Forgotten People of the Blue Highways Essay -- Blue Highways

Forgotten People of the Blue Highways Journeying along the back roads of the blue highways of the road maps, William Least Heat Moon discovers the forgotten people of America in Blue Highways. In the beginning, his trip seems to be motivated by anger and disillusion. But when readers look deeper into the story, they see that Least Heat Moon focuses the attention on how to "climb out of a world which he realized was impersonal and materialistic" (Lyons 63). By avoiding the large cities, he focuses his attention on the forgotten civilizations. His ability to convey feelings with his storytelling doesn't commercialize the people or the stories. According to one critic, "Least Heat Moon has the judgment to step aside and let them tell their own often remarkable stories in their own words" (Perrin, 858). By mapping out his route, Least Heat Moon goes full circle from his hometown of Columbia Missouri to Othello, New Jersey, and back. Feeling as if his life is going nowhere, Least Heat Moon starts his journ ey in the middle of America. Throughout the novel, t...

Emptiness in Mahayana Buddhism

Buddhism is an orthopraxy where identity comes from implementing â€Å"correct† behavior, rather than orthodoxy where identity is found through â€Å"correct† beliefs. Mahayana Buddhism, termed â€Å"the Great Way† is essentially a vision of what Buddhism is really about. Although the permeation of Mahayana was harmless, the status of the sutras was constantly disputed. From the very onset of Buddhism, the concepts of Self/not-Self and dependent arising were prominent and fundamental. The Not-Self teaching has been considered by Buddhists to be the unique breakthrough of the Buddha, the discovery that solidifies his superiority over other teachers.According to the Buddha, for something to be characterized as â€Å"Self,† it would not lead to suffering, it would have to be permanent, and also it would obey the person of whom it is the Self. If something were to be a Self, it certainly must be controllable and conducive to happiness; or at least not conduciv e to suffering. Furthermore, in contemplating the existence of a Self, he stresses that the five plausible candidates for â€Å"Self† (the five aggregates) in fact cannot be the Self because they do not meet these criteria. These five aggregates (form, sensation, conception, disposition, consciousness) are certainly not permanent.They could be considered analogous to a tornado in that they arise from certain conditions and circumstances and are not extractable from the environment in which they occur. Any part of our psychophysical make-up, anything that can be classified under one of the five groups, cannot fit the description of a Self and therefore they are all not Self. In response to claims of having found an unchanging Self, the Buddha asserts that if there is at all a Self, it is only a result of the coming together of causal conditions (dependent origination). In this case, it could not be permanent, and therefore could not be a Self.Through further analysis and insig ht meditation after the death of the Buddha, the five aggregates were seen to be dissolvable into simpler elements. This sort of investigation came to encompass not only the psychophysical aggregates associated with beings, but everything in the universe as well. These elements (dharmas) are irreducible to any further factors or sources. The Buddhist school of Sarvastivada held a definitive distinction between the way dharmas exist as ‘primary existents’ and the way complex entities (secondary existents) exist essentially as constructions of dharmas.The name Sarvastivada itself means â€Å"the doctrine that all exist,† and this school introduces the notion of the own-existence of the dharma. Regardless if a dharma is past, present, or future, it nevertheless still exists. These dharmas are ultimate truths. Primary existents must be the terminating point of analysis, and must not arise dependently the way people, tables, and chairs do. Thus, secondary existents la ck this inherent existence. The Prajnaparamita is the earliest form of literature known to be specifically Mahayana; paramita meaning perfection and prajna meaning wisdom.In Buddhist terminology, to have prajna is to encompass an understanding that distinguishes how things actually are from how things seem to be. In the abhidharma setting, prajna is used to determine the value of primary existents (dharmas), which are distinguishable from conceptual constructs. Perfection of wisdom (Prajnaparamita) does not imply the wrongness of what had previously been considered to be wisdom, but rather its perfection. The perfection of prajna