Influence of Confucianism on China Essay

Confucianism is a system of philosophy and religious practice that sprouted in China around 500 B. C. E, and which has had a tremendous impact on Chinese culture and politics since. It was created by a social philosopher named Kong-Fu-Tzu, who being convinced of his ability to restore order to the world devised a philosophy of morality and social duty. Unlike other political philosophies of the time such as legalism, Confucius placed importance on proper action through a moral code, not a legal code. This moral code was solidified with the threat of intense shame, both in the eyes of the living and in those of your ancestors who watch over your actions. But in codifying his philosophies in such a manner, he also set his own short-sightedness, misogyny and dated thinking into an immutable morality that plagues the Chinese to this day. It is in this way that any positive characteristics of Confucianism give way to the corruption of politicians and the serious injustice of the concept of filial piety as laid down by Confucius’ disciples. And furthermore, it is difficult to address these issues within the scope of Confucianism because they are the ways of â€Å"ancient wisdom† transmitted by Confucius, and are treated as immutably righteous. So, the injustice of Confucianism and the social disparity it promotes plagued China for millennia even to this day in some respects. Indeed, I believe Confucianism has had on overall negative impact on China. Confucianism, like Hinduism with its Code of Manu, has a hierarchical system that separates peoples into castes ordained by heaven. These castes are slightly less specific than in the aforementioned example, but they are still a very real dynamic in Confucian thought. Each person is considered to have duties to certain people or â€Å"filial piety† (Confucius, 45), a subject must serve his h/er ruler, a child must respect h/er parents, a wife must obey her husband. And though these relationships are reciprocal, as a ruler has a duty also to his subject, they are each organized in regard to a superior to h/er inferior. Rulers are seen as having a â€Å"Mandate from Heaven†, and to disobey your ruler is to bring shame upon yourself and your relatives. So not only was there legal repercussion for disobedience, but also the engrained shame of having disobeyed at all, even if you are being wronged or abused. Besides these stringent class divisions, women are treated as intrinsically inferior to men as a whole, making it exceedingly difficult for Chinese women. Male offspring are extremely important to a family as the Chinese divine heredity through the male parent and a grown son can be considered in breach of his filial piety, and thus shame his family, if he does not give birth to a son. As mentioned earlier, a woman must also obey her husband as part of her filial piety. To do otherwise would be to shame herself and her family. Moreover, a woman’s duty to her family demands that she marry whomever her parents see fit, which makes her beholden to both her parents, and to a man whom she did not choose as her spouse. In the Book of Mencius, it describes women as living through three subordinations, to their fathers as a child, to their husbands as an adult, and to their sons in old age (Lin Yu Tang, 743). All in all, Confucianism served to heighten the struggles of women in an already patriarchal society. Having been introduced to these inequalities in Confucian thought, it may come as little surprise that Confucius described a serious mandate of the state over the individual. Those in such castes as were seen fit to rule over others afforded themselves much power, and little can be done to challenge a hierarchy in which defiance means shame in the eyes of all your ancestors. Subjects owe filial piety to their ruler, and as such a ruler must be righteous in his actions, but is considered the clear superior to the ruled. Should a ruler not fulfill his duties properly, the peasants are still controlled by him. So, while the ruler can break his duties to his subjects and still retain the power to control them, the ruled must risk a great deal in breaking their duties to the tyrant. Thus, the concept of filial piety to ones ruler only serves to embed tyrants, and does not provide any real recourse should a ruler break his own supposed filial piety to the ruled. An interesting example of this sort of filial piety to a ruler can be seen in the Chinese â€Å"Book of Songs†, in which this poem appears in the section set aside for â€Å"folk and peasant songs†: â€Å"To be rejoiced in are ye, noble men, The foundations of the State. To be rejoiced in are ye, noble men; — May your years be myriads and without end! † (Nan-Shan-You-Tai, Poem 172). That such a poem might be considered a folk song seems strange as it seeks only to glorify noblemen. Such is the bias engrained in the poor that the noblemen above them were to be â€Å"rejoiced in†. Another of the most important tents of Confucianism is deference to, and respect for your superiors, especially your parents. Filial piety to ones parents is paramount in Chinese families, and there are many stories of children in ancient times that went to absurd measures to please their parents. Some of the known ways that children have been made to bend to their parents will borders on utter child abuse. One story speaks of a child named Min Tzu-chien who let himself nearly freeze to death to appease a cruel stepmother (Brians, para. 4). Another relates the tale of Wu Meng, a boy in the Chin Dynasty who purportedly let his belly be feasted upon by mosquitoes numbering in the hundreds so they would not feed on his parents (Brians, para. 5). A particularly telling tale of this kind is the story of Kuo Chi, who lived during the Han Dynasty, was very poor, and who cared for his mother and three year old son. He could not feed either fully, and his mother often gave a portion of her food to her grandson so he would not hunger. Kuo Chi having seen this, told his wife â€Å"It would be better if we buried our son. We can always get another son, but it is impossible to get another Mother. † Kuo Chi then dug a grave in which to bury his son, but upon completing it he found a pot of gold which read â€Å"Officials cannot take it, people may not steal it† (Brians, para. 6-7). Kuo Chi was rewarded for his willingness to sacrifice the life of his inferior duty (his son) in favor of his greater duty to his mother. While the level of truth in such ancient stories is suspect, they represent the way in which Confucius’ idea of filial piety could be bent to allow for horrible injustice and child abuse. Confucian disciples also instituted a National Testing System for political office. The purpose of which was to insure that rulers were chosen on merit and not on lineage. But though Confucius advised a thorough education regardless of class, it was simply not the case in much of China. Learning was important, but the poor simply could not afford to give their children the full range of education necessary to succeed in the examinations. China became a watered-down sort of Oligarchy where only those wealthy enough to give their children a thorough education could hope to see their children into public office, and disparity between castes increased because of it. Meritocracy can not exist where equality of opportunity does not. All of these things can be considered unjust, unfair and even despicable in some instances, but the notion of changing them is difficult while maintaining Confucianism because like most philosophy rooted in spirituality, to deny the prophet often is seen as denying heaven. The traditional Chinese were severely limited by Confucianism because they believed any deviance from the righteous way of life prescribed by Confucius could lead to great shame and sorrow, to complacency and stagnation. And yet, Confucianism has continued in China even to modern times, though the Communist Government seeks to be rid of it. New troubles have been loosed because of Confucianism including but not limited to â€Å"sex specific infanticide† in which female babies are aborted in favor of male children because the Chinese Government has placed a cap on the number of children a family can have. The strong preference for male children, fed by Confucianism, is directly responsible for this horror. What new problems these outmoded ways of thinking, thousands of years dated, will bring up no one can tell. But as long as the tenets of Confucianism meet transgressors with shame and derision, it will no doubt continue to have a negative impact on China as a whole. Works Cited Confucius and Jennings, William trans. The Confucian Analects. New York: George Routledge and Sons, Limited, 1895. Waley, Arthur trans. Book of Songs: The Ancient Chinese Classic of Poetry. New York: Grove Press, 1996. Yutang, Lin ed. The Wisdom of India and China. New York: Random House, 1942. Brians, Paul. â€Å"Examples of Filial Piety (14th Century CE). † Reading About the World, Volume I. 1998. Washington State University. 23 Mar. 2006, .

Analysis of Social Movements in the Egyptian Revolution

The Egyptian Revolution can undoubtedly be considered one of the significant events of the 2011. However, even after three months since the 18-day revolution, people are still unable to determine whether or not this revolution will bring about positive amends to Egyptian society. Having said that, the Egyptian Revolution has shown to be a convenience to many sociologists, as it offers a promising case study on social movements. Throughout this three-month revolution aftermath, it has become clear that the January 25th Revolution has brought about symptoms of virtually all sorts of social movements. In the typical sociological perspective, social movements are collective efforts to bring about social or political change. Characteristics of a social movement include it being goal-oriented, having a unified ideology, and having an organized, sometimes bureaucratic, system. Social movements can be characterized by the type of change they promote. There are six major types of social movements: expressive social movements, progressive social movements, resistant social movements, reformative social movements, revolutionary social movements, and utopian social movements. Expressive social movements attempt to change individuals, rather then directly trying to change institutions or laws. Evangelical groups and Alcoholic Anonymous groups offer examples. Members of such movements believe that because institutions are people-created, they can only be changed by changes in people. Progressive social movements attempt to improve society by making positive changes in institutions and organizations. The Labor Movement and Civil Rights Movement exemplify progressive social movements. Resistance movements, rather than advocating change, seek to hold it back and keep the status quo. For instance, an example of this type of movement is the anti-gun control movement. Reformative social movements attempt to make a major change to some aspect of society or politics in general. For instance, efforts to end the death penalty, or efforts to apply gun control in a society are considered reformative social movements. Revolutionary social movements advocate a radical shift in the fundamental structure or practice of a society. Such types of social movements tend to involve violence. Almost all revolutionary social movements arise when a specific segment of the population is strongly oppressed or generally dissatisfied with the society they inhabit. Examples of revolutionary social movements include the American Revolution, the French Revolution, and the Bolshevik Revolution. The last type of social movement is the utopian social movement. Such movements seek to create an ideal social environment from an image of a perfect society. They tend to reject violence as a method to gain its goal. Examples of such revolutions include Gandhi’s Peaceful Revolution and the counterculture movement in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s. First and foremost, the Egyptian Revolution, according to its name, can obviously be categorized under a revolutionary social movement. During the 18-day uprising, people, people assembled in the now distinguished, Tahrir Square, for a simple, yet drastic agenda. They called for the resignation of the President as well as his staff, substantial amendments to the constitution, and a promise for a democratic nation that grants its people their human rights. The protestors remained devoted to their aims until they eventually had them fulfilled. The fact the protestors’ agenda was realized makes the January 25th incident a revolution and not a revolt. Furthermore, unlike in reformative social movements, participants of the Egyptian Revolution called for drastic change in the ruling system. Reformative social movements tend attempt to gain rights and protection for some segment of society without changing other aspects. The Egyptian Revolution brought forth a change to the whole system. Furthermore, among the participants of the Egyptian Revolution, there were undoubtedly protestors that exemplified the symptoms of a utopian social movement. Evidently, many of the protestors zestfully chanted â€Å"Selmeya! Selmeya! † (Arabic roughly meaning, â€Å"Remain peaceful! †). Despite the eventual violence and chaos that emerged in streets all around Egypt, there is sufficient evidence to prove that many protestors did in fact call for non-violent demonstration. After the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, symptoms of other social movements began appearing. For instance, having had their nationalist spirit replenished, many citizens took part in expressive social movements to better themselves and abide more strictly to their moral codes. Such campaigns can easily be observed by watching the television, as there have been many advertisements urging Egyptians to take better care of their nation. Additionally, progressive movements sporadically appeared after the resignation of the 83 year-old President. After the ouster of the President, minority groups in the population, such as the Copts, began calling for better treatment by the government. Also, groups that were previously subjugated by the government, specifically Islamist groups, began appealing for the Islamic amendments they asked for before. Such groups eventually came up with more stringent demands, that their progressive movements became reformative movements. For instance, the Copts who protested at the State’s ‘Maspiro’ building initially called for better conduct towards Coptic Christians in Egypt, however they eventually began calling for the change in the article of the constitution that states that Egyptian law is mostly derived from Islamic ‘Sharia’a’ Law. Ultimately, it is without a shadow of a doubt that the Egyptian January 25th revolution brought about the trend of desiring change. Hence, Egypt is commonly seeing all sorts of social movements nowadays. Having said that, although the change-urging groups in Egypt all claim to have the good of the country as their top priority, it must be acknowledged that a large number of these groups of conflicting ideologies. On top of that, many participants of these social movements derive their ideologies from religion, and thus this makes the matter delicate. Throughout the past few months, Egypt has seen a number of incidents involving sectarian strife. Such incidents gave a warning signal to what this revolution may very well lead to. The question to ask now is will Egypt remain â€Å"2eed wahda† (Arabic for â€Å"one hand†) as they fervently chanted during the 18-day uprising, or will contradictions in ideologies and demands for change lead to a theological strife within Egypt.

