Analysis Of Rene Denfelds The Enchanted - 824 Words

Rene Denfeld’s novel The Enchanted applies a creative method of storytelling to an intriguing subject. While discussing the corrupt inner workings of a prison, the unfortunate and sickening lives of all the characters, and what justice happens to be, Denfeld alludes to several other works to help her express the points being made. Due to the narrative aspects of this novel the reader is subjected to a wide range of emotions including sympathy, sorrow, and scorn and kept in the dark while somehow knowing everything there is to know. The way Denfeld appeals to a reader’s emotions makes one really focus on what is going on in the text. Examples of this are strewn about the book and are expressed through most characters. Arden, the unknown†¦show more content†¦Broken toes, lacerations, burns to fingers(63).† This insight is enough to make a reader question whether it was York’s fault he killed those people or not. In â€Å"Auguries of Innocence† William Blake writes â€Å"The Lamb misusd breeds Public Strife† and York was indisputably misused throughout his childhood. Knowing his background invokes sorrow for York. Knowing the torture he bared and the disease he was born with makes it seem like he was destined for an unfair, terrible end and had no say in it. Sorrow can be followed to situations such as the priest’s with his girl. He was an optimistic priest, determined to continue his practice despite what others had told him about what he lacked. He realized the y were right after a time and could not decide why he was doing God’s work(157). This is when he meets a young girl, just sixteen, in a club. They become friends, he buys her things, and eventually â€Å"he fell in love for the first time. Not for her necessarily; he fell in love with life(165).† The priest never actually loves the girl despite spending large amounts of time and money on her as well as losing his chastity to her. Expectedly yet sadly, it ends for them. He takes leave in Belize uncertain if he’ll return. When the priest does come back he discovers the girl’s apartment abandoned. No one admits to knowing where she has gone and they frankly do not seem to care. A week goes by and the police pull her out of the water. The girl committed suicide by jumping off ofShow MoreRelatedLiterary Analysis Of Rene Denfelds The Enchanted1329 Words   |  6 PagesRene Denfeld’s novel The Enchanted applies a creative method of storytelling to an int riguing subject. While discussing the corrupt inner workings of a prison, the unfortunate and sickening lives of all the characters, and what justice happens to be, Denfeld alludes to several other works to help her express the points being made. Due to the narrative aspects of this novel the reader is subjected to a wide range of emotions including sympathy, sorrow, and scorn and kept in the dark while somehow

Psychology Is The Study Of Human Behavior - 1447 Words

Psychology is the study of human behavior. It is a field that focuses on the human mind, which is a varied landscape of thought and thought processes. When considering the process of studying the field of psychology as a whole there are a great number of avenues to explore the mind. There are different types of psychology, both normal and abnormal as the overarching distinctions. There are also many disorders associated with abnormal behavior psychology such as schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, antisocial personality disorders, and borderline personality disorders. Of course, there are also many therapies from each respective perspective of psychology to treat these disorders as well. Normal psychology is the study of the behaviors that fit within the bounds of socially accepted normalities while abnormal psychology, on the other hand, covers human behavior that falls contrary to the norms of society (Kowalski Westen, 2011). Normal is a very subjective term, and the classification of abnormal can vary greatly from culture to culture. There are a set of labels concerning different ways of classifying abnormal behavior known as the 4 D’s; deviance, dysfunction, danger, and discomfort. The label used to identify a behavior that is socially unacceptable is called a deviant behavior. When these behaviors have the capacity to negatively affect an individual’s well-being they are known as dysfunctional behaviors. Dangerous behaviors are abnormal behaviors that can beShow MoreRelatedPsychology Is The Scientific Study Of The Human Mind And Its Behaviors1625 Words   |  7 PagesBy definition, Psychology is â€Å"the scientific study of the human mind and i ts behaviours†. However, originally, Psychology did not begin as a science. The subject of Psychology began in 1879 when the first experimental laboratory was opened by Wilhelm Wundt. Since its establishment, Psychology has progressed into a world-renowned academic discipline with the formation of the first American experimental lab in 1883 and the first doctorate in 1886 which was presented to Joseph Jastrow, who became aRead MoreThe Philosophy Of Psychology Is Defined As The Scientific Study Of The Human Mind And Behavior1281 Words   |  6 PagesPsychology is defined as the scientific study of the human mind and behavior. It was established as a separate discipline during the late 1800s and can be taken back to the time of the ancient Greeks. From around 500BC to 322 BC, Greek philosophers suggested a theory of â€Å"psyche† that is where the word psychology comes from. This meaning the mind, soul and spirit. The Pythagoras, Hippocrates, Socrates, Plato and Aristotl e were some of the most influential philosophers of their time. However, due toRead MorePsychology Is The Science Or Study Of The Thought Process And Behavior Of Humans And Other Animals907 Words   |  4 PagesPsychology is the science or study of the thought process and behavior of humans and other animals by their interactions with the environment.(The Columbia Encyclopedia,2015) Studying sense perception, thinking, learning, cognition, emotions and motivation, personality, abnormal behavior, interactions between themselves and the environment are all vital to the interpretation of Psychology.(The Columbia Encyclopedia,2015) With the formulation of the Hypothesis, based on casual observations, a systematicRead MoreAdolescent Psychology Essay 31067 Words   |  5 PagesQuestion: What Is Psychology? One of the most common questions asked by students new to the study of psychology is What is psychology? Misperceptions created by popular media as well as the diverse careers paths of those holding psychology degrees have contributed this confusion. Psychology is both an applied and academic field that studies the human mind and behavior. Research in psychology seeks to understand and explain thought, emotion, and behavior. Applications of psychology include mentalRead MoreWhat is Psychology?925 Words   |  4 PagesIn 1929, psychology was defined as the study of consciousness. From about 1930 to1970, the definition of psychology changed with dealing more with the scientific study of behavior. From about 1970 on, psychology was defined as the scientific study of behavior and mental processes. However, according to nowadays definition of psychology, it could be defined as the study of the behavior and human mind. Factors which influencing our behavior include physical, emotions, thoughts and social. It can helpRead MoreSchool of Thoughts in Psychology1604 Words   |  7 PagesMajor Schools of Thought in  Psychology When psychology was first established as a science separate from biology and philosophy, the debate over how to describe and explain the human mind and behavior began. The first school of thought, structuralism, was advocated by the founder of the first psychology lab, Wilhelm Wundt. Almost immediately, other theories began to emerge and vie for dominance in psychology. The following are some of the major schools of thought that have influenced our knowledgeRead MoreThe Field of Psychology840 Words   |  3 PagesPsychology is a discipline of social science that encompasses nearly every aspect of the human experience. The field of psychology addresses the entire gamut of human behavior and the complexities of emotion. Issues related to perception and cognition are included in psychological research. Neurobiology and neurophysiology also fall under the rubric of psychology. At the same time, psychology embraces less quantifiable variables in the human experience, such as emotional responses and altered statesRead MoreThe Study of Human Behavior in Given Situations1613 Words   |  7 PagesPsychology is a social science study that covers diverse subject topics and carries out different forms of research in order to understand the development and function of human beings. It is a scientific study that focuses on peoples mind and its functions especia lly those affecting behavior in a particular context. Psychology is divided into different branches, and each branch addresses its own form of content in relation to mental processes and behavior. Social psychology is one of the psychologyRead MoreEssay on Understanding Consciousness1728 Words   |  7 PagesUnderstanding Consciousness This paper encompasses an analysis of physiological psychology, the relationship between the human nervous system and behavior, and an evaluation of historical figures in the field of physiological psychology The Biopsychological Approach to Understanding Consciousness The process of understanding awareness can be complex. Understanding that there are different spectrums of consciousness and that each type represents different principles is the best approach to understandingRead MoreIntroduction to Cross u2013 Cultural Psychology 2 Essay803 Words   |  4 PagesCross – Cultural Psychology Josie Quezada PSY/ 450 Instructor: Desiree’ Deshay January 29, 2015 Psychology has many different branches that concentrate on different areas; one of the branches that focus on how cultural influences human behavior is cross – cultural psychology. Cross – Cultural psychology helps an individual understand the behavior, emotions, and the ability of connecting with different people from different cultures. It is not only an effective branch in psychology but also it helps

