Arguments For and Against Multiculturalism

Introduction: Arguments for and against multiculturalism Multiculturalism can be defined as distinct and pertaining to a multifaceted society which is fueled by constant globalization. Environments within a country are constantly embracing change so as to be able to adapt and function in today’s globalized world.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Arguments For and Against Multiculturalism specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The seventies heralded multiculturalism in Canada and Australia where key government policies were based on the importance of acknowledging the diverse identities of the citizens so as to be able to effectively manage ethnic pluralism. Identity on a national level is a keystone theme of multiculturalism all around the world and is more often than not interrelated with citizenship. This relationship is fostered along ethnic, social and religious lines. Furthermore Canadian regard of multicult uralism is as a result of the immigrant communities that greatly influence its culture. Canada’s policies on immigration greatly enhance multiculturalism due to its capability to accommodate the three main groups (the indigenous, early European settlers, and modern day immigrants) that make its population and are able to live I harmony. Multiculturalism- citizenship Another underlying theme of multiculturalism at play is societal integration which tries to consider the involvement of immigrants in government policies. This is seen as a solution in answering wide ranging political, social, economical and educational changes brought about by diverse dynamics such as; race, class, historical injustices, gender, and in some cases sexual preferences; that influence the societal cultural setup within the country. This theme brought about a realization that the minorities within a particular multicultural setting are beset with a responsibility of assimilating into the mainstream an d not the other way round. Proponents of multiculturalism argue that it can and is able to solve the myriad problems affecting the country by giving people an avenue to articulate themselves and share their concerns while feeling that they belonged to a certain society. To them multiculturalism is as a result of a mix of different factors and that culture cannot be based or defined on just one race, gender, religion or social status to from a society. Spatial dimension to the debate On the other hand, critics of multiculturalism argue that instead of it fostering unity, it brings about a disintegration of the society. They argue that multiculturalism is mainly a government led project especially when it is time for general elections. They hold it responsible for political segregation, legitimizing moral relativism and victimization of minorities and as a result creating expectations of entitlement and special treatment.Advertising Looking for essay on cultural studies? Let's se e if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Does your country’s support of multiculturalism have a significant impact on its international relations? The various stands on multiculturalism are also evident with the shifting of alliances when government officials in urban areas and change their stand when visiting the countryside. When it comes to international relations, the government wants to appear as an embracer of multiculturalism whereby all races, sexes, religions and classes are incorporated in its policy and decision making. This is usually a ploy to be in good standing with the international community to either avert looming sanctions, or obtain an advantage when it comes to aid or help from countries that have embraced multiculturalism. Setting the record straight on this issue is quite a task. This is due to the fact that critics of it have entrenched in themselves the belief that the government is solely to blame and any proposal o f securing support for it and the generation of policies based on it is firmly a no go zone. On the other hand, it can be argued that its critics use the government as a scapegoat to try and discredit the notion of multiculturalism within the society. Multiculturalism is harassed and troubled constantly by voices blaming it for heightening social division, and undermining national identity. Conclusion Multiculturalism is neither bad nor perfect but it has brought out a perception and possibly will change to a better way of social integration and move away from assimilation. This essay on Arguments For and Against Multiculturalism was written and submitted by user Analia Boyer to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