Hype

Yadir HYPE Advertisement has changed significantly throughout the years. No longer are ads confined to the usual places like buses, billboards and stadiums. Anywhere your eyes can rest there is an ad. Kalle Lash from excerpted â€Å"Hype† said, â€Å"everyday an estimated 12 billion display ads are dumped into North Americas collective unconscious†. That being said , it is safe to say that cooperate America has been controlling our purchases more that we liked. There is a company called videocarte that have installed interactive screens on shopping carts that will show you ads while you shop.I can understand why an executive from the company will say†videocarte is the most powerful micromarketing medium available today†. There are times when I’m in the supermarket and have a videocarte and the interactive screens are displaying ads products. I must admit they tend to influence your shopping. On the other hand, ads can introduce you to helpful products . For instance, one time I was looking for a product that can help me keep my papers organize, I saw an ad on a product to keep papers organize, I brought the item and it works wonderful.However, another time I was suppose to go to the convenience store and pick up some common products, I saw an ad on a billboard on my way there, on a product that I did not need, got distracted from going to the place that I had started out to go bought the product that the ad was advertising. When I finnaly arrived home happy with the purchase, I was quickly disappointed because it wasn’t what I needed and I didn’t get the things that I wanted. Like the article â€Å"Hype† signs of life in the USA say â€Å"No one is exempt, there is nowhere to run and no one will be spared†.In conclusion, you can not totally avoid the amount of ads you see , however you can minimize the amount of ads you are expose to. As for me, I have learned to train my mind not to be influence by ad s. For example, when I go food shopping, I have a list and only buy the items that are on there. I also, listen to cds, therefore, I stay away from the ads they play on the radio. Finally I keep in mind that a marketers job is to display their ad anywhere they can to persuade a consumer to purchase their product.

The Case Study of Club Med Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Case Study of Club Med - Essay Example This cultural concept was picked up during the initial inception of Club Mediterranee whereby both Blitz and Trigano opted to create a vacation camp under the sun that could provide a relaxing experience to guests after the Second World War. Secondly, before the year 2000 it could be argued that the business was largely managed through a paternal approach of which Gilbert Trigano was cited saying that Gerard Blitz and her wife Claudine Blitz were the tutelary parents of the club. Moreover, Philippe Bourguignon who spearheaded major reforms before 2000 in the company, and enabled it to start generating massive profits was disowned by the company’s staffs because of his autocratic management style as they preferred Trigano’s paternalism approach. In regards to the force of competition, it can well be stated that before the year 2000 Club Med had managed to create a monopoly within a unsaturated market niche, which had low level of competition and to a greater extent it co uld be argued that Club Med was the among the first pioneers in the village-camp vacation resorts. According to Magretta (2011), the low threat of competition provided Club Med within an opportunity to expand faster and even diversify to other related businesses. Before the year 2000, Club Med faced low threats of competition since the village –camp vacation resorts had not yet gained wide fame and most players in the hospitality industry only focused on providing customers with high quality experience within high-class tourism facilities. In the studies by Saloner et al. (2001), the low threat of new entrants could further be attributed to the limited knowledge that potential competitors had about the operations of village camp vacation resort and the high amount of capital that was required since constructing a village required a huge pieces of land situated at strategic locations. Before the year 2000, the threat of substitutes was very eminent since there were many excell ent hotels and resorts that had been established. Moreover, substitutes presented a major competition more so for the high-end clients who preferred high-end hotels and luxurious resorts instead of the village-camps where tourist resided in camps. In regards to the buyers’ power, it was stated that because of the availability of numerous substitutes buyers wielded a lot of bargaining power and hence why Club Med offered it services at an affordable range. As for suppliers bargaining power, Magretta (2011) stated that a business organization would be able to wield more power against the suppliers if for instance the business organization buys supplies in large volumes, the switching cost of firms in the industry is low, and there is presence of substitute inputs. As for Club Med before 2000, it is correct to state that it had a stronger bargaining power because of the fact that it had a wide branch network and therefore, it bought its supplies in bulk, which means it was capab le of negotiating for better prices. Reasons for Club Med’s success between 1950s and 1990s In the writings by McLimore (1996), he attributed the success of any venture to the leadership of the venture. In regards to the case study of Club Med its success between 1950s and 1990s can largely be attributed to the exceptional leadership by Gerard Blitz and Gilbert Trigano, who

Aspects of sustainable transport mode. ( buses in scotland ) Thesis

Aspects of sustainable transport mode. ( buses in scotland ) - Thesis Example In any case, the success of such initiatives requires the active participation of governments. The above issue has been made clear in the case of Scotland where the private bus operators have introduced a series of schemes aiming to align their firms’ activities with the principles of sustainability. The success of this effort is examined in this study; the support of the Scottish Government towards these efforts seems to be important; it should be updated, though, in order to meet the needs of these firms in the terms of sustainability. It is proved that private bus operators across Scotland have made significant efforts in order to promote sustainability their firm’s daily activities; however, often the principles of sustainability are not fully applied; measures need to be taken in order for sustainability to become an actual part of bus industry in Scotland. Sustainability is a concept widely developed internationally; the increase of this concept’s power is mainly related to the deterioration of environmental conditions globally; sustainability can help to the limitation of the effects of human activities on the environment. However, the above target can be achieved only if the principles and the mission of sustainability are clearly understood by the initiators of the relevant projects. The needs of sustainability can be identified in the definition of Hakkinen (1997, 138): ‘the ecological criteria for sustainable development are the preservation of biodiversity and adaption of human activities to the natural resources and tolerance of nature’. The aspects of sustainability explored in this paper are related with a specific industry, the bus industry; therefore, it is in this context that sustainable policies in Scotland will be evaluated and criticized. Bus is an essential means of transport in Scotland; because of its importance for the

The Importance of Africa as a Civilization and People Essay

The Importance of Africa as a Civilization and People - Essay Example The essay "The Importance of Africa as a Civilization and People" focuses on the topic of African culture while throwing more light on the influences of other religions and culture on this ancient land. Very few are aware that the forerunner of the Homo sapiens that inhibit planet earth was believed to have lived here. One of the first known clues to this question of where man originated came from fossils found in the Afar depression in Ethiopia in the early 1970's. More importantly, the continent has been inundated with many alien cultures starting from the Muslim influence to the colonization in the latter part of the nineteenth century. But in spite of this swarm of cultures, the continent has been able to maintain its ancient individuality. There may be many reasons for this situation. It could be that the land is inhospitable in many places. The climate may be too harsh for alien cultures with tropical rain forests to deserts that are found here in abundance. The culture or aggr essiveness of some of the tribes found in the land may have prevented the dilution of such cultures. It could also be that the African way of thinking that has been a subject of study by many historians and anthropologists may have had an influence in keeping the ancient ways of life, vibrant in some places and diluted in others. In all probability, it could have been a mix of all the above factors that have been instrumental in helping the people of that continent to maintain their individuality. But what this paper attempts to prove is that the so called African system of thought has to a large extent been responsible for the preservation of culture and civilization even if it is in a diluted form. Hence it is proposed that one of the reasons for the retention of African civilization by way of culture, beliefs, and practices is rooted in the ancient African system of thought that is still alive today. Essay Summary Prehistoric Africa: â€Å"Of all the earth’s continents, Africa provides the longest, deepest record of the human past. Several million years ago in Africa, a group of primates diverged from the rest of the apes and set forth on a distinctive evolutionary pathway involving bipedal or upright walking.† (Matrin and O’Meara 1995). The land is often referred to the cradle of humanity. Evolution of civilization was slow until the practice of herding and agriculture began to take root about 8,000 years ago. Distinct ways of life that can be described as proper civilizations began to evolve rapidly after that. Egyptian influence in Africa: Even though this advanced ancient civilization was situated in the continent of Africa, many scholars believed that African and Egyptian cultures were distinct from each other. It was thought that Egypt only used the rest of Africa as a source of slaves and other raw materials. But this erroneous line of thinking was seen by later historians and anthropologists only as a way to maintain European supremacy in the continent. â€Å"In reaction, African and African American scholars, mostly in the latter twentieth century, adopted an opposite paradigm: that ancient Egypt was not only an African civilization, populated by "black" Africans, but also a civilization that imparted its culture to the rest of Africa as well as Europe.† (O’Connor and Reid 2003). Muslim influence: One of the biggest influences on African civilization was that of Islam. It is estimated that one out of every three Africans believes in this faith. The faith first spread into many parts of this continent during the second half of the 7th century. But the influence and faith is still strong in the continent even today. Colonialism and post-colonialism: European colonists had established a

