Pricing Strategy of Soft Drinks Today Essay

We will basically focus on the pricing strategies adopted by these two affluence companies, how the change in the strategy of one of them reflects in the strategy of the other. {text:bookmark-start} Entry barriers in soft drink Market: {text:bookmark-end} The several factors that make it very difficult for the competition to enter the soft drink market include: Network Bottling: Both Coke and PepsiCo have franchisee agreements with their existing bottler’s who have rights in a certain geographic area in perpetuity. These agreements prohibit bottler’s from taking on new competing brands for similar products. Also with the recent consolidation among the bottler’s and the backward integration with both Coke and Pepsi buying significant percent of bottling companies, it is very difficult for a firm entering to find bottler’s willing to distribute their product. The other approach to try and build their bottling plants would be very capital-intensive effort with new efficient plant capital requirements in 2009 being more than $500 million. The advertising and marketing spend in the industry is very high by Coke, Pepsi and their bottler’s. This makes it extremely difficult for an entrant to compete with the incumbents and gain any visibility. Coke and Pepsi have a long history of heavy advertising and this has earned them huge amount of brand equity and loyal customer’s all over the world. This makes it virtually impossible for a new entrant to match this scale in this market place. Retailer Shelf Space (Retail Distribution): Retailers enjoy significant margins of 15-20% on these soft drinks for the shelf space they offer. These margins are quite significant for their bottom-line. This makes it tough for the new entrants to convince retailers to carry/substitute their new products for Coke and Pepsi. To enter into a market with entrenched rival behemoths like Pepsi and Coke is not easy as it could lead to price wars which affect the new comer. {text:bookmark-start} SWOT Analysis: {text:bookmark-end} Strength: Weakness: Opportunities: Threats: {text:bookmark-start} Various cola brands products Available: {text:bookmark-end} {text:bookmark-start} Pricing Strategy: {text:bookmark-end} {text:bookmark-start} Coke – Price {text:bookmark-end}. {text:bookmark-start} Pepsi – Price {text:bookmark-end} {text:bookmark-start} Pricing strategy for Buyer and Suppliers: {text:bookmark-end} Suppliers: The soft drink industry have a negotiating advantage from its suppliers as most of the raw materials needed to produce concentrate are basic commodities like Color, flavor, caffeine or additives, sugar, packaging. The producers of these products have no power over the pricing hence the suppliers in this industry are weak. This makes the soft drink industry a cheap input industry which helps in increasing their gross margin. Buyers: The major channels for the Soft Drink industry are food stores, Fast food fountain, vending, convenience stores and others in the order of market share. The profitability in each of these segments clearly illustrate the buyer power and how different buyers pay different prices based on their power to negotiate. These buyers in this segment are somewhat consolidated with several chain stores and few local supermarkets, since they offer premium shelf space they command lower prices, the net operating profit before tax (NOPBT) for concentrate producer’s is high. This segment of buyer’s is extremely fragmented and hence has to pay higher prices. This segment of buyer’s are the least profitable because of their large amount of purchases they make, it allows them to have freedom to negotiate. Coke and Pepsi primarily consider this segment â€Å"Paid Sampling† with low margins. NOPBT in this segment is very low. Vending: This channel serves the customer’s directly with absolutely no power with the buyer. {text:bookmark-start} Effect of competition and Price War on Industry profits: {text:bookmark-end} In the early 1990’s Coke and Pepsi employed low price strategy in the supermarket channel in order to compete with store brands. Coke and Pepsi however in the late 90’s decided to abandon the price war, which was not doing industry any good by raising the prices. Coke was more successful internationally compared to Pepsi due to its early lead as Pepsi had failed to concentrate on its international business after the world war and prior to the 70’s. Pepsi however sought to correct this mistake by entering emerging markets where it was not at a competitive disadvantage with respect to Coke as it failed to make any heady way in the European market. {text:bookmark-start} Pricing Strategy used for market capitalization: {text:bookmark-end} Price is a very important part of the marketing mix as it can affect both the supply and demand for soft drinks. The price of soft drinks products is one of the most important factors in a customer‘s decision to buy. Price will often be the difference that will push a customer to buy our product over another, as long as most things are fairly similar. For this reason pricing policies need to be designed with consumers and external influences in mind, in order to effectively achieve a stable balance between sales and covering the production costs. Till the late 1980s, the standard SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) for a soft drink was 200 ml. In 1989, when Indian government opened the market to multinationals, Pepsi was the first to come in. Thums Up (a product of Parle) went up against the international giant for an intense onslaught with neither side giving any quarter. Around 1989, Pepsi launched 250 ml bottles and the market also moved on to the new standard size. When Coke re-entered India in 1993, it introduced 300 ml as the smallest bottle size. Soon, Pepsi followed and 300 ml became the standard. With large population and low consumption the rural market represented a significant opportunity for penetration and market dominance. Competitive pricing was the key. Then the capacity went from 250ml to 300ml, aptly named MahaCola. This nickname gained popularity in smaller towns where people would ask for â€Å"Maha Cola† instead of Thums Up. The consumers were divided where some felt the Pepsi’s mild taste was rather bland. In 1993 Coca-Cola re-entered India after prolonged absences from 1977 to 1993. But Coca-Cola’s entry made things even more complicated and the fight became a three-way battle. That same year, in a move that baffled many, Parle sold out to Coke for a meager US$ 60 million (considering the market share it had). Further, as the demand changed, both Pepsi and Coke introduced 1 liter returnable glass bottles. RGB 250ml 1989 Rs 8 RGB 300ml 1993 Rs 9 RGB 300ml, 1994 Rs 9 RGB 300ml 1996 Rs 11 Pet bottles 1 liter, 2 liter 1996 Rs 25, Rs 42 RGB 300ml 1997 Rs 7 Pet bottles 1 liter, 2 liter 1997 Rs 20, Rs 38 RGB 200ml, 300ml (negligible) 2002-03 Rs 5, Rs 11 Pet bottles 500ml, 1 liter, 1. 5 liter, 2 liter 2002-03 Rs 18, Rs 25 Can 330ml 2002-03 Rs 35. {text:bookmark-start} Penetration pricing: {text:bookmark-end} In the past (in 2002-03), Coke had already targeted rural consumers by bringing down the entry price (Rs 5 a bottle) for its product. Now, it has stepped up distribution of its 200-ml (priced at Rs 7 and Rs 8) returnable-glass-bottles. To surmount the penetration policy of Coke, Pepsi too came up with the same Price penetration policy by launching products like â€Å"Chota Pepsi† with the price of Rs 5 to challenge the coke product. The small size was basically used to target rural market to make new customer habitual to it. {text:bookmark-start} Conclusion: {text:bookmark-end}.

Film Noir to Neo Noir

Murphy 1 Rachel Murphy Professor Charlotte E. Howell Film 2700 12 November 2012 Word Count: 1411 Film Noir to Neo-Noir: A Shift in Cultural Tides Film noir of the 1940s captivated audiences through its distinct form of storytelling. Strongly influenced by German Expressionism, these films have a definitive look and style that still resonates with modern audiences today. Like other classical Hollywood genres, film noir sought to bring to light tensions felt within society, namely those that affected men following World War II.Neo-noir films pay a great deal less attention to social commentary. Like film noir of the past, neo-noir elevates style over narrative; however, the genre has seen significant changes in regards to narrative, the disappearance of the femme fatale, and the prevalence of onscreen violence due to shifting cultural tides. In observing examples of film noir and its contemporary version, neo-noir, it is clear several elements in regards to the style and overall  "feel† of these films have virtually remained the same throughout the years.In Nicolas Winding Refn’s neo-noir, Drive, a sense of otherworldliness is portrayed through several night scenes, intense shadows, and an overall dark rather downtrodden mood to the film. The scenes in the film take place at night and invariably in an urban setting. All of these elements are Murphy 2 extremely typical of classic film noir as well as German Expressionism. Drive’s narrative unfolds with surprisingly little dialogue. Instead Refn focused scenes on the mood, further strengthening the style of the film. Similarly, Curtis Hanson’s L. A.Confidential keeps with traditional film noir in elevating the style of the movie above its narrative. This is done through the heavy emphasis of the urban cityscape. As the title suggests, Los Angeles, is a major component within the film. The peppy, orange-filled paradise portrayal of L. A. in the film’s opening scene sharply cont rasts the corrupt, crime-ridden town shown throughout the rest of the film. In addition, voice-overs and flashbacks, typical elements of film noir, are extensively used. The genre has seen great changes in regards to its social commentary, however.Noir films of the 1940s strongly reflected the social climate of the time. In several respects, film noir can be seen as the male equivalent to melodrama. Just as women dealt with the crisis of femininity in post-war years, men also struggled with their masculinity as well as adjusting to their new roles in an ever-changing society. After World War II, many Americans, especially men who had experienced the atrocities of war firsthand, took on a more cynical outlook on the world. Film noir of the 1940s sought to bring these feelings of isolation and changing attitudes to light.Like many men returning from the war, the heroes were disenchanted and often very isolated. In many respects, their fate is predetermined. In Tay Garnett’s The Postman Always Rings Twice, the audience gains a sense that John Garfield’s character, Frank’s, fate is already sealed as soon as he first plots, and eventually carries out the murder of Cora’s husband. This action clearly serves as a marker in the downward spiral of Frank’s life. Similarly, in Billy Wilder’s Murphy 3 Double Indemnity, Fred MacMurray’s character, Walter, irrevocably alters the course of his life when he gives in to Phyllis’s pleas to murder her husband.In both of these instances, the motivation behind this clearly immoral acts is lust. Both protagonists seem somewhat helpless against these forces. Both films also end with little doubt as to the fate of the protagonists. In The Postman Always Rings Twice, the film ends with Frank awaiting his punishment on death row. Similarly, Wilder’s Double Indemnity ends with Walter, critically injured from a gunshot wound inflicted by Phyllis, confessing his role in her hu sband’s murder. This clearly reflects upon the attitudes of males during the 1940s as helpless against the imposing forces of an oppressive society.Neo-noir films differ from their film noir counterparts because they are no longer reflective on social and cultural tensions. This is simply because the tension is not as widespread or heavily felt in today’s society. In the ending of Refn’s Drive, the nameless driver, though stabbed in the abdomen, clearly lives. It left up to the viewer to decide what kind of life he will lead in the future. In Hanson’s L. A. Confidential, the future of the city is somewhat unclear, but both protagonists in the film are met with at least somewhat happy endings.The male protagonists in neo-noir films are also much more strong-willed. Their actions, though at times extreme, are seen as justified to the viewer and made by the protagonist alone. Unlike earlier noir films, the protagonists are at least somewhat in control of the ir future. This turn within the genre clearly reflects changing attitudes within society, as the helplessness and isolation men felt after the war is no longer felt on such a large scale. Murphy 4 The influence of culture on the content of noir films is especially evident in the disappearance of femme fatale in neo-noir films.The 1940s marked a major shift in gender roles with the start of World War II. As men left for war, women took up jobs in the workforce and in factories in order to help with the war effort. This brought about a new sense of independence for women. When men returned home from the war, however, this shift was not necessarily seen in a positive light. The emergence of the femme fatale in film noir clearly reflects that in the eyes of men, women’s changing roles in society often presented a threat to perceived masculinity as well as established gender roles of the day.The femme fatale of noir films is invariably portrayed in a negative light. She is in most cases seen as the major driving force behind the protagonist’s tragic end. Furthermore, the protagonist is usually helpless against the advances of these women. Femme fatales, such as Cora in The Postman Always Rings Twice and Phyllis in Double Indemnity, are almost always met with an end even more bleak than that of the protagonist. In these two films, the femme fatales are both killed with little thought. Neo-noir films, however, approach female characters in a much more favorable light.The relationships between protagonists and these women are based on love, rather than mere lust. Thus, the actions of the protagonists appear often more justified. This can be accredited to the changing cultural tides since the 1940s. Women’s independence is generally no longer seen as a threat to male masculinity and thus is virtually extinct thematically in neo noir films. This is especially evident in Drive as well. The nameless driver’s love interest, Irene, is characteriz ed by her innocence rather than her sexuality. Murphy 5 Even in L. A.Confidential, Lynn, a prostitute, has a relationship with one of the protagonists, however, the relationship is based on love rather than lust. Film noir arguably would not translate well to modern audiences if not for its integration of onscreen violence. Like German Expressionism, 1940s film noir drew a definitive reaction of discomfort and psychological unease from its audiences. In Double Indemnity, the scene in which Phyllis’s husband is murdered is brief and little is shown. The audience is shown only Phyllis’s cold, detached expression while her husband is murdered next to her in the passenger seat.In the 1940s, filmmakers didn’t necessarily need to show Phyllis’s husband being murdered in order to elicit a strong psychological reaction from audiences. With the abrogation of the Hay’s Code, however, audiences have become somewhat desensitized to the mere implication of viol ence. L. A. Confidential and Drive both use violence as a means of eliciting this same reaction. Perhaps the most memorable scene in Drive occurs in an elevator where the driver, in order to protect himself and Irene, not only kills a man, but proceeds to unleash all of his anger by stomping the man’s head into a gruesome, bloody pulp.In L. A. Confidential, numerous murder scenes and uncomfortable police interrogations illustrate how violence is now used in neo noir to elicit the strong emotional and psychological discomfort that typified 1940s noir. Certainly the strongest influence on the evolution of film noir has been societal and cultural changes throughout time. These changes have served, however, to maintain film noir’s relevance with contemporary audiences while still keeping with specific attention to the overall â€Å"feel† of the film and high level of stylization.