rhetorical devices Essays

rhetorical devices Essays rhetorical devices Essay rhetorical devices Essay Student 2: Rhetorical Analysis-I , Annotated Bibliography-6, Commentary-16, Memoir-23 Student 2: Past experience Rhetorical Analysis: Walden, Where I Lived, and What I Lived For Where I Lived, and What I Lived For Is the second chapter from Henry D. Thoreaus book Walden, found on pages 81-98 originally published by Princeton University Press, 1854. This edition is the 2004 reprint of the 1971 copyright with an introduction by John Updike. The critical memoir was penned in 1845 by Henry David Thoreau as an account of a two year and two month period spent in the woods living at Walden Pond near the village f Concord, Mass. Written in observation of the times in which Thoreau lived, he masterfully describes aspects of the lives of the local villagers and the thoughts he himself has in respect to what he sees life as, and how he believes life should be. Thoreaus stylistic use of language gives the reader a vivid account of how he sees the world progressing in the village of Concord. His observation of life and what he found to be the only necessary things which a person truly needs comes to life in his account. Thoreau makes a detailed, vivid account giving voice to a simpler life. He ocks his contemporarys belief in the need to possess material goods, land and wealth as a form of being. Thoreau writings in this section come to life because of his observations of the average man, or maybe more like the ideal model of a man, and what the society of his time believes should be priorities. Land ownership, if one had the resources to own land, is a point that Thoreau makes references. Ownership of material wealth is brought to light as well. His overall thinking on these issues is deliberated over throughout the text. He goes into great detail about the things he as observed in his nearly thirty years of life. He has a very distinct opinion of the culture in which he lives and writes with a very strong opinion to the silliness in which his peers live their lives by what he would consider not really living free. He is of the mind that people are enslaved by the very things which they strive to obtain. He states in this section, for a man is rich in proportion to the number of things in which he can afford to leave alone (82). This is a comment that makes reference to this mind set Thoreau has taken with him on his experiment into the woods. Thoreaus experiment is one of living only with what he needs, and taking with him as little as possible and to acquiring the rest from nature when possible. Thoreaus choice of a living environment and the use of his own hands to build his living quarters add to assessment of the necessaries of life and add value to his statements of what really should matter to men, which in this case would be true freedom to live. Thoreau states, l went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life. And to see if I could not learn hat it had to teach and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived (92). Thoreaus ability to survive by his own means is a common ability for his time. Farming as he accounts is the primary means of income for people in and around his village. He speaks of farms in which he had looked at owning and speaking with people who owned the farms at the time. He has a moment that he briefly owned one farm even though he had never actually taken possession of it. He never had the possession of the farm as the farmers wife had changed her mind on leaving the property. He thought of the farm as a place in nature and not as a means to an end, this being an income in which to obtain material goods. When he speaks of his thought of obtaining a farm of his own, he states, l knew all the while that it would yield the most abundant crop of the kind I wanted if only I could afford to leave it alone (83). This is testament to his thoughts on this topic, that a farm was more valuable if Just left to nature freeing the farmer at the same time. All of this points directly to Thoreaus attitude and reason for the witting of Walden and the experiment in which he invested himself wholly. Thoreaus relationship to the reader is one of knowing disagreement. He has been part of the world he disagrees with, being the son of a pencil maker. He attended Harvard, which was something that only people with money would have done in his time. He has even worked several occupations over the course of his life in what appears to be an internal search for what he believes and who he is as a person. He seems to be attempting to persuade his peers that their life of possession is a waste of time. That expressing oneself to nature is a much more noble pursuit than being attached to ones belongings could ver be. He expresses this with the phrase to affect the quality of the day is the highest of art (90). His attempt to show his readers that life does not need to be a hurry, but should be examined at a slower pace so it can be much more appreciated is a main theme he is proposing to his readers. Thoreaus brings a sense of emotional relaxation to his writing as the ability to shed the unnecessary baggage in ones life can be realized by all who read the text to some level. He allow the readers to find something in life, which they can do without in the attempt to find an inner appiness that does not require the newest goods that mankind has to offer. The peers and other member of this village are not the only ones who can benefit from Thoreaus observations. His writing reaches farther than his local affiliates. His words reach out to the entire nation of the time and future generations as well, whether intended or not. His orientation is one of local roaming and doesnt express his thoughts farther than what he sees in his area; however, the text can be enveloped by people anywhere who can most definitely relate to the feeling of suffocation from he weight of possession and responsibility to a way of life that supports an unnecessary life style. He does however; take the stance that news is only minimally important in the aspect that once you hear something it really doesnt matter how many times that same situation occurs. In a sense, once a person knows something is possible, the frequency in which it occurs is unimportant. His words reach farther than maybe even Thoreau had intended them. Whether or not they could be treated as gospel is up to the reader and what he or she is willing to give up in order to live ree. Not many readers of his day would attempt such a life on purpose, and even Thoreau himself stayed near enough the village that his experiment could be aborted in the case of an extreme emergency even though he has yet to mention this outright in the text. Thoreau states: l was seated by the shore of a small pond, about a mile and a half from the village of Concord and somewhat higher than it. Thoreaus language is poetic at times; although, because of the era it was written in can be hard to interpret on the first read through. A thorough reading is necessary for the his would be the passage that concludes the chapter. He observes, My head is hands and feet. I feel all my best faculties concentrated in it. My instinct tells me that my head is an organ for burrowing, as some creatures use their snout and fore-paws, and with it I would mine and burrow my way through these hills. I think that the richest vein is somewhere hereabouts; so by the divining rod and thin rising vapors I judge; and here I will begin to mine (98). The passage can be confusing reading it only once; however, if the reader examines it more closely, he or she might find that it s referring to the ability of the hands and feet to do work of value, in Thoreaus opinion, as they have done for him in his life up to this point. However, Thoreau thinks that his head is the more valuable to him in his now settled surroundings, and is ready to start mining the thoughts that will come along with his forth coming experiences in the remote location that is now his home. The poetry that he writes the final paragraph with sets the tone for his thoughts of the moment. He appears to have an eagerness to experience all that nature has in store for him, and to not live a ruitless life. The question now is whether or not Thoreau is effectively getting his message across to the reader. His wording very effectively sets an image of his situation in the readers mind, and his environment is painted wonderfully by the phrases and analogies that he uses to express himself. Environment is the key word as he is not Just trying to explain his surroundings, but moreover explains why he believes as he does, what is going on in his thoughts along with where he is and what is happening down to the smallest detail such as the sound of the mosquito in the orning, to the mist on the early morning pond as the sun rises. His point of how things are and how they could or maybe even should be is put into perspective in this section of the text. Thoreau gets his point across with excellent imagery and poetry that allows the reader to be drawn into his world and live what Thoreau is living at that time. Those who read the text can start to believe the way that Thoreau is living his experiment is an acceptable reality and can easily get on board with the possibility of a simpler life. One may even enw his ability to attempt this life, as he llows the reader to imagine a life less complicated by the things that they value in their own life. To be free to move without being tied to the comforts of life and to feel that maybe life could be comfortable in a different sense without being suffocated by material belongings. To come and go as one pleases without constraint to property in the form of land or all the other things that can fill ones home. ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY Yepsen, Rhodes. Encouraging Sustainable Recycling Behavior Through Financial Incentives. Biocycle 1 Dec. 2007: 34-7. ProQuest. 29 sep. 2008 . The above entioned article states the progress that was made in Wilmington, Delaware toward implementing a recycling program that would increase community participation by using of a reward system along with ease of use for the citizens participating in the program. It describes the steps taken in running two separate pilot programs in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania neighborhoods to research the level citizens would take part in the program. Research was conducted in two separate income neighborhoods work to increase reusable materials along with reducing material deposited in the landfill. The points out the thought that recycling failures are due to the investment in time needed for households to successfully increase recycling and reduce waste in landfills. The pilot programs that were implemented to test the theory that one bin used to recycle any material appropriate to be recycled would increase the participation in those communities. Along with the ease of the one bin method was the implementation of a financial incentive given by recycling firm (Blue Mountain materials recycling facility), paid as credits to local business for the amount in weight of the bi-weekly recycling bin picked up curbside. The rate in which households increased their recycling efforts Jumped from 30 to 90 percent in one neighborhood and quadrupled to 90 percent as well in the second pilot neighborhood. This laid the ground work to implement the program on a city sized scale. Wilmington, DE was the city to be used to implement the large scale recycling program which would grow to 65 percent of the 73,000 population participating in the program along with over 300 retail partners and growing. This amount of recycled materials has reduced the deposits in the landfill by 35 percent (6,700 tons) every other week. The source is a rade publication in the green movement and reliable to a degree, however may be slightly tainted due to putting a positive spin on any recycling effort that appears to work toward the end goal of changing recycling policy. This article is extremely useful in that it exemplifies how recycling could increase if the time needed and the financial incentive were implemented in other cities. Fargo has roughly the same population as Wilmington and the fact that the program is successful there makes it feasible to implement the same or similar program in other cities of at least the same general population. The extreme increase in recycling due to the program leads one to believe that recycling as it is in its current state will not provide improved results toward reusing limited resources anytime soon if ever. Gamerman, Ellen. Weekend Journal; An Inconvenient Bag. Wall Street Journal. 26 Sept. 2008. ProQuest. 29 Sep. 2008 . This article from The Wall Street Journal is an informational piece on the new trend in green grocery shopping with popularity of the reusable shopping bag. The article goes on to explain the difficulty in making products environmentally safe because of the materials being used. It also states the extent to which some retailers are planning to cut purchases of single use plastic bags and market reusable shopping bags for customers which will lower operating costs in the effort to transform the retail experience into a more green experience. The reputation of The Wall Street Journal and the expert reporting that has been a trusted source for national news for many years establishes this as a credible source. The reporting and facts of this article will be most useful when discussing some of the problems with the green movement and how good intensions can backfire if not thought through ompletely. An example of the unintended problems with this particular effort lies in the bag which is the focus of this article. The article points to the use of the reusable grocery store to the megastore. The main statement of this article is the use of the reusable bag and that if a person doesnt intend to use the bag, then it is better not taking the bag because it will most likely still end up in the landfill like its thinner disposable cousins, however because it uses a larger quantity of plastic, it will take much longer to biodegrade. Other secondary points made in the article pertain to ity ordinances in places such as San Francisco, that is making an attempt to ban plastic bags altogether. This comes on the news that an estimated 100 billion plastic bags are thrown out every year in the U. S. alone. It is interesting to learn that the reusable bag is made from plastic even though the feel and look may lead a person to think otherwise. This point is important when considering grabbing several of the bags to transport purchases to and from the store and whether or not they will actually get used. A suggestion the author submits to the reader is to return the bags o the vehicle after unloading so they will always be available and not forgotten at home. This source will be very useful in showing the extent in which certain entities, whether it be a corporation such as Wal-Mart, or a even a government such as the City of San Francisco, and how it is trying to eliminate the plastic bag issue that is becoming a much more popular issue in the quest to become more environmentally responsible. Silva, Cristina. Recycling Has a New Supporter: The Mayor: The Countys Offer of Free Recycling Proves Too Tempting For Mayor Rick Baker to Ignore. St. Petersburg Times. 25 sept. 2008. ProQuest. 29 sept. 2008 . This article is strictly on the point of why the Mayor of St. Petersburg, FL has changed his mind on curbside recycling in the city and what the issues were that had held him back from implementing a city wide recycling program in St. Petersburg, FL. The St. Petersburg Times article seem s to be a relevant and unbiased source for the article that has credible legs to it. The article is short and to the point, but offers insight into the problems of instituting curbside recycling that many U. S. cities are currently dealing with. This articles main point is that the mayor has changes his ind toward implementing a recycling program, due to the involvement of the county and their willingness to pay for the implementation of the program that is currently on the table. The mayor had two concerns that had limited his willingness to get behind a city recycling program with the biggest issue being the cost involved with such a program. This issue is the main point and biggest hurdle the city was dealing with to start curbside recycling for the residents. The second issue the mayor had concerns with was greenhouse emissions from collections vehicles that would be used for this service. The second point leads one to believe that the recycling service would be of great interest to the city since it appears to want to be more environmentally responsible. This article will back up the point that will be the main focus of the paper which appears to be the cost involved in starting recycling programs in cities nationwide. This article will be useful to discuss how economic issues play the largest role in household recycling even in cities such as St. Petersburg, that are interested in McKay, Dan. City Sees Recycling Increase: Curbside Service, Awareness Cited as Reasons. Albuquerque Journal. 23 Sept. 2008,C. . ProQuest. 29 Sept. 2008 . The main point of this article is on recycling efforts in Albuquerque, NM that take the approach that keeping the community informed and aware of the importance of recycling at the household level. This approach differs from other resources being used, because the approach is not one of financial incentive to motivate communities to recycle. Credibility is sound on the basis of the source being a locate newspaper. The article is not detailed in the information about how the city informs the citizens in order to get them to participate in the recycling program in certain parts of the city, owever does state that the effort is making a difference with the community. The article goes on to mention the fact that 10,000 tons of waste are recycled annually with the program that provides recycling bins to residents to recycle materials to be picked up curbside for convenience. It is unclear if there is a current fee being charged by the city to recycle at the current rate, however, the article goes on to say that the success of the program has maxed out the current recycling facility, and increased amounts of recycling would require a garbage collection rate increase to fund a new facility. This source is beneficial in its statements of the amount of recycling being done by a community for benefit of the environment as the only motivating factor. The Albuquerque community, if memory serves, is a very affluent, artistic and would seem to be motivated by good deed alone in my opinion. The informing and making the community aware of the benefits of recycling could take much more effort in different communities in the U. S. along with a greater financial propaganda program to make this approach successful. Bell, Tom. Westbrook to Get Free Recycling: The Deal With Casella Waste Systems Includes Extending a Sewer Line on County Road. Portland Press Herald. 23 Sept. 2008. ProQuest. 29 Sept. 2008 . This article is focuses on how the city of Portland , ME has overcome charging recycling fees by making a deal to supply a sewer system free of charge to the Casella Waste System in exchange for free curbside recycling to the city residents for the next 20 years. The source of the a rticle is the Portland Press Herald which has local credibility and doesnt show any signs of bias either for or against the deal. The estimated cost of the sewer system is $250,000 and will also be used by other landowners along the ounty road which will bring additional income to the city from this use. The waste facility is also prohibited from building an incinerator to dispose of unrecyclable materials in order to avoid greenhouse gas emissions. The city will also pay 68. 50 per ton of garbage to the facility down from 98. 50 as part of the deal. The facility will then process the recycled material and sell it to companies that make secondary recycled products for resale on a national basis. This article is not original except in how it shows one possibility for a community to fund recycling to the citizens while keeping the process simple to participate in to ould definitely work in many communities that would like to find alternative ways to green up their communities, when simply taxing residents or charging fees to gain participation in recycling programs is desired. How We Can Avoid Future Landfill Expansions. Bucks County Courier Times. 22 Sept. 2008. ProQuest. 29 Sept. 2008 . This article shows the ways that average households can save money by reducing waste by purchasing reusable item as opposed to single use items. The article goes on to specify other ways to reduce waste in households such as composting food waste, to finding other uses around he house for items that cant currently be recycled. The article comes from the Buck County Courier Times located in Levittown, PA and has a focus on ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle better k now as the three Rs. The first point of the article focus on being aware of what you buy to ensure that it is something that can be recycled and choose only those items that can be recycled; if it cant be recycled you should ask yourself it can have another long term use. The example question the article asks is: Can this be used for my childrens art supplies? The second point stated in the article is that food waste takes up large mounts of the waste disposed by households and makes note that this type of material can be easily composted instead. The article is a bit vague but takes a different angle to recycling and gives would be or current recycler ideas and awareness to the issues of landfill reduction. The articles makes note that Wheelabrator, which is a local recycling processor, reuses 200 tons of recyclables on any given day to make clean, marketable secondary materials. Abramovitz, Janet N. and Ashley T. Mattoon. Paper Cuts: Recovering the Paper Landscape. Worldwatch Paper 149. (Dec. 1999): 31-36. Worldwatch Paper is a espected Journal that focuses on environmental issues in many different areas. This issue is on the paper waste issue that grows exponentially annually, the resources origin, the need for sustainability, and the need to recycle or eliminate the use of paper products. The portion of this particular Journal that is the focus is on the issue of trimming consumption. The section of the Journal on trimming paper consumption is geared toward how businesses currently use paper, and how they could drastically reduce current usage. The largest use of paper as would be expected would be the office. The areas of interest are things such as the availability of duplex printers, or printers with the ability to print on both sides of the paper. This is currently the most commonly used printer in the business setting today, however they are not being put to this use as many businesses dont print on both sides of paper. Another way to effectively cut paper usage is to print two pages per side, which is estimated to reduce paper usage by 75% in some cases. Paperless billing is now becoming more accepted nationally by the average consumer which is responsible for reduced paper consumption in the odern office. Yet another suggestion to reduce paper consumption in the modern business was to reduce the weight of the paper, in other words to use a lower grade in the same amount of space. This is a very informative and insightful topic within a Journal that can be extremely useful in other areas of paper waste and recyclability of the limited paper resource. There are many ideas on how to reduce, reuse, and recycle paper that is backed up with solid research to solidify the facts and ideas put forth. Porter, Richard C. The Economics of Waste. Resources for the Future, 2002. This book as written with the purpose of examining the economics behind recycling everything that can be recycled along with scientific data focused on why recycling works when it does, and why recycling doesnt work when issues such a government regulations, lack of public interest, or financial lose due to inefficient recycling processes take place for example. This very in depth book is a systematic examination of different aspects of the recycling industry. It puts many areas of the industry under the microscope and examines the instability of recycling and why it is hard to get a large scale recycling peration going, due to financial losses experienced in many cases. The issues that are prevalent are the disposable nature of most things consumed in the modern era. Nothing seems to be made to last or made to be reused. Economics success of the modern corporations is based on consumption and economic growth cannot happen without continued consumption, which translates into the need for disposable materials to be used to make our products. This is contributing to large quantities of waste going into landfills, and the inability of recycling facilities to make an economic rofit means that they are of no need in our society. The reason that these facilities cant succeed stems from a number of reasons, with the most obvious being that people Just dont seem to care about recycling. It may not be that people dont care as much as they dont feel it is convenient to recycle and requires either too much effort, time, or cost to the consumer, all of which gives zero incentive to recycle and care for the environment that still hasnt been embraced by a significant enough of the population to have much of an effect. This book has a very logical and mathematical approach to the issues with ffective recycling, and financial gains that will make recycling an industry that will become common place in modern society. The author has stated clearly that financial incentive will be need on the part of the consumer to recycle, along with financial incentive for companies to make long lasting products, and finally financial incentive to build recycling facilities that can turn a profit. The entire book will be extremely useful in backing up many ideas and concepts that are the norm in todays recycling efforts with detailed mathematical formulas for proof. This book will be used in its ntirety to back up recycling facts used in writing the recycling commentary. Lave, Lester B. et al. Municipal Solid Waste Recycling Issues. Journal of Environmental Engineering (Oct 1999): 944-48. EBSCO: Academic Search Elite. 14 Oct. The Journal entry is a valid study of economics and recycling policy in the U. S. and the ability of recycling to be a self sustained industry and why it currently is not so. a mathematical approach to its successes and failures. The Journal of Environmental Engineering is a credible resource available to researchers of with a need for information on engineering responsibly for the future. This particular Journal entry covers several angles of recycling and the reasons why it is not a profitable or highly sought after industry, and why the recycling industry is a long way from being one that will be heavily invested in anytime in the foreseeable future, however two stand out as being the biggest hurdles in the capitalistic environment of profit and loses. The first of these two is the fact that the disposal of waste into a landfill is still the most affordable way to rid ourselves of the things we no longer find useful. The second main point is that it is still cheaper to obtain the esources from the original source than it is to get them from recycling in almost every case with the exception of aluminum and steel. Keeping this in mind it is understandable the aluminum can recycling is one of the most common forms of fore putting waste in the landfill recycling and has been in practice for the longest period of time. Automobile recycling has also been around for some time and accounts for a large portion of the resources needed to provide new steel products to consumers, even though less and less steel is being used to manufacture goods of any kind today. Eighty percent of the products made from steel in the U. S. today come from recycled steel. The statement made in this Journal do not leave the reader feeling encouraged about recycling efforts increasing to a larger degree in the near future because it Just cant make money until natural resources dwindle to the point that they become more expensive to get them from their natural source than from recycling. The recycling effort in a state like North Dakota is not going to increase because population is so minimal compared to other regions that it will be far in the future due to the inexpensive use of land for landfills that this state has plenty of. Isely, Paul and Aaron Lowen. Price and Substitution in Residential Solid Waste. contemporary Economic policy 25. 3 (2007): 433-43. EBSCO: Academic search Elite. 14 oct. 2008 . The Journal entry is based in the economics of a variety of waste disposal and is a reliable source for the costs involved in waste disposal and the costs involved by making mathematical calculations to disposal of different types without stating which combination is the best. Simply stated the money involved in waste disposal of various types is the only focus of this article. The information in this resource is directed at landfill costs and how much money er ton the case study landfill charges per ton of waste, how much additional tonnage can be disposed of and the increased amount of waste an increase in fees can accommodate for future needs. The costs for landfill disposal are broken down into the smallest conceivable variable from fuel charges for pickup vehicles to labor involved in employing workers at every stage of disposal. The breakdown and formulas used to fgure the cost of disposal are explained so that any future changes in costs such as increased expense of things such as fuel for example can be fgured The information is useful in breaking down the costs involved with waste disposal and the degree of exactness the study was conducted is amazing. Waste disposal was researched for several years and measure the weight of disposal in tons and even took into account seasonal changes in temperature and moister from precipitation that could be absorbed into waste before the weight was taken before disposal. It appears that no detail was overlooked in this particular study and should come in handy when straight forward hard facts are need to backup points on amounts of actual waste being disposed of compared to amounts recycled. COMMENTARY Household Recycling: Examples of How to Successfully Reduce Landfill Disposal By now most people are aware that paper, plastic, aluminum, and glass are everyday materials that play a part in almost everything Americans consume. Whether it is as common as the aluminum can that contains a popular soda, to the plastic water bottles that line the coolers of every convenience store; and these items are piling up in our landfills, all the while more, unsustainable, raw materials are being depleted to make their replacements. If asked, most people would say that they would like to be more eco-friendly; have a smaller environmental footprint; or in ther words, be kind to the earth we all share. What better way to do your part than recycling? You may not save the world from environmental disaster, but it is a start. Most people are familiar with the three arrows that form a flowing, and never ending triangle; this is the symbol for recycling, or a product that is recyclable, will have the symbol located on it. Unfortunately, most products that have this symbol stamped on the bottom, or printed on its side, still end up as waste in the landfill, or city dump. Most people, for certain reasons and sometimes for no reason at all, dont give recycling much thought. These reasons take a variety of forms; some people feel they dont have the time recycle, others extra space for recyclables, and even more dont want to foot the extra cost of recycling. However, some cities are addressing these issues; and in doing so, are finding success in recycling programs that take many different forms, and have been developed through innovative thinking, and accomplishing the ultimate goal of reducing garbage in the landfill. The first topic of that arises when discussing recycling, is that of the time and inconvenience people often associate with the whole process. Imagine that the local