Environmental Issues in Business Transactions Essay

Environmental Issues in Business Transactions - Essay Example In January 2000 after finalizing the purchased amount of seven million dollars and obtaining the assurance of Tyco that the Plant is compliant to existing environmental laws Shan finalized the acquisition of the Plant from Tyco. To reiterate this assurance the purchase contract stipulated that Tyco â€Å"will be responsible for any losses arising out of environmental clean-ups, fines or penalties†. After the purchase of the Plant, Shan discovered that it would cost more than two million dollars to make the Plant compliant to federal and state environmental laws. Shan also discovered that the potential fines and penalties for the non-compliance to environmental state and federal laws could amount to more than one billion dollars. Shan thru its owners tried in several instances to persuade Tyco to buy back the Plant at the same cost or pay for the necessary remediation cost to make the Plant comply with state and federal environmental laws. ... the final report was sent to the Chief Executive Officer of Tyco, the report was accompanied by a request from Shan for assistance in making the Plant compliant. However, Tyco ignored the report including the request. Thereafter, Shan reiterated its offer for Tyco to just buy back the Plant for the same amount it was bought to which, Tyco declined. In December 2003, Shan voluntarily reported to the Environmental Protection Agency that the Plant is not compliant to state and federal regulations. At around the same time Shan also met with the Tyco officials who promised to send documents that would prove that the Plant was in compliance with the regulations set by state and federal laws. Perusing over the documents sent over by Tyco it was determined that Tyco was not doing its responsibility to make sure that the Plant are compliant to regulations under state and federal environmental laws. On the last day of 2003, they filed a case against Tyco for breach of contract. In April 2004, the Plant was visited by state and federal environmental authorities and naturally found it non-compliant to environmental laws. It was determined that it was Tyco who suggested that environmental auditors examine the Plant. Based on their findings the state and federal environmental authorities issued a cease-and-desist order that affected forty percent of the Plant’s operating capacity. That could have greatly diminished its earning capacity thus its initiative to make the Plant compliant to environmental state and federal laws. In June 2004, Shan appealed the cease-and-desist order by asserting that the environmental problem was an issue inherited from Tyco, the previous owner. The appeal contained the findings of the independent consultants showing the extent of the violation in the

Do curfews keep teens out of trouble Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Do curfews keep teens out of trouble - Essay Example ect various age groups in our society, we fear the most for the young people in our society who, due to reckless abandon caused by their youthful enthusiasm for life, tend to place themselves in precarious situations. These dangerous situations are usually connected to their love of the fun time offered by a night life. As parents who fear for the safety of their children, a curfew placed upon their childs night time activities offers a semblance of protection for both parties. The idea being that if a child is home by a certain hour of the night, he or she will be able to avoid the pitfalls that often befall the adventurous teens at night. An analysis of the history and reasons behind the implementation of parental and citywide curfews reveal the details as to why these sectors find curfews an effective deterrent when it comes to keeping their children out of trouble: the night holds some unseen circumstances that children and teenagers may not be capable of dealing with at their current age. Therefore there needs to be some sort of system in place that can help protect them from the things that go bump in the night on public streets. Since teenagers these days can be really hot headed and emotional, it is important to make sure that they are in a safe place once night time sets in because as the night deepens, tempers may end up flaring in certain situations. It is saddening to note that curfews were not needed during the past eras in the United States. The night streets were safe places for them to hang out with their friends after dinner or on a Friday night so they can relax after a hectic school week. Teenagers were not always held in the grips of curfew mania as they are today. Newspaper articles from decades gone by have shown that there was a time in our country when it was safe for teenagers to go out and party at night. Schools did not need to have metal detectors at the gates, school dances were the highlight of the school year, and teenagers would go

Information Overload Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Information Overload - Essay Example On a day to day basis, the info-rich obtain information from the internet, newspapers, emails, television, faxes and telephone calls. In the midst of all the clatter, the info-rich are conscious that essential and valuable information is being conveyed (Miller, 2009). The challenge now lies in separating the unnecessary, uninteresting, and outdated information from the up-to-date, relevant, and vital (Miller, 2009). This is achievable by any organization if it changes its technical system or its social system or even both (Klingberg, 2008). Initially, when network technologies were introduced, their aim was to bring considerable improvements to the productivity of workers; however, these productivity benefits are yet to materialize (Klingberg, 2008). As a result, empirical scrutiny of the data has failed so far in establishing a considerably positive relation between information technologies and productivity growth (Klingberg, 2008). Moreover, some people have even begun to wonder if the introduction of computers and other kinds of information technology has had a negative impact on productivity levels, since companies waste resources to generate, distribute, process and store paperwork, which, though adds up no value to the business, deflects people's attention afar from productive work (Klingberg, 2008). ... Indeed, a wealth of precious information has been made accessible; the remaining problem is to learn to manage that flood of information. Considering current technological and human constrictions, decision-makers are incapable of processing all the information which they receive (Klingberg, 2008). A number of managers complain that important issues are neglected due to the growing heaps of information which they have to review (Klingberg, 2008). Additionally, many companies are downsizing the assumption that computers are capable of effectively replacing people (Klingberg, 2008). However, information technologies happen to be best used as supplements; they cannot alternate human skills as far as processing complicated information flows is concerned (Klingberg, 2008). When it comes to business models, content providers focus on selling information straight to consumers (Grochow, 1997). However, there some instances when attention, and not information, is scarce (Grochow, 1997). Busine sses should contend for people's time; therefore, various successful business models of the future will have their basis in the economics of attention, which implies focusing on bringing out quality information to the people in a context that is meaningful (Grochow, 1997). Information production will still get motivation from profit incentives, with competition among substitutable information sources reducing the prices of the content of information itself (Grochow, 1997). Rather than expecting direct payment for the creation of information, it is crucial for content providers to run their business as though it were gratis, and then figure out how to enhance relationships or come up with ancillary products and

