Problems And Solutions Associated With Tourism's Impact On S

Problems And Solutions Associated Withtourisms Impact On Society And C

Problems and Solutions associated with Tourisms impact on Society and Culture. ACOM 105: English Communication skills Assignment Task 1: Final Report Submitted by: Sushma Bhandari Submitted to: Peter Okelo Date of Submission: ___________________________ Abstract The Australian government has advised that the retirement age will be 67 by 2023 due to the ageing population and other problems concerning economic productivity and rising pension costs. However, there might be problems in the future to the young as well as older citizens in the labor workforce due to this proposal made by the government. This report examines the problems of unemployment in youths and age discrimination. In addition, it proposes that solutions such as implementing workplace and government policies can help to tackle these problems. Table of contents Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………….. Introduction………………………………………………………………………... Problems…………………………………………………………………………….. 4 2.1 Commodification of culture. 2.2. Age discrimination 3. Solutions………………………………………………………………………………5 3.1. Workplace policies 3.2. Government policies 4. Discussion…………………………………………………………………………….. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………….. Recommendations………………………………………………………………..7 References………………………………………………………………………………….. Introduction Over the past few years, the ageing population in Australia has raised some problems related to economic productivity and rise in pension costs of aged workers which is why the Australian government has advised that the retirement age will be 67 by 2023. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in between 2016–17, of men and women aged 45 years and over, 58% of men were in the labor force and 36% had retired whereas, 47% of women were in the labor force and 40% had retired. Some possible problems which might arise due to this policy is the unemployment of younger people and age discrimination in the labor market. The aim of this report is to discuss the problems relating the rise in retirement age and to suggest some possible solutions to solve these problems. Following the findings, this report also gives some significant recommendations to further tackle this problem. 2. Problems 2.1. Proponents of cultural involution have argued that cultural tourism can stimulate a revival of local interest in traditional cultural forms,thus both strengthening cultural bonds and providing local actors access to material beneï¬ts (cf. McKean,1989 [1977]).Crucially,however,this position assumes that local actors can easily distinguish between what is ‘sacred’ (and not open to tourism) from what is ‘profane’(and hence open to commodiï¬cation) (cf. Picard,1996,1997). 2.2. On the other hand,in line with Lévi-Strauss’s plot line,proponents of a cultural erosion model of tourism have warned against reductions in the aesthetic quality of cultural products and traditions due to tourist demands,arguing that the rise of tourism inevitably leads to a process of cultural commodiï¬cation. The argument is that, while tourism may promote a renewed interest in traditional arts and social practices among local craftsmen and others, tourist purchases are fueled by a desire to possess a mark, rather than any genuine interest in local cultural traditions or beliefs (Mathieson and Wall,1982:165–9).3This results in what Shelly Errington has dubbed ‘New Age Primitivism’– a situation in which objects come to signify a purely imaginary Other, one no longer tied to any speciï¬c context, geographical, historical, or otherwise (1998: 147–9).This lack of genuine interest carries over into the Other him/herself,so that Third World tourees, pressured to assume the idealized identities tourists come to expect, become other, resulting in an encounter deï¬ned by ‘reciprocal misconstructions’(Lanfant,1995:35–6) – what Dean MacCannell (1994) has referred to as the ‘postmodern emptiness’of idealized primitives performing for a culturallyconsuming audience (see also Bruner,1995;Linnekin,1997:216).This ‘becoming other’,a direct outcome of the objectiï¬cation and commodiï¬cation of both culture and ethnicity,is said to explain the contemporary mass consumption of identity merchandise by both touristic outsiders and local insiders,whose view of themselves is thereby distorted by the tourist gaze (Linnekin,1997:216–17). In other words, given a monetary value, ritual and tradition become valueless for local inhabitants (Harrison,1994:243–4).The ‘death’of ‘authentic’primitive art thus appears to be unproblematically tied to the pace of the incorporation of ‘the primitive’into the global economy (Errington,1998:268).‘Death’,then, is linked in this sense with a perceived decline of ‘real’(that is,circulating outside of market exchange) social and cultural production (pp. 118–19). In its extreme form, this argument describes a world in which cultures have been replaced by a single monoculture,driven by a process of ‘McDonaldization’and ‘Disneyï¬cation’, one that transforms everything into a theme park and makes authentic travel experiences impossible (cf.Ritzer and Liska,1997:97–101). More recently, Marie-Franà§oise Lanfant has argued that once heritage is transformed into a tourist product,its ‘cultural value’is also transformed into a ‘commercial value’, a process which stimulates the reinvention of the past, leading to Umberto Eco’s hyper-reality (Lanfant,1995:37).That is to say,rather Marx, on the other hand, drew a sharp distinction between use-value and exchange-value,arguing that these are two (inseparable) parts of a whole, what he referred to as the ‘dialectic of the commodity’ (Keen, 1993: 110, 117).This is because all commodities (deï¬ned by Marx as anything that satisï¬es a human want) function as both ‘objects of utility’and ‘depositories of value’(p.57).He argued that the use-values of commodities have different qualities, while their exchange-values (in relation to other commodities) have different quantities.This is because a commodity only has exchange-value in relation to other commodities;to use Marx’s example,‘every other commodity now becomes a mirror of the linen’s value’(p.73). 