is the final, proper understanding of the way things truly are.Mahayana philosophers felt the nature of the Abhidharma to be too objective and systematic. Characteristically, these sutras are not methodically philosophical nor do they imply doctrinal adherence. The texts entail clear messages that are illustrated repetitively and can be seen as messages tha t aim to urge or advise those in the non-Mahayana world. As we have seen from pre-Mahayana philosophy, secondary existents are in essence ‘empty’ of primary existence, empty of own-existence. In this sense, all things such as people, sand, grass, the ocean, etc. re empty not only of Self, but also of primary existence. In agreement with these Abhidharma texts, there then must exist things that indeed have primary existence in order to contrast them to secondary existents that are empty of such a quality. However, the Prajnaparamita sutras do not heed this theory. These Mahayana sutras claim that absolutely all things have the same status as people, sand, tables, etc because they are all constructs that cannot be grasped. They claim that everything is empty, and that all things are conceptual constructs lacking own-existence.In the eyes of the Mahayana philosophers, to claim that there is own-existence in a way that emphasizes the how essential the dharmas are in the Abh idharma seems too methodical. It makes the dharmas themselves suitable to become objects of attachment. Instead, the dharmas should be used the way the raft was used in the parable told by the Buddha in the Alagaddupama Sutra. They should be used as tools that are let go of after use; they should not be clung to. Suffering is the result of attachment, so to grasp to the dharmas is to imply suffering.One cannot become attached to these things because to attach is to miss enlightenment. In this way, ceasing attachment involves seeing sources of attachment (people, for instance) as empty. One cannot avoid attachment as long as they see a contrast between primary existents and conceptual existents. In the Heart Sutra, the bodhisattva explains that after engaging in deep meditation on the perfection of wisdom, bodhisattvas fully awaken to a state of complete liberation and perfect enlightenment.The bodhisattva explains to the inquiring Sariputra that the perfection of wisdom involves see ing that the five aggregates are empty, as well as the dharmas that make up these aggregates. Dharmas are not fundamental; they are merely intellectual constructs just as are people and trees. The Sutra illustrates that all beings, things, and ideas, which we experience as â€Å"real†, have no inherent existence and this â€Å"reality† is merely a construction of the mind. Dharmas, too, are empty and do not ossess the specific characteristics that they have previously been associated with. Nothing comes to be as an inherently existing entity, and therefore nothing can cease. Likewise, nothing is complete or incomplete. The bodhisattva specifically states, â€Å"form is emptiness; emptiness is form. Emptiness is not other than form, form is not other than emptiness. † This is logical because if nothing at all inherently exists, things and concepts such as â€Å"form† and â€Å"emptiness† are one and the same. Emptiness itself is empty because it doe s not inherently exist.The bodhisattva also references the 12 stages of dependent origination and the four noble truths in order to solidify that they too lack inherent existence and are empty. Nothing in existence is separate from anything. The Diamond Sutra speaks repetitively about quantity of merit. The idea of repeating four lines of this Sutra is illustrated over and over again, with the message that teaching just four lines to another person would generate an incalculable amount of merit. In relation to this merit, the sutra places a strong emphasis on the idea of giving without becoming attached to any related notion.The only way to achieve limitless merit is to selflessly give in this way. The Buddha tells Subhuti that those on the bodhisattva path should have this thought: â€Å"However many living beings are comprised in the total aggregation of living beings†¦I should bring all of them to the final extinction in the realm of extinction without substrate remaining. † Essentially, the Buddha is stressing the act of enabling all beings to reach Nirvana-without-remainder and, in doing so, surpassing the cycle of continuous death and rebirth.However, for this to be accomplished, one cannot dwell on the notion of having helped all of those beings. The Buddha goes on to say that after he has brought all of them to final extinction, no living being has been brought to extinction. That is because to give like this