Credit crunch between 2007 - 2009 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Credit crunch between 2007 - 2009 - Essay Example Credit crunches are usually considered to be the predecessor of recessions. A credit crunch makes it almost impossible for business organisations to borrow as lenders are scared of insolvencies or defaults, which produce in high interest rates. The outcome of such scenario is extended slow recovery resulting from the supply of credit having shrunk (Duca & et. al., 2010). Credit crunch was caused in 2006 when the housing market crumpled. At the time of credit crunch, a certain numbers of the mortgages were intended for a division of the market, specifically subprime mortgages, their designed interest payment rates involving to refinance them within undersized phase were tried to be launched to avoid hikes in the mortgage rates. The mortgage refinancing demonstrates the fact that the prices related to housing market would likely to increase. Thus, the disintegration in the housing market defines a flow of the future non-payments in the subprime areas (Acharya & et. al, 2009). The finan cial crisis of 2007 initiated in the subprime mortgage industry in the United States. Apart from being restricted to the real estate market, the effects of the subprime fall down spread throughout the US economy as well as the global markets. The impact has been mainly severe on the financial industry, as numerous investment banks had a short but wide records of utilising Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS) as a way to spread risk and free up other capitals (IESE Business School, 2009). The households and the institutions such as pension funds along with life insurance companies and mutual funds are the ultimate lenders investing in support of households. It is worth mentioning that certain credit will be offered to the borrowers directly from the lender, as is the case with municipal bonds and corporate bonds as well as treasury securities. The vastness of the credit financing intermediated in the economy through the banking system, deduced broadly. It is quite significant to comprehe nd the operation of financial intermediation as well as a way in which the emergence of banking system took place since the past few years. It is also vital to recognise the global financial crisis that took place in the year 2007 and thus generate standards such as short-term and long-term crisis management standards so that a flexible financial system can be generated (Adrian & Shin, 2010). The main objective in this study is to illustrate the economic impact on the US that have taken place due to the credit crunch, economic crisis and to reassess the measures that have been taken by the authorities to address the crucial issues that have generated those events. Economic Impact of Credit Crunch in the US There has been a certain significant economic impact of the credit crunch in the period of 2007-2009 in the US which coincided with the global recession. The economic impacts have been discussed below: Housing Bubble: The bursting of the housing bubble in the US affected banks to write down large losses that had been extremely amplified and also created a large number of confusions in the financial markets, and also resulted in the defaults, the liquidity dry ups, the bailouts of banks and financial institutions. As consistent flow of financing is an absolute obligation for the economic system, the financial disruption caused a growing doubt about the macroeconomic position, a wide-ranging increase in risk aversion and a strong deterioration in the actual economy, with unfavourable

