Sociology and Religion

Introduction Sociology and religion have significant relationships, as sociology is the study of human behaviors and interactions at the individual level or group level. On the other hand, religion is composed of a group of individuals having the same beliefs, values, and principles, and thus they influence one another and society in the development of social systems that hold people together.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Sociology and Religion specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Usually, sociology has two important aspects in the study of groups or individuals. First, sociology enhances understanding of group dynamics in terms of their functioning, nature, interaction, and individual differences. Secondly, sociology provides a way of understanding how a social group influences individuals and humanity in the society. The process of socialization has enduring impact on one’s life because from birth to old age, social forces shape human behavior and societal beliefs, values, and principles. Fundamentally, religion comprises a group of people that share same social dynamics and have the same influence on individuals and society, thus it is of great interest to sociologists. In exploring religion in society, this essay examines sociological assumptions and features with a view of observing the sociology of religion. Sociological Assumptions The first sociological assumption is that an individual is a biological organism. As a biological organism, an individual has physiological needs, drives, potentials, and limitations that are subject to biological factors. Essentially, biological factors can either limit or enhance the socializing influence of groups on individuals and society. In this case, religion is a group that has the capacity to socialize and influence biological factors of an individual. As religious beliefs, values, and principles differ from one religion to another, they ha ve varied influence on individuals. While some religions are liberals, others are very restrictive, thus they have differential influence on the development of human behavior and social interactions. For example, a religion can have beliefs, values, and principles that encourage its members to segregate from the rest of society. The influence of causing segregation is central in sociology because it changes biological factors that determine human behavior in the society. The second sociological assumption is that human beings have the ability to attach meanings and symbols to certain things that they associate with within their environments.Advertising Looking for essay on religion theology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Through the process of socialization, human beings build consensus on how to label or attach meanings and enhance communication. In religious circles, people can attach meanings to abstract concepts such as love, righteousness, wickedness, and happiness. Symbolization enables people to communicate effectively among group members without involving other people. Moreover, symbolization enables people to communicate intricate meanings regarding religion given that different religions have different beliefs in which people can best present them symbolically. The use of symbols in religious activities allows people to internalize religious beliefs and gain a deep understanding on religious mysteries. Thus, the interpretation of religious symbols indicates maturity of religious growth for symbols have intricate meanings that enable believers to comprehend the essence of religion in their lives. The third sociological assumption is that groups play a central role in human development because through socialization, people can gain their human nature. If social groups do not exist in the society, people will not gain their human nature. As babies grow into adulthood, the experiences of sociali zation influence their development into humans, who have internalized societal values, principles, and beliefs that people hold in the society. Normally, when children grow up, they acquire their behaviors from the immediate environment, which has significant influence in their lives, thus shaping their behaviors in society. In the aspect of religion, children grow up while internalizing religious beliefs, values, and principles, which shape them to behave as dominant members of the religions. Therefore, a religious group has considerable impact in humanization of people through the process of socialization. The fourth sociological assumption is that human actions exist because they are important in problem solving. Every action that human beings carry out in society has the ultimate function of solving a given problem. For instance, one can struggle to get biological needs such as food to avoid hunger or strive in school to improve literacy and gain new knowledge and skills. This a spect implies that hunger and illiteracy are problems that human beings struggle to overcome, for without their resolution people would perish. In this case, religion enables human beings to solve problems because by adhering to religious laws, beliefs, values, and principles, they avoid evil behaviors that have detrimental effects on their lives. Hence, religion is important in the society because it promotes peaceful coexistence in the diverse society by pushing for good moral behaviors. Since sociology examines interactive behaviors of people, the fifth sociological assumption is that various social phenomena that exist in a given group interrelate. Different social phenomena interrelate either in an indirect or direct manner. In religious groups, religion influences humans and humans in turn influence religion.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Sociology and Religion specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More From a soc iological perspective, religion is both an independent and dependent variable having the ability to influence or be under influence respectively. The interrelationship of sociology with other social phenomena in a cause-effect manner is central in understanding the sociology of religion. Sociological features of Religion The first sociological feature of a religion is that it is a group phenomenon. The group phenomenon is an evident feature of sociology because people gather in hundreds or thousands in worship places. People gather as they have common beliefs and expectations in a given gathering. For example, Christians gather during Easter to celebrate the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, while Muslims make a pilgrimage to Mecca to celebrate the life of Prophet Mohammed. For a gathering of people to become a group, sociologists state that a group must have two or more people who share common goals, norms, responsibilities, assigned functions, and should profess as a m ember of the group. Based of these characteristics, a religion qualifies as a sociological group. Additionally, in religion, one becomes a member of a given religion voluntarily without undue coercion, which means that religions cater for individual interests. Hence, religion exists as a group of people with common beliefs and interests, which hold them together since individuals are independent agents who have the freedom to interact and associate with other people irrespective of their religious backgrounds. Religion comprises a body or a system of beliefs, which is its second feature. The major difference amongst religions rests in the body of beliefs that a religion professes. The differences that exist among religions such as Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism emanate from differences in religious beliefs and principles. People choose to belong to a certain religion based on the religious beliefs that it holds. The diverse religious beliefs originate from teachings pas sed from one generation to another and scared books. Sacred books such as the Quran, the Bible, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Book of Mormon form the basis of religious beliefs that have caused the existence of diverse religions in the modern society. Although the diverse religions started from a given geographical location, the spread of beliefs across the world has led to the growth of religions, thus having considerable impact on society. The third feature of a religion is that it comprises a set of practices that people perform. Different religions have their own religious practices that they perform according to their ritual beliefs. Some of the prevalent religious practices include foot washing, baptism, Last Supper, Mass, dancing, fasting, and offerings. Although these practices are common amongst Christians, other religions have theirs.Advertising Looking for essay on religion theology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More For example, Muslims perform their prayers four times a day, while Buddhists perform their prayers as many times as they can. Actions that religions perform when they gather constitute religious practices because they have their basis on religious teachings, which are present in holy books. The religious practices are important because they define how people should conduct their worship in holy places. Worship usually entails rituals that guide worshipers to adhere to religious beliefs and principles. An important feature about religion is its role in prescribing morals in the society. In different societies, people agree that religions have a noble role of determining moral principles that are prevalent in society. Without religions, it could have been hard for the society to be the custodian of morals since it is very diverse and does not qualify to be a group with significant influences on societal members or other groups. Therefore, religions are not only custodians of moral val ues and principles, but also define them so that societal members can acquire moral behaviors. Through religion, supernatural powers influence society by causing transformation of human behavior. Since religious followers subscribe to given moral principles, they also advocate for these moral principles in the society, thus transforming societal perceptions on certain moral issues like abortion and drug abuse. The last feature of religion is that it entails sacred elements and teachings. The basis of any religion is sacredness. Religious leaders and followers alike believe that their religious beliefs are sacred because God has blessed and ordained them for humanity. Presumably, if human beings follow all sacred teachings and adhere to religious laws, one day they will link up with their God, who provides spiritual nourishment and healthy life to people. The sacredness of a religion is evident in the use of scared symbols like cross, manner of worship, offering of sacrifices, belief in blessings or curses, and respect for holy places of worship. Therefore, religion is a social group that values sacredness of their beliefs and practices in society. Sociology of Religion Based on sociological assumptions and features, it is evident that religion is a social phenomenon, which interacts with other social phenomena in the society. Since religion interacts with other social phenomena, empirical studies can determine how interactions occur and establish their extent in causing social changes that shape the society. Through the scientific method of study, sociologists can conduct systematic research to disapprove myths and verify theories associated with sociology. Although religion entails spiritual powers and supernatural forces, it is hard for sociologists to measure its impacts in shaping the society. However, given that religion is a social phenomenon, examination of its interactions with other social phenomena provides a means of empirically studying the sociolo gy of religion. Sociologists have examined religion from two different perspectives. The first perspective is substantive approach, which views religion from the perspective of its core principles. Examination of the core principles that underpin religion is central in the sociological study because they provide the foundation of the religion in question. The â€Å"substance† or â€Å"essence† of religion in society forms the basic understanding of the impact of religion on society because beliefs, values, and principles that it advocates are important in shaping human behavior in society. Owing to the complexity of substantive approach in studying religion, the second approach, viz. functional approach, is effective in studying the impact of religion on society. From the functional approach, sociologists examine what religions do to the society and how they influence human behavior. This perspective is important to sociologists because it facilitates the examination o f how religion, as a social phenomenon, interacts with other social groups that exist in a given society. Conclusion As religion comprises a group of people sharing the same beliefs, values, and principles about life, it qualifies as a sociological group. Based on sociological assumptions and features, religion meets the requirements of a social group in terms of being a group with common beliefs, practices, morals, and sacred teachings. Religion is a powerful social agent that aids in shaping human behaviors at the individual level or societal level. Therefore, sociology of religion is imperative in enhancing understanding on how religion interacts with other social phenomena, thus causing significant influence on human behavior in society. This essay on Sociology and Religion was written and submitted by user Sienna Osborne to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Particular historical event Essay Example