reveals the emptiness of giving. Since all of these beings are empty of Self, while all of them have been brought to nirvana, at the same time no one has been brought to nirvana. The mind must be free of thoughts of ‘self’ as opposed to ‘others. ’ There should be no identified â€Å"giver† or â€Å"receiver† or â€Å"gift. Such an act would yield the highest merit in giving. The end of the Sutra contains the verse â€Å"an illusion, a drop of dew, a bubble, a dream, a lightning’s flashâ € ¦Ã¢â‚¬  in order to indicate the insubstantiality, or the emptiness, of the world. Like the Heart Sutra, the Diamond Sutra also stresses that everyday reality is like an illusion. Paradoxical phrases similar to â€Å"what is called the highest teaching is not the highest teaching† are used frequently to emphasize that the two ideas are inseparable because they are both empty.The Buddha attempts to help Subhuti â€Å"unlearn† the preconceived notions that he has about reality and perception. The distinction between arhats and bodhisattvas is clear; and Subhuti learns that the bodhisattva’s compassion is not calculable. The Diamond Sutra asserts that there is nothing in the world that is unchanging, nor is there anything that independently exists, therefore everything is empty. A life without attachment means a peaceful life in emptiness. This teaching of emptiness was frightening for some, because it seems very similar to nihilism in the way that it encourag es such deep letting go.Nagarjuna’s explanations of the perfection of wisdom claim that all things seem to be illusions was by showing that all things are without their own-existence. In previous Abhidharma terms, a primary existent is an irreducible into which a secondary existent can be analysed. In a way, to be a primary existent is not necessarily unrelated to causes and conditions, so it does not necessarily have â€Å"own-existence. † Nagarjuna’s view is that the concept of svabhava must boil down from that of â€Å"own existence† to â€Å"inherent existence† that is fully self-contained and is not bestowed upon it from any other sources.Inherent/intrinsic existence means independence from the causal process that characterizes secondary existence. Dharmas are irreducible, but are still the result of causes. Svabhava should be the equivalent of existing on its own, which is independent of the causal process. While he holds that there could sti ll be a distinction between primary and secondary existents, anything that is the result of conditions must be nihsvabhava, empty. Emptiness here is understood to be the middle way between nihilism and eternalism.He says that all things are empty of independent existence because all things arise dependently on conditions that are out of their own power, even primary existents. Nagarjuna declares emptiness whenever anything is found to be the result of causes of any sort. He claims that the alternative to emptiness is inherent existence. Moreover, Nagarjuna asserts that emptiness is also dependent on things. Emptiness is the lack of inherent existence of a table, for example. If there were no table, consequently there could not be an emptiness of the table.In this way, emptiness exists in dependence upon that which is empty. By definition, as originated dependently on something, emptiness itself is accordingly empty as well. Another new concept introduced by Nagarjuna is the doctrine of two truths. This doctrine differentiates between conventional truth and ultimate truth, both of which co-exist. An ultimate truth is something resistant to analysis, such as a primary existent. Conventional truth is how things really or ultimately are, or what is found in analysis when searching for primary existence.Essentially, what is found is the lack of primary existence, emptiness. Once a Mahayana follower understands these truths, he can engage in the world for the benefit of others with complete compassion. Nagarjuna applies analytic investigation to principal Buddhist ideas. The assertions of complete emptiness as presented in the Prajnaparamita sutras as â€Å"like an illusion† are demonstrated through his investigations. Nagarjuna introduces the approach of taking a category that can withstand analysis and analyze it.He says that there cannot be causation, because it cannot be explained between a cause and effect that are the same. Finally, Nagarjuna makes a cl arifying point that the Prajnaparamita sutras fail to address. He says, â€Å"Emptiness is not a way of looking at something. It is the quality of that thing which is its very absence of inherent existence. † This is his way of explaining that emptiness is a way of looking at things, it is an adjective, and it certainly is not nihilism.

