Foods Connection Individual and Cultural Identity Essay

Sleep, sex, and food are the three most important aspect of a human life. Each of them represents resting, reproducing, and surviving – essential elements that form the foundation of human culture and society. The status of these elements always represents the social stature and cultural ideology, of the desire or dislike of people. Some standards are universal, while some are uniquely formed through generations of different cultural traditions. Food in this case might be the most simple and yet the hardest ideology of desire for anthropologists to catch. Its meaning is never as plain as a recipe of a cooking book, but always attached with the cultural and psychological ideology that is connected with individual and cultural identities.†¦show more content†¦Rozin used the example of food allergy in this case: people who are allergic toward shrimp may not prefer shrimp in their dinner, and yet like the taste of shrimp. When they are introducing to anti-allergic medicin e of shrimp, they now have this food option available and actively choose to eat (Rozin, P. 1987. P.186). In this case shrimp is regarded as a food type that represent dangerous, and when the danger of the food is removed, it will become edible again. Same theory can be found on the case of globefish easting. On the other hand, while the avoidance of food usually comes with rational reasons, Rozin believes that the liking of food is more complicated and difficult to find regular motivation. He used a typical example of chili pepper to explain the complexity of food liking: a food category that contains criteria of avoidance such as mouth pain and irritant spicy taste (1987. P.190). Indeed there are numbers of physical benefits of chili consuming, but the psychological motivation is more decisive in this case. With enough amount of exposure to chili, Rozin argued that the aversion of spicy taste will turn into a seeking of thrill, â€Å"in the same sense that the initial terror of a rollercoaster ride or parachute jumping is replaced by pleasure† (1987. P.191). On the other hand, the mouth pain caused by chili consumingShow MoreRelatedFood, In Itself, Is A Social Concept, A Perception Of An1721 Words   |  7 PagesFood, in itself, is a social concept, a perception of an idea that is constructed through cultural and social practice. Food is constructed through cultural practice, defined by its particular usage and representation among particular ethnic and cultural groups. Therefore, food’s significance is much more than simply satiating hunger. Take religious restrictions on pork, for example. What reason caused Islam’s belief in the pig as haram, considering it is eaten by the vast majority of the world?Read MoreThe Relationship Between Food, And Culture1433 Words   |  6 Pagesabout them. Their food choices of individuals and groups, can reveal their ideals, likes and dislikes. Food choices tell the stories of where people have travel led and who they have met along the way. You are what you eat, is a common phrase characterizing the idea of food and identity. Several questions that discuss the notion of using food as a cultural clue will be addressed, such as: What do food choices represent? How do food choices represent cultural identity? Is it important to recognize theRead MoreThis project examines the construction of subjectivity in Eleanor Antin’s Carving: A Traditional2700 Words   |  11 Pagesfeminine and food. Instead, it locates these practices as a site of complex and, at times, resistant subjectivities. At the heart of my reading is recent sociological and anthropological theories on food’s role in the construction and signification of the subject and its relationship to the social and cultural order. My reading also incorporates psychoanalytic theories addressing the formation of subjectivity through pre-libidinal encounters with sustenance. This breadth of theories is essential, as theRead MoreFood and Culture: a Cross Cul tural Look at Eating Habits5618 Words   |  23 PagesFood and Culture: A Cross Cultural Look at Eating Habits No matter where we are from, eating is one of the most personal experiences of life. Everyone finds enjoyment and comfort in eating foods associated with their early days and heritage, but personal sensations and perceptions on eating are merely a fraction of the global picture. Learning about other cultures, their values, and what they seek will enhance relationships between individuals throughout communities and the nation. Eating habitsRead MoreTrader Joes Internalization7066 Words   |  29 Pagescompetitive space with a unique fifth P: â€Å"culture† in more the traditional four P’s of marketing: product, place, price and promotion. While other retailers have developed internal organization cultures and internal management philosophy. For example, Whole Food’s â€Å"highest quality†, â€Å"least processed†, â€Å"natural preserved†, â€Å"self-managed teams†. Trader Joe’s became the only store where customers are integr al to creating the shopping experience. The shopping experience that is â€Å"innovative »,  «unique† and â€Å"interestingRead MoreProcessed Cheese and Kraft Foods30876 Words   |  124 Pagesemergent strategies. Many planned strategies are not implemented because of unpredicted changes in the environment (they are unrealized). Emergent strategies are the unplanned responses to unforeseen circumstances. They are autonomous action by individual managers deep within the organization, from serendipitous discoveries or events, or from an unplanned strategic shift by top-level managers in response to changed circumstances. They are not the product of formal top-down planning mechanism. ThroughoutRead Morepaul hoang answers72561 Words   |  291 Pagesoften difficult to separate the two. Amoy Food acted unethically by misleading customers into believing that its products were free from MSG (i.e. by making false advertising claims). However, some might argue that the traces of MSG found in Amoy Food’s products were not deliberate; although this could raise issues of quality  © Paul Hoang and IBID Press    20 assurance. Amoy Food also acted illegally because of the potential health issues arising from its wrongdoing. Hong Kong also enforcesRead MoreExploring Corporate Strategy - Case164366 Words   |  658 Pagesbe the ‘blockbuster’. Like ‘killer applications’ in the software market, blockbuster drugs are genuine advances that achieve rapid, deep market penetration. Because of their superlative market performance, blockbusters determined the fortunes of individual companies. Glaxo went from being a small player at the beginning of the 1980s to a top-tier global company, on the strength of a single drug – Zantac for stomach ulcers. A blockbuster drug was typically a long-term therapy for a common disease that

Difference Between Personnel Management And Human Resource...

Unit 21 LO1: Understand the difference between personnel management and human resource management 1.1: Distinguish between personnel management and human resource management: Personnel management and Human Resource management (HRM) are two distinct types of management. Personnel management is a traditional approach which is not an executive management of people with in a business, but focuses on personnel administration, employee welfare and labour relations. Whereas Human Resource Management (HRM) is a more modern approach of managing people and their strengths with in a business by focusing on acquisition, development, motivation and maintenance of human resources (i.e. the employees, which are the most valuable resources) in the organisation in order to achieve a desirable output. A development in personnel management leads to human resource management. 1.2: Assess the function of the human resource management in contributing to organisational purposes: The human resource management (HRM) has many functions of contributing to organisational purpose. The HRM performs tasks such as: †¢ Shortlist and selection of employees to work for the organisation. †¢ Recruitment of new staff. †¢ Payroll administration of the hours worked and the according wage/salary to be given. †¢ Employee motivation by finding ways to increase an employee’s enthusiasm through reward systems. †¢ Reward management such as reward systems and finding ways of rewarding employees for their hard work. †¢Show MoreRelatedConcept and Origin of Human Resource Management1869 Words   |  7 Pagesinherent part of management, which is connected to an organizations human resource. It aims at maintaining better human relations in the organizations development, application, and evaluation of policies. This includes procedures and programs that relate to human resource to optimize their contribution in their quest for organizational goals. Concisely, human resource management deals with achieving better results with collaboration of people (Drucker, 2002). Personnel management is an integral butRead MoreThe Differences Between a Human Resource Manager and a Personal Manager1313 Words   |  5 PagesThe difference between human resources manager and personal manger The main difference between human resources management and personnel management is that personnel management is considered to be out dated or more of a traditional approach, whereas human resources management is the Morden approach of most organisations and that is because human resource tend to represent the new style of managing employees in an organisation. When it comes to comparing the two approaches, we find that personnel managementRead MoreHuman Resource Management Is No More Than ‘Old Wine in New Bottles’.966 Words   |  4 PagesHuman resource management is no more than ‘old wine in new bottles’. Discuss. ‘’HRM is regarded by some personnel managers as just a set of initials or old wine in new bottles. It could indeed be no more and no less than another name for PM ’’ ( Armstrong, 1987) First we have to understand the meaning of HRM, but attempts to define HRM precisely have resulted in confusion and contradiction rather than clarity [Price, 1997]. However, according to Storey (1989) Human resource management is a completelyRead MoreThe Importance Of A Good Human Resource Department1748 Words   |  7 PagesA good human resource department is essential to any successful businesses in today’s society. Before human resource managers were seen as people who deal with employee disputes and little more, now this is just one small part of their role to organisations. Human resource is a huge department for reasons as being a key planner in helping company’s employee performances. In this essay I will be exploring the different types of personnel management that is used, assessing the roles of human resourceRead MoreHrm, the Difference Between Hrm and Personel Management998 Words   |  4 Pages1-The difference between human resource management and personne l management. Human resource management and personnel management are a little bit the same. Personnel management is one of the parts of human resource management. Human resource management examines or looks after the wide abstract principle of human resource. It deals with organizational management, personnel administration, industrial management, manpower management, personnel training and development, and organizational developmentRead MoreHuman Resource Management ( Hrm )1562 Words   |  7 PagesHuman resource management (HRM) is an important strategic and systematic approach that provides each company with the opportunity to create policies and practices, as well as to establish administrative forms (Pfeffer, 2007). According to Armstrong (2009) HRM is an approach that deals with ‘employment, development, and well-being of the people working in organizations’. However HRM has evolved significantly through the years due to the rapid social, economic, political and environmental changes.Read MoreThe Transition Of Personnel Management1425 Words   |  6 PagesINTRODUCTION: The transition of Personnel Management to Human Resource Management (HRM) which emerged on the scene in the late 1980s, produced a paradigm shift in the area of workforce management. In context of the above, Storey (1989:4) said, Whether to applauded or derided, the concept has come to represent one of the most controversial signifiers in managerial debate in the 1980s. Though the term HRM is not considered new in management literature but it gained significance and accepted in seriousRead MoreArgument of Hr1723 Words   |  7 Pagesbusiness management, HR is the core position. It is important for a wise leader to consider HR as the main part and power of the management. Because of the important role of HR, the human resources managers are demanded to have professional skills of HR. So the brief that â€Å"Anyone can do HR† is not right. At the same time, costs which must be controlled is just one of functions of the HR department. 2. Introduction Human resources management refers to a series of corporate human resources policiesRead MoreThe Roles and Resposibilies of the Line Mangers in Virgin Atlantics Human Resource Management998 Words   |  4 PagesLONDON SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT NQF level 4: BTEC Higher National – H1 UNIT NO: 21 UNIT TITLE: Human Resource Management ASSIGNMENT NO: 1 ASSIGNMENT TITLE: Human Resource Management UNIT OUTCOMES COVERED: LO 1. Understand the difference between personnel management and human resource management LO 2. Understand how to recruit employees LO 3. Understand how to reward employees in order to motivate and retain them LO 4. Know the mechanisms for the cessation of employment Read MoreHistorical Development Of Personnel And Human Resource Management1107 Words   |  5 Pagesorganisation the human resource management department is very important. It is essential to keep employees happy for companies to achieve the maximum profits. This reports main aim is to cover the historical development of personnel and human resource management and how it has changed from the days of Robert Owen in the Victorian era to the 21st century. This report will also include definitions of personnel and human resource management along with their main functions. DEFINITION OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Code of Professional Conduct for Lawyers in Australia

