Societal Trends

For module 2 we were asked to choose one of societies trends and analyse its impact upon society itself. At this moment there are many areas that are of concern not only to people in a certain area or state, these issues are recognised nationally and internationally as real concerns to be studied and dealt with.

One such societal trend we can talk about is corruption. What is corruption? According to Wikipedia, corruption is "spiritual or moral impurity or deviation from an ideal. Corruption may include many activities including bribery and embezzlement.Government, or 'political', corruption occurs when an office-holder or other governmental employee acts in an official capacity for personal gain." ( Wikipedia, 2013). 

                                      Untitled photo of corruption, definition. (August 30,2012) Retrieved September 10                                                                          from http://procentus.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/the-cost-of-corruption-in-                                                                                     developing-countries/


When talking about this on a national scale, New Zealand is ranked one of the least corrupt countries in the world. A non-governmental organisation called Transparency International uses a Corruption Perception Index(CPI) to compare levels of economic crime in different countries and has consistently ranked New Zealand as one of the least corrupt countries in the world. (Transparency International (2011). "Corruption Perceptions Index". Transparency International. Transparency International. Retrieved 1 September 2013.)

The picture below shows the CPI done by Transparency International for the year 2012: 

Screenshot of Transparency International's PCI brochure. (n.d). Retrieved August 31 2013 from www.transparency.org

But Transparency International themselves say that their rankings are based on opinion surveys rather than proper evidence, as corruption is "to a great extent a hidden activity that is difficult to measure". 

Regardless of the scale of corruption in any given country, the fact is that corruption does remain, and more widespread in some countries than in other and it poses a global threat to the economics and peoples lives worldwide. 

Although the scale of corruption differs from country to country, the fact remains that each and every country has some level of corruption happening, and New Zealand is one of those countries. Though ranked 3rd on Transparency's list of corruption scale, it is still occurring, and a report was published by Transparency International's New Zealand partner, TINZ on internal corruption within New Zealand. A summarised version of the report is as follows : 

Global Corruption Barometer 2013

3% of Kiwi’s Report Paying a Bribe in Global Survey 9 July, 2013 - Transparency International today released the 2013 Global Corruption Barometer, and its key finding from the global survey of 114,000 respondents in 107 countries: bribery is widespread with 27 per cent of those surveyed globally reporting they have paid a bribe in the last 12 months when interacting with public institutions and services. The New Zealand component of the survey involved 1000 New Zealanders and was undertaken by Colmar Brunton in January and February this year and found: 3% of New Zealanders surveyed reported paying a bribe Of those who reported paying a bribe their reasons for doing so were because: It was the only way to obtain a service (35%) To get a cheaper service (29%) To speed things up (21%) As a gift/gratitude (15%) 65% of those surveyed thought the level of corruption in New Zealand has increased over the past two years

Taken from www.transparencynz.org.nz. (10 July 2013).


So what actually causes corruption? According to a paper done by World Bank, one of the main reasons of corruption are bad systems of governance. The paper also goes on to say that there are many personal motivators within this cause. It says people offer bribes because they want an unfair advantage over others. Some seek bribes for reasons special to them, such as : 

a.) Politicians look for bribes as "insurance" in case they happen to lose their office, as they will not be qualifying for a monthly pension
b.) Government officials need the extra money to maintain a quality standard of living for themselves and their families, especially if salaries have not been raised to match inflation, so they can meet commitments
c.) Employees are not satisfied with bad management or unfair pay levels.This causes them to justify making false expenses claims and/or taking bribes
d.) Some see it as doing the public 'a favour' by reducing the amount of fines they have to pay and reducing the legal implications of certain wrongdoings by just paying a bribe to 'settle' the case.

All these reasons and more are used by people worldwide to justify taking, and giving bribes, and it is a tough cycle to break as to eliminate corruption, both the giver and taker has to be eliminated.

What are some of the implications of corruption on society?

The impacts of corruption are widespread, related to political, economic, social and environmental effects. But the one we will be looking at in this module is the social impact from corruption. 