Marketing Research- Starbucks vs. Coffee Beans Essay

Market segmentation is defined as the process of dividing a market into distinct subsets of consumers with common needs or characteristics and selecting one or more segments to target with a distinct marketing mix (Schiffman, Bednall, Cowley, O’Cass, Watson and Kanuk, 2001). Different companies have different abilities that enable them to serve their target market better, which is why some companies choose to focus much of their attention to specific segments. Starbucks primarily chooses to focus on the demographics, psychographics and lifestyle of their customers. It is with the information gathered regarding these segments that Starbucks can better serve its customers. Demographics are things such as age, sex, marital status, education, occupation and income. Starbucks targets both males and females, mainly 18-30 year olds, but really does cater for everybody’s needs. And because young children don’t usually drink coffee, Starbucks offers a range of non-coffee beverages to cater for the whole family. Hanging out in Starbucks gives the impression of being very with it and most of the people you see sitting in the stores exude a certain coolness and give off the image of having some sort of social status, with lots of money to spare. Starbucks customers are mainly in their final years of high school, in university or just starting to work. But whatever it is, they all have had a good education, and if they do have a job, it almost certainly includes a big income as well. Demographics help to locate a target market and this information is often the most accessible and cost effective way to identify a target market (Schiffman et al, 2001). Even though factors such as personality and behaviour are often first used to define a market segment, the consumer’s demographic characteristics must be known in order to assess the size of the target market and to reach it efficiently (Schiffman et al, 2001). Psychographics are based on the consumer’s activities, interests and opinions, so it’s basically how they spend their time, what their preferences and priorities are and how they feel about events and issues. Psychographic research is closely related to psychological research, and  especially when it comes to personality and attitude measurement. This form of applied consumer research has proved to be a valuable marketing tool that helps identify consumer segments that are likely to be responsive to specific marketing messages (Schiffman et al, 2001). Starbucks is very heavily involved in charity and the arts, and is making significant efforts to be a socially and environmentally responsible company. For example, Starbucks actively participates in AIDS benefits, and for every city that has a store, Starbucks sets up at least one shelter for the underprivileged children and donates money as well. By participating in various different positive causes and events, Starbucks gains a lot of favourable exposure. Starbucks has sponsored the Special Olympics, the hip Lilith Fair music festival, the Chicago Jazz Festival, the International Film Festival in Washington DC and the Museum of Contemporary Art in LA. Just by looking at these examples, we can see that Starbucks aims to target and reach people who are generous and charitable, as well as people who like to have fun and enjoy the creative and entertaining side of life. Starbucks also has a strong commitment to the environment and the company’s policy to recycle and conserve wherever possible is exemplified by the 10% discount it provides to customers who reduce waste by using their own mugs or refillable coffee bags. Starbucks offers these discounts to help stimulate environmental responsibility amongst its customers. As Starbucks grows and reaches new markets, the company has made a commitment to continue to be a strong supporter of non-profit organisations and events in all communities. Consumer research has found evidence that within each of the social classes there is a constellation of specific lifestyle factors (shared beliefs, attitudes, activities and behaviours) that tend to distinguish the members of each class from the members of each class from the members of all other social classes (Schiffman et al, 2001). Starbucks sells a lifestyle, to both customers and employees, and has followed the successful examples of other big corporations such as Coke, Nike and Sony by linking its brand with all things â€Å"cool† and â€Å"in†. Starbucks has created a style and ambience that has infused a certain new  chic and appeal into coffee, an age-old beverage, making it the hippest drink of today. Starbucks chooses to associate itself with all things bustling, active and vigourous. That is why locations of all the stores are carefully selected for convenience and Starbucks specifically targets places that are heavy with