Question: Discuss about the Code of Professional Conduct for Lawyers in Australia. Answer: Introduction The report aims at devising a series of interview questions which could help in understanding the impact of the ethical and professional behavior on the legal environment. The report also requires to conduct research of the professional body and the lawyers in Australia The report would be helping in understanding the issues associated with the legal aspects in the country. The main aim is to understand how they manage and police their codes in order to eradicate the issues. The interview is to be conducted on the basis of the questions being formulated. The conduction of interview would be helping in acquiring useful and relevant information related to the professional conduct in the legal profession as followed by the professional bodies and lawyers in Australia. Report on the research for the professional body Introduction Law Council of Australia is a professional body that regulates and governs the professional code of conduct and rules for the Australian legal profession, which is required to be followed in the law societies and bar associations of the states and territories across Australia (Curran et al, 2014). The report aims at devising a series of interview questions which could help in understanding the impact of the ethical and professional behavior on the legal environment. The face to face interview is conducted on the members of the body. The report requires to conduct research of the Law Council of Australia related to the law sector in Australia. This research would be helping in understanding the issues associated with the legal aspects in the country. The main aim is to understand how they manage and police their codes in order to eradicate the issues. The interview is to be conducted on the basis of the questions being formulated in order to get the useful and relevant information rel ated to the ethics in the profession as followed by the professional body in Australia. Interview questions 1: What are the issues faced by the body while working in the nursing sector? The Law Council of Australia has to constantly deal with the situations that compromise the rules and regulations in the law sector (Harris Hargovan, 2016). The regulatory body also needs to resolve the legal isssues in order to safeguard the obligations and ethical principles. Moreover, the body also needs to regulate the actions to be followed in the law sector and check if the professional conduct is implemented in every state and territory across Australia. The various issues which the council needs to solve is the aftermath of the inability of the lawyers to resolve the matters of their respective clients, intensive cases, dispute in the justice, and legal issues related toi the formal and informal management of situations. 2: How do you manage and police their code? Law Council of Australia helps in developing a single and uniform set of rules which every state and territory in Australia need to follow (Campbell Lindsay, 2014). These set of rules governs the ethical and proifessional conduct of the lawyers practicing all over Australia. The rules are first released in the form of consultation drafts which the council carefully considers and decides on implementing the same in public. The most common legal issues requiring legal consent are the fraud or deception cases, negligence in the part of individuals, drug or alcohol abuse, conviction of a criminal offense and abusive behavior. 3: How do they communicate with the members? The Law Council of Australia comprises of the organization structure that is followed in the law profession. The board comprises of committees who are responsible for developing the rules and regulations related to the law sector. These set of rules governs the ethical and proifessional conduct of the lawyers practicing all over Australia. The rules are first released in the form of consultation drafts which the council carefully considers with the help of Professional Ethics Committee (Zander, 2015). The approval of the rules are then approved by the State Government for the state and territories in Australi to follow. 4: Legal ramifications if the code is breached? The Law Council of Australia is responsible for creating the Administrative disciplinary actions for the common people including lawyers who do not properly follow ethics in the working environment. This unethical conduct may lead to implicate strict actions under the Administrative law actions (Curran et al., 2014). If the board imposes a punishment on the lawyers, the disciplinary actions to be taken can be one or more of the following: Suspension of the license of the lawyers Revocation of the license Reprimand letter to be published in the reports of the board Admonishment letter in the file of the lawyers Fine imposition Probation for continuing the practice Conclusion The report deals in conducting research of the professional body related to the law sector in Australia in order to understand the issues related to the profession in the country. The regulatory bodies including Law Council of Australia are repsonsible for implicating the rules and regulations in the country such that to maintain the standards of the law practice. The interview is to be conducted on the basis of the questions being formulated in order to get the useful and relevant information related to the ethics in the profession as followed by the lawyers and law governing bodies in Australia. Report for the interview with a professional Introduction Lawyers are the professionals who are responsible for conducting the professional ethics and maintaining standards related to the law sector, within the working environment and in practice (Heineman et al, 2014). The main objective of the report is to devise a series of interview questions in order to understand how the ethics and professional behavior impacts on the real work life environment of the lawyers in Australia. The interview is conducted on the lawyers face to face. The report also requires conducting research of the nursing sector in Australia in order to understand the issues that the lawyers have to face in the country. The main aim is to understand how they manage their codes in order to eradicate the issues. The interview is to be conducted on the basis of the questions being formulated in order to get the useful and relevant information related to the ethics in the profession as followed by the lawyers in Australia. Interview questions 1: How aware are you of the codes as governed by your professional bodies? The lawyers are aware of the fact that their code of conduct in the practice is responsible for building and maintaining public trust in the profession. The lawyers are professionals and are aware of the undertaking attributes that are within their scope of practice. This awareness help the lawyers to gain knowledge about the ethics and professional code of conduct help them in maintaining the standards of their profession such that to bring credit upon the reputation of the same in the long run (Freedman, 2012). 2: What is the influence of the codes on their behavior? The impact of the professional code of conduct in the behavior of the lawyers is such that they maintain competence within their participation in the profession. This maintenance of competence within their profession helps them in maintaining and upgrading their skills and knowledge relevant to the practice in the professional settings (Pepper, 2015). 3: What can the consequences in their career if you breach either your professional bodys code or the organizations code/s? The Law Council of Australia is responsible for creating the Administrative disciplinary actions for the lawyers which if not properly followed in the working environment may lead to implicate strict actions under the Administrative law actions (Curran et al., 2014). The lawyers are aware of the fact that they being subjected to the following implications if they are found to breach certain rules or code of ethics: The lawyers are liable to be suspended and their licenses to be evocated Fine could be imposed on them They could be terminated from conducting the practice in the future Conclusion The report deals in conducting research on the practices related to the law sector in Australia in order to understand the issues related to the lawyers in the country. The report aims at understanding how they manage and follow the professional codes in order to eradicate the issues. There are certain legal aspects and standards which the lawyers should be aware of such that to provide standard services in the future. The interview is to be conducted on the basis of the questions being formulated in order to get the useful and relevant information related to the ethics in the profession as followed by the lawyers in Australia. Reflections on the similarities and differences in expectations Similarities From the analysis of the interview being conducted on the professional body and the individual lawyers working in the sector, it can be evident that code of professional conduct and ethics is the major link between both the parties which the parties abide by, while operating in the working environment. There are certain rules which both the parties need to implement in order to get quality outcomes of the law profession. Both the parties give same adherence to the codes and conduct that is required to be maintained in the working environment. Moreover, the maintenance of competence includes the participation in the education related to the ongoing profession such that to maintain and upgrade appropriate skills and knowledge associated with the law practices. Besides, they are also aware of the undertaking activities, scope of practice, knowledge, competency, and lawful authority related to the current practice. Differences The major difference between the board and the lawyers is that the Law Council of Australia helps in governing the policies, rules and regulations which the lawyers are required to implement in their practices. However, it should be noted that the policies, rules and regulations are also applicable to the board members and are liable to legal actions if any of them are found to breach the professional code of conduct and ethics within the working environment that could compensate with the legal standards. Reflections on the analysis From the analysis of the interview, it could be evident that the Code of Professional conduct for lawyers is a set of standards which is required to be followed in the law societies and bar associations of the states and territories across Australia. The code helps in governing the law profession which is expected to implement standard practice in a professional manner. Lawyers have the responsibility to impart legal aspects the individual society such that to convey justice to the needs of the community, individual groups and profession. On the other hand, there are regulatory bodies that are responsible for the development and implications of the policies, rules and regulations for the lawyers to abide by the same. The policies and procedures as implemented by the regulatory bodies help in improving the effectiveness of the accreditation, assessment and monitoring of the practices and programs related to the legal aspects in the society and community. Conclusion The report also requires conducting research of the professional body and the lawyers in Australia in order to understand the issues related to the profession bodies and the lawyers in the country. The main objective of the report is to understand how they manage and police their codes in order to eradicate the issues. The report helps in devising a series of interview questions for the lawyers and the professional bodies related to the sector in order to understand how the ethics and professional behavior impacts on the real work life environment of the law profession. The report then, helps in analyzing the similarities and differences from the outcome of the interview of both the lawyers and the professional bodies related to the sector. The interview is to be conducted on the basis of the questions being formulated in order to get the useful and relevant information related to the ethics in the profession as followed by the professional bodies and lawyers in Australia. References Campbell, S., Lindsay, K. (2014). Lawyers of the future: Creating aspirations, forging connections and facilitating professional links in rural and regional contexts.International Journal of Rural Law and Policy, (2). Curran, L., Dickson, J., Noone, M. A. (2014). Pushing The Boundaries or Preserving the Status Quo? Designing Clinical Programs to Teach Law Students a Deep Understanding of Ethical Practice.International Journal of Clinical Legal Education,8, 104-122. Freedman, M. H. (2012). A Critique of Philosophizing About Lawyers Ethics.Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics,25(89), 11-07. Harris, J., Hargovan, A. (2016). Chartered secretary: Productivity Commission safe harbour proposal for insolvent trading.Governance Directions,68(1), 9. Heineman Jr, B. W., Lee, W. F., Wilkins, D. B. (2014). Lawyers as Professionals and as Citizens: Key Roles and Responsibilities in the 21st Century. Pepper, S. L. (2015). Three Dichotomies in Lawyers' Ethics (with Particular Attention to the Corporation as Client).Geo. J. Legal Ethics,28, 1069. Zander, M., 2015.The law-making process. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Critical Analysis of Women’s Representation free essay sample

