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Downshifting (lifestyle)
In social behavior, downshifting is a trend where individuals adopt simpler lives from what critics call the " rat race". The long-term effect of downshifting can include an escape from what has been described as economic materialism, as well as reduce the "stress and psychological expense that may accompany economic materialism". This social trend emphasizes finding an improved balance between leisure and work, while also focusing life goals on personal fulfillment, as well as building personal relationships instead of the all-consuming pursuit of economic success. Downshifting differs from simple living in its focus on moderate change and concentration on an individual comfort level and a gradual approach to living.Tracey Smith, 2008 In the 1990s, this form of simple living began appearing in the mainstream media, and has continually grown in popularity among populations living in industrial societies, especially the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Social Behavior
Social behavior is behavior among two or more organisms within the same species, it encompasses any behavior in which one member affects another. Social behavior can be seen as similar to an exchange of goods, with the expectation that when you give, you will receive something similar in return. This behavior can be affected by both the qualities of the individual and the environmental (situational) factors. Therefore, social behavior arises as a result of an interaction between the two—the organism and its environment. This means that, in regards to humans, social behavior can be determined by both the individual characteristics of the person, and the situation they are in. A major aspect of social behavior is communication, which is the basis for survival and reproduction. Social behavior is said to be determined by two different processes, that can either work together or oppose one another. The dual-systems model of reflective and impulsive determinants of social behavior ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Overtime
Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society), *by practices of a given trade or profession, *by legislation, *by agreement between employers and workers or their representatives. Most national countries have overtime labour laws designed to dissuade or prevent employers from forcing their employees to work excessively long hours (such as the situation in the textile mills in the 1920s). These laws may take into account other considerations than humanitarian concerns, such as preserving the health of workers so that they may continue to be productive, or increasing the overall level of employment in the economy. One common approach to regulating overtime is to require employers to pay workers at a higher hourly rate for overtime work. Companies may choose to pay workers higher overt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flextime
Flextime, also spelled flex-time or flexitime ( BE), is a flexible hours schedule that allows workers to alter their workday and adjust their start and finish times. In contrast to traditional work arrangements that require employees to work a standard 9a.m. to 5p.m. day, Flextime typically involves a "core" period of the day during which employees are required to be at work (e.g., between 11a.m. and 3p.m.), and a "bandwidth" period within which all required hours must be worked (e.g., between 5:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m.). The working day outside of the core period is "flexible time", in which employees can choose when they work, subject to achieving total daily, weekly or monthly hours within the bandwidth period set by employers, and subject to the necessary work being done. The total working time required of employees on an approved Flextime schedule is much the same as those who work under traditional work schedule regimes. A flextime policy allows staff to determine when ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brand
A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and store value as brand equity for the object identified, to the benefit of the brand's customers, its owners and shareholders. Brand names are sometimes distinguished from Generic brand, generic or store brands. The practice of branding—in the original literal sense of marking by burning—is thought to have begun with the ancient Egyptians, who are known to have engaged in livestock branding and branded slaves as early as 2,700 BCE. Branding was used to differentiate one person's cattle from another's by means of a distinctive symbol burned into the animal's skin with a hot branding iron. If a person stole any of the cattle, anyone else who saw the symbol could deduce the actual owner. The term has been extended to mean a strategic person ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Affluenza
Affluenza describes the psychological and social effects of affluence. It is a portmanteau of ''wealth, affluence'' and ''influenza'', and is used most commonly by critics of consumerism. Some psychologists consider it to be a pseudo-scientific term; however, the word continues to be used in scientific literature. History The word is thought to have been first used in 1908, and to have been adopted for its most common current usage in California in 1973. It was also used by John Levy, executive director of the C.G. Jung Institute in San Francisco in 1984 to describe the lack of motivation that could dog wealthy people. It was popularized in 1997 with a PBS documentary of the same name and the subsequent book ''Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic'' (2001, revised in 2005, 2014). These works define affluenza as "a painful, infectious disease, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety, and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more". A more info ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ethical Consumerism
