How does Marxist theory view class - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 8 Words: 2333 Downloads: 8 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Sociology Essay Type Analytical essay Did you like this example? No commentator has seriously doubted the central importance of the theory of class for [Marxs] workà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦it is as essential for his theory of history as it is for his analysis of the dynamics of capitalist society. (Dahrendorf, 1959, 8) This essay examines this assertion and looks at where and how class operates within Marxs comprehensive socio-economic theory. It analyses class as both a description and concept, and as a motor of social change à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" as both a structural, static element and as a dynamic, transformational one. The history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggles are the opening words of The Communist Manifesto (Marx Engels, 1967, 79). Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "How does Marxist theory view class?" essay for you Create order The entire first section of   the tract is devoted to a description of classes throughout the history of humankind and how, in his own age, the emergence of two dominant classes à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" bourgeoisie and proletariat à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" was simplifying the social structure and making it ripe for revolutionary, emancipatory social change. Although Marxs motivation for his wish to see social transformation was morally driven in the first instance, all his works eschew arguments based upon morality (Wheen, 1999). Instead, the emphasis is upon political imperatives and economic determinism, attempting to make his arguments and theories scientific and rational rather than appealing to a more intangible sense of justice and fairness. For Marx, historical progress itself was the driver of social change, while social classes were the agents of transformation. Class definition is determined not by income or status, but by property relations which, in turn, are the result of t he production process structure (Parkin, 1979). By presenting his social theories and his view of history in terms of class, such an epistemological and methodological model supported not only his analysis of society, but also his assertion that the proletariat would be the ultimate agent of human liberation ushering in a better world. Friedrich Engels claimed that Marxs exposition of Scientific Socialism or Historic Materialism revealed immutable laws similar to the contemporaneous theories of Charles Darwin in the field of evolutionary biology (Bullock Stalybrass, 1983). However, in claiming to discern scientific laws governing the workings and development of human society, Marxs analysis ran the risk of becoming a predeterminist philosophy, or a form of historicism (Honderich, 1995). Engels argued that in order to make a science of Socialism, it had first to be placed upon a real basis. (Engels, 1970, 43) The realness or authenticity elaborated by Marx and Engel placed the co ncept of class at the heart of subsequent Marxist philosophy. This centrality emerged from a conflict within the political left in the mid-19th century. Marx embarked upon a sustained campaign of argument and vilification against those he labelled utopian socialists, notably Henri de Saint-Simon, Pierre Proudhon, FranÃÆ' §ois Fourier, Eugen DÃÆ' ¼hring and Robert Owen. Although he conceded that these individuals were well-meaning, genuine believers in the principles of socialism, and successful in demonstrating through their works the ethical essence of socialism, nonetheless their paternalistic ideas were insufficient to produce comprehensive human emancipation (Wheen, 1999). They gave too little heed to the importance of class antagonism as the fundamental driver of the struggle for liberation. In The Communist Manifesto, Marx argued that the utopian socialists committed their mistakes because the urban working class had not yet developed sufficiently for the signifi cance of class conflict to be recognised (1848). However, this mild rebuke was followed by much more acerbic criticism. He asserted that setting up idealistic experimental communities aimed at showing there was an alternative to the exploitative nature of the capitalist mode of production removed the participants from the wider society and made them irrelevant. Furthermore, the utopians writings, theories and actions demonstrated not just an ignorance of, but also a denial of, the central importance of class struggle. Consequently, in seeking reconciliation between bourgeoisie and worker, such collusion made them class traitors (Marx Engels, 1967). By adopting such an uncompromising position, Marx had committed himself to an analysis that relied upon class and class conflict to explain the past and predict the future. Other social divisions, such as race, gender, ethnicity and religion were thereafter relegated to being largely the products of economic relations à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" part of the superstructure of society rather than the more powerful base comprising productive forces and the relations of production (Hughes-Warrington, 2000). Marx argued that throughout history successive waves of dominant classes, such as patricians, feudal lords and aristocrats, had merely replaced each other as exploiters of