Comments and conclusions about marriage and the family no doubt can be traced back to the first time Mrs. Neanderthal leaned out of her cave to gossip with a neighbour. However, competence is a synonym for ability. It means a satisfactory degree of ability for performing certain implied kinds of tasks. As with virtually all human abilities by practice and purposeful training wide differences result. In this sense, interpersonal competence although based upon inherited potentialities, and directly contributing to self-conceptions, may be compared to acquired skills. To conceive of interpersonal relations as governed by relative degrees of skill in controlling the outcome of episodes of interaction is to diverge greatly from some other explanations of characteristic differences in behaviour. The term “social skills” is now quite widely used. It might seem more advantageous and less awkward to employ it, rather than “interpersonal competence.” Unfortunately, however, it has already accumulated a number of connotations which hinder its conveying what is intended here. Thus social skill often indicates correct etiquette or polish. At other times it means success in achieving popularity through display of coveted virtues. Social skill is also used instead of a word such as rhetoric. In some of the numberless books on self-help and human relations readers are initiated into the various tricks and routines for persuading others—into the sort of skills that are necessary for salesmanship and supervision. #RandolphHarris 1 of 21

While selling and supervision are legitimate activities, and success in these no doubt makes some use of interpersonal competence, skill in influencing others would be a very limited and limiting objective to impose upon family life. Countless educational media—though ostensibly not commercially or manipulatively minded—likewise profess to furnish training for leadership, which is described in the language of social skill. Again, however, their emphasis tends to be on institutional ends, to the relative neglect of self-realization in day-to-day family living. However, it is fairly often observed that a person can function quite successfully in one’s job or committee post, though one’s behavior as a husband or father is unsatisfactory to all concerned. Conversely, even the development of extraordinary competence in interpersonal relations—though it may help—cannot guarantee success in business or politics. Despite these warnings against confusing interpersonal competence with the social skills of success literature, a word can be said in defense of the impulse which moves writers and readers of self-help books on human relations. Immense numbers of our fellow-citizens feel inept in their interpersonal relations; they sense narrow limits to their ability to influence or even to conciliate others. Their belief that something can be done about their ineptitude is hopeful and constructive. Were they to adopt the pessimistic alternative, and construe their fate as recalcitrant to all throughout or effort, the result would undoubtedly be grave for them and the community at large. #RandolphHarris 2 of 21

The mounting demand for functional courses in marriage and parenthood may be interpreted in part as a response to the fact that knowledge and skill in these matters can no longer be simply absorbed through watching one’s parents. The motives which inspire this demand are not merely intended to repair a deficit. Many people feel that they can learn to do a better job or do a better job than their parents did. In nearly all such expressions the assumption is evident that differing outcomes depend upon relative degrees of competence. One reason people want to be more competent parents is because they do not want their children to grow up to be criminals. Research suggest that the motivational aspects of common property offending can vary significantly. For example, in a five-part taxonomy of shoplifting offenders: impulse, occasional, episodic, amateur, and semiprofessional. Impulse shoplifters are spontaneous in their thefts and do so with little concern of the product’s utility or the consequences of their actions. Their thefts are ritualistic in nature and often arise from some psychological malady (id est, self-punishment, kleptomania, stress, depression). Occasional shoplifters steal inexpensive items for peer approval or to alleviate boredom. Episodic shoplifters are emotionally troubled thieves who steal specific items to satisfy bizarre rituals or perceived needs. Amateur shoplifters are opportunistic thieves who steal select items for which they do not want to pay. Finally, the semiprofessionals are habitual perpetrators who steal large quantities of goods for resale purposes. #RandolphHarris 3 of 21