pedestrian street traffic. Some of the places that you would find a Starbucks, either in the form of a large store or a just a small kiosk (both ideal for just popping in for a quick take away coffee or for a nice light lunch break) would be at shopping centres, airport terminals and supermarket foyers, which are all places that are always hectic and filled to the brim with people who have busy lifestyles and are always on the go. Starbucks competes directly against specialty coffees sold at retail through supermarkets, specialty retails, and a growing number of other specialty coffee stores. In addition, Starbucks competes for whole bean coffee sales with franchise operators and independent specialty coffee stores. In virtually every major metropolitan area were Starbucks operates and expects to expand there are local or regional competitors with substantial market presence in the specialty coffee business. But Starbucks’ biggest competitor in the coffee industry is the Coffee Bean. Coffee Bean was started by Herbert B. Hyman in 1963 in California and became the pioneers in retailing whole bean coffee and loose tea leaves. Coffee Bean are the oldest importers, roasters and multi retailers of specialty coffee and tea in the United States. Like Starbucks, Coffee Bean offers a diverse range of original coffee, ice blends and roast styles as well as four varieties of daily brews including flavoured pre-ground coffee. Another similarity with Starbucks is that Coffee Bean also has a large offering of food and beverages that appeal to all age groups from all walks of life. In terms of needs, motivation and personality, Coffee Bean is all about building meaningful and respectful relationships with customers by finding or concocting a flavour for them. Coffee Bean will also toast your bagels, heat your pastries and personalise and custom make the drink or blend just  the way you would like it. With perception, Coffee Bean is a big believer in teamwork (just like Starbucks) as they feel that success is achieved by working together. Coffee Bean staff are friendly, and maintain amicable relationships between customers and each other. The employees have respect for each other’s values, opinions and individual personalities and are honest and truthful to themselves and each other. Another similarity with Starbucks is that Coffee Bean is actively involved with helping communities and make it their mission to develop the most complete community based programs around. As well as donating gift baskets, gift certificates, coupons, coffees and teas, Coffee Bean will gladly consider a donation to any organisation for various charitable events that directly benefit local community programs and local schools. Due to the phenomenal growth of the international coffee market, Coffee Bean has decided to solely concentrate on international franchises at the moment. Unlike Starbucks, who have a target mass market being the United States, most of the Coffee Bean outlets are in Asia (Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Taiwan etc.) and the Middle East (Israel, United Arab Emirates, Dubai etc.) Unlike Coffee Bean, Starbucks does not personalise their coffees or have different products to suit different countries’ tastes. Coffee Bean offers more food meals (pastas, soups,) and not only light meals (sandwiches, pastries, desserts) like Starbucks. Starbucks allows other distributors to sell its coffee, but Coffee Bean does not and Starbucks is affiliated with things such as the Herald Sun Newspaper and Hear Music. And the main advantage that Starbucks has over Coffee Bean is it’s effective use of celebrity appeal, which is a form of reference group

Profile of Charlton Heston, Gun Rights Movement Icon

Profile of Charlton Heston, Gun Rights Movement Icon As an actor, Charlton Heston appeared in some of the most notable films of his time. But he may best be remembered as the most visible president in the National Rifle Association’s history, guiding the gun lobbying group through a five-year period that saw gun rights take center stage in Washington, D.C. Along the way, his statements were responsible for igniting a phrase that would become a rallying cry for gun owners: â€Å"You can have my guns when you take them from my cold, dead hands.