Global health Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Global health - Essay Example The support and initiative from every country is beneficial as it evaluates the crises of health care and then takes a precautionary measure for diseases to stop them from spreading globally (Global Health Initiative, 2011). In this context, this paper intends to identify the role of philanthropy work such as the role played by Bill Gates through his benevolent activities in health related initiatives. The paper also intends to identify role of such initiatives in the context of existing WHO policy priorities. The challenge for global health is to study the real life cases and try to produce an innovative idea for the solution of the problems for health. The students or leaders or corporate or an individual can participate to overcome challenges against global health (UBN Global Health challenge, 2011). The Global Health Council is a non profit making organization and its mission is to develop better health globally by assisting, the one who works for improvement and progress of global health. The council secures the information required to work effectively. The Global Health Council is the globe’s largest membership association which consists of corporation, NGO’s, academic institution, foundation and government agencies that coordinates for the improvement of the global health (Global Health Council, n.d.). WHO (World Health Organization) is an institution which takes initiatives for the protection of health of the global populace. It is operating since 1948 and there are more than 190 countries as the members of WHO (World Health Organization). Every country has joined WHO to fight against certain threats related to health which may be harmful for other nations as well (World Health Organization in Belarus, n.d.). Philanthropy is the ethical event in response to ‘human problems’. It is essential for free civil society. Philanthropy is love for

Intel Corporation PEST and Value Chain Analysis Essay

Intel Corporation PEST and Value Chain Analysis - Essay Example In the year 2001, the IT industry faced global decrease in demand for IT products which adversely affected the balance of trade of US and other countries (Buffet 2011). In this regard, the US government improved its tax laws, labor policy, tariffs and trade liberalization policies to attract the global consumption for IT products from US manufacturers. Robert (1990) undertook a study to examine the impact of Japanese trade liberalization policy and tariffs in semiconductor market on the US manufacturers. This positive political environment acts as an opportunity for Intel Corporation to capitalize upon its products and expand globally. 2) Economic Factors: The US mixed economy has a GDP growth rate of 2.5 percent in the third quarter of 2011 which is a decrease by 0.4 percent from previous year (Bureau of Economic Analysis). The International Monetary Fund reported that the Gross World Product of the US GDP is $15 trillion dollars that is 23 percent at the market exchange rates (Grey hill Advisors). Furthermore, it observed that this amount is equivalent to 20 percent of Purchasing Power Parity or PPP (DeNavas-halt, Proctor & Smith 2011). US ranks third largest exporter. Its public debt amounts to $15.03 trillion dollars and poverty is 15.1 percent according to 2010 estimates (Treasury). The CPI Inflation has been estimated as 3.5 percent between October 2010-2011 period (United States Bureau of Labor Statistics). According to 2009 estimates of World Bank, the US economy is largely based on its private sector enterprises accounting for 86.4 percent of its economy. The large contribution of private sector in US economy means an opportunity for Intel to expand and benefit from the overall affirmative macro-environment factors. However, PricewaterhouseCoopers conducted... Intel Corporation is the US leading semiconductor manufacturer that maintains a significant global market share of semiconductor industry. In the recent global recession has adversely affected the US economy. However, the recovery has created a tremendous increase in the exports for semiconductor based microprocessor chips throughout the world. The US economy’s growth is largely due to the major contributions of this sector. As a result, the US economy is growing and encouraging the future revolution in the semiconductor technology. The global trade liberalization movement in response to the global demand for newer and updated technological products has reduced trade tariffs that US government welcomes with open arms. As a result, the growth of microprocessors and other PC components picked tremendous volume to become the largest contributor of revenue for the US economy. Intel Corporation has a favorable macro-environmental analysis which only has one issue and that is the un precedented recession of the US economy. In terms of value chain analysis, Intel Corporation has a sound value chain that is helping it to maintain its competitive edge over other competitors like AMD.