The literature on motor vehicle theft also highlights the presence of varied motivation. We can differentiate between profit motives, transportation motives, and recreational motives among auto thieves. The first of these categories takes on decidedly instrumental qualities while the second and third fit the description of expressive motivations. Most scholars agree that the motivational aspects of automobile theft can be directly linked to the offender’s intent. Those persons (usually youths) who steal cars for joyriding (recreational) purposes tend to exhibit expressive motives (id est, status attainment) while those who intend to resell all or part of the car exhibit toward instrumental motives. There appears to be a sense of situational rationality that goes into the planning and target selection aspects of common property crimes. Take shoplifting, for example. Researchers accompanied known shoplifters though retail environments where they were asked to describe their thoughts and ideas about potential theft opportunities and preferences. The researchers used reported theft histories to categorize some subjects as “novices” and others as “experts.” Novice shoplifters were acutely aware of their surroundings and much more planful about their proposed theft opportunities, processing environmental cues more thoroughly and targeting small, expensive products. Professional automobile thieves (id est, those who steal cars or their parts for resale purposes) are often meticulous in their planning and target selection. They my seek out specific makes and models of cars depending on their resale potential. #RandolphHarris 4 of 21

Once an in-demand target has been acquired, they quickly scan the car to assess potential security and surveillance impediments before electing to break into it. Oftentimes, they sell the cars to illegal chop shops that cut the car up and resell it for a profit. A very different trend emerges among youthful car thieves. Most juveniles who steal cars for transportation (id est, to get from point A to point B or to commit a crime) or recreation (id est, to go cruising or show off) engage in little theft planning. We use the term joyrider to describe these offenders. In some cases, joyriders will steal the first soft target available. Other juveniles are more selective, seeking out luxury or sports cars that fit their driving fancy. Drug and alcohol use appears to play a prominent role in the common property theft transaction. When asked to describe their state of mind, more than half of the larceny-theft and automobile theft inmates surveyed indicated that they were under the influence of form of mind-altering substance at the time of their offense. Moreover, it appears that the financial demands of a drug habit often serve as the driving force behind routinized property offending. Interviews with seasoned property offenders establish a clear link between the frequency and intensity of drug use and the frequency and intensity of criminal activity. #RandolphHarris 5 of 21

Most common property thieves are quite unsympathetic about their victims’ losses and unapologetic about their own behaviors. They tend to justify their actions and the resulting fallout on the basis of need. Persistent property thieves describe their victims as “suckers” or “tricks” or “easy marks.” This sort of conceptualization allows offenders to downplay the wrongfulness of their actions at the same time as it put them at ease about the degree of loss that they have brought upon their victims. For example, shoplifters will often reason that retail chains can afford minor losses or that they simply pass the losses on to paying customers in a “shoplifting tax” that amounts to mere pennies. Auto thieves have a tendency to emphasize insurance coverage or the temporary nature of a victim’s loses (id est, joyriding) as a way of rationalizing their behavior. The social organization of common property offending can take on a number of forms—offenders organize themselves as loners, colleagues, peers, or even team. The loner variety often takes shape among amateur shoplifters, naïve check forgers, and automobile thieves. Here, the individual lives out a solitary existence, stealing as the opportunity or perceived need arise. Other property offenders operate under a colleague-like level of organization. For example, “systematic check forgers” (habitual offenders) choose to operate alone but are well aware of the other “paper hangers” that are at work in the same area. Professional shoplifters (boosters) tend to organize as peers. #RandolphHarris 6 of 21

Under this arrangement, we find offenders embarking upon collaborative theft activities in which short-term roles (id est, lookout, diversionary, box man) are assumed to increase efficiency. In the case of professional automobile thieves, we often see the social organization of offending take on a teamlike format. In these instances, set roles and relationships emerge out of the need for steady business as chop shop owners need reliable in-house employees to cut up stolen cars and reliable thieves to target and deliver in-demand models. Simplicity tends to be a hallmark of the socialization scripts that underlie common property offending. More often than not, learning takes place “on the fly” with a lone offender or collective of offenders reding and reacting to their surroundings. They tend to have considerable contact with the criminal subculture but the lack of planning and pervasiveness of drug and/or alcohol use makes for a less than ideal learning scenario. Only in the case of peer or teamlike arrangements do we see point-by-point instruction taking place. In general, common property crimes do not receive a harsh treatment from the criminal justice system. This trend begins with the legal classification of the offenses. The Model Penal Code contains three-tiered offense grading for the crimes of larceny-theft and motor vehicle theft. The theft of a firearm, any motor vehicle, or any form of property valued in excess of $500 is deemed a felony in the third degree and thus subject to a potential sentence of 1 to 5 years in prison. #RandolphHarris 7 of 21

