Ironies of Emancipation Essay

The article â€Å"Ironies of Emancipation: Changing Configurations of Women’s Work in the ‘Mission of Sisterhood’ to Indian Women† by Jane Haggis is an article that was written from a feminist perspective to ask specific questions about how the influence of the mission of sisterhood either helped or hurt Indian women in the 1800’s. The author takes the position that Indian women were confined to marriages more acutely because of the presence of female missionaries in India. The author points out that the female missionaries became almost a â€Å"symbol of emancipation in terms of British imperial feminism† and for this reason alone, the Indian population was unhappy with the way the females presented themselves and did not change (Haggis123). The missionary work, in of itself, was â€Å"women’s work† and was a way in which the British women were able to exert their own independence while doing the will of God. This article focuses a great deal on how the religion of the time affected the way in which British and Indian women communicated and interacted with each other and was a reason for the outcome, either the failure or the accomplishments, of the Mission of Sisterhood. The author describes how these women were expected to carry out their â€Å"women’s work† despite the domestic duties that were expected of a Victorian wife and mother, mostly because in Travencore women had a different role in terms of motherhood because their children were often sent away to school to get a proper British education. This left them able to pursue other duties, such as their mission to the Indian women (Haggis 119). This article makes a lot of good points about how British women were involved in missionary work in India in Victorian times and explains their role in their society, both at home and abroad. It’s interesting to note that the Indian women were perhaps kept back because of the influence of these women on their culture, instead of being converted. Work Cited Haggis, Jane. â€Å"Ironies of Emancipation: Changing Configurations of ‘Women’s Work’ in the ‘Mission of Sisterhood’ to Indian Women. † Feminist Review 65 (2000): 108-126. JSTOR. 5 Feb. 2007.

