A Discourse Theory of Citizenship

A Discourse Theory of Citizenship This article discusses the concept of citizenship and how citizenship as a form of public engagement is crucial to democracy as a whole. The author, Robert Asen, presents a new view that citizenship is a dynamic mode of public engagement. The first section of the article discusses questions about public beliefs and perspectives. The second section of the article discusses how citizenship is a mode of public engagement. The third section discusses how public engagement must be examined and what can be learned from that analysis. The final section discusses how the concept of citizenship can be extended through the author’s Discourse Theory. The first part of the article begins by explaining how within the public and even within groups all sets of views or values are not universal. This means that it is a challenge to represent the views of groups. This also means that members of groups need to stand up for their views. For example, if you are part of a human rights organization, but do not approve of their stated views on a particular country, you should make your voice heard. This presents a challenge to group leadership because they have to make the group’s stated views more general in order to not alienate any of the participants. In addition, people do not have a general view on how decisions should be made. For example, the article mentioned how the activist AIDS organization, ACT UP, had a great deal of trouble coming up with a consensus about whether or not they should testify in front of Congress. These facts mean that the views and perspectives of a group of people, their subjectivity, is more of an ever-changing process than a static group of opinions and should be treated as such. This idea is significant to communication as a whole because it helps understand why it is important to constantly make sure that no one’s views in a group are being marginalized. The next section discussed how citizenship is a mode of public engagement. It explains that citizenship is not a group of well-defined privileges that come with legally living in a country, but instead it is much more. It is a way of getting involved with the world around you. Citizenship is a process of dealing with the world that influences the views and beliefs of the public. It does not have to come from only voting; it exists in multiple modes. Some of these modes include consumer choices, work habits, and volunteer work. These sorts of actions could be more important than voting alone. This is because voting does not show your views in great personal detail and therefore does not always help advance your personal beliefs into public discussion. Voting only ascribes your views to one of two general view sets, which most people do not generally agree with completely. The other forms of citizenship, such as volunteering at a soup kitchen, can more accurately represent your views and ideas of how the world ought to be run. This is because the public sees how you are acting to directly make a change in society and may decide to join you in your cause. As the article says, â€Å" Democracy’s heart does not beat in the halls of Congress or in the voting booth, but in everyday enactments of citizenship† (Asen, 197). The important communication concept that can be taken from this section, is that the power of democracy rests on normal people and not on elected officials or bureaucrats. This makes it extremely important that one’s views are expressed both in public discourse and in the way one lives their life. The responsibilities of living in a democracy do not only come once every two years for elections, but are present every day during human interactions. The next section discusses how public engagement in the form of citizenship must be examined. Public engagement is not a static set of concepts, but instead a fluid, dynamic process of interaction that occurs at a personal level. Consequently, it is different from person to person and must be treated specially. The dynamic nature of citizenship makes it impossible to make specific theories of how the public engages in citizenship. This means that there cannot be true experts in the analysis of human-to-human interaction. It does not, however, prevent qualitative analysis of public engagement in citizenship. This section also discussed how it is inherently risky to engage in citizenship. The risk occurs when an individual’s views are known and the public becomes aware of one’s beliefs. For example, participating in a Pro-Choice organization could lead some of your Pro-Life neighbors to dislike you for your views. On the other hand, there is a social benefit to this risk because it can expose you to people who share similar views to you. This common bond of risk unites organizations and makes them stronger over time. The important communication topic in this section is that communicating your views involves risk, but that risk is worthwhile because it can lead to stronger social ties. The last section focused on how the definition of citizenship is expanded when the author’s Discourse Theory of Citizenship is applied. The definition of citizenship is traditionally limited to the rights and privileges that are granted to individuals who are legally living in a country. With the application of this new theory, the definition can be expanded in a few ways. First the, relationship between the citizen and citizenship has been reformulated. No longer is citizenship just the product of being a citizen, but instead it is a way of acting. Second, citizenship is not something that all citizens have equally. While every citizen can vote, the affect he/she has on public discourse also depends on power and money. For example, a rich individual can attend special interest meetings that require large donations in order to participate. This makes these people more capable of influencing what laws are ultimately passed. Another example is how in the past and still to a certain extent now, race can either help or hinder one’s level of citizenship. The third expansion of our understanding of citizenship is through the analysis of hybrid cases of citizenship. Hybrid cases of citizenship are instances when normal everyday acts are also forms of citizenship. One example of this is if an individual spends more money at an organic food store because they want to support the organic food industry. The expansion of the definition of citizenship through the Discourse Theory of Citizenship allows for a better understanding of citizenship and how public communication in many different forms is responsible for maintaining an effective democracy. When communicating through citizenship, it is important to understand that the citizenship includes more than just voting. It also includes everyday person-to-person interactions, buying choices, and group memberships. By understanding citizenship through this expanded definition, it is possible to better focus public discourse in ways that can advance one’s personal beliefs and goals.