A midlevel grading of misdemeanor is assigned to all thefts in which the targeted property is valued in excess of $50 but not more than $500. These offenses are punishable by up to 1 year in jail. Those theft involving property valued at less than $50 are assigned a petty misdemeanor status, meaning that the perpetrator could be subject to a sanction ranging from a small fine to 6 months in jail. Police are overwhelmed with property crime calls for service. In 2022, law enforcement officers made more than 1.6 million arrests on the charges of larceny-theft (19 percent) and motor vehicle theft (15 percent) were well below those of almost every type of crime, for example, the nearly 50 percent of violent crime clearance rate that was recorded for murder, assault, rape, and robbery combined. In fact, burglary (14 percent) was the only form of index crime to post a lower clearance rate. An arrest is not the only outcome that citizens hope for when they have been the victim of a common property crime. They also ask for the safe return of their valuables. Law enforcement data reveal that police are able to return roughly 60 percent of the stolen automobiles to their rightful owners. These data also show that the recovery of a stolen vehicle more than doubles the likelihood that an arrest will occur. #RandolphHarris 8 of 21

Given the shear volume of common property crime arrests that occur each year (larceny-theft cases alone accounted for 52 percent of the index crimes arrests that were recorded by police in 2022), it should come as no surprise that court dockets are overflowing with these cases. Common property offenders comprise roughly 20 percent of all felony defendants that are processed through the U.S.A. court system. Roughly 70 percent of property crime defendants were able to obtain their release from jail while awaiting the final disposition of their case. A full one-third of the bailees engaged in at least one form of misconduct while under conditional release, and one in seven were rearrested before their pending case was even settled. Only 55 percent of the theft-related cases resulted in a felony conviction and sizable portions were resolved via a plea bargain to misdemeanor charges (18 percent) or a dismissal (32 percent). Of all the offenses types represented in the study, we found that felony theft defendants were  less likely (25 percent) to be convicted and sentenced to prison. More often than not, a finding of guilt led to jail time (36 percent) or probation (38 percent). For those theft defendants who were unlucky enough to receive a term of imprisonment, the majority received a sentence of less than 2 years. It is estimated that 1 in every 113 motor vehicle thefts that get reported to police result in an arrest and felony conviction. Moreover, it is contended that slightly more than 1 in 10 of the motor vehicle thefts that produce an arrest will lead to a felony conviction and term of incarceration—with only 6 percent receiving a prison sentence. #RandolphHarris 9 of 21

The U.S.A. correctional system also appears to adopt a relatively relaxed approach to common property offenders. On average, these inmates serve less than half of their original sentence behind bars. A person who is imprisoned for felony larceny or fraud can expect to serve only 15 months in prison. These average time served figures are shorter than any other form of felony except felony drug possession. The general public would be hypocritical to complain about the leniency that is afforded common property offenders by the agents of the criminal justice system. There is a severe lack of effort when it comes to the informal social control of common property crime. Take, for instance, the crime of shoplifting. Research has confirmed the long-feared assumption that shoppers are unwilling to intervene in the shoplifting event. For example, we found that few shoplifters come to the attention of store personnel as a result of customer-initiated action. A series of quasi-experimental studies, known as staged shoplifting studies, were conducted to assess the thought process behind this lack of informal social control. Well, it was found that only 30 percent of persons who admitted to witnessing the theft reported the incident to store personnel. #RandolphHarris 10 of 21

