Dominican Republic

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Dominican Republic

“The Dominican Republic, best known for its beautiful beaches, lavish resorts, and for being the first place that Christopher Columbus and his men settled in the New World, is an island nation in the Caribbean. There is much more to this country, beginning with its people whose optimistic, energetic, and cheerful character is immediately engaging and endearing. Dominicans are a proud people who have withstood innumerable setbacks due to an unstable political history and to physical devastation occasioned by hurricanes and earthquakes,” (Brown xvii).

The Dominican Republic might be seen as a poor country, but in reality it is a country rich in colors, culture and customs. The history of the Dominican Republic is one of many hardships and tragic stories. Unlike the history of many neighboring Latin American countries, the Dominican Republic gained independence from their next-door neighbor, Haiti, rather than Spain. Their history is also “tragically unique because of the brutality of the long dictatorship of Raphael Leonidas Trujillo,” (Brown xvii). This significant yet catastrophic portion of history has had a negative affect on the social mobility of Dominicans in New York City.

As a result of the stock market crash in the late 1920’s in the United States, the economy of the island completely crumbled. “The exterior debt of the country was estimated at $20 million. There was also a floating interior loan of $3 million that had come to due. To make matters worse, the capital was besieged by hurricane Xenon, which leveled the capital city and severely hurt agriculture in the eastern and southern parts of the country (Brown 31). At the time that the Dominican Republic needed a leader desperately, Raphael Trujillo came into office. The Trujillo era is known as a brutal and a savage dictatorship.

The Trujillo era had negative and positive affects on the lives of the people in the Dominican Republic. He came to rule at a time of crisis. However, exports of cacao, sugar and tobacco boomed under the rule of Trujillo. The Dominican government encouraged tourism, built hotels, airports, railways, new roads, and public buildings. By 1938, the economic condition was almost diminished. Dictator Raphael Leonidas Trujillo was able to build a fortune of almost $500 million and “owned companies controlling sixty percent of the nation’s assets and workers.” Although the economy was improving, “Trujillo ran the country as a ruthless dictatorship, freely using torture and murder to suppress possible enemies,” (Rogozinski 236).

Universal poverty very much existed. Only the middle class and Trujillo’s family benefited from Trujillo’s wealth and economic stability. However by the 1940’s, political parties such as the Partido Democratico Revolucionario Dominicano, were formed in order to attempt to overthrow the dictator. Many Dominicans were dissatisfied with Trujillo’s leadership and by the 1960’s, “Trujillo’s downfall was a certainty”. “The government, in order to finance its repression, instituted new and steep taxes including the requirements that each citizen carry an identification card on his person.” Much like the Jewish star the Jews had to wear during the Holocaust. “The economy was doing badly and the foreign debt began to rise…” (Brown 36). On May 30, 1961, Trujillo was assassinated by officers for their own personal reasons (Rogozinski 237).

Before the 1960’s, Dominicans nearly did not exist in the United States (Novas, 224). Their swarm of immigration into the United States did not begin until after the assassination of Raphael Leonidas Trujillo Molina. In her book entitled Everything You Need to Know about Latino History, Himilce Novas states, “the influx of Dominicans was made possible by a complex of factors which included the aftereffects of political turmoil and civil war, the never-ending search for cheaper labor in New York, and the relaxation of Trujillo-era restrictions on emigration.” Immigration was steady through the 1970’s but due to an economic depression; Dominican immigration soared in 1980’s (224).

Isabel Brown states that as the price and market for sugar has plummeted, and as the Dominican Republic learns to cope with globalization, which tends to benefit established economies, living conditions have become almost unbearable for the poorest Dominicans and wages have not kept up with cost-living increases (62). It is only fair for one to assume that the easiest way to get out of this repulsive lifestyle is to flee.

Many Dominicans were so desperate that they have risked their lives “by sailing the treacherous shark- infested Mona passage to Puerto Rico” for a mere $150 (Brown 62). There are many stories told of the harsh conditions and circumstances Dominicans suffer when they get to New York City. The Dominicans that do make it here are from the poorest of the poor, therefore it is much harder for them to adapt to the American standard of living.

