Cross Cultural Relations Assignment (Through watching a specific Essay

Cross Cultural Relations Assignment (Through watching a specific movie- Stepford Wifes) - Essay Example On weekends, he would grab the golf clubs and hit the green after handing the wife some cash to go shopping. This was balanced by the image of the housewife, who would get up earlier than her husband so that a hot, cooked breakfast would be ready for him before he left for work. She would spend the day cleaning the house and preparing for the children to come home and then get busy with dinner. After dinner, she fussed with more housecleaning chores and devoted her every thought to the welfare of her family with never a single thought for herself. These ideas are the focal point of the story The Stepford Wives. In this film, the attempt to create a utopian society fails because of the extreme subjugation of the human spirit in favor of a narrowly focused ideal image of perfectly followed gender roles. This society left no room for difference of opinion of any kind, resorting to robotic technology as a means of artificially altering the personalities of strong women to that of the stereotypical 50s housewife – brainless, thoughtless, and completely subservient. The only way the society could work was if everyone in it accepted the rigidly defined roles they were to play. The moment these roles were questioned, the entire society fell apart. Gender identity becomes a real issue for many individuals coming out of the age of the ‘True Woman’ housewife of the 50s and entering the world of the ‘New Woman’ who is now capable of taking on the business world and winning. This is immediately set forward as being the case with the introduction of Walter and Joanna. While Joanna is seen as the high-powered executive in control of a multi-million dollar project, Walter is little more than a sycophant at the lower rungs of the ladder. His masculinity is threatened in that he is unable to call the shots at home or at work and he feels he is of

A Synopsis of the Movie The Hurt Locker Essay Example for Free

A Synopsis of the Movie The Hurt Locker Essay How do at least two of the following production elements combine to engage audiences with what is occurring one scene or sequence of the narrative you have studied. Scene 6 escalates the growing tension between James and Sanborn through sound and camera work. The audience assumes that the situation is extremely dangerous at the beginning of the scene due to the air raid siren sounds and the long shot establishing the evacuation of the UN building. This chaos is further emphasised by the shaky camera and the stressed voice tones in the dialogue of Sanborn and Eldridge. The audience’s tension is then released by James’ sigh as he puts out the burning car fire. The chaotic tension between the team members and their interrelationships is highlighted by the quick, hasty shots between the three as they attempt to access the bomb. The audience is further involved in this scene even more so, being positioned as the fourth team member, often by shots through the scope of a gun and through the bomb suit mask. By involving the audience, Bigelow is able to further engage the audience with the relationships between the characters. Bigelow makes the audience on edge during this scene through the highlighted breaths and sighs of Jeremy Renner. The sighs are often used to release tension between the characters and the audience, in particular when Renner defuses the bomb and he receives his adrenaline rush. Renner also exhales heavily when searching the car for the bomb, emphasising the frustration and inability to find the bomb. This allows the movie goers to feel James’ adrenaline rush kicking in as well. When Renner cuts the seat of the car, the shot creates a sound edit. The audience is still experiencing the high emotions from the intercutting shots between Sanborn and James when the frame cuts to black and the sound of the cutting shocks the audience into believing that someone has been shot. Fittingly, the ripping of the material by Renner further establishes his character as a stupid or blindly courageous character, making the audience less favourable of him as he is endangering his own life and the lives of Sanborn and Eldridge.

American History X Essay -- Movies Film

Throughout America’s history, there have always been issues between the white race and other races, mainly the black race. These problems in history have always and may always be questionable on whether they are right or wrong. Up until this very day, everyone seems to have their own opinion to this question; should the white race reign over America, the minorities, or should we all just live together in harmony. The truth of the matter is that not only does this affect social relationships, but also political affairs which affects where we stand now in this â€Å"United Nation†. Political campaigns get altered and misrepresented, because of this battle between races. The video that my friends and I chose to watch is titled â€Å"American History X†, which is based on the clash between the whites and blacks. Being only under ten years old, the video is a perfect example of how people, even after the Civil Rights Acts and the freeing of slaves, still think today. The video demonstrates how skinheads go up against the minorities attempting to spread the word of â€Å"white power† through riots and other violent acts. Although it may seem like this video has nothing to do with politics, it in fact ties in perfectly with it. It provides a brief explanation as in why we’ve never had a black president, and why there’s so much criticism dealing with the presidential candidate Barak Obama. Looking left to right, I see discrimination amongst us everywhere. Schools, shopping malls, and even at our jobs; it is truly unavoidable. Everyone has their own beliefs in which they are entitled to, but some people take it beyond the comfort zone. In American History X, I saw discrimination to its full potential with the brutal murder of three young black men by ... ...nd different beliefs greatly influence who we choose to stand with and who we would like to vote for. It is all a race for superiority just like the D.O.C. and the Crypts, with opinions changing from time to time. Even though there will always be a constant struggle between whites, black, Hispanics, etc, we cannot simply dislike a person and judge them by their skin color, or race. As in the movie, in politics we should all listen to what each candidate has to offer and not rule them out. It’s just like the saying that I’m sure we’ve all heard at some point in our lives â€Å"Don’t judge a book by its cover†. My friends and I completely agree with that saying and everything else in this paper. The movie was indeed graphic, but not meaningless. We recommend this movie to anyone who pursues an explanation as to why some people act the way they do and how they can be changed.

Essay --

During the early 1970s, formal financial reporting standard setting activities were commenced. On 10 September 1971, a technical committee was formed in 1971 with the remit to act on a letter dated sent by Bank Negara to the President of Malaysian Association of Certified Public Accountants (MACPA). Nowadays, MACPA is now known as Malaysia Institutes of Certified Public Accountants (MICPA). MACPA was set up by individuals as a private association in 1958 (Susela 1999). After an extended pause marked by a high level of inactivity, the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) was approached to develop a standard in 1987. MIA has been set up in 1987 by the State as a statutory body to regulate the accounting profession. Therefore, both MACPA and the MIA committed to a process of joint work towards the objective of the development of a Malaysian accounting standard for goodwill. Based on Ahmad & Ishak (2003), an element of that agreed course of action, on July 1, 1987 the President of MIA and the President of MACPA signed a joint Circular to members enclosing a questionnaire inviting com...

Alcoholics Anonymous â€Nursing Essay

Alcoholics Anonymous is a close-knit program which is a very successful method of recovery for alcoholism. The program was the first of many to adopt the twelve step approach to recovery. This program is three dimensional: spiritually, mentally and physically which is represented in the twelve steps. The steps stress anonymousness, kindness and rejuvenation within all members. It gives recovering alcoholics a place to feel comfortable and unashamed to know others are going through the same recovery. Members are encouraged to be sponsored by a companion recovering alcoholic with more experience in the program to help to better understand AA. The sponsor is the same gender as the member and usually the relationship between the two is a gift that both members can benefit from. The Twelve steps are as follows: 1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable. 2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. 4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. 5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. 6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. 7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings. 8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. 9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. 10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it. 11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out. 12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs. When I went to the AA meeting, I noticed that this disease of alcoholism affects all ages, socioeconomic groups and both genders. Not being an alcoholic, I did not think I would enjoy/benefit from the meeting–but I was indeed wrong. The feeling of support, unification and encouragement that the group portrayed is indestructible. Members of the group listened and strengthened one and other. I think Alcoholics anonymous is something that is very special and anyone suffering from an addiction to alcohol would profit from.

