Animal Farm’s Totalitarian Leader Essay

Animal Farm’s leader, Napoleon, has all the power. He is able to build up and hold onto that power as a totalitarian leader, which is a central government that controls over all aspect of life. Napoleon did many different things to get to that power and hold onto it. Napoleon first took charge after the rebellion against Mr. Jones. He and Snowball, who was the other smart pig on the farm, wrote the seven commandments. The other animals don’t know how to read, so Snowball needed to read it to them. â€Å"Never mind the milk, comrades!† cried Napoleon.(Orwell 44). â€Å"So the animals marched down to the hayfield to begin harvest, and when they came back in the evening it was noticed that the milk had disappeared.†(44) † So the animals trooped down to the hayfield to begin the harvest, and when they came back in the evening it was noticed that the milk had disappeared.†(44) â€Å"Comrades!† he cried. â€Å"You do not imagine, I hope, that we pigs are doing this in a spirit of selfishness and privilege? Many of us actually dislike milk and apples. I dislike them myself. Our sole object in taking these things is to preserve our health. Milk and apples (this has been proved by Science, comrades) contain substances absolutely necessary to the well-being of a pig. We pigs are brainworkers. The whole management and organization of this farm depend on us. Day and night we are watching over your welfare. It is for YOUR sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples. Do you know what would happen if we pigs failed in our duty? Jones would come back! Yes, Jones would come back!†(52). Napoleon and Snowball sent squealer to strike the animals with fear that Jones might return, and stole the apple and milk from them because they â€Å"require it†. Napoleon took care of everyone who was a threat to him.† At this there was a terrible baying sound outside, and nine enormous dogs wearing brass-studded collars came bounding into the barn. They dashed straight for Snowball, who only sprang from his place just in time to escape their snapping jaws.† (66) Napoleon got rid of Snowball because he was a threat to his power. Snowball was in favor of helping the farm, but Napoleon just wanted to get the power for himself.† To the amazement of everybody, three of them flung themselves upon Boxer. Boxer saw them coming and put out his great hoof, caught a dog in mid-air, and pinned him to the ground. The dog shrieked for mercy and the other two fled with their tails between their legs. Boxer looked at Napoleon to know whether he should crush the dog to death or let it go. Napoleon appeared to change countenance and sharply ordered Boxer to let the dog go, whereat Boxer lifted his hoof, and the dog slunk away, bruised and howling.†(92) Napoleon tried to get Boxer killed but Boxer did not realize that, that’s why Napoleon countenance. Napoleon tried to get Boxer killed because everyone looked up to him, and he was loyal to Napoleon. † ‘Alfred Simmonds, Horse Slaughterer and Glue Boiler, Willingdon. Dealer in Hides and Bone-Meal. Kennels Supplied.’ Do you not understand what that means? They are taking Boxer to the knacker’s!†(123).Everyone thought Napoleon was sending Boxer to the hospital, but really they were going to kill him. Napoleon tried keeping all of the animals dumb so it can be easier to take advantage of them. â€Å"It was the most affecting sight I have ever seen!† said Squealer, lifting his trotter and wiping away a tear. â€Å"I was at his bedside at the very last. And at the end, almost too weak to speak, he whispered in my ear that his sole sorrow was to have passed on before the windmill was finished. ‘Forward, comrades!’ he whispered. â€Å"Forward in the name of the Rebellion.† Long live Animal Farm! Long live Comrade Napoleon! Napoleon is always right. †Those were his very last words, comrades.† Here Squealer’s demeanor suddenly changed. He fell silent for a moment, and his little eyes darted suspicious glances from side to side before he proceeded.†(125) Squealer easily lied to them about them taking Napoleon to the hospital. Napoleon changed the Seven Commandments without the animals knowing, because they were working too much to have time to read. The original Commandments were:†1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy. 2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend. 3. No animal shall wear clothes. 4. No animal shall sleep in a bed. 5. No animal shall drink alcohol. 6. No animal shall kill any other animal. 7. All animals are equal. â€Å"(43) In the end, Napoleon took them all out and left only one; Four legs good, Two legs better. Napoleon used many different techniques to build up and hold onto the power he has over Animal Farm. He kept the animals dumb, got rid of his threats and changed the commandments.

A Prime Innovator of Intelligence

Alfred Binet is one of the most significant figures in psychology as he redefined the meaning of intelligence. He basically set a new standard in the study of the human mind through his creation of the IQ test, which basically revolutionized how to gauge a person’s intelligence. Even today, several of his major works and ideas are still being used by modern psychologists.Early Life & EducationAlthough Binet was highly successful in his field, he didn’t always thrive well, especially during the early stages of his life. He was born in July 8, 1857 in Nice, France (New World Encyclopedia, 2008). His father was a physician and from here it could be surmised that he was also meant to pursue a career in the medical field.However, his parents separated when he was still young and he and his mother relocated to Paris where he attended law school. Upon receiving his license as a lawyer in 1878, he decided to follow in the footsteps of his father in the field of medicine but lat er decided that his interest psychology was more important (Sweet Briar College, 2007).Beginnings & FailuresDespite his contributions to psychology, Binet, ironically, was a not formally-schooled psychologist. He mainly educated himself by studying books of Charles Darwin and John Stuart Mill, among others, for several years (Indiana University, 2007).He became particularly interested in Mill’s belief that the processes of intelligence could be expounded by the laws and principles of associationism. However, he soon realized the restrictions of this particular theory, but he was still heavily influenced by Mill’s ideas (Indiana University, 2007).In 1880, Binet published his first paper on hypnosis, which was highly criticized for lack of scientific support (International Bureau of Education, 2000). Subsequently, he began working in Jean-Martin Charcot’s laboratory, where the main focus of research was hypnosis. Binet was heavily influenced by Charcot’s id eas and as a result, he published four papers on animal magnetism and hypnosis.Unfortunately, his Charcot’s ideas were refuted by various scientific studies and in effect, Binet was also discredited for supporting his teacher, which was considered his first major failure (New World Encyclopedia, 2008). Shortly after abandoning his research on hypnosis, he married Laure Balbiani in 1884 with whom he had two daughters, Madeleine and Alice.Important Contributions & WorksOne of the Binet’s first significant contributions was his incorporation of chess into one of his psychological studies that dealt with the cognition of chess masters. In his experiment, he found out that memory was only part of the processes of cognition in the game of chess and that only master chess players could play the game successfully while blindfolded (Internal Bureau of Education, 2000).He further surmised that imagination, memories of abstract, and experience were among the many factors that is required of a chess master. Furthermore, his most significant contribution is the intelligence test. In 1904, Binet and his colleague, Theodore Simon developed a test called â€Å"New Methods for Diagnosing Idiocy, Imbecility, and Moron Status† (Indiana University, 2007).Among the tasks included in the test were to repeat a sequence of numbers from memory and to follow an object with one’s eye (Indiana University, 2007). Binet and Simon conducted the test on 50 children who acted according to their age or level.They would then compared the results to other children of the same age and evaluate the results. Meaning to say, a 13-year old who could complete the tasks that all 13-years olds performed would have a mental age of 13. Similarly, a 13-year old who would complete all the tasks of a 15-year old would have a mental age of 15 (Indiana University, 2007).In 1908, Simon and Binet modified their intelligence test as they theorized that intelligence increased with age a nd included a comparison between the chronological age and the mental age in the new test (Indian University, 2007).However, Binet stressed that his intelligence test also had its limits and that human IQ was diverse and had to be assessed qualitatively and not only quantitatively.

The Things They Carried: Book Review

The characters and situational plots bring a sense of depth to the Vietnam War that is not always confronted or even appreciated. The novel's stories are recounted from a narrative perspective describing occurrences within a platoon of the Alpha Company serving in Vietnam. O'Brien himself Is the narrator describing through flash backs and written Journal entries what the war was like through his eyes. The flashbacks are not written In sequence; rather, they jump from one point in time to another as they might in any real soldier's thoughts.This unique perspective gives insight to how a former soldier thinks and dreams about what he encountered. The language of the book is true to the culture and creates doubt that any of the characters or events are fictional. The platoon is made up of several important characters all having their own unique quirks, habits, ambitions and dreams. Death, Injury and surviving are undoubtedly key elements to the stories, as are the things the soldiers ca rried with them. From emotions and memories to weapons and supplies, the things they carried are extensive both in context and in quantity.Each individual story within the book is a memory of O'Brien and sometimes is told from the perspective of his companion oldie's. The stories carry with them elements of grief, love, passion and guilt and the setting details are so Intense the reader can practically hear the firing of arms In the background. O'Brien mission of recounting the Vietnam war through a soldier perspective Is accomplished and a new side of history is revealed even through these fictional occurrences.Frequently, the Vietnam War is remembered for its controversy, longevity and brutality; rarely is the individual soldier's story counted as a valid part of this history. O'Brien reminds the reader that for the soldiers fighting and dying, the AR was not political or something to be protested; It was simply a stage in life that they so desperately hoped to live through. The h istory that the novel offers Is one that is accurate and in tune with thousands of deceased and former soldier's experiences and is a version of history that is as accurate as any other.Author Tim O'Brien did a remarkable Job at incorporating himself into the story and into the life of Vietnam veteran. His ability to make the reader feel what he felt, both during and in the years after the war, Is noteworthy as Is his ability to retell erosion of the same story from various character perspectives. Despite these being honest is hard to determine. Several times his narration alerts the reader that what he is retelling may or may not be accurate and asserts that fabricating stories is the heart of a true war story.In moments throughout the novel, and especially towards the end, the reader is left to second guess why the fictional O'Brien dreamed up so many elaborate details, or if he even did. This confusion was one part of the novel that I personally could have done without. Regardles s, the heart of the novel emends the reader how valuable a soldier's perspective is to history. One of the most realistic issues raised is that of how returning soldiers are treated. Especially in the Vietnam era, veterans felt a since of dismissal, lack of respect, and a longing to return to the war they both hated and loved.Today's generation of veterans similarly experience these emotions, betrayals and face issues of depression, PUTS and reforming themselves to fit into the civilian world. I believe it was O'Brien aim to bring awareness to the loneliness war veterans' feel and the lack of respect they too often experience. It is novels like The Things They Carried that can help to articulate the emotions that these veterans wish they could express themselves but often suppress instead. This novel is relevant to anyone wanting to learn more about the Vietnam War from an informal, non-political perspective.Though fictional, the content is based on realistic events and happenings t hroughout the United States and in Vietnam. It gives insight to the impact that the draft had on young, American men and how they sometimes coped with receiving orders to deploy despite their own set of ambitions. The novel informs the reader on the various roles the soldiers had, the disconnect they experienced with the outside world and higher-ranking commanders, and what they encountered after returning home.Unlike history textbooks, The Things They Carried uses pathos to create an impact with the reader that will likely remain intact far longer than the official historical perspective. Reading this novel was a rewarding experience primarily because it is not a novel I would have normally read. However, after doing so, I am anxious to read other war stories Tim O'Brien has written. As a former military spouse, I experienced war from a different perspective. My version of war is one that consists of waiting, worrying and being lonely.I related a lot of the content I was reading to stories told (and UN-told) by my own veteran husband. I especially loved how a substantial part of the language and acronyms used is something that only those with military experience or knowledge can truly appreciate and comprehend. Using this military cultural language made the stories seem more fact than fiction. Previous to this class, I had little understanding of previous wars. Now, I'm better able to imagine and attempt to understand what it is that soldiers endure and the honor they truly deserve before and after returning home.Overall, Tim O'Brien has done history the great favor of writing this novel to help illustrate the impact of the Vietnam War. It is fast-paced, enjoyable and written from an interesting angle. I enjoyed reading it and believe I learned more about Vietnam than I would have from any other non-fiction source. I am confident that anyone interested in learning about war and experiencing a soldier's love and loss will appreciate this great historical ficti on novel as well.