The Life of Schubert Essay Example for Free

The Life of Schubert Essay Christopher H. Gibbs’s slim volume, â€Å"The Life of Schubert,† in Cambridge University Press’s series Musical Lives, is therefore timely and valuable. Though terse, it brings all those matters up to date in an eminently readable manner. Mr. Gibbs, took part in the later stages of the decade long Schubertiade at the 92nd Street Y. which ended in 1997. Although he relies heavily on secondary sources here, he has also done original research, and he proposes a neat little theory of his own: a secret program for Schubert’s E flat Piano Trio. That work was begun some six months after Beethoven died, and given its premiere on the first anniversary of his death on March 26, 1828 (eight months, it turned out, before Schubert’s own passing). Mr. Gibbs finds similarities in the trio, with its movement resembling a funeral march, to Beethoven: especially to the Eroica Symphony, written in the same key in memory of a great man. Although it was obvious to few others at the time that Schubert, still little known outside Vienna or in grand musical forms, was a logical candidate to take up Beethoven’s mantle, from this and other evidence it was apparent to Schubert, Mr. Gibbs plausibly suggests, as it has been to posterity. While previous commentators have called Schubert’s movement a funeral march, and a few have noticed the tonal, melodic and structural similarities to Beethoven’s symphony, Mr. Gibbs writes of his interpretation, the greater meaning has remained secret. But in so concise a tome, something has to give, and Mr. Gibbs hastens to point out that the book is not everything it might appear. This book concerns less The Life of Schubert than The Life of Schubert’s Career, a story more of the artist than the man, he writes. In certain respects this book aims to be an autobiography. Gibbs shall emphasize the distortion and trivialization of Schubert’s life that formed and informed popular images. At the same time Mr. Gibbs is no iconoclast or sensationalist. They are currently at a point where some unproven claims about the darker Schubert threaten to become a new orthodoxy in the absence of sufficient historical investigation or evidence, he writes judiciously. He spreads his skepticism evenly on new evidence and theories as well as old. Schubert remains in the shadows, he notes, even as some try figuratively to bring him out of the closet and the pub and into the psychiatrist’s consulting room. The approach is loosely chronological. But Mr. Gibbs begins by examining three artistic representations of Schubertian soirees to set the scene. And one biographical chapter is constructed around themes raised in an 1824 letter from Schubert to his friend Leopold Kupelwieser. In a word, â€Å"I feel myself the unhappy and wretched creature in the world, the diseased composer writes, imagine a man whose health will never be right again, and who in sheer despair over this ever makes things worse and worse instead of better. † Mr. Gibb’s emphases, though sometimes repetitious, are often fascinating. He notes, for example, that for the composer, most of his output was prelude. In 1827 Schubert acknowledged, among other works, three operas, a Mass and a symphony. Mr. Gibbs elaborates: At first the comment seems curious: Schubert had written some eight operas, five Masses, seven (and a half) symphonies and so much else: yet he willingly acknowledged only fully mature pieces. The musical discussion is non-technical. Although many works are located in the unfolding of Schubert’s career, few are discussed in detail. Still, what comment there is cogent, as when Mr. Gibbs cites Schubert’s uncanny ability to make the major mode sound despairing? Can any listener fail to be relieved, for example, when, in Gute Nacht, the opening song of the cycle Winterreise, the music slumps back into D minor after the painfully illusory hope raised by the excursion into D major? Mr. Gibbs spends perhaps too much time trying to tie the mood of the composer when writing it. Yes such correspondences can sometimes emerge, the more so with such new evidence as Mr. Gibbs supplies. Still, the creative process is at bottom mysterious, and those one-to-one alignments inevitably break down sooner rather than later. It is also surprising to see so redoubtable a Schubertian refer to the composer’s great C major Symphony (No. 9, that is, in mere contradistinction to the little C major, No. 6) loosely as the Great Symphony. No matter, Mr. Gibbs, with his solid grounding and balanced view, packs a great deal into a small space and supplies a corrective still sorely needed: or, as he suggests, needed now more than ever, as seductive new theories mingle freely with comfortable old myths. The two protagonists of Richard Power’s new novel. Plowing the Dark, each spends their days in empty rooms, living through their imaginations. These two characters never meet each other; their stories never converge. The first, a woman named Adie, is an artist who is helping to construct a virtual-reality chamber in Seattle in the late 1980’s; the second is an American hostage in Lebanon, a man named Tai Martin, who passes his days in captivity trying to re-imagine his former life. Representing Schubert: A life devoted to art In February 1828, Schubert sent to Schott’s, the music publisher in Mainz, a complete list of individual works available for publication. Schubert only listed works in the most marketable types of domestic, social, and chamber music. In closing his letter, however, Schubert could not resist referring broadly to some compositions he had written for the public arena, three operas, a mass, and a symphony. Knowing these would not be of immediate interest to Schott’s, he added the disclaimer: Mr. Gibbs mention these last compositions only in order to acquaint Schott with his strivings after the highest in art. Two things are noteworthy here – Schubert’s selectiveness in the public works he offered and his invocation of distinctions between higher and lower aesthetic levels. Almost certainly, Schubert was selectively offering only the large-scale works of his early maturity, those operas, symphonies, and Masses completed since about 1820. (After 1820, Schubert repeatedly made clear that he was no longer promoting most of his early works. If Schubert’s own selectivity gives us the license to focus on the operas of his maturity, his discussion of the highest in art gives us the license to focus on the operas with the expressive range, the expanded scale of musical-demand structure, and the serious subject appropriate to a grand heroic or Romantic opera. It was his grand operas, and not his Singspiels and other early operas, which were capable of standing alongside his grand symphony, representing the highest in Schubert’s art. Young Schubert: the master in the boy In his eleventh year, Schubert passed the entrance examinations for the Convict School, which trained choristers for the Imperial Court Chapel Life at the Convict was not without hardship, the young music-students frequently suffered cold and hunger Hunger has become so pressing, Schubert wrote to his brother, Ferdinand, that willy-nilly â€Å"I must make a change. The two groschen that father gave me went in the first few days, If, then, I rely upon your aid, I hope I may do so without being ashamed. How about advancing me a couple of Kreutzer monthly. †? When Schubert became acclimated to his new surroundings at the Convict he was far from unhappy. He was completely absorbed in music-study, finding therein endless fascination and adventure. He also made some intimate friendships, particularly one with Josef Spaun, seven years his sensor, who remained his intimate friend for the remainder of his life. In the Convict school, Franz Schubert began his first compositions. Supplied with note-paper by Spaun, Schubert composed his first song, Hagar’s Klage, which came to the notice of Saheri; director of the Convict Saheri was so impressed with this achievement that he placed Schubert under the personal guidance of Ruczizka, professor of harmony. Then, when Ruczizka confided to Saheri that Schubert seems to have been taught by God himself, the lad knows every thing, Saheri decided to take the boy under his own wing. One of the first exercises which Schubert composed for Saheri was – an opera Franz’s, you can do everything, Saheri told him you are a genius. Ingenious Schubert: the Prince of Song Schubert created the genre of the Kunstlied near the beginning of the nineteenth century and Mahler re-created it in extraordinary ways less than a century later. Many of the most pressing compositional and aesthetic issues relating to subsumed song are connected to their accomplishments. For, even if it is an exaggeration to say Schuberet is the â€Å"Father of the Lied, (infact he is usually called the â€Å"Prince of Song†), his elevation of its artistic status had profound impact not only on that particular genre, but also more generally on matters relating to instrumental lyricism, compositional technique, folk-like simplicity, naturalness, expression, and hermeneutic association allied with words. Popular Schubert: the turning point 1823, that year in which Schubert composed Die schone Mullerin, D. 795, was a turning point in his life, a time fraught with crisis. The venereal disease, probably syphilis, that was to kill him five years later first become evident in late 1822 or early 1823, and its initial virulent stages wracked the composer’s health for much of the year. For all the chronological mysteries and gaps in the chronicle, people know that the genesis of the cycle is interwoven with the beginning of the end of Schubert’s life. Despite the compound of the respect accorded genius and a linguistic veil of nineteenth-century euphemisms, three of Schubert’s contemporaries, speaking in guarded terms, identify the cause of his illness as venereal disease and attribute his early death to its ravages. Joseph Kenner, writing in 1858, is possibly biased by his hatred of Franz von Schober, whom he blames for leading Schubert astray. Anyone who knew Schubert, he writes, knows how he was made of two natures, foreign to each other, how powerfully the craving for pleasure dragged his soul down to the slough of moral degradation, and how highly he valued the utterances of friends he respected episode in Schubert’s life only too probably caused his premature death and certainly hastened it. The unsympathetic Wilhelm von Chezy in 1863 wrote that Schubert had strayed into those wrong paths which generally admit of no return, at least of no healthy one and adds that ‘The charming â€Å"Mullerlieder† were composed under sufferings of a quite different kind from those immortalized in the music which he put into the mouth of the poor lovelorn miller lad. Schober himself spoke in discreet terms of Schubert’s hospitalization as the result of excessively indulgent sensual living and its consequences. These and other references to a streak of coarse sensuality in Schubert’s character have led the modern scholar Maynard Solomon to speculate convincingly that Schubert was a sexually promiscuous homosexual who chose to spend his brief adulthood within the protective environs of the gay subculture of Biedermeier Vienna. Whatever the full truth of the matter, the piper came due in 1823. Schubert would have known that the disease spelled the ruin of his health for whatever length of time remained to him and that it would lead to his death. Schubert himself first mentions illness in a formal letter to one Councilor Mosel, to whom Schubert had sent part of his opera Alfonso und Estrella. On the other hand, for Schubert was amiable and modest, devoted to his friends from the bottom of his heart, and acknowledges with affection the achievements of others, as was shown, for example, by his ever recurring delight over each little drawing done by their highly gifted Schwind. For what was evil and false, he had a veritable hatred. Bauernfeld describes Schubert’s Austrian element uncouth and sensual. If there were times, both in his social relationship and in art, when the Austrian character appeared all too violently in the vigorous and pleasure loving Schubert, there were also times when a black-winged demon of sorrow and melancholy forced its way into his vicinity not altogether an evil spirit, it is true, in the dark consecrated hours, it often brought out songs of the most agonizing beauty. But the conflict between unrestrained enjoyment of living and the restless activity of spiritual creation is always exhausting if no balance exists in the soul. Fortunately in their friend’s case an idealized love was at work, meditating, reconciling, compensating, and Countless Karoline may be looked upon as his visible, beneficent muse, as the Leonore of this musical Tasso. Whatever the truth of his last remark, Bauernfeld had no doubts of the Countless Karoline’s importance to Schubert. Poor Schubert: Miserable reality â€Å"Poor Schubert. † Ever since his death this expression appears over and over again in the writings of Schubert’s friends, critics, and biographies. One reason is that he died so young, at the age of thirty one. More prosaically, the adjective refers to the composer’s precarious financial state throughout his life, although he was far from the destitute artist later sentimentalized in novels, operettas, and movies. The tag also conveys the sense that Schubert was neglected, that his gifts went largely unrecognized. One can easily pick out a few more brush strokes in the established portrait: Schubert is viewed as a natural and native genius who wrote incomparable songs. And then there are his festive friends in the background. Even if the public at large ignored him, at least he enjoyed the loyal support of his circle. Always the best man, never the groom, Schubert is seen as unlucky in love. Early death meant that his artistic mission was left unfinished. Even with so many miserable circumstances, Schubert’s music laughs through its tears, and the maudlin conflation of his life and works in myriad biographies and fictional treatments makes readers past and present weep. Poor Schubert. Late Schubert: who shall stand beside Beethoven To Schubert belongs the dubious distinction of being the short-lived composer of his stature, a situation commented upon since the day he died. Schubert’s early death, while an indisputable reality, should not blind to its symbolic significance. In this respect, Schubert’s most popular instrumental work, the Symphony in B Minor, proves instructive on two counts. First, the premiere took place well over forty years after its composition. This late unveiling powerfully underscores how relatively unknown Schubert was and how unceasingly his reputation had to be reevaluated throughout the nineteenth century. Second, its nickname the Unfinished Symphony epitomizes the unfinished quality of Schubert’s life and art, and serves as a fitting metaphor, a recurring reminder of unfulfilled promise the theme first sounded by Grillparzer’s epitaph. It may seem odd, even inappropriate, to discuss the late period of an artist who died in his early thirties; yet Schubert condensed the artistic productivity of a lifetime into his remarkably brief career, and moreover persevered in his final years with the knowledge of a mortal illness. Professionally and compositionally, Schubert entered a new stage during the final two years of his life, the period, significantly, coinciding with Beethoven’s final sickness and death twenty months before his own. Now thirty years old, and at the peak of his creative powers, Schubert surpassed even what Beethoven had accomplished at the same age. Immortal Schubert The defunct popular composer not only becomes immortal in the poetical sense, but by a curious felicity which publishers can best explain, actually goes on composing after he is dead. All Paris has been in a state of amazement at the posthumous diligence of the songwriter F. Schubert, who, while one would think his ashes repose in peace at Vienna, is still making eternal new songs and putting drawing-rooms in commotion. In the entire realm of art it would be difficult to find many examples of the kind of creative genius possessed by Franz Schubert. Not that he was the greatest composer who ever lived; certainly the horizons of Beethoven, Bach, and Mozart were far writer. But for sheer native gifts, he is excellence only by Mozart. Music came to Schubert as naturally as breathing. He could create beauty as freely as the ordinary man talks in cliches, every melodic idea that sprang in him soared on lyric wings. And these ideas seemed inexhaustible both in their endless variety of mood and in their consciousness. As he himself once confessed, he was unable to complete one work without having several others crowd in on his consciousness. Musical ideas came to him, not merely in a spontaneous flow, but in a veritable geyser eruption which he could not hope to curb or canalize into disciplined and formal order. Schubert as composer of symphonies fond himself in the shadow of Haydn and Mozart from the past and Beethoven in the present. He was haunted not only by their symphonies but also by their other instrumental works. The result was a series of thematic references as well as concepts of musical composition overall structure, tonal plans, orchestration, and harmonic-rhythmic patterns which Schubert modified and incorporated into his own works. But the mighty Viennese triumvirate was not Schubert’s only source for his larger sonata-like structures. Like Beethoven, Schubert provides an important bridge from the classic to the romantic symphony. The early up to No. 6 are among the most romantically oriented classical symphonies in existence. In dimension, instruction, and esthetic posture, they clearly belong to the eighteenth century; in orchestration and harmonic language, they look forward to future generations. The artist is someone who can take pain and the commonplace and spin them into unforgettable insights. The hypothesis set out in this paper will, Christopher Gibbs knows, antagonize some and be found ludicrous by others. Nevertheless, as a specialist in human complexity and a wide-eyed lover of Schubert’s music, Gibbs find that to have some possible inkling of the ghosts that may have both inspired and haunted him makes the little mushroom even more special. Reference Gibbs, C. H. (2000). The Life of Schubert. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press.