Curriculum Design Essay

Chapter 7 ASCD Yearbook Fundamental Curriculum Decisions, 1984 People cannot intelligently discuss and communicate with others about curriculum without first making very clear what their interpretation of a curriculum is. In this chapter, we will be thinking of a curriculum as a written plan for the educational program of a school or schools. Curriculum design them will consist of those considerations haying to do with the contents, the form, and the arrangement of the various elements of a curriculum. We distinguish between curriculum planning and instructional planning with curriculum planning being the antecedent task. Curriculum planners are forced to make design decisions almost from the outset of their work. The design decisions revolve around three important considerations: (1) the range of school levels and schools to be covered by the curriculum, (2) the number of elements to be included in the curriculum, and (3) the nature and scope of each of those elements. Each of these requires additional explanations. Decisions about the range of school levels and schools to be covered by the curriculum normally are mot very complicated, and the range usually coincides with the sphere of authority of the board of education. Districts may elect to plan a curriculum from kindergarten through grade 12; they may elect to plan one curriculum for the elementary schools and one for the secondary schools; or they may elect to direct each school unit to plan its own curriculum. Planning groups will have to decide about the number of elements to be included in the curriculum. Among the options for inclusion are: (1) a statement of goals or purposes, (2) a statement of document intent and use, (3) an evaluation scheme, and (4) a body of culture content selected and organized with the expectancy that if the culture content is judiciously implemented in classrooms through the instructional program, the goals or purposes for the schools will be achieved. To this list, some would add suggested pupil activities, instructional materials, and so forth, but these matters belong more rightfully in the domain of instructional planning and we will not consider them here. A few comments about each of these four elements will be helpful to the reader in understanding their import for curriculum decisions. Most curriculum writers would agree that it is desirable to include a statement of goals or purposes to be achieved by schools through the implementation of the planned curriculum. They may disagree as to what the goals ought to be, or they may disagree about the degree of specificity of the statements to be included. The most famous statement of goals or purposes for schools became known as the Seven Cardinal Principles of Education as formulated by the Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Schools in 1918. They were health, command of the fundamental processes, worthy home membership, vocation, civic education, worthy use of leisure, and ethical character. There is less consistency among curriculum writers in terms of their insistence upon including a statement of document intent and use in a curriculum, and, in practice many curricula do not contain such statements. Curricula have, in the past, contained statements intended to reveal the philosophy or point of view of the planners but this is not what we mean by a statement of document intent and use. A statement of document intent and use should be forthright and direct about such matters as: (1) how teachers are expected to use the curriculum as a point of departure fur developing their teaching strategies, (2) the fact that the curriculum is the official educational policy of the board of education, (3) the degree of universality in expectancy with regard to the discretion of teachers in implementing the curriculum, and (4) the degree to which teachers are to be held accountable for the implementation of the curriculum. These are illustrative of the kind of statement that may be formulated, but each planning group will have to decide on the number and character of such statements. With the amount of emphasis put upon curriculum evaluation in recent years, some mandate with respect to the curriculum evaluation is a very reasonable option for inclusion in a curriculum. The most common method of pupil evaluation used in the past has been the standardized (norm referenced) achievement test. In most cases, there were no deliberate attempts to relate published curricula to the test batteries. Therefore, any leap in assumption about the directness of the relationship between curriculum content and whatever was measured by the tests was likely to be untenable. All the more reason for formalizing an evaluation scheme by including it in the curriculum. In one form or another, a curriculum must include a body of culture content that has been deemed by the planners and directing authorities to be important for schools to use in fulfilling their roles as transmitters of culture to the oncoming generations of young people. The basic curriculum question is, and always has been, that of what shall be taught in schools, and a major function of a curriculum is to translate the answer to that question into such forms that schools can fulfill their commitment and demonstrate that they leave done so. Most of the remainder of this chapter is devoted to discussion of this element of a curriculum; so we will leave it at this point. But it should be made clear that from these options as potential elements of a curriculum, there emerge two dimensions of curriculum design. One is the choice of and the arrangement of the elements to be included in the curriculum. The other is the form and arrangement of the contents of each of the elements internally. The design problem is greatest in the case of the form and arrangement of the culture content and it is the one most frequently discussed under the heading of curriculum design by curriculum writers past and present. . Culture Content-Knowledge-Curriculum Content A curriculum is an expression of the choice of content selected from our total culture content and, as such, it is an expression of the role of the school in the society for which the school has been established to serve. A word needs to be said here about the meaning associated with the expression â€Å"culture content.† Ralph Linton provided us with a classical and very useful definition of â€Å"culture.† He stated: â€Å"A culture is the configuration of learned behavior and results of behavior whose component elements are shared and transmitted by the members of a particular society† (1945, p. 32). The term â€Å"society† is ordinarily used to refer to a group of individuals who live together with common norms and shared frames of reference. Societies tend to generate their own culture and to transmit that culture to oncoming generations within that society. So long as societies and their cultures remained in a primitive state, their cultures were simple and could be transmitted to oncoming generations by direct contact between the young and the older members of the society. But as societies became more complex and the scope of their culture content increased so that the transmission of the culture content to the young could no longer be accomplished by direct contact in daily living, societies were forced to create institutions to take on the responsibility for all or part of the cultural transmission task. The school is one of those institutions. The church is another. Both of these institutions have unique roles to play in society, and they tend to transmit different culture content to the young. Parochial schools tend to do both. As Smith indicated in Chapter 3 of this Yearbook (not in this reading – JG), the culture content selected to be included in the curriculum of the school may be thought of as equivalent to the knowledge to which school students are to be exposed. In any case, it is critically important to be aware that not all culture content, or knowledge, accumulated by society comes under the purview of the school; curriculum planning is a process of selecting and organizing culture content for transmission to student by the school. The process is very complex, involving input from many sources, but the organized end-result of the process is the design of the curriculum. The most sophisticated mode of organization of culture content for purposes of teaching is reflected by the various disciplines such as history, chemistry, or mathematics. In addition to the established and recognized disciplines, school subjects have been created out of conventional wisdom m the applications of selected portions of the disciplines to applied areas of our culture such as vocational subjects, social studies, or reading and handwriting. In general, the separate subject organization of culture content has predominated in curriculum design. Another way of speaking about curriculum content is to refer to cognitive content, skill content, and value or attitudinal content. As Smith discussed more fully in Chapter 3, all three types of content represent knowledge in some from either in the form of direct knowledge or a knowledge base. The three forms have been used as a classification schema or a taxonomy for curriculum content formulation. Historic Curriculum Design Conflicts One must realize that tire basic curriculum question is, and always has been, one of what shall be taught in the schools. An immediate corollary to that question has been that of how shall what has been chosen to be taught in the school be organized so as to best facilitate the subsequent decisions about teaching and learning. Those two questions are the primary curriculum questions, and the organized decisions made in response to them culminate in a curriculum design. A few reflections about our curriculum past will illustrate settle of the conflicts in curriculum design that have taken place. In her study, Sequel observed that curriculum as we use the term today was not a subject of professional discussion until after 1890 (1966, p. 1). Rugg contended that decisions about curriculum content prior to the 20th century were decided primarily by textbook writers and textbook publishers (1926, Pp. Ill-11). It was not until 1918 that Bobbitt wrote the first definitive work on curriculum and since that time curriculum writers have directed their attention to the substance and organization of curriculum content (curriculum design) and to the processes of curriculum planning, implementing, and evaluating. By the early 1900, the stage had been set for the separate subjects organization of the culture content to be used in schools. In our very early elementary or primary schools, for example, pupils were taught to read, to write, and to compute; the subjects were called reading, writing, and arithmetic. Much later such subjects as geography, history, and civics were added to the curriculum. In our early secondary schools, pupils were taught a selection of subjects (disciplines) that were directly associated with the disciplines taught at the college or university. Even though the separate subjects organization of culture content was used before curriculum became an area of professional study, it is still with us. True, subjects have ben added and others altered, but it remains the dominant approach to curriculum design. The separate subjects mode of curriculum design has been significantly challenged only once in our history. That challenge came with the advent of the Progressive Education movement. A principal belief of the Progressive Education movement was its dramatic emphasis on the learner in school settings. A substantial portion of the Progressive emphasis on the learner was stimulated by John Dewey’s (1916) call for more active and less passive learning in schools. This focus on the learner when applied to the organization of curriculum content led