Gordon rule Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Gordon rule - Research Paper Example He is advocating for everyone to have insurance that can afford it and is giving tax credits to anyone who needs it in order to make sure they are covered. The plan seeks to make healthcare more affordable for everyone and not to exclude those people who previously would not have healthcare because of previous health problems (Obama, 2009). According to the Wall Street Journal, there is a shortage of primary care physicians brought on because of the focus on extending healthcare benefits. This has created a space for many general practitioners to go into specialties so that they can be paid more money. The general practitioner used to be the first person to diagnose challenges for people but they are disappearing (The Wall Street Journal, 2008). Part of the challenge in this area is that Medicare and Medicaid will only pay a certain amount of money for doctors visits and primary care. These amounts are often lower than they can receive as specialists. With this in mind, many people who are on Medicaid and Medicare will miss out on the best healthcare in the long run. The program that the government is doing would also give people access to a variety of programs that they may not pay for if they were paying with their own money. According to Tully (2009), this means that the packages that are being proposed would be more expensive than what most people could afford (par. 4). Another issue is that President Obama wants to make insurance mandatory for everyone. To this end, he is making it mandatory for businesses to offer insurance to their employees or to receive a tax up to 8% (Schiff, par. 7). This means that the businesses would have to pay into a government program if they do not have healthcare insurance already covered (The Wall Street Journal, 2009). If someone is self-employed or an independent contractor for a business, they will have to find a way to pay for their own insurance or face a tax that is approximately 2.5% of

A paper on the slavery and discrimination throughout the history of Essay

A paper on the slavery and discrimination throughout the history of Chinese Immigration in Canada - Essay Example As such the history of Chinese immigration to Canada is a story paved with both slavery and discrimination. Discrimination as to race, age and gender are not only discouraged in Canada, it is considered criminal. The push to eradicate discrimination is so strong that even its citizens have the reputation of being exceedingly politically correct. There are even some who mock them for being ‘too friendly’ a country. But its surprising that such a tactful country, overly sensitive against discrimination has a dark past. And this is not merely the case of the citizenship oppressing certain minority group. On the contrary, it is the government who committed these act of prejudice as it actually legislated a series of discriminatory laws. But in June 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized at the Parliament for the discriminating policies imposed on Chinese immigrants in the early 20th century. "On behalf of the people and government of Canada, we offer a full apology to Chinese-Canadians for the head tax and express our deepest sorrow for the subsequent exclusion of Chinese immigrants," said Harper. (Xinhua) "We acknowledge the high cost of the head tax meant that many family members were left behind in China, never to be reunited, or that families lived apart and in some cases in extreme poverty for years," he said. It is believed that an estimate of 81,000 people paid this tax. (Xinhua) And on the day of the apology, there are about 35 survivors, 360 of their widows and fewer than 4,000 of their children. (Xinhua) Some of these survivors were present during the apology. Methodology To better understand the abovementioned apology, a research on the factual basis was necessary. Reference to news articles and news archives where made. As well as those to different sector groups. This report aims to present the discrimination suffered by the Chinese when they immigrated to Canada. Hence, after determining the historical facts, analysis of these data would proceed. And a discussion of the discrimination committed against Chinese immigrants in Canada would follow. Historical Background According to my research the following are the historical background of the immigration of Chinese nationals to Canada: The first Chinese immigrants to set foot in Canada were brought from Macao in 1788 by British explorer John Meares. And it was said that they were also the last for the next 70 years. It was thought that they married into native communities on the island and their cultural traces soon lost. (Chinese Immigration) In 1842, Britain and China entered the Treaty of Nanking where in it said that their respective subjects should enjoy full security and protection within the territory of the other. (Con) This included Canada. In the 1850's, due to the gold rush, there was an influx of Chinese immigrants in North America. But when gold was found in Frasier River in British Columbia in around 1858, these Chinese migrants headed north to Frasier Island in British Columbia. In 1860, others began to arrive in British Columbia directly from China. In 1861, a Victoria newspaper welcomed the immigrants by saying: "We have plenty of room for many thousands of Chinamen. There can be no shadow of a doubt but their industry enables them to add very largely to our own revenues." (Chinese Immigration) But they worked as cooks, launderers or as houseboys for wealthy white families. In the 1870's these immigrants were predominantly male. By 1879, the number of Chinese immigrants in the province was estimated to be 6,000. In 1880's the Canadian Pacific Railway was constructed and Chinese workers were brought to help. Between 1881 and 1884, over 15,000 Chinese came to Canada. But Chinese workers were often called on to do the more dangerous jobs. They worked with explosives, carried heavy rocks and stayed in unsafe tents. And pay was really low as compared with the

Identifying and Evaluating a Framework for Integrating Physical and Essay

Identifying and Evaluating a Framework for Integrating Physical and Virtual Identity Management Systems - Essay Example A significant number of physical and virtual IMSs have been developed over the last few years with varying degrees of success. Most of these systems does not offer virtual access to general users through internet using mobile devices like cell phones, IPods etc. On the other hand Physical Identity Management Systems (PIMSs) can be implemented with the help of staff in physical places like government service offices, workplaces etc. However, there is an increased realization for the establishment of clear standards and guidelines for integrating these virtual and physical IMSs. We need an integrated platform that can meet the physical and virtual identity requirements and expectations. My research will define a conceptual framework for integrating physical and virtual identity management systems. The framework will not only set design standards but will also contribute towards measuring outcomes of these systems. The proposed framework includes various identity tokens like smart cards , biometrics, PINs, etc. and accessibility tools like the World Wide Web (WWW) and other mobile technologies. The framework will aim to establish a conceptual model using theories of Human Computer Interaction (HCI), Design and Research while addressing the requirements of physical and virtual Identity Management Systems. The conceptual model will provide single sign-in convenience to several virtual and physical systems thereby, will reduce the need to remember multiple log-in credentials in different domains by using web technologies. The research will rigorously investigate users’ needs (or identity token that the user has at that time) and the sectors' identity requirements to find out the best ways that can be adopted while accessing different virtual and physical systems. This research may use the Technology Acceptance Model for the validation of its conceptual framework discussed above. The framework will identify the attributes for physical and virtual identity manage ment systems to provide an acceptable and accessible user experienc

Impact of EU membership on UK Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Impact of EU membership on UK Law - Essay Example European Union was formed to create an environment where all European nations could benefit from efficient use of factors of production to provide cost effective products and services for the European people.This entails all member nations to agree to common economic policies. This has far reaching effect not only on the economic policy making of the member countries but also on their political and legal systems. Common policy implementation requires great political integration of the various member states. For the above stated purpose, a European Community was formed which consisted of council of ministers and a setup of various institutions like European Parliament, The Council of European Union, European Commission, the Court of Justice and so on (actrav.itcilo.org). Among the various institutes, the European Commission plays the most important role in the process of policy making. Its main function includes the introduction or origination of the various legislations. It then acts as a â€Å"guardian of Treaties† as well as executes and manages the various Union policies along with those of â€Å"international trade relations† (actrav.itcilo.org). Thus, through the various institutes, the EC ensures that various legislations are created and followed throughout the European Union community. This has implications for the member states as the laws passed by the EU are binding on all the member countries (blurtit.com).... in were to consent to a particular treaty of the EU in conjunction with the other member states, the MPs of Britain will have no powers to overthrow it. The European Court has powers to overrule any motion passed by the British parliament to defeat any such treaty. The only way UK could then implement the motion of the British parliamentarians is to withdraw its membership from the EU. How much has been the influence of the EU membership on the laws of UK can be adjudged by looking at the number of legislations or directives that have been passed on account of EU regulations as compared to those initiated locally. It has been estimated that 50% of the UK laws are EU-originated (Johnston 2009). The research also showed that of the 2000 regulatory proposals studied, 72% of the cost of regulations was on account of EU regulations (Johnston 2009). The major worrisome feature of this is that the country is being run more by EU laws than by the local ones and topping on this is the fact th at these laws are not very well scrutinized and cannot be easily changed by the elected representatives of the British parliament. Delegated legislation brings another aspect into the UK law scene. Delegated legislation means that the government can make finer changes to a law without having to go through the parliamentary process (parliament.uk). The major advantages of this legislation are that it saves the time of the parliament especially where the MPs do not have specific technical knowledge about the field of the Act, it allows quick decision making especially in situations of national security or health and helps in enabling small changes (sixthformlaw.info). However, the major disadvantages lie in the fact that it is usually passed by the civil servants who are not the elected

Warfare in the Napoleon era is similar to warfare practiced today Essay

Warfare in the Napoleon era is similar to warfare practiced today - Essay Example Indeed, weapon systems and technology have changed over the years with increased sophistication ; however, warlords of today still embrace and practice the fundamentals of warfare upon which the Napoleonic era thrived. The Napoleonic era inspired changes in warfare and created organizational changes in the army that increased their lethality and ignited military reform, tactics, and strategies that are currently being used today. Napoleon created corps and divisions in order to have unity of command for his large troops, which allowed him to have better command and control, and flexibility over his units; Napoleon gave his orders through established channels of command to each division. The organizational changes that were made to the French army increased their flexibility, lethality, and maneuverability in warfare, thus, making it possible for Napoleon to trounce his opponents in combat with ease. Additionally, the Army developed Brigade Combat Teams, which enhanced the organizations ability to be flexible, and agile in warfare, thus, being able to move swiftly into combat zones and taking on the opponents with remarkable success. Similarly, armies of this era are divided into divisions to facilitate unity of command and control of troops, in addition to, enhancing flexibility, lethality, and maneuverability in warfare; combat teams that are thoroughly grounded in tactics and weapon systems to undertake tec hnical missions exist today as well. Napoleon era warfare thrived on the skills and competence of the armies, thus, warlords like Napoleon ensured that their combat teams were well trained in warfare tactics and weapon technologies of their time. Additionally, warfare in this era involved logistics trains, and combined arms that were self-sustaining and dominated enemy forces throughout Europe. For instance, the 1809 Vienna campaigns was successful because the French used combined arms simultaneously, which allowed them to achieve greater impact than if each element was used separately. The French developed the logistics regiment and strictly dedicated it to supplying, and transporting equipment to units on the battlefield2, thus, ensuring the smooth undertaking of missions and operations. Armies today are highly trained in weapons and tactics of combat to be able to handle sophisticated artillery and to execute highly delicate operations with success, and warfare still relies on logistics carriages, which ensure a ste ady supply of equipment to armies in war zones, besides the simultaneous use of combined arms, like in the Napoleonic era. Napoleon’s strategy involved maintaining battles all over Europe in all the volatile areas, where enemy forces had dominated, and this ensured that the enemy forces had no time to regroup or reorganize themselves for counter attacks, thus, they were thoroughly paralyzed and defeated. Nonetheless, the French army fought on several fronts simultaneously, thereby maintaining the territory borders from all angles against the enemy forces; for instance, they fought Britain and Spain on the western front, but at the same time, they also fought Russia, Prussia, and Austria on the eastern front. In the same manner, countries today engage in and maintain battles in their enemy areas where their vulnerability lies in the attempt to neutralize enemy forces; in this regard, warfare still involves invasion and occupation of enemy territory, and such domination of

Economic of a Security System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Economic of a Security System - Essay Example airline and airport security. It provides trained federal employees for passenger and baggage screening and it supplies sky marshals (air marshals) for unnamed commercial flights (Salant, 2002). With all the increased taxes because of additional airport security undertaken by our government, is it still viable for airports to further add their own measures in security Will these measures not affect passenger's willingness to travel by air, given an additional $ 5 to their tickets and more minutes waiting in line The federalization of commercial aviation resulted in the removal of contract private security personnel from passenger- and baggage-screening points. They were replaced with twice as many federal TSA employees, who earn almost two times the salary of their private-sector counterparts. The impact of this transition has yet to be measured. Some have argued that federalized passenger screening has not delivered a noticeable improvement in air passenger safety (Dalton, 2003). Also, wages of airport security personnel have been increased and are now comparable to police and fire protection jobs. Entry-level pay starts at around $20 an hour plus U.S. federal employee benefits (GAO, 13 June 2003). As airline security is now a national concern, it is the standard operating procedu

A College Football Playoff System Research Paper

A College Football Playoff System - Research Paper Example There are a number of criticisms to be leveled at the Bowl Championship Series. Although the system’s original intent was to provide an objective, logical, mathematical solution for deciding a team’s rankings, it often makes counterintuitive and downright wrong selections. In December 2010, for instance, the president of Boise State University criticized the BCS system for a computer error that likely dropped the team to number 10 in the national rankings. Frequently, these wrong rankings reflect the BCS’s attitude toward smaller schools from less well-respected conferences on the basis that those teams will not produce the same level of revenue as a larger school with more supporters. In December 2010, for instance, the president of Boise State University criticized the BCS system for a computer error that likely dropped the team to number 10 in the national rankings. Although the incident did not deprive Boise State of a bowl berth, under different circumstance s (given Boise State’s place in the WAC, a less respected conference) it very likely could have left the college without a bowl. Another criticism deals with the four major Bowl games played at the end of the college football season, into which only eight teams are admitted. Because some conferences have automatic bids to one of these games, these eight teams may not be the best (or even close to the best) teams in the nation. Some schools that are unfavorably regarded in the BCS system may be relegated to a less prestigious bowl simply on the basis of the BCS’s opinion of them. Lastly, since the BCS is largely comprised of computer algorithms to decide rankings of college teams for the bowl games, it is criticized for being easily manipulated by those who control the methods of determining bowl berths. Because the BCS system leads to tremendous cash payoffs to larger schools, there is a lack of momentum in changing it, which makes a financial argument for introducing a playoff system necessary. Financially, a playoff system could benefit boosters, schools, and advertisers by removing any element of the BCS.