The race, gender, and perceived social class of the perpetrator play an important role in the shoppers’ decision to intervene in shoplifting. The findings of these staged shoplifter studies have spawned several efforts to get customers more involved in the social control of retail theft. Numerous public awareness efforts have been undertaken to raise levels of concern and intervention among the general public. These include the use of in-store signs, media campaigns, and ingenious school-based initiatives. Regardless of their form and process, we have concluded that these efforts to mobile citizen concern and action have been largely unsuccessful and sometimes unadvised for safety reasons. In the final analysis, public opinion polls establish that the average citizen does not consider shoplifting to be a serious crime. One would think that a capitalist country such as the United States of America would have a low tolerance for theft of personal capital. However, we have long adopted weak formal and informal social control responses to crimes such as larceny and auto theft. Why is it that we as a country have been able to develop and maintain this seemingly conflict set of ideals? It is commonly agreed that drug addiction plays an important part in the motivation of many chronic property offenders. This had led some scholars to argue that the legalization of drugs might be expected to vastly reduce the occurrence of crimes such as theft and fraud. How feasible is this argument and how might one best approach the implementation and empirical assessment of this assertion? #RandolphHarris 11 of 21

With crimes rates being so high, many parents not being fit to have children, and other parents not wanting their children to grow up to become criminals, to have or not to have children has become more fully a matter of judgment and planning, with the consequence of marked fluctuations in fertility among those classes which exercise superior foresight and exert most influence on the other segments of the community. Among rural families and the more traditional urban groups, where children’s labour contributes to family income, children have been wanted in the past as additional hands. However, among the increasing other groups, where each child as an uncompensated cost tends to be evaluated against alternative expenditures of money and effort, a sufficient motive must be found in other terms than economic worth for the child not to be accidental and unwanted. Thus results not only the smalless of contemporary families but the heightened self-consciousness with which couples approach parenthood, instead of taking it for granted. When the population is graded according to income and education, it is found that the major contributors to the baby boom of the early 1950’s, for example, were mostly the same white-collar groups among whom family limitation was most pronounced in the 1930’s. It is among these that early marriage had gained most rapidly since. These families, through the mass media and the public schools, furnish the model for other families, and the deliberateness of their approach to parenthood has become a pervasive cultural influence. #RandolphHarris 12 of 21

It could be argued that population dynamics—almost by definition—should not be taken as a conditioning factor external to families. On the other hand, from the standpoint of any given family, it is obvious that the example of family size set by others, the general atmosphere of optimistic or pessimistic expectation, and such tangibles as the availability of large houses and uncrowded schools are rather influential conditions. Families are more likely to feel they must adapt to them, than that they can appreciably modify them. To relate family size positively to family income is coming to be both a cultural and statistical pattern among the prototype strata. The chance to become righteous is not to be waited for, but take or RECEIVED from the ultimate concern. One must learn to speak the truth, trust the truth, have great discernment, and learn to recognize the devious plots of offenders and their counterfeit working of the law. Righteous people work according to laws and conditions, and those who uphold the law become known as trustworthy to others. However, it is important to keep in mind that no man is absolutely right in all that he says and does. Sin has been deeply ingrained in many people, and we cannot believe that sin has been eliminated from the whole being. For one to say, “I am is so wise, I do not believe I can be deceived,” is a shutting off of the eyes to fact around us on every hand. Some people learn more quickly than others. That is true. However, one must not close one’s mind to the facts of life nor the help of others who could throw light upon the way. #RandolphHarris 13 of 21

Self-transcendence of morality and culture is constantly endangered by the ambiguity of profanization. The intellectual sphere is a kind of fortress. Ambiguity, however, is the proximate, not the remote, an answer to the objection. For one must ask: Why is there ambiguity? The ultimate answer lies in the nature of life itself, in the actualization of potentiality, in the transition from essence to existence. Ours is a fallen World, id est, in transition from essence to existence. I am not sure it has actually gotten any better or worse, for it is hard to judge suffering. Life has changed, but there are more people on the planet to do more bad, more people on the planet to increase the good, but one thing is for sure, it does not seem that the planet was meant for human life to be as advanced as it is, or as primitive as it is. It depends on how you look at it. For we create a lot of waste and are destroying the natural environment and killing animals. This is not always being done out of malicious intent. For instance, the tiny microbeads that were used in face wash to exfoliate the skin, they are being consumed by humans and fish and are poison and being embedded in our DNA, which alters it. The medications we used to save lives can also harm the environment when they are passed through the body into the sewer system. And then there is plastic. We use a lot of plastic to build houses and make sprinkler pipes and sprinkler heads. The sprinkler pipes and sprinklers used to be made from metal, sometimes brass. However, when the town Paradise, California burned down, the plastics used in housing materials released more toxins in the air than usual. The goal of using plastics was to reduce cost, not to hurt anyone nor the environment. #RandolphHarris 14 of 21

