Commodification of women Essay

Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience(viewers, readers, listeners)to take some action with respect to products, ideas or services. Most commonly the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common . Advertising messages are usually paid for by various sponsors and viewed via various traditional media ; including mass media such as newspapers, magazines, television commercial, radio advertisement, outdoor advertising or direct mail ,or new media such as website and text messages. History of Advertising Going back in time Egyptians used papyrus to make sale messages and wall posters. Commercial messages and political campaign displays have been found in the ruins of Pompeii and ancient Arabia . Lost and found advertising on papyrus was common in ancient Rome . Wall or rock painting for commercial advertising is another manifestation of an ancient advertising form, which is present to this day in many parts of Asia, Africa and south America. The tradition of commercial wall painting can be traced back to Indian rock art painting that date back to 400 B. C. History reveals that out of home advertising and bill boards are the oldest form of advertising . As education became an apparent need and reading ,as well as printing developed advertising expanded to include hand bills . In the 17 century advertising started to appear in weekly newspapers in England. These early print advertisements were used mainly to promote books and newspapers ,which became increasingly affordable with advances in the printing press, and medicines ,which were much sought after as several diseases ravaged in Europe As the economy expanded in the 18th century advertising grew along side . During the next five decades it emerged as a strong industry. In 1840 Volney B. Palmer a calculating businessman established the roots of the modern day advertising agency in Philadelphia. In 1842 Palmer bought large amount of space in various newspapers at a concessional rate and then resold the space at higher rate to advertisers. At the turn of the century ,there were few career choices for women in business, however, advertising was one of few. Since women were responsible for most of the purchasing done in the household, advertisers and agencies recognized the value of women’s insight during the creative process. In fact ,the first American advertising to use a sexual sell was created by a women –for a soap product. Although tame by today’s standard ,the advertisement featured a couple with a message â€Å"the skin you love to touch†In the 21st century , marketing through the internet has opened new frontiers for advertisers. A number of websites have been created exclusively for selling products and services e. g. Ebay. com, Flipkart. com, Shadi. com etc. Even the search engine Google has started a change in online advertising by emphasizing contextually relevant , unobtrusive ads intended to help ,rather than inundate ,users. This has lead to plethora of similar efforts and an increasing trend of interactive advertising. How important has advertising become in our lives is clear from the fact that in 2010 , spending on advertising was estimated at more than 300 billion dollars in U. S and 700 billion U. S dollars worldwide Impact of Advertising Nowadays, advertising is omnipresent in our lives and has a really strong influence in our decisions as consumers. The aim is no longer to inform us of a new product and its use , it is more to create a desire and longing to possess it. Moreover ,advertising has become a centre of attraction . Television shows are devoted to it, a Museum is dedicated to it in Paris and we discuss advertisement in our daily lives. It can make us laugh, it can shock us, which shows that advertising has a link with the customs and the codes which govern our society . For instance the Museum of advertising in Paris presents a retrospective about the Chinese advertising from the beginning of the 19th century to the present day to show the impact of governments on the advertising , the link between advertising and communist society and reflects the Chinese history Women and Advertising: From the Feminist Social Perspective No issue related to women can be debated without reference to the feminist theory. Feminist social theory has been concerned with understanding fundamental inequalities between women and men and with analysis of male power over women. Its basic premise is that male derives from the social, economic, political arrangements specific to particular societies. Endorsing the view ,American feminist Catherine Mackinnon says: â€Å"men create the world from their point of view ,which then becomes the truth to be described . This is male world†. Initially feminist theory based its study on â€Å"things† such as housework, inequalities or male violence but now it has to be more concernd with â€Å"words† and with issues of representation. One of theses issues which is much discussed is women and their role in sphere of Advertising . Going with Mc Kinnon ,it can be said that in this field ,till recently everything was created from the male point of view . The interest was focussed on women in a house, as a wife, mother, homemaker and well wisher. This was image that would sell. From Marxist Social Perspective: The Marxist theory concentrates on the role of women in economic growth. Women are now capable of contributing towards the economy and share equal monetary responsibility. Hence in this paper ,women in advertising are represented in two ways: †¢Women as models to attract the consumers and sell the products and services †¢Women as consumer and target audience The advertising of the 20th century shows indeed the evolution of the women’s status. Historians refer to this century as â€Å"the century of women and sexual revolution† because the situation of women and consequently the relations between men and women changed considerably in western societies. Women obtained a real political, economic and domestic power of decision. POTRAYAL OF WOMEN IN ADVERTISEMENT The end of 19th century saw many women going to work ,as workers in the factories ,as domestic or employees, so that the time for household task and cooking was reduced. Having less time restricts the possibilities for women; but having a professional situation means beginning a long process of liberation . Work is money ,and money permits to buy the products ,not only the ones which are targeted to women ,but also other products . The 1920’s are the period of real evolution on the vision of women in advertising . Paris welcomes the poster realized by Leonetto Capiello for the â€Å"Delices† pasta ,which shows the first bare legged pin up of a beautiful women. Even though a liberated women had emerged in the 20 century but still until the 1950’s advertising gave the image of a passive women who was a housewife, a caring wife, a devoted mother and a symbol of beauty. But she was still not very active in other areas. Maternal streak was fully exploited during this period. A mother keeping the house clean with â€Å"Dettol â€Å" or cooking healthy food in â€Å"Dalda† ghee were representative advertisements of this period. A much discussed ad is of a â€Å"Baby Johnson Soap† that presents a chubby baby referring to family, childhood , happiness and other values directly linked to home. Similarly ‘Lux’ soap has always opted for celebrities whether its is Ava Gardner in Italy or Sharmila Tagore and current Katrina Kaif in India. The sales of these mentioned products was much above expected The models used were women and the target was also obviously women –whether a housewife, mother or simply a women desiring to look beautiful. The advertisers were sharp enough to realize that a good study of the target can bring considerable profit even though these cases confirm that the most shared values are almost the ones that men consider as â€Å"feminine†. Another aspect of women is the housewife . Many products for cooking and cleaning are created keeping a housekeeper in mind. They promise time saving devices, more free time to spend with family and healthy environment Progressive Women: A Change in Image The 1960’s witnesses a progressive unveiling of the body with the mini skirt. The stocking arrived as a liberator and the feminist movement was becoming popular. The advertisement for ‘ dim’ tights in U. S. A brought forth the concepts of a free women . The slogan highlighted was â€Å"in dim, you are free, you are beautiful†. From 1965 onwards the image of women changed. She asserted herself more and more and advertising presented a new independent women. She was no longer limited to housekeeping and in children’s upbringing ,from now on she worked and gained her autonomy. This changed image was also fully exploited by manufactures. Many advertisements related to the ready to serve food hit the market. ’Maggie’ diversified its range and launched the Mousseline instant mashed potatoes and the â€Å"three crowns† ready to serve dishes . Washing machines were introduced along with ovens, food processors and vacuum cleaners because they went well with the image of a progressive women . Instant coffee became a hit as did soup ,noodles and pasta. This was because the women of the 1980’s and 1990’s had emerged as â€Å"the wonder working women†. She was confident, reliable and independent but at the same time she had not forgotten or abandoned her traditional role of a mother ,wife and a daughter . The advertisement of ‘Lizol’ disinfectant portrays a lady doctor who wants her house clean with the said product and it makes her house germ free. Also noteworthy is another recent advertisement which features a busy boss ordering his Secretary not to permit anyone to enter. Surprisingly she enters but only to remind the boss that being a diabetic he needs to eat every two hours ,leaves a packet of sugar free Nutralite oat biscuits ,says sorry and leaves. The point is that-when the wife is absent the task is to be performed by a Secretary ,again a women. Yet in the field of advertising the emphasis still is on the stereotyped image of women . She is an object of appeal to men, attracts by her body, skin etc. The list of advertisements pertaining to beauty products ,perfumes ,soaps ,lotions ,shampoo etc is endless. Decorative models who are passive and non functional are used. Their primary activity is to adorn the product /service as a attractive stimulus. They are like mannequins with the least lifelike roles . †She† is in an artificial world ,often obviously so in the way she stands in dummy poses. The way these hackneyed stereotypes are repeated reveals a kind of discrimination ,clear and easy to denounce but hard to end to. This archaistic stereotype of women is strong and stubborn ,and for sure the advertising does not really permit to make its vanish. Indian advertising is to much dependent on the stereotyped image of women . Till now she is shown in the kitchen, running around her family, carrying grocery bags and then the husband giving her a â€Å"Moov† massage or she taking an advertised â€Å"Revital For Women† vitamin. The message clearly is â€Å"carry on with your duties but with the product suggested†. Similarly for cholesterol control products like cooking oil (Saffola) or oats, it is always a women who is concerned about her husbands blood pressure but rarely the other way around.

