Interactions across cultures and organizations

Introduction This report describes intelligence and its usefulness in the organization. Cultural intelligence may be defined as the general understanding about various cultures and how these cultures work. It involves understanding of one’s culture and cultures of other people. It enables individuals to have a broad knowledge about various cultural norms, values and beliefs. It is the ability to create an impact on various cultures across an organization.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Interactions across cultures and organizations specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Cultural intelligence will involve having broad knowledge on the similarities and differences existing between different cultures across the world. Cultural intelligence plays a key role in successful interaction across various cultures. It requires interpersonal skills and negotiation skills across various cultures. It also involves cultural m indfulness, which enables an individual to understand the various differences that exist between various cultures (Matthews et al., 2002). Understanding of cultural differences enables workers to improve on their performance in the work place(Triandis, 2005). Cultural knowledge skills and intelligence are very vital to every enterprise as it enables workers to improve their performance. In order for people to successfully interact with each other in the organization, there is a need for them to understand cultural intelligence. It involves suspending judgment until that time when enough information is available in order to make the correct judgment (Goleman, 2005). It also involves paying attention to details and situations. It helps an individual to identify the information, which is important in making critical judgment, and can combine this information to make the right judgment. It requires behavioral training as well as cognitive training to individuals so that they can underst and various similarities and differences across various cultures. The report describes the meaning of cultural intelligence and how it can be used to improve performance in the organization. Literature Review Triandis in his article identifies important things that a culturally intelligent person should do. These things include the following: Suspending judgment Culturally intelligent persons should suspend judge until enough information to make the right decision is available. This is because the amount of information, which is required to make the correct judgment, is usually very broad. For instance, the behavior of persons living in collective cultures is different from that of persons living in individualistic cultures (Triandis, 1995).Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More People in collective cultures put a lot of emphasis on the context rather than on the content. On the other hand, those on individualistic cultures put a lot of emphasis on the content more than the context. People in collective cultures give priority to group goals instead of personal goals (Choi, Nisbett, Norenzayan, 1999). Culturally intelligent individuals should suspend judgment until enough information beyond ethnicity of the other person is available. This is because personality attributes, such as ethnocentrism- allocentrism requires to be considered. Culture gives a clue about the position of a sample of individuals but it gives a little information about the particular individual. The culturally intelligent individual should not make a judgment from these clues but should gather biographical information before making conclusions that the other person is likely to be idiocentric or allocentric. Culturally intelligent person should gather a lot of information before making the final judgment in order to make the correct judgment. This because people come from various cultur es with different cultural values and beliefs and the culturally intelligent individual should consider these differences before making decisions. Such a person should see behaviors exhibited by other people as being driven by external factors rather than internal factors. Culturally intelligent person should not be individualistic because he/she has to consider the group interest before the personal interest. He suspends judgment until full information is obtained from different cultural and ethnic sources. This is highly influenced by factors such as education, leadership role, international travels or even social mobility. This enables an individual to gather more information from different people before making a decision. Training to overcome ethnocentrism In reality, all human beings are ethnocentric; they believe that what is normal in their culture should be normal in all other cultures (Triandis, 1990). In case people realize a difference in a set of norms in another culture , they believe that people in this culture are barbaric and immoral. Learning to deal with this situation requires a lot of training because such individuals go against the human nature. An individual becomes ethnocentric due to believing in only one cultural system. A culturally intelligent individual should not believe in only one cultural system. He should realize that there are various cultural systems which differ from one another. He should think of a set of norms as different from one’s own. In addition, human beings have false consensus affect because they believe that the majority of people should think the same way they are thinking (Mullen et al., 1985). A culturally intelligent person should put him/her in the shoes of people from other cultures in order to overcome the biases of ethnocentric.