to endeavors remove away from the separate subjects organization of tire curriculum content. The movemen away from the separate subjects organization (sometimes called subject-centered) was toward the integration, or fusion, of subjects under the assumption that such integration would not only facilitate learning on the part of pupils but would additionally make the knowledge, skills, and attitudes more easily available to the pupils in post-school life (the transfer problem). The basic process involved here was the fusion of the contents of two or more of the separate subjects into another organization in which the individual subjects lost their separate identities. As one might expect, names were associated with the various integration or fusion attempts. Figure 1 adapted from Hopkins (1941, p. 18) illustrates the variety of names associated with curricula resulting from integrative or fusion processes. Hopkins here polarized the subject curriculum and the experience curriculum. The broad fields curriculum was placed in the center so as to show that it had a reasonable num ber of the characteristics of the two extremes. Others as indicated on either side depending on emphasis. Space in this volume will not permit extensive description of curricula developed as part of the efforts to move away from separate subjects organization. The best we can do here is to identify some of them and cite sources for further investigation on the part of the reader. For example, in their hook The Child-Centered School, Rugg and Shumaker (1928) presented brief descriptions of the curricula of the Lincoln School, The Frances Parker School, and others of that time. In most cases, the curricula were built around child-centered units of work, but attention was focused as needed on such basic subjects as reading, mathematics, history, geography, and so forth. One of the most extreme departures from separate subjects organization was proposed by Stratemeyer and others (1957). The authors proposed the â€Å"persistent life situations† concept as a basis for dealing with the curriculum building issues of scope, sequence, continuity, balance, and depth. At the junior and senior high school levels, special mention should be made of the core curriculum. The core curriculum idea was to get away from nothing but the discipline-centered curriculum. Most core programs were organized around larger and more flexible blocks of time, and the content was generally centered on personal and social problems and problems of living. In many respects the core curriculum idea was an attempt to solve the general education problem in our upper schools. It is important to note that in practice in schools, curriculum design failed to get very far away from the subject- or discipline-centered design. The most lasting effect of the movement was the broad fields idea as represented by social studies, language arts, and general science, and they have persisted mostly in curricula for elementary and junior high schools. Contemporary Arguments About Curriculum Design Probably the most persistent movement in curriculum design in recent years has been the proposed use of specific behavioral objectives as a basis for curriculum organization. Curriculum writers have long proposed that curricula ought to contain statements of goals or objectives, but not as the only content of a curriculum. Some contemporary writers have proposed that curricula should be thought of in terms of the anticipated consequences of instruction, or intended learning outcomes. (For example, see Popham and Baker, 1970; Johnson, 1977). The culture content in such cases would either be implied in the objectives or be considered as an instructional decision. A distinct advantage of this type of curriculum design is that supervision of the implementation and of the evaluation of the curriculum is simplified and facilitated. Such proposals are in direct contrast to a proposal that a curriculum should he composed in four parts: (1) a statement of goals, (2) an outline of the culture content that has the potential for reaching the goals, (3) a statement of the intended use of the curriculum, and (4) a schema for the evaluation of the curriculum (Beauchamp, 1981, p. 136). They are in even greater contrast to those who would include instructional considerations such as suggested activities for learners and instructional materials to be used. Curriculum planners should be warned that the inclusion of all of these things produces fat and unmanageable curricula. With respect to the culture content of curricula, two organizational concepts persist both in the literature and in the practice of writing curricula. The first is the tendency to continue with the basic framework of the subjects, or disciplines, that are to be taught. The second is to break the subject areas down into three identifiable components: (1) cognitive, (2) inquiry and skill, and (3) affective (value, moral, attitudinal). Curriculum planners will probably wish to begin their thinking about design with the familiar, which will unquestionably be the conventional school subjects. They will consist of mathematics, social sciences (including social studies as a subject), the natural sciences, fine and applied arts, health and physical education, communications, and other languages. At the secondary school level, planners will add to these whatever vocational and technical subjects they may wish to offer. Some planners will wish to add an area that may be termed social problems, molar problems, or problems of living that may call for applications of elements learned in various conventional subjects. Curriculum planning is an educative process. For this reason classroom teachers should be involved in the undertaking. A very important reason for their involvement is that the process of curriculum planning presents an opportunity for them to engage in analysis of the culture content so that they may be more effective in their classrooms at the level of instruction. The analytic process of breaking down the culture content into cognitive, affective, and inquiry and skill components is one way that teachers may become mote knowledgeable about what they do. Also in this process of analyzing the culture content, the content is more specifically related to goals and at the same time it fosters better curriculum implementation. For these reasons, teachers’ participation in curriculum deliberations has been proposed frequently as a needed dimension of continuous teacher education. In Chapter 3, Smith raised the very important question of the utility of the culture content selected to be part of the curriculum content, and he posed several ways in which the utility of knowledge can be emphasized. In a more specific vein, Broody, Smith, and Burnett (1964) suggested on, potential uses of learnings acquired in school to he taken into consideration. They are the associative use, the replicative use, the applicative use, and the interpretive use (pp. 43-60). Very briefly, the associative use of knowledge refers to the psychological process of responding to a new situation with elements of knowledge previously acquired. The replicative use refers to situations that call for direct and familiar use of schooling such as when we read a newspaper, write a letter, or balance a checkbook . The applicative use occurs when an individual is confronted with a new problem and is able to solve the new problem by the use of knowledge acquired in the study of school subjects through previous experience in solving problems demanding similar applications. The interpretive use of schooling refers to the orientation and perspective the individual brings to new situations because the individual has acquired ways of conceptualizing and classifying experience. Much of the discussion about uses of schooling (especially use external to the school) is an elaboration of the transfer problem that has plagued educators ever since Edward Thorndike first set forth his theory of transfer through the existence of identical elements in 1908. The most easily explained is the replicative use as described above because of the direct similarity between the use external to the school and the mode of learning and practice in school. Take reading for example. Reading from school materials is directly similar to reading of materials outside the school. But when it comes to applying knowledge or making new interpretations or associations between knowledge required in school and life situations external to schools, a more complicated transfer situation exists. Unfortunately, many of the questions raised about utility and uses of schooling have not been answered through curriculum design. Nor are they likely to be because so much is dependent upon classroom teaching technique and the design of instructional strategies. The best efforts in curriculum design have been through the generation of new courses (subjects if you please) in which the content is purportedly more like life external to the school. Reference here is made not only to specialized courses such as technical, vocational, commercial and occupational courses but also to courses designed around molar problems, problems of living, and core programs. In many respects, the broad fields courses were designed for purposes of saving time during the school day and to facilitate the transfer of knowledge acquired. But whatever the curriculum design, if teachers are not aware of and sensitive to the kind of analyses of the content to be taught as we have been discussing it, the uses of schooling will not be maximized. All the more reason why teachers should be part of the curriculum planning effort and participate in the required dialogue. In summary, then, what courses of action with respect to curriculum design appear to be the most appropriate for today’s curriculum planners? The most important aspect of curriculum design is the display to be made of culture content once the content has been selected. The total amount of culture content is constantly growing thus making the problem of selection for curriculum content more difficult as time goes on. Unquestionably, the role of those schools (elementary and secondary) that operate under compulsory school attendance laws must constantly be examined in terms of what they should or should not offer in their curricula. The elementary school curriculum has always been designed with general education in mind. In our contemporary society, the secondary school seems to be moving in that same direction. Both, however, have seen fit to divide the content selected into realms or courses as appropriate. Scope and sequence have long been two major problems in curriculum design. The display of course content into topical outline is one way planners can watch for discrepancies in scope and sequence. It also helps with horizontal articulation among the various subjects. To help teachers generate greater insight into the content outline, it is desirable that the curriculum design reveal the expected cognitive, inquiry or skill, and affective outcomes. These are conventionally arranged in the design of the content in parallel with the topics in the outline. flow behaviorally the outcomes are to be stated is optional to the planners. These outcomes should also be thought of in terms of any goals or purposes that may be stated in the curriculum. What else to include in the design is optional to the plan. It has become quite conventional to think of goals or purposes first and then to select the content. Such procedure is quite arbitrary because all content is selected with some purpose in mind. Nonetheless, a statement of goals and purposes is a useful element in curriculum design. I would add to the topic outline and the expected outcomes a directive statement about the intended use to be made of the curriculum and a statement outlining a scheme for evaluating it.