† Surprisingly, the man who hoisted a rifle above his head at the 2000 NRA Convention in defiance of the perceived anti-gun policies of Democrat presidential nominee Al Gore was once a staunch supporter of gun control legislation. Heston’s Support for Gun Control By the time President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, Charlton Heston had become a household name, starring as Moses in the 1956 film The Ten Commandments and as Judah Ben Hur in 1959’s Ben Hur. Heston campaigned for Kennedy in the 1960 presidential election and became critical of lax gun laws in the aftermath of Kennedy’s assassination. He joined fellow Hollywood stars Kirk Douglas, Gregory Peck, and James Stewart in support of the Gun Control Act of 1968, the most restrictive piece of gun legislation in more than 30 years. Appearing on ABC’s The Joey Bishop Show two weeks after U.S. Sen. Robert Kennedy was assassinated in 1968, Heston read from a prepared statement: â€Å"This bill is no mystery. Let’s be clear about it. Its purpose is simple and direct. It is not to deprive the sportsman of his hunting gun, the marksman of his target rifle, nor would it deny to any responsible citizen his constitutional right to own a firearm. It is to prevent the murder of Americans.† Later that year, actor-producer Tom Laughlin, chairman of the anti-gun group Ten Thousand Americans for Responsible Gun Control lamented in an edition of Film Television Daily that Hollywood stars had fallen from the gun control bandwagon, but listed Heston among a handful of diehard supporters who he said would stand by his side. Heston Changes Teams in the Gun Rights Debate Exactly when Heston changed his views on gun ownership is hard to pin down. In interviews after being elected president of the NRA, he was vague about his support of the 1968 Gun Control Act, saying only that he had made some â€Å"political mistakes.† Heston’s support for Republican politicians can be dated back as far as the 1980 election of Ronald Reagan. The two men shared many broad similarities: Hollywood A-Listers who supported Democrat Party policies early in their careers only to become stalwarts of the conservative movement. Reagan would later appoint Heston to co-chair a task force on arts and humanities. Over the next two decades, Heston became increasingly vocal in his support of conservative policies, in general, and on the Second Amendment, in particular. In 1997, Heston was elected to the NRA’s Board of Directors. One year later, he was elected president of the organization. Heston was vocally opposed to virtually any proposed measure of restricting gun ownership, from a mandatory five-day waiting period on handgun purchases to a limit of one gun purchase a month to mandatory trigger locks and the 1994 ban on assault weapons. â€Å"Teddy Roosevelt hunted in the last century with a semiautomatic rifle,† Heston once said in regards to proposals to ban semiautomatic firearms. â€Å"Most deer guns are semi-automatic. It’s become a demonized phrase. The media distorts that and the public ill understands it.† In 1997, he lambasted the National Press Club for the media’s role in the Assault Weapons Ban, saying reporters need to do their homework on semiautomatic weapons. In a speech to the club, he said: â€Å"For too long, you have swallowed manufactured statistics and fabricated technical support from anti-gun organizations that wouldnt know a semi-auto from a sharp stick. And it shows. You fall for it every time.† ‘From My Cold, Dead Hands’ During the height of the 2000 election season, Heston delivered a rousing speech at the NRA Convention in which he closed by invoking an old Second Amendment battle cry as he raised a vintage 1874 buffalo rifle over his head: â€Å"So, as we set out this year to defeat the divisive forces that would take freedom away, I want to say those fighting words for everyone within the sound of my voice to hear and to heed, and especially for you, (presidential candidate) Mr. (Al) Gore: From my cold, dead hands.’† The â€Å"cold, dead hands† saying did not originate with Heston. It had been around since the 1970s  when it was used as a slogan for literature and bumper stickers by gun rights activists. The slogan didn’t even originate with the NRA; it was first used by the Washington-based Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. But Heston’s usage of those five words in 2000 made them iconic. Gun owners across the nation began using the slogan as a rallying cry, saying, â€Å"You can have my guns when you take them from my cold, dead hands.† Heston is often incorrectly attributed with coining the phrase. When he resigned from the NRA presidency in 2003 due to his declining health, he again raised the rifle over his head and repeated, â€Å"From my cold, dead hands.† The Death of an Icon Heston was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1998, an illness he defeated. But a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s in 2003 would prove too much to overcome. He stepped down from his position as president of the NRA and died five years later, at the age of 84. At his death, he had appeared in more than 100 films. He and his wife, Lydia Clark, had been married 64 years. But Heston’s lasting legacy might be his five-year stint as president of the NRA. With the peak of his Hollywood career well behind him, Heston’s work with the NRA and his fierce pro-gun rights rhetoric earned him legendary status with a whole new generation.