Drug and Alcohol Abuse

â€Å"Humankind has used mind- or mood- altering drugs at least since the beginning of recorded history and maybe before† (Substance). As time as well as technology progressed, so did the use and abuse of drugs and alcohol. The invention of the automobile increased the dangers of the abuse and use of these drugs. Each year in the United States and Canada, alcohol abuse is the cause of 100,000 deaths. Alcohol is also the drug that children ages 12 to 17 most commonly abuse. Teenagers become eligible to obtain their drivers license during these years, alcohol abuse is the leading cause of teenage deaths.People who abuse alcohol are more likely to abuse other drugs as well. â€Å"Drug abuse includes the use of illegal drugs—such as marijuana, methamphetamines, cocaine, heroin, or other â€Å"street drugs†Ã¢â‚¬â€and the abuse of legal prescription and nonprescription drugs†(Alcohol). When an individual is under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, there min d is in an altered state. Because of this, operation of an automobile can be very dangerous to anyone around. The abuser is also more likely to be involved in a violent dispute or have medical complications when under the influence.Because of these issues, it is very important that there be laws against alcohol and drug abuse. It is also very important to have consequences for breaking those laws. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration developed a method of determining if the operator of a motor vehicle is under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The test they developed is known as the Standardized field Sobriety Test. â€Å"The Standardized Field Sobriety Test (SFST) is a battery of three tests administered and evaluated in a standardized manner to obtain validated indicators of impairment and establish probable cause for arrest† (Standardized).The test includes the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus which consists of the individual looking side to side while the officer observes the jerks of the eye. There is also a walk and turn exercise and a stand on one leg exercise. When this test is conducted properly, it can determine within 91% accuracy if the individual is under the influence. As we all know, drug and alcohol abuse has become a big problem among all social classes. When alcohol and drug abuse occurs among celebrities, it is publicized on the cover of every gossip magazine and talk station.These individuals are not doing anything different than your average everyday American, but their lives are made public so that everyone can criticize and talk about them. An example of a celebrity who has had their personal life publicized is Lindsay Lohan. I watched a television show yesterday about her legal troubles. Lindsay Lohan, who has been in various movies and commercials since she was a toddler, has had a long battle with alcohol and drug abuse. In 2005, she was charged with misdemeanor DUI and released from jail the same day.She has attempted a variety of rehab facilities including six weeks at Promises Rehab. Lohan was stopped and charged again in July of 2005 for DUI. This time she was arrested and searched. Law enforcement found a small amount of Cocaine in her possession; therefore she was also booked for narcotics charges and also driving with a suspended license. She was released from jail after posting a 25,000 bail. After this arrest, she attempted yet another rehab facility. When she returned for court, she pled guilty to 2 DUI charges. As a part of a plea deal, she was released from the other charges.She was sentenced to 1 day in jail, 10 days of community service, and 36 months probation. She was also ordered to complete a drug facility center. In November, she reported to serve her day in jail and was released after 84 minutes due to overcrowding. Lohans bail was revoked in 2010 because she failed to show for a probation hearing. A warrant was also issued for her arrest, but then revoked when she posed her bo nd. Two days later, she returned to court and it was determined that she violated her bond by missing several alcohol education classes.She was sentenced to 90 days in jail of which she served 14 days, and 90 days of lockdown rehab of which she served about three weeks. (The E! Hollywood Story). Although it was portrayed as if Lohan was given a reduced sentence time because she is a celebrity, but in my opinion, she was not. When everything someone does is publicized, as it is with celebrities, it is easy for us to say they were given a reduced sentence, but in actuality, many people convicted of crimes are given reduced sentences or none at all.I do believe that if you have more money to pay fines, then you are more likely to not serve time, but you do not have to be a celebrity to pay your way out of trouble. Many people charged with DUI never do any time because they are able to pay fines or hire a lawyer to prove them innocent when they are not. I have a friend who was pulled fo r suspected DUI. She was given a field sobriety test of which she failed. She was then given a breathalyzer and it was determined to be three times the legal limit. She was arrested for DUI, and then released the next day.She was able to hire a lawyer to review all the paperwork and videos the officer had turned in. It was clear she was guilty, but the officer did not do everything just right, so her case was dismissed. This shows that our justice system is flawed. When there are no consequences for your actions, you continue to do those things that could harm others. I believe that sentencing for substance abuse should be a federal law. There are too many innocent individuals who are killed because someone is a substance abuser. I also believe that community service should not be a part of sentencing and programs such as PTI should not be available.I believe that driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol puts others at an increased risk of bodily harm and should be a crime th at carries a jail time sentence. If believe that if you choose to drink and drive, then you choose to do the time!REFERENCES Alcohol and Drug Problems. Jan Nisel. October 27, 2010http://www. peacehealth. org/KBASE/topic/symptom/alcpb/overview. htm Substance Abuse Counseling: Theory and Practice by Patricia Stevens and Robert L. Smith Page 4 Standardized Field Sobriety Testing http://www. nhtsa. gov/people/injury/alcohol/SFST/appendix_a. htm The E! Hollywood Story: aired October 2010 Drug and Alcohol Abuse â€Å"Humankind has used mind- or mood- altering drugs at least since the beginning of recorded history and maybe before† (Substance). As time as well as technology progressed, so did the use and abuse of drugs and alcohol. The invention of the automobile increased the dangers of the abuse and use of these drugs. Each year in the United States and Canada, alcohol abuse is the cause of 100,000 deaths. Alcohol is also the drug that children ages 12 to 17 most commonly abuse. Teenagers become eligible to obtain their drivers license during these years, alcohol abuse is the leading cause of teenage deaths.People who abuse alcohol are more likely to abuse other drugs as well. â€Å"Drug abuse includes the use of illegal drugs—such as marijuana, methamphetamines, cocaine, heroin, or other â€Å"street drugs†Ã¢â‚¬â€and the abuse of legal prescription and nonprescription drugs†(Alcohol). When an individual is under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, there min d is in an altered state. Because of this, operation of an automobile can be very dangerous to anyone around. The abuser is also more likely to be involved in a violent dispute or have medical complications when under the influence.Because of these issues, it is very important that there be laws against alcohol and drug abuse. It is also very important to have consequences for breaking those laws. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration developed a method of determining if the operator of a motor vehicle is under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The test they developed is known as the Standardized field Sobriety Test. â€Å"The Standardized Field Sobriety Test (SFST) is a battery of three tests administered and evaluated in a standardized manner to obtain validated indicators of impairment and establish probable cause for arrest† (Standardized).The test includes the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus which consists of the individual looking side to side while the officer observes the jerks of the eye. There is also a walk and turn exercise and a stand on one leg exercise. When this test is conducted properly, it can determine within 91% accuracy if the individual is under the influence. As we all know, drug and alcohol abuse has become a big problem among all social classes. When alcohol and drug abuse occurs among celebrities, it is publicized on the cover of every gossip magazine and talk station.These individuals are not doing anything different than your average everyday American, but their lives are made public so that everyone can criticize and talk about them. An example of a celebrity who has had their personal life publicized is Lindsay Lohan. I watched a television show yesterday about her legal troubles. Lindsay Lohan, who has been in various movies and commercials since she was a toddler, has had a long battle with alcohol and drug abuse. In 2005, she was charged with misdemeanor DUI and released from jail the same day.She has attempted a variety of rehab facilities including six weeks at Promises Rehab. Lohan was stopped and charged again in July of 2005 for DUI. This time she was arrested and searched. Law enforcement found a small amount of Cocaine in her possession; therefore she was also booked for narcotics charges and also driving with a suspended license. She was released from jail after posting a 25,000 bail. After this arrest, she attempted yet another rehab facility. When she returned for court, she pled guilty to 2 DUI charges. As a part of a plea deal, she was released from the other charges.She was sentenced to 1 day in jail, 10 days of community service, and 36 months probation. She was also ordered to complete a drug facility center. In November, she reported to serve her day in jail and was released after 84 minutes due to overcrowding. Lohans bail was revoked in 2010 because she failed to show for a probation hearing. A warrant was also issued for her arrest, but then revoked when she posed her bo nd. Two days later, she returned to court and it was determined that she violated her bond by missing several alcohol education classes.She was sentenced to 90 days in jail of which she served 14 days, and 90 days of lockdown rehab of which she served about three weeks. (The E! Hollywood Story). Although it was portrayed as if Lohan was given a reduced sentence time because she is a celebrity, but in my opinion, she was not. When everything someone does is publicized, as it is with celebrities, it is easy for us to say they were given a reduced sentence, but in actuality, many people convicted of crimes are given reduced sentences or none at all.I do believe that if you have more money to pay fines, then you are more likely to not serve time, but you do not have to be a celebrity to pay your way out of trouble. Many people charged with DUI never do any time because they are able to pay fines or hire a lawyer to prove them innocent when they are not. I have a friend who was pulled fo r suspected DUI. She was given a field sobriety test of which she failed. She was then given a breathalyzer and it was determined to be three times the legal limit. She was arrested for DUI, and then released the next day.She was able to hire a lawyer to review all the paperwork and videos the officer had turned in. It was clear she was guilty, but the officer did not do everything just right, so her case was dismissed. This shows that our justice system is flawed. When there are no consequences for your actions, you continue to do those things that could harm others. I believe that sentencing for substance abuse should be a federal law. There are too many innocent individuals who are killed because someone is a substance abuser. I also believe that community service should not be a part of sentencing and programs such as PTI should not be available.I believe that driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol puts others at an increased risk of bodily harm and should be a crime th at carries a jail time sentence. If believe that if you choose to drink and drive, then you choose to do the time!REFERENCES Alcohol and Drug Problems. Jan Nisel. October 27, 2010http://www. peacehealth. org/KBASE/topic/symptom/alcpb/overview. htm Substance Abuse Counseling: Theory and Practice by Patricia Stevens and Robert L. Smith Page 4 Standardized Field Sobriety Testing http://www. nhtsa. gov/people/injury/alcohol/SFST/appendix_a. htm The E! Hollywood Story: aired October 2010