Ecommerce and the Death of the Retail Store Research Paper

Ecommerce and the Death of the Retail Store - Research Paper Example , despite the positive advantages e-commerce offers consumers in the world today, it has also had negative ramification that has seen the collapse of traditional historical stores. Therefore, it would be wise if all stores embrace the new culture and market for their goods online For instance, it is easy to blame firms such Amazon and eBay for the collapse of most traditional bookstores. Broadly speaking it is true that that independent and local retailers have failed to adapt to challenges they have faced over the pars five decades because on the instant change in consumer behavior that E-commerce has caused. I was only a few yet ago when Companies such as HMV were accused of profiteering over other retailers and now they are victims to ecommerce. They have fallen foul to the efficiency and effectiveness that online shopping marketers provide. It is also evident that most current down town and high street stores are under siege to online retailers. For example, brick and mortar business are currently at the edge been dissolved due to the economies of large scale and lack of effective strategies when distributing their product. What they always fail to realize is that if they market through the internet or advertise their product online they will be able to determine their unique strong market points. It will also reduce the expenses of transporting products to different areas so as to search for its market. (Naughto, J. 2000). Also change in consumer behavior as result of E-commerce has made them not to re that despite the good experience that online marketing and purchase can offer; it is nothing comparable to the shopping expire nice traditional sores offered. Moreover, can it replace three slightest experiences and pleasure that handling and accessing a product offered? This makes consumes to prejudice and shun from physically visiting shopping store despite the good services that might be on offer. (Ellis, S. 2014). E-commerce also offers customers with

Business organization filed Experience... paper #1 Essay

Business organization filed Experience... paper #1 - Essay Example The presentation was about its new investments, research and development and oil production and aims to invite investors in its new undertaking. I observed the meeting was highly organized as each guest was prompted to their designated seats. They were attentive and courteous in raising questions after the speaker presented their topic. Three presenters attended to the presentation. The first presenter tackled the overview, history of the company, its present financial position, and its prospects for future investments. Second speaker talked about the scenario of oil production to be done by the company, and the third speaker discussed marketing programs and investments. For clearer view and understanding, presentation was done through power point. A moderator was assigned for the smooth flow of questions and answers The company aims to inform stakeholders about the Dornan’s new venture and encourage investors to invest on it, the oil production. Target markets are investors and corporations who may wish to co-produce or invest on the company. Dorman Products, Inc. is entering a new kind of business field that is different from its present line of business. It has undergone research and development study, and Dorman Products, Inc. believe they are now ready for oil production. . Dormant is a dealer of automotive part for many years, and turning to be an oil producing company is new to the company. Being a business student and a neophyte, the experience exposed me to real life situation of how conferences, and business presentations are done. My experience put to life all theories I have read in books. I learned the process of how shifts in businesses structures are done. I got curious in the investment side of the presentation as it gave me an idea how to do business, the attraction of a corporation, and gave me an idea of business expansion and risks that go into it. No, I was not able to contribute to the event,

Bahai Religion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Bahai Religion - Essay Example Bahà ¡Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ ­ is second to Christianity in its geographical distribution (Ibid.), however, unlike Christianity, Bahà ¡Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ ­ does not view itself as an independent religion or a static belief system. In order to understanding the Bahà ¡Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ ­ Faith it is important to understand the principle of â€Å"progressive revelation,† which is a common principal throughout Bahà ¡Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ ­Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s beliefs, ethics, and practices. It is the idea that the spiritual development of human civilization is constantly advancing and that the central beliefs of any given religion were based on Messages brought by a prophet (Adam, Buddah, Jesus, Mohammed, etc.) that were appropriate to the spiritual needs of the people in that place and time (Kourosh 445). This paper will provide an overview of the general tenets of the Bahà ¡Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ ­ belief system, its ethics, and its ritual practices. Bahà ¡Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ ­ beliefs revolve around the teachings of Bahà ¡Ã¢â‚¬â„¢u’llà ¡h. His teachings exist in the form of written manuscripts, known as the Sacred Texts to Bahà ¡Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ ­s. The three central teachings of the Faith include the Oneness of God, Oneness of Religion, and Oneness of Mankind (Kourosh 445). These teachings each exhibit the principle of â€Å"progressive revelation,† mentioned above. Bahà ¡Ã¢â‚¬â„¢u’llà ¡h taught that despite the diversity of religions and ways of calling God around the world, that there is only one Supreme Being in the world, worshipped by all who worship one God (Kourosh 445). They view God as an elevated being who can never be fully grasped by humans, because he is elevated above creation (Ibid.). Bahà ¡Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ ­Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s devote themselves to a never-ending quest for spiritual discovery and growth (BIC). They believe that humans have an immortal soul that is born at conception and that physical death does not indicate the end of individual life, because the soul continues in the spiritual world (Kourosh 446). The Bahà ¡Ã¢â‚¬â„¢Ãƒ ­ Faith views physical life as a sort of training ground to prepare the soul for

Impact of Culture on International Business Essay

Impact of Culture on International Business - Essay Example However, in the USA, the level of power distance is quite low and this shows that the intensity of interpersonal conflicts is quite high among the members. So, the entrepreneur needs to communicate very tactfully, in order to maintain cooperation and coordination among all. Similarly as the rate of individualism in the USA is extremely high so the entrepreneur needs to offer equal opportunities and wages to its members. Then, the level of motivation and morale of each of the employees of any newly developed organization might get enhanced towards their assigned tasks. Thus if equal opportunities and facilities are offered to the members or employees of the organization of USA, then their rate of dissatisfaction might get reduced to a significant extent. By reducing the rate of dissatisfaction, the level of coordination and teamwork among the employees might get declined to result in amplification of the brand value of the organization (Hofstede, n. d.). Prior developing a business in the United States of America, the entrepreneur needs to be well-versed with the language, customs, habits, and etiquettes, along with cultural dimensions, mentioned above so as to make the enterprise extremely successful in long run. The citizens of USA speak both American as well as Canadian English at the time of conversing with others. The Americans desire to make friendships with all and offer gifts to retain their relationships for the long run. This type of attitude helps to maintain uniqueness and equality among all the members. Moreover, the American citizens always offer high attention to dress codes and shaking of hands to maintain the level of relationships. This is one their business etiquettes that helps to maintain uniformity and coordination among all of the employees of an organization or citizens of the country of USA.

Developing Self Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Developing Self - Essay Example Upon graduation, my first job was that of presenter of Oriental Princess, a prominent cosmetics company in Thailand, during which time I gained the exposure I needed in public relations. Thereafter, I transferred to Boonrod Company where I worked as marketing officer, and it was here that I realized my calling was in the field of marketing. I felt that I liked the challenges of being confronted with problems and finding creative solutions for them. I enjoyed meeting new people and gaining new experiences. There is much about myself that I feel I am still not aware of. According to the Milesians, first school of Greek philosophy before even Plato and Socrates, the most difficult of undertakings is to seek self-knowledge (Burnet, 1920). Easily also, it can be the most painful. This is because first step to self-knowledge is always to confront the reality of oneself, not only the virtuous and laudable, but also the mediocre and humiliating. When one is blind to her shortcomings, she is normally unable to address them and, therefore, unable to improve herself. Being manager is assuming a position of great responsibility. A manager is both agent to the organization and leader to the workers, thus she is committed to both. In order to successfully perform these roles, one must be aware of strengths, that he may use them, and weaknesses, that he may compensate for or eliminate them. Plan. To plan is to think through the programs and processes that must be undertaken to achieve the organizational goals. The plan is a blueprint of the organisation’s activities, and will be the basis for exerting control over the various activities. Aside from determining what to do, planning entails the forecasting of the four M’s - materials, manpower, machinery, and money – required to operationalise the plans. As early as this step, the manager must be aware of

Last poem Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Last poem - Term Paper Example This poem displays many of the attitudes that are found in a Confucian approach to life, and it can be read on a literal level, as a lament on the trials of life for a person who is poor, or on a figurative level, as a lament on the lack of success he has had in his professional life. One of his translator’s Burton Watson simply calls Tu Fu â€Å"the eliciter of superlatives!† (p. xi) and explains that Tu Fu came from an illustrious family which included the famous Du Yu (222-284) who was a commentator on the works of Confucius, and Tu Fu’s grandfather Du Shenyan (died in 708) who was â€Å"an official in the Tang bureaucracy and one of the outstanding poets of hi time. (p. xii). It seems that being in the Tang civil service and having an interest in Confucian thought and poetry writing was a family tradition,then, because this is the same path that Tu Fu followed in his own life. Over the years Tu Fu has been recognized as one of China’s greatest poets, and Young explains that this view is â€Å"partly based on admiration for his technical brilliance, a fluent mastery of traditional forms combined with an originality that gives rise to an apparently effortless innovation† (p. 77). ... The innovation, however, is that the elements are merged with the very realistic description of actual events. In stylistic terms, critics note that he was able to use a large range of different styles and techniques, and one consistent feature is often mentioned: â€Å"One other characteristic of Du Fu’s poetry merits particular notice, since in helps to explain the perennial appeal of his work -; his realism.† (Watson, p. xix) The description of the pieces of thatch is very realistic, so that the reader can visualize how they form â€Å"whirls† (line 4) in the swirling gusts of wind, and how they get caught in the trees, (line 9) which is a strange place for thatch to be, showing how disruptive the wind is on this occasion. The thatch is caught up high, or down low in the puddles, (line 11) and this vivid description causes the reader to reflect on the damaged house and its inhabitants which are caught in the middle. Tu Fu uses the qualities of objects in the w orld to illuminate and make real the images of the poem for example the clouds are compared to ink, (line 23) and the cotton quilts, which are supposed to be soft and warm, are compared to iron (line 27). These images make the reader vividly feel the emotions and sensations that the writer feels. Tu Fu appears not to have been a very accomplished bureaucrat, and his many travels indicate that he fell out with important people and was forced to end his life in relative poverty. The poem shows that old age and poverty make the poet powerless against the forces of the wind, but also when he tries to shout at the children who take away the escaped portions of thatch, he finds he has no voice. The poem shows

Journal entry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Journal entry - Essay Example The characteristics of learning materials were concurrently expounded providing discussions on language, culture and viewpoints of learners, as necessary. Various techniques were likewise presented regarding soliciting information regarding materials and getting the most from them. One would definitely benefit from the contents of the article in terms of recognizing the role that instructional materials play in learning English as a second language. In the process, the techniques that were discussed are tools that would provide direction and guidelines in determining which materials are most effective and what particular information could be used to maximize learning. If one would be required to work on a particular project within the course module, the materials would provide the theoretical framework within which various applications could be generated. Therefore, through recognizing and awareness of instructional materials’ relevance to the course, one is made more sensitive and discerning in selecting and using the most effective materials to ensure that learning objectives are appropriately met. Kitao, K., & Kitao, S. K. (1997, April). Selecting and Developing Teaching/Learning Materials. Retrieved February 6, 2012, from The Internet TESL Journal :