Marketing Philosophy Essay

Efforts of reviewing and modelling marketing elements, concepts and philosophical attitudes were numerous and effective. But with new challenges causing hurdles in making marketing function more effective on macro- and micro- level of the economy, a revision of marketing philosophy is always at place. Elements of marketing philosophy Dibb and Simkin (2004)| Lancaster and Reynolds (2005)| Blythe (2005)| Drummond and Ensor (2005)| Morgan (1996)| 1. Production orientation 2. Financial orientation 3. Sales orientation 4. Marketing orientation 5. Customer orientation 6. Competitor orientation 7. Interfunctional Coordination| 1. Production orientation 2. Sales orientation 3. Marketing Orientation| 1. Production orientation 2. Product orientation 3. Sales orientation 4. Customer orientation 5. Societal marketing 6. Relationship Marketing| 1. Production orientation 2. Product orientation 3. Sales orientation 4. Financial orientation 5. Marketing Orientation| 1. Cost philosophy 2. Product philosophy 3. Production philosophy 4. Sales philosophy 5. Erratic philosophy 6. Marketing philosophy 7. Social marketing philosophy| As indicated in Table 1, authors tend to use various terms for the elements of marketing philosophy: a) ‘orientation’ (Dibb and Simkin, 2004; Lancaster and Reynolds, 2005; Blythe, 2005; Drummond and Ensor, 2005); b) ‘philosophy’ (Morgan, 1996); c) ‘concept’ (Kotler and Armstrong, 2008). Even the Lithuanian authors, who wrote the first university book on marketing, professors Pranulis, Pajuodis, Virvilaite and Urbonavicius (1999, 2000 and 2008) have used the Lithuanian counterpart word ‘orientation’. Following this broad tendency of the term ‘orientation’ usage, here, in this article, the choice of the ‘orientation’ term will be applied. The renowned American professors Kotler and Armstrong (2008, pp.9-12) indicated that their choice of marketing management orientations were as follows: * the production concept, * the product concept, * the selling concept, * the marketing concept. * the societal marketing concept. A similar opinion was expressed by a group of Lithuanian marketing professors, where they classified marketing orientations as follows (Pranulis et al., 1999, 2000): a) production orientation, b) product orientation, c) selling orientation, d) marketing orientation; e) socialethical marketing orientation. Because of the difficulty of incorporating all the various facets of marketing into a single definition, Lancaster and Reynolds (2005) distinguished features of the subject in the following statements (Lancaster and Reynolds, 2005, p.16): †¢ â€Å"Marketing is dynamic and operational, requiring action as well as planning. †¢ Marketing requires an improved form of business organisation, although this on its own is not enough. †¢ Marketing is an important functional area of management, often based in a single physical location. More importantly, it is an overall business philosophy that should be adopted by everybody in the entire organisation. †¢ The marketing concept states that the identification, satisfaction and retention of customers is the key to long-term survival and prosperity. †¢ Marketing involves planning and control. †¢ The principle of marketing states that all business decisions should be made with primary consideration of customer requirements. †¢ Marketing focuses attention from production towards the needs and wants of the market place. †¢ Marketing is concerned with obtaining value from the market by offering items of value to the market. It does this by producing goods and services that satisfy the genuine needs and wants of specifically defined target markets. †¢ The distinguishing feature of a marketing orientated organisation is the way in which it strives to provide customer satisfaction as a way of achieving its own business objectives.† The author of the article proposes the following perception on the classification of marketing orientations, which constitute the marketing philosophy essence: 1) the production orientation, 2) the product orientation, 3) the financial orientation, 4) the selling orientation, 5) the marketing orientation, 6) the market orientation (which extends to internal and external orientations), 7) the social-ethical marketing orientation, 8) the holistic marketing orientation (which extends to internal marketing orientation, integrated marketing orientation, social marketing orientation relationship marketing orientation). The holistic marketing concept was proposed by Kotler and Keller (2007) but it was not mentioned or wider discussed in the textbook of Principles of Marketing (Kotler and Armstrong, 2008), but introduced in their co-operative book on Marketing Management (2007). For this reason, it is viable to include this new orientation in the proposed model (Figure 3), as it integrated at least four other sub-orientations: a) internal marketing orientation, b) integrated marketing orientation, c) social marketing orientation and d) relationship marketing orientation. Internal marketing orientation will be directly dealing with a Marketing Department within an organisation. It will directly subordinate to the senior management level and other organisational department, emphasising the organisational culture and micro-climate, suitable for effective work and success factors in marketing performance. Integrated marketing orientation would focus towards integrated marketing communications, the cost-effective selection of marketing channels and integrated development of products and services within the scope, demand and challenges of the national and international markets. Social marketing orientation would be focusing on the concept of societal marketing proposed by Kotler and Armstrong (2008), where the basic societal marketing triangle is based on the well-being of the community, incorporating the corporate social responsibility of companies and non-profit organisations, legal issues and environmental protection issues, which altogether streamline the sustainable development of the economy and consumption patterns. Relationship marketing orientation would be concerned with fostering the customercompany relationship with consumers, offering value added products and services. This orientation will also foster the company-partner company (B2B) relationship, seeking trust and reliability in partner selection process and its maintenance for coming years. Therefore, marketing channels should be effectively developed to reduce costs and enhance profitability ratios for all three market participants: a) producers, b) distributors and sellers, c) consumers. The market orientation is proposed to be grouped as internal and external orientations. Though Narver and Slater (1990) proposed a model that identified the components of market orientation as: †¢ Customer orientation, which incorporates customers’ perceptions and understanding by customers’ creating value, offering cost-effective solutions to satisfy their needs. †¢ Competitor orientation emphasises one of the marketing’s functions, i.e., to seek competitive advantage in the market. Competitor analysis, performed in various techniques (e.g. PESTED analysis, Porter’s forces analysis, Boston matrix analysis, etc.), gives a company tools to objectively evaluate competitors’ capabilities and results on the market. †¢ Organizational culture if analysed on an individual basis could be either included into market orientation factor or in the holistic marketing orientation, depending how integrative the marketing philosophy is on an organisational level. Organisational culture should support customer service and customer relationship development throughemployee performance prism. †¢ Interfunctional coordination should focus on the interaction between internal functional areas of the organization which best serve customer need and satisfaction, which in other cases would correspond to the relationship marketing orientation (Kotler and Keller, 2007). †¢ Long-term focus would incorporate the consideration of how the above can be sustained, and financially viable, over the long term. In this paper the proposition by Drummond et al (2000) is closer to the author’s perception of market orientation, therefore the constituent parts of the market orientation are considered to be the balance between: a) External market orientation: customers, competitors and other external stakeholders. b) Internal market orientation: employees and other internal stakeholders. Marketing Orientation The term marketing is used extensively in modern life. If you stop someone in the street and ask them what it means, they will probably use words like â€Å"advertising†, â€Å"market research† and† a modern word for selling†. In fact, marketing is a lot more than just selling, advertising and research, although all of these functions are important aspects of marketing. The Chartered Lrstitute of Marketing in the UK defines marketing as follows: â€Å"Marketing is the management process which identifies, anticipates, and supplies customer requirements efficiently and profitably†. So what is marketing orientation? In the next sections we shall explore this. First we will consider what it means for an organisation to adopt a marketing-based business philosophy. We shall then consider the evolution of the marketing concept and look at how marketing orientation has influenced organizational structures in business. An Overview of a Marketing-based Business Philosophy The points below describe marketing and its role in a marketing based business philosophy. We shall then go on to consider a marketing-based philosophy in more detail. * Marketing is a management process, and the support of management for the marketing concept is a key element in its success. Today, a company has to be marketing orientated if it is to be successful. * Marketing is involved with identifying customer requirements – usually with market research. * We have to consider current needs and anticipate the requirements of the customer in the future. This requires planning – a very important aspect of the marketing process. The satisfaction of the needs will require the supplier to provide benefits – the right market offering at the right place at the right time. * Truly market-driven companies adopt strategic level marketing, where marketing has a key role in defining the long-term objectives and mission of the company. In this way, a strategic framework is established whereby the customer is placed at the centre of the organisation’s activities. * Marketing is not just for profit-making companies. Marketing is for any organisation that has customers, and that includes charities and government bodies. Very many selling jobs in fact are in non-profit-making organisations, although very often the people who have those jobs would not think of themselves as salespeople! Marketing is a business philosophy, the process responsible for anticipating, identifying and satisfying customer current and future needs. The marketing philosophy developed out of the need by producer manufacturers, whose focus was on efficient production, to compete more effectively in their markets. They turned their attention away from mass production at lowest unit cost to try to anticipate the specific needs of customers and produce products/services whose benefits would satisfy those needs. Marketing is sometimes referred to as a ‘pull strategy’. The principle is that we understand customer needs and produce products or services, which meet those needs through specific benefits. Customers will want to purchase products or services, which they perceive as meeting their needs and wants. Literature review on marketing challenges in the new millennium The precondition, which fostered to review the challenges for the marketing in the new millennium, was the statements in various forms and shapes, which appeared during the past decade in text books, social networks, media and social forums. The selection of disturbing statements were selected and presented here for the discussion. The biased perception of marketing functions and orientations at the dawn of the new millennium is not compelling. Traditional (conventional) marketing is visualised as a dead function, notwithstanding the critics of modern marketing practice. The critics bring up the issues of lost customers, mass marketing and viral marketing. Therefore, a more fundamental change for marketing is at stake – towards a more personal touch in the field, as well emphasised by Spellings (2009). Boynett and Boynett (2003) in their book on â€Å"The Guru Guideâ„ ¢ to Marketing: A Concise Guide to the Best Ideas from Today’s Top Marketers† have also identified a number of citations, which question the future of marketing and its conventional functionality. It is apparent that marketing is becoming a multi-disciplinary theory, which inevitably incorporates postmodern aspects of the markets and consumption patterns and consumer behaviour. Selected statements on the death of traditional marketing in the new millennium Authors/sources| Statements| Boyett and Boyett (2003, p.1)| Death-of-marketing gurus rationalize their hyperbole by explaining that marketing is in the throes of fundamental change.| World of DTC Marketing (2008)| Conventional marketing is dead†¦| Bishop (2009)| Marketing is dead; long live marketing: Attracting consumers in the post-mass marketing era| Big Marketing Ideas (2009)| The reason we say viral marketing is dead is not because content no longer spreads in the same way – quite the contrary. But the idea that you could create a flash game or a funny video and expect it to get a million hits and downloads within a week is now patently naà ¯ve. | Wymore (2009)| Forget direct mail, television advertising, and other mass media marketing. They just don’t work anymore. Traditional marketing is dead. In other words, these marketing chestnuts simply don’t stand out in today’s noisy media market.