Global inequalit, and caste systems Essay Example for Free

Global inequalit, and caste systems Essay Describe the trend in global inequality over the course of the last century. Based on where we have been and where we are now, predict where the world may be a century from now. What prediction would modernization theory support? What about dependency theory? What do you think will happen? Why? Briefly describe the main characteristics of caste systems and class systems. How are these types linked to different kinds of economic production (agrarian versus industrial technology)? In what ways are people in class systems more equal than those in caste systems? What are the different justifications for inequality in each case? Question 1 Global inequality has been on the rise over the past century with the boom of the industrial and the information revolution. Countries known as the first world have far surpassed third world countries. Modernization theory points out those countries that had been the poorest have developed and have become richer due to the trade expansion and industrial revolution. This trend will rise in countries that have the technology to pursue this fast pace movement but countries that do not have the technology will see almost no change at all. I believe this trend will continue. Question 2 In the class system people are equal because more competition is at hand. People are only held back by the amount of energy they wish to expel to their careers or life style. In caste systems people are placed into pre-determined situations such as work or marriage purely based on who they have been born to and what their families have done for a living. The main characteristic of a caste system is based on arbitrary placement.  People are made to marry only others from within their own race such as in South Africa, and India. In a caste system, a son of a plumber will be a plumber. However, some characteristics of the caste system are seen here in the United States, which is a class system. Examples of this would be clearly the George W. Busch family and the Robert Kennedy family. Both are considered powerful political families created by passing down from one generation to the other their political influences and by marrying into other rich and influential families. What justifies caste and class systems are economics. Countries that depend on farming benefit from a caste system, because farming would be past down from one generation to the other making it to be more productive. Industrial nations on a class system use the most qualified persons from any class or social group based on their individual achievements and not solely based on birth. Therefore, a baker may have a son who makes great strides in science and help the nation develop.

An Overview Of The The Indian Film Industry Media Essay

An Overview Of The The Indian Film Industry Media Essay Every year, 1000 films are released in India, which are watched by 3 billion movie goers. India is the worlds largest film producer, volume-wise. However, factors such as poorly developed revenue stream, excessive reliance on domestic box office collections and inefficiencies prevalent across the value chain, have resulted in poor revenue collection for the industry. As a result, the Indian Film Industry accounts for only 1% of global film industry revenues. However, in the past 3-4 years, the industry has undergone major alterations bringing positive results. Due to the availability of organized funding, advent of multiplexes and increasing overseas collections, the film industry now stands at a better position. The provision of 100% foreign direct investment has made the Indian film market attractive for foreign enterprises such as  20th Century Fox,  Sony Pictures, and  Warner Bros. (1) Over the past years the business of film making has changed due to corporatization, increasing production costs, spiraling actor fees and high acquisition costs for content. With the recent economic showdown, the film industry is witnessing earlier some of the earlier excesses being brought down to a more realistic level playing field. (1) Components of the Indian film industry The 20th century saw commercialization of the business of film making. The Indian, Chinese and American film industries became global enterprises. Our film industry found markets in over 90 countries. If we bifurcate the Indian Film Industry, we have various Regional Film Industries. The most prominent and popular amongst them at is the Hindi Film Industry, which is based in Mumbai. Other industries are Marathi, Punjabi, Urdu, Bhojapuri, Telugu, Bengali, Oriya, Kannada, Malayalam and Tamil. These industries enjoy monopoly in their respective regions. For example, Keralites will prefer Malayalam movies over Kannada movies. Regional choices greatly influence the marketing strategy for the promotion of a film or a product. The cultural variety that the Indian Film Industry offers is what that makes it unique from every other film industry in the world. Its varying range is its identity. Citation FICCI-KPMG Media Entertainment Industry Report-2009 http://www.scribd.com/doc/24474505/FICCI-KPMG-Media-Entertainment-Industry-Report-2009 Total Number of Films censored in 2009 by CBFC: 1288 *Source: Central Board for Film Certification Bollywood In 2009, out of the 1288 films released in India, 235 were Hindi films. This means 19% of the films released in India in 2009 were Hindi films. Hindi film industry is the largest producer of films in India, of which Bollywood is a major part. In fact, Bollywood is referred as the Hindi Film Industry. Out of the 200-plus Hindi films made in India each year, around 150 are made in Bollywood. Bollywood films are the only films in India that enjoy a national audience. Along with that, they also enjoy overseas audience. (2) Since Bollywood films enjoy maximum viewership, they also account for over 40 percent of the total revenues of the overall Indian film industry. The total revenue that Bollywood earned in 2008 was Rs 10,900 crore with an overseas collection of Rs 977 crore. Bollywood today is one of the biggest money making industries in India which provides employment to over 6 million people. (3) Citation 2. Central Board for Film Certification, Annual report 2009 http://cbfcindia.gov.in/html/uniquepage.aspx?unique_page_id=30 3. The Viewspaper, voice of the youth, www.wordpress.com http://theviewspaper.net/brand-bollywood/ Regional Films The Southern film industry is the major regional film industry followed by Bengali and Punjabi. The market size of the Tamil and Telugu segment is ` 7.7 billion, the Malayalam segment is ` 1.4 billion and the Kannada segment is worth ` 0.5 billion. Percentage wise, Telugu and Tamil account for 45% revenue each, Malayalam accounts for 8%, whereas Kannada accounts for 2% revenue of the southern film industry. However the regional market is under tapped, the non-theatrical revenue is lesser as compared to the Hindi film industry and the southern film industry is poorly propagated amongst the international sector. (4) Application of the concept of 4ps to the Film Industry of India The 4Ps: 1) Product 2) Place 3) Price 4) Promotion Product Citation: 4. Indian Entertainment Down South: From Script to Screen, 2009, Report, FICCI Ernst YoungA product is an article or substance that has been manufactured and refined for sale. In this case a film is a product. This product has major components. If we take Bollywood into consideration, itll be safe to call it a highly competitive zone. For the producers, movie making is like a business, where they are selling their product, ie the movie. So in order to make that product the talk of the town, their aim would be to get maximum visibility for their product. Every movie has its own target audience. There are many factors on the basis of which the audience choose to watch a particular movie. They could be ranging from the talent (film stars), genre (comedy, drama, action, thriller, romance), storyline, music and the presentation of a movie. For example, the movie Aisha scored big amongst young girls, teenagers and women (Aged 15-35 years), while it was highly criticized by men. The women chose Aisha because its packaging was in feminine colours like pink and orange, the story was based on a Jane Austen novel Emma about a young girl who likes match making, and primarily, the movie revolved around beauty, women and fashion. According to the oxford dictionary a film is defined as a    story or event recorded by a camera as a set of moving images and shown in a cinema or on television. A movie product on the other hand is the intellectual property of various individuals who are involved in it and is distributed in the form of theatrical exhibits, non-theatrical exhibits, CDs DVDs, film or tape, internet and television broadcasting through cable or sometimes without cable. Place After making a product which is worth selling, comes the time to find a place where this product will be sold. In this case a place can be anything ranging from cinema halls, multiplexes, broadcast media centres like radio and television, homes, internet, mobile phones (caller tunes, my song), games and news. Distribution takes place through theatres, rental stores; sell-through stores, catalogues, non-theatrical groups, the Internet, cell phones etc. However one of the biggest challenges that our industry is facing is Piracy. According to industry sources piracy is a 20 billion market and its share of the total video market is increasing day by day. (1) Price If we take a birds view of the industry, it appears to be uniformly priced, but the reality is something else. Currently India has 1000 multiplex screens which are supposed to become 1800 by the end of 2010 (1). The advent of the multiplex audience has definitely resulted in revenue hike for the producers, but it is important to realise that single screen movie halls are still in a majority and as compared to multiplexes, tickets are priced keeping in mind the average Indian. For example: A PVR cinemas ticket costs somewhere around `150- 300 depending upon the location, day and time, whereas a balcony seat i.e the most expensive seat in a single screen theatre like Vishal Cinemas (In Rajouri Garden, West Delhi) costs `90. A distribution contract can be structured in many ways that result in very different returns for the producer, the key creative talent, and even the distributor. Elements that are negotiated include Movie Release Date ex: Releasing a movie around Diwali is more profitable than releasing it on a normal day. Territories and market segments ex: A crossover film like Bend it Like Beckham will only do well in metros and not in tier-II and tier -III cities. Splitting of the profit, means of payment and percentages Final budget for promotion (digital, grassroot, print, outdoor The spending capacity of people has increased in the last few years. According to the PWC report, the Indian film industry is projected to grow by 11.5% in the next five years, reaching 184.7 billion in 2018 from 107 billion in 2008. Domestic box office segment is expected to grow at a cumulative rate of 10.2% over the next 5 years to reach an estimate of 132 billion in 2013 from present size of 82 billion. (1) The issue of pricing has become a global issue. Producers are careful to strategize the release of the DVDs at such a time, that it doesnt interfere with the theatrical release of the movie as it is the main source of revenue. However, the piracy industry has created such havoc in the home video market, that the producers are incurring huge losses. In order to curb this nuisance, the producers have come up with cheaply priced DVDs so that the rising phenomenon doesnt become a thorn in their flesh. Promotion Promotion is a powerful marketing tool, not only during the premier of a new product, but throughout its lifecycle. Producers create the end-product for the consumer, but they seldom market that product directly to the consumer. They market their story to investors and distributors. Distributors market to exhibitors, retailers and sub-distributors. The theatre exhibitors, retailers, store clerks, and Internet strategists market to the end consumers. And then, to top off this complex stew, some consumers even market to other consumers their family, friends and co-workers. STATEMENT To study the effectiveness of digital promotion in the box office response of Hindi films Todays Bollywood presents a very different scenario. With over 1000 films releasing in a given year, all of them fighting for a common goal i.e. the box-office success, the multiplex domination it has become a necessity for those involved, to do whatever it takes to enforce that must-watch feeling among the masses in order to win this very competitive rat-race. I want to find out how big a role does the internet play in promotion of a film. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESEARCH The internet is increasingly emerging as a profitable medium to create hype and promote a new film. There are approximately 30-40 million internet users in India today. Internet as a medium to promote a film is a viable option as it offers a wide platform of activities like reviews, trailers, bulletin boards, email, and blog for marketing movies which in turn creates a buzz about the film. Industry experts believe that the cost effectiveness of the online medium is one of the reasons for its popularity. An online campaign on the other hand costs only one-tenth of the amount a producer will spend advertising the film in the print medium. A recent survey conducted by the Internet Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) says that close to 90% internet users surf the net for movie related information and 42% of the surfers use the net for this purpose more than once a week. The survey also found that 54% of the net users watched at least one movie per month. Among the first studios to have started off promoting films on the Net was Yashraj Films. Their Mujhse Dosti Karoge went on to win the prestigious ABBY Gold award for its Internet marketing initiative in 2004. To promote Kabhi Alvida Na Kahna, the entire song Wheres the party tonight was featured on MSNs desktop TV. MSN also designed a theme pack on Messenger based on the films characters. RDBs characters wrote interactive blogs; Anthony Kaun Hai ran an online contest with winners meeting the stars. Lage Raho Munnabhais promotion on MSN India consisted of video clips from the film aired on desktop TV airs, and a web link to the official movie website with storyline, information on cast, crew, music, photos and screensavers, trailers, contests and interactive features. Online promotions also enable filmmakers to tap the overseas market. NRIs are also passionate about movies and like to download wallpapers, ring tones and take part in celebrity chats. If we look at our latest internet publicity successes, Ghajini is a very good example. Geetha Arts launched a computer game based on Ghajini, called  Ghajini The Game, developed by Hyderabad-based  FX LABS. Its a3-D PC console game which was built at a cost of Rs 30 million it attracted a lot of fans. UTV  owned Indiagames had also developed five mobile based games on Ghajini which was a huge success Aamir also kept up the internet marketing of Ghajini, with his blog  and the new Ghajini site, which invites journalists to register on the site, upload their photos, and receive personal notes from him. Websites like www.rememberghajini.com; www.findghajini.com and www.wallofsuspects.com  were built to drive curiosity levels around the movie and provide a movie like experience on the Internet. These are just a few examples. There are many more which will follow. Gone are those days when plastering a few posters on the walls and hand-painted Billboard signs were the only means available for a films publicity; Actors barely promoted their films, film-makers never ventured in-front of the camera and our main stream media couldnt care less. However the internet has shaken things up and revolutionized the way movie publicity is done. OBJECTIVES To find out how much of a role does internet play in the promotion of Hindi films. To find out examples where internet played a huge part in a films promotion. Ex: Ghajini To spread awareness of the use of internet among the masses. To make people realise how useful, economic and great is the internet. HYPOTHESIS Internet is emerging as a hotspot for a low cost promotion. The internet is not an effective means for promotion in the box office response of hindi films.

Ethics Theories and the competing values framework

Ethics Theories and the competing values framework Ethics Theories and the Competing Values Framework Introduction Management theory and practice implicitly endorse some ethical values over others and this provides the basic ethical orientation of managers. But managers have to understand different ethical theories to find out best for a particular situation â€Å"Ethics can be defined as the systematic attempt to make sense of individual, group, organizational, professional, social, market, and global moral experiences in such a way as to determine the desirable, prioritized ends that are worth pursuing, the right rules and obligations that ought to govern human conduct, the virtuous intentions and character traits that deserve development in life, and to act accordingly. Put more simply, ethics is the study of individual and collective moral awareness, judgment, character, and conduct.†[1] Researchers propose three types of ethics namely, descriptive, normative and analytical. Ethical Theories There are a number of ethical theories. All these theories can be exhibited in four quadrants in the figure below[2]: Teleological Ethics Theories Teleological ethics theories proposes that beneficial ends and/or results determine the ethical value of actions. If, on balance, any action provides more benefits than costs to the relevant stakeholder (s) than by any other alternative, teleological ethics endorses the goodness of that choice. Three major types of teleological ethics are eudaimonism, utilitarianism, and egoism. Ethical Egoism Ethical egoism, is a teleological theory that holds that an action is good if it produces or tends to produce results that maximize a particular persons self-interest as defined by the individual, even at the expense of others. Ethical egoism discourages a person to help others when the person gets nothing out of it. Enlightened egoism emphasizes long-range self-interest simultaneously endorsing altruistic concern for the well being of others. An enlightened egoist, for example, may well avoid cheating and support community projects, not so much because these actions benefit others, but because they help achieve some ultimate goal for the egoist, such as social image enhancement that could lead to carrier advancement within an organization. Utilitarianism Principle of Utilitarianism proposes that an action can be considered as right only if the action produces most utility for all the people affected by the action. Utilitarianism principle holds that the action whose net benefits are greatest relative to the net benefit of all other alternative actions. Both future as well as immediate costs and benefits are taken into consideration in this principle. Utilitarians have come up with an alternate version of the principle of Utilitarianism called rule utilitarianism. According to this, an action is ethically right, if the actions would be required by moral rules which are correct. A moral rule is correct if the sum total of the utilities produced is greater than sum total of utilities produced if everyone follows an alternative rule. Rule Utilitarianism is applicable to a great extent to an organizational