Principles of marketing Essay

Explain the various elements of the marketing process. Marketing is the group to everyone is exposed to the marketing daily even when they do not know it and billboards enclosed the nation. These parts explain that an opening into the world market and different aspects and you will pay attention about marketing mix. In future the customers are recognized and place between the cross chains with marketing research and target market and to achieve a particular message to particular customer and also one should have common with direct market. The internet marketing is one of the additional recent trends that many organizations. The solution for a successful marketing effort is maintaining a level of customer liking while at the same time creating a profit for association. The marketing is a concept that it is developing the new marketing. They are also known as four â€Å"P’s†. The important for an association to have a good understanding and every element is main developing a marketing plan. In the marketing mix there are four elements that build up the marketing process. They are: Figure: 1 Price: There are several ways to price a product and have a look at a number of them try to recognize the best strategy in various situations. Such high prices are charge for comfort as cunard cruises, hotel rooms and concorde flights. Figure: 2 Pricing Strategies Matrix The price is charged for products and services and also was located at the artificially low in order to increase market share is known as â€Å"penetration pricing†. The â€Å"economy pricing† is no additions of the low price and cost of marketing and create are reserved at a minimum. This is a charge of a high price for the reason that has a substantial competitive advantage is skimming of price. These are the four main pricing strategies premium, penetration, skimming and economy pricing. Place: The way of distribution comprises a set of institutions which perform all the actions utilised to move a manufactured goods and its title from production to consumption. The element of â€Å"Neil H.Borden’s† marketing mix is known as place. It is the mechanism through which goods and services are moved from the service provider to user or consumer. Product: The product is simply the real physical entity that may be buying and selling. The life cycle is based upon  the biological life cycle and the creation of long period as adult the plant begins to shrink. Promotion: These is one of the four process is promotion and these includes all of tools available to market for marketing communication with Neil H.Borden’s marketing mix and its marketing communications has its own promotions mix is known as promotion. In the easyjet the marketing process it is one of the best successful low cost airlines in the Europe and with achievement of the low cost subsidiary of british airways in 2002 it has became a biggest low cost airline in Europe and it is go beyond rival ryanair to the top position. The case outlines the origin of these easyjet and the major events that occurred in the airline past from its foundation in 1995 and the issues of the business representation and functioning strategies adopted by doing well low cost airli ne and overcome to ready for action and ecological factors. 1(b). Evaluate the benefits and costs of a marketing orientation for the case organisation. The pressure to evaluate non critical costs is a constant in commercial life and the benefits of investing in the marketing among those who have seen the customers. A objective scorecard was often used to evaluate the largely presentation of the cost underestimation and benefit overestimation are major sources. The strategic management affects the entire association by providing direction. Sales management refers to the administration of the personal selling component of an organization’s marketing program. It includes the planning, performance, and control of sales programs, as well as recruiting, preparation, encouraging, and evaluating members of the sales force. The basic role of the sales manager is to develop and manage a selling program that in point of fact contributes to the achievement of the goals of the general organization. The term â€Å"sales manager† may be properly applied to more than a few members of an organization, including marketing executives, managers of field sales forces, district and division managers, and product line sales administrator. This text emphasizes the role of managers that keep an eye on a f ield sales force. 2(a). Describe macro and micro environmental factors which influence marketing decisions. To know the wide range of influence on organisation both the internal and external. There are some of the decisions that have to make relating to these influences in order to keep the association moving ahead in line with administration plans. In this  environment also need to study the impact these may contain on the marketing mix. To do this we need to examine influences that collision on the preparation process, such as: Marketing environment, both macro and micro competition social, cultural, environmental, economic issues. Marketing environment is prepared of all factors and forces that influencing on the marketing, thus these force can be in internal i.e. like departments and the external are like competitors, dealer, economic situation. To know them better, marketing personals separate them in two categories namely macro environment and micro-environment. Let’s have a look at some of the important factors involved in marketing environment. An internal influence is an influence with the intention comes from contained by the industry and can affect the business in a variety of ways. Internal influences can be aspect of the working situation such as a good member of staff helping to do well and improve and member of staff coming up with a new marketing idea.In making decisions, capitalist need to be as fully aware as possible of the fundamental economic location, both in conditions of general economic state of affairs, and in terms of the information of the particular scheme. In order to remain money making, business must be aware of the situation in the particular market in which they operate. They supposed to be fully aware of the costs they are currently incurred, as well as the present and upcoming prices they wait for to be able to charge. A large amount of this information should be presented if records are kept of the past transactions in which the business engage. To be sure it is easier said than done to see how decisions can be made effectively unless records of this sort are kept. Business decision making usually involve choices between option courses of action. These option courses of action are often subject to limit of various types. Alternatives are then estimated, and the decision made. It is usual to then screen or check the definite decision to see whether in fact the results were in line with what was predictable. If not, questions need to be asked. Monitoring can provide useful just around the corner into what went wrong and how to rectify it. Business decisions can cover a large amount of different things. Possible decisions might include: how much of a product to sell how much to charge for a product whether to take over another business whether to close down a business whether to invest in a particular piece of equipment choosing between alternative ways of producing something how much to spend on research and development plus a host of alternatives. External factors that may occur and influence these places on these analyses the external micro and macro environment based upon case study of easyjet and the basis for making planned management decisions using the assumption and proposal. Easyjet factors in macro and micro environment customer profiles are a host of explanation in the responsible for diversify the cover of its external influence that affect internal decisions and presentation in the easyjet. 2(b). Propose segmentation criteria to be used for products in different markets. Market segmentation is the process of classified key groups or segments within the common market that share specific characteristics and consumer way of life. Once the market is broken into segments, companies can develop publicity programs for each segment, focus publicity on one or two segments, new products to appeal to one or more of the segments. Companies often support this technique of market to the one size fits of all mass marketing approach, because it allows them to aim specific groups that might not be achieved by mass marketing agenda. To identify segments, marketers study consumer interests, taste, first choice, and socioeconomic characteristics in order to decide their outline of consumption and how they will react to different marketing approach. The most important information marketers seek consumers purchase particular products but not others. List of seller and straight marketing firms build up some of the key users of market segmentation, even though many other kinds of companies and association use this technique. Market segmentation also called micromarketing make things easier the marketing process, because it allows marketers to give attention to their publicity on groups of consumers who divide major characteristics. Marketers, as a result, can produce specific publicity geared towards specific segments; o therwise marketers have to create very general advertising and expect that it will appeal to a diverse audience. Market segmentation also can be more efficient than traditional marketing techniques such as product separation. For the reason that marketers focus their marketing on particular segments, they can look forward to better results from each segment than they could expect from these consumer groups if delighted as a whole. In these the different segmentation and aiming methods are used in these criteria of an organisations if the monopolist is capable to perfectly segment. Four key criterions are used to evaluate easyJet strategic marketing success. Strong Financial Performance. Shareholder value is ultimately driven by bottom line economic success, which at easyJet has been energy by capacity expansion, cost control and tapping in to highly price sensitive segments of the market. Express Sales growth between 1998 and 2003 revenues grew by a factor of twelve and profits grew by a factor of almost nine. Cash administration with the mindset of an aggressive start-up, easyJet has not paid a payment to date, prefer to retain profits to fund upcoming development. In 2003, the company had enough cash reserves to fund a complete year of operations. Exponential Market Share Growth. 2(c) Choose and explain targeting strategy for the product/service in the case organization. The target market is collection of customers that business has confined to reach the object of the marketing efforts and eventually its merchandise and also a well confined target market is first of aspect to their marketing strategy. A target market and marketing merge variables of product; promo tion and price are the two elements of marketing become one strategy. In a business classes on market strategy regularly ask over for the participants the questions like â€Å"who are the customers for u? Who will buy your products?† and also it assumptions can lead to incorrect pricing and incorrect market strategy and at the end of the day business failure. The majority of small businesses are more successful and we can easily know that there is only a limited number of persons purchase their products. In this easyjet the past case study was taken from e-business and e-commerce management volume. Easyjet has report of target market was reduced in customers but the easyjet have problem with weather. Easyjet has low-cost airline for the people who travels daily. 2(d). Demonstrate how buyer behaviour affects marketing activities in different buying situations. Marketing activities are nothing but how you are going to handle the marketing mix price, product, place, promotion, evidence in order to market product effectively. The different activitie s involved in handling the above talk about comprise the marketing activities.  Consumer Markets and Consumer Buyer Behaviour Learning Goals Define the consumer market and construct a model of consumer buyer behaviour Name the four factors that influence buyer behaviour List and understand the types of buying decision behaviour and stages in the process Describe the adoption and diffusion process for new products Case Study Harley Davidson Building Success Understanding the customers’ emotions and motivation Determining the factors of loyalty. Translating this information to effective advertising Measuring Success Currently 22% of all United states bike sales. Demand above supply Sales doubled in the past 5 years with earnings tripled.Thus, the marketing management seeks to affect the level and nature of demand in companies such as easyjet and dyson achieved success by on the face of it breaking all marketing activities, such as â€Å"buy one and get one free† price than buyer activities starts with a consumer social position and lifestyle. 2(e). Propose new market positioning for a selected product/service. Products that are not the first by being the first to maintain a unique position in the mind the consumer, a firm in actual fact can cut through the noise level of other products. That is, the number one product has twice the market share of number two, which has twice the market share of number three. Ries and Trout argue that the success of a brand is not due to the high level of marketing acumen of the compan y itself, but rather, it is due to the fact that the company was first in the product category. They use the case of Xerox to make this point. Xerox was the first plain-paper copier and was able to sustain its leadership position. However, time after time the company failed in other product categories in which it was not first. For example, Miller Lite was not the first light beer, but it was the first to be positioned as a light beer, complete with a name to support that position. Similarly, Lowenbrau was the most popular German beer sold in America, but Beck’s Beer successfully carved a unique position using the advertising, Consumers rank brands in their minds. If a brand is not number one, then to be successful it somehow must relate itself to the number one brand. A campaign that pretends that the market leader does not exist is likely to fail. Avis tried unsuccessfully for years to win customers, pretending that the number one Hertz did not exist. Finally, it began using the line. 3(a). Explain how products are developed to sustain competitive advantage. This makes the product so it can be brought out into the market  in stages instead of all at once. The product can spin the first time you bring it out to the market. The next time it can not only rotate, but now it can turn over. Even though you have the means to make it do all these things first time you made the product. In this way your customers see it as always improving and getting better instead of getting bored with the product because it was all wrapped up in one big bang. This will also help keep the competitor guessing on what else is to come as a replacement for of buildin g a product. 3(b). Explain how distribution is arranged to provide customer convenience. Customer Satisfaction United Kingdom’s study of help to get and maintain the highest levels of service, ensuring total customer satisfaction and loyalty to company. consult you at every stage of the project, we develop a unique solution to your needs, and by linking our recommended customer satisfaction activities to business objective our in house interviewers are intellectual, experienced qualified who are expert at collecting worthless customer feedback. One of our key strengths, they serve as excellent. ambassadors on behalf of our clients. A common definition of customer satisfaction is that it is a measure of the extent to which a company’s products or services fulfil or exceed customer’s expectations. Customers can become dissatisfied with a company’s products or services for a wide variety of reasons. 3(c). Explain how prices are set to reflect an organisation’s objectives and market conditions. The purpose of the present study is to explore the pricing methods that service companies adopt in order to set their prices, along with the service, organizational and environmental characteristics that influence these methods. Methodology To achieve the research objectives, data were collected through personal interviews in 170 companies operating in six different services sectors in Greece. 3(d). Illustrate how promotional activity is integrated to achieve marketing objectives. Establishing objectives and budgeting for the promotional program. Importance of objectives, specific objectives, rela tions of planning and decision making, measurement and evaluation, characteristics of objectives are: Specific Attainable Measurable Realistic Quantifiable and Marketing Objectives Normally stated in the firm’s marketing plan. Realized through the overall marketing plan. Experimental, such as sales, market share. To be able in a given period of time must be practical and achievable to be effective. 3(e). Analyse the additional elements of the extended marketing mix. The marketing mix is the combination of marketing activities that an association connected in as to best meet the needs of its targeted market. Habitually the marketing mix consisted of just 4 Ps. they are: Produces products that are of the highest quality and fit for the needs of different groups of consumers. Offers a range of cars at value for money prices, depending on the market segmented they are targeted at. Sells the cars through appropriate outlets such as dealerships and showrooms in prime locations, i.e. in the right places, and Supports the marketing of the products through appropriate promotional and advertising activity. The marketing mix thus consists of four main elements: 1. Product 2. Price 3. Place 4. Promotion. Getting the mix of these elements right enables the association to meet its marketing objectives and to satisfy the requirements of customers. In addition to the traditional four Ps it is now customary to add some more Ps to the mix to give us Seven Ps. The additional Ps have been added because today marketing is far more customer oriented than ever before, and because the service sector of the economy has come to dominate economic activity in this country. These 3 extra Ps are particularly relevant to this new extended service mix. The three extra Ps are: 1. Physical layout – in the days when manufacturing dominated the UK economy the physical layout of production units such as factories was not very important to the end consumer because they never went inside the factory. However, today consumers typically come into contact with products in retail  units – and they expect a high level of presentation in modern shops – e.g. record stores, clothes shops etc. Not only do they need to easily find their way around the store, but they also often expect a good standard or presentation. 2. Provision of customer service – customer service lies at the heart of modern service industries. Customers are likely to be loyal to organizations that serve them well – from the way in which a telephone query is handled, to direct face-to-face interactions. Although the ‘have a nice day’ approach is a bit corny, it is certainly better than a couldn’t care less approach to customer relations. Call centre staff and customer interfacing personnel are the front line troops of any organization and therefore need to be thoroughly familiar with good customer relation’s practice. 3. Processes – associated with customer service are a number of processes involved in making marketing effective in an organization e.g. processes for handling customer complaints, processes for identifying customer needs and requirements, processes for handling order etc The 7 Ps – price, product, place, promotion, physical presence, provision of service, and processes comprise the modern marketing mix that is particularly relevant in service industry, but is al so relevant to any form of business where meeting the needs of customers is given priority. 4(a). Plan marketing mixes for two different segments in consumer markets. But different customers have different needs, and it rarely is possible to make happy all. Many of the consumer market segmentation variables can be applied to it can also be used to help a manager implement his/her own media plan. On one or two narrow market segments and tailoring your marketing mix to strategic marketing chapter objectives prelude case poor little rich. Objectives and issues of marketing strategy and marketing mix and action programmers in one consumer packaged goods category, 44 percent of consumers with different market segments and individual customers. To request the link at a different email address, update it here consumer markets individuals purchasing goods/services for their personal use businesses plan the introduction of new products to replace existing ones before they become could destroy the producer’s marketing mix this paper assesses the marketing mix of both easyJet and Ryanair, coke and pepsi have since been competing to rein the global market in consumer beverages. cuando se trata de marketing, plan and define their marketing mi x to meet the particular needs of different market  segments. 4(b). Illustrate differences in marketing products and services to businesses rather than consumers. Business marketing is the observe of marketing the products or services to the other companies, resell the products or services, use the products in combination with their own used products in their business process. In compare, consumer marketing is marketing directed toward the consumer, or the individual end user. The essentials of both the types of marketing are basically the same, but the issues faced can be different. All marketers select target markets and base their marketing decisions, such as price, type of promotion and distribution based on those target markets. But the nature of business purchasing is influenced by several decision makers, professional buyers and the potential for one. 4(c). Show how and why international marketing differs from domestic marketing. If you talk in general, both the terms Globa l and International marketing are used interchangeably at the present time. But if you are talking in terms of marketing theories, International Marketing was a stage in the evolution of Global Marketing. Domestic Marketing: Companies manufacturing products and selling those within the country itself. So, no international phenomenon at all. Export Marketing: Company starts exporting products to another countries also. This is the very basic stage of global marketing. Approach of marketer in this stage is said to be ‘ethnocentric’ because although he is selling goods to foreign countries, product development is totally based upon the taste of local customer. So, focus is still on domestic market. International Marketing: Now, company starts selling products to various countries and the approach is ‘Polycentric’ that is making different products for different countries. So, one main difference between International and the Global marketing is the come close to marketer. A truly global business instead of offering different products to different countries increases and offers a single product to the world. Conclusion: After consideration of all factors of marketing management parts explain that an opening into the world market and different aspects and you will pay attention about marketing mix. In this marketing mix there are seven process of marketing management. And finally it is concluded by the PEST analysis of micro and macro environmental factors that are influenced by marketing decisions. Need an essay? You can buy essay help from us today!