Ethical consumerism (alternatively called ethical consumption, ethical purchasing, moral purchasing, ethical sourcing, or ethical shopping and also associated with sustainable and green consumerism) is a type of consumer activism based on the concept of dollar voting. People practice it by buying ethically made products that support small-scale manufacturers or local artisans and protect animals and the environment, while boycotting products that exploit children as workers, are tested on animals, or damage the environment. The term "ethical consumer", now used generically, was first popularised by the UK magazine '' Ethical Consumer'', first published in 1989. ''Ethical Consumer'' magazine's key innovation was to produce "ratings tables", inspired by the criteria-based approach of the then-emerging ethical investment movement. ''Ethical Consumer''s ratings tables awarded companies negative marks (and overall scores, starting in 2005) across a range of ethical and environmental c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Retirement Age
This article lists the statutory retirement age in different countries. In some contexts, the retirement age is the age at which a person is expected or required to cease work. It is usually the age at which such a person may be entitled to receive superannuation or other government benefits, like a state pension. History and establishment The first recorded use of a state pension was established in the Roman Empire in 13 BC by Augustus for military veterans who had served for at least 16 years in a legion and four years in the reserves. This was later increased to 20 years in a legion and five years in the reserves.Clark, R. L., Craig, L. A., & Wilson, J. W. (n.d.). A History of Public Sector Pensions in the United States. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4011: University of Pennsylvania Press. Retrieved from https://pensionresearchcouncil.wharton.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/0-8122-3714-5-3.pdf The first retirement age was set in Germany by Otto von Bismarck in 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Middle Age
Middle age (or middle adulthood) is the age range of the years halfway between childhood and old age. The exact range is subject to public debate, but the term is commonly used to denote the age range from 45 to 65 years. Overall This time span is generally referred to as "middle age" and can be defined as the time of ages about 40–45 to about 60–65. Many changes may occur between young adulthood and this stage. There is no universal consensus on what the exact definition of middle age is, but usual characteristics include the beginning of rapid decline of fertility, graying of hair, and other physical changes. Those in middle age continue to develop relationships and adapt to changes in relationships. Such changes are highly evident in the maturing relationships between growing or grown children and aging parents. Community involvement is fairly typical of this stage of adulthood, as is continued career development. Physical characteristics Middle-aged adults may begin t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Retirement
Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their job for health reasons. People may also retire when they are eligible for private or public pension benefits, although some are forced to retire when bodily conditions no longer allow the person to work any longer (by illness or accident) or as a result of legislation concerning their positions. In most countries, the idea of retirement is of recent origin, being introduced during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. Previously, low life expectancy, lack of social security and the absence of pension arrangements meant that most workers continued to work until their death. Germany was the first country to introduce retirement benefits in 1889. Nowadays, most developed countries have systems to provide pensions on retirement in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Health
Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, pain (including mental pain), or injury. Health can be promoted by encouraging healthful activities, such as regular physical exercise and adequate sleep, and by reducing or avoiding unhealthful activities or situations, such as smoking or excessive stress. Some factors affecting health are due to individual choices, such as whether to engage in a high-risk behavior, while others are due to structural causes, such as whether the society is arranged in a way that makes it easier or harder for people to get necessary healthcare services. Still, other factors are beyond both individual and group choices, such as genetic disorders. History The meaning of health has evolved over time. In keeping with the biomedical perspective, earl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quality Time
Quality time is a sociology expression referring to a proactive interaction between individuals, set aside for paying undivided attention, usually to express love or accomplish a shared goal. Sometimes abbreviated QT, it is an informal reference to time spent with close family, partners, or friends that is in some way important, special, productive or profitable to one or everyone involved. Having conversations, solving jigsaw puzzles, collaborating on projects, and conversing during road trips can be examples of quality time. It may also refer to the effective use of time in educational settings, or time spent alone performing a favorite activity (i.e., self-care). In his 1992 book, Baptist pastor and Relationship counselor Gary Chapman suggests that quality time is one of five " Love Languages" which are used (more or less, preferentially, by a given individual) to express love and gratitude for another. History Its use as a noun expression ("quality time") began in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commuting
Commuting is periodically recurring travel between a place of residence and place of work or study, where the traveler, referred to as a commuter, leaves the boundary of their home community. By extension, it can sometimes be any regular or often repeated travel between locations, even when not work-related. The modes of travel, time taken and distance traveled in commuting varies widely across the globe. Most people in least-developed countries continue to walk to work. The cheapest method of commuting after walking is usually Bicycle commuting, by bicycle, so this is common in low-income countries but is also increasingly practised by people in wealthier countries for environmental, health, and often time reasons. In middle-income countries, motorcycle commuting is very common. The next technology adopted as countries develop is more dependent on location: in more populous, older cities, especially in Eurasia mass transit (rail, bus, etc.) predominates, while in smaller, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
