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ARGUMENT OF DEFINITION

Argumentof Definition

Bluecollar job is an occupational category that involves workers whoperform manual work. During historical times, blue collar workersused to wear blue uniforms and worked in trade jobs. The blue collarjobs may include both unskilled and skilled labor that usuallyinvolves physical work such as mechanical maintenance, mining andmanufacturing among others. Blue collar jobs are wage labor whereworkers are paid hourly. These jobs mainly depend on the experienceand specialty of the worker (Webster,para 2).

Thispaper seeks to discuss the argument definitions of the blue collarjob. The paper structure includes the formal definition of a bluecollar job, its operational definition, and definition by example.

FormalDefinitions

Ablue collar job is a manual job that involves the use of hands toconduct various tasks in the workplace.It involves physical labor such as workshop or factory that isrelated to the direct output provided by the company, and theoutcomes are tangible and identifiable. Working as a commercial crabfisherman, inseminating turkeys, as a waitress in a restaurant and amechanic, all constitute blue collar jobs (Crawford,p 23). Despite most of these jobs needing to be done manually, thosewho carry out the jobs need to have clear background knowledge on thekind of jobs to be done.

Bluecollar jobs consist of a number of traits that distinguishes it fromother jobs such as white collar jobs (office jobs). A Bluecollar job makes people see their tangible efforts they have achievedat the end of the day compared to other jobs. According to Crawford(p 43),a good job entails a number of tasks that allow individuals to puttheir best capabilities in action, see the results of their effortsand their effect in the world.

Itis argued that when a blue collar job is used implicitly, it canadversely affect an individual’s employment.For example, in the video, the National Rifle Association`s PoliticalVictory Fund shows an intruder who breaks into woman`s home. Thewoman is startled, wakes up and runs to take her phone to call thepolice. Later, the woman is seen opening her safe to pick her firearmthat she uses for protection but it suddenly disappears. This filmdepicts that if Hilary Clinton is elected then, women will lose theirprotection (firearms) and remain only with a phone that they will useto call the police. Lack of firearms to protect themselves wouldincrease the rate of break-ins and lead to high rates of murderscaused by intruders who break into people`s home. This video willmake women to think lesser of Hilary and thus causing her to lose hersupport from women for not allowing people to keep firearms inhouses. This is because people need firearms to protect themselvesand their loved ones and taking it away causes them to lose theirmotivation for supporting Hilary (NRA Political Victory Fund PAC,para 5).

OperationalDefinitions

Bluecollar job is a manual job because it involves various types ofphysical work that require the tasks to be carried out by use ofhands. It often involves building or maintenance of something thusrequires the use of hands to achieve it. Most of these kinds of jobsrequire those carrying them out to apply a lot of energy to have theactivities completed. Those who are physically weak find it tough tocarry out blue collar jobs as most of the activities are donemanually (Crawford,p 45).

Theblue collar job requires skills and knowledge to enhance theeffectiveness of the job. Theskills and knowledge are necessary for a blue-collar job especiallyamong workers such as electricians, mechanics, structural workers andplumbers. Those that do not require low-skills include jobs thatrequire simple tasks such as assembly, maintenance and cleaning. Bluecollar jobs require more reading than any other job because itconsists of routine works that make reading integral part inenhancing knowledge on how to use an instrument, understanding theproduction of quotas and how to apply a product. Reading is importantin blue collar jobs because it provides people with the ability toanalyze routine works by improving their skills and knowledge thatenhance the achievement of work performed in future. The developmentand advancement of technology have resulted in the need for skillsand knowledge in blue collar jobs that necessitates training (Miller,p 21).

Stereotypeshave been formed indicating that blue collar jobs are notintellectually challenging, but in the real sense, they are. Manypeople believe blue collar labor are unskilled labor thus does notrequire reading to perform a task. However, it is evident that bluelabor jobs require reading in order to improve a person`s skills andknowledge that would make a great impact in future. Lack of skillsand knowledge would hinder the ability of an individual toeffectively carry out the tasks. This is because they would not beable to effectively use an instrument to build or maintain something,or understand production (Rose,p 44).