According to Davis, Dominicans are on the verge of displacing Puerto Ricans as the poorest major ethnic group in the city with thirty-six percent in poverty and only nine percent self-employed (128). As a community, the Dominicans have struggled greatly in New York City. They usually immigrate with the little money that they have in their pockets. How can anyone expect the Dominicans to be as successful as other Latinos, such as the Cubans in Florida, if they have nothing to begin their new lives with? For instance the Cubans were given government dollars in order for them to escape the communist lifestyle in Cuba and begin a whole new life in Florida. When the Cubans came in swarms of thousands in the early 1960’s, the U.S. government welcomed them as political refugees. This is why most Cubans have achieved such great success in America (Novas 217). The United States did not do the same after the Trujillo era for the Dominicans.

In Dominican New Yorkers: A Socioeconomic Profile, 1990, Ramona Hernandez states that “the income of the Dominican population is one of the lowest in New York City”. She then goes on to say that in 1989, the per capita income was $6,336 for the average Dominican family. “Over thirty-six percent of the Dominican population in New York City lives in households which are under the poverty line; this is one of the highest poverty rates in the city, much higher than the overall poverty rate of 17.2 percent.” And in that thirty-six percent, forty-seven percent of Dominican children live in these households that are under the poverty line (1).

The transfer from the Dominican Republic can be very devastating to the entire family, especially the children. They must become accustomed to their new lives. There is a new environment and new settings. Most of them come not speaking a word of English. For any child of any race this can be very intricate. Hernandez reported that “as much as 65.5 percent of Dominicans in New York who were twenty-five years or older did not have a high school diploma or equivalent…” (2).

Education is very important in any country but it is especially important in the United States. In our culture, if you have no education it is very likely that it will be difficult to find a job. With the difficulty to adapt to the new life style, many Dominicans drop out of high school. They are left with nothing to look forward to. In 1996, the unemployment rate of Dominicans was more than twice as much as the unemployment rate of New York overall; it was at a high percentage of eight- teen. Unfortunately, these statistics have not improved. “Unemployment increased, poverty rates failed to drop, the proportion of children in poor households did not decline, and the relatively unskilled population fared worse in 1990 than in 1989,” ( Hernandez 3,4).

Thus the Dominicans have been overlooked because of Trujillo’s dictatorship and the outcome, which has extended to the twenty first century. It is tragic to know that after suffering so much in the Dominican Republic, the Dominicans still struggle in the land of the free and of opportunities. Although there is that small percentage of Dominicans that have been very successful in the United States, it is not enough. We must all work together in order to provide the future that the Dominicans have been anticipating. If we do nothing to dig the Dominicans out of this hole Raphael Leonidas Trujillo has dug for them, the Dominican community will become something feared by many minorities in New York City; insignificant.

Bibliography:

Brown, Isabel Zakrzewski. Culture and Customs of the Dominican Republic. Conneticut:

Green Wood Press, 1999

Hernandez, Ramona. Dominican New Yorkers: A Socioeconomic Profile, 1990.

Dominican Research Monographs. New York: CUNY Dominican Studies

Institute, 1995.

Novas, Himilce. Everything You Need to Know About Latino History. United States of

America: First Printing, Oct.1994: (233-241).

Rogozinski, Jan. A Brief History of the Caribbean from the Arawak and the Carib to the

Present. New York: Meridian Printing, Sept. 1994: (227-247).

American Domestic Policy APA II

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American Domestic Policy

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American Domestic Policy

Illegal Immigration

Illegal immigration in the United States has become one the topics of greatest concern to the American public in recent years. This has resulted into examination of the costs and benefits of illegal immigration on unskilled works as well as the ultimate impact on the U.S economy in a number of studies. The costs include the effects of the effects of illegal immigration on unskilled workers, the property damage caused by the immigrants sneaking into the United States, the expenditure on the health care for immigrants at emergency clinics and hospitals, which are legally bound not to deny care to anyone or inquire whether someone is a legal resident, expenditures on public education for the children of the immigrants who attend public schools and burglaries and other crimes committed by illegal immigrants (Levy, 2010). Americans affected by the benefits want immigrants to have a way to take a job, whereas those most affected by the costs propose that immigrants should be kept out of the country at whatever cost.