Examining The Work Of Gwen Harwood English Literature Essay

Examining The Work Of Gwen Harwood English Literature Essay Harwoods work has always maintained universal appeal in its ability to articulate the indescribable in her dealing with themes that are intrinsically relevant to human experiences. As Strauss describes, Harwood effectively plays with dualistic boundaries, whether they be boundaries between life and death, present and past as a means to articulate her ruminations and this is reflective in many of her poems. Father and Child delves into the loss of childhood innocence and consequential lessons on life and death following her confronting encounter. In Barn Owl, the persona comes to learn after firing the first shot of her fathers gun that death is an obscene buddle of stuff that dropped, and dribbled through loose straw tangling in bowels. The violent, graphic imagery evoke feelings of repugnance which highlights the grotesque nature of death, being that of prolonged pain and anguish. Thus the child articulates a deepened understanding of the vulnerability of life, the finality of death, and the sorrow in taking away a life. This horrific perception is contrasted to Nightfall which portrays death as a natural, inevitable outcome that can be peaceful. This diptych structure provides didactic lessons as noted by Hoddinott who praises Harwoods ability to interweave past and present as one of her most striking gifts. In Nightfall, the poet is no longer a child, but has matured and engendered an acceptance of death as part of the cycle of life through the Christian allusion to heaven times promised land. The metaphor since there is no more to taste, ripeness is plainly all, father we pick our last fruits of the temporal recounts the fathers fufilled life and shows that the power of death is superseded by the eternal nature of their memories. The intertextual allusion to King Lear Old King, your marvellous journeys done heightens the responders awareness of the personas increasing self-knowledge about death, the complexities of life and the subleties of her relationship with her father, seen in the juxtaposition of Old King with old No-Sayer. Although Harwood acknowledges the lasting losses of death and the sorrow of change, she also recognizes that in spite of all of this, things truly named can never vanish from earth. She articulates that memories will surpass the grief and suffering of the fathers death as the persona learns to accept the uncertainty of life. Harwood extends on this exploration of death as an obscene experience, by exploring how death is abstract and undesirable yet inevitable in The Sharpness of Death. The repetition of obscene gives her poems coherance as a body of work in her investigation of death. She continues by exploring the intellectual aspects of death as she makes references to philosophers suc h as Heidegger to dismiss their theories on life and death as overly intricate and meaningless. This is reinforced through her exclamatory repetition of untranslatable as ever! accompanied by a scornful tone which underlines her disdain and frustration over the flaws in their rational philosophical musings over such mystique experience. Additionally, Harwood articulates the transience of life in the final two lines of Nasturtiums, illustrating the continual cycle of time as the light is gone but still held within the seeds of seeds. This is an image of continual rebirth of innocence and creativity as life moves on and it is this calm even tone that reflects Harwoods understanding of lifes changes and eventual end. Her acceptance is reflective in her final bargain, demonstrated thro ugh her defiant, imperative tone and direct address; Death I will tell you nowà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦if I fall from that time, then set your teeth in me. Here, the fierce personification of death shown through its capitalisation accentuates its prevailing power and inexorability. By doing so, she justifies that passionate experiences and fulfilling relationships are fundamental because of deaths inevitable arrival. The unity of the poemy is seen in the cyclic structure as the final part closes the opening deal. As a result, we come to agree with Strauss in descirbing Harwood as a new and distinctive voice as the Sharpness of Death effectively delves into the complexities of death in taking us through fearing death to accepting it as both mysterious and inevitable. Accordingly, we acknowledge that it is through a personal joyous affirmation of life that death is defeated. Likewise At Mornington also explores the universality of human experience through observations of the ephemeral passing of time and the temporal nature of human existence. Transpiring is the heightened awareness of the value of shared and meaningful human experiences and a firm acceptance of the certainty of mortality. An extended metaphor amplifies this notion that life is full of opportunity for joy and reinvention, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦we have one day only one/but more than enough to refresh us. Like the personas realisation in Nightfall that memories trascend ones death, the recollections of this poem underline that all of life amounts to, dreams, pain, memories, love and grief and thus lifes transience is supported through expressions of love and friendship. Harwood refers to the pumpkin vine as a parable of herself; the lesson intrinsic in each of her musings is that although death is inevitable and permanent, there is some consolation in a life of virtue and fulfilment. The poems sense of unity is reflected in its cyclical nature, beginning and ending with the motif of water, symbolic of the flow of water and memory, in addition to the recurring rolli ng motion. Her first reference in the simile rolled like a doll portrays her childhood innocence in her perception of invincibility, believing that she could walk on water. Towards the conclusion, the water becomes a metaphor for death when I am seized at last and rolled in one grinding race suggesting her acknowledgement of deaths power and her own mortality. The reflective, reverent tone indicates her acceptance of death, captured in the simile, like light on the face of waters that bear me away forever, depicting death as peaceful and serene. As Hoddinott comments, this poem eloquently traces the losses occasioned by time against the power of memory to keep alive the illumination of moments that renew the world. Accordingly, as responders we also come to accept the inexorableness of death and appreciate the importance of memory to retain lifes richness. Harwoods exploration on the significant ideas of death is evident throughout many of her works and it is through her investigation on this universally complex human experience, does she generate worldwide appeal.