context. In an organizational situation, according to Rule Utilitarianism the correct moral rule is the one that would produce greatest utility for everyone affected. Eudaimonism or Theories of Happiness Eudaimonism is a teleological theory that endorses a course of action if it promotes or tends to promote the fulfillment of goals relating to human nature and its happiness. For example, this theory says that a manager enforces employee health and safety standards at work to ensure that employees derive happiness and satisfaction out of it. This theory is based on the premise that when a choice has to made between having a good time (maximizing pleasurable utility) and leading a good life (maximizing happiness) and the latter outcome was to be preferred to the former. Deontological Ethics Theories Deontological ethics theories maintain that responsibly fulfilling obligations, following proper procedure, â€Å"doing the right thing†, and adhering to moral standards determine the ethical value of actions. Deontological ethics maintains that irrespective of the consequences of an action, an action is ethical if it is morally right. Among the major types of deontological ethics are negative and positive rights theories, social contract theories, and social justice theories. Negative and Positive Rights Theories Negative rights theories hold that an action is right if it protects an individual from unwarranted interference from government and/or other people in the exercise of that right; for example, if a person has a right to privately use, sell, or dispose of his personal property as he chooses, this means that every other person has the correlative duty not to prevent him from privately using, selling, or disposing of his property as he freely chooses. Positive rights theories hold that an action is right if it provides any individual with whatever he or she needs to exist. For example, if he has a right to adequate health care to survive, this means that other agents (perhaps the government) have the correlative duty to provide him with entitled adequate health care, not merely to avoid interfering with its competitive acquisition. Social Contract Theories Social contract theories hold that an action is right if it conforms to the terms agreed upon, conditions, or rules for social well-being negotiated by competent parties. Social Justice Theories Social justice theories hold that an action is right if it promotes the duty of fairness in the distributive, retributive, and compensatory dimensions of social benefits and burdens. For managers, this approach stresses monitoring adherence to standard operating procedures and rewarding persons for adhering to contractual agreements in a coordinated manner. Virtue Ethics Theories Virtue ethics theories maintain that habitual development of sound character traits determines the ethical value of persons. For the virtue ethicist, sound, balanced character, motivation, and intention of an individual is more important than the persons actual conduct and its consequences. Three major types of virtue ethics theories focus on individual, work, and professional character which defines the required characteristics of the character of an individual or work or professional. System Development Ethics Theories System development ethics theories maintain that the ethical value of actions is determined by the nature and extent of the supportive framework for continuous improvement of ethical conduct. Managers should assess and develop work cultures supportive of ethical conduct. Ethical problems faced by Personnel Managers: The ethical issues faced by individual employees and managers are very different, since managers are responsible for the entire range of human resources activities such as hiring, firing, disciplining, and performance evaluation. A large number of the ethical issues that arise in business are human resources related and these can usually be addressed by local managers, who act quickly, fairly, and with compassion.3 Hiring and Work Assignments: A manager hires, or brings new people into the organization, and determines employee work assignments once employees are on the job. The new people may be permanent employees, or they may be part -time employees, temporary workers, or consultants. Performance Evaluation: Many times performance evaluation is not done objectively but is based[3] on the relationship of the executive with his appraiser. This defies the entire purpose of Performance Appraisal System which should ensure that a fair and transparent appraisal is done. This kind of favoritism may lead to demotivation of star performers and sends a bad signal in the company. One good way to ensure continuous performance evaluation is to establish a formal appraisal system where performance of an employee is measured continuously and through quantifiable parameters. By measuring the objectives and targets are quantifiable and objectively measured, the process becomes fair and ethical. An ongoing process can greatly reduce misunderstanding, resentment, and charges of discrimination or bias. Terminations: Termination done in any form is never pleasant and should be avoided at all times but at times management is faced with no choice but to terminate the employees. Layoffs can result from many kinds of reorganizations such as mergers, acquisitions, relocations, or as the result of economic reasons, or changes in business strategy. A layoff can stem from a decision to trim staff in one department, or from a decision to reduce head count company-wide. 4 There are steps a manager can take to make it easier for the employee being terminated. The main goals are to be fair, ethical and to allow the employee to maintain personal dignity. Manager should ensure that this step is taken as a last possible resort and if it is inevitable, manager should ensure that the employee is given sufficient notice to get a new job or come up beneficial schemes like voluntary requirements. Also, it would be more beneficial if management engages outplacement counselors or human resources professionals to meet with people who are laid off. Managing workforce diversity Managers are often placed with ethical issues of discrimination and unfair favoritism on the basis of the society and community that the employee belongs to. It is important for a manager to discourage any kind of bias based on religion, community and gender. Importance of Ethics in Business context Enron Scandal Enron Scandal a saga of how the truth unfolded and the one-time most reputed business of America went into trash. As the Consequential Theory of