The ultimate concerns says that because we are in a unenlightened World, everything we do, even good, causes harm. However, I guess it is better to try and do the right thing, than to knowingly do harm. Eventually, the planet will correct itself. One must keep one’s efforts focused on the creative depth of the ultimate concern. Being self-actualized is part of the human being, namely, the dimensions of depth in all of its functions. People go wrong with the tragic estrangement from their soul loses its own ground and depth. But glorious or inglorious, genuine or distorted, the being cannot be avoided no matter how man twists or turns. It is less than human to live without asking the question, “What is the meaning of this life which is given to me?” And now this is what becoming self-actualized means. Self-actualization means ultimate concern about the ultimate, unconditional seriousness about that which is ultimately serious, infinitely serious, namely, the question of the meaning of my life. While many question what is the purpose of their live, several are born knowing they need to wake up and make money. Until recently Japan was a one-legged nation. If a nation’s global influence springs mainly from military potential wealth, and knowledge, Japan’s, until very recently, rested on one leg of the power triad, much like that of the Soviet Union. Instead of nuclear weapons and the Red Army, Japan had cash. And more cash. But one-legged stools are notoriously unstable. And even wealth has its limitations. For this reason, Japan today is pursuing the power balance. #RandolphHarris 15 of 21

At first bullied into military spending by Washington; Japan has recently needed little prodding to expand its armed forces. What has been unthinkable since Hiroshima—the notion of a nuclear-armed Japan—is no longer regarded as entirely out of the question. It has become, instead, a noticeable gleam in the eye of some Japanese hawks. Japan’s military budget is now the third-largest in the World, after that of the United States of America and the Soviet Union. Its hawks, according to their critics, now want to expand  the military’s role beyond Japan’s immediate territorial waters, but China and Japan have been having conflicts over ownership of islands and military expansion. To write a mutual security pact with a neighboring country, giving Japan a definite role as a regional policeman; and to equip the navy with an aircraft carrier so Japanese power can be projected over a much wider radius. Japan’s budding military-industrial complex is champing at the bit to build its own fighter aircraft, missiles, and other advanced weaponry. Companies like Fuji Heavy Industries, Kawasaki, Heavy Industries, Nissan, Mitsubishi, and Komatso all produce military goods under U.S.A. license. After acrimonious negotiations with the United States of America, a joint project is under way to build the FSX advanced fighter plane using active phased array radar, sophisticated composite materials, and other advanced technologies. Japan is also engaged in research on missile defense. #RandolphHarris 16 of 21

Japan is neither aggressive nor irresponsible. It military, since World War II, has been firmly under civilian control, and every survey shows the Japanese public to be fare more peace-loving than some other nations. Nevertheless, it is hard to say how long that sentiment will last as frictions rise between Washington and Tokyo. It is by no means clear what role the Japanese military might play in Southeast Asia if U.S.A. forces were further weakened or withdrawn; and war or revolution threatened Japan’s huge investments in the region. With political unrest flaring from Beijing and Hong Kong to Manila, Japan’s neighbours in the region have one worried eye cocked on Japan’s rearmament and the other on America’s post-Vietnam retrenchment, its troop withdrawals from South Kore, and its defense cutbacks in general. Japan is now driving toward military self-sufficiency, preliminary to suggesting, it the most courteous way, the U.S.A. forces are no longer needed in Japan—or in the region. In 1988, former Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita put Japan’s military buildup in sharp perspective. Japan, he told the Japanese Defense Academy, needed military power to match its enormous new economic clout. Japan is racing to balance its triad. When it comes to China, China’s nominal GDP has just become the second largest in the World. From now on, the World economy will be rapidly adopting a two-towers-dominated shape: with the United States of America and Chinese towers much taller than all other buildings. Moreover, the Chinese tower will continue growing much faster than the American and overtake it, most likely, in the first half of this century. #RndolphHarris 17 of 21