Through the interpretation of texts, and subsequent creation of social reality, mediated representations are often seen to be presented within the certain of ideological discourses that reflect the existing power structures. The main objective of this paper is to analyze television commercials with an emphasis on gender roles to decode the main elements of a dominant discourse (preferred readings) and representation mechanisms; and the elements relationships with ideology, hegemony and power relations in reproducing a dominant discourse. Grounded in an interdisciplinary theoretical framework of cultural studies and critical studies perspectives, the two-layer analysis is used in this paper – a semiotic and critical discourse analysis of television commercials with an emphasize on gender roles and ideology. The results demonstrate that the TV advertisements selected in this paper represent dominant gender relations and reproduce traditional values. Furthermore, these representations illustrate a contradiction between society and media in gender roles. Keywords TV advertisements. Representation of women. Gender roles. Critical discourse analysis. Ideology. 1 Ali Hajimohammadi PhD Candidate, Cultural and Media Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tehran, PO Box 773/14395, Jalal Al e Ahmad AVE, Tehran, Iran. e-mail: [emailprotected] com Published Online: 15 January 2011 108 Introduction The research is placed within the cultural studies perspective that assumes an intertwined relationship between the production and reproduction of symbolic meanings and actualized meanings. From a cultural studies perspective, the study of womens representation in mainstream television advertisements with emphasize on gender roles is embraced. Media has an important role in representation of different groups in a society, but television, as the most popular medium, plays a significant role in representing and shaping attitudes. Advertising, as one of the television genres, is a prominent discourse type in virtually all contemporary societies (Cook, 2005). In addition to information regarding services and products, it constructs a secondary discourse about society and power relations. Gender relations are one of the secondary discourses that advertisements construct. The image of woman and man in media, particularly in television, is essential for the understanding of social practices, social interactions and ideology. Therefore, advertising has an important role in the representation of gender in a society. Advertising, as a powerful force, often reflects and enhances the social ideologies that it selectively endorses. At the same time, advertising is a cultural environment challenged by ideological discourses in the society and is constantly evolving in response to the shifting power relations between social groups. In addition, advertising considered as a cultural form and discourse is a site in which different subjectivities struggle to impose or challenge, to confirm, negotiate or displace definitions and identities† (Gledhill, 1988, p. 72). On the other hand, representations are directly associated with collective meanings, power relations, status hierarchies, resistance, alliances or conflicts that may exist in the public sphere. Thus, it is a common belief among scholars that the representation of gender relations actually reflects the social, cultural, political and economic values of the society (Dines Humez, 1994; Gauntlett, 2002). Recent studies in relevant literature have illustrated that the present systems of mass communication express to a considerable extent gender representations of the dominant Published Online: 15 January 2011 09 patriarchal ideology (Brunsdon, 2000; Shattuc, 1997). Accordingly, television programs mirror dominant gender relations and patriarchal values that still remain in post-modern societies (Van Dijk, 1993). Representation of women in the media, especially television, is an important issue in social communication and cultural studies, since media has an important role in communities. Media typically carries dominant values, cultural elements, and dominant ideology in any society. In Iran, despite changes in the representation of women in television, dominant discourse in advertising is evident, thus challenging the dominant regimes of representation should be considered. Utilizing a critical approach, the mainstream television commercials represent women and gender roles is going to be investigated. This study also aims to explore the intersections of gender and ideology that are embedded in television advertising. Research Approach Cultural studies have linked communication, consumption and cultural transformation to identity through the analysis of both media texts and living experiences (Muhammad, 2003). In terms of method, the cultural studies perspective raises questions that emphasize qualitative and interdisciplinary modes of investigation. In this paper, critical discourse analysis is used as a linguistic tool in cultural studies. According to the purpose of this study, the following research questions serve as the guidelines for analyzing the advertisements: How are women represented in television commercials? What are the common mechanisms in presenting female characters in television How do television commercials conceptualize women in relation to the dominant What are the socio-cultural mechanisms and ideologies that play a role in How does the dominant discourse become naturalized in television commercials? commercials? male culture and for what reason? shaping these representations? To answer these research questions, a qualitative analysis method is used. A ajor criticism against quantitative research on the evaluation of gender roles focuses on this aspect that statistical content analysis usually describe the visual elements of audiovisuals, easily recognizable and clearly measurable factors but do not provide an in-depth reasoning about the hidden ideologies and the social interaction of the production procedures (Norenee, 1977). Furthermore, quantitative analyses usually do not investigate advertising as an intermediary system between economy, culture and society (Pazarzi Tsangaris, 2008). In this respect, a qualitative study is conducted – a textual analysis that studies all the elements in which femininity is conceived, constructed and projected in society through three TV commercials. Textual analysis has been widely used within the cultural studies to uncover the preferred meanings encoded in a text. Specifically, this textual analysis is intended to show how ideology and meanings are accepted and conceptualized by TV commercials to define a woman (or man) in mediated culture. This is especially true in the analysis of TV advertising because textual analysis often deals with a relative smaller number of texts, but seeks to get into the beneath of the surface, the denotative meanings, to examine more implicit, connotative, and symbolic meanings, through the researcher? s interpretation rather than systematic measuring. By uncovering the connotative meanings and the deeper social and marketing ideologies shaping these images and messages, one can reach to this understanding of how women are being represented and gender roles constructed and ideology enacted in advertisement. The critical discourse analysis not only concentrates on visual issues and constructing meanings, but it also focuses on the question of how these meanings reflect or support the dominant patriarchal ideology and naturalization of dominant discourse in the society. As mentioned earlier, commercial advertisements are cultural phenomena in the society. Different methods are used to study cultural phenomena, but cultural studies Published Online: 15 January 2011 111 like other qualitative forms of sociological inquiry, inevitably emphasize on â€Å"circle of meaning† which is inspired by Derrida (1979) and Laclau and Moufee (1985). For these thinkers, nothing exists outside of discourse; and race, gender, nationality and class are discursive. Consequently, â€Å"semiotic approach cannot explore their strategies. In semiotic approach, representation was understood on the basis of the ways words functioned as signs within language, but in a culture, meaning often depends on longer units of analysis – narratives, statements, group of images, the whole discourses which have acquired widespread authority. Therefore â€Å"semiotics seemed to confine the processes of representation to the language and to treat it as a closed, rather static system† (Hall, 2003, p. 2). It is the fundamental basic of development from semiotics to metatextual analysis. Subsequent developments became more concerned with representation as a source of production of social knowledge and power relation that led to critical discourse analysis and its different approaches. Considering the main vocabulary and purpose of critical discourse analysis (Van Dijk, 2003) and the formations of cultural studies (Barker, 2003), it can be concluded that gender and representation are the main areas of critical discourse analysis and cultural studies. In other words, they are the shared subject of many researches in these fields. Since approaches of critical discourse analysis are complicated and numerous, and cultural fields also involve a vast part of the community, explaining the interaction between methods of discourse analysis and cultural studies in a brief article like this is not possible. Therefore, the focus is going to be on a certain approach of critical discourse analysis to achieve a clear and perfect vision of cultural phenomena. As mentioned above, the analysis of representation should go beyond the semiotic approach to provide a more complete analysis. The analysis of gender representation has to go beyond semiotics approach and utilize a discourse approach. Laclau and Mufee? s (1985) approach is the appropriate theoretical framework of analyzing text for the whole discourses embedded in advertising about gender roles and its discourses. Published Online: 15 January 2011 112 Explanation of the theoretical principles of Laclau and Mouffe? s (1985) theory and utilizing it as the method of analysis is not impossible here. This theory is primarily based on Foucauldian interpretation and manifesto of macro semantic system. It helps researchers to identify discursive distinction and antagonism among discourses and floating signifiers to determine what discourses they produce and which discourses are highlighted or marginalized. Questions like whether it also demonstrates the interaction of them over the definition of signifiers, or how television advertisements, according to this theory, reinforce and reproduce the dominant discourse and dominant patriarchal system. Hence, the two-layer analysis is used in this paper – a semiotics and critical discourse analysis of television commercials. Grounded in an interdisciplinary theoretical framework of cultural studies and critical studies perspectives, the present research can contribute to the current understanding of how TV commercials represent women and how the dominant male discourse becomes naturalized. The common advertising strategies targeting gender roles are examined to illuminate how gender roles are encoded in TV advertising texts, how woman is defined through consumption ideologies, and how advertising constructs subjective positions. Therefore, a detailed analysis of advertising representations of women and the preferred meanings in advertising are presented. Sampling The main sampling method in this paper is purposive sampling, the most common sampling method in qualitative research (Creswell, 2007). The purposive sampling approach is used when samples are chosen because they have particular features of characteristics that will enable detailed exploration and understanding of the central questions that the researcher intends to study,