Particular historical event Essay Example Particular historical event Essay Particular historical event Essay It is the girls who originally went into the forest that really reflect the hysteria in the town. As more people are accused, their displays become more and more elaborate, and with Abigail at their head, they did not know when to stop. Miller shows that these bored girls caused a lot of damage to the community and made history from what began as a fun night in the forest. Did the girls do this for attention? Is one question that arises from the play. At this time in history, women had a limited role in society. Before they were married, they worked as servants and afterward; all they had to look forward to as becoming was Goody when they did eventually marry. Their lives were mundane and so they took the game too far, not realising how serious the consequences would be. The structure of The Crucible is consistent through each of the four acts. They all begin fairly quietly and lead up to the crescendo at the end of the act. And in turn, each of the acts led up to the finale in the fourth act. Building up on a larger scale, although in a similar format to the separate acts.  Miller takes a very well known historical event and uses it to create literature, he does this by using fact as far as possible, but adding his own spin to it. There were probably far more real people than characters, but again (as in Mr Wroes Virgins) to cast them all would have been too weighty. So Miller uses a select few characters to put across the social significance of this event. The type of language used by each author is relevant to the time in which they have set their text. The characters in The Crucible have their own dialect and accent, and Miller tries to put this across by dropping the g from words ending ing. Also in The Crucible, they split the sentence and place the subject either in the middle or the end of the sentence, and the subject and verb are used in the wrong order. For example, Look you or Sit you down. They confuse the past tense and use the word were instead of was, Proctor was angry but describes it was, it were a temper, one would usually say, I was angry, or I had a temper The characters too use the word be in place of is. However the language that Rogers uses in Mr Wroes Virgins is fairly biblical. It is more developed in sentence structure than that used in The Crucible, and this is mainly due to two reasons the dominant theme in Mr Wroes Virgins is religion and the language reflects this. The community was very church based and would have spoken in this manner as people tended to learn to read through the bible. Joanna is the most religious of the girls in Mr Wroes Virgins and this is particularly evident in her speech; she considers herself a handmaiden and all of the girls were to call each other sister. This is also shown in Martha, she is taught to read by Joanna and she learns this from the bible. As she progresses towards becoming more human she realises that she feels, solid joys, this is a phrase from a hymn, which she understands because of the way she feels, and also when she acknowledges her changing from a stone and now has life. Mr Wroe is evidently, very biblical, requesting the girls for comfort and succour, meaning: assistance and support in hard times. Most of the language is fairly similar to modern speech, with similar sentence structure but more old fashioned usage. Both writers use well-known historical events to create literature; and because they did not know all of the facts that went towards creating the particular historical event and so by adding their own touch of creativity they bring the events alive for the reader. Rogers knew most about Mr Wroe in terms of characterisation and historical background, however she does not focus on him. For the reader the novel revolves around the girls, but the girls lives revolve around Mr Wroe. Rogers used her knowledge of Mr Wroes life, for example his predictions over cholera and the use of trains to build up the story, but only gives Wroes background in the Historical note. Miller also used knowledge of the witch trials to create his play with as much accuracy to many events as possible. The story of Abigail and John Proctor is true and although many people are not mentioned, due to the sheer number of them,  The fate of each character is exactly that of the historical model, and there is no one in the drama who did not play a similar and in some cases exactly the same role in history.