How does the first act of the play prepare us for what follows? Essay

The play – Hobson’s Choice sets in late 1880s the Victorian times. If you knew about how do things look like and how people act, you can tell there are lots of differences and things have changed between now and the past. In the past, most of the women were indeed conservative, you can tell that from their costumes. For example, they used to wear very tight, grow bumptious and narrow neck costumes which show that they had no freedom, sometimes they were not even allow to choose their own dresses. However, they were willing to give up their freedoms for beauty. On the other hand, they also emphasized their deportment. Nowadays, women have more freedom, they can wear whatever they want to, and they do not have to wear tight and narrow neck dresses. Furthermore, the marrying age in the old days is around early 20s, but these days the marrying age is between late 20s and early 30s. The play is set in Salford, Lancashire, and the north of England. Hobson is of middle class background but has been running his show shop set in Chapel St, successfully, for some year. Hobson’s shop is quite big. It shows that he has the money to buy a better quality shop. The Hobson’s family is well educated. Also, the trap door shows the social status. Hobson is a really selfish and immature man. He does not care about his daughters’ and he leaves all the works to Maggie and relies to her. He lets her to run the shop and the house, all he cares is when he should goes drinking. He usually goes out at night and stay over until the next morning he comes back for lunch and goes out again. â€Å"He can go on waiting.† This quote shows us that Hobson is an unpunctual man. He doesn’t care how people feel, he cares about only himself. Also, he is extraordinarily lazy. He is so arrogant and he thinks he is better than everyone else. He hates lawyers because its wastes of money and they help people who are supposed to be send into jail. The author tells us that he hates lawyers so this gives us a clue that one of his daughter might marry a lawyer or start a relationship with a lawyer. â€Å"But I’ll tell you this, you’ll none rule me.† This quote demonstrates us that Hobson has a very bossy characteristic. â€Å"You’re pretty, but you’re bumptious, and I hate bumptiousness like I hate a lawyer.† And â€Å"You can lie like a gasmeter.† These quotes tell us that Hobson does not care about his daughters’ feelings; he says whatever he wants to say. Also, he never tries to choose Maggie a husband and he told Alice and Vickey that he is choosing their husband himself. Hobson’s eldest daughter – Maggie, she is 30 and single because of the selfishness of Hobson, he would not let her to find a husband herself but he did not find her a husband. He wants to keep her in the shop to work for him; he does not want to take to responsibility to manage his shop. Hobson often laughs at Maggie’s age as she has already passed the marrying age. â€Å"We’re not here to let people go out without buying.† This quote shows that she is a strong and powerful woman and she is an intelligent business woman. Her character also shows that she is not afraid of her father. Maggie is also Hobson’s favourite daughter. He thinks that Maggie is the most useful to him compare to Alice and Vickey. Maggie is well educated and behaves in a good manner which shows that she is a respectable woman. She takes good care of her sister and cares about them. However, she also cares about Will, but in a different way, this shows that she has feelings for him. As Maggie has a really strong personality, she might have a fight with Hobson later on. Hobson’s second daughter – Alice, she is 23 and with Albert. She helps Maggie to cook and to clean the house but not the business. She despises people; she also often scorns Maggie and reminds her that she has passed the marrying age. This shows that she maybe doesn’t get on really well with Maggie. â€Å"Mr. Prosser didn’t come in to buy boots.† This quote tells us that Maggie has a special relationship with Mr. Prosser, and she assumed that Maggie knew it. Hobson’s youngest daughter – Vickey, she is 21 and with Fred. She is a bit impatient and fidgety, she is the bad one in the family. If things are bad and negative to her, she gives bad comments and tries to make it bad. Vicky also despises people and full of herself. â€Å"Father, have you heard the new about out Maggie?† This quote shows that Vickey wasn’t being very nice to her sister, Maggie. As she knows that if Hobson knows about Will and Maggie, he will definitely stop them. To conclude, I think since the author provides enough clues for us, it prepares us really well for the next chapter. Therefore, this makes me really want to read on as I wanted to know what is going to happen next, and also makes me got really interested in this book.

Critical article about LEADERSHIP Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Critical article about LEADERSHIP - Essay Example The first part of the debate is whether leaders are born innately or if leaders are developed. Some theories point out that some people might be born with the innate ability to command and influence others. This describes what has become known as the Trait theory. With a biological basis, it states that people possess certain traits. Some of these traits in which we are born with make us more suitable leaders than others (Day p262-265). Thus, those with the correct combination of traits will become leaders in society. Also, the Great Man theory states that great leaders will be born when there is a need for them. Others point out that as we develop as humans, our natural leadership abilities require training and fostering. This is the Behavioral theory and it talks specifically how leadership is a learned process rather than an acquired trait. Since leadership can be taught, this allows the person to develop traits that he/she deems will be important in the course of leadership devel opment (Griffin & Moorhead p311-312). It is a combination of both. Rather than have just one theory explain the entire aspect, it is acceptable to take in the fact that either one could be used to describe how leadership skills are created. One of the important concepts to address regarding leadership theory is to evaluate the skills that are essential for leadership. The first and utmost important skill is in communication. Communication skills are necessary for the leader to communicate his/her ideas to his/her subordinates. This is essential if the leader and the followers are going to function together in a cohesive manner. The second important skill of leadership is the power of delegation. As a leader, it is sometimes impossible to cover goals and challenges by yourself. Teamwork and delegation are needed to solve this. Delegation involves a leader giving up some of his/her power or influence in order to ensure that multiple tasks get done. The final essential skill of leaders hip is cultural competency. In the globalized economy, leaders are constantly facing encounters with people of different races, cultures, ideals, etc. As a leader, it might be necessary to work with someone who does not share the same values as you. As a result, you need to learn to have acceptance as well as understanding which are the foundation and underlying themes of cultural competency. The first main theory is that of transactional leadership. Transactional leadership is often seen in the educational and economical context. It relies on the exchange of both punishments and reinforcements in order to attain goals (Chamorro-Premuzic, Tomas p155). In psychology, punishments are meant to decrease a behavior. Positive punishment is when you increase a negative stimulus in order to decrease a certain type of behavior. Negative punishment is when you decrease a stimulus in order to cause a decrease of a certain type of behavior. For example, if an employee is late the manager can ch oose to decrease his salary in an attempt to decrease his tardiness. Reinforcements are meant to increase a behavior which a person has deemed valuable. Positive reinforcement is increasing a stimulus in order to cause an increase in desired behavior. In the educational setting, a professor will give a student who deserves a good grade an â€Å"A† and hopefully this will encourage the increased academic effort put forth by the student.

The European Union is very much in the news today, especially with the Research Paper

The European Union is very much in the news today, especially with the potential of the Euro to collapse. But as you now know fr - Research Paper Example Similarly, the European Union economic growth provides countries with a crucial framework for competing efficiently on the world market and containing the effects of the EU economic crisis. This discussion seeks to establish the role of economic growth in the overall European projects. Discussion The original objective of the European project was to enhance the overall economic productivity of the European countries as fragile, minority nations had changed to be increasingly competitive. Similarly, the launching of the common currency (euro) was a fundamental move in the unification of European nations, (Cline and Guntram 52). Similarly, it has been a key achievement in that about 330 million European Union populations utilize it as their currency and benefit from its advantages. Unfortunately, with the current potential of Euro collapse the economic and financial stability of the European Union is at stake. Experts agree that the European project was not created on the notion of res tricted economic growth. The guiding principle was to, at the end, gain unity by integrating various facets of EU life together to combat conflict and ensure socioeconomic growth. Unfortunately, with the current condition, it is impossible to assume how appears to dwarf all other EU concerns. Therefore, it is clear that economic growth has an influential function to play in the prosperity and success of the overall European project. The European-broad free economic struggle should be offset by the wider unification of Europe. The economic growth has crucial tangible advantages for citizens of Europe, for instance, when European countries fall victim of global challenges such as, floods and related natural calamities, they get financial help from the European Union economic budget. Similarly, the structural Funds, controlled by the EU commission, motivate and supplement the European Union regional and national powers efforts to reduce economic disparities between diverse regions of E urope. Financial resources (funds) European Union budget and loans from banks (European Investment Banks) are utilized to expand the transport infrastructure in Europe (for instance, to expand the motorways networks and promote high-speed railways), therefore, facilitating an extensive access to remote areas and promoting trans-Europe transactions. The economic success of the European Union will be determined, partly, by the capacity of a crucial market of about less than one billion customers to advantage various businesses and citizens. Economic stability of EU project is crucial because it promotes economic development that results to prosperity and creation of job opportunities, and is a profound goal enshrined in the economic and monetary management of the European Union, as well as the Euro. For instance, under that Monetary and Economic union, the European countries closely organize their domestic policies with the main aim of sustaining economic growth. Similarly, the EU cen tral bank coordinated a unique monetary policy aimed at contained reduced inflations in the euro zone, (Woolcock 75). Low inflation and a firm economy help in creating a crucial atmosphere for sustainable future growth that is beneficial to the members of European unions and their populations. Strong economic basis helps the monetary and economic unions of the European Union to maintain their administration, and insufficiencies under certain limits based on the Stability