Problems of Internet Addiction Disorder

Problems of Internet Addiction Disorder Brain Damage Internet addiction has many negative impacts on one’s life. The two major effects are brain damage and reduction in cognitive capabilities. Various researches have shown that individuals are better in reasoning and handling matters that require good cognitive abilities before they get addicted to the Internet.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Problems of Internet Addiction Disorder specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Addiction to the Internet comes with a reduction in this ability since the Internet prevents one from thinking as it provides almost all the answers to their questions. Individuals tend to go ahead and search everything on the websites, including the simple tasks they used to handle on their own before getting addicted to the Internet. Another possible cause of a reduction in the brain capabilities is the kind of the materials that one is exposed to on the Internet. Exposure to sexual mat erials makes one spend most of their time thinking about sex. According to the use and disuse law in science, it is only normal that the brain develops in the direction of use. In terms of sex and matters related to it, the individual addicted to pornographic sites on the Internet will therefore be way too good in sexual matters. This, however, comes with a negative impact as far as thinking about other life issues is concerned. It is common knowledge that one may be seated in an exam room and, instead of thinking about the solutions to the questions, the mind is wandering as he/she is thinking of the last scenes seen on the Internet. The person also spends time thinking about when he/she will be free to use the Internet again. Some even go as far as escaping activities that could develop their cognitive abilities just to have a glimpse of the funny internet scenes (Young, Caught in the Net 34). Violence The victim’s tendency to be violent increases since once an individual i s addicted to the Internet, he/she becomes exposed to violent materials in the form of games and movies. In most cases, it occurs because they lose the ability to reason and handle matters using dialogue. Thus, they think that using their muscles to iron out issues is better and much easier than sitting down to discuss them with anybody. A dialogue and other diplomatic means of solving conflicts are seen as a waste of time by those addicted to the Internet. The major reason behind this is that they will want to spend most of their time on their addiction rather than on other life issues, such as solving disputes between them and other human beings. Some persons become violent because of the violent movies or pictures that they download from the Internet (Block 306). Almost every new action movie or picture downloaded from the Internet teaches the addicted individual a fighting skill. Unfortunately, most of these individuals are not professional wrestlers and they have nowhere to pra ctice, and the only available area to apply their skills is on fellow human beings who have no idea of what is going on in the lives of the addicted.Advertising Looking for essay on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More They also find satisfaction from winning such violent wars as their victims do not possess the same skills. This motivates them and makes them watch more violent movies on the Internet to learn more fighting techniques. At the end of it all, they lose themselves in violence, as they develop high levels of violent behaviors leading to isolation, since people tend to avoid their company (Watts 88). Loss of Self-control An individual addicted to the Internet loses self-control and other social abilities. Self- control is all about being able to use your brain to say No to some things and Yes to others. Unfortunately, those addicted to the Internet lose this capability as they are not in a position to differentiate between what is good and bad in their lives (Damasio 42). Furthermore, addiction to the Internet comes with other addictions, such as pornographic materials, drugs, and masturbation. Once an individual has many addictions, he/she has no room to ponder on whether to be into actions related to the addictions or not. A simple thought related to such persons addictions, or mentioning of the act related to their addiction, comes with a strong urge forcing them to repeat the act. This is indeed degradation of the social ability of individuals and their ability to control their lives. Eventually, they end up losing their lives in the addictions. The levels of violence are likely to go up, as analyzed in the previous paragraph, which has to do with temperamental issues. At times in life, all that is required of an individual is to control their tempers. This will prevent one from indulging in regrettable actions, but those addicted to the Internet resort to other means of s olving temper related issues. They only consider violence the best option to exercise in all circumstances. This is the reason individuals addicted to the Internet become more violent every day. If it happens that one loses their temper at the lowest agitation, they will therefore lose friends, and this will definitely impact their lives negatively (Martin 72). Social Isolation Social isolation is also a major negative impact of being addicted to the Internet. Individuals are good in socializing before they get addicted to the Internet. There is usually a balance between social life and other life matters. This, however, comes to an end immediately after one becomes an Internet addict (Pinker 32). Individuals addicted to the Internet will want to spend most of the time alone in closed rooms away from distraction as they want to give all their concentration to their addiction, since having friends around them may not give them a chance to give undivided attention to the Internet scen es.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Problems of Internet Addiction Disorder specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Friends tend to engage them in conversations that require concentration while they are using the Internet, yet they want to have all the time to surf the Internet. Thus, they develop poor relations with their friends, as they are not willing to follow the conversations with them and, in most cases, they take a lot of time to answer questions that are necessary to keep the conversations going. When they finally answer the questions, the answers are usually wrong or kill the conversation, and with time, friends and family members lose interest in conversing with the individuals. The temper and violence issues also have a great impact on the individual’s social life. Nobody will enjoy staying around a person who punches them from time to time. All persons enjoy their peace and staying around calm people w ho can handle their tempers. Unfortunately, this is not the case with the individuals addicted to the Internet. Loss of Interest in Life The Internet is a major issue in the lives of the addicted. They will spend a good amount of hours staring at Internet sites, reading funny materials, or watching silly movies. Addicted individuals will want to sacrifice every aspect of their lives just to have time to go through the Internet. Sleep becomes a thing of the past for these individuals. They go to bed with their laptops or Internet-enabled phones. All they do is chatting over the Internet with people they do not even know. When caught up with sleep, they go out of bed to wash their faces. They do their best not to fall asleep easily, thus having more time to chat with their so called â€Å"friends†. For married couples, addiction may cause breakups or even divorces in extreme cases (Young, Internet Addiction 7). This happens when one partner finds it difficult to stay around the addicted. For instance, an addicted individual will laugh in the middle of the night just because of an interesting chat or scene on the Internet. They end up waking up their partners in marriage, and with time, their partners will want to sleep alone in separate beds just to have some sleep. This way, the sexual contact, or even the romance, that is meant to keep a couple together disappears. The addicted individual may find sexual satisfaction from the Internet pornographic scenes forgetting that they have partners who need them. This is another reason as to why married individuals end up cheating on their partners. It is common sense that if one cannot get what they want from their partners, they will look for it elsewhere. Eating is also a thing of the past for individuals addicted to the Internet since they eat less quantities of food, and with time, they become emaciated and lose their strength. A truly internet addiction is a vice that kills all the other aspects of one†™s life (Dijik 46). Solutions to Internet Addiction Feasible solutions refer to methods that can be used to solve the problem and that will provide a desirable outcome. These solutions are;support from family members and rehabilitation of the addicted individuals. Family members, friends, and other people in the lives of the addicted have a big role to play to help them out.Advertising Looking for essay on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Family members and friends can create social events that make the addicted forget about the Internet for some time (Wallace 39). They can take them for swimming, mountain climbing, or enjoyable picnics. It is always advisable to replace bad addictions with good addictions like jogging, playing chess, or scrabble. Such activities will see the addicted spend less time on the Internet, and later on, they will be out of their trap. Rehabilitation centers can also be attended by individuals who really want to overcome their addictions. At the centers, they will be taken through therapies that are likely to reduce their level of addiction (Welch 99). They may be treated with the help of music play lists, positive games, or even lessons that discourage them from using the Internet. The use of mobile phones that are not Internet enabled is another way of fighting the addiction. This means that the individuals will only use the Internet when they get to cyber cafes or their computers. Indeed , Internet addiction is a vice that can take away an individual’s life, if not done away with at early stages, and thus dealing with it is a worthy endeavor. Counseling is also another step that can be taken to ensure that the addicts are saved from their obsession. This process involves getting a psychiatrist to talk to the addicted individuals so as to understand why they prefer the Internet compared to the normal social life. Sometimes, people end up being addicted to the Internet due to unsolved psychological issues that can be dealt with by the psychiatrist. Block, Jerald. Issues for DSM-V: Internet addiction  American Journal of  Psychiatry  165.1 (2008): 306–307. Print. Damasio, Antonio. The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of  Consciousness. New York, NY: Mariner Books, 2000. Print. Martin Paul.  Sex, Drugs Chocolate: The Science of Pleasure. London, UK: Fourth Estate, 2008. Print. Pinker, Steven. How the Mind Works. New York, NY: Brilliance Publishers, 2012. Print. Van Dijik, Jose. The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2013. Print. Wallace, Paul. The Psychology of the Internet, London, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Print. Watts, Duncan. Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age. London, UK: Vintage, 2009. Print. Welch, Edward. Addictions: a Banquet in the Grave. Phillipsburg, Pennsylvania: P R Publishing, 2010. Print. Young, Kimberly. Caught in the Net: How to Recognize the Signs of Internet  Addiction. London, UK: Routledge, 2011. Print. Young, Kimberly. â€Å"Internet Addiction: Symptoms, Evaluation, and Treatment.†Ã‚  Professional Resource Press 17.1 (2006):1-35. Print.