Positive Psychology Transformational Development

Question: Discuss about the Positive Psychologyfor Transformational Development. Answer: Introduction In the world today, positivity has been known to be a powerful source and force for both personal and transformational development. Positive Psychology can be described as a movement aimed at correcting the imbalance of what people perceive Psychology to be, a tendency to focus on the study of what is wrong with people and how to fix them. (Seligman Csikszentmihalyi, 2014). In brief, Positive Psychology studies the mental health of individuals as opposed to studying their mental illness. Being the case, a basic assumption is followed in the study of human excellence and goodness are study worthy compared to distress, disorders, and diseases. In this essay, I reflect on my psychological strengths, and how I could further develop them among my other possible strengths. Taking into consideration my day to day interactions and activities, I find my personal psychological strength s to be widely distributed. For instance, I would describe myself as a resilient, emotionally intelligent, and an optimistic individual depending on the way I view and perceive most of lifes situations. Also, the way I interact with people and the way they have described some of my attributes after an encounter with them just ascertains the psychological strengths I have identified. Resilience Most of the literature on resilience has concentrated on more on young people and children, and particularly on the effects of living in environments that are negatively chronic such as poverty or abuse. Also, research has concentrated on children who have lived through serious issues and emerged unscathed, fully emotionally and functioning adults who are resilient. There are numerous psychological strengths of resilience. To begin with, a resilient person can reasonably maintain a good functioning level regardless of experiencing trauma. Secondly, due to the positivity that resilient people have, they recover quickly, worry less, and react to only those circumstances present as opposed to what may happen. Thirdly, individuals with resilient personalities are both open and positive as opposed to others. It is because of the openness that comes as a result of positivity that they can see the bigger picture, and as such finding the good even in bad situations. Narrative is a method used in the identification of resilience. Numerous practitioners have used narrative to help assess both communities and individual strengths (Pattoni, 2012). The practitioners using narrative work under the assumption of a hidden story of resilience and strength in any problem. As such, it frequently requires a situation to be re-framed to identify any cases of strength into a resilience story. Practicing narrative is based on the principle of living their lives by stories they have created through their experiences that later shapes their added experience in life. An important aspect of the approach is knowing that some people may take up a problem as an essential part of their character (Epston and White, 1992). Another method that is used in identifying or assessing resilience is the cognitive transformation process that is characterized by change, the discovery of others, and the discovery of oneself. People become both aware and create opportunities emerging from transformation. As a result, self-esteem and self-efficacy are successfully enhanced by becoming stronger and coping with the situation. Therefore, it appears that ability to learn from every situation is essential to resilience, which enhances recovery and adaptation (Pat-Horenczyk Brom, 2007). As a result of resilience in my life, I have been able always to keep going despite the challenges that often come my way. For instance, in cases where I might be under a lot of pressure that may cause stress in the midst of adversity, I keep going until I have achieved what I had set my mind to achieve. I believe that resilience has been developing within me ever since I could remember. I have always thought it wise to respond to situations as opposed to reacting towards them. By responding, I ensure the practice of thought awareness, change the way I think towards people or situations, and set goals I know can be achieved. Emotionally Intelligent Emotional intelligence as defined by Psychology Today is the ability of an individual to both manage and identify ones emotions as well as others. Also, it entails three skills; the ability to both harness and apply emotions to tasks like problem-solving and thinking; the capability of managing emotions that involve changing ones emotions to calm or cheer other people; and emotional awareness ("Emotional Intelligence," 2017). There are numerous psychological strengths of an emotionally intelligent individual. Firstly, it means better social relations for both children and adults given that results to less use if interpersonal strategies that are destructive and a self-perception of competence socially that is greater (Brackett et al., 2006; Lopes et al., 2004). Secondly, people who are emotionally intelligent are perceived by others as being more positive (Brackett et al., 2006; Lopes et al., 2004; Lopes, Salovey, Cote, Beers, 2005). Thirdly, it results in intimate relationships and better families as reported by others and oneself (Brackett, Warner, Bosco, 2005; Carton, Kessler, Pape, 1999). Fourthly and lastly, emotional intelligence leads to better social relationships during negotiations and work performance, results to better academic achievements, and a healthier psychological well-being. Emotional Quotient as a term was coined by Bar-On (2010) aimed to mirror the emotional intelligence trait potential. His model differentiates between the five domains embodying the 15 significant abilities of emotional intelligence. According to Emmerling Goleman (2003, p. 13), the approach is described as a psychological adaptation and well-being model. The Bar-On EQI (emotional quotient inventory) is a developed measure of self-report assessing emotional intelligence that entails of 133 items in total. I would consider myself to be emotionally intelligent given that I connect with others very well. As such, no matter the pressure I may be under, I will communicate or interact with my friends, family, or even colleagues in a well-composed manner while keeping the conversation rational as opposed to letting my anger or any other feeling cloud my judgment or interfere with someone I am relating to and with. Being a third child among my siblings, I believe that emotional intelligence was an important attribute that I developed along the way. As such, I was able to read situations that would put my childish selfishness away to cheer up or calm down my parents, brothers, and sisters. Ina major way, this made me become more mature emotionally knowing how to always pull myself together for the sake of another. Optimism According to Maier Seligman (1976), the explanatory style of the study of optimism came into existence as a result of an anti-thesis to learned helplessness. However, Seligman (2011) diverted his research towards the study learned optimism. Attributional Style Questionnaire The different levels of optimism are measured using the ASQ (Attributional Style Questionnaire), whereby there are both negative and positive hypothetical events presented, as well as several perceived causes that are chosen by the respondents and later rated according to stability, internality, or globality. The results of the explanatory style research are more firm in terms of clarifying bad events. When explaining negative experiences, pessimists often relate the causes to global, stable, or internal factors equating to personal failure. Another method used in assessing or identifying optimism is LOT (Life Orientation Test) that was developed to measure dispositional optimism (Scheier and Carver, 1985). The LOT is a short test of self-report entailing the items that are either disagreed or agreed upon by the respondents. It is measured to have strong properties of psychometrics that have high reliability and validity of tests. There is also LOT-R (LOT-Revised), which is more advanced given that is a more advanced version of the LOT with regards to reliability due to developed psychometric properties. Using both the LOT-R and LOT is measuring dispositional optimism, there is a better prediction of how well an individual can cope with different stressors (Carver Scheier, 2002). I believe that my other personality attributes go hand in hand with optimism. I have always believed in a light at the end of every tunnel, which has, for the most part, contributed to where I am today. Deep inside, I have ensured that despite the challenges I may be going through, something good will most definitely happen. Therefore, I have come to be a firm believer challenges being ways that can only make me stronger and wiser. Optimism developed in me ever since I changed the way I view people and situations. By getting rid of negative thoughts and always being aware of myself as well as the company I keep, optimism has continued to grow thus affecting all the areas of my life. References Bar-On, R. (2010). Emotional intelligence: an integral part of positive psychology.South African Journal of Psychology,40(1), 54-62. Brackett, M. A., Warner, R. M., Bosco, J. S. (2005). Emotional intelligence and relationship quality among couples.Personal relationships,12(2), 197-212. Brackett, M. A., Rivers, S. E., Shiffman, S., Lerner, N., Salovey, P. (2006). Relating emotional abilities to social functioning: a comparison of self-report and performance measures of emotional intelligence.Journal of personality and social psychology,91(4), 780. Carton, J. S., Kessler, E. A., Pape, C. L. (1999). Nonverbal decoding skills and relationship well-being in adults.Journal of Nonverbal Behavior,23(1), 91-100. Carver, C. S., Scheier, M. F. (2002). The hopeful optimist.Psychological Inquiry,13(4), 288-290. Emmerling, R. J., Goleman, D. (2003). Emotional intelligence: Issues and common misunderstandings.Issues in Emotional Intelligence,1(1), 1-32. Emotional Intelligence. (2017). Psychology Today. Retrieved 14 April 2017, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/emotional-intelligence Epston, D., White, M. (1992).Experience, Contradiction, Narrative Imagination: Selected papers of David Epston Michael White, 1989-1991. Dulwich Centre Publications. Lopes, P. N., Brackett, M. A., Nezlek, J. B., Schtz, A., Sellin, I., Salovey, P. (2004). Emotional intelligence and social interaction.Personality and social psychology bulletin,30(8), 1018-1034. Lopes, P. N., Salovey, P., Ct, S., Beers, M., Petty, R. E. (2005). Emotion regulation abilities and the quality of social interaction.Emotion,5(1), 113. Maier, S. F., Seligman, M. E. (1976). Learned helplessness: Theory and evidence.Journal of experimental psychology: general,105(1), 3. Pat?Horenczyk, R., Brom, D. (2007). The Multiple Faces of Post?Traumatic Growth.Applied Psychology,56(3), 379-385. Pattoni, L. (2012). Strengths-based approaches for working with individuals. Iriss. Retrieved 14 April 2017, from https://www.iriss.org.uk/resources/insights/strengths-based-approaches-working-individuals Scheier, M. F., Carver, C. S. (1985). The Self?Consciousness Scale: A Revised Version for Use with General Populations1.Journal of Applied Social Psychology,15(8), 687-699. Seligman, M. E., Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2014).Positive psychology: An introduction(pp. 279-298). Springer Netherlands. Seligman, M. E. (2011).Learned optimism: How to change your mind and your life. Vintage.

Woman Hollering Creek free essay sample

October 8, 2010 English 102 Culture is the â€Å"System of values, beliefs and ways of knowing that guide communities of people in their daily lives† (qtd. In Rothstein-Fusch and Trumball 3). Every culture is different and unique in its own lifestyle. Culture is basically life itself. The short story â€Å"Woman Hollering Creek† by Sandra Cisneros is a clear example of these characteristics by bringing together life in Mexico and the United States. The reader gets the opportunity to view both sides of Cleofilas, the protagonist of the short story, culture as she moves to a new place with her new husband Juan Pedro. She enjoys watching telenovelas because she knows her life will never measure up to the lives of beautiful women from the telenovelas. Cleofilas begins to encounter a dramatic situation by living with an abusive husband and being dominated by men. In the Latin society a common myth is the La Llorona, the weeping woman that Cleofilas seems to encounter. We will write a custom essay sample on Woman Hollering Creek or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Recognizing the elements of Mexican culture is important in understanding Cisneros’s short story â€Å"Woman Hollering Creek. † The telenovelas condition Latina females in their views about romance. The television shows describe the love and life many girls anticipate as they grow up to be young women. For example, Cleofilas wanted her life to be of â€Å"passion in its purest crystalline essence† (Cisneros 239). Before getting married, Cleofilas’ life consisted of never ending chores, putting up with her brothers and her father’s complaining. She did not have the life that she sought. When she married Juan Pedro, she thought her life would shift and be like the ones from the telenovelas. The influence of beautiful women in the soap operas is also seen when Cleofilas decides to make a change: â€Å"Does she dye her hair you think? (Cisneros 239) Cleofilas’ decision to dye her hair shows that she is not content with her looks and appearance. She has an image that women from the telenovelas possess wonderful lives in both love and romance, only because they are beautiful and dye their hair like â€Å"Lucia Mendez† (239). Cleofilas’ husban d doesn’t appear to look like the handsome men from the soap operas: â€Å"His face still scarred from acne†¦this man who farts and belches and snores as well†¦who doesn’t care at all for the telenovelas† (Cisneros 241). This shows that Cleofilas wants her husband to watch the soap operas and be influenced by them like she is. The fact that Cleofilas mentions he does not like the soap operas shows how much she desires for her husband to be more like the men in the telenovelas. Having a different name would have probably made a difference in Cleofilas’ life: â€Å"Somehow she would have to change her name to Topazio, or Yesenia, Cristal, Adriana, Stefania, Andrea, or something more poetic†(Cisneros 243). Cleofilas thought that good things happened to women who were named after jewels, nothing good would happen to a girl with a name like Cleofilas. From the very beginning, Cisneros exposes the control of the father, over to his daughter. In Mexico and the United States, the life of Cleofilas is marked by a male-dominated society: â€Å"†¦look south, and dream of returning to the chores that never ended, six good-for-nothing brothers and one old man complaining† (248). In Cleofilas’s family, their conservative views about women mean that all the boys are outside helping their father, and women are virtual prisoners inside their homes, doing chores. In these times, women are not even allowed to be functioning members of society, just tend to their husbands. The men ask something, and the women obediently do it. In addition, Cisneros’s own life experiences reflect their concept: â€Å"‘Born in Chicago in 1954, Cisneros grew up with six brothers and one father, or â€Å"seven fathers,† as she puts it’† (â€Å"Becoming a Latina Writer† 247). She also wrote that she was the â€Å"keeper of six swans,† as she ironically found out her name was translated to the meaning: â€Å"Keeper of the Swans† (â€Å"Becoming a Latina Writer† 247). Men have a tendency to physically abuse the women, and the women have to take it: â€Å"But when the time came, and he slapped once, and again and again; until the lip split and bled and orchard of blood, she didn’t fight back, she didn’t break into tears†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Cisneros 240). In this type of alpha-male household, the man wears the pants, and he is able to get away with abusing his wife or daughter(s). This is the cruel fate of Cleofilas’s future. She was going to have to tough it out, every time that Juan Pedro got drunk and laid a hand on Cleofilas. She is tough, considering how much abuse she has to take. The city was even a man’s world, where the women were never outside, just stayed home, cooking, cleaning and taking care of the children: â€Å"Because the towns are built to you have to depend on husbands. Or stay home† (242). Even then, it was considered taboo to have a woman in the workforce that was predominantly male. Unfortunately, in those times, a woman’s place in the world was a caretaker for the home and the children, according to men who lived in those times. Cleofilas has spent her entire life trapped in a world that conditions her to see herself as inferior, and to feel that males, fathers, husbands, or brothers are somehow superior beings that she must serve and honor. The myth of the La Llorona tale plays an important role in the story â€Å"Woman Hollering Creek. † Although the myth has many versions, the general idea is of a woman who is crying for the lover who has abandoned her and for her children that she has drowned in the river. The woman then is condemned to roam eternally looking for her dead children (â€Å"La Llorona: The Weeping woman† 1).