similarly successive underclasses, such as slaves, plebeians and serfs. The bourgeoisie were just the latest in a line of oppressors, but Marx asserted that they were both the apogee and the last of the exploiters (Muravchik, 2002). The emergence of the bourgeoisie superseding the aristocracy as the ruling elite was the result of the replacement of feudalism by capitalism and was characterised by industrialisation. Industrialisation was founded on the factory system which produced a new class à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" the proletariat. When this increasingly impoverished hired-hand sector with no part in the ownership of the means of production finally rose up in revolt against their masters, their subsequent rule would not, indeed could not, be oppressive because, consisting of almost everyone, they would have no one to exploit (Hughes-Warrington, 2000). While the proletariat would eventually usher in socialism and eventually communism, this would not happen until they were organised. Furthermore, such organisation could not occur before the working class became aware of the nature of their oppression à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" namely that it was one class dividing and exploiting another rather than the moral failures of powerful individuals. This would be difficult because, It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness. (Marx, 2014, 11-12) If their consciousness was rooted in their class position, how could this chicken-and-egg scenario be resolved? This was where the concept of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat became such a useful tool for later actua l parties of government which claimed to be Marxist, in particular the regime of Stalin. Asserting that the Bolshevik/Communist Party was the vanguard of the proletariat and imbued with a consciousness somehow not beholden to their social existence, this served the purposes of allowing an elite to claim to be part of the emancipationist class, provided a useful scapegoating catch-all category of bourgeois for condemning and liquidating opposition, and created a reservoir of willing, obedient lower-level-leadership acolytes from the actual working class who were dependent upon accepting the ideology and direction of that elite for their accession to, and continued holding of, their privileged positions (Daniels, 2007). However, in Marxist theory this was not how it was supposed to develop. Class consciousness, or the self-awareness of a shared, unified and unifying experience, was to be the mechanism by which revolutionary consciousness developed as workers became properly aware o f the locus of their grievances rather than merely experiencing untargeted, unfocused discontent. It was the very struggle against exploitation which would produce the conditions where workers were forced to organise collectively and behave as a class, a process which would create the awareness of class and distinct class interests (Callinicos, 2010). Marx argued that keeping workers separate from each other, part of a wider phenomenon of alienation experienced by wage labourers, was an essential component of the capitalist/bourgeois system of control (Hampsher-Monk, 1992). However, just as factory-based capitalism produced the industrial proletariat, so too did it produce shared ideas which inclined the working class towards socialist solutions to their unjust existence. What the bourgeoisie therefore produces, above all, are its own gravediggers. Its fall and the victory of the proletariat are equally inevitable. (Marx Engels, 1967, 94) Marxism sees the bourgeoisie as naturall y taking measures to defend their class interests as well as their individual interests. Their most potent weapon is the state, Marx claiming that the executive of the modern state is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie. (Marx Engels, 1967, 82)   Marx viewed the state negatively and did not see it as a forum through which human emancipation and social justice could be achieved. The state was neither natural, neutral nor eternal, but simply a product of the era in which capitalism held sway. It was part of societys superstructure, a view reinforced and elaborated upon by Lenin in 1917 in The State and Revolution: The state is a product and a manifestation of the irreconcilability of class antagonisms. The state arises where, when and insofar as class antagonisms objectively cannot be reconciled. And, conversely, the existence of the state proves that the class antagonisms are irreconcilable. (Lenin, 1917, 9) Analysis of the state as the servant of capitalist vested interests demonstrates further the central and fundamental role class plays in Marxist theory. It effectively argues that there is a cohesive ruling class running capitalist societies. Despite frequent conflicts of interest among themselves, its constituent parts are ultimately united in defence of an economic and social system which works to their benefit. This dominant class, in contemporary Marxist theory, comprises not just the owners of capital, property and land, but includes senior management in large corporations, the top layers of the civil service, the judiciary, the diplomatic corps, military leaders and most of the leading figures in right-wing political parties, particularly conservative ones, although increasingly also figuring within centrist parties which have accepted the current neoliberal orthodoxy. While the owners of the means of production