The degree to which corruption makes a difference in common peoples lives and causes poverty to increase is direct proportional to the level of this social ill and how widespread it is in society. The development of a country or a state also depends on the amount of resources are lost to corruption. In developed countries like New Zealand, corruption is limited to a small group of projects and where the common man does not really encounter it on a daily basis, the impact of corruption is minimal and does not endanger the welfare of the public. Whereas in developing and poor countries such as Pakistan, where each dollar is counted towards the development of the country, corruption hampers the country's development quite badly. In fact one recent report by the World Bank lists corruption and lack of transparency as the core reasons for Pakistan's failure to develop. ( Source: http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/columns/16-Aug-2011/Impact-of-corruption-on-our-society. Retrieved September 5,2013)

It has been further proven that corruption increases the poverty level by reducing the level of social services to the poor, which then creates incentives for higher investment in capital-intensive projects and lower investment in labor-intensive projects. This deprives the poor of income-generating opportunities. Government officers also might use their authority for private gain in designing and/or implementing public policies. This will lead to enrichment of these officers in question as well as private individuals who stand to gain a larger share of public benefits. Thus the benefits of corruption will likely be enjoyed by the better connected individuals in society who are mostly higher income earners, and this also leads to affecting income distribution. ( Gupta, S. (September 20, 2001). Does Corruption affect income inequality and poverty. )

According to another paper done by one Brima Karl Samura, corruption also discourages people to work together for a common good. Frustation and general apathy permeates the public, which then results in a weak civil society. It then becomes a norm to ask for and receive bribes. He also goes on to report that it increases social inequality, widens the gap between the poor and rich, increases poverty and increases lack of basic needs like water, food, medicines, causes jealousy, hatred and insecurities. (Retrieved September 11, 2013 from http://gnpai.org/researchlibrary/corruption/THE%20EFFECTS%20OF%20CORRUPTION.pdf )

The table below, taken from one such research paper done on the impacts of corruption, shows the data collected from 20 respondents who were given questionnares about the effects of corruption on their social lives:

Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/kpbnepal/the-impacts-of-corruption-on-the-social-and-environmental-sustainability-in-nepal-13083411

                           



According to that survey done, most of the problems suffered in their jobs by these respondents was because of corrupt practices. Because of this they are forced to suffer from poverty, low salary/profit, gender discrimination, and lack of access to natural resources. (Nepal Labour Foundation, January 2011)

From the above it is clear that corruption has many adverse impacts on society, and that each and every country has to work hard towards eradicating corruption as much as they can in order to develop. As a conclusion, here is a quote from a famous leader, Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam: 

Source : http://izquotes.com/quote/98305

Hopefully this module was useful in explaining on what corruption is, and also some of the social effects of corruption.With this I conclude Module 2.

Dheenesh





References :

Corruption. (n.d). Retrieved 10 September 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption

Corruption Perceptions Index. (2012). Retrieved September 11, 2013 from http://www.transparency.org/cpi2012/results

Combating bribery and corruption. Ministry of Justice. (n.d). Retrieved September 5, 2013 from http://www.justice.govt.nz/policy/criminal-justice/bribery-and-corruption

Global Corruption Barometer. (2013). Retrieved September 6, 2013 from http://transparencynz.org.nz/index.php/indices-reports/global-reports/161-global-corruption-barometer-2013

The Effects of Corruption. (n.d). Retrieved September 01, 2013 from http://gnpai.org/researchlibrary/corruption/THE%20EFFECTS%20OF%20CORRUPTION.pdf

Industrial Revolution : Steam engines

Untitled photo of the Industrial Revolution. [n.d]. Retrieved August 14, 2013 from http://www.docstoc.com/docs/82864876/Industrial-Revolution---PowerPoint

So, steam engines. What are they? Steam engines are basically external combustion engines, as opposed to internal combustion engines, where the working fluid is separated from the combustion products.  These engines use boiling water to produce steam, which is pressurised and then used to produce mechanical power/rotational motion to power machinery, tools and/or vehicles. The usage of these engines date back as early as 2000 years ago, when they were used to remove water from coal mines and diamond mines.

Untitled picture of the Watt steam engine [n.d.]. Retrieved August 15, 2013 from  http://www.humanthermodynamics.com/ht-history.html

Shown above is one of the earliest and most popular examples of the steam engine, the Watt engine, made famous by its designer James Watt. A steam engine basically works in this way : Water is boiled to make steam in a boiler until it reaches extremely high pressures. The high pressured steam is then forced through pipes to pistons inside cylinders or turbines, where the high pressure drives the piston or turbine, thus converting heat and pressure into  mechanical work. The excess steam is then either released into the air, or condensed and pumped back into the boiler.

Steam engines were one of the main drivers of the Industrial Revolution as it was used in almost all industrial applications such as driving large machinery, locomotives, pumps, ships and farmyard vehicles.