The Value Of Happiness In The Workplace

The Value Of Happiness In The Workplace To write this essay, I mixed the main findings of the text and included some additional references with my own opinion. I believe that the text wants us to reflect on this question: does work allow happiness? In our contemporary society, and especially for someone like me who is starting my professional career, I think it is a relevant question, a controversial topic very interesting to discuss, that has become a real debate nowadays. About Happiness Happiness is a state of fully satisfied consciousness. Its a state of mind that depends on how it is interpreted. Happiness may also be defined as the experience of frequent positive affect, infrequent negative affect and an overall sense of satisfaction with life as a whole (Myers Diener, 1995). In recent years, there has been a craze to measure happiness due to feelings of individuals who dont feel happier despite of an increase in wealth and of the increasing importance given to quality of life, hence the concept of sustainable development for example. Happiness is not just being happy: as Aristotle wrote, A swallow does not a make a spring, nor one single day ( « une hirondelle ne fait pas le printemps, ni non plus un seul jour  »). This phrase became proverbial, meaning that happiness is not the affair of a moment; it must really last over time if it is true. The ambition of the great schools of antique philosophy is to allow men to reach happy lives: the search for lasting happiness is the purpose of this part of philosophy called ethics. Aristotle as well as the Epicureans and the Stoics agree on this point: only a just and upright life can give us access to true happiness, that is to say durable, long-lasting happiness. For the Epicureans, if pleasure is essential to happiness, some desires bring more disorders than festivities: they must be set aside, and we should content ourselves with natural and necessary desires, because they are source of pleasure and easy to satisfy. For the Stoics, happiness cannot be sustainable if it depends on external circumstances: I have to discipline my will to learn to only depend on me, because my happiness cannot be left with the whims of the fortune. 2. About Work Due to its etymology (tripalium meaning in Latin torture trestel), the concept of work is already inconsistent, contradictory with the idea of happiness. While in antiquity and in a society of orders work was contrary to social prestige, employment is nowadays a discriminating element. Indeed, we see appearing in the society a social category of working poors and many precarious jobs. From then on, become central constituent element of both lifestyle and standard of living, work appears today not as a Garden of Eden but more as a source of conflicts, concerns, and gloom. In fact, happiness and work do not seem to be compatible. 3. Work and Happiness Happiness depends on work According to the relative index of happiness, work is one of the most important factors that influence happiness. You cannot separate one from the other. This notion of work rises through the tasks we execute, of course, but also in the relationships we have with colleagues, in the recognition that we obtain from our employer, in our level of empowerment and in the valuation bound to the fact of learning and discovering. In addition, in a French study published in 2003 work to be happy? ( « travailler pour à ªtre heureux?  »), it seems that a quarter of the French respondents emphasize that work constitutes in itself an essential part of happiness. If a quarter of the French states that individual happiness directly depends on work, it reveals not only the importance of work as a major source of definition of the conceptions of happiness, but also the wide variety of professional situations. This can be understood as far as work is thought by men as a source, multifaceted, essential, of happiness. In this sense, without work, unemployed men cannot get to know happiness. Indeed, the activity is today privileged and highly valued in the economic and social life. France, which has a relatively high unemployment rate compared to its European neighbors such as Germany, regularly puts in place specific economic policies aimed directly at reducing the unemployment rate. In our society, the professional activity is valued because it provides legitimate resources (wealth, social status, salary, etc.) In addition, we can only emphasize the omnipotence of work. The occupation appears in this perspective as a necessary condition for happiness because it allows for a whole range of human needs. Happiness can be compatible to work to the extent that a productive activity can also be a creative activity, a fruitful activity, especially source of satisfaction of multiple needs. Abraham Maslow has shown in his pyramid theory of needs that men must satisfy first their physiological needs, then their safety needs (i.e. earn money to meet their basic needs, that is to say, food, housing ) before considering other needs more extensive as sense of belonging, esteem from others, self-esteem etc.. But it is precisely through the professional activity that men will be able to meet their first needs, indispensable to happiness. For the majority of workers, working is a condition of their happiness and their job is an irreplaceable source of income and social inclusion. Indeed, for some employees, the firm is not only a workplace, but a real social institution, where they can really socialize with others. As a matter of fact, with the current economy, for some it is a real luck to have a job to be able to live (housing, food), and this work can make them happy! In addition, a personal development, a self-fulfillment is done by working with the satisfaction obtained after the effort. To illustrate this, we can cite people who do a thankless job, but who follow an ideal, and whom it makes happy! For example Mother Theresa worked in the garbage dumps to look after the rejected, unloved, and neglected people and was happy to help them even if the environment was dreadful. I think that happiness at work is different for everyone, for some people, happiness will reside in the social side provided by the activity, for others it will be being able to travel, for other it will be obtaining a big pay etc In addition, many people will say that if you like what we do, you obtain better results. Having happy employees can be the key to business success. During my internship, I have noticed that employees who seemed happy were more team-players, were more concentrated, more proactive and wasted less time and resources. Indeed, if we take the example of a salesman, if he looks happy and satisfied, he will transmit his enthusiasm, he will probably encourage more easily customers to buy, his sales will increase, his performance and efficiency will participate to a productivity increase and the company will benefit directly from it! Basically, having happy, satisfied and loyal employees will bring happy, satisfied and loyal customers! And happy, satisfied and loyal customers will bring higher profits! The motivation to reach our objectives increases with professional fulfillment. It also stimulates and encourages creativity and innovation. I think if that if we are really happy, we are then 100% invested in what we undertake, and we can even go beyond what is expected of us. Then starts a virtuous circle because the company, happy with the employees results, will give him or her more autonomy and responsibility, which will increase the workers satisfaction. In addition, I think that in general, when were happy, when we see life in pink, we look at the future in a more positive way, and obstacles appear less insurmountable. According to the hierarchy particularly, if a worker is successful, he will be easily granted better positions, more responsibilities and higher salaries which will participate to increase his happiness. Achieve contentment and satisfaction of its employees is a real challenge for a company. But it is really beneficial because it helps decrease employee turnover and absenteeism due to illness or overwork, through better energy management and health. Negative stress is transformed into positive stress. I recently read that a real link was established between being happy at work and health. We can cite the example of management in the company Google. In my opinion, the company has implemented many policies to achieve well-being and satisfaction of its employees. For example, employees can enjoy many benefits such as free haircuts, sports facilities (gyms, swimming pools), laundry services, medical personnel on the workplace, recreation rooms (billiards, babyfoots, video games), enjoy massages and so onà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ I think thats part of why Google is placed number 1 of the 100 best companies to work for in 2012 by the magazine Fortune. I think it is important to emphasize the important place of labor relationships for happiness. Empathy has a prominent place. At work, there are four types of relationships with colleagues: Friends outside of work, who become friends in the normal way Friends at work, whom we only see at work, for example, during breaks or lunch time The friendly relations at work, people with whom we dont have a break or lunch with Labor relations only, that is to say those which we avoid But in closer relationships, two types of behavior are favored; on the one hand cooperation and on the other hand, jokes and gossip. It was found that these two ways of acting promote job satisfaction, help to reduce the impact of stress on health, and decrease the psychosomatic effects. We know now that health is a driving force in self-realization, in self-fulfillment, in the pursuit of happiness. Thus, good working relationships facilitate the achievement of personal happiness. It is for this reason that the employer must ensure that the working environment is positive. This is for example why numerous team building activities were developed these recent years. In my view, the recognition by colleagues and superiors of the accomplished work is essential. An even more important relationship is the one between an employee and his supervisor. In order for the employee to be satisfied in his work and thus allow opening a door to his general happiness in life, the immediate supervisor must show a lot of consideration and well-being. He must also be careful not to be too prescriptive but suggestive, not imposing a way to do things but imposing goals for examples. The supervisor should give feedback, recognize successes, offer new challenges and especially show justice and fairness. I also believe that a good manager is a supportive manager. To be happy at work, it is important for employees to work in an environment that is not hostile but dynamic and fair. In other words, we could say that even if the hierarchy must remain, hierarchical barriers must fall. Moreover, we can highlight that various intellectual traditions held thinking work, not only as a place of possible alienation (Marxist tradition), but also in a more modern way, as a place for membership, belonging, and identity creation. Indeed, if work is often seen as a painful constraint, it is nevertheless a way by which men overcome nature and conquer their freedom and humanity. This is what Hegel shows by teaching me to delay the satisfaction of my desires, working requires me to discipline myself ( « en mapprenant à   retarder le moment de la satisfaction de mes dà ©sirs, le travail moblige à   me discipliner  »). Through the effort, men gradually master themselves: they free themselves from the nature (their instincts) by transforming the nature out of them. Work is thus needed in a second sense: without it, men cannot realize their humanity. Work should not be considered in the horizon of survival: by their work, men cultivate and humanize nature (Marx) and educate themselves. This is the meaning of Hegels dialectic of the master and the slave, the master, that is to say, the one who enjoys the work of others without doing anything with his ten fingers, is finally the true slave, and the slave who learned to discipline himself and to patiently acquire knowledge becomes master of himself and of the nature. While it was an undergone constraint and the mark of slavery, work becomes the driving element of our liberation as it allows the realization of ourselves. Thus, work can be seen as a liberating or emancipating activity. But work also has a more specific educating value: work is a source of education according to Kant. Indeed, as Rousseau stated, work involves effort, perseverance, consistency, qualities that are opposed to our natural tendency to inertia. Working is educational as it teaches us to go against our natural tendency to passivity and ease. In a way working is doing violence to our nature: work also teaches us to master ourselves. If work takes such a central place in our lives, it nonetheless also shapes our own representations of happiness. Thus, we must also understand the sense in which 75% of French respondents in the survey work and happiness think work is not in itself a part of happiness. Happiness doesnt depend on work If professional activity is not necessarily an integral part of individual happiness, it is because happiness can come from other sources. Also, if some ethics believe work can make people happy, some other ethics believe non-work constitutes a way to be happy. In other words, it is primarily the type of profession that will determine whether a person is happy or not. Sweetened and idealized images of the self-made man or of the businessman travelling have to face those darker images of the warehouseman or of the unpacker employee subjected to difficult schedules. Thus, some individuals place their work in the center of their happiness, but others emphasize the concepts of health, family, friends. Within the sociological study Happiness and Work ( « Bonheur et Travail  ») directed by Christian Baudelot and which resulted in the book Work to be happy ( « Travailler pour à ªtre heureux  »), it has been shown that the reference to work is uneven from one social group to another. In fact, 43% of workers, but only 27% of business leaders, executives and self-employed mentioned it. It is therefore a visible paradox: the apparently less valued professions (such as blue-collar workers), believe work is a superior source of happiness than more socially desirable occupations such as managers and higher intellectual professions (who believe work is a less important source of happiness). A film like Human Resources from Laurent Cantet in 1999 ( « Ressources humaines  »), which describes the arrival of a young adult into the Human Resources Direction service of his fathers company, shows the dichotomy of the business and social world and highlights the different relationships to work. For the father, work is the backbone of a lifetime; for the son, work is a means by which it seeks its own identity. Moreover we can distinguish the white collars, whose profession is a way to conduct a good life out of the company (family, friends, outings, travels, leisureà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦), and the blue collars, like the father of the young hero, who, once returned from the factory in the evening, continues for his pleasure to work on parts. In this logic, we can assume that for many workers, happiness depends on other things deemed more important than work. We can also note that work is sometimes thought, certainly in a more marginal way, as antithetical to happiness. This is particularly the case when the activity in question is suffered, undergone because of it is hard, arduous, precarious or not remunerative enough. It can also be translated more concretely by the introduction and implementation of alternative lifestyles, refusing work, as described in the movie directed by Pierre Carles in 2003 Attention danger work ( « Attention danger travail  »). It is important to highlight that many workers emphasize a certain job insecurity due to structural changes and to the desire of companies to maximize flexibility. Also, the first professions to be exposed to the major recent developments of capitalism (the end of massive industrialization and the development of the tertiary sector), have been either deleted or replaced (we can think for example of minors or steel workers in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais). Nowadays, these trends, continued and emphasized by growing financialization of economies and increased power to shareholders, thus bring some professionals in specific sectors of the industry in situations where the sense of fragility and precariousness outweighs safety. Outsourcing and relocation waves to conquer new markets and produce at a cheaper labor cost, have recently crystallized in France this deep fear of workers for their personal future. To sum up, we can that that because of the severe downturn of todays economy, a big majority of employees are apprehensive about the security of their positions and this leads to higher levels of self-doubt and conflict into the workplace. Considering in this perspective that a precarious profession couldnt be constitutive of happiness in the long term, we can understand that so few French respondents said they were happy with their work because their work is no longer their predominant value. The working time reduction, the emergence of a leisure society, and the omnipresence of consumption lead the professional activity to become an incidental or accessory occupation. At the same time, authors like Dominique Meda with his book Work, an endangered value ( « Le travail, une valeur en voie de disparition  ») or Andrà © Gorz with his book Work metamorphoses, search for meaning ( « Mà ©tamorphoses du travail, quà ªte du sens  ») show that the modern work is not necessarily at the heart of concerns. On one hand, for Dominique Meda, work in contemporary Western societies requires individuals to make permanent choices and tradeoffs between professional life and family life. On another hand, for Andrà © Gorz, any activity that aims to minimize its working time cannot at same time boast or glorify work as a source of personal fulfillment. In short, it is therefore clear with these two authors that technical and technological progress tends to make work become a mere moment, often restrictive and constraining, of life. In addition, professions where hardness and physical or mental efforts to produce are numerous can logically less contribute to happiness, compared to other more fulfilling professions. Also, those jobs where wages and salaries are very low cannot actively contribute to happiness. Moreover, it would be interesting to know whether the professions traditionally favored, envied and valued are actually those where happiness is possible, at work, and out of work. It is interesting to note that managers, for example, is the profession where people say they are most exposed to a significant nervous tension, rather than workers, for example. We can cite as an example that the year 2012 saw the greatest number of burn-outs. In addition, new researches show that such stress at work is as dangerous for the health and the well-being of an individual as smoking. Similarly, because the professions with high responsibilities are absorbing and time consuming, the life out-work is sometimes disturbed which questions and threatens the general equilibrium of life. Managers are more likely than workers to report that their occupation prevents them from practicing other activities. They are in fact subject to a dilemma: to invest in their profession to climb the social ladder and eventually earn more, or focus on areas outside work to find a personal harmony. Suffering at work (psychological pressure, for example) is thus not only the prerogative of professions usually less valued like blue-collar workers. In addition, examples of recurring depression and suicides at work (for example in France Tà ©là ©com in 2008) are in any case symptomatic of a doubt about the ability of work to make us happy. In the past few years, large companies such as IBM have created within their organizations positions of Well-being Director or Happiness Director. As a matter of fact, the question of happiness at work is today no longer immediately obvious; it is not a certainty anymore for more and more workers, employees or entrepreneurs. In the same range of ideas, we can highlight that Luc Boltanski and Eve Chiapello have in their book The new spirit of capitalism ( « Le nouvel esprit du capitalisme  ») also shown how capitalism has managed to integrate all the external ideological reviews and has incorporated them in its ways of doing. The liberation of the personal creativities, the expression of everyones happiness in the company can, in fact, become a daily burden. If the modern managerial discourse laid the mysteries of employees happiness, the practice of happy work has become a reality often illusory. 4. Conclusion I believe we can say that the 25% of French people who responded positively to the question of whether their work constitute in itself a part of happiness can be considered privileged. On the one hand, work has become a major source of self-fulfillment as a condition to meet our needs, but it retains the possibility to submit, use, coerce, through human traditional subjugation for specific tasks, such as through managerial techniques aiming at excessive responsibility: to ensure not only the competence, the knowledge, but also the know-how and the skills. On the other hand, work was subjected in all its aspects, dimensions and possibilities to profound and deep changes that have made it more difficult to achieve happiness. In a way, the work reinventing itself in the contemporary period, it is all traditional conceptions of happiness that could be challenged. It is ultimately through a rational individual arbitration between working time and leisure time, made possible by a harmonious relationship with ones business, which could be found the source of a possible fulfillment through work. Some retired or inactive people, seek to continue working rather than stop. In fact, they highlight the importance work takes in our society. It allows standing in life, worthy, dignified and proud of our human condition. Therefore, maybe should we question the economic policies of employment nowadays in France because they dont sufficiently take into account the importance of work as a source of personal fulfillment and not just as a source of income?