| Spellings (2009)| â€Å"Mass Marketing is Dead. Make Way For Personal Marketing†: The days of mass marketing are coming to an end as we enter a new era of personal marketing. Personal marketing will require more work, more preparation, and smarter implementation, but the rewards will be vastly better than the mass marketing approach.| Selected marketing challenges in the new millennium Sutton and Klein (2003)| Blythe (2005)| Kashani (2005)| Brown (2008)| Kotler and Armstrong (2008)| Bishop (2009)| †¢ Increasing market complexity †¢ Accelerating demand for speed to market †¢ Growing need to capture marketing knowledge †¢ Increasing availability of innovative marketing technologies †¢ Escalating demand for marketing efficiency and effectiveness| †¢ Relationship marketing development †¢ Service quality enhancement †¢ Internet marketing development †¢ Marketing ethics †¢ Marketing strategy revisited| †¢ Commoditisation (change in technologies, more informed customer, more intense competition) †¢ Consolidation(mergers & acquisitions) †¢ Power shift †¢ Margin erosion †¢ Value focus| Postmodern challenges: †¢ Hyperreality †¢ Fragmentation †¢ Reversed production and consumption †¢ Decentred subjects †¢ Juxtaposition of opposites| †¢ The new digital age †¢ Rapid globalisation †¢ The call for more ethics and social responsibility †¢ Growth of non-profit marketing| †¢ Aggressive innovations †¢ Building a strong value proposition †¢ Engagement and connection to the customer †¢ Delivering customer experiences at or above expectations| It could be generalised that marketing in the 21st century presents many new postmodern challenges (see Table 3): †¢ shrinking markets, which in effect implies fragmentation and decentralised subjects (Brown, 2008), followed by increasing market complexity (Sutton and Klein, 2003) and market globalisation (Kotler and Armstrong, 2008); †¢ green issues (Blythe, 2005), more marketing ethics (Blythe, 2005; Kotler and Armstrong, 2008) and social responsibility (Kotler and Armstrong, 2008); †¢ marketing strategy revisited (Blythe, 2005) through accelerating the demand for marketing efficiency and effectiveness (Sutton and Klein, 2003) and speed to market (Sutton and Klein, 2003), and aggressive innovations (Bishop, 2009); †¢ advancements in technologies in the digital age (Kotler and Armstrong, 2008), including Internet, commoditisation (Kashani, 2005), communications (Bishop, 2009), internet marketing development (Blythe, 2005), increasing availability of innovative marketing technologies (Sutton and Klein, 2003); †¢ engagement and connection to the customer (Bishop, 2009), through service quality enhancement (Blythe, 2005), delivering customer experiences at or above expectations (Bishop, 2009), rapidly changing public attitudes towards consumption (Sutton and Klein, 2003); †¢ building a strong value proposition (Bishop, 2009) through growing need to capture marketing knowledge (Sutton and Klein, 2003), power shift (Kashani, 2005) and reversed production and consumption (Brown, 2008). Therefore, marketers are facing the re-evaluation of marketing strategy, applying new tools and sophisticated techniques in the new millennium, where changes are of a constant nature. â€Å"Ultimately, the firms who take the greatest care of their customers’ interests are the ones most likely to maintain their competitive edge in a cut-throat world† (Blythe, 2005 p.332). The case of coffee bars: applying marketing orientations and marketing challenges in the new millennium. In practice, each company selects business and marketing philosophy which suits it best. The decision depends on the company’s type, size, products and services it produces, distributes and sells and etc. In order to apply marketing orientations and marketing challenges to a practical situation, two companies in coffee bars sector: a) an international company STARBUCKS (the USA) and b) a national company COFFEE INN (Lithuania). Their briefs and marketing philosophies will be discussed bellow. The case of Starbucks (the USA) Probably one of the most famous brands in the United States and now in the whole world, reflecting the specific lifestyle of the few generations, is definitely Starbucks. Starbucks is the largest coffee-house company in the world, offering a wide range of various coffees, hot and cold coffee and non-coffee drinks, sandwiches and sweet snacks. Founded in 1979, only as a coffee bean retailer Starbucks became a coffee-house selling coffee drinks as well as beans, when its present headmaster Howard Schultz came in and bought the company from its former owners in 1987. Since then, an extraordinary quick expansion in the Unites States, and from 1996 in the whole world, has begun. Now, Starbucks owns approximately 16 000 stores in the world and announces about opening 900 new stores outside United States in 2009 (on the other hand, Starbucks is closing the same amount of stores in the United States) (www.strabucks.com). It is obvious, that such a big success would be impossible without well selected and formulated marketing philosophy. As one of the most innovative companies in the world Starbucks has chosen social-ethical marketing orientation and declares care for the environment and common wealth as well as for people. The main idea of their philosophy is defined in the Starbucks mission statement. Starbucks has two mission statements which are placed in the official company’s website : „To inspire and nurture human spirit – one person, one cup, and one neighbourhood at a timeâ€Å" and „Starbucks is committed to a role of environmental leadership in all facets of our businessâ€Å" (www.strabucks.com). Social-ethical marketing orientation is getting a trendy buzz word, as environmental and ecological problems are on the increase. Some years ago Starbucks was criticised for wasting resources by using paper and plastic cups, for wasting water and even funding Israel army (Vitkus, 2009). Now this company is shown as the best example of environmental friendly business in the business schools around the world. Starbucks announces its corporate social responsibility Annual reports for the public; here the company describes their attention to the employees, customers and the environment, manifesting marketing orientation, marketorientation and holistic marketing orientation. They started to use cups from recycled paper or biodegradable plastic. Social responsibility is also emphasised in their coffee-bars’ design, posters and various promotional campaigns (the integrated marketing sub-orientation in the holistic marketing orientation). According to Pranulis et al (2008), the main idea of marketing orientation is to create the circle of loyal clients rather than one-time buyers. Starbucks could be called a champion in this field too. The chairman of Starbucks Howard Schultz explains, that a person gets more than just coffee when he/she visits Starbucks – „he gets great people, first-rate music and a comfortable and upbeat meeting place† (www.strabucks.com). That’s why people all around the world are willing to pay for coffee more than in other coffee-bars – they buy and experience, not a drink (the selling orientation). According to Howard Schultz, Starbucks build personal relationships with each of their customers (this implies the relationship marketing sub-orientation in the holistic marketing orientation). Even the waiters at Starbucks are called baristas to make them feel exceptional and proud about their workplace, not to feel just simple service workers (internal marketing sub-orientation in the holistic marketing orientation). Another core element of marketing concept (Pranulis et al., 2008, Kotler and Keller, 2007) is to appeal to customers’ needs. Starbucks does everything to achieve its costumers’ satisfaction. They were the first who offered free internet at their coffee-bars and started to open the stores 10 minutes before the actual opening time just to make customers always feel welcome and happy. Viral marketing has also become one of the most important features of Starbucks‘. You can hardly find and advertisement in any newspaper or marketplace, but they build extremely strong relationships by using social networks, internet and mouth-to-mouth marketing, which means Starbucks meets the marketing challenges of a) the digital age, b) value proposition, c) connecting to customers, d) corporate social responsibility, e) green issues and f) overall revised marketing strategy, g) market shrinking factors (as Starbucks was forced to close down 600 coffee-bars in the USA during the economic slowdown (Milasius, 2008)). The case of Coffee Inn (Lithuania) The other company selected for a comparative study is a national company, located only in Lithuania. Coffee Inn is a coffee-bars’ chain opened a few years ago in Vilnius, the capital city of the country. Started from just one coffee-bar, Coffee Inn now owns 7 coffee-bars in Vilnius and one in Kaunas in 2007 (Vaitiekuniene, 2007). At first, Coffee Inn came into the market with the same concept as Starbucks did. It sells coffee and various coffee drinks, served in paper cups, sandwiches and desserts in small, cosy coffee-bars, located in the city centre. The main difference between Starbucks and Coffee Inn is that Starbucks is a big global company (the globalisation challenge) and can afford applying social-ethical marketing orientation, while Coffee Inn is still too small to afford huge investments for various socialprojects and campaigns and it has chosen the marketing orientation. However, Coffee Inn expands constantly, therefore, sooner or later this company will also apply social-ethical marketing oreintation (now Coffee Inn supports various cultural festivals, such as cultural night TebÃ… «nie naktis, or Street music day, not financially, but by helping to promote them, or by prolonging their opening hours during these festivals). The main idea, the co-owner of Coffee Inn Nidas Kiuberis explains, is that they sell a feeling of pleasure rather than just a cup of coffee (Obcarskaite, 2009). It seems extremely similar to Starbucks idea. The waiters are called baristas too, Coffee Inn also offers free internet access and their menu is quite similar to Starbucks one. Lithuanians sometimes even claim that Coffee Inn tries to copy Starbucks. On the other hand, there are a lot of cafeterias offering similar facilities (e.g., Vero Cafe, Double Coffee and etc.), and Coffee Inn is not an exception. However, Coffee Inn is a lot smaller as coffee-bars’ chain than Starbucks and for this reason it is much easier to control it. Being small enables Coffee Inn to be more flexible and to react to customers’ demands and wants quicker and to create new demands and wants at the same time (marketing orientation). Coffee Inn constantly offers new drinks, snacks and other features (product orientation). They were one of the first who invited customers to come together with their pets, set free book collection and invited everyone to come to read or to donate a book (the communication challenge). While talking about customers’ loyalty, new technologies play an important part here too (the technological challenge): Coffee Inn keeps exceptionally close relationships with its customers using Facebook social network, writing the blog and honestly replying to all the letters and comments. The co-owner Nidas Kiuberis maintains the Coffee Inn blog himself – this is very important, as customers notice, that director of the company itself pays attention to their opinion (Milasius, 2008). Nidas Kiuberis explains, they are following â€Å"guerilla marketing† ideas, because it is the best solution for a small business without large budget, where creativity and energy are the most important things (Obcarskaite, 2009). â€Å"Viral marketing and personal blog writing costs nothing and gives better results, than advertisement on TV – your loyalty for customers loyalty, these are the things every company seeks, especially in a crisis time† (Obcarskaite, 2009). As a result, Coffee Inn has created a steady circle of loyal customers, who are indifferent to similar competitors, such as Vero Cafe, offers. The Evolution of the Marketing Concept Marketing is basically about anticipating and serving customer needs, but where does the concept come from? In fact, even though the term â€Å"marketing† quite modern, the idea of customer orientation is as old as trade itself. For example, if we looked at a pre-Industrial Revolution village, we would see a number of trades-people such as the blacksmith at work. These people provided the villagers with what they wanted. There was no question of producing large volumes of goods and assuming that people would take them. Everything was made to order – the customer had needs and the supplier met them. Conclusions In the changing market environment with changing customer behaviour and seeking business opportunities, companies face marketing challenges on a daily basis. In the process of theoretical research, a modified model of marketing orientations, which form the marketing philosophy, was proposed, comprising eight major orientations, where market orientation and the holistic marketing orientation are split into further sub-orientations. The other task for the author was to review and structure marketing challenges in the new millennium and test these issues in two cases of coffee-bars sector on international (Starbucks) and national (Coffee Inn in Lithuania) markets. Starbucks and Coffee Inn both follow similar marketing orientations. Starbucks follows social-ethical marketing orientation as a basis of business, while Coffee Inn is being still guided by the marketing orientation. Both companies sell an experience, rather than just coffee and image is very important for the customers of these companies as they are mainly young people (20-40 years of age, Miksys, 2008). Both companies use viral marketing techniques, though Coffee Inn can create closer relationships with its customers, because it is able to react to changes quicker. Loyal customers could be called the biggest strength and competitive advantage of these companies as they do not compete on price, just by creating exceptional atmosphere.