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Interactions across cultures and organizations specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page L earn More Individuals should be exposed to various norms. This does not mean that such an individual is supposed to embrace all cultures that have different norms. Members of a certain culture are kept from improving their conditions by various cultural traps (Edgerton, 1992). According to Earley and Ang (2003), a cultural intelligent should undergo cognitive and behavioral training to overcome ethnocentrism. For instance, cognitive training should include learning on how to make isomorphic attributions (Triandis, 1975). This is usually achieved through culture assimilators (Triandis, 2004). These individuals should participate in different exercises that will enable them to understand various cultures (Hofstede, Hofstede, Pedersen, 2003). They should be trained by being exposed to experiential training (Martin, 1996). Culturally intelligent person should also undergo behavioral modification training in order to achieve desirable behaviors and reduce the probability of undesirabl e behaviors (Paige Martin, 1996). Trainees should be exposed to various cultural beliefs and norms in order to low differences between these values. This will enable them to understand cultures practiced by different people and the reasons behind supporting these cultures. They should be exposed to experimental training, which will enable them to understand the importance of cultural intelligence. During this training, they should be allowed to interact with people from different cultures. The training can be made effective using culture assimilators to help individuals to become culturally intelligent. The training will help individuals to improve interpersonal relations between them and other members of the group. It enables individuals to have a broad knowledge about different norms, which help them to interact with each other. The importance of situations The culturally intelligent individual should understand current behavior in different situations. He should understand the c ultural behaviors of other persons. He should pay special attention to the other person’s behavior. According to research collectivists, situations are cooperative; however, no one is cooperative in individualistic situations (Chatman Barsade, 1995). The culturally intelligent person should have the ability to gather information, which is pertinent to making judgment. This will enable him/her to combine information from various sources in order to make the right decision. He should interact with other people from different cultural background in order to collect a lot of information. This will help such an individual to make the correct decision.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Critique of CQ as a functional tool According to Earley Ang (2003), CQ, refers to the ability of a person to effectively adapt to new cultural contexts. It is based on four components that include cognitive, meta-cognitive, and behavioral component. It involves the ability of an individual to understand specific norms and practices in a new cultural setting. It explains the differences among different individuals ability to adapt to new cultural setting (Earley and Ang, 2003). CQ has been criticized by various international scholars in cross cultural and organizational psychology. First, the CQ has been highly criticized because it has not been tested in a sojourning sample. According to ward and colleagues, the four-factor structure should be confirmed with a sample of individuals involved in the process of cross-cultural adaptation. According to ward and colleagues, emotional intelligence tool is similar to CQ. Emotional intelligence involves the ability to see emotional states i n other people (Goleman, 2005). It also includes regulating emotions in order to achieve an effective social interaction among different cultures. According to Mayer and Salovey (1997), a person should involve understanding emotions and emotional knowledge in order to promote emotional and intellectual growth. It helps in predicting success in a very large domain. Cultural intelligence is different from emotional intelligent, and it cannot be ranked in the category of social intelligence. Thomas (2006) argued that although CQ shares some characteristics with emotional intelligence, it differs in that what is meaningful in one culture might not be meaningful in another culture. According to research by Ward and colleagues, there is a strong correlation between CQ and its subscale with emotional intelligence. The interrelation between cultural intelligence and emotional intelligence is high statistically significant. The correlation between CQ scores and emotional intelligence is equa lly high. According to research, the cultural intelligence and emotional intelligence have a very rate of shared variance. This leads to the criticism on Earley and Ang’s argument that cultural intelligence and emotional intelligence are different forms of intelligence. CQ tool can be described as a self-reported instrument. It is a self-report measure for the evaluation of cultural knowledge in intercultural and international settings. An individual has developed it, and it faces criticism from various international scholars. It is a self-report measure, which is developed and validated by Ang, Van Dyne, Koh, and Ng (2004). It is described as the self-report measure of CQ. It is a self-report assessment of CQ in the general cultural context as described by Berry and Ward (2006). It is a self-report format, which has raised a major concern by the various international scholars. This self-report instrument of evaluating intelligence has various limitations, which have been ana lyzed