Free Essays on INTERNET CRIME

INTRODUCTION â€Å"Global computer-based communications cut across territorial borders, creating a new realm of human activity and undermining the feasibility- and legitimacy- of applying laws based on geographic boundaries.† (Post and Johnson 1996) The Internet is a relatively new phenomenon and this â€Å"cyberspace† is causing problems for regulatory systems. The Internet is a world that is very difficult to govern and it is because of this that criminals are discovering the net as a place to conduct illegal activity. It is the government’s goal to understand the reasons for the difficulty for enforcement on the Internet and to come up with adequate solutions. WHAT IS FRAUD? Computer Abuse is roughly defined as, â€Å" Any incident associated with computer technology in which a victim suffered or could have suffered loss and a perpetrator by intention made or could have made gain.† (Parker 12) Although computers are a fairly recent development in regards to home use there has been a surge of them for entertainment in the last two decades. The growing awareness of the computer and the Internet has produced individuals with the knowledge to accomplish high tech computer crimes. Internet crime is not only an issue of the present. It has been recorded as early as 1950. Crime on the Net is expanding. There is now a wide range of crimes that occur in cyberspace. There is fraud-involving embezzlement, selling of faulty shares and organized crime has even gone electronic. [1] The mob has been using the Internet for such things as gambling. It provides an easy and fast way to exchange information across a vast amount of space.[2] The Int ernet! provides a unique environment, in which unauthorized activities can occur. An example of a scam occurred on a chat room dedicated to finance. Someone logged on under a code name and listed supposedly hot Internet stocks on the market. This user was particular... Free Essays on INTERNET CRIME Free Essays on INTERNET CRIME INTRODUCTION â€Å"Global computer-based communications cut across territorial borders, creating a new realm of human activity and undermining the feasibility- and legitimacy- of applying laws based on geographic boundaries.† (Post and Johnson 1996) The Internet is a relatively new phenomenon and this â€Å"cyberspace† is causing problems for regulatory systems. The Internet is a world that is very difficult to govern and it is because of this that criminals are discovering the net as a place to conduct illegal activity. It is the government’s goal to understand the reasons for the difficulty for enforcement on the Internet and to come up with adequate solutions. WHAT IS FRAUD? Computer Abuse is roughly defined as, â€Å" Any incident associated with computer technology in which a victim suffered or could have suffered loss and a perpetrator by intention made or could have made gain.† (Parker 12) Although computers are a fairly recent development in regards to home use there has been a surge of them for entertainment in the last two decades. The growing awareness of the computer and the Internet has produced individuals with the knowledge to accomplish high tech computer crimes. Internet crime is not only an issue of the present. It has been recorded as early as 1950. Crime on the Net is expanding. There is now a wide range of crimes that occur in cyberspace. There is fraud-involving embezzlement, selling of faulty shares and organized crime has even gone electronic. [1] The mob has been using the Internet for such things as gambling. It provides an easy and fast way to exchange information across a vast amount of space.[2] The Int ernet! provides a unique environment, in which unauthorized activities can occur. An example of a scam occurred on a chat room dedicated to finance. Someone logged on under a code name and listed supposedly hot Internet stocks on the market. This user was particular...

How To Cold Pitch Your Next Guest Blogging Opportunity

How To Cold Pitch Your Next Guest Blogging Opportunity Guest blogging has had a tumultuous life cycle. Hot one day, and then cold the next–no one seems to know if they should really be guest blogging or not. Wait, didnt Matt Cutts say that it was dead? Yes, for SEO, but that doesnt mean that it is really dead, does it? Matt Cutts called it, or did he? Heres the thing.  Since the beginning, there has always been two different kinds of guest blogging. There is the lame kind that Matts Cutts has declared dead. These are the spammers, the folks that see guest blogging as a tool to build linkbacks to their website and nothing else. Let me remind you about some of the methods they use. They look like this: Free content? How could this be? These arent really guest bloggers. They are blog hijackers. Their emails are lame, their topics are weak, and the writingOh, *od the writing. Matt Cutts is right in that blog hijacking needs to be dead, but did he really have to go and throw all guest blogging into the mix? Guest Blogging Can Be Good. Right? The second kind of guest blogging, as you can imagine, is the good kind. This is the kind of guest blogging that you do. Right? (Right?) This form of guest blogging is about a lot more than a simple linkback to some sketchy site. It is about audience, respect, and the genuine sharing of information that the web has made possible. These writers appreciate a link to their blog, but it isnt why they get up in the morning. They are trying to build an audience, and blogging on someone elses blog helps them do just that. Who can blame them? This kind of guest blogging isnt dead. It is the ideal form of guest blogging, and Matt Cutts is actually saving it. How Matt Cutts Saved Guest Blogging With every good thing there is at least one bad thing that comes with it. Life is full of tradeoffs. With email, we got spam. With the browser, we got pop-ups. With Twitter, we got direct messages. For every channel that can be used for good, there is a way to abuse it and use it for something bad. There are always opportunities for spammers to spread their spam. Matt Cutts is trying to scare them off. He is doing exactly what we need him to do. Since the beginning, spammers have been using and abusing guest blogging because Google was telling them that it would help. Linkbacks were so obviously tied to search rankings, and guest blogging was an easy way to get those linkbacks. Google was, essentially, enabling them. In January, Cutts put a stop to it. He told them that rather than helping them, guest blogging was going to start hurting them. He was trying to scare spammers off, not you.   He was trying to tell you to keep going. He was secretly whispering to you guest blogging isnt really dead, I am just fixing it for you. By scaring away the riff-raff, he is creating a panacea, a solution to the endless emails promising free content for links, a solution for an endless supply of poorly written posts. The spammers will go away, and we real bloggers can finally get back to work. All I can say is thank you, Matt. Thanks for killing guest blogging so that we can finally start fresh. Learning How To Guest Blog, Again So, if the death blow from Google is really more of a starting point rather than an ending point, where should we go next? It only makes sense that we redefine the rules and learn how to guest blog all over again. Rule #1: Guest Blogging Is For Serious People The first step is to realize who guest blogging is for. No longer is it for semi-pro SEOs and link builders. Instead, it is for those who want to better establish themselves as experts in their field. It  is for bloggers who take what they do seriously, and do it for the love of creating and sharing great content. Rule #2: Guest Blogging Is For Building Your Reputation Guest gives us a chance to write in front of a new audience. This gives us the ability to earn their trust and respect directly, by appearing on a blog they already trust. If we blog well, we may be able to keep their attention over the long term on our own blog. Guest blogging isnt about SEO anymore (although  there are still benefits). Now, it is about building trust and reputation. Rule #3: Guest Blogging Is For The Audience The beauty of the guest post is that we are able to take someone elses audience and make it our own. It is the perfect give-and-take. As writers, we get attention and exposure to a new audience, and as blog owners we get fresh content that will hopefully engage and excite our audience. My own guest post about  long-form content,  over on the Spin Sucks blog,  is a great example. I was able to establish my role in content marketing while encouraging a lively debate and discussion. It was a win for everyone. Rule #4: Guest Blogging Isnt For Links If you are only worried about links back to your stuff, then guest blogging simply isnt for you. Move on. Rule #5:  Guest Blogging Should Come With Simple Expectations If we are going to be participating in guest blogging, we need to know what to realistically expect from the experience. Huge traffic? Probably not. Fame and fortune? Certainly not. Trust and value? Yes please. Guest blogging is no longer about the quick win (with super-sized links!!!!). It is now a long-term tactic. It is really about personal brand building more than anything else, and that means that we need to go into it with simple expectations instead of grandiose visions of traffic and Google juice.

The Impact of Health Inequalities on Health Education and Health Essay

The Impact of Health Inequalities on Health Education and Health Promotion - Essay Example dren in developing countries (Guerrant, Kirchhoff, Shields, Nations, Leslie, de Sousa, Araujo, Correia, Sauer, McClelland, Trowbridge and Hughes, 1983). Due to these disparities in the economies of developed and underdeveloped nations, there are a lot of discrepancies in the health standards of the people of these countries as well. Health inequalities refer to gaps in the quality of health and health care across sexual orientation, racial, socioeconomic and ethnic groups. A marked difference can be seen between the health conditions of developed and underdeveloped countries. The better the economy of a country, the better is the state of health. Health disparities exist between differing socioeconomic groups. The lower socioeconomic group have poorer health and higher rates of chronic illness, obesity, hypertension and diabetes. Differences also lie in access to health care between the two classes. Usually people in deprived areas receive less care than needed. Whereas the affluent areas have easy access to almost all kinds of medication and health care. Within a country, we can also see difference in the health standards between different racial groups. For example; in America, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans and African Americans have higher mortality, higher rate of chronic disease and poorer overall health conditions. There is a need to change life styles of people to help them live a better and healthy life. This could be achieved through health promotions and educating them about health issues. Health promotion enables people to increase control over, and to improve, their health. It moves beyond a focus on individual behaviour towards a wide range of social and environmental intervention (WHO, 2011). Health promotion aims at influencing, informing,... This paper approves that health care costs are continuously arising, resulting the government, employers and consumers to struggle to keep up with the increased costs. Major policy of the health care units is to cut off the costs. Rising federal deficit with an overall slowdown in the economic growth is also putting strain on the systems used to finance the health care. Things are made more complicated by the health disparities within the nation. The health care units have to divide their funds for improving the conditions in the rural areas and conducting health awareness programmes for them, and for research purposes. This essay shows that government plays an important role in providing awareness regarding how to stay healthy and solving health related issues. Government have the power of financing, organizing, overseeing, and delivering health care. Government is also responsible for getting care to people who wouldn't otherwise have it; the underprivileged, the disabled, and the aged, many of whom could not afford it on their own. The government's role in health and health care does not end here but it goes into the realm of encouraging new discoveries related to health affairs There are some Government Organizations like U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps which are working to promote, protect, and advance the health and safety of the United States. Members of PHS often serve on the frontlines in fighting diseases and poor health conditions. They are trained and equipped to respond to emergencies such as natural disasters or terrorist attacks and public health crisis.

The Religious Life of Planet Earth Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Religious Life of Planet Earth - Essay Example Therefore, I set criteria that helped me determine the devoutness of people on planet Earth: their one God, the prophet who serves as the people’s leader, the holy book which provides people spiritual guidance, and scriptures or teachings that impact people’s values and behaviors. Before I further describe the criteria which I established for my religious quest on planet Earth, I believe it would be necessary to endeavor to define what religion on planet Earth means. Different perspectives offer different definitions of the term â€Å"religion.† In its very essence, religion on Earth symbolizes its people’s relationship with a supernatural being, or a deity, who is believed to have control over some aspects of living and of the world (Idinopulos, 1998). People call this supernatural being differently: some call it their â€Å"God,† while others call it their â€Å"Allah.† Nonetheless, this supernatural being helps people in understanding the world and the meaning and importance of human existence. This understanding provides structure and stability within their society, and exposits the undertakings and purposes for the humankind (Idinopulos, 1998). ... They further believe that their God controls all forms of life on the planet and therefore has the ability to take all these life forms back. As much as possible, people on the planet endeavor to live rightfully and spiritually to make their God happy and satisfied. In addition, for an institution to be considered as religion there needs to be a certain character, a prophet as they call it, that serves as the people’s leader. This prophet possesses supernatural abilities and extraordinary characters which allow the prophet to speak to their one God and provide guidance to the people. In short, the prophet is the messenger of God. Apart from their God and prophet, another common criterion of religions on Earth is the holy book. Every religion on the planet has a holy book that provides guidance for humanity to the right direction for salvation that shows the way to paradise (Elsaie, n.d.). The holy book, in addition, outlines the actions and behaviors which are morally acceptab le for the institution, and clearly summarizes the divine standards that people have to follow. Lastly, religious groups of people on Earth involve devotional and ritual teachings which contain the moral code governing the values and behavior of human matters. In order to further scrutinize the truth behind the criteria I set for my religious investigation on Earth, I looked deeper at the three major religious beliefs on Earth based on number of adherents: Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism (Adherents.com, 2007). On planet Earth, there are approximately 1.9 billion Christians, or 33% of the world’s entire population (Adherents.com, 2007). It is believed to be the largest religion on the planet. Christianity believes