Service Quality Of Kuala Lumpur Public Transports Tourism Essay Essay Example

Service Quality Of Kuala Lumpur Public Transports Tourism Essay Essay Example Service Quality Of Kuala Lumpur Public Transports Tourism Essay Essay Service Quality Of Kuala Lumpur Public Transports Tourism Essay Essay 1.0. Background of the narrative The definition of service quality means client perceptual experience on how good does a service can run into or transcend the outlook ( Czepiel 1990 ) . As for the words public conveyance itself, it is being describes as a vehicle that caters the rider to make a finish and every use of this peculiar public transit will be charge with a lower limit or a particular menus to each rider at the same times. In conveyance, there are a particular word being known as mobility it is normally defined as the ability to travel anything for illustration like people, goods and other populating thing or non living thing from one topographic point to another topographic point and it is measured by the figure of trips made by a individual each twenty-four hours ( Vasconcellos, 2001 ) whereas personal mobility refers to the usage of personal conveyance ; it can be a auto or a bike or others. The term of public is widely used ; this term is non considered as secret or private, the term itself unfas tened to or refering the people as a whole, sharing their really ain common involvement with everybody. Based on Md Aftabuzzaman, Graham Currie, Majid Sarvi, the chief urban public conveyance job is the route traffic congestion and this is one of the ground why people do non exchange to utilizing public conveyance ( Cervero 1991 ; Downs 1992 ) . By holding public conveyance system, efficient public conveyance ( PT ) can be regard as one of the possible solutions that can work out the job of urban route traffic congestion ( Hyman and Mayhew 2002, ; Pucher et Al. 2007 ; Vuchic 1999. The chief public conveyance such as coachs, taxis, trains was provided by the authorities towards the populace s usage. For convenient of people who are remaining in urban and rural countries ( White 2002 ) , authoritiess have provided a better service quality to people to do certain the service they provided are able to fulfill the consumer demands and outlook every bit good as to increase the degree of service quality of public conveyance. In public conveyance, service quality can be focus in term of tangib les, dependability and reactivity ( Parasuraman et. al. , 1985 ) and it has becomes a important issues which is to hold a better and comfy environment. Mostly clients do non fulfill with the physical installations in public conveyance. Cleanliness, comfortableness, frequences, reactivity of the driver and music director of public conveyances are the major issues client ever ailments and disappointed on it. Besides that, buses largely non provided convenience installations such as wheelchair, which is needed for disable individual. However, Malaysia Prime Minister himself dissatisfied with the current issues and jobs after being experienced on utilizing the LRT service. Problems for Light Rail Transit ( LRT ) and Keretanapi Tanah Melayu ( KTM ) are the clip reaching ever holds and non to bury, service likes promptness, frequences of train arrives on clip and insufficient of infinite to transport riders are besides the chief issues that caused congestion occurs ( Utusan 2008 ) . Even though the public transit is modernized and has been updated in urban countries but with the lacking of service quality and well-implemented by the authorities, it will take a negative perceptual experience tot the clients and they wo nt fulfill of utilizing public conveyance service that they provided which are deficient and inefficiency ( Karen Thompson, Peter Schofield 2002 ) . Despite the routing scheduled saying the coach would get on every 15 proceedingss but users has been waiting the half an hr and yet the coach still non ar rives. This is one of the promptness jobs faced by the public coachs in Malaysia ( The Star 2008 ) . Another incident occurred in urban country Kuala Lumpur, which are included LRT train and Rapid KL. The train and coach colliding with each other in 200 metre from Bukit Jalil Station ( The Star 2008 ) . This shows that the safety measuring of public conveyances become worst and action should be taken into consideration. Transit service quality and dependability is indispensable for theodolite riders and it did shown that both factors do impact rider satisfaction well ( Tyrinopoulos, 2008 ) . Furthermore, transit service dependability respect as one of the important factor for commuters to make up ones mind on which types of public transit they prefer to utilize the most ( Benjamin, 1998 ) . Due to inefficiency of system, coachs did non get on clip, going holds, missing of rider seats, therefore, these factors would do rider overloads. Commuters would more preferred to drive their ain vehicles alternatively of utilizing public conveyance to entree to work, diversion, school during the peak service periods. It must be given excess attending on inefficiency system of coachs in order to bettering the dependability towards of riders and commuters. However, service extension would nt be necessary if the rider burden was every bit distributed and coachs were on a regular basis spaced plenty. Harmonizing to Margareta Friman and Markus Felleson, new services of public conveyance are being developed and old services are being improved or upgraded in order to run into the possible and present client s demand. To promote more people to utilize the public conveyance, services should be designed and performed in a manner to run into the degrees of service required by clients ( Beirao and Sarsfield Cabral 2007 ) . In add-on, there are few factors of how clients perceive public conveyance. Factors such as frequence, dependability, travel clip and menu degree ( Hensher et al. 2003, Tyrinopoulos and Aifadopoulou 2008 ) , comfort and cleanliness ( Eboli and Mazzulla 2007, Swanson et Al. 1997 ) , web coverage or distance to halt ( Eriksson et al. 2009, Tyrinopoulos and Antoniou 2008 ) , and safety issues ( Smith and Clarke 2000, Fellesson and Friman 2008 ) are the chief factors for users do non utilize the public conveyance and besides client express their points of position approxim ately services every bit good as to supplying judgement of public conveyance harmonizing to the service quality. Harmonizing to Tew Shi Yi, to heighten the per centum degree of utilizing public transit, they managed to come up with a program which is to offer an effectual, accurate and user-friendly system for users particularly for the citizens of Kuala Lumpur and it so conveying the important benefits to the populace. Laura Eboli and Gabriella Mazzulla, one of the factors act uponing the travel user picks to utilize the public conveyance is the theodolite service quality. Those clients who manage to utilize the theodolite service, they will likely utilize theodolite services once more. In contrast, users may non utilize the theodolite services following clip if they are non capable to utilize it good. However, bettering the service quality is of import for pulling new users. Harmonizing to Che Rosmani Che Hassan, Mahar Diana Hamid, Norazlin Dzulkifly, Noor Zalina Mahmood, coach is one of the chief options of mass transit as it is non merely has better coverage countries such as Light Rail Tra nsit ( LRT ) and commuter train but besides cheaper for public to utilize it. Besides, they found out that bing coach interchanges frequently inadequate to run into the turning demands of clients. There are 1000s of people use the coach interchanges around Kuala Lumpur to make their finish in a twenty-four hours. Such interchanges are Hentian Puduraya, Hentian Duta, Klang Bus Stand and more. Based on research made by the pupil from the University Malaya, the study consequences happens to be true that, the ground why do most of the Malaysian used private autos alternatively of Public Transportation were chiefly, they lack of cognition about the handiness of the public transit around their country. Not familiar on how to utilize the public transit. Although there are several types of public conveyance but yet people instead to drive their ain auto and stuck in the traffic jam for few hours than utilizing with public conveyance that might somehow causes jobs when it is less unannounced. However, authorities has comes up with a program which is to present a new set of traffic direction policy steps to advance the usage of public conveyance. To promote the occupants to utilize the public conveyance, several installations has been provided by the authorities in public conveyance station such as excess parking infinites are added nearby the public conveyance station so that peo ple can park their auto and sit easy, bus bird from coach halt to the train station or add more coach or train frequences in either vicinity or the metropolis country. Ng Choy Peng and Dadang Mohamed MASEOM, private vehicles have led to severe congestion and pollution. Kuala Lumpur foremost started to run the light rail theodolite ( LRT ) in 1996 following by the STAR LRT and PUTRA LRT. These are the two LRT systems that operate in Kuala Lumpur after LRT. It has been found that most of the LRT Stationss in Kuala Lumpur countries provide unequal parking infinite and this is one of the ground public do non exchange to utilizing public conveyance. However, to advance the usage of public conveyance, the local governments recommended bettering the bing coach services like bus lane demands to develop even better and so on. As for the building of the commuter train, it must be well-developed and to do certain light railroad theodolite ( LRT ) is able to provide the demand of occupants from suburban country to urban country. Last but non least, it is besides shown that the public transit today face a really large negative impact from all the consumer and rider that travels around with the public conveyance, this proven a consequence that the public transit has show a batch inefficiency services that provided by each company, hapless connexion from certain finish to a finish itself. 1.2 Research Problem The job sing to this proposal is the client perceptual experience service quality towards public conveyance in Kuala Lumpur. This research is to happen our factors that act uponing clients non to utilize with the public conveyance. Researcher found out that private autos has become the chief pick of traveller s manner of conveyance is because they dissatisfied with the service quality such as dependability, cleanliness and comfortableness, installations, travel menu and clip of the public conveyance. There might hold been frequent ailments from the commuters and riders that the public conveyance did non supply a good service such as going ever delays, deficient rider s seats and others. Most of them deficiency of cognition about the handiness of the public transit around their country. Consumer does non cognize the exact travelling clip and continuance from the beginning to the finish itself and non familiar on how to utilize the public transit. So hence most of them would non take t he hazard into taking public transit as their manner of conveyance. Besides that, they are easy confused on what type of conveyance to utilize to make their finish ; somewhat it is due to there are excessively many picks of public transit to take from in Kuala Lumpur. Furthermore, the consumer does non desire to blow clip waiting for the transit with no exact geting clip mundane when they own a private auto where they do non worries anything about the handiness of the auto, the going continuance, and it is far more accessible from clip to clip. 1.3 Research Question What are the factors that affect public non to utilizing public conveyance in Kuala Lumpur? How does the service and demands can be improved? What is the extension degree of the service attributes must be improved in the hereafter? What is the overall satisfaction degree of users to public conveyance? What is the point of service quality that leads to client satisfaction? 