The President vs. a Bum

The president is a very important person. Homeless people are not. Society has many â€Å"rungs† on the so called â€Å"social ladder. † A homeless person would probably be at the bottom. Where as, the president would be near the top. A rich and powerful man like the president means a lot more to the world than a homeless man. If the president were shot the whole country would cry, but if a homeless man was shot few would shed a tear. The president of the United States known by everyone. He works and lives in the white house, which is in Washington D. C. The white house has 132 rooms and 35 bathrooms.President George Washington decided where the house was to be built in 1791. He is the leader of our country. He has a lot of responsibilities he must take care of every day. Some of which include, signing off on new bills and laws, and making sure they are enforced. When Congress sends him a new law, he may or may not agree to sign it. He lets Congress know about new laws he thinks should be passed. Leaders of other countries meet with the president to solve problems in the world by signing treaties. He decides how America will act toward other countries and he represents our country here and around the world.He is considered the commander in chief, which means he is the leader of our armed forces. They help to keep the country safe. He also flies his own plane. It's called Air Force One. It has accommodation for the president to eat, sleep, and work. Presidents through out time have played a major role in the history of the world. Homeless people are regular nobodies that have nothing to their name. They have no permanent place to live, so they stay where they can, often a shelter or free housing complex. They have been known to sleep in abandoned cars. Most homeless people have little to no responsibilities.Most of the time the only thing they look for is their next drink. You can see them outside of your locale gas station begging for change. They will say it's for something to eat or some other necessity, but it's a trick to feed their alcohol or drug addiction. Some homeless people have no friends or family. Others, all they have are the other homeless people whom they consider their friends. It can be very harsh living on the street. They are always in danger of being beat up, robbed, or even killed. Their interaction with the outside world turn out bad in most cases.They will work for food because most are at risk of starving to death because they have no money. Things that homeless people say and do don't mean very much to most people. They do not play any positive role in our everyday lives. The president and mere homeless man are very different. The president has an enormous amount of impact on everyone. Homeless people only make a negative impact on the people around them. That's a great example of how the social ladder in society today works. I would much rather be the president than a homeless person.

Strategic Management - Southwest airlines Term Paper

Strategic Management - Southwest airlines - Term Paper Example The company’s success rests on the key pillars of value creation for its customers as well as employees. Of the entire strategic management, Southwest Airline’s key role in strategic human resource management has been an integral part. The company uses the words â€Å"LUV† and â€Å"FUN† to describe its relationship with employees as well as the deeper culture of the organization. Southwest believes in endowing employees with high respect as well as providing them with an environment that best supports their willingness to work. The company’s low turnover rates and high levels of productivity are indicators of its success. Another significant aspect of the company’s strong strategic position is its management of organization’s capabilities and resources. In this process, part of the value that is created for employees is translated into value addition for the shareholders and customers. Southwest’s source of competitive advantage lies in its delivery of value for money which is a combination of low operational costs and superior levels of customer satisfaction and service. The company, hence, is a model of generation of value through people as suggested by Porter in his studies. Hence, the notion of strategic management at Southwest has been a product of several factors which are best explained as a cycle of events. Firstly, the company succeeds at value creation for its workers which translates to high levels of motivation. Secondly, the company uses the motivation produced by this in order to implement processes that reduce cost and enhance service. Third, the company succeeds at capturing value by offering both low cost and high levels of customer service better than its competitors.... Secondly, the company uses the motivation produced by this in order to implement processes that reduce cost and enhance service (Hallowell, 1996). Third, the company succeeds at capturing value by offering both low cost and high levels of customer service better than its competitors (Hallowell, 1996). The competitors of Southwest have been traditionally associated with hub and spoke networks that enhanced barriers to entry in the 1980’s along with advanced customer relationship management via segmentation and computerized systems (Hallowell, 1996). Research has suggested that mere â€Å"contestability† is not a sufficient condition for strategic management of airlines (Bailey, Graham, & Kaplan, 1986). Contestability is basically the failure of an airline to remain competitive at a particular route simply because there are no barriers to entry and its competitors can easily enter the route to capture the profits (Bailey, Graham, & Kaplan, 1986). The case of Southwest dem onstrates that clearly the company needed a lot more than mere contestability in order to sustain its strategic advantage over the years. This leads to the premise that the high motivational levels of employees made a crucial role in the strategic management initiatives at Southwest. The company’s core target was to offer airline services at the lowest possible costs, even if that means competition with automobiles. The target customer of Southwest is typically a customer who wants warm, co operative staff as well as superior interaction, response all at a low fare. The aim is, therefore, to offer more for less money rather than less for less money. This has clearly differentiated Southwest from its

High cost of running the American healthcare system (this does not Research Paper

High cost of running the American healthcare system (this does not have to be the topic, use whatever that's suitable) - Research Paper Example There have been several reasons for such growth of cost in the health care system in the last few years. One of the most important reasons is the heavy spending in the technology sector. With time even the diseases are getting complex. Thus to fight such diseases technological innovation is a must. The use of prescription drugs also adds to the cost as with better technology the composition of the drugs are also changing which is making it more costlier than ever. The other very important factor that has added to the cost is the nature of the chronic diseases that has been a recent trend in the last few years. Chronic diseases constitute 75% diseases of the nation. These diseases are basically of long term duration and thereby requires more spending than other kind of diseases. Even the cure of such diseases is very costly compared to other kind of diseases. One economic factor which adds to the growth of the cost structure is the increase in population as well as the aging of the po pulation in US. With time, large portion of the populace is turning out to be aged as it is widely known that most diseases are often witnessed in old age. Therefore, with growing number of aged patients in the nursing homes, the cost of the health care division is also increasing. Higher administrative costs also contribute the higher health care cost structure (Kaiser Edu, 2010). Infrastructure, organization and quality should be major determinants in the health care delivery system. Health care largely depends on the infrastructure of the unit. It is very essential for the nursing home to have high level of infrastructure in order to combat with any kind of disease. Again the non physical infrastructure should be competent and up to date. It generally means that the information system and the human resources should be competent enough

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 232

Assignment Example At the same time, they wanted a departmental reward whereby their departments would be praised for the attainment of the overall aim that the hotel wanted to achieve. The managers initially thought that there was going to be a solution to the problem they were facing my making the employees wear their nametags. In the assumption of the managers, the nametags would make the employees look sharp and professional. As the hotel wanted to raise its status, such a universal practice would help them attain the coveted status. They also thought that the nametags would help them identify employees whose efforts were not helping the company so these could be punished. As the ultimate goal of the managers was to engage in a departmental blame game, the motivation of the employees not to wear the nametags came from the fact that the wanted to be scapegoats. As much as the managers were finding ways to blame the employee, the employees were also finding ways to stop this from happening. The employees were also worried that there was not telepathy between the employees and the managers that would make it possible for them to get assistance from the managers. To find the real problem, a number of Power of Pause practices were used. In the first place, there was an opportunity given to the staff to explain their point. This was a very important practice to avoid the assumptions being used to determine what the problem was. What is more, there was a very healthy interaction that was free from blames and excessive complains. Even where the points of the staff were not clear, they were given the opportunity to express themselves well. The employees were willing to talk about their fears because they thought that expressing their opinions would help solve the problem. What is more, the employees were scared that the propaganda agenda in place could actually have an impact on them and thus

Gender is not something one is, it is something one dose it is a Essay

Gender is not something one is, it is something one dose it is a sequence of acts, a doing rather then a being - Essay Example Butler (1986) states that the common thinking about how a female becomes a woman is governed by patriarchy and phallogocentric language â€Å"which precedes and determines the subject itself† (Butler, 1986, p. 36). In other words, Butler (1986) believes that the term â€Å"woman† is defined passively, not by the women themselves, but by the patriarchal culture. That said, de Beauvoir (1973) believes that oppression is not inevitable, but, rather, they persist because of cultural reasons. Butler (1990) further states that the concept of a universal patriarchy has come under fire, because patriarchy exists in â€Å"concrete cultural contexts† (Butler, 1990, p. 3). Butler (1990) also states that there is the possibility that women might have a bond through their oppression alone. Connell (1992) further states that gender, in and of itself, is a construction of power and hegemony, which means that the male identity is also influenced by culture and these outside forc es. Connell (1992) believes that masculine identities may be hegemonic or marginalized – some masculine identities are the former, others are the latter. Similarly, there is a difference between masculinity and femininity, and this, too, is contrasted with the terms â€Å"male† and â€Å"female.† Bartky (2003) states the one achieves femininity, whereas one is born female. The same with masculinity – men might achieve masculinity, and be born male, or, alternatively, as with many homosexual men, one may be born male but not achieve masculinity. As with the philosophies of de Beauvoir and Butler, Bartky (2003) states that the concept of masculinity and femininity is dictated by the power structure, which states what the contours are of masculinity and femininity (Bartky, 2003). This article will examine how patriarchy and society has defined both men and women throughout the modern era. Discussion Standards of Beauty As de Beauvoir (1973) states, the femin ine identity, and what it means to be a woman is defined by patriarchy and the male. In no area of a woman’s life is this more apparent than the standards of beauty, which are male-dominated. Women feel that they must conform to these male-dictated beauty standards, or they are somehow less than. The feminine ideal for beauty, therefore, is not only ever-changing, but is dictated by the power structure and patriarchy. Lorber (1993) states that the feminine ideal, at least during the early 1990s, which is when Lorber’s article was written, was slim-slim-hipped, small breasted and virtually emaciated. Women starved themselves for this ideal, and this ideal sold many magazines which promised women a way to become thinner, in order to fit this ideal. While this was the ideal in the early 1990s, and, more or less, continues to be today’s ideal, this was not always so – the feminine body ideal has changed over the years, according to society and culture. Calabr ese et al. (2011) state that the feminine ideal is epitomized by Playboy models, which is similar to the ideal stated by Lorber (1993), in that the women is to be slim-hipped and slender, overall. However, in this ideal, the woman must also have large breasts. Barbie dolls exemplify this ideal, and girls and women increasingly pressured to fit this ideal, to the extent that they require plastic surgery to do so (Calabrese et al.., 2011). Frederick et al. (2007) state that these feminine ideals, as pushed upon society by

