Political and economic life of our society is not homogeneous. It always differs for different groups of people, who experience different problems and have different needs. The five articles that are discussed further provide unique insights into the peculiarities of the distinct characteristics and issues different groups of people face in the modern society.
“Playbook for Life” is a guide to planning financial future, which targets specifically students. It is based on real-life experiences and aims to help students to manage their expenses in a more efficient way. This guide has been created by Hartford, an insurance company that claims that it already has several decades of experience in planning expenses. It presents several strategies, which should help students to plan their tax gains, retirement plans or leasing strategies.
In the second article, “The Vanishing Male Voter “, the author claims that the level of men voting in the U.S. severely dropped in the past years. Several experts are expecting even fewer men coming to vote during the next elections. There are several reasons, which affect the drop of men going to vote: apathy, anger and inattentiveness but in particular, death seems the major difference between the rates of voting men and voting women. This fact shows that men tend to have a lower life expectancy than women.
The article “Does a Glass Ceiling Persist in Politics?” analyzes the tendency of women reaching higher position in the U.S. government, who nevertheless cannot manage to reach the top. This trend seems to persist in the U.S. politics for decades and despite all the efforts in the direction of gender equality, women still represent only a small part of the U.S. political power.
In the fourth article, it is shown that women are more likely to achieve economic independency than men and they tend to worry more about their financial future. Several studies have shown that women have efficient financial priorities but they have little confidence in their ability to fulfill their targets, the so called confidence gap. Prudential and Allianz companies offer several solutions for women, who want to become better off financially. Thus, they can hire a financial planner or favor policies increasing the tax credit for low-earning families. However, women should also find their own strategies and not rely only on external help.
In the article “Credit card companies cash in on students by pushing plastic on campuses” it is shown that the massive use of credit card seems to have a bad impact on young graduates. In particular, institutions promote the issuance of credit cards for university students, without much consideration for the financial vulnerability of students in this period.
Although the articles discussed above talk about completely different issues, all of them discuss the different groups that are exist in our society. Thus, they discuss the declining life expectancy and political activity of male voters, while describing discriminatory pressures on women in the U.S. government. They show the specific characteristics of the financial behavior of students and women. In general, these articles do not only reveal the diversity of the modern society, but also create awareness about the special needs these groups may have in terms of employment or financial assistance.
References
Gibbs, J., J. B. Jenkins, and T. Dungy. Game plan for life, your personal playbook for success. Tyndale House Pub, 2011.