Criminal sanctions, civil remedies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Criminal sanctions, civil remedies - Essay Example Further, the essay will discuss the set of rules that determine the rights, duties and responsibilities under both criminal and civil law, and also the difference in the intentions of these two types of law. The essay will also focus on the nature of gains that the two types of law would seek to secure for the claimants. The essay will be broken down into three parts: Sanctions refers to a penalty that the courts issue on a party either in a criminal or civil proceeding, as a way of punishing a party for committing an act prohibited by the law (An introduction to criminal sanctions, 2015:5). On the other hand, remedies have been defined as the relief offered to the winning litigant in a civil case (An introduction to civil remedies, 2015, 5). Remedies as applied in civil law are actually different from sanctions, owing to the fact that remedies are not usually punitive, while sanctions must have a punitive effect on the party losing the case. Therefore, while the issuance of a sanction in a civil proceeding by the courts is meant to punish the party found to have committed a wrongdoing, the issuance of a remedy is meant to redress the loss that has been suffered, or which is to be suffered by the winning party in a civil case (An introduction to civil remedies, 2015, 5). The legal principles that apply to the criminal cases are very different from the principles that apply to the civil cases. The fundamental difference existing between civil and criminal cases is the notion of punishment. While the criminal principles of the law seek to punish the offender, the civil principles of the law seek to redress the wrong that has been done by one party against another (An introduction to civil remedies, 2015, 5). In this respect, the motives of the criminal law are totally different from those of the civil law, and similarly the gains sought by the criminal law are completely different from those ones

Racial identity politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Racial identity politics - Essay Example THESIS STATEMENT: Despite the fact that Marable’s vision of resolving the issue of racial identity politics might seem rather radical and somewhat inconsistent with the ideas of other black leaders/scholars (for example, in his approach to the nationalist or integrationist movement), Marable provides a well thought out redirection of U.S. racial politics to a wider scope of activities and produces a new and meaningful understanding of race. Marable’s Interpretation of Race The perspective on dealing with racial issues within the contemporary American politics and economy, as expressed in Beyond Black and White: Transforming African-American Politics, is left, or, better, radically left. Specifically, in his interpretation of race, Marable relies on the primary role of class oppression. He observes the difficulty of disconnecting the national identity from the privilege which opposes the definition of race. This privilege, according to Marable, is determined by the super ior status of the white who comes from the upper class and is stereotypically a male. Yet, unlike the majority of thinkers, Marable does not contemplate the race in terms of White/Black opposition, but he sees race as the concept which lies at the intersections with many other types of subordination. Indeed, racism in the United States concerns not just African Americans, but also Asians, Native Americans, Latinos, Pacific Americans, as well as other people on the ground of ethnicity, color, mannerisms, or culture (Marable 5). Guided by historical materialism and Marxist approach in particular, Marable redefines the concept of race in the context of contemporary changes in economic and political life. According to Marable, rather than focusing on a narrow opposition between African Americans and whites, one should strive to develop a complex vision of the race’s instrumentality. This may well be explained by the changes in the fundamental structure of the United States econom y, for example, a flood of legal as well as illegal workers from the countries of the Third World, who basically redefined the meaning of race. This has led to considerable political consequences for all parts and classes within the American society. The innovative approach to interpretation of race found in Marable’s text takes the reader beyond the limited duality of the racial politics centered on black and white opposition. His vision of race is based on reconsidering the essence of â€Å"blackness† in African-Americans’ consciousness and political identity. Hence, the concept of race – of blackness – needs to be redefined both ideologically and with regard to material terms. This is necessitated by the fact that hundreds of thousands of people of Afro-American, Hispanic, and Caribbean origin move to the United States and get assimilated within numerous cities with other non-whites. Therefore, diversity and complexity are two crucial concepts t hat characterize black family relationship, religious affiliations, cultural traditions, and languages. This means that the

Contemporary corporate governance issues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Contemporary corporate governance issues - Essay Example Corporate governance has emerged as new buzzword in the modern world as far as the world of business is concerned. Generally, corporate governance is concerned with activities aimed at directing and controlling the activities of an organization, and this is done through establishment of structures, rules, and procedures that are critical in decision-making process (Baker and Anderson, 2010). The rise and development of corporate governance has brought into perspective the role, position, and importance of different stakeholders of a company. In most cases, the function, capability, and continuity of a company are attached to the behavior and relationships of different stakeholders (Baker and Anderson, 2010). The company has different stakeholders who, in one way or the other, contribute to the success and performance of the company. Major stakeholders of a company include board of governors, chief executive officer, management team, employees, customers, suppliers, society, and share holders (Davies, 2006). However, in recent times, there has been emerging debate with regard to the role and level of importance of different stakeholders of a company. There are those who view shareholders given their role as proprietors of capital to be the most important stakeholders and whose needs the company has to serve (McTaggart and Kontes 1993). On the other hand, there are those who think that, although shareholders have played a key role in providing capital and other critical investments, their possession without responsibility translates to nothing, and as a result, they have to give equal importance to other stakeholders such as employees and customers (Mallin, 2007). Still, there is another group that believes that a balance can be created so that there is no particular favor of one stakeholder, and that all stakeholders have to be considered equal and their needs satisfied equally without sabotaging the needs of others (Brink, 2011). Therefore, it may take time befo re perfect and meaningful consensus is reached. However, this is likely not to bring to stop the continued debate on the role and level of importance of different stakeholders. More debates, suggestions, criticisms, and all kinds of discussions are likely to come up in an attempt to divulge more information and understanding on these new emerging issues in corporate governance. Motivated by these aspects, the aim of this paper is to concisely make an argument with regard to the extent a company exists for the benefit of its shareholders. In doing so, attempt is made to discuss agency theory and the potential problems likely to emerge when such theories are put into practice. Shareholders Shareholders in any organization are viewed to be the suppliers of capital, and in return, they are likely to demand for corporate efficiency, honesty, productivity, and profitability (Freeman, Harrison, Wicks, Parmar, and De Colle, 2010). In this way, shareholders are perceived to possess and execu te certain powers that directly show the ability to control the functions. In doing so, the shareholders are motivated by their investments in the company, which they want or demand to bring positive returns and profits (Bain and Barker, 2010). For a long time, theories such as agency theory have tried to evaluate the role and position of shareholders and subsequently, justified why there is need to maintain and enhance shareholders value as a paramount thing in the organization and throughout its lifetime (Mallin, 2007). Shareholders, as the prime investors in the organization, are perceived to be the owners of the company and their interests are likely to supersede all other interests. Once they have invested in the company, shareholders are likely to manifest different motives, behaviors, and even ambitions. All these