One of the types of steam engines which are in use are called beam engines. Beam engines basically use a beam to transfer force from a vertical piston to a vertical connecting rod. These engines were mainly used to pump water out of mines or into canals, but in New Zealand they were used to pump fresh, clean water to reservoirs. One such example of a beam engine was first assembled in Western Springs, Auckland, and used to pump water to Mt Eden, Ponsonby and Khyber Pass.

As seen in the photo, the engine was built by John Key and Son, Engineers and Shipbuilders, in the year 1877. In the year 1879 it started its work pumping water and was officially decommissioned in the year 1928. When running at maximum capacity, it used to pump about 2 million gallons of water from Western Springs each day, until the water dam at Waitakere took over as the main water supply for the supply areas.
In the year 2008, the restoration project was completed and the engine was brought back to life where it now regularly runs at MOTAT, as a feature show for visitors and a reminder of the immense working history it once had. Below is a video of the actual running of the restored engine at the pump house :

No doubt these works of engineering are a marvel, and they were a boon to those who lived during the time of the Industrial Revolution, but what were some of the actual societal impacts of the development of this technology?

The development of this technology had a massive impact on society in many ways, ranging from transport, shipping, mining, farming, politics, economics and etc.

One of the main impacts was that production was hugely improved, and the development of these powerful engines in industrial use paved the way for mass production. Goods could now be produced cheaper and in mass quantities, and also with better quality.

Transportation costs were also improved, and people could travel cheaper with the improvement of locomotives and ships/boats. Goods also could be transported over long distances in shorter times, resulting in better and faster supply to meet demands, and increased input of work. Roads and canals were built, resulting in shorter travelling times and increased network of travellers and road users.

Before the steam engine was developed, there were factories and manufacturing plants, but those were slow and cumbersome as most of the work was done by humans or beasts of burden such as horses, mules, and buffaloes (in farming). More and more factories were built as a result of the usage of steam power, as a result more and more jobs were offered, and cities became more populated and popular as the quality of life improved. Coal also replaced wood as the fuel of choice.

The impact of this led to the first automobile, and sometime after that also led to the invention of the first airplane.

There are negative impacts which resulted from the advancement in technology, such as pollution, the depletion of fossil fuels, global warming, child labor and division of the different social classes, but it cannot be denied that the positives outweighed the negatives, and the advancement of the technology developed in those times are directly responsible for the technologically advanced and modern world we have today.

:)


References :

All Sands. (n.d.). Retrieved August 16, 2013 from
http://www.allsands.com/potluck1/potluck1/steamenginehi_uvb_gn.htm


NZ Herald. (2008). Beam Engine Springs to Life. Retrieved August 15, 2013 from
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/auckland-city-harbour-news/325451/Beam-engine-springs-to-life

Wikipedia. (2007). Steam Engine. Retrieved August 15, 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_engine

Whipps, H. (June 16, 2008). Retrieved August 14, 2013 from
http://www.livescience.com/2612-steam-engine-changed-world.html

Visit to Motat

Untitled photo of MOTAT [n.d.]. Retrieved August 12, 2013 from  http://www.motat.org.nz/

So for our first Module, we were given our handouts and also a free pass to MOTAT, and we were to make a trip and observe all the historical technology on display. We then had to choose one technology to focus on , and instructed to focus on the history of the chosen technology as well as the societal impacts of it as well.

So it was on a sunny Wednesday afternoon that I decided to drive down to MOTAT, which was located about 10 minutes away from where I stay and make my trip.

On arrival and entry, one of the first things to attract my attention was the large tractor/steam engine puffing away right opposite the main entrance. I have always been attracted by engines and things that move, and I have a particular liking for large scale machinery as I have spent some time around them, thus I decided to make that the chosen technology that I will do my research about.

Societal context

Hi everyone. I thought that with the end of the subject Professional Practices, that would be the last of the usage of blogs in our coursework. But surprise surprise : we were told by Ms Rashika that we needed to have another blog for our subject APPT 6114, and it would be one of the major components of our coursework.

Don't get me wrong, it's not a nuisance or an inconvenience that we have to create and maintain our blogs regularly for the course. Its just that quite a few of us are doing Automotive Engineering, and most of us have our "heads stuck under the bonnet of a car", as our previous lecturer Andy Pivac always used to tell us, and the notion of electronic work and assignments are a bit far fetched to us :D

Anyway, this post is to kick start the blog , and hopefully Ms Rashika will be able to find some interesting stuff here to read. Enjoy :D