American Values in the Declaration of Independence Essay

In 1776, a semi-unified country signed one of the most important documents in history. Since then the nation has shown signs of how different the country was from 1776 to the present. The Declaration of Independence is based on the social contract theory of government and is focused on equality, freedom, and power. These values have been both supported and contradicted in American history (Jefferson, pg. 443). In the declaration, Jefferson states that â€Å"all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness† (Jefferson, pg. 443). This speaks directly to the humanist theory of social contract that was prevalent at the time. One of the greatest political philosophers of the time was a man named John Locke. His ideas on governance were that no government could be effective without the consent of the governed and that should a government ever abuse its power â€Å"they break their contract with the people and therefore no longer enjoy the consent of the governed† and it is the right of the people to overthrow it (O’Connor &Sabato, pg. 9). When Jefferson explained that â€Å"these united colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent states† (Jefferson, pg. 46), his intent was to make clear that they would no longer look to another nation for guidance and support; that America would be its own sovereign nation from that moment on. One of the most contradictory aspects of the Declaration of Independence was its stance on the equality of man. Jefferson speaks candidly about it but what he refrains from discussing is the institution of slavery. The inconsistency of the two ideas almost screams off the page. It is not simply a forgotten issue on Jefferson’s part. He knew well that slavery was a problem in a nation he was purporting to be filled with equal men. Unfortunately the resolution to that issue had not as yet made its presence known and the Founding Fathers simply left it for future generations to figure out. When Jefferson stated that the United States were to be free, it began a period of time where Americans would begin to decide just what it meant to be an American. Values would be adopted; a cultural identity far removed from that of Europe would be founded. America, while separating itself from Britain, still had to wrestle with the fact that the rest of the world thought them nothing more than degenerate barbarians who were bucking the control of their superiors. However, between the landing at Plymouth Rock and the Revolutionary War, those little colonies had grown apart from Great Britain. Not just in distance but in cultural values as well. Feudal Britain could not understand the democratic America and vice versa. The humanist theories of the autonomy of the human spirit had really taken root in America whereas in Britain and other parts of the world the ideas were little more than words since there were already monarchical governments in place. While it is true that America based many of its systems on British techniques, there’s no denying that the emphasis of power and control rest far more readily in the rights of the individual rather than the rights of the nation. Of course this is not to say that America doesn’t have a few skeletons in their closet. Americans still to this day value their freedom and the idea of self-governance, but there was a time in history when this was forgotten. Around the turn of the twentieth century America annexed parts of the Philippines. This imperialist-style aggression towards another sovereign nation seems to fly in the face of everything America was built on especially since the Philippines had just won their own independence from Spain (by practically following the playbook that America had written. ) Another way to look at it would be to observe how America interacts with nations and people that are under a different form of government than their own. In a time where independence is lacking in other countries, the United States government tries to export its qualities to other non-independent countries. Even though at one point in time the United States became free on its own from higher powers, now America is the higher power trying to enforce independence in other countries. Though the United States has good intentions, it is not difficult to understand how other nations could see America as imperialist. America doesn’t want to expand its territorial boundaries but it has no problem trying to inflict their style of government on other nations. The Declaration discusses how much power the United States will have by stating that the newly independent olonies will have â€Å"full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which Independent States may of right do† (Jefferson, pg. 446). Power is one value that anyone can appreciate. No matter what country a person is from, at one point in time they wanted power. To give a country the qualities that Jefferson has quoted, â€Å"levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce† (Jefferson, pg. 446) it gives power to any country. In history, we have encountered when having too much power can leave one person to make bad decisions. For example, Ex-President Clinton, after two terms in office he was being accused of having extra-marital sexual relations in the White House. Then he continued to publicly lie to the United States about the affair. Later he was impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice. This example shows someone who had so much power being the President of the United States that he thought he could get away with having an affair while he was in office. He will always be known for his impeachment. Though he had good qualities as a President, he obviously could not handle all the power that was given to him. It could be opined that the reason Bill Clinton was impeached, besides lying under oath, is that he went against a core American value that holds fidelity within the confines of a marriage to be nearly sacred. When he broke from that value, he broke the faith the American people had in him. In conclusion, the American values that necessitated the writing of the Declaration of Independence may have changed since it was written, but not by much. America is an autonomous land filled with people who have built a system of values and a cultural identity that is its own. No longer is Great Britain a threat and common wealth can be achieved easier. America is not perfect but it is unique. Where else on earth can people enjoy the freedoms that this nation affords its citizens? The values of independence and self-governance that brought the Declaration of Independence to life still remain a part of the social fabric. Granted, the people are not fighting against a foreign power anymore, but that same spirit that riled a nation to revolution still maintains its hold on the current system of government and keeps it in check so that this nation â€Å"of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from this earth†.

Comparing and Contrasting Two Versions of Macbeth Essay

The two versions of Macbeth were made in different years. The BBC version was lower budget and set almost as if it is a play being performed on stage. The Polanski version was a big- budget film which is set in real, outdoor locations. However, though each film is very different, they are both adapted from Shakespeare’s play. Sound is very important in a film; sound consists of three elements, these being dialogue, music and effects. In the BBC version of Macbeth, dialogue is the most important of these sound elements; this is because the BBC version is very closely related to Shakespeare’s play. In the BBC version, sound is used to tell everything; there are very few sound effects and very little music. Conversely, in the Polanski version all three elements share important roles. While the BBC version follows Shakespeare’s original script very closely, Polanski makes a number of changes to the script and sequence of events. An example of the original play being adapted is in scene one, in which he chooses to make very long so that he was able to miss our parts later on in the story. Instead of the witches meeting in the first scene, the witches meet and cast a spell using an arm. In the BBC version, this particular reference to a body part does not come until scene three. This is why scene one in the Polanski version is so long. The dialogue in the BBC version is identical to the dialogue that Shakespeare wrote. Though dialogue in the BBC version is the most important feature, there is music. Music is used to build up suspense at the very beginning of the film, this music starts and stops as does the use of thunder as pathetic fallacy. This creates an eerie and unpredictable effect. In the Polanski version, sound is a more subtle element. In scene one, everything is action with quiet sounds and the witches do not speak until two minutes into the scene. On the other hand, the witched begin to speak almost immediately in the BBC version. The mise en scene in both movies is important. A movie can be more realistic than in a staged play. This can be seen clearly in the Polanski version which uses elaborate, individual costumes which look very true to life. This is helped because the Polanski film had a big budget. The setting in the Polanski film was a real landscape and on location. Many props are also used; for example in scene one when the witches push a pram which contains an arm, a dagger and blood. Props add to any movie or play to make it more interesting. In this particular case, however, the props symbolic of what is to happen later in the play- gory murder. In the BBC the mise en scene is much simpler, being set more like a stage version- more dialogue, less scenery. In scene one there is only one setting. This scenery is much simpler and clearly filmed in a studio, it shows the witches situated on a rock in a dark area. The costumes the witches are wearing plain undistinguishing clothe: their black shawls are almost identical making the audience concentrate more on the dialogue, the mise en scene is a bonus, as opposed to in the Polanski version, where the mise en scene plays a more important role. Visuals are very important in both versions of Macbeth. In the BBC version there is only one shot in scene one, which makes it very similar to how it would be performed on stage. However, the difference is that the camera zooms in a the beginning and zooms further in to a close up of the witches’ hands at the end. This same effect could not be achieved in a stage version, In the third scene of the BBC version, there are many shots. This is because the scene is longer and includes more characters: Macbeth, Banquo, the three witches and two messengers. Whereas in scene one there were only three witches. In the Polanski version there are many shots; fifteen in scene one. Each shot is carefully made to portray something. Unlike in a play, a movie effectively tells the viewer exactly what to see at a certain point. One example of an important shot is the third shot in scene one where the shot goes from the three witches digging in the sand to a seagull flying in the sky. This shot may seem random at first but it was specifically chosen to show time passing. It can also symbolise a coming storm- seagulls flying inland means that there is bad weather brewing at sea. This can be connected as a sign of what is going to happen later in the story and what the witches are preparing, a bad spell. The use of lightning and colour is important in both versions. This can be noticed when the lightning in scene one in the BBC version and Polanski version is both red at the beginning. The colour red symbolises blood, a major element in the play and gives an indication to the audience of the bloodshed and murders to come. Colour is also important to portray the time of day. This is shown in the Polanski version at the beginning when it is dawn and the sky turns from red to blue, becoming brighter to show the sun rising. A red sky can also symbolise bad weather, as does the seagull later on. The saying goes: ‘Red sky at night, shepherd’s delight, red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning.’ I think both versions are excellent stories of Macbeth. The BBC version is more like the original play and focuses on the literary content; the Polanski version contains more action. Both films are helpful in aiding students to understand the content and themes of the play because the BBC version is very similar to the original play- the speech is the same, however, the Polanski version is more cinematic which makes it more exciting and helps students to enjoy the play. I preferred the Polanski version because it is not completely directed on dialogue but also on action and scenery. I found this more interesting and more realistic than in the BBC version.

Ambitious leader

Not everyone Is capable of being an ambitious leader. Ambition Is an Intense desire for achievement or distinction. Some individuals are born with an inner motive that pushes them to find solutions. An ambitious leader is someone who is confident, open-minded, and has self-control. Confidence is an essential aspect when it comes to being an ambitious leader.You can teach an ambitious leader to be a mentor, problem solver, and a better communicator, yet without believing in themselves that leadership is nothing more Han Just a title. Ambitious leaders believe in themselves and the decisions they make which tend to lead to success. Many ambitious leaders are certain that they need to make confident decisions, follow them through and admit when they have made a mistake. The ability to keep an open mind Is an essential quality of ambitious leaders.When a leader Is open-minded they tend to be humble or flexible. An ambitious leader will have a habit of keeping an open mind as a way of all owing new and useful ideas to arise in whatever it is they are doing. Taking in new options being noninsured in that person's decision-making process is what makes an ambitious leader successful. Self-control is a significant aspect ambitious leaders have. Self-control involves managing one's emotions and urges in order to control inappropriate reactions and create energy in a positive way.Ambitious leaders stay calm and perceptive under high stress or during a crisis to ensure that everything runs smoothly. Self-control additionally requires mind-control. One thing ambitious leaders are certain of Is that they need to control their mind or It will end up controlling them, which leads to negative effects on one's leadership. An ambitious leader who demonstrates great self-control possesses a charisma that can encourage passionate devotion from his or her followers.Not everyone is capable of being an ambitious leader. Ambition is an intense The ability to keep an open mind is an esse ntial quality of ambitious leaders. When a leader is open-minded they tend to be humble or flexible. An ambitious additionally requires mind-control. One thing ambitious leaders are certain of is that they need to control their mind or it will end up controlling them, which leads to negative effects on one's leadership. An ambitious leader who demonstrates great.

Critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of labour process Outline - 1

Critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of labour process theory for our understanding of the impact of information and communication technologies in the workplace - Outline Example In this regard, the workers will lack an opportunity to develop and build on their talents. It is important to note that the adoption of LPT leads to the compromised output to the work done. The affinity of the machines to making mistakes is higher than that of human skills. LPT limits the aspects of innovation in that discoveries are hard to be deduced by the use of machines as opposed to the use of skilled work force (Price & McConney, 2012). Conversely, LPT fosters management control in that by using the ICT, the management system of the organization enables the management of the organization network and monitors all transactions done by the respective employees. LPT enables the use of various softwares such as the use of the Transaction processing systems among others. Data mining and cloud computing enables the activities of the organization to be managed from one central point. This is beneficial to the organization in that it is able to monitor the trend and performance of its employees (Downard 2009). Price, A, Mansfield, C, & McConney, A 2012, Considering ‘teacher resilience’ from critical discourse and labour process theory perspectives, British Journal Of Sociology Of Education, 33, 1, pp. 81-95. Pushenko, SL 2013, Risk-management and its integration to the system of labor safety management. (Russian), Vestnik Volgogradskogo Gosudarstvennogo Arhitekturno-Stroitelnogo Universiteta. Seriya: Stroitelstvo I Arhitektura, 34, 53, pp.

Why did Kyoto succeed wen Copenhagen failed Essay

Why did Kyoto succeed wen Copenhagen failed - Essay Example eement will influence the development potentials of per capital underdeveloped countries and will establish climate change-linked damages endured by impoverished people for hundreds of years to come (Motavalli 2009). Failure to reach a compromise would have serious impacts on the development potentials of underdeveloped countries, numerous of which will suffer from the most grave effects of change in climate. The initial United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) agreement acknowledges these types of issues and demands that further accord negotiation listen to them (Frass-Ehrfeld 2009). Any agreement will be obliged to adhere to the UNFCCC standards associated to sustainable progress and the impartial distribution of obligations. There are important UNFCCC standards that function to direct the requirements of a valid climate agreement (Fress-Ehrfeld 2009). These are standards founded by the earlier treaty of the initial UNFCCC. As a result, they have position in international law, and legality obliges their fulfillment; but by safeguarding guidelines that enable development in poor countries (Posner & Weisbach 2010), they also satisfy the moral purpose of eliminating poverty. Therefore, the objective of this essay is to argue that the Kyoto Protocol, which succeeded the UNFCCC, was successful in meeting some of its global emission reduction targets by providing some figures and brief description of its principles and guidelines. Subsequently, the successful outcome of the Kyoto Protocol will be contrasted with the unfavorable outcome of the Copenhagen climate conference. Factors such as the creation of legally-binding commitments to emission reduction, financial assistance, and market-based mechanisms will be taken into account. Much of the global community, by the end of 1992, had espoused the UNFCCC to â€Å"stabiliz[e]†¦ greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with

COMPARATIVE TEXUAL ANALYSIS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

COMPARATIVE TEXUAL ANALYSIS - Essay Example This paper compares and contrasts Mother Tongue by Amy Tan and The Misery of Silence by Maxine Kingston in terms of techniques and the use of stylistic devices that include repetition, humor, personification, irony, back shadowing, storytelling, description, metaphors, setting and objectification. Amy Tan has used many rhetorical devices to emphasize the main theme of her story, which are cultural differences. First she uses repetition and this can be seen where she says, â€Å"And I use them all- all the Englishes I grew up with†¦Recently, I was made keenly aware of the different Englishes I do use" (Tan 78). This emphasizes the point that the English used by her mother and the English used by the locals are different ones. This shows the cultural differences between immigrants and the locals. Direct speech, sincere tone, The other rhetorical device is personification. This is clearly seen in the phrase, â€Å"the intersection of memory upon imagination† (Tan 79). This again emphasizes the different English she speaks, one that is native and the other broken, as used by her mother. Amy Tan also uses anecdotes, such as â€Å"At this point in the story† (from paragraph five and on) (Tan 77). This is used to pull the attention of the reader and maintain it as she explains the difference of the effects of the languages she is exposed to. Both Mother Tongue by Amy Tan and The Misery of Silence by Maxine Kingston have used humor that comes through language. In Mother Tongue, Amy Tan’s mother speaks in broken English because she does not understand the whole English language because she is an immigrant. Tan’s mother speaks freely because she thinks that her English is good. However, when she realizes that her English is not good she lets her daughter do the talking on the phone instead of her. This is humorous. The Misery of Silence presents Maxine’s difficulty in speaking English when she moved to America. In the first three years in America, she did not speak at all. The humor is clearly brought out when Maxine and her sister recited the lesson in front of the class. They recited as if they wanted to cry but went on until they finished the recitation (Kingston 209). Maxine Kingston also uses several rhetorical devices. First, Kingston has used back shadowing. For example, this is seen where she starts the narration and she says, â€Å"When I went to kindergarten and had to speak English for the first time, I became silent† (Kingston 208). This helps her to narrate her story and help the reader understand the experiences she encountered when she was a child. The back-shadowing helps the audience identify with the experiences that she passed through. Maxine also uses objectification where she says, â€Å"My silence was thickest - total - during the three years that I covered my school paintings with black paint† (Kingston 209). She objectifies the silence to make the audience feel the stren gth that the silence had and its extent. Maxine also uses direct speech in the story. This is seen where she includes her father’s response to the pictures, by saying, â€Å"The parents and teachers of criminals were executed†, said my father. This shows the extent to which she was problematic both to teachers and to parents. Maxine has also used a simile where she says, â€Å"was a tie-tac-toe mark, like barbed wire, on the map† (Kingston 209). This is meant to emphasize the fact that the Japanese kids were arrogant. In mother tongue, Amy Tan

Critically discus Visit Scotland Organisation and its contribution to Essay

Critically discus Visit Scotland Organisation and its contribution to the development of Scottish tourism in the past ten years - Essay Example These organisations play a fundamental role in development of tourism products within different markets. This article presents an analysis of the national tourism agency for Scotland; VisitScotland. The article identifies the numerous approaches the organisation has pursued in development of tourism within the country, and the result of these strategies on the tourism industry in Scotland. The report provides several recommendations that could enhance the impact of the organisation on the tourism activities occurring within the country. Table of Contents Executive summary 1 Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Methodology 3 Background of Visit Scotland 3 Findings 4 Partnerships 4 Marketing 6 Provision of information 7 Quality and sustainability 7 Discussions 8 Recommendations 9 Conclusion 10 References 11 Introduction VisitScotland is the Scottish national tourism agency that undertakes the role of marketing the country as a tourist destination in the world. The organisation is a gover nment funded public body that plays a significant role in coordinating various stakeholders within the tourism industry, in Scotland. The organisation has continuously been actively involved in the development projects of many tourism-based investments within the country. ... These activities have provided significant impacts in the development of tourism activities within the country; consequently contributing to economic improvement through sustainable tourism activities (Yeoman, para 1). Methodology The research gathered in this report was taken from various literatures available online. Journal articles and books have also been utilised in gaining an objective perspective of the organisation. Background of Visit Scotland Visit Scotland is an executive public body in Scotland, which coordinates tourism activities in Scotland and acts as the national tourism agency. The organisation operates from head offices located in Edinburgh, Scotland as well as other locations across the country (VisitScotland, para 1). The organisation was established in 1969 as the Scottish Tourism Board, and has continued to undertake tourism related activities since inception. The organisation is charged with the responsibility of attracting visitors to the country; an ope ration it undertakes through advertising, promotional campaigns and many other approaches. The organisation works closely with VisitBritain, a similar organisation with similar tasks across the entire Britain. The organisation coordinates tourism-marketing activities within the country, and seeks to ensure sustainability of the tourism sector within the country (Yeoman, Galt, and Mcmahon-Beattie, 14). Findings The organisation has been fundamental in the sustainability of tourism activities within the country for many years. The presence of the organisations remains essential in the tourism activities undertaken through the country. The organisation has over

The Silk Road and its effects on the economic development of India, Essay

The Silk Road and its effects on the economic development of India, China, and Southeast Asia - Essay Example India, China, and Southeast Asia were central locations along the Silk Road. The trade route brought together a number of civilizations, with the common denominator of their interaction being the long distance trade between them. The trade locations that the Silk Road covered enhanced the history of every single party. Cultures were exchanged and the foundations of economic growth and development were laid. The various dynasties that existed, including but not limited to Western Han (206 BC–24 AD), Eastern Han (25–220), and Tang (618–907) among others influenced the pursuits of each civilization involved (Boulnois, 2005). China was a key player in the long distance trade that made up the Silk Road. With the Silk Road named after the primary trade product, China’s economy was undoubtedly heading for growth and development. The traded silk in this route came from China, among other traded goods at the time (Christian, 2000). The dominance of silk as a trade product in the Silk Road exacerbated the economic performance in China. Technologies were also exchanged; a scenario that best suited China’s economy. Contributing traders in this pursuit were the Indians, Bactrian, Sogdian traders between the 5th and 8th century CE, and later the Arabs and Persians (Waugh,

Finanical Accounting Concepts Phase 2 DB Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Finanical Accounting Concepts Phase 2 DB - Essay Example This is also the reason why the expense incurred on Furniture is not shown on the income statement, The expense incurred on the furniture ($1500) will be shown in reduced amounts for a period of years in subsequent income statements. The Income Statement reflects the inflow and outflow of expenses and revenues. However, the Owner’s equity statement is a statement that reflects the position of the owner’s capital in the business. Therefore it reflects the shares position, the kinds of shares (common, preferred or deferred preferred shares) and their distribution. However, a balance sheet is a comprehensive statement that reflects the financial position of a firm at the end of a financial year. While the Income statement shows mainly operating expenses and net revenues, the balance sheet is a summary of a Company’s entire financial condition at any given point of time, therefore it includes all assets of the Company, all liabilities and net worth. This statement also takes into account the ownership of non fluid assets and share ownership in the Company. Therefore, in a balance sheet, the accounting equation would be: Assets – Liabilities + Owner’s Equity. The Accounting Cycle includes the process of recording entries of receipts and expenses in a journal in chronological order according to dates. These entries are then posted to the ledger, both under debits and credits, under the appropriate account heading. The trial balance is then prepared to ensure that all debits are equal to all credits. Any errors or discrepancies are then resolved with individual journal entries, in order to yield the adjusted trial balance. This forms the basis for the preparation of the various kinds of financial statements, such as cash statements, income statements and balance sheets. The final steps in preparing these statements are in the posting of the closing entries and the preparation of the final

Anger and Fear in Post-Traumatic Experiences Essay - 13

Anger and Fear in Post-Traumatic Experiences - Essay Example As the paper outlines. while Peter seems to be devoid of our usual notion of fear and anger, the ensuing analysis would indicate that he is actually suffering from these two emotions, albeit, in a different manner. Fear is defined as an emotional feeling generated when a person feels a threat or some form of harm manifested through bravado or anxiety and usually prompting a decision whether to fight or escape from it. Anger, on the other hand, is defined as a strong feeling of grievance and displeasure. How does fear and anger manifests in the seemingly jovial and confident Peter? From our definition of fear, we can see that Peter responds to the threat of permanent paralysis by using self-reassuring (bravado) techniques such as the ‘my parents will take care of it’ and rejection of the most probable outcome by constantly thinking that he will get better and be back to normal. Anger is not readily apparent as it is not outwardly expressed but one can surmise that Peter i s angry at himself for his unfortunate accident and the ensuing helplessness the paralysis has brought upon him. He grieves for himself and his reliance on his parents signifies his resignation. This suppressed anger at his situation is often referred to as ‘hidden’ anger. Traumatic events are multidimensional in nature and are perceived as extremely unpleasant subjective experience. Not only is the biological aspect of the body harmed but also the psychological well-being of the person. Psychological response to life-changing traumatic experiences differs for every individual and depends on his personality and cognitive appraisal. Herrero observes that certain personality types are more adaptive than others. Those with a healthy personality have been observed to be more optimistic and confident with their situation and treatment than those with personality disorders such as being schizoid, antisocial, dependent and avoidant.  