The concept of Work-Life Balance

The concept of Work-Life Balance Introduction The concept of Work Life Balance has always existed, it just wasn’t until recently that experts put a name to it. Employment has been traditionally thought of the means to which you support your personal life, with Work Life Balance principles employers can now gain competitive advantage from creating a more symbiotic relationship with a persons home and work. This allows for lower stress in the work place and greater enjoyment in the home. The results of this are increased performance in the work place and great repertoire for marketing to new employers. As this is difficult to establish in any industry and this is very true with recruitment agencies. The following is breakdown of the Work Life Balance principles along with a company analysis of the Irish Recruitment company CPL. Work Life Balance The major concept of Work Life Balance in employment is that the employer gives the employee the ability to handle their responsibilities in and out of work while generating self worth. This can be done by a multitude of ways: Flexibility Although hard in many industries the company’s structure should enable an employee to work flexible times so that they can satisfy their out of work obligations. This can include anything from leaving early to pick up their children from school to being allowed to work via the Internet when the employee is required to handle home problems like construction work. The requirement of this is simple as the balance of work and life is not something that you can attach an actual number to. Certain weeks your personal life will require more time and other weeks your professional life will need a greater investment, with flexibility in the work place and home you can ensure neither will be neglected.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Achievement As this is a balance between life and work an employee must have the ability to succeed in their profession. The employee needs to be able to succeed in and out of work to achieve this. The structure of the person’s professional life needs to allow for progression in accordance to performance. Through this the person can truly shape their own destiny generating self worth and in conjunction with other work life balance concepts they will be able achieve in home life as well. Enjoyment There are many employees who can be happy in any situation as long as they view it accordingly. Enjoying life is something that everyone can do and is integral to the work life balance. A person must be able to work in a setting that they can not only achieve but also enjoy their success. Tied in with the concept of flexibility a person needs to understand that in order to do well in work you need to be enjoying work and life. A happy person will be able to perform better through increased energy and drive which helps the organization maintain their competitive advantage. â€Å"Conceptually the idea of Work Life Balance seems relatively simple. If you can maintain flexibility, achieve well and enjoy life you can add value to your life† (Holden and Renshaw, 2004, pg 91). This system gets complicated as employers try to help everyone who has similar responsibilities outside of work which creates a strain on the whole performance. The balance itself is there to support the employees so that they support the firm, symbiotic relationships like this are always fragile from their codependence and true balance is near impossible to maintain in certain industries. Recruitment is one of those hard industries. Advantages The main advantage occurring from Work Life Balance policies in an organization is the improved performance from your employees. It has been proven that an employee who has the flexibility in their job to handle their personal lives will produce the following: 1. Higher quality work 2. Less missed time 3. More employer loyalty 4. An overall more enjoyable workplace as all employees are achieving and enjoying 5. More innovative ideas as employees care about their job 6. Strong recruitment marketing for future employees which increase the talent pool This all results in a greater competitive advantage for the firm which will enable them to reach their own goals (Holden and Renshaw, 2004). Irish Recruitment Industry Ireland’s economy is booming but is also in close proximity to the powerful pound of the UK. This has resulted in a very cutthroat recruitment industry where people vie for coveted positions. The result of this has been a large hindrance for employees ability to manage their Work Life balance. Several forces are the result of this trend. Company example- CPL Background Information CPL was founded in 1989 to capitalize on the strengthening information technology industry in Ireland. The founded, Anne Heraty worked as a self employed recruiter until she managed to gain enough clients to hire more and expand. The company went public in 1999 for added investor support to promote their current expansion trends. From there the company has grown to employing over 2,750 temporary staff at any one point and being the largest recruitment company in Ireland. Current actions to promote work life balance Educational Policy Promoting greater opportunities within the work place, CPL has used a very flexible educational policy to promote a work life balance. Within their scheme they are willing to pay for an employees education as long as it is something that will benefit the firm. On top of this any employee currently studying receives five extra days of holiday on top of their regular annual leave to further encourage self improvement.   Being an employee with them means that you are entitled to any number of their educational schemes including: 1. Conflict Management- where they learn about how to deal with problems with other employees, clients or suppliers 2. 5 minute manager- learn general management skills 3. Business strategy- learn basic competitive strategy principles 4. Any education- any external education can be funded by CPL and given the extra holiday time. Leave Policies CPL strives to ensure that large leave requirements are handled as fairly as possible. They are ranked in the top 25 companies in Ireland to work for and one of their main strengths is the benefits they give their employees for certain personal life requirements. This includes paid leave for pregnancy, marriage, family tragedy, illness. Along with this they also give guaranteed job placement after these leaves should the employees return as added incentive. Problems Personal Performance Recruiters work under a single company name but the main bulk of their wages is dependent on personal performance. A recruiter normally is required to establish new clients for the firm and they are paid in accordance to the amount of employees they place. Within this the recruiters all have their own team of temporary employees in which they find work for from the client field. Being paid in accordance to these principles makes it very difficult for employees to operate within a Work Life Balance as they are required to work longer hours to earn more money as well as constantly recruit new talent to further their goals. Flexible hours in this situation are near impossible to do as CPL expects their recruiters to perform for the client as well as any time taken off directly affects your wages. This is slightly different for the placed temporary employees but they still are required to perform exceptionally well in each job they take to ensure that they will be given another. The jobs they take are normally to cover someone who needed leave for personal responsibilities or to handle increased work load, either one the employers expect the worker to fill in the gaps and take little to no time off for themselves. Personal performance standards do not just hurt the required working hours for the employee but also takes away from the job enjoyment. Trying to find new clients can sometimes place the recruiters into direct competition with each other that increases the overall stress in the work place. This leaves room for professional achievement but little for personal enjoyment which is detrimental to the balance. Client Orientated hours- Not work load orientated The recruiters and temporary workers both are required to adhere to the volume of jobs available instead of a standard work load. CPL employees do not know when the demand for their services will increase or decrease and neither does CPL management, what this ends in is you are required to work around your client’s needs. Working around the needs of your client disables your ability to take flexible hours for your self as if CPL cannot handle the clients needs when they need it then they will just go to the next recruiter. Not having a standard amount of work to complete in the course of the day automatically hinders the employees Work Life Balance. Having low volume of work does not mean that the employee can take time off for personal reasons as that may not be required at the time. For a person to establish work life balance they need to have both flexible. Cutthroat industry standards The recruitment industry is extremely competitive as they all strive for the same competitive advantages. The cost of the temp employees is dictate by the job not by the standard at which the temp agency operates. That means all recruiters are trying to operate on the highest quality to ensure they maintain high volume performance. Having an entire industry based around this means everyone needs to be fighting for their own positions or they will lose contractors and clients. Recruiters are expected to work those extra hours in order to produce results and increase client relationships for future work. CPL is an industry leader in Ireland for these reasons which once again gives strong opportunities for employees to achieve and enjoy their professional life but difficult for the flexibility requirement in their personal life. Volume orientated performance A recruiter is paid based on the amount of employees they place in jobs. The nature of this payment means right away that in order to succeed the recruiter will be required to sacrifice more time. Work Life Balance in this situation cannot exist as for the employee to achieve and enjoy one, they must sacrifice the other. End Result Work Life Balance in the recruitment industry is near impossible to maintain. Employees are required to work around the requirements of the clients instead of what is set forth by the company. On top of this employees also are paid in accordance to the volume of service they provide with a requirement to continue to produce high quality. This results in a system which requires the employees to achieve only within the company and is forced to constantly be on call for client requirements. This makes it very difficult for employees to establish a solid Work Life Balance as all their professional achievement is based on catering to the job first. Recommendations Remote Working As recruiters are basically operating as small businesses on their own within CPL, they should have the option of working from home if required. Company calling cards and remote internet access will allow the recruiter to stay in touch with clients and employees at all times to handle any problems should they arise. Although this should not be the norm, it will allow for employees to establish a more balance life outside of work so that they can lower stress and perform better within the job. Client Contacts As the normal case for recruitment agencies is that each recruiter has their own contractor squad and own set of repeat clients it would be very effective to the Work Life Balance for recruiters to stop working on a personal performance standard and focused more on their ability to perform as a team. By having key contacts for a client but not necessarily only one contact can enable for some flexibility in the work place along with a more diverse employee pool to satisfy the client needs. This also helps with increasing the enjoyment and achievement within the organization as employees are now working towards a great good together instead of being in competition with each other. Cross Training CPL had it right by offering educational programs for their employees. Educating the employees allows for them to not only be happier in the job but also gives them opportunities to stretch out into new fields which can be very fulfilling. Within this they should try and institute cross training practices to create an internal structure in the organization that can support many stresses. Having employees who can cover for each other will create a sense of unity along with enabling people who have other responsibilities to handle those as well. These concepts are key to the Work Life Balance. Employee Services CPL is a large enough organization that they should look into having services which can help support employees personal lives. Several example services to support the employees Work Life Balance are as follows: 1. Day care center 2. Dog walking service 3. Activity days for employees 4. Career counseling 5. Benefit packages Implementation Plan Remote working is something that can be started right away as it only requires minimal IT servicing to set up a remote portal. Calling cards or company mobiles can also be purchased and given out with little work. The cross training program can fall under the current policies that they have for education but will require an analysis of current operations to see what training will be required. Employee services will require a longer implementation period as the needs and plausibility of each service will need to be accessed then the resources will need to be found in order to create the required packages. Conclusion Work Life Balance is hard to be developed in industry which is highly competitive and based on personal performance. An employee cannot establish a balance as there is a teeter totter effect occurring with work performance. For an employee to succeed within a recruitment agency, they need skill but they also need to invest time. Recruiters them selves see a direct comparison to the amount of time they spend in a job and how much they earn while the contractors need to commit large amounts of time to a job where they cannot satisfy any other personal responsibilities as the client is paying for stability. As a company within recruitment CPL is trying to help establish this balance but their current situation makes it hard for them to be a front runner on these ideals. CPL can institute policies which will help alleviate the strain on an employees balance but it will always be difficult to establish equilibrium as per the industry standards. Bibliography Holden, Robert and Renshaw, Ben. Balancing Life and Work Dorling Kindersley, 2004. â€Å"CPL homepage† http://www.cpl.ie   update March 2005. Accessed April 16th 2005. â€Å"CIPD- The human resources development website† http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/wrkgtime/leave updated August 17 2004. Accessed 16th April 2005.

Universal Issues in Education Essay example -- Argumentative Persuasiv

Universal Issues in Education Many universal issues in education are a major concern for our country today. The principles defining education, how children are raised, the grave impact of technology, and the way minorities are treated and perceive themselves are all issues for us to be alerted about. Teaching and learning have been an important issue since human existed in this world. What is "teaching and learning?" According to the Oxford dictionary, "teaching" is the process to cause somebody to know or to be able to do something, and "learning" is the practice to gain knowledge and skill. In Paul Goodman' s opinion, the schools are only a therapeutic halfway house for young kids. And Ralph Waldo Emerson refers that "universities are, of course, hostile to geniuses." In general, education is to help young people adapt to this society and perform well. The manner in which children are raised affects the development and growth of a child trying to learn in school. In, "Zen and the Art of Burglary", a father feels he must lock his son in a trunk in order for his son to determine how to secretly escape and master his father's skill. The son finally acquires the skill, but he had to experience the actual deed, first. Sometimes, kids need to venture through a certain act, so that they eventually understand how it works (Fa-yen). Another concern in raising children deals with what they pick up from adults. Moral intelligence is learned from other people. Children are constantly observing grown-ups, and in turn, begin imitating their behaviors and mannerisms. Kids begin to pick up skills on day one. Parents are capable of teaching their children about wishing and yearning, as well as coping with disappointment. During a ... ...duced to a new field of study. Finally, education should help to build a good social identity for people as well as maintaining their own heritage. Bibliography 1. Gelernter, D., "Unplugged". The New Republic. 1994. 2. Goodman, P. Little Brown Reader. Pg. 358. 3. Emerson, R.W. Little Brown Reader. Pg. 361. 4. Fa-yen,W. "The Sayings of Goso Hoyen". Buddhism in China. 1964. 5. Coles, R. "On Raising Moral Children". The Moral Intelligence of Children. 1997. 6. Stoll,C. "Invest in Humanware". The New York Times. 1996. 7. Bambara, T.C. "The Lesson". Little Brown Reader. Pg. 442. 8. White, M. "Japanese Education". Little Brown Reader. Pg. 396. 9. Belencky, M.F., McVicker, B., Goldberger, N.R., Tarule, J.M. "How Women Learn". Women's Way of Knowing. 10. Shen, F. "The Classroom and the Wilder Culture". Little Brown Reader. Pg. 417.