Article response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Article response - Essay Example The privacy of application should be guarded strongly and safely against illegal use and collection; that is without the consent of the device and application users. This is because it leaves the users vulnerable to exploitation and abuse by application proprietors and developers, who collect the said information. As such, the report recommended by the FTC should be seen through to its end in implementation and enforcement as without it many will suffer under lack of privacy. Especially affected are those that are still considered underage children as companies tend to collect their data even more than adults. This shows violation of rights since children do not have the power to know and even take legal action against the companies of their own accord as seen in â€Å"indicated that they were under age 13 without permission of their parents or disclosure of how it would use the information† (Wyatt). As a result, the move is strongly recommended to protect the privacy of inter net users on their mobile devices. However, the report has some significant flaw that cannot be overlooked which acts as a deal breaker for me. This is the guideline created to ensure that application developers stick to the defined code of conduct, which greatly interferes with the sense of creativity and revenue generation for developers, as well as the unexpected failure to meet requirements. This is of considerable concern following that it is likely that some of the companies providing application may do their best to meet the demands of the report, and still fall short of the requirement. The above is unintentional and may lead in unfavorable consequences for vendors and not on the developers since vendors shoulder the liability of the failures of the developer. The issue of collection of data without the users consent is not a new thing since most application found on the android platform, and especially those developed by Google tend to

Trade Preferential Arrangements or Regional Trade Agreements Essay

Trade Preferential Arrangements or Regional Trade Agreements - Essay Example 21). Though available, the preferences should not extend to all the trade activities between the two transacting countries. Also, the coverage of activities involved can largely depend on the type of agreements existing between the countries. Common forms of PTAs include the free trade areas. Most member countries involved in preferential trade agreements often belong to established geographical areas such as the North American Free Trade Area, European Union, Southern African Customs Union (SACU), and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The North American Free Trade Agreement is a common example of a free trade area that allows its member countries to enjoy free-trade opportunities. However, each of the countries is allowed to have its trade policies that apply to non-member countries that are involved in joint trading activities. The Southern African Customs Union (SACU) serves as an extension of the customs union arrangement. SACU member countries are allowed to conduct free trade, and an external trading policy is also applied to the non-member countries. SACU majorly covers South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, and Swaziland. The European Union is an example of a full customs union that represents a common market. It allows for free movement of labor among its member countries. Lastly, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations consists of Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Burma, Laos, and Cambodia. The ASEAN community has a lot of influence on the trade, security, and political issues within the Asia-Pacific region (Bossche, 2008, p. 706). The North American Free trade Agreement gives precedence to the trading activities between Mexico, Canada, and the United States. The agreement allows for the elimination of relevant tariff as well as non-tariff barriers that are

LAW OF BUSINESS ORGANISATIONS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

LAW OF BUSINESS ORGANISATIONS - Essay Example The principals hand over the running of the corporate body to the management with the aim of benefiting from professional management of such corporate body. The agency theory offers many views of this relationship, as well as prepositions on how this relationship can be nursed in order to benefit the principals. The subject of this essay is to examine the ways in which agency cost theory has influenced company law and corporate governance reform. AGENCY THEORY The Problem to be Uprooted The concerns that the agency theory raises were first raised by Adam Smith. Smith noted that when a business unit grows into a level at which its management is handed over to other members who are not owners, the running of such a business will not be optimized. The new people who are responsible for managing the business lack an equivalent commitment as the owners. This particularly rises because of conflict of interests. Conflict of interests comes up because the agents will want to maximise their b enefits at the lowest efforts while the principals will want to incur the least expenses but with maximum input from the agents to that the principals’ benefits are maximized.1 These concerns were revisited by other scholars, for instance, Berle and Means, but were fortified by the efforts of Jensen and Meckling.2 Jensen and Meckling clearly explained the conflict of interest that often comes up in the delegation of duties by the principals to the agents. They called it the agency problem. They observed that because agents do not own the business unit they are running, there are likely chances that they will commit ‘moral hazards’. Moral hazards in this context are actions that benefit the agents but at the expense of the business unit or rather the business unit owners. Such actions as shirking duties to attend to personal matters arise when non owners of a business start running it. Such actions are clearly not in the best interest of the principals.3 In order to solve the agency problem, two suggestions were made. One was that the delegation of duties and that the relationship between principal and agent must be designed in a manner that will uphold efficiency. The second suggestion made was that there has to be an effective means of monitoring the agents. Jensen clarified that in the first suggestion, there has to be consensus on the amount of rights that the principals will transfer to the agents. The agents have to be allowed enough rights to allow them execute their duties as pertains to those rights but they should not be too much to the extent of undermining the principals’ rights. And in the second suggestion a mechanism is created that will monitor the agents to ensure that what is agreed in the first suggestion is being adhered to – that is, the agents do not overstep their mandate. Thus from the very outset, the agency theory is all about corporate governance and company law. Putting up structures to enable agents manage a corporate body in a certain way that the principals wants is actually influencing how corporate governance is undertaken.4 It is clear that even though principals invite agents to run their business for efficiency purpose due to the professional skills that these agents have, the agents to some extent are not likely to work as hard as the principals would have worked if they had the skills that the agents possess. It therefore becomes inevitable that the corporate body will lose some value due to the change

Modern Organizations and Accounting System Research Paper

Modern Organizations and Accounting System - Research Paper Example It is vital because it systematizes the whole process. Without having proper accounting system, it is impossible to run business either small or big. Every type of organization needs to have check and balance on their financial statements (Eisen, 2000). One thing that should be clearly mentioned here is that the modernized accounting system has not changed the business purpose and principles but it has only changed the mechanism. In other words, it could be said that the method of performing accounting functions have become more advantageous. Early accounting reports have shown major errors in calculations and illegal actions by the practitioners. It is due to this reason that the need of modernized and computerized accounting system arose. Earlier, great loses of money and reputation of the organizations was noted because of lack of accounting systems (Eisen, 2000). In addition, it affected economies of countries as in whole. Modernized Accounting System and Change in Organizations: In order to understand the difference in modern organizations that has taken place because of advanced accounting system we need to compare current accounting system with the old one. ... In addition, it has been noticed that it is very difficult to maintain records safely because of greater man made errors or mistakes. Secondly, if files of records or data are lost than in such circumstances, businesses have to suffer from loss or face penalties (Previts, 2006). Therefore, the need of establishing newer accounting method was felt by accountants and other professionals at business to have alternative methods of dealing with numbers and financial statistics of the organization. Modern technology has played an important role in keeping records of numbers, in generating different methods of solving mathematical equations in more accurate and efficient way. Modernized systems were predicted to have a profound effect on the working of organizations as it helped in efficient work process (Merlene, 2010). Introduction to advanced technology and the use of modernized system in the department of accounts has brought tremendous change in the mechanism of accounting procedures. First and foremost, prominent change that has been observed is that modern technology has quickened the working process for accounting functions and capital consumption. It has made availability of financial information much faster and easier, understanding the use of information in proper way with the use of modern technology has made it straightforward for the business people to make good and beneficial decisions on correct time to increase productivity (Merlene, 2010). Now reports are generated just by clicking few buttons instead of wasting more time on preparing reports manually. Similarly, paying high wages to employees companies are currently using centralized controlled

International Management Ethics and Values Assignment

International Management Ethics and Values - Assignment Example >>>> answer each question with AT LEAST one paragraph 1. What is the difference between descriptive ethics and normative ethics? What role do values play in each of these two approaches to ethics? Provide examples to illustrate your points. Hints: define descriptive ethics and normative ethics? The importance (play important role in the ethical decision making) and the difference! Provide some examples. Descriptive ethics is founded on the belief that humans are ‘hard-wired’ to be selfish. That is, they are for the most part absorbed in fulfilling their own desires and goals. The capitalist economy is a good example of this instinct in humans, whereby, ‘greed is good’ is an accepted mantra for business corporations and individuals alike. Descriptive ethics promotes a ego-centric decision making model, whereby, an individual is morally entitled to pursue his own happiness through independent action. Cultural relativism is another term coupled to descriptive e thics. This school of thought contends that what is right or wrong is specific to the particular cultural milieu. Normative ethics, on the other hand, takes a more didactic approach to human action in that it prescribes ‘what’ is morally right through rational deliberation. ... 2. In practice, what can be said for and against utilitarianism, or a results-based approach to ethics? [Class 2a lecture file] Hints: define utilitarianism (act and role) advantages and disadvantages, define results-based approach! The utilitarian totem is ‘greatest happiness for the greatest number of people’. This objective for the evaluation of ethics is very appealing intuitively. It is also politically consistent with principles of democracy. But the issues with Utilitarianism crop up due to qualitative factors. For example, what exactly does ‘happiness’ mean? Moreover, are the values and conditions that create happiness universally the same? Even further, why should happiness or pleasure or utility be the arbiter of morality? Indeed, the purpose of moral inquiry is not so much happiness but justice. Under utilitarian ethics, the ends always justify the means. But to the extent that the means involve human action and assent, normative ethical evaluatio n comes into play. So, practical issues such as this have given Utilitarianism the tag of being an idealistic or utopian ethical system. 3. In practice, what can be said for and against deontology, or ethical theories of the right? [Class 3a lecture file] Hints: define deontology, advantages and disadvantages, define the theory of right! Deontology is a sharp contrast to Utilitarianism, in that actions are deemed right or wrong not through their consequences. In the contrary, those actions that are considered to be duties, including obligations, responsibilities and commitments are valued as moral. Deontological ethics aligns very well with the mandates of major religions of the world, including Christianity. For this reason, the theory has drawn criticism. It is easy to see how