Summary of Night Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Summary of Night - Essay Example During the time before Wiesel’s incident in the holocaust, he and his father experience a far-off association that is short of communication and incredible amount of assistance. Ultimately, the bond between Wiesel and his father gets stronger as they depend on one another for comfort and support (Wiesel, 2006). This paper will be a summary of Night. Wiesel’s account of the association he shares with Chlomo, his father, before the holocaust, highlights that the relationship is remote and is short of the bond a son and father frequently own. At the start of the book, Wiesel describes his father as a man who does not care about his family, and instead, cares about his work. It is obvious Wiesel feels that his father is spending too much time to delight other people and less time with his family or him. When Wiesel wants to pursue his faith with extreme searching, his father writes him off as being extremely young. It is clear that both Wiesel and his father are not as inti mate as they should be in the period prior to the Holocaust (Wiesel, 2006). At times, this may be because of taking bonds for granted. Wiesel’s father feels that his actions are in the best consequence of the family. He does this by caring about his status in the society and working hard at the store. Maybe he thinks that his family will last forever. Also, Wiesel largely cares about learning his faith and uses a lot of his time with Moshe the Beadle, his mentor, and at the synagogue. Wiesel seeks the mentorship of a different guide to help him in his learning, instead of his father. This should be a period Wiesel and his father develop a strong bond. In contrast, the bond does not develop. Wiesel feels his father is a trouble to him, and he is guilty about this sentiment (Wiesel, 2006). Wiesel starts to perceive his father as an important person that he does not want to lose when his family is captured and put into cattle vans. When they reach at Birkenau and leave the vehic les, children and women are directed to go to the left side, and men are told to go to the right side. Wiesel is at an intermediate age. He can choose to go with the children and his mother, but as an alternative, he chooses to remain with his father who may remain alone. This significant choice holds the Wiesel and his father together for the rest of the book. The connection that Wiesel holds with his father during their hardships and pains at Buna and Birkenau is one of many son and father relations highlighted in the book (Wiesel, 2006). The sentiments between Wiesel and his father is unique in the midst of the other relationships illustrated I the story. It is astounding to see how Wiesel maintains such stout sentiments of resilience and love towards his father in the Holocaust While other individuals kill, mistreat, or abandon their own. Wiesel points out, on three different instances, stories of young men terribly abusing their fathers. The first instance occurs at Buna. This is where one of the young Pipel’s is seen abusing his father because his father has not made his bed in a proper way. The second instance occurs on the demise walk from Buna to Gleiwitz. Here, a son sprints ahead of his father, abandoning him for dead. Finally, on a train to Buchenwald, a fight emerges between the captives. There is an old man who emerges from the fight with a piece of bread. His son grabs him beating him

Argument analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Argument analysis - Essay Example out the themes and concepts of passive objectification of women, asexuality as a foil, vigilant heterosexuality and athleticism as a sexual performance. The paper analyses the movie Catwoman (Pitof 2004) by discussing the themes that have been discussed by Helene Shugart in her article. The movie Catwoman stars Patience Phillips (Halle Berry), who is a graphic designer working for an organization called Hedare Beauty. This is a very large cosmetic company that has realized considerable market success, and is about to release into the market a product that combats the effects of aging. Patience later discovers that Hedare’s operations are riddled in conspiracy and secrecy. She discovers deep secrets concerning the about to be released beauty product, but just as she is about to leave the premises, security personnel starts pursuing her. Patience is forced to run for her life. Dramatic events follow, and later we see her being transformed into a woman with cat-like traits; elusive, dangerous, untamed, fast and with senses of her cat. Therefore, Patience is changed to Catwoman. However, she has a double personality; on one side she is Patience, and on the other she is Catwoman. Catwoman’s starts fighting crime in the city and also helps the helpless. She is accused by the Hedare family for murder, but this does not deter her from soldiering on. The authorities chase her day and night for murder charges, and this search is led by Tom Lone, who is in a relationship with Patience. At the end, Patience becomes the hero. She manages to get her revenge on the Hedare family and she still continues to be the people savior. Therefore, from the movie Catwoman, the producer portrays women as the suppressed gender by the society. Society considers the woman as the weaker sex, and the producer of the movie is using the case of Patience to empower women. In the movie, Patience is faced with very many problems and challenges. At the end, she defies all odds and she becomes

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

STRATEGIC OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT - Essay Example As mentioned above, Tesco is nothing less than a living legend since it has been able to survive for so many decades. Quite understandably, this has caught the attention many experts, professionals, and critics. They all wonder about that magic formula or approach or Tesco has, which has enabled it to fight, survive and grow. Tesco takes pride in revealing this magic formula and calls it as Tesco’s way. More importantly, this Tesco’s way was noticeable during the visit to the Magor’s distribution centre. Sophistication in technology, highly trained and capable staff to use the same, simple yet complete and spacious infrastructure, proper planning with back up plans for peak times, efforts undertaken to ensure employee satisfaction, micro management, proper communication amongst employees, acknowledgement of company’s goals by employees and others were showing a glimpse of what makes up the Tesco’s way. Without any doubts, Tesco’s operations revolve around the corporate objectives set by the top management and inherited by its founder Jack Cohen. Jack once said, â€Å"You cannot do business sitting on your ass† (Seth & Randall, pp. 212-213, 2001). Jack’s strategy was of constant hard work, innovation, change, adaptability, and openness to experience and Tesco has inherited the same from him. Constant growth, being valued by the customers, and having the most committed and loyal staff, becoming a global retailer having influence at all parts of the world and making Tesco a strong brand name even for non-food items. Moreover, for creating this value, Tesco believes that it should the understand the needs, cultures and mindset of its customers, create maximum employee satisfaction because it leads to customer satisfaction and divert all its strength, efforts, and innovation towards creating value for its customers. Another famous tagline of Tesco is

He Steps in the Planning Process Essay Example for Free

He Steps in the Planning Process Essay Breaking them down and justifying the reason of choosing them as way to anticipate the outcomes of these goals. It will be a must to make these objectives clear, specific and enough information, such as dividing them in sectors or even in departments in order to guarantee realistic objectives and showing the opportunities as well as problems that the company will experience on the course of the activities. Thirdly will be a the stage of Drawing up Premises. This will involve the establishment of planning assumptions, for instance, to show the future environment in which the plans are expected to occur (Cronje, 2004). The setup of premises is vital to the success of planning and before plans are prepared, the assumptions and conditions need to be defined in order to make possible prediction of the events or activies to happen in the future. Therefor contingency plans may be prepared for alternate possible situations. The fourth stage on this process will be Development of Various Course of Action as a way to establish alternative ways in which the identified goal can be achieved. It is on this step that as a manager will need to outline the tasks required to meet the objective, as each goal should have a task or projects associated with its achievement. Step five will be Evaluating Alternatives, it is important to bear in mind that the alternatives defined in the previous step need to be evaluated in terms of various factors, including the planning premises developed in step 3. Prioritizing goals and tasks is about ordering objectives in terms of their importance, so the tasks deemed most important will theoretically be approached and completed first. Because the prioritizing process may also reflect steps necessary in completing a task or achieving a goal. On the step six, Selecting a Course of Action is the result of step five. A management plan should include a contingency plan if certain aspects of the master plan prove to be unattainable. The selection of course of action can be incorporated into each segment of the planning process or for the plan in its entirety. The seventh step is Formulating Derivative Plans, it involves the drawing up of plans which support the initial plan says Cronje, 2004. Once the goal are defined and planning premises are identified, management can formulate plans and strategies for the accomplishment of desired results. Although the responsibility of planning belongs to the managers, the subordinates ought to be consulted, as the are the one who will curry out the development of the activities. The available alternatives should be evaluated in the light of objectives and planning premises. If the evaluation shows that more than one alternative is equally good, the various alternatives may be combined in action. The last step on this process will be the Budgeting, it serves to establish the resources available for the manger to carry out the plans and achieve organizational goals Cronje, 2004. In order to any business plan be possible we must have financial and human resources projections that will make the goals achievable. Depending on what to achieve a management plan may identify the number of people required how much money will be needed for instance. Reference: Du Toit, Erasmus and