Business case and environment Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Business case and environment - Dissertation Example However, the HR related works are still scattered across the various departments in the organization. However, the CEO of the company has other bigger and better plans. (As the next section says the plans referred tot he expansion plans. Please have a look. ) The CEO wanted to expand the company. The expansion is supposed to happen both in case of product line as well distribution, as the top management plans to open two more retail shops in the country; one in Calgary and another one in Toronto. Therefore the organization needs manpower both in case of quality and quantity. So the organization is going through a transformation phase. However, it is to be added that the employees of the company has not yet been informed about the proposed idea of change. In order to achieve the organizational objective the management has hired some new experienced faces. One of them happens to be the HR manger. This section of the study would look to analyze the way the HR manager dealt with th e problems, solved them and effectively implemented the organizational change would be discussed. Data Collection The data collected happens to be secondary in nature. The main reason for such choice is the fact that the secondary data collection method is the best to gather quality and relevant data within a short period of time in a cost effective fashion. Also it is to be added that the secondary collected is primarily qualitative in nature. One of the main challenges faced by the HR manager was the integration of the HR department. As mentioned earlier the HR department had two staffs only looking after recruitment and operations. Also the HR works were scattered over the other departments. Therefore the HR manager realized that it is important have all the HR activities under one umbrella. Hence the HR manager decided to recruit some HR executives so that the HR functions can be integrated. Each of the HR executives was given responsibility to look after the HR issues related t o issues of each department. Each of the executives will act as a touch point to the departmental heads. Each of the executives would be reporting to the HR manger. In this way the manger would be able to be in touch with the different departmental heads and also the HR department would become integrated in nature. The next area of focus for the HR manger was the employee morale and productivity. After analyzing the past employee records the manger found out that the average age of employees in the organization is six to eight months. This needs to be changed if the organization plans to achieve growth. Therefore the manager asked the HR executives to carry out an organizational research to find out the key pressure points. Based on the findings of the survey the manager found out that there is a lot of uncertainty regarding the reporting relationships and job security in the organization. Also many of the employees were not properly sure about the job description. Add to that the m anger also found out that since the HR organizational did not have a fully operational HR department activities such as the performance appraisal, salary increments were quite fragmented in nature. Therefore the manger decided to create Key result areas (KRA) and job descriptions for each of the designations. This would most certainly help the employees understand the roles in the organization. The employees can understand what is expected of them

Gandhis Contribution to World War I Essay Example for Free

Gandhis Contribution to World War I Essay Why? 1)He had begun to approve of the idea of home rule, but he had no interest in exchanging government by British elite for rule by an Anglicized Indian elite. If swaraj was to come to India, he argued, it must come as part of a wholesale social transformation that stripped away the old burdens of caste and crippling poverty. 2)Gandhi had said – â€Å"I felt then that it was more the fault of individual officials than of the British system, and that we could convert them by love. If we would improve our status through the help and cooperation of the British, it was our duty to win their help by standing by them in their hour of need. 3)He had been almost alone among Indian leaders who had argued for unconditional support to Britain in her hour of need in the hope of a worthy gesture at the end of the war. 4)The issue in Champaran involved European traders forcing illegal dues and payments upon the peasants; Ahmedabad’s problem was centred on the unfair treatment of industrial workers; and the predicament in Kheda was caused by the government ignoring the farmers’ appeals for the remission of land revenue. Gandhi solved each dilemma using unique, yet effective methods which gained him the respect and commitment of many political workers. These events depict the growing unrest in India very clearly. India was itching to fight for independence, which would be a very bloody battle indeed. Gandhi, therefore, decided to support the British Empire in the war, hoping that in return, India would gain independence. What? 1)In April 1918, during the latter part of World War I, the Viceroy invited Gandhi to a War Conference in Delhi. Gandhi agreed to actively recruit Indians for the war effort.[43] In contrast to the Zulu War of 1906 and the outbreak of World War I in 1914, when he recruited volunteers for the Ambulance Corps, this time Gandhi attempted to recruit combatants. In a June 1918 leaflet entitled Appeal for Enlistment, Gandhi wrote To bring about such a state of things we should have the ability to defend ourselves, that is, the ability to bear arms and to use themIf we want to learn the use of arms with the greatest possible dispatch, it is our duty to enlist ourselves in the army.† 2)Early in 1918, the war seemed to be going badly for the Allies; a German thrust was expected on the western front, and the Viceroy summoned prominent leaders of Indian opinion to a War Conference in Delhi. Gandhi supported the resolution on recruitment with a single sentence in Hindi: With a full sense of my responsibility, I beg to support the resolution. 3)When World War I broke out, Gandhi was on the high seas, he was homeward bound, though he hoped to spend a few weeks in England. On August 6, 1914, he landed on English soil and lost no time in calling a meeting of his Indian friends to raise an ambulance unit Public opinion 1)Gandhi did not favour a bargain with the government by offering cooperation at a price and said: That we have been loyal at a time of stress is no test of fitness for swaraj (self-government). Loyalty is no merit. It is a necessity of citizenship all the world over. 2)During the years 1916-18, Gandhi did not take active part in politics. The Moderates did not like his extra-constitutional methods of Satyagraha, the Extremists did not like his studied tenderness to the British Government during the war Consequence And having fought a war whose supposed purpose was to protect the rights of small states and independent peoples from tyranny, the rhetoric of British rule in India had begun to ring hollow 1)In this atmosphere, the harried British government made a frightful mistake. They elected to follow the recommendations of the Rowlatt Committee, which advocated the retention of wartime restrictions in India–including curfews and the suppression of free speech. Gandhi, reading the soon-to-be-passed Rowlatt Act in his sickbed, was too weak to mount a protest, but his loyalty to the Empire, which he had long viewed as the guarantor of Indian liberties, suffered a major blow. 2)Gandhi learned through the Sedition Committee Report that the government of India was going to introduce legislation to curb civil liberties. All of the Indian soldiers lost their lives in vain because the British Empire had absolutely no plans to give India its freedom. 3)Heartbroken, India grew more and more restless. When General Dryer heartlessly slaughtered 379 people at Jallianwala Bagh, the country could take no more. Awhile later, Gandhi launched a nation-wide struggle. And finally, on August 15th, 1947, India finally won its independence. 1)Charlie Andrews confirms, Personally I have never been able to reconcile this with his own conduct in other respects, and it is one of the points where I have found myself in painful disagreement.[46] Gandhis private secretary also had acknowledged that The question of the consistency between his creed of Ahimsa` (non-violence) and his recruiting campaign was raised not only then but has been discussed ever since. 2)They wondered, could the apostle of peace ask them to take up arms in defense of the Raj? About 1.3 million Indian soldiers fought in the war. 47, 746 soldiers died and 65, 126 were wounded from the Indian army. This doesn’t seem like something Gandhi would want, right? Many people wonder why Gandhi wanted Indians to fight, since he always strictly adhered to non-violence. His support for India’s involvement in World War One causes us to question his consistency and perhaps even his belief in ahimsa. 3)He did, however, stipulate in a letter to the Viceroys private secretary that he personally will not kill or injure anybody, friend or foe