Patent Nonuse and the Role of Public Interest as a Deterrent to Technology Suppression Essay Example for Free

Patent Nonuse and the Role of Public Interest as a Deterrent to Technology Suppression Essay Patents are contracts between the society and the inventor to encourage development in the field of science and technology. It helps the society by enabling them to utilize this technology, and the inventor by protecting his rights and rewarding him appropriately for this intellectual efforts and innovations. Once a patent is given by the patent office, the inventor has to work the invention by himself or through somebody else by means of an assignment or a license. The patent office does not look at the potential commercial value of the invention whilst giving the patent. The invention should have a specific use and should fulfill what it is meant to do. Many inventions given patents have turned to be commercial failures. However, there are several instances in which neither the patentee has worked the invention by himself, nor has he allowed others interested to do so. This is a very serious situation, because it goes against the very intention of granting the patent. The patent system grants patents only to those inventors who are willing to reveal their invention with others, so that it can benefit society. Some patentees may not work their invention due to several reasons, one of which may be to wrongfully hide or suppress technology from the public. One of the first such cases was the Continental Paper Bag Co. v. Eastern Paper Bag Co. case of 1908. In this case, the patentee had invented a machine that could make a folded paper bag with a rectangular bottom. However, he had not made his invention available to the public, thus preventing others from working the invention. At that time, this invention was a breakthrough, and many people felt bad, because the very intention of giving a patent was not fulfilled. No concrete rules regarding nonuse of patents and compulsory licenses were existent at that time, and everything was left at the mercy of the patent holder. Lower courts also found that the patentee was unreasonable. They in fact tried to draw a line between ‘reasonable nonuse policy’ (inventor unable to use his invention because or some understandable problems) and ‘unreasonable nonuse policy’ (purposefully suppressing technology). However, as no concrete rules existed at that time, the higher court had to give its decision in favor of the rightful owner of the invention. Many breakthrough technologies exist which are being currently suppressed from the public. A plastic that is strong, long-lasting, and can be utilized to make houses that last forever, was granted patents, but not accessible to the public by the owner. New rubber for tires is invented which does not blow up. If this technology could be utilized currently, the lives of many people who die in road accidents could be saved. A new material has been invented for use in toothpastes, which protects the teeth from developing cavities. These technologies are being suppressed due to the anticompetitive intentions of their owners. Some patentees may not use or license their technology so that others may be forced to infringe up on their patents. Lawsuits for infringements could be filed, which could give them earning in millions. An instance of this is a case between Minolta and Honeywell’s, in which Minolta had to pay $127 million to Honeywell for infringing their auto-focus camera patent, although the owners were not using their patent. The patent office should come up with strict rules such that all the patentees have to give an annual report of how their patent is being worked commercially, and in case it is not being worked, the reasons for the same. In case the inventor does not respond, the patent should be revoked. Instances of patent nonuse can be used as evidence in the court, against individuals who indulge in anticompetitive practices. Such practices are strictly considered unlawful under the US Antitrust Laws. The Sherman Act was one of the first such as to protect against unfair trade practices. According to this act, any individual monopolizing or attempting to monopolize, or combines with other people or with other nations to monopolize any trade business in the US, shall be held guilty of an offense under the act. Patent is a monopoly granted to the owner, but they are also contracts between the owner and the public, to permit the later to access the technology. Patent laws are likely to be misused. The exclusionary right (to prevent others from using or making the invention without the license of the owner) is limited and should be more meaningful. The patent system does not give absolute monopoly to the owners. In the case Pfizer V. Government of India [434 US 308 (1978)], the US permitted foreign nations to sue under the Section 4 of the Clayton Act. The Government of India was asking Pfizer to grant licenses for certain broad spectrum antibiotics. However, the company refused to give reasonable licenses. Several antitrust violations such as price-fixing, fraud, market-division, etc were being imposed by the Indian Government against Pfizer and group. The respondents also said that petitioners were trying to limit and monopolize the production, sale and distribution of their patents. The respondents also said that these practices had destroyed businesses. The Company said that the Indian Government could not bring this case forward, as they belonged to another nation. However, the court went on to say that foreign nations could also claim under antitrust laws. The court said that the case was similar to having a citizen having his rights under the antitrust laws being violated. In the case Remington Products V. North American Philips corporation [107 FRD 642, 1985], Remington alleged that the company Philips, a leading Dutch MNC, was indulging in anticompetitive behavior by not disclosing information needed to work the discovery. The defendant claimed that certain clauses in a Dutch statue did not permit disclosure. However, the US court granted the case in favor of Remington saying that the defendant wrongfully withheld information regarding the discovery. The plaintiff had previously approached the defendant to provide information regarding the discovery. However, the defendant refused to give this information needed saying that the information was irrelevant. In the Chevron Research Company’s patent [1970; RPC, 580], the court said that the patentee has to disclose full and relevant information regarding the patent. In the Image Technical Services V. Eastman Kodak Co. [504 U. S. 51 (1992)] provides an association between the antitrust laws and the intellectual property rights regime. Kodak Company had a patent for a photographic device. The case was alleged by companies that serviced Kodak’s products. In this case, a distinction is being made between ‘attempting monopolization’ and ‘attaining monopolizing by exploiting’. The court had to study the market situation to determine if the company was trying to control prices or destroy competition. Kodak in fact monopolized manufacture of components of its photographic equipment and even monopolized servicing of its equipment. The court had said that both patents and copyrights did not come under antitrust laws. An inventor had the right to license or refuse license of his invention. However, a patent owner may be held for developing practices against the antitrust laws (that could destroy competition). The extent to which antitrust laws could be applied to patent laws had to be determined by studying the market situation. The plaintiffs had gathered enough proof that Kodak were trying to monopolize their market situation by limiting the availability of its components to the service companies Nowadays, exclusive license holders may also try to misuse their rights by monopolizing their licensed to make or use the patent. This can be demonstrated in the Medtronic Sofamor Danek, Inc. v. Michelson case. Dr. Michelson had invented a new spinal treatment device and had given a license to Medtronic which manufactured medical equipment. However, the company did not promote his treatment device, and hence the doctor had to grant licenses to other companies that would compete with the original license holder. The company filed a case in the court claiming that the patent holder breached clauses of the contract. However, the Court felt that the company had adopted certain anticompetitive principles that did not promote the patent. Patent holders are trying to maximize their monopoly, by indulging in anticompetitive acts. Often there is a clash between patent laws and antitrust laws. Patent laws provide the holder with rights to eliminate competition, whereas antitrust laws enable protection of healthy business competition practices. A clear border line has to be drawn between these two conflicting legal regimes. In the case Illinois Tools Works V. Independent Ink, the question of the manufacturer having a market power over a patented product or process could be presumed whilst granting the patent, was being asked. A patent holder may hold so much of powers in the market such that he/she may dominate the scene. A patent holder will usually violate antirust laws if he or she feels that they are in a situation to dominate the market. In this case, Illinois printers invented a printing device and had prohibited the customers from using non-patented ink. The defendant felt that such terms were against the true spirits of competition, and were under the impression that Illinois tool works were trying to dominate the market situation. It may be difficult in such a case to determine the party that would carry the burden of proof. The patent holder had tried to extend his patent. In this manner, they had created both, primary and secondary market rivals. The primary rivals included other manufacturers of printers, and the secondary rivals included other manufacturers of printer inks. The court gave its decision in favor of Independent Ink, citing that patents could not be extended to non-patentable areas. A patent had only specific boundaries, and crossing such boundaries constituted infringement. In another case, Schering-Plough held a patent for a drug. A company that manufactured a generic version of the same drug felt that the original company’s patent was invalid. They wanted to file for a patent opposition, but Schering-Plough decided to pay the generic drug manufacturers to withdraw the case and also stay out of the market for some period. Federal Trade Commission filed a case before the Supreme Court, saying that Schering-Plough was trying to destroy all competition in the market by wrongfully preserving its invalid monopoly. The Court felt that the agreement between Schering-Plough and the generic manufacturers was invalid and was executed to destroy competition in the market. Patent laws should make it easier to obtain a compulsory license in case the patentee wrongfully suppresses the invetion from the public. A compulsory license should be given to anybody in case:- The patentee is unable to meet the reasonable requirements of the public with relation to his patented process or product. †¢ The patentee does not make the invention available to the public at an affordable cost. †¢ The invention is not being worked in the jurisdiction of the patent office. †¢ Special considerations should be given to inventions that relate to public health and nutrition, and emergency situations. Compulsory license should be a sanction (for the patentee) and a remedy (for the public); in case the patentee indulges in anticompetitive practices. The concept of compulsory licenses developed following the African AIDS crisis situation. The continent was in a crisis situation with the HIV/AIDS pandemic. A few companies such as Glaxo, Merck, etc held a patent for an antiretroviral drug which could be life-saving for people suffering from HIV/AIDS. However, these companies had indulged in several anticompetitive practices. The cost of treating each AIDS patients in Africa was exceedingly high (US$ 10,000 per patient per year). Hence, the drugs were inaccessible for many poor patients who belonged to underdeveloped nations. Cipla, an Indian pharmaceutical company volunteered to supply the drug at a fraction of the overall costs the other companies were offering (US $ 350 per year per patient). Some of the African Nations had to modify its trade laws so that parallel imports and compulsory licenses could exist. However, the original companies that held the patents for antiviral drugs began to sue for infringement. These companies had to later withdraw their infringement cases, as there was a worldwide agitation against the anti-public health policies adopted by the patent holders. Later, at the WTO conference in Doha, a comprehensive agreement to protect public health issues was adopted to prevent unhealthy practices by the patent holders (through compulsory licenses). Some people feel that the patent system can create an obstruction in the development of science and technology, as instances of nonuse often arise. Once a patent is granted, it may even prevent others from inventing around a particular invention or inventive concept. This will seriously hinder the developments in that particular field. Inventors, who tend to sit on their inventions by refusing access to the public, should be henceforth refused patents.