A Problem in the American Education System Essay Example for Free

A Problem in the American Education System Essay This problem will have dire effects on those dropouts as well as other aspects such as financial and health problems. Many factors ultimately push the students off their path to a bachelors degree and end their dreams of ever becoming a doctor or maybe even a businessman. Along with those causes, there are serious consequences for those college dropouts. One effect that happens when a college student drops out of school would be that a huge debt must be paid back and since they dropped out it turn to be a wasted investment. Students looking to go to college, hen dropout have no answer to pay the money back which they were hoping to find a career with a college degree they wanted. Students often put a lot of money into college, thus putting them into debt. When the payments are finally too high for them they cannot afford to stay in school and all the money they put in is for naught. The students are under so much debt after dropping out and have nothing to show for it. That college degree they were hoping to receive at their graduation in non-existent which they were hoping to use as a tool in order to become successful. Who knows hat career a degree could have got them into, maybe a well-paying Job that would keep them from going broke from paying all the loans they used to go to school. All the money that could have been used in order to gain knowledge will be down the drain and the student now would have a harder time paying back those loans and supporting themselves. This also affects the schools and the taxpayers. All the money they are putting into paying and helping students with their schooling has nothing to showing for it. The millions of dollars that are being put into paving the way for the tudents financially do not pay off and instead money is lost. This slows down the whole country as there are less available new young workers to fill the positions of new work. Without a college degree, students earning potential are much lower than those of graduates. In order to pay off debts from loans to go to school and bills, students have to find a source of income and without a degree, finding a Job is much harder. Dropouts have a harder time finding a Job than those already with a degree. With a bachelors degree, it is easier to find Jobs as many opportunities are now open. A cause of college students dropping out is the amount they have to pay for just one semester. As many students do not even have a Job it is difficult for them to support themselves after paying for tuition and also pay for supplies they would later need for classes such as textbooks. A report from the Public Agenda for the Bill Melinda Gates Foundation shows the students from the ages of 22 to 30 years old shows state that their main reason for leaving school is their problems with financial stability. From my experience as of today even now I have a problem having to pay for school at CSULB. Luckily I have financial aid because without it I would it I dont think that I could have survived the first semester of college. Family problems such as having kids during school, or taking care of a sick family member could cause someone to leave college. Having to spend a large amount of time away from thing such as studying for an upcoming test really hurts the students in the long run. This hurts them because it keeps them preoccupied with things that they need to accomplish which is their dream of finding a career in their major and pursue it. Stress develops which may be from the numerous personal problems. Rising uition make students actually have to think about what they buy next. Most students already have to Juggle work and school at the same time Oohnson). I know for a fact that going to college is a hard task even now as a freshman, there is more homework and students have to pay for everything themselves. I understand why most students drop out because they cannot handle the pressure. Another cause for college dropouts is their scores on exams. Of course doing bad on a test will make students fail your class as this is already obvious. Lots of factors also cause students to do poorly on their exams such as stress and financial roblems One final cause for students leaving college early is their lack of motivation and preparation. As most students say their high schools did a poor Job in preparing them for their next step in life stated from a survey by Public Agenda (Crosseley). In college students have to manage their time socially and their time for school. Prioritizing this time is now critical of the all the times spent in school. Being bored really will not help you succeed in receiving a bachelors degree in your hand. For the many college students that attend today that go to college it may be a hard task. Still, college dropouts remain a problem in the American education system.

Effective Time Management for Success

Effective Time Management for Success Time management is a vital aspect for college success. By managing your time more efficiently you can become less stressed, finish projects and assignments on time, and put an end to procrastination. Time management is not just about rearranging your time, its about rearranging your entire thought process. The first step in effective time management is setting goals. Self-discipline is a valuable skill that helps you influence different aspects of your life whereas a lack of self-discipline keeps you from setting and achieving meaningful goals.(Newman, Floyd) When it comes to making goals there is a method that was created by George Doran, which was published in the November 1981 issue of the Management Review. This method is called the S.M.A.R.T method.(Scott, S.J.) This is an acronym that stands for: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound. Specific goals answer your six W questions: who, what, where, when, which and why. (Scott, S.J, (p. 12) When you can break down the long term goals into a subset of short term goals, youll be more able to identify exactly what steps you are going to need to take to reach your goal. Each short term goal should have a specific outcome. Once you have a specific outcome you are looking for, you need to ensure it is measurable. Measur able goals are goals with clear attainable outcomes. Both long term and short term goals should have some point of reference to see if you are making progress. This means that each goal should have a specific deadline that you are reaching for. The third step in the S.M.A.R.T model is making goals attainable. You should be able to achieve goals, but they should not be so easy that they are easily within reach. You should challenge yourself to reach goals. Make the goal seem a little out of reach, so even if you fail, you still have accomplished something significant. The fourth step is to make goals relevant. Make sure that goals are relevant to your life, that they are what you really want or need. If you have goals at school, your career, and your personal life, it is helpful to integrate them. By integrating goals into all aspects of your life, it gives you more drive to reach for them. It lets you know that each component of your life works together to help you succeed to the be st of your ability. [Goals should be] in harmony with everything that is important in your life, from success in your career to happiness with the people you love.(Scott, S.J., pp. 13-14, Kindle edition) The final step is time bound. Every goal should have a very clear time line. You can set this time line anyway you want, whether you want to be accomplished today, tomorrow, next week, or in a year from now. The key to creating any time line for goals is that you set the time and work backward, marking concise benchmarks along the way. This way you know when the goal needs to be complete, and where you should be in the process of success. Now that you know what your goals are, it is important to set priorities. Decide what is important and what is not. Make a list of these priorities and put them in order of what needs to be done first, second, third, and so on. One you understand what your priorities are, it is important to plan out a schedule for the whole semester as a whole. The second step in effective time management is scheduling. Making a schedule for the whole semester will help you understand where your priorities stand, and what should be worked on and when. Calenders are one tool that is imperative to the time management process. You should begin by looking at each class syllabus and block in all school and lab times. Secondly, you should block in all standing commitments such as work, church, meetings and so on. Next it is important to highlight all exams and project due dates. This will help you break down your academic routine for homework and study days. Look at your calendar and work backward from exams and papers. This will help you determine when to start working on your papers or study for exams. Beginning every week, you should spend roughly thirty minutes looking at your calendar and mapping out the week. Remember to ask yourself questions about the week. What are your expectations? What do you plan to accomplish during the week? What t asks are more important than others? What will you have to do to reach your goals? How much time will each activity take? When will I do each activity? Remember to keep goals realistic, theres only twenty-four hours in a day, and you need to rest some of that time. It is also thought that if you study at the same time each day, you condition your brain to know that it is study time, this makes studying a habit. It is also thought that dividing study time into fifty minute blocks, followed by a ten minute break, helps you retain information better, and sets you up for higher success. As part of the scheduling process it is important to revisit and revise your schedule. Take an inventory of how you are choosing to spend your time. Was there any time that was wasted? What did you accomplish? What didnt get done? What changes need to be made to your weekly schedule to help you succeed? Are you sticking to your plans and goals? Is procrastination an issue? These questions can aid you in understanding where your time is being spent, what changes do or do not need to be changed, and help you take an inventory of your self. Once you take an inventory of how your schedule is going, it will help you to be able to understand more of what you have to do to be successful in your goals. Procrastination is arguably productivitys number one enemy. (Newman, Floyd. Time Management: The Art Of Being Productive (Increase Productivity, Get Organized And Get Things Done) (Increase Productivity Reduce Stress Save Time Book 1) (Kindle Locations 219-220). Kindle Edition.) It is hard to fight procrastination because it is a mental battle that one must fight. You have to dedicate yourself to be on time and to stop doing what ever you are using as an excuse not to complete your work. One of the best tools you can use to help you conquer procrastination is to divide a big job into smaller parts. When you break them down to smaller chunks, you avoid being discouraged or the temptation to procrastinate. (Taylor, Dane. Time Management: The Ultimate Productivity Bundle Become Organized, Productive Get Clear Focus (Time Management Tips, Time Management Skills, Productivity Hacks) (Kindle Location 1203). UNKNOWN. Kindle Edition.) This makes the goal more attainable and helps you feel accomplished along the way. When you break them down to smaller chunks, you avoid being discouraged or the temptation to procrastinate.

Women and Self-Reliance, Is This Possible? Essay -- Feminism Feminist

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   According to Ralph Waldo Emerson, we live in a society of conformity that is, "in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members . . . the virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion" (Emerson, 21). Since Civil War Nursing, women in the work force have been faced with this dilemma of self-reliance and conformity. As women have been discriminated against, and referred to as inferior to men, it has not been an easy task to over come the social barriers, without giving in to conformity, especially when it comes to the work place. As their role in the Civil War, nurses "fulfilled more of a replacement mother position, rather than a healthcare provider"(Hamway, 2001).   During the Civil War, women began to feel like part of the work force, but along with it, was the downfall of being considered "service workers", which is very similar to being a servant. Nurses had to suffer through much conformity, as they had to wait hand and foot on male patients, while at the same time being scrutinized by their male "overseers". These issues that nurses faced in the nineteenth century, continue even to this day, with a little more ease, but we are still driven by a patriarchal society that just isn't ready to let go. Through the works of Louisa May Alcott and Charlotte Perkins Gillman, one can see the hardships that Nineteenth century women were faced with when it came to working. These stories bring to light the fact that, by overcoming oppression, through the strength and desire that leads to resistance, women have been able to achieve self-reliance, which makes their "service work" considered to have with it, an achieved independence. These stories show us the struggles that women faced in the nin... ...heir own sense of independence. But they also present the reality of it all, that in the end they are back to where they started, and that women will never be able to let their guard down, because of the constant struggle of becoming equally self-reliant as men are, which still remains today.    Works Cited Adams, Jill. "Nursing as a Profession and Florence Nightingale". 2001. . Alcott, Louisa May. Short Stories. Dover Publications, 1996. Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Self-Reliance and Other Essays. Dover Publications, 1993. Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "The Yellow Wallpaper" and Other Stories. Dover Publications, 1997. Hamway, Theresa. "Civil War Nursing". 2001. http://bizntech.rutgers.edu/worknlit/civil_war_nursing_bib.html Summers, Anne. Angels and Citizens. Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1988. Women and Self-Reliance, Is This Possible? Essay -- Feminism Feminist   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   According to Ralph Waldo Emerson, we live in a society of conformity that is, "in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members . . . the virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion" (Emerson, 21). Since Civil War Nursing, women in the work force have been faced with this dilemma of self-reliance and conformity. As women have been discriminated against, and referred to as inferior to men, it has not been an easy task to over come the social barriers, without giving in to conformity, especially when it comes to the work place. As their role in the Civil War, nurses "fulfilled more of a replacement mother position, rather than a healthcare provider"(Hamway, 2001).   During the Civil War, women began to feel like part of the work force, but along with it, was the downfall of being considered "service workers", which is very similar to being a servant. Nurses had to suffer through much conformity, as they had to wait hand and foot on male patients, while at the same time being scrutinized by their male "overseers". These issues that nurses faced in the nineteenth century, continue even to this day, with a little more ease, but we are still driven by a patriarchal society that just isn't ready to let go. Through the works of Louisa May Alcott and Charlotte Perkins Gillman, one can see the hardships that Nineteenth century women were faced with when it came to working. These stories bring to light the fact that, by overcoming oppression, through the strength and desire that leads to resistance, women have been able to achieve self-reliance, which makes their "service work" considered to have with it, an achieved independence. These stories show us the struggles that women faced in the nin... ...heir own sense of independence. But they also present the reality of it all, that in the end they are back to where they started, and that women will never be able to let their guard down, because of the constant struggle of becoming equally self-reliant as men are, which still remains today.    Works Cited Adams, Jill. "Nursing as a Profession and Florence Nightingale". 2001. . Alcott, Louisa May. Short Stories. Dover Publications, 1996. Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Self-Reliance and Other Essays. Dover Publications, 1993. Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "The Yellow Wallpaper" and Other Stories. Dover Publications, 1997. Hamway, Theresa. "Civil War Nursing". 2001. http://bizntech.rutgers.edu/worknlit/civil_war_nursing_bib.html Summers, Anne. Angels and Citizens. Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1988.