Utilitarianism says, an act is ethical or morally right only if the consequences of that action are more favorable than unfavorable to everyone. As in the case of Enron, it can be seen that whatever the top management did was favourable to only a bunch of officials while the sufferers were the stakeholders in the form of shareholders, employees, financial institutions, accounting firms etc. Also later, when the mask was off, all the culprit officials were penalized and punished which proves that truth cant be hidden for long. And the short-term benefit is too short when compared with long-term cost which one has to pay for its unethical acts. [4] Enron entered into a range of shady dealings, including concealing debts so they didnt show up in the companys accounts. This can be justified as according to the Normative Principle in Applied Ethics which talks about the â€Å"Right to information†. Enron lied about its profits as during its heyday from 1999 to 2000, the company reported very strong net income by dubious accounting exercises. But the actual amount of cash that Enrons businesses generated wasnt nearly as impressive. Wrong information is more catastrophic than no-information. This can be justified as according to the Normative Principle in Applied Ethics which talks about the â€Å"Principle of honesty† which says that one shall not deceive others. Insider Trading refers to the process where a person is in hold of certain information due to ones position in the organization and he uses it for his own advantage. Insider trading is both illegal and unethical. Enron CEO Ken Lay had been consistently selling Enron stock in 2001. Top management promoted Enron shares as a bargain to employees and linked all their pension plans to the same. These employees had lost up to 90 percent of their 401(k) retirement savings as Enrons shares trashed into ground. As per principle of Principle of Paternalism, one should assist others in pursuing their best interests when they cannot do so of themselves. In this case, employees were ignorant of the fact as to what was the company doing, moreover, they were ignorant of best practices so they relied on the advice of their CEO to invest in stocks.[5] Conclusion The collapse of Enron has made it clear that no matter how much profit an organization makes in short-run, for its survival in the long-run, it has to stick to the policies of ethical practice. Any organization that deviates from this, will suffer in the long-run. A manager would invariably be faced with ethical dilemmas in the daily working of an organization but he or she should not endorse unethical practices since it would harm the organization in the long run and no organization can sustain in long term on unethical practices and policies. References 1. Joseph A. Petrick John F. Quinn, (1997), Management Ethics: Integrity at Work, Sage Publications, Sage series in Business Ethics. 2. Ken Blanchard, Ch. 8. Managing by Values, P.33-36, in Integrity at Work, Edited by Ken Shelton, Executive excellence publishing, 1998. 3. Ken Blanchard, Ch. 8. Managing by Values, P.33-36, in Integrity at Work, Edited by Ken Shelton, Executive excellence publishing, 1998. 4. Willlmot Hugh, â€Å"Contributions of Poststructuralism and Posthumanism†, Ethics Organization, Sage Publications, 1998, Pg. 76 -121 5. Hart, O. , 1995, Corporate Governance: Some Theory and Implications, The Economic Journal 105, 678-689. 6. Retrieved from http://www.ethics.org/ [1] Joseph A Petrick John F. Quinn, Management Ethics: Integrity at Work, Sage Series on Business Ethics , 1997, p.43. [2] Ibid, p. 48 [3] Ken Blanchard, Ch. 8. Managing by Values, P.33-36, in Integrity at Work, Edited by Ken Shelton, Executive excellence publishing, 1998. [4] Willlmot Hugh, â€Å"Contributions of Poststructuralism and Posthumanism†, Ethics Organization, Sage Publications, 1998, Pg. 76 -121 [5]5 Hart, O. , 1995, Corporate Governance: Some Theory and Implications, The Economic Journal 105, 678-689.

Orwells Perception of the Political Power of Language Essay -- Politi

Orwell's Perception of the Political Power of Language As an author, George Orwell is concerned with the modern use and misuse of the English language. He notes the recognized ability of language to distort truth and deceive masses in his essay "Politics and the English Language", and attempts to alert the public of this power in his novel Nineteen-Eighty-Four . Depicting dystopia of a totalitarian system at a complete extreme, Orwelll's novel is essentially about psychological control of the public. In the creation of "Newspeak", Orwell portrays the effects of recurring abuse of language by government, and demonstrates how language can be used politically to manipulate minds on a monumental scale, eventually birthing a society in which people obey the government unquestionably. As argued in his essay and actualized in the novel, language acts as an instrument of mind-control, with the goal of perpetual elimination of individual consciousness and maintenance of a totalitarian regime. Orwell's essay begins with the understanding that "†¦the present political chaos is connected with the decay of language". In evaluating trends in current language, such as the use of pretentious diction and meaningless words, he argues that an individual morphs into a type of human machine , simply regurgitating information without involving any of his or her own thoughts. As Orwell says in the essay, "Political language . . . is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind" . In Nineteen-Eighty-Four, this phenomenon is depicted in the development of Newspeak. Developed chiefly to restrict the range of one's thought and shorten memory, Newspeak is an ideal language for a totali... ...mps: this is called elimination of unreliable elements" . Thus the use of Newspeak in Oceania similarly serves to uphold political obedience. As the Inner Party has the ability to alter the structure of language in Nineteen-Eighty-Four, it makes the conception of nonconformist and rebellious thought impossible, thus eliminating any questioning of the Party's absolute power. Both Orwell's novel and essay carry a grave warning about the political powers of language. He uses his media to demonstrate not only how language can cloak truth, but also how language can be used as an ultimate tool for maintenance of totalitarian regimes. While language is usually thought to extend cultural considerations and improve one's understanding of the world, Orwell's works illustrate how it can, when used in a vicious political way, become an instrument against human consciousness.