2.3. Youth unemployment One of the major problem which might arise due to the rise in retirement age is the unemployment of younger workers. If the retirement age is increased then the chances of getting a job for the younger people will decrease (Lefebvre, 2012). According to Lefebvre (2012), the increase in retirement will result in the decrease of labour demand due to the high taxes on labour and rise in wage costs. Therefore, if retirement age is increased then young people are highly affected by unemployment. 2.4. Age discrimination: Another problem which is likely to arise in the future is age discrimination in the labor workforce. According to Marchiondo, Gonzales, and Ran (2015), older people are not considered to be active and they are very much reluctant to change and they are often discriminated. Marchiondo et al. (2015) stated that among workers aged 50 and older, about 81% workers reported that they had at least one instance of age discrimination in the past year and this can be a big issue in the future. Moreover, Author (Year) also laments that older Australians are not only left out in white collar jobs, but also in the area of blue collar professions. Age discrimination is therefore an established problem that could affect the older Australian generation. 3. Solutions: 3.1. Workplace policies In order to provide better workplace environment to older workers, the government should implement various policies which can create age- friendly workplace. According to Brownell and Kelly (2013), policies such as eliminating age-related stereotypes and empowering innovative thinking throughout the workforce should be implemented by focusing more on job related rather than age-related characteristics for hiring. This position is also supported by ____________ who argues that __________________________________________________________. Therefore, ___________________________________________________________. 3.2. Government policies The problem arising due to increased retirement age can be solved if the government applies various policies to benefit mature aged workers. The government should focus on implementing the policies such as pre-retirement seminars, time off for family care giving, employer-provided elder care services, corporate retirement housing options, and self-conï¬dence and employability training in order to retain older workers in the workforce (Brownell & Kelly, 2013). Another author claims that ______________________________________________. It is therefore conclusive that ___________________________________ is a possible solution. 4. Discussion The Australian government is currently facing problems related to economic productivity and rise in pension costs. The retirement age in Australia is 65 but due to the problems related to pension costs and productivity, the Australian government has planned to raise the retirement age to 67 by 2023 so that these problems are solved. According to the statistics stated in Australian Bureau of Statistics (2017), about 58% of men and 47% of women aged 45 years and over (mature aged workers) are in the labor force in Australia. The problems which might arise in labor workforce such as youth unemployment and age discrimination will highly affect the Australian citizens in the future if this problem is not solved. The problems which is the most likely to occur is youth unemployment. The government of Australia is planning to increase the retirement age to 67 but this policy decreases the chances of getting jobs to younger people as the older people remain in the workforce for longer period of time (Lefebvre, 2012). In addition, in order to eliminate the inequality in workforce between older and young workers, several policies should be regulated by the workplace which can create a friendly workplace environment for older workers as well as youths. As pointed out by Brownell and Kelly (2013), policies such as eliminating the age-related stereotypes and empowering innovative thinking throughout the workforce can be regulated to solve these problems. Moreover, rather than increasing the retirement age to 67, the government of Australia should focus on creating a better workplace environment to mature age workers by implementing various policies like pre-retirement seminars, time off for family care giving, employer-provided elder care services, corporate retirement housing options, and self-confidence and employability training so that the older workers can work more effectively which will increase the productivity (Brownell and Kelly, 2013). The problems related to ageing population can only be solved if there is no discrimination and all types of workers are treated equally and given equal opportunities. Rather than increasing the retirement age and making the situation even more complex, the government as well as workplaces should take initiatives to create a friendly workplace environment for all types of workers. 5. Conclusion The ageing population in Australia and problems concerning economic productivity and rising pension costs has made the Australian government make policies to increase the retirement age to 67 by 2023 but this policy will certainly give rise to some major problems in youth unemployment and age discrimination. Therefore, in order to tackle these problems the Australian government should take initials in making the workforce a friendly environment to all type of workers rather than increasing the retirement age. 6. Recommendation Based on the findings of this research, some recommendations are reported as follows: · Creating friendly workplace environment · Implementing laws related to the labor market for better productivity · Various retirement policies should be offered to the older workers · Inequality in the labor market should be stopped by regulating the laws related to age discrimination. References Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2017). Retirement and Retirement Intensions, Australia, . Retrieved from [email protected] /mf/6238.0 Australian Human Rights Commission. (2010). Age discrimination- exposing the hidden barrier for mature age workers. Retrieved from Brownell, P., & Kelly, J.J. (2013). Ageism and Mistreat of Older Workers Current Reality and Future Solutions. Retrieved from Lefebvre, M. (2012). Unemployment and Retirement in a Model with Age-Specific Heterogeneity. LABOUR, 26 (2), . doi:10.1111/j..2012.00543.x Marchiondo, L., Gonzales, A., & Ran, E. (2016). Development and Validation of the Workplace Age Discrimination Scale. Journal of Business and Psychology, 31 (4), .doi:10.1007/s