Vision Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Vision - Research Paper Example At the end of the process, there is the consolidation of the gains by the organization before ending the process by anchoring the change (Cameron and Mike 187). The success of any organization usually comes about due to the joint efforts of all stakeholders within the organization especially in decision-making. This calls for the engagement of every person within an organization in the coming up with a vision and its communication so that the business achieves its mission and objectives presently and in the future. This underscores the importance of vision to any business that operates in any environment, which must carefully adopt changes especially in its vision to align it with the dynamism of the operational environment. In this work, our focus will be on vision, what and how it should be and the reason for having the vision within an organization. Vision is important to any organization as it will determining the success of the business as it gives the process through which the business is to be run and the expected benefits. This means that having a strong vision and the strategy for executing it is important in the carrying out of change within any organization. According to Kotter, having an effective vision helps the company to define its future by conveying a picture of what it will look like as well as knowing the realistic and attainable goals. The vision also helps in knowing the long-term interests of the employees and guidance on the decision-making goals of the organization. A clear vision for an organization helps in allowing individual initiative and the possibility of having alternatives especially when the conditions within the organization change. According to Kotter, the management of change within an organization is important for the planning and the control off the processes within the organization that are geared towards transforming the way it is run

Ocean Park Cast Study Essay Example for Free

Ocean Park Cast Study Essay Officially opened on 10th Jan 1977 by the Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Murray MacLehose, the Ocean Park was constructed with HK$150million funded from the racing profits earned from the Hong Kong Jockey Club while the land was given free by the Hong Kong Government. It is located in Wong Chuk Hang and Nam Long Shan in the Southern District of Hong Kong. The park has won several awards, including The Worlds Seventh Most Popular Amusement Park and 33rd Most Visited Tourist Attractions in the World by Forbes (American publishing and Media Company. ) and their vision is to be the world leader in providing excellent guest experiences in an amusement park environment connecting people with nature. On 1st July 1987, Ocean Park ceased to be a subsidiary of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, becoming its own statutory body, with a Government-appointed Board. At present, Ocean Park is managed by a financially-independent, non-profit organization called Ocean Park Corporation. In Jun 2005, Ocean Park achieved its highest recorded attendance in its history. Gross revenue grew by 12% and was HK$684 million in 2005 due to their monopoly conditions. It was then Hong Kong Disneyland was opened on Sept 2005 and Ocean Park faced serious competition. The Monopoly Days Even though Ocean Park monopolizes in Hong Kong, they suffered losses from 1999-2002. It was mainly due to the famous Asian financial crisis, while the SARS in 2003 inflict more damages to Ocean Park. The revamping of the brand logo from seahorse to sea lion (Whiskers) on 2000 did leave a better vivid impression to the public, but it was not enough. The management did not see innovation as a major factor to rein still interest to the public, the thrill rides eventually become out-dated and shabby yet Ocean Park remain contented with their current status. The huge investment on the Abyss Turbo Drop was a good start to innovate, but it does not give the public the urge to take a 2nd ride. Activities and festival events ideas were further introduce to attract the public which manage to receive great response from the public. Eventually, employees create a work culture and comfort zone which retards the Ocean Park’s reengineering policy, though the management realizes the need of culturing innovation. The workforce resisted the change and become reluctant and worried about facing the new challenges ahead. The Intervention of Hong Kong Disneyland On Sept 2005, 3rd Disneyland from Joint venture Walt Disney and Hong Kong SAR government was set up with their selling points on those famous Disney Cartoon Characters. Though the admission fees were much higher compare relatively to Ocean Park, their price was considered the cheapest entry for Disneyland and new thrill rides definitely act as surprises for the public who already attended Ocean Park before and acts as an option between the two strong rivals. In terms of attractions, Both Ocean Park and Disneyland have their unique selling point to have a fair market share in Hong Kong. Ocean Park is primarily focusing on nature and wildlife, providing educational to the public on animals while Disneyland emphasis on creating fantasy and virtual stimulations. With sure fierce confrontation from Disneyland, Ocean Park has to seek an immediate response to prevent them for doom. They fought back by introducing new roller coaster and aquarium; build hotels nearby to go head-on-head with Disneyland which always come with hotels for tourists. Major Problem Ocean Park faced Ocean Park already faced shortage of talented and educated employees, due to the fact that the majority of these employees tend to favor finance sector than tourism industry, The great demand is further enhance as Disneyland is competing with Ocean Park for these talents. In terms of career opportunities and prospect, Disneyland has the upper hand over Ocean Park. To add salt to injury, Disney is deemed to poach Ocean Park’s best workers. 3-way attack for Ocean Park (Defender Strategy) I will propose and advise on the management of Ocean Park a 3-way attack to have the lion share of the pie between the two rivals. *** Pricing Package/ Educational package Since Ocean Park has the advantage over Disney over the price of the tickets, I will propose the management team to setup a sales team to target the school and students. Implementation educational tour packages to Mainland/ Hong Kong students will eventually be interesting for school to organize excursion and post-exam events. Disney is more to a virtual land; they cannot provide the educational aspects as compare to Ocean Park. *** Human Resource Management (HRM) The ability of employees is essential to every organization. The management needs to introduce better remuneration packages, better salary wages for staffs whom they interested in keeping and bloom them. A lucrative pension scheme may be able to keep the current employees loyal. Next, provide strict interviews for new employees and send all the employees to service training to brush up their public relation skills to provide a class of service way above Disneyland. *** Innovation The ability to innovate will determine who has the lion share in the Hong Kong Market. Word of mouth is definitely the best form of advertisement. The only reason why tourists will intro to their friends/family the amusement park is fun and thrilling. Since the majority of the tourists are from Mainland (China) , it will be wise if they can do a short survey to poll the public what types of excitement they looking for in amusement park and begin source and introduce new fantastic rides. Take reference on those abroad amusement parks and why they are always so attractive to the public. Furthermore, Ocean Park can organize monthly events with relation to public holidays or the season with attractive discounts towards the price of the tickets. Conclusion. In terms of all rounder, Ocean Park definitely has the edge. The combination of high octane, thrills and spills rides, with superb, and educational, state of the art marine shows and exhibitions is unbeatable. Ocean Park has a pair of superb rollercoasters, a log flume and rapids ride. There are also a number of mid range action rides, meaning there is plenty to keep the family going all day. Disneyland on the other hand has only one rollercoaster and almost no mid range action rides, meaning anyone over the age of ten will be quickly bored. On the other hand, Disney does have a slightly better selection of toddler and young rides, although Ocean Park is also no slouch in this department. Furthermore, Ocean Parks selection of Marine shows are also first class, including shark aquariums, dolphin shows and the superb, sci-fi styled Jellyfish exhibit which provide a extra field of education. Disneyland has nothing to compete with these excellent family friendly shows. In conclusion, Ocean Park will eventually edge out Disneyland, proving that local companies can still compete head to head with big MNCs (Multi-national Company) References http://www. usatoday. com/news/world/2007-06-14-ocean-park_N. htm http://www. docstoc. com/docs/17307909/Ocean-Park-VS-Disney-As-we-know_-Ocean-Park-and-Disney-Park-are http://gohongkong. about. com/od/themeparks/a/OceanvsDisney. htm http://www. articlesbase. com/destinations-articles/hong-kongs-oceanic-aquarium-ocean-park-vs-hong-kong-disneyland-3530410. html.

Employment Law in Hungary Problem Question

Employment Law in Hungary Problem Question The difficulties that Andreas and Luka face in this circumstance relate to the fact that where Treaty Articles[1] and Regulations[2] are directly applicable in national courts. Directives are only binding as to the result to be achieved, with it being necessary for the Member State to adopt the national law in such a way as to implement the Directives terms.[3] This means that whilst Andreas and Luka would have been able to rely directly on a Treaty Article or Regulations to enforce their EU rights in the Hungarian courts, they must rely on some alternative method of enforcement in respect of the Directive. It is these alternative methods of enforcement that lie at the crux of the issues here. Although the direct effect for Treaty Articles was not instant, it was developed over a period of time, and Van Gend was the first judgment to expressly state that Treaty Articles could be directly effective.[4] On the other hand, Article 288 TFEU[5] specifically says that Regulations are directly effective. This was confirmed in Leonesio [6] and held that Directives are only directly effective in respect of the aims to be achieved and that the Member States are given discretion as to how these aims are introduced into national law. On the face of it, it could be suggested that because Directives are not directly enforceable in the national courts, Member States would be able to disregard the requirements of the Directive. If as it has happened in this circumstance, it does not suit the current national requirements. This would, of course, make Directives largely irrelevant. This was the view that was taken by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Van Duyn v Home Office.[7] In this judgment, it would be held that, if the Directive was clear, precise and unconditional (the same requirements as exist for the direct effect of Treaty Articles and Regulations)[8], and had a direct effect on the relations between individuals and the Member States. Therefore, the Directive ought to be given direct effect in the national courts. The above position was further clarified in Pubblico Ministero v Ratti.[9] Mr. Ratti was a manufacturer of solvents in Italy, was charged failure to comply with the stricter Italian law. The ECJ made clear that the proper purpose of direct effect for Directives was to prevent a Member State from gaining an advantage by ignoring the requirements of a Directive. In essence, a Member State is estopped from denying an individuals rights based on the contents of a Directive once the period for implementing the Directive has passed. Based on the above, it seems that Andreas and Lukas position is a relatively strong one, but unfortunately, the issue is slightly more complicated. These complications are initially lie in the fact that a failure to implement a Directive into national law is entirely caused by the fault of a Member State. In Marshal,[10] it was recognized that allowing an individual to rely on the provisions of a Directive directly against another individual could have unfair results. This is because the individual expected to comply with the Directives may have no idea of its existence. On this basis, it was further held in Faccini Dori v Recreb[11] that the Directives could only have a direct effect on the Member State itself. This is known as a vertical direct effect. This is clearly a limiting factor and therefore it is essential that it is possible to identify what kind of organization fits within this requirement. The issue of identifying against whom the direct of a Directive could be relied upon was addressed in Foster v British Gas.[12]Here, it was held that an organization would be part of the Member State if it was subject to the authority or control of the State, or had powers that went beyond those that ordinarily exist between individuals. There are two separate approaches that are followed in this respect. In Sozialhifeverband,[13] it was held that private companies owned by a local authority would be considered sufficiently linked to the State purely based on the nature of their ownership. In Vassallo, [14] it was stated that the nature of the role of the organization could also impact on whether it was considered part of the State. In this case, a privately-run hospital was considered part of the State. This is because some of its activities were publicly funded and partly also because it was serving a public function. It can be seen from the above, the fact that Directives can only have a vertical direct effect will have a significant impact upon Andreas and Lukas ability to rely on the Directive. It seems probable that even though Andreass employer receives some of its funding from private contributions, the fact that it is partly funded by the State, and it will be considered to serve a public function. It will mean that it will be considered part of the State and that, Andreas will be able to rely on the provisions of the Directive directly against it. The effect of this will ensure that prior to his dismissal, Andreas will be considered to have held a permanent contract. Therefore, he will presumably be able to rely on Hungarian employment law, at the very least, attempt to assert that he should receive some compensation for his dismissal. However, Andreas will not be able to assert that the Directive means that he should not have been dismissed. This is because the only relevant purpose of th e Directive is to ensure that a permanent contract is granted after two temporary ones have elapsed. The position is very different for Luka. This is because the company for which she is working with is purely privately owned and funded. This is unlikely to be considered to serve as a public function. Therefore, she will not be able to rely on the direct effect of the Directive. However, this is not the end of the matter, because there are further possibilities that may assist her. The first of these possibilities lies in what is known as an indirect effect. In Von Colson Kamann,[15] it was held that national courts have a duty to interpret national legislation in line with EU provisions if this was possible. The approach in Von Colson Kamann[16] was quite limiting in that it only applied to national legislation that was implementing the Directive in question. This approach would not assist Luka, this is because there is no indication that the Hungarian government has taken any implementing steps at all with the regards to this Directive. The position was expanded somewhat in Marleasing[17], that to require national courts to interpret all national legislation in line with EU provisions where possible. It is not possible to comment on the impact of an indirect effect on Lukas position specifically. This is because this will entirely depend on whether there is already in existence any Hungarian legislation that could be interpreted in line with the provisions of the Directive. If this is possible, Luka will be able to rely on the existing national legislation and the Hungarian courts will be required to interpret accordingly. Clearly, if there is no relevant Hungarian legislation exists, of if the existing legislation is written in such a way that an alternative interpretation is not possible, the indirect effect will be of no assistance to Luka. The second possible solution for Luka can be found in the judgment in Francovich.[18] In this judgment, it was held that where a Member State has failed to implement a Directive and if certain other requirements are satisfied, an individual would be able to hold the Member State liable for their losses. In order for State liability to arise, three conditions must be met. Firstly, the Directive must grant rights to the individual. Secondly, it must be possible to identify these rights from the content of the Directive. Finally, there must a direct causal link between the Member States failure to implement the Directive and the loss suffered by the individual. There seems little difficulty in applying the above three conditions to Lukas position. On the fact given, it appears that the very purpose of the Directive was to grant individuals with the right to be placed on a permanent contract and the subsequent employment security that such a contract provides. It is also clear that the nature of the Directive makes its purpose clear. The position in respect of the causal link between the failure to implement the terms of the Directive and the loss sustained by Luka is an interesting one. This is because, taken at a simple level, the non-renewal of Lukas contract would not have occurred if the Directive had been properly implemented. Luka would already have been working under a permanent contract. However, the failure to implement is not necessarily the reason for Lukas loss. This is the downturn in piano manufacture and the subsequent loss of her job. In this respect, Luka may have lost her job even if she had a permanent contract. In order to address this, it would be necessary to consider the steps taken by Kende Pianos in deciding whom to dismiss. However, it seems that even if it is possible to demonstrate that Luka would have been dismissed anyway, even if she would be on a permanent contract. Therefore, on the fact that she will not receive this payment is directly caused by the failure in implementation of the Directive and Luka should be able to claim damages from the State in order to compensate for this loss. In conclusion, Andreas will be able to rely on the Directive directly in the Hungarian courts to ensure that he receives the same employment rights as an individual on a permanent contract. On the other hand, Luka will not be able to rely on the direct effect of the Directive, but she may be able to rely on its indirect effect, or she may be able to seek damages from the Hungarian State. CASES Faccini Dori v Recreb (case 91/92) [1994] ECR I-3325 Foster v British Gas (case C-188/89) [1990] ECR I-3313 Francovich and Bonifaci v Italy (joined cases C-6/90 and C-9/90) [1991] ECR I-5357 Leonesio v Italian Ministry of Agriculture (case 93/71) [1972] ECR 293 Marleasing SA v La Comercial Internacionale de Alimentacion SA (case C-106/89) [1990] ECT I-4135 Marshall v Southampton and South-West Hampshire Area Health Authority (case 152/84) [1986] ECR 723 Pubblico Ministero v Ratti (case 148/78) [1979] ECT 1629 Sozialhifeverband Rohrbach v Arbeiterkammer Oberosterreich (case C-297/03) [2005] ECR I-4305 Van Duyn v Home Office (case 41/74) [1974] ECT 1337 Van Gen en Loos v Nederlandse Administratie der Belastingen (case 26/62) [1963] ECR 1 Vassallo v Azienda Ospedaliera Ospedale San Martino di Genova e Cliniche Universitarie Convenzionate (case C-180/04) [2006] ECT I-7251 Von Colson Kamann v Land Nordrhein-Westfalen (case 14/83) [1984] ECR 1891 TREATIES Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union 2012 BOOKS Chalmers, D Davies, G Monti, G European Union Law (3rd edn Cambridge University Press 2014) Craig, P De Burca, G EU Law Text, Cases, and Materials (6th edn Oxford University Press 2015) Schutze, R European Union Law (Cambridge University Press 2015) [1] Van Gen en Loos v Nederlandse Administratie der Belastingen (case 26/62) [1963] ECR 1 [2] Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), Article 288 [3] Ibid [4] Van Gen (n1) [5] Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), Article 288 [6] Leonesio v Italian Ministry of Agriculture (case 93/71) [1972] ECR 293 [7] (case 41/74) [1974] ECT 1337 [8] The van Gend Criteria (van Gen en Loos) [9] (case 148/78) [1979] ECT 1629 [10] Marshall v Southampton and South-West Hampshire Area Health Authority (case 152/84) [1986] ECR 723 [11] (case 91/92) [1994] ECR I-3325 [12] (case C-188/89) [1990] ECR I-3313 [13] Sozialhifeverband Rohrbach v Arbeiterkammer Oberosterreich (case C-297/03) [2005] ECR I-4305 [14] Vassallo v Azienda Ospedaliera Ospedale San Martino di Genova e Cliniche Universitarie Convenzionate (case C-180/04) [2006] ECT I-7251 [15] Von Colson Kamann v Land Nordrhein-Westfalen (case 14/83) [1984] ECR 1891 [16] Ibid [17] Marleasing SA v La Comercial Internacionale de Alimentacion SA (case C-106/89) [1990] ECT I-4135 [18] Francovich and Bonifaci v Italy (joined cases C-6/90 and C-9/90) [1991] ECR I-5357