Role of Magnetic Field in Parkinsons Disease

Role of Magnetic Field in Parkinsons Disease Role of Magnetic Field in Diagnosis and Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease Jehan Zaib Ali Khan, M.Phil. Abstract: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurological disease. It is due to less production of Dopamine in brain. There is no permanent treatment of this disease. But with the passage of time some useful techniques and medicines are developed for diagnosis and treatment, to overcome its signs. MRI and TMS are also included in these techniques. Magnetic Field is basic thing in these techniques. Role of magnetic field is very useful to diagnose and to cure this disease but there is need of further research and work to make these techniques more effective and safe. I have studied and reviewed different researches about these techniques and try to summarize the role of magnetic field in this article. Keywords: magnetic field (MF), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), transcranial magnetic simulation (TMS), parkinson’s disease (PD), deep brain simulation (DBS), repeated transcranial magnetic simulation (rTMS) Introduction: Parkinson’s disease is a neurological disorder. It is very chronic disease. Patients with this disease have great difficulty in movement. They also face non-motor complications like loss of appetite, sleep deprivation and pain. There is no permanent solution of this disorder. But with the passage of time some techniques and medicines are developed for proper diagnosis and treatment to overcome its symptoms. Levodopa is a basic medicine to fulfill the requirement of dopamine because lack of dopamine in brain is the basic cause of this disease. But there are some side effects of Levodopa. Levodopa-induced dyskinesias are a common complication of chronic dopaminergic therapy in patients with Parkinsons disease (PD). The overall prevalence of levodopa-induced dyskinesias ranges from 40%-90% and is related to the underlying disease process, pharmacologic factors, and to the duration of high dose levodopa therapy.[1] In that case another method is necessary to cure PD and overcome d yskinesias. For this purpose artificial week magnetic fields can be used that have dramatic effect.[1] For diagnosis purpose magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is very useful. Another step in this direction is functional MRI which describes the neural mechanism of movement automaticity in PD patient.[2] Magnetic Field and Diagnosis of PD: MRI uses strong magnetic field, radio waves and computers to produce detailed images of interior of body. It gives 3-D image representation of internal parts of body. In this way, it is very useful for diagnosis of PD. MRI scanner contains powerful magnets. A strong magnetic field is created by passing an electric current through the wire loops. During this process, other coils in the magnet send and receive radio waves. This triggers protons in the body to align themselves. Once aligned, radio waves are absorbed by the protons, which stimulate spinning. Energy is released after exciting the molecules, which in turn emits energy signals that are picked up by the coil. This information is then sent to a computer which processes all the signals and generates it into an image.[3] Functional MRI is advance form of MRI. It can be used to investigate the underlying neural mechanisms of movement automaticity in Parkinson’s disease patients.[2] Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has become an efficient instrument in the symptomatic therapy of PD. Functional MRI can be used safely for this purpose. Positron emission tomography (PET) is used quite widely in studies dealing with DBS and with PD. fMRI has never used for this purpose but safety of fMRI during thalamic DBS has been proven by a study with a heterogeneous group of patients suffering from neurological disorders.[4] Single pulse transcranial magnetic simulation (TMS) can be used for investigation and diagnosis.[5] Magnetic Field and Treatment of PD: In 1992, it was reported that reported that extracranial treatment with picotesla range magnetic fields is an effective, safe, and revolutionary modality in the management of Parkinsonism. Also for those patients, whom are facing levodopa-induced motor complications. [6][7] It also produces improvements in non-motor aspects like sleep, appetite, pain, mood and sexual behavior. A comprehensive study on a PD patient shows that magnetic field in the range of picotesla is very useful as antiparkinsonian. In this way it reduces the requirement of antiparkinsonian medicines like levodopa.[7] In 2008, Therapeutic effects of low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) were investigated by Toshiaki FURUKAWA and others in PD with cognitive dysfunction known as impaired set switching. They apply rTMS on six patients and monitor these patients by using different tests. They applied 0.2-Hz rTMS over the frontal region at an intensity of 1.2 x. They concluded that when combined with drug therapy and rehabilitation, rTMS appears to be useful for maintaining and improving function.[8] TMS basis on principle of inductance to get electrical energy across the scalp and skull without the pain of direct percutaneous electrical stimulation. It involves placing a small coil of wire on the scalp and passing a powerful and rapidly changing current through it. This produces a magnetic field that passes unimpeded and relatively painlessly through the tissues of the head. Magnetic field induces week electrical current and to produce enough current to excite neurons in the brain, the current passed through the coil must change within a few hundred microseconds.[5] Transcranial magnetic simulation is very useful for treatment of this neurological disease but it is not permanent solution. A patient suffering from PD needs this therapy on regular basis. Sometimes medicines are also required besides of this therapy. Therefore there is need of further research and investigation to improve that treatment of PD.[8] Although single pulse TMS is very useful for investigation purposes and rTMS is very useful for treatment but rTMS may be harmful for by kindling effects as well as the past history of possible misuse of electroconvulsive therapy. It can produce adverse effects on human body like headache, effects on hearing, kindling and effects on hormones. Metallic hardware near the coil can be moved or heated by TMS, presence of metal may be harmful.[5][9] Therefore it needs to take some safety measures to control harmful effects of magnetic field. There should use simulation parameters in safe range like duration of rTMS, frequencies and intensities.[5] Future of MF in Diagnosis and Treatment of PD: Magnetic field is very useful for treatment of diagnosis and treatment of PD. But there is need of further improvement of techniques based on the use of magnetic field. These techniques can become most suitable for patients of PD reducing harmful effects of MF. In the future, the long-term therapeutic effects of rTMS, particularly with regard to the frequency, stimulation intensity and rTMS coil-type, need to be investigated Further developments related to the application of rTMS in Parkinson’s disease are expected.[8] Conclusion: Parkinson’s disease is chronic disorder. There are different medicines and techniques for its diagnosis and treatment. For this purpose use of magnetic field and its effects are very valuable. By using appropriate amount of MF one can overcome the symptoms of PD. There are some side effects of its use for diagnosis and treatment. But these side effects can be controlled by taking some necessary steps. It will not be wrong, if I say that by further research and investigation MF can become a good replacement of antiparkinson medicines. References: [1]D. K. Sandyk R , Anninos PA, Tsagas N, â€Å"Magnetic fields in the treatment of Parkinson ’ s disease . PubMed Commons,† vol. 63, p. 1342026. [2]T. Wu and M. Hallett, â€Å"A functional MRI study of automatic movements in patients with Parkinson’s disease,† Brain, vol. 128, pp. 2250–2259, 2005. [3]T. M. Deserno, Biological and Medical Physics, Biomedical Engineering. Springer, 2010. [4]R. Jech, D. Urgosà ­k, J. Tintera, a Nebuzelskà ½, J. Krà ¡senskà ½, R. Liscà ¡k, J. Roth, and E. RÃ…Â ¯zicka, â€Å"Functional magnetic resonance imaging during deep brain stimulation: a pilot study in four patients with Parkinson’s disease.,† Mov. Disord., vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 1126–32, 2001. [5]E. M. Wassermann and E. M. Wassermann, â€Å"Risk and safety of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation,† Electroencephalogr. Clin. Neurophysiol., vol. 108, pp. 1–16, 1998. [6]â€Å"Pulsed electromagnetic fields potentiate neurite outgrowth in the dopaminergic MN9D cell line . PubMed Commons,† vol. 92, no. 6, p. 24523147. [7]R. Sandyk, â€Å"Treatment of Parkinson’s disease with magnetic fields reduces the requirement for antiparkinsonian medications.,† Int. J. Neurosci., vol. 74, pp. 191–201. [8]T. Furukawa, S. Izumi, M. Toyokura, and Y. Masakado, â€Å"Effects of Low-frequency Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Parkinson ’ s Disease,† vol. 34, no. 3, pp. 63–71, 2009. [9]P. M. Rossini, P. M. Rossini, S. Rossi, and S. Rossi, â€Å"Transcranial magnetic stimulation: diagnostic, therapeutic, and research potential,† Neurology, vol. 68, p. 484, 2007.