Pictorial Narratives: Hogarth’s Marriage àla Mode Essay -- Essays Pa

Pictorial Narratives: Hogarth’s Marriage à   la Mode One of Hogarth’s bitterest satires, Marriage à   la Mode, showed the disastrous results of a marriage of convenience concluded between the son of a poverty-stricken nobleman and the daughter of an aspiring merchant (Jarrett 88). Yet this background information is not necessary to appreciate each painting independently. From the first painting, in which the ambitious fathers of the couple exchange money and titles, to the final two prints that show the husband and wife’s melodramatic deaths, each of the six prints tells both a episode in the story of this doomed arranged marriage and a story in and of itself. The first two Marriage à   la Mode prints, The Marriage Settlement and Shortly After the Marriage, both contain numerous works of art, architecture, period dress and other carefully placed props that allow each work to tell a story without being dependent on the context of the series. Because of its immense detail, The Marriage Contract is perhaps one of the easiest prints to appreciate. Even without any prior knowledge of this work, an inexperienced art critic can still ascertain that the scene takes place in an aristocratic home. Copies of paintings after the old masters hang in gilt frames, the ceiling is painted and the walls hung with green damask. Two men sit at a table in some sort of business transaction, as evidenced by the presence of three lawyers, numerous documents and money. The gentleman on the right’s portrait hangs on the wall above the table, indicating that the deal is being brokered in his home. He is correspondingly dressed in fine clothes, whereas the other gentleman is more modestly attired. The skill with which Hogarth has represented the swelling aristocratic pride of the Earl and the lower-bred, commercial demeanor of the Sheriff was regarded by eighteenth-century critics, best acquainted with the social manners of their age, as masterly (Webster 103). A document that reads â€Å"Marriage Settlement of the Rt. Honble Lord Viscount Squanderfield† rests in the hand of the non-artistocratic gentleman, his careful perusal of the document indicating that he is the bride’s father. In turn, he has handed over a sum of money to the Viscount’s father (who the inexperienced viewer can assume holds the title earl). In turn, the Earl points to his contribution to the marriag... ...m each other. The Roman bust with a broken nose on the mantle and the painting above it, featuring Cupid playing a song on the bagpipes ironically titled â€Å"O Happy Groves† amidst falling ruins, suggest the similarly ruined and collapsing state of the couple’s marriage. Hogarth's remarkably exuberant satire of marriage for money, his pungent details of upper-class life, and his mastery of complex scenes find perhaps their highest expression in this series, generally considered his finest work. (Encarta). Although critics have commented that the series progresses somewhat abruptly, with little idea of what occurs in between the six scenes, rarely is any one painting referred to independent of the others. But because of the complexity of each scene, the paintings, The Marriage Contract and The Tà ©te-à  -Tà ©te in particular, can easily stand by themselves as brilliant satires of arranged marriage in the 18th century. Such is the genius of Hogarth. Works Cited Hallett, Mark. Hogarth. London: Phaidon Press, 2000. Jarrett, Derek. England in the Age of Hogarth. London: Hart-Davis, MacGibbon Ltd, 1974. Webster, Mary. Hogarth. Danbury, CT: MasterWorks Press, 1984.