Post Modernism in Pop Culture and the Simpsons

Post Modernism in Pop Culture and the Simpsons Attempts to define post-modernism can come in many different forms as different people have different ideas as to what exactly the term means. This being said, most people who take part in the debate over modernism and postmodernism share a consensus that postmodernism might be many things, but it certainly is linked with the growth of popular culture in the late twentieth century in the West. In other words, postmodernism can be seen as a new historical moment, a new sensibility, or a new cultural style, but popular culture can be referenced as the site on which these changes can be most easily found. Postmodernism is a perspective which tends to reject many of the accepted values of modernism. It involves a reinterpretation of gender roles and the differenced traditionally applied to them. It takes a more global perspective in its view of ethnic and national distinctions, and rejects stereotypes of all kinds. At the same time, it embraces the notion of nostalgia in art (film, telev ision, advertising) and uses multiple referencing (among other strategies) to communicate on a variety of symbolic levels. This essay will research the nature of postmodernism and apply it to a body of film, television, or advertising material. It should the focus on a single example and analyze it as typical of postmodern artistic form. From this essay it will be clear that postmodernism represents a blurring of the boundaries between levels of culture, and The Simpsons is a typical example of postmodernist artistic form. It was the late 1950s and early 1960s that the movement that we now come to know as postmodernism began to emerge. In the words of Susan Sontag, a critic of American culture, it came with the emergence of a â€Å"new sensibility†, and this involves a blurring of the distinction between â€Å"high† and â€Å"low† culture. Anyway, the distinction becomes less meaningful. The post-modern new sensibility did not follow along the same lines as the cultural elitism of modernism. Although modernism seems to have an important place in popular culture, it is marked by a significant suspicion of all things popular. It was those items that were associated with elite culture that were accepted under modernism. Culture was that which would be readily accepted into a museum, it was that which had a homologous relationship with the elitism that is inherent in class society. What this means is that the drive towards post modernism in the late 1950s and 1960s was associated with the growing attack on the elitism of modernism. The emergence of postmodernism signaled a refusal of â€Å"the great divide†¦ a discourse which insists on the categorical distinction between high art and mass culture,† moreover, â€Å"to a large extent, it is by the distance we have traveled from this great divide between mass culture and modernism that we can measure our own c ultural post modernity.† A good early example of the new wave of post-modern popular culture can be seen in the American and British pop art movement of the 1950s and 1960s as it rejected the division between high culture and popular culture. This can be said to be â€Å"postmodernisms first cultural flowering.† One of pop arts first prominent theorist, Lawrence Alloway explains that â€Å"the area of contact was mass produced urban culture: movies, advertising, science fiction, pop music. We felt none of the dislike of commercial culture standard among intellectuals, but accepted it as a fact, discussed it in detail, and consumed it enthusiastically.† This acceptance of the new movement of postmodernism allowed people to treat popular culture in the realm of serious art, and not a second tier of culture. When seen from this perspective, postmodernism first came out of a refusal by the different generations to abide by the categorical certainties of high modernism. It came to be thought of as taboo to continue to maintain an absolute distinction between high and popular culture. This was very evident in the way that art and popular music merged. A good example of this can be seen in the way Peter Blake designed the front cover of the Beatles Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band and the way Andy Warhol designed the cover of the Rolling Stones album Sticky Fingers. By the middle of the 1980s, the post-modern new sensibility had become deeply engrained into popular culture, and for some, a reason to despair. The postmodern condition is one that is marked by a crisis in the position of knowledge in Western societies. This served to give intellectuals less eminence as the â€Å"academy† continually lost its credibility. Iain Chambers argues this point from a different perspective. He says the debate over postmodernism can in part be understood as â€Å"the symptom of the disruptive ingression of popular culture, its aesthetics and intimate possibilities, into a previously privileged domain. Theory and academic discourses are confronted by the wider, unsystemized, popular networks of cultural production and knowledge. The intellectuals privilege to explain and distribute knowledge is threatened.† Another cultural theorist, Angela McRobbie agrees with this as she sees it as â€Å"the coming into being of those whose voices were historically drowned out by the (modernist) metanarratives of mastery, which were in turn both patriarchal and imperialist.† She put forth the argument that postmodernism has enfranchised a new sect of intellectuals who speak from the margins from a perspective of difference, including ethnic, class, gender and sexual preference differences. These are the people whom she refers to as â€Å"the new generation of intellectuals.† A similar point is made by Kobena Mercer as she sees postmodernism as partially an unacknowledged response to the emerging identities and voices of those people who have emerged from the margins, and this opens a new way of seeing and understanding. Hyperrealism can be said to be a component of postmodernism. In the sphere of the hyperreal, the real and the imaginary continually come into contact with each other. Simulations begin to be experienced as something that is more real than real itself. The evidence in favor of this argument can be seen throughout our Western society. For example, we live in a society where people write letters to the characters they see on television, asking them out on dates, and offering them places to live. This can be called the dissolution of television into life, or the dissolution of life into television. It was said by John Fiske that postmodern media does not, like it once did, â€Å"provide secondary representations of reality: they affect and produce the reality that they mediate.† Additionally, Fiske argues that those events in our lives that ‘matter must be synonymous with media events. The arrest of O.J. Simpson was a good example of this. As the news of his story unfolded, people in the area rushed to his house so that they could be part of the news cycle. They wanted to be indistinguishably live people and media people. This is an attribute of the postmodern era. These people were aware that the media was not merely reporting of circulating the news, they were creating it. Therefore, if people wanted to be part of the news of this event, it was not sufficient to be there on the scene, to actually be part of this event, they had to be on television. This is a testament to the fact that in the hyperreal world of the postmodern, the distinction between a real event and its media representation loses its distinction. Frederic James who is an American critic of culture as is well versed in postmodernism argues that it is a culture of pastiche. To him, postmodern culture is â€Å"a world in which stylistic innovation is no longer possible, all that is left is to imitate dead styles, to speak through masks and with the voices of the styles in the imaginary museum.† Postmodernism is a culture that is put together from many different places it can be said to be â€Å"a culture of quotations.† Our cultural production is the consequence of other cultural production. â€Å"Postmodern cultural texts do not just quote other cultures, other historical moments, they randomly cannibalize them to the point where any sense of critical or historical distance ceases to exist there is only pastiche.† This trend of the pastiche is noticeable in both the body of film and television. It can be seen in the ‘nostalgia film that is evident in both television and film. Some movies that would fall into this category of the postmodern nostalgia film would be Back to the Future as it seeks to recreate the atmosphere and stylistic peculiarities of America in the 1950s. Other films like Raiders of the Lost Ark, Robin Hood and Lord of the Rings act in a similar way as they induce a sense of narrative certainties of the past. In this way, â€Å"the nostalgia film either recaptures and represents certain styles of viewing the past.† These films seek to make cultural myths and stereotypes about the past. They offer â€Å"false realism: films about other films, representations of other representations.† As this study of postmodernism in popular culture progresses, it is useful to apply it to a single example, and then analyze it as typical of postmodernist artistic form. The Simpsons is a spectacularly popular show of the lat two decades and it represented the first prime time animated series since the Flintstones. Since its inception, this show has emerged as a cultural phenomenon. It is because of this immense success that The Simpsons represents a worthy object of study for cultural critics. There is no doubt that this television series can be placed in the category of the postmodern. All of the rhetorical devices that are synonymous with postmodern theory are present in The Simpsons: pastiche, quotation, intertextuality and reflexivity. The Simpsons, because of the way it uses reflexivity and intertextuality in particular is a great example of the postmodern at work. All elements of this show are related to a network of intertextual references to popular texts of other. In particular there are four ways in which The Simpsons uses intertextuality in recurrent forms. Firstly, there are single elements in the show that carry many intertextual references. A good example of this is the fact that the name of the town that The Simpsons live in is called Springfield. This is significant because it is the same name as the town that the vintage television show Father Knows Best was set in. This might be a rather obvious reference to the nostalgic, but there are much more subtle references in the show that make it surely a postmodern creation. For example, the curator of Springfields museum is named after a couple of dormitories at Harvard University. Also they build on nostalgic phrases on the past, â€Å"two cars in every garage, and three eyes on every fish.† In this way The Simpsons can be said to be a collection of quotations. Many of the scenes from The Simpsons are also taken from other movies or television shows. There is that episode that includes â€Å"22 Short Films about Springfield,† and this in particular serves as a parody of Pulp Fiction, another important creation in the postmodern milieu. In fact, there are whole episodes of The Simpsons that are entire parodies of other shows. For example, the episode â€Å"Bart of Darkness† is a parody of Alfred Hitchcock, and there are even echoes of Jimmy Stewart in â€Å"Itchy and Scratchy Land.† Additionally, the show is one that heavily displays internal references. This builds on the fact that each episode is at its outset freestanding. Even though the main characters do not evolve, they posses a memory of past episodes and the supporting characters do change. The Simpsons can also be said to be postmodern because of the way that it is an example of reflexive television, one in which the text is a reference to its condition of consumption and production. This can be seen in four ways. First, The Simpsons can be seen to be reflexive from an examination of the opening credits where the family rushes home to crowd the couch and watch television. This highlights the fact that the show is about the process of watching television, and television consumption is a necessary component of family life. The Simpsons also possesses a commentary on the star system. In one way, the show contains a television universe where television stars are created. One such example is Krusty the Clown whose purpose is to fulfill the ongoing process of consumption and merchandizing. In another way, real stars make cameo appearances on the show giving their voices characters that either represent themselves of other figures. The show can even serve as a parody of the a nimation industry within the animation industry. There is an episode where the ratings of the new â€Å"Itchy Scratchy Poochie Show† has poor ratings. This episode is interesting because it highlights a caricature of a market research process which utilizes the pulse meter for assessing how new characters are received when they are seen by the audiences for the first time. This is a great example of how The Simpsons is reflexive television. The Simpsons can even refer to what has been dubbed postmodern hyperconscious. It is a type of commentary on the role that they play in popular culture. An example of this comes when Homer is enjoying a night out and Apu ask Homer if he is on television as he looks familiar. Homer says, â€Å"sorry buddy, you got me confused with Fred Flintstone.† This is reflexive in that it shows that the series creators are aware of the links between their show and their predecessors. These are just some of the many examples that make The Simpsons a great example of postmodern culture, although their use of these rhetorical devices is systematic. What is the reason for this shows particular approach, meaning that unlike the other cartoons on television, The Simpsons is very unique? This is because the show is not intended to attract the same audiences as other cartoons, it provide a social commentary and is thus attractive to the sophisticated public. The Simpsons actually works in an interesting way as its form serves to encourage the consumption of popular culture. The show uses postmodern strategies to make political and social commentary in a way that is non partisan and in a way that is appealing to the masses. The creators of the show clearly do not want to create divisions among its audiences. In this paper it has been shown that attempts to define postmodernism can be a difficult task, but there are simple ways to explain it. One thing for sure though is that postmodernism is linked with the growth of popular culture in the late twentieth century in the West. Postmodernism is a perspective which tends to reject many of the accepted values of modernism. It involves a reinterpretation of gender roles and the differenced traditionally applied to them. It takes a more global perspective in its view of ethnic and national distinctions, and rejects stereotypes of all kinds. At the same time, it embraces the notion of nostalgia in art (film, television, advertising) and uses multiple referencing (among other strategies) to communicate on a variety of symbolic levels. It was then shown that The Simpsons is a perfect example of postmodern pop culture as it is nostalgic and reflexive, and also uses rhetorical devices which are common in postmodernism. From this essay it is clear th at postmodernism represents a blurring of the boundaries between levels of culture, and The Simpsons is a typical example of postmodernist artistic form. Works Cited Cantor, Paul A. â€Å"In Praise of Television: The Greatest TV Show Ever.† American Enterprise vol. 8, no. 5 (Sept-Oct. 199): 34-38. Elm, Joanna. â€Å"Are the Simpsons Americas TV Family of the ‘90s?† TV Guide v.38 no. 11 (March 17, 1990): 7-8. Fiske, John. Media Matters: Everyday Culture and Political Change. University of Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1996. Huyssen, Andreas. After the great divide: modernism, mass culture, postmodernism. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1986. McRobbie, Angela. Postmodernism and popular culture. New York: Routledge, 1994. Sontag, Susan. Against interpretation, and other essays. New York: Farrar, Straus Giroux, 1966. Storey, John. â€Å"Postmodernism in Popular Culture,† In Stuart Sim, The Routledge Companion to Postmodernism. New York: Routledge, 2005.