Karl Marxs Greatest Hits

Karl Marx's Greatest Hits Karl Marx, born May 5, 1818, is considered one of the founding thinkers of sociology, along with Émile Durkheim, Max Weber, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Harriet Martineau. Though he lived and died before sociology was a discipline in its own right, his writings as a political-economist provided a still deeply important foundation for theorizing the relationship between economy and political power. In this post, we honor Marxs birth by celebrating some of his most important contributions to sociology. Marxs Dialectic Historical Materialism Marx is typically remembered for giving sociology a conflict theory of how society operates. He formulated this theory by first turning an important philosophical tenet of the day on its headthe Hegelian Dialectic. Hegel, a leading German philosopher during Marxs early studies, theorized that social life and society grew out of thought. Looking at the world around him, with the growing influence of capitalist industry on all other facets of society, Marx saw things differently. He inverted Hegels dialectic, and theorized instead that it is the existing forms of economy and productionthe material worldand our experiences within these that shape thought and consciousness. Of this, he wrote in  Capital, Volume 1, The ideal is nothing else than the material world reflected by the human mind, and translated into forms of thought. Core to all of his theory, this perspective became known as historical materialism. Base and Superstructure Marx gave sociology some important conceptual tools as he developed his historical materialist theory and method for studying society. In The German Ideology, written with Friedrich Engels,  Marx explained that society is divided into two realms: the base, and the superstructure. He defined the base as the material aspects of society: that which allow for production of goods. These include the means of productionfactories and material resourcesas well as the relations of production, or the relationships between people involved, and the distinct roles they play (like laborers, managers, and factory owners), as required by the system. Per his historical materialist account of history and how society functions, it is the base that determines the superstructure, whereby the superstructure is all other aspects of society, like our culture and ideology (world views, values, beliefs, knowledge, norms and expectations); social institutions like education, religion, and media; the political system; and even the identities we subscribe to. Class Conflict and Conflict Theory When looking at society this way, Marx saw that the distribution of power to determine how society functioned was structured in a top-down manner, and was tightly controlled by the wealthy minority who owned and controlled the means of production. Marx and Engels laid out this theory of class conflict in  The Communist Manifesto, published in 1848. They argued that the bourgeoisie, the minority in power, created class conflict by exploiting the labor power of the proletariat, the workers who made the system of production run by selling their labor to the ruling class. By charging far more for the goods produced than they paid the proletariats for their labor, the owners of the means of production earned profit. This arrangement was the basis of the capitalist economy at the time that Marx and Engels wrote, and it remains the basis of it today. Because wealth and power are unevenly distributed between these two classes, Marx and Engels argued that society is in a perpetual state of conflict, wherein the ruling class work to maintain the upper-hand over the majority working class, in order to retain their wealth, power, and overall advantage. (To learn the details of Marxs theory of the labor relations of capitalism, see  Capital, Volume 1.) False Consciousness and  Class Consciousness In  The German Ideology  and  The Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels explained that the rule of the bourgeoisie is achieved and maintained in the realm of the superstructure. That is, the basis of their rule is ideological. Through their control of politics, media, and educational institutions, those in power propagate a worldview that suggests that the system as it is is right and just, that is is designed for the good of all, and that it is even natural and inevitable. Marx referred to the inability of the working class to see and understand the nature of this oppressive class relationship as false consciousness, and theorized that eventually, they would develop a clear and critical understanding of it, which would be class consciousness. With class consciousness, they would have awareness of the realities of the classed society in which they lived, and of their own role in reproducing it. Marx reasoned that once class consciousness had been achieved, a worker-led revolutio n would overthrow the oppressive system. Summation These are the ideas that are central to Marxs theory of economy and society, and are what made him so important to the field of sociology. Of course, Marxs written work is quite voluminous, and any dedicated student of sociology should engage in a close reading of as many of his works as possible, especially as his theory remains relevant today. While the class hierarchy of society is more complex today than that which Marx theorized, and capitalism now operates on a global scale, Marxs observations about the dangers of commodified labor, and about the core relationship between base and superstructure continue to serve as important analytic tools for understanding how the unequal status quo is maintained, and how one can go about disrupting it. Interested readers can find all of Marxs writing digitally archived here.