Elimination of Television Jerry Mander Essay Example for Free

Elimination of Television Jerry Mander Essay Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television Jerry Mander thinks that with television â€Å"there is ideology in the technology itself. † The four claims in this particular article are that: (1) television itself had come to define the people who use it, (2) the forms by which it is used, (3) its influence on people, (4) as well as the other significant outcomes that may later come from its use. He argued that television is a medium or a means through which people derive, process, and build ideas from. He used parallelism in his challenge or rebuttal argument when he likened television to the army. The army’s mandate is to fight wars that necessitate fighting, killing, defeating and winning over the enemy. It does not follow that the generals chosen to lead the army are the kind born to fight and kill, the same way that television was not conceived to breed the kind of people who watch it. In the concept of the automobiles, he used the climatic word order in his narrative argument. He enumerated the consequences of the invention of the automobile, the need for gas, oil to source it, refineries to process the oil, stations to pump gas into the car. Mander used emotive language in his causal argument to emphasize the change cars brought to people, like when â€Å"they evolved into car people †¦. Cars replaced human feet. † Television like the automobile triggers a lot of reaction from its existence and subsequent use. Advertisements are made on television because consumers watch TV, manufacturers make big sales because their products are advertised, and the line goes on. This argument is related to Mander’s take on Advertising. The evaluative argument on the comparison of television to advertising used a balanced sentence with equal and parallel ideas, when Mander wrote that advertising was â€Å"designed to persuade and dominate by interfering in people’s thinking patterns. † Television for its part has a strong influence on people to take a side of an issue, or to change their minds on others. In his concluding argument he takes the strong position of getting rid of television quickly if ours is to be restored to a sensible and rational and free-thinking society basis the above reasons. Reference Mander, Jerry. (1978). Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television. Harper Perennial.

Organizations Performance Essay Example for Free

Organizations Performance Essay An organization’s performance is vital for their success and it is important that all employees are on board with making sure the performance is of high quality. It differs from other evaluations within the company because the performance evaluation â€Å"focuses on the organization as the primary unit of analysis† (Evaluating the Performance of an Organization, 2012). Within an organization’s performance it helps determine the actual output or end results of an organization against the intended outputs or goals for the organization (businessdictionary. com). The product market performance is also included in an organizations performance. Some tools can help the organization change or â€Å"improve their policies on behalf of greater preparedness for the many futures ahead† (NYUWagner, 2011). Different areas and tools are used to determine the organization’s performance and how well they either are doing or how much improvement the organization needs to bring their performance up. â€Å"Organizations are constantly trying to adapt, survive, perform and influence† but that does not always mean they are successful at doing what they do (Evaluating the Performance of an Organization, 2012). One way that an organization can better their performance is by conducting an organizational assessment to diagnose their current performance to see what is working and what could use a little bit of improvement. This â€Å"tool can help organizations obtain useful data on their performance, identify important factors that aid or impede their achievement of results, and situate themselves with respect to competitors† (Evaluating the Performance of an Organization, 2012). The main four tools for organizational performance are effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, and financial viability. â€Å"Effectiveness is the capability of producing a desired result† (businessdictionary.com). This means that if something is considered to be effective then it has an intended or expected outcome which is what is used in the organizations to determine if what is set in place is working effectively or if additional changes need to be made. There is sufficient reason and means with effectiveness and that is to accomplish a purpose. Without a purpose there is not an effective meaning behind conducting business or maintaining a successful organization. Effectiveness is a very good tool for organizations and managers to understand and become familiar with to be on the right track for success. Another tool that management should be familiar with and make sure the organization is doing is efficiency. Efficiency is not to be confused with effective even though sometimes they are mixed up and confused. â€Å"Efficiency describes the extent to which time, effort or cost is well used for the intended task or purpose† (businessdictionary.com). Typically efficiency is used with the specific purpose of relaying the capability of a specific application of effort to produce a specific outcome effectively with a minimum amount or quantity of waste, expense, or unnecessary effort (Evaluating the Performance of an Organization, 2012). Relevance is a basic tool but one that can help in the success of an organization. It is â€Å"the ability to retrieve material that satisfies the needs of the user† mostly in the terms of an informational retrieval system (businessdictionary.com). Management need to have relevance in order to be successful because they need to be able to pull the necessary information from production, departments, and other sources to see if what is being produced or utilized is satisfying their requirements or not. For a business to be effective they need to â€Å"strive for the best possible economic results from the resources currently employed or available† (Drucker, 1963). Having an effective business is the key for the business to be able to grow and establish themselves as a company and within the community. Several different techniques are used to allow the business to become effective. One of the keys for successful management â€Å"is to examine the marketplace† and focus on the process of management versus the output (Drucker, 1963). When focusing on the process of management it is important for the company to look at strategy, planning and budgeting and understand the difference between each of them yet understand how each one works with each other to make it successful. â€Å"Strategy is a high level plan to achieve one or more goals under conditions of uncertainty† (businessdictionary.com). For a business to be successful they need to implement some sort of strategy. Strategy is important because it helps to utilize all of the resources that are available or could be available for the project at hand. Most of the time resources are usually limited and in order to achieve the goals that the company has set in place making sure the strategy is set in place will help the process flow more smoothly. â€Å"Strategy is also about attaining and maintaining a position of advantage† over the opponents, or competition that is able to have flexibility instead of having to stick to any specific fixed plan. By allowing there to be slight flexibility that allows the company to try to keep an advantage over the competition and stay ahead compared to the other organizations. Planning â€Å"is the process of thinking about and organizing the activities required to achieve a desired goal† (businessdictionary.com). Strategy could be considered the first step and then planning would be the second step in achieving the desired goal for organizational su ccess. Planning involves the construction and maintenance of a plan. â€Å"This thought process is essential to the creation and refinement of a plan† or combination of it with other plans (NYUWagner, 2011). Planning typically combines forecasting of development with the preparation for how the organization should react to these situations. For the organization to remain successful it needs to understand the importance and relationship between planning and forecasting. â€Å"Forecasting can be described as predicting what the future will look like† or what the future might hold for the company and â€Å"planning predicts what the future should look like† (NYUWagner, 2011). Organizations that do not understand the difference between planning and forecasting will not be as successful as the organizations that do. This is because looking at the numbers of what something might look like and what it should look like are two different ways of planning. For a business to be successful the need to focus on planning so their predictions are what the future should look like to be successful and stay on the right path. Budgets are also incorporated with strategy and planning, they all intertwine together. â€Å"A budget is a quantitative expression of a plan for a defined period of time† (businessdictionary.com). Several different factors can be associated within a budget such as sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities, costs and expense, assets and liabilities, and even cash flows. The budget â€Å"expresses strategic plans of business units, organizations, activities or events in measurable terms† (Evaluating the Performance of an Organization, 2012). For a company to have success in their daily operations they need to make sure the stay on budget and current with all of their projects. Many organizations create a budget for each plan however they do not follow through with the budget. It is one thing to create a budget for a product and it is another thing to actually follow through with the budget and make sure everyone stays on track. If the company goes over budget then the planning and strategy process were not calculated correctly. Everyone involved within the project needs to be familiar with the strategy, plan and budget aspects to keep the organization successful and continue moving forward instead of always having to back track. It is easy to get off of track or to change the plan in the middle of the project. It is up to the organization and the team responsible for the project to keep the budget that they were assigned. Works Cited NYCWagner. (2011). Retrieved August 21, 2013, from http://www.NYCWager.com Evaluating the Performance of an Organization. (2012). Retrieved August 1, 2013, from http://www.smallbusinessnotes.com/managing-your-business/business-ethics.html#ixzz2afud6KU0 Business Dictionary. (n.d.). Retrieved July 30, 2013, from http://www.businessdictionary.com Ferrell. (2011). Business Ethics. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Kirby. (2012). Accounting Principles. McGraw. Zain, B. (2011). Strategic Management. Pittsburg: McGraw.

