Week 5: Procedural Democracy

I had no idea that there was any type of procedural democracy, it's interesting to see that it focuses on the different foundations of democracy. As mentioned in the reading, "procedural democracy focuses on the foundations of democracy-voting, a free press, free speech, and freedom of assembly (web lecture-Democracy & Dialogue). I may be headed another direction here, but this reminded me of a paper that I worked on some time ago. My research paper was focused on freedom of speech, and I focused it on rap music. Rap music has had it's dilemmas in the past because of it's explicit lyrics. There were many people, including women, who believe that the lyrics in the music was offensive. In many occasions the artist who made these records, for example Ice T, 2 Live Crew, who got lashed by the media. In there defence, they claimed that this was their music, they also claimed that it was their right to freedom of speech. I do believe that rap music has very explicit lyrics, and in many occasions I have felt offended by what is said about females, but I also think that these artist have the right to freedom of speech. They are artist, and in many occasions they base their music on true events that they have been through in life. The only thing that I mentioned in this is if somebody does not like what they are listening to, then they should turn it off.

Chapter 11: Phatic Communication

I never realized that this type of communication existed (I did not realize that it actually had a name to it). As the authors explain, "phatic communication is a form of small talk that helps us appear social and gives the impression that we are interested in others " (pg. 344). This is also known as "mindless exchange" (pg.344). This kind of exchange happens to me at the office where I work. The office is set-up as follows: my work area (cubicle) is in the middle, and the "more important" people, their offices surround my working area (it's shaped like a rectangle). I work around the quality improvement coordinator, the administrator, my boss, etc. With my boss, phatic communication does not occur, but with everyone else it does. We pass each other by and say "Hi, how are you?" "Good, thank you." It really never gets passed that stage, but hopefully I will get to know them a little bit more. For example, this is the kind of dialogue that I would have with the office secretary, but we have gotten to know each other a bit more. Now when we speak to each other, it goes passed the phatic communication.

Chapter 10: Training and Development

Training and development as stated in the reading, "training and development-formal and informal efforts to develop employee skill-has always been a function of management" (pg. 322). I'm assuming that most people when they start a new job go through training and development. In the job I have now required that I learn a bit of both. I work at a alcohol and drug prevention program, and most of the training that I had, included my co-workers and my participation. What we do at my job is we go to different sites (high schools, juvenile hall, group homes), and we do a program with the youth that teaches them how to learn about communicating with others, how to look for jobs, how to work as a team, etc. My two sites that I run are at the juvenile hall and at an all girls group home. In order for me to learn how to run the program, my supervisors set-up a mini training session for us. We did this as a team, and I think this is what helped me out a lot. As for the training, if I ever need to do anything on the computer (I am not a computer wiz), I usually get help from one of my co-workers. The development part of my job requires the actual interaction that I have with the youth. You either make a connection with the youth or you don't. I have been very lucky with both my sites, the youth trust in me and come to me when they have questions.