Systems and Operations Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Systems and Operations Management - Assignment Example If we define this question the answer that we will get goes something like this: managing the activities, decisions and responsibilities of the resources so that it can produce and deliver the quality products or services in a stipulated span of time is called as Operations Management. Mainly, Operations Management about managing resources to create goods and services (Slack et al., 2010). In today’s competitive world, every organization has the operations management team that oversees the smooth functioning of the operations in terms of production and delivery of products and services. As Hayes et al. (2005) claims, effective operations strategy should be consistent and contribute to give competitive advantage. The person who manages this particular team is called as Operations Manager and it is his/her responsibility to see the operation is going smooth. Strategic Importance of the Digital Economy A decade before the Civil War, which was in 1850, the economy of the United St ates was not very big. It was even smaller than that of Italy. But after 40 years of the war United States was world’s largest economy. The reason behind this enormous progress is the railroads. What they did was connect the east and the west along with the interior parts with both the sides. With this move the industrial goods of the eastern part of the country gained access for the rest of the country; they scaled the economy with stimulation of the steel and manufacturing industries (Arthur, 2011). And this had made the economy to prosper many folds making it the largest economy. These types of changes are not unusual. Since 60 years or so there has been a great transformation in the economy of the country and most of the reforms are being done by the technology that has entered the country almost unnoticing. The entry of the technology has brought new social classes with them and also creates different classes of business. In today’s fast paced world is it possible to think such silent and slow yet deep economic transformation? If we look at the genetic or nano technology we can see the same, however, the time for them has not yet come in full force (Arthur, 2011). But it is arguable that there is something deep that is going as far as the information technology is concerned, which is way beyond the computers or the social media or e-commerce. The business processes that were completely human effort are now being executed electronically without losing time. These processes are executed in an unseen strictly digital domain (Katz and Koutroumpis, 2012). Let us take a look at an example. If you think about 20 years back, when you had to go somewhere in flight you would have a paper ticket that you would produce to a human being in the airport counter. After that the person would register your ticket, check your luggage in and help you know if the flight has arrived or not. All these activities were to be done manually by human interventions (Art hur, 2011). However, today, in the time of information technology, when you go to the airport you just need to swipe your frequent flyer card or credit card in the kiosk and you will get all the necessary stuffs – boarding pass, luggage tag, receipt etc. in just few seconds, without any human intervention. Once you swipe your card, an enormous conversation is being initiated among the

Comparative Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Comparative Management - Essay Example Furthermore, it further provides a brief indication to the comparative institutional advantage of both the economies with respect to South Korea and Taiwan. The region of South Korea has seen an immense economic growth after the Second World War ever since the country was freed from the claws of Japanese colonialism in the year 1945. According to Michell (1988), the decade of 1960s had been very crucial as the early period of boom in the country's economy, which mostly took place due to advancements in trade and business activities in South Korea. It was the same period when the South Korean government imposed state rule over the privately owned businesses in order to manage the increasing developmental reforms in the country. The government took all the banks under its control, nationalised them and played an important part in allocating funds for financial activities that resulted in great economic development in the country. Thereafter the government introduced a system with semi-liberalisation of market by privatising the country's major banks in the early 1980s. This action of the government however could not be completely implemented and the government instead allowed relaxations to the banking business and facilitated the growth of non-bank financial institutions so as to infuse a market-oriented system in the country. Jones and SaKong (1980) suggest that the South Korean efforts for the development of economy towards a Liberal Market Economy as that of the United States had been initiated soon after the beginning of the year 1980. However, the government found itself unable to get rid of the chaebol system because of the over-reliance of the country's financial system on them. Therefore, the government was forced to retain interference and control in the management of the private business system. According to Root (1999), the South Korean economic system still depends upon government to look over the business affairs in the country. The government controls the corporations' activities and supports the chaebol companies to stay in the market even after they have become insolvent. This governmental support to the chaebol has led to kind of market in South Korea where the chaebol hold a major share in the ownership of non-bank financial institutions and try to confine the entry of foreign multi-natio nal corporations in the country so as to prevent competition. The government did initially introduce some reforms so as to liberalise the market but still the South Korean business reflects a predominating governmental influence in the private business affairs. Although the government claims to have taken a lot of steps in order to introduce market-based economy in the country. But the existing business system indicates as illuminated by Financial Supervisory Commission (1999) that the South Korean government holds the ownership of the shares of financial institutions and also utilises its influence on the banks to support the remodelling of chaebol corporations. The government co