according to emotional intelligence. It is a self-report measure of cultural intelligence, which has various limitations. It describes the utility of self-report measures of cultural intelligence (Salovey, 2006). Analysis Cultural intelligence should be tested through ability testing. This is because ability testing will give better results as compared to the self-report measure of cultural intelligence. This will enable cultural intelligence to manifest intelligence. This is because ability testing is the performance based testing which is more useful in the prediction of cultural adaptation. (Nisbett, 2003) Performance based measures should be used to measure cultural intelligence instead of the self-report instrument. This is because the performance-based measures have greater concurrent and predictive validity as compared to the self-report instrument (Matthews et al., 2002). The self-report instrument does not show incremental validity in the prediction of social competen cies in relation to personality and verbal intelligence (Salovey, 2006). Performance based measure of cultural intelligence can be able to measure the perceived social competencies, as well as the predicted real time social competence. The performance-based measure enables individuals to understand the relationship that exists between intelligence and intercultural effectiveness. The self-report instrument does not identify the relationship between intelligence and intercultural effectiveness (Goleman, 2005). The self-report instrument undermines the application of IQ construct across various cultures. This makes individuals believe that because there is no culture free behavior, it is difficult to establish a culture free intelligence. Managers should use the performance-based measure to determine the cultural intelligence. This is because these people will be able to understand the correlation between the individual performance and the cultural intelligence (Berry Ward, 2006). Th e Global alliance manager should use the performance-based measure of cultural intelligence as it may help in improving the organization’s performance. This is because the manager negotiates a lot with other managers who come from different cultural background. The performance-based method of assessment will enable the manager to determine the importance or usefulness of the cultural intelligence on the business. The performance based assessment and the cultural specific versions are the most fruitful methods of assessment, which can be used by managers. Cultural intelligence is important in understanding and predicting the acquisition of the appropriate cultural skills. The realization of its potential is limited by its measurement. This method will enable managers to relate cultural intelligence with the performance of individuals in the organization. Those workers with a lot of knowledge about different cultures across the globe always perform well in the organization. Thi s will enable managers to understand the importance of cultural intelligence as compared to the self-report instrument of evaluating the importance of cultural intelligence in the organization. The performance-based assessment has no limitations like the one experienced by the use of self-report measurement method. At present, however, performance based assessment is the best method of testing cultural intelligence unless other sophisticated measures of assessment are available. These methods may include observation, interview, cultural assimilators, computer simulations as well as assessment centers. All these measurement methods may be advanced than the performance based method. However, since they are only proposed at the moment, performance based method is the most appropriate measurement of the correlation between cultural intelligence and performance in the organization. According to Geert Hofstede cultural studies, members in different countries and culture differ in various ways. For instance in Saudi Arabia people have different beliefs and values. People in this country speak different languages such as Arabic, English urdu and other Asian languages such as Farsi and Turkish. Islam is the religion, which is practiced in this country, and it governs political and economic lives of people in this country. An individual requires a Saudi to enter in this country. Business decisions are made slowly in this country. The judgment is suspending until enough information is available. In Peru, decisions are made after gathering information from different people who are from different cultures. People in these countries differ in various issues and all these issues are considered before making the final judgment (Hofstede, Hofstede, Pedersen, 2003). The country is divided into three major regions and people from these regions have diverse cultural beliefs. In Israel, cultural differences between people are very important for economic and political issues. Hofs ede argued that understand cultural differences is very important in all businesses. In Israel, understanding organizational cultures enables individuals to perform well in the business organization. Hofsede stated that individuals should involve themselves in different exercises in order to understand various cultures. In Jordan, there are various cultures and workers participate in activities, which enable them to understand these cultures. People doing business in Jordan need to learn the languages spoken in this country (Hofstede, Hofstede, Pedersen, 2003). References Berry, J. W., Ward, C., 2006. Commentary on ‘‘Redefining interactions across cultures and organizations.’ Group Organization Management. Earley, P. C.,Ang, S., 2003. Cultural intelligence. Stanford,CA: StanfordUniversity Press. Goleman, D., 2005. Emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam Books Hofstede, G. J., Hofstede, G., Pedersen, P., 2003. Exploring culture:Exercises, stories and synthetic cultures. Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press. Matthews, G., Zeidner, M., Roberts, R. D., 2002. Emotional intelligence:Â  Science and myth. Cambridge: MIT Press Nisbett, R., 2003. The geography of thought. New York: Free Press. Triandis, H.C., 2006. Cultural Intelligence in Organizations. Group and Organization Management, 31, pp 20-26. Triandis, H. C., 2004. Culture and social behavior. New York: McGraw-Hill. Triandis, H. C., 2005. Individualism and collectivism. Boulder, CO: Westview. Ward, C. Fischer, R. Zaid Lam, F.S., and Hall, L., 2009. The Convergent, Discriminant, and Incremental Validity of Scores on a Self-Report Measure of Cultural Intelligence, Educational and Psychological Measurement, Volume 69 (1), 85-105. . This report on Interactions across cultures and organizations was written and submitted by user Giovani I. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Inequalities in Health and Social Care Essays

Inequalities in Health and Social Care Essays Inequalities in Health and Social Care Essay Inequalities in Health and Social Care Essay This essay will discourse the relationship between societal inequalities and wellness attention, and how these inequalities affect the quality and measure of attention provided. To get down with, this will be looked at in footings of poorness and its consequence on wellness and so ways in which these inequalities can be challenged. Inequality has a profound consequence on the criterion of attention provided and besides the sum of services provided. Different societal groups can frequently happen a considerable fluctuation in the services provided to them from others. Entree to attention is besides greatly affected by societal background. Poverty is a manner of depicting people whose living conditions are hapless due to the fortunes they are subjected to, these include: instruction, lodging and employment. ‘People are said to be in poorness if they lack the resources for the diet, activities, populating conditions and comfortss that are usual for the society in which they live and are excluded from normal societal activities ( Townsend 1979 ) . This suggests poorness has a big consequence on how people can interact within their community, and is really damaging to there every twenty-four hours lifestyle. A batch of the factors that cause poorness are out of the persons control, or can no longer be changed, and they really have no power to alter their state of affairs. This can do an unbreakable rhythm maintaining them and their household trapped in poorness. Employment position which will take to households being in a hapless fiscal province has a immense affect on the quality of wellness. ‘There is a strong relationship between how long people live and the nature of their occupations ( Office for National Statistics 2004 ) . The information showed that there was a important difference in life anticipation for those in ‘Professional occupations to those in ‘Unskilled occupations. This suggests physical wellness is greatly affected by low paid employment and unemployment. Low degree employment will hold an impact on their ability to better their lodging and wo nt back up healthy life conditions, such as diet and cleanliness, ensuing in a damaging consequence on wellness. Poverty will frequently besides be seen by hapless lodging and life conditions, which is linked with employment position. ‘Those populating with low income are more likely to endure from poorness ( Borton 2009 ) . Poor living conditions affect the criterion of their lodging and the community in which they are portion of. Families will frequently be unable to afford proper comfortss such as warming and kids may hold to portion suites. The crowded conditions and deficiency of warming will advance hapless wellness as it becomes easier for unwellness to distribute in these fortunes. Whereas those who do nt populate in poorness will be able to afford lodging, nutrient and nice life conditions and this means they are really likely to populate a much healthier lifestyle than those in poorness. Certain societal groups can be more at hazard of poorness and this can do it more hard for them to get away. Age can hold a big bearing on poorness and the aged are by and large at a higher hazard. The aged are already at a higher hazard of wellness jobs but populating in poorness can increase this hazard even further. Different cultural groups are besides seen to be at an increased hazard of poorness. Poverty rates vary well between cultural groups, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis and Black Africans have the highest whereas White British have the lowest ( Palmer and Kenway 2007 ) . These statistics are based on income poorness but suggest that being from a different cultural background has a big consequence on your opportunities of life in poorness. This is hard to explicate but could be to make with in-migration and other things such as hapless instruction and an inability to pass on efficaciously. Family construction and age are the most likely causes of these differences. The impact of poorness on wellness can be rather profound. A hapless life environment can impact nutrition and in the immature could take to malnutrition and certain alimentary lacks. Malnutrition becomes more evident in countries that suffer from urban poorness ( Amis 1995 ) . Although this information is old the status of malnutrition in countries of poorness is hard to change by reversal. It would merely be reversed if there was a alteration in income position or a decrease in life costs. Therefore