Forgiveness Essay -- essays research papers fc

Forgiveness Christ Jesus some two thousand years ago came into this world to bring redemption for our sins. He did this through his death and resurrection, or what we refer to as the pascal mystery. We still encounter the saving presence of the Lord in the sacraments and in the Word. In each and every sacrament we come face to face with "the grace of God our Savior" (Titus 2:11). It is this redemption of sins aspect of the sacraments that I will be examine. In the past couple of century we have focused are attention primarily on the Sacrament of Penance as the means to obtain forgiveness of sins after Baptism. We have come to focus on it so much that it has come to be, for most Catholics, understood as the only sacrament though which forgiveness of sins is obtained. This belief as we will see is an incorrect understanding because we encounter the saving presence of the Lord in other sacraments and ways not only in the Sacrament of Penance. However the Sacrament of Penance is always to be understood as the primary sacrament for forgiveness of mortal sins after Baptism. To better understand how this can be let us first look at the general background of the development of the Sacrament of Penance. The Sacrament of Penance has it's roots even as far back as the day of resurrection when Christ breathed out the spirit on the disciples and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone's sins, they are forgiven; if you retain anyone's sins, they are retained.' (John 20:22-23). In Paul's second letter to the Corinthians we see Paul developing this teaching of Christ, when he says 'All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We beseech you...be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God( 2 Cor. 5:18-21). These two passages would seem to be part of the sacrament's biblical foundation. The sacrament itself would seem to have come about as a result of the early Church's struggle to recognize that Baptism may forgive sin but it didn't end the str... ... a form of reconciliation that reconciles the sinner with the whole Body of Christ, the Church. It would seem to me sense the early Church did not see all sins as needing the Sacrament of Penance there is no reason not to belief that venial sins are forgiven in other sacraments and rituals. We even have proof that saints such as St. Benedict and St. Augustine held that we could find forgiveness in other ways then just that of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Bibliography Dudley, Martin: Confession and Absolution: 1990, The Liturgical Press (243.4, D848). Hamelin, Leonce: Reconciliation in the Church: 1980, The Liturgical Press (243.4, H213). Jeep, Elizabeth: The Rite of Penance: Commentaries Volume Two, Implementing the Rite: 1976, The Liturgical Conference (243.4, L782r v.2). Keifer, Ralph: The Rite of Penance: Commentaries Volume One, Understanding the Document: 1975, The Liturgical Conference (243.4, L782r v.1). Longley, Alfred: Healing and Forgiveness, A New Penitential: 1976, World Library Publications Inc. (243.4, L856) Mitchell, Nathan, OSB: The Rite of Penance: Commentaries Volume Three, Background and Directions: 1978, The Liturgical Conference (243.4, L782r v.3).

Pistol Poets :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Title: The Pistol Poets Author: Victor Gischler Date Published: February 2004 Number of Pages: 340 1. Most Significant Characters   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In this story there were not many characters other than the main characters who had much importance on the outcome of the story. The most significant characters in the story were two characters by the names of Jay Morgan and Harold Jenks. Jay Morgan- Professor Jay Morgan was a man who very stressed who was forced to switch schools to teach each year. Switching schools caused many problems for Morgan. Some of the problems included were financial troubles and social troubles. Jay Morgan did not have a steady paycheck because of all his switching. Morgan had very little time to make many friends because he was never at one school for more than 6-8 months.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Professor Jay Morgan was a man who was not a very loyal person whatsoever. Morgan was very untrustworthy and often made decisions that were deemed irresponsible and irrational. Aside from Morgan’s lack of good judgment he was overall a very nice person and he was a good friend to many. Harold Jenks- Harold Jenks also known as Jenks was a hardcore gangster who in his teenage years thought about nobody other than himself. As Jenks grew older he also grew wiser and realized that he could not keep up his gangster ways. Harold Jenks was feared in his neighborhood but in all actuality he was a man with a very kind heart, and someone who had intentions in all the right places. Harold Jenks’ slip up was most definitely hanging out with the wrong types of people. 2. Minor Characters   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There were many characters who had minor impacts on the outcome of the story, some of these characters include a girl by the name of Ginny Conrad and a man by the name of professor Greg Valentine. Ginny Conrad- Ginny was a girl who loved to be spontaneous and wild. Ginny was a student at Eastern Oklahoma University and was a very hard working student. She was a person who got along with many people and was also very easy-going. Greg Valentine- Professor Greg Valentine was a man who very much like Jay Morgan was not very trustworthy at all. All though Professor Valentine was not trustworthy many people would often seek him for advice because of his very caring personality. Professor Valentine was a man who was easy to talk to and often gave very good advice on complex situations.

A Comparison of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Fight Club Essay