The Impact of the Violent African-American Stereotype in Rap Music Essa

This paper will show that the stereotype of the violent, criminal African-American portrayed in rap music lyrics can become a self-fulfilling prophecy for African-Americans. Repeated and long-term exposure to this stereotypical behavior in rap music lyrics can lead to increased aggression and this stereotype becoming accepted as a social norm by African-Americans. I intend to support my argument with examples and analysis of the violent African-American stereotype, and by explaining how the stereotype can become accepted as a social norm. The violence that permeates rap lyrics should come as no surprise because music is only one of the numerous forms of media, and violence in the media is often described as being too prevalent. The myth, â€Å"Media violence is only a reflection of violence in society,† can be refuted in different ways. One method is to use real world statistics of crime and violence and compare them to statistics of crime and violence in the media. An estimated 25 million acts of violence occur in television annually, compared to 1.5 million acts of violence in society (Potter 50). This comparison shows that â€Å"violent crime is much more frequent on TV than in real life† (Potter 50). Television depicts murder and assault as the two most frequent acts of crime, while real world statistics show that burglary and larceny â€Å"are the two most prevalent crimes† (Potter 50). The rates of violent crime in television news shows over-represent the rate of violent crime in the r eal world (Potter 56), and television news shows under-represent the percentage of male crime victims while over-representing the percentage of female crime victims. After examining these facts, it is obvious that the statement, â€Å"Medi... ... viewed as what it is—a false representation of reality, instead of a true representation of rea Works Cited Bernd, Simon, and David L. Hamilton. â€Å"Self-Stereotyping and Social Context: The Effects of Relative In-Group Size and In-Group Status.† Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 66.4 (1994): 699-711. Chappell, Kevin. â€Å"What’s wrong (and right) about black music.† Ebony September 1995: 25-28. Christenson, Peter G., and Donald F. Roberts. It’s Not Only Rock & Roll. New Jersey: Hampton Press, Inc., 1998. Ehrlich, Paul R. Human Natures. Washington, D.C.: Shearwater Books, 2000. Kitwana, Badari. The Rap on Gansta Rap. Chicago, Illinois: Third World Press, 1994. Potter, W. James. On Media Violence. California: Sage Publications, Inc., 1999. Steele, Claude. â€Å"A Threat in the Air.† American Psychologist 52 (May 1997): 613-627.

Agile Strategiesf

Every company's objective is to make profits. In order to achieve this fundamental goal, production has to be efficient. This will enable companies to incur minimum and manageable losses. For them to achieve this, seemingly, companies need to review their production strategies. Over years, agile production mechanisms have been proposed to be the most efficient.According to Dimancescu (1997), Lean manufacturing refers to a method of producing more valuable products with fewer resources. He further asserts that there are two approaches to this concept. The first refers to a set of tools that assist in identifying and continuously removing wastes from a manufacturing process. Steady waste removal makes the quality of the end product better.Meanwhile, the time used in producing goods as well as the cost is lowered. The second approach focuses on making work flow smooth and hence eliminating inconsistency throughout the system.The process of lean manufacturing was initiated by Henry Ford, who also initiated the complete process of production (Warmack, Jones & Roos, 1990). In 1913, he put together interchangeable segments that had standard work and conveyance in motion. He referred to this as flow production.He then put in to a line order fabrication steps in process sequence wherever it deemed possible. He used specific machinery and gauges to bring together the different vehicle parts to meet the needs of the customer.Warmack et al. (1990) agrees that this was a major step especially because the American market had machines meant for general purpose and were grouped according to the process. In addition, they were more tiresome and generated great volumes of waste before a product could finally reach the market.However, James and Daniel (2003) affirm that Ford's work lacked variety. This was his major challenge. According to James and Daniel (2003), his Model T was not only limited to one color, but also to one stipulation. This meant that all his models were simil ar.When the world demanded for different variations of automated machines in the market, other auto manufactures stepped in with different ideas. With time, the market was filled with more convenient designs that were larger and operated faster. With each step, the costs and wastes from the same were reduced.In the early 1930's, Mondem (1988) explains that the Toyota company, not being satisfied with what the market was offering revisited the earlier principles applied by Ford and invented the Toyota Production System (TPS).Basically, this system changed the focus of engineers in the manufacturing sector from specific machines and their use to product flow through the manufacturing process.Toyota concluded that that by sizing the machines for the required volume, introducing machines that had the capacity to perform self monitoring for purposes of quality, putting the machines in sequence ass the process stipulates, initiating faster set ups so that each machine could create small a mounts of various part numbers and having each step  Ã‚   that is set up notifying the previous step of its current material requirements, would lead to obtaining cheaper, wide variety, best quality and faster machines to meet the dynamic customer requirements.In addition, it found out that management of past information is mandatory to achieve this as past records could be simpler and accurate (Fujimoto, 1999).Today, the basics of lean manufacturing are taking root and spreading so fast. Every company in the near future will be pressurized to reduce wastes and increase production in order to realize profits and be able to compete favorably. Besides, the world now is changing to green production and companies do not have an option.Leaders are also beginning to appreciate the importance of lean production, especially in these hard economic times. It is obvious that every leader would desire his company to be economically efficient by lowering