poorness and employment position still has an impact on nutritionary position. Unemployment may do mental wellness issues for those it affects. The hunt for work can hold tonss of exclusion and rejection ; this may take to feelings of insufficiency and could do depression. There is statistical cogent evidence that in the unemployed there is an increased rate of psychological symptoms that are medically important ( Montgomery, S. M. et Al 1999 ) . This means those who are unemployed are at a higher hazard of developing mental wellness jobs than those in steady employment. As employment is linked to poverty this shows that people in poorness will be at an increased hazard of mental wellness jobs. Relaxation is an of import portion of a individual s life and is really of import for healthy life. The emphasis of a life in poorness can do this all the more of import. However due to fiscal fortunes the activities they chose will frequently be damaging to wellness but are all they can afford. Leaving instruction early and a deprived life class increase the rates of smoke ( Graham, H. Et Al. 2006 ) . These are two of the facets that cause poorness and are linked to increased rates of smoking this means that there will be an addition in long term unwellness in poorness caused by the effects of smoke and inactive smoke. Alcoholism is besides strongly linked with poorness and will besides do long term wellness issues, due to the opprobrious imbibing and its damaging effects on the liver and other variety meats. Access to wellness attention is besides affected by poorness, as deprived countries are nt really attractive countries to work for wellness attention professionals. ‘For these populations entree to preventative steps and medical or surgical interventions is really frequently delayed ( UEMO 2009 ) . Decreased entree to wellness attention means certain intervention will be hard to obtain. This will halt people in poorness being supplied with quality and appropriate attention, doing an addition in illness and complications from minor jobs. A batch of societal attitudes towards people who live in poorness are really negative. ‘Discrimination is sometimes based on positions that people populating in poorness are inferior or of lesser value ( Killeen 2008 ) . These attitudes have led to the thought of ‘povertyism ( Killeen 2008 ) . These are the attitudes that those who are in poorness are ‘unemployable and ‘lazy . These are really typical stereotypes and necessitate to be challenged within communities. Attitudes can attest within the wellness attention puting and necessitate to be removed to guarantee all patients are being treated every bit. To efficaciously assist those populating in poorness these attitudes need to be challenged. This can all get down in a state of affairs of professional pattern, by guaranting all those in our attention are treated every bit. This requires us as professionals to provide entree to services for all particularly those at a disadvantage. Challenging attitudes in the community is more hard as single professionals but if any negative attitudes are voiced by patients these can be stopped, by explicating how some may happen them violative. As a squad of professionals attitudes can be worked on as a unit by seeking to alter peoples sentiments. This can be done by making services to undertake things such as unemployment in certain countries. Enterprises like this will work to alter negative attitudes and alter the manner people are treated. As a physical therapist when working with people in poorness it is of import to admit the emphasis and strain this will hold on a service user. When working with an single hearing to them can be a great aid and let them to alleviate a batch of mental emphasis. The patient may voice certain issues that they may non hold a full apprehension of and referral to assorted services so becomes utile. Referral to these services may so let them to happen ways to better their life conditions and fortunes. The job of hapless nutrition in kids, for illustration, could be helped by referral to a pediatric dietitian. This referral allows the parents of a household in poorness to go better educated and better the wellness of their kids in the short and long term. Peoples who live in poorness will normally be portion of a community in similar fortunes. When supplying services as a professional this information can be used to assist patients in their intervention by leting them to interact in groups. In physiotherapy pattern group work is frequently used in rehabilitation and other interventions. ‘It can be used in single or group therapy ( Carlisle 2008 ) . When utilizing group therapy it would be good to group people from similar fortunes together. The patients are so able to portion state of affairss and thoughts with each other that are relevant. This could include urging services to each other that are good or merely being able to socialize with other people who understand their state of affairs better than the physical therapist might. Group treatments will besides profit the mental provinces of patients as they can portion and learn from each other s experiences. This will let patients who are perchance experiencing somewhat depressed to experience hopeful and optimistic about their hereafter by speaking to person who has been through the same thing. These grounds make group intervention physical therapy valuable for assisting patients who suffer some signifier of societal inequality. By look intoing societal inequalities and associating those to certain wellness issues, the services that are provided can so be altered to accommodate local fortunes. When looking at service proviso tendencies in illness relating to the community need