The views on dealing with illegal immigration in United States range from using the military to guard the borders and the construction of a fence along the borders to amnesty for illegal aliens already in the United States. The US governments has taken several steps to curb the problem of illegal immigration including Operation Wetback as the one of the first response to what was perceived as an alarming level of illegal Mexican immigrants as well as enactment of several legislation as such as the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) (Boyes & Melvin, 2010). The purpose of IRCA was to decrease the number of illegal immigrants by limiting their flow and the legalization the status of the illegal aliens. However, application of the domestic policy has been affected by the experience with international terrorist attacks being associated with immigration and illegal immigration flows into the country.

This paper will explore illegal immigration as one of the most contested issues in the American politics and recommendation of ways to deal with the issue.

Factors Leading To Illegal Immigration Being Viewed As a Major Problem in America

The skyrocketing number of illegal immigrants in United States has triggered great concern among the American citizens over the last few years. As of 2010, about 11.2 million illegal immigrants were living in the United States and despite this being a reduction the populations in previous, the high number has raised great concerns to the Americans owing to the impact such numbers have on the state well-being (Passel & Cohn, 2011). The increased number of illegal immigrants has been associated with significant negative impacts including job pressure especially in unskilled labor, increased expenditures on health care for immigrants at hospitals and emergency clinics, pressure on public amenities, increased expenditure in the public schools, property damage cause by the immigrants and increased insecurity in the country. The problem of illegal immigrants has been exacerbated by the increased terrorist threats which have been strongly linked with the issue of illegal immigration into United States.

Although migration between Mexico and the United States goes back to the nineteenth century and has ebbed and flowed for more than a century, U.S. citizens and politicians have been entirely comfortable with immigrants in general or Mexicans in particular. There are and always have been people who view illegal immigrants as a thread to the United States, who blame them directly for economic ills as well as presenting a danger to American modern society. Large companies might benefit from cheap, immigrant labor, because of the low wages paid to the immigrants. However, the low wages contribute to driving the general wages offered to the Americans. The issues of job loss associated with immigrants particularly for unskilled labor has contributed immensely to the heated debate against immigrants among the Americans. The competition with illegal immigrants who are ready to work for less money makes Americans unable to compete effectively for the available job opportunities in the American job market. The public has become more united against the issue of illegal immigrants with majority favoring increasing penalties on employers who hire illegal immigrants as well as increasing number of border patrol agents.

According to Polyanichko (2010), about two-thirds of Americans support the idea of denying social services to the unauthorized and propose that illegal immigrants should not be eligible for social services provided by the state and local governments. One of the main arguments leveled against illegal immigrants is that they receive government benefits and don’t pay taxes with education and unpaid healthcare being among the highest costs attributed to problem of illegal immigrants.

As result of the increased illegal immigration, the amount of uncompensated care has continued to grow as more and more unauthorized immigrants seek for health services. In addition, increased crime has been associated with increase in the number of illegal immigrants, a factor that undermines the security of Americans as well as costing the government huge budgetary costs at both federal and local government levels in attempts to curb insecurity in the country. The burden of illegal immigrants has become worse with the laws that require children born in America be recognized as American citizens thus increasing the burden as the government is obliged to cater for such children.

Some of the Attempts Made To Arrest the Increase in Illegal Immigrants and Their Failures

In a move to control illegal immigrants in United States, the government introduced employer sanctions prohibiting employers from hiring illegal immigrants. Through this strategy, employers have been expected to verify employees before hiring them to ensure that illegal immigrants do not gain access to employment. However, employer sanction strategy has turnout to be ineffective due to lack of reliable mechanisms for verifying employment eligibility, lack of political will due to some of the benefits accrued from illegal immigrants such as labor, and lack of enough funding towards interior immigration enforcement (Boyes & Melvin, 2010). The governments has also enacted various reforms in its domestic policy on illegal immigration including the Immigration and Control Act (IRCA) whose main purpose was ostensibly to attack the problem of illegal immigration and reign control over the borders.

