Although the lives of women have greatly changed due to demographic, technological and educational factors, the traditional discriminatory ideas about employing women outside the home have hardly evolved at all.

The arms race has two characteristic features: One is the multiplication and proliferation of primarily non-nuclear, tactical armaments. The other takes the form of a very rapid rate of product innovation and improvement and a constant search for new environments in which weapons can be used. At first sight it would seem that the effort to improve the quality of armaments, or to defend against them, follows a logical series of steps in which a new weapon or weapon-system is devised, then a counter-weapon to neutralize the new weapon, and then a counter-counter-weapon. But these steps neither usually nor necessarily occur in a rational time sequence. Those who design improvements in weapons are as a rule the same people who envisage the further steps to be taken. They do not wait for a potential enemy to react before they themselves react against their own creations. Before a new weapon is brought into service, the military designer is, as a rule, already designing a new model which – he hopes – will not only be more effective in performance, but also less vulnerable to defences which the other side might introduce in response to the new threat. Thus obsolescence becomes characteristic of the technological arms race. These features of the arms race show up very clearly in the field of long-range nuclear weapons. First there was a rapid change in the means of delivery, starting with the switch from manned bombers to liquid-fuelled ballistic missiles, beginning with intermediate and moving on to rockets of intercontinental range. Solid-fuelled missiles soon followed, deployed in concrete silos, in order to protect them from attack. In parallel, submarine-launched ballistic missiles were developed and deployed.

It does not necessarily follow that the process of action and reaction which characterizes the arms race, certainly the arms race in sophisticated weapons, means that security is increased as more is spent on armaments. Indeed in the field of nuclear weaponry the reverse appears to be the case. Each new step in the elaboration of such armaments usually ushers in a more perilous stage of uncertainty and insecurity. Furthermore, every new generation of weapons and weapon systems inevitably demands more and more resources which could be used for different economic and social purposes. By encouraging the development of certain areas of technology, and by providing resources for basic fields of science which might bear upon the development of sophisticated weapons, the arms race also inevitably affects the direction and tempo of a country's scientific and technological development. Its effect has been to encourage work in certain fields of knowledge and to retard progress in others. It stimulates a demand for certain classes of specialist and for certain kinds of specialized information, without which desired military projects could not be achieved. Short of powerful political decision in a contrary direction, this process, particularly so far as it concerns sophisticated modern weapons, could go on indefinitely.

The arms race has in fact become noticeably a technological race, the achievements of one side spurring the other to improve on the technological advances which it might have made itself. Sometimes the spur comes not from some clearly defined threat but from an imagined technical advance made by the other side. Secrecy in military affairs makes it inevitable that a potential enemy will usually be suspected of being stronger than he actually is. Consequently both sides strive continuously to improve the quantity and quality of their arms. So it is that the arms race becomes based on the 'hypothesis of the worst case', that is to say, one of two sides designs its programme of development on the assumption that its rival could, if it so decided, be the stronger.

Military expenditures not only divert resources from other uses, but also tend to disturb and destabilize the economy in general. Increased taxation or borrowing needed to raise money for arms (in developed market economies) slows the growth in personal consumption or private investment. If taxes are not raised, spending on such programmes as welfare services or education may be reduced, thus dislocating long-term social policies. Inflationary processes may be generated. In centrally planned economies, military expenditures limit the flexibility with which the economy can be planned, and the problem of preserving a proper balance between supply and demand for various industries and sectors becomes more difficult. In developing countries where the tax-base is limited, the pay of civil servants and the cost of military forces often take up much of the government's revenue. Revenues that might go into development are used instead for military purposes. In addition, military spending often puts a heavy burden on the balance of payments due to the purchase of arms from abroad.

The arms race is an important factor in limiting the expansion of international exchanges. Military considerations limit trade in so-called strategic commodities and products of advanced technology, and have led to creation of rival trade groupings. Strategic considerations inhibit technological and scientific exchanges between countries. Also, protectionist policies to favour domestic industry or agriculture are often defended on the grounds of maintaining the supply of vital commodities in time of war. This argument could not be advanced to justify trade barriers in a disarmed world. Trade between centrally planned economic and developed market countries has clearly been affected by the arms race and by the tensions between the two systems. This trade accounts for only 5% of world trade. It would rise significantly the faster the arms race came to a halt. As for the developing countries, the scarce foreign exchange resources used to obtain armaments could be applied to growth-producing purposes. In a world progressively disarmed, the level of trade could well be higher simply because of a higher level of world output.

A feeling of alarm caused by the expectation of danger, pain, disaster or other calamities, fear may lead to aggression and violence including war and conflict of all kinds. It may also lead to discrimination, conformism, inertia, alienation, delusion, dependency, lack of participation, corruption, injustice and inequality. Fear may exist in the form of general anxiety which has no object. Fear may also be phobic, that is, very specific to a particular object, condition, environment, etc, such as claustrophobia. Fear of grievous physical injury or death in the face of a real threat may cause tremor, sweating, heart palpitation, and involuntary passing of urine or faeces. Fear itself can be a cause of death, by shock or heart attack. Fear can grip whole armies or civilian populations.