Definitionby Example

Inthe contemporary society, a blue collar job can longer be addressedas unskilled labor because some of the jobs consist of people whohave skills and knowledge acquired in school. Additionally, someinvolve use of technologies that require training and certificates toget the job such as mechanics. For example, inseminating turkeys is ablue collar job that requires training and knowledge in order toeffectively perform the task and obtain the results. Also, becauseblue collar jobs are stereotyped to be unskilled labor, a younggifted person for instance who chooses to be a mechanic overeducation is viewed as an eccentric. Most parents believe that theonly way to success is through education. However, some blue collarjobs require people with highly qualified skills to perform theirtasks, so blue collar job should be considered a skilled labor aswell (Rose,p 45).

Therefore,the official and operational definition of blue collar job has causeda lot of misunderstanding in the current society. Technology hascontributed to changes in the blue collar jobs which involves bothskilled and unskilled labor. Thus the definitions should be redefinedto include skilled labor in the context of a blue collar job in orderto encompass both categories involving skilled and unskilled labor.This modification will make the definition of the blue collar jobbecome more useful to readers and be able to categorize themeffectively (Rose,p 47).

Conclusion

Theformal definition of a blue collar job indicates that it is a manualjob performed by workers to accomplish a task. The operationaldefinition indicates that it involves the various types of physicaltasks that require the use of hands to carry out the tasks. With thechanges in technology, skills and knowledge have become an importantpart of a blue collar job. This is because some blue collar jobs areintellectually challenging thus require skills and knowledge toperform the tasks. Therefore, it is important for the definition ofblue collar job to be modified to include skilled labor.

WorkCited

Crawford,Mathew. TheCase for Working with Your Hands: Or why office work is bad for usand fixing things feels good.Penguin: London, 2010

Miller,S. James. Actingout Culture: Readings for Critical Inquiry,3rd edition, Bedford/St. Martinas, 2015

NRAPolitical Victory Fund PAC. “Don’t Let Hilary Clinton Leave YouDefenseless.” PoliticalCommunication Lab,Stanford University, 2016. Retrieved on 6^thSeptember 2016 from: http://pcl.stanford.edu/campaigns/2016/

Rose,Mike. Blue-Collar Brilliance: Questioning assumptions aboutintelligence, work, and social class. TheAmerican Scholar,78(3),43-49. (2009).

Webster,MaryJo. Where the jobs are: The new blue collar. USAToday,2014.

Argumentof Definition

Ina recent article titled ‘Taking a stand by sitting down:Kaepernick, Abdul-Rauf and the national anthem’, Zareena Grewaldiscloses the heated arguments that emerged following protests by afew individuals regarding the question of whether or not it is rightto play the American national anthem during matches. On one side ofthe debate are those who argue that individuals have the freedom tochoose to stand up or remain seated when the anthem is played. On theother hand, there are those who strongly feel that everybody shouldstand up a sign of loyalty and respect for the nation. A crucialtheme that emerges from this debate is the true meaning ofpatriotism, with supporters of players that remain seated during thesinging of national anthem arguing that true patriotism is “caringenough to call out your country on its problems instead of mindlesslyhumming a song” (Grewal para 5). To the opponents, standing up asthe anthem plays is one of the best manifestations of patriotism,because it signifies citizenship. From this debate, it is clear thatthe definition of the term patriotism needs to be redefined,especially when used in reference to a multicultural context.

Thedictionary definition of patriotism is devotion to, and love for,one’s country (Foreman 90). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophyfurther defines patriotism as referring to the feeling that oneidentifies with his country, thus making him or her ready tosacrifice his/her personal interests for the good of the country.However, several operational factors are associated with thesedefinitions. For instance, it would be pretentious to ignore the factthat the extent to which a person demonstrates patriotism isdependent upon the prevailing conditions within a given context.According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, people can onlypractice true patriotism if they feel that their country belongs tothem in some sense that it is significant. To be more precise,observations suggest that people naturally associate with a countryif it makes substantial achievements. In contrast, very few peoplewould want to be identified with a country that has a reputation ofcriminal activity or economic stagnation. Drawing on this operationaldefinition, it can correctly be said that ‘patriotism’ is acontroversial terminology whose dictionary definition encouragesabuse and exploitation (Foreman 90). This argument is clearly seen inGrewal’s article, in which some players feel that standing in honorof the national anthem is an abuse of patriotism in a country thathas a history of racial oppression.