Among the solutions offered through this reform included a generous amnesty to illegal aliens and creation of a Special Agricultural Workers program (Polyanichko, 2010). However, these strategies emerged to be a flop by further contributing to the influx of immigrant workers into the U.S. labor market. In this case, IRCA was seen as an attempt to reconcile the rising political clamor for border control with continuing demand for cheap immigrant labor rather controlling the increasing of illegal immigrants in the country. Some of these immigration measures have resulted into increased gap between the goals and outcomes of U.S. immigration policy. According to Cornelius, Martin and Hollifield (1994), the greatest challenge in the U.S. immigration policy has been the failure to recognize the key problem facing its implementation as the lack of recognition of illegal immigrants as the main problem.

Another failure in attempts to control illegal immigration emerges from the lack of consensus on policy options, which consequently results into general lack of concern or benign neglect. United States still perceives itself as a nation of immigrants, a tradition that obstructs efforts to restrict or control any type of immigration. Another key factor undermining efforts by the U.S. government to control illegal immigration revolves around the lack of understanding of the root cause of illegal immigration. Some the root causes of the increased illegal immigration include, poor verification mechanisms applied by employers, inadequate channels to ensure legal economic immigration, changes in the global economy particularly globalization and finally inefficiency in the border patrols. The government has in the past introduced border patrols to ensure that all people entering and leaving the American territory are well vetted through presentation of proper document as provided by the U.S. laws. However, limited political will in supporting implementation of such policies thereby rendering such strategies ineffective.

The government has failed to provide adequate resources to ensure effective and efficient verification at the borders of the country as well as in job places and other areas such as health care institutions (Fix, 2004). Some of the factors exasperating the illegal migration that must be put into consideration in any attempt to curb the problem include demand-pull factors, migration networks, and supply-push pressures. The strength of these forces lying behind illegal immigration, coupled with the political, legal, and institutional constraints facing the domestic policy on immigration, have all contributed to what most observers view to sanctions’ modest and declining impact on immigrant flow to date. Controlling illegal immigration to the United States emerges to be more difficult logistically than controlling illegal entry to Europe, owing to the access afforded by the country’s lengthy land borders. Efforts to control illegal immigration in U.S. are further undermined by the nation’s long dependence on illegal foreign labor, its comparatively short history of immigration controls, and the social commitment to civil liberties and anti-discrimination norms.

Recommendations to Avert the Problem

One of the strategies that can deal with the problem of illegal immigration amicably entails strengthening the border control through prevention by deterrence. In this case, the government should raise the risk of being apprehended for illegal immigration to a situation where they would consider it futile to attempt to sneak into United States at whatever cost. The government should concentrate additional resources on the patrol along the borders. In order to strengthen the border control, the Border Patrol should concentrate personnel and technology resources at hot points with the highest level of illegal immigration activity as well as tightening security at areas with the least activity to avoid shift of the entry points to other sections along the border (Grans, 2007). In addition, the Border Patrol should also capitalize on physical barriers to deter entry along the border, increase vigilance along the border, and identification of the right technology and personnel to increase efficiency along the border.

The patrol should also on ensuring flexibility to respond to changing patterns in the alien traffic. In order to facilitate the implementation of the employer sanctions strategy, the government should invest in providing employers with reliable mechanisms for workplace verification including tools and legal responsibility to determine someone’s eligibility to secure a job or to be employed (Grans, 2007). The government must therefore invest immensely in the implementation of this strategy through availing the necessary mechanisms to ensure effective verification by employers. Availability of the correct mechanism for verification will play a critical role in the realization of the employer sanction provision in the control of illegal immigrants. This strategy addresses the main reason behind illegal immigration which is the search for employment in which unavailability of jobs will deter the immigrants from sneaking to the country. In line with the verification mechanism, a tamper-proof social security card for every American can be used as a sure prove to work eligibility (Fix, 2004). Nevertheless, the government must also enact stringent measures alongside this strategy to crackdown on people involved in forgery of documents, which has undermined implementation of the employer sanction requirement.