Theory of Orgone Energy :: Wilhelm Reich

Reich developed his theory of orgone energy over several years and expanded it throughout his lifetime. His theory was the result of experiences with his neurotic patients and his biological experiments, which he felt provided concrete evidence for the existence of orgone. Orgone energy can be thought of as organic or "life-energy." Reich first observed this energy while studying the bioelectric nature of pleasure and anxiety. Using a galvanometer, he discovered that in pleasurable situations skin has a charge, while in displeaurable ones it does not. He initially called this phenomenon "bioelectric energy." Later, while attempting to research the origin of life, Reich discovered what he termed bions. These globules of energy seemed to give off a certain radiation, such that when objects were left near the cultures containing bions, those objects became highly charged. Reich later observed that this radiation was the same energy he had observed in his skin conductance experiments, and that indeed, this energy surrounded all living things and was free in the atmosphere. He renamed this energy "orgone." After conducting an experiment in which Reich believed he had succeeded in developing protozoa from bions, he began to investigate the formation of cancer cells. He believed that cancer cells formed in the same way, and supposedly produced a motion picture in which cancer cells did indeed develop from the breakdown of living tissue. Reich felt certain that this "biopathy" was the result of sexual repression. Continuing his cancer research, Reich developed the orgone accumulator (ORAC), which was intended to produce a concentration of orgone energy. The device itself was simply a large box constructed by alternating layers of metal (preferably iron) and organic material, often wood. He experimented with the ORAC by keeping both healthy mice and mice with cancer in the accumulator and comparing their lifespans with control mice which were not kept in the ORAC. Reich found that even the mice with cancer lived longer than the controls who had not been kept in the ORAC. Reich continued his accumulator experiments, moving on to work with humans. He found that the ORAC helped cure a variety of ailments. These ailments were assumed to be due to a lack of energy within the organism which the ORAC replaced. Subjects who already had high levels of orgone energy were not able to tolerate the accumulator. Believing that orgone energy might be used to combat nuclear radiation, Reich undertook what would be called "The Oranur Experiment. Theory of Orgone Energy :: Wilhelm Reich Reich developed his theory of orgone energy over several years and expanded it throughout his lifetime. His theory was the result of experiences with his neurotic patients and his biological experiments, which he felt provided concrete evidence for the existence of orgone. Orgone energy can be thought of as organic or "life-energy." Reich first observed this energy while studying the bioelectric nature of pleasure and anxiety. Using a galvanometer, he discovered that in pleasurable situations skin has a charge, while in displeaurable ones it does not. He initially called this phenomenon "bioelectric energy." Later, while attempting to research the origin of life, Reich discovered what he termed bions. These globules of energy seemed to give off a certain radiation, such that when objects were left near the cultures containing bions, those objects became highly charged. Reich later observed that this radiation was the same energy he had observed in his skin conductance experiments, and that indeed, this energy surrounded all living things and was free in the atmosphere. He renamed this energy "orgone." After conducting an experiment in which Reich believed he had succeeded in developing protozoa from bions, he began to investigate the formation of cancer cells. He believed that cancer cells formed in the same way, and supposedly produced a motion picture in which cancer cells did indeed develop from the breakdown of living tissue. Reich felt certain that this "biopathy" was the result of sexual repression. Continuing his cancer research, Reich developed the orgone accumulator (ORAC), which was intended to produce a concentration of orgone energy. The device itself was simply a large box constructed by alternating layers of metal (preferably iron) and organic material, often wood. He experimented with the ORAC by keeping both healthy mice and mice with cancer in the accumulator and comparing their lifespans with control mice which were not kept in the ORAC. Reich found that even the mice with cancer lived longer than the controls who had not been kept in the ORAC. Reich continued his accumulator experiments, moving on to work with humans. He found that the ORAC helped cure a variety of ailments. These ailments were assumed to be due to a lack of energy within the organism which the ORAC replaced. Subjects who already had high levels of orgone energy were not able to tolerate the accumulator. Believing that orgone energy might be used to combat nuclear radiation, Reich undertook what would be called "The Oranur Experiment.

Early Perspectives in Psychology Essay

Structuralism emphasized that the objective of psychology is to study the elements of consciousness and to learn how it operates and how it influences behavior (Eysenck, 1998). Structuralism focused more on the structure of consciousness and tried to identify the different experiences that each sensation and perception elicited. They believed that by breaking down the elements of each sensation, they would be able to gain a better understanding of human behavior. For example they tried to identify the different tastes that a person could experience, like salty, sour, sweet and bitter. By identifying the structure of the experience and of how a person perceives it, psychologists can identify the different behaviors that the individual may exhibit based on that experience, like when someone who eats something salty may make a grimace and then look for a drink. The method used by structuralists’ was introspection or the systematic observation of one’s experience. Structuralism was an attempt by psychology to become scientific; experiments were conducted to define the different elements of consciousness. Psychologists were trained to explore behavior by analyzing their own experience, introspectionism as a method was heavily criticized because it was a vague concept that did not lend itself to scientific replication. Moreover, it was difficult to learn and was subjective. Structuralism however provided a limited view of psychology and there arose a different perspective called behaviorism. Behaviorism posits that the goal of psychology is to examine behavior. Overt behavior as seen by behaviorists as the only human facet that can be objectively analyzed, how a person reacts or behaves towards a stimuli explains behavior (Zimbardo, Gerrig & Richard, 1999). Behaviorists believed that a person can be trained to exhibit a certain behaviory providing him/her with the right environment and learning. Although behaviorism gained popularity in the field of psychology, many criticized it as being too mechanistic and take the humanness out of the person. One of the appeal of behaviorism however was that it was very objective and treated mental processes as kind of a black box that should not be given due importance because it was not overtly possible. Behaviorists think that a person’s behavior is a reaction to the presenting stimuli. Behaviorism used the scientific method to study behavior; one of its most important contributions is the concept of classical and operant conditioning. It has been applied to a wide range of psychological fields like education, training and psychotherapy. Psychoanalysis was developed by Freud in the period when Behaviorism was at its height. Psychoanalysis as a psychological perspective says that man’s behavior is influenced by his experiences during childhood (Conlan, 1994). Psychoanalysis also believes that human behavior is greatly influenced by the unconscious part of the human mind. He likened the human mind to an iceberg wherein the tip was the part that was conscious. Psychoanalytic theory argues that an individual’s internal conflict is brought about by the repressed desires of the person. The method used by psychoanalysis is free association, wherein the person is asked to relate to the therapist what comes to mind, aside from free association, psychoanalysis also delved into dream analysis and hypnosis. The theory was criticized for giving too much importance to the unconscious and at that time, Freud offered a controversial perspective of human behavior which many did not understand, however it has become one of the most important theories in psychology and many theorists within this orientation developed. Psychoanalytic theory however lacked scientific credence as it was focused on personal thoughts, memories and interpretations of which differed from one theorist to another.

Keats and Shelley

The works of Keats and Shelley have attracted the attention of many scholars of English literature. In this essay, an attempt is made to compare the literary works of John Keats and Percy Shelley. This comparison is relevant due to the fact that both the poets were the contemporaries.John Keats can be considered as belonging to the Romantic school in English literature because he wrote many poems regarding the importance of love which he considered as the basis of living as without love there is no goal for human existence. This indicates the spirit for life possessed by Keats. In some of his poems Keats expressed his love for the lady who becomes the central character of his poems.   However, there are also poems which reflected the sadness, melancholy and utter despair and hopelessness regarding the human existence. This can be experienced by the study of his poem â€Å"Ode on Melancholy†.This poem demonstrates the fact the human pleasure is temporary and it is susceptible to miseries and pain. In this poem, Keats seems to suggest the temporary nature of happiness and that life is illusion as always it is not possible to achieve what one desires. On the other hand in his â€Å"Ode on a Grecian Urn† there is a different feeling expressed by the poet. In this poem Keats is full of happiness and positive feelings as he believes that life is full of happiness and it is beautiful. In this poem, several times there is the use of the word ‘happy’ which indicates the mood of the poet while writing this poem.In fact his â€Å"Ode on Melancholy† and â€Å"Ode on a Grecian Urn† shows the two different views. Nevertheless, they also reflect the reality of life. Thus, Keats expressed both positive and negative feelings in his poems. These two different poems seem to indicate the contradictory nature of his poems. Nevertheless, melancholy is required to realize the value of happiness. Hence, in order to fully appreciate happiness or joy one should be aware of melancholy as well.One can even find the fact that melancholy is in fact necessary to enjoy the experience of happiness. Hence two different poems have been composed by Keats to fully appreciate joys and problems in life. The poems of Keats remind us that after all we are humans and that humans are mortals. Keats also speaks about the inevitability of death and he romanticizes the pleasure of painless death.(Victoria, 2000)Keats’s â€Å"Ode on a Grecian Urn† and Shelley’s â€Å"Ode to the West Wind† were composed during the same year. Being Romantic poets the critics might expect both of them to express the same feelings. However, both the poems give different messages. Shelly seems to believe in change and hence always there is hope as misery should be followed by happiness just like there are different seasons.Thus, Shelly is more positive and hopeful of the present world although he accepts that there is both melancholy an d happiness in one’s life. Keats seems to believe in static life and life without much of activities while Shelly believed in life full of motion, change and dramatic developments. The changes in nature are represented in his poem. Here for Shelly wind becomes symbolic expression of motion and change.The poet is also optimistic of death because when there is death, there is birth also. Shelly seems to believe that change is life and life is change. Shelly speaks of god of change although this god of change may mean of god of destruction. This implies that he respects even the negative developments in the human life. This is proved by the fact that the poet even welcomes death because it is followed by birth and thus there is hope even in death. Thus, when compared with Keats, Shelley is more optimistic of life with motion and he enjoys both good and bad experiences in life. He claims to be a product of autumn.He knows the happiness and melancholy of an autumn creature. For Ke ats beauty is seen in the stillness of the urn. He enjoys the motionless life of the urn. In the work of Keats there is reference to the melancholy life. In spite of these differences, in their different poems, both Keats and Shelley discuss regarding the hidden meaning of silence which is described by the use of different expressions. (Victoria, 2000)Although both Keats and Shelly belonged to the school of Romanticism in English literature and although they wrote the poems during the same year, there are significant differences between their poems â€Å"Ode on a Grecian Urn† and â€Å"Ode to the West Wind†. While Keats expressed his love for stillness, Shelly considered life as full of motion and action.Bibliography(2000). â€Å"Discussion Questions about the Poetry of Keats and Shelley†, The Victorian Web Before Victoria: Selected Authors from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Retrieved online on 30-08-2005 from http://www.victorianweb.org

Schools socio-cultural goals for students

Schools socio-cultural goals for students Preventing moral failure in academic institutions appears highly dependent on the morality and ethics of its leaders and teaching staff. Hashtag: #Scandal School’s Socio-Cultural Goals for Students Scandals normally occur when somebody got involved in an act or event that is morally or legally wrong. However, the impact of scandalous acts is commonly far greater when it involves public figures and educational institutions that are supposed to model good virtues or morally acceptable behavior and attitudes in young people. School-related scandals such as physical abuse of students by a high school teacher, sex between a female teacher and underage boy-students, racism, misused of funds by school officials, and others were violations of ethical guidelines and codes professional conduct that eventually hinders achievement of school’s socio-cultural goals for students. The outbreak of school sex scandals involving female teachers and young students in the media not only triggered public controversy but raised questions and heated debate over the ethics and professional conduct of female teachers. A social researcher, for instance, assumed that although teachers involved in these scandals clearly crossed the line of what constitutes a morally acceptable practice; they are not actually at fault engaging in a male-female sexual relationship. Feminist educators, on the other hand, argues that such relationship will never occur if these female teachers value professionalism and committed to ethical teaching practices. Moreover, aside from being unprofessional, sex between teachers and students upset the learning environment and reduced public confidence in the ability of the academic institution to provide moral education. The Limits of Academic Freedom Trust according to literature is key to successful relationship thus schools with moral and ethical leaders and staff are more successful than others in establishing a moral purpose, building a caring and consistent long-term relationship with the community. Role of Ethical Educators in Preventing Moral Failures Preventing moral failure in academic institutions appears highly dependent on the morality and ethics of its leaders and teaching staff. The reason is that leaders and teachers are individuals students will look up to as an example of decent people. For instance, students will likely trust, respect, and emulate teachers making correct and consistent ethical decisions and judgments. In contrast, since decisions in school are made in absolutes, erroneous ethical decisions and judgments often result to immoral, unethical, and sinful decisions with major consequences. Teachers are humans who from time to time make an error. However, there is absolutely no excuse for making moral mistakes such as a teacher having sex with students, school principal stealing money from school funds, a teacher accepting a bribe, and others. Years ago, Bill Clinton’s presidency was damaged by his immoral actions against Monica Lewinsky and failure of the moral purpose of his political position. Similarly, a male teacher raising test score of a female student for sex is a moral and ethical dilemma destructive of the moral purpose of a school. It is, therefore, important for schools to employ ethical educators who practice what they preach and make moral decisions based on conscience and moral doctrine supporting the socio-cultural goals of schools for students. Moral failures in teachers can be avoided by understanding oneself, reflecting on experiences, moral and ethical values, and developing their own personalized code of ethics. This is because moral failure is often caused by the  competing interest, overload and pressures at work, excessive relationship with students, and error in judgment.