The Introduction Of Entry Market Strategy

The Introduction Of Entry Market Strategy Introduction of entry market strategy Strategy is planning through companies achieve their goals and move forward. A company makes a decision to enter an international market, this strategy works to expand its wings. Company could use many ways to get it. These ways can be a shade of companys strength, potential and the level of interest in marketing. Exporting is main entry strategy in international arena which can be used direct or indirect mode. A companys aim to international market can require minimal investment and be limited to infrequent exporting with title thought given to market development. Or a company can make large investments of capital and management effort to get strength of its shares in foreign markets. Both approaches can be profitable. Entry market strategy can be fulfilled through these mechanisms. A company can decide to enter foreign market by exporting from home country. This means of foreign market development is the easiest and most common approach employed by companies taking their first international steps because the risk of the financial loss can be minimised. Many companies engage in exporting as their major market entry method. Generally early motives are to skim the cream from the market or gain business to absorb overheads. Even though such motives might appear opportunistic, exporting is sound and permanent from of operating in international marketing. Piggybacking Piggybacking occurs when a company (supplier) sells its product abroad using another companys (carrier) distribution facilities. This is quite common in industrial product but all types of product are sold using this method. Normally piggybacking is used when the companies involved have complementary but non- competitive product. Some companies use this method to share transportation costs and some companies do it purely for the profits as they can make profit on other companies (suppliers) products. This method also can be used a first step towards a companys own international activities to test the market. This particularly advantageous for small firms as they often lack the necessary resources. Once they realise the market potential, they can start their own exporting. Ref: hik.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1138/FULLTEXT01 Ref: Ghauri, p,cateora(2006)international marketing (2nd edition)McGraw-Hill Licensing A mean of establishing a foothold in foreign markets without large capital outlays is licensing patent rights, trademark rights and the rights to use technological processes are granted in foreign licensing. It is favourite strategy for small and medium-sized companies although by no means limited to such companies. Not many companies confine their foreign operations to licensing alone. It is generally viewed as a supplement to exporting or manufacturing rather than the only means of entry into foreign market. The Advantages of licensing are most apparent when capital is scarce, when import restrictions forbid other means of entry, when a country is sensitive to foreign ownership or when it is necessary to protect patents and trademarks against cancellation for non use. Although this may be the least profitable way of entering a market but the risks and headaches are less than for direct investments. Franchising Franchising is a rapidly growing form of licensing in which the franchiser provides a standard package of products, systems and management services and the franchise provides market knowledge, capital and personal involvement in management. The combination of skills permits flexibility in dealing with local market condition and yet provides the parent firm with a reasonable degree of control. Potentially the franchise system provides an effective blending of skills centralisation and operational decentralisation and has become increasingly important form of international marketing. Joint venture Joint ventures one of the more important types of collaborative relationship, have accelerated sharply during the past 20 years. Besides serving as a means of lessening political and economic risks by the amount of the partners contribution to the venture, joint ventures provide a less risky way to enter markets that pose legal and cultural barriers than would be the case in the acquisition of the existing company. Joint ventures are established divided legal body. Joint ventures should also be differentiated from minority holdings by an MNC in a local firm. It enables a company to utilise the specialised skill of a local partner. A joint venture can be attractive to an international marketer when the firm lacks the capital or personal capabilities to expand its international activities. Manufacturing Another means of foreign market development and entry is manufacturing within a foreign country. A company may manufacture locally to capitalise on low cost labour to avoid high import taxes to reduce the high cost of transportation to market to gain access to raw materials and or as means of gaining market entry. Seeking lower labour costs offshore is no longer an unusual strategy. A hallmark of global companies today is the establishment of manufacturing operations throughout the world. This is a trend that will increase as barriers to free trade are eliminated and companies can locate manufacturing wherever it is most cost effective. Ref: Ghauri, p,cateora(2006)international marketing (2nd edition)McGraw-Hill Foreign direct investment Foreign direct investment is a higher risk strategy as compare to other modes but it has positive impact for the companies which want to get new markets for their product so that they can make profit. FDI strategy helps to strengthen economic relationship with another country where the investment is made. It requires participation of joint venture, management, transfer of technology and capital. India and China are big markets where this strategy is being used a lot. Illustration of entry strategies related some organisations We can classify the organization in four types. Manufacturing firms A hallmark of global companies today is the establishment of manufacturing strategy throughout the world. There are three types of manufacturing investment by firms in foreign countries. Market seeking: Investment in china where companies are attracted by the size of the market. Resource seeking: investment in India, especially by a number of fashion garment producer such as Mexx and Marc O Polo. Investment seeking: Investment in Malaysia and Singapore by electronics manufacturers such as Philips and Motorola. Example: Renault, the French auto-maker entered India with joint venture and became partner with Mahindra, the Indian tractor and SUV maker to launch its Logan. The four door saloon car which is already sold in Romania and is a low-cost car suitable for emerging market purchasing power. Logan entered Indias mid-market and competed head to head with TATA, Ford and Hyundai Service firms These types of organizations provide facilities to others on some fee basis. They might use joint venture, licenses and franchising entry strategy. Example: Starbucks entered in UK, was the first European country. The UK provided facilitation this company to expand its business in Europe. That has been a milestone of its achievements and to go into a foreign market. Strategy was taken by Starbucks to enter and fulfil new or all sort of market, encourage countrys culture and traditions. Recently three different strategies are used in starbucks. Joint venture, licenses and wholly-owned subsidiaries. Ref: Ghauri, p,cateora(2006)international marketing (2nd edition)McGraw-Hill General electronic or big retailer as wall-mart or Tesco to sell their products abroad, use exporting (carrier) strategy as a way of broadening the product lines that they can offer to their foreign customers. These companies believe that offering a broader range of products will help them in boosting the sales of their own products. Vodafone is a mobile telecom company working in Africa, Asia, USA, Europe and Middle East entered in India with joint venture. They didnt use their existing strategy which they use in UK and rest of the world. Telenor is a Swedish telecom company which used direct investment strategy in Pakistan. Now telenor has become a 2nd largest telecom company in Pakistan. McDonald KFC including soft drinks, motel, retailing, fast foods, car rental and automotive services using Franchising for fastest growing market entry strategy. Multinational and Global firms These types of organizations sell their product globally and have branches all over the world. They might use foreign direct investment strategy. Example: Coca-cola Pepsi using foreign direct investment strategy to grow their business in the world. They take all measures to fulfil companys strategy. Unilever PG use foreign direct Investment to expand their business in the world. This entry market strategy has been successful for these sorts of multinational companies. Barclays bank is a financial service provider entered in Pakistan with foreign direct investment strategy. Pfizer pharmaceutical company has merged with four other research companies to get good economical growth. Small firms These types of organizations have limited resources to expand their business globally. They might use joint venture and merger strategy to grow. Example: General Mills has been in Europe since 1920 and controls about half of the Kelloggs cereal market entered in Europe with joint venture Nestle. Although the cereal business uses cheap commodities as it raw materials but Kelloggs has earned significant profit in Europe. A sager industry has been in Pakistan for last 40 years making soaps and detergents has merged in unilever to gain sufficient profit. Igloo ice-cream is a very famous in Pakistan has been working well in Pakistan now has merged unilever to achieve successful companys goal. Ref: Ghauri, p,cateora(2006)international marketing (2nd edition)McGraw-Hill Analysis of Market conditions and Risk We can discuss market conditions through these financial and political-legal factors. Economic-Financial Risk Amount of foreign debt carried Income distribution within the market Amount of foreign investment already in the market Natural resource base Inflation rate Political-Legal Factors Role of government in business activities (free or not free markets) Stability of government Barriers to international trade (whether or not favourable trade policies) Laws and regulations affecting the marketing mix (marketing regulations) Laws and regulations affecting business activities (acceptance of foreign investment, etc.) Stability of the workforce Political relations with trading partner Analysis of cultural factors We can discuss cultural factors through cultural and geographic distance Cultural distance Style of business within the market Attitudes toward bribes and questionable payments Language, race and nationalities, geographic divisions Role of institutions, religious groups, educational system, mass media, family Socio cultural (social interaction, hierarchies, interdependence, etc.) Geographic distance Number of organizations within the market Size and quality of workforce Population size and growth rate Composition of house holds Geographic distribution and density of population

The Paper Motif in Invisible Man :: Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man depicts a realistic society where white people act as if black people are less than human. Ellison uses papers and letters to show the narrator’s poor position in this society. Many papers seem to show good fortune for the narrator, but only provide false dreams. The narrator’s prize of a brief case containing his scholarship first illustrates this falsehood: â€Å"take this prize and keep it well. Consider it a badge of office. Prize it. Keep developing as you are and some day it will be filled with important papers that will help shape the destiny of your people† (32). The narrator is filled with joy from receiving his scholarship and brief case but subconsciously knows of the shallowness of the superintendent’s heart felt speech. Ellison shows this subconscious knowledge through the narrator’s dream of receiving a letter of deep and truthful meaning: â€Å"And I did and in it I found an engraved document containing a short message in letters of gold†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"To Whom It May Concern,† I intoned. â€Å"Keep This Nigger-Boy Running† (33). Even though it is just a dream, the white people actually do want t o keep the narrator and his race running after false dreams.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another example of the bad associated with papers is when the brotherhood gives the narrator an envelope containing a new name on a piece of paper, replacing his identity: This is your new identity, Brother Jack said. Open it. Inside I found a name written on a slip of paper.That is your new name, Brother Jack said. Start thinking of yourself by that name from this moment. Get it down so that if you are called in the middle of the night you will respond. Very soon you shall be known by it all over the country. You are to answer to no other, understand (302)? The fact that the narrator has been given a new identity and is not sure which one is himself means that the he has no identity at all: â€Å"I would do the work but I would be no one except myself--whoever I was† (303).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The hospital release forms illustrate the white man’s way of making the narrator less than human by depriving him of his work at the company; the doctor will not let him work: You aren’t ready for the rigors of industry. Now I want you to rest, undertake a period of convalescence.

Utopia by Thomas More and The Prince by Machiavelli Essay -- More Utop

Utopia by Thomas More and The Prince by Machiavelli Thomas More’s Utopia and Machiavelli’s The Prince both concern themselves with the fundamental issues of how a society works and maintains itself. The goals behind the two works, however, differ considerably. The goal of Utopia is to illustrate the maintenance of an â€Å"ideal† society and the goal of The Prince is to instruct a prince, or ruler, on how to maintain his state. On the surface these two goals may seem similar but the difference lies in the way the authors handle the subject of power. As a manual, or handbook if you will, Prince treats power as a necessity, a goal, to be worked towards and maintained, almost at all costs. Utopia, a fantasy, treats power as something all individuals have; rather, they are empowered. By comparing the way both works use and treat point of view and form, governmental systems and ideals the differences in perspective on power becomes clearer. Ideas are brought forth differently in both works through narrative point of view and style. These two different ways reflect the views of power the authors hold. The Prince is told in a matter of fact tone, its purpose being to inform a prince on how to run his kingdom. Inherent in this purpose is a key to Mach’s view of power. Because it was written for the use of one man to dominate over and control his kingdom/state, it was obviously not meant for lesser mortals. It in itself is a tool of power which could be used for only the good of the prince who uses it. Whether or not the people are empowered does not matter, it is irrelevant. It only matters that the prince uses it to maintain his own power. In contrast, Utopia is a fanta... ... word ‘virtu’ over and over again, it is made clear that his virtue is not that of More’s. Power is implied in the very essence of Machiavelli’s writing. It is tied in with the greed, selfishness, and his â€Å"do anything to maintain the state† attitude. Even though Machiavelli passionately invokes the idea of his Italy brought back to life in the Exhortation, his motives are still selfish in nature; to look at an even broader term, his motives are nationalistic which is the idea of a nation being egocentric. In this respect he is also contradictory to More in that More’s ideas are for the good of human kind, not just for one nation. Ideals like justice and truth, which are the basis for More’s invention, make it impossible for him to do anything but claim power as the source of corruption in society while Machiavelli praises it.