French Lieutenant’s Woman Essay and Techniques Postmodernism

Examine how FLW represents a postmodern way of thinking. Postmodernism encompasses a reinterpretation of classical ideas, forms and practices and reflects and rejects the ideologies of previous movements in the arts. The postmodern movement has made way for new ways of thinking and a new theoretical base when criticising art, literature, sexuality and history. John Fowles’ 1969 historical bricolage, The French Lieutenant’s Woman, utilises the ideas of postmodern theorists such as Foucault, Barthes and Sartre amongst others to form a postmodern double-coded discourse which examines values inherent in the Victorian era from a twentieth century context. The novel’s use of intertextuality, metafiction and its irreverent attitude can be seen as a postmodern parody of Victorian fiction and the historical novel. For the purpose of examining the values and ideologies of the Victorian era in comparison to the postmodern paradigm, Victorian conventions are shown juxtaposed with postmodern techniques such as the authorial intrusion and alternative endings. Sarah Woodruff is different from other characters in The French Lieutenant’s Woman because she is epistemologically unique and because the narrator does not have access to her inner thoughts: in chapter 13 the author directly addresses the reader and states that he gives his characters the free will to determine their outcome in his novel. In a typical Victorian context, the protagonist’s inner conflict and motives would be exposed to the reader. Fowles denies his right as the author to impose definition of characters and in this way recognises â€Å"the age of Alain-Robbe Grillet and Roland Barthes† in bringing about the â€Å"death of the author† and the birth of the â€Å"reader†. The reader must interpret the text in ways (s)he views it and is forced to actively engage in the text. Fowles also introduces the author as a god-like figure (who turns back time) to craft multiple endings. He (the author) allows Sarah to act in an existentialist way to determine her outcome in the novel. It allows her to exercise her individuality, making her stand as a lone feminist figure amongst the tides of Victorian conventionality. The novel rewrites Victorian sexuality and in this way is an example of the way the sexual revolution of the 1960s is described in the historical novel of its time. Foucault described the Victorian period as the â€Å"golden age of repression† and he revises the notion that the Victorian era was silent on sexual matters in his works. Both Foucault and The French Lieutenant’s Woman claim that the forms of power and resistance are historically conditioned. For example, Sarah’s body is still institutionalised at the end of the novel since she appears only as a minor character in Rosetti’s house. The fact that Sarah is an anachronistic creation points to the idea that the novel is not about the Victorian era but a critique of relative values in their context. The metafictional structure of the novel successfully elucidates that Sarah seems to be subordinated in the patriarchal power of the contemporary narrator- it also endeavours to show that even the most emancipated groups during the Victorian period could not carry the liberation of women completely. This is a reflexion of what Fowles deems backward in the context of his society, and is apparent in Sarah’s repressed sexuality; and the blatant disparity regarding notions of female sexuality: Ernestina is always confined within the strict boundaries of patriarchal, societal convention- this is shown by the way she represses her sexual desire for Charles, being content with the most â€Å"chaste of kisses†. In this way the novel represents the truth as a form of pleasure in a Foucauldian sense. The institutionalisation of prostitutes, a somewhat clandestine pastime for Victorian gentlemen, is a situation that reflects the obvious hypocrisy of Victorian society when compared to Sarah’s situation. She (Sarah) is labelled a â€Å"fallen women† (hence her nickname â€Å"Tragedy†) and is ostracised because of her free-will and â€Å"feminine misconduct†. Charles finds her forwardness rather intimidating as it goes against his beliefs that the stratification of society is a vital element of social stability. This enforces Charles’ Darwinian beliefs about the social hierarchy (in reference to Social Darwinism). Darwinian evolution finds its expression by creating a new way of thinking. Fowles’ novel represents the great crisis of Darwinian Victorian England and traces its impact on society. Charles questions his religion in the Church, admitting he is agnostic, and the narrator himself labels Charles as having agnostic qualities. At the end of the novel Charles has become a â€Å"modern man† and Sarah the â€Å"hopeful monster† who feels alienated in Victorian culture without being able to conceptualise Charles’ intuitive understanding of her otherness and modernity. Darwinian evolution and nineteenth century psychology are portrayed in The French Lieutenant’s Woman as providing a corrective culture dominated by narrow minded Evangelicalism. Examples can be observed in Mrs Poulteney’s fickle attempts at being charitable, her dismissive attitude towards her duty to the church which is merely a habitual pastime for her, and her decision to dismiss Sarah. Then novel’s intertextuality is made up of its bricolage of history and fiction. Victorian epigraphs (and the irony used in them) serve to reconstruct the cultural milieu of the age using representations of facets of its literary world through the poetry of Hardy, Tennyson, Arnold and Clough. It provides a context within which the characters try to construct their subjectivities where they can emancipate themselves from the novel’s dominant ideology (this is an example of how Freud’s ideas about literature’s subjectivity are utilised). Also, the footnotes reinforce the author’s presence and allude to the fact that the author is omnipresent (in the novel). The alternative endings represent two types of Victorian endings and the last, a more postmodern, existentialist one. Fowles’ plays with different endings to epitomise the early postmodernist problem of artistic form and representation and this technique agrees with Umberto Eco’s idea that literature has openness and can be interpreted in many ways. The postmodern style is successful in creating a tension between these endings within a single text. The last alternative ending in chapter 61 can be construed as the existentialist one. The existentialist theme dramatises the struggles of individuals to define themselves and to make moral decisions about the conduct of their lives in worlds which deny them of freedom. Both Charles and Sarah are searching for themselves, trying to find their own existences by rebelling against the norms of tradition: Charles by embracing Darwinism nd declaring himself agnostic (in line with the Nietzschean existentialist ideology); and Sarah by redefining herself (such as labelling herself â€Å"Mrs†) and avoiding the hypocrisy of Victorians towards sexuality and human relations. Like Charles and Sarah, the reader is free of manipulation (by the author) and we can manoeuvre our position in the narrative to create our own â€Å"meaning†. The use of the existentialist theme in The French Lieutenant’s Woman makes the reader aware of Sartrean-style thinking which was not in existence in Victorian times but was conceptualised in Fowles’ era. It is successful in allowing the reader to criticise and contrast the differing ideologies present at the respective times and, by highlighting the shift in values, Fowles effectively expounds a new way of thinking. Fowles successfully blends the Victorian novel with postmodern ideologies and twentieth century sensibility by applying paradigms which lead to the reader being allowed to question previously held values, in particular relative values which change according to context, such as sexuality and religion. Through his pastiche of traditional Victorian romance, and historical narrative Fowles deconstructs his novel and makes the reader aware of contextual codes and conventions through ironic, metafictional comments: â€Å"Perhaps it is only a game†¦. Perhaps you suppose the novelist has only to pull the right strings and his puppets will behave in a lifelike manner† -The French Lieutenant’s Woman Chapter 13 *

John Fremont - John C. Fremont - Civil War - Valley Campaign

John Fremont - John C. Fremont - Civil War - Valley Campaign John C. Frmont - Early Life: Born January 21, 1813, John C. Frà ©mont was the illegitimate son of Charles Fremon (formerly Louis-Renà © Frà ©mont) and Anne B. Whiting. The daughter of a socially prominent Virginia family, Whiting began an affair with Fremon while she was married to Major John Pryor. Leaving her husband, Whiting and Fremon ultimately settled in Savannah. Though Pryor sought a divorce, it was not granted by the Virginia House of Delegates. As a result, Whiting and Fremon were never able to marry. Raised in Savannah, their son pursued a classical education and began attending the College of Charleston in the late 1820s. John C. Frmont - Going West: In 1835, he received an appointment to serve as a teacher of mathematics aboard USS Natchez. Remaining on board for two years, he left to pursue a career in civil engineering. Appointed a second lieutenant in the US Armys Corps of Topographical Engineers, he began taking part in surveying expeditions in 1838. Working with Joseph Nicollet, he aided in mapping the lands between the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. Having gained experience, he was tasked with charting the Des Moines River in 1841. That same year, Frà ©mont married Jessie Benton, the daughter of powerful Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton. The following year, Frà ©mont was ordered to prepare an expedition to South Pass (in present-day Wyoming). In planning the expedition, he met noted frontiersman Kit Carson and contracted him to guide the party. This marked the first of several collaborations between the two men. The expedition to South Pass proved a success and over the next four years Frà ©mont and Carson explored the Sierra Nevadas and other lands along the Oregon Trail. Earning some fame for his exploits in the west, Frà ©mont was given the nickname The Pathfinder. John C. Frmont - Mexican-American War: In June 1845, Frà ©mont and Carson departed St. Louis, MO with 55 men for an expedition up the Arkansas River. Rather than follow the expeditions stated goals, Frà ©mont diverted the group and marched directly to California. Arriving in the Sacramento Valley, he worked to agitate American settlers against the Mexican government. When this nearly led to a clash with Mexican troops under General Josà © Castro, he withdrew north to Klamath Lake in Oregon. Alerted to the outbreak of the Mexican-American War, he moved south and worked with American settlers to form the California Battalion (US Mounted Rifles). Serving as its commander, with the rank of lieutenant colonel, Frà ©mont worked with Commodore Robert Stockton, commander of the US Pacific Squadron, to wrest the coastal towns of California away from the Mexicans. During the campaign, his men captured Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. On January 13, 1847, Frà ©mont concluded the Treaty of Cahuenga with Governor Andres Pico which terminated the fighting in California. Three days later, Stockton appointed him the military governor of California. His rule proved short-lived as the recently arrived Brigadier General Stephen W. Kearny asserted that the post was rightly his. John C. Frmont - Entering Politics: Initially refusing to yield the governorship, Frà ©mont was court-martialed by Kearny and convicted of mutiny and disobedience. Though quickly pardoned by President James K. Polk, Frà ©mont resigned his commission and settled in California at Rancho Las Mariposas. In 1848-1849, he conducted a failed expedition to scout a route for a railroad from St. Louis to San Francisco along the 38th Parallel. Returning to California, he was appointed one of the states first US senators in 1850. Serving for a year, he soon became involved with the newly-formed Republican Party. An opponent to the expansion of slavery, Frà ©mont became prominent within the party and was nominated as its first presidential candidate in 1856. Running against Democrat James Buchanan and American Party candidate Millard Fillmore, Frà ©mont campaigned against the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the growth of slavery. Though defeated by Buchanan, he finished second and showed that the party could achieve an electoral victory in 1860 with the support of two more states. Returning to private life, he was in Europe when the Civil War began in April 1861. John C. Frmont - The Civil War: Eager to aid the Union, he purchased a large amount of arms before returning to the United States. In May 1861, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Frà ©mont a major general. Though largely done for political reasons, Frà ©mont was soon dispatched to St. Louis to command the Department of the West. Arriving in St. Louis, he began fortifying the city and quickly moved to bring Missouri into the Union camp. While his forces campaigned in the state with mixed results, he remained in St. Louis. Following a defeat at Wilsons Creek in August, he declared martial law in the state. Acting without authorization, he began confiscating property belonging to secessionists as well as issued an order emancipating slaves. Stunned by Frà ©monts actions and concerned they would hand Missouri to the South, Lincoln immediately directed him to revoke his orders. Refusing, he dispatched his wife to Washington, DC to argue his case. Ignoring her arguments, Lincoln relieved Frà ©mont on November 2, 1861. Though the War Department issued a report detailing Frà ©monts failings as a commander, Lincoln was politically pressured into giving him another command. As a result, Frà ©mont was appointed to lead the Mountain Department, which comprised parts of Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky, in March 1862. In this role, he conducted operations against Major General Thomas Stonewall Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley. Through the late spring of 1862, Frà ©monts men were beaten at McDowell (May 8) and he was personally defeated at Cross Keys (June 8). In late June, Frà ©monts command was slated to join Major General John Popes newly-formed Army of Virginia. As he was senior to Pope, Frà ©mont refused this assignment and returned to his home in New York to await another command. None was forthcoming. John C. Frmont - 1864 Election Later Life: Still noteworthy within the Republican Party, Frà ©mont was approached in 1864 by hard-line Radical Republicans who disagreed with Lincolns lenient positions on postwar reconstruction of the South. Nominated for president by this group, his candidacy threatened to split the party. In September 1864, Frà ©mont abandoned his bid after negotiating the removal of Postmaster General Montgomery Blair. Following the war, he purchased the Pacific Railroad from the state of Missouri. Reorganizing it as the Southwest Pacific Railroad in August 1866, he lost it the following year when he was unable to make payments on the purchase debt. Having lost most of his fortune, Frà ©mont returned to public service in 1878 when he was appointed governor of the Arizona Territory. Holding his position until 1881, he was largely dependent on income from his wifes writing career. Retiring to Staten Island, NY, he died in New York City on July 13, 1890. Selected Sources Civil War: John C. FremontCalifornia Military Museum: John C. Fremont Biographical Dictionary of the US Congress: John C. Fremont