1.4 Research Aims The chief intent of the aim for this proposal is to mensurate the user s planetary satisfaction with public conveyance every bit good as to analyze the client perceptual experience of utilizing Kuala Lumpur public conveyance harmonizing to certain factors. The chief point of this research is to happen out what is the degree of outlook perceptual experience of Kuala Lumpur clients about service of public conveyance delivered and what sort of services that affect most of the people do non utilize public conveyance. It is really of import to happen out how does the service and demands can run into the client s satisfaction, any betterment for authorities to keep the public conveyance, factors authorities would take into consideration in make up ones minding to utilize public conveyance more or thrust less in order to promote and advance people, particularly the citizens of Kuala Lumpur to utilize public conveyance services more frequently. Government should update the latest information such as possible paths coverage, going and arrival clip of the public conveyance and travel menu to the user. Suggested path will be giving out to the users to guarantee users utilizing public conveyance in a shortest clip and cheapest manner with a limited budget to make the finish itself. Aims of this research are: To find the ground for public to take to go with private auto but non utilizing public conveyance in Kuala Lumpur. To place the types of service and demands to run into the client s satisfaction. To place the extent spread of between the client s perceptual experience and outlook. To place the best solution to better the service quality of the public transit, like more seats and comfy seats. Theoretical Framework and Conceptual Framework Basically, the above diagram is the research shows how readers are to find the factors that encourage auto users switch from driving auto to utilizing public transit in Kuala Lumpur more frequently. Factors that can promote the auto users to exchange and utilize the public transit are to upgrade and spread out the service quality of that peculiar transit. For illustration, KTMB need to set in a batch of attempt into upgrading their services, particularly during the peak clip ( working hours ) so that the consumer can entree to it with hassle free. Customer satisfactions are besides an of import facet in the client perceptual experience, in order to do the client satisfied into utilizing the transit are to do certain that comfort are at that place, the warm service are they and handiness are environing the populace conveyance itself. Furthermore are the Reliability of Public Transport, in order to do the public transit a dependable one, the direction of the transit company, must ever upgrading their services and expand their services, so that the consumer can experience dependable towards the peculiar transit. Diagram above is the theoretical account of conceptual model, which is exemplifying the relationship between service and quality development, client satisfaction, reactivity, route handinesss of public conveyance, dependability of public conveyance ( geting on clip ) , and the care from clip to clip to public conveyance. 1.6 Significant of survey This research helps to indentify bing job of what factors encourage auto user s switch to utilize public conveyance which may take to the satisfaction of auto users. Through this research, the authorities has to set its attempt to do an betterment on the public conveyance system such as development of an integrated and efficient public conveyance system. Action should be taken into consideration to upgrade the public conveyance to auto users in order to run into the demands and supply an efficiency services which will give client a broad position of satisfaction particularly focuses on the enlargement of Light Rail Transit ( LRT ) and commuter train services. By making this, it will non merely helpful and utile at this clip and future planning every bit good. The consequence of this research will better the auto user s satisfaction. In the interim, this planning will promote more people to utilize public conveyance. Furthermore, it does helps to indentify extra alterations that can b e done to avoid farther impacts to the current site emphasized in this survey. Scope and Restrictions The range of survey is the public perceptual experience towards Kuala Lumpur public conveyance. Due to the clip restraint, the research worker might non able to garner beginnings of the information from diaries, on-line diaries, farther inside informations, and newspapers. Beside of this, the research worker besides confronting some troubles on the research paper because of the short clip provided on the research procedure. Obviously, it is caused by the deficiency of resource that provided in KDU library and the research worker besides confronting some troubles on acquiring the further inside informations information about public conveyance in Kuala Lumpur with a restriction of resources. It besides caused by the informations that provided in KDU library is non the latest and the informations did nt up to day of the month on a regular basis. Chapter 2 Reappraisal of Related Literature 2.1. Factors act uponing the client perceptual experience service quality towards Public Transport in Kuala Lumpur This reappraisal indicates that efficient public conveyance ( PT ) considered as one of the possible solutions to the job of urban route traffic congestion ( Hyman and Mayhew 2002, ; Pucher et Al. 2007 ; Vuchic 1999 ) .The factors that act uponing the client perceptual experience towards public transit are chiefly because of the times due to the apparently break down and the hold of train all the clip, the client do non desire to take the hazard taking public transit without taking the public transit, it will assist cut down the clip of going and can avoid the malfunction of the public transit all the clip The 2nd factor that influence their perceptual experience are crowded and comfort, due to the public transit are ever crowded, there are some of the client that afraid to take the public transit, ground are because they have to be inside the public conveyance hot and airless, sometimes will occurred instances like sexual torment towards the adult female that travel utilizing the public transit. Not merely that, when it is excessively crowded some of the client unable to bask the seats due to miss of seats and besides when there are excessively many people sometimes it will do sleepiness when non plenty air ventilate in the coach, train or taxi itself. The 3rd factor that influence the client into taking the public transit are the desirable paths are non covered by the public transit, it is merely covers some portion of the metropolis, suburban countries and town but non to most of the topographic points, it is difficult for those client to go utilizing public transit when some of the finish that offers by the populace conveyance itself need transportations and besides necessitate walking. The last factors that influence the client perceptual experience are the infrequent public transit. There are public conveyance that travels follow the clip that set by the system, illustration like KTM there are a board saying that what clip precisely will the train itself will get, but the train ever reach late and neer follow. So as the Monorail and besides the Star LRT which provides the incorrect information of clip all the clip? As for Putra LRT, is the lone rail that shows the right timing due to the, system will update its timing once the trains reach certain finish? Based on Apogee Research ( 1996 ) , there are three chief tools cardinal to the appraisal of public conveyance such as travel demand theoretical accounts, conveyance cost analysis techniques, conveyance study planning and impact spreadsheets and each of the tools will hold their ain benefits and disbenefits. 2.2. Service Quality Surprisingly, few surveies have so far analyzed this relationship. The construct of service quality involved results, satisfaction of the users, and other intangibles of public conveyance outlooks. In add-on, installations and more touchable facet of public conveyances physical elements are besides one of the construct of service quality ( Fodness A ; Murray, 2007 ) . Service quality besides involves the perceptual experience and outlook of the service degree delivered to the user which is meets their demands. Some theoretical accounts have been developed that effort to associate sensed quality dimensions to specific merchandise attributes in the merchandise development literature ( Hauser and Clausing 1988, Nagamachi 1995 ) . Government should increase the capacity of the public transit, the deficiency of seats is what trouble oneselfing the client and why they do non sit on public transit because it is tired to stand all the clip. The service quality of the public conveyance is no n truly executed good. For illustration: The Light Rail Transit ( LRT ) and Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad ( KTMB ) ever delays, deficient infinite to transport more rider seats and this is one of the ground caused the congestion occurred ( Utusan, 2008 ) . Should besides believe of refurbish each and every of the station and Michigans and put in the service which necessary for the convenience of all the client and comfort while waiting for the public conveyance. Not merely that they environment of the public transit are good, but besides the driver, staff and the 1 who work in the service line must possess a good bosom in assisting and helping. Cleanliness and comfy of public conveyance are the chief visual aspects for users. Normally, users will concentrate on the cleanliness of inside, seats, and Windowss of the public conveyance. Therefore, the direction has to do certain the equipment is up to day of the month and in working order every bit good as the waiting countries were suitably furnished, cleaned and good all the times. Employees and staffs of the public conveyance must ever possess with batch of accomplishments and cognition on the service production in order to supply a better services to users. One of the measurings in ser vice quality is the inside of the public conveyance, which is considered as the physical visual aspects ( Parasuraman, et. al. , 1988 ) . 2.3. Dependability of Public Transport Harmonizing to Beimborn et Al. ( 1993 ) , it is of import to supply a model for benefit analysis and described the measuring techniques after reexamining the rule and issue for public conveyance benefit measuring. Reliability is concentrating on frequences and promptness of the populace conveyance which is arrives on clip and able to run into the outlook of the users. It means the ability to execute the promised service which are more faithfully and accurately ( Parasuraman, et. al. , 1988 ) . Reliability of Public Transport is an of import facet, in order to derive the trust and the satisfaction of consumer. The public transit itself must ever understand what the client demand, like be punctual all the clip, do certain that there are no troubles happen, no excessive menus being imposed at the invitee or tourer. When there are a shorter manner to make the finish itself, do nt seek another longer manner to increase the far. Bing honest all the clip, this manner, it will do the client happy and thinks that the public transit is dependable and besides will gives a positive impact to the public perceptual experience and outlook. 2.4 Customer Satisfaction ( Richter et al. 2008a, 2008b ) to run into possible and present clients demands, quality investings that truly raise the sensed service public presentation sing these properties constitute an of import issue. In order to do the client satisfied towards the public transit, the direction must ever update their service and besides their conveyance, so that the rider can bask a comfort and happy drive. Staffs must ever supply an efficiency service to the clients. With a sensible menu, comfort, cleanliness and easy entree to a finish or topographic point through the scheduled, clients will derive the assurance of utilizing public conveyance alternatively of driving their ain vehicle. Passenger takes the public transit due to a batch of ground and the ground that drives them to take it. In order to keep the rider keeps taking the public transit ever do certain that there are no jobs occurred during the drive or before the drive. Try making study to study on the consumer on what can be upgrade and what can they make to do the client more satisfied. 2.5. Responsiveness Harmonizing to ( Parasuraman, et. al. , 1988 ) , another quality of dimension in mensurating service quality is responsiveness. It means the willingness of the staff or employee to assist the clients and to supply a better and prompt service to clients at the same clip. However, the attitude of the driver or staff in public conveyance must be ever possess with a good behaviour. Staff and driver are required to act in niceness and friendly with the clients alternatively of demoing choler or discourtesy to the clients. The manner they speak to the clients and the manner they give client a manus are of import in the service quality of reactivity. In malice of this, it indicates that clients or user perceptual experience and outlook to the service quality in the public conveyance are become more of import and could nt be neglected by the direction. 2.6. Path Handinesss With the demand for public transit is deriving twenty-four hours by twenty-four hours, the coach operator and rail operator must believe of making new coach paths and besides train paths to allow the client entree to other topographic points which are barely had any transit entree to it. Particularly now the authorities had come out with an thought of constructing public transit for Cheras and besides Kota Damansara rail line. Even though the coach caters largely to all the paths in Klang Valley, whether it is deep inside or outside the boundaries, but there are still some of the route that still haven accessible by the coach and besides other public transit itself. Even though some of the topographic point had already available for public transit but some of it needs interchanges, this will trouble oneself the client for altering or reassign to another station. 