Sociology Within 1984 by Orwell

Madeline LaRossa October 24, 2012 C07789454 Potential Outcomes of Progress: Orwell’s 1984 1) Summary of the Book 1984 is an eye-opening novel written by George Orwell. Orwell wrote the novel in 1949 to outline how he projected society would be in 1984 if progress continued upon its current track. Orwell published the book as a warning that society must be careful about progress for progress’s sake, or conditions could end up similar to the way society is in his work 1984. The novel is divided into three chapters, or books, each with multiple subunits, and these sections tell the story in chronological order.The book ends with an appendix on the principles of newspeak, the new language of Oceania. The novel follows Winston Smith’s experiences in London in 1984. Smith is a low-ranking member of â€Å"the Party,† the all-controlling ruling entity of their county Oceania. The Party (represented by Big Brother) has telescreens (two-way microphones and cameras) and spies everywhere with the purpose of finding and snuffing out anyone who is not fully and unquestioningly devoted to the Party.The citizens of Oceania are not allowed to own their own property, are not allowed any privacy (even in their thoughts), are not encouraged to have sexual desires, are forced to live under strict rations in constant wartimes, and are forced to alter their memories and records as The Party sees fit. The book focuses on Smith’s secret disobedience of the Party; he thinks he joins an underground resistance movement However, he is eventually captured and tortured into honest belief of everything that the Party and Big Brother claim and represent. 2) Summary of the ChaptersThe beginning of the first chapter takes place in April of 1984 and introduces the reader to the book’s protagonist, Winston Smith. Smith is coming home to his dilapidated apartment building (ironically called â€Å"Victory Mansions†) and reflects both on his troublesom e varicose ulcer and on the large posters plastered everywhere, all advertising the same blown-up face and stating â€Å"Big Brother is Watching You. † The reader learns that although Smith is a low-ranking member of the Party, he is still under their oppressive control. Smith enters his apartment and sits in the alcove in his oom hidden from the telescreen; he proceeds to commit â€Å"thoughtcrime† by writing his true feelings against the Party in his secret diary. In the second and third parts of the chapter, Winston reflects on how there are spies everywhere searching for thoughtcrime and how a parent’s own child will turn him in. Winston thinks about his childhood and how the Party has falsified historical records as they saw fit, even though Winston is not allowed to acknowledge or even be having these thoughts. Winston also reflects on a man named O’Brien, with whom he works and whom he suspects may also secretly question the Party as he does.In the middle of the first chapter, Smith goes to his job at the Party, where he falsifies old records in order to account for the Party constantly switching war enemies and eliminating questioning citizens. While at work, Winston hears an announcement from The Party stating that they are increasing rations, when Winston really knows that they are decreasing them. Winston observes how everyone believes this unquestioningly, but then wonders if he has given himself away when he realizes that a dark-haired woman has been watching him.When he goes home, Smith writes in his diary about how he would love to have a steamy sexual affair because the Party discourages sex for any means other than reproduction. In the close of the first chapter, Smith writes in his diary about how any hope for rebellion lies in the â€Å"proles,† the lowest class in Oceania, and a rumored secretive resistance group called â€Å"The Brotherhood. † Smith considers how bad the conditions are that everyon e lives in, but then realizes that no one has any previous better conditions to compare it to, thanks to the Party altering all historical records.He writes about how he once had concrete evidence that the Party was lying about the past, and he repeats his suspicion that O’Brien shares his sentiments towards the Party. Winston eventually walks into the proles’ district and sneaks into a forbidden shop to buy a paperweight, a relic from the past. As he is leaving the store, he realizes that the same dark-haired girl is watching him and believes that she is a spy for the thought police, and that he has surely been found out and will be eliminated. The second chapter starts with the dark-haired girl slipping Smith a note at work saying that she loves him.The two eventually make secret plans to meet far out in the country, and Smith learns that her name is Julia. The two eventually do meet and have sex hidden out in the countryside, simply for the purpose of pleasure and d efying the Party. Julia and Smith then return to their respective homes, thinking themselves undiscovered. Smith then rents a room above the shop where he previously bought the paperweight. Julia and Smith meet in the room whenever possible to have sex and share in the contraband food and drink they are able to obtain.As the citizens prepare for a large political movement supporting Oceania in its ever-going war, O’Brien makes contact with Smith and arranges a secret meeting between the two, confirming Smith’s suspicions about O’Brien’s disloyalty to the Party. Winston and Julia continue to meet in the room above the shop, and eventually, the two go together to meet O’Brien at his home. O’Brien turns off his telescreen (as he can do this since he is an upper-Party member) and enlists Smith and Julia in The Brotherhood’s secret efforts to overthrow the Party.O’Brien tells them that he will arrange to have The Brotherhood’ s book of missions and truths delivered to Smith, and then bids them on their way. Smith does acquire the book, and the chapter ends with Smith and Julia reading it in their rented room. The book uncovers all of the Party’s lies and lectures on the Party’s ever-increased desire for complete control over all. The next morning, Julia and Smith realize that they have been found out by the Party’s thought police; the two are cornered in their room and restrained into custody. The last chapter opens with Smith locked up in the Ministry of Love, one of the Party’s three departments.Smith is originally still hopeful for the Brotherhood, but he then sees O’Brien there working for the Party; Smith realizes that O’Brien has actually been an undercover member of the Party’s thought police the whole time, and that the Brotherhood has never actually existed. O’Brien begins to torture Smith, trying to impress The Party’s ideals and pr inciples into Smith. Smith initially resists, but after weeks of torture, he yields on all aspects of the Party and its teachings except for one: Smith still refuses to betray his feelings for Julia.Smith is transferred to more comfortable quarters in the department and is content for a while, until he accidentally reveals his prevailing love for Julia. O’Brien brings Smith to the infamous â€Å"Room 101,† where everyone is tortured with his or her worst fear. There, Smith is threatened with rats that will slowly eat him, so he finally renounces his love for Julia. At the very end of the last chapter, the story leaps to when Smith has been released back into society. Smith now honestly believes in everything that the Party does and represents and he respects them whole-heartedly.He runs into Julia by chance, but they both are now different people and go their separate ways. Smith eventually has a fleeting memory of his childhood but quickly dismisses it as a false memo ry, congratulating himself on his victory over himself and his unquestioning love for Big Brother. An appendix follows the last chapter of the book, explaining some of the vocabulary and grammatical structures of Oceania’s official language, New-speak. 3) Relation Between the Book and Class Materials Orwell’s 1984 holds great relevance to the topics we have recently covered in class.First of all, 1984 references, on several occasions, then tendency for people to get drawn into mass sentiments, doing things without knowing why they are doing them. In class, we referred to this as â€Å"collective behavior,† and defined it as â€Å"behavior that doesn’t involve that deliberate interpretation—instead we just get swept up and act as others are acting† (Weinstein, 2012). As an example, we discussed how people get swept up at a basketball game and react favorably simply because everyone around them is doing so, without specifically thinking about or analyzing it.We talked about how this can also lead to â€Å"circular reaction,† when a person reacts off of the person next to them, and then the person next to them reacts based on the original person, and so on, leading to amplification of the original reaction. 1984 touches on this concept several times. Early in the novel, the character Smith reflects on something called â€Å"the Two Minutes Hate,† in which everyone gathers once a day and simply hates and yells out against Oceania’s wartime enemy.Smith realizes that the mass hysteria of everyone around him can even change his own sentiments momentarily, as Orwell writes, â€Å"At those moments his secret loathing of Big Brother changed into adoration, and Big Brother seemed to tower up, like a rock against the hordes of Asia. . . † (Orwell 15). Later on in the book, Smith talks about how the uneducated Proles get swept up into moments of blind patriotism without really knowing or understanding wh at they are rooting for.Smith notices that â€Å"The poles, normally apathetic about the war, were being lashed into one of their periodical frenzies of patriotism† and realizes that the upper Party encourages this behavior in many slick ways, including propaganda and mind control (Orwell 149). Orwell yet again wants us to understand the dangers of this behavior as he writes â€Å"Times beyond number, at Party rallies and spontaneous demonstrations, she [Julia] had shouted at the top of her voice for the execution of people whose names she had never heard and in whose supposed crimes she had not the faintest belief† (Orwell 152).Orwell impresses upon the reader the importance of fighting this mindless behavior since this mindlessness can be very dangerous. We discussed in lecture how historically, people have often gotten swept up into mindless bureaucracy, doing things simply because everyone else is or because it is what they are used to doing or are told to do. We t alked about how dangerous this could be— it can allow a bureaucracy to gain much more power than it ever should be able to, since its citizens do not question the things that the government does and implements, as occurs in 1984.Secondly, the attributes of progress and the ways technology influences it play a large role both in 1984 and in our class discussions. Early on in the work, 1984 overlaps some of the topics we have covered in class as Orwell references some of the various ways that â€Å"progress† is exhibited in a society; Orwell writes, â€Å"The Party claimed, for example, that today forty per cent of adult proles were literate; before the Revolution, it was said, the number had only been fifteen per cent.The Party claimed that the infant mortality rate was now only a hundred and sixty per thousand, whereas before the Revolution it had been three hundred. . . † (Orwell 74). Just as Orwell uses factors such as literacy rates and infant mortality rates to measure progress in society, we also learned in class that these can be important indicators of how a society is changing, as well as death rates and other statistics. Similar to how we learned in class that progress just for progress’s sake must be discouraged as it can lead to detrimental results, Orwell is warning against this very occurrence all through 1984.More specifically, Orwell warns against the dangers of excessive technological advancements: â€Å"Science and technology were developing at a prodigious speed, and it seemed natural to assume that they would go on developing. This failed to happen. . . partly because scientific and technical progress depend on the empirical habit of thought. . . As a whole the world is more primitive today than it was fifty years ago† (Orwell 189).Orwell later warns that technology can indeed ruin our private lives by allowing us to be constantly watched and submitted to endless propaganda. The character Smith reflects upo n this when he says â€Å"Every citizen, or at least every citizen important enough to be worth watching, could be kept for twenty-four hours a day under the eyes of the police and in the sound of official propaganda. . . The possibility of enforcing not only complete obedience to the will of the State, but complete uniformity of opinion on all subjects, now existed for the first time† (Orwell 206).We discussed this very possibility in class when we talked about how citizens of today’s society are created technology that is smarter than us, and about how dangerous this could be towards the safety of our society in the case of a technological revolt. Professor Weinstein also pointed out how excessive technology can make it even easier for government can control us and gain power excessively; he pointed out that the government could be watching us right now through the webcams on our laptops and listening to us through our phones.Additionally, both our class lectures and 1984 reference aspects of a class system and a hierarchal society. First of all, when we discussed in class the characteristics of a bureaucracy, we talked about the concept of ascribed versus achieved statuses. We learned that in the family setting, a status is ascribed—a person is born into their position. However, in a bureaucracy such as that present in 1984, a status is instead something that must be worked for and earned—it is an achieved status. 1984 touches on this in the secret Brotherhood’s book, as the book lectures â€Å"In principle, membership in these three groups is not hereditary.The child of Inner Party parents is in theory not born into the Inner Party. Admission to either branch of the Party is by examination, taken at the age of sixteen† (Orwell 208). In lecture, we learned that since statuses are achieved in a bureaucracy instead of ascribed, the power of the status is held by the position itself, not the person that holds the posit ion. In other words, we learned that in a bureaucracy, a person is simply filling a role that could be filled by anyone; if a person dies or no longer wishes to hold their position, it can quickly be filled by another person.People, or a policeman, for example, only hold power because of their uniform and job, not because of who they are on a personal, individual level. 1984 also teaches this concept; at one point, Julia is expressing how happy she is to finally escape her generic job position in the Party and instead simply be an individual woman as she exclaims, â€Å"In this room I’m going to be a woman, not a Party comrade† (Orwell 142). 4) Relation Between the Book and a Personal Experience 1984 and its teachings hold close relation to a personal experience I recently had.Last week, I had a huge assignment that I was trying to do for one of my classes. I settled in to start working on the paper, but then my phone rang. I picked up because it was my mother, and I e nded up involved in a thirty minute conversation. I eventually hung up with my mother and returned to the paper, but soon after, I heard someone start talking to me from my computer! I soon realized that I had accidentally left my video messaging on on my computer, behind the screen on which I was writing the paper, and one of my friends had seen that I was online and started video chatting me.Since she had started the conversation, I was then obligated to hold a conversation with her in order to not be rude. All the while, I was distracted from working on my assignment. Once we finished talking and I turned off my chat program, I was tempted to check my email before I got back to my paper, but I realized that if I did, I may indeed never get to my paper. This showed me that technology certainly can be dangerous towards progress, not only on a large societal scale, but also as far as the simple task of writing my paper.All of the means of technology that my friends were using to con tact me were simply invading my privacy while I was trying to concentrate and have a private evening to do an assignment. Reading 1984 only supported and increased my awareness of how distracting technology can be, and how dangerous and detrimental it can actually be in the grand scheme of progress. 5) Critique of the Novel 1984 has many positive aspects. I really enjoyed how Orwell used a fictional situation to teach readers and warn them against dangerous conditions rather than simply lecturing the readers about what they should and should not be doing.I liked this because even though a lecture-style presentation of material teaches important concepts, I feel that putting these concepts into a theoretical story helps the reader to remember the concepts and understand how they can be practically applied in real life. Although the ending is sad for the reader (as it extinguishes all hope that anyone could hold out against the Party’s mind control and excessive practices), I l iked it because I thought it was important to drive Orwell’s teachings home.I felt that this ending was necessary because through the way things ended, Orwell showed that if society continued as it was in 1949, conditions would eventually get so bad that even the smartest individuals would not be able to undermine and revolt against the political entity, and there would be no hope. I feel that this was necessary because it shows just how important it was that people altered the path down which society was headed. I am hard-pressed to find anything that I dislike about Orwell’s work.At some points during the first half of the book, I wondered if Orwell’s long and detailed description of the conditions and unspoken rules of Oceania was really necessary, but as I read farther in the book, I realized that all of the descriptions were indeed necessary so that the reader would fully understand and grasp all of the terrors that were in store if society’s current track was not derailed. All in all, I really enjoyed this book, and it helped me to further understand many concepts that we discussed in lecture.When it was published in 1949, 1984 was, and remains as such now, an eye-opening warning of the way our lives will change if we ever allow our society and government to run away with itself by striving for progress simply for progress’s sake. Citations Orwell, George. 1984. New York: Penguin Group, 1949. Weinstein, Jay. Class Lecture. The Components of Change. University of Miami, Miami, Florida. 9 October 2012. Weinstein, Jay. Class Lecture. The Engines of Change. University of Miami, Miami, Florida. 16 October 2012.