Pricing Strategies Essay Example for Free

Pricing Strategies Essay When designing a marketing plan each and every component is of prime importance. The marketing plan basically consists of four components or as we call them, the four P’s. The product, price, packaging and the place all combined together can make the product successful. They are all interdependent. The Segway is a new invention in the market and is the first of its kind product. Products of this sort are priced high because it is not long before competitors enter the market and take away the profit share for the firm. Pricing is important because it helps position the product in the minds of the consumers; it forms an image which helps attract the target market. If the product is overpriced than the target market will not purchase it and the expected sales level will not be achieved, the same will happen if it is underpriced. The main issue with the pricing of Segway was that the product was catering to a different sector and this sector could not afford to spend so much on the piece of transportation. The price at $4500 was considered to high for a product such as this (PistonHeads. com, n. d). One of the reasons for the failure of Segway in the early years was the price that the company was charging. Customers did not see why the product was priced so high and the utility that they would gain out of it. The market that the product was catering to is the people who walk to work; they either do it to get the exercise or don’t have money to spend on taxi fare. For those who want to exercise, buying the Segway would be useless as the whole point of exercise would be lost and for the others, the product was too expensive a buy. Also, initially when the product was launched, the market for such a technological product was at its initial stages. The concept did not exist and people did not get used to idea. Today when gas prices are rising, people would consider this option of transportation. The sales in recent times have been growing as people can not afford to put gas in their cars. From this we can conclude one thing and that is, when purchasing an item there are many external factors that influence the customers decision. People are getting used to the idea of spending this amount as they realize that maintenance of a car would cost them the same amount. (Whiteman, 2008) The marketing strategy that I would have adopted would have been different, assuming that it did not cost much to product the product. I would have priced the product high but not this high; initially it would have been around the $3000 margin but after a few months this would have come down and more versions of the same product would have been introduced. Also, the best way to market this product was to let the target market demonstrate it and like every other vehicle, take it for a test drive. Once people use it they would realize the ease of use that the Segway would give them. This is an invention and the customers don’t realize its need until or unless they have I in their lives, just like the microwave oven or the cell phone.

Strength of the Soviet Economy Essay Example for Free

Strength of the Soviet Economy Essay The Soviet Union played a major role in the allied victory in World War II. They stopped the Nazi advances and eventually pushed them back on the eastern front. The Russian people showed great resolve to triumph in spite of drastic errors in judgment by the Soviet leaders. Some of the poor decisions were made by Joseph Stalin. The first major mistake was that he believed that he could stall the Soviet Unions involvement in the war until 1942. Stalin also made an error in trying to take advantage of the war by launching an attack on Finland. The Second World War was also a test of the Soviet systems organizational power. The collective agenda allowed the Soviets to out produce German forces during the war. One factor highlighted as responsible for the Soviet victory in the Second World War is the strength of their economy after 1942. In August 1939 the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression treaty called the Nazi-Soviet Pact with the Nazis. This pact was signed so that Stalin could keep the Soviet Union out of a war with Germany on the eastern front of Europe. Stalin believed that war with the Nazis was a foregone conclusion. The pact was signed in the hope of pushing this conflict off until 1942. This was not a wise decision. The Nazis had become so confident and powerful with their Blitzkrieg model of warfare that the Soviets would have been more prepared for battle in 1939 rather than 1941. Operation Barbarossa allowed this more formidable Nazi force to smash through the Soviet defences in both the north and south of Russia and the Ukraine. The strength of the Soviet economy and rapid reparation made after the catastrophic losses within 1941-1942 was a major factor. Soviet production was located in the west which meant once quick advancements were made by the Germans in Operation Barbarossa using the ‘Blitzkrieg’ model, this either meant that the Germans had access to Soviet resources or the Soviet military had to destroy from the Germans as to not allow them to gain further usage ‘scorched earth’. This left Stalin with a limited resources and little production methods. The removal and transportation of Soviet factories from the west to the east was a decisive factor leading to the USSR winning the war because it meant that the Russians could produce all material needed without any threat from the Germans as the land distance was so vast. It was described as the Soviet Union being tipped on its side towards Asia. Stalins plan was to help Soviet industry switch to wartime production and improve the military options the Soviet commanders had. A major factor that helped this was the Soviets adaptability and experience of industrialisation having experienced Stalin’s 5 year plan. This meant the Soviet people were a lot more efficient when contributing to the war economy. Stalin spoke in 1931 about the Soviet Union needing to advance fifty to one hundred years in the next ten years to catch up with the rest of the world. When Germany attacked in 1941 ten years had passed. The Soviets had improved the infrastructure of industry. However, major drawbacks were still in place. The major problem involved the distance between the 3,500 new factories and the front line of the battlefield. The factories were spread out across the Soviet Union. The majority of the factories were located in the south but stretched from Stalingrad in the west to Siberia in the east. During the early years of World War II Stalingrad was instructed by the centralized Communist Party in Leningrad. Stalingrad was chosen due to its proximity and access to the Volga River. The protection of production was also harnessed with resources to be able to produce for the war. This was achieved with the lend-lease agreement with the US. This was designed to supply the Soviet Union with resources to help produce machinery and improve communication links as the distance between the Russian cities and businesses became stretched. The supplies were imported using the Black Sea remaining a safe distance from German attack. As a result, the Soviet Union were able to out produce Germany. The Russians become more efficient creating tanks, ensuring they were all the same would mean fixing them would become easier and the time it would take to produce shortened. The USA’s involvement in World War 2 was due to the Japanese bombing of pearl harbour , although Germany were not obliged to go to war with the Japanese as they had not been declared war by the Americans, Hitler decided to give assistance. This only meant a larger power became a German enemy. A major mistake made by the Germans was the underestimation of Soviet force, once the initial advancements were made in Operation Barbarossa. Hitler and the wider population believed that it would only be time before the Soviets would have to succumb to defeat. One German general believed that Soviet military leaders were ‘less of a threat than the tsarist Russian generals’. However this was not the only power that misjudged the strength of USSR as American generals also expressed that the Soviets would only last within a timescale of a single month to 3 months. Another mistake made by Hitler was his persistence and control with the army. Hitler aimed to complete Operation Barbarossa before the winter, as this wasn’t completed he forced them to continue. The harsh soviet conditions made this impossible, The German soldiers were unprepared for the winter weather which lead to thousands of deaths by hyperthermia. Whereas, the Soviet troops having adapted to the harsh conditions were able to continue. An advantage this gave Stalin was the time to organise both military and civilians. The delay of German troops due to the lack of support with clothing and supplies left them stranded in the centre of vast land, unable to continue and low on morale as communication was near impossible. This gave Stalin time to reorganise, one way Stalin organised the military was to ensure that a constant supply of equipment and man power fed through. Though soldiers were trained to maintain efficiency meaning less Soviet soldiers were likely to die in combat. Another way Stalin organised his military was to make sure Vasilevsky and Zhukov regained dominance in airspace. This resulted in German efforts to conduct Blitzkrieg tactic useless. Stalin also abolished the strong influence the communist party had on the army to ensure the military stayed resistant. Stalin also ensured that the civilian population was wel l led to ensure maximum efficiency in the effort of war. Regular propaganda messages ensured that morale was kept at a high level. Films were regularly shown highlighting the evil Nazi party to ensure that the population stay in favour of German invasion. Propaganda was also less based upon the strength of the communist party during war and focused more on national unity and fighting spirit in the war effort. This was to keep the Soviet population loyal to the communist party. Another key method in boosting morale in Russia was the reintroduction of practiced religion. Religion was never banned but suffered severe harassment since 1917, closing churches and killing priests it became dangerous to practice religion. The restoration of Christianity brought the backing of Christians and an improved morale in Soviet Russia. Another group that played a valuable role in the soviet victory was partisan groups. They were men and women who fought within German territory and attacked German soldiers and destroyed German equipment. This was particularly effective as the cutting of communication wires made it difficult to convey messages over vast land and very difficult to repair due to the lack of supplies. Ultimately, I believe that the Soviet economy was crucial for Soviet victory in the Second World War as without a strong economy producing output would have left the Soviets defenceless against the Germans. However I also think that the leadership of the military and civilians in Russia was crucial in becoming more efficient and consequently a stronger power. Smaller factors such as the contribution of the Russian civilians in protecting Leningrad were also detrimental in achieving victory. There are several interpretations highlighted by the western civilisation on why the Soviet Union won the war, there has tended to feature Soviet heroism in standing up to the German invasion, but to regard the other positive factors as unnecessary. There is often a focus on Stalin’s mistakes in leadership especially early in the war. This contrasts with Soviet historians views that highlight the determined resistance of the soviet people and leadership. I also believe this soviet viewpoint that without the patriotism towards Soviet Russia creating the biggest impotence towards the Russian war effort.