The Rise in Penal Populism | Dissertation

The Rise in Penal Populism | Dissertation Abstract Since the mid-1970s onward, the vast majority of Western countries have experienced a significant plus continual rise in their incarceration rates, leading to the problem of overcrowded prisons. We examine the extent to which the ‘incarceration boom’ of many modern societies can be attributed to the phenomenon of penal populism. Specifically, we argue that some short-lived actual crime waves during the late 1970s and 1980s may have initially generated a small amount of rational penal populist sentiment among the public, it is the strong divisions within the increasingly heterogeneous public (both politically and ethnically), the central government, and the popular media industry of many democratic developed nations which have ultimately sustained the growth of both penal populism and prison population numbers. Furthermore, we focus on the types of crime that are most commonly targeted by strong penal populist sentiments in the public and criminal justice system, and suggest that all such categories of crime can be fundamentally linked to the cultural ‘purification’ of children which has taken place in virtually all Western societies during the latter half of the twentieth century. Finally, we consider the limitations of penal populism, referring to those few post-industrial states where such populist punitiveness has been largely resisted, and postulate what the end-stage consequences of a penal populist movement spanning over the past three decades are likely to be. 1. Introduction The term ‘penal populism’ denotes a punitive phenomenon that has become characteristic of many modern industrial societies, especially within Western liberal democracies since the late twentieth century onward, whereby anti-crime political pressure groups, talk-back radio hosts, victim’s rights activists or lobbyists, and others who claim to represent the ‘ordinary public’ have increasingly demanded of their governments that harsher policies and punishments be enforced by the relevant organs of the criminal justice system (e.g. law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, legislators, etc.) in order to combat the perceived rise in serious crime rates (Pratt, 2006). One direct consequence of the increasingly severe ‘tough on crime’ measures – such as ‘Life means Life’, ‘Three Strikes’, and ‘Zero Tolerance’ policies – exercised in many economically advanced countries from the mid-1970s onward has been an unprecedented rapid rise in the incarceration rates of these respective nations, leading to the problem of overcrowded prisons. The United States epitomises the tempo of the modern change in national imprisonment rates, and currently has the worst problem of prison overcrowding on a global scale. Indeed, ‘American incarceration numbers [have] increased fivefold between 1973 and 1997’(Caplow and Simon, 1999, p63). More recently, ‘in 2004 the United States surpassed Russia in incarceration rates to become the world leader. With 2.2 million individuals inside (assuming a U.S. population of 290 million in 2004, that is an incarceration rate of approximately 759 adults in prison per 100,000 residents of the United States) and upwards of 7 million individuals either on parole, probation or awaiting trial, 1 in every 33 people in the U.S. is currently under state control and the number is growing’(State-Wide Harm Reduction Coalition, 2005). Clearly, an interpretation of the widespread incarceration rise must be able to accurately explain its rapidity, extent, and endurance on a global scale. There are two principal explanations for why such a large number of developed countries have experienced an ‘incarceration boom’ over the past three decades. Both theoretical models assert that it is changes in penal policies plus sentencing practices, rather than simply significant increases in crime rates alone, which are the primary factor responsible for driving prison population growth, but there is considerable disparity between the two theories about the causes of penal policy changes. One ‘crime wave’ hypothesis posits that actual rising crime rates in many Western countries, including the vast expansion of drug crime during the late twentieth century, have resulted in a greater rational public demand for the criminal justice system to take more severe punitive measures against convicted dangerous criminals (i.e. those offenders who pose the highest threat to public safety and social order; the criminal offenders most commonly targeted by penal populism in modern societies shall be considered in detail below), such as a more frequent use of incarceration with longer custodial sentences. In contrast, the second ‘political opportunism’ hypothesis suggests that many majority government parties have intentionally overstated the size and severity of the national crime problem in order to heighten public fears or instil ‘moral panic’ over perceived (as opposed to actual) rising crime rates, which are merely a political artefact, and subsequently utilise harsher crime control policies to win electoral favour (Caplow and Simon, 1999). Importantly, irrespective of which mechanism has in actual fact been operating across numerous advanced industrial states, and has led to the observed excessive growth in prison population sizes, both explanatory models can clearly be regarded as strongly related to the presence of penal populism. The critical difference between the two theories is whether the main original source of those penal populist sentiments can be accurately considered to be the public or the state, or both. According to the first model, which may be described as the public-induced penal populism hypothesis, it has been the persistent public demand for the government to impose harsher punitive measures on convicted criminals which has primarily caused the fast-paced escalation of incarceration numbers in many modern nations. In other words, the criminal justice systems in these countries have largely been exercising a regime of penal excess because constant pressure from a large sector of the public (in response to an actual rise in crime rates) has compelled them to do so. In comparison, the second model, which we may refer to as the state-induced penal populism hypothesis, postulates that within many Western countries the government parties in power have often created and sustained an artificial appearance of rising crime rates in order to instil widespread public anxiety. Subsequently, the majority government (and individual politicians) can be observed by the public to be apparently controlling the perceived illusory crime problem, such as through adopting and enforcing ‘tough on crime’ measures, and thereby attain public popularity to secure their party’s (or their own) success in the next general election. The second model further suggests that the government is not the only state institution in developed nations which benefits from overstating the scale of the dangerous crime threat, but that there are also large rewards for popular media outlets or news companies willing to do so. It is argued by many criminologists that within almost all democratic Western countries, the central government and the popular media, which are both fragmented into multiple competing party’s or companies, are highly dependent on addressing and reporting criminal activity that specifically victimises ‘ordinary people’ in order to retain electoral votes and public ratings, respectively. Hence, the state-induced penal populism hypothesis proposes that politicians and media outlets lead rather than merely follow or passively represent the public opinion: the public only supports or appears to ‘demand’ the government’s harsher punitive policy strategies because the same national government and popular media industry (as two powerful state institutions) have manufactured a compelling false image of prevalent serious crime which has instilled strong penal populist sentiments in a large proportion of that public. The central aim of the following examination is to determine which of these two distinctive theoretical positions is most likely to be correct. It is of course possible that the public-induced penal populism mechanism primarily operates in one developed nation, while in another Western country it may be the state-driven penal populism process that is predominant. However, to the extent that the relatively recent phenomenon of globalisation has resulted in many common economic, social, political, and cultural practices being widely adopted by a number of modern industrial states, one may plausibly expect a similar (if not identical) mechanism of generating penal populism to be present in the developed nations affected by prison population growth, especially with regard to the United States and Western Europe. At the outset, we may hypothesise that although some short-lived real increases in Western crime rates during the late 1970s and 1980s may have initially triggered some rational penal populist sentiments among the public of these modern societies, it has been the combined interaction of both political opportunism and media opportunism which has acted as a powerful vehicle in numerous modern societies for distorting the public’s common view of the national crime problem, and ultimately for sustaining the growth of both penal populism plus prison populations, regardless of how those crime rates may have subsequently changed (and in most developed countries they have steadily declined). One fundamental feature of the modern incarceration surge over the past three decades that is observed in virtually all countries affected by rapid prison growth is the significant proportion of these prison populations that has become comprised of racial minorities, including both of resident ethnic groups and of non-citizen illegal immigrants. As one study (O’Donnell, 2004, p262) remarks, ‘one factor that accounts for rising prison populations across Europe is the incarceration of ‘foreigners’. It is likely that prison accommodation in the Republic of Ireland will be used to hold growing numbers of failed asylum seekers, at least pending deportation. It is also inevitable that the composition of the prison population will change as members of minority groups begin to appear before the courts on criminal charges’. In terms of the racial minorities imprisonment trend in the United States, Caplow and Simon (1999, p66) assert that ‘it is undeniable that the incarcerated population is disproportionately composed of minorities (especially African Americans and Hispanics), and that the disproportion has increased during the period of rising imprisonmentThe period of rapid growth in incarceration rates has seen a significant increase in the proportion of minorities in the inmate population, especially among drug offenders, the fastest growing segment of that [prison] population’. As is the case with most Western European countries, the United States prison sector has also experienced a mass round up of illegal immigrants or non-citizens during the last three decades, who in 2003 made up 40% of federal prisoners (State-Wide Harm Reduction Coalition, 2005). Ultimately, therefore, it is apparent that the incarceration boom in many developed countries has primarily affected various racial minority populations present within these nations. It is the cumulative incarceration of racial minorities that is significantly responsible for the prison overcrowding problem commonly observed. Thus, one crucial question that we must address in the following study is what has caused (and continues to cause) the increased imprisonment of racial minority populations, relative to the incarceration rate of the racial majority host population (typically white), within the modern industrial societies affected by prison overcrowding? Specifically, we shall seek to determine whether pervasive ‘penal racism’, indicated by a greater tendency in developed nations for both the law enforcement system to arrest and subsequently for the criminal justice system to imprison ethnic or non-white defendants compared with white ones who have committed the same offence, is sufficient to explain the large racial differentials observed in incarceration rates, or not. The methodology of the following study consists entirely of literature-based research and analysis. 2. The Origins of Penal Populism: Real Crime Waves versus Political and Media Opportunism It is widely acknowledged that the prevalent public sentiment in many developed countries to ‘get tough’ with criminals has played a central role in catalysing the incarceration surge which has occurred in these nations since the mid-1970s onward, an influential social movement that is referred to as penal populism. Furthermore, whether one regards the source of that penal populism as stemming from a rational public response to actual rising crime rates or, conversely, as triggered by public exposure to political and media manipulation, the measured strength of the public’s demand on their respective democratic governments to impose harsher punitive measures on convicted criminals has remained consistently high over the thirty year period of vast growth in incarceration numbers. For example, with regard to the United States, one study notes that the time series of public responses to the survey question of whether courts are too lenient has remained highly stable since 1972 (Caplow and Simon, 1999). The significant temporal correlation in many modern industrial states between the onset of strong public desire since around the mid-1970s for more stringent crime policies and the period of rapid prison population growth is a clear indication of the vital part that penal populist sentiments have played in causing prison overcrowding. One may plausibly argue that the strong growth of penal populist sentiments in most advanced industrial societies over the past three decades has been initially generated by temporary real increases in crime (including the rapid expansion of a drug-crime economy during the 1980s) and sustained by an increased reliance of governments on implementing harsher crime control measures (rather than more effective social welfare policies) to gain public support plus secure electoral favour. Accordingly, we intend to demonstrate that penal populism in developed nations is a product of both short-lived actual crime waves and manipulative political opportunism. Indeed, one would theoretically expect the two factors operating in conjunction to result in a significantly larger escalation in incarceration rates (as is in fact observed) than would occur if only one of these forces was present in isolation. As one study has observed, ‘tough on crime’ policies produce prison population increases only to the degree that offenders are available to be imprisoned (Zimring and Hawkins, 1991). Conversely, an increase in crime rates would also not produce a corresponding increase in imprisonment rates unless some suitably punitive crime control measures were in place. During the last thirty years there has also certainly occurred in many Western countries a greater dependence of competing popular media companies, both television and the press, on selectively reporting dangerous (i.e. worse than normal) crime on an almost daily basis, simply in order to maintain or increase viewer and reader ratings. By portraying the national crime problem as more severe and more prevalent than in reality, individual popular media outlets (e.g. tabloid newspapers) in developed nations have become more appealing to public viewers than their quality media counterparts (e.g. broadsheet newspapers) who often object to distorting or manipulating the reporting of crime news. Since the late twentieth century onward, crime news has become