Discourse Analyse of the Simpsons Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Discourse Analyse of the Simpsons - Essay Example 1. Why does everything have to be a movie? 2. The Simpsons has been tooling along for 18 years now as a TV show 3. and genuine cultural institution 4. and even if its quality has dipped in the last few years, 5. it remains ideally consumed in half-hour increments, perhaps with the occasional extra-long episode. 6. The adventures of the titular family 7. and the dozens of eccentric characters who inhabit Springfield are generally fast-paced 8. and densely packed with jokes, 9. with absurd plots that would fall apart 10. if stretched beyond sitcom length. 11. That’s not a flaw; 12. it’s a perfect recipe for a good TV show. 13. But now we have The Simpsons Movie, a feature-length version of the show that has some snazzier animation 14. but otherwise amounts to a decent oversized episode. 15. For dedicated fans, especially those who remain regular viewers in the show’s later years, this will probably be enough.

Mexican American War Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Mexican American War - Research Paper Example The Mexican-American War, also known as the First American Intervention came with social, political and economic factors which impacted civilians in both the US, and Mexico. This particular war was an armed conflict between the US and Mexico, which began in 1846 and lasted until 1848. The war was caused because the US had just annexed Texas and added it to its states in 1845. Regardless of the Texas revolution, Mexico considered Texas to be part of its territory. Texas was admitted to the Union as the 28th state of the United States. Because of its admittance, the US inherited the Mexican boarder dispute by default. This became a problem therefore creating the current war at hand. Not only did the US connect only Texas, but they continued to capture more territory which extended the nation’s boarders all the way to the Pacific Ocean. This acquisition of more territory was known as the Mexican Cessesion which occurred back in1848. This Cession is currently known as the southwes tern region of the United States. This region can be divided into pacific time and mountain time. This Cession was ceded by Mexico during the Treaty of Guadelupe back in 1848. It was a peaceful treaty dictated by the United States and it eventually ended the Mexican-American war which lasted a daunting two years. ... It was torn apart by angry internal political mini battles that could have created a civil war. It had a lot of debt and so it started relinquishing its rights to different states to help pay off the massive debt acquired during other wars. Mexico decided that Texas had little value compared to California and its richness and so relinquishing its rights would not be so difficult. There were several negotiators which greatly affected the results of the war. Because the negotiations were done in a peaceful manner, they were referred to as â€Å"peace talks†. Nicholas Trist, the chief Clerk of the state department, accompanied General Winfield Scott as a diplomat and President Polk’s representative. They found no previous success in coming to an agreement so they reluctantly decided that they would have to view Mexico and their chief leaders as conquered enemies in order to get the job done. The special commission representatives were Don Bernardo Couto, Don Miguel Artrist an, and Don Luis Gonzaga Cuevas of Mexico. The war itself created social factors which lead to unity and unrest. Social factors impact people all over the world. During the Mexican-American war, a huge wave of immigrants permeated the United States. Several factors contributed to the wave of Mexican immigrants. The first was the Reclamation act of 1902 which expanded acres of farmland through new immigration projects. This pushed the need for agricultural workers. The Mexican revolution and the political and violent instability pushed people out of their country and into the United States. Possibly the most important social factor was the growth of the U.S. economy which attracted several thousand immigrants to its territory. Once moved to the US, most Mexican migrants

Zidane's Last Red Card Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Zidane's Last Red Card - Case Study Example The paper also explores the advantages and disadvantages of an institution ignoring its regulations. It does not make sense for FIFA to have an offensive behavior regulation that they effectively ignore. This is because rules and regulations are sets of guidelines that regulate conducts in an organization or association. It is one of the sources of law, applicable under trade and customs, if the regulations are consistent with written law and natural justice. The rules therefore serve the same purpose as the law, at least within the organization’s jurisdiction. FIFA’s regulations are therefore aimed at achieving such objectives as maintaining order in football matches, molding behavior, and ensuring that its subjects are treated equally. A move to compromise these purposes of the regulations therefore renders them meaningless and their creation unnecessary (Jennings, 2010, p. 6, 7). One of the advantages of an organization having regulations that it can ignore is the ability to preserve its ‘self-interest’. The regulations, especially in cases of internal conflicts where the parties submit to resolutions, can solve a dispute without interference from legal systems. Such rules therefore facilitate reconciliatory processes for organization’s stability. The ability to ignore a regulation also helps an organization to protect its image before the public. This is because even though the regulation may have good intentions, the public may not understand its implementation. Another advantage of the avoidable regulations is that their compromise leads to solutions that cannot be achieved through strict implementation of rules. Such types of problems include disputes with political significance (Bercovitch, Dean and Jackson, 2009, p. 57). One of the disadvantages of having rules that can be ignored is that it can highly compromise justice. This is because it leads to partiality. Parties to the organization may also lose confidence in the

Neo-Surrealism - Alejandro Jodorowsky Term Paper

Neo-Surrealism - Alejandro Jodorowsky - Term Paper Example The essay "Neo-Surrealism - Alejandro Jodorowsky" discusses surrealists and, especially, Alejandro Jodorowsky. Surrealists also believed in the omnipotence of dreams. After the surrealist movement, like many other movements, certain people felt that theirs was still more that could be derived from the movement, particularly as it concerned their time; so they brought it back. These set of people that decided to bring back surrealism in their own age, are the neo-surrealists. One of them is Alejandro Jodorowsky. Alejandro Jodorowsky is known to be a man of many parts; he is an author, a spiritual leader, filmmaker, playwright and an actor. Many of his works shift towards avant-gardism. His works are not like the average work that would be found in the time they were produced. Even now, his work will still be strange, at least in the surreal sense, yet they still apply to present times. They are often filled with images that are violent and surreal. They are also filled with a mix of r eligious mysticism and provocation. As a result of the â€Å"never-do-well† feature that can be found in many of his movies, one would realize that there seems to be continuity in his works. Jodorowsky’s move into surrealism did not start all of a sudden. There are insinuation that it may have started since the time he was very young. In fact, he may be said to have really had every course to embrace the movement as he did. Being raised in a family that he hated would have definitely taken its toll on him. (Jodorowsky 39-40, 140). He also had contempt for the people who lived in his neighbourhood because most of them saw him as an imposter, as a result of the fact that he is the son of an immigrant (Jodorowsky 39-40, 140). All these experiences inadvertently had effects on the kind of works he produced, although not exactly in the manner in which it had happened to him. In â€Å"El Topo†, in which he starred and also directed, Jodorowsky may be said to have depicted a version of the uncertainties of life. As always, he does this by presenting a dream-like world. Yet, one would discover that, because no literature can totally annul its link with real life, â€Å"El Topo† is very much a story that can happen in real life. It is about a Mexican brigand who takes on a journey with the sole end of enlightening himself spiritually. Yet, while on the journey with his young son, he seems to be unable to take away his violent part. The violence depicted in this movie may have som ething to do with the director’s upbringing. He attacks people before he kills himself. He later ascends to society where deformed people are unable to escape the cave where they are. Like in almost all his movies, he depicts a distorted reality. We, as humans, all have the idea of what is perfect, yet most times we do not attain it. The best we often do is to aim at it because in reality, perfection cannot be attained because our reality is distorted. Of â€Å"El Topo†, Jodorowsky (97) says "I ask of film what most North Americans ask of psychedelic drugs. The difference being that when one creates a psychedelic film, he need not create a film that shows the visions of a person who has taken a pill; rather, he needs to manufacture the pill". Against music provided by a six-piece rock band, a set consisting of a smashed automobile, and the visual frisson provided by a cast of bare-chested women (each body painted a different color), Jodorowsky appeared dressed in motor cyclist leather. He slit the throats of two geese, smashed plates, had himself stripped aholynd whipped, danced with a honey-covered

Tyre punctures Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Tyre punctures - Assignment Example Also, the causes and prevention of tyre punctures is discussed. Introduction A tyre puncture or a flat tyre is when the tyre starts riding on the rim of the wheel or the ground. This situation may cause potential damage to the tyre or the loss of control on the vehicle. Though it is a very common situation as it happened because of the everyday extensive usage of vehicles, it has serious consequences. Tyre punctures are easily repairable. They may happen most commonly in vehicles because of some sharp object that lets the air of the tyre release leaving it punctured. The tyre may be collapsed according to the size of the puncture, as the air may be released rapidly or slowly. Driving with a flat tyre can be very dangerous and may cause accidents. When a driver realizes that he has a punctured tyre, he should slow down and stop his car to get it repaired. According to one of the reports, 10% of motor vehicles were damaged because of a tyre puncture. Thus, to be able to drive safely an d avoid tyre punctures, drivers should be aware and focus on the prevention of tyre punctures. One of the best ways to avoid the flat tyres is to drive on proper and safe roads. Drivers should avoid driving on rough roads, construction sites or over debris. These areas may contain objects that puncture the tyre. There may be other serious causes of tyre punctures. There is a valve stem in the tyre, and if there is a failure of or damage to the valve stem, the tyre can release the air and be punctured. Furthermore, there are also issues related to vandalism in which the air is intentionally released from the tyre. Excessive rubbing of the tyre with the road or a collision with any object can also cause the tyre to be punctured. Old tyres or over used tyres can be weak and can allow the rough roads to tear them up. Such tyres should be immediately changed for a better and safe driving (Freitag, 2002, p.8) Global Issues The tyres and their use is a global phenomenon. Not only are there common reasons and consequences related to the tyre punctures, in fact there are also many global issues that are associated with the use of tyres and tyre punctures. Healthy tyres are very important as they tend to allow the motor vehicles to be safe and lower the risk of tyre punctures. In Saudi Arabia we can see many of these global issues that can be related to the tyre punctures. Statistics show that Saudi Arabia was one of those countries where most road accidents and tyre damages have been seen. These are because of many reasons and causes. To start with, global weather is one of the main issues because of which tyres are damaged and punctured. Since tyres are filled with air, it is very important to manage the air in the tyre and the air pressure. If any part of this is affected, it will damage the tyre and more generally cause a tyre puncture. The global weather, specifically the changes in global weathers will deeply affect the tyres. There are summer impacts and winter i mpacts both. Tyres need to be safe and healthy so that there are less chances of risking motor vehicles on the roads. Good tyres will also prevent road accidents. Both the types of weathers can have different effects on the tyre. Thus, drivers should take every measure to prevent the tyres from damaging during the extreme weather. As the summer season starts, there are many warnings given to the drivers to prevent their