rarely hold any of the reins of political power, they are part of the same elite which provid es the political leadership. The state is almost permanently under the control of the ruling class of the age, while parliamentary politics and democratic elections are in large measure faÃÆ' §ades concealing the self-interest and ultimate control of this powerful class-based elite (Coxall Roberts, 1990). Among more recent strains of Marxian theory, Structuralist Marxists have contributed most substance to modern class analysis. Among their most salient arguments is the assertion that contemporary liberal-democratic states steer popular perceptions of political struggle away from class-conflict interpretations and towards discourses framed in terms of rights and justice. Although the state colludes in upholding and promoting a social and economic hierarchical class system, it successfully blinds the exploited to their exploitation (Resch, 1992). Furthermore, the contemporary ruling class prefers a state which does not overtly promote their material interests, but quietly upho lds their political interests. Among other activities, it does this in democratic states by redefining workers, who are in reality a class of people, as political subjects and autonomous citizens, thus isolating them from each other under the guise of upholding the rights of the individual. The aim is to hide the fact of class relationships between and among classes, and to persuade people into accepting that their interests are part of a fictional national interest and that the state is the surest and most legitimate defender of their freedoms and material interests (Poulantzas, 1973). This study agrees with the opening quotations assertion about the centrality of class to Marxist thought, and would add that it was also critical for the (overly) optimistic predictions of imminent proletarian revolution in The Communist Manifesto. The decision to use class as the epistemological prism through which to analyse socio-economic dynamics was essential for a theory which sought to expl ain almost all of human historys trajectory towards the contemporary situation of the mid 19th century à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" then project it forward as a teleological theory with an endpoint in the fairly near future. Class was the unifier of the theory, the motor of change and the provider of agency. Originally embarked upon to explain how the European transition from feudalism to capitalism occurred, it gradually transmuted into a metahistory of humankind (Hampsher-Monk, 1992). However, Marxs knowledge of history was selective and sketchy, and the further back in time that he went, the more speculative it became (Hobsbawm, 2011). Critically too, his analysis was Eurocentric, dismissed religion too easily, omitted gender relations, and was surprisingly dismissive of the power of ideas vis-ÃÆ'  -vis economic developments (Hughes-Warrington, 2000). As an explanatory tool, as a justification for revolution, as a motivator, and as a call to action Philosophers have hitherto only in terpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it, (Marx, 1994, 98) the concept of class has proved a vital, useful and enduring tool. Although global socio-economic structures have moved on immeasurably since Marx was writing a century-and-a-half ago, not only the concept of class, but also the very terminologies used by him (proletariat, bourgeoisie, relations of production) are still the coinage of discourse in much Marxist writing. Depending upon one ones point of view, this is either an attestation of the enduring truths contained within his perceptive writings, or else a dogmatic adherence to semi-sacred texts akin to biblical fundamentalists refusing to accept that the Old Testament is anything other than literal truth. Word Count: 2141 Bibliography Bullock, A. Stallybrass, O., 1977. The Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought. London: Fontana. Callinicos, A., 2010. The Revolutionary Ideas of Karl Marx. 2nd Edition ed. London: Bookmarks. Coxall, B. Roberts, Lynton, 1990. Contemporary British Politics. London: Macmillan. Dahrendorf, R., 1959. Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Daniels, R. V., 2007. The Rise and Fall of Communism in Russia. New haven: Yale University Press. Engels, F., 1970. Socialism: Utopian and Scientific (1880). New York: Mondial. Hampsher-Monk, I., 1992. Modern Political Thought. Oxford: Blackwell. Hobsbawm, E., 2011. How to Change the World: Tales of Marx and Marxism. London: Abacus. Honderich, T., ed., 1995. The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Hughes-Warrington, M., 2000. Fifty Key Thinkers on History. London: Routledge. Lenin, V., 1917. The State and Revolution. London: Central Books. Ma rx, K., 1994. Karl Marx: Selected Writings. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company. Marx, K., 2014. A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy (1859). London: Forgotten Books. Marx, K. Engels, F., 1967. The Communist Manifesto (1848). Harmondsworth: Penguin. Muravchik, J., 2002. Marxism. Foreign Policy, Nov/Dec, Issue 133, pp. 36-38. Parkin, F., 1979. Marxism and Class Theory: A Bourgeois Critique. New York: Columbia University Press. Poulantzas, N., 1973. Political Power and Social Classes. London: New Left. Resch, R. P., 1992. Althusser and the Renewal of Marxist Social Theory. Berkeley: University of California Press. Wheen, F., 1999. Karl Marx. London: Fourth Estate.