Ray Bradbury Biography :: essays research papers

Ray Bradbury Biography U.S. author, born in Waukegan, Ill., on Aug. 22, 1920. In his stories, Bradbury wove together the intrigue of changing technology with insightful social commentary. One of his best-known works was 'The Martian Chronicles’; a collection of interrelated stories concerning colonization of the planet Mars those attracted readers both young and old. In it, Bradbury portrayed the strengths and weaknesses of human beings as they encountered a new world. Ray Bradbury grew up in Waukegan and in Los Angeles, where he founded a magazine called Futuria Fantasia while in high school. He sold his first short story when he was 21 years old. His early stories were published in pulp magazines, but Bradbury later published stories in such mainstream magazines as The New Yorker, Mademoiselle, and the Saturday Evening Post. His science fiction and fantasy short-story collections included 'The Martian Chronicles', 'The Illustrated Man', and 'Dinosaur Tales'. Bradbury's 1980 collection, 'The Stories of Ray Bradbury', covers a wide range of topics, none of which is truly science fiction. His novels included 'Fahrenheit 451', Dandelion Wine, and 'Something Wicked This Way Comes'. 'Fahrenheit 451' was made into a motion picture in 1966, and 'The Martian Chronicles' later appeared both as a motion picture and a television miniseries. In 1954 Bradbury was honored with an award from the National Institute of Arts and Letters for his contribution to American literature. In 1956 he collaborated with John Huston to create the screenplay for 'Moby Dick'. In addition to fiction Bradbury wrote 'Zen and the Art of Writing' and also published such dramas as 'The Anthem Sprinters’, 'The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit, The Pedestrian’, and volumes of poetry including 'When Elephants Last in the Dooryard Bloomed', 'Where Robot Mice & Robot Men Run Around in Robot Towns', and 'The Haunted Computer and the Android Pope'.

Articles of association Essay

This sets out the rules for running the company. It contains the procedures for calling shareholder meetings, the number, rights, and obligations of directors, shareholder voting rights, and lastly details of how accounts will be kept and recorded.  Once these two documents have been agreed they are sent to Companies House (a government body that watches over limited companies). If everything is in order, the registrar of companies’ issues a Certificate of incorporation, which allows the company to start trading out makes the company a separate legal entity from the owners. Details of the director’s and the secretary’s intended address for the registered office as well as their personal details and information of other directorships they may have held within the last five years.  This must be signed after all the other documents as it confirms that all the other registration requirements have been fulfilled. This declaration must be signed before a solicitor.  Once all the forms are completed, they should be send to the company’s house where they are checked for such instances as confirming that the prospective officers of the company are not on the disqualified directors’ list. How the ownership suits the business activity  Peacocks group’s ownership suits their activity because they operate on a large scale by selling a wide range of goods like women’s wear, (lingerie, night wear, swimwear, e-vie fashions), men’s wear (jackets, shirts, ties, trousers), children’s wear (new borns, toddlers, babies), street wear, foot wear, home wear. With this, they employ more than 5000 personnel and trades from over 385 stores throughout the UK. The profits Peacocks receives from selling their goods is used to pay wages, and buying other products to be sold from the suppliers. Because Peacocks is a large company, it gets a lot of profits from different branches and can manage to sell a large number of products and also employ enough staff to maintain the smooth running of the business. Relationship between the size of the business and the type of ownership  Peacocks is a large business covering 110,000 square feet and has about 385 stores in the UK. It operates on a large scale and this is one of the reasons why it is a public limited company. It employs 5000 personnel to work for it throughout the UK.  The industrial sectors to which my businesses belong  The primary sector is concerned with the production or obtaining of raw materials. This includes occupations like farming, forestry, fishing and mining, and oil and gas drilling. For many products, such as fish fingers, this will be the first stage of production. The fish will be then sold on for processing at the secondary stage. The secondary sector deals with manufacturing, processing, construction, and assembly. This relates to manufacturers of consumer and industrial goods. A paper mill, a carpet factory, and a house builder are all found in this sector. Secondary industry processes the goods that come from the primary industry and turns them into something that people want. My two businesses, which are Peacocks, and Top Girl hairdressers both belong to the same industrial sector. They both belong to the tertiary sector, which is known as the service sector. The tertiary sector includes all the providers of services to businesses and to individuals, and can be divided into four sections. These are business services, financial and business services, transport and communication, retailing, distribution, hotels and catering. They belong to this sector because they provide services. Peacocks mainly provides retailing while top girl hairdressers provides hair styling. Top girl hairdressers also provides retailing but as a side activity. It sells a few hair products to its customers just in case they come to get their hair done without any products. They also provide information about maintaining hair. Peacocks sells women’s wear, men’s wear, home wear and children’s wear.Consultancy work is generally popular- tax consultants, management consultants, and computer consultants. Whenever there is constant, rapid change that affects business you will find that consultants are often used to advise how best to adjust to these. Recruitment agencies and selection consultants depend on the job market. When unemployment is high they may struggle, when employment is good and people are looking to change jobs regularly they benefit from increased business. Don’t forget that recruitment agencies often specialise in temporary employment opportunities.  Security firms are becoming more and more popular. Certainly many retail organisations do. Security services are normally sub-contracted because this is more cost-effective than employing and managing specialised security staff.  Industrial cleaners are also sub-contracted. Your college probably buys in its cleaning services rather than employing cleaners. This has been a growth area for entrepreneurs in the past few years.  Secretarial services are generally less popular than they were several years ago. The use of computers and modern software packages means that many people can produce their own documents quickly and easily.

Presenting Your Position Essay

Education is an important tool to personal and professional success at this time of age. More and more companies and organizations choose to hire people who have completed their degrees. It provides the right training and knowledge to people so that they may excel in their chosen fields. The most important aspect of receiving a good education, however, is the improvements it can bring to one’s life. There are others who do not see the importance of a good education. They argue that a person does not need to have a degree in order to be successful in life. They further believe that it only takes determination and perseverance to make it to the top. Because there have been several people who have no academic degrees but are financially successful like Bill Gates (â€Å"Proof M. B. A. s Are Overrated†), people who feel this way about education feel stronger about their stance. However, in reality, education is more important than what most people believe. It is very true that success needs hard work, determination, and perseverance but if a person has these three and a good education, it is more likely that he or she will succeed in life. People who prove be in no need of an education are either very rich or are too smart for school. Looking at the real situation there are only a few people who fall in these two categories and majority of the public do need education in order to succeed and be financially stable. There are also those, particularly teenagers, who believe that receiving education is a waste of time and that they do not have to have degrees in order to have a job. While this is true, differences can be seen from the types of jobs that degree holders can get compared to that of non-degree holders. Most jobs that non-degree holders can apply for are very low-paying and one cannot expect much growth from it. Many companies only promote employees who have completed their education. A good education will provide an individual with the knowledge and experience that he or she needs to enter the corporate world. This is where a person can learn how to make use of his or her talents and maximize these to his or her own full potential. When this is done with the proper attitude, the possibilities are endless. Being educated can also bring about respect from other people. Although it is very discriminating and should not be practiced, educated people are given more attention and that people will hear what they have to say about certain things. It is more likely that people look up to and believe those who have a good education. Education can also lessen poverty and ignorance, which can help improve a nation’s economic status. Aside from these things, there are also numerous other benefits that a person can receive from a good education. Learning how to socialize and interact with others is one of the most essential benefits that attending school can give. Students are exposed to other people who may or may not be different from them and this will teach them important lessons in life. Some may indicate that they can learn from books without the help of others. However, instructors are there for a reason and this is to guide students on the learning process. One can read a book and may understand it but learning is still different when there is someone who can clarify things and provide in-depth analysis of the learnings. Books, especially textbooks for school, are sometimes too complicated without the help of professors. It is not enough to read them and then decide that the person has already learned everything because he or she may have misinterpeted some of the things that the textbook is trying to say. Personally, I believe that a person needs education because of the positive things it can contribute to one’s life and his or her country. Nowadays, due to the influence of media, people have become followers of what they see and hear around them. No one thinks anymore and nobody cares. If people are educated enough, they will have good decision-making skills and will be able to determine what would be good or bad for him or her better. Over the years, the importance of education has been seen and has not yet been replaced by anything else. Education makes one a better person even if it is only in mental terms. Still, one must remember that education is not enough to succeed. Even if the person possesses the best education there is in the whole of the country or world for that matter, if he or she does not have the right amount of determination and strength to survive in the corporate world, then it will amount to nothing. Education should not be taken for granted, especially with the fact that not all people are able to afford it.

A Murder Case

According to a witness, 19 year old Joseph Tylutki – the defendant – was bickering over money with his friend, Vincent Bohlman, also 19, when Tylutki shot Bohlman thrice in the chest and killed him.   Bohlman was not carrying a weapon, also according to the witness.Apparently Tylutki had placed a knife in Bohlman’s hand after killing him in order to lie to the court of law later on that Bohlman had tried to kill him first (â€Å"Bail Cut for Teen in Friend’s Death†).The plaintiff in the case is Bohlman’s mother.   When Michael Bloom, the Defense Attorney, argued that Tylutki is neither â€Å"a danger to the public† nor a â€Å"flight risk,† Barbara Sattler, the Pima County Superior Court Judge lowered his bail from $750,000 to $25,000 (â€Å"Bail Cut for Teen in Friend’s Death†).The plaintiff had already pleaded with the Judge not to lower Tylutki’s bail.   Dan Nicolini, the Deputy Pima County Attorney had similarly argued against a reduction in the defendant’s bail amount, stating that Tylutki may very well be a â€Å"flight risk (â€Å"Bail Cut for Teen in Friend’s Death†).†However, the Judge maintained her decision.   Tylutki is presently allowed to pay $25,000 to move to his parents’ home from where he would be required to â€Å"regularly report to court officials (â€Å"Bail Cut for Teen in Friend’s Death†).†Ã‚   The defendant would also have to â€Å"submit to drug testing† on a regular basis seeing that â€Å"[f]ive bags of marijuana packaged for sale† had been found in his room (â€Å"Bail Cut for Teen in Friend’s Death†).OpinionTylutki’s bail amount should not be lowered seeing that he has already murdered his friend and may very well murder others if he is able to pay $25,000 to move out of jail to his parents’ home.   As a matter of fact, the defendant should not have the option of being set free by paying any bail amount.Clearly, a person with the ability to murder his or her friend must be identified as â€Å"a danger to the public† given that he or she cannot be expected to respect the rights of others either (â€Å"Bail Cut for Teen in Friend’s Death†).Bloom cannot prove that Tylutki would not murder another individual if he is set free.   Furthermore, even if the defendant is required to â€Å"regularly report to court officials† there is no evidence that he would not disappear between the scheduled dates of reporting (â€Å"Bail Cut for Teen in Friend’s Death†).