Ask Me free essay sample

An Explication of William Stafford’s â€Å"Ask Me† The poem â€Å"Ask Me† is not as it may seem the first time you read it, you have to read through it a second maybe even a third time in order to take notes about the true meaning that Stafford is trying to get across. William Stafford gives us a paraphrase of his own poem â€Å"Ask Me†, giving the reader a look into what the poem means to him. By giving us the reader a more in depth explanation of his work it allows us to understand the meaning within the poem itself and the life lessons Stafford may have intended to reveal to the readers. So now let’s take a look at it and see what his thoughts were. To understand this poem we must first get an understanding of the poet himself. William Stafford was born in Hutchinson, Kansas in 1914, and grew up during the Great Depression (Brehm). We will write a custom essay sample on Ask Me or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Due to the hardships of his childhood he began to work early on in life finding and doing odd jobs to help support his family, but within all the work and struggles Stafford managed to find time to have fun and explore nature. He developed a love for nature that was to sustain him in the years ahead (Brehm). This love is often reflecting within his work in which je has been highly honored for. Stafford has won awards in Literature for his poetry and many books during his lifetime. When once asked what made him start writing poetry, Stafford replied, â€Å"What made you stop? † This rather cagey answer reveals several of his most basic assumptions about poetry (Brehm). William Stafford wrote his poem â€Å"Ask Me† in 1975, in which he himself later paraphrased in 1977. Stafford stated that he thinks his poem can be paraphrased (Stafford). Stafford’s poem is like no other of his work. Ask Me† is about as close as Stafford comes in his best poems to a formal sonnet of fourteen lines† (Anderson). The first part of the fourteen lines are asked by the (I) or the person who is speaking, in which I believe Stafford is talking to the reader. The second half would usually answer the questions asked within the first half, but Stafford does not for (I) is the one ask ing the questions. At first the poem doesn’t seem to have any of the traditional flow and rhymes at the end of the lines, but Stafford does show internal rhyming within the lines. Stafford often gives objects in nature humanized characteristics and feeling to get his point and meaning across (Brehm). Stafford’s work is often filled with hidden meaning and life lessons in which he is trying to get across to the reader. Stafford is a poet who does not follow traditional formatting within is work. Stafford’s work is full of surprises for writer and reader alike; when Stafford starts a poem you can never be sure how it will end (Brehm). Let’s take the time to break down and understand the meaning of Stafford’s oem, so that we can get the full meaning behind his intended work. The title of the poem is â€Å"Ask Me,† any reader may think â€Å"Ask Me what? † But the title speaks for itself as you read on. Stafford starts his poem off with many questions pointed towards the reader. But the question is are they being asked to us, or are we the reader supposed to ask them of ourselves? His poem at first is a little unclean on w hat is really being asked and to whom. So let’s begin form the first line in which Stafford says â€Å"Some time when the river is ice ask me mistakes I have made† (Stafford). Stafford paraphrases this line as â€Å"When it’s quiet and cold and we have some chance to interchange without hurry, confront me if you like with a challenge about weather I think I have made mistakes in my life† (Stafford). Stafford is asking if the decisions one chooses in life are mistakes, or how life is meant to be? He follows with asking if the events he has following his life are what others would see. But what you do in your life is your decision, are Stafford’s choices made really mistakes made or could he have changed things if he choose to do something differently? In lines 4-7 Stafford says â€Å"Others have come in their slow way into my thought, and some have tried to help or to hurt-ask me what the difference their strongest love or hate has made (Stafford). Stafford is stating that no matter what one choose to do in life there will always others around to either help you or hurt you. He asks if their (others) intentions have helped or hurt him? (Stafford). But why should you allow others to influence your life, for everyone lives their own individual one. Nobody is perfect and the people around you have no right to judge you on that. The questions deferred in the first line of â€Å"Ask Me† seem to show some ultimate judgment about the speaker (I) (Anderson). Stafford repeats â€Å"Ask Me† three times within the first stance giving the reader (you) time to think and answer. Is he really asking for answers from somebody or just simply speaking to himself? He starts his second stance off by stating â€Å"I will listen to what you have to say† (Stafford). Stafford is asking (you) to answer to his life; do you think that what we do in life are mistakes of just life itself? Stafford takes the time to let the reader think and analyze the questions asked in the first seven lines. In lines 9 and 10 he says that â€Å"You and I can turn and look at the silent river and wait† (Stafford). But if you remember in the first line the river is ice so it’s not only silent but calm, it’s not moving at all. â€Å"The speaker in the poem chooses not to discuss â€Å"whether/ what I have done is my life† until the river is ice† (Anderson). I think that he uses the time of winter to wait for the river to freeze so share his thoughts. For if the river is frozen it cannot pass on and judge his life. He follows in lines 11-13 that the river is silent but there are still currents and movement hidden under the ice. Stafford paraphrases these lines â€Å"That river, and that world-and our lives-all share the depth and stillness of much more significance then our talk, or intentions† (Stafford). I believe that he trying to tell (you) the reader that no matter what you do in life or who has something to say about it the actions in which we choose to make have more significance than we may see. In the last line Stafford says â€Å"What the river says, that is what I say† (Stafford). Stafford uses the â€Å"ice as a protective mask within the poem† (Anderson), not allowing any final judgment to be passed. Starting with the frozen river in the first line Stafford gives us the ultimate life lesson hidden within life’s â€Å"mistakes† that the choices we make in life are our own and there are people around us that will either help or hurt. We all ask ourselves and others as well if our decisions are a mistake. But in actuality no decision in life is a mistake, but a lesson in which we learn from. You will always have people within your life that are there to hurt you or help you, but in the end what is done is your choice. Stafford’s use of the frozen river allows us to take the time and â€Å"freeze†, to think on what we are or have done. We as humans are not perfect and shouldn’t hide behind â€Å"the ice† for the â€Å"mistakes† we have made, for our life is already planned out for us it’s our decision on what road to take. Stafford gives us encouragement within his poem, allowing us to see ourselves for who we are and not what we do. Bibliography: Anderson, Erland G. Staffords Ask Me. Stories That Could Be True. New York, 1996. Article. Anderson gives a very good explanation of how he views the poems Ask Me By William Stafford, but its only one persons point of view, so his understanding of the poem is very controversy. Brehm, John. William Stafford. United States, September 2006. Author Biography. One of the most prolific and imaginative poets of his time, Stafford produced many poems of enduring value and greatly contributed to his readers understanding of the creative process. Stafford, William. Ask Me. Gioia, X. J. Kennedy and Dana. Literature. New York: Pearson, 2010. 643. Book. Staffords poem is followed by his own paraphrase of how he believes his own poem should be interptied. By doing so he allows us into his inner toughts behind the making of Ask Me. Works Cited: Anderson, Erland G. Staffords Ask Me. Stories That Could Be True. New York, 1996. Article. Brehm, John. William Stafford. United States, September 2006. Author Biography. Staf ford, William. Ask Me. Gioia, X. J. Kennedy and Dana. Literature. New York: Pearson, 2010. 643. Book.

Race issues essays

Race issues essays We live in a society that draws lines and builds boxes. These creations function as a means to place people in categories to describe, identify, and imprison individuals into certain groups. One means of classification that we have is race. It is a simple way to create boxes and stereotypes about people based on their skin color. The majority of prejudices that occur in the world are based off of peoples perceptions of judgments made clearly off of what they see. Another way that classifications are made is gender. This again can create boxes based only on perception. The wave of racism and sexism has permeated the infrastructure of American culture. It has shown its face in government, corporate, sports, and religious arenas just to name a few. Classifications based on race are not a new occurrence. You would probably be able to find many times in history where Kings, Pharaohs etc... Felt the need to conquer another group of people. Why? It has been said that one of the grea test fears is the fear of the unknown. An example of this is why many people fear death, because no one truly knows what happens when you die. Americas history of leaders involves white men who were afraid of what they didnt understand. The result was that they either tried to conquer it, or destroy it. The Europeans did this to the Native Americans, Asians, and African Americans just to name a few. It seems as though fear is one of the main reasons that oppression occurs. The one problem with classification is that it does not cure the fear it just perpetuates more of it. Classification by race or gender is a limiting way of growing fear in our society. The offspring of fear is hate. Hate is a powerful thing because it can not only lead to the harm of others; it also causes harm to the person that hates. For as long as people have been of different ethnic backgrounds, there has always been a desire to classify people accor...