The Glen Ridge Rape :: essays research papers

Bernard Lefkowitz’s Our Guys raises a lot of issues, all of which have been discussed throughout this semester.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Just a few pages into the book, words had already begun to jump out at me, capturing my attention. â€Å"The kids in Newark, black and brown, speaking Spanglish, hoods over their heads, wheeling their stolen cars over to the local chop shop -- they were aliens in America. Strange, forever separate and separated from the American ideal. But these Glen Ridge kids, they were pure gold, every mother’s dream, every father’s pride. They were not only Glen Ridge’s finest, but in their perfection they belonged to all of us. They were Our Guys (page 7).† This is a story about White Privilege, I thought. After reading the next two pages, I changed my mind. â€Å"...I wanted to understand how their status as young athlete celebrities in Glen Ridge influenced their treatment of girls and women, particularly those of their age.....I was especially curious about what license they were permitted as a clique of admired athletes and how that magnified the sense of superiority they felt as individuals (pages 8-9).† Oh! This is a story about jock culture, I thought.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I had only touched the surface. Later on, I realized Our Guys was about jock culture and white privilege...as well as rape cultures and patriarchy, male privilege and compulsory heterosexuality, pornography, accountability and â€Å"blame the victim.† All of these issues were part of this, a real life story, a real rape.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Reading the story of the Glen Ridge Rape, I was able to make observations and draw conclusions that Ridgers who lived inside their glass bubbles weren’t able to make. They didn't realize what type of things they were teaching their children. Morals and values are instilled into a person at a very early age. It can start at birth. Males of Glen Ridge were taught that they had power and were expected to do certain things. â€Å"In their youth sons were permitted and even expected to raise a little hell. ‘There was a boys-will-be-boys attitude that went back to the nineteen fifties’....Boys were supposed to be vigorous, assertive, competitive; they were expected to test the boundaries of behavior within clearly established limits† (page 63). This is what boys learned at such an early age. Many of them grew up in male dominant families. Patriarchy was practiced in many homes. Male influence made it difficult for most of them to establish str ong relationships with or learn to appreciate members of the opposite sex.