costs and enhancing the quality of prod uction.The service industry is also coming on board with all the leaders realizing the importance of incorporating lean principles in its delivery. For example, in the education sector, parents are overwhelmingly going for learning institutions that give the best quality education.Likewise, the health sector is adopting the same principles. Most companies prefer low cost labor (Fine, 1998). Elimination of wastes if adopted by such companies will be instrumental in assisting them avoid the impacts of solely depending on low cost labor. The answer for this lies in the fundamentals of lean production.With an increase in the demand and delivery manufactured products, it will be mandatory to adopt lean principles in their supply. Besides, Kanigal (1997) argues that the assimilation of lean principles in people's lifestyles will enable them to be creative, conquer the obstacles and look forward to new and advanced production methods in all sectors. The future of lean manufacturing is henc e promising as most companies are now adopting the trend.Nakajima (1988) defines mass production as a way of producing standardized goods in large amounts and at a low cost per unit. Lean production contrasts to mass production in so many ways. Mass production focuses on specialized and expensive machines that produce goods in huge quantities.Its employment of many people to keep the costly machines occupied justifies their high cost of the final products. Lean production on the other hand gives manufacturers a chance to produce fewer products with minimal defects and that address the requirements of the customer (James and Daniel, 2003).For instance, in the production of cars, mass produced cars would be many and virtually identical while lean produced cars would be fewer and to the needs of the customer. They would not then be similar.Products from lean production reach the market earlier than mass produced products. It is because the products are less than those produced through mass. As a result, lean produced products are sold off faster than the mass produced products.This is not only because of the quantities produced, but also because lean produced goods are customized. Individual needs of customers differ and lean production pays special attention to this.For example, a car produced through lean production would have every detail a customer really expects unlike to that from mass production where the specific needs of customers are not considered. In the case of catering, mass produced meals contain the same type of ingredients while lean produced varied depending on the needs of the customer.With regard to leadership, Warmack et al (1990) argues that in mass production, the command strategy is commonly used while in lean production; leadership is mainly participative and consultative.For a company to satisfy the demands of their customer, different specialists are employed and consultation and full participation is mandatory in order to get the views of every individual, which have equal chances of being necessary. With mass production, commanding is employed more often as skills are also limited. In addition, running a certain machine would involve just pressing certain buttons, and then the job rolls on.External relations in lean production are long-term as opposed to mass production where the relations are largely based on the price of the product. It is because in the lean production, manufacturers follow up the needs of the customers and in the process, long term relations develop (Warmack et al, 1990).For example, in the textile industry, lean production ensures that the customer chooses the design and in the case of any alteration, the customer's views are taken in to consideration. Then, long term relations develop as the customer will be consulted on several occasions before the production process ends.According to James and Daniel (2003), the organizational make up in mass production is usually hierarchical and highly encourages taking orders and discourages flow of vital information. Those in senior positions usually give orders and challenging them is not tolerated. Juniors are expected to obediently take orders.This practice is prevalent in large mass manufacturing companies where supervisors have the duty to give orders and not to be challenged in any way. In the lean production, flat structures are employed hence the flow and information sharing is highly encouraged.The views of all the stakeholders rather than shareholders are given equal consideration. Information sharing is key in designing perfect products and avoiding obstacles that the team might encounter as they progress.Customer satisfaction in lean production is assured than in mass production because in the former, goods produced have lesser defects as their design is customized. In the latter, customer satisfaction is lower as their views are not considered during production (Warmack, et al, 1990). Any product designed to addres s the specific requirements of the customer will always be more satisfying than those produced to meet the needs of the market.With regard to engineering, James and Daniel (2003) argue that mass production usually employs the genius models with minimal customer input and respect for the goods provided. Machines are fixed and expected to perform accordingly.Specialists are employed and more often, customers are perceived to be poorly informed about the product. Lean manufacturing on the other hand is team based with maximum in put from the customer. All the complaints, praises and recommendations from customers are vital in lean manufactured products.Manufacturing schedules in the mass production are specific, adhered to and very difficult to adjust. Orders from the authorities are strictly followed without fail. This is unlike in the lean manufacturing where schedules are very flexible and can be adjusted accordingly depending on the demands of customers.For example, if a customer d emands that the product ordered be ready within a specified period of time, this will be strictly followed and other orders would be put on hold (Warmck et al, 1990).Quality assurance in mass production is done through sampling. At certain intervals during as production progresses, products are picked and assessed to determine if they conform to the expected standards. However, in lean production, quality is guaranteed from the source and the product being let out to the market usually has very few or no defects.The products are usually thoroughly checked to ensure they meet the customer's demands (James and Daniel, 2003).

