the Katunayake EPZ have had a change in gender roles in three main ways. Dependent daughters who always depended on their parents have become independent and the unemployed women who often took the roles in unpaid family labor have now assumed new roles as efficient and obedient workers. Young girls with good culture and moral respect have become partially urbanized although they have retained some aspects of traditional girls.

The multiple changes of gender roles in Sri Lanka has led to a situation that has significantly impacted the health of women in Sri Lankan society particularly those working in the export-processing industries. In the export-processing zones, women are exploited in so many ways through poor and unhealthy working conditions. The workloads are excessive and the wage levels are low. Supervisors often pressurize them and their rights are abused. The changes in gender roles can therefore be said to be of negative effect although the positive side of income generation has also improved the living standards of Sri Lankan women (Attanapola, 2004).

Traditionally, gender roles were defined by the kind of work done by men and women. The belief of patriarchy dominated. This implied that men were seen to be superior to women and thus women were associated to reproductive work while men were associated with productive work. Gender roles in societies have been seen to change over time and place depending on a number of factors  the economic, educational, employment opportunities and non discriminatory law enforcement, among many others. In the modern societies for instance in Sri Lanka, women are allowed to take up any form of job due to the economic problems being experienced.

     The fact remains that most developing societies have grown to appreciate the productive works done by women and a lot of opportunities have been opened up for women. Consequently, women have contributed greatly to the economy at the family and income levels. Today, in Sri Lanka, women and men do all types of work without considering the traditional norms and taboos. This has led to the change of perspective that men are superior to women and now women are the bread winners and decision makers (Attanapola, 2004).

Although some have argued that the idea of women working in export-processing zones is a viable idea as they help their poor families in meeting the needs of the families, the negative side of it has to be examined. It is agreeable that this change in gender roles has indeed helped to improve the social status of the woman and the living standards of the Sri Lankans in general. In some instances, it is the parents who send their daughters to work in export-processing zones immediately after completing their secondary education with the main objective of transforming them from dependent women to independent women.

      A practical case to show the effect of gender roles on women health is a 23-year old Rani, working at Katunayake EPZ. Rani claims that her productive work has eased her reproductive roles and increased her overall status (Attanapola, 2004). She is the one in charge of making critical household decisions such as house extension, electrical items purchase and healthcare provision to the parents. She also claims that her parents granted her the permission to choose her own partner which would rather be difficult had she not migrated from the rural to work at the EPZ (Attanapola, 2004).

Working in factories has caused a lot of negative impacts including the health problems to the women workers including Rani. Due to the work overloads, they have developed occupational health problems such as disorders in the skeletal muscles and headaches. Women have learnt to cope without receiving proper treatment. Workers are also subjected to other harsh working conditions that subject them to skin problems, eye irritations, dizziness, breathing problems and even weight loss. These problems are further aggravated when the women workers get verbal and physical harassment at the work places (Attanapola, 2004). Supervisors yell at them and make threats to deduct their salaries if at all their demands are not met. The women are denied leaves even if when they are sick. They are expected to constantly work. They experience feelings of fear from the local men and are afraid of being robbed, rapped and even killed.

     Although Rani began her career in the factory as a healthy woman, her work of cutting diamond has greatly affected her health due to poor ergonomics provided in the job place which has caused her to develop chest and back pains. The diamond she places on her chest presses her and causes her to have both the chest and back pains (Attanapola, 2004). She has constant headache and eye irritations due to too much light, dust and heat in the factory. Rani and her female workmates are not provided with routine medical checkups thus risking their lives for the sake of their income and jobs at the urban EPZ (Attanapola, 2004).

Workplace conditions are unbearable. Workers are too many causing overcrowding. The dust, heat and smell in the factory are sickening and the factory does not provide safety instruments, and enough information regarding the safety of workers at the workplace (Attanapola, 2004). Work is repetitive, monotonous and continuous. The workers live in polluted and unsanitary conditions and their employers dont seem to care about them.  The sanitary problems are aggravated by the low pay that Rani and her female workers earn. They are forced to share sanitary facilities and use water from the well to wash their pots and clothes and also to bathe. This lifestyle exposes the to mosquito bites that transmit dengue virus that is endemic in the area they live, Katunayake (Attanapola, 2004).   

The women at Katunayake including Rani are vulnerable to communicable diseases like cholera, diarrhea, worm diseases, skin rashes and influenza as they live in crowded environments provided in the factory boarding houses. In spite of all the negative health problems faced by Rani as a worker in the factory, her changed role makes her an independent obedient daughter able to purchase a mosquito net and promote her health. Working at the factory, Ranis self esteem has been amplified due to the increased power and status within her family, her works in the community and the respect gained from the villagers (Attanapola, 2004).

      In conclusion, the gender practice and roles of women in Sri Lankan societies is fast changing as the concept of male breadwinner becomes incompatible with the reality of surviving in hard economic times. However, the changing gender roles have brought about psychological and work-related health problems blamed mainly by the poor working environments. This is also aggravated by the poor living condition, individual behaviors and family responsibilities as seen in the case of a responsible obedient daughter.