Women in Hamlet

In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, the roles of women are dependent on men. There are only two women in the play who have a direct relationship with Hamlet. Ophelia, who looked up greatly towards Polonius, Laertes who has a great influence on her life as well as Hamlet. The other female role is Gertrude, Hamlets mother always trying to impress the men in her life not only her son but previous marriages. As these women are the most important female characters in the play it is first shown through Ophelia. Ophelia is not independent as she has to rely on men such as her father, brother and boyfriend.First, she is greatly obedient for her father willingly to do what he requests her to do without hesitation. Polonius gives her advice to take in a strong manner to break it off with Hamlet knowing she must listen. She responds with respect â€Å"I shall obey, my lord† (I. iii. 136). She tells him that she will do as he asks obeying his commands, because he is the only one she may go t o until she gets married. Not able to make decisions for herself either way for the fact if she married Hamlet he would be making them for her.Also, Hamlet was the man she considered spending her life with and was willing to do what he would ask of her trying to win his affection. Although, after listening to her father, by agreeing to stop seeing Hamlet, he over reacts on her with anger, mocking in which her reputation is ruined and how she will never find a man. She does not defend herself after these comments knowing you cannot battle against a male, yet later cries to wish he did not react that way â€Å"Oh, woe is me / T' have seen what I have seen, see what I see!† (III. i. 160-1).Requiring the desire to please all men, this makes her feel terrible although she did satisfy her father. Another influence she significantly admires and respects is her brother Laertes. Before his leave, he gave her great advice in which she took account of since her brother was like a role m odel, promising, â€Å"I shall the effect of this good lesson keep / As watchman to my heart. †(I. iii. 45-6). Wanting to make him feel proud and show prove how she is capable of taking care of herself.Later, with the loss of her father and absence of her brother, as well as being apart from the man she loves, is one of the reasons to why her life ends early. She drowns as explained, that her garment pulled her down. Moreover, it is as if she had no one around to motivate her to fight to live, since none of the men are around to regulate her to do so. Furthermore, Ophelia a young woman is obligated to abide by the rules of men as well as the Queen of Denmark also who relies on their comfort.Gertrude’s oblivious personality makes her dependent on the men in her life shadowing not only King Claudius but King Hamlet and her son Hamlet as well. The love for her son ends her life in tragedy by drinking from the chalice of poison that King Claudius prepares for Hamlet. Altho ugh, she knows not to drink the chalice as the King warns her not to, nevertheless, does it anyways symbolize as a sacrificing mother. Before her death the last she says, â€Å"No, no, the drink, the drink! O my dear Hamlet! / The drink, the drink! I am poisin’d† (V.ii. 303-4).This depicts what happens if women are disobedient as she was to her husband which led to her death and also portraying how saving Hamlets life was what she had to do being selfless and caring. In addition, Gertrudes need for attention is seen after her quick marriage following the death of King Hamlet. Losing the feeling of importance, where she needs, and rapidly gets over her husband’s death moving on explaining to hamlet, â€Å"Do not for ever with thy vailed lids / Seek for thy noble father in the dust† (I. ii. 70-1).Revealing how her values of affection are far greater than her moral righteousness and respect of herself not considering others approach on situations. Marrying K ing Claudius, she is highly dependent on him, who is able to persuade her in fictitious ideas others might not allow themselves to believe yet Gertrude constantly does. Such as after, he hears of the death of Polonius, tries to make it sound like he is helping Hamlet with his best interests when in reality he plans to kill him.As he assures the Queen, â€Å"It had been so with us, had we been there / His liberty is full of threats to all† (IV.i. 13-4), the king attempt to secure his own safety first sending Hamlet off somewhere far by seeming like it is for a greater intrest. Gertrude is oblivious to her surroundings which present it easier for the King to manipulate in addition for her disregard for her own place and her ultimate confusion. Gertrude is a strong character by her title as being the Queen, nevertheless forced to obey and concur with reinstated ideas by the King, losing attention from King Hamlet and sacrificing herself for Hamlet.The woman of Shakespeareâ€℠¢s play Hamlet needs guidance in order to achieve fulfillment. Ophelia, seen loyal and obedient to her father Polonius, brother Laertes and listening to other males such as Hamlet recognized throughout the play, displays her devotion to make them pleased. Finally, Gertrude has a high power considering all the women and even men, still fights the struggle between impressing men in order to achieve satisfaction. They both play the passive roles in the play; this shows that all women were not measured as equals.