The Brand Promotion of Tesco in Beijing City, Based on the Program of Essay - 1

The Brand Promotion of Tesco in Beijing City, Based on the Program of Sales Promotion of Tescos Products to housewives in Beijing - Essay Example Tesco is involved in below the line activities to keep the housewives attracted but it needs to focus more on such activities. The main problem that the firm is facing is that it cannot establish itself as a low priced retailer. This is because the housewives are knowledgeable about the market and know where to get the best price from. Thus Tesco needs to improve upon its promotional tools to face local competition and to alter the image the consumers have of the brand. The Chinese market is very different and has a lot of cultures. Thus Tesco has to adapt to the preferences of the different types of people. The firm uses all types of brand and sales promotion mediums, the rational modes of advertisements are still dominating the market. Television is overpowering other communication mediums like print medium and the internet. However, the firm should not only focus on the traditional mode of communication. Rather they should expand their horizon and try to use other mediums the internet and technology based marketing tools. Zhen (2007) explains that this is because it is a futuristic view and at some point such technological advances will become an eminent part of the market. At the same time, to reach the consumers currently Tesco has to focus more on television as it is a more reliable mode of communication with the consumers. The consumers truest the television and thus it will help Tesco get the message across. Print media is another option like magazines to reach particular target markets, especially house wives. Moreover, fliers, word of mouth and below the line activities can also be looked into. Below the line activities may have a greater impact on women and help promote the brand. To encourage sales promotion, in store promotions may also work well with women and help influence their decision m aking. As per Zhen (2007) Tesco is facing a challenging market in China as it is finding it difficult to

Poverty related issues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Poverty related issues - Essay Example This scheme allows and asks all the citizens across all the states irrespective of their residence to participate in the charity, because poverty and charity are both indiscriminate disregarding time and space. In this process one may not think that pro rata contribution of a few dollars by him/her is the job done. One may contribute as much as he can comfortably afford. Here comfortable affordability means the amount, which can alleviate a suffering of a poor without causing a suffering for you. And one should never sit back to see what others have contributed. If all of the citizens think like that then the charity may go empty and poor may die. While drawing a thin line between charity and duty one must be very careful. A man who gives regular and enough charity should not consider himself generous. Bread left over from one's meal always belongs to the poor. Here it is never meant that a citizen is required either to give away half of his income into charity, or all that he himself does not need. The beauty of helping others lies in a feeling for those who suffer from poverty. Utilitarian point of view is very clear about this. One should work enough to have enough to give away in charity. Keeping oneself underutilize is not good. And one should never think that since government is responsible for the social spending on poor, he/she is absolved of this responsibility. Other point which may stop a person from charity is that poor are always over populated and they do not follow the population control programs. Coercive application of these programs never works. A conducive environment comes from enough purpose oriented recreational and educational programs. Poverty is also a state... Poverty is the name of a situation and process. This is a situation when an individual, family or a community can not provide for bare minimum needs of food, clothing, shelter and heath. It is the process when this situation causes, hunger, disease, and death. Historically poverty and affluence have coexisted in the human society (Peter singer 1972). The solutions to the poverty always existed in human morality. When the human conscience is rightly jerked, it is hoped that poverty would no more be seen in the human societies. State the general occurrence of poverty in Unite States (the most affluent society) In United States of America only about 32 million people live below the line of poverty. This number is distributed unevenly amongst different socio-economic groups of the states. 25%Afro-American, 22% Hispanics, 10%Asian American, 8% non-Hispanic whites respectively live in the perpetual poverty. Income inequalities and racial discrimination is the worst producer of poverty in the American Society. The worst hit groups in the ethno-racial groups are the poor children, women and disabled. These marginalized people are vulnerable to homelessness, street crimes, malnourishment, neglect in the health care, domestic violence and discriminate educational facilities. What are the social problems emanating from poverty? Different social problems emanate from this marginalized group of American society that directly hit the American society. Poverty is badly impacting the health of women and children. The burden on health facilities and health insurance is increasing many folds in these poverty stricken communities. When the parents cannot afford the children’s feeding costs.

Impairments of intangible (including goodwill) Research Paper

Impairments of intangible (including goodwill) - Research Paper Example Under the USA GAAP principle, the methodology used for the determination of the impairment of long lived assets is based on the two step approach. In the two steps approach, the first step requires test of recoverability. In this test, the comparison of the carrying amount and future amount of discounted cash flows from the using and disposing. In case, the assets are determined to be not recoverable than impairment testing conduct becomes mandatory. Contrary to this, in the IFRS system one step approach is employed. Under this system, the existence of the impairment indicators makes it mandatory for the application of the impairment testing (EY, a). The second major difference in the treatment of intangible assets in US GAAP and IFRS exist in calculation of the loss in the impairment of long lived assets. Under the system of US GAAP using FAS 157 entitled Fair Value Measurement is employed and the loss calculation is difference between the carrying amounts to the fair value amount. On the other hand, the IFRS system of financial reporting, the calculation of the loss is conducted by measuring the difference between the carrying amount and the recoverable amount. The recoverable amount is measured as either the fair value net of cost of selling or value in use or value indicating future value of discounted cash flow including the amount received after disposal. ... Additionally, the reporting unit can also be accounted in the level under operating segment or the component. In the IFRS financial reporting of corporate accounts, the allocation of goodwill is conducted differently. Goodwill in the IFRS system is allocated either in the group of Cash Generation Unit (CGU) or CGU itself. Allocation of the Goodwill in the group of CGU represents lowest level from which the internal management monitors goodwill for internal assessment IAS 36.6. Importantly, this group, by law of IFRS 8 (Operating Segment) cannot larger than operating segments (EY, a). In addition to the goodwill allocation carrying differences in the two internationally followed systems of reporting of corporate accounts, methodology for the determination of impairment of goodwill also varies. Corporate accountants using US GAAP system of reporting has to imply the two step approach or methodology for the determining the requisite impairment. Under two-step approach requires performin g the recoverability test at the level of reporting unit in which the allocation of goodwill is conducted. In this initial test, the net amount of difference of the reporting unit’s carrying value to the reporting unit’s fair values is conducted. Positive difference between the carrying value and the fair value of the reporting unit makes it mandatory to perform the impairment test for the goodwill. Companies using IFRS system of developing the financial accounts apply the one step approach. Under the IFRS system it is simply mandated to conduct the impairment test. The impairment test of goodwill is conducted at CGU unit. Under this approach, the comparison of the carrying amount at CGU level with recoverable amount is conducted while carrying amount