to be considered. Using poorness as the illustration, these countries have higher rates of unwellness than those countries non populating in poorness. Therefore accessible services should be directed at the countries in poorness. Poverty besides shows strong links with hapless mental wellness, so services like reding should be readily available. Other issues like smoke and imbibing are common in poorness and would besides necessitate service proviso. The type of people who live in poorness besides needs to be looked at when sing service proviso, for illustration the figure of aged people. Their age would be a confining factor for them accessing any services. These thoughts can be applied to any societal inequality, where probe will let the correct services to be provided in the right countries. The services required will differ for different inequalities but the principal is the same for those who live in poorness. Looking into societal inequality it s clear that societal exclusion can hold a really negative on wellness attention. This is caused by the attitudes of society as a whole and the services that are provided in countries of inequality and want. Different inequalities affect different facets of wellness attention, but certain inequalities are besides linked to each other. This can be seen by the links between poorness and age or ethnicity, and this once more will change the services that are required. Health professionals can assist to alter these inequalities by working with single patients, groups of patients and community based enterprises. This will assist with the overall purpose of supplying equal attention to all facets of our really diverse population. Bibliography Amis, P. ( 1995 ) Urban poorness and employment. Environment and Urbanization 7, ( 1 ) 145-158 Barry, A.M. and Yuill, C. ( 2008 ) Understanding the sociology of wellness. 2nd edn. London: Sage Publications Borton, C. ( 2009 ) Poverty and mental wellness [ online ] available from lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.patient.co.uk/doctor/Poverty-and-Mental-Health.htm gt ; [ January 6th 2010 ] Burden, T. ( 2000 ) 1st edn. Poverty In Policy Response to Social Exclusion. erectile dysfunction. by Percy-Smith, J. Buckingham: Open University Press: 43-58 Carlisle, D. ( 2008 ) Smart moves [ online ] available from lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.csp.org.uk/director/members/newsandanalysis/frontlinemagazine/archiveissues.cfm? ITEM_ID=7ACD9D4EEF07826C50B062EB5E5AEB96 A ; article= gt ; [ January 7th 2010 ] Graham, H. , Inskip, H.M. , Francis, B. and Harman, J. ( 2006 ) Pathways of disadvantage and smoking callings: Evidence and policy deductions. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 60, ( 2 ) ii7-ii12 Hutchinson, J. ( 2000 ) 1st edn. Urban policy and societal exclusion In Policy Response to Social Exclusion. erectile dysfunction. by Percy-Smith, J. Buckingham: Open University Press: 164-183 Killeen, D. ( 2008 ) Is poverty in the UK a denial of people s human rights? [ online ] available from lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.jrf.org.uk/sites/files/jrf/2183.pdf gt ; [ January 7th 2010 ] Montgomery, S.M. , Cook, G.D. , Bartley, M.J. and Wadsworth, M.E.J. ( 1999 ) Unemployment pre-dates symptoms of depression and anxiousness ensuing in medical audience in immature work forces. International Journal of Epidemiology 28, ( 1 ) 95-100 Office for National Statistics ( 7/12/2004 ) Health: Manual workers die earlier than others [ on-line ] available from lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp? id=1007 gt ; [ 5th January 2010 ] Palmer, G. and Kenway, P. ( 30/4/2007 ) Poverty among cultural groups [ on-line ] available from lt ; hypertext transfer protocol: //www.jrf.org.uk/sites/files/jrf/2042-ethnicity-relative-poverty.pdf gt ; [ January 5th 2010 ] Townsend, P. ( 1979 ) Poverty in the United Kingdom. Harmondsworth, Penguin Books 31. Cited in Lister, R. ( 2004 ) Poverty. Great Britain, Polity Press 21.

A Speechs Form and Content Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

A Speechs Form and Content - Research Paper Example King’s purpose was to educate, to inspire, and to inform: basically, to bring weight to the issue of civil rights. Therefore, he had to accomplish an emotional appeal and a logical appeal at the same time, and to galvanize his supporters and to convince his detractors. Following his prepared text, which consisted mainly of reasoned arguments appealing to logic, Dr. King progressed into a more emotional, partly improvised description of his dream of a racially indifferent country. Barack Obama’s victory speech after being elected President of the United States came in a different context in a Chicago park in 2008. The message of his speech is more general than one tied down by any specific movement or thought in America. Like King’s, Obama’s speech inspires a vision of the future; however, this vision pertains more to equality across many different spectrums. For instance, he says, â€Å"It’s the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled† (Obama). Like any President would do, Obama generalizes the struggle for equality to many different socially-constructed distinctions between people in American society. And, instead of maintaining some of these political distinctions, Obama erases them, saying, â€Å"We are, and always will be, the United States of America† (Obama). A common feature of both speeches, making them indications of shared purpose, is the inspiration of a unified vision. In King, he makes use of the collective pronoun â€Å"we† to make every audience member feel as though he has an equal stake in this issue as anyone else. He says, â€Å"We cannot walk alone†¦ We cannot turn back† (King).