Presidential Pets of the Past

Presidential Pets of the Past Animal lovers savour that moment when a pet runs up to greet them at the end of the stressful day. Few jobs are probably more stressful than the U.S. presidents position. Thats why it is no surprising that presidents and their families have always been fond of animals. Dogs seem to be first in line, but creatures from mice to alligators have also been presidential pets in the White House. List of Presidential Pets George W. Bush President George W. Bush carries Barney to the South Portico of the White House Monday, Sept. 3, 2001, after disembarking Marine One. Photo by Tina Hager, Courtesy of the George W. Bush Presidential Library â€Å"Barney was by my side during our eight years in the White House. He never discussed politics and was always a faithful friend.† President Bush remembered his little friend with these words when he died of lymphoma in 2013 at the age of 12. Barney, a Scottish terrier, was a gift to George W. Bush after the 2000 presidential election. He was always polite and liked to greet prime ministers, queens and heads of state in the White House. Barney was even a media star, he had his own website where his fans could watch videos from the dogs perspective about visiting celebrities and White House staff. â€Å"Barney and I enjoyed the outdoors,† Bush said. â€Å"His favourite activity was chasing golf balls.† However, Barney could also lose his temper. Once he bit the Reuters news reporter and the Bostons Celtics public relations director. Among other presidential pets were a Scottish terrier Miss Beazley, an English springler spaniel Spot, a cat India, and a longhorn cow Ofelia. Bill Clinton Socks, a black-and-white stray cat, became a presidential pet in 1991 when he jumped into the arms of Chelsea Clinton. Once the Clinton family took the cat, he took place in the Americas heart. He was a subject of a popular TV comedy, Murphy Brown, a cartoon book and a song, he appeared with the President on a series of stamps in the Central African Republic. Socks was so popular, that a Clinton family even asked the photographers to leave this poor cat. In 1997 a Labrador retriever Buddy joined the presidential family but Socks wasnt a fan of a new dog. Hillary Clinton said that Socks â€Å"despised Buddy from first sight, instantly and forever.† When Socks died in 2009, Bill Clinton admitted: â€Å"Socks brought much happiness to Chelsea and us over the years, and enjoyment to kids and cat lovers everywhere. We’re grateful for those memories† George H.W. Bush Millie is among the most notable pets in the White House. The English springer spaniel â€Å"wrote† Millies Book: As Dictated to Barbara Bush that describes a day in her life at the White House. In 1992 it was at the top of the New York Times bestseller list. Millie was depicted in several TV shows, including Whos the Boss and Murphy Brown. She even appeared in the episode of The Simpsons. The 15-acre Millie Bush Bark Park on the west side of Houston is named after her. Millie took active part in re-election. â€Å"My dog Millie knows more about foreign affairs than these two bozos,† Bush claimed, mentioning his opponents Al Gore and Bill Clinton. Millie was even a mother of two other presidential pets: Ranger and Spot. She died at the age 12 of pneumonia. Ronald Reagan    Lucky, a large black dog, was said to â€Å"to be a size of a pony. † And not for reason. His breed Bouvier des Flandres originated in Belgium for the purposes of pulling carts and herding kettle. Bouviers are known as fearless dogs useful as both family friends and guard dogs. They require a lot of room to exercise and wander about, and the Reagans soon found that out. Lucky was named in the honour of Mrs. Reagans mother, Edith Luckett (â€Å"Lucky†) Davis. A small â€Å"ball of fluff,† a nine-year-old puppy, turned into a large dog just in several months. Lucky enjoyed running in the halls of the White House. However, despite the efforts at training, she didnt really adjust to live there. Thats why the president and his family decided to send her to their ranch in California in 1985. She died at the age of 10 in January 5, 1995. Ronald Reagan had a few other dogs: Rex, Cavalier King Charles spaniel; Victory, golden retriever; Peggy, Irish setter; Taca, Siberian husky; and Fuzzy, Belgian sheepdog. Jimmy Carter When Jimmy Carter and his family moved into the White House, they didnt take no pets along. Grits arrived at the White House on June 8, 1977. The dog was named in honour of the Carters family Southern roots. A handsome border collie mix was a present to Carters daughter Amy from her school teacher, Verona Meeder. Visitors admitted that Amy â€Å"sure loves that dog.† She enjoyed petting Grits on the steps of the White House. However, the Carters decided to return the dog to the Amys teacher. Some sources report that one of the reasons was that a dog had behaviour problems. Moreover, Grits didnt get along with the Carters cat, Misty Malarky Ying Yang. But it also may be because Amys teacher lost her own dog, and the girl wanted to ease the sadness. Gerald Ford The Fords have always been fond of dogs. Long before they moved to White House, they had golden retrievers. Their daughter, Susan, asked their family friend – a photographer David Kennerly to help them get a new dog. Kennerly contacted a breeder about a puppy. Susan surprised her father with a cute dog she called Liberty. Liberty became famous when Gerald Ford and his wife decided to breed her with a golden retriever. The press became crazy when Liberty gave birth to nine cute puppies. Mrs. Ford didnt let them to be photographed before they were 2 months old. The photos were made by Kennerly and was in high demand as well as puppies themselves. Liberty died at the age 11 in 1986. The Fords also had a Siamese cat Shan and a dog Lucky.    Richard Nixon Checkers is probably the most famous candidate in the list of presidential pets. Nixons cocker spaniel never lived in the White House, but he became a celebrity when Sinator Nixon mentioned him in his speech in 1952. It became to be known as the Checkers speech when the politician for the first time used TV to appeal to the voters. Nixon loved Checkers a lot. He always had dogs biscuits in his desk and enjoyed watching him to play. The cocker spaniel lived with Nixon until he died in 1964 at the age of 13, four years before Nixon was elected a president. Three other dogs lived with Nixon in the White House: poodle Vicky, terrier Pasha and Irish setter King Timahoe.    Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon B. Johnson loved dogs and they loved him a lot. The presidents beagles, Him and Her, became celebrities when the Life magazine published a photo portraying how Johnson was peaking up the dogs ears. Hundreds of calls and letters came from the dog lovers. They wrote â€Å"If someone picked you up by the ears, you’d yelp, too.† However, dogs seemed to like that a lot. They were treated very well and enjoyed swimming in the White House pool and riding along in the presidents car. Sadly, both Him and Her died at a young age. Him was hit by a car when he was chasing the squirrels in 1966, and Her died after swallowing a stone in 1964. After Him and Her died, Lyndon B. Johnson had two other dogs – collie Blanco and a mixed-breed dog Yuki. John F. Kennedy Charlie was a Welsh terrier the Kennedy family brought with them when they moved into the White House. Kennedy loved animals despite his allergy to animal hair and wanted his children to have experience of taking care of them. Jackie Kennedy gave Charlie to her husband as a gift during Kennedys campaign for president and he became a part of their family. However, John F. Kennedy didnt like one Charlies habit: He loved nothing more than to fetch a stick. He always brought the stick and drop it on the lap. The First Couple enjoyed walking outside the gates of the White House and playing with Charlie. They resembled two students taking a dog for a walk. They looked so happy,† told their son Bryant. Among other Kennedys pets were ponnies, hamsters, a cat, a rabbit, a horse, a canary, and seven dogs of different breeds. Dwight D. Eisenhower Heidi is probably the only dog banned from the White House. A beautiful female Weimaraner was born on the 9th of May, 1955. She had an accident on the expensive rug in the diplomatic reception room. Its cost was about $20,000 at that time. Because of the Heidis weak bladder, the Eisenhowers decided to send her to their farm in Pennsylvania. Heidi was protective of her owners. She was wary of photographers and always tried to prevent the First Lady from having her picture taken. Heidi just jumped between the Mamie Eisenhower and the camera. Weimaraners are great family dogs, known for their hunting abilities and loyalty. Heidi liked to sleep in the basket on the third floor and run in the White House. During the day, she napped in the presidents private office where Eisenhower gave her head scratches. After she left Washington she had four puppies and enjoyed life on the farm.

Should trial by jury be retained present the arguements for and Essay

Should trial by jury be retained present the arguements for and against retaining the jury system in criminal court cases. Ref - Essay Example Regardless of the historical subsistence, trial by jury it has gone a long way to constitute the subject matter of extreme censure. If this academic pondering has to be based on reason, it is obligatory to accept that trial by jury is not the only way to establish guilt. It shall be necessary to evaluate the arguments on both sides and determine if trial by jury should be totally retained, rejected or if some modifications can be made to it. What Is The Underlying Principle Behind Trial By Jury? There is a connectedness between democracy and the jury system. Remember that the law should mirror the needs of the society; directly serving the people. Trial by jury allows a group of people, representing a fair majority of the public, to ensure that the law is not misdirected. The blend of society ideas into the criminal law system has been amongst the most persuasive argument for the establishment and continuance of trial by jury. Therefore, it was not mere supposition when Lord Devlin a sserted that trial by jury must exist to serve as a ‘little parliament†1. Trial by jury gives the jury the authority to mix law with facts; jurors therefore freely pursue the ‘prejudices of their affections or passions’2 and find not guilty when their high opinion for the law is presided by the certainty that to penalize would be unfair3. Are There Any Advantages Of Trial By Jury? Trial by jury is the â€Å"best blend of logic and common sense†4. Remember that the understanding of 12 men is almost the best way to arrive at a reasoned verdict, better than that of one person. Trial by one’s peers is a bastion of democracy. Lord Devlin referred to this as â€Å"the lamp that shows that freedom lives†5. The jury deliberates in the jury room where jurors are free from the heat and controversy of external influences on the case. Trail by jury is the best means to determine credibility and reliability of witnesses in criminal proceedings. It is probable that one mind can easily err. This position was reiterated by Lord Devlin when he said: â€Å"The impression that a witness makes depends upon reception as well as transmission, and may be affected by the idiosyncrasies of the receiving mind; the impression made upon a mind of 12 people is more reliable. A judge may fail to make enough allowance for the behaviour of the stupid because by his training he regards so much as simple that for the ordinary man may be difficult. The jury hears the witness as one who is as ignorant as they are of lawyers’ ways of thought†6. There is public participation in the trial process. A good system of law is highly rated as a superior section of civilization, which in its absence; the people lose confidence in the law. This is connected to the notion of popular opinion, whereby society’s standards of justice becomes the only arbiter of guilt7. Inclusion of the society is a mature way to express democracy, and to see thr ough the eyes of the society, a better way to legitimize trials and verdicts. Therefore, moral credibility becomes a legal feature and the legal system becomes more open. What does trial by jury encompasses Trial by jury exists in most common law jurisdictions. For example, in the United Kingdom, offences listed as ‘indictable’ offences have to be tried by judge and jury. There are equally numerous offences which can be tried by the judge or judge and jury8. Statistics however prove that just about an