Michel Foucault

Michel Foucault, generally in his philosophy, has created a system wherein he  examines the relations of power as they are transmuted down in a society (not one  that it is held by individuals—and, indeed, it is not so perpetuated), wherein the  refinement of discourse over time allows for the normalization of behaviors and then that  individuals are encouraged, as docile bodies, to adhere to this program of normalization.  Foucault locates the origins of this process in asylums and prisons, and considers them an  Enlightenment technological development, which he calls â€Å"technologies of the self†: But I became more and more aware that in all societies there is another type of technique:  techniques which permit individuals to affect, by their own means, a certain number of  operations on their own bodies, their own souls, their own thoughts, their own conduct,  and this in a manner so as to transform themselves, modify themselves, and to attain a  certain state of perfection, happiness, purity, supernatural power. Let us call these kinds  of technologies technologies of the self. (Foucault â€Å"Sexuality and Solitude 367) Foucault locates these technologies of the self at the center of the process of  normalization that has shifted the process of punishment from an outward display of  power as in medieval executions to an internal process in which the prisoner becomes  complicit in his own punishment. By employing these technologies of the self an  increasingly analytical and ever more refined manner power is able to normalize almost  all of life and make the distinction between punishment and education trivial. In attempting to diagnose the evolutionary trend of the manner in which  punishment has been historically meted out throughout the ages, Foucault suggests that  there has been a gradual evolution from tactics of raw displays of power to more subtle  forms of control. While this might suggest a certain amount of progress in that it is a  progressive movement towards a less obvious brutal form of maintenance of the status  quo it is nonetheless   a pervasive manner of social control and thus the obfuscation of  means of social control over the passage of time, especially since the enlightenment,  should not be mistaken for true liberation or the work of real progress toward a deeper  goal of recognize some eternal truth about human rights. Whereas medieval society  employed the public display of punishment in intricate and executions of the most  excruciating form (such as beheading, drawing and quartering, hanging etc.) to help  maintain social order by showing the direct result of a failure to comply with law,  contemporary society uses more indirect and less overt methods for encouraging its  subjects to adhere to the traditional social order. Indeed, where medieval societies used  overt displays of brute force, modern society prefers processes of normalization, which  are less intrusive:  Another instrument used to achieve discipline is the normalizing judgment. Instead of punishing offenders for wrong doings, the administrators with power choose to  rehabilitate them to attempt to normalize problem individuals and make them a functional  and law abiding.   This type of corrective attempt is used through training techniques  including the use of repetition.   This could be used in the classroom for a student that  could not write cursive well enough to pass to the next level.   For a punishment, they  could be required to write cursive sentences over and over again.   Additionally, to  provide the society with this normalization or conformity, rewards become more frequent  than penalties. For those students that tend to fall behind, the prospect of a reward could  be more appealing to do well than the threat of yet another punishment.   This gives  individuals something to strive to achieve and creates incentives for being disciplined. â€Å"What Is Discipline?† Here, we see the ideas of punishment couched in the language of teaching and  rehabilitation. What is a deviant behavior is simply a mistaken approach to learning basic  social rules that can be corrected and analyzed and subjected to extensive discourse. Moreover, in this instance, there is not only the issue of negative reinforcement via the  coercive measure of the threat of punishing action in response to a putative misdeed, but,  moreover, there is the extension of a metaphorical â€Å"carrot† being extended to the  perpetrator of a violation should he manage to conform to the exact processes that the  captors. In this movement, this ability to make the punished complicit in his own   punishment, is the real power of the indirect method revealed because not only does it not  require an exercise of power, but allows those being punished to aid in their own  punishment. This idea of creating â€Å"docile bodies† by means of indirect punishments that seek  to examine and to â€Å"rehabilitate† rather than to torture is their chief use. Indeed, for docile  bodies are effective because they are given the illusion of freedom, in being offered a  choice between two possibilities they have the trappings of volition but when it has been   ordained ahead of time for them to choose one of the options of the other this merest veil  of volition is quickly revealed as just another discursive element rather than an  effectively â€Å"real† choice with meaning and consequence. Docility is a major advantage  because it allows the docile body to assist in his own rehabilitation and normalization  and, by extension, his own punishment per se: The term docility, or to be docile, means to  have a certain amount of control exercised over you. Foucault says; â€Å"a body is docile that  may be subjected, used, transformed and improved† (Foucault Discipline and Punish,  136). Docility was the way in which someone was trained, a way in which someone cold  be molded like clay to fit the needs of those that are in control. This was done in the  army, the schoolhouse, basically anywhere people were subjected to control on an  everyday basis. Docility is nothing more then discipline, where â€Å"discipline is a political  anatomy of detail† (Foucault Discipline and Punish, 139). The body was no longer beaten  and abused rather it was explored, broken down and rearranged.   Rather then being  destroyed the body was being entered into a political machine that produced docile  bodies. Foucault talks about docile bodies because he is trying to explain the shifts that  took place from the practice of torture and the spectacle to the building of the prisons.  Thus, the issue here is that by this method the body is forced to undergo a process  that, while substantially different from an experiential perspective than torture, has, as its  object, a surprisingly simple aim, which is of course the same ends of enforcing the  stability and standard of behavior that is normative and therefore beneficial to the  institutions of power. Through the creation of such docile bodies who no longer need to  be tortured but instead can be subtly goaded towards the process of rehabilitation and  ergo normalization, the standards of normalcy can be entertained and reinforced within  the individual by the individual. Indeed, even more ingenious is that, by such a method,  in which punishment is rehabilitation, the very distinction between the two begins to  break down. Punishment becomes a sort of identical with the very processes of   identification, analysis, and education. Part of the reason for this is that possibility of an  end telos of this process, of any sort of true enlightenment, per se, becomes an  impossibility, because such refinement and enlightenment leads only further into the  constricting web of discourse. Indeed, since the entire project of enlightenment refuses to end in any categorical  liberation (which is indeed an improbability if not an impossibility) that can be  demonstrated, this should be no surprise. Advances in rationalization and logic only serve  to further refine the methods by which processes like normalization take place, allowing  them to be now couched in doctrines of ethics, psychology, and criminology where they  can be used for the creation of docile bodies when in the past the only recourse would  have been the use of raw and terrible amounts of force: The enquiries have their  methodological coherence in the at once archaeological and genealogical study of  practices envisaged simultaneously as a technological type of rationality and as strategic  games of liberties; they have their practical coherence in the care brought to the process  of putting historico-critical reflections to the test of concrete practices. I do not know  whether it must be said today that the critical task still entails faith in Enlightenment; I  continue to think that this task requires work on our limits, that is, a patient labor giving  form to our impatience for liberty. (Foucault â€Å"What is Enlightenment?† 50) Here, we see that the capital-E Enlightenment has resulted in little more than a  refinement of the â€Å"strategic games of liberties,† which, of course, serve to do little else   to confine one to the rules of the game rather than allow for the possibility of a true  exit, and, similarly the possibility of little-e enlightenment for the individual is equally  impossible when each enlightenment only furthers the discourse and increases the  process of education which is the form of expiation in the principle order of things  anyway. Thus, enlightenment is an increasingly remote quantity whose value remains  unknown and unknowable, while the reality of the increasing and encroaching science of  punishment is advanced in discourse in such a way that the process of discipline is  reinforced through the further and stronger normalization of every single social act, since  the discourse about these acts also multiples, creating possibilities for discourse where no  such possibility even existed before. Thus, the teleological goal of the penal system then seem to be one in which it is  almost impossible to distinguish between education and punishment and, indeed, prison  and the outside world. Through the creation of bourgeois docile bodies, prisons  increasingly do not require walls because the normalization of every activity makes it  such that the mere examination of the entirety of one’s existence links one to the very  concept of the punishment that looks less and less like a punishment:   The ideal point of  penalty today would be an indefinite discipline: an interrogation without end, an  investigation that would be extended without limit to a meticulous and ever more  analytical observation, a judgment that would at the same time be the constitution of a  file that was never closed, the calculated leniency of a penalty that would be interlaced  with the ruthless curiosity of an examination, a procedure that would be at the same time  the perman ent measure of a gap in relation to an inaccessible norm and the asymptotic  movement that strives to meet in infinity. (Foucault Discipline and Punish 227) Thus, the conclusion we reach at the end is that the goal of increasing discourse  since the enlightenment is to make power’s reach ever more diffuse but ever more  pervasive—the inclusion of discourse into previously verboten areas allows for the  normalization of those areas and with that normalization comes control such that the  ideas of punishment and rational consideration seem to come within a hairsbreadth of  merging at the distance of an infinite regress. References Foucault, Michel. â€Å"Sexuality and Solitude.† On Signs. Marshall Blonsky ed. Baltimore: John’s Hopkins Press, 1985. Santos, Tomas. â€Å"Foucault and the Modern Day Panopticon.† Retrieved January 05, 2008, at http://www.spelunkephobes.4t.com/foucault_and_the_modern.htm Foucault, Michel. â€Å"What is Enlightenment.† The Foucault Reader. Paul Rabinow, ed. Catherine Porter, trans. New York: Pantheon Books, 1984. Foucault, Michel. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of Prison. Alan Sheridan, trans. New York: Vintage, 1979.