Pesticides are an example of contaminants deliberately introduced into the environment that have played a significant role in the decline of species and the loss of habitat diversity. They interfere with and cause the breakdown of fundamental biogeochemical processes that support life support systems, including decomposition, mineral oxidation, nitrogen fixation and photosynthesis.

Pesticides are chemical compounds used to control plants and animals that are classified as pests. They are most widely used on crops, but they are also used in and around the home on insects, rodents, weeds, and plant diseases; in wood processing and preserving; in paint; in food storage; and in public health programmes. Insect and weed control are the two most common uses. Some pesticides are applied directly to plants or soil. Soon after application, they are dispersed into the environment, so that applications are often repeated. As the pesticides accumulate in the soil and wash into streams and rivers, they can affect fish and birds. Because of the wide spectrum of life forms which they attack, some call these pesticides biocides.

Because of the toxicity of pesticides in concentrated form and because of the frequency of exposure, the most serious human health effects are found among agricultural and production workers. Long-term and chronic health effects occur as the chemicals are ingested and inhaled. Bioaccumulation (the buildup of toxic materials in tissues) is evident in fish and birds as well as in humans.

Two different sets of problems are posed by the occurrence of persistent pesticides in the environment: (1) localized problems, tending to be acute, leading to recognizable effects with assignable origins, which can be dealt with if successfully sorted out and if the will and powers exist; and (2) more widespread problems, tending to be inferential with postulated effects, due to the universal presence of the materials in question. There is, for example, growing evidence from the amount of pesticide residues found in specimens of affected species as well as in the animals, fish, invertebrates, or plankton they feed upon, that there is a process of pesticide concentration in the food chains. As small amounts of persistent pesticides become more and more widely spread throughout the entire natural environment, they are absorbed by low forms of life. Where large numbers of these species serve as food for higher animals, some of the total pesticide remains in the eater. This can lead to a certain concentration of pesticides in a form of life at the end of the food chain. Eventually lethal doses may be reached for certain populations, or the species may be reduced because of adverse effects on reproduction or behaviour.

The importance of changes in the environment is that they may be irreversible: species may disappear altogether. This will cause ecological imbalance - certain forms of life whose numbers are controlled by the disappearing species will no longer be held in check. Thus an apparently harmless species may become a pest. Another result of reduction of species diversity may be the loss of the genetic possibilities that each organism disturbance of the selective pressures of the environment will reduce the chances of future development of desired plants and animals. Furthermore, as humans are at the top of food chains, they too tend to concentrate residues in their bodies with as yet unknown effects on them. While perhaps sufficient attention has been directed to acute toxicity problems, too little attention has been paid to the effect of long term ingestion by human beings of small amounts of these chemicals.

A serious dilemma is that the cheapest pesticides are the organochlorines, known to accumulate in human fat. The substitution of organophosphorus pesticides brings both higher cost and a need for more carefully trained operators, both of which pose problems.

Organized crime are acts carried out for profit or power, by more than two people acting together over a long or indeterminate period, through the abuse of commercial structures, the use of violence or intimidation, and having an effect on political life, the media, public administration, justice or the economy. More simply put, organized crime is perpetrated by any group having a corporate structure who primary objective is to obtain money through illegal activities, often surviving on fear and corruption. Groups are increasingly crossing national borders. Mafia-type organizations are also coming to resemble multinational companies. Their statutory objective is to make money. The are irregular only in that they have recourse to crime to do so.

Organized crime are acts carried out for profit or power, by more than two people acting together over a long or indeterminate period, through the abuse of commercial structures, the use of violence or intimidation, and having an effect on political life, the media, public administration, justice or the economy. More simply put, organized crime is perpetrated by any group having a corporate structure who primary objective is to obtain money through illegal activities, often surviving on fear and corruption.

Organized crime can be segmented into four types: (a) the criminal gang, usually predatory mobile gangs involved in armed robbery, kidnapping and some kinds of drug trafficking; (b) the criminal syndicates cater to a specific segment of the population providing forbidden goods or services like drugs, sex and gambling; (c) criminal rackets extort money or business concessions from legitimate or illegitimate organizations including business and trade unions; and (d) criminal political machines. These types can overlap and any one criminal organization might be involved in one or all of these types.

Organized crime is difficult to eliminate for three main reasons: (a) Although individuals can be arrested and convicted, they can also be quickly replaced in the organization; (b) Although the criminal code penalizes individual acts or persons, is generally powerless to tackle the conspiracy of a permanent, sometimes international, well-structured organization; (c) As long as the public continues to demand certain services (such as gambling, drugs and prostitution) which are illegal or semi-legal, criminal entrepreneurs will find it profitable to employ the same techniques as industry in order to be profitable and efficient, which includes being efficient at avoiding prosecution. Techniques used include both the sound organization (usually on military lines with a chain of command up to the general staff) and the communications systems (international, national, local and field based) that effective operations require.