Ethical Theories Supporting Different Moral Perspectives...

Introduction There are numerous ethical theories supporting different moral perspectives of human actions. The various theories differ according to the way in which they require people to act, and in their fundamental arguments. Because of different perspectives and philosophical views, no ethical theory can be said to be superior to the other. The paper that follows describes and defends the ethical theory of utilitarianism. Reasons why Utilitarianism is the Correct Ethical Theory i. It reinforces rationality in judging the morality of actions. ii. It is based on sound premises and is not rigid as traditional ethical codes. iii. It makes moral judgments to be objectively true. Overview of Utilitarianism Utilitarianism is one of the most influential and best known ethical theories. Just like other versions of consequentialism, utilitarianism is premised on the idea that whether an act is morally wrong or right depends on its effects. Essentially, the only aspects of an action stat are important to a utilitarian are the effects the act produces. There are two categories of utilitarianism: act utilitarianism and rule utilitarianism. According to rule utilitarianism, a particular action is morally right if it conforms to some justified moral rules. This perspective implies that the morality of individual actions should be evaluated in reference to existing general moral rules. Act utilitarianism is often regarded as the most natural interpretation of the ethical theory ofShow MoreRelatedEthical Egoism as Moral Theory Essay1250 Words   |  5 Pagesframework, ethical egoism fails as a moral theory to assist moral decision making because it endorses the animalistic nature of humanity, fa ils to provide a viable solution to a conflict of interest, and is proved to be an evolutionary unstable moral strategy. Outline: Ethical egoism claims that all our actions can be reduced to self-interest. 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Developing a stakeholder’s relations management strategy around crisis simulations would be helpful to guide corporate actions when the crisis has developed. According to Crane Matten (2010), stake holders are identified

Buns Of Steel Sex Appeal Essay Example For Students

Buns Of Steel Sex Appeal Essay John Darcey Darcey 1 Professor GarberHm 46March 5thBuns of Steel and Sex AppealIt seems in the past decade more and more attention has been put on firm buttocks and thighs on women. Susan J.Douglas wrote an article called ? Flex Appeal, Buns of Steel, and the Body in Question?. It addresses this fad in a womans point of view. Douglas, who was a teacher and free lance writer has had many of her article appear in The Village Voice. It seems from the tone of this article that Douglas is disgusted by the emphasis put on the female body and has probably had struggles with weight herself, as many women these days have had. Douglas points out in her article all of the publicity that has been put on womens hindquarters. It seems like everywhere you go you can catch a glimpse of a womans tight rear end or firm thighs. On billboards, magazine covers, articles, television, just about anywhere you can put a butt you will see one. Douglas says ? ?not just in Vogue or Cosmo, either: even in the Vi llage Voice,? has ads for products such as the videotape called Buns of Steel.? (Douglas 181) There is also an enormity of exercise videos making claims like ? Now you can have the Buns you always wanted?. The author also points out two ads that Darcey 2show perfect bottoms with slogans like ? Youve worked hard? and ?If you work it shows?. (Douglas 182) Douglas seems offended by this rebutting ?meaning if you have been slacking off, that will show too?. (Douglas 182) I personally think that if it were actually that easy, we would all have ?buns of steel?. Douglas brings up something that most of us have never thought of before. She seems to think that expected woman to have tight behinds is trying to make them more like men. She claims that this is a ?distortion of feminism? (Douglas 182) She then goes onto say ? ?that ambitious women want, or should want, to be just like men, especially those men committed to the most competitive, inhumane, macho aspects of patriarchy. I dont really see the connection, being that I am sure woman like firm buns on men too. It seems that Douglas is ashamed of her own body as you can see in the statement ?They insist that the rest of us should feel only one thing when we put on a bathing suit: profound mortification.? (Douglas 181) I dont think that any women should feel ashamed of her body in a bathing suit or anything else for that matter. Douglas explains how women naturally have more fat than men do, in order to carry babies. This is another reason she came to the theory of the public wanting women to be more like men. She also make a sarcastic statement ?A real women, of any Darcey 