Discrimination In The English Language

Discrimination In The English Language There exists national and racial discrimination in the English language. Such kind of discrimination can be reflected by words, expressions and also proverbs. This linguistic phenomenon has profound historical and cultural background, reflects national bias, conflicts and hatred, and thus provides us information about historical relationships among nations. This paper analyses causes and connotations of national and racial slurs, and shows the potential negative effects of the slurs on international contacts. It also deals with the current state of linguistic discrimination in modern society and the efforts people make to eliminate the phenomenon. Language primarily functions as the communication tool and information transmitter, and is closely linked to ethnic. Every ethnic group in this world has its own language which may be either slightly or totally different from other groups. Language is the carrier of ethnic history and social culture, and evolves together with the society where it is used. So to speak, the development of the ethnic is the fundamental cause and basic condition of the development of the language. Since language and ethnic are so profoundly interrelated, it is no wonder that language is influenced by ethnic feelings and the latter are fully embodied in the former. 1.2 National and racial discrimination in the English language As a common social phenomenon, national and racial discrimination against other ethnic groups would inevitably exert influence on languages. Thus, slurs come into being in almost every language in the world. Among these languages, English is a particularly striking example which contains many national and racial slurs. It is clearly seen that in the English language, part of its large vocabulary is concerned with nations and races. Unpleasantly, this part often carries a connotation of national and racial discrimination. We can readily find slurs with various forms such as vocabulary, phrase, address, proverb, etc. Take the Dutch idioms for example. If a person says to you, you do beat the Dutch (Liu, 2003:131), he intends to mean that you are excellent. When people use the Dutch idioms, they may wonder how those idioms originate. In fact, the slurs in the English language have profound historical background. Though causes of slurs are rather complicated ¼Ã…’yet we can still sort out them. Among these complex causes, ethnocentrism, wars and racial differences are the most important ones. 1.3 Objectives of the study The study focuses on the phenomenon of national and racial discrimination in the English language. We will look into the reason why the slurs come into being and the connotations that they carry. Once we get a better idea of their connotations, we can know whether it is proper to use them in public. Hence, we can try to avoid misunderstandings in cross-cultural communication and improve our competence. Since there are so many slurs in English, we have to be very careful about them. We may wonder about the following questions. What consequence would they cause when used improperly? Are they still used frequently in daily life? Or are they going to fade out from the English language? 2. Causes of national and racial slurs in the English language 2.1 Obsession of ethnocentrism in the United Kingdom and United States In Oxford Advanced Learners English-Chinese Dictionary, ethnocentrism is based on the ideas and beliefs of one particular culture and using these to judge other cultures. (Hornby Wehmeier, 2004:580) Strong sense of national pride is one of the main causes of national discrimination. A nation with ethnocentrism believes in the superiority of its own culture including values, norms, languages, etc., and considers other nations as inferior to it. Since National feelings are closely interlinked with national language, national discrimination finds expression in the latter. The USA and the UK are considered to be very proud nations. We can tell ethnocentrism from the two countries names. (Jiao, 2009:57) The USA is short for the United States of America. Despite the fact that the word America stands for the whole continent including Canada and Mexico, the USA employs it as a component of its country name. When people say Americans today, they generally refer to the people of the USA and exclude Canadian and Mexican. The British is no less proud than the Americans. They used to claim their country to be the empire on which the sun never sets and the mistress of the seas (Mao, 2003:141) The full name of its nation is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The British prefer to call their country Great Britain. The UK is actually a small country but it is the only country around the world using great in its countrys name. Some proverbs in English are the authentic portrayal of the excessively proud mind of the British. For instance, the English are a nation of shop-keepers; all countries stand in need of Britain, and Britain of none; one Englishman can beat three Frenchmen. (Mao, 2003:143) From these proverbs, we can see this island country is completely indulged in self-admiration. It assumes that whatever in its country is good and useful while those in other countries are odd. More often than not, it despises other countries especially those once at war with it such as France and the Netherlands. Even two of the world major powers, Russia and the United States cannot escape the fate of being derided. As the proverb says, An American will go to hell for a bag of coffee. Scratch a Russian, and you will find a tarter. (Jiao, 2009:59) Ethnocentrism endows the English language with a predilection towards the UK and the USA, and a bias against other nations or races. An excess of national pride glorifies a country while shows contempt for the virtues of other countries. In reality, it is fair to say that any ethnic group in the world is likely to show undue pride of nationalism of various degrees, consciously or not. Nonetheless ¼Ã…’ethnocentrism negatively affects international relations and goes against peaceful coexistence. 2.2 National resentment caused by wars Historical events have undoubtedly made their contribution to the development of English lexicology. New expressions often emerge from times of war when national emotion is running high. In most cases, they continue to stay in the language in the process of social development even if hundreds of years have passed. The French and Dutch expressions and proverbs are the classic examples. From a geographical perspective, France faces the United Kingdom across the English Channel. From 1377 to 1453, France and England were engaged in wars over territory and economic benefit. (Dai, 2003) The hundred-year war ended in a victory for France. This certainly gave rise to resentment from Englishmen toward France. English people found expression for their hatred in the English vocabulary. They considered the word French as a derogatory one and created many terms containing the word. Even today, we can still see the French expressions usually used as pejorative in the English language. For instance, the proverb one Englishman can beat three Frenchmen means defeating enemy troops with a force inferior in number. Some French phrases are connected with sex and eroticism. A French postcard/novel (Hou, 2009:64) is a pornographic photo/book. French gout (Hou, 2009:64) is syphilis. Not only the term French but also Dutch fall into this category. Dated back to 16th century, England had been friendly with the Netherlands. It was not until the 17th century that the Netherlands became one of the largest colonial empires in the world and a strong competitor of England for maritime trade. (Dai, 2003) It was inevitable that growing commercial rivalry between England and the United Netherlands led to the outbreak of wars. There were three Anglo-Dutch Wars fought in the 17th century. After the wars, the United Kingdom of Great Britain achieved maritime supremacy. Due to the wars, hostility persisted for years between the two countries. Many Dutch expressions and proverbs represent English feelings toward the Dutch. For instance, Dutch comfort/consolation (Liu, 2003:131) means no comfort/consolation at all. If something is double Dutch (Liu, 2003:131) to a person, he can hardly understand it. 2.3 Racial differences The majority of Native English speakers are white people. White racists consider their ancestry is sacred and of higher quality than others. They believe that their race possesses absolute and remarkable superiority when compared to others. As a consequence, they disparage other races in the world. This kind of emotion can be called racial discrimination and is sufficiently reflected in the English language. People can name racial slurs, many of which are related with African Americans, Native Americans and Asians. Expressions and proverbs containing such words as Negro, nigger and Indian often carry a connotation of contempt. Particularly in the American English, we can recognize the serious racial discrimination phenomenon. The United States is described to be a big melting pot, into which immigrants from all around the world have come together and blended their cultures and traditions. People of different nationalities, races, colors and faiths inhabit in the same community, contacting, influencing and integrating mutually. Altogether, they create a dynamic, multi-ethnic, and multi-cultural society, and make their specific contribution to the American history. Yet ¼Ã…’this predominantly white country has been faced with racial contradictions and conflicts throughout its history. Strong hostility and prejudice between different racial groups, mostly the white and the colored, has resulted in racism in the English language and led to a rapid increase of discriminatory vocabulary. 2.4 National traits From the micro point of view, it is a common practice among people to remark on others physiological features, and make fun of them about their looks, shapes, and dressing. In a broad perspective, one ethnic group may tease another about its distinctive physiological feature which appears to be strange. It is conceivable that national traits (physiological features and characters) can also be a source of slurs in the English language. It is not surprising that Japanese, smaller in stature than the westerner ¼Ã…’get the nickname little-yellow-man (Liu, 2003:129) from the Americans. The Russians are nicknamed polar bears (Liu, 2003:129) because on one side part of Russia is located in the cold Arctic Circle, where polar bears often haunt, and on the other the Russians had a reputation for being strong and aggressive. Although these make sense, making fun of others about their distinctive traits is improper ¼Ã…’inconsiderate and even cruel after all. From the perspective of nation, every ethnic group is unique in its traits due to the interactions of heredity, environment and other factors. A nation is inclined to discriminate others on condition that it assumes its traits are better than any other nations. It is unfair and wrong to measure other nations by the standard of ones own nation. 2.5 Spatiotemporal differences Owing to spatiotemporal differences, countries face different environments which affect their knowledge about others. Therefore, the lack of knowledge of other areas would give rise to wrong interpretations and misunderstandings of people in those areas. Sometimes a countrys geographical backgrounds can become a popular topic and laughingstock to other countries. We may have heard the saying, Finland is the devils country (Mao, 2003:143) and wondered about its origin. As is known, Finland is situated at high latitudes of northern hemisphere with cold climatic conditions. The special geographical location leaves an impression on the English-speaking people that Finland is uninhabitable and only devils dare live there. In the English language, Chinese puzzle (Mao, 2003:142) refers to a complicated thing or problem. The phrase stems from the history when America and China had little contact. The Americans felt confused about China and had a poor understanding of the country. Hence, it is imaginable that they attached a sense of complexity to the word Chinese. 3.Words ¼Ã…’expressions and proverbs mirroring ethical prejudice In what way can words, expressions and proverbs reflect national and racial discrimination? From the point of modern English lexicology, there are four common tendencies of semantic change in words: restriction of meaning (specialization), extension of meaning (generalization), degeneration of meaning (pejoration), and elevation of meaning (amelioration). (Zhang, 1987:269) Among these four, degeneration of meaning refers to the condition that words once respectable or neutral may shift to a less respectable or even derogatory meaning. (Zhang, 1987:277) This is the most common method used in linguistic discrimination. For instance, the Dutch idioms in Chapter 3.1.1 have derogatory meanings because the word Dutch is degraded into negative sense. In English, there are so many idioms concerned about ethical prejudice that it would be difficult to cover all of them. Let us have a look at some of them from two broad categories. 3.1 Reflection of national discrimination Before moving on, I would like to state that all the idioms in the following paragraphs come from On National Prejudice in Language by Liu Baojun except those with special interlinear notes. 3.1.1 The Dutch idioms There are many Dutch expressions in English. We probably have heard or said them in daily life. However, we may have little idea about when they were first used and how they came into being. Dutch is explained by the unpleasant associations of certain historical events, namely, the Anglo-Dutch wars and rivalry at sea in the seventeenth century. Many of the Dutch expressions were first used in England at that time, during fierce naval competition between England and the Netherlands. British people used Dutch to refer to something bad. Now, of course, the British and the Dutch have a friendly relation. But the word Dutch is still used in almost the same way as it once was long time ago. The Dutch idioms can be classified into several types. First of all, some of the Dutch expressions are related to wine because the Dutch were regarded as bibber. The phrase Dutch courage is a slang term for courage gained after drinking alcohol. It is synonymous with liquid courage. The term is purported to have its origin in the battles of the seas. (Liu, 2003:131) It is said that the Dutch navy feared all other navies especially the English navy. It was rationalized that they must have drunk alcohol before battle to relieve their fear. A Dutch bargain or Dutch agreement, which is made between men who have drunk too much alcohol, is an uneven, one-sided deal. When the host is the first to get drunk in the party, it can be called a Dutch feast. Second, the British used to consider the Dutch very stingy about money. The Dutch always split the bill when whey went out for dinner. Based on this conception, Dutch treat referred to a dinner at which the invited guests should pay for their own share of food and drinks. A Dutch party is a party to which each guest contributes some food and drink. Today, Dutch treat has a slightly different meaning from that. When friends go out to have fun, each person pays his own share if they agree to Dutch treat or go Dutch. Third, in the eyes of the British, the Dutch were rude, irritable and weird. To get ones Dutch up is to flare up. To do a Dutch act means to commit suicide. If a person talks to you in a very severe way, he is talking like a Dutch uncle. This phrase emerges for the reason that the Dutch had a reputation for raising their children in a firm way. (Li, 2009:52) Not only expressions but also proverbs can convey national slurs. The Dutch has taken Holland can be interpreted as follows: a man who has seen little regards many things as strange and comment excitedly on a commonplace thing out of inexperience. However, people using these expressions may not be well aware that they are hurting the Netherlands national pride. Almost all the Dutch phrases contain negative connotation. The situation makes the Netherlands feel uncomfortable and low national respect. Thus, in 1934, Netherlands government commanded that officials should avoid use the word Dutch. (Hou, 2009:65) In spite of the effort, today the derogatory sense of the word still exists and people continue using it to refer to something negative. 