A Study of Family Issues in Pursuit of Happiness by Gabriele Muccino

A Study of Family Issues in Pursuit of Happiness by Gabriele Muccino Pursuit of Happiness Pursuit of Happiness is about a family living check by check, just trying to get by. The husband Chris, that sells bone scanner machines. He had bought into these machines, thinking they would be a big hit, but not knowing that not many hospitals would be interested, because of the X-Ray machine, that was very similar. The wife/mother left, being stressed and not believing in her future with Chris, and their son Christopher. After her departure, it only went downhill. They became homeless, and had to move into a motel down the street. For a few months, Chris could still afford to send Christopher to a day-care, which a Chinese lady was in charge of, but later he could not, and had to take Christopher to work with him. After having been kicked out of the motel, and having nowhere to live, they were forced to sleep in a subway bathroom. After this incident, they stayed in a homeless shelter most of the nights. In the midst of the craziness he called life, Chris signed up for a free int ernship with a stock business, and had gotten top intern, which got him a job with the business. After he had got the job, he had good pay, and Chris and his son lived well. This movie can connect well with family issues, marriage issues, wealth problems, and poverty. Chapters 7: Social Class, 10: Race and Ethnic Stratification, 13: Crime and the Legal System, and 14: Marriage and Family, both correspond with the movie Pursuit of Happiness. Chapter 7 talks about social class, such as lower, middle, and upper class; depending on how much money you have. The main character, Chris, lives a poor life, in the â€Å"ghetto†, with his child, after his wife leaves, trying to make a living. He is in the lower class, but after winning a competitive internship, and being offered a job, he starts making good money, and starts to raise in social class. Chapter 10 talks about race and this deals with the movie because Chris, his son, and his wife are all African American, which might have interfered with him getting a job, or selling the amount of bone scanners he needed to sell. Chapter13 is about crime, and how society deals with it, and also the way the lega l system is set up. In the movie, there are various scenes of robbery, or in a specific scene, where one of Chris leaves his bone scanner with a homeless person outside of a building, because he is late for a meeting and can’t take it inside, and the person ends up stealing it. Chapter 14 speaks of marriage and family issues, which is the main happenings, mostly in the beginning of the movie. Their family had issues from the start of the movie, and only gets worse. Chris isn’t bringing in much money, and his wife is already working two jobs, and after she leaves, they aren’t able to pay the rent on time and get kicked out of their apartment. The entire movie is connected with much sociology content, which can help connect the movie to real life situations. The movie Pursuit of Happiness relates to sociology also through social equality. It thrives for this through the movie. Social equality is when everyone has completely equal treatment and opportunity. With so cial equality, there would be no separating by race, gender, religion, and social class. By doing so, it relates to all of the spoken of chapters in our book. In this movie, Chris Gardner is criticized of by his race, and social class. He has to live in a homeless shelter many nights, not being able to correctly feed his child, or give him what he needs. After being accepted for the internship, he does as much work as he possibly can and works as hard as he can so that he can win and get a job promotion. He stands up for himself, after being thrown in jail and not being able to go home and take a shower before his big meeting, and shows the business men that he has what they want, in courage and in confidence. By doing this, he gets the job, and is in better hands for his future, and his son. Sociology is built within this movie, especially since it is focused around society and the government. Bring poor, having a low income, having a slow job, and other things that can help make y ou have more and harder trouble with the world is what this movie is based on. It is especially centered on how one man can make a difference for a whole family, when taken to the extreme. By him getting out and earning what he got, and deserving every bit of it, it shows us that there is hope.