Falling leaves essays

Falling leaves essays The true story of an unwanted daughter So far the characters have just been introduced and you dont really know much about the characters. The prologue is really confusing and you have to read it twice to understand what they are talking about because it is vital for you to understand the story. In the beginning the family meets because their father had died. There are five brothers and sisters, Lydia, Gregory, Edgar, James and Adeline and one half sister Susan. And there is also the stepmother Niang (which is a Chinese term for mother). They were meeting because their fathers testament and they are all astonished that he has not left them any money, he was a very wealthy man with many companies and houses. Niang said that their father wouldnt have liked if they had questioned his testament and nobody dared to question it anyway. They were all afraid of Niang who had made their lives hard enough. This is when Adeline recounts from the beginning when she was little and how this all came along. Chapter one is really interesting and it talks about how Adelines great aunt gained independence, she didnt like her feet bound and wanted to do what she wanted. She was A Chinese woman in the 1886, it was the time were women were supposed to stay at home instead of working or even opening their own company. She was the little sister of Ye Ye who is Adelines grandfather. At this time Shanghai had become the center of Chinas trade and industries and then Gong Gong (which is Adelines great aunt but out of respect she was named Great Uncle) started her own bank, The Shanghai Womens Bank. She had the greatest reputation and the whole family even father and grandfather granted her every wish. At the age of 26 Andelines grandfather was entered into a marriage by a marriage broker and he married her grandmother who was fifteen at the time and they grew to love each other and they had sev...

Research Paper Challenge and Change in Society Essay

Research Paper Challenge and Change in Society - Essay Example In the period of 1946-1950 UNICEF spent $112 million to provide "articles of clothing to five million children in twelve countries, vaccinated eight million against tuberculosis, rebuilt milk processing and distribution facilities, and [. . .] provided a daily supplementary meal to millions of children" (Haberman, 1972). Though the initial mandate of the program was for immediate and emergency aid, the organization has expanded to provide a wide range of diverse and long-term projects. The purpose of the United Nation's mandate is stated in UNICEF's mission statement which says it is to, "advocate for the protection of children's rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential" (About UNICEF: Who we are, n.d.). UNICEF has moved beyond emergency relief and into the areas of pro-active medical and educational needs. Its long-term and rapid response efforts are designed to help disadvantaged children that are the victims of poverty, violence, exploitation, and war. Many of their programs are gender specific as they fight for equal rights for girls and women. One of the goals of UNICEF is to promote girls' "full participation in the political, social, and economic development of their communities (About UNICEF: Who we are, n.d.). The numerous programs implemented by UNICEF have at their core the goal of improving the lives of children everywhere in the world. The motivation behind UNICEF lies in their belief in the principle that all children have civil and human rights that need protected. The Convention on the Human Rights of Children (CRC) is a widely ratified treaty that provides the protection of "civil rights and freedoms, family environment, basic health and welfare, education, leisure and cultural activitiesand special protection measures" (Why we do it: Children have rights, n.d.). UNICEF is driven by a philosophy that children not only deserve the basic protection of human rights, but the best way to change the world is to improve the condition of the children which will be tomorrow's adults. In their efforts to raise the standard of living for children UNICEF has programs that are implemented in 190 countries including most of the industrialized world. As an example of their international efforts is the recently launched program to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) in eight countries in Western and Southern Africa and India (UNICEF, UNITAID, 2007). The PMTCT initiative works in partnership with UNITAID, a World Health Organization (WHO) effort whose mission is to provide "long-term, sustainable and predictable funding to increase access and reduce prices of quality drugs and diagnostics for the treatment of HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in developing countries" (What is UNITAID, 2007). In the United States the United State's Fund for UNICEF has raised over $1.6 billion to "promote the survival, protection, and development of all children worldwide through fundraising, advocacy, and education (United States Fund for UNICEF, 2008). Because the United States is a leading voice in the United Nations UNICEF has looked to the American citizens for support and advocacy. The activities of UNICEF in the United States have not been without controversy. During the Cold War standoff between

The Way of Telling Lies and the Consequences Research Paper

The Way of Telling Lies and the Consequences - Research Paper Example This is a case comparable to that of sentencing a serial killer to death, so as to avoid their committing more killings or murders. From this example, the sentencing to death is equally causing death, but with the intent of putting an end to the deaths that the serial killer has caused, and those that they may continue to cause. Therefore, in avoiding the further deaths, a single death is justified, showing that in such a case, it is not wrongful to send such a person to death. This paper will discuss the causes and the reasons behind the lies made by different individuals, with the intent of showing that lies are a core part of the daily life of each individual, and a part that cannot be avoided – literally speaking. This will help shed more light on the issues and the challenges or circumstances that force people into making lies, as opposed to following the rightful path of telling the truth. From an analysis of the lies made by individuals, it is clear that the factors and the issues – often leading to the making of lies include solving sticky issues, avoiding trouble, protecting others from the truth that may hurt them and as an effort to make certain cases look better than they are. Other reasons for lying include lying so as to identify with certain groups, so as to act as examples for others, for example the case of a parent who tells children lies – that they were brilliant in school, so that the children can work harder. From this discussion, the writer will clearly show that lying or cheating – as wrongful as it may be – is a principal part of everyday life, and a key into effective living (Bakan 124-127; Brown & Levinson 168-174). Literature Review According to the BBC ethics guide, a website feature, lying is most probably the most common wrongful acts that are committed by individuals on a daily basis. The account explains that some researchers are quoted, as saying that lying is a fully unavoidable part of human nature. According to the account, most people would consent that lying is wrong, except in the case where it is committed for a good reason. Also, among the people that hold that lying is wrong, there is the problem that they shut the possibility of saving a certain course or situation, which may have been saved by making one lie. According to Sisela Bok (78), lying is a type of deception, but not all models of deception can qualify to be referred as lies. The account goes further to account that a lie has three basic characteristics, these including that it is made to communicate some information, that the liar plans to mislead, and that the liar is convinced that the information they offer is not right or truthful. However, the author goes further to account that, opposite to the belief of many, a lie does not have to offer false information, or get presented in a malicious manner – or with a wrongful intent. An example offered, is that of white lies, which are offered for good intentions. The definition of a lie, also includes, the case where an individual presents truthful information taking it to be a lie and in the cases of a known liar, who is not able to lie to others, because they know that they always tell lies. Therefore, from the diversity of the lies told, the source shows that lies form a core aspect of everyday