Onecan only speak of true patriotism in a situation where everyindividual is given access to equal opportunities, irrespective ofhis or her ethnicity, socio-economic status, or gender. In short,this is to say that patriotism can have different meanings dependingon categorization. If one attaches a uniform degree of importance toall individuals within a multicultural society such as the UnitedStates, then true patriotism will be said to be existing if thegovernment believes that every resident, whether a native or not, isa dignified person who deserves to be treated equitably (Foreman 91).Quoting the words of one Georgia O’Keefe who said that “onecannot be an American by going about saying one is an American…”(Foreman 91), the fact remains that one cannot be genuinely loyal toa society where he or she is treated as a lesser being. On thecontrary, real patriotism only exists in a country where allresidents are sufficiently empowered to feel that they are anessential part of the society since it is only then that they canlike and love their country and work diligently to promote thenation`s good.

Asignificant deduction made from the public discourse issue beingaddressed in Grewal`s article is that there is confusion betweennationalism and patriotism. Precisely, critics of the defiantplayers’ behavior reportedly argue that remaining seated as thenational anthem plays is un-American behavior. This statementwarrants an examination of the distinction between nationalism andpatriotism. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy definesnationalism as the natural connection that an individual feelstowards his/her race. This definition insinuates that nationalism isaggressive, unlike patriotism that is defensive. More importantly,nationalism forces people to submerge their individuality to acquirethe maximum amount of prestige for their nation. This is asignificant distinction, considering that Patriots do not imposetheir values and beliefs on others (Stanford Encyclopedia ofPhilosophy). Applying these arguments to the public discourse issuedescribed above, it is clear that the definition of patriotism, asused by those who argue that every person should remain standing whenthe national anthem is being played, encourages oppression. To bemore exact, a few US nationalists appear to be skewing the realmeaning of patriotism in order to suppress the individuality of theminority.

Havingmade a distinction between nationalism and patriotism, which areoften used interchangeably, it is necessary to pose a critical issueof fact: does patriotism really exist? To give a credible answer tothis question, it is worth bearing in mind that patriotism has aformal definition as well as operational definitions. With particularreference to the operational definitions, which imply that people canwillingly sacrifice for their country if it is of significant valueto them, it seems that patriotism cannot be defined as a stand-aloneconcept. A key point to note about patriotism is that it has beencategorized into five distinct types: extreme patriotism, robustpatriotism, moderate patriotism, deflated patriotism, and ethicalpatriotism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). This means that byvirtue of being embodied in people, it is difficult to measure thelevel of patriotism in a given individual. More precisely, because oftheir uniqueness, individuals have dissimilar conceptions of what itmeans to be patriotic.

Inlight of the foregoing analysis, it is apparent that patriotism is asubjective terminology whose meaning and usage depends on context andprevailing circumstances. Having established that in most cases,people use the term to refer to nationalism, there is need first tounderstand the implications of patriotism before imposing policiesthat are intended to bring citizens together towards the pursuit of acommon goal. Referring to the public discourse issue of whether it ismandatory for all individuals to stand whenever the national flag isbeing hoisted or the national anthem being sung, the operationaldefinitions of patriotism disclose that governments should firstensure that all residents are provided with equal opportunitiesbefore expecting or requiring them to demonstrate patriotism.

Workscited

Grewal,Zareena. “Takinga stand by sitting down: Kaepernick, Abdul-Rauf and the nationalanthem”.31 Aug 2016, &lt&lthttp://erm.yale.edu/news/zareena-grewal-recent-article-espn-taking-stand-sitting-down-kaepernick-abdul-rauf-and-national&gt&gt.Accessed 27 Oct 2016.

Foreman,Jonathan. Thepocket book of patriotism.Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 2005. Print.

StanfordEncyclopedia of Philosophy. Patriotism.1 Jun 2009, &lt&lthttp://plato.stanford.edu/entries/patriotism/&gt&gt.Accessed 27 October 2016.