Causes of Tsunamis

sunami: the Great Waves Tsunami is a Japanese word with the English translation, â€Å"harbor wave. † Represented by two characters, the top character, â€Å"tsu,† means harbor, while the bottom character, â€Å"nami,† means â€Å"wave. † In the past, tsunamis were sometimes referred to as â€Å"tidal waves† by the general public, and as â€Å"seismic sea waves† by the scientific community. The term â€Å"tidal wave† is a misnomer; although a tsunami's impact upon a coastline is dependent upon the tidal level at the time a tsunami strikes, tsunamis are unrelated to the tides. Tides result from the imbalanced, extraterrestrial, gravitational influences of the moon, sun, and planets. The term â€Å"seismic sea wave† is also misleading. â€Å"Seismic† implies an earthquake-related generation mechanism, but a tsunami can also be caused by a nonseismic event, such as a landslide or meteorite impact. Tsunamis are a threat to life and property to anyone living near the ocean. For example, in 1992 and 1993 over 2,000 people were killed by tsunamis occurring in Nicaragua, Indonesia and Japan. Property damage was nearly one billion dollars. The 1960 Chile Earthquake generated a Pacific-wide tsunami that caused widespread death and destruction in Chile, Hawaii, Japan and other areas in the Pacific. Large tsunamis have been known to rise over 100 feet, while tsunamis 10 to 20 feet high can be very destructive and cause many deaths and injuries. What Cause Tsunamis? Tsunamis, also called seismic sea waves or, incorrectly, tidal waves, generally are caused by earthquakes, less commonly by submarine landslides, infrequently by submarine volcanic eruptions and very rarely by a large meteorite impact in the ocean. Submarine volcanic eruptions have the potential to produce truly awesome tsunami waves. The Great Krakatau Volcanic Eruption of 1883 generated giant waves reaching heights of 125 feet above sea-level, killing thousands of people and wiping out numerous coastal villages. Ring of Fire About two-thirds of the earth is covered by the waters of the four oceans. The Pacific Ocean is the world's largest, covering more than one third of the total surface area of our planet. The Pacific Ocean is surrounded by a series of mountain chains, deep ocean trenches and island arcs, sometimes called a â€Å"ring of fire. † The great size of the Pacific Ocean and the large earthquakes associated with the â€Å"ring of fire† combine to produce deadly tsunamis. Tsunamis on the Move Wave Height and Water Depth In the open ocean a tsunami is less than a few feet high at the surface, but its wave height increases rapidly in shallow water. Tsunamis wave energy extends from the surface to the bottom in the deepest waters. As the tsunami attacks the coastline, the wave energy is compressed into a much shorter distance creating destructive, live-threatening waves. In the deep ocean, destructive tsunamis can be small–often only a few feet or less in height–and cannot be seen nor can they be felt by ships. But, as the tsunami reaches shallower coastal waters, wave height can increase rapidly. Sometimes, coastal waters are drawn out into the ocean just before the tsunami strikes. When this occurs, more shoreline may be exposed than even at the lowest tide. This major withdrawal of the sea should be taken as a warning of the tsunami waves that will follow How Fast? Where the ocean is over 20,000 feet deep, unnoticed tsunami waves can travel at the speed of a commercial jet plane, nearly 600 miles per hour. They can move from one side of the Pacific Ocean to the other in less than a day. This great speed makes it important to be aware of the tsunami as soon as it is generated. Scientists can predict when a tsunami will arrive since the speed of the waves varies with the square root of the water depth. Tsunamis travel much slower in shallower coastal waters where their wave heights begin to increase dramatically. How Big? Offshore and coastal features can determine the size and impact of tsunami waves. Reefs, bays, entrances to rivers, undersea features and the slop of the beach all help to modify the tsunami as it attacks the coastline. When the tsunami reaches the coast and moves inland, the water level can rise many feet. In extreme cases, water level has risen to more than 50 feet for tsunamis of distant origin and over 100 feet for tsunami waves generated near the earthquake's epicenter. The first wave may not be the largest in the series of waves. One coastal community may see no damaging wave activity while in another community destructive waves can be large and violent. The flooding can extend inland by 1000 feet or more, covering large expanses of land with water and debris.