Service Marketing Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Service Marketing - Article Example Among these major sectors retail industry has undergone a spurt growth as a result of the emergence and mushrooming of departmental stores and malls in many cities. Many reasons can be attributed to this unprecedented growth and the insatiable appetite of the never satisfied consumers seems to the major reason. This paper examines the marketing issues and challenges of retail banking in the UK with special reference to HSBC in the banking sector. The paper attempts to dwell on the intricacies of service marketing that may arise in the efforts to sell financial services of the bank. Retail banking is not a new buzzword in the banking industry as banks have been providing retail banking services since its inception. But, the retail spurt in banking industry has only a few years history. Retail banking means and includes all dealings and transactions of a bank with its individual customers. In the words of Shyamala Gopinath, Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India, "Retail banking is, however, quite broad in nature - it refers to the dealing of commercial banks with individual customers, both on liabilities and assets sides of the balance sheet. Fixed, current / savings accounts on the liabilities side; and mortgages, loans (e.g., personal, housing, auto, and educational) on the assets side, are the more important of the products offered by banks. Related ancillary services include credit cards or depository services" (Gopinath, 2005, 1). In her opinion, "Today's retail banking sector is characterized by three basic characteristics: Multiple products (deposits, credit cards, insurance, investments and securities); Multiple channels of distribution (call centre, branch, Internet and kiosk); and Multiple customer groups (consumer, small business, and corporate)" (Gopinath, 2005, 1). Over the last few years, retail banking in the country has been experiencing a tremendous innovation and spectacular growth owing to the rapid advances in information technology, financial sector reforms, growth of the country, increasing per capita income and several micro level demand- and supply-related factors. The retail loan segment shows an unprecedented growth in the country and there seems to have a boom in the housing sector, though badly affected by the US sub prime crisis. The official source of one of the successful retail bank (KPMG Bank) in the country states that "here are some exciting opportunities in emerging markets, driven by rapid GDP and population growth. In the mature markets branch banking is being revitalized and multi-channel delivery continues to evolve. Mobile payments and pre-paid cards are taking off and ageing populations are helping to drive demand for new and different products" (Retail Banking). All these can be attributed as the reasons for the su dden growth of retail banking in the UK. In terms of the economic benefits and its contribution to the populace, retail banking in the country assumes much significance. The British Bankers Association in its manifesto remarks "In 2002, UK financial services account for 5.3 % of the UK economy and it provided for 1 million jobs, which is around UK's 3.5% of total UK employment. The UK is one of the cheapest countries in the world to bank in, with free 'if in credit' banking being a unique national feature of UK bank accounts. The cost to

Comparative Analysis of German, French and American Human Rights Law Essay

Comparative Analysis of German, French and American Human Rights Law - Essay Example This essay discusses that crucial importance of political rights and liberties in today’s evolving and fast-changing world cannot be overemphasized. It has been opined that political rights and liberties are of paramount importance because of their impact on other rights, such as social and economic rights. The universal condemnation of state-sponsored repression is due in large part to the globalized ideal of human rights where we see a whittling down of the concept of sovereignty in favor of the acceptance of international norms of human rights. Indeed, the protection of human rights is one of the fundamental aspirations of international law. In international law, the primacy of the State is the core principle of the international legal regime as it is traditionally known. It is the duty of international law, therefore, to interlock authority with power, and to ensure that authorized decision-makers regulate the actions of States. When the United Nations was created in 1948 by a world still reeling from the ravages of the Second World War and intent on healing the wounds wrought by it, it was tasked to become the primary agency in defining and advancing human rights. From then on, various other agencies were created, addressing specific human rights concerns. Notable examples of this are the International Labor Organization and the UNICEF. Within the jurisdiction of the individual states, however, human rights legislation evolves mainly as a result of case law, i.e., the jurisprudence based on decisions made by the Supreme Court on human rights disputes brought before it. Indeed, Indeed, society has come a long way towards preserving human rights, and righting the wrongs of the past with justice and accountability. Says Abrams and Ratner3: Societies long reluctant to investigate or prosecute human rights abusers have begun to do so with greater frequency. These include both those inquiring into the abuses of their own officials or former officials, as well as those investigating or prosecuting individuals who have committed abuses in other countries. This paper attempts to trace the role that case law has played in the legal systems of Germany, France and the United States with respect to the development and evolution of human rights. This paper shall also look into some of the more important and landmark decisions made in the respective jurisdictions and evaluate the degree to which these decisions have impacted on human rights. As the space for this paper is rather limited and the field of human rights is vast, this paper will focus on human rights law as it applies to freedom of religion and circumstances when it competes with the interests of the state to preserve certain values, e.g., neutrality and national security. Germany When people think of Germany and human rights law and religion, thoughts inevitably first turn to the end of the second world war, where Nazi soldiers had been prosecuted for gross war crimes committed against the Jews. The end of World War II ushered in a milestone for international criminal responsibility. The axis powers were completely annihilated and the allied powers were now determined not to repeat the mistakes of the past. It was only through punishing the guilty that the horrors and wounds of the victims could be assuaged. The allied states created the International Military Tribunal (IMT) for the prosecution of the men

Plurality of Law in the United Kingdom Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 2

Plurality of Law in the United Kingdom - Essay Example Both of these concepts of UK Parliamentary sovereignty are compromised by the UK’s accession to the EC.1 This fact together with the UK’s accession to international treaties and conventions and the application of common law ultimately means that the UK constitution is subject to two underlying and conflicting principles. These two conflicting principles are Parliamentary sovereignty and a plurality of sources of law in the UK. There is a concern and perhaps some measure of optimism that the plurality of sources of applicable law in the UK will eventually limit, if not eliminate the concept of Parliamentary sovereignty and that this would be progressive development. This paper argues, however, that the introduction of a plurality of laws in the UK is only made possible by the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty. Just as parliamentary sovereignty permitted the introduction of a plurality of sources of law it can just as easily reverse this application of a plurality of sources of law. Therefore, while a plurality of sources of applicable laws might challenge the concept of parliamentary sovereignty in practice, theoretically, parliamentary sovereignty continues to provide for a reversal of this approach. A.V. Dicey’s description of the constitutional rule of law envisioned by the UK’s concept of Parliamentary sovereignty puts the strength and endurance of UK Parliamentary sovereignty in its proper perspective. Dicey maintains that the UK’s constitution is built around three significant principles. First, the rule of law renders the government accountable to the public. Secondly, the public is also accountable to the rule of law. Thirdly, the constitution sets out the framework by which the judiciary are made accountable for the administration of law.2 In describing the UK constitution, Dicey goes further to state that this constitutional framework is made possible by the fact that Parliament enjoys â€Å"total power†, and this is a basis of parliamentary sovereignty.

Reasons Behind Colonial Settlements in North America Essay Example for Free

Reasons Behind Colonial Settlements in North America Essay As a whole, I believe economic development had a larger impact on colonial settlement than religious concerns, but this varies with the individual colonies. Each colony had something different to offer England and a different motive for settling. New England came about because the Puritans and Separatists wanted a place to worship free the original Church of England. Virginia, on the other hand, was established at first as a trade colony and base for gold and precious metal expeditions. The Maryland colony was founded in order to further the cultivation of certain crops like tobacco. Religion was by no means pushed away in the colonies. It was a strong and meaningful force for almost all colonists; it Just wasnt always their driving force. England held economic control over all colonies and did not let anything get in the way of that. Virginia became an agricultural settlement that brought large amounts of money to Britain. Religion was important and valued higher than everything except money. The colony of Maryland was given by Charles I to George Calvert, whose son (Cecilius Calvert) allowed freedom of religion to all Christian settlers in the colony. That was the biggest difference between Maryland and Virginia, who both became agricultural societies fairly quickly. Indentured servants were shipped to work the fields, which created a populous community and a strong economy. New England was created for more than Just a place for the Puritans and Separatists to worship freely. Because of American influence in English lifestyle (mainly food), the population doubled, leading to high inflation, a very unbalanced wealth distribution, and a plummeting economy. As a result of overpopulation and poverty, people were drawn to North America. Among the attracted people were Puritans and Separatists, who could both escape poverty and start a new colony based off of their own religious beliefs. These people were rebels in the eyes of the English hierarchy, and therefore received much less funding and support from the government. New England evolved as more of a family friendly colony than the Chesapeake Bay colonies, which were more business and economically focused. The Chesapeake Bay colonies were established by the English government for the sole purpose of economic development, while New England was founded by religious leaders escaping English intolerance. The Massachusetts Bay Company was moved to New England, along with the addition of three thousand Puritans by the year of 1643. The area sprouted busy seaports in coastal towns and farms in agricultural. As the population grew, New England became more financially inclined. Compared to other European societies, English colonies were as equally everyday life centered as economically centered. They brought their culture, religion, and everyday life to North America. New England and the Chesapeake Bay colonies had different personalities and goals when it came to economic, religious, and settling beliefs. The economy was a focus point for both colonies, but especially the Chesapeake bay colonies, while religion was the founder of New England.