Analysis Of Cultural Imperialism With Hollywood Films Media Essay

Analysis Of Cultural Imperialism With Hollywood Films Media Essay With the rising of electronic media, in the 1960s scholar Marshall Mcluhan raised the notion of global village, which provides a common platform of random communication without physical and geography distance for worldwide people. In this perspective, this kind of information circumstance will enforce everyone globally to be the participant of, and struggle for a same strategy, because we are inevitably connected with each other (Mcluhan and Quentin, 1967). In the rest years of twentieth century, with the assistant of advanced technology and high-developing economy ¼Ã…’the whole world seems to increasingly move forwards to the global village in nature. The concept of globalization, to some extent, already gradually rooted in peoples mind. In the process of globalization, in generally, two primary constituent parts cannot be neglected. One is the distance between time, space and place has shrunk (Giddens, 1990; Harvey, 1990; Rantanen, 2005), which is owing to the technological adv ances, such as electronic media, instantaneous communication that enable people to realize interaction over the boundaries of country and time, which is also the precondition of the realization of globalization. In this sense, the global communication systems prompt the instant currency of capital and offer possibility for the expansion of production and marketing strategies. The other one concerns the content of the communication. With the help of telecommunication technology, the diffusion of media products have surpassed the country border. By the way of music, press issues, films and broadcast channels, the images, thoughts, and sounds of different cultures are mutually flowing among a vast network of people in the worldwide sphere. For this, the project of globalization refers to the communication and incorporation of culture from different areas. In addition, the globalization of mass media, especially, aims to the content of cultural products can be obtained globally (Croteau and Hoynes, 2003). In this sense, confronting the problem of the promise and reality of media globalization, researchers respectively hold different viewpoints. Among these debates, an important discourse called cultural imperialism, which is resulted from the worry of the inequality of global media ownership, control consumption and content, should be highlighted. A number of scholars, because of the superiority of Western media products on the consumption marketing, claim that media globalization equals cultural imperialism, and convey deep concerns with globally cultural homogenization and standardization. Especially, accompanied by the globally prevailing consumerism, traditionally national cultures of each country all have the possibility of being unified into a common global commercial culture system. The most typical evidence is the export of American cultural goods in the range of whole world. As we can see, Coca-Cola, IBM, Levis, and Hollywood films, these global brands ar e all produced by the U.S.. However, there are still a part of socialists understandably suspect the discourse of cultural imperialism on the concept of culture and the confusion of cultural goods and ideological effects (Tomplinson, 1999). On the Basis of the controversy over the discourse of cultural imperialism, in this essay, I intend to through the analysis of concrete and weighted American media product-Hollywood films, research whether so-called cultural imperialism can work under the condition of consumerist culture, which appeared as the key representation of cultural homogenization. The focus of part 1 is the literature review of the details of cultural imperialism, which involving its original definition, critique and impacts. Based on the theoretical analysis of cultural imperialism in part1, the next section will associate with specific data and text analysis, to examine the relative statement of cultural imperialism. In the last part, I will point out my own discussion over the cultural imperialism, and conclude the limitation. The Discourse of Cultural Imperialism Before moving to the main argument of this paper, it is necessary to define the notion of cultural imperialism. As early as the first decade of the nineteenth century, Lenin suggested the concept of imperialism. In his perspective, the term of imperialism was closely linked with economy, and we can regard it as the highest form of capitalism. ( Lenin, 1939). He pointed that at this level of capitalism, imperialism appeared as a process that big conglomerates incorporate smaller enterprises for the further profits, and moreover, this kind of operation could surpass the national boundaries. In addition, this sort of economic conduction is between the major capitalist nations, and it will result in specific imperialist patterns of domination. In this sense, Maybe cultural imperialism is one consequence of the specific imperialist patterns of domination Lenin said. Williams (1983) also has more further viewpoint towards the concept of imperialism. As for Williams, he concludes imperialis m as: Like any word which refers to fundamental social and political conflicts, cannot be reduced, semantically, to a single proper meaning. Its important historical and contemporary variations of meanings point to real processes which have to be studied in their owen terms (p. 160). Additionally, he even particularly generalized the development of imperialism into two categories, politically and economically. Relating with this paper, the economic category is worth being mentioned. As Williams argued, this process originated from Marxist analysis of the development of modern capitalism, which is similar as Lenins argument. As a result, combining current modern capitalism statement with the characteristic of imperialism, Williams claimed, imperialism in contemporary context is applied to the practices of US and Soviet Union. However, American imperialism refers to a primarily economic denomination associated with the global reach of capitalism but not having the political form of colonialism (John, 1991). As a result, with the post-war non-colonial process since the 1960s and the development of contemporary capitalism, the analysis of new imperialism has emerged among academic circle, which considered that, in the new international settings, the imperialist expan sion strategy has moved primarily from military aggression and directly colonial domination to economic and cultural penetration, in which, the discourse of cultural imperialism is a significant and critical theory of cultural globalization. About the concept of cultural imperialism, there are existing different versions. The earliest systematic one was given by Herbert Schiller. Furthermore, Tunstall(1977) crystalized the definition of cultural imperialism as: The cultural imperialism thesis claims that authentic, traditional and local culture in many arts of the world is being battered out of existence by the indiscriminate dumping of large quantities of slick commercial and media products mainly from the United States. In this sense, it is clear that the process of cultural imperialism is operated by the products import of majority capitalist countries (mainly the U.S.A.), primarily media products. In this sense, non-Marxists prefer to see cultural imperialism as media imperialism. If that, the discourse of cultural imperialism can be approached on the sphere of media, which turns to the empirical territory instead of theoretical assumptions (Chin-Chuan Lee, 1979). Similar as Lees account of media imperialism, Oliver Boyd Barrett (1977) defines media imperialism as: The process whereby the ownership, structure distribution or content of the media in any one country is subject to substantial external pressures from the media interests of any other country or countries- without proportional reciprocation of influence by the country so affected (p. 116). He also suggests four modes of media imperialism: 1) the shape of the communication vehicle 2) a set of industrial arrangements 3) a body of values 4) media content, which could exert the cultural dominance instead of direct economic relationship. David Croteau and Wiliam Hoynes (2003) proposed more detailed connection and explanation of Boyd-Barretts statement. First of all, they claims that the linkage between cultural imperialism and media imperialism is because of the media products, which from Western side, especially America, intensely impact other regions culture, almost have reached the level of cultural domination. Here, it refers to the relation of media ownership and media content. According to the theory of media imperialism, both values and ideology of Western society are embedded in the media products sold on the interests of Western corporations. Next, Croteau and Hoynes (2003) in their book Media/Society also cite Antonio Gramscis theory of hegemony to explain the con cept and significance of cultural hegemony, and sociologist Stuart Halls analysis of how mass media institutions mix with this conception of hegemony. The conception of Gramscis (1971) hegemony is connecting all culture, power, and ideology together. In his perspective, besides military force, power can be obtained by the way of cultural and ideological domination as well. For this direction, the key strategy is to create consent, which can be realized through a kind of cultural hegemony. Croteau and Hoynes said that consent is something that is won ¼Ã¢â‚¬ ºruling groups in a society actively seek to have their worldview accepted by all members of society as the universal way of thinking (p.166). In this sense, schools, religion, and media naturally become the sites where help the dominant class approach this kind of hegemony, due to these institutions are the places where we form the ways of thinking. On this basis, Hall(1982) suggested that mass media is the main site where the cultural hegemony is exercised, because media images are not merely reflecting the world, but represent ing the world, and could actively make things have meanings. And then, associating with media ownership and commercial profits, many scholars argue that media is principally on the behalf of the dominant assumptions, and applying the universal views of the world that most people know. With the development of the globalization of mass media, this conception is more convincing. For example, because of the motive of media globalization is commercial interests, plus the economic distance among different countries, the inequality of media globalization is inevitable and obvious. The growth of centralized media conglomerates will result in a concentrated global media industry. And additionally, the ownership of these global media firms are still in the hands of a few advanced developed countries, which also dominate the production of global media products. As a result, from this respect, major researchers are likely to connect the elite status of Western media products with cultural imperialism. The most typical one should be the impact of American media items globally. Coca-Cola, the products of Disney series, McDonald, Hollywood movies, and so forth American products are all prevailing across the world because of the propaganda of American mass media. The supporters of cultural imperialism claims that these foreign imports will threaten and even dominate the local culture. (Coteau and Hoynes, 2003). For instance, according to the data of Ministry of Culture and Communication in 2001, American films occupy 54% to 92% of the performing movie in theaters in countries of the European Union, in contrast, European films make up only 3% of films shown in the United States (Ministry of culture and Communication, 2001). Schiller (1992) also from the television program export to describe the high level of American media domination globally. He indicated that commercial television has become an important and flourishing national export (p.129). He also quoted the former official of United States Information Agency Woilson P. Dizards (1964) words to prove this point, who said that today, overseas sales account for 60 percent of all U.S. telefilm syndication activities and represent the difference between profit and loss for the entire industry (p. 58). Besides, in 1967, Dizard reported that the amount of [TV commercial] exports, now approaching $100 million a year, is such that the television screen is becoming the main source of the American image for increasing millions of people abroad (1967, p. 59). From all these data, it is clear that American media industry, to a large extent, is relying on foreign markets, and its impact of media products is intensifying. Associating with Halls analysis of mass media and culture, through media products to diffuse Western values and ideology seems sensible. The discourse of cultural imperialism looks like could be used to describe one phenomenon of cultural globalization, which through exporting media products to diffuse own countrys values and ideology, in order to the last culture domination. However, there are partial scholars who dont agree with this discourse of cultural imperialism or media imperialism. The main critic of the discourse of cultural imperialism-John Tomlinson, provided a comprehensive critique pinpointing each part of cultural imperialism. Schillers theory of cultural imperialism focuses on the media, and from economic and political perspective to view the unequal structure of global cultural production and distribution. For this, Tomlinson (1991) argues that there are two mistakes underlying in this theory. First, though media is an important component of culture, it can not substitute all aspects of culture, and its impact on indigenous culture is closely connected with local audiences understanding and individual experience of media products. Secondly, Tomlinson argues that it is a kind of exaggeration to attribute the overwhelming significance of cultural imperialism to the media. It is problematic to equate cultural imperialism with media imperiali sm. All these studies are very helpful in the depiction of the discourse of cultural imperialism, either proponent or sceptic. In next part, I will combine the specific media text-American Hollywood films, to analyze the expression of cultural imperialism on the basis of American primarily cultural values. Hollywood Films Like I mentioned in last section, media products are an effective way to diffuse certain values and ideology, consequently, realizing the purpose of cultural domination. In this respect, in order to analyze the discourse of cultural imperialism through the dissection of one concrete media text, it is inevitable to mention what kind of values or ideological theory is implied in that media text, and these ideas is serving for whose benefits. Undoubtedly, in recent decades, the United States of America through its powerful economic and technological strength, its cultural perpetrator to the less advanced countries is apparent, either material products or spiritually cultural products and social political values. For example, the standard American icons-Mickey Mouse, Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Hollywood are typical evidences. Then, what American values have been propagated through these popular issues? In general, white peoples traditional culture is the leading culture in America, what is al so called WASP culture (White Angle-Saxon Protestant Culture) (Kennedy, 2001. p. 913). American main stream culture actually is the special mixture of Christianity, Capitalism and democracy (translated from: Majie Zhu, 2003). Contemporary Hollywood films can, to some extent, through this specially cultural value, gain the market and extraordinary box office receipts, and subsequently, become the key approach for the expansion and penetration of culture imperialism. Individualism as the cultural