2.6. Care From Time to Clock Servicess that are dependent on already-existing, complex systems of substructure and organisational agreements are likely to necessitate a different logic ( cf. de Brentani 1995, 2001 ) . For a better public transit consequences and pull more and more people into taking public transit, what a operating company must make are to do certain that they ever check their conveyance. Make certain that care do from clip to clip to do the train or coach or even taxi interrupt down or holding troubles when there are rider that are utilizing the public transit. Because once the train is holding any troubles job, it will take about an hr or two to repair the jobs. With such sort of job will ever gave the client or rider negative feedback towards the public conveyance. Even though it is non ever the negative feedbacks all the clip but is of import to avoid such thing happen. The company must take excess safeguard. Chapter 3: Research Methodology 3.1. General Methodology Hybrid research attack is the general methodological analysis in this research. The definition of Hybrid research attack is the combination of both qualitative and quantitative methods and these are the two methods research that the research worker used for the proposal. Besides this, it is besides known as a mix of attacks and there are besides some benefits by utilizing this research. The research worker will hold a deeper apprehension and cognition of the consequences when utilizing these two types of method. The efficiencies in clip and cost are besides one of the benefits. Other than that, this research attack allow the research worker to work out the job occurs with the qualitative research. Hybrid research attack can work out the job of unfamiliar to the background of the research. 3.2. Research Design There are two types of methods the research worker used in this research. First, Qualitative method, which is more to observation and besides the informations that collected is fact and unchangeable. The aggregation of the informations will be based on quality and it will be presented in words. The research worker will analyze and construe the information that have been collected through on-line research. Qualitative method is subjective. Due to the perceptual experience of everyone is different from each other. Hence, it is hard to generalise. The research worker will be more understanding by utilizing this method. Quantitative method relies on the research instruments used to roll up and mensurate the information. It is necessary to utilize the quantitative methods in order to understand and grok the nucleus intent of this survey. Both qualitative and quantitative methods will be use as the cardinal focal point of the research method. The study techniques that the research worker used for the qualitative method are to the full stand foring it. On the other manus, the research worker are making interview for the qualitative methods. The respondents for the interview will affect Kuala Lumpur frequent public transit user. Interview allows the research worker to garner more information and besides have a better apprehension on the subject. Researcher non merely can acquire information that is non available in literature method by interview the interviewee every bit good as the questionnaire besides can be tailored to run into the different demands of the respondents. As for the questionnaire, it will be semi-structure and more flexible during the interview. 3.3 Beginnings of Datas 3.3.1 Primary Data At foremost, the primary research is done in order to obtain the natural information from the public straight for the research proposal. For the research portion, the research worker will concentrate on the client perceptual experience service quality towards public transit in Kuala Lumpur and the negative thought of people to utilize public conveyance. Meanwhile, the research worker will happen out methods that are utile to advance and promote more people switch to utilize public conveyance particularly auto users. In this research, a study that incorporating 10 simple multiple picks questionnaire and besides an interview will be utilize it to roll up the primary informations. It takes about 5-10 proceedingss to make full in the study questionnaire for each respondent. There are some picks for each of the inquiries and each respondent merely hold to take one of the replies that they preferred the most. Respondents are required to jotting down their ain remarks in the questionnaire signifier that stated with their ain sentiment towards public conveyance in Kuala Lumpur. This research is utile because all the study signifiers will be collected and gathered by the research worker one time they have done. Besides that, an interview will be carry oning around the Kuala Lumpur City Centre and the group that the research worker targeted would be the all centric and mid-centric. Primary Data is besides collected for this research by questioning the Kuala Lumpur frequent public transit users. The definition of the public transit user will be the Malayan users that use the populace conveyance about every twenty-four hours. Through the interview, they can supply a better thought and personal position which can assist the research worker to derive more information while making the proposal. The interview would affect inquiries asked by the researcher one-on-one to a topic sing the client perc eptual experience towards public conveyance and besides to ask for their sentiment what types of the demand can run into the satisfaction of public transit users. The targeted group of the populace for this interview would be college pupils selected indiscriminately. The research worker will roll up and analyse the information from the interview and utilize it to back up the consequence of quantitative informations. 3.3.2 Secondary Data Besides utilizing the primary researches, secondary researches are used widely in this study by the research worker excessively. Secondary informations defined as the information that acceptable by most of the research workers and the informations will decidedly published in the populace by other research workers. Normally, secondary informations can be easy found on web sites, diary, articles, books, text editions, magazines, and besides some other on-line resources. However, the chief secondary resources that the research worker used in this study are journal and electronic beginnings. The research worker gets the diary from the college library and on-line research every bit good. The research worker will more preferred to roll up the secondary informations that published within few old ages clip. It is because the information that published within few old ages clip is considered as the latest info for the research worker itself and the latest info will assist the research worker t o hold a better analysis and account. Respondents In order to acquiring the sentiment of public perceptual experience towards public transit, an interview is designed to aim the Kuala Lumpur frequent public transit users. The research worker has interviewed two frequent public transit users which are Mr. Alice, Part Time Accountant and Mr. Alex, Operations Manager. They are the people who frequent use public transit more than four times a twenty-four hours. Besides that, they are able to supply the information such as the perceptual experience of client satisfaction, service quality and the handinesss towards the public conveyance conditions is good plenty. The questionnaire studies will be conducted merely for Kuala Lumpur frequent public conveyance users. Journal and website mentions Lee Vien Leong, Jen Sim Ho and Ahmad Farhan Mohd Sadullah. Preference of Travelers for Sustainable Transportation Planning Objectives in Klang Valley, Malaysia. School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia. hypertext transfer protocol: //eprints.usm.my/13606/1/preference_of_travellers.pdf Tew Shi Yi, 11 November 2009. Journey Planner for Public Transport In Kuala Lumpur. University Malaya Kuala Lumpur hypertext transfer protocol: //dspace.fsktm.um.edu.my/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1812/874/Chapter % 201 % 20Introduction.pdf? sequence=1 Md Aftabuzzaman, Graham Currie and Majid Sarvi, Monash University. Measuring the Congestion Relief Impacts of Public Transport in Monetary Footings, Journal of Public Transportation, Vol. 13, No. 1, 2010 AÂ © Center for Urban Transportation Research hypertext transfer protocol: //www.nctr.usf.edu/jpt/pdf/JPT13-1Aftabuzzaman.pdf Margareta Friman and Markus Fellesson Karlstad University, Sweden. Service Supply and Customer Satisfaction in Public Transportation. Journal of Public Transportation, Vol. 12, No.4, 2009 hypertext transfer protocol: //www.nctr.usf.edu/jpt/pdf/JPT12-4Friman.pdf Abdul-Rashid and Abdul-Aziz 2006. Denationalization of Fixed-rail theodolite systems: a instance survey of Malaysia s STAR and PUTRA. Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering, 33 ( 7 ) 2006 hypertext transfer protocol: //www.thefreelibrary.com/Privatisation+of+fixed-rail+transit+systems % 3A+a+case+study+of -a0152179851 Dr.Lawrence Tseu, State Planning Unit, Chief Minister s Office, Sarawak, Urban Transport Growth: The Challenges Ahead-The New Realism And Institutional Changes, 2006 hypertext transfer protocol: //www.sabah.gov.my/jpas/news/Conv06/Papers/Pap8_SPU.pdf Mold of Transportation Behavior In Kuala Lumpur hypertext transfer protocol: //dspace.fsktm.um.edu.my/bitstream/1812/859/2/wek060048_Chapter % 202 % 20Literature % 20Review.pdf Bettering Infrastructure, Utilities and urban transit hypertext transfer protocol: //www.epu.gov.my/html/themes/epu/html/rm9/english/Chapter18.pdf Choy Peng Ng and Dagang Mohamad Masome, Civil Engineering Department, The Development of Model Estimation To Determine Parking Needs At LRT Stations in Suburban Area, Journal Vol.5, pp. 877-890, 2005 hypertext transfer protocol: //www.easts.info/on-line/proceedings_05/877.pdf Zaherawati Zakaria, Zaliha Hi Hussin, Mohamed Fajil Abdul Batau and Zuriawati Zakaria. Service Quality of Malaysian Public Transports. Cross-cultural communicating Vol.6, No. 2, 2010, pp. 84-92 ISSN 1712-8358 hypertext transfer protocol: //cscanada.net/index.php/ccc/article/viewFile/1290/pdf_434 Timothy Paul Hutchinson. The client experience when utilizing public conveyance: a reappraisal, Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Municipal Engineer 162, September 2009 Issues ME3 Pages 149-157 www.icevirtuallibrary.com/docserver/fulltext/muen162-149.pdf Abdalla Nurdeen Kamba, Riza Atiq O.K.Rahmat, Amiruddin Ismail. Why Do Peoples Use Their Cars: A Case Study In Malaysia? Journal of Social Sciences 3 ( 3 ) : 117-122, 2007 ISSN 1549-3652 AÂ © 2007 Science Publications hypertext transfer protocol: //www.scipub.org/fulltext/jss/jss33117-122.pdf Che Rosmani Che Hassan, Mahar Diana Hamid, Norazlin Dzulkifly and Noor Zalina Mahmood. Hazards Identification At Bus Interchanges in Kuala Lumpur. Journal of Engineering Science and Technology Vol.4, No. 1 ( 2009 ) 47-56 AÂ © School of Engineering, Taylor s University College hypertext transfer protocol: //jestec.taylors.edu.my/Vol % 204 % 20Issue % 201 % 20March % 2009/Vol_4_1_47-56_Rosmani.pdf Leong Lee Vien, Younes Bagheri and Ahmad Farhan Bin Mohd Sadullah. Analysis of Headways on Passenger Loads for Public Services: Case Study of Penang Island, Malaysia. School of Civil Engineering Universiti Sains Malaysia. European Journal of Scientific Research ISSN 1450-216X Vol.45 No.3 ( 2010 ) , pp.476-483 AÂ © EuroJournals Publishing, Inc. 2010 hypertext transfer protocol: //www.eurojournals.com/ejsr_45_3_14.pdf Anzmac 2009. The Examination of the Consumer Satisfaction in the Urban Public Transport. Szechenyi Istvan University, Hungary hypertext transfer protocol: //www.duplication.net.au/ANZMAC09/papers/ANZMAC2009-413.pdf Laura Eboli and Gabriella Mazzulla, University of Calabria, Italy. A new Customer Satisfaction Index for Evaluating Transit Service Quality. Journal of Public Transportation, Vol. 12, No.3, 3009 hypertext transfer protocol: //www.nctr.usf.edu/jpt/pdf/jpt12-3eboli.pdf M.Devi Prasad and Dr. B. Raja Shekhar 2010. Impact of Service Quality Management ( SQM ) Practices on Indian Railways- A Study of South Central Railways. International Journal of Business and Management, Vol.5, No.9 ; September 2010. Geetika, Shefali Nandan and Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology 2010. Determinants of Customer Satisfaction on Service Quality: A Study of Railway Platforms in India. Journal of Public Transportation, Vol.13, No. 1, 2010. Mention books Eliot Hurst, Michael E. ( New York, McGraw-Hill [ 1973-c1974 ] , and Transportation Geography: remarks and readings, ( xiv, 528 p.illus. 24cm. ) Page, Stephen. ( Harlow: Longman,1999 ) Transport and tourism/ ( x, 350 p. : ailment, maps ; 24cm. ) Meyer, Michael D. ( Boston: McGraw-Hill, c2001. ) Urban transit planning. ( xiv, 642 p. : ill. ; 24 centimeter. ) Page, Stephen. ( Harlow, England: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2005 ) Conveyance and touristry: ( xxiv, 450 p. : ill. , maps ; 24 centimeter. )