Impact and Implications of International Trade Agreements

Impact and Implications of International Trade Agreements It also requires from its signatories to extend most-favoured-nation (MFN) status to other trading partners participating in the WTO. MFN status means that each WTO member receives the same tariff treatment for its goods in foreign markets as that extended to the â€Å"most-favoured† country competing in the same market, and in consequence eliminating any possible preferences or discriminatory activities. In 1995 the GATT became the World Trade Organization (WTO), which now encompasses more than 140 member countries, oversees four important international trade agreements: the GATT, the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), and agreement on trade-related intellectual property rights and trade-related investment, which are called respectively TRIPS and TRIMS. Furthermore, GATT permits the formation of free trade areas and customs unions among WTO members. Free trade areas are characterized by elimination of all of tariffs on trade with each of the member countries, with simultaneously remaining autonomous in terms of determining their tariffs with non-members. One of the examples for such an area is included in the objectives of European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which is composed primarily of Scandinavian countries. A customs union constitutes a group of countries that eliminate all tariffs on trade among themselves but maintain a common external tariff on trade with countries outside the union. A good example of a formation of a customs union was the European Economic Community (EC) that came into force with the Treaty of Rome signed in 1957 by France, Germany, Italy and the Benelux. The Treaty provided for the establishment of a common market, a customs union and common policies[1]. Nowadays it is known as the European Union (EU), it includes twenty-seven European countries and it has gone beyond simply reducing barriers to trade among member states and forming a customs union. EU has achieved its greater economic integration by becoming a common market, which coordinates and harmonizes each country’s tax, industrial and agricultural policies. Many members have also formed a single currency area by replacing their domestic currencies with the euro. Nevertheless, many trade agreements not including duty reduction schemes are later on completed with the objective to arrange an FTA in the future. In cases of agreements including non WTO members, it is usually specified in the agreement that MFN rates will (continue to) be applied. Among many agreements without duty reduction schemes we can enumerate, for instance, the already mentioned Bilateral Investment Agreement (BIT), which set forth actionable standards of conduct that applies to the nation’s government in their treatment of foreign investors, including i.a. fair and equitable treatment, protection from expropriation and free transfer of means with full protection and security[2]. The amount of signed BIT’s has been constantly increasing, since 1990s from 446 signed agreements to over 2500 active BITs in 2007, according to United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)[3]. To other agreements without duty reduction schemes we can include Foreign In vestment and Protection Agreements (FIPA), Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), Economic Framework Agreement, or Partnership Cooperation Agreement. The growing trend of signing international trade agreements is irreversible in any region of the globe, and is becoming a dominant factor influencing immensely all of the international economic relations nowadays. The more of them are signed, the more urgent the need to assess their actual impact. Thus, it is crucial to correctly evaluate the potential impact of the agreements, especially during theirs negotiation phase. In the recent years there has been a large demand for impact assessment studies of trade agreements, both before and after negotiations. Conducting solid studies concerning their impact is considered to be particularly important for developing countries, because they need to adjust their policies in a way to diminish or completely avoid the possible negative effects and maximize potential benefits. Nevertheless, accurate impact assessment methodology it is not easy from the technical point of view, mainly because of the lack of economic theories which specialize in d eveloping countries. Thus, due to insufficient appropriate knowledge and support, it is difficult for the governments of developing countries to conduct a relevant policy from the economic studies[4]. Furthermore, in conducting an impact assessment analysis of the International Trade agreements it is important to be able to evaluate all of the potential gains, difficulties and implications. Economic theory since the middle of the 18th century has implied numerous advantages in lowering tariffs for most parties in most situations, and economists view the commitment to trade liberalisation as a welfare-maximizing pursuit. The main gain from trade was considered to derive from specialization on the basis of comparative advantage. Income is considered to be growing more rapidly in countries open to international trade than in those more closed to trade. This phenomenon is dramatically illustrated in China’s rapid growth after 1978, and India’s after 1991. These dates indicating when major trade reforms took place in those countries[5]. However we have to keep in mind, that although trade liberalisation in the form of international trade agreements may contribute to the overall national welfare, it is also responsible for disruptive consequences within societies by producing losers and gainers, such as import-competing industries and consumers respectively. Besides economic gains and losses, trade agreements also provide important political outcomes to the parties involved, as a consequence of facilitated international cooperation, institutionalized rules of reciprocity, monitoring and enforcement. It is especially important in terms of conducting impact assessment analyses of trade agreements for developing countries as I have previously written, for which they constitute an important institutional context within which they can build up their coalitions and improve their bargaining position in the global market. Moreover, developing countries prefer more defined rules and greater enforcement capacity. The main reason for this is the fear of marginalization or peripherality, namely the inability of developing countries to take advantage of trade liberalisation and emerging as full players in the international system[6]. Due to their international as well as domestic weaknesses, usually caused by their colonial past, these countries are more of the rule-takers rather than agenda-setters. As an illustration, countries like Brazil and India despite taking part in many negotiations they have repeatedly complained about their concerns being disregarded. The same applies to smaller d eveloping countries which have found it difficult to even take part in key decision making meetings. In addition, there even exist a phenomenon called â€Å"Third World Schizophrenia†, which was used by Mohammed Ayoob in his article â€Å"The Third World in the System of States: Acute Schizophrenia or Growing Pains?†[7] It illustrates the behaviour of developing countries trying to bring about systemic changes and aiming at adjusting to an international order, but as a result of their vulnerabilities and their past they also have the incentive to preserve the existing system of rules that ensures their very survival. As a consequence of these two pressures, decision-making centres of these countries are faced with conflicting demands, and thus this situation is referred to either as schizophrenic, or similar to the growing pains of adolescence. International trade agreements and the liberalisation process that follows them, besides being economically beneficial, it is also very often politically feasible. Due to the fact that some countries are legally binded by multilateral trade organizations and agreements, their lack of commitment may have punitive consequences of various types, depending on the nature of the agreement and its enforcement mechanism. Thus, governments tend to hide behind the possible consequences of lack of obedience that could range from the international disapproval to compensation of all the costs incurred as a result of this country’s actions. By claiming that their international commitments bind them to act freely, they are able to justify especially unpopular actions that are supposed to have longer-term benefits, and not solely in trade manners. This is why many of the programmes of economic and restructuralization reforms from the 1980s and 1990s, in particular those involving both controv ersial and possible distributive consequences for the society, were hidden in the shadow of international economic agreements and organizations[8]. Thus, it comes as no surprise that historically, countries have been reluctant to reduce trade barriers and enthusiastic to raise them, even though the classical trade theory states that gains from trade accrue to any country that lowers their trade barriers, irrespectively of what other countries do. Despite this promise of economic benefits coming from free trade, many states have chosen the path of protectionism throughout history. An example can be found in the case of the Great Depression period, when following the stock market crash of 1929, the US Congress adopted the Smoot Hawley Tariff Act in 1930 that raised US tariffs to an average of nearly 60% interest[9]. Explanation of this behaviour comes from the economic theory and the notion of â€Å"optimal tariff†, which tells us that it may be in the interest of a large economy to restrict trade at a certain â€Å"optimal† level, as it will be a change of the terms of trade in its favour. This obviously does not apply to small economies, for which liberalisation of trade or lack of it may bring different results, conditioned by many economic, political and social factors. For large economies this situation looks different, thus the optimal tariff may appear as a good solution to some of them. However, is it really an efficient one? The interpretation of this problem in terms of the game theory would imply that even though it is in each country’s interest to impose restrictions, the outcome of such action might be inefficient, especially in the long-term calculation. Once one large country will impose restrictions, the other might as well follow this behaviour, which would result in the overall decrease of global market efficiency and economic welfare. Thus, the best way of preventing such a mutually destructive situation from happening is by ensuring mutual reciprocity in trade commitments, which increases the economic gains as well as the output. In any case, mutual reciprocity being a foundation for most of the concluded trade agreements all over the world does not always guarantee their success. Multilateral trade agreements and organisations, such as the WTO, have been accused of inefficiency due to the problem with maintaining and extending the liberal world trading system, slow pace of trade liberalisation negotiations, and inadequate requirements for consensus among the members, which immensely limits the possible scope of reform of trade agreements. Moreover, some sectors such as trade in agriculture, textiles and apparel have not experienced any significant cuts in tariffs, and thus they had much less success, especially in comparison with, for instance, industrial goods. According to UNCTAD data, non duty-free trade still faces an average tariff of about 7% in manufacturing and about 18% in agriculture. All these arguments have raised many concerns, and in consequence many countries have turned away from the multilateral process toward more preferential agreements such as bilateral, or regional ones. An example of such an agreement is the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which went into effect in January 1994. Under its terms United States, Canada and Mexico collectively agreed to phase out all tariffs on merchandise trade and to reduce restrictions on service trade as well as foreign investment over a decade[10]. Besides that there exist numerous trade agreements between particular countries, or group of countries, and their number is constantly increasing. It has been particularly observed in terms of Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs). As of early 2014, there were more than 300 PTAs in force, about half of which also covered services. In 2013, almost half of world trade was taking place between countries that had signed a PTA and almost a third was regulated by deep trade agreements[11]. This increase in PTAs is mostly attributed to the greater promotion of trade among the parties that are signing a PTA, but it is also a good alternative for countries when multilateral negotiations run into difficulties. Moreover, it contributes to the emergence of â€Å"competitive liberalisation†, wherein countries are challenged to reduce trade barriers to keep up with the rest of the world. For instance, after NAFTA was signed and implemented, the EU aimed at signing an FTA with Mexico, in order to ensure that European goods would not be at a competitive disadvantage in the Mexican market. On the other hand, there are still many disadvantages associated with PTAs, such as discriminatory exclusion of certain countries, or the inability to reform certain issues, such as agricultural export subsidies on the bilateral or regional level[12]. Predominantly, it appears that international trade is increasingly more regulated and influenced by policies and instruments reaching beyond tariffs. As of 2013, technical measures and requirements coming from free trade liberalization and international trade agreements regulated about two-thirds of the world trade[13]. Both multilateral and preferential agreements will remain the future of the global economy, shaping its flows and regulating the distribution of wealth. There will always be pressures to include more standards and regulations, and there will always be those that argue that such agreements serve the interests of multinational corporations and not regular citizens. Nevertheless, keeping in mind that free trade contributes to the transfer of technology and knowledge, which is especially important for the developing countries in terms of improved economic welfare, we can not simply despise this concept without accurately evaluating all of its losses and gains. Internation al trade agreements do provide us with a greater measure of certainty in international relations, and they do provide developing countries with one of the few safeguards that they have against the powerful high-income countries. However, it is safe to say that they will continue to generate controversy, and there will always be an intense public discussion surrounding them, and the impact they make. [1] Europa, Summaries of EU legislation. Available from: http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/institutional_affairs/treaties/treaties_eec_en.htm>. [6 January 2015]. [2] Legal Information Institute, Bilateral investment treaty. Available from: http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/bilateral_investment_treaty>. [6 January 2015]. [3] United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Quantitative data on bilateral investment treaties and double taxation treaties. Available from: http://unctad.org/en/Pages/DIAE/International Investment Agreements (IIA)/Quantitative-data-on-bilateral-investment-treaties-and-double-taxation-treaties.aspx>. [6 January 2015]. [4] Plummer M. G., Cheong D., Hamanaka S., ‘Methodology for Impact Assessment of Free Trade Agreements’, Asian Development Bank 2010, pp. 7-9. [5] Library of Economics and Liberty, International Trade Agreements. Available from: http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/InternationalTradeAgreements.html>. [6 January 2015]. [6] Narlikar A., ‘The World Trade Organization: A Very Short Introduction’, Oxford University Press Inc., New York 2005, pp. 7-8. [7] Ayoob M. ‘The Third World in the System of States: Acute Schizophrenia or Growing Pains?’, International Studies Quarterly, vol. 33, no. 1, 1989, pp. 67-79. [8] Narlikar A., ‘The World Trade Organization: A Very Short Introduction’, Oxford University Press Inc., New York 2005, pp. 6-7. [9] Narlikar A., ‘The World Trade Organization: A Very Short Introduction’, Oxford University Press Inc., New York 2005, pp. 3-7. [10] Library of Economics and Liberty, International Trade Agreements. Available from: http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/InternationalTradeAgreements.html>. [6 January 2015]. [11] ‘Key Statistics and Trends in Trade Policy 2014’, Trade Analysis Branch (TAB), Division on International Trade in Goods and Services, and Commodities (DITC), UNCTAD Secretariat, pp. 10-11. [12] Library of Economics and Liberty, International Trade Agreements. Available from: http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/InternationalTradeAgreements.html>. [6 January 2015]. [13] ‘Key Statistics and Trends in Trade Policy 2014’, Trade Analysis Branch (TAB), Division on International Trade in Goods and Services, and Commodities (DITC), UNCTAD Secretariat, pp. 10-11.