Exam Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 3

Exam - Assignment Example It is the reasoning that one uses when he tries to define certain things and the root values for that reasoning are based in Philosophy. Morality revolves around the personal belief of an individual that would be more concerned with good or bad in comparison to ethics in which the beliefs of the society as a whole are given importance. Values on the other hand can be explained as the belief of an individual that relates to his personal traits. These values can be derived from the cultural beliefs or the opinion of the person himself. Descriptive language revolves around the concept of judging as to what is wrong and what is right. On the other hand normative language is a way through which things are rather done in light of the judgments given. Ethics particularly focus on normative language as the individual is supposed to do the task based on the beliefs and not just accept the facts (Robin 1-9). Philosophers have used eudaimonia to explain a state in which the person accepts the c itizen virtues as instinctive behaviors. This state would mean that the person has reached his ultimate goal in life as explained by the Greeks. I believe that doing the right thing is the most important part in the discipline of ethics. A good life is not all about money but rather revolves around reasoning and functionality of a human being. It is necessary for individuals to be involved in reasoning and functionality as per the virtues to have a good life (Robinson 42-43; Sandel 20-40). 2. What are at least three elements or characteristics of the tradition of Socrates and Plato? What are at least three ways that these two philosophers are in disagreement with the Sophists: Parmenides, Thrasymachus, and Callicles. Do you think that the Socratic/Platonic emphasis on seeking the Good is the best approach? Or, do you think that the Sophists agenda makes sense in that they are training their students for

Robert Mondavi and the Wine Industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Robert Mondavi and the Wine Industry - Essay Example However, owing to the economic downturn the sales of wine had reduced over the tenure of six months. Moreover, the company has been facing several threats from various sectors of the society both at national and international level. The economic downturns have affected the wine market leading to a fall in the sales of wine over the tenure of the past six months. The company has been planning to change the strategy so that it can increase the sales of the company and ensure long term sustainability. However, it was noted that the Robert Mondavi’s wine industry to maintain the high quality of the wine used grapes from the personally owned vineyards. It has also been observed that the cost of land acquisition has also gone up, which has led to the increase in the cost of production. Conversely, the company even has an intangible strength of being innovation oriented. This initiates the ability of the company to enhance their quality as per the changing taste and preferences of the consumers. This would help the company to meet their sales need in the long run. Providing quality as per the preferences of consumer is an important consideration fo9r the business sustainability (Roberto 1-32). Contextually, Mondavi in order to maintain their competitive advantage should be selecting a particular segment and then market their product. This would help the company to gain a profitable index providing the company with brand equity and incorporate the culture of innovation. Since, the company is inclined towards producing high-quality of wine it would be able to meet the changing needs of the consumers successfully. In order to develop its productivity the company should provide clarity to their product. This would enhance their share in the US market. Moreover, with a positive trend in the growth of wine consumption the company can claim its competitive advantage in the long run.