The U.S. government should also constitutional citizenship requirements to restrict the automatic citizenship to U.S.-born children of illegal residents. This will reduce the number of aliens seeking citizenship because their children are American citizens by birth despite being born by illegal immigrants. The policy to confer all U.S. citizens the citizenship of the country regardless of the mode used by the parents to enter United States encourages illegal entry into the country and does not motivate those who seek the right means to enter the country (Grans, 2007). The U.S government should also consider introducing new legal avenues for entry into the country as well as encouraging permanent economic migration. Nevertheless, the government should be weary of notorious illegal immigrants willing to pay for any price to enter into the American territory. In this case, the government should strengthen its internal mechanisms for deterring foreigners from entering the country illegally rather focusing on stopping them from crossing the borders.

Conclusion

Illegal immigration remains one of the sensitive issues in the American politics as well as among the general public. The negative perception among the Americans on the issue of illegal immigrants has been triggered by several effects on the society including their pressure on public facilities including hospitals, clinics and hospitals, increased insecurity, and significant impact on the economy of the country. Illegal immigrants have been associated with increased unemployment among the Americans through their preference by employers due to their low wages demand. The U.S. government has taken to several measures to control the threat posed by increased illegal immigrants including introduction of reforms in the immigration Act. Such reforms have included the employer sanction, a generous amnesty to illegal aliens and creation of a Special Agricultural Workers program, and the IRAC reform in general among others. However, such strategies have failed to yield the desired results due to poor political will in its implementation, limited resources, significant negligence, and lack of understanding the root cause of the illegal immigration. Nevertheless, the situation can be averted through increase in Border Patrol vigilance, provision of necessary verification mechanisms to the employers, encouragement of permanent economic immigration, and imposition of restrictions on citizenship of children born by illegal immigrants.

References

Boyes, W & Melvin, M. (2010). Microeconomics. Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.

Cornelius, W., Martin, P. & Hollifield, J. (1994). Controlling immigration: A global perspective. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Fix, M. (2004). The Paper curtain: employer sanctions’ implementation, impact, and reform. New York:The Urban Institute.

Grans, J. (2007). Illegal immigration to the United States: Causes and policy solution. Retrieved from HYPERLINK “http://udallcenter.arizona.edu/immigration/publications/fact_sheet_no_3_illegal_immigration.pdf” http://udallcenter.arizona.edu/immigration/publications/fact_sheet_no_3_illegal_immigration.pdf

Levy, J. (2010). Illegal immigration and amnesty: Open borders and national security. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group.

Passel, J & Cohn, D. (2011). Unauthorized immigrant population: National and state trends, 2010. Pew ResearchCenter. Retrieved from HYPERLINK “http://www.pewhispanic.org/2011/02/01/unauthorized-immigrant-population-brnational-and-state-trends-2010/” http://www.pewhispanic.org/2011/02/01/unauthorized-immigrant-population-brnational-and-state-trends-2010/

Polyanichko, E. (2010). Weighing the costs and benefits of Mexican immigration. London: GRIN Verlag.

DOMINGUEZ CHEESE WEBSITE TRAFFIC

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DOMINGUEZ CHEESE WEBSITE TRAFFIC

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#include <iostreamm> #include <fstream> #include <iomanip> using namespace std; struct node{ int number, int counter; node *link; class linkedlist private: node *head; public: linkedlist(0: void add(int num); vold printo0 void delete5Mulitples(); int size(); int sum); double average() linkedlist:linkedlist){ head = nullptr; void linkedlist::add(int num){

linkedlist:linkedlist(0{ head nullptr, void linkedlist:add(int num){ if(head == nullptr){ head = new node(); head->number = num; head->counter = 1; head->link = nullptr; else{ node *prev = nullptr, *curr = head; while(curr = nullptr){ if(num< curr->number) break; eise if(num == curr->number){ curr->counter++; return; prev = curr; curr = curr->link; node *n new node(); n->number = num; n->link =curr, n->counter = 1; if(curr = = head) /add before 1st node?