This paper compares and contrast two articles, one regarding economics and the other regarding anthropology. The major area on which this comparison will be made is income distribution.
   
The article The Upside of Income Inequality primarily focuses on the recent rise in income inequality. The articles primary argument is that the inequality in income distribution is widening in the United States and the primary factor behind this widening gap is due to rise in income of highly educated and skilled workers and that this kind of inequality is beneficial and desirable. Comparing the situation with the inequalities in income in India and China where the inequality is primarily due to accelerated economic growth and overall improvement in the standard of living of the population of these countries.
   
The authors further argues that this trend is primarily because of highly educated people like college graduates receive a much higher salary as compared to lower educated workers like and the gap between these two classes has increased significantly in the last couple of decades. For e.g. in the 80s a college graduate earns 30 more, but now they earn 70 more. Thus the increased opportunity to advance through education played a significant role in widening income inequality. This increase in gap between the education earning resulted in a large number students returning to college after high school. Thus the rise in wage premium is directly attributed to the increase in college graduates. Recent surveys also show that the increase in college graduates among women and other ethnic groups, particularly women have moved to many high-earning fields. Higher education not only increases earnings but it also increases the standard of living. The demand of highly educated workers is increasing in every sector in the United States, because of the increase in demand of products and services only offered by highly educated and skilled employees. Increase in demand of higher education has nearly doubled the tuition fee in the last two decades.
   
Now that it is verified by the statistics that the major source of widening gap in income is increase in the demand of educated and highly skilled labor the question is it a good thing or a bad things. The authors think that in general it is a good thing because it is a sign of greater productivity in the economy. Though this inequality reflects higher returns to investment in education and human capital, but it is very limited, since the greater proportion of the American youth do not enter colleges, in particular the African Americans and the Hispanics. This is mostly because the lack of non-cognitive skills in these kids, which again is the result of broken families. The solution to this problem is to encourage more human capital investment.

Summary Article2 
The second article Migrant Africa is an anthropology article regarding the migration of the African people. The migration in Africa included the migration from the countryside to the cities, from one city to another, and from a city to countryside. The primary reasons of migration are either economical i.e. to increase their income, shed poverty, and get better opportunities than available in their homeland or it is due to war or oppression, or natural catastrophes like famine, flood, earthquakes etc.
   
Now most of the African people migrate internally i.e. within the boundaries of a country. This is primarily because of disparity in the infrastructure and opportunities in different areas of countries. Since the demand of male workers is higher most immigrants are male, while their spouses are usually left behind or they come as a dependent migrant not alone. As the demand of highly educated skilled workers is higher in more developed regions like big cities most of the people migration to these cities are highly educated youth, which seek the return of their investment in human capital. While low or unskilled workers move to find opportunities not found on their home. Like most third world and developing countries, most of the capital investment is concentrated in a single capital or the largest city. Thus people from all part of the country migrate towards it in a large number, which create other social problems like overcrowded cities, shortage of electricity and water supply, lack of proper accommodation are some of the common problems of all the major African cities. These problems are further induced by high fertility rates in the migrating population.
   
Governments have adopted different policies to curb these problems like improving opportunities in rural areas, creating poles of regional growth, shifting capital city or through distribution of investment on medium sized towns through out the country to reduce the number of migrants to the primary major city. Many African governments also considered force return to the homeland, or to another government-developed town. But the planners have to realize that it is the flaw and unequal distribution of resources and development of social and economic infrastructure, which results in great influx of people to the large urban centers.

Comparison and Contrast of two articles
Both articles speak about inequalities. But the first article speaks about the inequalities in income of the workers in the United States. Moreover the first article speaks about the source of inequalities in income and argues that it is because of increase in higher education and increase in demand of highly skilled and educated workers. On the contrary the second article speak about the inequalities in the distribution of resources and opportunities in the African nations. It speaks that the phenomenon of migration is primarily because of this unequal distribution of development and concentration of capital investment on a single city, while leaving the entire country, in particular rural areas unattended. Thus the similarity of both articles is that both speak about inequalities, but here the similarities ends. The economic article has more to do with the economic consequences of the unequal distribution of income, and how the higher demand of educated and skilled workers is increasing their salary and income, which is widening the gap between the salaries of the educated and the uneducated, thus creating income inequality.

Furthermore the authors here think this as a good thing. On the contrary the anthropology article has its focus on the people of Africa, their movement from one place to another and the motives behind these decisions that these people make. The article argues that the real factor behind all the migration process in the world and the third world developing countries in particular is the unequal distribution of resources and opportunities for the people through out the region. Unlike the unequal distribution of income because of higher education this unequal distribution considered a bad thing and mostly has dire and grave consequences. Thus inequality in one article is considered a good thing, while on the other article the author considers it a bad one and suggests remedies to cope with the worsening situation.