cantos V essays

cantos V essays The portion of Canto V that I focused on revolves around two different stories that share similarities. The first story focuses on a man and his wife. The second is about two brothers. The first story begins with a man, Poicebot, who becomes lustful and leaves his wife in search of other women. While Poicebot is gone a knight from England seduces his wife. The knight leaves her after eight months and she too decides to leave her house. Poicebot, coming from Spain and still searching for other women goes into a brothel. The first woman presented to him was his wife. The second story is about two brothers. In the book it starts with the line And Pieire won the singing, Pieire de Maensac, This is describing what happened with Pieire de Maensac and his brother Austors de Maensac. Both men were troubadours. They tossed a coin to see who would get the castle and who would continue being a troubadour. Austors got the castle, therefore Pieire was still a troubadour. Pieire fell in love with Tyndarida, the wife of a man named Bernart de Tierci. Tyndarida left de Tierci and stayed with Pieire. Ezra Pound is juxtaposing the two stories. Hes trying to display the opposing attitudes of Poicebot and Pieire towards things like sex and property. Poicebot, whose only concern is his property and sex, ends up losing his wife and his property. In contrast to Poicebot is Pieire. Pieire is a troubadour that is careless of property and in the end keeps the woman that he loves. ...

Supply Chain Management and the Seafood Industry Research Paper

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Nursing scholarly articles - Essay Example The article has provided educational interventions that may trim down burnout among nurses working in secure settings through the use of a systematic review. Some of the proposed methods of reducing burnout include the use of clinical supervision and PSI training (Stewart & Terry, 2014). This is because of the uniqueness in style, philosophy and objective of the techniques. Clinical supervision is crucial because it is based on interpersonal relationships and reflective dialogue while PSI training is more of a formal educational intervention that increases participants’ knowledge of serious mental challenges. Stewart and Terry (2014) argue that there are only two areas of focus when it comes to educational intervention. These two areas of focus are reflective learning which is central to clinical supervision and enhancement of professional development and the other area is improvement of knowledge, skills, and attitudes that promote understanding of various patient factors. According to Stewart and Terry (2014), reflective learning can help in analysing challenging encounters and develop good management plans apart from promoting emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence may help in regulating nurses’ moods as well as enhancing job performance, decision making skills and promotes resilience. Increased knowledge is also believed to promote understanding and improves attitude and empathy which have strong therapeutic effect on service users’ mental and social

Before Sunset Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Before Sunset Analysis - Essay Example Urban public space needs to be privatized so as to bring up the modern and up to date look of a city despite the cultural background that the society holds on to. The city is also based on the traditional and olden society. According to Zukin (1995), â€Å"we who live in cities like to think of â€Å"culture† as the antidote to this crass vision†. This means that, the city syndrome of never to change how an old city looks is deeply rooted to their culture and changing or refurbishing the society by giving it a new modern look would not be that easy due to the society that has lived there long enough. An example of a scene is the one where by Jesse and Celine meet in the pedestrian paths and they catch up on their previous encounter when they met nine years ago. This scene depicts old age Paris where the city is not popularized, there are few people and there exist one or two bookshops right in the buildings where they are selling books that are also termed as classics, like Shakespeare. The same scene depicts the city structure as being not quite involving as some of the places termed as restaurants are also closed. According to the film â€Å"Before Sunset†, the city of Paris has very classic and civilized neighborhoods. Taking a scene where Jesse and Celine are talking about whether any of them showed up in Vienna, the pedestrian path ways are quite big and open. There exist very wide paths in between buildings where people can essentially walk freely, park their cars or motorcycles and so on. The neighborhood opens up to accommodate roadside restaurants where people could sit down in the open and enjoy a hot drink or even lunch or dinner at their convenience. The neighborhoods are quiet as the main road is actually situated a little bit further from the neighborhood. This is a symbol of the classic Paris look back in the days. Cafes are open up in the neighborhood all the time and anyone can pop in. The scene where

English - reading and writing assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

English - reading and writing assignment - Essay Example Reading it helps us grow intellectually and emotionally. If we are learning a language, reading helps us learn new words and discover different ways of using them. Reading literature also expands our horizons, as it brings us to different places, cultures, and time, and introduces us to diverse characters that we would have not known within our own lifetime. Literature enables us to respond to human struggles and dreams. At the same time, reading literature also helps us learn more about ourselves, our culture, and the society we live in. Roberts underscores that our interpretations of literature reveal our innermost desires, values, and goals too. It also makes us more aware of our society and the ills and good in it. Indeed, literature â€Å"makes us human† (2). Writing about literature entails an active engagement with the text. It requires following the work and identifying meaningful details and implications. We use our own knowledge and experience to check the authenticity and meaning of the plot and dialogues. Writing down notes is one way of responding to the text while reading it. These notes can be the spring of our thesis and supporting arguments. Writing about literature basically means explaining what the text means through a focused argument. The analysis shows the reader’s thought process, as well as how he/she plans to describe and defend his/her ideas and arguments. Writing requires having an argumentative position and supporting details from the text and sometimes, even other sources, to effectively show that all our points lead to our thesis. In a sample essay about â€Å"The Necklace,† Roberts explains how de Maupassant uses setting to describe and explain Mathilde’s character. The thesis stresses that Mathilde grows as a person and this growth can be seen through descriptions of her apartment, dreams about elegant rooms in a mansion, and her attic flat. Three topic sentences are presented, which support the

Why Critical Thinking Is Important Essay Example for Free

Why Critical Thinking Is Important Essay I. Problem Statement: In normal circumstances, the concept of thinking and knowing cooperate together. However, fear of thinking will influence your preciseness in knowing and may lead to negative consequence. Moreover, without critical thinking, learning cannot be fully process though the brain which will lead to misunderstanding. For example, textbooks could only provide solid answers for every question. As long as you continue to follow the formulas of your mathematic textbook without critical thinking, you cannot think further and understand the real meaning behind the equation. Therefore, critical thinking is important in the accumulation of knowledge. II. Body: A. Why critical thinking is important? 1. Critical thinking is important because it veers a person away from certain mistake. 2. According to â€Å"Thinking vs. Knowing: When Facts Get In the Way†, by Victor E. Ferrall, Jr, he remind us that â€Å"Of course, some knowledge is imprecise, e.g., if any of our kid is going to have a problem sleeping it will be Bobby, or Mom always brings her famous fruitcake to a party.† 3. Indeed, often the information that others provide us could be inaccurate. Hence, we should always use our brain to think and understand the other side’s point of view in order to avoid insufficient knowledge. B. Amiss knowledge is dangerous if you don’t think critically. 1. Knowledge can sometimes be used to control or to dominate people. Therefore, we have to be critical about knowledge. 2. For example, In â€Å"Thinking vs. Knowing: When Fact Get in the way†, it give an example that the society use imprecise information to misleading people, it reports that â€Å"when a religious sect â€Å"knows† the word will end on a date certain and it doesn’t, the usual response is, not to think about why the world did not end, but rather to choose a new deadline, i.e. create new â€Å"knowledge.† 3. Even religious will use amiss knowledge to influence people’s belief, as a result, we should be careful with all the knowledge we learn from others because it may be wrong. Furthermore, if we can manage to be critical in thinking, then we can change and correct whatever mistaken knowledge when we receive it and thereby, won’t be manipulate by others. C. Why people avoid to critical think? 1. People avoid to critical thinking because they don’t want to expose from the hidden story that could probably harm their ideal image. 2. In â€Å"The need to know and the fear of Knowing†, written by Abraham H. Maslow, he claims that â€Å"we tend to be afraid of any knowledge that could cause us to despise ourselves or to make us feel inferior, weak, worthless, evil and shameful.† 3. Our weakness leads us away from the freedom of thought. Slowly, you will start losing your freedom by living in a routine that does not require you to think. Meanwhile, when we start to lost our freedom slowly, living in a routine that does not require us to think, we are enslaving to the rule and control by the social structure. D. Why we should critical thinking? 1. We should think critically because it establishes liberty and intelligent. 2. According to the book named Krishnamuti, the writer believes that â€Å"to be free is to be intelligent, but intelligence does not come into being by just wishing to be free; it comes into being only when you begin to understand your whole environment, the social, religious, parental and traditional influences that are continually closing in on you.† 3. Likewise, freedom requires you to think clear, open minded and rational before you apprehend the concealed stories. As soon as you realize the context, you will receive intelligent that could allow you to break down your fear and stand up for your freedom. III. Conclusion: In short, critical thinking is the major process when receiving knowledge. With this process, we can be able to seek the imprecise information and free from the power of regulation.