avg Count return avg int main(0{ string tilename= “LinkNbrs.dat ifstream in(filename.c_str()); if(in.fail))X cout < “ERROR: could not open input file <<filename << endl; return 1; int num; linkedlist list; while(in >> num) list.add(num); list.print): cout «< “There are ” << list.size() «< ” nodes in the list”‘ << endl; cout « “Sum = “<< list.sum()<< endl; cout “Average = ” << list.average() << endl cout «< endl << “Deleting nodes with value that are multiples of 5” << endl; list.delete5Mulitples);

cout « “There are ” << list.size() << ” nodes in the list” <« endl; cout< “Sum = “<< list.sum(0<< endl; cout «< “Average = “<< list.average)<< endl; cout << endl «< “Deleting nodes with value that are multiples of 5” << endl; list.delete5Mulitples(0: list.print(): cout< “There are ” << list.size() << ” nodes in the list” << endl; cout «< “Sum = ” << list.sum() << endl; cout « “Average = ” << list.average) «« endl; return 0; }

delete curr; Curr = next; else{ prev Curr curr = curr->link; int linkedlist:size){ int count 0; for(node *n = head; n= nullptr,n =n->link) count++ return count int linkedlist::sum(){ int sum= 0 for(node *n = head;n!= nullptr; n =n->link) sum + n->number * n->counter; return sum; double linkedlist::average0 double avg 0; int count = 0; for(node *n = head; nl= nullptr,n =n->link) avg += n->number * n->counter; cOunt +n->counter;

prev->link = n; void linkedlist::print(){ if(head = nullptr) cout < “list is empty” << endl; else{ int i = 1; for(node *n = head;nl= nullptr; n = n->link){ cout < setw(4) << n->number << ” – ” << setw(4) << n->counter «< ” times” << setw(3) << ” “, i++; if(i % 8 == 0) cout << endl; cout << endl; void linkedlist:delete5Mulitples({ node *prev = nullptr, *curr = head, *next; while(curr != nullptr}{ if(curr->number % 5 == 0){ next curr->link; if(curr == head) //delete 1st node? head = next; else prev->link = next;

Examination of Attitudes to Cosmetic Surgery

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Examination of Attitudes to Cosmetic Surgery

Beauty is perceived variedly among various age-groups, which makes the respective attitude analysis among various ages taking up cosmetic surgery an important topic of highlight. Alternatively, attitude assessment among the genders can be used to reveal the apparent distribution of perceptions between females and males regarding plastic surgery. According to ASAPS (2009, para. 1), different age-groups have different preferences regarding physical beauty perceptions, with young people having more than preferred attributes than the old. In terms of the best features and attributes that a particular age-group desires can be relied upon to illustrate the ease with which beauty enhancement can become an option. Cosmetic surgery to enhance beauty can be expected to be high among the young, which is however subject to attitude concerning such level of enhancement. On the gender front, women are likely to be under pressure to feel attractive and young than men (Frederick, Lever and Peplau, 2007, p1408). However, research needs to be conducted to reveal the exact patterns based on recent changes of uptake of cosmetic surgery across gender and age giving attention to attitudes as this study attempts to highlight.

Literature Review

Increased demand for appearance enhancement procedures shows that more men are taking beauty enhancement to an all-time high level. According to recent popularity surveys, the society has increasingly become open and less judgmental to cosmetic surgery (Delinsky, 2005, p2013). An improvement in medical technology applied in the surgical procedures can be attributed to the increased numbers, but changes in attitudes among men also play an important role. The modern society has experienced dramatic changes in the perceptions held about beauty among the genders, making it easy to adopt appearance enhancement than it previously was (Tiggemann and Slevic (2010, p67). Apparently both genders have changed their attitudes over the years to the extent that beauty can be applied in lifestyles. According to ASAPS (2009, para. 6), the reasons of uptake of beauty enhancement have evolved beyond low self-esteem to include factors such as career.