3age, will get off her butt and, by overcoming her sloth, not just get in shape, but conquer genetics and history.? (Douglas 182)According to the article this buttock and thigh craze started in the eighties. It seems, according to Douglas, that the popularity of thighs and buttocks much overrode the popularity of breast. The reason, she explains, it that even flat chested women can have a goal of ?buns of steel?.I feel that part of this is that sexual oriented matters where becoming more public on television in ads. It was probably the first decade that it was acceptable to blatantly display womens rear ends. When all of the regular women saw this, and how the media connected it to sexuality and wealthiness it became a craze. In addition to that men came to think that is what to expect from a women, and therefore put more pressure on their own girlfriends and wives to look like the models. Dougl as says ?The key to huge profits was to emphasize beauty over health, sexuality over fitness, and to equate thin thighs with wealth and status?. (Douglas 182) Douglas says this is Reaganism, which means that appearances are just as important as character. .u76e4c0741b0e8aceda4838516eecd32b , .u76e4c0741b0e8aceda4838516eecd32b .postImageUrl , .u76e4c0741b0e8aceda4838516eecd32b .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u76e4c0741b0e8aceda4838516eecd32b , .u76e4c0741b0e8aceda4838516eecd32b:hover , .u76e4c0741b0e8aceda4838516eecd32b:visited , .u76e4c0741b0e8aceda4838516eecd32b:active { border:0!important; } .u76e4c0741b0e8aceda4838516eecd32b .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u76e4c0741b0e8aceda4838516eecd32b { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u76e4c0741b0e8aceda4838516eecd32b:active , .u76e4c0741b0e8aceda4838516eecd32b:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u76e4c0741b0e8aceda4838516eecd32b .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u76e4c0741b0e8aceda4838516eecd32b .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u76e4c0741b0e8aceda4838516eecd32b .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u76e4c0741b0e8aceda4838516eecd32b .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u76e4c0741b0e8aceda4838516eecd32b:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u76e4c0741b0e8aceda4838516eecd32b .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u76e4c0741b0e8aceda4838516eecd32b .u76e4c0741b0e8aceda4838516eecd32b-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u76e4c0741b0e8aceda4838516eecd32b:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Loewen Group Case Study EssayAnother controversy of this topic is that all these ads show a nice figure as a sign of discipline. The author seems upset with this, because women with desk jobs that Darcey 4work harder than the one who happen to have the time that work out all the time, are considered lazy because of there appearance. The author also seems to disagree with the word cellulite, saying that a women who has it will be ?dismissed as slothful and lacking moral fiber? (Douglas 182) Who question seems to be, what does a tight butt say about the women and her character. She believes, and I tend to agree, nothing at all. She states in her article ?Females buns of ste el mark a woman as a desirable piece of ass, yet someone who can actually kick ass when necessary?. (Douglas 183) In this statement she in insinuated that a strong but doesnt actually add to physical strength. The actual point of Douglas article seems to be that so much emphasis should not be put on tight buns, and more on the accomplishments of the women. Personally, I have known many girls that were so consumed with their weight and the size of their butt it became an obsession. I think Douglas is right about the media and the influence, but I also feel she is reading to much into the matter. Physical attractiveness whether it is buttocks, breast, thighs or legs will always be around for men or for women. I think the general public just has to remember that the women you see on TV are one in a million and it can not be expected for all of them to look like that. Darcey 5Works CitedDoouglas, Susan J. ?Flex Appeal, Buns of Steel, and the Body in Question?. Complements. Anna Katsavos ; Elizabeth Wheeler, McGrw Hill inc. Paris, 1930