The purpose of my essay is to compare and contrast the novel titled Fight Club, written by Chuck Palahniuk, and the story, dated back to the Victorian age, known as The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, written by Robert Louis Stevenson. I will compare these two works by evaluating how these two authors represent the theme of dual/split personalities within a specific character found in within each of their respective stories. Each author portrays the idea of dual personalities, and as you read my argument, you will encounter the similarities and differences in the way they described the character’s appearance of their alter ego and the process of their transformation. I will also touch on how the author portrays each character with their own personal views on the world and how those very views caused the creation of their own, â€Å"Tyler Durden†, or â€Å"Mr. Hyde. † My comparison will also include the destructive nature of each character’s alter persona, as well as their personal views on reality and society that revolves around them. To close my argument, I will compare the process of each character’s inner confrontation and embracement of their other persona. This essay is purely a comparison of the two stories and will not touch on the psychological standpoint of dual personalities, other than comparing how the author portrays this theme and the ideologies of the characters, which they use to justify their actions in the story. Now the novel Fight Club was publish in 1996, and continues to be one of the most cult related novels of its time. So it is very recent in comparison to the short story, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, however they both dwell in the same region of dark settings and grotesque styles of writings. The novel Fight Club follows an individual, whose name is never revealed throughout the novel, and deals with his obsession of having all the finer things in life, along with the struggle of dealing with insomnia. He realizes that his existence means nothing in this world, despite his hard work and determination, and that one day he will die and the world will forget him as if he never existed. He attends support groups to earn a sense of satisfaction of being able to cry and release his inner feelings, regardless of the fact that he is not suffering from any illness or fatal disease. From these emotions, one can assume this sparked the creation of his other persona known as Tyler Durden who starts a â€Å"Fight Club† where men can establish their dominance and where they can truly embrace who they are. However the main character soon finds that what Tyler wants is not necessarily what he wants, which begins the confrontation between himself and his inner persona. Now within the novel of Fight Club, the story follows an individual whose name is never disclosed throughout the novel; therefore for the sole purpose of this essay I will reference this character as Joe. The reason being that as you read the story, the main character discovers a copy of Readers Digest, where he discovers an article in which they personify a human organ to explain functions and the medical needs that each organ needs. An example of this is, â€Å"I am Joe’s Raging Bile Duct† (Fight Club pg. 70), and continues to reference this throughout the story to express the emotions by personifying them in the same fashion. An example of this done by the main character is, â€Å"I am Joe’s Grinding Teeth† (Fight Club pg. 70), as well as, â€Å"I am Joe’s Inflamed Flaring Nostrils† (Fight Club pg. 70). The moments where he identifies himself in this fashion are the only moments where he gives himself any form of an identity; therefore in my arguments, as well as the conclusion of my essay I will reference this character as Joe. The second part of this comparison is the short story known as The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Now this short story was published in the year 1886, and was written during a time when the author, Robert Louis Stevenson was very ill and suffering from several hemorrhages within his lungs. Therefore, one can assume that during the writing process of this short story, the author was plagued with a multitude of thoughts that centered on dark themes. He created a monster story disguised as a detective story, which left the audience in awe at the climax in the story where they discover the truth. The way the author simulated the setting in the novella is very reminiscent of how Palahniuk set up the climax in Fight Club. The audience is given the image of individual who has altered persona. Now this story does not follow Dr. Jekyll through his journey of creating his evil alter ego. Moreover he is not even the first initial character that we are introduced to in the novella; we are first introduced to a man named Mr. Utterson. He is actually the lawyer of Dr. Jekyll and he takes an interest in his newfound protege who is referred to as Mr. Hyde. His negative feelings towards Mr. Hyde, beget a personal investigation into his life and his connection to Dr. Jekyll. Sadly he does not realize the truth behind the mystery of Dr.  Jekyll and Mr. Hyde till the end of the novella, where he finally discovers the secret from reading Dr. Jekyll’s last words written in a letter addressed to him after Dr. Jekyll’s untimely death. Although the story is not from the point of view from Dr. Jekyll himself, I was still able to receive a good assertion of his mentality and reason behind the creation of Mr. Hyde. This luckily was all explained within the note that was addressed to Mr. Utterson. We were also given enough details on the both characters, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which was shared over the whole span of the short story. So now that you have been given a brief introduction of the 2 books and the main characters that I will mention in the argument, then I will now proceed to carefully analyze and terms of measurements that I disclosed in the first paragraph of the introduction. Argument Appearance of Each Other’s Persona One of the main things within these two stories is the appearance of each character’s alter ego. It plays as one of the most important aspects of their persona. Now the way it is displayed within The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Mr. Hyde appears as the direct opposite of Dr.  Jekyll, which is also the case within the novel Fight Club. The appearance of Mr. Hyde can only be described within the following statement, â€Å"I never saw a man I so disliked, and yet I scarce know why† (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde pg. 43)? Mr. Hyde’s appearance engulfs what is completely known as the pure evil of Dr. Jekyll’s being, he also described him as, â€Å"something displeasing, something downright detestable† (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde pg. 43). These feelings are constantly mentioned throughout the masses of individuals who cross paths with Mr. Hyde. However Dr. Jekyll’s feelings towards Mr.  Hyde are much different than the public opinion. This brings me to the appearance of Joe’s alter ego in Fight Club, Tyler Durden, who presents himself in the exact opposite deposition of his creator. Now oddly enough, despite the evil nature of these individuals, both characters seem to have great admiration towards their alter persona’s personality as well as physical appearance. Joe, on some level is extremely infatuated with Tyler, he craves the same knowledge that Tyler contains. There are even moments in which he shows extreme jealous for the attention of his companion, â€Å"How could I compete for Tyler’s attention† (Fight Club pg. 5)? He truly wanted to embody all the characteristics of Tyler Durden; â€Å"Tyler and I were looking more and more like identical twins. Both of us had punched out cheek bones, and our skin had lost its memory, and forgot where to slide back to after we were hit† (Fight Club pg. 147). Now the differences between the characters appearances towards their alter ego’s are different in both stories. Now in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Mr. Hyde appears repulsive and disdainful to look at, whereas the famous Tyler Durden is everything that other men want to be, as seen within the main character’s (Joe) mind. This is due to the fact the each character’s persona is an exact depiction of what they want, Joe desires to be a leader and to be a man known and recognized, whereas Dr. Jekyll wants to embrace his pure evil side with no regret of guilt feelings. Now it can also be said that Joe’s desires to spawn anarchy, resulted in the creation of Tyler Durden due to the fact that he felt the people would respond more to Tyler than himself. Transformation (Mental vs. Physical) Now the author portrayed Dr. Jekyll as a man who was born into wealth and with humility as well as respect for his fellow man. However, Dr. Jekyll had his demons, along with an urge to commit misdeeds. He had an evil side that was ready to flourish; he would always say, â€Å"that man is not truly one, but truly two† (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde pg. 104). Sadly, any time he would commit a misdeed, a sense of horrible guilt would befall on his soul. Dr. Jekyll would state that he could see, â€Å"the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness† (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde pg. 104). Now this is when Dr. Jekyll decided to dedicate his research to the idea the one could separate into two personalities. Therefore, he would then be able to commit misdeeds with no guilt and to live a virtuous life without the temptation of evil. Now Dr. Jekyll had to achieve this over a physical means, whereas in the novel Fight Club, the main character achieved this split and separation of personalities within a mental means. Mainly the creation of his persona, Tyler Durden, was created from his own mind, of his own free will; to change the person he is and to become the person that he always wanted to be. Now unlike Dr. Jekyll, Joe’s process of transformation occurred, not from a vial of his own concoction, but from the condition known as Insomnia. The main character describe the condition as, â€Å"Everything is so far away, a copy of a copy of a copy. The insomnia distance of everything, you can’t touch anything and nothing can touch you† (Fight Club pg. 21). He is describing as if were in an out-of –body experience, and sure enough as its revealed later in the story, when he enters in a state of insomnia, in which he is actually under the control of Tyler Durden. As stated by Tyler, â€Å"Every time you fall asleep I run off and do something wild, something crazy, something completely out of my mind† (Fight Club pg. 148). Tyler explains that the longer and longer that Joe remains awake, the less will he will have to fight back to reclaim his mind. This means he starts becoming Tyler more and more often without his knowledge or free will any longer. Now the idea and theme of waking up as your alter ego is present in both short stories. Now in Fight Club, the only time that the main character transforms into Tyler Durden is when he slips into sleep and then awakens in a semi insomniac state. In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dr. Jekyll creates an elixir in which he can choose to become Mr.  Hyde. When challenged by Mr. Utterson concerning Dr. Jekyll’s control over Mr. Hyde he states, â€Å"The moment I choose, I can be rid of Mr. Hyde† (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde pg. 58). However Dr. Jekyll is overestimating the amount of the control he actually has over the beast within. At times he tries to prove that he does not need to become Mr. Hyde any longer, but he surely gives into temptation causing the beast to get stronger each and every time. That concept is similar to how Joe embraced Tyler within himself, and how he desired to be one with Tyler. Now both stories come full circle when they both realize the power that each of their persona has over them, so much now that they are transforming more and more often. This is seen in the moment when Dr. Jekyll awakes as Mr. Hyde without the aid of his elixir; he states, â€Å"Yes, I had gone to bed as Henry Jekyll, I had awakened Edward Hyde† (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde pg. 112). Now both stories share a common factor, which is that each character has lost so much control and has gone too far to regain whatever control they have left of their body. One quote comes to mind as one witness these occurrences and that is said by Joe, â€Å"If I could wake up in a different place, at a different time, could I wake up as a different person† (Fight Club pg. 24)? This question completely foreshadows the endings of both stories and in the process creates a huge similarity. Confrontation of One’s Self Now that the story is ending, the main character of each has to deal with the task of somehow liberating themselves from the clutches of their inner demon. In both stories, it seems almost near impossible to defeat their own mind. Tyler Durden is a separate personality I’ve created and now he’s threatening to take over my life† (Fight Club pg. 237). In this situation both characters have a sense of being trapped from the pure fact that they cannot run away from their own minds. For example, in the novel Fight Club, the main character attempts to remain awake with the help of another individual to prevent the awakening of his counterpart. Now this is only temporary for the pure fact that Joe can only remain awake for a certain amount of time. He is then forced to confront Tyler Durden in his mind, and only one persona will remain after the confrontation. His final confrontation can be described in the following quote, â€Å"To God, this looks like one man alone, holding a gun in his own mouth, but its Tyler holding the gun, and it’s my life† (Fight Club pg. 279). Now the character in the Fight Club actually prevails against his alter ego, by realizing fully that as long as it’s his body, he holds the power. â€Å"This is like a total epiphany moment for me. I’m not killing myself, I yell. I’m killing Tyler† (Fight Club pg. 281). Sadly the same outcome did not occur within the short story of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The confrontation that occurred between Dr. Jekyll and Mr.  Hyde was simply a battle between achieving a sense of normality before his very reputation was ruined. He searched for ingredients that could possibly help his metamorphous back to his own self. This did not work out as plan and to which it ended with Mr. Hyde’s suicide, which was committed to save him the embarrassment of being revealed or to face the pains of facing trial and being thrown to the gallows. Now these two different confrontations occurred in two different fashions due to the fact that the manifestation of Tyler Durden was the result of a mental need that the main character felt at the beginning of the novel. I felt trapped. I was too complete. I was too perfect. I wanted a way out of my life† (Fight Club pg. 263). He created him in his mind and Dr. Jekyll created Mr. Hyde out of physical manifestation of the evil within himself. Now a physical transformation is a lot harder to overcome a mental transformation, therefore the ending to the novella ended with a suicide attempt to end both personas whereas the main character of Fight Club shot himself in the attempt of killing, not himself, but the idea of Tyler Durden, in which he succeeded. Conclusion  Now the results of my essay have shown the similarities between the novel and the novella. The novel known as Fight Club, written by Chuck Palahniuk, showed the process of how a man, whose life was so perfect and yet found no happiness, embarked on the path of creating an altered persona of himself that was everything he ever desired and wanted to embody. Now the novella known as The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, written by Robert Louis Stevenson, told a very similar story involving a man who grew up into wealth and was praised as humble and respectful man. However he yearned to embrace his dark side, through the means of a physical transformation with the help of a chemical concoction that he spent his life to develop. His goal was to completely separate his good and bad sides to achieve the best of both worlds. Now one can see why these two stories ended up going their own paths involving dual personalities. Dr. Jekyll embraced his own manifestation of evil from the start; he even centered his research on the idea that he could separate his dark from his light side. However Joe never looked for Tyler Durden, his body craved it, and once the time came when Joe realized that he did not want to embody Tyler Durden, he retaliated by taking control of his mind, which then lead to him taking back control of his own body. The ill fate of Dr. Jekyll befall upon him due to the fact the he tried to silence one side completely, which ended in Mr. Hyde retaliating back and taking full control of his body. Very similar in how Joe was pushed to the limits and how, in the last second, took control and completely repelled Tyler Durden out of his body. Now even though Mr. Hyde, as well as Joe, took total control, the story did not end well for either of them. Mr. Hyde ended his life while Joe continued to live the rest of his life in an insane asylum. It seems that neither of the characters could have proceed on living without the other side of their persona present. The thought that a single moment in time can dictate the nature of history and the way that it is conveyed to the masses from that moment in time.