President Nixons International and Domestic Challenges

Name Teacher AP US History September 20, 2012 President Richard M. Nixon’s administration had to face many international and domestic challenges in the United States between 1968 and 1974, some positive and some negative. His achievements in expanding peaceful relationships with both China and the Soviet Union are contrastingly different with his continuation of the Vietnam War. In the end, Nixon’s scandals and abuse of presidential power caught up to him, and his administration did much to corrode America’s faith in the government. In 1968, Richard Nixon gave his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention(Doc A).He said that it was time for a new leadership for the United States of America, and that new leadership was him. Nixon won in a very close election against Hubert Humphrey and promised to restore law and order to the nation’s cities. What everyone didn’t know was that for him to achieve his future accomplishments, he would dest roy the nation’s trust. A positive international challenge that Nixon was involved in was seeking better relations with China. Early in his first term, Nixon and his adviser, Henry Kissinger, began sending subtle proposals hinting at warmer relations to the People’s Republic of China’s government.When both countries hinted at this, Kissinger flew on secret diplomatic missions to Beijing and in July 1971, the President announced that he would visit the PRC the following year. This confused most American’s at the time because they believed that all communists countries were evil. When Nixon flew to China in February and he met with Mao Zedong. Nixon’s visit included a vast shift in the Cold War balance, putting the U. S. and China against the Soviet Union. Several months later, Nixon traveled to the U. S. S. R. and met with Leonid Brezhnev and other Soviet leaders.The result this trip was the signing of the Antiballistic Missile Treaty of 1972. The t reaty restricted the number of ICBMs each nation could manufacture and stockpile and it was part of SALT (Strategic Arms Limitations Talks). Nixon’s visits to China was a triumph because it contained the Soviet Union from expanding and gaining power. His visit to the U. S. S. R. was a diplomatic accomplishment because it improved relations with them. Nixon faced many international disputes during his presidency and some of them, he responded to negatively.Throughout the Vietnam War, President Nixon had sent a letter to President Ho Chi Minh stating that he believes the war has gone on to long and it needs to stop(Doc B). When the letter didn’t work, the biggest international challenge for Nixon was how to end the Vietnam War. Nixon and Kissinger both had a belief that they could end the war in six months, but they were proved wrong. In 1968, the same year Nixon was elected, there had been two huge events of the Vietnam War, the Tet Offensive and My Lai Massacre. Presid ent Nixon had inherited the burden of the Vietnam War and he asked the American citizens for their support(Doc D).Two months into his presidency, Nixon realized that there seemed to be no end in sight to the war. In 1969, Nixon ordered the secret bombing of Cambodia. The targets of these attacks were sanctuaries and base areas of the People’s Army of Vietnam and forces of the Viet Cong, which used them for resupply, training, and resting between campaigns across the border in the Republic of Vietnam. Nixon’s purpose for the bombing raid was because the first had been unsuccessful. The purpose of the secrecy was to protect Sihanouk. The way Nixon responded with the secret bombing was negative.He never told America or the Congress about it and that led to the distrust of the American citizens. Environmental concerns were a challenge but Nixon responded to them positively. In Nixon’s presidency, he started out opposing environmental laws. But then he realized that protecting the environment was popular and he saw it as a politically beneficial area. By the time of his resignation, he created more laws than any other president before him. In early 1970, President Nixon signed the legislation that became the National Environmental Policy Act. He announced it was the first symbolic act of â€Å"the environmental decade. Between the years of 1970 and 1972, Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency and signed laws including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Another thing he did was sign executive orders and international agreements on environmental issues. In early 1973, an international conference was held to discuss endangered species. The product of the conference was the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. The U. S. needed a new legislation to meet some of the agreement’s provisions and it led to the Endangered Species Act.In Nixon’s Sta te of the Union speech in 1973, he called for stronger wildlife protection. The results of these environmental laws and international agreements made the public extremely happy. Even though Nixon’s intentions were selfish when he got involved in environmental concerns, he responded unquestionably positive. All his hard work helped pave the way for a cleaner society. In 1973, an oil crisis began when the members of the OAPEC (consisting of the Arab members of OPEC, plus Egypt, Syria and Tunisia) proclaimed an oil embargo in response to the United States decision to resupply the Israeli military during the Yom Kippur War.The embargo happened when 85% of American workers had to drive to work every day. President Nixon had to set the course of voluntary rationing. He proposed an extension of daylight savings time, had gas stations hold their sales to a max of ten gallons per customer and a maximum speed limit of 5o miles per hour, and asked companies to trim down work hours(Doc H ). The price at the pump rose from 30 cents a gallon to $1. 20(Doc C). Nixon also had Congress approve of a Trans-Alaskan oil pipeline. Nixon responded to the recession the best way possible. The embargo was lifted on March 18, 1974.The downfall of Nixon was his worst domestic challenge. America found out about his scandals and it led to his resignation as president. The Watergate Scandal starts when Nixon won the 1968 election, one of the closest elections in U. S. history. In 1970, Nixon approves a plan for a greatly expanding domestic intelligence gathering by the FBI, CIA, and other agencies. A few days later he has second thoughts and revokes his approval. Then in June of 1971, New York Times begins publishing the Pentagon Papers. The Pentagon Papers is about the Defense Department’s secret history of the Vietnam War.In September of the same year, the White House â€Å"plumbers† unit burglarizes a psychiatrist’s office to find files on the former defense an alyst who leaked the Pentagon Papers, Daniel Ellsberg. The White House plumbers unit got their name from their orders to plug leaks in the administration. The year of 1972 is a busy year. On June 17, five men were arrested trying to bug the Democrats offices at the Watergate hotel. The Washington Post reported many things that year. One was that a $25,000 check wound up in the bank account of a Watergate burglar.Another was that John Mitchell controlled a secret Republican fund used to finance widespread intelligence-gathering operations against Democrats. Nixon was reelected president in one of the largest landslides in U. S. history in 1972 against George McGovern. His inaugural address said that since he was elected in 1968, America has been better(Doc F). But the truth was, that in 1973, Nixon was turning out to be anything but great. In the beginning of 1973, former Nixon aides G. Gordon Liddy and James W. McCordJr. , convicted of wiretapping in the Watergate incident. Then, H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, and Attorney General Richard Kleindienst all resigned over the scandal. John Dean, a White House counsel, was fired. In May, Elliot Richardson taps Archibald Cox as the Justice Department’s special prosecutor for Watergate. Later, in June, John Dean tells the Watergate investigators that he discussed the Watergate cover-up with Nixon at least 35 times and the Washington Post reports it. In July, Alexander Butterfield revealed in his congressional testimony that since 1971, President Nixon had recorded all conversations in his office.When the Senate asked Nixon for the tapes, he refused. On the Saturday Night Massacre, Nixon fired Archibald Cox and Elliot Richardson and William D. Ruckelsshaus resigned. When Nixon reluctantly agreed to hand over the tape, there was an 18 minute gap. Nixon kept giving them pieces of the tape when they asked for them(Doc G). He never just handed over all the tapes. The Supreme Court ruled that Nixon must turn ove r the tape recordings. In 1974, the Washington Post reported that the inevitable was nearing(Doc I).Nixon was faced with certain impeachment, so in August of 1974, Richard Nixon became the first ever president to resign and Gerald Ford became the next president. President Richard Nixon’s presidency had many ups and downs when it came to dealing with the international and domestic challenges in the United States between 1968 and 1974. His most notable domestic actions were economic, and his international actions were his priority. Despite his ruination and disgrace in keeping secrets from America, Nixon did help establish relations with Communist China and ended the Vietnam War.