Textile Industry in USA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4750 words

Textile Industry in USA - Essay Example The industry comprises various, fragmented set of services that range from small, family-owned and-operated facilities that normally employ older, conventional manufacturing systems to giant integrated mills that employ the most modern machinery and manufacturing equipment. In 1996, Mexico pushed China aside as the major U.S. supplier of textiles and garments. Textiles and apparel are responsible for about 20 % of the U.S. trade loss. Recently, the loss in textile and apparel business was estimated as $52 billion. In accordance with the WTO, in 1998, the U.S. imported $69.1 billion worth of textile merchandise making it the largest importer. Exports are about $17 billion. Moreover, the Asian financial predicaments have impacted the U.S. textile industry. The American Textile Manufacturers Institute (A.T.M.I.) has resolved to firmly dispute against the new rush of Asian imports into the USA, following the depreciation of Far Eastern currencies. Apparel imports from Asia are up 12 % for 1998 to 5.9 billion square meters. In addition, Asian imports of fabrics, yarn and home fixtures have risen by 16 % to reach 6.1 billion square meters. Accordingly, U.S. fabric manufacturer Burlington declared in January 1999 that it would decrease its manufacturing facility by 25 %, as a result of bigger Asian garment imports in the U.S.A. Seven factories were shut, and 2,900 people fired i.e. 17 % of the labor force. Burlington Industries hires 17,400 persons in the U.S.A., 18,900 all over the world. It is anticipated that the U.S. textile and apparel industry's has experienced a decrease in employment from 1.5 million people in 1990 to 985,000 in 1999. Nevertheless, it is believed that as the World Trade Organization is more phased in and business impediments continue to decrease, the position for the textile industry on the global side looks assured for both exports and imports. Moreover at the same time as the economic predicament in Asia may turn up ostensibly to intimidate the textile industry with a rush of cheap goods from those nations, some crucial aspects make sure that the industry will be less at risk. The central of these aspects is the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Statistics show that the agreement has already facilitated quickens businesses between the U.S., Canada and Mexico, with imports from Canada and Mexico representing 21.1 % of all U.S. textile imports. Especially important, U.S. exports to the two nations comprise 45.6 % of all U.S. textile exports. As there has been a common drop in demand for U.S. made products, this enlarged trade among North American nations will help to reduce the shock that the crisis might otherwise have on U.S. producers. In contrast, U.S. textile importers and developing countries have blamed the U.S. government of not fulfilling global Agreement on Textiles and Apparel (ATA). A key component of the ATA requires the phase-out of quotas on textile and apparel trade. Various American importers and retailers, in addition to the developing countries that export goods to the USA, have condemned the U.S. government for continuing quotas on various imports until the end of the 10-year phaseout period, which started in 1995. On November 15, 1999, the USA and

The property market at world level ( credit crunch affected ) and How Essay

The property market at world level ( credit crunch affected ) and How this goes for Hong Kong market - Essay Example Thus the impact of this is far reaching and can provide insight into the future of Hong Kong’s property market as well as its overall financial infrastructure and how they can be affected. The reason for choosing this topic is therefore to study as to how this credit crunch will affect the world markets in general as well as Hong Kong Market in particular. Current credit crunch is largely perceived as the main reason behind the collapse of the property market in international system. The reason as to why credit crunch resulted into the collapse of the property market can be traced back to the subprime mortgage crises which emerged due to the imprudent lending practices of the bank. By definition, a subprime borrower is a borrower whose credit has not been entirely satisfactory due to historical defaults on payments against loans taken. (Budworth,2009). However, such borrowers offer more lucrative options for the banks and financial institutions to lend because of their higher risk. High risk borrowers are often charged high rates therefore there is always a chance to earn high on such relationships. Based on this simple principle of risk and return banks and financial institutions started to lend to their subprime borrowers especially in mortgage markets. However, banks and other financial institutions, at the same time, also started the process of securitization through which the mortgage portfolio held as security with the bank were bundled and securities were sold out against such collaterals in the open market. The basic purpose was to recoup the liquidity lost in making the loans to subprime borrowers. Crises in property markets started to emerge when subprime borrowers started to default on their commitments and as such banks have to pay out to the holders of mortgage backed securities through other means as with the default of the borrowers a mismatch in cash flows were created. The