Hans Asperger Overview

Hans Asperger Overview What Sister Viktorine Knew Neurotribes, neuodiversity, steve sibberman, autism In 1931, Gottfried K. was brought to the Childrens Clinic at the University Hospital in Vienna by his grandmother for an examination. He was nine and a half years old, but so physically uncoordinated that Anne Weiss, a young psychologist working at the clinic, assumed that he was feebleminded. His grandmother told Weiss that she too was often confused by his behavior, but Gottfried was clever and smart. Weiss listened carefully, taking notes. His grandmother had brought him to the right place. She looked forward to discussing this case with her colleagues, especially Hans Asperger, the new pediatrician who seemed to take a special interest in gifted, sensitive children. Hans Asperger, the eldest of three boys, was born in Austria in 1906. But his brothers died young, and he became the only child. In his early life, he joined a group of young people who called themselves the Wandering Scholars, heading off on month long hiking trips to read poetry aloud in the wilderness. He met his wife-to-be, Hanna Kalmon, on one of these trips. After graduating from the University of Vienna, Asperger was assigned by his mentor, Franz Hamburger, to the Childrens Clinic at the University Hospital. The University Hospital was one of the most prestigious hospitals in the city. Doctors from all over Europe came to the city to observe surgeries in vast operating theaters and consult with the leading experts in the field. Since the mid 1910s, Vienna had hosted ongoing salons where physicians and scientists mingled with artists and musicians to discuss politics, art, science, and philosophy. Much of this cultural ferment originated in Viennas lively Jewish community, which dated back to the 12th century. In the years after the World War I, one in five inhabitants of the city was Jews, as were many of the faculty members who taught at the university. The Childrens Clinic was founded by a physician and social reformer named Erwin Lazar. By combining elements of medicine, psychology, and progressive pedagogy, Lazar developed an approach to helping children attain their potential based on the 19th century concept of Heilpà ¤dagogik, therapeutic education. The tight-knit staff at the special-education unit, known as the Heilpà ¤dagogik Station, included Asperger, Weiss, psychiatrist Georg Frankl, psychologist Josef Feldner, and a nun named Sister Viktorine Zak. Their approach to diagnosis was based on a method of intensive observation developed by Lazar. Lazar believed a childs true condition could only be measured by watching the child in the course of his or her daily life. Putting children through a battery of tests was not enough. No one mastered this intimate style of observation better than Georg Frankl, who had become Aspergers chief diagnostician. On his first day at the hospital, Gottfried did nothing but cried. But he adapted to his new life gradually. The reliable rhythms of the daily schedule seemed to comfort him. As Weiss got to know him better, she came to see the nine-year-old Gottfried was precociously smart, but he was unaware of things that most kids know instinctively. He didnt know how to play the games around him to his own advantage. Weiss published her in-depth case study of Gottfried in the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry in 1935 after she emigrated to America in 1934. *** Over the course of a decade, Asperger and his staff examined over two hundred children who displayed the same cluster of social awkwardness, precocious abilities, and fascination with rules, laws, and schedules. They also saw several teenagers and adults who fit the same profile. Asperger believed they represented a distinct syndrome that was not at all rare but had somehow escaped the notice of his predecessors. In fact a Russian psychiatrist named Grunia Sukhareva had written about a similar group of young people with prodigious abilities in art and music two decades earlier in Moscow. She believed her patients had a disorder resembled schizophrenia with an essential difference. While adult schizophrenics always deteriorated, her patients often made dramatic improvements. She called this syndrome schizoid personality disorder. Though Asperger was unaware of Sukharevas work, he noted his patients condition was similar to the condition referred to as autistic thinking by the Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler. In 1908, Bleuler used the term autistic to describe a schizophrenic patient who had withdrawn into his own world. Asperger used the term autistic psychopathy to describe their condition. In a postgraduate thesis, Asperger described   prototypical cases named Fritz V., Harro L., Ernst K,. And Hellmuth L. Asperger was struck by these boys natural aptitude for science. He recognized that his patients blatant disregard for authority could be developed into the skepticism indispensable to any scientist. He called this distinctive cluster of aptitudes, attitudes, skills, and abilities autistic intelligence. His job as the staff of the Heilpà ¤dagogik Station was to teach these kids how to put their autistic intelligence to work. He called them his little professors. Asperger noted that many of these kids fathers and grandfathers were engineers and scientists, showing that the disorder might be genetic. But he cautioned that it would be foolish to search for a single gene responsible for such a complex range of behaviors and traits as these conditions were undoubtedly polygenetic. When Asperger submitted his thesis to Hamburger in 1943, the Nazis had occupied Austria five years earlier. Of the 200 senior members of the medical faculty, fewer than 50 remained. Aspergers colleagues, Anni Weiss and Georg Frankl, had fled the country, and many others were in exile, imprisoned in concentration camps, or dead of suicide.   Asperger was speaking out for the sake of children who had not yet been murdered by a monstrous idea of eugenics imported from America. *** The word eugenics (which means well-born) was coined in 1887 by a British named Francis Galton, the younger half cousin of Charles Darwin. Galton distinguished himself by his ability to recognize patterns. He popularized the notion of regression toward the mean in statistical analysis and the use of fingerprints in the science of forensics. Eugenics policies were first implemented in the United States. In 1909, the state of California passed a law granting public-health officials the right to sterilize convicts and the mental patients in California. Thirty other states had passed similar laws, and a wave of sterilization swept through asylums and prisons coast to coast. In October 1921, the Second International Congress of Eugenics was held as a gala week long event at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan, New York. The event was sponsored by the nations most prestigious museums and promoted in journals like Science and the Scientific Monthly. In the welcome address to the congress, Henry Fairfield Osborn, the museums president, urged his fellow scientists to enlighten government in the prevention of the spread and multiplication of worthless members of society, the spread of feebleemindedness, of idiocy, and of all moral and intellectual as well as physical diseases. As influential as they were at home, American eugenicists received an even warmer welcome in Germany. A 1913 textbook by Geza von Hoffman called Die Rassenhygiene in den Vereinigten Staaten von Nordamerika (Racial Hygiene in the United States) became the seminal guide to applied eugenics students in Germany. Incarcerated in the Landsberg Fortress in 1924, Adolf Hitler learned about eugenics from The Passing of the Great Race, written by a Yale graduate named Madison Grant. Grant mentioned that Galtons strategies for encouraging men and women of the genius-producing classes to mate would not stop the rising tide of idiocracy. He directed his fellow eugenicists to develop more expeditious means of eliminating the weak and the unfit. It was music to Hitlers ears. From his prison in Landsberg, Hitler dictated Mein Kampf to his deputy Rudolf Hess saying that as a compassionate defense of the lives of children yet unborn, the future Fà ¼hrer put forced sterilization at the core of his vision of a new society. As the National Socialist party rose to power in the 1930s, the body of American eugenic law became the blueprint for Nazi policies to defend Aryan from negative genetic influences. Unlike their American counterparts, German eugenicists did not plan to limit their efforts to asylums, prisons, and mental institutions. Instead, they aimed to carry out the implications of eugenic theory to their fullest extent. In July 1933, they enacted the Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring to sterilize any German citizen who showed signs of schizophrenia, alcoholism, bipolar disorder, Huntingtons disease, inherited blindness or deafness, or epilepsy. In June 1934, the Nazis assassinated the Fascist Chancellor Engelbert Dolfuss and replaced him with a pro-German and anti-Semitic successor. By 1935, a massive exodus from Austria was under way, prompted by new laws stripping Jews of property, jobs, and basic rights of citizenship. Anni Weiss was the first of Aspergers team to leave, arriving in America in 1934. The clinics gifted diagnostician, Georg Frankl, left in 1937, emigrating to Maryland with the aid of a Jewish doctor who had left Austria years earlier. On March 12, 1938, the day of the Anschluss, Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany. Gangs of civilians calling themselves Rolllkommandos looted department stores and shops in the Jewish quarter, often assisted by the police. Within weeks, the University of Vienna was transformed into the intellectual center of an academic movement to put racial improvement and racial research at the top of the medical agenda. Before the Anschluss, more than 5,000 physicians were practicing in Vienna, by the fall of 1938, less than 750 would remain. Many former professors at the university died in concentration camps. Others took their own lives. In 1938, Aspergers mentor Franz Hamburger gave a lecture to the society titled National Socialism and Medicine, affirming his support of the Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring. On October 3, Asperger gave the first public talk on autism in history, in a lecture hall at the University Hospital. He launched into the case histories of his patients, putting his audience on familiar turf. Then he proposed a radical way of thinking about cognitive disabilities that is opposite to the dogma of racial hygiene. He said the therapeutic goal must be to teach the person how to bear their difficulties, not to eliminate them. Unfortunately, his strategy of accentuating the positive to his Nazi superiors by basing his four prototypical cases on his chatty little professors rather than on the more profoundly impaired children he saw in the institutes, would contribute to widespread confusion in the coming decades. On the basis of the four prototypical boys in Aspergers thesis, many clinicians assumed that he saw only highly functioning children in his practice, which ended up obscuring his most important discovery that autism was found in all age groups, and had a broad ra nge of manifestations. That night was the beginning of Yom Kippur, the most sacred day in the Jewish calendar. For the next 24 hours, storm troopers and Rollerkommandos made brutal raids in the Jewish neighborhood, stealing, burning, plundering, and killing. A month later, on Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, ninety-five synagogues in Vienna went up in flames, and Jewish homes, hospitals, schools, and shops were demolished with sledgehammers. In Berlin, more than thirty thousand Jews were dragged off to concentration camps. Meanwhile, Aspergers old colleague, Erwin Jekelius, was rising through the party ranks and became the director of Am Spiegelgrund (formerly known as Am Steinhof), the largest mental hospital in Vienna. He was later called the mass murderer of Steinhof when he helped the Nazis started their euthanasia program. In 1941, Hitler arrested him when he fell in love with Hitlers sister, Paula Hitler. After a brief stint in jail, Jekelius was drafted into the army and sent to the Russian front, where he was captured by the Red Army soldiers. He died at the age of forty, from cancer of the urinary bladder. *** On February 20, 1939, a boy named Gerhard Kretschmar was born in Leipzig. He was born blind and intellectually disabled, with one arm and only a partial leg, and he was prone to seizures. The birth of Gerhard Kretschmar provided an opportunity that Hitler had been waiting for since his days in Landsberg prison. Hitler dispatched his personal physician to examine the child and gave orders to carry out euthanasia. In August, the Committee for the Registration of Severe Hereditary Ailments issued a decree calling for the registration of all children born with congenital abnormalities of any kind. Doctors and midwives were required to report all cases to the committee. On September 1, Nazi Germany invaded Poland, officially starting World War II. In December, Hitler signed a secret order authorizing the creation of a program call Aktion T-4, short for Tiergartenstrasse 4, the address of the Charitable Foundation for Curative and Institutional Care in Berlin. Closed door meetings were held throughout Germany and Austria to educate medical students about child euthanasia and T-4, which primarily targeted disabled adults. These programs became fertile ground for medical research that could not have been conducted in contexts where the patient was expected to live. More than 200,000 disabled children and adults were murdered through these official programs, and thousands more were killed by doctors and nurses on their own initiative. *** Asperger had never joined the Nazi party, according to his daughter, because of his loyalty to the Wandering Scholars. He refused to report his young patients to the Reich Committee, which created a dangerous situation for him. The Gestapo had showed up twice at his clinic to arrest him. Both times, Franz Hamburger had used his power as a prominent Nazi party member to intervene in his favor. By then, the Reich needed doctors on the front lines, and Asperger was drafted into the German army to serve as surgeon in a field hospital in Croatia. In September 1944, while Asperger was still in Croatia, the Allies bombed the Childrens Clinic, reducing the Heilpà ¤dagogik Station to rubble. As the ceiling gave way, Sister Viktorine threw her arms around one of her boys to protect him. They were buried together.