Stigma and Mental Health in South Africa †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Stigma and Mental Health in South Africa. Answer: Stigma Stigma and discrimination have been linked with some diseases and hence form part of global public health concerns. Treatment stigma leads to barriers to sick people that hinders them from getting access to health care and hence the lack of compliance (Clement et al., 2015). Stigma leads to problems related to ignorance and issues linked to knowledge and attitude. Stigma exists in two forms: the self and public stigma. These types of stigma are related to each such that one can lead to the other. However, the various types of stigma have a different effect on people with health problems. For instance, people who have mental illnesses suffer to go through psychological and social disturbances due to psychiatric stigma. According to Hatzenbuehler et al., 2013, stigma leads to low self-esteem, social isolation, and marginalization of the sick people in the society. In this case, such people cannot get employment opportunities, social support services, houses, and security. These problem s make it difficult for the sick people to seek health care. This situation becomes worse when health stigma is coupled to inequalities in resource allocation and poor access to health care services (Kakuma et al., 2010). The term stigma was first used by the Greeks to refer to the slaves who had marks on their body to identify them. It means that there is something bad about a particular person and hence it is a social attitude which is used towards mental illnesses. In its capacity, stigma is a social disgrace and it discredits a person. It is also and indicates a discrepancy that exists in the virtual social identity of a person in relation to their actual social identity (Lund et al., 2010). When stigma discredits the abilities of a person, then they can make an assumption concerning the persons' abilities leading to some sorts of discrimination. The stigmatized person is dehumanized and their status is reduced in terms of the social values such that they are viewed to be having flaws and hence they have less average as compared to other members of the society. Resources for mental illnesses The services offered for the mental illnesses are inadequate all over the world. This is because as progress is made in improving services for other diseases in health care, no progress is made for mental illnesses (Egbe et al., 2014). There are some vices like prejudice, stigma, and ignorance against this category of patients which has led to widespread inequality in terms of mental health care resources. The problem is worse especially from the low and medium income countries where resources for mental illness are neglected. In most of the psychiatric hospitals, the hospitals are unsuitable for use by the patients. Mental health in South Africa South Africa is categorized as a middle-income nation with approximately 47 million people. However, the country has several socioeconomic risk factors which can cause mental illnesses and other forms of disability (Burns, 2014). Being the epicenter of HIV disease in sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa has the highest prevalence rate of this disease. High rates of HIV are associated with a high number of psychiatric disorders such as anxiety, dementia, depression and psychosis. This leads to high mortality resulting from HIV leaving many children orphaned and as heads of homes. As a result, there are high levels of poverty, unemployment, inequality, violence, trauma and poverty, which are risk factors for the development of mental illnesses (Cluver and Orkin, 2009). This causes a high burden of mental illnesses and other forms of disabilities in the society. South Africa is a signatory t the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of Persons with disabilities. The country is also commi tted to a domestic treaty for preserving the rights of people who have mental disabilities. This is officiated in an act, the Mental Health Care Act 2002. Based on this legislation, South Africa is committed to compulsory reporting of abuses, protection of property and admission of mentally ill persons. Moreover, the Mental Health Care in South Africa provided for a decentralized provision of health care from the large psychiatric centers to the offering of community-based mental health services. However, this legislation has not been properly implemented because there was no proper funding to enable the training of personnel, provision of facilities at community care centers. This has led to a high number of chronic issues throughout South Africa on the basis of the provision of treatment and rehabilitation of people suffering from mental illnesses. Stigma and mental illnesses Due to disparities in wealth ownership and access to care to the mentally ill people in South Africa, the social and health systems have been paralyzed. The mental health disorders are sometimes associated with deaths arising from committing suicide, and low rate of life expectancy. In other cases, this class of paper may undergo individual or collective suffering moments. As Williams et al., (2008) argues, stigma linked to mental illnesses is because such people are less productive, less socially and physically activity and their increased dependence on their families for care. Reducing the cases of stigma is thus an important step in improving the lives of the mentally ill people. For instance, some stereotypes used by the public portray the mentally ill people to be violent, dependent, unstable