Relationship Between Culture and Economy

Relationship Between Culture and Economy Critically consider the relationship between culture and economy. To what extent is it true to suggest that decline of community and the growth of competitive individualism are produced by the shifting needs of the capitalist economy? INDIVIDUALISM independent self reliance a doctrine that bases morality on the interests of the individual a social theory maintaining the political and economic independence of the individual and stressing individual initiative (Penguin English Dictionary, 2001) an economic system characterized by the profit motive and by private ownership and control of the means of production, distribution and exchange (Penguin English Dictionary, 2001) The 15th century saw the rise of humanism and the re-evaluation of the human condition in relation to his or her world. This was viewed as a journey from the dark ages of fear and oppression to the enlightened visions of individuality and hope. In reality, it was a journey that very few were privileged enough to afford. One arena for the exercise of this alternative approach was equating classical Greek and Roman cultures with what was then the rigours of contemporary religion. Already, the image of the individual is looking to another stereotype for definition. Yet how surprised these early scholars would be to find that with this individuality came loss of community spirit, apathy and destruction of the extended family in supposedly advanced societies. They would probably be less surprised to find that economics and politics are two of the tools which have been used to carve out and colour these new societies. The following essay looks at how specific these factors operate within this changing framework of postmodern (Featherstone, 1991) society. It extends its scope beyond classical economic and political theory, which is due more consideration that given here. It considered some of the literature available on the subject of culture and economics, but, in order to get a balanced view, it also tries to see what other elements contribute to the decline of community. To start with, it is necessary to understand the elements that go to make up contemporary society. To put it in Foucaultian (1983) terms, how are these discourses constructed and what are their requirements. How specific are they to each society? â€Å"They [discourses] offer us social positions and statuses: the capitalist economy makes us into ‘workers’, ‘employers’ or ‘unemployed’† (Burr, An Introduction to Social Constructivism, 1995, p.54) Culture and economics have been much studied, investigated and written about but the relationship between the two has been a difficult one to define. Guiso, Sapienza, Zingales, (2005) argue for a â€Å"heterogeneity of preferences† as affecting peoples economic choices. If one agrees with this, then the roots of this heterogeneity have to include culture. However, each of these elements of human society have only the stability of the time in which they are created. They are shifting sands and manipulated by both internal and external factors. For example, in a democracy where politicians are elected by the people, it can be supposed that they are saying what the people like to hear and promising to do what the people who elect them want. It may be a cynical view, but once in power, it appears that one form of manipulation gives way to another. As Chomsky (1992) says, propaganda is to democracies what power is to dictatorships. Political ‘spin’ both reacts and lead s. Yet, as the Frankfurt School of Philosophy shows, a depressingly negative conflict between applied reason and an ability for society to cope with, and adapt positively to, change. For example, the search for ‘panaceas’ (Horkheimer, 1987) disturbs explanations of society and economics. The panacea of the poor, as the saying goes, used to be religion. Theorists now point to consumerism as the new religion, yet it fails to provide the happiness it promises. Horkheimer (1987) explores the roots from which these questions arise and examines the success of individuality and autonomy. Why, when advanced technological societies seem to provide such levels of individual choice, is there such discontent? Could it be that an undermining of certain values has rendered us instinctively insecure? Could it be that there is truth in the statement that â€Å"every aspect of culture is in the process of commodification and linkage to the sale of goods† (Herman, 1995)? If so, is individuality an illusion and humans purely commodities to be sold to whether through cultural conformity or adherence to contemporary ideals? For the purpose of this essay, certain parameters need to be placed on the issues. For example, culture, as defined by the Penguin English Dictionary (2001), is a number of things. It is mental development, namely through education. It is the â€Å"intellectual and artistic enlightenment as distinguished from vocational and technical skills†. It is the customary beliefs and social forms of specific groups. Finally it is defined as â€Å"socially transmitted pattern of human behaviour that includes thought, speech, action, institutions and artefacts† (Penguin, 2001). This essay will mostly involve the last definition of culture. Economics seems simpler to define: â€Å"A social science concerned chiefly with the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services† (Penguin, 2001). However, even in these general terms it is easy to see how culture and economy inter-depend. For the purpose of this essay, culture and economics will be put in the context of capitalist economies. It will start with questioning what the needs are of a capitalist economy according to theory and actuality. It will then examine how community has changed and whether both the past society and present individuality are ideals rather than realities. This will then be put in the context of contemporary society. Whilst this essay has a specific focus, it is understood that there are many other forms of political, social and economic systems and these can have different effects depending on their societies. For example, as Paecher, in agreement with Burr’s quotation above, points out; â€Å"Different forms of discourse result in the prioritising of different forms of knowledge; change the power relations between discourses and the knowledge relations associated with them will change as well† (Paechter, Educating the Other: gender, power and schooling, 2001) This puts the issues within a cultural context. To do the same with regard to economics one could take the following example. Certain people who benefit from a technologically advanced capitalist economy would find survival extremely challenging in a subsistence economy. However, this is but one approach and one aspect of these issues. In order to see whether capitalism and the increase of individuality alone have been the reasons for a decline in the ideal of community, the ‘needs’ of all these elements of society have to be considered. The ‘needs’ of a capitalist economy can perhaps both be guided and led by the society they are integrated with. A ‘need’ to understand and quantify the changes that occur within these economies has led to works such as that done by Webber and Rigby (in Albritton et al, 2001, pp. 246-262). To take a factual analysis as typical of the more classical economics, they study the slow down in world economy that took place in the 1970’s. They concluded that a lowering profitability in the advanced economies was to blame for the slow down. They took this overview and quantified the results of economic change in order to assess what the reasons were from an analytical perspective. In reality, unemployment rose and wages, as Sennett shows, fell. He quotes a fall of 18% in American wages between 1973 and 1995 (Sennett, 1998, p.54). Whilst the division of rich and poor is as evident through history as today, the illusion that a capitalist society would benefit all individuals was dissolved. Discontent and disillusionment with political promises became part of the culture. It may be that the pressures felt by individuals to strive and survive through competitive application of business strategies has its roots in the depression and vulnerability of unemployment. Sennett talks about these changing pressures in terms of inequality within corporate structures. He has individuals required to out perform and increase skill diversity (p.55) in order to succeed. Work is therefore governed by economics on the one hand and culture on the other with politics as a mediator between desired forms of society and managed realities. In this light, the opposite of competitive indi vidualism is unemployment and whilst fear of the latter keeps the former competitive, the cost of the latter encourages methods of achieving full employment. For example, Featherstone uses the actions of Seattle (1996) to develop its image as a â€Å"quality of life capital† (p.107). The aim was to reduce its mass unemployment by making itself attractive both within the cultural sphere above and as a thriving economic entity. This postmodernisation (Cooke, 1988; Zukin, 1988b cited in Featherstone, 1996) is, once again, a form of self-publicisation and image production – something that this essay will return to later. To return to the UK situation. A percentage of the UK population became dependent on the Welfare State for survival and became known as the long-term unemployed. Politics and economics are at the forefront when it comes to paying for unemployment. Since the 70’s, politics has tried both a carrot and stick approach to reducing outgoings on the unemployed. Behind these initiatives is the Government budget and the premise that you can measure the success of a country by its National expenditure – this will be returned to later. Politics has continued to experiment with methods of cutting the costs of the Welfare State. Programs such as working for the dole were started. Limiting the time unemployment benefit is available for has been tried. Gradually, the programs and policies work there way back to education, the family and the community. For example the Back to Basics campaign could be seen as an attempt to introduce values that would apparently aid community cohesion. H owever, the ethics involved required a level of appreciation and agreement with the cultural capital (Bordieu, 1987, cited in Featherstone, 1991) of that discourse. Long-term unemployment undermined the expectation and value of educational cultural capital. Yet, â€Å"western governments [tended] to view education as a principal means for alleviating social disadvantage† (Webb, Schirato Danaher, 2002, p.111). Therefore politics had to try and create the values to aid economics. For a section of society, there was no educational habitus, as Bordieu would put it, or familiarity with ‘mind sets’ that make education familiar. Again, politics needed to create these as ‘natural’ expectations. This is one demonstration of the links between economics, culture and individuality and already it shows how the elements are forced both to react and interact. It also shows a necessity for illusion, created ideals, stereotypes and manipulations. A different approach looks at the ethics behind human society and puts parameters on the changes they incur. For example, market survival, success and failure through economic cycles brings in Sennett’s (1998) exploration of ‘flexibility’. Flexibility can take a global or local approach for businesses (and seems to be one of the manufactured ideals that consumerism needs to create within its target markets). When faced by falling profits in their domestic markets, the multi-nationals (cigarette firms, drinks etc) tend to expand into under-developed markets such as the third world, youth, specific racial groups (Herman, 1995). Other forms of flexibility worked on creating ‘needs’ in domestic markets (Sennett, 1998). They create niche markets and challenge the individual to be incomplete without compliance. These ‘needs’ may be defined as part of the basis of capitalist economies, but they also become part of the defining factors of their s ocieties, part of their history and therefore their culture. The next question is how is the actuality of ‘community’ affected by business. How do the ethics applied to financial success co-exist with a construction of community? A tendency to divide the community into constituent elements – business community, cultural community, class community etc has led to a range of definitions. Wenger (1998), for example, explains individual integration into business systems through the idea of a community of practise. The variables are at what level individuals are integrated into these systems and this is one way of viewing business and business community in contemporary society. It can also start to expose the isolation even within a workforce. For example an ITC worker can work from an office or home so long as the technology is in place. Although he or she is a member of this community of practise, they can be isolated from the control systems that lead it. Even if working from home, they are divided between which community they are contributing to. To return to consumerism, it would seem that rather than focus on the destruction of the family as a form of power, consumerism and the business community uses it as an expression of individuality. Likewise, politics appears, when faced by a population that is demanding reform, to come up with an ideal that no longer exists and re-creates it in the form it requires – the Nuclear family becomes a unit of modernity, essential services become community actions. The forms used to promote these needs range from local publicity to mass media, globalisation and spin politics. Herman (1995) looks at the affect of the market on culture. He identifies the tools of commercialisation on television, both in subliminal forms (brand placement) and straight-forward advertising. He looks at how commerce exploits certain pre-existing elements â€Å"which sell ´ (1995) (e.g. sex and violence). He suggests that the global popularity of American movies, music and escapisms â€Å"reflects the global decline in family and civil life, and loss of faith in politics.