Response to Albert Einstein’s Letter to Phyllis Wright

When Albert Einstein, also known as the greatest scientist of the twentieth century, and a Nobel-prize winner, receives a letter from a sixth-grade girl named Phyllis Wright questioning if scientists pray, – and if so, what do they pray for – Einstein simultaneously uses various rhetoric methods such as SOAPS, ethos, logos, and pathos to respond to Wright’s question in the simplest form possible, and in doing so, Einstein created a rhetorically effective response. Einstein’s rhetorical purpose was to elaborate how scientists perceive scientific and religious elucidations.Considering the fact that Einstein is a name known throughout the world and is one of the most legendary scientists known to man, Einstein establishes ethos right away. He has what you could call, â€Å"automatic ethos. † Most people wouldn’t dare to doubt a Nobel-prize winner. Having that in mind, Einstein has a strong amount of credibility to speak on behalf of science and religion through his perspective. Einstein also uses ordinary jargon that any average human could understand, causing people to think highly of him. â€Å"It must be admitted our actual knowledge of these laws is only imperfect and fragmentary.†By using words such as â€Å"our†, Einstein preserves his ethos by establishing himself as a common man, instead of the Nobel-prize winner. This helps his audience relate to his points. Einstein then continues on to create his idea of logos, which he created by supplying a counterargument. â€Å"Scientific research is based on the idea that everything that takes place is determined by laws of nature, and therefore this holds for the actions of people. † By stating this, Einstein concedes to the controversy of scientists with no religious beliefs.However, while conceding with the scientists that believe in the laws of nature, Einstein was concurrently supporting his own statement by showing that he has given a reasonable a mount of deliberation to this topic of science and religion. Einstein is careful when using pathos to help state his point of view, because if you use too much pathos, it will make your entire purpose look more propagandistic. Einstein appeals to his religious viewers by explaining that there could be â€Å"a spirit vastly superior to that of man† relating to the affairs of science.Einstein then goes on to state that, â€Å"in this way the pursuit of science leads to a religious feeling of some sort, which is indeed quite different from the religiosity of someone more naive†. This was Einstein’s clarification, that whether you agree with science or religion, they all involve faith and hope, they just involve different beliefs. The overt subject of Einstein’s response regarding Phyllis Wright’s letter was whether or not scientists pray and what they pray for. The occasion is Einstein receiving a letter from a sixth-grader looking for clarification a bout science and religion.The audience is a more controversial topic. Some say the audience is obviously Phyllis Wright, since he is replying to her letter. However, other people have suggested that due to Einstein’s ethos and his etiquette structure of his response, Einstein knew his response would be seen not just by Phyllis Wright, but by people all over the world. Einstein’s purpose is intricate, you have to analyze the entire letter to understand what Einstein was trying to achieve in responding to Wright. On the surface, it may seem that Einstein’s purpose was to elaborate the nature of science and religion combined.Ultimately, it seems as though Einstein actually wanted to offer Wright a different perspective, due to Einstein’s failure to directly answer Wright’s question. After Einstein’s receipt of Phyllis Wright’s letter concerning the combination of nature and science, and the nature of faith, Einstein takes a more logical approach to the ideals of religion, prayer, and science while acknowledging the differences from a scientist’s point of view. Einstein creates a rhetorically effective response to Wright by giving examples of multiple different rhetoric methods to meet his rhetorical purpose of science and religion from a scientist’s perspective.

Adolescent Psychology midterm

personal identicalness formation is a complex and sundry(a) process for teenageds, particularly during middle coach and early high civilize. Therefore, it is far to a greater extent likely that students who bet disengaged to school faculty and administrators are actually navigating the multiple pathways to finding their protest unique identities. It is simply be low-down the belt to assume that a student is non personally motivated when he or she is constructing an identity that reflects diverse social and/or cultural backgrounds.Manilas Squad Nanas writes about a student named Amanda in her article regarding chink identities in teaching contexts. Amanda is a highly achieving student who spent her time In class shape uping disengaged. Although Amanda performed near the decease of her class, her academic success did non face to reflect her classroom behavior. However, Mantas identity was regulate by the people she interacted with, particularly her mates. Nanas s tates, stack act in accordance with their local settings, and E can non assume the symbolizeing of those behaviors or determine which ones are identity relevant, and in which ways, without a perspective on what they mean In the local 2010). Therefore, it is a injustice to students eke Amanda and the ones at the tutoring program to suggest that their own lack of motivation Is at the cool off of their seeming dis intimacy. Rather, It Is relative to the context they blend in. In Nanass article, Amanda self-identified as smart, and her peers adverted to her for academic help.However, researcher field notes described Mantas apparent disengagement, involving the passing of notes and answering her cell phone, which seemed inharmonious with her perception of herself and other(a)s perceptions of her as an exceptionally qualified 2010). However, Nanas later informs that the school Amanda attended had bad norms for detent attendance, engagement. And conduct(Nasal, 2010) that made Mantas behaviors not an indication of disengagement or low performance.Nazis article suggests that students level of perceived engagement depends on the norms and standards of the school they attend. Another identity-related cistron to take into account is that students are finding a safe group to send with and are simultaneously negotiating the persistent adolescent endeavor to define, overdriven, and redefine themselves and each other In often ruthless and Brown). Students mustiness grapple with various social groups and the labels that succeed them, like socks and brains.Particularly in middle school, younger students, like those in 7th grade, prefer to be normal, while more mature brains matte more comfortable with being superb. Therefore, it seems logical that the students at this tutoring program go forth disengaged because they are managing their own identities, and therefore not acting overly enthused about learning so as not to appear too brainy. Dwellings students as unmotivated Ignores their searches for a safe group identity to belong to, and acting too enthusiastic about school assignment may hearten their place in a social group with which theft like to identify.Its also feasible that students appear disengaged not due to lack of motivation, alone because a key aspect of identity formation is questioning authority as they find their unique and authentic selves. When adolescents evoke unpopular opinions, revolutionary normative expectations, they are trying on possible selves and examen the boundaries of their environment as part of their psychosocial moratorium In fact, that is part of their developmental Job. To dismiss such(prenominal) experimentation Is to devalue the unique fountain this developmental era represents.In short, students are study potential selves, attempting to find a peer group to which they belong, and Jumping over the vault of adolescence. When tutors at this middle school in Longboat dismiss their students a s disengaged due to lessen motivation, they are assuming a famine view of students and not taking identity formation into account. In the 1999 article by Cooper et al regarding being brokers for students, they explain that the transition from elementary to middle school is a crucial time in which students begin to define their own goals and look up to adults, including teachers ND tutors.