value originated from the thinking of European burgeoning bourgeoise, which was used to oppose the autocracy feudal aristocracy during the renaissance. The early North American Puritan as same as the reason for getting rid of the European religion oppression migrated to America. And then, in American The Declaration of Independence, some self-evident truth is included, all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (Tefferson and Fink, 2002, p. 21-23). In American peoples thought, individual liberty is the final purpose, and society just the channel to reach this aim. In addition, Americans advocate surpass others by own effort, against any kind of inference to personal liberty from country or society. In short, individualism, is I will take responsibility of every thing by myself. In 1998, when American president Clinton visited China, he has said that the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, free from government interference to express different views and the right of free faith, are the central idea of the founding of the United states. And this is also the thought that leaded Americans from one side of continent to another side, and finally stand on the top of the world , and so far, American people still value it as a precious thinking (translated from: Zheng Yuan, 1998). In this respect, individualism is the main motive stimulating not only American constant innovation, but also the reckless expansion with the indifference of other countries interests. On the basis of above introduction of several American mainstream values, it is timing to associate it with the analysis of concrete Hollywood films to research the discourse of cultural imperialism in American way. The classic film-Forrest Gump in 1995, ever gained the Best Film Reward of Oscar Award. Through the picture of the life of retarded Gump, we can get in touch with many aspects of American social life. This film was adapted from the same named novel of Winston Groom. The original book is fantastic fiction filling with ironic senses, however, the film has decorated and beautified the whole story. The original fantastic and ironic meaning have been removed, and the rebellious fighting spirit was sacrificed as well. Gump in the film has been shaped as an idealized American civilian hero, who has noble morality, and his way of earning life and pursuing happiness is on the effort to glorify America. The role of Gump in film, can be seen as the representative figure of American individualism, and this image is advocated by American society, which can be testified from the scene that Gump is endowed of congress badge. Another instance is the extremely costing Hollywood war film- Saving Priva te Ryan, which is an propaganda of American individualism. The whole story is processing along with the group rescue of individual life. This theme matches the Jewish traditional principle in the film Schindlers list- he who saves one life saves the world entire. Additionally, Hollywood films always put the mission of saving all the world on the shoulder of an individual. In the film Air Force One, the image of American President Tim Marshall is a good example. For protecting own countrys people and reputation, he insists on not compromising over the terrorists. In the condition of utter helplessness, by the familiar with each precise device of Air Force One, Marshall struggled with those terrorists by himself, and finally, realized the promise of zero-tolerance and save the world (lines in the film Air Force One, 1997). Within this film, American President is eager to expand the liberal-democracy, the Christian faith and the concept of American family to global people. However, in realistic life, this kind of omnipotent heroism is merely a myth. What anti-terrorism really need is the cooperation of all the nations, which has been proved through the fact of Somali Piracy event in April, 2009. Another film Bable in 2006 provides another angle to view cultural imperialism in Hollywood film. An accidental gun shooting event leads to the whole plots in the next story. Western people in this film enact rare indecision when they are encountering accident, which seems to lose the traditional image of the leadership globally. However, it cannot say that Hollywood films give up to play the role as an assistant of undertaking American cultural imperialism. One made-up clip story in the film that American tourists get innocent attacked, is bringing the color of cultural imperialism seemingly, because we can see the scene in the way that it tells the immense audiences that terrorism is prevailing in East as well, and Americans in this turn are becoming innocent victims. Although the director of this film attempts to utilize a large number of Eastern images to cover the hegemony of American cultural imperialism, the propagated American universalism and human right have been performed obviously. Furthermore, another kind of Hollywood films should be paid attention in particularly-Hollywood cartoon, some of which are coated by Chinese traditional culture. The film Mulan presented by Disney corporation was adapted from Chinese folktale. The protagonist Mulan made her promise to resist outside invasion, and protect family reputation, which looks as if expressed Chinese traditional loyalty and filiality. But, the role of Mulan enacted in the film is independent and pursuing the confirmation of self-value and the sexual equality, which is against the original Chinese convention. Additionally, her intensive desire of individual happiness and freedom are all representing the individualism of America. And as same as the elements of KungFu Panda presented by Dreamwork, which are not real Chinese culture. As the first cartoon that has over hundreds million tickets sale in Chinese market, KungFu Panda benefited from the outfit of Chinese culture and the inside substantive c ontents of Western culture. On the surface, there are plenty of Chinese culture facts in the films, such as the architecture music, martial arts, firecrackers, and Chinese food. Even many story details have precisely conformed to the relative characteristics of Chinese culture. In spite of all these work, the protagonist Po, it still a hero in the context of American culture values. The process of how he turns to legendary warrior just from a cooker is a typical instance of Americanized value. Originally, Po is a normal people, although because of an accidental opportunity he becomes the candidate of legendary warriors, he is indeed attending the selection ceremony. In another words, although his hero role is destined officially, he also follows the contest policy. This is a classic paradox logic in American culture: advocating everyone possesssing equal right to be a hero, although frequently, the hero is destined. Pos success is through defeating the bad guy-Tai Lung, to gain the final hero coronation ceremony. This kind of fight between justice and evil, and the procedural of how the justice side defeats the bad side are the essence of American heroism. Pos success, simultaneously, is bringing the peace to the whole village, which as same as the line in Spiderman- great power comes with great responsibility (cited from the lines of the film Spiderman, 2002). In American individualism, the standard of being a hero is to defeat the evil power and have the sense of bearing huge responsibility, which consequently, might be improved into the thinking that only the supremacy of strength is equivalent with the duty of guarding the world peace. In this sense, we can see the color of cultural imperialism is embedded in KungFu Panda. Thus maybe we can think in this way like that the set of films such as Mulan and KungFu Panda are packed with Chinese culture, but actually, are the means of distributing American ideology through adaption. Further Discussion of Culture Imperialism In contemporary global market, Hollywood movie is merely one of the popular import media products of America, but from the analysis of its underlying elements of culture imperialism, maybe we can consider the media products, television programs, advertisements, and music in the similar way. However, in this respect, I dont mean that the discourse of cultural imperialism does make sense, or even could be totally equaled with media imperialism, because after all, it is just a researching theme raised in the background of globalization and consumerism, and the debate about it is still taking place, therefore I cannot arbitrarily suggest its character here. What I want to do here is to use already existing facts to demonstrate that the discourse of cultural imperialism to some extent in particular time and condition may be could have an effect, but with the moving of age and society, in certain environment, another possibility maybe emerge. Among several suspicions of the possibility of cultural imperialism or media imperialism, an important one is to oppose to mix the material media products with complicated ideology together. In other words, the sceptic claims that the way of thinking that media products could diffuse Western values or ideology is ridiculous and doubtful, all of those analysis, such as the one above about Hollywood movie, are just assumption. In this perspective, if by some way I can prove the causal relationship between media productions and ideology or mind, the discourse of cultural imperialism at least will be more convincing. I will still utilize films as the evidence. During the 1980s there were two popular film genres-action adventure and military/war films deserving research, such as the films Raiders of the Lost Ark, Romancing the Stone and the series of Rombo were all effective and classic in that age. The most historical and typical one, I think should be Rombo. From the presentation time, we can know that it was after the Vietnam War and during the period of the Cold War, which represented by the United States and Soviet Union. The protagonist Rombo is a Vietnam Veteran, his mission is to return to Vietnam for rescuing American prisoners who have been abandoned by the U.S. government. And the common ending of this series of films was that the protagonist won the final victory and he become the hero in audiences mind. Following the story of these films, American people as if return to the battle of Vietnam War, but in this battle there are no vanquish and shame any more, American soldier will always be the victor. A part of scholars analyzed that these films could be seen as one political approach of Regans presidency, which was helpful to re-shape national image and regain national conviction. And actually, in the late 1980s, American people indeed overcame the so-called Vietnam syndrome, which was the subsequence of American failure of Vietnam War (Croteau and Hoyne s. 2003). From this example, we can see that there actually exists some relation between media texts and peoples way of thinking. So in this sense, the discourse of cultural imperialism maybe really can have an effect. However, the analysis of media texts is a plural item, which should be connected with special time and conditions, because of media texts are made under special historic background and people. We also cannot use one example to explain all the other terms. Additionally, the discourse of cultural imperialism was raised under the context of global culture, which maybe impact on global people, who have different religion, education, national culture and ideology, the possibility of their reactions over a media text are so hard to define. As a result, the relation between media texts and ideology maybe exist, but it is hard to say when put it in the global environment, then, dont even say the realization of cultural imperialism. Tunstall (1977) also claims that there are a t least two problems on the discourse of cultural imperialism of America. Firstly, the precondition of cultural imperialism is the superiority of Western countries on the aspect of media product market share , especially the United States of America, but the researchers thinks that with the economic and technologic development globally, other countries will rapidly create local media products, which would substitute the dependance on exporting American media products. Secondly, Tunstall said that the range of media is fairly wild, we cannot only concentrate on the popular American media products to analysis its impact of global culture. And in the aspect of some media forms, such as music, the tendency of globally incorporation is ongoing. If another media texts develop in the same way, the possibility of cultural imperialism will reduce. In addition, the debate of central status of media of cultural imperialism, like what Tomlinson said above, it is incorrect to make media equal cu lture. The term of culture is a complex to be clearly explain, and add the different way of understanding in different places, Western countries intention of conducting culture penetration or invasion is not a simple progress. Conclusion Combining all the supporting points and scepticism of the discourse of cultural imperialism together, maybe we can conclude this debate in this way, firstly, we should consider the wholly global society condition and the detailed situation of relative areas. As what Tunstall (1977) suggested, the arise of the media products is just an assumption so far, it still needs the time to testify. According to the current condition of global media distribution market, the diffusion range and impact of Western media products is considerable, so if in this respect to argue the discourse of cultural imperialism, it indeed exists the possibility. Secondly, confronting a number of differences between culture and nations, for the pursuit of commercial benefit, the big media corporations has start making relevant policy to remove the obstacles. For example, some media producers will invite global superstar to propagate their products, and another way is to apply the resources within local culture, a nd decorate the products to coherent to the local character, in fact, the global expansion of American advertising agency is a good example. Actually, to a large extent, the popularity of American products is the direct consequence of American transnational advertising. The central office in the U.S.A firstly send the advertisement mode to the relevant branch agencies around the world sphere. And then on the basic of remaining the essence of original advertisement, the local agency will blend the indigenous elements into it for satisfying the regional taste and culture. By this way, the impact on some places is this country is occupied, and there is no consciousness of that (Escobar and Anne. 1995). From this example, the threat of the discourse of cultural imperialism does deserve cautions, although maybe as Tomlinsons suggestion, there is no necessity to view media as the central reference of the argument towards cultural imperialism, the power of it cannot be ignored, because in current consumption society, for the economic interest, the media consortiums are rolling to make any policy to break down the obstacles on the way to maximize global market share. What I suggest here is when we are facing the discourse of cultural imperialism, first of all, we should have a correct attitude, excessive reception and neglect are both incorrect. Especially when we are surrounded with the numerous foreign media texts, the primary thing is to recognize the innate character embedded in them, and distinguish which part of it is useful for us, and which is useless. The discourse of cultural imperialism is more like a kind of trepidation in the context of globalization, researchers just around the necessity of this anxiety offer their different viewpoints, which are having different standpoints, angles, and conditions. So for the masses, what they can do is to have the cautious consciousness towards foreign media products, and depend on own values to make correct judgement.