An Analysis of Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet Essay -- Romeo Juliet E

An Analysis of Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet Baz Luhrmann’s William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet did not get a warm reception from the literary and film critics of today. Many feel that he cut out too much of the words which lessened the character development and original connotation that Shakespeare intended. Even worse, he compromised Shakespeare’s integrity by giving in to the demands of the American teen pop culture. These critics have a point. Luhrmann takes out anything that does not speak to the current audience. He understands that in his time, Shakespeare wrote his plays to entertain his audience, writing within the context of his culture and using â€Å"sexy and violent elements† with â€Å"boisterous comedy and passion†(Hamilton 120). The Elizabethan culture understood the puns, the references to gods, and even the language that we find so archaic. Luhrmann approaches his new version with the same intent. He wants to entertain his audience with the timeless love that Shake speare renders and tries to â€Å"reclaim the play from its association as rarefied and stagy(120). The one mistake he makes keeps critics on his heels: the title of his movie assumes that this IS Shakespeare’s play just placed into the 1990s. The fact that he takes out much of the original text and even twists it in order to fit his play speaks to the idea that this is Luhrmann’s version of Romeo and Juliet. Luhrmann’s version tells the audience that Shakespeare’s love is timeless, not the actual play. He reshapes Shakespeare’s text in order to speak to the 1990s audience. This essay will attempt to decipher the differences in Shakespeare’s and Luhrmann’s versions in order to find the cultural influences which form each play. It should also d... ... 1996: E6. Hamilton, Lucy. â€Å"Baz vs. the Bardolators, Or Why William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet Deserves Another Look.† Literature Film Quarterly. Vol 28 #2 (2000):118-124. Hulbert, Dan. â€Å"Beware: Bard’s Armed, Dangerous.† The Atlanta Journal and Constitution 1 Nov. 1996: 14P. Millar, Jeff. â€Å"Classics Revisited; Energizing Romeo and Juliet.† The Houston Chronicle 1 Nov. 1996: 1. Shakespeare, William. The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. The Norton Shakespeare. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1997. 872-939. Walker, Elsie. â€Å"Pop Goes the Shakespeare: Baz Luhrmann’s William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.† Literature Film Quarterly. Vol 28 #2 (2000): 132-137. William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Dir. Baz Luhrmann. Perf. Claire Danes, Leonardo DiCaprio. 20th Century Fox, 1996.

The Sins of the Father Essay example -- essays papers

The Sins of the Father What happens to children severely traumatized or neglected during the first years of life? This is an infinite topic, so the focus of this exploration will be limited to three personality disorders. The symptoms of these personality disorders are diagnosed in adulthood, but their roots lie in the first 4 years of life. Erikson's growth stages of trust vs. mistrust and autonomy vs. self-doubt will form the foundation for understanding. When a child is exposed to abusive, pathological parenting during these development stages the result is often a personality disorder. Personality disorders are enduring patterns of perception, which are maladaptive and cause significant functional impairment and/or subjective distress according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, edition 4. These disorders affect approximately 3% of our population and the number is probably significantly higher, except that many go undiagnosed. These people often suffer extraordinarily thro ughout an entire lifetime and cause a great deal of suffering to those who love and interact with them. It is my intent to provide a general understanding of the people afflicted with these disorders. But more importantly, the causes that take place during infancy so that possibly some day the diseases can be eradicated. I will begin with the infant who is unable to be successfully fed and soothed at birth. Infants have very minimal needs but each need is crucial. The failure to meet any of these needs causes significant difficulty in adulthood. Infants are completely helpless; a tiny baby is unable to think for itself. Almost all feelings are intense and require adult intervention to help the infant manage the intensity. Lastly, the infant has absolutely no physical ability to do anything for itself including any mobility. Take a moment to try and imagine total helplessness and dependency on another for everything, hunger, comfort, warmth, communication and even the ability to calm oneself. An infant is born in a symbiotic state in which it is unable to differentiate between itself and the primary care giver. This is the foundation of trust. The caregiver must anticipate the needs of the infant and be able to interpret non-verbal clues, since the infant has no verbal communication skills. When a primary caregiver is unable to sense when ... ...Burge Dorli Hammen Constance Borderline personality disorders: Symptoms of disfunction in young women Journal of abnormal psychology august 2000 volume 109 number 3 Firstman, Richard, and Talan, Jamie, â€Å"The Death of the Innocents†, copyright 1997, Bantam Books, New York, N.Y. Gabbard Glen O. MD, Psychodynamic psychiatry, copyright 2000 American Psyciatric press P.385-491 Gunderson, John G., â€Å"Borderline†, copyright 1984, R.R. Donnelly and Sons, United States of America. Kohut, Heinz, â€Å"The Search for Self†, volumes 3, 4, copyright 1991, International Universities Press, New York, N.Y. Roberts Donald D. Phd, Psychodynamic Psychology, Shorter term treatment of the borderline personality disorder: A developmental self-and object relations winter 2000 Volume 17 number 1 Scholte Everit M. Contemporary Psychology savage spawn: Reflections on violent children Dec 2000 Volume 95 number 6 Spitzer, Robert L., M.D., Chair at work group revision, â€Å"Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders†, III R, copyright 1987, American Psychiatric Association, USA. Stern, Daniel, â€Å"The Interpersonal World of the Infant†, copyright 1985, Basic Book, United States of America.

Behind Convicts Eyes by Cerceral Prison Essay -- Behind Convicts Ey

"Behind a Convict's Eyes" by K.C. Cerceral Introduction This paper is about the book 'Behind a Convict's Eyes' by K.C. Cerceral. This book was written by a young man who enters prison on a life sentence and describes the world around him. Life in prison is a subculture of its own, this subculture has its own society, language and cast system. The book describes incidents that have happen in prison to inmates. With this paper I will attempt to explain the way of life in a prison from an inmate's view. Understanding Prison Life After reading the book I have gained a new understanding of what inmates think about in prison. Working in an institution, I have a certain cynical attitude at times with inmates and their requests. Working in a reception facility, this is a facility where inmates are brought in from the county jails to the state intake facility, we deal with a lot of requests and questions. At times, with the phone ringing off the hook from family members and inmates with their prison request forms, you get a little cynical and tired of answering the same questions over and over. As I read the book I begin to understand some of the reason for the questions. Inmate(s) now realize that the officers and administrative personnel are in control of their lives. They dictate with to get up in the morning, take showers, eat meals, go to classes, the need see people for different reason, when to exercise and when to go to bed. The lost of control over their lives is a new experience for some and they would l ike to be able to adjust to this new lost of freedom. Upon understanding this and in reading the book, I am not as cynical as I have been and try to be more patient in answering questions. So in a way I have changed some of my thinking and understanding more of prison life. Describe Strategies and Compare with Voices from the Field Some of the adaptation strategies used by ?Anonymous? and the other inmates in prison where to use nicknames to feel more individual and unique. Being in prison can cause you to lose your identity as a person, most inmates are known by numbers. Another strategy was to conform to the schedule of the prisons. You can not eat when you want, shower, get up, go to recreation and go to bed. Everyone has a schedule and working with this schedules helps to learn how to cope. Also Anonymous and other inmates would take cla... ...y. As the book showed ?dad yells and blames everyone, mom yells at the kids, the older children yell at the younger children, and the youngest child kicks the cat.? (Carceral, 2004, pp. 200). The youngest child is not able to understand what is really going on and feels worthless and not loved without conditions. This child will turn to where they will get attention. This can lead to undesirable associates and into crime. As the child grows older, and has children of this/her own the syndrome is passed on. Conclusion I have to say the reading gave me a different outlook on what inmates? do and think while in prison. They become a number not a person and do have needs that have to be address. Addressing these needs will help in running an institution smoothly and more safely. Finally Anonymous makes a powerful statement in the writing of this book on some policies that should be changed in prisons. I really enjoyed reading this book and having maybe a new outlook in dealing with inmates. References Carceral, K.C., (2004), Behind a Convict?s Eyes, Wadsworth, Thomson Learning Schmid, Thomas & Jones, Richard, (2001), Voices from the Field, Wadsworth, Thomson Learning

Can Classical and Operant Conditioning Account for the Development of Phobias?

Can classical and operant conditioning account for the development of phobias? Classical conditioning involves pairing an unconditioned stimulus with a conditioned stimulus. The conditioned stimulus then produces a conditioned response. Operant conditioning then refers to associations between the response and the outcome. The following essay will examine evidence supporting classical and operant conditioning as a cause of phobias.Other theories, such as biological and evolutionary, will also be taken into account, as conditioning theory is criticised for a number of reasons. Psychologists have suggested phobias develop as a consequence of conditioning, and many phobics can remember a specific episode which caused the onset of their phobia (Freud, 1909; Ost and Hugdahl, 1981). However, research suggests it is not necessary for a specific episode to occur to change behaviour. Kirsch et al (2004) studied rats in a maze.They were left to explore before food was introduced, at which point errors in the rats' route through the maze were reduced significantly. This suggests the rats learned to navigate when they were not reinforced for learning, and they formed cognitive maps without reinforcement. This evidence of latent learning suggests learning can occur without classical conditioning. Davey (1992) also found many phobics do not remember a particular aversive conditioning episode, claiming they have had their phobia since they could remember.This suggests their phobia may have developed without conditioning. Instead there may be, for example, a biological aspect of developing phobias. There are certain phobias, such as for snakes and spiders, which are more common than others. Mineka and Ohman (2002) suggested primates and humans can quickly associate these objects with frightening events because they have evolved to do so; these objects posed a threat to their ancestors.To support this evoluntionary theory, Cook and Mineka (1989) exposed monkeys to various object s, and found they easily acquired new fears of toy snakes and crocodiles, but did not develop fears of flowers. They suggested this is because they had no prior exposure to flowers in a frightening episode. While this research may still suggest conditioning theory is a factor in the development of phobias, as the primates still learnt to fear the object, evolution may also be a factor of phobia development.