a fundamental component of the public’s staple diet. As Pratt (2007, p68) suggests, ‘the reporting of crime is inherently able to shock [and] entertain, sustaining public appeal and interest, selling newspapers and increasing television audiences. Furthermore, the way in which crime is used to achieve these ends is by selective rather than comprehensive reportingHowever, it is not only that crime reporting has quantitatively increased; there have also been qualitative changes in its reporting: it is prone to focus more extensively on violent and sexual crime than in the pastThese qualitative and quantitative changes in crime reporting can be attributed to the growing diversity of news sources and media outletsAs a consequence, both television and the press have to be much more competitive than used to be the case. Their programmes have to be packaged in such a way that they become more attractive to viewers than those of their rivals and competitors’. Evidently, given that it is typically the most popular newspapers (such as the tabloid press in Britain) which feature the greatest number and severity of crime stories, it means that the most common representations of crime, portrayed in ‘the form of randomised, unpredictable and violent attacks inevitably committed by strangers on ‘ordinary people’, reach the greatest audience’(Pratt, 2007, p70). Thus, it is clear that within modern society the potential benefits to popular media outlets from inaccurately amplifying the danger plus scale of national crime in the public’s perception are equally as large as the rewards for politicians willing to do so. With regard to addressing the (largely fabricated) immediacy of the criminal activity problem, therefore, media opportunism and political opportunism are proximately linked in virtually all post-industrial countries where penal populist currents are strongly established. As well as magnifying the size of the dangerous crime problem, the popular media in many Western countries further continually seeks to undermine the current sentencing practices of the criminal justice system, regardless of how harsh they have become over the past three decades. In the same way that the crime stories reported by the popular media are scarcely representative of the actual nature of everyday crime within developed nations, the court stories followed are rarely illustrative of everyday sentencing practices. According to Pratt (2007), that media misrepresentation then reinforces the common public opinion that courts are too lenient, even though they have become significantly more punitive, in addition to fuelling the widely held public sentiment that the crime rate is constantly escalating when recent statistics indicate that crime is in fact steadily declining in most modern societies. Thus, in its reporting style, crime analysis by the Western popular media has become ‘personalised’ rather than ‘statisticalised’, since: 1) it prioritises the experiences of ordinary people (especially crime victims) over expert opinions 2) News reports are more prone to focus on the occasional failings of criminal justice officials as opposed to their many successes. Indeed, in the vast majority of modern societies, the ‘citation of criminal statistics has become a code for softness on crime and callousness towards its victims’(Pratt, 2007, p88), which simply provides the popular media with further scope to legitimately overstate the scale and severity of everyday crime in developed states. For these reasons, the media outlets in many Western countries have played a significant role in facilitating the continual growth of penal populist sentiments among the public. 3. The Transient Growth of a Drug-Crime Economy in Developed Countries It is highly pertinent that the vast expansion in drug crime within many Western nations during the late 1970s and 1980s coincided precisely with the onset of rapidly escalating incarceration rates in these same countries. As is asserted, ‘the growth in nondrug crime has simply not been sufficient to sustain the rapid growth of imprisonment. By the 1970s there was already an active culture of drug use and networks of drug importation/sales in the United States, but their economic importance increased in the 1980s due to new products and distribution strategies, especially for ‘crack’ cocaine. That transformation in the marketing of illegal drugs coincided with political decisions to intensify the punishments for drug crimes. The result was an enlargement of the population available for criminal justice processing’(Caplow and Simon, 1999, p71). It is crucial to acknowledge, therefore, that in any modern industrial society there is not a rudimentary causal link between a greater public desire for severity in criminal sanctions and a sustained growth in incarceration numbers; other conditions must be present. Specifically, ‘a key condition is a large pool of offenders available to be imprisoned’(Caplow and Simon, 1999, p93). Although there had also been documented transient increases in the number of offenders committing nondrug crimes such as violent crime, property crime (larceny), and sex crime in modern societies during the 1980s, these numbers tended to fluctuate in cycles over time, and could not account for the continual rise in incarceration rates observed. In contrast, the number of drug crime offences had remained consistently high throughout the 1980s in virtually all developed countries that have experienced an incarceration boom. However, in most Western nations the total drug crime rate then started to steadily decline during the 1990s largely due to the much harsher punishments being imposed on drug crime offenders (both petty and serious) by the criminal justice systems in these states. One valid explanation for the persistently high rate of drug crime during the 1980s is the ‘economic base’ principle. Specifically, while the average monetary yield of larceny, violence and sex offences is very low, drug crime represents one of the only categories of felony where the potential financial returns are extremely high, and that provides a strong economic incentive for individuals living in poverty. Hence, drug smuggling and trafficking are the only illegal activities capable of providing a solid economic base for a large criminal population in modern society. The initial cost of goods is low and law enforcement efforts sustain high retail prices, thereby ensuring large profit margins (Reuter and Kleiman, 1986). Since the 1980s, drug crime has certainly been targeted by penal populist sentiments in many Western countries affected by a public expectation for greater punitiveness, largely irrespective of how the drug crime rate has subsequently changed in these developed nations, but it is evidently not the only category of felony that has become a common target of penal populism. Sex offences (especially against children), violent or abusive crimes (once again, even more so when the victims are children), and youth crime are three other important types of crime that in late modern capitalist states have characteristically become subjected to a public desire for penal excess. We shall examine in detail at a later stage below what these specific four categories of crime have in common and why they are such typical targets of penal populist sentiments in developed liberal societies. 4. The Increased Dependence of Governments on Crime Control as a Source of Popular Credibility The rapid proliferation of drug crime in many Western countries during the late 1970s and 1980s was accompanied by a great loss of public confidence in the social welfare programs implemented in these same nations. As Pratt (2007, p95) asserts, ‘the visible presence of drug addicts in these countries had become a symbol of misplaced welfarism and tolerance, now believed to be corroding their economic and social fabrics’. Furthermore, the short-lived growth of general crime waves in many modern societies during the late twentieth century led to a significant decline of public assurance in the competence of their respective governments to control the state. As one study remarks, ‘the international crime waves of the 1960s and 1970s helped diminish the prestige of national governments all over the industrial world, by calling into question their capacity to maintain social order. The increase of crime rates at a time of increasing government efforts to help the poor undermined many of the traditional arguments for welfare, and helped confirm the view of many conservatives that efforts to help the poor only made circumstances worse by eliminating incentives for self improvement’(Caplow and Simon, 1999, p88). It is difficult to determine whether the crime wave was caused by expansions in welfare programs or merely coincided with them. The main point is that in addition to the direct relationship between high rates of crime and demands for punitive governmental responses, the crime wave may have indirectly diminished the prestige of and public demand for welfare-oriented government (Caplow and Simon, 1999). Thus, it is argued that during the 1980s many Western governments shifted the priority of their domestic agendas away from welfare policies toward crime control policies. Initially, it was most often right wing conservative politicians that promoted ‘tough on crime’ punitive measures, making crime a political issue and gaining public support. However, Lappi-Seppà ¤là ¤ (2002, p92) suggests that mainstream opposition (i.e. left wing) parties are then forced into advocating punitive policies as well, because although these left wing parties want to ‘distance themselves from the populist programmes of the right wing movements, there is one area where they do not like to disagree – the requirement of being ‘tough on crime’. No party seems to be willing to accuse another of exaggeration when it comes to measures against criminality. Being ‘soft on crime’ is an accusation that no [governmental party] wants to accept. And it is that fear of being softer than one’s political opponents which tends to drive politicians, in the end, to the extremes of penal excess’. It is plausible to argue, therefore, that constant competition between opposing governmental factions for public favour in liberal democracies has created an ‘punitive arms race’ of political opportunism, whereby each party is compelled to promote plus (when in power) implement increasingly more radical punitive policies – irrespective of the actual level of crime that the country is experiencing – in order to avoid appearing weak on crime and consequently losing valuable electoral votes to their political opponents who are prepared to be more severe on criminals. Clearly, such an opportunistic punitive arms race occurring within the governments of developed nations would lead to an exponential increase in the prison population numbers of these countries, and ultimately to prison overcrowding. That political mechanism may at least partly explain why so many Western countries which have experienced a large decrease in crime rates since the mid-1990s and into the early twenty-first century have still reported a rising prison population. For example, Pratt (2006, p1) observes that since 1999 Labour led coalition governments in New Zealand have strongly adhered to Britain’s New Labour ‘approach to crime and punishment, even using the famous phrase ‘tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime’ in its election manifestoes of 2002 and 2005. As a consequence, while [New Zealand’s] recorded crime rate has dropped by 25% in the last ten years, its imprisonment rate has increased to 189 per 100,000, one of the highest of Western countries’. Yet it is not only the divisions (i.e. in terms of competing parties) within Western democratic governments that have catalysed the increased political focus on crime control, but also the growing number of divisions among the public itself. Indeed, modern society in many developed nations (such as the United Kingdom and the United States) has become increasingly heterogeneous since the late twentieth century, and consequently the number of bases of division within these societies has expanded. For example, the members of a diverse post-industrial society are not only partitioned along the traditional parameter of social class, but are also strongly divided by a number of dichotomous value-based issues that are characteristic of ‘post-materialist’ politics such as abortion, gay rights, animal rights (e.g. fox hunting), mass immigration, school prayer, and capital punishment where it still exists (Caplow and Simon, 1999). These value- or identity-based issues are intensely contested over in modern societies by well-organised pressure groups on either side of the bipolar political spectrum. These issues are bipolar or dichotomous in the sense that they are non-negotiable with no ‘middle ground’; one either supports abortion rights or one opposes them. Hence, public division on these post-materialist issues is inevitable. One important consequence of the heterogeneous publics of Western countries becoming divided by such a multitude of value conflicts during the 1970s onward is that government parties had difficulty finding any issues to build successful election campaigns on that would appeal to a vast majority of the public. Harsher crime control appeared to be a clear choice as a singular issue that large sections of the modern public are united in consensus on. As is stated, ‘Unlike most values issues on the left or right, crime control seems to cut across the political spectrumPoliticians seeking to build viable majorities inevitably turn to the few issues that can bring people together in the new political landscapeThat is why election campaigns continue to focus on crime and punishment issues even when opposing candidates agree in their support of punitive anticrime measures. Faced with voters who split on so many issues and who are profoundly sceptical about the ability of government to improve their lives through welfare-oriented interventions, the mode of governing that commands the broadest support – punitiveness toward criminal offenders – is understandably [valued by governments]’(Caplow and Simon, 1999, p83). Ultimately, therefore, while short-lived actual increases in crime rates during the late 1970s and 1980s may have initially triggered the rise in imprisonment rates in a number of developed countries, political opportunism (in the sense of governments capitalising on populist punitiveness) has arguably sustained the incarceration boom in virtually all Western nations affected by prison overcrowding, regardless of how those crime rates may have subsequently changed. 