Ulrich Beck

Sociology http//soc. s datepub. com Becks Sociology of take a chance A hyper sarcastic judge man creatort Anthony Elliott Sociology 2002 36 293 DOI 10. 1177/0038038502036002004 The on distinguish sport of this hold back be found at http//soc. sagepub. com/cgi/ sneaktent/ wind/36/2/293 Published by http//www. sage normalations. com On behalf of British Sociological Association Additional operate and in smorgasbordation for Sociology rump be found at Email Alerts http//soc. sagepub. com/cgi/alerts Subscriptions http//soc. sagepub. com/subscriptions Reprints http//www. agepub. com/journalsReprints. nav Permissions http//www. sagepub. com/journalsPermissions. nav Citations (this phrase cites 6 articles hosted on the acute Journals Online and HighWire Press platforms) http//soc. sagepub. com/cgi/content/refs/36/2/293 D admitloaded from http//soc. sagepub. com by Madhu Menon on phratry 24, 2007 2002 BSA Publications Ltd.. in altogether told rights reserved. non for mer s tooltile-gradeised practice or unlicenced distri exception. 022761 Elliott 13/5/2002 949 am pageboy 293 find of infelectroconvulsive therapyion Society Sociology Copyright 2002 BSA Publications Ltd bulk 36(2) 293315 0038-0385(200205)362293315022761 wise Publications London,Thousand Oaks, New Delhi Becks Sociology of run a find A Critical Assessment s Anthony Elliott University of the West of England AB ST RAC T The German sociologist Ul plenteous Beck has elaborated a proudly buffer formulation of the possible action of take chances and re? exive catameniaisation, a formulation that has had a signi? beart impact upon juvenile sociological theorizing and research. This article examines Becks sociology of run a pret dismiss in the context of his all-inclusiveer friendly theory of re? xivity, move on freshization and psycheization. The article reasons that Becks performance is shackle by several sociological weaknesses namely, a dependance upon object ivistic and instrumental models of the genial traceion of fortune of exposureiness and suspense in societal relations, and a adversity to adequately de? ne the relations surrounded by institutional desirability on the unrivalled and sole(prenominal)(a) hand and egotism-referentiality and critical re? ection on the another(prenominal)(a). As a contri furtherion to the reformulation and unless directment of Becks approach to sociological theory, the article go forks to uggest other slip trend in which the link amidst bump and re? exivity aptitude be pursued. These bothow a focus upon (1) the intermixing of re? exivity and re? ection in hearty relations (2) new-fangled-day ideologies of domination and force knocked forbidden(p) and (3) a dialecticalal flavour of contemporaneousness and post modernization. K E Y WORDS domination / contemporaneousness / postmodernistity / re? exivity / attempt / kind theory A s competent re? ective agents, we argon aw be(p) of the numerous a nonher(prenominal) a(prenominal) shipway in which a reason climate of happen presses in on our fooling activities.In our dayto-day lives, we be sensitive to the cluster of guess of infections that affect our relations with the self, with others, and with the blanket(a)er culture. We argon specialists in carving out ways of coping and managing lay on the line, whether this be by dint of mobile skirmish, resigned bridal or conf wasting diseased denial. From dietary concerns to 293 D causeloaded from http//soc. sagepub. com by Madhu Menon on family 24, 2007 2002 BSA Publications Ltd.. wholly rights reserved. non for commercial commit or illegitimate distri only whenion. 022761 Elliott 294 13/5/2002 Sociology 949 am garishness 36 s summon 294 follow 2 swhitethorn 2002 prospective transmission line market gains and losses to polluted air, the modern-day risk climate is whiz of pro behavior narrationration, multiplication, specialism , counterfactual guess fake, and, above all, anxiety. fitting sum upation and calculation of risktaking, risk- commission and risk- come acrossion net never be fully complete, bargonly, since at that place be perpetually unexpected and causeless aspects of risk environments. This is especially true at the level of public(prenominal) hazards, where the array of in broadcastrial, technological, chemical and atomic dangers that confront us grows, and at an alarming rate.Indeed the German sociologist, Ulrich Beck (1996a), de? nes the current situation as that of instauration risk order of magnitude. The splay of risk familiarity, Beck argues, is bound up with the smartlyborn electronic ball- figd economy a terra firma in which we live on the come near of high technological innovation and scienti? c nurture, notwithstanding where no one fully chthonic al-Qaedas the possible globular risks and dangers we face. My aim in this article is to explore virtually o f the grasp forths that concern the relation surrounded by risk and federation by focusing on the work of Beck.A deeply innovative and imaginative amicable theorist, Beck has demonstrable respectable analyses of the ways in which the rise of the risk company is transforming loving re exertion, disposition and ecology, adumbrate homophile births, politics and democracy. 1 It is necessary to state at the outset that I am non seeking in this article to provide a orb-wide introduction to Becks work as a whole. Rather, I shall quip a short exposition of Becks risk indian lodge dissertation, in conjunction with his psycho foresight psychology of re? exivity and its situation in neighborly practices and modern institutions. The econd, to a greater extent than extensive half of the article is then critical and reconstructive in character. I try to mention several questionable fond-theoretic assumptions contained in Becks risk bon ton thesis, as s comfortably up a s layover of accumulations concerning his analysis of re? exivity, friendly re harvest-tideion and the dynamics of modernity. In making this revaluation, I shall try to point, in a trammel and pro imaginativenessal manner, to some of the ways in which I believe that the themes of risk and social re? exivity can be reformulated and, in turn, further spring uped in coeval sociological analysis.Outline of the Theory allow me begin by outlining the central planks of Becks social theory. These can be divided into iii plain themes (1) the risk association thesis (2) re? exive modernization and (3) privateization. The Risk Society Thesis From his highly in? uential 1986 volume Risk Society through to body politic without Enemies (1998) and World Risk Society (1999b), Beck has consistently argued that the supposition of risk is becoming change magnitudely central to our planetary society. 2 As Beck (1991 223) writes Downloaded from http//soc. agepub. com by Madhu Menon on September 24, 2007 2002 BSA Publications Ltd.. completely rights reserved. non for commercial use or wildcat distribution. 022761 Elliott 13/5/2002 949 am rapscallion 295 Becks sociology of risk Elliott The historicly unprecedented possibility, brought about by our own decisions, of the destruction of all vitality on this artificial satellite distinguishes our epoch non only from the early stage of the Industrial Revolution but likewise from all other cultures and social forms, no depicted object how divers(a)(a) and contradictory.If a ? re split ups out, the ? re brigade sets if a traf? c accident occurs, the redress pays. This interplay amidst in the beginning and after, amidst security in the here-and- straight and security in the early because one besidesk pre watchfulnesss change surface for the worst thinkable display example, has been revoked in the age of thermonuclear, chemical and genic technology. In their brilliant perfection, nuclear cause pl ants view as hang up the principle of insurance non only in the frugal but in any case in the medical, psychological, ethnicalal, and spectral consciousness.The residual risk society is an uninsured society, in which protection, paradoxi prefigurey, decreases as the scourge increases. For Beck, modernity is a world that introduces global risk parameters that previous generations fuddle non had to face. Precisely because of the adversity of modern social institutions to concord the risks they shoot created, oftentimes(prenominal) as the ecologic crisis, risk rebounds as a givingly defensive strive to avoid naked as a jaybird problems and dangers. Beck screws that it is necessary to separate the feeling of risk from hazard or danger.The hazards of pre-industrial society famines, plagues, subjective disasters may or may not come close to the iconoclastic potential of technoscience in the present-day(a) era. Yet for Beck this really is not a get a line consid eration in any event, since he does not wish to en assortmentle that day-by-day animation in at onces risk society is in and of itself much hazardous than in the pre-modern world. What he does suggest, however, is that no pattern of risk is to be found in usageal culture pre-industrial hazards or dangers, no function how potentially catastrophic, were experienced as pre- prone.They came from some other gods, temperament or demons. With the beginning of societal attempts to control, and curiously with the idea of steering towards a proximo of certain security, the consequences of risk contract a semi policy-making place. This wear point is life-or-death. It is societal intervention in the form of decision-making that transforms incalculable hazards into calculable risks. Risks, writes Beck (1997 30), always depend on decisions that is, they presuppose decisions.The idea of risk society is and so bound up with the development of instrumental sharp-witted control , which the member of modernization promotes in all spheres of life from individual risk of accidents and illnesses to export risks and risks of war. In confirm of the contention that protection from danger decreases as the threat increases in the modern-day era, Beck (1994) discusses, among umpteen other examples, the causal agency of a lead crystal factory in the former Federal Republic of Germany. The factory in question Altenstadt in the Upper Palatinate was prosecuted in the mid-eighties for polluting the atmosphere.Many residents in the atomic morsel 18a had, for some considerable time, suffered from shinny rashes, nausea and headaches, and blame was squ arly attributed to the white dust emitted from the factorys smokestacks. Due to the visibility of the pollution, the illustration for damages against the factory was imagined, by many volume, to be watertight. Downloaded from http//soc. sagepub. com by Madhu Menon on September 24, 2007 2002 BSA Publications Ltd .. all(prenominal) rights reserved. non for commercial use or illegitimate distribution. 295 022761 Elliott 296 13/5/2002 Sociology 949 am bulk 36 s scalawag 296 twist 2 s May 2002 However, because there were three other methamphetamine factories in the ara, the presiding judge strikeered to drop the charges in top for a nominal ? ne, on the grounds that individual liability for emitting dangerous pollutants and toxins could not be naturalized. pleasing to the real-life travesty of the hazard technocracy writes Beck, underlining the denial of risks inside our pagan and political structures. Such denial for Beck is deeply layered at heart institutions, and he calls this arrive at irresponsibility a fantasy to which we will sacrifice.The age of nuclear, chemical and patrimonial technology, gibe to Beck, unleashes a destruction of the calculus of risks by which modern societies get hold of developed a consensus on bestride. Insurance has been the key to sustainin g this consensus, functioning as a kind of security pact against industrially micturated dangers and hazards. 3 In particular, two kinds of insurance ar associated with modernization the private insurance company and public insurance, link up above all with the wel furthermoste state.Yet the changing nature of risk in an age of globalization, argues Beck, fractures the calculating of risks for purposes of insurance. independently and together with, we do not fully know or understand many of the risks that we currently face, let just can we attempt to calculate them accurately in terms of probability, compensation and billhookability. In this data link, Beck accentuates the following s s s s risks today imperil irreparable global damage which cannot be limited, and hus the notion of monetary compensation is rendered obsolescent in the case of the worst possible nuclear or chemical accident, any security monitoring of damages fails accidents, now reconstituted as events with out beginning or end, wear out by delimitations in space and time notions of accountability better. Re? exive Modernization Beck develops his critique of modernity through an exam of the presuppositions of the sociology of modernization. Many mainstream sociological theories remain marked, in his view, by a confusion of modernity with industrial society seen in either positive or shun terms.This is true for functionalists and Marxists alike, especially in terms of their intentness with industrial achievement, adaptation, diametriciation and rationalisation. Indeed, Beck ? nds an ideology of progress concealed deep down dominant social theories that equate modernization with linear rationalization. From Marx through Parsons to Luhmann, modern society is everlastingly changing, expanding and transforming itself it is clear that industrialism aftermaths in the using up of resources that are essential to the counterpart of society.But the most striking limitation of social theories that equate modernity with industrial society, consort to Beck, lies in their lack of comprehension of the manner in which dangers to societal preservation and re overboldal in? ltrate the institutions, organizations and sub musical ar cooking stovements of modern society itself. Downloaded from http//soc. sagepub. com by Madhu Menon on September 24, 2007 2002 BSA Publications Ltd.. All rights reserved. non for commercial use or unauthorized distribution. 022761 Elliott 13/5/2002 49 am scallywag 297 Becks sociology of risk Elliott In contrast to this alarming consensus on modernization, Beck argues that we are between industrial society and good modernity, between unprejudiced modernization and re? exive modernization. As Beck (1996b 28) develops these distinctions In view of these two stages and their sequence, the concept of re? exive modernization may be introduced. This incisively does not mean re? ection (as the adjective re? exive seems to suggest), but above all self- opponent.The transition from the industrial to the risk epoch of modernity occurs unintentionally, unseen, compulsively, in the stratum of a dynamic of modernization which has do itself autonomous, on the pattern of latent side- effect. One can or so say that the constellations of risk society are created because the axiomatic truths of industrial society (the consensus on progress, the abstraction from ecological consequences and hazards) dominate the thinking and behaviour of human beings and institutions. Risk society is not an option which could be elect or rejected in the course of political debate.It arises through the automatic operation of autonomous modernization offshootes which are maneuver and deaf to consequences and dangers. In total, and latently, these produce hazards which call into question indeed abolish the base of operations of industrial society. It is the autonomous, compulsive dynamic of in advance(p) or re? exive modernization that, accor ding to Beck, propels modern men and women into self-confrontation with the consequences of risk that cannot adequately be addressed, measured, controlled or overcome, at least according to the standards of industrial society.Modernitys cecity to the risks and dangers produced by modernization all of which happens automatically and unre? ectingly, according to Beck leads to societal self-confrontation that is, the questioning of divisions between centres of political action mechanism and the decision-making capacity of society itself. Society, in effect, seeks to reclaim the political from its modernist relegation to the institutional sphere, and this, says Beck, is achieved primarily through sub-political room that is, locating the politics of risk at the flavour of forms of social and pagan life. Within the horizon of the underground between old routine and new sentiency of consequences and dangers, writes Beck, society buzz offs self-critical (1999b 81). The prospects fo r arresting the dark sides of industrial progress and forward-looking modernization through re? exivity are routinely short-circuited, according to Beck, by the insidious in? uence of organized irresponsibility. Irresponsibility, as Beck uses the term, refers to a political contradiction of the self-jeopardization and self-endangerment of risk society.This is a contradiction between an emerging public awareness of risks produced by and within the social-institutional system on the one hand, and the lack of attribution of systemic risks to this system on the other. There is, in Becks reckoning, a constant denial of the dangerous tendency of risk society the system of organized irresponsibility which manifests itself in, say, practicedly orientated legal procedures intentional to satisfy rigorous causal proof of individual liability and wickedness. This self-created dead end, in which culpability is passed off on to individualsDownloaded from http//soc. sagepub. com by Madhu M enon on September 24, 2007 2002 BSA Publications Ltd.. All rights reserved. not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution. 297 022761 Elliott 298 13/5/2002 Sociology 949 am Volume 36 s page 298 come in 2 s May 2002 and therefrom jointly denied, is maintained through political ideologies of industrial fatalism opinion in progress, dependence on rationality and the convening of expert opinion. Individualization The arrival of progress modernization is not wholly about risk it is alike about an expansion of choice.For if risks are an attempt to make the incalculable calculable, then risk-monitoring presupposes agency, choice, calculation and responsibility. In the process of re? exive modernization, Beck argues, more and more areas of life are released or disembedded from the hold of customs. That is to say, hoi polloi living in the modernized societies of today develop an increasing liaison with both the intimate and more public aspects of their lives, aspects that w ere previously governed by tradition or taken-forgranted norms.This set of developments is what Beck calls individuality, and its operation is governed by a dialectic of lawlessness and reinvention. For example, the fade of tradition and the disintegration of previously living social forms ? xed gender roles, in? exible grad locations, masculinist work models forces population into making decisions about their own lives and future courses of action.As handed-down ways of doing things become problematic, people must choose paths for a more rewarding life all of which requires planning and rationalization, deliberation and engagement. An officious engagement with the self, with the body, with relationships and marriage, with gender norms, and with work this is the subjective background intimacy of the risk society. The idea of individualism is the prat upon which Beck constructs his vision of a new modernity, of novel face-to-face experiment and heathen innovation against a social backdrop of risks, dangers, hazards, re? xivity, globalization. Yet the unleashing of experimentation and choice which individualism brings is certainly not without its problems. According to Beck, there are progressive and regressive elements to individuation although, in uninflected terms, these are extremely hard to disentangle. In face-to-face terms, the gains of todays individualization capacity be tomorrows limitation, as advantage and progress turn into their opposite. A signal example of this is offered in The Normal Chaos of Love (1995), where Beck and Beck-Gernsheim re? ct on the role of technological innovation in medicine, and of how this impacts upon contemporary family life. Technological advancements in diagnostic and heritable examination on the unborn, they argue, create new paternal possibilities, primarily in the realm of health monitoring. However, the truly capacity for medical intervention is one that quickly turns into an obligation on parents to use much(prenominal)(prenominal) technologies in order to secure a sound genetic starting point for their offspring.Individualization is seen here as a paradoxical compulsion, at once leading people into a frequently more pursue relationship with science and technology than used to be the case, and enforcing a set of obligations and responsibilities that few in society fall in thought through in terms of broad Downloaded from http//soc. sagepub. com by Madhu Menon on September 24, 2007 2002 BSA Publications Ltd.. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution. 022761 Elliott 13/5/2002 949 am Page 299 Becks sociology of risk Elliott moral and ethical implications.It is perchance little wonder thus that Beck (1997 96), echoing Sartre, contends that people are condemned to individualization. Critique Beck has elaborated a highly original formulation of the theory of risk, a formulation which links with, but in many ways is more sophisticated in its particular proposition and application than, other sociological approaches to the analysis of risk environments in contemporary society (among other contributions, see Douglas and Wildavsky (1982), Castell (1991), Giddens (1990, 1991), Luhmann (1993) and Adam (1998)).Becks sociology of risk has clearly been of increasing interest to sociologists relate with soul the decomposable temporal and spatial ? gurations of invisible hazards and dangers including global warming, chemical and petrochemical pollution, the effects of genetically modi? ed organisms and culturally induced diseases such as Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) (see Lash et al. , 1996 Adam, 1998). In what follows, there are three core areas virtually which I shall develop a critique of the work of Beck (1) risk, re? xivity, re? ection (2) indicator and domination and (3) tradition, modernity and postmodernization. Risk, Re? exivity, Re? ection Let me begin with Becks discussion of the risk society, wh ich, according to him, currently dominates socio-political frames thanks to the twin forces of re? exivity and globalization. There are, I believe, many respects in which Becks vision of Risikogesellschaft, especially its rebounding in ain experience as risk-laden discourses and practices, is to be welcomed.In the wake of the Chernobyl disaster and widespread environmental pollution, and with ever more destructive weapons as vigorous as human-made biological, chemical and technological hazards, it is sure as shooting the case that thinking in terms of risk has become central to the way in which human agents and modern institutions organize the social world. Indeed, in a world that could literally destroy itself, risk-managing and risk-monitoring increasingly in? uences both the constitution and calculation of social action.As mentioned previously, it is this focus on the concrete, objective physical-biological-technical risk settings of modernity which recommends Becks analysis a s a useful corrective to the practically obsessive abstraction and textual de spin that characterizes much novel social theory. However, one still competency wonder whether Becks theory does not overemphasize, in a certain horse sense, the phenomena and relevance of risk. From a social-historical sight it is plausible to ask, for instance, whether life in society has become more risky? In From Regulation to Risk, Bryan S. Turner (1994 1801) captures the problem tumesceDownloaded from http//soc. sagepub. com by Madhu Menon on September 24, 2007 2002 BSA Publications Ltd.. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution. 299 022761 Elliott 300 13/5/2002 Sociology 949 am Volume 36 s Page 300 Number 2 s May 2002 A serious reproval of Becks arguments would be to suggest that risk has not changed so profoundly and signi? bevel squarely over the last three centuries. For example, were the epidemics of syphilis and bubonic plague in earlier periods any di stinct from the modern environment illnesses to which Beck draws our vigilance?That is, do Becks criteria of risk, such as their indifferent and unobservable nature, really stand up to historical scrutiny? The devastating plagues of earlier centuries were certainly global, parliamentary and normal. Peasants and aristocrats died adjoinly horrible deaths. In addition, with the spread of groovyistic colonialism, it is clearly the case that in previous centuries many aboriginal peoples such as those of North the States and Australia were engulfed by environmental, medical and political catastrophes which wiped out stainless populations.If we take a broader view of the notion of risk as entailing at least a substantial cultural element whereby risk is seen to be a necessary part of the human consideration, then we could argue that the profound uncertainties about life, which occasionally overwhelmed earlier civilizations, were not unlike the anxieties of our own ? n-de-siecle ci vilizations. Extending Turners critique, it might also be asked whether risk assessment is the last-ditch worry in the plight of individuals in contemporary culture?Is it right to see the means-ended rationality of risk, and thus the economistic language of preference, assessment and choice, as spreading into individualized and intimate spheres of life (such as marriage, friendship and child-rearing) in such a determinate and uni? ed way? And does the concept of risk actually capture what is new and different in the contemporary social condition? I shall not pursue these general questions, of the essence(predicate) though they are, here. Instead, the issue I want to aid concerns the multiple ways in which risk is perceived, approached, engaged with or disengaged from, in contemporary culture.Becks approach, however suggestive it may be, is at best a signpost which points to speci? c kinds of probabilities, avoidances and unanticipated consequences, but which is limited in its c over of the social structuring of the perception of risk. The American social theorist Jeffrey C. black lovage (1996 135) has argued that Becks simple-minded understanding of the perception of risk is utilitarian and objectivist. Alexander takes Beck to caper for adopting a rationalistic and instrumental-calculative model of risk in microsocial and macrosocial worlds to which it can be added that such a model has deep af? ities with neo- single outical sparings and rational-choice theory, and thus inevitably shares the abstract and political limitations of these standpoints also. Beck has also been criticized by others for his cognitive realism, moral proceduralism and lack of caution to aesthetic and hermeneutical subjectivity (Lash and Urry, 1994) failure to ac fellowship the embodied nature of the self (Turner, 1994 Petersen, 1996) and neglect of the psychodynamic and affective dimensions of subjectivity and intersubjective relations (Elliott, 1996 Hollway and Jefferson, 1997).In a social- abstractive frame of reference, what these criticisms imply is that Becks theory cannot grasp the hermeneutical, aesthetic, psychological and culturally bounded forms of subjectivity and intersubjectivity in and through Downloaded from http//soc. sagepub. com by Madhu Menon on September 24, 2007 2002 BSA Publications Ltd.. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution. 022761 Elliott 13/5/2002 950 am Page 301 Becks sociology of risk Elliott which risk is constructed and perceived.To study risk-management and riskavoidance strategies, in the light of these criticisms, requires attention to forms of meaning-making within socio-symbolically etched institutional ? elds, a problem to which I return in a subsequent section when facial expression at Becks analysis of tradition, modernity and postmodernity. In raising the issue of the construction and reconstruction of risk in particular, its active interpretation and reconstruction one migh t reference numerous studies of socio-political attitudes relating to the conceptualization and confrontation of risk, danger and hazard.The anthropologist Mary Douglas (1986, 1992), for example, argues that advanced industrial risks are primarily constructed through the rhetoric of purity and pollution. For Douglas, what is most pressing in the social-theoretic analysis of risk is an understanding of how human agents ignore many of the potential threats of daily life and kinda concentrate only on selected aspects. Interestingly, Beck fails to discuss in any detail Douglass anthropology of risk. This would seem peculiar not only since Douglass path-breaking analyses of risk appear to have laid much of the thematic groundwork for Becks sociological theory, but also because her work is highly relevant to the critique of contemporary ideologies of risk that is, the social forms in which risk and uncertainty are differentiated across and within social formations, as salubrious as pa rticularly individuated. My purpose in underscoring these various limitations of Becks theory is not to engage in some figure out of conceptual clari? cation.My concern kinda is to stress the sociologically questionable assumptions concerning risk in Becks work, and to jaw out the more complex, nuanced forms of risk perception that might fall within the scope of such an approach. To call into question Becks notion of risk is, of course, also to raise important issues about the location of re? exivity between self and societal riposte. Now it is the failure of simple, industrial society to control the risks it has created, which, for Beck, generates a more intensive and extensive sense of risk in re? xive, advanced modernity. In this sense, the rise of objective, physical, global risks propels social re? exivity. But again one might wish to question the generalizations Beck makes about human agents, modern institutions and culture becoming more re? exive or self-confronting. Much of Becks work has been concerned to emphasize the degree of re? exive institutional heartiness involved in the restructuring of personal, social and political life, from the reforging of intimate relationships to the reinvention of politics.But there are disturbing dimensions here as head, which the spread of cultural, ethnic, racial and gendered con? ict has shown only too well, and often in ways in which one would be hard pressed to ? nd forms of personal or social re? exive activity. No mistrust Beck would deny as he has done in his more juvenile belles-lettres that the renewal of traditions and the rise of cultural con? icts are counterexamples to the thesis of re? exive modernization. For we need to be particularly careful, Beck contends, not to dodge re? exivity (self-dissolution) with re? ction (knowledge). As Beck (1994b 1767) develops this distinction Downloaded from http//soc. sagepub. com by Madhu Menon on September 24, 2007 2002 BSA Publications Ltd.. All right s reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution. 301 022761 Elliott 302 13/5/2002 Sociology 950 am Volume 36 s Page 302 Number 2 s May 2002 the re? exivity of modernity and modernization in my sense does not mean re? ection on modernity, self- cogitateness, the self-referentiality of modernity, nor does it mean the self-justi? ation or self-criticism of modernity in the sense of unmingled sociology kinda (? rst of all), modernization cuttings modernization, unintended and unseen, and therefore also re? ection-free, with the force of autonomized modernization. Re? exivity of modernity can lead to re? ection on the self-dissolution and self-endangerment of industrial society, but it need not do so. Thus, re? exivity does not imply a kind of hyper-Enlightenment culture, where agents and institutions re? ect on modernity, but rather an unintended self-modi? ation of forms of life driven by the impact of autonomized processes of modernization. Re? exivity, on this ac count, is de? ned as much by re? ex as it is by re? ection. It is possible to detect, write Lash et al. (1996) of Becks recent sociology, a move towards seeing re? exive modernization as in most part propelled by blind social processes a shift, crudely, from where risk society produces re? ection which in turn produces re? exivity and critique, to one where risk society automatically produces re? exivity, and then possibly re? ection.Without wishing to deny the interest of this solution conception of re? exivity as self-dissolution, it still seems to me that Becks contention that contemporary societies are propelled toward self-confrontation, split between re? ex and re? ection, frame dubious. In what sense, for instance, can one claim that re? ection-free forms of societal self-dissolution exist independently of the re? ective capacities of human agents? For what, exactly, is being dissolved, if not the forms of life and social practices through which institutions are structu red?How might the analytical terms of re? exivity, that is social re? exes (nonknowledge) and re? ection (knowledge), be reconcile? It may be thought that these dif? culties can be overcome by insisting, along with Beck, on re? exivity in the strong sense as the unseen, the unwilled, the unintended in short, institutional dynamism. But such an account of blind social processes is surely incompatible with, and in fact renders incoherent, concepts of re? ection, referentiality, re? exivity.Alternatively, a weaker version of the argument might be developed, one that sees only partial and contextual interactions of selfdissolution and re? ection. Yet such an account, again, would seem to cut the analytical ground from under itself, since there is no adequate radical for demo how practices of re? exivity vary in their complex articulations of re? ex and re? ection or repetition and creativity. precedent and Domination I now want to consider Becks theory in relation to sociological u nderstandings of power and domination. According to Beck, re? xive modernization combats many of the distinctive characteristics of power, turning set social divisions into active negotiated relationships. Traditional political con? icts, centred around class, scat and gender, are increasingly superseded by new, globalized risk con? icts. Risks, writes Beck (1992 35), display an equalizing effect. Everyone Downloaded from http//soc. sagepub. com by Madhu Menon on September 24, 2007 2002 BSA Publications Ltd.. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution. 022761 Elliott 13/5/2002 950 am Page 303 Becks sociology of risk Elliott ow is jeopardize by risk of global proportions and repercussions not even the rich and powerful can escape the new dangers and hazards of, say, global warming or nuclear war. And it is from this prevalentized panorama that Beck argues political power and domination is shedding the grate of its classical forms and reinventing it self in a new global idiom. The problematic nature of Becks writings on this reinvention of political power and its role in social life, however, becomes increasingly evident when considering his analysis of social inequalities and cultural divisions.Take, for example, his re? ections on class. Re? exive modernization, says Beck, does not extend in the self-destruction of class aversions, but rather in selfmodi? cation. He writes (1997 26) Re? exive modernization disembeds and re-embeds the cultural prerequisites of social classes with forms of individualization of social inequality. That means that the disappearance of social classes and the abolition of social inequality no longer coincide. Instead, the blurring of social classes (in perception) runs in tandem with an aggravation of social inequality, which now does not follow large identi? ble groups in the lifeworld, but is instead fragmented across (life) phases, space and time. The present-day individualizing forces of soci al inequality, according to Beck, choke class-consciousness (personal dif? culties and grievances no longer culminate into group or collective causes) and also, to some considerable degree, class-in-itself (contemporary social problems are increasingly suffered alone). In short, class as a community of fate or destiny declines steeply. With class solidarities replaced by brittle and uncertain forms of individual self-management, Beck ? ds evidence for a rule-altering rationalization of class relationships in new business and management practices, as well as industrial relations reforms. He contends that new blendings of economics and democracy are discernible in the rise of political civil rights within the workplace, a blend which opens the possibility of a post- capitalistic world a classless capitalism of capital, in which the antagonism between labour and capital will collapse. There is considerable plausibility in the confidential information that class patterns and division s have been altered by speedy social and political changes in recent age.These let in changes in employment and the occupational structure, the expansion of the returns industries, rising unemployment, lower retirement ages, as well as a growing individualization in the West together with an accompanying stress upon lifestyle, exercise and choice. However, while it might be the case that developments associated with re? exive modernization and the risk society are poignant social inequalities, it is surely implausible to suggest, as Beck does, that this involves the trans? guration of class as such. Why, as Scott Lash (Beck et al. , 1994 211) asks, do we ? nd re? xivity in some sectors of socio-economic life and not others? Against the backdrop of new communication technologies and advances in knowledge transfer, vast gaps in the sociocultural conditions of the wealthy and the miserable drastically affect the ways in which individuals are drawn into the project of re? exive mod ernization. These Downloaded from http//soc. sagepub. com by Madhu Menon on September 24, 2007 2002 BSA Publications Ltd.. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution. 303 022761 Elliott 304 13/5/2002 Sociology 950 am Volume 36 s Page 304 Number 2 s May 2002 ensions are especially evident today in new social divisions between the information rich and information poor, and of the forces and demands of such symbolic engagement within the public sphere. What Beck fails to adequately consider is that individualization (while undoubtedly facilitating unprecedented forms of personal and social experimentation) may directly contribute to, and advance the proliferation of, class inequalities and economic exclusions. That is to say, Beck fails to give suf? cient sociological weight to the possibility that individualization may actually embody systematically asymmetric relations of class power.Taken from a broader view of the ideals of equal opportunity and soc ial progress, Becks arguments about the relationship between advanced levels of re? exivity and the emergence of a new sub-politics do not adequately stand up to scrutiny. The general, tendential assertions he advances about business and organisational restructuring assume what needs to be demonstrated namely, that these new organizational forms spell the demise of social class, as well as the viability of class analysis. Moreover, it seems implausible to point to subpolitics, de? ned by Beck only in very general terms, as symptomatic of a new socio-political agenda.When, for example, have the shifting boundaries between the political and economic spheres not played a primary role in the unfolding of relations between labour and capital? Is decision-making and consciousness really focused on a post-capitalistic rationalization of rights, duties, interests and decisions? A good deal of recent research shows, on the contrary, that income inequality between and within nations continue s to escalate (Braun, 1991 Lemert, 1997) that class (together with structures of power and domination) continues to profoundly shape possible life chances and material nterests (Westergaard, 1995) and that the many different de? nitions of class as a concept, encompassing the marginal, the excluded as well as the new underclass or new poor, are important in social analysis for comprehending the persistence of patterns of social inequality (Crompton, 1996). These dif? culties would suggest that Becks theory of risk requires reformulation in various ways.Without wishing to deny that the risk-generating propensity of the social system has rapidly increased in recent years due to the impact of globalization and techno-science, it seems to me misleading to contend that social division in multinational capitalist societies is fully trans? gured into a new logic of risk, as if the latter disconnects the former from its institutionalized biases and processes. The more pressing theoretical t ask, I suggest, is to develop methods of analysis for explicating how patterns of power and domination feed into, and are reconstituted by, the socio-symbolic structuring of risk.Here I shall restrict myself to noting three interrelated forces, which indicate, in a general way, the contours of how a politics of risk is undergoing transformation. The ? rst development is that of the privatization of risk. Underpinned by new trans-national spatializations of economic relations as well as the deregulation of the government of political life (Giddens, 1990 Hirst and Thompson, 1996 Bauman, 1998), the individual is increasingly viewed today as an active Downloaded from http//soc. sagepub. om by Madhu Menon on September 24, 2007 2002 BSA Publications Ltd.. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution. 022761 Elliott 13/5/2002 950 am Page 305 Becks sociology of risk Elliott agent in the risk-monitoring of collectively produced dangers risk-information, risk-dete ction and risk-management is more and more constructed and designed as a matter of private responsibility and personal security. By and large, human agents confront socially produced risks individually.Risk is desocialized risk-exposure and risk-avoidance is a matter of individual responsibility and navigation. This is, of course, partly what Beck means by the individualization of risk. However, the relations between individualized or privatized risk, material inequalities and the development of global poverty are more systematic and complex than Becks theory seems to recognize. In the post-war period, the shift from Keynesian to monetarist economic policies has been a key factor in the erosion of the management of risk through welfare security.The impact of globalization, multinational corporations and governmental deregulation is vital to the social production of the privatization of risk, all of which undoubtedly has a polarizing effect on distributions of wealth and income. It has also become evident and this is crucial that one must be able to position certain educational resources, symbolic goods, cultural and media capabilities, as well as cognitive and affective aptitudes, in order to count as a pseud in the privatization of risk-detection and risk-management.People who cannot deploy such resources and capabilities, often the result of various material and class inequalities, are presumable to ? nd themselves further disadvantaged and marginalized in a new world order of re? exive modernization. The second, related development concerns the commodi? cation of risk. Millions of dollars are made through product development, advertising, and market research in the new industries of risk, which construct new problems and market new solutions for risk-? ghting individual agents. As risk is simultaneously proliferated and rendered potentially manageable, writes Nikolas move (1996 342), the private market for security extends not and personal pension s chemes and private health insurance, but burglar alarms, devices that monitor sleeping children, home testing kits for cholesterol levels and much more. Protection against risk through an investment in security becomes part of the responsibilities of to each one active individual, if they are not to feel guilt at failing to protect themselves and their loved ones against future misfortunes.In other words, the typical means for insuring against risk today is through market-promoted processes. However the fundamental point here, and this is something that Beck fails to develop in a systematic manner, is that such insurance is of a radically imaginary kind (with all the misrecognition and illusion that the Lacanian-Althusserian theorization of the duplicate mirror-structure of ideology implies), given that one cannot really buy ones way out of the collective dangers that confront us as individuals and societies. How does one, for example, buy a way out from the dangers of global warmi ng?The commodi? cation of risk has become a kind of safe house for myths, fantasies, ? ction and lies. The third development concerns the instrumentalization of identities in terms of lifestyle, consumption and choice. Beck touches on this issue through the individualization strand of his argument. Yet because he sees individualiza- Downloaded from http//soc. sagepub. com by Madhu Menon on September 24, 2007 2002 BSA Publications Ltd.. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution. 305 022761 Elliott 306 13/5/2002 Sociology 950 am Volume 36 s Page 306 Number 2 s May 2002 ion as an active process transforming risk society, he pays almost no attention to the kinds of affective investments, often destructive and pathological, unleashed by an instrumentalization of identities and social relations. Of core importance here is the culture of narcism (Lasch, 1980) which pervades contemporary Western life, and plays a powerful role in the instrumental affective i nvestments in individuals which a risk society unleashes. Joel Kovel (1988) writes of the de-sociation of the egotistical character, a character lacking in depth of randy attachment to others and communities.Unable to sustain a sense of personal purpose or social project, the egotistic character, writes Kovel, rarely moves beyond instrumentality in dealing with other people. Such instrumental emotional investments may well be increasingly central to the management of many risk codes in contemporary culture. Consider the ways in which some parents fashion a narcissistic relation with their own children as a kind of imaginary risk-insurance (involving anxieties and insecurities over old age, mortality and the like), rather than relating to their offspring as independent individuals in their own right.Also in risks relating to the home, personal comfort as well as safety, hygiene, health and domesticity, the veneer-like quality of pathological narcissism can be found. Some analyti cal caution is, of course, necessary here, primarily because the work on narcissistic culture of Lasch and Sennett, among others, has been criticized in terms of over-generalization (Giddens, 1991 17480). Accordingly, it may be more plausible to suggest that narcissistic forms of identity operator are a tendency within contemporary cultural relations of risk management, and not a sweeping social trend.Becks writings, I am suggesting, are less than satisfying on issues of power and domination because he fails to analyse in suf? cient depth the psychological, sociological and political forces by means of which the self-risk dialectic takes its varying forms. To develop a more nuanced interpretive and critical approach, I have suggested, the sociological task is to analyse privatization, commodi? cation and instrumentalization as channels of risk management. Tradition, Modernity, postmodernity The limitations in the concept of re? xivity I have highlighted are, in turn, connected to further ambiguities concerning the nature of social reproduction in contemporary culture. The production and reproduction of contemporary social life is viewed by Beck as a process of de conventionalization. The development of re? exive modernization, says Beck, is tended to(p) by an irreversible decline in the role of tradition the re? exivity of modernity and modernization means that traditional forms of life are increasingly exposed to public scrutiny and debate. That the dynamics of social re? xivity gash pre-existing traditions is emphasized by Beck via a range of social-theoretical terms. He speaks of the age of side-effects, of individualization, and of a sub-politics beyond left and right a world in which people can and must come to terms with the opportunities and dangers of new technologies, markets, experts, systems and Downloaded from http//soc. sagepub. com by Madhu Menon on September 24, 2007 2002 BSA Publications Ltd.. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution. 022761 Elliott 13/5/2002 950 am Page 307 Becks sociology of risk Elliott nvironments. Beck thus argues that the contemporary age is one characterized by increased levels of referentiality, ambivalency, ? exibility, openness and social alternatives. It might be noted that certain parallels can be identi? ed between the thesis of detraditionalization and arguments advanced in classical social theory. Many classical social theorists believed that the development of the modern era spelled the end of tradition. All that is solid melts into air, said Marx of the power of the capitalist mode of production to tear apart(predicate) traditional forms of social life.That the dynamics of capitalism undercut its own foundations meant for Marx a society that was continually transforming and eer revolutionizing itself. Somewhat similar arguments about the decline of tradition can be found in the writings of Max weber. The development of industrial society for Weber was inextricably intertwined with the rise of the bureaucratic state. Weber saw in this bureaucratic rationalization of action, and associated demand for technical ef? ciency, a new social logic destructive of the traditional texture of society.The views of Marx and Weber, among others, thus advanced a general binary opposition of the traditional and the modern. For proponents of the thesis of detraditionalization, such as Beck, the self-referentiality and social re? exivity of advanced modernity also necessarily implies that traditional principles and practices begin to break down. However, the thesis of detraditionalization is not premised upon the broad contrast between the traditional and the modern that we can discern in much classical social theory. On the contrary, Beck ? nds the relation between tradition and modernity at once complex and puzzling.If tradition remains an important aspect of advanced modernity, it is because tradition becomes re? exive traditions are inven ted, reinvented and restructured in conditions of the late modern age. So far I think that there is much that is interesting and important in this general druthers of Beck to understanding the construction of the present, past and future. In particular, I think the stress placed upon the re? exive construction of tradition, and indeed all social reproduction, is especially signi? cant even though I shall go on to argue that this general theoretical framework requires more speci? ation and elaboration. I want, however, to focus on a speci? c issue raised by Becks social theory, and ask, has the development of society toward advanced modernization been accompanied by a decline in the in? uence of tradition and traditional understandings of the past? Must we assume, as Beck seems to, that the social construction of tradition is always permeated by a pervasive re? exivity? At issue here, I suggest, is the question of how the concept of re? exivity should be related to traditional, mod ern and postmodern cultural forms. I shall further suggest that the concept of re? xivity, as elaborated by Beck, fails to comprehend the different modernist and postmodern ? gurations that may be implicit within social practices and symbolic forms of the contemporary age. In order to develop this line of argumentation, let us consider in some more detail the multiplicity of world traditions, communities and cultures as they impact upon current social practices and life-strategies. I believe that Beck is Downloaded from http//soc. sagepub. com by Madhu Menon on September 24, 2007 2002 BSA Publications Ltd.. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution. 07 022761 Elliott 308 13/5/2002 Sociology 950 am Volume 36 s Page 308 Number 2 s May 2002 right to emphasize the degree to which modernity and advanced modernization processes have assaulted traditions, uprooted local communities and broken apart unique regional, ethnic and sub-national cultures. At the l evel of economic analysis, an argument can plausibly be sustained that the erratic nature of the world capitalist economy produces high levels of excitability and uncertainty in social life and cultural relations, all of which Beck analyses in terms of danger, risk and hazard.It is expense noting, however, that Becks emphasis on increasing levels of risk, ambivalence and uncertainty is at odds with much recent research in sociology and social theory that emphasizes the regularization and standardization of daily life in the advanced societies. George Ritzers The McDonaldization of Society (1993) is a signal example. displace Webers theory of social rationalization and the Frankfurt Schools account of the administered society into a re? ctive encounter, Ritzer examines the application of managerial techniques such as Fordism and Taylorism to the fast food industry as symptomatic of the in? ltration of instrumental rationality into all aspects of cultural life. McDonaldization, as Ritzer develops the term, is the emergence of social logics in which risk and unpredictability are written out of social space. The point about such a conception of the standardization of everyday life, whatever its conceptual and sociological shortcomings, is that it clearly contradicts Becks stress on increasing risk and uncertainty, the concept of re? xive individualization, and the notion that detraditionalization produces more ambivalence, more anxiety, and more openness. Of course, Beck insists that re? exive modernization does not mark a complete break from tradition rather re? exivity signals the revising, or reinvention, of tradition. However, the revivification and persistence of ethnicity and nationality as a primary basis for the elaboration of traditional beliefs and practices throughout the world is surely problematic for those who, like Beck, advance the general thesis of social re? exivity.Certainly, the thesis would appear challenged by widespread and recently rev italized patterns of racism, sexism and nationalism which have taken hold in many split of the world, and indeed many serious controversies over race, ethnicity and nationalism involve a reversion to what might be called traditionalist battles over traditional culture source the rise of various religious fundamentalisms in the fall in States, the Middle East and parts of Africa and Asia. These political and theoretical ambivalences have their roots in a number of analytical dif? ulties, speci? cally Becks diagnosis of simple and advanced modernity. Beck furnishes only the barest social-historical sketch of simple modernity as a distinctive period in the spheres of science, industry, godliness and law. He underscores the continuing importance and impact of simple industrial society for a range of advanced, re? exive determinations (for example politically, economically, technologically and environmentally), yet the precise relations of such overlapping are not established or de monstrated in any detail.Exactly how we have moved into the age of re? exive modernization, although often verbalise and repeated, is not altogether clear. Becks main line of explanation seems to focus on the side-effects of modernization as undercutting the Downloaded from http//soc. sagepub. com by Madhu Menon on September 24, 2007 2002 BSA Publications Ltd.. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution. 022761 Elliott 13/5/2002 950 am Page 309 Becks sociology of risk Elliott foundations of modernity. But, again, the dynamics of simple and re? xive modernization, together with their social-historical periodization, remain opaque. In addition, it is not always clear how Beck is intending to draw certain conceptual distinctions between positive and negative instantiations of respectively simple and advanced modernist socio-symbolic figurations. Rejecting outright any crude opposition between traditional and modern societies, Beck relates a tale of the p roliferation of re? exive biographies and practices, lives and institutions, in which creative possibilities develop and new forms of risk and hazard take shape.Yet social advancement is far from inevitable Beck speaks of counter-modernities. The question that needs to be asked here, however, is whether it is analytically useful for social theory to construct the contemporary age as characterized by interacting tropes of industrial society and re? exive modernization on the one side, and a range of countermodernities on the other. Viewed from the frame of postmodern social theory, and in particular the sociology of postmodernity (see Bauman, 1992a), Becks argument concerning the circularity of the relationship between risk, re? xivity and social knowledge appears in a more problematic, and perhaps at last inadequate, light. For postmodern social theorists and cultural analysts diagnose the malaise of present-day society not only as the result of re? exively applied knowledge to co mplex techno-scienti? c social environments, but as infused by a more general and pervasive sense of cultural disorientation. The most prominent anxieties that underpin postmodern dynamics of social regulation and systemic reproduction include a general loss of belief in the engine of progress, as well as feelings of out-of-placeness and loss of direction.Such anxieties or dispositions are accorded central signi? cance in the writings of a number of French theorists notably, Foucault, Derrida, Lyotard, Baudrillard, and Deleuze and Guattari and also in the work of sociologists and social scientists interested in the rami? cations of post-structuralism, semiotics and deconstruction for the analysis of contemporary society (Lash and Urry, 1987 Harvey, 1989 Poster, 1990 Best and Kellner, 1991 Smart, 1992, 1993 Bauman, 1992a, 2000 Elliott, 1996).Postmodern anxieties or dispositions are, broadly speaking, cast as part of a broader cultural reaction to universal modernisms construction o f the social world, which privileges rationalism, favourableness and techno-scienti? c planning. Premised upon a vigorous philosophical cursing of humanism, abstract reason, and the Enlightenment legacy, postmodern theory rejects the metanarratives of modernity (that is, totalistic theoretical constructions, allegedly of universal application) and instead embraces fragmentation, discontinuity and ambiguity as symptomatic of current cultural conditions.To express the implications of these theoretical departures more directly in terms of the current discussion, if the social world in which we live in the 21st century is signi? cantly different from that of the simple modernization, this is so because of both socio-political and epistemological developments. It is not only re? ection on the globalization of risk that has eroded faith in humanly engineered progress. Postmodern contributions stress that the plurality of Downloaded from http//soc. sagepub. om by Madhu Menon on September 24, 2007 2002 BSA Publications Ltd.. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution. 309 022761 Elliott 310 13/5/2002 Sociology 950 am Volume 36 s Page 310 Number 2 s May 2002 mingled claims to knowledge carries radical consequences for the unity and coherence of social systems. Bluntly stated, a number of core issues are identi? ed by postmodern analysts in this connection s s s The crisis of representation, instabilities of meaning, and fracturing of knowledge claimsThe failure of the modernist project to ground epistemology in secure foundations The wholesale transmutation in modes of representation within social life itself. Postmodernization in this context spells the problematization of the relationship between signi? er and referent, representation and reality, a relationship made all the more complex by the cybernation of information and knowledge (Poster, 1990). What I am describing as a broadly postmodern sociological tie-up highlights the de? iency of placing risk (or any other sociological variable) as the central paradox of modernity. For at a minimum, a far wider range of sources would appear to condition our current cultural malaise. What is signi? cant about these theoretical sightings, or glimpses, of the contours of postmodernity as a social system are that they lend themselves to global horizons and de? nitions more adequately than the so-called universalism of Becks sociology of risk.Against a theoretical backdrop of the break with foundationalism, the dispersion of language games, coupled with the recognition that history has no overall teleology, it is surely implausible to stretch the notion of risk as a basis for interpretation of phenomena from, say, an increase in worldwide decouple rates through to the collapse of insurance as a principle for the regulation of collective life. Certainly, there may exist some family resemblance in trends surrounding new personal, social and political agendas.Yet the see ds of personal transformation and social dislocation are credibly to be a good deal more complex, multiple, discontinuous. This is why the change of mood intellectual, social, cultural, psychological, political and economic analysed by postmodern theorists has more far-reaching consequences for sociological analysis and research into modernity and postmodernization than does the work of Beck. In Becks sociology, the advent of advanced modernization is related to the changing social and technological dimensions of just one institutional sector that of risk and its calculation.The key problem of re? exive modernization is one of living with a high degree of risk in a world where traditional safety nets (the welfare state, traditional nuclear family, etc. ) are being eroded or dismantled. But what is