Within this U.S.A.—China duopoly, China will first of all further strengthen its position as the leading manufacturing nation, while America will be the number one services nation. At the same time, China will gradually becoming a strong competitor in services as well. On their part, America and the West have opportunities in manufacturing, but will have to work hard not to miss them. Second, “China as the number one producer” had become an international standard for most manufacturing industries and products. As a rule, gaps between China and the followers are increasing. The circle of industries and goods whose top producer is another nation (in most cases, it is the United States of America) is becoming more and more narrow. By and large, it is already limited to several materials-producing sectors. Third, China’s drive to the number one position in merchandise exports, mostly in manufacturing, was even faster than in manufacturing production. In the electronics/electrical products and the light industry consumer goods sectors it is becoming not just a leading, but a dominant exporter. However, in other industries, China’s growing lead in production does not necessarily translate into the lead in exports, as most of its production increment is absorbed by the domestic market. In these industries China often emerges as a big net importer. #RandolphHarris 18 of 21

Especially, growth of China’s manufacturing production and exports is accompanied by a rapid increase of the imports of production. What countries and companies will succeed in tapping China’s capital goods market. Up till now, in this regard East Asia has been doing much better than the West. Fourth, Chinese producers have become the World’s dominant players in the production and exports of low-tech—low-end—mass products segment. Their global presence in the low-end—differentiated-product segment and especially in the high-end products segments is much weaker, though increasing. At the domestic market they are rapidly occupying the latter two niches as well. Fifth, China’s manufacturing production/export offensive drastically changes the global rules of the game and the status of Western manufacturers. For the West, if not meaningless, it is getting increasingly difficult to protect traditional local industries from the inflow of affordable made-in-China products by imposing punitive tariffs or other import restrictions. The notion of local industry itself is changing. Because China-West production cost differentials are enormous, Western factories are doomed to lose in the low-tech-low-end mass-products segment and, more and more, also in the segment of high-tech-low-end mass products. In these two segments, globalization and the Chinese offensive deprive them of the economic rationale to continue operating. It is a new globalized World, and it is high time to change the mentality. #RandolphHarris 19 of 21

In a way, it is very simple. Here is the World—your World—and if you want to manufacturer a particular item, find the place in this World where you can make it most efficiently and the markets where it will sell well. If you stick to a different way of thinking and want, by all means, to produce in your home country (it is understandable: In spite of globalization, many people, perhaps the majority, would still prefer to live and work in their homeland), then you have to find an answer to the key question: What particular products does it make sense to manufacture there and why? Basically, today’s Western factories have no other rational option but to drift to the segments of low-end-differentiated products but to drift to the segments of low-end-differentiated products and, especially, high-end products—in other words, to aggressively differentiate their products raising nonprice competitiveness. This drive has to be accompanied by the increase in exports, especially to the most dynamic Chinese and other Third World markets. Governments have to do much more for exports promotion. Exportability of the product—its acceptance by consumers around the World—is becoming the major criterion of whether or not it should be manufactured in this or that particular place. #RandolphHarris 20 of 21

The number of West-based manufacturers is and will be declining, and only “excellent producers” capable of differentiating their products and competing on their quality and uniqueness will feel good at home. Others will either have to move to China and the like to produce mass products or continue a bitter fight for survival. Sixth, though China is becoming an increasingly important player in the global market of services as well, it is not a strong service economy. To become one, China has shown traditional, committed and skilled human resources, and know-how. China has gained a competitive edge in the service industry. Seventh, China has become one of the World’s leading financial powers (that is why BMW changed the 750iL to the 760Li), and, technically, the number two creditor nation, but its financial might first and foremost reflects the strength of the Chinese state. The major manifestation of this strength is the unprecedented amount of foreign exchange reserves. They are working as a very important factor in global politics, letting China set terms on a wide range of issues. On the other hand, they are brining very modest returns and are not used efficiently enough to solve China’s development problems and raise the living standards of its people. As far as household wealth is concern, China is on its way to becoming a World superpower. Chinese families’ saving rates are exceptionally high. China is a rich state and the wealth of its people is growing rapidly. #RandolphHarris 21 of 21