5. The Target Crimes of Penal Populism There is a high degree of uniformity across all Western nations that have experienced an incarceration surge over the past three decades in the types of crime that are most commonly subjected to strong public demand for harsh punitive sanctions. Generally, the four most frequent felony targets of penal populism are: Drug crime; Sex offences, especially when the victims are children; Child abuse (physical, sexual, or psychological), and; Youth crime. Correspondingly, these have also been some of the fastest growing segments of prison and boot camp populations in many developed countries during recent years. One fundamental property that the above four categories of crime have in common is that children are extremely vulnerable to the effects of all of them. We may validly question why children have come to occupy such a central place in the penal populist sentiments of modern industrial societies. Pratt (2007, p96) remarks that ‘crime control policy driven by penal populism targets ‘others’, not ordinary, ‘normal’ peopleGiven the nature of populism, we should expect that crime control policy will gravitate towards easy and familiar targets, for whom there is likely to be the least public sympathy, the most social distance and the fewest authoritative voices (if any) to speak on their behalf: tho Effects of Watching Soap Operas | Research Effects of Watching Soap Operas | Research Shaping Minds: The Soap Opera and the Power of Representation Abstract In this thesis I aim to identify what the younger British public find engaging about Soap Operas, and to identify some of the processes at work during viewing, which might alter or enhance the ways in which we see the world. Focusing specifically on the relationship between popular media and the attitudes of young people towards sex and social class, research addresses the power of media representation, the use of role models, and how popular media encourages the viewer to make social distinctions and reinforces our ideas of classification. My research examines the influence of popular programmes, such as Sex and the City, and Australian and British Soap Operas, and throughout the thesis I refer to the theoretical approaches of Bourdieu and Michel Foucault, where I discuss the paradoxes latent in both the logic and language that people generally perceive to be stable and fundamental to social order. I also consider systems of classification and how the act of perceiving the validity and existence of such distinctions creates them. Conclusions drawn suggest that people consider soap viewing to be more dangerous in hindsight, whereas younger people do not recognise, or are less willing to recognise the inherent influences of soap story lines. Research does conclude that most people do consider soap operas to present an unrealistic portrayal of family life and relationships. Introduction Before the seventies a relatively small and largely irrelevant body of research existed that was solely based around soap operas, and it was only at that point when soaps began to assume a position as a topic of interest (LaGuardia 1974, 1977; Stedman 1971; Weibel 1977. In Blumenthal, p.43), as well as an area worthy of academic research (Katzman 1972; McAdown 1974; Newcomb 1974. Ibid). As Blumenthal openly writes ‘there were those who simply were against them, or found them silly.’ (Blumenthal, p.43). The context for this research formed out of a perceived gap in current research topics between the effects of media on children and adults, with relatively few projects being based solely upon teenagers and young people. As noted by Hawk et al (2006) much public and scientific concern has been expressed regarding the influence of sex in the mainstream media on childrens sexual development, such as Greenfield, 2004. However, fewer studies have studied in depth the relations hips between adolescents viewing of sexual content in the media and their own sexual behaviours and attitudes, and of those studies which do exist many are subject to severe limitations such as small samples, and narrow focus on a single type of sexual outcome, such as incidence of intercourse (Peterson et al., 1991. In Hawk et al, 2006: 352). An important consideration for the topic of this research also rested upon the observance that it is less common for research into sexual attitudes to be combined with attitudes towards social class; the decision to marry these two topics derived from the consideration that British soap operas more often represent the working class, whereas Australian soap operas mostly refer to middle class families. It was therefore an interesting research proposition to consider whether attitudes towards sex and class are being shaped by the type of target audience that these programmes are being aimed at. Although the present study does not focus on the ex tent to which women only are influenced by viewing soap operas, it does recognise that a large body of research exists on women and soap operas, and that more useful responses might be given by women respondents. Methodology In considering the methodology for this project it was decided that in order to achieve a more comprehensive collection of data with specific personal reactions to media that primary data in the forms of questionnaires and interviews should be used, rather than basing the thesis purely on secondary textual and resource analyses. As some critics suggest, textual analysis cannot always enlighten us as to what goes on in the minds of viewers and often relies upon inference and speculation (Dow, 1996). Secondary materials used for this project also include journals, articles, and books which have attempted to define the relationship between viewers and popular media. Results and findings are discussed using the research of theorists such as Adorno and Fiske; this was decided in order to encompass opinions which span a broad spectrum of relevant ideas, and are useful for how they illustrate the contrasts present in media research. Participants Participants who filled in only questionnaires were obtained by contacting high schools and middle schools, mostly in urban areas, that agreed to participate in data collection. Fifteen schools (who had their own colleges for 17-19 year olds) were initially randomly selected and contacted, 10 of which agreed to participate. As this project did not aim to highlight how attitudes might vary between age and race the identity and nationalities of respondents were not obtained. This was also decided upon because the ‘blind’ questionnaire offered school pupils more scope to provide false answers, especially concerning age and gender. In total there were 200 pupil responses with ages ranging from 12 to 18. As part of gathering primary data slightly different form of questionnaire (see Appendix Two) was presented to a random selection of young adults. This sample was achieved by approaching people on the street in a local town during rush hour. The only criteria that the second lot of respondents had to meet was that they were aged 30 or under this was to ensure that recall of their watching soap operas during their teens would be more likely to be more accurate. Furthermore, this age limit was necessary considering the ages of the programmes themselves, many of which have been running approximately 20 years or less. In the random sample interview it was possible to make a note of gendered responses Questionnaire and Interview Design In the interviewing techniques selected for this project it was decided to use a combination of single and multiple choice options and include questions which encouraged respondents to give subjective views and opinions. Contact with sexual and class content in the mainstream media, as represented through the viewing of soap operas and popular programmes, was measured by asking respondents on a four point scale the degree to which they felt that their favourite programme had influenced their ideas concerning these issues. In order to account for the differences in age between the two sets of respondents it was decided that when questioning the elder set that questions should include a retrospective option. For example, when questioning people about the influence of soaps on their opinions the question would read: â€Å"Would you say that watching this programme has or might have done so in the past altered your understanding of sexual relationships?† Chapter One:  Literature Review The Meaning and Origins of Popular Culture Over the last few decades culture has become frequently used to denote changing tastes and popularity in appreciation of interests such as music, art, theatre. As noted by Peter Goodall the word ’culture’ is consistently made use of by journalists and politicians, and especially by people studying within the Humanities (Goodall, 1995). The same author also notes that the word ’culture’ has become an ‘increasingly empty term [†¦] more frequently it is used, the more regularly it seems to need another word to prop it up and define its field of reference.’ (Goodall, 1995: xii). Take, for example, the term ‘police culture’, says Goodall, and the term ‘welfare culture’: does the word promise to mean more because these areas of society actually have little in common with one another? In both contexts the word ‘promises much [..] but delivers little; it poses as a noun but it is really an adjective’ where c ulture means little more than ‘group behaviour, practice or shared assumptions.’ (Ibid). The phenomenon of popular culture and the ease with which it has spread across the Western world, owes much to the existence of television, radio, and, more recently, the Internet. It was the Queens Coronation that begun the television age, with half the adult population watching the ceremony on TV sets; and most of these people not owning their own television at the time (Karwowski: 2002: 281). Statistics show that in 1951, the only available BBC channel had just 600,000 viewers, and that by the end of the century, watching TV was the most popular leisure activity with 94 per cent of homes having at least one colour TV and 66 per cent a video cassette recorder (Ibid). Karwowski highlights the following televised programmes as being central to the historical analysis of popular culture: the Queens Coronation The Goon Show from June 1952 to January 1960, described as ‘a surreal form of humour that lampooned all forms of pomposity and hypocrisy.’ (Karwowski: 2002: 281). Situation comedies such as Till Death Us Do Part 60s TV comedies, such as That Was The Week That Was and Monty Pythons Flying Circus Independent TV (ITV) began broadcasting in 1955. The number of TV channels grew to three with the start-up of BBC 2 in 1964, to four with Channel 4 in 1982, and five with Channel 5 in 1997, while colour TV was available from 1968. British Costume Drama, portraying English novelists such as Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, and Evelyn Waugh Educational documentaries such as Sir Kenneth Clarks Civilisation (1969), Dr Jacob Bronowskis The Ascent of Man (1973) and Sir David Attenboroughs Life on Earth (1979) Walking with Dinosaurs Childrens programmes, such as Moles Christmas and the BBCs Teletubbies to more than 125. Quiz programmes such as the BBCs Quiz shows, such as The Weakest Link, and detective series such as Inspector Morse, currently being seen in 211 countries. However, KarwowskI observes that ‘all these genres become mere niche markets when compared to the soap opera, which has around a third of the nation addicted to its multifarious expressions.’ (2005: 282). In the UK, the most popular soap is Coronation Street, longest running since 1960, is as popular in Canada and New Zealand, with the Coronation Street web site having more hits from Canada than anywhere else. (Ibid). What we see in soap operas is often designed to provoke an empathic response in the mind of the viewer. Soap viewing can offer very contrasting experiences sometimes alienating or even shocking the viewer, and other times offering emotional support and guidance concerning difficult issues. It is perhaps this ‘mixed bag’ effect of soap viewing when a person is never sure what content will shape their viewing experience that make soap viewing so popular. Media theory questions how knowledge is received and understood by the audience. Charlotte Brunsdon once said that the pursuit of the audience can be characterized as a search for authenticity, for an anchoring moment in a sea of signification (1990, p.68). The interpretations of the complex relationship between the viewer and the viewed have been controversial and often, contrasting; for example, Theodor Adorno believed that the influence held over the public by mass media was potentially harmful and brainwashing, wher eas John Fiske wrote that work should focus on viewers’ interpretation of what they saw that the viewer had autonomy over the extent to which they would absorb and articulate the information presented (Gauntlett, 2002). Fiske also used the term ‘polysemy’ to refer to the potential for audiences to decode texts in varying ways (Fiske, 1986). Dow presents her idea that the viewer has almost complete autonomy over how they interpret what they see, saying that: â€Å"The most powerful claim of audience studies has been that real viewers often resist the dominant messages of television and interpret programming in ways that suit their own interests [..] Intentional or not, such judgments cast the differences between approaches within the framework of a zero-sum game in which only one party can be right, making the other automatically wrong.† (Dow, 1996: 2) Dow also suggest that it is not possible to completely disassociate oneself from the object of criticism because of the cultural and social interests which are shared by both the critic and the creator of the media in question. Furthermore, criticism becomes less about discovering meaning in texts and becomes more of a performative activity that is about creating meaning. Sex and Identity Part of the idea for this project was born out of the premise that there exists a strong link between ideas about sexual relationships and a young person’s sense of identity. It is an aim of this project to explore the degree to which hindsight might affect a person’s belief as to whether they have been influenced by what they have seen on soaps. Research has been conducted into the damaging nature of representation in popular media especially into the use of models or ‘ideal’ body types; what Virginia Blum calls the ‘yardstick’ of the ‘Other Woman’ against which women measures their imperfections. For the ‘twenty-first century Western woman,’ says Blum, ‘who is always evaluating her appearance (intimately bound up with her identity) in relation to some standard that must be Other in order to function as a standard’ (Blum, 2005: 27). Gauntlett cites research findings on women in prime time TV in the early nineties as being ‘young, single, independent, and free from family and work place pressures’ (Elasmar, Hasegawa and Brain, 1999:33. In Gauntlett: 2002, 59). Gauntlett goes on to suggests that the 1990’s saw the use of inoffensive models of masculinity and femininity, which were generally acceptable to the majority of the public, and that this reflected producers’ beliefs that they no longer needed to challenge gender representations (Ibid). In the case of the sitcom Friends the use of male and female models of represnetation were equal. As Gauntlett explains: â€Å"The three men (Ross, Chandler and Joey) fit easily within conventional models of masculinity, but are given some characteristics of sensitivity and gentleness, and male-bonding, to make things slightly refreshing. Similarly, the three women (Rachel, Monica and Phoebe) are clearly feminine, whilst being sufficiently intelligent and non-housewifey to seem like acceptable characters for the 1990s. The six were also, of course, originally all characters with a good set of both male and female friendships i.e. each other and the friendship circle was a refreshing modern replacement for the traditional family. (It was not long, of course, before they spoilt that by having Ross and Rachel, then more implausibly Monica and Chandler fall in love.)