Underclass Exclusion Unemployment

Underclass Exclusion Unemployment Critically consider liberal accounts of the ‘underclass. To what extent is a focus on cultural characteristics useful in aiding our understanding of social exclusion. Use of the term social exclusion arose in Europe in the wake of prolonged and large scale unemployment that provoked criticisms of welfare systems for failing to prevent poverty and for hindering economic development. Silver (1994) stresses that economic restructuring in North American and European countries since the mid- 1970s has given rise to such terms as social exclusion, new poverty, and the underclass to describe the consequent negative effects on the more vulnerable populationsin these countries. Such phenomena also intensified the debate over the adequacy ofuniversal social protection policies and fuelled growing concern about the distributivefairness of employment and income patterns. Used first in France (Yepez-del-Castillo 1994), the concept spread quickly to the United Kingdom and throughoutthe European Union. Social exclusion theorists are concerned with the dissolution of social bonds, theincomplete extension of social rights and protections to all groups, and the linksbetween the idea of exclusion and more conventional understandings of inequality.They draw on theories of poverty, inequality, and disadvantage. In this context policiesto aid the excluded have focused on subsidizing jobs and wages, providing housing, and responding to urbanization. The value added of these discussions de rivesfrom their focus on the multifaceted nature of deprivation and on analysis of themechanisms and institutions that function to exclude people (de Haan 1998). Theconcept of social exclusion has encouraged scholars to consider simultaneously theeconomic, social, and political dimensions of deprivation. As Bhalla and Lapeyre(1997) stress, this concept encompasses the notion of poverty broadly defined, butis more general in that it explicitly emphasizes povertys relational as well as its distributionalaspects. Social Exclusion is another term for the lower strata poor. This implies that this is more than just about the straight poor but instead about behaviour which has created a lifestyle which is permanently dislocated from the habits and way of life of the majority. The concept of the underclass has been widely contested today. It has many links with social exclusion, the notion of a cycle of deprivation and cultural theories. During the course of this essay a number of different areas will be looked at. The focal point of this essay will rest by and large in the culture of binge drinking which is apparent across a significant area of the population. This part of the population has been named in many different ways by the media and social theorists alike from Chavs to the deprived to the socially excluded, all of which lead us to the same concept ‘The Underclass. It will then discuss different perspectives on the ‘underclass both into whether it truly exists and whether it i s the individuals or the welfare states fault. This essay will interrogate Murrays claims about the ‘underclass and explain how he is right on a descriptive level but totally wrong on an explanatory level. Furthermore it will look at media accounts of the urban poor and the fact that they are overwhelmingly liberal in orientation. Lastly it will look at the rise of neo-liberalism and the effect it has had on the poor in Britain. There have been many theorists which have researched the concept of the ‘underclass one of which who is highly recognised across Britain and the US is Charles Murray. Murray came to the UK in 1989 in search of an underclass and wrote an article in The Sunday Times about there being the foundations of an ‘underclass in British Society, this was widely contested amongst British sociologists and rejected. However this concept has now been widely researched and there has been increasing truth to Murrays (1990) article ‘The Emerging British Underclass. This article wrote in quite general terms about the ‘underclass and related it to trends of illegitimacy, crime and unemployment. His second essay written in 1996 ‘Underclass: The crisis deepens was preoccupied with illegitimacy, marriage and the state of the British Family. The concept of a traditional nuclear family reducing the chances of a child turning to crime has been one which has been researched heavil y. Although no conclusion has been reached it is still widely believed to be true. The term ‘underclass was derived by Ken Auletta in the 1980s to emphasise the behaviour and values of those deemed to be lower class. Murray (1996) attempts in great detail to show that he does not apply the term ‘underclass to all poor , only to those; ‘distinguished by there undesirable behaviour, including drug taking, illegitimacy, failure to hold down a job, truancy from school and casual violence,. Murray believes illegitimacy is the best indicator of an underclass in the making and the rising trend in illegitimacy therefore alarms him. He places a special focus on issues of violence as it becomes increasingly difficult to raise children to be un-aggressive when whole towns fall prey to criminality. However Alan walker offers a liberal view. He believes that Murray ‘blames the victim and thus diverts our attention from blaming the mechanisms through which resources are distributed. Victim blaming is the attitude which walker believes to have been at the root of many measures from Elizabethan Poor Law to todays ‘YTS and ‘restart programmes. There is the belief by Murray that there are two types of poor people, one of whom live on low incomes and another who dont just lack money . ‘There homes were littered and un-kept. The men in the family were unable to hold a job for more than a few weeks at a time. Drunkenness was common. The children grew up ill schooled and contributed a disproportionate share of the local juvenile delinquents. There are many other arguments about the underclass. Robert Moore suggested that despite his own misgivings; ‘a collective term such as the ‘underclass may be needed to refer to that group of marginalised migrant workers, refugees and asylum seekers, inner city ethnic minority populations and the very poorest who typically have little or no control over goods and skills either within or outside a given economic order. This coincides with Ralf Darendorfs view that the term ‘underclass is a ‘phenomenon of race here as well as the US. These are all rather liberal accounts of the underclasses and a view is taken that the majority of underclasses in both the UK and the US are ethnic minorities many of which are first r secong generation immigrants who have little or no understanding of the British Culture. Many of these minorities will live in poorer areas in which there children will fall victim to the culture of the ‘underclass. This culture includes getting involved with gangs, binge drinking and often leads to unprotected sex which would continue the cycle of the ‘underclass. The liberal accounts of the ‘underclass tend to focus on the pathological individual. This is that if they are poor and dont have a job it is there fault. Part of the pathological explanation suggests that it is the behaviour and attitudes of the underclass that have cut them off from normal society Murray being a strong advocate of this view, argues that welfare dependency has created a counter-cultural attitude that there is no need to work if one can instead receive state benefits or turn to crime instead. The opposing position suggests that the lack of full employment in the economy results in the unemployed and hence poverty. Here it is the failure of the structure rather than the individual themselves who can be blamed for the emergence of an underclass. Auletta refers to the underclass as a group who do not assimilate (1982: xvi quoted in Morris, 1994: 81), identifying four main groups: the passive poor, usually long term welfare recipients the hostile street criminal, drop-outs and drug addicts the hustlers, dependent on the underground economy but rarely involved in violent crime the traumatised drunks, drifters, homeless bag ladies and released mental patients In identifying these groups it can be seen that perhaps a different explanation for the underclass can be given for each grouping. However, in all four cases it could be argued that the underlying reason for the exclusion from society could be either pathological or structural. For example it could be argued that the passive poor are so because they hold the attitude that there is no need for work. The same group could also be said to exist because there are not enough jobs available in the economy for them to work. ‘The underclass as a phrase has shifted in emphasis since the 80s and this shift is partly in response to liberal commentators who suggested that the poor of the contemporary period are idle, jobless and criminal. ‘The underclass as a phrase became associated with blaming the poor for their marginalised social situation. Murrays claims are partly right at the descriptive level, but totally wrong at the explanatory level. There are many different reasons which could offer a far more reasonable explanation on the concentration of urban marginality today. Firstly the changing economy provides us with a number of reasons into why there is an underclass in the UK. Liberals and conservatives today tend to stress values like individual responsibility when considering such issues such as drugs, violence, teen pregnancy, family formation and the work ethic. Some critics readily blame welfare for poverty and find it hard to see how anybody even the poor would deliberately deviate f rom mainstream culture. With widespread joblessness many inner city people become stressed and there communities become distressed, poor people adapt to these circumstances as best they know, meeting the exigencies of there situation as best they can. The kinds of problems which cause moral outrage begin to emerge; teen pregnancy, welfare dependency and the underground economy. Its cottage industries of drugs, prostitution, welfare scams and other rackets pick up the economic slack. It is this underground economy which provides a means for these people as the regular economy cannot. Since 1997, the New Labour government has developed and administered contemporary social policy around the ideals of social inclusion. The Social Exclusion Unit (SEU), Welfare to Work and New Deal Programmes (1998) provide the chief manifestations of socially-inclusive policy. The SEU describes social exclusion as the short hand for what can happen when people or areas are suffering from a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime, bad health and family breakdown (SEU, 2001: 10). The shift to social inclusion policy is a response to the need to prevent individuals at risk of exclusion from becoming excluded, according to the SEU: a need it proposes to address by, for example, resolving to reverse the growth in family breakups, teenage pregnancies and crime, and to reduce possible restrictions to an individuals economic opportunity. And, where necessary, policy should be designed with the aim of reintegrating those already excluded socially, through programmes such as the New Deal and Welfare to Work (ibid: 29). Bauman argues that the shift in social policy towards the language of social inclusion is a result of key economic trends in the West, leading to the growth of a population that has become surplus to labour-market requirements. Byrne argues that social-inclusion rhetoric is the surface-froth of the more fundamental shift to Post-Fordist patterns of capital accumulation, where those at the margins of inclusion and exclusion serve as part of the reconstitution of a reserve army of labour power. Clearly, Bauman and Byrne differ in their explanations: Bauman viewing the excluded as an unwanted surplus to the expansion of capital, and Byrne viewing the excluded as vital to capitalist expansion. For Bauman, contemporary changes in social policy are part of the wider shift of the welfare state away from policy directed at supporting the re-commodification of labour power. Capital accumulation up until the 1985 required the state to play its role in the provision of key resources, including housing, education, health and, when necessary, welfare payments to the unemployed. This, for Bauman, ensured the re-commodification of quality labour power and also secured a viable reserve army; both of which were essential for post-war capitalist expansion. Since the 1980s, argues Bauman, capital accumulation has become increasingly premised on the rationalisation of the use of labour power, and thus on the shedding of the labour force. As a consequence, the role of the welfare state has ch anged, moving towards means-tested and targeted benefits, and towards-via training and employment policies-catering for capitalisms need for insecure, low-quality labour power, and the disciplining of a growing surplus population. As Bauman observes, ‘The present-day stream-lined, downsized, capital-and knowledge-intensive industry casts labour as a constraint on the rise of productivity to such a degree that economic growth and the rise of employment are, for all practical intents, at cross-purposes; technological progress is measured by the replacement and elimination of labour (Bauman, 1998: 65). The shift in welfare-state priorities towards social inclusion signifies deeper changes in the re-commodification of labour power. In this context, the issue of social exclusion and the rhetoric of social-inclusion policy signifies the emergence of a surplus population which is no longer required by capital as a reserve army of labour. To be sure, a reserve army of labour still exists in non-Western, industrialised areas of the world. For the West, though, capital no longer requires a welfare state committed to the universal provision of key services and social needs, because the maintenance of a reserve army is no longer functional to capital accumulation. For Bauman; ‘The welfare state will become increasingly residual as social policy confines itself to organising the control and administration of a population increasingly isolated from the capitalist labour market. Government is haunted by the prospect of the homeless and disinherited flocking in and capital flocking out. (Bauman, 1998: 54) This, for Bauman, is the reason why social exclusion and social-inclusion policy predominates discourses on welfare. Baumans argument provides a useful explanation of the shift in social policy towards social inclusion. However, the hard-and-fast equating of social exclusion with a surplus labour force playing no role as a reserve army is both empirically and theoretically suspect. Bauman ignores the day-to-day realities of the capitalist system in the West, where the links between capitals demand for labour power and a surplus of unemployed remain of crucial importance. For Baumans proposition to hold, one must assume that those experiencing social exclusion have no connection with the labour market and the status of wage labour. Yet evidence does not support such a view. Evidence suggests ‘A degree of complexity, with people variously experiencing exclusion with no labour-market attachment, exclusion with some labour-market attachment, and inclusion with weak and/or strong labour-market attachments (Labour Market Trends: 2002). In other words the experience of exclusion is as likely to be one premised on the poor, unstable employment as it is as on unemployment and unemployability (Levitas, 1999). Evidence, suggests that labour power continues to function as a reserve army of labour, however attenuated this function might be. A more realistic proposition for Bauman to make might be that the surplus population is growing at a faster rate relative to its function as a reserve army of labour. In this case, those experiencing this situation have little choice, within the constraints of contemporary capitalism, but to remain unemployed and consequently, as Dinerstein suggests; ‘suffer the humiliation of having to beg for work and be in a permanent state of readiness to offer their labour power as a commodity. (Dinerstein, 2002) Media accounts of the urban poor are overwhelmingly ‘liberal in orientation. Many of which, are talking about dole cheats and young women getting pregnant for council houses. The Suns ‘shop a dole cheat campaign hails from the same intellectual tradition as Murray. Many media campaigns have victimised the poor and paved the way for the ‘Chav culture. This has been ridiculed and reported on in the press and on television. A number of attacks have been launched on television channels and there treatment of Britains working classes. It was seen to be not only patronising and offensive but also potentially dangerous. Reality television shows such as Wife Swap, Big Brother and the confessional Jeremy Kyle Show, which tend to rely on working-class participants in search of fame or fortune, were the focus of most criticism. But the portrayal of the working classes in comedy programmes such as Little Britain and dramas like Shameless were also debated. Ethnic minority groups are ‘excluded as a result of their position in the new economy. In this sense, marginalised whites have a lot in common with marginalised blacks. There is however the associated dynamic of discrimination- the most notable example is the place of Muslims in a post 9/11 western world- however, understanding the position of these groups is more about ‘moral panics and fear of otherness. The economic literature on discrimination tends to focus on the different treatment of individuals-based on race, gender, or ethnicity in labour, credit, and consumer goods markets. This is obviously a serious matter, and there is ample evidence in the United States and elsewhere that such disparities are real and quantitatively important as a source of inter group economic inequalities (Modood and others 1997; Wilson 1996). Nevertheless, when considering ethnic group inequality, economists should look beyond what happens in markets. Of course, economists tend to focus on how markets work or fail. Economic theory suggests that discrimination based on gender or racial identity should be arbitraged away in markets of competitive sellers, employers, and lenders. But such discrimination is readily observed in society, and this anomaly attracts attention. Critics of neoclassical economics seize on it, and defenders of that orthodoxy seek to explain it away. Thus evidence that wage differences between the races or sexes have declined, after controlling for worker productivity, is supposed to vindicate the economists belief in market forces. This way of approaching the problem is too narrow. With wages, for example, the usual focus is on the demand side of the labour market-employers either have a â€Å"taste† for discrimination or use race as a proxy for unobserved variables that imply lower productivity for minorities. The primary normative claim in this approach is that such discrimination is morally offensive, a legitimate object of regulatory intervention, and a significant contributor to racial and gender inequality. But implicit in this claim is the notion that if inequality were due to supply-side differences-in the Glenn C. Loury 233 skills presented to employers by blacks and whites, for example-the resulting disparity would not raise the same moral issues or give a comparable warrant for intervention. There is a comparable view in housing markets-that residential segregation induced by the discriminatory behaviour of realtors is a bigger problem than segregation that comes about because of the freely made decisions of market participants. I propose a shift in emphasis. In the United States market discrimination against blacks still exists, but such discrimination is not as significant an explanation for racial inequality as in decades past. This calls into question the conventional wisdom on equal opportunity policy-that eliminating racial discrimination in markets will eventually resolve racial economic inequalit y. Much evidence supports the view that the substantial gap in skills between blacks and whites is a key factor accounting for racial inequality in the labour market. Yet this skills gap is itself the result of social exclusion processes that deserve explicit study and policy remediation. ‘The gap reflects social and cultural factors-geographic segregation, deleterious social norms and peer influences, poor education- that have a racial dimension (Cutler and Glaeser 1997; Akerlof 1997) Group inequality such as that between blacks and whites in the United States cannot be fully understood, or remedied, with a focus on market discrimination alone. Liberals like Murray look at cultural characteristics of the poor as a means of explaining ‘social exclusion. They say the poor is poor because they are lazy, because they dont try at school, because they dont get married. In my opinion the real reason the poor are poor is because; There arent any meaningful jobs anymore for these social groups. The economy no longer needs everyone to work. The successive governments have allowed our welfare state to slowly degenerate. Mainstream society have been conned into believing that these people bring it on themselves. Charles Murray in 1989 used drop out from the labour force among young males, violent crime and births from unmarried women would all be associated with the growth of a class of violent unsocialised people who if they become sufficiently numerous will fundamentally degrade the life of society. This can be seen to be happening today with the creation of ‘chav culture. These ‘Chavs are usually working class and live on council estates and dress in sportswear hoodies, tracksuits and caps. They wear excessive gold jewellery and are seen to be aggressive and uneducated. There was a dramatic increase in unemployed males between 1989 and 1999 from 20.5% to 31.2% which has continued to till today. Drop out in the labour force was largest in the group who had the least excuses to work these were from ages 20 to 24. The economy was not to be blamed fully as overall national employment was lower in 1999 than in 1989. The percentage of men in school did not change appreciatiably and increases of people in higher education have been concentrated among young women and people of both sexes over the age of 30. Since 1994 the number of men in higher education has actually decrease and crime both violent and property are higher than of that in America since 1996. From the mid 19th century to the first  ¾ of this century Britain enjoyed being seen as the most civilised country on earth. The US in this same period was seen as a violent and unruly society with high levels of personal freedom but lower levels of civility. Other continents had low crime rates but a high level of authoritarian control, however Britain is now another high crime industrialised country. Violent crime is seen as impulsive behaviour by those who seek instant gratification of there desires which is part of a general lack of socialisation and is the hallmark of the ‘underclass. Over the last two decades British children have not been socialised to norms of self control, consideration of others, and the concept that actions have consequences. Murray states; ‘One of the leading reasons that they are not being socialised is that larger numbers of British children are not being raised by two mature married adults. He believes that there is not alternative form of family which comes close to the traditional nuclear family of two married parents. He believed that children of two married biological parents were found to do much better than the children of single parents and the children of divorced mothers were found to do better than the children of never married mothers. Illegitimacy is overwhelmingly a lower class phenomenon. However Melanie Phillips argues that it is in fact the overclass fault that we have a lower strata poor. Children from deprived areas sometimes dont know how to use a knife and fork; they dont know what an alarm clock is; because they have no sense of an ordered day. Primary school children who have no idea how to make social relationships but who are aggressive foul mouthed or withdrawn. The government has ambitious plans and programmes on how to tackle social exclusion, turning out papers on truancy, teenage pregnancies, repairing shattered communities. All of which are commendable however this all presents the socially excluded as a breed apart, as an underclass and if there behaviour is somehow different from the rest of society. Government advisors and officials and advisors talk about drugs for instance and they assume that the higher strata can handle cannibas and cocaine but the poor cannot. On education they say there is nothing wrong with the top 2% of schools the problems are with separate sink schools with high levels of truancy and low levels of basic literacy. On family th ey say ‘Im cohabit, Im a lone parent so there is nothing wrong with the changing family. Its the poor who are the problem. This is not only hypocritical and unpleasant but it fails to see how culture works: that signals matter, that they work top down and that what is supportive behaviour by the upper classes can have a disastrous impact on the poor who do not have the soft cushioning of money and privilege to fall back on. The culture of being a lone parent is in some ways created by the elites who lead by example through judges who generally give custody to women and demand monthly child support paid to single mothers who are now also receiving extra benefits and this is done through an increase in taxes on married couples. Surely reducing the males role to nothing but a walking wallet and sperm donor is causing men who are poor to run away from marriage. To understand the underclass is imperative in understanding poverty as a whole. But perhaps more important is the understanding that the underclass is simply a collective term used to refer to a group of individuals. By grouping these individuals together it is far too easy to make stereotypical judgements and statements which, whilst certainly applying to various members of the group, by no means hold true for each individual within. Indeed, it is with little doubt that many members of the underclass do cut themselves off from society due to their behaviours and attitudes, but there will be many who do not. Some people are born more disadvantaged than others take the disabled and elderly for example. Both of these groups can fall within a definition of the underclass they are often dependent upon the state and are in many ways excluded from certain aspects of society. It would take a radical commentator to suggest that either of these groups, and hence the whole of the underclass, are so due to their behaviour and attitudes.