3.1.2 The French idioms In the modern history of the world, France and the Great Britain rival each other in political, economic, cultural and military competition. Many British idioms have recorded the countrys discord with the French. French leave is an abrupt and unannounced departure without saying farewell to the host. The phrase can be traced back to 18th century. (Wang, 1999:45) From the view of character, the French were amiable and easygoing by nature. It was their custom that guests invited to dinner would depart without giving thanks or saying farewell to their host. To the British, in particular the English, whose reputed quality is reserved, leaving without saying goodbye is ill-mannered, discourteous and shows no respect for others. There goes the proverb when the Ethiopian is white, the French will love the English. In reality, The Ethiopians are dark-skinned and it is impossible that their skin will turn white. By using this logic analysis, neither is it possible that the French will love the English. The proverb implies that the state of hostility between the two countries would not end. Another proverb goes, The Italians are wise before the deed, the Germans in the deed, the French after the deed. (Jiao, 2009:59) By comparing France with another two countries, the idiom carries a message that the French are wooden-headed and witless. Historically, it was suggested by the Americans that some of the French expressions should be changed. Yet ¼Ã…’it was too early to be cheerful for the French. Here goes the story. In the first half of the year 2003, France opposed the plan shock and awe adopted by the American-led United Nations forces toward Iraq. This stirred up American disgust toward the French. A television host of FOX news, one of the American news media, called for a boycott of French goods. It was demanded that in the English language French toast and French fry should be changed into freedom toast and freedom fry while French leave should be reserved. (Du, 2005:23) Very interestingly, it seemed that the Americans wanted to keep the French expressions with derogatory sense and meanwhile discard others with neutral meaning. In such case, The French could do nothing but sulk. 3.1.3 The Chinaman/Chinese idioms In modern times, China cut off itself from the outside world. As a result of a seclusion policy in foreign relations, China lost an opportunity for development and fell behind. Thus, the western countries showed contempt to this poor and backward nation with weak comprehensive power. Chink and Chinaman have long been used as disparaging terms for the Chinese. Many figures of speech in the English reflected a history of Chinese being insulted. Chinamans chance essentially means an extremely slim chance or no chance at all for someone to accomplish his goal or successfully do an action. In 1978, American publisher Scribner published the novel Chinamans chance by Ross Thomas. Regardless of the content of the novel, people sought the origin of the title Chinamans chance. The historical context of the phrase dates from the goldrush days of California in the middle of the 19th century when many Chinese came here to work as laborers. (Jiao, 2009:58) Their job was demanding and very dangerous but lower-paying. The Chinese faced higher taxes, denial of citizenship and equal rights to white man. Chinamans chance truly depicts the hard life of Chinese in that city. Another expression occurred in the same period. To play someone for a Chinaman is to treat him as a fool. Many of the Chinese expressions heard in English are used as pejorative. A Chinese copy is an exact copy of an original. Chinese slavery means virtual slavery. Chinese compliment is used to describe a man who speaks one way and thinks another. Chinese fire drill refers to confusional and chaotic state, large but ineffective exercise, or the act of a group of individuals achieving nothing. If someone has Chinese restaurant syndrome (Wang, 1999:43), he may feel headache, vomiting, swirl or sweating caused by eating Chinese food that contains monosodium glutamate. Research suggests that there is no evidence of the so-called Chinese restaurant syndrome and it is nothing more than urban legend. 3.1.4 The Irishman and Irish idioms The United Kingdom is made up of four nations England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Of these four nations, the English people account for the majority of the population and feel most British. They have a strong sense of national pride and ridicule the rest of the kingdom. They would verbally attack Scotland, Wales, and in particular Ireland. We can take a look at some of the Irishman and Irish phrases. Irishmans dinner/feast actually means apastia. Irishmans promotion represents demotion. Irish diamond is not diamond at all. It is just crystal or stone. Irish evidence is seen as perjury. Irish compliment is backhanded compliment. If someone makes an Irish bull, he provides a paradoxical statement. To get ones Irish up (Hou,2009:64) means to lose ones temper. A similar expression is to get ones Dutch up. There are also Irish proverbs with offensive implications: Englands difficulty is Irelands opportunity; Put an Irishman on the spit, and you can always get another to baste him. (Mao, 2003:143) 3.1.5 The Welsh idioms The word Welsh shares the same fate of Irish. To Welsh is to repudiate a debt. According to English people, the phrase originates from 19th century when many Welsh people made a living by betting on horse racing. (Liu, 1999:79) They were said to have been extremely cunning because they always tried to get out of paying money when they lost the bet. Thus, in the eyes of English people, they became notorious for such a bad quality. Therefore, to Welsh on somebody is to go back on ones word. To Welsh on ones debt is to rat on ones debt As we know, England is a relatively rich nation when compared with Wales. Phrases like Welsh comb and Welsh carpet are used by the English people to mock at Welsh poverty. 3.1.6 The Greek idioms The word Greek is associated with trick, cattiness, and danger. Greek gift can not be interpreted literally. If a person receives a Greek gift, he should be cautious because the gift is given with the intention of tricking the recipient and causing harm to him. A proverb derives from this expression, I fear the Greeks, even when they come with the gifts. Greek trust indicates unreliability. When Greek meets Greek, and then comes the tug of war. It means that when enemies face each other, their eyes blaze with hate. Fires are rekindled between the two sides and old wounds opened up again. When people encounter something incomprehensible, they would say it is all Greek to me to show that they dont understand at all. 3.2 Reflection of racial discrimination 3.2.1 Discrimination against Native American Before starting this part, I want to make it clear that all the idioms below come from On English Language against Non-English Nationalities by Mao Fasheng except those with special notes. An Indian giver refers to a person who gives a gift but require something in return later. This expression originates from around 1765 and the American colonial days. (Li, 2009:57) To the early American Indians, gifts were simply form of trade goods. A person gave a gift in hope of something of equivalent in return. However, to the European settlers, such kind of custom appeared to be insulting. In their minds, gifts were freely given rather than for trade practices. The original meaning of the expression was only the expectation of a gift in return. By the late 1800s, its sense shifted to describe someone who demands return while giving. Indian giving is a similar terms used to satirize the giver. We should handle an Indian gift with caution as well as Greek gift. The present is given by someone with expectation of receiving another from us. An Indian sign is a magic spell cast on a person to control him or bring him bad luck. If a girl is able to put or have an Indian sign on a boy, then she fascinates him perhaps with her dazzling loveliness. Americans regarded the Indians as dumb, irritable and evil-minded. Terms like cigar-store Indian, dumb Indian, wooden Indian portray a negative image for the Indians as boring and foolish. To get ones Indian up is to get mad or be inflamed with rage. It shares the same meaning as two other figures of speech get ones Dutch up and get ones Irish up. The proverb The only good Indian is a dead Indian (Liu, 2003:131) characterizes the American relationship with Indians. 3.2.2 Discrimination against African-American In American history ¼Ã…’African-Americans were subject to discrimination and their life were sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation. They were faced with poor living conditions and harsh working environments. Being despised, hated, disgraced and oppressed by racists, they lived in misery and suffering. Even today, in the society of more advanced civilization, the phenomenon of racial discrimination still exists. Racism is still a sensitive and serious issue that the world seeks to solve. From the view of language, racial slurs are to be found everywhere. Nigger, niggra, niggruh and Negro (Jiao, 2009:57) are common slavery-imposed epithets with evident insult to the black. They remind people the bitter period of slavery when African-Americans struggled for freedom. To work like a negro/nigger refers to somebody who works or is forced to work very hard just like a slave. Even in literature, we can see racial slurs in world-famous works. For example, some African-Americans complained about the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. They claimed that the writer should not have used the word nigger in the book. The following dialogue, in particular, stirs up strong discontent amongst African-Americans. Good gracious. Anybody hurt? Nom killed a nigger. Well, its lucky because sometimes people do get hurt.  [1]   We should try not to get involved in the issue of racial discrimination; otherwise we may place ourselves in criticism and trouble. In 1999, David Howard, the aide of Washington, DC mayor Anthony Williams resigned after being accused of using a racial slur.  [2]  Mr. Howard, head of the Office of Public Advocate, used the word niggardly when delivering the budget report in one of the regular meetings by municipal government. As a matter of fact, niggardly is defined as stingy or ungenerous and does not have any racial connotations. Yet, staff members present which was made up of two blacks and another white were offended by the word. Soon after the meeting, the rumor began to spread that Howard had used the racial slur nigger. Howard said such rumor has severely compromised my effectiveness as the Districts Public Advocate and in the best interest of my office, I resigned.  [3]  Howard was innocent in this issue. The real problem is that niggardly has a similar pronunciation with nigger. An important lesson we can learn out of this is that people especially government officials should avoid using not only racial slurs but also words sounding similar to them. 4. Negative effects of linguistic discrimination 4.1 Verbal counterback in other languages against English slurs Linguistic discrimination in English would surely result in verbal attack from those countries that have been insulted by English-speaking countries. It is normal to find ethnic slurs in other languages than English. For instance, in the French language, les sombikes (Liu, 1999:81), which has the same meaning as son of a bitch in the English language, is used as a disparaging term for an American. The phrase dates from the First World War when American soldiers liked to shout the expletive son of a bitch. As a matter of fact, almost any language contains ethnic slurs. It may be just to say that any ethnic in the world is apt to glorify its own group and meanwhile look down upon others. This sense of national superiority, more or less, is reflected in the language. 4.2 Negative impact on international relations Based on numerous historical events, linguistic discrimination against other nations and races mirrors barriers, conflicts, and hatred between different ethnic groups. It is a social problem that cannot be neglected. The usage of slurs can be detrimental to international relations. It exerts negative impact on social equity, stability and harmony. History teaches us that it has clearly influenced national unity and integrity in such a country of great ethnic complexity as America. As long as inter-ethnic inequality and contractions exist in human society, they would find expression in the language. Conversely ¼Ã…’linguistic discrimination would trigger hostility and conflicts between ethnics. They together initiate a vicious cycle and people get trapped in it. 5. State of English linguistic discrimination in modern society 5.1 Common existence of English linguistic discrimination It is undeniable that the phenomenon of English linguistic discrimination is still very common in modern society. People use those idioms in daily life, consciously or not. They may say a slur without recognizing that it is offensive and may cause them trouble. Why are discriminatory language still used today even if hostilities ended hundreds of years ago? As is discussed in chapter 1.1, language develops and evolves with society. Once words are given derogatory meanings, it would be difficult to change or eliminate them. It often happens that language is more conservative than civilization, material as well as moral. Objects, institutions, ideas, scientific concepts change in the course of time; yet in many cases the name is retained and thus helps to ensure a sense of tradition and continuity. (Ullmann 1977:198) 5.2 Sign of improvements on the phenomenon Fortunately, we have seen evidence of improvements on the phenomenon of national and racial discrimination in the English language. For example, In the September of 2001, the mountain Chinks Peak in the Pocatello Range in Idaho State got its new official name Chinese Peak from the United States Board of Geographic Names. The original name Chinks Peak was deemed offensive and racist. Some people especially Chinese Americans strongly requested th