Judicial Study Guide

Name: Period: Date: AP Government Unit 2 (Judicial Branch) Study Guide Directions: Using your notes and Chapter 16 reading, answer the following questions. 16. 2 Outline the structure of the federal court system and the major responsibilities of each component How is the federal judicial system organized? What role does the federal judicial system play in contemporary American government? What limits are there on the interpretation of the law and the Constitution by federal judges? What powers do judges have to ensure that their rulings are enforced? 16. 3 Explain the process by which judges and justices are nominated and confirmed Do politics play a role in judicial appointments? How are federal judges selected? Should senatorial courtesy be abandoned—why, or why not? 16. 5 Outline the judicial process at the Supreme Court level and assess the major factors influencing decisions and their implementation Do dissenting opinions matter? Why is the doctrine of stare decisis important in our judicial system? How do court justices evaluate cases based on original intent of the Founders? 16. 6 Trace the Supreme Court’s use of judicial review in major policy battles in various eras of American history Explain the development of judicial review. 16. 7 Assess the role of unelected courts and the scope of judicial power in American democracy How well does the Supreme Court conform to the criteria for democracy? What changes would need to be made to make the Court more democratic? Would these changes have any impact on the effectiveness of the Court? DIRECTIONS: Look at the Chapter Test on pg. 498-499 of the textbook. Circle your choice for the correct answer on the questions listed below. 1. a b c d e2. a b c d e 3. True False5. a b c d e 6. a b c d e7. True False 9. a b c d e11. a b c d e 12. True False14. a b c d e 15. True False16. True False 19. a b c d e20. True False

Science a Curse or a Blessing

We cannot Say for certain whether science is a curse or a blessing. it is our use of science which would make science a curse or a Blessing . First let us see how man has used science for his good so that it has become a blessing for him. it is science that has provided modern man the life of ease, leisure and pleasure. It has brought within reach of the common man comforts and luxuries which were available in the past only to a privileged few.Science has invented marvelous machines. It has discovered energies which run these machines. The machines have taken drudgery out of work. Distance has been conquered. Modern means of transport and communication have made the word shrink in size. Men and things and news and views can go around the globe today with lightning speed. Man has already landed on the moon and a man-made satellite has just completed it’s voyage through the solar system.Our life has become healthier and longer. Modern hygiene, sanitation, medicine and surgery ar e conquering more and more physical and mental ills day by day. We now know and experience the joys of good health and longevity. Through the cinema and the video, the TV and the tape-reorder, science has worked wonders in the spheres of education and entertainment.Though we welcome these blessing of science, we have to consider the darker side of the picture also. Machines have led to unemployment. They have polluted water and atmosphere. Thy have caused noise pollution. Factories have led to slums where human beings live in squalor. Our moral and spiritual progress has failed to keep pace with our scientific progress. We have allowed science to master us instead of using it as our servant.Machines make us mechanical, deaden our sensibilities, stifle our creative talents, force mechanical regularity, uniformity and boredom upon us, increase our wants and desires, and tend to make us selfish, greedy and cruel. Geographical distance has, no doubt, vanished, but the gulf between the m inds and hearts of man has widened.Machines have given man leisure, but man misuses it to get cheap and vulgar entertainment which destroys his physical and mental health. Again, science  has put in our hands such fiendish weapons as the nuclear bomb, the guided missile and means of chemical and biological warfare. We are in danger of destroying ourselves with these monstrous means which, ironically, are our own creations. Rightly used science can bring heaven on earth. Wrongly used, it can trun this earth in to hell by destroying civilization.

Sociological Approach to the Study of Religion

Outline and assess one of the main approaches to the study of religions. Religion and ‘The Study of Religions’ has many approaches which try to investigate the core of what religion is and what it means to the people who practice it. Sociology is one such approach that this essay will be looking at through its founding fathers Emile Durkheim, Max Weber and Karl Marx. Sociology in general looks at people’s dynamics and explains a group’s influence. It demonstrates how religious belief and practices have become so important over time and emphasises their role and significance throughout. Each of these three sociologists has a link to these ideas which will be the main thesis in this essay. Emile Durkheim looks at religion from a functionalist perspective in the sense that he assumes that religion has a positive role in society, as it acts as an important socialisation process for all members. The theory is largely based on the Arunta tribe in Australia, where he discovered objects worshipped which he calls ‘totems. ’ These totems according to him were an important factor in the society; seeing that the objects became a symbol of the group’s identity and unity. These objects he claims are â€Å"collective representation† (Fish, Jonathan S. 2005: 30) as they have reinforced the importance of integration into the community via the worshipped objects. The worshipped object have an emotional significance to them as the â€Å"totems serve as evocative device for reminding individuals of their initial feelings long after the assemblies† (Fish, Jonathan S. 2005:51) therefore evidently it becomes more about the idea and symbolism of the object rather than the object itself that unites all. Thus making the idea of rituals of greater significance as it generally binds people together which for Durkheim is always a positive thing. On the other hand, Durkheim does not offer a real explanation on why some deviate from such society’s e. g. Islamic fundamentalists such as the Taliban. Perhaps his theory generally works on a tribal base rather than bigger societies, where conflicts and divides are more common; in a smaller community less people are likely to go against the status quo. Moreover, to say that religion only plays a positive role is absurd. How can one explain the atrocities that occur on the name of religion for instance? For this reason I find Durkheim’s theory limiting as it does not look at all aspects of religion or religious life but merely draws a quick conclusion to it. Also according to this perspective religion instils the same norms and values for everyone, making it a regulatory function in society. Religion for Marx then becomes a form of social control which provides guidelines through religious texts e. g. 10 commandments. These norms which are shared gives people the opportunity to unite to what may be seen as morally incorrect or sinful. This can be vital in a society as it can allow social stability. Durkheim argument is plausible as there has been a significant rise in New Religious Movements. This evidently shows that people still require religion in their life. Moreover, the recent increase on religious fundamentalists can be a point that strengthens Durkheim argument as it can be evidence for people being threatened by a weakening society. Karl Marx similar to Durkheim starts with the assumption that religion is in fact a product of society. Importantly, however, he disagrees with Durkheim as he does not see religion as beneficial for the whole of society but argues it benefits only the ruling class or what he calls the ‘bourgeoisie’. Religion, according to Marx only transmits bourgeoisie ideologies to convince the working class or ‘proletariats’ that inequality is natural and fair phenomena in the world. Making religion as a whole a â€Å"collective smoke-screen† (Connolly, P. 1999:100) as it distorts reality which gives explanation for inequality as being of religious significance i. e. sin. For Marx this is the core idea behind religion making it a tool for oppression and a form of social control. Religion is claimed to be the â€Å"opium of the people† (Hamilton, Malcolm B 2001:81), making it a drug which is used by people as an illusion to hide or cover up the real causes of suffering, which for Marx is primarily capitalism. Capitalism covers up religion and manages to help the bourgeoisie greatly, as it becomes a â€Å"comforting illusion† (Hamilton, Malcolm B 2001:80) as the proletariats do not question the status quo due to their belief in getting a greater reward in the afterlife. Religion itself is used to justify hierarchy in the world, a verse in a hymn such as the following are used, â€Å"the rich man in his castle, the poor man at his gate, god made them. Highly or lowly, and ordered their state†. This stresses Marx’s point that as it’s believed to be sanctioned by God it is unlikely to be challenged by anyone. The Marxists perspective generally makes many valid arguments which society can relate to even today. The idea of caste system is still relevant in many Hindu traditions (although generally frowned upon). Buddhism has the idea of karma meaning if you are a poor person in this life then it’s to do with your own bad karma in the previous life. Therefore Marxism is correct in this aspect, that religion is used in order to justify inequality. Another key piece of evidence for the Marxists perspective is the fact that the Catholic Church is arguably allowing the spread of aids due to its stance against contraception. As a result of this, there is a continuation of social deprivation especially in Africa which further illustrates that religion is generally used to keep social inequality. Marxism disagrees that religion can bring about social change, this, however can be disputed. This is mainly due to the fact religious leaders have challenged the status quo in order to bring about change in their societies. Two main examples being Father Camillo Torres Restrepo and Martin Luther King whose works brought about a vast amount of change to Colombia and America respectively. Evidently this contrasts to the Marxists view as it shows that religion can in fact bring about social change and consequently allow for equality. Personally, I feel that the Marxists view limits human nature as it assumes they will simply follow rather than stand up to injustice. More importantly sociology in general claims to work in an objective and scientific way but I cannot see how it is possible with Marxists ideas such as on the religion being a drug and comforting as these ideas are impossible to measure. Max Weber is regarded as a social action theorist due to his claim that religion can shape and define society. He argues that religion can indeed bring about social change; he bases his argument on a Christian group named the Calvinists whom according to him brought about a form of western capitalism. This form of â€Å"ascetic Protestantism† (Johnstone, Ronald L. 2004:196) allows for the growth of capitalism because of their belief on disciplined hard work which to them emphasised the Glory of God. This â€Å"spirit of capitalism† (Furseth, Inger and Pal Repstad 2006:36) did not allow for the accumulation of wealth but actually encouraged reinvestment back into the society according to Weber. The so called Protestant ethics approach leads him to believe that this led to social change as society turned to mass producing mechanised industries. Another way the Calvinist were able to bring about social change, was thorough the apprehension people had. Calvinists believed in predestination which led to the belief that having a good business or being successful could have indicated that you were one of God’s chosen people. This gives the perception that people were competing over heaven and failure was not an option for people. However, Weber does not limit the growth of capitalism to the Calvinist alone as he is aware of other factors. Weber’s argument must be treated with a degree of caution. Evidence suggests that Protestant nations were not always capitalistic and vice versa. Also many believe that Catholic countries were already flourishing before the breakaway from Catholicism occurred. The study of Religions deal with many wide and opposing issues some of which have been covered in this essay through the works of Durkheim, Marx and Weber. Although, each sociologist does give a good account of explaining the dynamics within a religious group but with each case a very simplistic and generalised view was given by the sociologist about religion. It is plausible to argue that religion brings people together through rituals but is it not a natural thing for people to unite whilst doing something together? In this view then perhaps anything can be said to have religious significance as long as it brings people together. Additionally, the idea of a greater reward in the afterlife is not the only justification given about inequality. In the greater sense inequality within religion can be about anything from the roles of men and women to dress code. Therefore once again this idea has been limited to it being about capitalism. Religion is said to be able to bring about social change which arguably is a factor but for it to be the only thing is for me far fetched. It is an inherent thing for people to fight when they are being wronged. It is about something within rather than it being about religion.