psychologically, dangerous and unfit to get married. These stereotypes do not consider the severity or the level of recovery that the mental illness patients go through. Thus this stigmatiz ation causes a spoiled to them. Bearing in mind the stigma that the mentally ill people go through in the society, it is crucial that the health care centers where these patients seek treatment from refrain from judging them. This is because the manner in which the health care providers treat the mentally ill patients determines their personal and situational beliefs as well as personal attitudes that they develop towards the society. This can create a conceptualization of the practical practices with which the community views and treats the mentally ill persons. In most cases, the health care personnel feel afraid to handle the stigma which the people with mental illnesses go through. However, South Africa has made a step ahead and decentralized the mental illness care into the primary health care exposes many health care workers to giving care to mental illness people (Vorster et al., 2000). Initially, there was a stigma among the health care providers towards the people with mental illnesses. For instance, the h ealth care workers had less optimism in making the prognosis for people with mental illnesses. It is, therefore, important for policies to be implemented which ensure that the health care professionals do not stigmatize the people with mental illnesses. This will help in shaping a positive health care outcome among these patients and reduce mortalities that could arise from mental illnesses (World Health Organization. Dept. of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, 2005). The health care system in South Africa is organized in a way that it can provide acute health care and inequities between the public and private health care centers. For this disease burden, South Africa has a chronic epidemic which needs to be addressed by the health care professionals by making reorganizations in the integrated health care in managing mental illnesses. As it is, South Africa has a large treatment gap among the mental treatments which is largely caused by the health care professionals who stigmatize the people with mental illnesses (Berg, 2003). As measures are being put in providing access to h ealth care by these people, it is crucial that measures are also put in place to address the issue concerning stigmatization of people with mental illnesses in South Africa. This will result in an increased uptake of mental illness treatment alongside the widespread acceptability of the programs and services. This is in the process of health care re-organization that the South African health care system is going through. For proper measures to be put in place to help the people with mental illnesses, it is important for the policy makers to have a clear understanding of the stigma that these patients go through. Therefore most interventions for people with mental illnesses should be aimed at reducing the social stigma. According to Saxena et al., (2007), the psychiatric stigma originates from several reasons which in most cases are from beliefs concerning mental disorders. Many of such misconceptions as well as traditional beliefs cause stigmatization in their own capacity. Other beliefs that cause stigma make these mentally ill people delay in seeking treatment. For instance, mental illness as a deliberate act is a stigma which originates from the members of the community which makes them believe that the mentally ill people pretend to be sick (Mayosi et al., 2009). In this case, the community beliefs that the mentally ill people act from the symptoms of mental illnesses and this perception makes th e mentally ill people delay in getting medical help from health care facilities. Most of the Black South African has a stigma that the mentally ill people are bewitched. This belief makes the families of such patients opt to seek help from traditional healers instead of modern health care therapeutics. The origins of stigma are on the basis of the caveats in traditional beliefs and knowledge concerning the causes of mental illnesses which lead to abuse of human rights among the mental illness people (Bockting et al., 2013). As a result, the stigmatization of the people with mental illnesses emanates from a combination of several problems such as behavior, knowledge, and attitudes. References Berg, A., 2003. Ancestor reverence and mental health in South Africa. Transcultural Psychiatry, 40(2), pp.194-207. Bockting, W.O., Miner, M.H., Swinburne Romine, R.E., Hamilton, A. and Coleman, E., 2013. Stigma, mental health, and resilience in an online sample of the US transgender population. American journal of public health, 103(5), pp.943-951. Burns, J.K., 2011. The mental health gap in South Africa: A human rights issue. The Equal Rights Review, 6(99), pp.99-113. 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