† (Gauntlett, p.59) In most soaps there exists a core set of characters who form the firm basis of the on-screen reality. If these core characters were to change too often then the soap loses credibility, and becomes an unreal parallel of the world that it is trying to represent. It is important that themes such as sex and class are presented in a coherent and consistent way. As Gauntlett’s comment on Friends suggests this is sometimes not the case as the idea of quasi family is ‘quashed’ by the sexual dynamics within the group, thus complicating the original idea. The Concept of Transformation It is a premise of this project that women might be more likely to have experienced closer identification with soaps than men. Although it was beyond the scope of this project to direct an in-depth inquiry into this premise, the questionnaire nevertheless attempted to explore whether there was a gender divide, although this attempt was limited due to the size of the questionnaire. As academic and soap viewer, Danielle Blumenthal, is quoted as saying: Soap operas . . . a connection with other women, beloved to me: my mother, grandmother, aunt, sister . . . a steady stream of modern folktales that symbolically link us together. Memories abound: racing off the schoolbus to catch the last ten minutes of General Hospital; laughing with Grandma over the plotline antics of Days of Our Lives; worrying over the lives of characters I cared about; endless feverish conversations with girlfriends, sister, aunt over who should do what, how, and with whom. (Blumenthal, 1997: 3) In her publication on feminist perspectives and soap operas, Blumenthal refers to soap opera viewing as a ‘specific cultural activity’ questioning how much the activity is an ‘empowering practiceor, praxisfor women to engage in.’ (Ibid, p.4). The term praxis, Marxist criticism has been defined as meaning conscious physical labor directed toward transforming the material world so it will satisfy human needs (Rothman 1989:170. In Blumenthal, 1997:3). Blumenthal extends this interpretation to mean not only physical, but also mental labour, ‘which transforms images and experience to meet human needs.’ (Ibid). The concept can also be interpreted as a belief that ‘social objects do not simply exist out there in space, but are mediated through a continual process of interpretation and construction by the subjective and socially oriented mind.’ (Ibid). ‘Girl Power,’ and themes which identify the strengths in women’s att itudes are not limited to the sitcom or the soap opera, in fact they occur, to some degree, within just about every form of visual media and are mediated by the minds of the programmes creators to be received by the viewing public. The concept of transformation is prevalent in most media where women use their new image to take control of their lives and turn around situations. For example, Barbra Streisands 1996 film, The Mirror Has Two Faces, uses the idea of a before and after to provide tension and contrast within the film. In this film, the character Rose is transformed by losing weight and dying her hair this secures the physical adoration of her husband who married her for her ‘inner self.’ While the film encourages viewers to identify with Barbara Streisand it also reinforces the ideal of transformation, where the heroine does not settle for less, but dares to achieve more. Rachel Moseley, in her publication on feminist cultural perspectives, fashion, and media, observes that within these Cinderella stories there exists a ‘moment of increased visibility which provides a space for both the visual pleasure offered showcasing of the transformation, but also for the articulation of the a nxiety and emotional resonance of ’coming out’ in relation to class, as well as gender.’ (Moseley, 2002: p.40). In British and Australian soaps the concept of transformation is readily embraced not least within the lives of individual characters, but within each episode itself so as to create a mini section of a greater storyline. The world of the soap opera is fluid and dynamic it moves along at a much faster rate than reality off-screen, with new ideas and events constituting change on many levels. Blumenthal’s ideas concerning the ‘transformation’ of images is particularly useful here as it might help to explain how the serial relationships of soap characters are interpreted by the viewer. In soaps, it is often the case that characters who are not married engage in a string of successive relationships, which sets an unreal precedent to viewers, especially younger viewers. Media critic Mary-Lou Galician, in her publication Sex, Love Rom ance in the Mass Media lists twelve false premises which are regularly promoted within, and associated with, mass media; all of which she defines as ‘myths and stereotypes’ (2004: p.x): â€Å"Your perfect partner is cosmically predestined, so nothing/nobody can ultimately separate you. Theres such a thing as â€Å"love at first sight. † Your true soul mate should KNOW what youre thinking or feeling without your having to tell. If your partner is truly meant for you, sex is easy and wonderful. To attract and keep a man, a woman should look like a model or a centerfold. The man should NOT be shorter, weaker, younger, poorer, or less successful than the woman. The love of a good and faithful true woman can change a man from a â€Å"beast† into a â€Å"prince. † Bickering and fighting a lot mean that a man and a woman really love each other passionately. All you really need is love, so it doesnt matter if you and your lover have very different values. The right mate â€Å"completes you† — filling your needs and making your dreams come true. In real life, actors and actresses are often very much like the romantic characters they portray. Since mass media portrayals of romance arent â€Å"real, † they dont really affect you.† (2004: ix) Many social critics and relationship therapists have blamed the mass media for brainwashing viewers with portrayals of unrealistic love that are ‘unattainable as a goal and unhealthy as a model and, thereby, contributing to the construction of these unrealistic expectations’ (Dyer, 1976; Fromm, 1956; Johnson, 1983; Norwood, 1985; Peele, 1975;Russianoff, 1981; Shapiro Kroeger, 1991; Shostrom Kavanaugh, 1971. In Galician, 2004: p.13.). Certainly, many soap operas under discussion in this thesis are guilty of this phenomenon, and are suggestive of the idea that it is unfashionable or abnormal to be single. For example, as Glass writes: â€Å"Who can take seriously a character saying, as one does in the televised version of Candace Bushnells column, Were not dating. Its a fuck thing? Or, Ive been fucked every way you can be fucked? These characters are not serious, not even interesting, certainly not funny. With that type of woman, romance, with its necessary belief in an ideal, is impossible. [..] Bushnells women cavort aimlessly in New York, trying different sex games to see which they can win. When they lose, they move on. There is no reflection, no despair, no consequence of any action. The tragedy is that nothing in their lives is tragic.† (Glass, 1999: 14) This sort of promotion of casual sex could be potentially damaging to younger people, who are in the earlier stages of forming opinions about themselves and the world, as it could encourage them to find partners before they are comfortable to do so. Furthermore, in a school environment, where children are exposed to the same sorts of mass media, these ideas are discussed and reinforced within a social reality that is far different from the reality on-screen. As author of Sex and the City, Candace Bushnell, said of her creation: No one has breakfast at Tiffanys, and no one has affairs to remember instead, we have breakfast at 7 am and affairs we try to forget as quickly as possible. How did we get into this mess? (cf Glass, 1999: 14) During its popularity SATC was responsible for liberating the ideas of many women, and even their male partners, who watched it. The character of Samantha, played by Kim Cattrall, has been highlighted as an importnat portrayal of a sexually assertive woman in her forties. As Cattrall once said in an interview, ‘I don’t think there’s ever been a woman who has expressed so much sexual joy [on television] without her being punished. I never tire of women coming up and saying, â€Å"You’ve affected my life†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (Williams, 2002. Found in Gauntlett, 2002, p.61). Unfortunately the themes of casual sex is unsustainable and will not hold viewer’s attentions for as long as say, family dramas, which can be played out over a much longer period of time and have far more complex dynamics. Thus, the heyday of SATC is over, while Emmerdale continues. As suggested by Goldenberg et al the themes of sex is both intriguing and disturbing: â€Å"Despite its potential for immense physical pleasure and the crucial role that it plays in propagating the species, sex nevertheless is sometimes a source of anxiety, shame, and disgust for humans, and is always subject to cultural norms and social regulation. [..]We argue that sex is threatening because it makes us acutely aware of our sheer physical and animal nature. Although others (e.g., Freud, 1930/1961) have also suggested that human beings are threatened by their creatureliness, following Rank (1930/1998) and Becker (1973), we suggest that this motivation is rooted in a more basic human need to deny mortality.† (Goldenberg et al, 2002: p.310) Indeed, there is nothing safe about the themes of sex in soaps it is an unpredictable world, where things are more likely to go wrong, in comparison to the world of family life, where there are obvious boundaries and limits within which to localise behaviour. In terms of class, which is the other distinction that this project is addressing, the idea that most soaps represent a particular group of people from a particular area, means that they represent the social structure of that particular area. In turn, this means that most soaps are unable to present a cross section of society from any area wider than that which it chiefly represents, and often only manages to represent the lives of either working class or middle class people. Soaps which concentrate on more elitist tastes or narrower, more inaccessible stratas of society do not often gain such a high level of popularity. This can be seen in the case of Eldorado, a soap set in Spain about the lives of British expats, that lasted only a year before being axed. A different approach to the soap opera came alon gin 1997 with the airing of Family Affairs, a soap that focused on one family. The description of the soap read as follows: â€Å"The biggest, and riskiest, decision they made was to break away from the communal concept that underpins other soaps, whether it is the village (Emmerdale), the close (Brookside), the square (EastEnders), or the local streets and pub (Coronation Street). Family Affairs will centre on one family, and examine in intimate detail the struggles and tensions within the four walls of the Hart household. The other difference between this soap and its rivals will be that Family Affairs will not be geographically characterised. It is set in a neutral town, and will lack the northern atmosphere that permeates Corrie or Brookside. Class differences within the family will play a big part. The personal experience of Young and Hollingworth influenced them to base the soap around a family that had an ex-miner at its head (Hollingworths grandfather was a miner), whose son had become a self-employed builder, and whose four grandchildren were variously a trainee lawyer, an entrepreneur, a shop a ssistant and a schoolboy.† (McDonald, 1997: 1) This soap underwent a complete change in setting and in characters, before it was axed after only seven years. These example show that there is not enough of a market for specialised soaps which dare to do something a little different. It appears that it is the grittiness of urban landscapes or the character of places which people enjoying watching the most. Furthermore, it is interesting how similar themes such as teenage pregnancy, underage relationships, and people seeking to break the boundaries of their family’s class can all assume a different meaning, or at least be interpreted differently, according to the different locations and environments in which they are set. Mass Media and the Body Gauntlett observes a similarity between the malleability of the self and the late modern attitudes to the body: â€Å"No longer do we feel that the body is a more or less disappointing ‘given’ instead, the body is the outer expression of our self, to be improved and worked upon; the body has, in the words of Giddens, become ‘reflexively mobilized’ thrown into the expanding sphere of personal attributes which we are required to think about and control.† (In Gauntlett, p.104). Perhaps one of the greatest power centres behind both of these arguments is Hollywood, which in its history has seen the changing representation of women, and more recently, the increasing number of women, and men, who have surgery to preserve the image of their youth. These ideal images of women are not always positively received. For example, speaking in 1973, Marjorie Rosen commented that ‘the Cinema Woman is a Popcorn Venus, a delectable but insubstantial hybrid of cultural distortions’ (1973:10), and upon the changing representation of women Rosen observed the presence o f rebellious natured commentaries against working women in the 1940s and 1950s, and against female sexual emancipation in the 1960s and 1970s. Whereas women have been consistently promoted as ‘sex objects’ in varying styles throughout Hollywood’s history (Rosen, In Gauntlett, 2002). It would be an interesting line of enquiry to explore the degree to which feminist literature can help to explain the presence of the perceived gender gap in the process of idolisation and representation, and the influence of these processes on ideas concerning sex and sexuality. Some critics suggest that popular media have over-simplified debates which are essentially feminist in nature, and, in some cases, wrongly consider the feminist movement retrospectively, encouraging viewers to do the same. For example, in her article exploring the different definitions of third-wave feminism emerging in the U.S, Amanda Lotz comments that ‘simplistic popular media constructions of third -wave feminism’ are misleading to feminists, and that study of the ‘third-wave feminist ideas may be understood as distinctive of new social movement organization.’ (Lotz: 2003, p.3 ). Other critics pay close attention to the different psychological constitutions of women what Jane Gerhard terms ‘ideas about the distinctive psychological reality of women’ especially concerning our definition of post feminism, which makes a significant contribution to the re-assessment of heterosexual power relations. (2005: 41). With proponents of equality still battling with what Susan Faludi refers to as lackadaisical nature of post-feminism and the unfair ’backlash’ against the feminist movement itself (1992) the idea of feminism and soap opera viewing is topical and extensive, and, unfortunately, beyond the scope of this thesis to explore. Foucault Foucault’s work is useful in the discussion of soap operas and the effects of viewing popular television as it comments on the damaging nature of ‘normalization.’ Foucault argues that there is no such thing as a singular fixed meaning, and that meaning is understood on many levels most often through the historical, retrospective interpretation of rational and reasonable behaviour (Danaher et al, 2000). For example, he suggests that the nineteenth century witnessed a preoccupation with correctness where all things ‘wrong’ had to be ‘righted’ in some way in order to fit into a box of classification. This phenomenon has had long-lasting effects on Western culture to the extent where ‘norms’ have been established, and exceptions to these norms ‘cured’ or corrected. In the discussion of class and attitudes towards sex we might consider how the media has portrayed the image of the ideal woman or man. The difference between the historical normalisation of beauty to contemporary is that such images have been popularised through the media on an increasingly global and interpersonal scale. With the advancement of technology, advertising reaches people even within the private space of their own homes through television, radio, and the Internet. This is all the more dang