The Tempest Essay -- essays research papers

Gonzalo states: "We are people of our own minds and no one else's," by this Gonzalo is telling everyone that no one can control what someone sees or does. This is true unless one is using magic to alter the minds and reality of anyone under the influence of magic. In the Tempest, by William Shakespeare, Prospero uses magic to alter the reality and delude the minds of characters. Love or guilt is a form of magic that naturally occurs in one's life. Prospero creates another magic that is placed in the audience's mind when he asks them to become the master magicians. Alonso and Gonzalo's minds are deluded by Prospero's spells to make them unaware of what is happening around them or aware of something out of the ordinary, and Caliban is affected by Prospero's spells physically. Gonzalo sees the things happening around him through a new prespective because of the spell that makes him see everything in a good light. Because of this spell Gonzalo states that their clothes are better than new, and that they are not stained with salt water. Gonzalo also brings up that the island is in excellent shape and is adequate for living on. Antonio and Sebastian tell Gonzalo he is lying about the clothes and the island being in such fantastic shape. They tell him this because they are not affected by the spell that Gonzalo is under. Spells don't always affect a person directly, but it still makes a person see their reality in a different perspective. Alonso is fooled by Prospero's magic too, but it is not directly aimed towards Alonso. Because of the magic that put Ferdinand in a glen where no one could see him; Alonso thinks that Ferdinand drowned at sea. Alonso thinks that Ferdinand is dead because no one saw Ferdinand make it to land safe. This is because Prospero used magic directly on Ferdinand, but not directly on Alonso. Alonso is in a bad mood because of this indirect magic for an entire act because Alonso's crew couldn't find Ferdinand. Meanwhile Ferdinand is following strange music that is leading him away from the others. Prospero has Ferdinand walk away from the others so he meets Miranda, and also so Alonso's crew can't find Ferdinand. This shows some of the powers of indirect magic, but direct magic can be more effective when trying to accomplish something very quickly; such as punishment or trying to teach somebody a lesson. Prospero casts spells on... ...ero tells the audience that they are making him real in their minds now and are becoming part of the play. Now the audience has total control to send Prospero back to Naples or keep him on the island. Prospero tells the audience all of this to make them see the world through his eyes. Without telling the audience these final words they would have never thought about making Prospero real in their minds. When they make Prospero real in their minds, they can live the life of Prospero on the island or in Naples. It is up to the audience where he is to go and what life he lives, this is the magic of the play. Magic can alter the reality and perspective how one looks at life. In the Tempest, Prospero has the ability to cast spells that alter one's perspective of reality. One may say that reality is intangible, but one can grasp the concept of what is stands for. Magic can throw that concept away. If one sees magic in progress it will alter the true vision of reality. Whenever magic verses reality a group can not describe what the feel or see. The concept of magic and reality is different to everyone. Reality or magic, they're both what one makes them to be.

Essay on Shelleys Frankenstein and Miltons Paradise Lost

Shelley's Frankenstein and Milton's Paradise Lost   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Even upon first glance, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and John Milton's Paradise Lost seem to have a complex relationship, which is discernible only in fractions at a time.   Frankenstein is Mary Shelley's reaction to John Milton's epic poem, in which he wrote the Creation myth as we perceive it today.   His characterizations of Adam and Eve and the interactions of Satan and God and the impending Fall seem to have almost taken a Biblical proportion by themselves.   By the time that Mary Shelley read Paradise Lost, it was indeed a stalwart in the canon of English Literature, so it should not come as a surprise to the reader the it should play such a large part in her construction of the Frankenstein myth, which has become an archetypal ghost story on its own.   What makes each of these narratives so fascinating to the reader is the author/authoresses' innate ability to use the ultimate struggle -- that between God and Satan (or Good and Evil) -- which in turn in volves the reader in a most personal manner.   The characters in Paradise Lost, which is chronologically first, and Frankenstein, seem to appear over and over as aspects of themselves and other characters.   The essence of these characters is on the surface relatively bland, but when aspects of Satan start to enter Man and they reconfigure each other, the interest picks up rapidly.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Shelley's use of these characters is drastically different than that of Milton.   Mary Shelley was a product of the 19th Century, when Romanticism, the Gothic Aesthetic, and Science took the forefront of Western Culture.   Milton's era was different: there was little secularization, and religious change was everywhere as the Protestant ... ...2. Elledge, Scott, ed. Paradise Lost. By John Milton. 1674. New York: Norton, 1993. Fish, Stanley. "Discovery as Form in Paradise Lost." Elledge 526-36. Ide, Richard S. "On the Uses of Elizabethan Drama: The Revaluation of Epic in Paradise Lost." Milton Studies 17 (1983): 121-37. Martindale, Charles. John Milton and the Transformation of Ancient Epic. London: Croom Helm, 1986. Mellor, Anne K. Mary Shelley. Her Life, her Fiction, her Monsters. Methuen. New York, London, 1988. Milton, John. Paradise Lost. Elledge 3-304. Shawcross, John T. "The Hero of Paradise Lost One More Time." Patrick and Sundell 137-47. Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus. Edited with an Introduction and notes by Maurice Hindle. Penguin books, 1992 Steadman, John M. Milton's Biblical and Classical Imagery. Pittsburgh: Duquesne UP, 1984.