Alices Adventures in Darwinism and the Realm of Child Versus Adult Ess

Alice in Wonderland, the most famous work of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll, is the enduring tale of one girl’s journey into a world of whimsy and imagination. The story was written for the enjoyment of all children, as Carroll had a strong love and attachment to them, especially little girls. It was however, written more specifically for a dear, close child-friend of his by the name of Alice Liddell, who was the inspiration for the title character. Alice in Wonderland has been, throughout the years since it’s publication in 1865, endlessly deconstructed, analyzed, and studied for underlying meaning in the text (as in Martin Gardner‘s The Annotated Alice). One of the most noticeable and famous facets of the story is the many changes in size that Alice goes through. Alice changes size eleven times to fit her changing predicament in the tale. This can be easily seen in the animated Disney interpretation of the story that came out years ago. Throughout the book, Alice is given the opportunity to change size numerous times, this aiding her in getting in and out of different situations and places in Wonderland. Alice accomplishes this through eating and drinking different tonics and mushroom pieces. It is interesting to note that the time period in which Carroll wrote and published Alice was the same time at which Charles Darwin was writing and publishing his historic book The Origin of Species in which he puts forth the now universally known ideas of evolution and survival of the fittest. Darwin developed these ideas while he served as naturalist on the ship the Beagle from 1831-1836. During this time, he studied wildlife on the Galapagos Islands, and was amazed by the great diversity of life. He was especially interested in the birds of the island, which had highly adapted beaks that fit their particular eating habits and lifestyle. (Coincidentally, in one of the first scenes in Wonderland, Alice arrives on shore with a group of different birds.) Carroll may have been inspired to have his title character change si ze according to her needs and predicament by the emerging science of the time. Alice also seems to get better at, and becomes more comfortable with changing her size as time goes on, and a parallel between evolution and Alice can be drawn on that point, in that as evolution progresses, it becomes more refined. Lewis Carroll... ...bsp; Alice in Wonderland, the work of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll, has been the enduring tale of one girl’s journey into a world of whimsy and imagination because of the multi-layered meaning that exists within. The story was written for the enjoyment of all children, but as Carroll once wrote himself, "we (adults) are but older children, dear."(499). Inspired by a dear, close child-friend of his by the name of Alice Liddell, the Alice of Alice in Wonderland has been the mediator between childhood and adulthood, and staying innocent and becoming experienced for over a hundred years. One of the most noticeable and famous facets of the story is the many changes in size that Alice undergoes, a phenomenon of evolution that was brought to the forefront of scientific and everyday Victorian life by the revolutionary thinker and naturalist Darwin. Charles Darwin wrote and published his historic book The Origin of Species at the same time Carroll’s arguably equally famed book was written and published, a coincidence that can not be overlooked when we observe the clear links between Darwin’s theories and Dodgson’s themes.  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Social Policy – Discipline or Area of Study?

Social Policy is that part of public policy that focuses on improving human conditions i. e. well-being of the public. Social Policy, therefore, is about welfare. It concentrates on social problems such especially issues of education, health, housing, social security and income support. According to Beveridge’s report that was published in 1942 and included in the Labour Party’s 1945 manifesto, Five Giant Social Evils had undermined the British society before the war: ignorance, disease, squalor, idleness and want. These are the five main evils that Social Policy centers on. In my view, Social Policy is interdisciplinary as it draws on many social science subjects but it is a distinct academic discipline in its own right, both in terms of its points of concentration and its methods of analysis. The development of Social Policy as a ‘policy’ and its development as a discipline are closely linked. Formed in 1884, the Fabian Society, which was influenced by the work of labour MP Sidney Webb and that of Booth and Rowntree, challenged the conservative political assumption that economic markets could meet the welfare needs of all was challenged and argued that policy intervention by the state was needed to provide those forms of support and protection which the markets failed to provide. Social Policy was then recognized as an academic discipline of importance when The Webbs – Sidney Webb and his wife Beatrice Webb, both prominent Fabians – established the London School of Economics (LSE). Within it, they incorporated the Charity Organization Society’s School of Sociology to form a new Department of Social Sciences and Administration in 1912. Its first lecturer was Clement Attlee, who became Prime Minister of the UK after the Second World War, and in 1950, Richard Titmuss was appointed as the first Professor of Social Administration in the UK. Until 1987, Social Administration and Social Policy were used interchangeably, but later the name was changed to Social Policy as it was felt that social administration focused largely on analyzing the operation of existing welfare services where as what was now known as Social Policy also analyzed the political and ideological bases of welfare provision. Social Policy is a broad but distinct academic discipline as it is closely elated to many social science disciplines, four of the more important ones being Sociology, Economics, Political Economy and Political Science, but it only draws on them to achieve what are believed to be the objectives of a successful social policy: equality, social justice, liberty and the rights of a citizen. Sociology helps one understand the causes and effects of social divisions such as those on the basis of race, gender or class. Its subject matter ranges from the micro level of face-to-face interaction to the macro level of societies at large, and traditionally, sociologists have focused on topics such as social relations, social stratification, social interaction, culture and deviance. Social Policy, on the other hand, is about provision of welfare to these various people and draws on Sociology to become aware of the various social divisions in order to better understand the needs of each particular group and how welfare can be provided to them. Economics explores the concepts of scarcity and resource allocation. In his 1932 essay, British economist Lionel Robbins described economics as the â€Å"science which studies human behaviour as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses†. It also provides insight into the concepts of equity and efficiency. These concepts are central to the study of Social Policy as it is the scarce resources that policy-makers work to allocate in a way that ensures the greatest well-being of the people. They must also be able to prove that their policies are both efficient – i. e. they are the least costly and of most benefit to those intended – and equitable or fair – i. e. those in similar categories are considered in similar ways. Political Economy originally was the term for studying production, buying and selling, and their relations with law, custom, and government. However, in the eighteenth century, it developed as the study of the economies of states — polities, hence political economy. It is the study of political ideologies and economic management. For a policy-maker, an awareness of these various political ideologies is indispensable as many of these arguments govern the process of making social and economic policies. Political Science focuses on the interaction between institutions and human behavior and studies the way in which institutions shape choices and how humans change institutional frameworks. It provides an understanding of constitutional arrangements in different countries and their impact on policy formulation. Political Science introduces the student of Social Policy to concepts of equality, social justice, liberty and citizenship.