Meaning of Life and Socrates Essay

Socrates was considered by many to be the wisest man in ancient Greece. While he was eventually condemned for his wisdom, his spoken words are still listened to and followed today. When, during his trial, Socrates stated that, â€Å"the unexamined life is not worth living† (Plato 45), people began to question his theory. They began to wonder what Socrates meant with his statement, why he would feel that a life would not be worth living. To them, life was above all else, and choosing to give up life would be out of the picture. They did not understand how one would choose not to live life just because he would be unable to examine it. Socrates felt that if he was unable to examine life, he would not be really living. To Socrates, living meant being able to question the world around him. Examining life gives one freedom. Once one examines himself and understands who he is, he can take control of his life. Socrates believed that the ability to ask, to examine, and to understand would make a life whole. He believed that the purpose of life was to grow, both physically and spiritually. Being able to explore and understand would lead to a deeper understanding of the world around us as well as a deeper understanding of ourselves. (Plato 46) Socrates felt that, above all, one should be a good citizen and always do the right thing (Plato 18). However, many in his time did not worry about doing what was correct. Socrates realized this, and understood that they did not care to look into their actions and beliefs. Their first thoughts were on the goals that they had, such as money and pleasure, rather than the thought of whether or not the goals they held were actually what should have been considered important and right (Plato 26). Socrates knew that, unless they took the time to question their lifestyles, they would never do the right thing. By living a life that was being examined, the citizens would be living a life that was, for the most part, also right. Socrates†¦ Personally, I have found great value in examining the wisdom of many acts in my life, yet there are many types of people in this world, and if some do not ponder the wisdom of their actions much at all, must we (or particularly they) conclude their life is less worth living? It seems awfully condescending. The people who don’t examine their lives much probably aren’t examining Socrates statement. If they did, they might object to the interpretation with which it is adopted by philosophers. The live in which I let other people tell me what the questions of life are, the life in which I let other people give me their answers without my thinking through to my own answers, is the unexamined life. Socrates is saying that the life in which I ask my own questions and answer them for myself in a reasonable manner is a more valuable life than the unexamined life. The examined life is so much better than an unexamined life that Socrates is willing to die for that value. Through out generations, mankind has been asking themselves what is the purpose of life. And obviously, it would not easy for one alone to answer or explain what the meaning of life is. Nevertheless, one’s life is monotonous if it is meaningless, and it is not monotonous if it has a purpose, a target to go. Thus, the question here is how one knows that his life is worth living or not? Socrates, the father of ancient philosophy, once stated, â€Å"An unexamined life is not worth living. † In order to make one life becomes worth to live, this famous statement strongly addresses that one must exanimate himself first and then others in the society to find the meaning and happiness of life. After reading Plato’s account of Socrates defense, the Apology, I was completely blown away by the power of Socrates words and ideas. The reading left me thinking about how I felt regarding what he had said about virtue, truth and the quest for both. In class, we discussed Socrates search for virtue and we touched on the topic of this paper: the reasons Socrates believed that â€Å"the unexamined life is not worth living for man†. It is my opinion that he is correct in that view and in this paper I intend to show you why. Like many philosophers alive in his time, it was Socrates belief that virtue could only be attained through examination. Only through exploration can you really understand what virtue is, and begin to act virtuously. Understanding, as well as sharing, this information was very important goal to Socrates. The significance of examining and understanding our lives is far greater than one might think. Understanding and comprehending the behavior of friends, as well as of ourselves, enables us to have empathy and compassion for them. And, allows us not to stand in judgment, which, in turn, allows us to live the moral, noble lives that Socrates spoke of. As one analyzes the â€Å"Apology† by Plato, one is able to analyze and contrast and most people would agree with Socrates when he claims that â€Å"†¦the unexamined life is not worth living†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . From a more personal standpoint I would completely agree with Socrates point of view, due to the fact most of us in society have chosen to live the â€Å"unexamined life† for centuries and as a result we live in a society where one has to live segregated from our freewill as human beings as well as a society that is restrained by rules and other types of social â€Å"walls†. When one reads and is able to contrast Plato’s â€Å"Allegory of the Cave† it clearly shows a great and perhaps the most clear example of the point that Socrates was attempting to make to the jury, in the â€Å"Apology†. For example in Plato’s â€Å"Allegory of the Cave†, Plato makes the reader visualize a cave where there are a great number of prisoners who are restrained and are faced staring at the wall where all they can see is shadow movements that are projected from a fire that is placed right behind these prisoners, and this fire is displaying false images from what appears to be images of the outside world. As the story proceeds, one of the prisoners manages to pe the cave and he walks outside into the â€Å"real† world and is able to see a completely different view of the real world and this prisoner is able to see a completely different image of the outside world, different from the images that the shadows inside the cave were exposing to the prisoners. What Socrates is implying is that if one decides not to discover thyself and attempts to focus more on material interest and the acquisition of personal power, one is capable of abusing this power to an extent where it may result in havoc and possibly the destruction of those who occupy the state, either emotionally or physically and all as a result of decisions that were not taken into consideration before being applied. † What I was able to grasp from this quote that Socrates phrased is that one has the wisdom to accomplish anything in one’s personal life, but one should able to find our soul and locate the wisdom that one contains inside the mind before one attempts to reach personal obstacles in life. the greatest good of all man is daily to converse about virtue. When the time for the exam came along I decided not cheat in the exam simply because I was going to have to live with a guilty conscious for quite sometime and although cheating on the exam appeared tempting at the time I still needed some time to myself and ponder about the decision that I had to make that was probably going to damage my personal morality as an individual. † The part of the phrase that really caught my attention is when Socrates says â€Å". † What Socrates is trying to make us see is that the more one speaks about virtue the more a person is able to learn about the â€Å"virtues† of one’s personal life, or in other words we are able to acquire more knowledge of the human mind and its capabilities. I did not go where I could do no good to you or to myself; but where I could do the greatest good privately to everyone of you , thither I went, and sought to persuade every man among you that he must look to himself , and seek virtue and wisdom before he looks to his private interests, and look to the state before he looks to the interests of the state; and that this should be the order which he observes in all his actions. In my third semester in Santa Monica College I was taking a math class and during the first month of the semester I had already taken two exams and had failed on both, as a result before the day of the third exam arrived I was feeling somewhat nervous due to the fact that I was not prepared to take this exam. So as the moment was arriving for this exam, I began to ponder about idea of cheating in order for the results to go my way. When the escaped prisoner decides to go into the cave and attempts to explain to the other prisoners about what is really occurring in the outside world, the other prisoners decide to gain up on the â€Å"liberated† prisoner, because they were not prepared to see reality for what it really is, so they decided to chose to somewhat live the life of a â€Å"social slave† and not the life of a person who lives a life of freedom nor freewill. Another quote that Socrates applies in this story is when he quotes â€Å". The same thing goes for the â€Å"unexamined life†, sometimes we as a human being attempt to achieve a certain level of success in life and sometimes at the expense of others and although we may acquire success, we will always live with the conscious of such guilt that later on in life it is going to comeback and hunt us. â€Å"The unexamined life is not worth living. † (Apology, p. 41) Socrates held him self up to this standard by allowing the courts to take his life because they would not allow him to continue his quest set forth by the Oracle. An unexamined life would be just coasting through and not making any decisions or asking any questions. Socrates could not see a point in living if you were unable to ask questions and challenge your way of thinking. An examined life would be trying to understand your purpose and the current state of things. By examining your life, therefor understanding yourself, you will not be subject to actions motivated by passion or instinct. Socrates demonstrated this when Crito arrived at his jail cell with news that he could help Socrates escape. This was an event where they had to act quickly, however Socrates said â€Å"Let us examine the question together, my dear friend, and if you can make any objection while I am speaking, make it and I will listen to you, but if you have no objection to make, my dear Crito, then stop now from saying the same thing so often, that I must leave here against the will of the Athenians. I think it important to persuade you before I act, and not to act against your wishes. See whether the start of our enquiry is adequately stated, and try to answer what I ask you in the way you think best. † (Crito, p. 51) Socrates examines the situation with Crito instead of acting hastily. This example displays how dedicated Socrates was to his way of thinking, and helps explain Socrates actions in court. Meletus was the catalyst of this case brought against Socrates. Meletus’s affidavit said â€Å"Socrates is guilty of wrongdoing in that he busies himself studying things in the sky and below the earth; he makes the worse into the stronger argument, and he teaches these same things to others. † (Apology, p. 25) Socrates says all these claims are false and challenges anyone in the court to speak up if they are true. Socrates was also accused of corrupting the young and of not believing in the gods the city believed in but believing in his own gods. Socrates attacked each of these accusations point by point. To disprove the accusation that he corrupts the young he says â€Å"They say: That man Socrates is a pestilential fellow who corrupts the young. If one ask them what he does and what he teaches to corrupt them, they are silent, as they do not know. † (Apology, p. 29) To disprove the statement that he does not believe in the gods the city believes in, he starts to question the jury. Socrates states â€Å"Does any man, Meletus, believe in human activities who does not believe in humans? † â€Å"Or in flue-playing activities but not in flute-players? † (Apology, p. 32) Socrates sets up these analogies so he can compare them to the statements that he does not believe in any gods. Socrates then applies this analogy to himself by saying. â€Å"Then since I do believe in spirits, as you admit, if spirits are gods, this is what I mean when I say you speak in riddles and in jest, as you state that I do not believe in gods and then again that I do, since I do believe in spirits†. (Apology, p. 32) Socrates in his defense is trying to prove that Meletus’s charges are blown out of proportion and they are wasting the courts time. Socrates is posed with the question â€Å"Are you not ashamed, Socrates, to have followed the kind of occupation that has led to your being now in danger of death? † (Apology, p. 33) Socrates replies â€Å"Whenever a man has taken a position that he believes to be best, or has been placed by his commander, there he must I think remain and face danger, without a thought for death or anything else, rather than disgrace. † (Apology, p. 33) Socrates is saying when you dedicate your life or you strongly believe in a belief or subject no matter what the danger, you should still stand behind your beliefs. By doing this, you live an examined life. In Socrates case, if he were to accept the punishment of never practicing philosophy he would be living an unexamined life because he could just set aside his beliefs and move on through life. Socrates explains his passion for philosophy by saying â€Å"Gentlemen of the jury, I am grateful and I am your friend, but I will obey the god rather than you, and as long as I draw breath and am able, I shall not cease to practise philosophy, to exhort you and in my usual way to point out to any one of you whom I happen to meet. † (Apology, p. 34) The way Socrates explains himself to the jury, I see a man who truly believes in what he preaches. He demonstrates that he has lived an examined life, and even with the threat of death and an opportunity to escape death, he sticks with what he truly believes is right. He questions everything and will not accept ignorance. However I feel that since Socrates was at the age of 70 his fear of death was dramatically reduced. I think if he were younger he would have taken the opportunity Crito presented to escape, so he could continue his quest. â€Å"Now the hour to part has come. I go to die, you go to live. Which of us goes to the better lot is know to no one, except the god. † (Apology, p. 44).