Criminology Theories Strengths And Weaknesses

Criminology Theories Strengths And Weaknesses The classical school of criminology was developed in the eighteenth century, where classical thinking emerged in response to the cruel forms of punishment that dominated at the time. It is considered that writers such as Montesquieu and Voltaire encouraged perhaps the emergence of this new classical thinking, by becoming involved in campaigns for more enlightened approaches to be taken towards crime and the punishment given by the justice systems at the time. Also the development of society craved new forms of legal regulation due to the fact that there needed to be predictability in the system, as technology and properties in particular needed legal protection and workers needed to be disciplined in a consistent way. There were two main contributors to this theory of criminology and they were Jeremy Bentham and Cesare de Beccaria. They are seen as the most important enlightenment thinkers in the area of classical thinking and are considered the founding fathers of the classical school of criminology. They both sought to reduce the harshness of eighteenth century judicial systems, even though coming from different philosophical stances. Benthams contribution to classical theory is based on the fact that he was a utilitarian, interested in the happiness and well being of the population and therefore believing that punishment, in the form of the infliction of pain, should always be justified in terms of a greater good. At the heart of Benthams writing was the idea that human behaviour is directed at maximising pleasure and minimising pain, (the pleasure-pain principle). Bentham believed that crime was committed on the outset, by individuals who seek to gain excitement, money, sex or anything of value to the individual. Beccaria (1764/1963: 93) stated that; It is better to prevent crimes than to punish them. This is at the heart of the classical school of criminology. Beccaria believed that laws needed to be put into place in order to make punishments consistent and in line with the crime. He believed that crime prevention in its effectiveness is down to three main ideas, these being the certainty of the crime and how likely it is to happened, the celerity of the crime and how quickly the punishment is inflicted and also the severity of the crime, and how much pain is inflicted. Beccaria thought that the severity of the penalties given should be proportionate to the crime committed and no more than what is necessary in order to deter the offender and others from committing further crimes. Classical thinking says that criminals make a rational choice, and choose to do criminal acts due to maximum pleasure and minimum pain. The classical school says criminals are rational, they weigh up the costs and therefore we should create deterrents which slightly outweigh what would be gained from the crime. This is the reason behind the death penalty being viewed by classical thinkers such as Beccaria and Bentham as pointless, because there would be no deterrent. However when considering manslaughter, as Bentham also believes, if the severity of the punishment should slightly outweigh the crime then surely capital punishment should be used, there doesnt seem to be any stronger a deterrent to other criminals thinking of undertaking the same criminal behaviour, than seeing another eradicated due to their actions. Classical thinking has had a significant impact on criminological thinking in general and perhaps a greater impact on criminal justice practise. In Europe and America the idea of punishments being appropriate to the nature of the crime has become a foundation for modern criminal justice systems. Since the introduction of the classical school of criminology and classical thinking, the use of capital punishment, torture and corporal punishment has declined. Neither Beccaria nor Bentham believed in the death penalty, apart from, Bentham argued, in the case of murder. The second half of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries also saw the establishment and growth of the prison, as a major system of punishment, the idea and concept of prison was to take punishment away from the body and instead punish the mind and soul, and these are the keys to changing a persons outlook and views of their criminal behaviours. Many elements of classical ideas are very useful in modern society and these show the strengths that the theory does have. Deterrence continues to underlie all judicial systems and indeed underpinned the principles of the first commissioners of Sir Robert Peel, in the creation of the Metropolitan police. Prisons are also used as major deterrents and also to try and reduce rates of crime. However a great weakness of the classical school of criminology is, the idea stemming from classical thinking that all criminals are rational is not generalisable to the whole population nor is it entirely valid, due to the fact that there may be biological factors stopping an individual from being able to think and behave rationally. Therefore it may not be the particular choice of the individual as they may have been born that way; they may not have the ability to make a rational decision due to a mental illness such as schizophrenia. They may be disorientated or even drugged which affects the brain functioning and therefore any behaviours, resulting in an individual becoming irrational. Also, if people act due to principles of rationality and free will then why is it that the poor are predominating in the criminal justice system, classical thought doesnt include factors of necessity in order to survive. As Jeffrey Reiman (1979) said; the rich get richer and the poor get prison White and Haines (2004) said that the classical school of criminology has 3 main challenges to it. Firstly; how to make such ideas serve the interests of justice and equality when faced with a particular defendant in court. (Not all criminals appear to be acting rationally and of free will) Secondly; that for criminal justice bureaucracies such as the police, growing efficiency may not always be compatible with an emphasis on equal justice, as their gain is to decrease crime rates. Thirdly a power issue, the rationalisation of the legal system potentially means some reduction in their power, which may backfire in terms of being a deterrent. In late 19th century the classical school came under criticism by a form of scientific criminology which emerged due to Darwins great works being published between 1850 and 1870, this therefore had a profound effect on scientific thought and individuals views of human behaviour. Classicism defines the main object of study as the offence. The nature of the offender was defined as being free-willed, rational, calculating and normal. The classical thinking response to the crime was to give punishment that is proportionate to the offence. The Positivist school of criminology however opposes this classical school of thinking, positivism states that the object of study is the offender, and that the nature of the offender is driven by biological, psychological and pathological influences. Their response to the crime is that of giving a treatment of an indeterminate length, depending on individual circumstances. Unlike classicism, positivism views criminal behaviour as irrational and perhaps due to a problem (biological, physical or psychological) that an individual has, therefore they are partially relieved of the crime they committed. Cesare Lombroso is related to much positivist thinking, as a psychiatrist he looked at criminals as being throwbacks to a more primitive stage of human development, he compared physical features of criminals and related them to more primitive stages of mankind and formed a prediction based on measurements of skulls and main physical features, of how certain criminals look. Lombrosos thinking clashed with that of classical thinking, saying that criminals were born not made, and they are not rational as they reproduce thoughts similar to that of inferior humanity. The differences between the thinking behind both the classical school of criminology and the positivist school of criminology highlight the strengths and weaknesses that are associated with both. The classical school has much less biological fact and figures backing up its views, however it has proven successful in reducing crime rates and in providing a deterrent and a way in which to successfully contain individuals who rebel against the system. Unlike positivism which doesnt have any form of punishment, just a form of treatment, the classical school shows criminals that they cannot behave in certain ways in order to maximise their pleasure and minimise pain if it involves breaking the law, it does this successfully because the punishment that is given is more than that of the pleasure that they would receive. Therefore as rational thinkers, individuals contemplating criminal behaviours would not do so due to the laws set in place to deter the behaviour. However the main weakness of the classical school of criminological thinking is that it considers all criminals to be rational and make decisions by free will, but not all individuals are rational and not all their behaviours are free, as if an individual had a mental illness or a physical defect, this may totally change the way in which they act and think. The social construction of crime has changed over time; feudal and religious influences have changed, and affected the criminological theory used. When the Classical school developed it was in a time of major reform in penology, there were many legal reforms at the time due to the French revolution and the legal system was developed in the united states, which would have had an effect on the united kingdom making an increased effort to set laws on crime in stone. As modernity has progressed so has the development of the judicial systems, if positivism was used as the main criminological thinking then these systems wouldnt exist because positivism uses treatments to the criminal in order to solve crime. This could be why the classical school of criminology has been so influential and still is, because it protects various organisations set out to remove crime and it also provides a good theoretical basis on which more recent theories have been developed.