Free Essays on Drug And Teens

The Increasing Problem of Drug and Teens Drug use is the increasing problem among teenagers in today's society. Most drug use begins in the adolescent years. These are the most crucial years in the maturation process. During the adolescent’s years, children are faced with difficult tasks of determining their self-identity, clarifying their sexual roles, affirmative independence, learning to handle authority and searching for goals that would give their lives meaning. Drugs are easily available, adolescents are curious and venerable, and there is peer pressure to experiment, and temptation to escape from conflicts. The use of drugs by teenagers is the result of a combination of factors such as peer pressure, curiosity, and availability. Drugs addiction among adolescents in turn leads to depression, suicide, brain damage and other physical complications. We cannot put all the blame on teens and their peers alone. The media to certain extent is also to blame when teens use drug. The media has proven to be a lot more damaging than useful in the type of information meant for mature audience but end up with the immature audience. Soap operas and frivolous shows shown on TV contain immoral and untrue images of the world as it is more of the writer’s imagination or the way directors direct them to act. Most teenagers are probably old enough to watch these shows but not mature enough to comprehend with the fictitious nature of movies and soap operas. Even though movies and soaps are rated, teenager are still able to access them. The responsibility then become the parents, who are responsible in controlling their children from getting misleading information about drugs, alcoholism and lots more. The internet also gives off misleading information. Teenager can access many website that are intended for mature audience. There underground internet websites and discussion boards that describe issues that teens many not have a real grasp on ... Free Essays on Drug And Teens Free Essays on Drug And Teens The Increasing Problem of Drug and Teens Drug use is the increasing problem among teenagers in today's society. Most drug use begins in the adolescent years. These are the most crucial years in the maturation process. During the adolescent’s years, children are faced with difficult tasks of determining their self-identity, clarifying their sexual roles, affirmative independence, learning to handle authority and searching for goals that would give their lives meaning. Drugs are easily available, adolescents are curious and venerable, and there is peer pressure to experiment, and temptation to escape from conflicts. The use of drugs by teenagers is the result of a combination of factors such as peer pressure, curiosity, and availability. Drugs addiction among adolescents in turn leads to depression, suicide, brain damage and other physical complications. We cannot put all the blame on teens and their peers alone. The media to certain extent is also to blame when teens use drug. The media has proven to be a lot more damaging than useful in the type of information meant for mature audience but end up with the immature audience. Soap operas and frivolous shows shown on TV contain immoral and untrue images of the world as it is more of the writer’s imagination or the way directors direct them to act. Most teenagers are probably old enough to watch these shows but not mature enough to comprehend with the fictitious nature of movies and soap operas. Even though movies and soaps are rated, teenager are still able to access them. The responsibility then become the parents, who are responsible in controlling their children from getting misleading information about drugs, alcoholism and lots more. The internet also gives off misleading information. Teenager can access many website that are intended for mature audience. There underground internet websites and discussion boards that describe issues that teens many not have a real grasp on ...

Behavioural Studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Behavioural Studies - Essay Example The first theory I would like to discuss is Clayton Alfred’s ERG theory. ERG means Existence, Relatedness and Growth. Alfred built his theory on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, collapsing his five levels of needs into three categories. Existences needs are strivings for physiological and material well-being (or safety and physiological needs in terms of Maslow). Relatedness needs are desires to have satisfactory interpersonal relationships (social needs in Maslow’s terms). Growth needs are humans striving for psychological growth and development (levels of esteem and self-actualization in Maslow’s model). This model assumes that unsatisfied needs serve as motivators for work. As people satisfy the lower level needs they strive to achieve the needs of upper levels. However, if it is impossible to satisfy these needs, people may move own the hierarchy revealing the so called frustration-regression principle. That is – when a higher level needs can not be satisfied, the needs of the lower level may be reactivated and become motivators again. This peculiarity of human behavior allows capitalizing on the importance of higher level needs. A manager should provide opportunities for growth and good workplace climate, two motivators preserving and enhancing employee loyalty and desire to work for the organization. Another useful theory is that of acquired needs elaborated by David McClelland. The basic presupposition is that each individual has specific needs of his own and these needs are learned through life experience. There are three needs motivating people in work. Need for achievement drives to excel. Need for power makes people develop leader qualities. Need for affiliation is the desire to have good interpersonal relationships and avoid conflicts. Depending on employee needs a manager can tailor specific tasks and environment motivating people. High achievers

English as Global Langauge Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

English as Global Langauge - Essay Example Before examining these pros and cons, it might be useful to examine how English came to be one of the most commonly used languages in the world. Historically, this language came into Britain from northern Europe during the fifth century and moved to the Asian, African and American continents with the expeditions and colonizations that followed in the last three centuries. English was left behind as a legacy in the colonized countries as they became independent nations, and was often made the official language of communication. With the rise of technology, especially the media in the form of the radio, television and the internet, the dissemination of English became reinforced. Not only the media but trade became truly globalized with the rise of off-shoring and outsourcing made possible with better technology . The rise of multinational companies and corporations and international organizations like UNESCO enhanced the need of a global language. English was there to readily fill in the gap, with its already existing spread and flexibility. Since English was already present in various places like India and Africa as a result of former colonization, it was easier for the language to spread further. English has been touted time and again as a language that could successfully eliminate the need for translation during communication in business, political, and cultural contexts. It has a huge vocabulary of more than 80,000 words which makes it very expressive, and the written script is similar to that of many European languages because of a common origin in Latin. But the increasing use of English in countries with different native languages has an effect of diminishing the status of these indigenous languages. This is even more significant given the history of the English language which was earlier seen as a symbol of colonial oppression in many countries, and is seen today in many countries as a demonstration of the superiority of the West. In some quarters it is felt that the use of English as an official language instead of a native tongue is detrimental to a country's national and cultural identity. Due to its global nature in an increasingly shrinking world, English is fast becoming the language of commercial and formal communications . This makes it an economically viable language to learn in many developing countries where knowing fluent English can actually lead to increased earning opportunities. This strong economic incentive behind learning English could lead to the relinquishment of native tongues, leading to entire languages dying out. Another factor that could cause a language to decline is a decline in its literature. There is a growing trend of non-native authors writing in English: Indian or African writers writing in English are becoming quite common. It is a well-documented fact that all authors with very few exceptions have their best literary output in one language alone. If most literature begins to be produced in English, even by authors who have a different mother tongue, it would be a great loss to their original languages. When languages decline, they take with them rare and precious cultural traditions. This raises fears of loss of cultural diversity which is so vital to the evolution of mankind. Experts think that a uniform world where all cultures and literatures would be similar could become a future scenario