According to Crerand and Sarwer (2004, p100), while there is a significant increase in general demand for cosmetic surgery among women, there is a relatively higher demand among the middle-aged women (those who fall under the 40-55 years bracket). Tiggemann and Slevic (2010, p66) reckon that several factors affect the attitude that middle-aged women have towards cosmetic surgery. Among the most disturbing factor among the younger ages is the fear of aging and the portrayal of appearance enhancement in the media. The authors also attach an increase of demand of general beauty enhancement products and procedures over the last decade, a factor that has contributed to significant increase in demand for surgical procedures of enhancement.

Favorable attitudes on cosmetic surgery can be attributed to changes in lifestyles, media popularization and advancements in technology, which make traditionally uninterested groups change attitudes (Barrett and Robbins, 2008, p40). The effective drivers for different genders and cohorts preferences to cosmetic surgery are varied across the categories. Among the men, social factors carry more weight in influencing the specific attitude towards embracing cosmetic surgery (Bazner, 2002, p14). The author reckons that the most applicable explanation for men to continually easily embrace cosmetic surgery is purely on personal development for instance for career. On the other hand, there are several appearance considerations in women alongside career or social reasons. Women consider social reasons less importantly than men, despite the fact that other body appearance reasons may cut across social factors as well. Among the most prevalent reasons for appearance consideration leading women to cosmetic surgery include; aging anxiety, body image and appearance investment. The role of cosmetic surgery in women is largely attributed to the general attractiveness and the fear to become unattractive (Brooks and Henderson-King, 2009, p134).

According to (Markey and Markey, 2009, p169), negative feelings about self-esteem, body as well as face satisfaction have been major concerns among women which contribute to influence apparent perceptions on cosmetic surgery. The author associates the impact of media to the apparent improvement in attitudes among women and explains that there are indications of increased influence among men. Different ages among female cosmetic customers have different drives for appearance but beauty is equally important among women of all ages. Brooks and Henderson-King (2009, p135) highlight the differences of men and women in uptake of cosmetic surgery, where it is reported that men are likely to be attracted to social reasons of acquiring the procedures unlike in women who have a host of other reasons.

Materialism which guides the capitalist cultures has influenced consumer behavior around the cosmetic market which has an efficient marketing campaign to paint cosmetic surgery as a pleasant beauty option (AARP, 2007, p13). As observed earlier, very young women do not have several complicated issues with their appearance to warrant procedures such as cosmetic surgery. Middle-aged women are the largest cohort of beauty products consumers with under the largest pressure to enhance their appearance than any other group across the genders. Aged women have least appearance and beauty concerns since they are more concerned with their health issues before others (CPA, 2011, p2). It therefore follows that beauty procedures likely to compromise the health status of the aged are less likely to be preferred by many in this cohort. A few isolated cases have however been reported involving the old women categories.

Attitude differentiation across men cohorts illustrates higher preference among the middle aged men and little uptake among boys (Cash et al, 2011, pp472). Due to the social attachment particularly on the career front, young adult males are more involved in appearance enhancement than younger groups for other purposes. However, increased celebrity profiling of appearance is likely to attract higher following and change of attitude towards cosmetic profiling in the future (CPA, 2011, p3). The role of the media cannot be underestimated in the apparent transformation of attitudes among male cosmetic customers. On the other hand, a spirited campaign by the commercial sector on the popularization of cosmetic products and procedures is likely to target the consumer for the lucrative returns attached to the untapped male market. Medical reasons have equal importance across the sexes due to the life changing impact accorded to the reconstructive surgery patients (Griffiths, 2010, para.1).