† (Herman, 1995, p.8) Whilst this has been a simplification of the intricacies of commercialisation, it agrees with those such as Slater who state that â€Å"culture as a whole has become consumer culture† (Slater, 1997, p121). In the introductory section questions were raised as to why discontent should exist in an apparently free society. So far, the dichotomy of appearance and actuality in a capitalist society has been alluded to rather than explored. At the essence of this duality is perhaps the recognition that the â€Å"fundamental unit of meaning in capitalist and economic thought is the object,, that is, capitalism relies on the creation of a consumer culture† (Hooker, 1996). An object is controllable and manipulatable. However, if the object is a human being then it is that person’s individual choice that has to be appealed to. As the roots of commerce tend not be the same ethically as those applied to society, appealing to individual choice requires a certain degree of basic undermining of community values. This ethical difference is shown by the types of programs Governments use to support business, which they must in a market economy, as opposed to the types of programs used to re- construct community. Whilst the former takes a business community approach, the latter tends to work on the individual. At one level, the individual is expected to rationalise, at the other to conform through consumerism and political acquiescence. Alexander (1997) explains that recognition of this duality of commerce and its society has existed for some time. In essence, he argues that an imbalance threatens society` when it becomes overly dominant and creates a â€Å"severed culture† (Alexander, 1997, p.209) and therefore artificially sustained. He quotes Disraeli and Snow as warning that a: â€Å"similar gulf continues everywhere between the mind of commerce and industry on the one hand, and the mind of non-commercial people – most people – on the other.† (Alexander, The Civilised Market, 1997, pp.208-209) If this is the case, one of the needs of a capitalist economy from its community is complicity and another is apathy. When the USA and the UK became enamoured with the market, they did not fully comprehend that business is based on profits and that â€Å"present profits are offsets to future costs† (Alexander, 1997, p.124). Governments supported markets at the cost of small business, competitiveness and ultimately high unemployment. To support an artificial ethic, society must either be too powerless, and at worst apathetic, to demand change, or too comfortable believing the ideals of individuality. The price of this redefinition of ‘self’ has been loss of community cohesion. This brings us to the means of capitalist power and whether loss of community values are the price to be paid for individuality. Slater examines how philosophies and theorists identify ‘alienation’ (Slater, 1997, p.104) of the individual where people become a commodity to be managed. For the majority, they no longer are integrated into a society within which they are part of the control system. It has been argued that there is the illusion of control maintained through choice (Slater, 1997). An idealistic example could be an individual in a self-sufficient but essentially subsistence economy such as a tribal village. Each person contributes to the survival of the whole village. Roles are understood. Culture is therefore a reflection of unity and survival. However, in the apparently ‘rich’, technologically advanced economies, the cult of the individual has placed specific values on success through materialism†¦ and perhaps best supported this through the illusion of choice. Slater further examines this illusion of choice and its production through the media and suggests that: â€Å"All consumption, but above all cultural consumption, has become compensatory, integrative and functional. It offers the illusions of freedom, choice and pleasure in exchange for the real loss of these qualities through alienated labour; it integrated people within the general system of exploitation by encouraging them to define their identities, desires and interests in terms of possessing commodities; and it is functional in that consumer culture offers experiences ideally designed to reproduce workers in the form of alienated labour.† (Slater, Consumer Culture and Modernity, 1997, p121) Slater comes to the above through his study of the development of political economics from Marx to Smith, the Frankfurt School to Soper (1981) and Doyal and Gough (1991). He uses the issue of modernity as his framework. In the above quote he talks of capitalism as essentially a cycle of loss. He also argues that culture produces the demand for this capitalism in the first place and that therefore if â€Å"all objects of consumption are meaningful [this] implicates them in the wider field of cultural reproduction† (Slater, 1997, p.5). The following looks briefly at this social reproduction from the perspective of Bourdieu and education. It does this in order to see how individuality and community actually fit within contemporary society. This gives an opportunity to see how political mechanisms use social structures for the production of specific communities. Bourdieu (1983, cited in Webb, Schirato Donaher, 2000) argues that schools are mechanisms for social reproduction. In this example, they are mechanisms for reproducing social inequalities through their policies and practises. For example, Mercier and Harold (2003) demonstrate that the religiously and culturally generated westernised ideal of the heterosexual family unit finds expression in school documentation. This raises the question of discrimination. Whitton, Sinclair, Barker, Nanlohy and Nosworthy (2004) list the forms of discrimination likely to be met in teaching ranging from race to academic ability. How each school accepts, rejects or translates these terms of reference seems to depend on its own cultural and educational version of Bourdieu’s habitus (Schirato Yell, 2000). For example, schools that respect difference may act firmly to stamp out evidence of sexism under the banner or anti-bullying. Their reaction may be just as firm against the somewhat more recognised discriminatory forms of racism (Lareau McNamara, 1999; Sandercock, 2003). In understanding the reactions to these issues, the values placed on social inclusion finds expression through applied social reproduction. For example, translation of another degree from another country into a qualification recognised abroad can take a renegotiation of Bourdieu’s cultural capital (Schirato Yell, 2000). If the issue to be re-evaluated is race or sexuality, the space for it in the culture determines the procedures necessary to move from isolation to inclusion. This can be empowered or disabled by the values pl aced upon it. To take this a step further would perhaps be to recognise this example as showing the vulnerability of individuality when it is beyond specific economic value systems. Social, economic and political discourses can perhaps be seen as reflecting and manipulating the value systems applied to educational institutions. As Robert Doherty (Journal of Educational Enquiry, 2003) puts it, social exclusion may be perpetuated through deliberate institutional, personal and political ambiguity. If there were an economic value to be placed on the people involved, the situation may be very different. Berger asserts that â€Å"capitalism does operate by the principle of self-interest† (Religion and Liberty interview, 2004). However, he then goes on to divide the situations individuals occupy. For example, a business person may well be a parent and apply different ethics and attitudes to each area. Therefore, whilst successful businesses require an underlying self-interest, the same person may have a more altruistic approach in other areas. When Broom and Selznick (1979) explain culture from a framework of social organisation, they show how different underlying values affect the individual. â€Å"Culture is the design and the prescription, the composite of guiding values and ideals† (Broom Selznick, Essentials of Sociology, 1979, p.57) And â€Å"Statements of need are by their very nature profoundly bound up with assumptions about how people would, could or should live in their society: needs are not only social but also political in that they involve statements about social interests and projects.† (Slater, Consumer Culture and Modernity, 1997, introduction) In this context, consumerism takes culture, re-designs or creates need and draws an illusion to create a contemporary image of individuality. The politics of a market economy apparently has to conform to support this in order to support its economy. However, one way of assessing how individualism stands in relation to a balance of power between culture and economics is to look at some of the recent studies into ‘downsizing’. Whilst not new this is an individual choice and a reaction to discontent with contemporary society. In Hamilton’s (2003) examination of what he terms a sickness derived from affluence, he sees down shifters as the â€Å"standard bearers in the revolt against consumerism† (p.207). They represent a move away from humans as consumerist ‘objects’ and return to values based not on how much they own and earn, but on their value as people. However, this is still an expression of individuality and it is not a return to community or family values. In this book Hamilton tracks the changes from the classical economist’s view of economy where the aim was to quantify how to develop a society’s wealth. He takes in the voices of dissent such as Veblen (1925) and Galbrai th (1958) that sought to warm against the growth of consumerism not as a panacea but more as a cultural poison. Other warnings came in the forms of nations approach to their pronunciations on economics. Where policy makers and politicians need seemingly factual tools to communicate with their electorate, economics can provide. However, Hamilton uses the example of Kuznets warnings regarding reducing a nation’s prosperity to a measurement based on national income (p.13). These provided something of a false floor above which consumerism and the individual continued to thrive but below which a widening gap was forming. It could be seen as a hollowing out, an undermining, of the values that had held people together, but perhaps that is too idealistic. When he comes to the unchallenged rise of ‘neo-liberalism’ (p.10) Hamilton uses the discontent within rich societies to demonstrate how wealth and consumerism have failed the individual. He points out the essential fact that individuals have to act in their own interests in order to support consumerism. From this point it is easy to make the jump to the illusion of the individual as some-one with free choice. These illusory factors are perhaps products in themselves. For example, Lasch (1978) looks at the human condition as predisposed to narcissism. If this is so then illusions and ideals, as recognised by Bordieu (1990), are allowed to distance themselves from reality through altering systems of belief. For example, Bordieu uses the example of social roles such as monarchy to show how culture endows roles within specific structures (1990) and creates the person in that image. He recognises â€Å"social functions are social fictions† (p.195). Yet again, images are presented in place of realities. Applied to this is change. Lasch states that the ‘degeneration of politics in spectacle† (1978, p.81) has led to the transformations of â€Å"policy making into publicity† (1978, p.81). He continues with identification of this distance between image production and reality. He explains how disempowerment, and alienation, occurs due to these images becoming the focal poin ts. Whilst these two points of view may diverge on other issues, they agree on idea that â€Å"images of power overshadow the reality† (Lasch, 1978, p.81). But where do these images and illusions find their genesis? In modernised reproduction of ideals? In the production of expected stereotypes? Is the notion of the family unit replaced not only by a unit of commercialism but by an image of itself and its role in social structures? Both Bordieu and Lasch recognise the impossibilities of endowing an illusion with responsibility. Another method of judging how the community fits with politics is to look what happens with migration, such as with the Italian culture. This is historically strongly networked, in part due to the city state mentality and late unification of the country. Amici, vicini, parenti (friends, neighbours, relatives) as the saying goes are still a composite force in Italian society. The answers as to why community spirit should have resisted degradation better than in many other technologically advanced societies has been much explored. One answer stems from the weakness of the political bodies and lack of trust in the ability of a politics to support the nation. These seem to be one of the fundamental causes of continued community interdependence. If this is true, then the link between politics and a consumer society is evidently very strong. Whilst Italy does not in any way lack consumerist ideals, it maintains the community through a distrust of political spin and lack of longevity (altho ugh Berlusconi has succeeded where many have failed – perhaps aided by owning some of the television stations). This can be taken further by looking at how Italian reacted to migration. For example, how did the Italians who migrated to America react? According to Gardaphe (undated), they were â€Å"constantly negotiating their relationship between the local cultures of their origin and of their land of immigration†. It is interesting to find that self-image of Italian American individuals is affected by whether they are integrated into the structures of power associated with that community: Where the local identities are strong is where Italian Americans are an integral part of political and social infrastructure; it is weak where there is little or no connection to that community. (Gardaphe, undated) This would agree with the idea that competitive individualism plays two roles in society. It could be said that an egocentric, consumerist attitude where the self is important above all else plays into the hands of the illusion of modern society. However, the above Italian American example seems to show that community needs to involve all aspects of society in order to provide a strong, cohesive balance of powers. To a degree, this essay has been broader in its approach than hoped. However, it has tried to substantiate the view that there are many elements responsible for community decline. It has looked at the rise of individuality from its roots as a part of historical community – the Enlightenment and Renaissance – to the extremes of alienation brought about by competitive individualism. The essay has looked briefly at education from the perspective of Bourdieu and his theories on social reproduction. It has also looked at migration to see what happens to a particular community then. In summary, the rise of competitive individualism seems to be more negative than positive. It has not provided the happiness that it promised, yet the illusion of freedom makes it worth while. Throughout the essay, illusion has been a focal point for both economy and culture. The essay has looked at propaganda and ‘spin’ as tools of the market place and politics and produces of illusi on. This emphasises the division between reality and illusion. Whilst the essay agrees with Bourdieu that the reality of social institutions is that they do attempt to reproduce the societies and cultures they come from, it also agrees that politics and the market create the ideal for their own ends. Therefore, competitive individualism is just one part of the re-definition of community. 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