References

AARP (2001) Public Attitudes Toward Aging, Beauty and Cosmetic Surgery. [online] Available from <http://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/consume/cosmetic.pdf> [accessed 31 October 2011]

AARP (2007) Focalyst Insight Report: Getting Older and Looking Good. [online] Available from <http://calbooming.sdsu.edu/documents/AgingNaturally.pdf> [accessed 31 October 2011]

ASAPS (2009) How Do Our Attitudes about Beauty Change As WE Age? [online] Available from <http://www.surgery.org/media/news-releases/how-do-our-attitudes-about-beauty-change-as-we-age> [accessed 31 October 2011]

Barrett, A. E., & Robbins, C. (2008) The Multiple Sources Of Women’s Aging Anxiety and their Relationship with Psychological Distress. Journal of Aging and Health, 20, 32–65

Bazner, J. (2002) Attitudes About cosmetic Surgery: Gender and Body Experience. McNair Scholars Journal vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 10-16

Brooks, K. D. & Henderson-King, D. (2009) Materialism, Sociocultural Appearance Messages, and Paternal Attitudes Predict College Women’s Attitudes about Cosmetic Surgery. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 33, pp133-142

Calogero, R., Diraddo, A., Harwin, M. & Park, L. (2009) Predicting Interest in Cosmetic Surgery: Interactive Effects of Appearance-Based Rejection Sensitivity and Negative Appearance Comments. Body Image, 6, pp. 186-193

Cannold, L. (2007) Our Attitude Towards Cosmetic Surgery Needs A Sharp Facelift. [online] Available from <http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/our-attitude-towards-cosmetic-surgery-needs-a-sharp-facelift/2007/08/19/1187462081028.html> [accessed 31 October 2011]

Cash, T., Menzel, J., Sarwer, D., Small, B., Sperry, S. & Thomson, J. (2011) Internalization of Appearance Ideas and Cosmetic Surgery Attitudes: A Test of the Tripartite Influence Model of the Body Image. Sex Roles, vol. 65, no.7-8, pp. 469-477

CPA (2011) Attitudes to Ageing and Older Age. [online] Available from <http://www.cpa.org.uk/information/readings/attitudes_to_ageing.pdf> [accessed 31 October 2011]

Crerand, C. E. & Sarwer, D. B. (2004) Body Image and Cosmetic Medical Treatments. Body Image, 1, pp. 99–111

Delinsky, S. S. (2005) Cosmetic Surgery: A Common and Accepted Form of Self-Improvement? Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 35, 2012–2028

Frederick, D. A., Lever, J. & Peplau, L. A. (2007) Interest in Cosmetic Surgery and Body Image: Views of Men and Women across the Lifespan, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, vol. 120, no. 5, pp.1407-1415

Griffiths, K. (2010) Attitudes to cosmetic Surgery: US versus UK. [online] Available from <http://www.cosmeticsurgerytoday.co.uk/features/view/10324/attitudes-to-cosmetic-surgery-us-versus-uk> [accessed 31 October 2011]

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Factors that contribute to customer loyalty

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Factors that contribute to customer loyalty

Introduction

Customer loyalty leads to either constant or increasing sales but not reduction of profits, as customers keep purchasing from the business every time, they need the particular product or service.

Context

Due to the increasing competition, business owners are trying to find ways to retain their customers and ensure they remain loyal to them and keep purchasing.

Research question

Customers are the foundation of a business. What factors should be considered to ensure the customers remain loyal to the business and its products or service?

Objectives and scope of the review

Explore the customer loyalty contributing factors based on customer loyalty theory

Customer personality using social identity theory

Four stage process of customer loyalty; cognitive, affective, conative and behavioral

The influence of demography on customer loyalty

Suggest ways to improve customer loyalty factors

Review

Customer Loyalty

Four stage process of customer loyalty

Satisfaction

Customer Service

Customer personality

Value and convenience

Customer consciousness

Personal experience

Influencers

Behavioral and attitudinal elements

Evaluation

Literature that contributes more to understanding customer loyalty

Conclusion

Customer loyalty is not static. It keeps changing hence regular consumer research is appropriate.

Curriculum Vitae

Cover Letter